The leaders of the pack:

-Jennifer Carroll.  Very strong and consistent.  By far the most talented of the female contestants.

-Kevin Gillespie (aka Red Santa).  Seems like a genuinely nice guy with terrific culinary instincts.

-Bryan and Michael Voltaggio. These brothers seem to trade wins every other week.  Bryan is more conservative, straightforward, and thoughtful.  Michael is somewhat of a punk, but an excellent chef in his own right.  Bravo is a bit too enamored with this brother-vs-brother storyline, but the fact that they could both make it to the finals on their own merits breathes life into the drama–which the show’s producers have nearly beaten to death.

Dark Horses

- Michael Isabella.  Extraordinarily cocky and obnoxious, Mike is easy to dislike.  He’s a tough competitor, though, and he has the capacity to take down one or more of the favorites with a well-timed brilliant dish.  (I also happened to dine at his DC restaurant last month, and the food was, admittedly, delicious).

- Eli Kirshtein.  He’s been decent all season — never seems to make it to judges’ table; as a winner or a loser.  He’s managed to hang in there without alienating any of the judges or memorably screwing up, so he might just sneak up on folks with a few solid weeks in a row.

Dead Weight

- Robin Leventhal.  Richly deserves the boot, ASAP.  Over/under – 1 week left.

- Laurine Wickett.  A bit vanilla, not especially creative, and has narrowly avoided the axe a few times already.

- Ash Fulk.  Excuses, excuses.  Has he put out a single good dish yet?  Very forgettable.

- Ashley Merriman.  Despite a minor surge in recent weeks, she still seems weak. Question: Hey Ashley, can you talk about how your family was poor growing up in the woods a little more, please?

I was skeptical of Vegas as a host city for a cooking show, but it’s been wonderful so far. Cool guest judges and creative challenges have made this season quite enjoyable, as has the relative lack of contrived personal drama (think Hosea/Leah kissy-face awfulness). Head judge Tom Colicchio has commented a few times that this is the strongest pool of contestants of any TC season thus far, and it’s hard to disagree.  When the show finally sheds the wannabes, there could be an amazing run of episodes down the stretch–with very little room for error.  Looking forward to the rest of the Vegas run.

Bon Appétit!

Here’s the skinny on Top Chef Masters, courtesy of the LA Times:

The cooking competition spinoff — this one featuring “world-renowned chefs” — has recruited a star-studded lineup of guest judges.

They include Neil Patrick Harris, Zooey Deschanel, Morgan Spurlock, “Lost” writers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, “Flipping Out’s” Jeff Lewis, and all of the previous “Top Chef” winners. Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons will also appear.

With the large number of competitors, producers have tweaked the format of the original series. From Bravo’s press release:

In each episode, money will be at stake for the chefs, with the winners of eliminations being awarded cash donations for their charities. The first six episodes will consist of four chefs competing against each other to name one winner. The six winners of each episode will then meet up for the final four weeks when one person will get eliminated each episode until the finale where one winner is crowned Top Chef Master. The winning chef will receive $100,000 for the charity of his or her choice.

What?!  Mere “appearances” from Tom, Padma, and Gail?  Who will run the show?  Answer:

Food journalist Kelly Choi will host “Masters.” New York Magazine food critic Gael Greene, Saveur magazine Editor in Chief James Oseland and British food critic Jay Rayner will judge.

As for Top Chef proper, rumors are swirling that season 6 will take place in Las Vegas.  Or Seattle.

Dig in.

 1) The contestants were lame:

This season’s contestants generally fell into two categories: Utterly forgettable (Remember Jill?  Me neither!) and cartoonish caricatures of real people. Precious few competitors combined true cooking proficiency with compelling personality.  Most were one-dimensional: Stefan was an excellent chef who, despite being typecast as the villain, never moved me to the point of unadulterated loathing like Lisa did last year.  Pretty boy Jeff cooked creative and interesting food, but could not have been less interesting.  One got the sense that Jeff could literally burst into flames, and it wouldn’t evoke more than a shrug from him.  Fan favorite Fabio (you born, you be rais-ed, and you die) was extremely charming and funny, but he hardly won any challenges and was frequently on the chopping block. His Italian accent alone punched his ticket to the final four.  Even finalist Carla, who I was rooting for, frequently pushed the bounds of my patience with her food “love” philosophy and her over-the-top reactions to pretty much everything. 
 
2) The Judges:

Tom is easily the best judge because he oozes credibility.  I don’t have much of a beef with him.  The legs Padma is proficient at feigning sympathy when instructing the latest loser to “pack your knives and go,” as well as plugging the heck out of the Glad family of products.  The real problem this year was the departure of one judge, and the addition of another.  I am a big fan of Gail Simmons.  Come to think of it, am I the only one who finds her more appealing than Padma?  Anyone with me?  No?  Fine.  Anyway, when Gail took leave from the show to get married, I suspected that any replacement would be a step down.   British food critic Toby Young turned out to be a giant leap down.  Toby thought he was funny, but he wasn’t.  His permanent scowl came across as a forced shtick.  He also never appeared to really enjoy a single dish, which is remarkable considering the talent assembled in the “Top Chef” kitchen.  His “bad soup=the missing WMDs” line was groan-worthy.  Please, producers, banish him to “Hell’s Kitchen” or some other second-rate show.
 
3) Wasting New York City:

Aside from drawing on a series of impressive guest judges who happen to work in New York, this season could have been set anywhere in the country.  Last season, the show really adopted a Chicago flavor.  The chefs cooked for the Chicago Police Department, they catered a tailgate prior to a Bears game, they filmed an episode at the Lincoln Park Zoo, and an entire challenge was inspired by the famed ‘Second City’ comedy troupe.  This season was extremely sterile by comparison.  New York City, and the innumerable opportunities it could have afforded, went to waste.  If memory serves, there was one challenge involving the city’s ethnic neighborhoods in the very early going.  Beyond that, nada.  The show could have been taped on a studio lot.  What a disappointment.
 
4)  Hosea and Leah’s “romance”:

There’s a reason why I don’t watch any other shows on Bravo.  The endless promos for “Manly Millionaire Matchmaker” and “Real Housewives from Hell” continue to haunt my dreams.  My perception of reality television involves a lot of stupid, phony drama swirling in the personal lives of people I don’t care about.  The insufferable “romance” between Hosea and Leah crossed the line into TV wasteland territory.  The producers clearly thought, perhaps correctly, that many viewers might be intrigued that these two non-single contestants (Hosea: “I have a girlfriend.  I can’t do this.  Leah and I are just friends.”) were flirting so heavily.  I also suspect that one of my early favorites, Ariane, faced a premature elimination because producers wanted to keep both lovebirds in the mix.  The infamous “kiss” episode was especially heinous, complete with hidden cameras, drunk whispering, and 1970s porn music.  I began actively rooting for at least one of them to get the boot just to put an end to the uninteresting, ludicrously over-hyped sideshow. During the reunion show, a viewer’s email demanded to know if the two had hooked up post-production.  I’m pretty sure that my whole building could heard me bellow, “Who cares?!”
 
5.  The final result:

Don’t get me wrong, both episodes in New Orleans were really good.  The setting, challenges, and food were all tantalizing.  This was the “Top Chef” I had grown to know and love.  Sadly, though, the competition ended badly.   Most everyone seemed to be pulling for the eccentric, muppetish Carla, who’d come on strong during the show’s home stretch–and who seemed to be a genuinely nice person.  A similar consensus developed that Stefan, no matter how unlikeable he was, deserved the title of Top Chef.  He consistently put out the best food all season long.  No one else was close.  Hosea meanwhile had managed to slide through to the finals without really distinguishing himself over the course of the season.  He’d won a few challenges, but he’d also narrowly avoided the axe a few times.  The only things we really knew about Hosea were that he HAD A GIRLFRIEND, and that he really, really hated Stefan.  When all was said and done, maybe he cooked a slightly better meal than his nemesis in the final round.  (By the way, Carla, why the hootie-hell did you allow a past season loser to hijack your meal-planning process?)  Still, he seemed to be the least deserving of the three finalists to take home the grand prize. I’d gladly wager that his finale sous-chef, Richard from last season, could out-cook him 9 times out of 10.

Hosea is our Top Chef?  Really?  Season five, please pack your knives and go.