by Monica Y. Hong
Last week’s cliffhanger filled us with anxiety, but this week’s episode is a straight up tearjerker and totally messes with our emotions. I would compare it to a roller coaster ride, but that seems too predictable with its requisite highs and lows. Perhaps, I should liken it to the perfect soufflé. So beautiful in height and so full of accomplishment. The first bite so utterly satisfying, but then the soufflé falls with that first puncture and by the end you’re just disappointed that it’s gone. All gone. Why, Padma, why?
Perhaps I should explain.
She’s baaaaaack. That’s right, none other than Beverly Kim won Last Chance Kitchen. What is she going to do next? She is going back into the Top Chef kitchen! In it to win it, Bev moves back into the house and unpacks her knives. It’s go time.
Chefs Ed, Paul, Lindsay and Sara are there to welcome Bev back with a quickfire challenge.
Just when you thought the Bravo producers had reached the bottom of the barrel with their challenge ideas, they come up with another gem – something that requires no talent or imagination on their part. Bravo for originality. Basically, the chefs have 30 minutes to cook a dish, and here’s the clever part: they have to raid the pantry with blindfolds on and literally hunt for their ingredients. When they have blindly gathered all of their desired rations, they can cook with all their faculties. Every item in their basket must be used in the dish. The winner is given a choice of a new Prius or a guaranteed spot in the final round, no elimination challenge required. So you see — or perhaps you don’t see — that digging around a refrigerator in complete darkness can determine how worthy you are of the title of Top Chef.
So anyways, the fondling five look like idiots bumping into each other around the shelves of ingredients, sniffing and spilling, but they make it out of the dark. Bev ends up with an unexpected avocado. Ed pulls out a mystery bag of protein that turns out to be pork casings. He proves how innovative he is when he decides to boil them and use the liquid as a broth for his vegetable udon. Ed whips up the noodles by using ribbons of zucchini, mushrooms and scallions.
Bev serves a striped bass with pulped avocado, lime and jalapeño. Her surprise avocado is the highlight of her dish, but she doesn’t have enough time to completely cook her fish so no hybrid for Beverly. Sarah’s soup prevails over Ed’s soup and he misses his chance to go directly to the finale. Sarah forgoes the car and goes for the guarantee. Not a gambling gal, I see.
Therefore, four remain to compete in the elimination challenge. And here’s when the waterworks come in. In walk the mentors of all the cheftestants. Instant tears from Paul. The Bravo producers make each of them say how their mentors changed their lives and careers. Crying, hugging, more crying. Let’s start cooking.
In order to prove to their mentor that they were well trained by their, uhh, mentors, they have to cook a dish that impresses and exceeds their expectations. And you wonder why they’re sobbing.
Ed packs a punch with a flavorful braised pork belly with crispy skin, an oyster crema, pickled vegetables of celery, plum and radish, and braising juice to finish.
All the diners are in agreement. They love the pickles. Lindsay’s mentor, chef Michelle Bernstein, even says, “I think he should jar and sell them, and I will be his best customer.” That’s right, who doesn’t like Korean pickles?
Beverly serves up gulf shrimp and BBQ pork over curried Singapore noodles. The judges are not only impressed by her flavors, but by her wok skills. Serving so many people out of two woks requires a lot of precision and finesse that apparently she has, because she, along with Paul, have the two favorite dishes of the night. Yahoo!
Paul’s chilled sunchoke and dashi soup with summer vegetables is genius. He garners the win and takes the prize of a Prius. And our Beverly takes a spot in the final four. What a comeback!
The bottom two are Ed and Lindsay. Despite Ed’s bold flavors and delicious pickles, the judges are none too impressed with his oyster sauce. Whole Foods didn’t have any fresh oysters when he was there so instead of rehashing his menu, he chose to use canned smoked oysters, which we now know led to his downfall. The judges see it as an inability to adjust his recipe and instead he should have cooked from what was fresh and available from the market.
Lindsay’s dish was overly herbaceous and her addition of cream to emulsify her broth did not make the judges happy. However, Ed’s soulful dish couldn’t compete with her perfectly cooked seafood and the judges decided to tear our hearts out and brûlé them in a wood burning oven. Our favorite frontrunner, the classy artist with a talent for taste, is now a leftover. Full of mixed emotions, let us not fret for too long, my friends. We have Beverly, the queen of Seoul food and raw feeling, on our team to fight for the championship. You’ve already made us proud, Bev. Now go cook your ass off!
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One of the the biggest Asian cinema events to hit Southern California opens on May 10. The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, features the latest works by established and emerging filmmakers, along with seminars, panel discussions and symposiums on topics relevant to Asian Pacific cinema.
Opening Night features “Shanghai Calling,” directed by Daniel Hsia and starring Korean American Daniel Henney, who plays a Chinese American expat lawyer navigating his way through the mean streets of Shanghai (the picture above also indicates he is a raisin smuggler). But does he take off his shirt? Go watch the movie to find out! read more
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