Top Chef Bowl

This is has been a weird season of Top Chef. First the consistently inconsistent judges often sending the better cooks home. Then the number of theme shows seem at an all time high for Top Chef. First, Thanksgiving and now a take off of The Super Bowl, Top Chef Bowl. You could tell this was filmed well before the football season ended with neither actual participant of this year’s Super Bowl, Arizona Cardinals or Pittsburgh Steelers, being represented in Top Chef Bowl. Last season the swearing bothered me immensely. This year I must have gotten used to it because I don’t give it much thought anymore. What does bother me is how boring some of the contestants are. Also bothersome are the excessive promotion of products in their challenges.

Guest judge for this week was the owner of Scarpetta’s, Scott Conant. The Quaker Oaks Quickfire Challenge was to take a food group determined by what square the chefs wrote their name in, in a board called Football Squares. Then they were to combine Quaker Oats with the food group they selected and make an original dish. The food groups chosen were, Jamie (Fruits), Leah (Seafood), Fabio (Veggies), Stefan (Dairy), Hosea (Meat), Carla (Nuts & Grains), Jeff (Poultry). The top three chefs in Quicfire Challenge were Stafan, Carla, and Jamie. Stefan’s banana nuts with Quaker Oats Almond Petitie Four won. As like last week the winner of the Quickfire Challenge didn’t gain immunity.

Now comes the Top Chef Bowl with All Stars from previous seasons going against Season 5 in a cook off featuring dishes from the area of a chosen NFL team. The all stars were Andrew, Nikki, and Spike all from Season 4, Andrea and Miguel from Season 1, Josie from season 2, and from season 3, Camille. The NFL teams were the New York Giants, The Miami Dolphins, The San Francisco 49ers, The Seattle Seahawks, The Dallas Cowboys, The New Orleans Saints, and the Green Bay Packers. As winner of the Quickfire Challenge Stefan got to pick both his team and his opponent. Stefan picked the Cowboys and the cook he thought was the weakest, Andrea. The lesson there for us guys is never and I repeat never underestimate women! In the Top Chef audience were Ice Culinary Students. The cook winning the judges over got 7 points, the cook winning the audience over got 3 points. Here is the round by round results.

Round 1 - The New York Giants. Leah 7, Nikki 3.

Round 2 = The Seattle Seahawks. Hosea 10 Miguel 0, Season 5 17 All Stars 3

Round 3 - The New Orleans Saints. Carla 7 Andrew 3, Season 5 24, All Stars 6

Round 4 - Dallas Cowboys. Andrea 10 Stefan 0 (he kind of got the hots for Andrea after losing to her) Season 5 - 24, All Stars 16

Round 5 - San Francisco 49ers. Jamie 10 Camille 0, Season 5 34, All Stars 16

Round 6- Miami Dolphins. Josie 10 Jeff 0, Season 5 34, All Stars 26

Round 7- Green Bay Packers. Spike 7 Fabio 3. Final Score. Season 5 37, All Stars 33.

Carla ended up on top with her crawfish and gumbo over stone-ground grits and won two tickets two the Super Bowl. Those tickets sometimes run about a thousand bucks each.

As losers of their cook offs, Stefan, Jeff, and Fabio ended up in the bottom three. There was no way Stefan was going home. The judges aren’t going to boot off the season’s most interesting character. It came down to being between Jeff and Fabio. I thought it might be Fabio after a classless banter with the Scott Conant. Nope it was Jeff. I didn’t really like Jeff at the start of the show but he kind of grew on me and I thought he left with a lot of class. It was also obvious he was well liked by most the chefs, as most chefs, including Stefan, hugged him. There is also an Internet rumor that while Hosea and Leah were publically being stupid, that Jeff and Radhika quietly hooked up. I'd be surprised if that rumor were true.

For you Top Chef fans who is your favorite to win? Mine is Stefan but it wouldn’t surprise me if Cooky Carla slid in there and took the Top Chef crown. For you non Top Chef fans what is on your menu tomorrow? Both food and fun wise.