Top Chef – Recap & Review – Lock Down

photo: bravo

Top Chef
Lock Down

Original Air Date: Feb 16, 2011

Ryan O – Two Cents Senior Reviewer
ryano@thetwocentscorp.com

This episode guest stars the most famous blue celebrity I can think of: Cookie Monster! So, the episode is automatically awesome. He brings some friends and they even taste the food and judge the Quickfire challenge, which makes it that much more awesome.

The elimination challenge can’t live up to that and doesn’t really try. Cooking for 100 people in Target is sort of vanilla.

Quickfire
The chefs are in the kitchen, listening to Padma talk in free verse, which she finishes with “can you tell me how to get, how to get to …” and Cookie Monster, Elmo, and Telly pop up from behind a table and shout “SESAME STREET!” WOOO!! Everyone is delighted except Angelo who looks sort of annoyed. Cookie Monster is just a little excited to be there and can’t wait for the chefs to make their best COOKIE! Elmo asks for veggies in the cookies. Cookie Monster thinks that’s crazy and suggests just making chocolate chip cookies. (Hey product placement people, a shot of chicken stock during a cookie challenge doesn’t make any sense. Even Richard isn’t going to pull something like that.)

Mike says he’s probably never made cookies from scratch, which just blows me away. How is that possible? Who hasn’t made chocolate chip cookies from scratch? Richard consults with Elmo about putting the veggies that Elmo suggested into his cookies. Dale isn’t sure how to deal with being heckled by the Muppets.

Here’s what everyone made:
Antonia: Dark chocolate cookie, white chocolate chips, fresh caramel glaze and sprinkles
Carla: Chocolate chip cookie with cinnamon
Dale: Pretzel and potato chip shortbread cookie with salted caramel chocolate ganache
Richard: Ice cream cookie with chocolate chips, zucchini, and mint
Mike: Almond and dried cherry cookie with rose petal powdered sugar (yes, because rose-petal powdered sugar would make for a fantastic cookie)
Tiffany: Shortbread cookie with lemon zest, rosemary, thyme, and coconut milk
Angelo: Chocolate chip, Belgian hazelnut cookie and chocolate-banana milkshake

Bottom: Richard (Cookie Monster rightly points out that wasn’t a cookie; it was ice cream), Angelo (CM calls his cookie a little dry)
Top: Dale (the three monsters loved the sweet and salty mix), Antonia (they didn’t think it looked nice, with Elmo mentioning that it looked like a “cow chip” but it was gooey and chewy, which could be because they ate her cookies first). Dale is called the winner! He wins $5,000.

Elimination Challenge
The cheftestatnts get to shop at Target in the middle of the night and take whatever they need to cook a dish for 100 Target employees. Fortunately, it’s one of those Targets that also has a supermarket so they aren’t limited to Cheetos and soda. The winner gets $25,000. They have to get literally everything from Target, they can’t even bring their knives.They set up cooking stations in the store and start to cook using the appliances from the store.

Dale is actually doing the thing where you press a hot iron onto the grilled cheese to cook it. Everyone has started cooking but Carla. She’s spending a lot of time shopping. Ming Tsai is the guest judge.Here’s what everyone made:Richard: Pork tenderloin with green chiles, apples, braised pork ribs and corn pancakesBourdain says the dish was ugly but delicious. Everyone pretty much agrees.

Dale: Rib eye grilled cheese sandwich and spicy tomato soup (he only gives a strip of sandwich and it’s standing on its side in the soup, I’m not sure how I feel about that) Ming Tsai says he did get a nice sear on the sandwich using an iron. Bourdain says it’s really good late-night stoner food. Ming Tsain asks if Dale is trying to become an “iron” chef. Ha! I love Ming Tsai.

Carla: Curry apple soup with tomato ginger jam and cucumber apple slaw. Padma and Ming both say it feels as if the soup is missing a protein. Everyone thinks it’s more like a gravy for something than a soup.

Antonia: Parmesan eggs on garlic crostini with almond, tomato, and apple salad. The judges like it.

Mike: Spicy coconut soup with mushrooms, scallions, and lime. Padma busts Mike for saying he used “fresh” coconut milk when there were no coconuts in the store. She says she “had a teaspoon and that was enough.” Ouch. Ming and Tom seem to like it though.

Tiffany: Jambalaya with chicken, sausage, and shrimp with a summer salad. Bourdain says the chicken was soggy and rubbery. Tom says it was okay but not great.

Angelo: Baked potato soup with bacon, sour cream, potato skins, scallion, and cheddar cheese. Bourdain says it’s too heavy and way too salty. Ming says you can’t eat a whole bowl of this.

Top 3
Dale, Antonia, Richard

Ming compliments Richard on cooking the pork two ways. Bourdain liked that Antonia made eggs and made them well. Tom thought Dale’s soup was delicious. Dale wins! Wow, $25,000 for grilled cheese and tomato soup. Anyway, he swept the episode with his win in the Quickfire and picked up $30,000.

Bottom 3
Carla, Tiffany, and Angelo

Carla acknowledges that the flavors in her soup never melded. She agrees with the assessment that it desperately needed protein. Bourdain tells Angelo the soup was way too salty. Padma says it was way too rich. She couldn’t eat a whole bowl. Bourdain also mentions that Angelo had a heavy hand with the scallions which left a bad taste in his mouth. Bourdain and Tom both ding Tiffany for using a prepared spice blend, saying it detracted from the dish. The judges talk about the dishes after the three leave. They talk about about Carla’s soup being in need of a protein since it didn’t have a lot else going on. Tiffany’s dish really suffered from the use of the spice mix. Angelo’s soup is called inedible due to the salt. It sure looks like Angelo should go home but I sort of get the sense that Tiffany is the one that will actually be leaving.

Oh, it’s Angelo! Tiffany looks surprised. I’m surprised. Back in the Stew Room, Mike can’t believe Angelo is going home. I wonder if he tried Angelo’s soup when it was done. Also, Mike can’t believe Angelo would be sent home before two women. What did you find to be tasty in this episode? Did you think anything was overdone? Give us your Two Cents below!