As Bug-Eyed Carla once eloquently said "Hooty-hoo!" Something's brewin' over in Top Chef land! Cheftestant Jeff was sent home in last night's Top Chef and today he's not too happy about it. He's calling out Colicchio's food as "bland." Them's fightin' words, Fake Dr. Chase. Watch your back! I, myself, was bummed that Jeff left; I didn't find him particularly attractive or anything but he seemed like an okay chef and a nice guy. No snarky comments. And he wasn't Hosea. Or Stefan. Or Leah. He was someone I could root for. However, when the bottom three were Stefan, Fabio and Jeff, I think we all knew Vanilla McTreeStump Jeff was going to pack his knives and go - the dude had waaaaaaaay less to offer personality-wise to the Powers That Be at Bravo.
I knew his offing would cause at least a little heated debate on the message boards, though, so I checked them out today at lunch. (If you need a recap of the episode in general, you can check it out here. Not too hilarious - and kind of annoying, actually - but it gets the job done.) Yowza! There was indeed some heated debate... Which I won't bore you with. But I will say that there are a LOT of conspiracy theorists out there who think Fabio is still on the show only to "increase his credibility" for a future TV cooking show, most people (whether they love him or hate him) agree that Jeff was was too bland stay on the show and just about everyone hates Stefan. I then moved on to Tom's blog. Here are my favorite excerpts: The only thing I didn't like about this challenge was the voting power invested in the young culinary students, who, I'm afraid, tended to vote personality over palate. On the other hand, there had to be a way to break the ties that occurred between the four judges more than once. Also -- Top Chef All-Stars? It might be a stretch to say so: Some didn't make it more than half-way through their season's competition. Andrea was eliminated not once but twice, and not one of the members of the "All-Star" team made it to their season's finale. Still, they're all solidly good chefs and having already weathered prior seasons, they had the advantage of having been through the stress of the competition before.
As for the bottom dishes, Jeff's was the overall weakest. First of all, it wasn't actually ceviche. As I'm sure you know, ceviche is seafood that is literally cooked by the acid in the citrus in which it is steeped (the citric acid causes a chemical reaction that cooks the fish without needing to add heat). Here, Jeff poached the shrimp first. Josie may have done so as well -- I'm not sure. But regardless, her dish was far more flavorful; aside from Padma, it was the clear favorite of both the judges and the students. Similarly, while the venison was overcooked, Fabio's sauce was excellent and his dish, overall, showed more creativity and intensity of flavor. Jeff is very concerned about presentation. He's right that it is important, however it's not the beginning and end of the story, and his dish was just weak. The sorbet on top was a good idea in theory, not in practice. It was fine cold, but once it started to melt, it just became watery and didn't hold up. At the end of the day, the dish was bland and uninteresting, regardless of how it was presented. Unfortunately for Jeff, decision at the Judges' Table was clear to us all this week.
Clearly, Tom does not subscribe to the conspiracy, Big Personalities = Big Ratings. And the fact that Top Chef (like every other reality competition show) has the little "Winning and elimination decisions were made by the Judges in consultation with the producers. Some elimination decisions were discussed with Bravo" clause at the end of the credits doesn't dissuade any of us from thinking that Fabio's accent saved his ass last night. (Tom's rep has to be at least somewhat protected, though, since he called out the "All Stars." Thank you!!! I couldn't - and still can't - remember who the f*&k Camille was. What kind of All Star is that?!) Well! Jeff must have been one of the people burning up the message boards on the great Fabio Conspiracy because he released an official statement to People.com today and it sounds a little something like this:
Jeff McInnes was nothing if not serious about his food. And when the Miami-based chef lost his head-to-head challenge in Wednesday night's episode, he took the loss hard. Calling from his Florida restaurant Dilido Beach Club, the chef had some spicy words about his competitors, head judge Tom Colicchio and why he felt “used” by the show. He also tackled our five burning questions.
Did you think Fabio was going to be eliminated — or did you know it was your
time?
We all thought it was going to be Fabio. He had overcooked venison. It was well done. It was dried out, overcooked, [the] salad was wilted [and the] dressing was just soaked into the salad. It was a bad dish. They even showed on TV when the judges came up and ate mine, every single one of them said, “I like yours. I like yours too. I think I’m going to vote for [Josie's].” … They all said something negative about Fabio’s, so it was strange for the judges to all say something positive [about my dish] and then me be the one who goes.
Talk about your ceviche dish versus Josie’s? Was your dish more authentic?
Ceviche is a chilled seafood dish that’s cooked in acid. Josie took a can of black beans and heated it up in a sauce pot, and put some shrimp in there and heated up the shrimp. It’s like shrimp nachos what she made. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s actually a Cuban dish like that, too. But for her to call it ceviche is interesting. … If the tables were turned and she was the Top Chef challenging, it would have been judged a little more [harshly].
Were you held to a different standard?
Definitely. I’m competing for [the title of] Top Chef. Josie was just in there [as] a hit man, coming to knock you out. Say she made beef Wellington, which is something wrapped in puff pastry, and called it carpaccio. It doesn’t matter to Tom.
One constant criticism of your food was that there were too many components to each dish. Was that helpful or constructive?
It was a criticism that night. It’s something I thought about. [But] that dish is on my menu … [and I] served it to about 20 people today. They all loved it. I am not going to change that dish because Tom Colicchio said he didn’t like it. It’s a little shocking [that] I went home over that dish, but I’m not going to change the way I cook because of one person’s opinion. My opinion about Tom Colicchio’s food is that it’s extremely boring. I’ve been to his restaurant. His chicken dish on his menu is roasted chicken with roasted potatoes, thyme and olive oil. If I want that, I’d go to my grandmother’s house. That’s just not exciting to me. I don’t know who would go out and pay exorbitant amounts of money for that food.
How do you think you’ll be remembered on the show? What impression did you leave?
I think the show used me as some kind of sex object. Every single show that I’ve ever seen, they have me with my shirt off in the beginning — which is kind of strange. I don’t run around the house naked half the time like they portrayed me. It seems like a camera was always following me around trying to find me whenever I’m taking my clothes off to change in the morning or at night. So, to be used like that is always fun.
Our Top Chef 5 Burning Questions:
Describe your Top Chef experience in one word.
Exciting.
What is in your refrigerator right now?
Chicken.
Name one food you cannot stand.
There’s nothing, really.
Pick your favorite fast-food restaurant.
Street food? There’s little Taquerias. There’s a place called Lime that’s good around here.
Gail or Toby?
Gail — she knew food better. She had a better palate.
Hoo boy!!!!! Did Fake Dr. Chase just liken Tom's food to his grandmother's??!!! Methinks Jeff should sit in the back - the waaaaaay back - at the reunion show. Yikes. Plus, you're not really helping yourself out in the boring and bland department by saying you have chicken in your fridge. I have chicken in MY fridge - and I eat off the children's menu at Disneyland!
(Oh, and just as an end note - best part of last night's show? When Fabio (during one of his and Jeff's many shirtless scenes) said "I can't believe this. I'm 30 years old and I have to sleep in the bunky bed." Hee!!!! I must have rewound and watched that about a dozen times. Hilarious!)
An addendum to yesterday's post...
