Top Chef is my kind of reality TV. I have watched and re-watched last season’s episodes over and over. I never seem to get bored with Tom Colicchio telling Stephen belligerently that “This isn’t Top Sommelier” or Harold’s face when he learned about the junk food competition (Cooking with SPAM – oh the horror). So I was super excited to watch the first episode of the new season this week. The producers are hard at work already setting Marcel up as this season’s new “Tiffany.” He really doesn’t appear to need very much creative editing to make it in the villain department as his pompous attitude and ridiculous hairdo are quite enough.
I thought the secret ingredient challenge was great. I would freak out if I was given a box with frog legs or artichokes and American cheese. I’d toss my apron and be out of there before you could even heat your pan. The only way I would have survived that one was if they gave me a box of chocolate chips and some brown sugar. I have such admiration for all of the chefs for being able to come up with anything edible given the circumstances, and I have to admit that I totally would have eaten the frog legs that Mia breaded in buttermilk and cornflakes. I guess her dish wasn’t sophisticated enough for the judges, but she would have gotten my vote any day over Ilan’s Baked Escargot. Yuck!
Right now I’m most intrigued by Elia, Mia, and Marisa (because I want a chick to win). Elia is opinionated and fiery and this is totally superficial but I love her accent. Marissa is a pastry chef and since that’s my new dream career I’m definitely rooting for her to go far. I also really like Mia, because you can tell that she’s a no-nonsense, take no prisoners, go out and get it done, kind of person. I’d love to see one these women win so I’ll go out on a limb now and predict that Elia will win it all. Hopefully she won’t get voted off next week! If I had to choose a guy to win I’d probably pick Ilan since he’s probably going to be the young superstar of the show.