Top Chef Masters: "Grand Canyon Cookout" (8/15/12) [***SPOILERS***]

[ipsedixit]

Lorena Garcia takes the Qfire challenge. B-52s like grilled cauliflower I guess cuz lemon vinaigrette is sort, well, hackneyed.

Yagihashi =/= helicopter rides over big holes in the ground.

But it's Frasier falling off a cliff. Judges are totally quixotic about the dish. What's so complicated about beef and chili? Alot, I guess.

Venison and Yucca make Yagihashi and Rautureau winners.

Hualapais dis on foodies (whose mantra is basically, "we hunt, we eat, we yak about neither"). Wonder what they would say about 'Hounds ....

[chowser]

Hugh's blog is a riot.

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-maste...

[Dee S]

A little late to watching the show and reading the blogs. I may just read Hugh's blogs! He's hysterical!

I thought he was humorous while on TCM but he's ramping it up big time!

I thought Art should have gone home for overcooked, dry quail but then again, I didn't get to taste Clark's dish. I agree with how he prepared the corn it because if he went all out and made it strong, the plate would have been a mess.

But then again, I'll admit that I thought he was going home in the first 5 minutes. He was sad and dejected that Mark wasn't there and the Elves played that up early. That's usually the sign that someone's going home.

[chowser]

I love the comment by the Hualapais. It's all sustenance and just shut up and eat it, don't endlessly discuss the nuances and textures.

I like the addition of Francis Lam to the judges, although he's the antithesis of the Hualapais's philosophy on food.

[chefhound]

Me too, on Francis Lam. Thoughtful comments - what a change from Restaurant Girl and Grubby Boy!

[LindaWhit]

Loved watching Takashi get over his fear of heights with both the helicopter ride (which I've always wanted to do over the Grand Canyon) and the glass-floored walkout over the Canyon (which I'm not sure I *could* do!). In fact, they were all like little kids when they were told they would be helicoptered to the site.

I thought the grill had gone completely out, but Chris somehow manhandled it into working at least on one side. I figured it would be the teams of Takashi/Thierry and Chris/Patricia going up as the favored dishes.

And all it seems like Art did was grill the quail - and overdid it? Lorena made the sauce and the slaw. Even Oseland noticed that. And what's with the big long story from Art and Lorena re: Food is Love? Even the local natives seemed rather bored. And how did steak and corn get screwed up by Kerry and Clark? :-/

And James wants to marry one of the Hualapai women? Umm, OK.

Hugh's blog is up. http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-maste...

[huiray]

Wow, a day later and only two responses. Says a bit about the series.

Anyway, Thierry Rautureau and Takashi Yagihashi were worthy winners.

Although I understand why Clark Frasier was sent home, I somehow feel he got the shaft.

[Berheenia]

I thought Art should go home, based on what everyone said about his dry quail, but I knew they would never get rid of him so early on - he's too big a draw and judging by the interest on this board, this show needs all the help it can get.

[debbiel]

I felt the same way about Clark Frasier. Yeah, that was pretty...eh...but the sauces did put him in a bind. Bound to blandness/dry quail. I guess a case could be made for either of those or Dude Who Was Paired with Clark Whose Name I Never Recall. Did Lorena's sauce save Art?

[Worldwide Diner]

The series lacks drama and I don't necessarily think many of these "masters" are worthy. There doesn't seem to be alot of creativity going on...

[ipsedixit]

Saying that Top Chef Masters "lacks drama" is sort of like saying the Grand Canyon is a hole in the ground.

[FoodPopulist]

I feel better about the top half of this season's cast than about the previous season, but the bottom half of the field seems like filler to fill demographic needs...they need a Hispanic, a decent number of women, and multiple homosexuals. Once they get down to five or so, there will be more drama, I suspect.

[chowser]

Because TCM should be composed of all white heterosexual males and the others are just there for fillers?

[LindaWhit]

"they need a Hispanic, a decent number of women, and multiple homosexuals."
~~~~~~~~

Umm...how about they just populate the cast with CHEFS, regardless of their gender, color, creed, religion or beliefs?

[FoodPopulist]

I'd like that, but I don't think the Magical Elves are into that idea.

[chowser]

I thought it should be between Art and Clark. Art made dry quail--although, at the dinner, it was only "slightly" overcooked and by JT, it became very dry. Clark underseasoned his to match the other strong components on the plate but they judged it alone, then it was a bigger error. Had he made it with very bold flavors and all components on the dishes were strong, they would have had problems w/ that, too. At the dinner, they said it worked well because it wasn't a bold taste. Overall, it seemed like everything was very good and they had to be nitpicky about it.

[FoodPopulist]

Degree of difficulty may have a factor. It was pointed out that beef and corn was the easiest combination.

[chowser]

That's true. Compared to Thierry's, fresh corn on the cob is a piece of cake.

[DGresh]

I really thought "corn salad"? Yeah, I can do that. How are you supposed to make a statement with that. Guess he doesn't get too many "bragging rights" back home.

[wincountrygirl]

I agree. The judges even commented that he did the corn the way he did because he didn't want to overpower Kerry's dish. That said, I had a feeling he would be next to do after Mark. I really don't think he stands up to some of the other chefs. And, yes, I'd love to eat at Kerry's restaurant. And can we please lose Lorena? She's fun but that's where it ends.

[roxlet]

Linda, I'm with you. I couldn't even look at the view through the glass floor. I had to turn away. There are a lot of TV commercials I can't watch either for this same reason.

I thought the episode was just OK as far as the cooking/cheftestant interaction went. I wanted Art to shut up already with all the 'food is love' triteness that he was spouting. I found it condescending and hackneyed. The one thing I found to be particularly interesting was how they showed a photo of each dish plated individually instead of showing family style, which was how they served it.

[FoodPopulist]

I like it when the chefs are told to cook family-style rather than individually plated food.

[debbiel]

The Food is Love talk really, really annoyed me. Hey, I really love food. I love preparing food for the people I love. I love preparing food with the people I love. I love breaking bread together. I GET it. Really. But, y'know, just stfu and let the food love speak for itself, k?

Once again, I found myself wanting the Cosentino dish.

Corn and beef, why goodness...I just can't imagine how those could possibly go together! <insert sarcasm emoticon, whatever that might be>

I really loved the scenery, loved watching Cosentino make it work, loved the wee snark about the food critic talk.

Saving Hugh's blog for the weekend.

[DGresh]

anyone know how they did the pairings? Obviously all the knives were the same color, and there were proteins vs. veggies. Did they have the pairs already and then make sure one pulled a protein and one a veggie?

[LindaWhit]

I *think* they were paired with whoever they were standing next to when the knife block came out.

[Janet from Richmond]

As much as Art gets on my nerves, he is now second place to that obnoxious Lorena who is starting to become like nails on a chalkboard for me. I was so sad when she won the quickfire and got immunity.

I love Thierry & Takashi and like the rest of the contestants.

[LindaWhit]

Yeah, it would be nice to have a double elimination of Art and Lorena, wouldn't it? :-)

I also like Thierry and Takashi, and while I understand how Chris Cosentino has rubbed some the wrong way with his ... well, let's call it "directness", I think his dishes are very strong. I'd like to try his food.

[chefhound]

Is it just me or does Lorena remind you of Rachael Ray, Latina edition?

[LindaWhit]

She hasn't delved that far down into the nails on a chalkboard dislike for me quite yet.

[chowser]

The only thing I knew about Chris was the chef vs city thing w/ Aaron and other reality tv. I didn't know he was a legitimate chef until now but he obviously knows what he's doing and can think of his feet. Looking him up, he has an impressive resume.

[LindaWhit]

And I think I saw only one of those shows and didn't like it, so didn't watch more. Now that I think of it, that's the "race aspect" on Around the World in 80 Plates.

[Joanie]

I think Hugh's blog makes it sound like there was much more of a fight going on w/ Clark and Kerry than I saw. I feel like it was just cuz they didn't know each other the way the other paired off chefs did that made it a bit awkward. Clark and Mark weren't my faves and I laughed when Hugh said he looked less Rocky Horror that day. Going to the Grand Canyon in 2 months so it was a nice preview.

[C. Hamster]

When Art kept blabbing like that it reminded me of "there are thousands and thousands of uses for corn, all of which I'm going to tell you about right now " from Pee Wee's Big Adventure

[jeanmarieok]

I couldn't decide if the tension between Clark and Kerry was real or manufactured. I also decided that I really want to eat at Kerry's restaurant - I think his food has all looked really good. Art is on the bottom again - I will miss his dynamic on the show if/when he leaves. Yes, he's definitely arrogant, and all the things people say about him, but he's entertaining to watch, and I think his food looks good ('just a big ole Southern Queen' made me laugh). Gotta say, the views were just spectacular.

Question - how do I find out when this episode was filmed? My work conference was in Las Vegas the week of June 25th, and the B52's played at the main event at the Aria on June 28th. I was just wondering if this was filmed that week.