'Top Chef' packs its knives and heads for Chicago
By Taryn Lentes, Staff Writer
March 19, 2008 | 4 p.m.
“Top Chef” season four is set in the heart of Chicago, which is one of the most respected culinary cities in the United States, according to contestants featured in the show's first episode. Although the contestants seemed excited about the gourmet side of things, the first episode actually found the contestants competing in a Quickfire challenge to create their own personal Chicago-style, deep-dish pizza.
It probably should not be as funny as it was to watch previously confident, professional chefs sprint around the kitchen looking for ingredients and cursing the heavens when their pizzas fell apart. But hey, it is the excitement and hilarity of moments like this that have made "Top Chef," which airs at 10 p.m. Wednesdays on Bravo, an unexpected hit.
Season four contestants have not yet been separated from the pack enough to declare who is the most talented, or even who has the most interesting personality. Several interesting additions to the cast include Richard, who is the first molecular gastronomist (a chef who creates foams) since season two's Marcel. Another cast member who stands out already is Mark, a New Zealander who felt the need to add Marmitem, an intensely sweet cousin to Australia's well-known Vegemite, to his pizza. Surprisingly, he still managed to impress the judges.
The most interesting development in casting this season, however, is in the choices of Jennifer and Zoi, a lesbian couple from San Francisco. Were they both really two of the 16 most-talented chefs in the country? Probably not, but the added drama this casting will add was probably too irresistible to pass up.
The first elimination challenge on “Top Chef” season four, which premiered March 12, illustrated the fact that the people behind the show obviously wanted to start confrontation from the get-go. The contestants were separated into winners and losers based on the Quickfire pizza challenge, with the winners selecting a member of the losing team whom they each felt they could out-cook. The losers were allowed to pick a dish from a list of culinary classics with which the judges felt all chefs should be familiar.
The two chefs who had been paired together were then asked to prepare their versions of the dishes, ultimately facing off head-to-head for the judges. This head-to-head-style challenge is relatively new to “Top Chef” and has usually been used far later in the season if at all, so it seems that Bravo is aiming for intense rivalries right from the start.
The casting of Jennifer and Zoi could also be an attempt to bring out the drama, though it is unclear who will end up hating each other first. The happy couple's turning on each other would be one drama-filled scenario, but it seems more likely that the other chefs might believe the couple has an advantage, thus snubbing them.
The first elimination was difficult to call, as several chefs seemed to be fairly unskilled when preparing their dishes. Ryan was asked to create piccata, and it soon became clear that he was not fully aware of a piccata recipe, a problem that left the judges less-than-sympathetic.
Contestant Erik, however, was stuck baking the dreaded soufflé (“Top Chef” contestants always hate baking desserts), an understandably difficult situation that still does not explain his decision to add tortilla chips. In the end, Nimma, the whiny chef who created inedible cauliflower flan and salty shrimp, was the first contestant told to pack her knives and go.
“Top Chef” season four promises more of what made fans love seasons one through three -- drama. “Top Chef” is every bit as entertaining as any of its reality television competition, with the added bonus of actually requiring its contestants to have a real talent. Imagine that.
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“Top Chef” airs on Bravo ,Wednesdays at 9 P.M.