Top Chef: All-Stars' Elia Aboumrad on Her 'Humiliating' Exit
On the Top Chef: All-Stars premiere last night, host Padma Lakshmi greeted Bravo's eighteen returning cheftestants with a particularly nasty challenge: Remake the dish that got them eliminated the last time they were on the series. For season 2's Elia Aboumrad, that meant trying the snapper steamed in ti leaves all over again. Once again, it didn't go very well.
"It was just very humiliating," the Parisian-trained Aboumrad said during a conference call this morning. "Last time, I made it all the way to the end and I was just extremely, extremely humiliated to be eliminated on the first episode. Especially when you see that [the judges] are not being fair. [...] That is why I got so emotional."
"The truth is, [my dish -- Red Snapper Steamed in Ti with Snapper Jus] was a dish that was not supposed to be fully cooked. It was supposed to be medium rare. I explained to the judges that that was what I was going for but it seemed like they had already made up their minds even before I explained. I did fish for one year for [acclaimed chef] Joel Robuchon. I cooked for all of his restaurants and I never had an issue like this."
Her standing was not helped by the fact that several contestants were able to bend Padma's rules without consequence.
"I believe a lot of people didn't follow [the rules]," Aboumrad admitted. "I believe that nobody was held accountable for not keeping it true, especially because a lot of the dishes were missing ingredients from their original dish. That was disappointing."
Did she think that the judges had an ulterior motive to eliminate her? Maybe.
"Anthony Bourdain. I don't know the man. I haven't read his books and I don't watch TV. I know who he is through the media and through what my friends tells me. I knew Tom [Colicchio] when I was opening the Robuchon restaurant. I thought I knew him but clearly I don't. People change. Fame goes to your head and makes it grow very sadly and he has become a very different person. He has become someone that -- it's not all about the food anymore. It's not about supporting farmers markets. He's all about high fructose corn syrup now and there is only corn-fed beef on all of his menus now. It's sad that someone with so much power [in the culinary world] is turning into a money-making machine more than staying true to our profession."
All of that being said, would Aboumrad try a different variation on the red snapper if she was given another chance?
"That's a tricky question...I felt comfortable with what I presented. I felt comfortable with the flavor. It was made very, very clear to us what the rules were and I followed them."
"Maybe now I will present something similar in my restaurant," Aboumrad added with a laugh.
Elia Aboumrad's West Hollywood restaurant, Avec Moi, which will feature fine French cuisine, is expected to open at the beginning of the summer
Red Snapper Steamed in Ti with Snapper Jus
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
Could you make the headline a little more vague for those that forgot to DVR last night?
Bitter much?
Wow! It's important for a chef to have a good sense of self and a bit of an ego, but this seems to be taking it a bit far. Unless the challange was described in a totally different way off camera, she missed the mark. The chefs were to remake their original fatal dish not ingredient by ingredient, but to make it work this time. What was wrong before should be corrected, so if someone leaves out an ingredient good for them! Way to miss the mark and come away looking like a jerk instead of an All-Star.
Maybe you should try tasting your food before serving it.
Wow! What a sore loser. Makes sense though, she was a petty ass whiner in her season as well. Nina pendeja, bien so ve lo envidiosa que eres!
You should be embarressed. Not by your cooking or elimination but your classness after the fact. Good luck with this attitude in the culinary world.
I think you have it all wrong. Elia is entitled to her opinion as are the judges. She has cooked fish for one of the most exacting chefs in the world Joel Robuchon and was invited to Las Vegas to help open his restaurant there. Her skills are clear and precise and I have personally witnessed them. The judges were outrageous in their criticisms of not only her food but the food of others. As Fabio said constructive criticism is fine but making fun of people is unacceptable. Bourdain is brash and uncouth and has made a healthy living being like that. Good for him but don't take it out on talented chefs who are working hard to produce outstanding dishes. Clearly even from what we saw others didn't follow the rules. Plating after the timer should be grounds for elimination. And Stephen's dishes - let's get real!!!!
Has eli a been an actress before???
I think that to certain point she's right about how unfair the judges are in the show,i believe that she's a great chef,but as a profesional you can't talk crap about other chefs,at the end you're the only one who's reaponsible for what you're serving,i think what happend with her is that she felt too confident that she was gonna make it to the end that she ended up being eliminated,now the snapper it's actualy ment to be medium rare but the way colichio described it it's like she didnt even cooked it,to me stephen had the worst dish.