Top Chef: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Episode 11 promises to be the shocker we’ve been waiting for. Marcel reminded us that at the beginning he thought his biggest competition would be Sam, Elia, Ilan and Cliff. He was right on with his prediction because they are the five that remain.
First came the Quickfire Challenge:
Padma started by introducing the guest judge for this week, Eric Ripert, Chef/Owner of Le Bernadin. They were told that they would be working with chocolate. Gee, that’s my kind of challenge….I wish I was there to help taste-test…
The chefs were given 90 minutes to create something using one of the two Nestle Chocolatier flavors.
These were the chocolate creations:
- Elia: Poached Chicken Topped with a chili Chocolate Sauce & Caramelized Pecans ~~ she then went on to say she had created a second dish: Cremeaux Mousse of Ginger & Chocolate with Strawberry & Mint on a Crumble (Go, Elia!)
- Sam: (he doesn’t use chocolate normally because he’s diabetic) Shrimp & Banana with Chocolate Chipotle, Black Bean & Cilantro Pesto Sauces (shrimp & bananas??)
- Cliff: Braised Chicken with Piquillo Pepper, Rosemary & Chocolate Sauce with Potatoes
- Ilan: Chicken Liver Chocolate Ganache with Fried Ginger & Sherry Sauce (chocolate & chicken liver?!? What? Is he nuts?)
- Marcel: Potato Cannellonis Filled with Coffee Whip Creme & Chocolate Mousse with Vanilla Powder (at least it’s not another of his foams…)
The guest judge, chef Ripert said that if Elia had only prepared the dessert, she would have won. But her other dish was not good. After the critiques, Sam was the winner of the challenge.
Next came the Elimination Challenge:
The chefs would have to create a romantic five-course dinner with paired wines for a restaurant full of celebrating couples. The couples will all be looking for an intimate, special, romantic experience to remember. The dinner was to take place in Santa Barbara. Sam got to choose his dish first, since he won the Quickfire Challenge.
Sam chose to do the first course and use lobster and scallops. That meant that none of the others could use those proteins. That was disappointing for Marcel, because he wanted to use lobster.
Here were the dishes they they decided to create:
- Sam - 1st course: Seared Scallops with Lobster Plum Sauce and Beets
- Ilan - 2nd course: Fideos (small, toasted pasta) with Clams and Saffron
- Marcel - 3rd course: Salmon with Celeriac and Beets
- Cliff - 4th course: Sirloin with Lentil Puree
- Elia - 5th course: - “The Kiss” - Chocolate Mousse with a Chocolate Heart served on a Pastry Heart
During preparation, Marcel was getting on everyone’s nerves. They were all feeling under the gun and wanting to go to the finals in Hawaii so it was tense in the kitchen. Marcel refused to help Sam with his dish, saying, “I think I’m going to be busy, dude.”
The chefs got into a verbal tussle over the use of the stove burners and preparing their dishes. Marcel, once again, was impatient and no one would help him at all. Then, Sam stepped up to help, even though Marcel had not helped him.
The judges were not happy with Cliff’s dish and had a lot of criticism for it.
Elia was upset with herself because the chocolate hearts had to be broken because they were not all perfect.
After drinking they all discussed shaving their heads together. First, Ilan did it. Then, Elia did it. I can’t believe she did that. Her hair was beautiful. Then they decided to go shave Marcel’s hair. They went and woke him from a sound sleep and Cliff was holding him down to shave his head against his will. Not that his hair couldn’t use a good cut or style, but this was bordering on assault!
Marcel got away and was angry, but didn’t get the head shaved. He left the room and slept in the bathroom floor. He had floor burns on him and was treated very badly. All the other chefs knew it had gone way too far.
The next morning, Tom Colicchio went to the suite and asked to talk to Cliff. He explained that the rules had been broken and that he would have to leave the competition. The competitors had signed contracts that they would do no harm to their fellow competitors, nor would they touch another competitor in an agressive manner, and Cliff had manhandled Marcel. It was the right thing to do. I commend Chef Colicchio for sending him home. It was sad, but the right thing.
Cliff accepted it as well as could be expected. He knew he deserved to go home. Marcel was gracious and gave Cliff a quick hug and wished him well.
When Tom told the other judges about Cliff and the incident, they were all shocked and sad, but told him that Cliff’s dish had been their least favorite so he probably would have gone home anyway.
Then when Elia and Ilan came to the judges room with their heads shaved, all mouths dropped open. What a surprise!
After critiquing the chefs’ execution of their dishes, they decided to send all four of them to the finals in Hawaii.
I hope Elia and Ilan pack plenty of sunscreen for their bare scalps!!
On his Bravo blog, Chef Colicchio says that he originally wanted to send all the chefs home for their part in the incident and let Marcel win by default, but was overruled by the show’s producers. I have seen many other blogs and reports of the incident and consensus seems to be the same as my opinion, that it was right to send home Cliff. And I am glad that we still get to see the finale in Hawaii. It would have been terribly disappointing and anti-climactic to have the season end on such a huge downer. That’s not an excuse for the other chefs’ behavior, but Cliff really did cross the line and need to go.
What a horrible shame. He seems like such a great cook and passionate competitor. I hope this doesn’t damage the rest of his career in some way.
What do you think of this episode? Did it shock you? Do you agree with the decision to send Cliff home? Should they all have had to go home? Let me know what you think!
You can read what chef & judge Tom Colicchio thought of the episode on his blog on the Bravo site.
If you want to get the recipes for these and other Top Chef dishes, go to the Bravo site.
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POSTED IN: Top Chef
2 opinions for Top Chef: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Jonathan Ramsey
Jan 19, 2007 at 9:02 am
Excellent!
Marcel, though, tried to pull one over on us. “Mousse” is the French word for “Foam”.
Lynn
Jan 19, 2007 at 9:13 am
Good catch!! I guess he doeasn’t know how to make a dish with no foam (or mousse). ;-)
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