TV Recap: Top Chef New York - Le Bernardin

Well this episode of Top Chef made two people look like a fool. The first is me with my now lame predictions on who will be in the finale. But I’m sticking with Stefan, he’s still the man. The other fool I’ll reveal later. Bringing Eric Ripert onto Top Chef usually means two things: fish, and back to basics French cooking. And that came through in spades, much to Jamie’s apparent annoyance. Seriously, she seemed to have such a chip on her shoulder the entire time that I knew what would happen before it did. I’m hoping there was either some editing done to make her look that way or perhaps she was just in a bad mood.

The show starts with another great Quickfire. No sponsors. No weirdness. No messing with your mind. Just a test of pure skill as the cheftestants faced off in a fish filleting tournament. First up was tiny sardine, which are just super tiny fish. As in you could cut off your entire finger before realizing a mistake was made. Carla absolutely butchered her fish, and knew it. She told Chef Ripert he didn’t have to say a word, she already knew it was Crapoly. Jamie also had a hard time of it, cutting a bit too much with her knife. Everyone else did an adequate job. Leah took the first round.

Next up was arctic char. Watching as Hosea – a fish guy – expertly filleted his fish it was clear he would win. The fillets were beautiful. Then it came down to a battle between Hosea and Stefan. Hosea has wanted to knock Stefan down for weeks now, and this appeared to be the perfect opportunity. But oh no, here comes some fresh water eel. Hosea had no clue what to do with it, but Stefan grew up with the stuff. So as Stefan nailed the eel to a cutting board in order to anchor it for skin removal Hosea followed his example. When it came down to the end Stefan beat out Hosea simply because of a familiarity with the ingredient. For never working with eel before Hosea didn’t do a horrible job.

It was great to have Top Chef get back to being a show about being a chef, and having great technique. But what was with the weird attitudes from people? Jamie spent the entire lunch at Le Bernardin complaining she found the food boring, which you knew meant she’d missed the subtlety of Chef Ripert’s technique. Leah was on my nerves the entire time throwing out and “Are you kidding me?” now and then. It was like watching a petulant child try to cook, and I could swear she’s done with the competition. Chef Colicchio noticed it too, and it almost got her sent home. Hosea simply fumed for most of the episode because he’s so focused on taking down the “Euros.” I didn’t detect any real bitterness, but there was a lot of disappointment for Hosea this week.

The Elimination Challenge found the cheftestants sitting down for a six course lunch at Le Bernardin, and they were tasked with recreating the meal for the judges. Most of the lunch consisted of the cheftestants bowing to the altar of Chef Ripert. All except Jamie, who had nothing nice to say. It got to be a little much, and considering how much a few of them missed on the execution it’s clear they were just brown nosing. Otherwise they would have noticed what went into the dish and applied it to their version.

Here’s how the dishes broke down: Stefan got to choose the course he wanted and he chose a simple lobster with hollandaise and asparagus; Hosea had the monkfish; Jamie got the black bass with braised celery; Carla was given oil poached escolar; Leah was approached by some mahi mahi, but might have given up again; and Fabio got the sourdough crusted red snapper.

The judges said that Stefan’s lobster dish, despite a thicker hollandaise, was almost a perfect match for what comes out of Le Bernardin’s kitchen. Hosea overcooked his fish, and over spiced it. Leah just butchered the miso idea by adding butter to it. Carla realized that what Chef Ripert called a “red béarnaise” on the menu really wasn’t.

Stefan, Fabio, and Carla were in the top three. Hosea, Leah, and Jamie found themselves in the bottom. Stefan’s nearly perfect execution of Chef Ripert’s dish earned him another win. Jamie overcooked and over salted her braised celery so much that Padma said she would have sent it back if she could. Not surprising after watching the episode, Jamie goes home.

Damn! I hated to see Jamie go, but it goes to prove once again how Top Chef judges everyone from week to week. If your dish is the worst that week, even if you’re riding high all season, you are the one most likely to go home.

Top Chef recaps presented in partnership with MunchMonster.com.