Top Chef

[filkertom]

Just watched last night's ep. Man, it's getting intense.

The really cool thing is, last week, they said they were updating the much-loved Restaurant Wars with Wedding Wars. Psych! Next week is indeed Restaurant Wars -- two teams of three, each creating an entire little restaurant in basically a day. Oh. Yeah.

Thoughts on that, or last night's ep, or the season in general, or...?

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Give me a couple of hours to download and watch it. As long as Richard and Dale (yin/yang, good/evil, and the two most talented left) stick around, I won't go splodey.

[jss]

I'm hoping for Stephanie and Richard in the finale; I think now that Richard's doing less of the molecular gastronomy "tricks" he's actually more interesting as a chef, and I really like Stephanie's approach to food (even if peanut butter and tomato didn't go over well with the judges in "Common Threads"). As for the other remaining cheftestants: Antonia annoyed me early on, Lisa annoyed me later on, Dale needs some serious anger-management help, and Spike doesn't really have a chance.

I miss Mark. I think Nikki's "I'll give ideas but won't take responsibility or step up to lead" in "Wedding Wars" was definitely grounds for her to go. I'm glad Ryan (he who just couldn't stop babbling) is gone. I think it'd've been nice if Erick had stuck around a bit longer, though saying on national basic-cable television that Rick Bayless could go fuck himself will probably be a career-limiting move if he isn't his own boss.

I'm somewhat surprised at how many badly-seasoned dishes have been presented all season long. These folks are supposed to be among the best up-and-coming chefs and cooks, and none of 'em know how to use salt and pepper correctly?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

That's been one of the things that I've noticed, and I've also noticed that the judges keep telling them about it. You'd think they'd figure out that the problem might be their own palates....

I agree re: Mark. And with Eric, one of the things I noticed in Season Two with Marcel and as a continuing thing with Hung last year (although he got better) was a tendency for these up-and-coming people to say things like, "Well, he/she doesn't get me, that's his/her opinion." Yes, it is, and they've made insane amounts of money and garnered world-wide reputations for those opinions, so maybe you might want to pay a little attention...?

I like Antonia, even though she's difficult. Love Richard and Stephanie. Really like Dale, but, yeah, he's gotta calm down. Lisa is just getting on my nerves.

[wood-dragon.livejournal.com]

I wonder when we'll get to see it Canada.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Bittorrent is your friend. ;)

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Diana and I are big fans...

As of right now Dale and Richard are my front runners... but on this show, that could change..

Top Chef

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

I like Richard Blais. Dale need an extreme makeover attitude adjustment. He was OK at the beginning of the season, but he's turned into Torquemada. I'd also like to see Spike gone.

What I've learned from watching this madness is that you have to be able to work well with others in the kitchen, especially in things like wedding wars and next week in restaurant wars.

[pjhandley.livejournal.com]

gosh darn it. I was soooooo ticked off about the wings/stars game that I missed Top Chef last night.
So far, I've been enjoying the season. They started off at one of my favorite resturants (I recognized the interior shots before they said they were at Unos) and the chefs have been very competitive. I could do without all the cussing, though. This season has the most "potty-mouth" chefs by far.
But I was disappointed by the "Feed a family of 4 for $10" episode. I do this every day (well 4 & 1/2, actually. the little one doesn't eat much). And I could have cooked any one of those chefs under the table, and made a "healthy" dinner.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I had a huge problem with that episode: If you've got ten bucks to feed a family of four, you are NOT shopping at Whole Foods. You're looking for bargains, sales, stretching your dollar, and if necessary buying house brands.

[pjhandley.livejournal.com]

About ten years ago, there was a fascinating article in the A2 News about how poor blacks ate "healthier" than rich whites. Because if you have limited funds, you'll purchase more produce & "fresh" foods, and little to none of the "junk" or "prepackaged" foods. Because both the hubby & I grew up in poor households, we play the "grocery game". Coupons, store sales, etc. If somebody handed me $10, and said I had to come up with a dinner with just that to spend, I sure the heck wouldn't be shopping at WF or TJ.....

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

I dunno, Tom. Even when I was unemployed, organic ingredients were important to me and I still managed to shop at Whole Foods and force my dollar to stretch. Mind you, it wasn't my first line-of-culinary defense. As you point out, if you are poor, Whole Foods is not your first stop. I would hit small Asian markets and the Farmer's Market, first, and could usually find the organic stuff I wanted for much cheaper prices!

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Trader Joe's actually is cheaper than my nearest chain supermarket on milk and produce, and cheaper or equivalent on a surprising number of other things as well.

[enjis.livejournal.com]

Of course, I'm sure Whole Foods is one of their sponsors, or at least has some sort of deal with the production company to allow them to film and use their store for the show.
That being said, I am surprised they came out with as much food as they did, since they actually fed four kids AND all the judges....at least it looked as if the judges had decent portions.
How much of the other ingredients do they get in the Top Chef pantry?(ie: milk, eggs, vinegar, etc.?)
As for last night's show....the quick fire winner really set out to screw the other contestants by choosing the ingredients he chose, but ended up not using them well at all. Stupid.

SPOILERS for TC10, 5-14-08 - Read At Your Own Discretion

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And that's the other thing. They spend $10 on the primary ingredients, and they've also got a full pantry of gourmet ingredients. I'm curious as to what-all is in that pantry, because I don't keep all that many spices around here myself, y'know?

And, yeah. Spike really ticked me off. He's a middling-talent chef, he gloated about trying to screw everybody else, he lied about that to the judges, and he came up with... chicken salad. If not for Andrew's dropping of the ball, which at least showed his consistent willingness to take chances (not to mention his class when he left the way he did), Spike would be frickin' gone.

Re: SPOILERS for TC10, 5-14-08 - Read At Your Own Discretion

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

But.... Spike is so cute! OK, he needs to lose the do-rags, and he's kind of a trickster-figure gone awry, and I hate myself for rooting for him over Andrew, but I can't help rooting for him anyway. If nothing else, at least he's not as much of a jerk as Dale is - and he's more willing to compliment his cast-mates when they deserve it.

This is the first season I've watched, and I'm hooked - Bravo has been rerunning previous seasons, and I'm gobbling them up as fast as I can.

Re: SPOILERS for TC10, 5-14-08 - Read At Your Own Discretion

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

:) We'll have to compare notes at MarCon. I have serious problems with Season Two, based on my thinking the contestants were all petulant, whiny prima donnas that I could outcook.

[cjfringe.livejournal.com]

I know 3 of the final five, bit I don't think I can say. It should be very interesting though.

I haven't watched last night's ep yet, but I think it's time for Lisa to go. She's annoying me. My favorites are definitely Richard, Dale, and Stephanie.

Regarding the seasoning comment, realize that that's a snippet of a whole judges table they've shown. Tom and Padma have both repeatedly said that this season's chefs are all really good, so a little thing like seasoning being a bit off can get blown out of proportion to make or break the decision.

[celisnebula.livejournal.com]

I think Lisa should've gone, but then she annoys the fuck out of me, but so does Spike - one of those two should've gone.

I really like Richard, Lisa and Antonia. I like Andrew (for all his goofiness too.

I would really like it if a woman won, but Richard's a pretty excellent chef.