Robin is this season's Michael Midgely. She just might be the luckiest contestant in the history of the show for surviving as long as she has... well maybe Ilan Hall, but that's another story. She's hardly a villain in that she's fairly inept within the constraints of the show, but she sucks nonetheless. You're dead on about Richard Blaise though. He got fucked in the finals when they took away his sous chef because each of his dishes have a number of components that make a very good meal. Without his sous chef he had to cut back on a number of these components and it cost him the title. Not that Stephanie isn't a good chef, she's fantastic but what Blaise is doing with food is as interesting as it is tasty. Jennifer doesn't use as many complicated components in her dishes as Blaise and she was trained by Eric Ripert. She's shown herself to be a more than competent leader in the kitchen and although she's had a bad day or two she's also one of the most skilled chefs the show has ever had. She'll probably make a big mistake down the road that will cost her the title, but there's also the chance that she'll learn from her mistakes and win. That being said, this season is fucking stacked with talent and besides Robin, any one of these chefs could have won any of the other seasons with the exception of Season 3, because Hung is a fucking machine.
I don't know if I'd describe Jennifer as smoking hot, but she looked respectable in a bikini last week. I think any average girl looks good on this show because they're surrounded by short haired lesbians. I loved the sequence where they showed Michael talking about how he wants the team to get along and pass ideas back and forth juxtaposed with him being an asshole. He's really talented and he knows it, but there are more effective ways to lead. Jennifer at the Air Force challenge impressed me quite a bit. She wasn't rude. She didn't yell. In the end, that event came off as a huge success.
Bravo announces Top Chef: Just Desserts - an all pastry-chef competition. I feel kind of "eh" about this one. But if they make the challenges interesting enough, it can be a cool spin-off. Off-topic: I don't know what the fuck this is, but it seems amazing. An Anthony Bourdain animated web series. Fuck yes man. Just figured the people in this thread would appreciate it.
Add me into the list of people that have seen every episode of Top Chef (except for Masters, it just didn't do it for me). I really need to remedy eating at Kevin's restaurant. I've eaten at Blais's old restaurant One Midtown Kitchen and absolutely love the crazy shit that he is doing with Flip Burger. I can get behind reality TV when people have to have an actual fucking talent to be on the show (cooking, dancing, and/or fighting.)
So I DVRed the episode from last week, and I'm watching it again because there is nothing else on TV on Tuesdays. I was curious as the what constitutes "sustainable" seafood, so I did a quick Google search, which confirmed my suspicions of it being a reference environmental practices of harvesting the product. After looking at the pocket guide for my area, I can now certifiably confirm that every fish I normally catch and cook are 100% on the "Avoid" list, which states: Sweet. Take that Rick Moonen!
I never understood Rick Moonen. He's a guy who wants to save fish while serving fish at his restaurant. I understand the concept of "sustainable" seafood, I just don't care about it enough to worry. Plus, look at this fucking list of fish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seafood_Watch What's left after you get done with this list? Tilapia? Fuck that shit.
Luckiest contestant ever was Carla from last season. She was a passable chef but had no spectacular skills. Actually, that sums up the majority of the contestants from season 5. Stephan was superb, but he messed up the desert on the final challenge. So it came down to Hosea or Carla. And while I liked Hosea well enough, and he certainly knew his shit, what put me most on his side was that he wasn’t Carla. She didn’t do a damn thing the first half of the season except barely manage to not get thrown off. Then towards the end she decided to just cook “good” food while everyone else was freaking out and overshooting what they were capable of and before you knew it… she was in the final three. I would have rather seen Jamie, Jeff, or even Fabio be in the final 3 before her. Last season was such a waste. They got New Orleans during Mardi Gras!!! And none of them were good enough for a challenge with so much potential. Last season could have used some of the talent from this season. I feel bad for Kevin, Michael, Jennifer, and the Voltaggio’s. Any one of them could have easily won last season, but they’re all crammed together in this season. Which, though I feel bad that one of them will have to walk away without the title – except for Guido Mike, he’s kind of a leech – it makes it more fun to watch each week because you know it’s going to be a hard won competition.
Jesus, Robin still hasn't been kicked off. I'm tired of watching her, and I'm tired of being pissed off that she's still on the show.
And Robin lives to fuck up yet another day. I really can't complain about the decision though. Mike Isabella's leeks dish just seemed awful. And it was his third time in the bottom 3, while 4 for Robin. So whatever. The wheat's being separated from the chaff either way. Barring some kind of miracle or a complete meltdown by another contestant, Robin will be on her ass next week. Jennifer continues to psych herself out. She seems to become enamored with a certain idea, and if there's the smallest hurdle (like getting the smaller eggplants), she begins to freak out and the wheels start to fall off. She just doesn't seem as versatile as Michael V or Kevin. But man, when she talked about getting her hair pulled for a split second, damn. I'm still convinced Eli's just an above average chef for this competition. He's been coming on strong the past couple episodes, but I never see anything from him that seems brilliant or extraordinary to me. He'll make it through next week, but I'm not sure about the week after. Michael continues to be a bit of an arrogant prick. Bad-mouthing Kevin's dish like that was rather shitty in my opinion. Oh it wasn't original? He admitted to getting his banana palenta idea from someone else. Kevin continues to kick ass. Nuff said. They really didn't focus much on Bryan this episode. I was kind of surprised to see that he didn't finish plating though. That seems very unlike him. Spoiler The preview for next week mentions something about breakfast in bed. Hopefully it'll be like the "make Padma breakfast" challenge from a few seasons ago where they just got her all boozed up.
Was anyone else shocked at the sexual banter from Padma and Natalie Portman during the meal? (A little prick on the tongue, put something small in your mouth and it gets big, etc.) I thought it was hilarious, but they usually don't take it that far. And then there were Natalie's comments about "Who's your dealer and are they taking on new clients?" to Michael V. It seemed like Tom was pretty surprised at the things she would say. Sometimes I feel a little bad for Gail. There is just no way she can look remotely good when in the company of Padma (and Natalie Portman this week). Plus that green dress she had on looked terrible on her. My husband was watching with me and he said something like "Nice to see you again Gail... Too bad you are wearing that ugly ass dress." Kevin seems like he can do no wrong. He is running away with this thing. Robin better go home next week.
Alright, so I just watched last nights episode for the first time... So Michael V... You think that you could have spit out Kevin's dish in your second year of culinary school, huh? Well guess what, dickhead- that fucking second year culinary school dish beat the bananas out of your Goddamn polenta because, wait for it- IT FUCKING TASTED BETTER, COCKFACE. Who gives a shit if you can make tomato sashimi if it, oh I don't know, DOESN'T FUCKING TASTE GOOD YOU COCKY FUCKFOOT. If I ever hear you badmouth my boy Kevin like that again (who has consistently outperformed you this entire competition) I'm going to, hmmm lets see, STAB YOU IN THE FACE WITH A GODDAMN TURKEY DRUMBSTICK SHIV. On a side note, I know she's good looking and all, but is anyone else getting a serious vibe from Jennifer that she's spent her formative years in Whoville?
I just watched this week's episode. I must say Robin is the luckiest competitor in the history of the competition. She manages to not suck enough each week to get by. As the talent gets more concentrated, she'll get smoked. I honestly thought Jenn was on her way out tonight. I couldn't believe she put out that plate with a straight face. She went from badass to chump in a hurry. I'm still hoping she makes it to the finals. If I'm ever in ATL, I'm going to have to check out Kevin's restaurant. It seems like he can cook anything, and apparently eat anything after seeing him stuff his pie hole this week as well. Have any of you ever eaten at a Top Cheftestant's place? I ate at Shinsei in Dallas, but it was after Casey had left. I also ate at Tim Love (TC Masters)'s Lonesome Dove Bistro in Ft. Worth, and it was insanely good.
Saw last night's episode. I can't believe Kevin won with that dish. Robin is below average, but never screws up enough to get kicked off. Again, she's this season's Michael Midgely. The Younger Brother V is fucking fantastic , he's my choice to win it all. I give him points over Kevin on creativity and execution. Kevin of course is a great chef because I think he's holding back and he's still top 3 almost every time. I'm just not as excited to see what he puts out as much as I am with YBV. Jennifer needs to stop getting drunk at night when the cameras are off, it's really affecting her choices. With the benefit of hindsight and not having to make a decision within minutes after hearing what the challenge was or knowing what tools were allowed, here is what I would have made: I would have made a really nice avacado/watermelon gazpacho, then I would use liquid nitrogen to freeze the soup and turn it into a sorbet. I'd then serve them crackers that were made without flour, which were actually ground up chickpeas that are slow baked until crisp. Not saying it would win or lose, but that's just what I'd make. I just had dinner at Solo's in Manhattan where Hung is the current executive chef. Very refined, very elegant and perfectly prepared food, reminds me a lot of The Gramercy Tavern before Craft began to franchise and Colicchio left.
That throwaway with Kevin power eating was hilarious. "Power eating? Is there any other kind?" "Did I ever tell you about the time I ate 120 chicken wings in an hour?" Dude is awesome.
I've eaten at Richard Blais's Flip Burger here in Atlanta several times. I've also eaten at One Midtown Kitchen on several occasions, but I am not certain if he was still Exec Chief when I did. I need to head to the Woodfire Grill one of these days.
I was so freaking pissed last week when I turned the channel to what was supposed to be my favorite show, but was instead some silly reunion special. Sure, seeing Richard Blaise, Hung, and Fabio was nice... but then Lisa came in. Then Carla. And things got REALLY AWKWARD. I hate stuff like that. Like being in that kind of a situation yourself, where you're supposed to schmooze with people you have peripheral knowledge of while pretending like you don't hate an old acquaintance, isn't awkward enough when you're the one having to live through it. But who would want to watch a bunch of people go through that? For an HOUR?! I couldn't watch it. So, hooray for a real episode tonight!
I also thought that reunion special was forced and weird. Fabio wasn't very good at hosting (but he's getting his own show, so that's probably why they picked him), and Marcel was a little bitch. If he's matured so much shouldn't he be able to laugh off questions about his previous antics and the head-shaving incident? He just turned into an angry little gremlin and it was awkward to watch. I also hated that they came there just to "hang out," and suddenly there's a "surprise" challenge. Gee, why did everyone bring their chef's coats and knives? Duh. I don't watch scripted reality shows for this exact reason - it's not reality at all. On that note, I'm excited for tonight's episode!
Anybody want to do odds on this season's winner? In the other 5 seasons it's pretty safe to say that the most skilled chef competing has won only once (Hung) or twice (Harold depending on your opinion). That's the reason I dig this show, it's because as skilled as some cooks are they are thrown off their game for a variety of reasons and usually some upstart goes away with the title. That being said, here were the odds from the 2nd episode of the show: · Michael Voltaggio: 4/1 · Jennifer Carroll: 5/1 · Kevin Gillespie: 6/1 · Michael Isabella: 8/1 · Ron Duprat: 10/1 · Bryan Voltaggio: 12/1 · Mattin Nobila: 14/1 · Jesse Sandlin: 18/1 · Eli Kirshtein: 20/1 · Laurine Wickett: 22/1 · Hector Santiago: 24/1 · Preeti Mistry: 25/1 · Ash Fulk: 28/1 · Eve Aronoff: 30/1 · Ashley Merriman: 35/1 · Robin Leventhal: 40/1 Looking back I'd say Eli would have been a pretty good bet at those odds. People forget that Eli was a sous chef for Richard Blaise as well as a number of other top notch chefs. If there is one guy who I think could walk away with the victory it's Eli. He doesn't make many mistakes and is very consistent. Compare him against Jennifer, who despite having a great pedigree, is falling apart at the seams over the last 3 episodes. Rumor in NY has it that Jen is a pretty huge drinker and that it's factoring in with her performance on the show. I don't know her personally, but something has gone completely wrong with her effort and I think she's dangerously close to getting chopped. Forget about Robin, she's the accidental chef. She makes Lisa Fernandes look like Hung in comparison. I give her credit for not getting cut, but she's been bottom two on every episode except one.
Plus, she won't stop shitting on herself. She just said "I'm not proud of what I put out there this morning." Well no shit, when have you been? She consistently performs below the rest of the contestants, but her mediocrity has saved her when compared against the disasters the other losers have put out when she was on the chopping block. I hope she's gone tonight, just so we don't have to see anymore of her goddamn drama.
Well she's finally gone. Spoiler Jennifer in the bottom again, as well as Eli I didn't catch who won the challenge tonight, I bet it was Kevin though. That guy is just a machine.