sustenance or tv jamboree?
Saw the season opener to Top Chef. They sort of had a "compulsories" section. Two contestants had a soufflé-off, two had a chicken picata showdown, two had lasagna mano a mano, etc., etc.
So the soufflé folks didn't really know how to make them. One said he hadn't done one in twenty years. He at least understood the magnitude of his failure. When his vaguely mexican inspired creation failed, he said "My nachos just didn't cut it".
Over in the crab-cake fisticuffs, one of the guys didn't know the recipe for mayo. WTF? How can you go into a Top Chef contest lacking such a fundamental building block of making sauces? It's like not knowing how to deglaze a pan.
I guess I haven't seen the early elimination rounds in previous years. I think they need to cut the field in half pretty quickly.
i thought the chicken picata guy should have beebn sent home. he didn't know what chicken picata was and rocco dispirito (sp?) said something like maybe not only his gnocchi was dense. ouch.
I thought there were at least three strong candidates to go home. Nacho soufflé guy, piccata guy, and the flan mush lady. Piccata guy wouldn't even cop to not knowing what a piccata was.
Here's what bugged me about a bunch of these folks ... if you can't make eggs do magic, don't even show up.
what do you think about the lesbian couple from sf? i can only think they accepted the both of them for some added drama. i am a little biased toward nacho suffle guy and despite the tragic dish, was glad he made it.
I also think the choice of a couple is one of those "producers overrides" to drive drama. In some of the team events, it's the team dynamic that determines who gets voted off the kitchen.
Nacho soufflé guy is an interesting character. I think his attitude towards the epic fail earned him some points. The crab cake guy with the mayo crisis is pretty tweaked. I'm already tired of his bs.
wylie was guest chef on last week's episode! they run these over and over if anyone wants to catch him. i really thought the mushroom woman was going home. nice comeback for the aussie, considering he almost got axed last week.
I think he's a kiwi. (They're all the same, but don't say that to them.) I think keeping the vegemite out of the cuisine was a major step forward for him. I think the sideburns helped too.
Again, I was surprised by some of the mistakes. Even I know you have to make pancakes (bilinis) to order. And the mushrooms? If the food is bad, don't serve it! And guess what, adding cheese may or may not rescue a dish.
The gorilla group clearly had the opportunity to go vegetarian. Living with a vegetarian I have some empathy for the choice issues that come up. I was surprised they didn't get dinged for including so many animal bits. One would think that at a zoo event, there would be some vegetarians desperate for munchies. If it had been the chimp group, that would have been something different, but the phrase "eat like a gorilla" conjures up vegan fare. (The Koko Diet)
did you see last week's yet? i would have sent home pasta salad, but you know they kept her bc her gf is on and that whole drama can't be played out so early. and didn't rick bayless do a burger king commercial?
"When your pasta salad could be beaten by the average deli counter in a supermarket ..."
Lots of losers to choose from. Second challenge in a row where they had to cook in advance. You'd think they'd learn not to cook stuff that doesn't sit well.
I was hoping corn dog guy would last longer. He seemed interesting. His taco plate looked pretty awful though.
Seen the finale yet?
"bacon ice cream" has to be right up there with "rack of lamb poached in duck fat" on the decadence scale.
well i was waiting for skinny to watch it, but since i saw the winner on google news before i got a chance to watch it - curses! - i watched it without him today. no surprise but what a bummer antonia was not in final. lisa was a surprise and i felt bad for richard. he looked like he was going to cry a few times.
yeah, bacon ice cream, nice. anyone have an ice cream maker?
I am soooo glad Lisa didn't win. She was an interpersonal disaster (until the very end, when she was sweetness and light), and was on chopping block several times. Going into the finale, I said, "Lisa loses a tie". I suspect that's what happened. I'm surprised Stephanie came without a solid dessert. Even if you're not a pastry chef, you gotta be prepared.
Of the whole lot this season, Richard's food is the food I'd like to sample.
we noticed in the credits that the producers have a say in who gets sent home each week and so we're thinking that lisa was kept just to have a little drama in the last show. clearly antonia should have been in the final three, she was basically sent home because she plated each of her 3 dishes on one plate and her beans were slightly underdone. this was my least favorite season so far, though i really only saw the last one all the way through. now we can get back to weeds.
In season 2 it was very clear that the producers intervened towards the end to eliminate Sam, who had good people skills, to keep Ilan and Marcel, who had animosity towards each other. After that call, the disclaimer was very prominently featured.
It was kinda weird that Lisa made it so far. Both Antonia and Jen were better. I think they knew they had to throw it to Stephanie at the end or risk the wrath of viewers.
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Saw the season opener to Top Chef. They sort of had a "compulsories" section. Two contestants had a soufflé-off, two had a chicken picata showdown, two had lasagna mano a mano, etc., etc.
So the soufflé folks didn't really know how to make them. One said he hadn't done one in twenty years. He at least understood the magnitude of his failure. When his vaguely mexican inspired creation failed, he said "My nachos just didn't cut it".
Over in the crab-cake fisticuffs, one of the guys didn't know the recipe for mayo. WTF? How can you go into a Top Chef contest lacking such a fundamental building block of making sauces? It's like not knowing how to deglaze a pan.
I guess I haven't seen the early elimination rounds in previous years. I think they need to cut the field in half pretty quickly.
- mark 3-15-2008 6:11 am
i thought the chicken picata guy should have beebn sent home. he didn't know what chicken picata was and rocco dispirito (sp?) said something like maybe not only his gnocchi was dense. ouch.
- linda 3-15-2008 4:54 pm [add a comment]
I thought there were at least three strong candidates to go home. Nacho soufflé guy, piccata guy, and the flan mush lady. Piccata guy wouldn't even cop to not knowing what a piccata was.
- mark 3-16-2008 1:03 am [add a comment]
Here's what bugged me about a bunch of these folks ... if you can't make eggs do magic, don't even show up.
- mark 3-16-2008 10:50 am [add a comment]
what do you think about the lesbian couple from sf? i can only think they accepted the both of them for some added drama. i am a little biased toward nacho suffle guy and despite the tragic dish, was glad he made it.
- linda 3-17-2008 3:29 am [add a comment]
I also think the choice of a couple is one of those "producers overrides" to drive drama. In some of the team events, it's the team dynamic that determines who gets voted off the kitchen.
Nacho soufflé guy is an interesting character. I think his attitude towards the epic fail earned him some points. The crab cake guy with the mayo crisis is pretty tweaked. I'm already tired of his bs.
- mark 3-17-2008 4:03 am [add a comment]
wylie was guest chef on last week's episode! they run these over and over if anyone wants to catch him. i really thought the mushroom woman was going home. nice comeback for the aussie, considering he almost got axed last week.
- linda 3-25-2008 8:54 pm [add a comment]
I think he's a kiwi. (They're all the same, but don't say that to them.) I think keeping the vegemite out of the cuisine was a major step forward for him. I think the sideburns helped too.
Again, I was surprised by some of the mistakes. Even I know you have to make pancakes (bilinis) to order. And the mushrooms? If the food is bad, don't serve it! And guess what, adding cheese may or may not rescue a dish.
The gorilla group clearly had the opportunity to go vegetarian. Living with a vegetarian I have some empathy for the choice issues that come up. I was surprised they didn't get dinged for including so many animal bits. One would think that at a zoo event, there would be some vegetarians desperate for munchies. If it had been the chimp group, that would have been something different, but the phrase "eat like a gorilla" conjures up vegan fare. (The Koko Diet)
- mark 3-26-2008 9:13 am [add a comment]
did you see last week's yet? i would have sent home pasta salad, but you know they kept her bc her gf is on and that whole drama can't be played out so early. and didn't rick bayless do a burger king commercial?
- linda 4-01-2008 5:52 am [add a comment]
"When your pasta salad could be beaten by the average deli counter in a supermarket ..."
Lots of losers to choose from. Second challenge in a row where they had to cook in advance. You'd think they'd learn not to cook stuff that doesn't sit well.
I was hoping corn dog guy would last longer. He seemed interesting. His taco plate looked pretty awful though.
- mark 4-01-2008 9:20 am [add a comment]
Seen the finale yet? "bacon ice cream" has to be right up there with "rack of lamb poached in duck fat" on the decadence scale.
- mark 6-12-2008 6:14 am [add a comment]
well i was waiting for skinny to watch it, but since i saw the winner on google news before i got a chance to watch it - curses! - i watched it without him today. no surprise but what a bummer antonia was not in final. lisa was a surprise and i felt bad for richard. he looked like he was going to cry a few times.
yeah, bacon ice cream, nice. anyone have an ice cream maker?
- linda 6-13-2008 10:49 pm [add a comment]
I am soooo glad Lisa didn't win. She was an interpersonal disaster (until the very end, when she was sweetness and light), and was on chopping block several times. Going into the finale, I said, "Lisa loses a tie". I suspect that's what happened. I'm surprised Stephanie came without a solid dessert. Even if you're not a pastry chef, you gotta be prepared.
Of the whole lot this season, Richard's food is the food I'd like to sample.
- mark 6-15-2008 3:08 am [add a comment]
we noticed in the credits that the producers have a say in who gets sent home each week and so we're thinking that lisa was kept just to have a little drama in the last show. clearly antonia should have been in the final three, she was basically sent home because she plated each of her 3 dishes on one plate and her beans were slightly underdone. this was my least favorite season so far, though i really only saw the last one all the way through. now we can get back to weeds.
- linda 6-18-2008 2:25 am [add a comment]
In season 2 it was very clear that the producers intervened towards the end to eliminate Sam, who had good people skills, to keep Ilan and Marcel, who had animosity towards each other. After that call, the disclaimer was very prominently featured.
It was kinda weird that Lisa made it so far. Both Antonia and Jen were better. I think they knew they had to throw it to Stephanie at the end or risk the wrath of viewers.
- mark 6-18-2008 7:39 am [add a comment]