As the Film Editor of the A.V. Club, based here in Chicago, I was particularly excited about tonight’s episode—so excited, in fact, that I was willing to look past the professional jealousy of “famed Chicago film critic” Richard Roeper taking the guest judge slot instead of, say, me. (No offense to Richard, but three of the four words in the phrase “famed Chicago film critic” are questionable.) Create a dinner where each course is inspired by your favorite movie? Great idea. Who would be the bold contestants to choose Alive? Rescue Dawn? Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life?
But first, there’s the Quickfire, which asked the contestants to create a beautiful vegetable plate demonstrating three techniques that might impress guest judge Daniel Boulud. Not being a hoity-toity chef, the mind races to figure out just what those vegetable presentation techniques would be; evidently, dumping spinach dip into a hollowed-out sourdough bread bowl would not impress Mssr. Boulud. Nor would anything that our dear departed poop-smearing Erik might have concocted, so it’s probably best he wasn’t around for this. In any case, the challenge was appealingly wonky, especially to those of us outside of the culinary world who aren’t always conscious of knife skills and plating, even if it subconsciously enhances the dining experience.
The Quickfire also separated wheat from chaff like no challenge to date, because it immediately let us know which chefs have advanced skills and which ones haven’t progressed much beyond culinary school. I think it’s safe to say that anyone in the bottom three (Nikki, Lisa, and Manuel) are marked for eventual (or in Manuel’s case, imminent) death, as are those like Zoi, who admits to not being “classically trained,” and Ryan, who apparently worked with Boulud but found that his was “not my style.” And on the other end, we get confirmation that Richard and Dale are likely not going away any time soon, unless Richard takes some sort of crazy gamble that doesn’t pay off. Mostly, though, the challenge was a vocabulary lesson in fancy, mainly French-sounding techniques: Batonettes, chiffonade, tourneé, brunois, supremes, quenelle, tagliatello, et al. It’s too bad that Stephen from Season One missed out on the fun; he’d have concocted some gorgeous, inedible progression of cuts and colors that would have surely placed him in the “top three percentile.”
Onto the Elimination Challenge, the contestants draw knives to determine who they’ll be paired with and for what course in a six-course dinner. Dale, the Quickfire winner, wisely throws in with molecular gastronomist odd couple Richard and Andrew on first course. (Ever the chest-thumper, Andrew interprets Dale’s decision as “the weak choosing the strong.”) The decision to choose Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory turns out to be a brilliant one, because it gives the group license to experiment without seeming too desperately whimsical. As much as Zoi and the others complain about their flavor combinations, you have to appreciate the miracle of smoked salmon with faux caviar and wasabi while chocolate sauce cohering into an appropriately light, delicate first course. No doubt Roeper and the gang were taking a “culinary crap in their pants” when sampling it. (Please, Bravo: Bring Andrew back next season in some capacity, at least as a guest blogger on the website. You just can’t get turns of phrase like that from Gail Simmons.)