Top Mayonnaise

Well, Tiffani lost. Harold has been named Top Chef.

He’s going back to New York to open his own restaurant and I’m sure he will have investors and press knocking down his door. He’ll probably be successful, as long as he has a smart someone running his front-of-house.

But did he deserve the win?

In the final round, he took the safe route. His dishes were good, but they didn’t seem to WOW the guests while they were eating them. In fact they seemed to react to them more fondly during the panel discussion than they did during the actual tasting.

Tiffani took a bold route. She put out twice the preparations saddled with a hungover/drunk crew. In any normal situation, Dave and Stephen would have been sent home or fired. Her dishes were good and interesting. In contrast, people seemed to really like her food during the tasting, then during panel gave it a “meh”.

The choice had already been made. I knew that the show had chosen to villify Tiffani and make her out to be a baddie. I knew that meant that she was in danger of losing so that the show could “punish” her and let the popular kid win.

I’m just surprised that the panel took the safe route and didn’t see risk-taking and perseverance through serious adversity as more winsome qualities than average consistency. If Colicchio were competeing instead of judging, which route do you think he would have taken? If it were Keller vs. Colicchio, do you think either would have taken the safe route? They would have attempted to dazzle, and if they were as young as Tiffani, they might also have fallen short on some dishes. But that wouldn’t change who they are.

Shouldn’t the title of Top Chef speak more to whom they will become in the industry rather than how they failed or succeeded on a taste profile in one or two dishes? In Project Runway they always speak about the winner as the “next big designer”. The judges of Top Chef, it seems, were more concerned with their own abilities to judge food than they were about identifying a potentially serious player in the industry.

I know Tiffani will land on her feet, and I know in the end she will be more successful than jealous Leeann, untalented Miguel, or the fool Dave (who, with all his on camera eye-rolling antics, will probably never be welcomed in a serious professional kitchen).

I’m sure there will be another season. But if they choose to champion palatable mediocrity over spicy determination, I might as well make myself a mayonnaise sandwich and watch American Idol.