Just Desserts: Top Chef on Bravo

Right from the start we note that chefs are tougher, more outspoken, and more aggressively emotional than the polite mega-tailors of the famous fashion show.

In episode 1, we have a chance to briefly meet all of the Top Chef kitchen elite, from the earnest-yet-bumbling Otto, to the young culinary chemist wannabe, Marcel. In between there is Ellia, the sporadically talented cook with the low self-esteem, Carlos, the so-far mediocre-but-gay cook, and the angry white guy with the knife.

Each episode is split by a quick-cooking challenge, called a Quick Flame Challenge, followed by a more in-depth challenge in the second half of the show.

The first Quick Flame Challenge is to create a flambé dish in only 20 minutes.

This first challenge quickly showed the biggest difference between Top Chef and the aforementioned Project Runway. Namely, in Runway, it was the winners that created the most interesting viewing when it came to the judging. In Top Chef, it is the losing dishes that have the most spectacular visual presentation.

Oh sure, we had the whole gee-whiz factor of the flambé gimmick, but when we saw Ellia Abumraud setting a match to her wine-soaked strawberries, even the most sympathetic viewer had to shake his or her head in disgust.

How can anyone not know that wine is better for dousing a fire than for transforming your unplanned concoction into toasted haute cuisine? When the viewer sees the pathetic soggy mess she presents to the judges, it most closely resembles boiled sliced mushrooms and crankcase oil.

Sam Talbot ultimately pulls it together and earns immunity for the elimination round the next day.

That night we see the contestants whoop it up with a party, revealing another difference in the show; these cooks like their alcohol. Some of us are wondering if there is an alcoholic in the cast of characters and whether that will become an issue as the show progresses.

So the next day arrives, and the judges split the teams into two groups, giving each member a mystery box containing an unlikely assortment of 5 ingredients. Each chef must create a dish, and the food will be judged as a group effort. Each team will judge the opposing team's food.

The Orange team gets snails, potatoes, artichokes, peanuts, and processed cheese. They immediately begin cooking, and then the insults and disdain towards processed cheese start coming. And this is where my own bias comes in. I happen to like processed American cheese, and anybody who refuses to find a place for it in their palate is just being snot-nosed.

Anyway, Ellia reveals a profound lack of self-esteem, but also exposes her genuine talent for preparation and presentation.

The black team receives corn flakes, frogs' legs, chicken livers, eggplant and peanut butter. If anyone has ever done any cooking, it is obvious this second box was much easier to incorporate into a dish than the box the Orange team had.

In the end, Ilan walks away with the win for the Orange Team with his nifty snail packages baked in the oven.

The loser, Suyai packs her knives because of the execrable braised potatoes and artichokes and garlic escargot with cheese sauce.

But most interesting was the way the Orange Team singled out the youthful and demonic Marcel, with his Frog Leg Lollipop.

Several chefs said Marcel's dish had too much garlic.

It is very difficult to get too much of that particular herb, and the television does not make it very clear if Marcel really overused the garlic.

What was obvious is the unspoken, almost subliminal, strategizing occurring among the lesser-talented-yet-intelligent cooks to try to leverage a better hash slinger off the show.

Near the end, Bravo presented a poll allowing the audience to predict who would be the 'villain' in this season, and Marcel won the vote. Perhaps he is the so-called villain, for Marcel is obviously vying for that role.

But for anyone with an ounce of awareness, it is obvious the villains are the conniving cooks who tried to get him thrown off the show in the first episode.

Marcel might be the villain, he might be the most daring, he might be just some lucky punk with an attitude problem, but one thing is certain, he is one to watch.