Not all parts of other dishes succeeded, however.
Texture, as much as flavor, is what makes this dish succeed.
Not every dish succeeds, though they all display flair and imagination.
At its heart "Top Chef" remains a show about cooking, the triumphs and pratfalls of its contestants yielding lessons about the way ingredients go together and why a dish succeeds or not.
Dishes that succeed are on a par with the best at the older restaurant, but a number of selections fell short.
The simplest dishes probably succeed best -- in late summer (our winter), a big white bowl of simply dressed tomato wedges, or a warm tart of oil-roasted seasonal vegetables (zucchini, peppers, tomatoes) with curd cheese, surrounded by a salad of arugula, or pan-fried kingfish fillets with a Michel Guerard-style sauce vierge, tiny dice of peeled tomatoes with olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs.
Conscious that for a dish to succeed it needs to be a meeting of engineering and artistry.
While the menu of American regional and Continental dishes often succeeds, the food sometimes suffers from carelessness in cooking and in presentation.
The pasta dishes that succeeded did so on the grounds of pure indulgence — it's hard to go wrong when you stuff moon-shaped pockets with duck and chestnut — while the most appealing entrees were often the ones that allowed the star to break free of the supporting cast.
The wines by the glass could be more exciting, and a few dishes don't succeed, like an appetizer marriage of skate and chicken wings that's inspired by semantics more than anything else.
