by Monica Y. Hong
Though an empty feeling fills the tube this week with no Edward Lee in sight, our spirits are lifted with the appearance of our last KA hopeful Beverly Kim in full snow gear ready to battle the elements. Y’all Top Chef Texas has relocated to Canada and traded summer for winter for the remaining episodes. What’s that aboot, eh?
One of the themes this season has been the utterly, unforgivably outrageous and just plain dumb challenges that the Bravo producers have been pulling out of their asses. But this week wins the prize, or gold medal, shall we say.
The meeting to come up with this week’s episode probably went something like this:
Producer #1: Hey, we’re in Vancouver. Didn’t they have the 2010 Winter Olympics here?
Producer #2: Oh yeah. Whoa, let’s have the chefs compete in our own culinary games!
Producer #1: Wow, what a totally awesome idea. Hey, it’s butt booty freezing up at Whistler – let’s have them cook up there! High altitude, below zero temps and fine dining make for super TV!
Producer #2: OMG. This is the best idea we’ve ever come up with. We should get promoted.
Or fired! This show used to be about cooking and now it’s about tomfoolery! That’s right, I said it, tomfoolery! Sigh. Let the games begin.
The first event of the culinary Dumb-lympics involves us watching Beverly, Paul, Lindsay and Sarah prepare a dish in a moving gondola and serve it to the judges and some Olympian I’ve never heard of. With 22 minutes to cook and a surprise table of ingredients to choose from halfway through, the best dish is awarded 10,000 crisp ones and a spot in the final three.
Beverly manages to have one of the two standout dishes with her salmon tartare with white anchovy horseradish crème fraîche and panko fried capers. The judges like the flavors, especially the horseradish, which is the ingredient she had to add to the dish midway through her gondola ride 7,000 feet above sea level. She is so close to securing her spot, but loses out to Lindsay. Sound familiar? Getting so close, being able to taste it and then being denied? Thankfully she has another chance in the second round of events.
If you thought cooking in a gondola was stellar, wait til you hear what #1 and #2 came up with next!
Producer #1: It’s cold. Let’s freeze stuff.
Producer #2: OK. I want to make gigantic ice cubes.
Cut to Whistler Olympic Park where Padma and Tom unveil their “pantry”: a table full of mystery ingredients frozen into blocks of ice and a set of ice picks. One hour to chip away at destiny, decipher what foods are frozen into the icebergs and thaw them out for ten grand!
Beverly starts hacking away like a professional psycho and takes some forceful whacks at the ice with a frying pan. Yipes! Somebody hold me.
She ends up with seared scallops with a red wine orange reduction, buttered peas, corn and couscous. The judges are impressed with the sear and flavor of the scallops and the excellent couscous, but the sauce is a bit heavy for them. In the end, it is Paul who takes home the prize and the spot in the final round. One more round to go and now it’s really down to the wire. And, boy oh boy did they come up with something special for us.
Producer #1: Hey, the Olympics is about sports, right?
Producer #2: I think so. Ooh, skiing is a sport.
Producer #1: I totally like shooting guns.
I give you a culinary biathlon that has nothing to do with cooking! It is completely pointless, but we watch Bev and Sarah cross country ski, which neither of them knows how to do. Well, actually we get to watch them fall over a bunch of times, which is pretty priceless. (Don’t tell the producers I said that!) This is Top Chef, not Wipeout!
Beverly is a serious contender in the skiing element of the competition. She leaves Sarah in the dust and then hits the bulls eye on her first shot! Wait, did I mention the biathlon involves target practice? They are given rifles and ten bullets to shoot at these placards with the ingredients of their choice written on them. Whatever ingredient targets they hit, they use in their dishes. It is the culminating event that will determine who will make it to the Olympic medal podium.
Bev presents a beautiful plate of slow roasted arctic char, onion and red wine beet compote, celery root truffle purée and shaved fennel salad topped with winter black truffles. The judges enjoy the earthy flavor combinations that complement the fish, yet they feel it is slightly overcooked.
And so a choked-up Padma asks Beverly to please pack her knives and go for the second and final time. A valiant effort on Bev’s part with no shortage of tears during this week’s competition. She cooked out of her usual Asian flavors comfort zone, created something delicious and proved what a fierce competitor with a big heart can achieve.
Beverly said it quite well. “I think now I have a lot more confidence in myself. It’s about what you have inside, no matter what people say, who you are will shine in the end.” Shine on, sister. You rocked.
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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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