Top Chef All Stars Recap
By David Mumpower
March 16, 2011
Tiffany’s dish is next; it is roasted spiced pork tenderloin, dirty rice, curried slaw & tomato jam. The meal gets the type of middling reception generally received for .500 sports teams. Everyone agrees that it tastes fine; the disappointment from the judges is centered upon her low aspirations. They (rightfully) feel that this is the finale of Top Chef and that the contestants should be trying to dazzle the judges. Instead, Tiffany offers something that feels like a menu item from the 2 for $20 specials at a franchise restaurant. Since it doesn’t taste bad, Tiffany should be safe unless she gets punished for cooking at an 8th grade level while the others are working on their doctoral dissertations.
Judges Table offers no real surprises. Mike’s food was the best received and is clearly the choice as the winner of the evening. Richard is also safe. The decision is reduced to whether Tiffany should be punished for her lack of ambition, Carla should be punished for mediocre appliances, or Antonia should be punished for the core flavors of her dish. Gail goes so far as to describe her food as cafeteria mystery meat, which leaves me convinced that Antonia is about to be upset. To my absolute shock, the luck of the draw that saw Tom and Gail receive the undercooked pork leads to Carla’s elimination from the competition.
I rarely disagree with the ruling of the judges since they have, you know, tasted the dishes, but this seems like a travesty. And I say that as an Antonia Lofaso superfan. On the plus side, Carla acquitted herself extraordinarily well this season and can hold her head up high, knowing that the tools in her toolbox let her down more than anything she did on her own. Also, this sets up an Antonia versus Richard showdown in the finale, something we were robbed of seeing in season four.
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