[Important and exciting programming note: Instead of doing the usual post-episode recap, myself and a host of A.V. Club Top Chef watchers are going to liveblog the finale. Amelie Gillette did this with Project Runway a few weeks ago via the CoverItLive application, and it’s always tremendous, interactive fun. Joining me next week: Amelie, Donna Bowman, Noel Murray, Emily Withrow, Kyle Ryan, Todd VanDerWerff (for a bit), Steve Hyden, and maybe more. Also join me: You, the reader, who can chime in with your own observations and bon mots, and participate in insta-polls and other features. The action will begin 15 minutes before the show starts— 9:45 p.m. ET/8:45 p.m. CT—so we can share some quick predictions and thoughts on the season in general.]
If there was ever any doubt that Season Six had left us with the most talented final four in series history—and there really wasn’t any doubt, but still—the first part of the finale put it definitively to rest. I’d favor any one of them over the winners of three seasons—Ilan from Season Two, Hosea from Season Five, and Stephanie from Season Four, though the latter would be competitive, at least against Jennifer on an off day—and the lack of any imposters among them was both reassuring (in that I’d be comfortable with any coming away a winner) and inspiring, because the level of competition is so elevated. I’m reminded a bit of the closing stretch of Top Chef Masters, a spinoff that was tiresome and repetitive at many points during the season, but produced a finale so full of invention and delicious-looking creations that it was as good as any Top Chef episode I can remember. In two challenges tonight, there wasn’t a single irredeemable plate served; for once, it was more a matter of less great than catastrophic.
Set in Napa Valley for the final two episodes—and from the size of Padma’s very pregnant belly (not to mention the contestants’ awareness of the season as it’s aired), several months removed from the previous one—the show begins with Kevin, Jen, and the Voltaggio brothers waiting for the wine train to pick them up. There was a little of the obligatory “I don’t know what’s going to happen” nonsense going on, but they knew they’d have to cook on the thing, which fills the motion sickness-prone Kevin with anxiety. With Michael Chiarello, one of the three Top Chef Masters finalists, serving as judge, they’re given their final “high stakes” Quickfire challenge: Cook something that incorporates grapes, and the winner takes home a 3rd generation Toyota Prius.
(I’m tempted to make my usual product placement joke here, but I drove a rental Prius once and it was a dream: A smooth, quiet ride that got an obscene 50 mpg on the highway. For practical-minded dorks like myself, it was like a Lamborghini is to rich douchebags. That said, I can only assume the 3rd generation is more susceptible to spontaneous combustion, to say nothing of the ill-advised novelty balloon-animal airbags.)
The main challenge of cooking on a train, of course, is the movement. Though Kevin had to worry about his motion sickness, everyone had to wield super-sharp kitchen knives with the car bobbing and weaving, which couldn’t have been easy. Kevin’s honey and goat cheese mousse dessert was perhaps the least well-received of the bunch, but he deserves a lot of credit for getting it out there in the first place. Motion sickness can be a crippling thing. But Michael was the pretty clear winner of the Quickfire, if only for his sound idea to use the regional grapes in as many components of the dish as possible (grape leaf wrapping, grape and salad kabob, grilled on the vine, etc.). In general, chefs like Michael, who set a higher degree of difficulty than most, are immediately vulnerable when things go awry (e.g. Richard Blais in Season Four), but if he hits his marks next week, you have to give him the edge. (Still, a cute little Toyota Prius seems insufficiently badass for a self-styled rebel like him. Maybe he’ll trade it in for a monster truck.)
The Elimination challenge brought everyone to the Rutherford Hills winery for a “crush party,” which celebrates the harvest. Once again, a premium was placed on local ingredients: Other than salt and pepper, the chefs could only use local produce and local proteins for their two dishes, one of which had to be vegetarian. (Zooey Deschanel and Natalie Portman would have loved to be there, but they were feeling a bit too faint to make the journey.) Aside from a few complaints here and there—an overseasoned dish here, an underseasoned dish there, a brisket that was a little on the “toothsome” side—all four chefs excelled, which is especially impressive given the limitations of serving outside for 150 people. Michael’s ambition threatened to get the best of him, when his farm-fresh eggs went runny and there was some disagreement among the judges over a turnip soup that may or may not have been too bitter. His brother Bryan, who has quietly stayed above the fray all season, put together the most complete dish with his goat cheese ravioli and braised short ribs. I hadn’t realized until his post-win interview that he hadn’t once been on the bottom three all season; maybe he’s slip away from his more ostentatious competitors next week.
Alas, it was Jen who got sent home, though the months off from the show were clearly revitalizing for her. I was a little disappointed with Tom’s chief rationale for dismissing her: The judges advise the chefs all the time to adjust when things don’t go as originally planned, but he chided Jen for losing the flame on the wood-fired grill rather than praising her for shifting gears and doing a confit instead. A confit all of them hailed for its “duckiness” oh by the way. Nevertheless, we finally got to see the dominant Jen of old again. Trouble is, she didn’t have any scrubs left to dominate over tonight.