Top Chef Canada recap, episode 10: puffed up
TOP CHEF CANADA
Season 1 | Episode 10
This week’s episode of Top Chef Canada began with Vancouver-based chef François Gagnon mourning the loss of recently eliminated “hockey man” Darryl Crumb. What form did the tribute take? The ritual placement of a hockey stick in what we think was Crumb’s old bunk, of course (somehow it was fitting that the Bruins were already four goals up against the Canucks at that point). Last night also featured what we were primed to believe would be the demise of tough-as-nails Connie DeSousa, who, despite eight seasons of Top Chef history warning against the use of store-bought pastry, used it anyway. The fallout from that cataclysmic decision and a full recap of everything else that went down, after the jump.
Quickfire
When host Thea Andrews introduced that the quickfire challenge was to “design a dish for a busy customer who’s always on the move,” we knew some brilliant product placement was afoot. Cue the team of stewardesses from Porter Airlines in full uniform, to the delight of Dale MacKay, who rather ruefully remarked, “It’s nice to see girls, we don’t see them very often…except the ones we’re cooking with.” (In a feat of skillful editing surely calculated to infuriate female viewers everywhere, he later opined that he was expecting an all-male showdown in the finals because the female contenders, Andrea and Connie, “are running out of ideas.”)
The chefs were asked to create two dishes: morning and afternoon snack–sized meals for Porter passengers. Toronto chefs Dustin Gallagher (Grace) and Andrea Nicholson (Great Cooks on Eight) ended up on the bottom. At the top? MacKay’s breakfast, a pepper-bacon sandwich with apples tossed in cream cheese, and Rossi’s lunch, a grilled chicken club sandwich with Grand Marnier chocolate fondant.
But in the end, it was DeSousa who dug herself out from the rut of episode nine and won the heart of guest judge Lynn Crawford, chef and owner of Riverside’s Ruby Watchco and host of Restaurant Makeover and Pitchin’ In. And she did it with granola and homemade blueberry yogurt. The prize: a round trip for her and a guest for a culinary adventure in Chicago—not to mention the satisfaction of being able to say that female chefs are “sometimes even better than male chefs.” Connie 1, Dale 0.
Elimination
In what turned out to be a Top Chef version of Pitchin’ In, the chefs were tasked with preparing three dishes that showcased the terroir and food of one of six regions across Canada. Connie drew “La Belle Province,” to some confusion (she turned to Gagnon for clarification); Rossi and MacKay got lucky with their native regions, “Ontario Greenbelt” and “Interior B.C.,” respectively; Francois picked “Maritimes”; Andrea got “Prairies”; and Dustin drew “Alberta” after saying, with his trademark adorable grin, “I hope I don’t get the Northwest Territories or Yukon!”
Joining Crawford as an additional taster at the judge’s table was Jonathan Gushue of Langdon Hall, the Cambridge restaurant lauded for its local and regional cuisine (it was rated the 77th best restaurant in the world in 2010). After the tasting was done, MacKay and Connie, archenemies for an episode, ended up at the top of the heap. MacKay’s Interior B.C. feast started with poached eggs with morel mushrooms and hollandaise, moved on to roasted B.C. salmon and peas cooked three ways, and finished with a venison loin served with bannock, a flatbread borrowed from native cuisine (and one of the more exciting things we’ve seen in this competition so far). DeSousa served a smoked trout and potato salad, a venison and veal tourtière and finally, a homey wild blueberry pie. Despite the producers’ hints that her store-bought pie pastry would be her ultimate downfall, DeSousa walked away with her second win of the night. Connie 2, Dale 0. (To be honest, we were a bit shocked: chef Tom Collicchio, head judge of the U.S. Top Chef, would never have let the store-bought pastry go.)
At the bottom of the pile were Gagnon and Nicholson, who failed in both the concept and the execution of their meals. In the end, Nicholson was eliminated for dishes that head judge Mark McEwan referred to as “cafeteria food” and Gushue said reflected “no skill.” It also probably didn’t help that Nicholson went off on a tirade, blaming the heat in the kitchen for her execution and complaining that if she’d used store-bought pastry like DeSousa, she’d “feel like a douchebag.” Girl power indeed.
Sadly, we totally saw it coming. After several clips of Nicholson talking about wanting to open her own restaurant and the producers slotting in as many of her jokes about MacKay as possible, the whole episode was pointing to her demise.
Next time on Top Chef Canada
With five chefs left, the contestants are confronted with a street food challenge—they have to make and serve their food using a hot dog cart in Nathan Phillips Square (the irony should be obvious to anyone who’s paid attention to the city’s misguided attempts at building a street food program). Expect to see MacKay getting frustrated with street food (maybe he’ll go Hulk!), Connie making sausages despite a lashing from McEwan in episode eight, and the return of judge Shereen Arazm with her giveaway “this tastes yucky” face. It’s the homestretch now, and we’ll be there to take it all in.
Our weekly Top Chef Canada leader board:
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/culture/top-chef-canada-episode-10/&title=Top Chef Canada recap, episode 10: puffed up&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/lynn-crawford-thea-andrews-624x300.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_72670" align="aligncenter" width="656" caption="Guest judge Lynn Crawford with host Thea Andrews (Image: Food Network Canada/Insight Productions)"][/caption]
TOP CHEF CANADA
Season 1 | Episode 10
This week’s episode of Top Chef Canada began with Vancouver-based chef François Gagnon mourning the loss of recently eliminated “hockey man” Darryl Crumb. What form did the tribute take? The ritual placement of a hockey stick in what we think was Crumb’s old bunk, of course (somehow it was fitting that the Bruins were already four goals up against the Canucks at that point). Last night also featured what we were primed to believe would be the demise of tough-as-nails Connie DeSousa, who, despite eight seasons of Top Chef history warning against the use of store-bought pastry, used it anyway. The fallout from that cataclysmic decision and a full recap of everything else that went down, after the jump.
Quickfire
[caption id="attachment_72671" align="alignright" width="320" caption="The Porter stewardesses who so delighted Dale MacKay (Image: Food Network Canada/Insight Productions)"][/caption]
When host Thea Andrews introduced that the quickfire challenge was to “design a dish for a busy customer who’s always on the move,” we knew some brilliant product placement was afoot. Cue the team of stewardesses from Porter Airlines in full uniform, to the delight of Dale MacKay, who rather ruefully remarked, “It’s nice to see girls, we don’t see them very often…except the ones we’re cooking with.” (In a feat of skillful editing surely calculated to infuriate female viewers everywhere, he later opined that he was expecting an all-male showdown in the finals because the female contenders, Andrea and Connie, “are running out of ideas.”)
The chefs were asked to create two dishes: morning and afternoon snack–sized meals for Porter passengers. Toronto chefs Dustin Gallagher (Grace) and Andrea Nicholson (Great Cooks on Eight) ended up on the bottom. At the top? MacKay’s breakfast, a pepper-bacon sandwich with apples tossed in cream cheese, and Rossi’s lunch, a grilled chicken club sandwich with Grand Marnier chocolate fondant.
But in the end, it was DeSousa who dug herself out from the rut of episode nine and won the heart of guest judge Lynn Crawford, chef and owner of Riverside’s Ruby Watchco and host of Restaurant Makeover and Pitchin’ In. And she did it with granola and homemade blueberry yogurt. The prize: a round trip for her and a guest for a culinary adventure in Chicago—not to mention the satisfaction of being able to say that female chefs are “sometimes even better than male chefs.” Connie 1, Dale 0.
Elimination
In what turned out to be a Top Chef version of Pitchin’ In, the chefs were tasked with preparing three dishes that showcased the terroir and food of one of six regions across Canada. Connie drew “La Belle Province,” to some confusion (she turned to Gagnon for clarification); Rossi and MacKay got lucky with their native regions, “Ontario Greenbelt” and “Interior B.C.,” respectively; Francois picked “Maritimes”; Andrea got “Prairies”; and Dustin drew “Alberta” after saying, with his trademark adorable grin, “I hope I don’t get the Northwest Territories or Yukon!”
[caption id="attachment_72675" align="alignleft" width="208" caption="Connie DeSousa’s three winning dishes (Image: Food Network Canada/Insight Productions)"][/caption]
Joining Crawford as an additional taster at the judge’s table was Jonathan Gushue of Langdon Hall, the Cambridge restaurant lauded for its local and regional cuisine (it was rated the 77th best restaurant in the world in 2010). After the tasting was done, MacKay and Connie, archenemies for an episode, ended up at the top of the heap. MacKay’s Interior B.C. feast started with poached eggs with morel mushrooms and hollandaise, moved on to roasted B.C. salmon and peas cooked three ways, and finished with a venison loin served with bannock, a flatbread borrowed from native cuisine (and one of the more exciting things we’ve seen in this competition so far). DeSousa served a smoked trout and potato salad, a venison and veal tourtière and finally, a homey wild blueberry pie. Despite the producers’ hints that her store-bought pie pastry would be her ultimate downfall, DeSousa walked away with her second win of the night. Connie 2, Dale 0. (To be honest, we were a bit shocked: chef Tom Collicchio, head judge of the U.S. Top Chef, would never have let the store-bought pastry go.)
At the bottom of the pile were Gagnon and Nicholson, who failed in both the concept and the execution of their meals. In the end, Nicholson was eliminated for dishes that head judge Mark McEwan referred to as “cafeteria food” and Gushue said reflected “no skill.” It also probably didn’t help that Nicholson went off on a tirade, blaming the heat in the kitchen for her execution and complaining that if she’d used store-bought pastry like DeSousa, she’d “feel like a douchebag.” Girl power indeed.
Sadly, we totally saw it coming. After several clips of Nicholson talking about wanting to open her own restaurant and the producers slotting in as many of her jokes about MacKay as possible, the whole episode was pointing to her demise.
Next time on Top Chef Canada
With five chefs left, the contestants are confronted with a street food challenge—they have to make and serve their food using a hot dog cart in Nathan Phillips Square (the irony should be obvious to anyone who’s paid attention to the city’s misguided attempts at building a street food program). Expect to see MacKay getting frustrated with street food (maybe he’ll go Hulk!), Connie making sausages despite a lashing from McEwan in episode eight, and the return of judge Shereen Arazm with her giveaway “this tastes yucky” face. It’s the homestretch now, and we’ll be there to take it all in.
Our weekly Top Chef Canada leader board:
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Kudos to Andrea for calling out Crybaby Connie on using pre-made pie crust for the challenge! The judges were hard on Todd Perrin when he used store-bought puff pastry in a previous episode but they totally looked it over last night. Chef Lynn Crawford should replace Mark McEwan in the next season!
Let me get this straight…the winning dishes were granola, blueberry yogurt, “tenderflake” blueberry pie, potato salad and “tourtiere”/pot pie? What the bloody hell? My kids eat more adventurous stuff than that at daycare. Thank god at least they got a guest judge (Gushue not Crawford) that has some credibility this time. Hopefully Martin Picard will make an appearance at some point…that’s an episode I might even watch.
Also, I thought they shopped at Loblaws. Last time I was there they didn’t sell venison loin, morels, lobster mushrooms and bison. Hmmmm….
FInally the show got rid of Nicholson another mediocre so called chef…must be buddies with ROssi!!i bet exchange emails telling teaching eachother new ways on how to hack it in life and the kitchen~!SO tired of the ugly culinary talent , i wish tv would put real chefs to perform~!not this soon to be janitors~!
@thebiggestdouche….does that mean your application is in for next season so you can show them how its really done?
dear the biggest douche.. you really are sad…. i bet you are some loser line cook in toronto in a dirty kitchen slaving over processed food. Maybe you should go take a cooking class from nicholson, or rossi can hire you in one of his 4 resto’s. Find another forum for your sad rants. And shame on you toronto life for posting douches comments, enough already.
@thebiggestdouche. Why hide behind the douche bag? You should put your real name behind those comments. What are you so afraid of?
Regards,
Herald Cuthbridge
@eatme
I agree about Lynn Crawford being the judge instead of Mark McEwan – she’s more natural in front of the camera and easier to listen to (in my opinion anyway)
Isn’t Quebec supposed to be “La Belle Province”? Why did Connie keep calling it La Belle de Province?
The judges sure look stupid not being able to tell it was store bought crust. So Connie traveled throughout the world but never been to Chicago and doesn’t know where la belle province is … another back handed compliment from the producers. Are they keeping Connie around for entertainment purposes?
THE ONLY CHEF worth talking about here is Dusty~! yea Dusty will win the competition because he is real, honest and knows how to cook~!Dusty has a real resume from a super star chef~!~All other so called ‘Chefs’ on the show have shady resumes with a long history of culinary tragedies. Nicholson cant cook, Rossi at best can toss salads~!that’s all for now.
Did anyone else notice that DUSTY cooked boiled broccoli and mashed potatoes this episode? And Steak and eggs, oh wait quails egg.
LOL TOP CHEF MY ASS, he sucks the most!! his stupid smile is keeping him on TV. All he has done is boil VEG!!!! and rip off his girlfriends recipe LOL.
Note to producers: Just because it’s a franchise of the original American version doesn’t mean you have to follow it verbatim for the Canadian production – have some originality! Does anyone really want or care to see these guys waking up in their pjs at the hotel in the morning???
Wow! its great to watch and read such drama. I will add my 2 cents for your entertainment. Lynn Crawfords comments to Nicholson “her dish looked like something from a bad Italian wedding” (or similar). Did you see her clothes? That tarpaulin disguised as a shirt she was wearing. I used to like Lynn but she is both pretentious and mean spirited. I have eaten a Rubywatchco and i will tell you she needs to focus on that food. It was bad. Mark McEwan is entertaining but clearly likes to act like he’s Gretzky. I had the good fortune to be a guest at Toronto Taste on the weekend and NIcholson’s dish of Artichoke soup with pulled duck and crispy duck skin with some sort of poached pear was clearly a winner over McEwan’s Smelts? they were deep fried breaded fish with eyes in on some sort of tartar sauce. Mark “the dish just fell short for me”, “I was just expecting so much more from you”, “It was amateurish”. Oh i could go on but its time for another presidents choice commercial with chef wheres waldo followed by a polysporin commercial with the world famous Trish Magwood who cut her teeth in the industry working at ahhhh or should i say working for culinary genius Martin Short–cooking at his cottage.
Oh BTW did you listen to the food genius’ rave about Connie’s pie crust. The girls didn’t berate her because McEwan didn’t pick up on the fact it was store bought. If he didn’t how would they? The only time they pipe up first is when the editor has moved there remarks. Eye candy is great for music videos but try to get some educated eye candy. :) and yes i am available and have experience.
I agree christine! I was at taste and Nicholson’s chilled soup was honestly the BEST of the day. She really made an impression on myself and a lot of people, there was a buzz about the dish.
Dustin’s smoked fish was boring and his potatoes were hard as a rock. McEwans smelts were nothing to write home about, very bland.
I have been on Team Andrea all the way. I follow her on twitter and she posted this today. She really rocks!
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2011/15/c6169.html
The adults being you, Mattagascar, I suppose, and the others like you who don’t watch the show and use this forum to spew toxic superiority. Every single week. It’s so tedious.
Presentation is a joke. Ability to cook proteins properly, non existent. I cook a circle around all of these ‘chefs’, with one arm tied behind my back. I do it every night. Solo. My apprehension to actually apply to the show is reinforced every time I watch these kidz blunder their way to another disaster.
Crawford needs to get her chubby hands out of the KFC Bucket and back in the kitchen, there she can sweat out all that solidfied grease and oil sitting underneath her skin…
Oh wait, that’s FAT!!! There seems to be more of it every time she makes an appearance.
Sooooowee!
Puffed up? lol,lol,lol!!!! Is that a reference to Lynn Crawford? LOL !!!
disagree, Mark is perfect for the role, I find him charasmatic and down-to-earth. Lynn is great with her show ‘Pitchin In’ but a bit too harsh and the role in Top Chef deserves more sensitivity which Mark brings.
Well CHEFEXTRSORDINARE: if you are cooking SOLO they may be a reason.
1.You are very lonely/sad and you cook for yourself
2.Your restaurant sucks and there are no customers, hence you can’t afford staff
3.You yourself are too fat and no one else can fit in your kitchen
4.You are a caterer and that alone is sad or a “personal chef”
5.If you have to take time out of your day to write in about how bad these chefs are, you my friends are envious of there success. Go apply for top chef and see how good you really are!!!
Holy crap people, just watch the friggin show. Enjoy it and GROW the fu**(k up. Honestly! Your comments especially the ego chef-extrodinare is so ridiculous. Enough is enough.
Didn’t watch, wouldn’t watch, but would’ve bet that this episode would be scripted to make The Weeper look better. This show is a sad, sad waste of time.
Hate that show. So pretentious and critical. Even the guest judges this week were nasty. Much prefer the USA version. I’ll be skipping Lynn Crawford’s show.