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Top Chef: Reveling in 1950′s simplicity and the season 10 curse


I have watched a lot of Top Chef: nine seasons, the masters series, the dessert series and various specials. The 10th bunch of chef-testants is in some ways like the others, with goofy chefs, foreign chefs, too-young chefs, mean chefs and super-smart chefs… but has so far been more inconsistent and unpredictable than any season ever.

See what happened this episode and my theories on why season 10 may be cursed.

Quickfire challenge: Butcher and cook beef cut of your choice

Behind curtains in the back of the kitchen are two huge slabs of beef, all purple, yellow, red and white. They’re on those giant metal hooks that look like torture tools.

Beef. It's what's for dinner.

For me, this is somewhere between terrifying and disgusting. They chefs, though, excitedly butchered their favorite cuts (surprisingly with no injuries and no mistakes in butchering) to cook beefy, red meaty dishes for the quickfire.

Naomi Pomeroy, who was on Top Chef Masters, came to guest-judge and fell for braised oxtail by John, aka the most hated chef in Dallas. John’s also the most-hated chef in the Top Chef kitchen right now for trash-taking poor Kuriko, who was eliminated last episode, and for being a little bit of a jerk. As his name is announced, everybody claps and glances toward him with this “Oh brother” look on their faces.

You know what I hate about John? Those dorky frames sitting on his eyebrows.

Elimination challenge: Revive menu from 1950s Seattle restaurant Canlis

The chefs are told their upcoming challenge is to revise the original, 1950 menu from Canlis, a classic Seattle fine dining restaurant with classic food and beautiful views. They didn’t give a ton of background on Canlis for us non-Northwesterners, so I did some Googling.

Canlis still requests that men dress up (“Casual attire? Not appropriate.”), has some sort of secret valet system (“They never hand out tickets, yet, somehow, your car is always waiting for you”) and is swanky enough that people started a rumor that you have to drop big bucks to eat there (“Is it true that if you don’t spend enough at Canlis they give you a card asking you not to return?”).

So the Canlis grandsons present the chefs with a retro menu and ask them to create the ’50s foods, from starters like seafood salad and fish soup to desserts like lime sherbet and Hawaiian sundaes.

Naomi's look for the Canlis dinner was on-point.

Lizzie, the South African chef who may be becoming my fave, served a marinated herring alongside saltine crackers, a bold and delicious move that got her among the judges’ favorites. Stefan grilled liver, and the winner, Kristen, made a flavorful, balanced side dish of mushrooms.

How can you win a $10,000 elimination challenge with a side of mushrooms? Hugh Acheson said it reflected the spirit of the ’50s, “such an iconic time of reveling in simplicity.”

It was a double elimination for Chrissy, who overdressed Canlis’ namesake salad, and Carla, who burnt the squab.

So here’s my point: Both of our elimination challenge winners have been subject to the season 10 curse– sent to pack their knives the very next episode. Kuriko won for her hot pot in the first episode, then got eliminated for her potatoes the second. Carla won for her carrot soup in the second episode, then got eliminated for her squab in the third.

For the first couple of seasons, the chef who won the first challenge actually won the season (Harold, Ilan), and the winning chef has almost always done well in initial episodes.

Looking over how the season 10 chefs have fared so far, they’ve all been wildly inconsistent, with just a couple of exceptions. Even CJ, Stefan and Josie, the veterans, have been praised AND threatened with elimination.

So who’s actually on a good streak? Lizzie’s been in the top two eps in a row. Micah, an energetic, young chef from California, has always gotten positive feedback though hasn’t been a favorite. John, from Dallas, has had a good showing in the quickfires.

We’ll see next week if the curse continues. Watch out, Kristen!

Kate Shellnutt

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