By Arthur Perkins
 
Welcome to New Orleans. This is the site for the final 2 episodes of Top Chef 5. Contestants go to Houma House and they find a legend plus Padma and Tom there.  The legend is Emeril Lagasse, the chef most known for New Orleans cuisine and owner of 10 restaurants. Carla claims to be Southern in her culinary roots, but not New Orleans.
 
For the Quickfire There are 3 tables outside with ingredients and cooking systems and supplies. The 4 contestants wonder what is happening. Padma sets them straight. There is a new twist being introduced. The 3 most recent eliminees will be competing for a shot at joining two other chefs from the 4 semi-finalists. Jaime, Leah and Jeff have one hour to cook and serve a meal including crawfish to Emeril and Padma (Tom will eat it but does appear to judge it with Emeril having that honor).
 
Leah - crawfish soup w/ andouille sausage
Jeff - crawfish and grits  with andouille and beer
Jaime - corn cakes, greens, poached egg w/ tasso ham, andouille and crawfish cream sauce
 
Jeff is judged to have the best dish, so he is moving on; Jaime and Leah are out of it once more. Padma now defines what that means and it is a stiff challenge. Jeff must win this round to get to the finals; if he doesn't he will be eliminated once more.

Chefs have a nice meal at Emeril's Delmonico restaurant. I was expecting that Tom Colicchio would pull one of his famous "Use what you learned from eating to create something challenges", but he had too much class and it was just a leisurely meal with a bit of posturing  between contestants.
 
Elimination Challenge is to cater the Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball (actual Mardi Gras is today so this was finally maybe in September) of the Krewe of Orpheus. One dish must be Creole, another anything and they must make a cocktail for this event of 100 guests. Chefs have 5 hours to cook at Emeril's Delmonico restaurant, then 1 hour to prep onsite at the new Orleans Museum of Art. Gail Simmons is back as a judge after her honeymoon. The menus are:
 
HOSEA
Duck, Chicken and Andouille Gumbo w/ cornbread Muffin
Pecan-Crusted Catfish w/ sweet potatoes, Bacon and Tabasco beurre blanc
Hurricane w/ Grand Marnier and Rum
 
CARLA
Oyster Stew (she had to shuck of them for the first time ever) w/ potatoes, bacon and Scallions
Shrimp and Andouille Beignet w/ Creole Aioli
Non-Alcoholic Cranberry and Lime Spritzer Cocktail
 
STEFAN
Duck, Rabbit, Sausage Gumbo with grits
Apple Beignet with Pecan Brittle
Black Cherry and Rum cocktail
 
JEFF
Fried Oysters w/ Sausage and Arugula
Crawfish w/ Pot de Creme
Cucumber Mojito
 
FABIO
Sausage and Rabbit Maque Choux w/ grits
Caserecci Pasta w/ Crawfish and Crab Stew
Trinitini (bell pepper martini w/ lime juice, grapefruit juice and bread crumbs)
 
The serving goes well for all, although Hosea was down to 2 portions when the judges arrived. Emeril make a joke out of that, indicating that most of the time he eats out in New Orleans there are 300 people all trying to order hurricanes simultaneously, so watering down is an accepted practice in New Orleans.
 
The judges dialogue with the chefs is the most penetrating and civilized I can ever remember:
Gail-Jeff's mojito was their favorite cocktail of the night.
Emeril - Jeff's oyster dish was special.
Emeril - Fabio's flavors of maque choux were really on.
Tom- Fabio's roux was not dark enough and this led to insufficient flavor development.
Padma and Tom and Emeril - there was not enough heat in Fabio's sauce.
Padma - Fabio's drink smelled fantastic but the taste was not there.
Gail- Fabio's drink if anything was too sweet.
Emeril - never in 28 years in Louisiana has he ever seen gumbo over grits as Stefan did, but they were good.
Gail - not enough flavor in Stefan's grits.
Tom- Stefan looked very calm and overconfident in the kitchen.
Tom- Carla's oyster stew was good.
Emeril - nonalcoholic cocktail was fine.
Emeril - liked the batching Carla used with oysters.
Gail- Hosea's gumbo flavor excellent.
Emeril - loved how Hosea married the sweet potatoes, the crust and the Tabasco sauce.
 
Judges Table- Conclusions were that New Orleans flavors were authentic. Emeril loved Carla's oyster dish, calling it a home run. Jeff's sausage flavor very good. Tom and Gail said Carla's dish had a level of care and sophistication. Hosea did very well. Emeril's gumbo wasn't that bad. Fabio's cocktail too sweet. Fabio's maque choux should have been served over a crouton. Tom says Stefan and Fabio are close
 
Carla is judged the winner and Jeff #2, but that is not good enough for him to stay. He states that he is very satisfied with that outcome. Carla wins a new Nissan Sentra car, but based on what happened to car winners of prior Top Chef seasons it may have been a curse. Hosea's performance was slightly better than the other two so he is excused. It is a fight between Stefan and Fabio for who stays. Stefan does due to the slightly off flavor layering that Tom claims Fabio had, mostly from having no HEAT (insufficient spiciness) and the fact that Stefan's distance from really good was not much. Fabio tells Stefan that he expects him to easily walk away with the prize in the finals.
 
There is a sneak preview of the next episode (tomorrow night on BRAVO) revealing what we already knew, that the challenge is to cook the finest 3 course meal of their lives and that they will be assisted by teams of this season's eliminees.

(Photo courtesy of Bravo)

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