Top Chef Recap: David Chang and the Bro Code

The classic catchphrase from season 4. Photo by Joel Kahn

This week’s Top Chef All Stars got right into the action–barely any recap of last time, no intro, and no scenes of the chefs getting ready in morning. Instead, they walked right into the kitchen and saw David Chang standing there. Chang was called a “badass” and “the man” by Casey and Marcel, respectively, so it was only natural for the Quickfire to be so chaotic that it combined artichokes, screaming, and a big red prop button. The chefs were divided into teams of four, and each team had to prep artichokes, garlic, and racks of lamb. Once the first team finished prep, then everyone only had 15 minutes from that point to make an entire dish using those ingredients. The two teams lagging behind chose to make carpaccio, because they didn’t even have time to cook their meat. Blais, Stephen, Spike, and Tre won with their–here’s the surprise–lamb with artichokes! They did not receive immunity, but each member got $5,000.

For the elimination challenge, each team drew knives, which had names of prominent New York restaurants on them. The chefs would have to each cook a dish worthy of being on the menu of the restaurant they chose, and they would be individuals, competing directly with their former teammates, and two chefs would be going home! Stephen, Tre, Spike, and Blais landed at Marea; Angelo, Fabio, Tiffany D., and Mike went to David Chang’s newest restaurant, Ma Peche; Antonia, Jamie, Casey, and Dale L. ended up in David Burker’s Townhouse; and Marcel, Tiffani F., Dale T., and Carla got WD-50. We watched the chefs eating tasting menus in private rooms and near-empty restaurants, fawning over the cuisine and celebrity chefs that prepared them, which was deserved, as these are actually some of the best restaurants in the city (Marea and WD-50 at least). Clearly, the cheftestants were not told to bring formalwear, as Blais ate in Marea wearing a striped hoodie.

When the judges, along with Food & Wine restaurant editor Kate Krader, had to venture all around the city to eat in the different restaurants, we got to see them chat about in a real New York City taxi! I wished it was the Cash Cab–then it would have been the very best episode of Top Chef ever.

The bump included Marcel talking about how he was accused by one of Wylie Dufresne’s sous chefs of plagiarizing a dish. He denied it, and Wylie seemed to not care.

The chefs seemed to do pretty well with the challenge. The Townhouse group didn’t go quite crazy enough, Carla was scared to use the science-y tools in WD-50, and Stephen came off as pompous. I wish we got to see more of Anthony Bourdain interacting with David Chang, because we know that when those two get together, awesomeness ensues.

At judges’ table, the top were Dale T., who made eggs, which Wylie Dufresne is famous for; Antonia, who gave a mature play on peas and carrots; Angelo, who does Asian food, in case you missed that; and Tre, who’s not been very noticeable all season. Dale T. won, seeming much humbler now than he did in season 4.

The bottom chefs were Stephen, Fabio, Tiffani F., and Dale L. Since the level of talent was so high, the judges had good things to say about even the worst dishes. Stephen’s salmon and pesto were made properly, but he had too much going on; Fabio doesn’t do French-Vietnamese food because he is Italian, in case you missed that one; Tiffani shouldn’t have frozen her melons; and Dale L.’s veal was cooked nicely, he just shouldn’t have put it on top of popcorn and french toast. In the end, Stephen and Dale L. were sent home (even though the other Dale won…irony!). This elimination was less shocking than the others this season. Stephen clearly had to go, and yes Dale came in second in season 3, but he didn’t win and elimination challenge until the final four! He may have just made it that far out of luck.

Here are the Cheftenders as of this week. If ever one of my Cheftenders is eliminated the next week, I will eat an entire watermelon, and post pictures along with it to win back my Top Chef authority.

1. Richard (He doesn’t have to be in the top every time…)

2. Angelo

3. Dale T.

4. Spike (He was on the winning Quickfire team–My world is imploding.)

5. Tiffani (She was in the bottom, but I think she’ll rebound.)

About Joel Kahn

Joel is currently a film major at BU. He hails from South Florida, and started at The Quad writing about food. He is now the publisher of The Quad.

View all posts by Joel Kahn →

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