Well, per Antonia’s final request, Stephanie does kick their asses, but it’s not as fun as it should be. She takes the title in a lackluster cook off that pairs the final three with famous sous chefs and ample trays of random proteins. Plus a structured four-course tasting menu, served head to head: fish, then poultry, then red meat, then dessert. Yes, dessert. What? You didn’t spend the last few months perfecting a passable molten chocolate cake? Well, you just might not be Top Chef material.
Stephanie enjoys first choice of sous chef, and wisely chooses Eric Ripert, while Richard pairs off with Blue Hill’s Dan Barber and the shockingly under-congratulated and strangely even-keeled Lisa gets surprisingly chummy with Spotted Pig’s April Bloomfield. Stephanie goes for simple and elegant, Richard has trouble settling on his menu, and Lisa heads straight for Asia. Richard gives Ripert a cute demo of cooking with liquid nitrogen, and Ripert seems genuinely impressed.
The twist, which no one could possibly have seen, is the fact that all three sous chefs call in sick the day of the serve-off. Not sick enough to stay home from dinner, however, a black tie affair for nine that pairs formal attire with business casual fare. Stephanie impresses with a delicate fish dish, quail with lobster ravioli, and a counterintuitive lamb that pairs olives with highly complimented braised pistachios, although she ends with a rather dumpy cheesecake. Lisa’s performance lobbies for her inclusion in the final three, with kudos for her coconut soup and black rice pudding.
Richard, throwing himself under the Toyota Corolla, volunteers that he choked, and he totally did -- really, he gets the most praise for his banana scallops, making their third appearance this season. Gail tries to turn Richard’s admission into some drama, but it’s just not happening. The fourth seasons wraps with a whimper as the show crowns its first female victor, although we can all look forward to the “Everyone Hates Lisa” reunion episode.
Check out some of TV's best cooks here!Many thanks to Kim for last week's deft recapping. Now, if you can see around the massive chip on Lisa's shoulder, on with the finale! After correctly surmising that Richard and Stephanie (here acting as surrogates for all of TV Land) were shocked that Antonia was dismissed, and having the gall to scold them for failing to offer immediate congratulations for "her fucking bronze medal," Lisa (as usual) is on the warpath. At least there's no live studio audience to muck things up.
Stephanie, Richard and Lisa convene in a verdant courtyard for the most important meal of the day, as Stephanie reminds us that there's never been a female Top Chef and that she would like to be the first. She asks her competition if they're feeling excited, with one of the least excited voices I've ever heard, and they respond in kind. The level of excitement at the table is overwhelming in its absence. Richard says he's "ready to cook" like he's actually ready for nothing of the sort, before seeming confused by whatever aroma his eggs Benedict are emitting, and explaining to the camera that with a career, a wife, a baby on the way, and a new house, he's got everything to lose. Yeah, everything and fifteen pounds. Oh, and he's still shocked that Lisa managed to out cook Antonia and round out the final three. She's not a leader, she's got "a bad attitude," and she doesn't deserve to win.
As for Sourpuss Greasylocks, she knows she's only there "by the skin of my teeth," but, true to form, she doesn't care that Stephanie and Richard have consistently outperformed her. "I'm about to beat you," she tells the cameraperson, as she rattles on about nerves, or not nerves, to Richard and Stephanie, who seem really, really excited.
Breakfast over, it's time for the details of the final challenge. Padma (yes, in blue), Colicchio, three white-coated chefs and three abundant platters of food await Richard, Stephanie and Lisa. On a tree-shaded, seaside garden path, Padma congratulates the finalists, remarks that they "are about to cook the most important meal of your life," and introduces the chefs -- April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig, Dan Barber of Blue Hill, and voluptuously-featured Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin. They did manage to pull an all-star team, although all three are New York chefs -- seems like there should be at least one Chicagoan in the mix. Richard and Lisa are suitably impressed by the assembled culinary firepower.
Colicchio explains the finer points of the challenge -- a four-course tasting menu, using the traditional progression of fish, then poultry, then red meat, then dessert -- "Yes, you do need to do a dessert." This surprises Stephanie, who claims that "dessert is not my forte," despite the fact that she's used dessert to her advantage more than once, and despite the fact that she really should have seen something of this sort coming. Won't they ever learn? "I'll never make a pastry" Lisa takes a swipe at Hung, claiming that she's "not very good with memorizing cake recipes." She doesn't even like cake anyway, so she's going to do things differently, which might be tough since cake is the only kind of dessert known to man.
Each cheftestant will be paired with a celebrity sous chef and the array of different proteins they have on their respective platters. They each list their special ingredients, all of which look lovely. The printed list appears later, at which point I will copy it from the screen. Padma explains that the intention was to let the cheftestant who won the most Elimination challenges choose first, but Richard's win last week puts him in a tie with Stephanie at four each. Enter the knife block for one last appearance -- Richard gallantly lets Stephanie draw first (she doesn't protest), and she draws number one. Of course, she chooses Ripert. Richard selects Barber, which leaves Lisa with April, a plain, attractive lass who looks perhaps to have spent many hours astride a horse. Lisa's pleased to be working with a woman.
Service will be a black tie dinner for nine, with three hours of prep today, and four hours tomorrow, says Padma, "before your first course must come out." Courses will be served head to head, and, following the meal, a winner will be crowned.
As the chefs get busy in the kitchen, we get more details of each sous chef's protein dowry. April arrives with oysters, prawns, crab, mahi-mahi, chicken, squab, pancetta, sweetbreads, beef tongue, Wagyu strip steak, and ostrich steak. Lisa will use these ingredients to create a meal based on the flavors of Thailand and Vietnam, flavors that represent her strong suit and comfort zone. Not an Asian cook herself, April expresses some surprise at the pairing, but is optimistic that Lisa "has a plan," as Lisa says that she's not nervous -- she does look calm -- and delivers instructions to April. They've really hit it off, and Lisa seems genuinely pleased to be working with April. Wait a minute -- what happened to the real Lisa?
Richard mentions that Barber is known for "farm to table cuisine" (a couple of friends had dinner at Blue Hill in Manhattan last week, and both described it as an all time top-three meal), as we learn that he has brought with him scallops, halibut, calamari, abalone, duck, foie gras, guinea hen, prosciutto, pork belly, venison, and rabbit. Richard plans to showcase his journey by combining his classical training with his penchant for molecular gastronomy, although for the time being, he's not quite sure how: Barber doesn't know what Richard's doing, and thinks Richard might not either. What Richard does know is that he's "waiting for that lightning bolt."
Stephanie and Ripert will be working with some combination of snapper, hamachi, caviar, clams, lobster, veal tenderloin, chorizo, rack of lamb, quail, quail eggs, and bacon. As she discusses a quail course with Ripert, she explains that she'll strive to show off her style with well-balanced flavor combinations. Ripert confides to the camera that he approves of her simple approach, while back in the kitchen, he, Stephanie and Barber trade friendly, uh, barbs about Ripert's questionable fish-filleting skills. Clearly, the man knows his way around a fish, but Stephanie kicks into executive chef mode and micromanages him as he cuts the snapper. She thinks she's annoying him -- "He's like, 'I know'" -- but it's adorable the way she wants to make sure everything is being done her way.
Everyone's working away as Richard discusses making frozen hot sauce cream with Barber -- each cheftestant was allowed to bring one thing from home, and Richard chose liquid nitrogen, which travels in an ominous looking metal tank and looks mighty cold. Richard pours it into clear container, surmising that he's "one of less than a dozen chefs in the country" working with it. His "Tabasco sauce ice cream, basically" may or may not be used as a garnish for oysters, but the nitrogen does arouse the curiosity of the sous chefs, most notably Ripert. He looks like a curious kid as he peers at Richard, and, as everyone gathers round excitedly and Lisa pooh-poohs the whole molecular gastronomy thing as "over thinking" (but she's just jealous), he explains that he's never seen this technique. "Az a chef, zee day you don't learn anymore it means you so egomaniac, you blind," he says as he looks intently over Richard's shoulder. Take that, Lisa.
Wow, I just did that, says Richard. "That's fucking cool."
While everyone else, according to Stephanie, is keeping it all about business, Lisa and April are yakking it up like two old biddies (sadly, Lisa now has too little hair to braid, and April's already working a pretty intricate coif), which is odd, since "Lisa doesn't get along with everybody." Understatement, much? Lisa claims an advantage, because she's enjoying the person she's working with (I'm surprised she recognizes the sensation) -- so, what, Barber and Ripert are beating Richard and Stephanie in the corner? The suddenly wise Lisa goes on to explain that "if you're stressed out and freaking out, well, I don't cook well like that." Which goes no further into explaining her presence here.
Stephanie mentions how much she appreciates Ripert's help, and that an extra pair of hands is a real godsend, as each cheftestant and sous chef confers on tomorrow's tasks. Ah, foolish cheftestants. Richard's still casting about for inspiration, and promises Barber he'll have a clearer vision after sleeping on it, although he doesn't sound totally confident. They all hug it out, and half of them leave thinking there will be six people in the kitchen again on decision day.
With four hours until service begins, Richard, Stephanie and Lisa arrive to discover an empty kitchen. Colicchio immediately informs them that "your sous chefs are not coming in to work today," and that now it's nothing but them. With four hours to cook not only the most important, but also probably the most difficult, meal of their lives, the victor will truly earn the Top Chef title. Stephanie, ever unflappable, calmly explains that the lack of help will require her to "prioritize," while Lisa jokes that it's like all three sous chefs called in sick. Way to laugh through the tears -- really, who is this new and unfamiliar being? She enjoyed her time with April, but it's time to move on and win this thing. Richard -- yep, he's bummed too, especially since his food "is very intricate" and he's got a long, hard road to travel.
Stephanie tries to marshal focus by sequestering herself in a corner and working on pasta dough. Lisa promises food that, like her, is "big, bold, spicy, sweet, salty, sour." Specifically, that translates into a first course of grilled prawns, followed by tom kha gai soup and dumplings, Wagyu beef, and a black Thai rice pudding. Richard, again declaring that he'll demonstrate that he's just as good with butter and a skillet as he is with electric smokers and liquid nitrogen, will begin with scallops, followed by a poultry course of guinea hen, foie gras, and eggs, a red meat course of the dreaded pork belly, and the oft-seen banana scallops, this time with bacon ice cream, for dessert. As for Stephanie, she's starting with red snapper, followed by quail with a lobster ravioli and quail egg, lamb medallions, and a ricotta pound cake to finish. She'd have preferred "an extra fish course" or something along those lines as opposed to dessert.
Colicchio drops in for his walkthrough, and interrupts a flustered Richard -- he's "got a lot of things on the stove" -- for what turns out to be a useless attempt to learn more about his "abstract" menu. Richard politely tells Colicchio to cheese off, so he heads for Stephanie, who's "got about five minutes to find out" if her cake worked. But you've done it before, right? Just once, she reveals, but it's the best pound cake she's ever tried. Colicchio looks unconvinced, and finds Lisa totally unfazed by any part of the challenge. It's curious, he says, that Richard, usually calm, is so scattered, and attributes it to the army of ideas marching around in his head. Doing too much might do him in, but if he pulls it off, it could be amazing. Lisa, on the other hand, is calm -- he knows she's a tough competitor and believes that "an attitude and a swagger" are good things in a chef. He thinks Stephanie kind of a fool for showing up, knowing she might have to make dessert, with a recipe she's only worked through once.
Could it be her undoing? Could crazy Lisa swoop in and win this thing? TPTB would certainly like us to think so. Richard explains his decision to use the liquid nitrogen to make the bacon ice cream, since it's a good way to demonstrate tangible benefits of the technique. By freezing the ice cream so fast that it does not have chance to form ice crystals, the liquid nitrogen actually makes "the ice cream better." That is pretty cool. Cut to Stephanie chortling that maybe she should have tried her dessert earlier to see if it worked. Maybe you should have, agrees Lisa. Oh, the drama. Stephanie really thinks it sucks, but Lisa tells her she always says that and then goes on to win. And then she gives Stephanie a bit of a pep talk. For real. She does. She tells Stephanie to "have some confidence in yourself," and then expounds to the camera that Stephanie's biggest weakness is self doubt and that she, Lisa, always maintains confidence in her dishes.
Padma, in a strapless, loose but belted red dress, leads the otherwise black-and-white clad judges into the ornate, gilt-heavy dining room, where they peruse the menu and make small talk. Richard, confident that he's "the only one who's a craftsman and an artist," thinks he's the best chef there, and wants to prove that he's not delusional. Lisa and Stephanie both want to be the first female Top Chef. Padma and the guests want to drink wine. And Padma wants to know what it was like to work as sous chef for the last three competitors.
Ripert finds it "extremely relaxing," perhaps because he can do this sort of thing with his eyes closed and both hands tied behind his back, although he claims it is because he could focus on just the task at hand. It made Barber "anxious," while April found it humbling to have to ask Lisa repeatedly what she wanted, but appreciated Lisa's assertiveness. In addition to the three sous chefs and the four regular judges (Padma, Colicchio, Ted and Gail), the party includes two other diners: Chef Alfredo Ayala, the chef and owner of Delirio and, according to Padma, "one of Puerto Rico's most celebrated fine dining chefs" (albeit one who apparently doesn't appreciate the merits of a web page, which makes some sense since he looks about 97), as well as Tim Zagat, who needs no introduction, but would probably enjoy one cobbled together from pithy quotes.
Prior to service, each chef is given the opportunity to discuss his or her menu -- Richard begins, claiming that writing the menu can be as important as the food itself (and as the camera pans over the menu, we see that, as opposed to describing the courses like Lisa and Stephanie, he's given his dishes cutesy names like "Which Came First" and "Be the Bacon"). Whatever. Personal journey, local ingredients, blah blah blah. Lisa's working with a progression of Vietnamese and Thai flavors, putting her special spin on items one might find in a typical restaurant -- she wants to "shock you guys" and show herself through her food. "Simple and clean" Stephanie mentions that she likes to use fruit in her cooking, and to combine two proteins on one plate, and that she hopes "to hit every flavor point in your mouth."
Lisa gets the party started with grilled prawns with chili basil sauce and crab, accompanied by homemade potato chips -- some crisp to complement the gooey sauce. Stephanie jumps into the competition with a seared red snapper over truffled clam and white asparagus broth with fingerling potatoes and topped with an asparagus salad, all served in a delicate teacup. Richard's tasting menu will progress according to taste, texture and temperature (his idea of what a tasting menu should do), and it starts with a barely cooked scallop with mango and pineapple vinegar, which is topped with a few thin slices of radish and some herbs. "Bright, bold, clean flavors, which I think is neat," he says. Neat? What are you, five?
Despite working with Richard during yesterday's prep session, Barber finds the first course "strikingly unfamiliar," while Gail compares its texture to black truffle. April enjoys the sweetness of the mango, and thinks the scallop is perfectly cooked, although Zagat argues that simplification would be an improvement. April also likes Lisa's potato chip, and the spice of her sauce, although Ayala thinks the chili is "too strong." Zagat feels the heat takes him "back to China, already," which is odd since China is in neither Vietnam nor Thailand. Ted finds Stephanie's dish "elegant," and Ripert comments on the "fairly delicate" way in which the truffle oil has been infused overnight into the broth. Ayala posits that her dish is the best of the three -- Colicchio agrees: he thinks it "was good, it was almost really good," and looks pleased with himself.
More teacups, this time for Lisa's typical coconut tom kha gai soup, although she's making it hers by adding a soup dumpling to the mix. Stephanie's plating a decadent-sounding quail breast over a lobster ravioli, with mango lobster sauce and a quail egg, while Richard, also serving in a teacup, offers "Which Came First" -- guinea hen or foie gras. It's pulled guinea hen meat, sous vide chicken egg, and roasted duck foie gras, and "a bounty of spring vegetables" -- I think my arteries just spontaneously clogged.
Ripert likes the "complexity" and the "earthiness" of Richard's dish, but thinks it's difficult to distinguish between the ingredients, while Colicchio sees it as an example of Richard "falling in love with a technique." Oui, agrees Ripert. April enjoys the freshness and calls the foie "perfectly cooked." Gail locates her vocal chords and pronounces Lisa's soup "absolutely delicious" -- she wants to curl up with a big bowl. April digs the lemongrass and the creaminess, and the way the soup enlivens the palate. Zagat approves as well. Ripert compliments Stephanie's seasoning, and Ted has only one critique -- he would have enjoyed tasting more "lobster essence in the sauce." Ayala mumbles his praise as well -- but wait! "No one had an issue with these leeks?" asks Colicchio. In fact, "these leeks are driving me crazy," admits Gail. Undercooked, with no relevance to the rest of the dish. D'oh.
Lisa's red meat course is the Wagyu beef, "marinated in a coriander garlic oyster sauce," with a chayote and cucumber salad, hot sauce and garlic chips. Stephanie's chosen lamb medallions with maitake mushrooms, braised pistachios, and a blackberry and olive tapenade, while Richard's penultimate offering ("Be The Bacon") consists of pickled radishes, mirin broth and pork belly.
Richard's lack of seasoning surprises Ripert (and me), although he thinks the pickled radish, which Padma cites as having the most flavor on the plate, is "borderline genius." Barber thinks Richard's choice to pressure cook the pork belly left it less crispy than it should have been, while Ayala calls the mirin broth "very under seasoned." Looks like we officially have this season's Casey, also partially undone by an underwhelming pork belly. Sad. Lisa's sous chef and BFF describes the beef flavor as "nice, but it's not tender" and it lacks any garlic flavor. Barber thinks the sauce is "so sweet," while Ripert points out that it's almost like a do-over of the sauce from the shrimp -- "just sweeter," adds Barber. Gail appreciates the acidity of the salad, and Padma, complimenting the knife skills, wonders if that was April's work, only to discover that Lisa did it all by herself. Ripert calls Stephanie's lamb "a big surprise to me" because he'd never think of combining the ingredients, while Ted feels "it's tasting a pistachio in a way that I've never tasted it before" -- ding ding ding! -- and April likes the lightness and brininess of the olives. Gail, upon seeing the olives, expected Stephanie "to crash and burn," but one bite later, she's a disciple. Ripert points out that this is the first dish that has inspired the use of the word "love." Colicchio thinks Richard's dish "needs work," calls Lisa's dish "pedestrian," and pronounces Stephanie's "full of surprises and it works." Just don't fuck up that cake too badly, Stephanie!
To compete with Stephanie's cake, Lisa's got a black Thai rice pudding with lime and mango crème, taro and coconut. Said cake is, officially, a ricotta pound cake with tropical fruit and banana crème, while Richard rounds out his menu with his favorite dish of the evening, banana scallops (which have treated him well, if often) accompanied by bacon ice cream.
Gail, in a charmingly dismissive tone, wonders about Lisa's "chip issue" (which, with chips in three of four courses, had crossed my mind as well), and Colicchio explains that "she subscribes to the whole sort of Asian use of some kind of crunch in every dish." Barber finds that to be a minor problem in a "really exciting dessert." Zagat wants more, although it takes April a few bites before she is able to call it "interesting." For Barber, Richard's dessert works as "an example of his playfulness pulling through in the end," although Ripert more cryptically offers that one must first focus on flavors before indulging one's playfulness. And Stephanie's pound cake? "Nothing special," thinks Zagat. April compliments its moistness, but Ripert labels it "unrefined and slightly evvy."
After Gail announces that she'd been looking forward to this meal, Colicchio sums it up: they all grew, they're all winners, Richard's intellectual and edgy, Lisa's true to herself, and Stephanie tends toward a "homey spin," all of which will make for an interesting night at judges' table. The cheftestants reappear in the dining room, to a round of applause and words of thanks from Padma, before she sends them away to wallow in anxiety.
More yammering from the judges about the season and the meal and that each cheftestant delivered what they expected, complete with missteps -- oh, just get on with it already! First stop, Richard, who maintains that everything went okay in the kitchen, and that he hopes it was successful for the diners. He wanted "an explosion, flavorwise" for the scallop opener, to wake up the palate, and seems surprised when Padma mentions more than one verdict of under seasoning. It was indeed bland and just needed some salt and pepper, offers Colicchio -- sad to see someone of his caliber tripped up by something so simple. Lisa chose the shrimp, the bold sauce, and the combination of textures because they all appeal to her. Colicchio calls it "a very assertive first course -- it was very hot." Intentional, or a mistake? Intentional, reveals Lisa -- hot and spicy, just like her. Ted enjoyed the beautiful, square-cut potato chips. Stephanie was shooting for something "springy" with the white and green asparagus, along with the truffle vinaigrette for acid. A "beautifully presented dish," offers Gail, praising the perfectly cooked snapper. Ted pipes up with his approval, followed by Padma, who appreciates that Stephanie achieved richness of flavor with still maintaining a light feel to the dish.
Asked by Gail if he would do anything differently with his second course, Richard admits that "maybe it didn't need the foie gras," chalking its inclusion up to a superfluous chef-ly indulgence. Gail simply thinks that all of the ingredients got "muddled," as he appears to realize that he's not going to win. Padma confirms that Lisa has done this sort of soup before -- it is, says Lisa, "like my chicken noodle soup," to which she decided to add the soup dumpling. Ted informs her that pretty much everyone agreed that it was outstanding, and Gail admits "there was a lot of slurping going on at the table." After complimenting Stephanie's overall dish -- nicely cooked quail, tasty ravioli -- Colicchio nails her on the leeks. "I have no idea what they were doing there, and they weren't cooked." Stephanie, dumbfounded, repeats that last half of his sentence, and, upon confirming that they were "crunchy," looks like she just pooped herself.
Richard liked the pork belly -- he wanted something minimal that would scale back from the richness of the prior course. Ted wonders if he considered searing it to create a bit more crispiness, which he did, and came to the conclusion that searing the meat would have compromised its integrity, and therefore was not a good option. No one mentions that this is his second instance of under-seasoning. Padma asks Lisa to explain her beef (that'll take hours -- ha). Lisa responds that the buttery steak needed to be served just barely seared, although Colicchio mentions that Wagyu (he calls it kobe) beef can't be treated like an American steaks -- if they aren't cooked enough, the marbled fat never gets activated, and the beef gets chewy instead of melt-in-your-mouth tender. Although he never says it explicitly, it's fairly obvious that he thinks Lisa mishandled her meat. Whatever, meat snob, says Gail, that sauce was just too damn sweet. Stephanie was highly satisfied with her lamb dish, with the added bonus that she thought the lamb was cooked perfectly -- woohoo! Ted tells her "it was one of the more creative things that happened all night," and that he had never seen but is now a fan of braised pistachios, which inspires Colicchio to extol the virtues of keeping "a very open mind when you're eating." He thought it "was full of surprises."
Seems like Stephanie's got the edge as the judges move to the dessert course, but Lisa has made a far better showing that I expected (and Richard has really underperformed). His dessert gets first scrutiny, with Gail asking him to explain, which he doesn't really do when he says that he has a banana for breakfast every day. He's also made bacon ice cream before. Yeah, and banana scallops. Colicchio liked it, Padma's seen it somewhere before, and they move along to Lisa. Padma thought her rice pudding "delicious," as did Colicchio, and they zoom along to Stephanie's pound cake. Was she happy with it, wonders Padma. Well, she was pleased with the flavors, and added the salty banana cream because she wanted an element of salt in the dish. "I had some issues with it," says Colicchio. The cake was fine, the banana cream "unidentifiable," and the overall dish "a miss."
Padma offers each cheftestant the opportunity for some last pre-deliberation words. Stephanie recalls words of wisdom from Dale, leaver-out of pork belly: he counseled her not to second guess herself, which is precisely what she did on her weakest dish. But she can learn from the experience, and has what it takes! Lisa, confident in herself and the menu she offered, thinks she has what it takes! Richard thinks he has what it . . . oh, never mind -- he admits that he "choked a little bit." He worries that he over-thought the meal, and that he's strongest when he's spontaneous. Ergo, it was not his best performance. Better him saying it about himself, I suppose, than the judges.
Padma calls Richard's remarks "very interesting," while Gail claims to be "shocked," but Colicchio deflates their drama balloon by pointing out that Richard did, in fact, choke, if by choking he meant a few small mistakes. Gail mentions that Richard wanted them to know that he knew that he didn't do as well as a could have -- he could have taken the title, says Gail -- which could be seen as strategic, or simply as too little too late. Richard wasn't alone, though, opines Colicchio. Both Lisa and Stephanie screwed up as well, so let's take a course-by-course poll and see where we land.
Although Lisa does get praise from Gail for her grilled shrimp (and Ted thinks she took it), Stephanie receives more effusive evaluations of her snapper. Colicchio didn't love the truffle oil, but his fish was cooked perfectly, while Ted compliments the cooking and the texture of the fish, "the elegance, the prettiness." For seconds, Lisa's easily wins for her delicious soup; while Colicchio enjoyed the richness of Richard's poultry ménage a trois, Ted found it "over-thought." No one mentions Stephanie's quail, even though it went over quite well during the meal -- oh, except for those leeks. Her lamb, however, kills in the red meat round. Original, surprising, and perfectly executed, she gets extra points for pulling off the counterintuitive combination of ingredients with aplomb, and for introducing the judges to braised pistachios. Ted finds the decision a bit difficult, because he really liked Richard's pork belly concept, although he botched the execution. Colicchio thinks this dish is what Richard's referring to when he says he choked, but that he had much better luck with the pig when it came to his dessert, which Colicchio pronounces "great." Ted wonders when mass-market ice cream purveyors are going to introduce bacon ice cream. Soon, promises Colicchio. The Ben & Jerry's version, of course, will come with a maple syrup swirl, crispy pork shaped like pigs, fudge chunks, and white chocolate covered almonds -- they look like eggs! For Gail, Lisa's "fun, interesting, thoughtful" rice pudding was the best. Padma agrees, adding that she thinks it was Lisa's best dish of the night. When it comes to Stephanie's pound cake, Gail puts it most succinctly: "Stephanie's dessert sucked."
However, she continues, there were many other high points that showcased Stephanie's strengths as a chef. Ted thinks deciding which dish they liked better is easy, but quantifying just how much better is difficult, while back in the Puerto Rican stew room, Lisa opines that Stephanie nailed courses one and three, while she nailed courses two and four, and Richard looks most unhappy. And then there are some random images of San Juan at night before the four judges confirm (and Ted mentions the now-chirping morning birds in an attempt to highlight the length of the deliberations) that they have each made their decision.
Despite her fairly impressive final performance, only three percent of texting watchers believe Lisa should win the title. Richard scores with thirty-five percent, while sixty-two percent agree with me that Stephanie should be the winner, although it's definitely a tough call. Colicchio praises them as "amazing competitors," and gives yet another capsule description of each of them. Richard: joy from cooking, whimsical, playful, sometimes outrageous food. Lisa: Asian flavors, big, bold, all about her. Stephanie: full of surprises. Tough choice, and in the end, "we based our decision on which meal we would like to go back and have again."
Padma, of course, congratulates Stephanie. She's thrilled, and anticipates that her life will now "be totally insane" as the judges move in for a round of hugs and Antonia, Andrew, Spike, Nikki and Dale round the corner, bearing bubbly. So they made it to Puerto Rico as well, and they all scrub up pretty nicely. Lisa, proud of her dishes and committed to cooking until she drops, thought she might win, but she didn't. Poor Richard's devastated, and starts crying when he talks about how close he was to the prize. He hopes the loss will help him refocus, and that his future will be bright. You bug, dude, but I think it will be.
I'm thrilled that Top Chef has finally crowned a woman, and that it's Stephanie -- she wasn't a shoo-in, but I think in the end she deserved it (and it's nice that she's from Chicago). I must say, though, that this season was a bit of a letdown. Flying back to the West Coast a couple of days ago on Virgin America (still an airline, but better), I happened upon the last half of last season (blissfully commercial-free), and was reminded how good I thought it was. To me, the challenges were much more interesting, and the cheftestants, by and large, had more personality, chemistry, and humor. Sure, Hung could be an ass, but it seemed like the top performers genuinely enjoyed each other and had fun despite the immense pressure. This time, TPTB seemed almost to go out of their way to downplay any existing or developing relationships between the cheftestants, other than Jen and Zoi, (was Stephanie's ten-year acquaintance with Dale ever mentioned prior to last week?).
Ah, well, knowing Bravo, there probably will be another season in a matter of days, and at least this one ends with Stephanie doing her dorky happy dance and fighting back tears of joy. Oh, except for the infernal reunion episode week. Blurg.