Top Chef Canada: Season 2: episode 2: Kunal Ghose is sent packing with his taco

Still too many Chefs in the middle, under the radar, to start picking any favorites. The one exception, the female Chefs, have shown they are a force to be reckoned with.  Out of the 4 challenges thus far, the women Chefs have take 3 titles. With one quick fire going to the men, Trista Sheen served up one of the top dishes.

When we saw the preview for episode 2 and that Mike Holmes was the guest judge we rolled our eyes. Much to our surprise, he was a good judge by picking surprise winning dishes. Instead of being big plug for Mike Holmes' TV show the episode featured the charitable organization Habitat for Humanity. Very positive and brilliant cross promotion from Shaw media that produces both shows. Holmes persona, as a bad ass, was to hold the Chefs to the challenges. When watching Top Chef sometimes it feels like the Chefs make the dish they feel comfortable making no matter what the challenge. When the Chefs do not follow the instructions you wonder if they are just playing it safe. Why put yourself out there when you can fly under the radar at this point in the show? In this case we saw 2 Chefs, during the quick fire, serve Holmes raw fish when he had asked for meat. The second challenge was a BBQ for the 100 habitat for humanity house builders. The judges questioned Chef Aubie’s use of salmon. We figure the West Coast surfin’ Tofino Chef must eat BBQ’d salmon all the time. Even stranger than salmon at a BBQ was Kunal Ghose’s “taco” that was not a taco.

You might have heard that Top Chef can be a good for a Chef's career. After the first few episodes this season we are wondering if being on the show might be hazardous to your business. Think about it, Chef Ghose was sent home for a “taco” made with store bought tortillas. One of the opposing teams, the one with Ottawa taco king Chef Korecki, made fresh tortillas. You figure it out, but Ghose runs a taco stand in Victoria. When the Chef packed his knives he commented that at least he was not sent home for making a fish taco. We wonder if Ghose serves homemade tortillas at his restaurant? Being sent home for making one of your signature dishes is a rather tragic moment.  

Last week, David Chrystian was in the bottom, for serving a chicken dish seasoned to reflect each one of Toronto's ethnic neighborhoods. Cool? No, the judges described the dish as bland. We are not sure if Chef Chrystian uses this spice at his restaurant, he did threaten to use it again. We do know, from reading about him online, that he offers a tasting menu where each dish reflects one of Toronto's ethnic neighborhoods. Once again, bad branding when your dish, featuring one of your restaurant’s signature concepts, is featured in the bottom.