Top Chef All-Stars

Last night’s episode was excellent for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was Restaurant Wars which is one of my favorite challenges. The chefs really have to showcase all their skills in order to make this thing fly in a 24 hour period. Not only do they have to cook, but their management skills are really put to the test. That’s one of the hidden little secrets of the restaurant world, a top flight chef is not just a great cook but an excellent manager as well.

Now that’s where Dale really stood out last night. Not only is he a great chef, but he showed exactly how smart he is. In choosing Marcel as the captain of the other team, he did a couple of things. First, he made sure that he didn’t have to work with him. Second, he put Marcel in a position that he knew he would fail at. Then he made his second smartest move, he selected Fabio for his team knowing that he would run the front of the house.

That’s was the second greatest part about last night’s episode, watching Fabio work his magic. When Fabio turns on the charm he is second to none. Not only does he have a tremendous amount of experience in restaurants, he also has a charisma that can cut through all the BS and make things work. He handled the wait staff with strength and dexterity, instructing them when needed and still had the opportunity to joke with the guests to help put them at ease.

Finally, getting Marcel off the show was the ultimate highlight of the evening. As team captain, Marcel showed exactly why he isn’t ready to be the Top Chef. He clearly doesn’t have the people skills to be a leader. He thought that by being named team captain, everyone on his team would automatically defer to him. He couldn’t put together the framework of a plan that would allow for the other team members to be themselves yet continue to work towards a common goal. He was assertive and abrasive and completely unaware of the damage he was doing. Still, he could have survived the disaster had he known enough to just shut his mouth at the Judges’ Table. Oh yeah there was one other thing,  once again he made a foam.

Good bye Marcel. We hardly knew ye but still thought you were an asshole.