Top Chef Seattle - Finale live-blog

It's the last episode of Top Chef Seattle. Our city, our show. Two talented chefs: Brooke from LA and Kristen from Boston. Both cool chicks. Both easy on the eyes. Excited? You could say that.

My money has always been on Kristen. She has a clean style, doesn't blow it on technique, and is laser-focused on the details. If the finale pushes them to do something where they're timed, Kristen will win. She gets in trouble when she isn't under the gun and has time to let her brain meander.

But with no time and ingredient constraints, Brooke will dominate. She came up with some seriously interesting courses this season: Here. Are. My favorites. Let's put it this way; I'd eat at Kristen's restaurant everyday for lunch. I'd eat at Brooke's on a special occasion where I'd order 3-4 courses.

10:00 - here we go. whoa, what? the chefs are already cooking?! looks like the outed cheftestants are sous-ing it. and we're apparently they're in an Iron Chef-esque Thunderdome... Ann notes a Voltaggio presence. Shocker.

10:01 - Brooke background. LA prodigy with the pedigree. Both ladies acknowledging the other as their main competition.

10:02 - team Brooke: CJ, Stefan and Kuniko. Kristen has Lizzie, Sheldon and Josh. Each chef has snapper and scallops for 2nd and 4th course. The rest is up to them. Top scallop, bitches!!

10:04 - Padma's boobs are very excited to be here. First dish coming out shortly. Brooke is starting with a pig's ear and 63 degree egg salad, that's a play off of lardon and frisee salad. CJ's already sweaty and burning the pig's ears. ruh roh.

10:06 - Got the winner's table in there: Stephanie, Paul, , Harold, Elan, Kevin, Michael...the whole crew. First dishes are out. Kristen has chicken liver mousse with mustard, prune, hazelnuts, and pumpernickel salad. Kristen getting rave reviews. Brooke doing pig's ear and chicory salad with 6 min egg, candied kumquats and apricot jam. Pig's ear is a little overcooked, but otherwise good marks.

10:10 - Judges pick a winner each round, first chef with 3 rds win. And Kristen takes the first round solidly from all judges.

10:15 - Next up, rd two...Top scallop! Super fresh, still in the shell. Stefan jokes that he choose light blue for their unborn lovechild's bedroom. Oh, Steffers! You cad.

10:17 - flashback to Brooke talking about her son and her phobias. They are numerous. I'm not gonna make light of those, because they look like they're kinda crippling. But, can we please focus on something else? Is she really just a mom/chef with a shattering case of acrophobia? Gail interviewing Brooke's family to pass the time. Brooke is apparently a cooking savant, at a very early age.

10:19 - Mike V spotting - "I want to be down there." And Ann missed her chance to say "That's what she said."

10:21 - This scallop dishes look beautiful...and here they come. Brooke does a seared scallop over salt cod puree, black currant, mustard seed vinaigrette, juniper, romanesco and crispy speck. the former winners complain a little of overcooked scallops, but the judges aren't even phased at all. Brooke might have a little too much on the plate here. Kristen has a citrus & lavender-cured scallop with meyer lemon, bitter orange and apple. Looks absolutely gorgeous. Kristen is taking this.

10:26 - The Hughnabrow is a sucker for romanesco, and gives the tie-breaker to Brooke. Kristen's plating was perfect...I don't know how you could lose that one.

10:28 - Kristen is doing crispy bone marrow for 3rd. Brooke is going for redemption with some vadouvan chicken wings. Tom explains how each chef's style can work against them. Would anyone every question Tom at this point; the dude is on point with everything.

10:31 - flashback to Josie-gate. Barf. Let's move on.

10:32 - Kristen is a hot chef-bot that cannot be stopped. She'll go to Korea on vacation if she wins.

10:34 - 3rd course is out. Brooke does a vadouvan fried chicken wing with sumac yougurt tahini and pickled kohlrabi fatoush. Looks like a middle eastern BBQ plate. Brooke apologies for not bringing wet-naps. Kristen brings out a celery root puree, crispy bone marrow, mushrooms, bitter greens and barely cooked radishes. Not a run-away hit...we'll see. Kristen pulls it out. 2 to 1. Only one round between her and victory. Brooke is freaking.

10:39 - 4th course...snapper. But first, some messages from the winners. And Elan breaks a lamp. Methinks there are plenty of drinks between courses.

Holy shit there are a lot of commercials.

10:45 - Back to the snapper. Both chefs seem supremely confident in what they're making. Padma interviewing the winners...Elan says he looked fat. We all do, bro. Except for Padma.

10:51 - And plates are out. Brooke has to kill it here. Brooke makes a braised pork cheek with crispy red snapper with collard green slaw and sorrel puree with pomegranate seeds. Kristen brings out snapper with leeks, little gem lettuce, tarragon, uni and shellfish nage. Sounds very coastal French. Gail complains about the leeks, but Hughanbrow isn't phased.

10:55 - we're getting short on time. not enough time to get another course in. hmmm.

10:58 - decision time on 4th course. and here comes the votes...
Gail goes Kristen

Emeril goes...Kristen

oh boy...

Tom time.

...
...
Kristen!

She wins!! my girl takes it!!

Aww, I feel for Brooke. No one thinks less of you, woman. You're a stud.

And that's it. Kristen takes the title, the second female to win the prize. Congrats, girlfriend. If you and Stefan don't work out, Ann and I can figure out some sort of girlfriend timeshare program. She'll be cool with it, I swear.

A little Top Chef Seattle preamble

A little backstory before we get to the finale live-blogging...

Ann and I had the opportunity to appear on two episodes of Top Chef this year. Some of you saw us. If not, here's us, post-Stefan&Brooke monte cristo and fig.

We were also in part 1 of Restaurant Wars with the concept food stands at Bite of Seattle. 

It was great to be a part of a show that we've followed for many years, and watch religiously. We were very lucky to know the right people that graciously offered to bring us along. So thanks to Brooks & his wife, Nate & Jenna, and the producers at Bravo for letting us in and not leaving us on the cutting room floor.

Here's some random thoughts I have on the season, based on what we all saw, and what I saw behind the scenes:

• Kristen and Lizzie had the best dishes at Bite. We didn't have a chance to sample Josie's or Brooke's, and Sheldon had run out of food by the time we got to him, but none of the other contestants came close. 
• Stefan is a ham. Not that anyone didn't already know this. He joked with us while we waited for his white chocolate & passionfruit lollipops. He splashed liquid nitrogen on the floor next to him and dared us to stick our hands in and do the same. He talked shit about Josie. We asked if he was nervous. "Oh shit, of course not. This is my second time around. I don't even care. I have 5 restaurants and a Ferrari." He also said Brooke and Kristen were very talented. And look who's in the final...
• Lizzie was probably the nicest chef we talked to. Very sweet and bordering on shy. I'm a sucker for her Saffa accent too. 
• CJ was the comedian of the bunch at Pike's Place. Bummed he didn't make it farther. Very cool dude. 
• Both times, Sheldon ran out of food early. I never got to eat any of his food. I was kinda surprised that the judges didn't make a bigger deal about this given in the past, wait times and lack of food have been held against chef-testants. 
• Padma is probably the most ridiculously beautiful woman I've ever seen in person. She's an effing alien. Her legs go up to her armpits. She has cheekbones for days. She must drink the blood of 7 virgins each night to maintain her perfect skin & hair. 
• Like every other male who watches the show, I have a major crush on Kristen. She's very striking in real-life. She also served up some really great dishes, especially at Bite. Kristen and her onsen egg have a special place in my heart (and probably in my arteries too). 
• At Bite of Seattle, we were forced to wait for close to 2 hours, despite being in the second of four groups. The producers did a horrible job managing the crowd. The first group went in and basically camped for as long as possible. When we finally got in, most of the chefs were running out of food. We quickly grabbed dishes from Josh and Lizzie first, then Micah and Kristen, sat down, and started eating. Then the unbelievable happened. We were immediately approached by a producer and his camera crew and had the following dialogue: 
• Producer "Hi there - So, how many dishes is for you guys?"
• Me "Just grabbed our 4th from over there. We were in the 2nd group."
• Producer "Yeah, so we need you guys to finish up and head out so we can get everyone in. We still have 2 more groups to bring in."
• Me "Well, we just came in not more than 15 minutes ago, and there's people that have been in here for 2 hours already. We haven't even had half the dishes."
• Producer "Yeah, but we still have people that haven't had anything."
• Me (in my head) Those sound an awful lot like "you" problems and not "me" problems...if you can't even feed two groups, maybe you shouldn't have let in twice as many people as you needed.
• Me (out-loud) "Alright, we'll leave."
• We didn't leave. We just hid over next to Stefan's stand and made jokes with him about the other chefs and Padma. It was rad.

Live-blogging of the finale coming up next. I'm rooting for Kristen, but I feel like Brooke is engineered for a finale, where planning and course-progression are very important. My guess is Kristen will have 2 amazing dishes and 2 semi-clunkers and squeak out a win, but I definitely won't be upset if Brooke wins. Both presented the most consistent talent throughout the season, and I think we all agree they were the two that needed to face off at the end. We shall see...

Inkredible Ink: Food that sets the standard

Nick and I cook often and we eat out often (at great establishments, not just 'eating fresh' at Subway). We both grew up with food as an intimate and important part of our lives so we don't throw around this statement lightly:

We have just had one of the best meals of our lives.

Yes. We just threw down! In fact, we had some food that will ruin us for future meals because many other plates will be compared to this caliber of food.

The Trip.

It started as a total surprise. Nick told me to take a Friday off for a special surprise birthday trip, which I had thought would be somewhere within driving distance.  A weekend trip to Portland perhaps or a surprise foray to Willows Inn at Lummi island? I hoped! But lo and behold, I was whisked away to a totally surprising L.A, which I was totally stoked for, once I got my liquids and gels squared away in the car...

Yay. I love Disneyland. This is me when I walked through those gates. Giggity.

Even better, post Disneyland adventures, Nick informed me that I would be having dinner at Ink, the restaurant founded by Top Chef winner  Chef Michael Voltaggio. That season was one of our favorite seasons of Top Chef because the level of incredible talent there was staggering. Each challenge was a fun glimpse into creative madness and served as a exhibition of crazy imaginations. The top three finalists including Michael's own brother could all have won another Top Chef season on their own; they simply had the luck/misfortune of all competing against each other. So not to be completely geeky, but I've been a Michael Voltaggio fan for a while now. And culinary creativity aside, he's not bad to look at.

We were excited to eat, drink and enjoy the results of Chef Voltaggio's amazing culinary skills and imagination.

The Drink.

While I want to get right to the food, I have to give props to the bartender. The cocktail menu there was inspired with the most delicious and well-mixed cocktails. I am a fan of the move to incorporate classic cocktails, great mixology and artisanal ingredients into the fold of any great restaurant and Ink was no exception. Nick had bourbon cocktails and I opted for a pisco sour because I love egg white cocktails.

bourbon  rhubarb, aperol, lemon, peychauds bitters
pisco  pineapple, coconut water, falernum, lime

Cocktails are an important aspect of a great experience and we needed a little aperitif. 

The Food.

Ink was inkredible.

Nick and I are huge hamachi fans and ravenously devour How To Cook a Wolf's hamachi crudo every time we go eat there.

So we started our meal with: hamachi, dashi sponge, soy-yuzu, radish, rice cracker

This dish was beautiful, dainty and refined. The dashi sponge was more of a thick foam encompassing the fish with a flavorful sauce that wasn't overwhelming to this balanced dish.

We opted for the burrata next because, let's face it, who doesn't love fresh, gooey mozzarella and cream?

burrata, bottarga, egg yolk, little gems, lemon dressing

The best part was that the egg yolk and the burrata were the same temperature and unctuous consistency so the burrata melted into everything as if it were the egg white. It was a perfect little salad with the right crunch from the romaine and the bread.

Here is a photo of my excited self wanting to munch the bejeezus out of this food.

Nick had heard that their poutine was top-notch so that was our next snack.

poutine, chickpea fries, yogurt curds, lamb neck gravy

I ate the chickpea fries with curds, sans gravy and the fries were crisp and delicious. Poutine was once thought of as a disgusting Canadian snack but is en vogue all of the sudden and rightfully so - it's damn delicious. And so was Ink's adaptation.

Now the next dish was definitely my favorite and probably one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. Nick and I were intrigued by seeing this on the menu:

baja scallops, egg yolk gnocchi, mushroom hay

And we definitely are gnocchi fans! But this was no ordinary potato based gnocchi. The gnocchi was soft, airy and dense like a rich mousse. When we inquired about the technique, our lovely server informed us that it's basically just pure egg yolk that was cryovac'ed and then tubed out. However it was done, it was melt-in-your-mouth rich and velvety along with little perfectly cooked baja scallops swimming in a rich, umami mushroom sauce. The mushroom hay, which must have been some dehydrated mushroomy awesomeness that lent some crunch to the dish.

It was so tasty, here are two photos of how amazing this dish was:

That mushroom sauce was heavenly and complex; Nick and I spooned it up after all of the main parts of the dish were gobbled. We pretty much wanted to bathe in that dish. Ohhh yeah. Next up:

soft shell crab, tarragon mayo, caper, potato

This was certainly a pretty dish! My complaint about soft shell crab in general is that it is often too greasy. This was crispy, not too oily and generally very tasty. It wasn't as intoxicating as some of the other dishes and the Vietnamese in me wanted to dip this in nuoc cham with a side of pickled carrots.

Nick and I puzzled to recall how many dishes we had ordered and then they brought this out:

apple, caramel, walnut, burnt wood ice cream

Yay! For me? Why yes it's my birthday!

The server instructed me to crack open the top of the ice cream and let it shatter all over the dish. The entire plate was familiar, yet new at the same time. It wasn't too sweet and my stomach was satisfied with the combination of delicately sweet, tart and savory flavors and unusual textures. I am not even exactly sure of what this was but it had crumbles and soft creamy bits and fruit and smoky ice cream and all sorts of molecular gastronomical wonders.

Whoops. They had brought out the birthday dessert course out early. Our server joked about it and the manager apologized profusely but we honestly didn't care. It was an amazing meal and I replied that Nick usually likes to end with pork anyhow.

pork belly, charcoal oil, bbq flavor, corn

And this pork belly has changed his life:

It was perfectly cooked with a generous drizzle of charcoal oil and barbecue sauce which, according to Nick, tasted like a perfect summer afternoon of barbecue in your mouth. I mopped up the creamy corn grits on the side that were drizzled with the oil and the charred onion.

This photo is of Nick explaining that he gave up. He was pretty sure he was ruined for pork belly after this and it was undoubtedly the most delicious piece of pork belly he had ever tasted.

"That's it. I give up."

This photo is of Nick explaining the smokiness of the sauce and how it was like a summer afternoon barbecue wrapped up in a sauce.

"It's like they captured the essence of a summer BBQ"

 And this is just Nick in a stupor, dishing more of it into his mouth.

"nomnomnom"

And here are more photos just so you can see the obscene food porn that this rich pork belly is.

All evening long, the manager shuffled a few diners towards the kitchen window to greet Chef Voltaggio as he worked the line. They managed some words of gratitude but didn't get much more than a handshake and a couple of words in. I felt a bit shy but Nick asked our server if we might be able to greet the chef, seeing it was my birthday.

After paying the bill, the manager came out to apologize again for the pork-as-dessert mix up and then said that we could give our compliments to the chef. However, he said, "Michael usually doesn't like to meet people in the dining room and so he would like to meet you outside on the front patio, if that's ok." I was a bit confused but followed him out of the front door. Then, Chef Michael Voltaggio came out magically to shake our hands.

ZOMG.

He was so ridiculously sweet and generous. He apologized profusely for the dessert mix up although we giddily told him how wonderful his food was and that we didn't care what came last. We told him that it was inspired cuisine that we had traveled for and were delighted to consume. He asked where we were staying and told us a few fun bars and places along Abbot Kinney to check out. He was sociable and super nice.

That's when the manager said, "So um, this is when we would normally take a photo...?" My jaw dropped. I had heard another patron ask the manager if they could take a picture with him, only to be declined. I quickly grabbed my camera, made sure the settings were okay and shoved it at the manager. Michael put his arms around our shoulders and....

I freaked out. He's amazing.

Chef Michael Voltaggio was completely sweet, humble and genuine but most importantly, he's a damn talented chef who just served us some of the most amazing food we had ever eaten. I now know exactly why he won Top Chef because I have experienced that creativity, skillset and ability to execute myself. Chef Michael: If you're ever in Seattle, hit us up and we'll take you out to delicious places to eat.

Nick: You are the best boyfriend ever and this was the most fantastic 30th birthday a girl could hope for. You even let me ogle at another man. :) But you're the man for me!

Top Chef All Star: Finale!!!

It's been a long time since I've done a Top Chef live blog...so let's do one. And what would be better than the Top Chef All-Star finale!?

Blais vs Isabella! Woe-is-me vs. Look-at-me! The Hair vs The Gut! Talent vs. Whatever Mike is.

Clearly, I have a favorite...

10:05 - So...the finals challenge is for both chefs to create the restaurant of their dreams, with a 4 course tasting menu that represents their talent as culinary all-stars that they are.

Blais is trying to lower the expectations around him. Isabella is trying to get in his head. This title is going to come down to which crumbles first: Mike's ego or Blais' confidence.

Hey! The other all-stars are back, making amuses for Mike and Richard to taste. By selecting the amuse, the cheftestants select their sous chefs.

10:11 - So Blais got Antonia, Spike and Angelo, and Mike grabs Carla, Jennifer and Jamie. First reaction is that Richard picks some sous chefs that play to his strengths (avante garde, heavy on flavor, grounded in fundamentals but can diverge into cutting edge), where as Mike has selected some women (which will be tough for him) that have very strong personalities. For Mike to succeed, he'll need to be the opposite of what Marcel was during Restaurant Wars. If he can't, just give Richard the crown now.

Mike picks SeaFire at the Atlantis. Blais is at Cafe Marnique. Mike seems like he has a pretty good game plan in terms of who is doing what.

10:16 - Blais has the nitrogen going, and Capt Crunch at the desert station. I'm already excited about where he's headed. And of course as soon as I write that, Richard switches to foie gras ice cream from whatever he was doing with Capt Crunch. That detail is telling, and I don't feel great about it.

Tom is doing his "meet-with-the-chef," which should really be called "Tom does eyebrow raises and pointed questioning"

10:21 - Blais - stop with the lowering of expectations. Just be confident in the fact that everyone recognizes your ability, and smarts, and do what you do best.

10:27 - Blais does a live oyster with salsa verde for a amuse, and then follows it up with some amazing looking hamachi (one of my personal favorites).

10:28 - Isabella's amuse is a beet salad that doesn't seem to resonate. Mike's 2nd course is some beautiful halibut that Tom raves about. Ruh roh...this could bananas.

10:31 - Mike is bringing it, seriously. Destroyed the 3rd courses with some awesomely impressive meat dish. His desert was a little lackluster though.

Spike is being snoopy...I love that kid. He reports back to Blais on what the judges are saying. Another good example of having sous' playing to Richard's strengths.

Judges seem to be impressed with Richard's build-up, although the foie gras icecream wasn't well-received. Richie is working hard on making the ice cream to be better texturally.

10:39 - Awww...All-Star love-in. Padma reporting live, with the new TC Masters host. Padma - oh, the things we'd do. In my dreams. Brrrrr.

Focus, Nick.

10:41 - It's anyone's game at this point. Both courses are sound, across the board. Foie gras ice cream came out better the second time around...which is good, because I feel Tom and Gayle own the judges table most nights.

10:46 - Judges table. Tom says best finale food ever. High praise. Judges say Mike had strong finesse. Pepperoni sauce was crazy business! Ballsy was word of the day for Mikey.

Richard nails intensity of flavors. Hamachi course was the strongest. Black cod was flawless. Lots of praise for Richie.

Oooff. Tough one. I love Richie, but Mike brought it. It's going to be ridiculously close.

10:51 - Tom on the fence? Holy balls. This is going to be a tough one. Richard takes 1st course. And looks like 2nd course could go to Richard as well. Tom says Mike's halibut was the best fish he'd ever had on Top Chef...before Richard's black cod. WOW. 3rd course appears to go to Mike, and there's a split for desert. Gut says Richie by a nose, but we'll have to wait through some more commercials to find out.

10:57 - Here we go......queue the tense elimination music. Padma, get serious on me, girl. Tom hands out requisitie praise. And............

RICHARD!!!!!

FUCK YES!!!!!!!

Wow! I feel so good for him right now. That guy is brilliant and works hard at his craft. Congrats! Very rewarding end to this season, and I couldn't be happier.