After winning the challenge on the June 10 premiere episode of Top Chef Masters, Chef Hubert Keller (owner of St. Louis' SLeeK and Burger Bar) advanced to the Champions Round, which begins tonight at 9 PM CDT on Bravo.
Every episode of TCM has a twist...tonight each chef is asked to produce their signature dish, then is told they must instead create their competitor's signature dish. Out of the six Champion finalists, one will be eliminated tonight, the remaining five will compete next week, and so on.
Some memorable notes from that first episode bear repeating. In it, the chefs were asked to create a three-course meal...using only equipment found in a dorm room. I chuckled when Keller, in total seriousness, deadpanned that a microwave oven "is good to dry the newspaper, I guess." And I damn near applauded when, later in the show, the film crew caught him schlepping his steaming colander of pasta down the hall to the dorm shower, realizing that only a cold water shock of that magnitude would keep the noodles from becoming a mass of congealed goo. He later used the shower's hot water to partially re-heat the pasta that ultimately became the Mac 'n Cheese with Prawns and Mushrooms (video recipe here) that won him that round and the opportunity to compete tonight.
I called the guy "a dude" the first day I met him. I was not wrong. -- George Mahe
