The guest chefs this year on "Top Chef" are some of the heavy-weights in the industry.
Last night, Daniel Boulud pulled up a chair at the judges tables.
Boulud is the owner of Restaurant Daniel in New York. The cost of a meal there, according to the Zagat Restaurant Survey, is on par with "Ivy League tuition."
Last night, Daniel Boulud pulled up a chair at the judges tables.
Boulud is the owner of Restaurant Daniel in New York. The cost of a meal there, according to the Zagat Restaurant Survey, is on par with "Ivy League tuition."
Boulud also created a $120 hamburger that's served at his French-American bistros. Crazy rich people and food writers with expense accounts buy this burger. (I hear it's better than the $100 "cheesesteak" at Barclay Prime in Philly, which I have actually tried. Thankfully, a good buddy, writing an article for a top-tier food magazine, picked up the tab on that dinner. Don't order this gimmicky dish. Get Barclay's cheaper, and much better tasting, sliders instead.)
Cooking for Boulud has to be pretty nerve-wracking. Boulud is one of those chefs that make other chefs weak in the knees. He is that good. Get a copy of his cookbook "Braise" and you will be very happy.
The quickfire challenge was to make a burger. So what does Sara do? She makes a crabcake. In fact, almost everyone else seemed to jump on the seafood bandwagon. I thought Dale's fried egg/tuna creation looked particularly unappealing. Fried eggs should never be on burgers, yet alone tuna burgers. CJ won with a scallop and shrimp mousse cake. (Georges Perrier of Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia and Peter Gilmore of Gilmore's in West Chester, Pa., also use a shrimp mousse base in their crabcakes. The cakes are melt in your mouth wonderful. The recipe is in George Perrier's cookbook.) I dunno, as much as I like the idea, it's still not a burger to me. I would have given this one to Howie, sweat and all.
The elimination challenge - where no one got eliminated this week - was for the contestants to break up into teams and create their own restaurants. Calling a restaurant The Garage is a really bad move. (It's like La Tolteca changing their name to that word - Tonalteca?? - that no one can pronounce or remember.) And Dale's bizarre decision for selecting vanilla-scented candles should have sent him packing. C'mon, that's culinary school 101. You never let anything compete with the aroma of your food.
I began losing my appetite watching dishes come of the kitchen. Maybe it's the summer heat here now, but I just don't have the stomach for heavy food - braised lamb??? and risotto with mushrooms and foie gras?? - when the temperatures begin to rise.
All the chefs get a reprieve. Next week, they get to try to run the restaurants again. In real life, you only get one start out the gate. Fall on your first night opening and the paying public isn't going to be very forgiving.
The quickfire challenge was to make a burger. So what does Sara do? She makes a crabcake. In fact, almost everyone else seemed to jump on the seafood bandwagon. I thought Dale's fried egg/tuna creation looked particularly unappealing. Fried eggs should never be on burgers, yet alone tuna burgers. CJ won with a scallop and shrimp mousse cake. (Georges Perrier of Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia and Peter Gilmore of Gilmore's in West Chester, Pa., also use a shrimp mousse base in their crabcakes. The cakes are melt in your mouth wonderful. The recipe is in George Perrier's cookbook.) I dunno, as much as I like the idea, it's still not a burger to me. I would have given this one to Howie, sweat and all.
The elimination challenge - where no one got eliminated this week - was for the contestants to break up into teams and create their own restaurants. Calling a restaurant The Garage is a really bad move. (It's like La Tolteca changing their name to that word - Tonalteca?? - that no one can pronounce or remember.) And Dale's bizarre decision for selecting vanilla-scented candles should have sent him packing. C'mon, that's culinary school 101. You never let anything compete with the aroma of your food.
I began losing my appetite watching dishes come of the kitchen. Maybe it's the summer heat here now, but I just don't have the stomach for heavy food - braised lamb??? and risotto with mushrooms and foie gras?? - when the temperatures begin to rise.
All the chefs get a reprieve. Next week, they get to try to run the restaurants again. In real life, you only get one start out the gate. Fall on your first night opening and the paying public isn't going to be very forgiving.
1 comment:
There is a great martini themed bar in Manayunk off of Main Streed called the Garage, owned by the owner of the adjacent Ugly Moose. Awesome place off the beaten track that not many people hit. I recommend it!
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