Top Chef

[zealousheart]

So the new season starts tonight and the theme song and New York City theme seem awesome!

Anyone watch this show? I know a lot of people here watch Project Runway so does it overlap?

What do you think of the show? How do you like this season (from the previews or first ep) so far? Who are your fave past contestants?

[CoffyBaby]

Curse you, Zealousheart!!!!! :embarass: I swore not to post about any more reality shows but you just had to start a thread about Top Chef.... :bang:

Yes, I started watching this show about 2 years ago while going through Project Runway withdrawal. I liked last year's winner, the short Asian dude and I absolutely HATED that bitch lady who dressed/acted like a warden from a women's prison.

Anyway...I'm watching and I'll post later.
:wave:

[vmkids]

I love this show. I felt sorry for the guy who cut his finger doing the apples. Glad he won then or he would have used them to make his dish to taste! YUCK

[zealousheart]

:lol:, sorry CoffyBaby but Top Chef is awesome, so you should post about it!

I was surprised Tom let the guy with the bloody apples through, though you're right it was better that way. So far I'm liking the international guys, despite the fact that other contestants have said they're annoying, it hasn't come off to me, yet. And, at least one, is obviously a very good chef.

[CoffyBaby]

I'm glad the young boy was sent home. This show is not for newbie recent culinary school graduates. Sorry, but that kind of mediocre cooking is reserved for another reailty cooking show. The Next Food Network Star!!!:lol:

[zealousheart]

Very true. And he was so cocky too! But on the bottom in both challenges. He totally deserved to go home.

[ky2here]

Go Team Rainbow! Well, I guess they just lost 33% of their constituency. He was adorable - especially when he mounted the bear after his ouster. Oh well, bye bye Patrick.

I love crackhead Carla - she's going to be fun. I hope the Chore Boy doesn't fall into her soup. May she make it to the final three.

Lisa was the prison warden from last season. I thought she was priceless - perfect humorless lesbian.

[CoffyBaby]

LISA!!! thank you; I successfully blotted out her name from my memory banks. What a peice of work.

See Ya :wave:

[CoffyBaby]

I thought the guy who picked nasty canned crab (at Whole Foods) because he wanted to pick something he was used to making regardless of the quality or freshness of ingredients would go. He was lazy and afraid to leave his comfort zone. Plus he was cheap! :nono:

I also wanted that whiner who made the crappy dessert to go because this was her 2nd time at the bottom and she really just seems to be weak as a chef. Nobody made her choose the dessert, she did of her own volition. And after being on the bottom, you know you have to be extra-perfect. But she admitted that her lemon merinque was just something she kind of does but it wasn't special. And something that makes Padma spit must be awful! :etongue:

That said, Jill sounded high/stoned when she spoke. She came off as a total idiot who can't explain her thoughts or ideas. That killed her. And picking an ingredient because it seems cute but you have no idea how it tastes or how it cooks-well, that doesn't help either. :uhoh:

[zealousheart]

I so agree with all those comments.

Being at the bottom twice in a row should send you home. Jill though was just like, "Ummm..." the whole time, like what was that? It was funny how she could not even open the ostrich egg.

It was also really funny when Fabio thought he was up to go home and started protesting, I cracked up. So far my faves are Team Europe and also blonde!surferdude Jeffrey...he succeeded in organizing everyone when no one else could and his food's been consistently good.

[CoffyBaby]

Fabio's pre-emptive strike when he raged into defense when they were trying to compliment and give him the WIN was crazy funny! :lol::lol::lol:

But I don't blame him. I was scared for him. Standing next to those sorry 2nd grade cooks was a bit sobering. Sometimes when the judges have the winners & losers in one
line-up, it can be confusing. :ponder:

And nothing is worse than standing up there smiling when it turns out that your food stank worse than a skunk. :punch:

[ky2here]

Team Rainbow takes another hit - at least one is left. I wonder if she'll cook with Absinthe (the liquor, not her restaurant).

[CoffyBaby]

Hate team challenges!!!! That said....

It appeared that they were tied with some favorites from both sides. this was a real toss up. But the team I like with the European hotties won!
:love::drool::naughty:
*I think having the hot sexy Italian guy present & serve most of the diners was a great idea because he was just real tickled pink to make his own version of American traditional food.

**Jeff was pretty hostile at judging but I think he learned a lot about himself when he found out that two of HIS dishes (spoonbread & pumpkin mousse) were not enjoyable

***I got Daniel & Richard mixed up a lot :blush:so I'm glad one of them went home, but I think Daniel is the bigger jerk with a chip on his shoulder

****I couldn't believe that Ariane's team allowed her to be responsible for the main entree of the turkey BUT she got lucky. I'm still suspicious of her skills.

*****Once again, nasty inedible desserts kill another aspiring chef. DON'T F%@# WITH SOMEBODY'S CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE.....:lol:

[beesknees]

***I got Daniel & Richard mixed up a lot :blush:so I'm glad one of them went home, but I think Daniel is the bigger jerk with a chip on his shoulderSame here! Though, I was hoping the other guy would go since undercooked potatoes (I'm sorry, "al dente" :rolleyes2 ) seems like a bigger crime than a strange dessert.

[CoffyBaby]

:etongue: Worst "winner" on Top Chef in a long time. Arriane makes a boring, uninspired, easy watermelon & tomato salad with no protein or cooking at all and wins? :wtf:
Fabio deserved the win. Even some of the women who judged the 3 finalists mentioned how pathetic and devoid of originality & flavor her plate was. :down: And her "performance" during the demonstration wasn't that interesting or entertaining.
:love:Again, Fabio has way more personality as well as cooking skill.

[ky2here]

I was surprised they didn't seem to grasp the concept of an amuse bouche. I wish more them would ferme their bouche.

[CoffyBaby]

I think the theme to that episode is "Less is More"- which was good for Ariane because she doesn't seem to have much to offer.:tongue: That said: I think it's hard for talented creative chefs who are itching to show what they can do- to PAUSE,REFLECT & Make just one small bite that represents the essence of a plate/flavor/technique. That was a tough challenge. Both were because making a meal in just 2 minutes is just another quickfire! I was really impressed with some of the stuff that was tried and almost succeeded. Imagine if this had been a 5 minute challenge! :naughty: there's some talent this season... :popcorn:

[beesknees]

:etongue: Worst "winner" on Top Chef in a long time. Arriane makes a boring, uninspired, easy watermelon & tomato salad with no protein or cooking at all and wins? :wtf:But she totally challenged herself by making that basil oil. :sarcasm: Yeah, just kidding, those Today Show hags should've picked one of the guys.
And now she has her 2nd win in a row for...not destroying the menu her other two teammates came up with? I mean, she was praised for cooking flavorful lamb really well, but whose idea was it to use the flavors that made the lamb so tasty? One of the other two girls, right?

[ky2here]

I'm really getting tired of Jamie. Why can't the lesbians on this show just do good work? She's full of entitlement and gets mad when she's not the best. Doesn't she realize hundreds of people applied and weren't selected? I had high hopes for her in the early days of 'team rainbow' but she's getting on my nerves now.

Get it together, dude!

[Amandatinkerbel]

I'm a little disappointed with the contestants so far this year. I'm hoping the season gets better.

[beesknees]

I'm going to be disappointed if Fabio gets kicked off anytime soon because he cracks me up. Yay for quippy non-boringness!

[CoffyBaby]

The Xmas episode was very illuminating.....

It seems that many contestants have gotten candy canes stuck up their asses. I totally agreed with the judges that most of the items offered on the menu were weak and perhaps tasted yucky or at least, pedestrian boring.
I mean, an award-winning chicken pot-pie. What is this? The Pillsbury Bake-Off? :lol:

I loved how Ariane, the top award winning chef so far (:eek:boy, that doesn't bode well for the show) , decided to make Devilled Eggs. Um, judges, you created this mediocre monster. Most of her winning meals have been basic/easy/boring displays. But you have told her that she's kick ass, so why should she step up her game now?

Jamie & Eugene, I used to like them , but they are acting very entitled and turning out weak-ass shit. WORSE, they are combative with the judges during panel and displaying huge egos. :etongue::etongue: Guys, your palettes aren't worth shit if you can't identify salty, too sweet, slimy, tepid, nasty food. Yeah, you're going up against Ariane, but that doesn't mean you get sloppy or lazy!!!!

Even Fabio's Italian (?) lover routine is getting tired. Man, just make a kick ass crabcake and shut-up already. And trust me, Martha Stewart has heard them all and probably tasted them all too...Um...that doesn't sound right...:blush::naughty:

But Carla and some of the others, they are kind of just...there. :sleep: The excitement has definitely worn off. :poke:

The judges were quite nice & forgiving. Instead of not kicking anybody off because so many foods equally sucked, I though they had every right to kick off all 3 bottom cooks or better yet, change their minds and throw off somebody hanging back in the wine cellar, thinking (incorrectly) that they are safe and they deserve to feel secure. :popcorn: Now THAT would have been an entertaining :director: wake-up call. :hehe:

[dawn0124]

DVR this season and fast forward to the challenges - not into the people this time around.

[ky2here]

Jamie has the gruff scowl thing down. She looks simian. What was she thinking serving raw scallops in vichyssoise? That doesn't work for catering - it probably doesn't even work in San Francrisco where she lives.

Carla is growing on me - I expected Barbara Bush Bug-Eyed madness from her but apparently she isn't as much of a crackhead as she appears. She's just Southern.