Recent Stories with tag the chef in the hat

The tough thing about Top Chef Masters, which was also clear from early on last season, is that there's no real drama. These are established professional chefs, with their own restaurants and books and monies. They are competing for charities, and they all seem genuinely happy for whomever wins. There's just not much at stake, besides making a nice meal for Kelly Choi and the judges and looking good on the teevee. Still, occasionally there is a little bit of drama, and last week's episode featured the terrifying tray of food left behind--which they showed in the ads for this season time and time again--and a bona fide reality tv bad guy. Plus, Rover's ever-so-charming, ever-so-French Chef in the Hat Thierry Rautureau! (See his tour of the restaurant above.) With that in mind, in preparation of tonight's new episode, let's do a quick and dirty recap (that is what I said) of last week's. 

Unlike the first week's episode (in which Poppy's Jerry Traunfeld was sent to pack his knives), last week's episode featured all Top Chef Masters virgins. Along with Thierry were David Burke, Carmen Gonzalez, Monica Pope, and Marcus Samuelsson. Again, the five chefs are vying for two spots in the champions' round. Thierry's competing for local non-profit Food Lifeline, and he's French and cute from the get-go: "How much do I want to win? Who do I have to kill?" That's one upvote for you, friend.

Okay, it's time for the quickfire challenge, which is making "an extraordinary grilled cheese sandwich" for Kelly Choi in only twenty minutes. Run run run, cook cook cook. Thierry is using his secret ingredient of harissa and is making a sandwich that would make his mama proud. Monica doesn't have much formal training, which will no doubt become relevant later. David likes to break the Ten Commandments of cooking! Dangerous. Also dangerous: knives. Carmen cuts her middle finger pretty badly, but it ain't no thing--she just wraps her finger in a towel and keeps on grilled cheesin'.

And now we come to Marcus Samuelsson. Because he's got a Story: Orphaned in Ethiopia at age three, adopted and raised in Sweden, goes on to make it big cooking in New York City. Hey everybody, it's Chef Obama!...

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While we wait for the next season of Top Chef (in Washington D.C.), Bravo is tiding us over with another season of  Top Chef Masters, in which restaurateurs of good repute go head-to-head for charity. The structure is different than plain ol' Top Chef, in which all the cheftestants are whittled down one by one over the course of the season. Sure, they still get to do the quickfire and the elimination challenges--and often these hearken back to notable challenges from Top Chef--but for the Masters, a group of chefs (four to six) compete per episode, with the winner(s) of each episode going on further in the competition.

Last year, Rick Bayless took home the big prize, so he's not back this season, but a whole bunch (six) of his previous competitors are, including Wylie Dufresne and Graham Elliot Bowles. (Check out the quick and dirty facts on the cheftestants over at Eater.) Plus, there's three Seattle chefs competing for the title of Top Chef Master: Maria Hines of Tilth, Rover's Chef in the Hat Thierry Rautureau, and Jerry Traunfeld from Poppy. The latter appeared on Wednesday's premiere of Top Chef Masters season 2, along with Ana Sortun, Jimmy Bradley, Susan Feniger, Tony Mantuano, and Govind Armstrong. Traunfeld's competing for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and you can check out his tour of Poppy in the video above.

Let's get ready to Quickfire! The chefs get paired up, and working on a team, especially when you've got a big reality tv personality, is never easy. They all "jump into their Lexus" (gag) and head to LA's Chinatown--but wait, they're not going to a Chinese restaurant or market!  They're going to a gas station. Top Chef TWIST! Ah yes, the Masters have to prepare a gourmet dish using items bought at a Kwik-E-Mart (à la Season 1 of Top Chef), just like how last year's Masters faced the vending machine challenge....

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