Winning Was Never So Sweet

Don't know what everyone else thought about the finale of Just Desserts but it was a bittersweet ending to a enjoyable twist to the Top Chef series. In my humble opinion the right person won, the underdog almost took the whole shebang and Karma had a little surprise for the third place loser in the form of unsellable souffles.

One of the biggest surprises, at least for me, was the finalists going straight into the finale. Certainly no rest for the weary. The chefs show up at the Kitchen expecting one more Quickfire only to find Gail in a hot new outfit but apparently unable to move below the waist. Gail fills them in on their final challenge, a four course tasting menu, totally chef's choice of what they want to make. All served to a dining room chock full of outstanding chefs and well known critics waiting to pick apart their desserts.

Gail generously gives the chefs the night off and sends them off to enjoy a night of cocktails at the Edison. It's a dark little spot and there our chefs find Chef Johnny lurking in the shadows, enjoying an adult beverage. After reassuring them there's no twist waiting in the kitchen, Johnny orders some desserts to share.

These desserts look so yummy but sadly there's no hint as to what they are or who made what. Well, no specifics exactly but we do get to meet the chefs.

It's the Three Blond Aces!! From right to left, the very perky Chef Sherry Yard, next to my longtime pretend girlfriend, Chef Elizabeth Falkner, next to old school pastry Chef Claudia Fleming (former pastry chef for Tom Colicchio at Gramercy Park). They made the fancy desserts and they will be serving as Sous Chefs to our finalists as they prepare their final desserts. Yigit pulls Sherry from the Cookie Jar of Destiny, Danielle takes Elizabeth leaving Claudia for last. Danielle, of course has a face for just such an occasion that mixes anxiety and elation.

She really should market this ability. Perhaps Danielle's Face A Day Blog. It could go on for years. There's another night at the condo where more childish stupidity happens but I'm so sick of it that we're just not going there. Back in the kitchen, all the chefs crack down to get as much done as possible in the seven hours they have on that first day. It's uneventful yet productive. It might have even been a learning experience had one wanted a lesson....say in the technique in spherification (the culinary process of shaping a liquid into spherical shapes). Morgan does his best to enlighten Chef Fleming...

(I'm not here for a chemistry lesson, you big mook)

...while Danielle listens attentively, wondering if Chef Claudia will embrace Morgan's methods to her bosom?

Yeah.....I'm guessing Chef Fleming is going to take a pass on spherification. So Day One ends with hugs for Sous Chefs Falkner and Yard. Chef Fleming, having failed Spherification 101, is not rewarded with a hug. Fast forward to Day Two at the kitchen where a whole new set of Sous Chefs have replaced the hard working crew of the day before.

Guess who doesn't play well with most of these folks? It's at this point that the Idiot King makes his last nasty, violent remark. However this post is about the winners of this last episode, not the loser. So the Cookie Jar of Destiny is produced for the last time and Yigit pulls Tim, Danielle pulls Tania and Morgan pulls Heather H. and before you know it their three hours is up and it's time to start serving. Lots of familiar faces among the guests.

Elizabeth Falkner.

Suzanne Goin with James Oseland. While Suzanne is looking really spiffy in her should cut-out dress, James has decided on the outfit he wants to be buried in.

Susan Feniger, another one of my pretend Girlfriends (for when Elizabeth is out of town...)

The remaining contestants not working in the kitchen also get to join in but only after they are segregated away from all the Adult chefs and relegated to the Just Dessert's version of the Kids Table. Damn that's cold.

Now when it comes down to the Finale dishes, it's really about perfection. There's a lot of other criteria but if you fail at one thing, you get shoved to the bottom and then those who performed better are judged against each other. I think I can safely say Yigit had a pretty flawless night.

Yigit's First Course

Cucumber Lime Sorbet with Straus Yogurt Caviar Pearls

Of all of Yigit's desserts, I think I want to try this one the most because it totally challenges my idea of what a dessert should be. It's so intriguing.

Yigit's Second Course

Strawberry Sorbet & Lemongrass Ginger Ice Cream with Berry Meringue & Consommé

Yigit's Third Course

Muscovado Braised Pineapple & Coconut Cake

This is the dish I most want to try and make. Pineapple and coconut? Yes please.

Yigit's Fourth Course

Hazelnut Dacquoise, Milk Jam & Salted Caramel Ice Cream

Everything else just looks amazing. It's a menu full of confidence and energy and really shot Yigit into the Winner's spot.

Team Go Diva, together again.

Just Desserts The Winner is...

First Winner of Top Chef Just Desserts

Just Desserts, The Clunky Episode

I don't know what it was about this episode but it just felt clunky, off it's stride, just sorta eh. Maybe it's all the sadness of Whiny Heather's departure?

Yeah, perhaps the crocodile tears were appropriate in this circumstance. Still Yigit seems to be letting her auffing, along with his visit to the loser's table for Dessert Wars, really mess with his head. However now is not the time to go all stupid with your skills. Shinmin Li is in the House that Sugar Built.


She's here for intricate sugar work, not to listen to a bunch of excuses or whining or whatever you think is pretty. She'll tell you if it's pretty or not. You know why? Because bitch can do this!

And these!


(Do those shoes go with that bag?)

What is Shinmin looking for? A heightened sense of sophistication and creativity. Intricate details and showcasing your sugar pulling skills. Right off the bat chefs without those skills start reverting to what they know best and ignoring the challenge set before them. No more immunity for the Elimination challenge but to sweeten the pot there is $5000. Not to mention a whole 3 hours to create their bouquets.

Zac appears to be doing something with a big chocolate letter C?

Danielle does a lot of candied orange peels and marshmallow flowers and neglects to finish the backside of her arrangement.

Eric decides to make....a giant cupcake.
It better be the best looking giant cupcake ever because flavors don't mean diddly squat for this challenge.

Morgan is hitting both his chocolate skills with the shiny dark chocolate that he used before in his little black dress and pulled sugar with an intricate ribbon bow. However it is his stint at the heat booth that gets him in trouble when he hits Yigit's pulled sugar vases and destroys one of them.

Which really sucks because I get the impression that this was a time consuming process for Yigit. Did Morgan do it on purpose? Only Morgan can say and really, is there a penalty for accidentally destroying another contestant's work? Again, don't know but I'd like to give Morgan the benefit of the doubt....except it's Morgan, biggest jerk left in the game. So no, sorry Morgan, acting like a jerk 95% of the time will only get the general belief that you broke that vase on purpose. The flip side is that it's entirely possible that the vases would have never worked due to their extremely fragile nature. I'm just sad we never get to see Yigit present his original vision.

Zac goes old school Crack with this Disco Flowers arrangement.

Danielle and her not so pretty lime and orange zest roses.

Eric's squatty Giant Cupcake.

Those are your bottom three contenders and really no surprise there. Seems like folks just getting through the challenge.

Yigit and his 13 minute, on the fly bouquet. Uh, damn. Nice recovery from the Morgan disaster.

Morgan's arrangement with bow.

Morgan and Yigit take the top two spots with Morgan easily taking the win and the money.

Which is all well and good but I'd love for Morgan to deal with a disaster and still present a winning piece in 13 minutes and be as magnanimous as Yigit for not outwardly blaming another contestant for possible sabotage of his work. (coughcoughlemonscoughcough)


Tomorrow? Let's pretend Celebritards are more important than 99.9% of the rest of your life.

You're Either In or You're Out

I like this show. I like this show for a lot of reasons. One is the challenges. I don't know much about the world of pastry chefs but now I know there's a thing called modeling chocolate, that there's a chocolate convention every year and that making edible couture is old hat to some of these chefs.

I don't think this challenge is out of line for this show. Making edible dresses does seem a bit silly, erotic almost bordering on cannibalistic but for a Bravo reality show it's pretty tame. It's also a good skills and knowledge challenge. Obviously chocolate work is what they are looking for and your skills at petit fours.
The last reason I really like this show is how at ease Gail Simmons is at her role as hostess. When they rolled this table of shoes out...

...and Team Diva went crazy...

...it wasn't just because they love shoes but because they ask Gail to model what shoes she's wearing every morning.

She obviously plays along and why not. She's having fun and it shows.

So it's a tough challenge and not much time to make mistakes. I would have thought the ladies of the group would have had a much stronger showing but none of them really impressed with their offerings. Zac and Yigit performed exactly as expected and poor Eric I think was lucky to have something on his dress form. The biggest surprise was Morgan, apparently a woman's shoe freak from way back.

He's done early enough to stand around and fantasize about whatever woman he can get in and out of his dress. Still it's a beautiful simple piece and I love the way the chocolate discs look like actual large sequins.

However my personal favorite was Yigit's white chocolate dress. I loved that he used white with splashes of color to continue the color from the shoes he chose.

Morgan wins the challenge and $20,000. As beautiful as Yigit and Morgan's dresses were, Heather, Eric and Danielle's dresses were a disaster.


Eric's I understand. Just not his challenge and he's lucky the other two standing up there with him were just so off the mark. Yes, in theory, you can eat Heather and Morgan's dresses, ideally if you were a goat but this is still a pastry contest. Danielle's dress from a distance looks like a bad version of the meat dress Lady Gaga wore not long ago. Except Danielle's added a what looks like a tube of intestines as a necklace.

Yet as bad as that was, poor Heather is auffed yet again only to re-enter the condo of shame and Zac is left to brood at being beat in the edible couture challenge by a straight guy from Texas. Oh the shame...

You Can Soufflé If You Want To

So the ambulance and Seth have faded into the distance. I thought for sure we'd see much more celebrating back at the condo.While there might have been a wild party commemorating a Seth-free life, we the viewers did not get to see it. Instead we are treated to a classic clique envy. It seems Team Go Diva is causing some resentment among the folks not part of Team Go Diva.

I'm resentful that Team Go Diva has given itself such a lame name. Despite all this resentment, we still have a Quickfire to attend to and our guest judge is all over that like white on whipped cream. I give you Sherry Yard and The Soufflé Dance.

"First we start off with what I like to call Surprise Jazz Hands..."

"...then we go right into the Soufflé Booté Bounce..."

"...and then big big ending with the Flying Bakers Back Kick."

With that inspiration, the chefs run off to make their soufflés. I can't tell if this is a creativity challenge or more of a skills challenge? Most head down the road of traditional soufflés while Zac decides to go the soufflé glacé route.

With tiny green apple pixie balls. Naturally.

She is one soufflé loving judge.

As for judging, two thirds of Team Go Diva ends up in the bottom, which makes Danielle very happy.
But that happiness is short lived when the remaining third takes the immunity, the Quickfire Win and....

...sticks the Dismount.

And damned if there isn't a uncanny resemblance between Yigit and his own dessert.