And They (Almost) All Lived Happily Ever After: Top Chef Just Desserts

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, August 26th, 2011

CityZen Pastry Chef Matthew Petersen (Image: Bravo TV)

[Warning: this post does contain spoilers for those who care.]

In a Nut Shell: A Recap

Season 2 of Bravo TV’s Top Chef Just Desserts premiered Wednesday, and proud Arlingtonian pastry chef Matthew Petersen kicked butt (no surprise). The show opened with pop (as opposed to a bang): the Quickfire Challenge required the pastry chefs to create a modern take on a soda fountain treat.

In this round (in which contestants compete for immunity), Petersen fell in the middle of the pack. Judge (Who’s) Johnny Iuzzini, looking slightly less rockabilly this season, signaled disappointment that there was nothing else on the bottom of  the chocolate Brooklyn egg cream with lemon floating island that Petersen and his partner presented. However, Petersen’s sin was not as grievous as an Elvis-inspired dullard of a dessert and a dispirted (looking) banana split proffered by two other duos.

As for the former, Johnny made a good point .  . . obviously, you don’t want to present anything but the most well-conceived Elvis tribute to someone whose personal style is a nod to the King. Lina and Craig’s almond crispies, raspberry sauce and butter pecan ice cream incorporated bananas; other than that, I’m not sure how Elvis was in the building. Not enough to impress Presley or Iuzzini.   

And the latter dessert? Besides the obvious point that, well, a banana split has kind of been done, a serious pastry offense was committed. Sitting right on top of that dessert was . . . gasp. . . a vanilla bean. Otherwise known as an NFG or nonfunctional garnish. It was pretty much drilled into us from day one in pastry school that this a no-no. If you can’t consume it, don’t use it. (Shout out to Chef Maas for this piece of wisdom.)

The verdict? Amanda and Nelson’s chocolate sponge cake, pickled cherries and pistachios won the day. As a spumoni fan, this flavor combination had my heart racing.

Round two’s Elimination Challenge was someone’s idea of a fairy tale come true; namely, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Bean Stalk, and Hansel & Gretel. If you think these stories are universally loved and known, this episode proves you wrong. Surprisingly, there were a number of chefs who struggled with the basic storylines; and it showed in some of the choices made in composing the required showpieces with the accompanying themed desserts. And just like fairy tales, there were dark undercurrents–”incidents and accidents, there were hints and allegations.”

Case in point, the Jack and the Bean Stalk ladies were unfortunately saddled with Craig, whose voice sounds like he permanently swallowed helium (or at the very least like the cute little neighbor kid Bo from Season 1 of Friday Night Lights . . . it just doesn’t sound so cute coming from a 25-year -old.) The “immature” contestant left his teammates scrambling to assemble their sugar showpiece in the eleventh hour.  Their work was stunning, but only in one dimension (the back revealed a series of disguised breaks and cracks occasioned by the circumstance).

The judges issued their verdicts while dressed in ridiculous fairy tale-themed costumes. (Gail Simmons was Little Red Riding Hood, not Johnny). Petersen’s Little Red team was riding high (its showpiece featured a striking figurine of the protagonist made from pulled and blown sugar; the desserts “raised the bar” with  flavor and textural contrasts), and was ultimately declared the winner over team Goldilocks.

The unfortunate Jack and the Bean Stalk ensemble and team Hansel and Gretel were up for elimination. And then the obligatory throwing under the bus occurred. Melissa of Team H&G hated Lina’s cake house from the start. Admittedly, there was nothing tempting to a child about this house. Instead of a colorful and playful gingerbread, it looked more like a brown barn of doom. Or a pedophile’s lair.

And with that, Lina was the first to take her whisk and beat it (come on Gail, so much better than “pack your tools and go”).

Some Top Chef Just Desserts Vocab

It occurred to me as I watched this first TCJD episode that, while everyone loves dessert, the spin-off seems a little less accessible than TC savory. Could  it be all the unfamiliar terminology? So here is a little Episode 1 vocabulary lesson that might help:

Bergamot (as in Katzie’s Elimination Challenge Bergamot Clouds with Whipped Lemon Ricotta and Sweet Pea Sorbet) is a pear-shaped orange that is highly valued for its essential oils (it is used in perfumes and candies). You’ll find its peel in Earl Grey tea. Katzie’s recipe featured Bergamot oil.

Bergamot Clouds (Image: Bravo TV)

Bomboloni . . . a fancy word for something we all love. This time, we are talking about the ultimate fried food, an Italian doughnut.  Amanda Rockman’s Bomboloni was “rose scented” due to her rose-flavored meringue.

The île flottante or floating islands in Petersen’s chocolate Brooklyn egg cream are poached balls of meringue (egg whites and sugar). They look sort of like poached eggs, which might explain the alternative fancy French moniker oeufs a la niege (eggs in the snow).

Feiulletine sounds pretty high fallutin’ but don’t be intimidated:  it is a rather simple ingredient. It is basically crushed biscuits that taste a little like really delicate (or rich people’s) corn flakes. If you combine feiulletine with pralinosa (a praline flavored paste that tastes like rich people’s nutella) and melted chocolate (or buy it pre-mixed), you can use it to add texture to a lot of desserts. Think Ferrero Rocher . . . In this episode, the feiulletine is employed in the ill-fated Quick Fire banana split.

Nougatine is a confection, traditionally made by combining almonds and a cooked sugar syrup. The mixture is rolled out while warm and can then be cut into different shapes. Petersen and his partner Carlos used cocoa nibs in place of nuts in their Red Riding Hood-themed Blackout Sponge Cake, Cocoa Nib Nougatine, Poached Cherries, and Micro Basil.

Blackout Sponge Cake (Image: Bravo TV)

For more on Petersen’s TCJD experience, including his position on the use of recipes during the competition, check out this informative Q&A with the Post’s Tim Carman.

C’est tout for now. Happy Friday!

-Johnisha M. Levi

NoVa’s Matthew Petersen to Battle it Out on Top Chef Just Desserts

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Matthew Petersen (Image: Bravo TV)

His bio reads like a pastry student’s dream: graduate of Johnson & Wales University’s Providence campus; pastry chef at Morimoto and then Daniel Boulud’s Restaurant Daniel and db Bistro Moderne; Executive Pastry Chef of Miami’s Café Boulud; and currently, Executive Pastry Chef at the Mandarin Oriental’s CityZen and Sou’Wester, working alongside James Beard award-winning Chef Eric Ziebold.

And he’s only 32 years old!

Now Arlingtonian Matthew Petersen has chosen to jump from one of the area’s most acclaimed kitchens into the fray of Season 2 of Top Chef Just Desserts.

For those of you who haven’t watched the dessert spin off of Bravo’s highly successful Top Chef, I’ll clue you in. The basic format is the same–quick fires and elimination challenges—the main difference being that this is pastry geek central. And with a lot more back-biting, back-stabbing, and histrionics (two words: Seth Caro), giving the lie to the myth that pastry chefs are more easy going than their savory counterparts. Ha! Not so in the world of Extreme Pastry. This show should be called “Pastry Chefs Behaving Badly.”

Gail Simmons and a barely-recognizable (Who’s) Johnny Iuzzini (pompardourless and sideburnless this season) are back as host and head judge, alongside my favorite French man and judge Hubert Keller.

So what else has changed besides Iuzzini’s hairstyle?

This season’s 14 cheftestants are newly outfitted in pink-accented black chef jackets (no doubt Iuzzini-inspired).  This crop of contenders is also considerably younger than the previous season’s. (Season 1 only had three contestants under the age of 35. Season 2, in contrast, only has two contestants over 35.) We also have a guest appearance by Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock to look forward to (Petersen is particularly psyched from the clip below).

Top Chef Just Dessert’s second season premieres August 24 at 10 p.m. on Bravo. For more information on the show and its contestants, click here.

In the meantime, here’s a preview of what’s to come:

-Johnisha M. Levi

NoVA Well Represented in 2010 RAMMY Race

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

(Image: RAMW)

Restaurant awards season is now officially underway, with the James Beard Foundation unveiling its 2010 finalists yesterday and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington shining a light on the D.C.-Metro area’s culinary superstars today.

Though they are two very different competitions, there are at least one pair of hometown hopefuls in the running for both the national Beard Awards and local honors: restaurateur Jose Andres–whose minibar has him in contention for a Fine Dining RAMMY and Beard’s Outstanding Chef award–and CityZen pastry chef Amanda Cook (nominated for her delectable sweets by both hospitality scrutinizing bodies).

Meanwhile, Northern Virginia restaurants figure prominently in nine of the 14 RAMMY categories, including:

* Fine Dining: 2941

*Upscale Casual: Liberty Tavern, Vermilion

* Neighborhood Gathering Place: EatBar

* New Restaurant: Eventide, Inox

* Chef: Bertrand Chemel/2941

* Rising Culinary Star: Liam LaCivita/Liberty Tavern, Shannon Overmiller/The Majestic, Jon Mathieson/Inox

* Pastry Chef: Anthony Chavez/2941, Josh Short/Buzz (Neighborhood Restaurant Group)

* Wine Program: 2941

* Beverage/Mixology Program: EatGoodFood Group (AKA Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve/PX/The Majestic fame)

You can browse the full list of 2010 RAMMY nominees here. The winners will be feted June 6th during an awards gala at the Marriott Wardman Park.

Northern Virginia Magazine would like to congratulate all the nominees–yes, even you D.C. restos–and wish you all the best of luck on awards night!

–Warren