Top Chef: DC

Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin in New York joining the longstanding judging panel of Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons.

also photos/bios here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/top-chef-season-7-contest_n_575272.html

two separate people list their favorite recipes as "anything with peas" -- hoping that alexa von tobel is a guest judge tbh

http://dcist.com/2010/05/top_chef_thats_a_wrap.php

Huh, interesting to have Ripert as a full-time judge.

Other points of note:

1. Four black contestants!
2. Is Lynn Gigliotti, at 51, the oldest contestant in Top Chef history?

i feel like robyn from last year had to be older than 50

wiki says 43, so maybe

Yeah, I think Carla from S5 might've been around 43 or 44, too, I just don't remember any older than that.

this seems like the oldest season ever? some seasons didn't even have contestants over 40

eric ripert's rad, psyched that he'll be there full-time

Top Chef Masters 2, which is on right now, got good btw
As soon as they knocked it down to the final eight there has been some heavy stuff like wedding wars

Off the bat I'd say last seasons cast would wipe the floor with this bunch. Thinking that the annoying guy that won is looking like the favorite due to the others just sucking so much.

his food looked really good

All of the best guys seem to be type-a assholes. Doesn't make for very compelling viewing.

lol at dreadlocked dude that was clearly vexed cuz he couldn't bring his stash along

he was pretty bizarre

if he was properly blazed there damn well would have been enough maple flavor in that dessert

word

i was pretty shocked that they didn't make enough of a deal about him serving frozen puff pastry. i feel like chefs in the past seasons would've gone ape shit over someone serving something pre-made. but no one in the episode seemed really to care either way.

pretty sure they thought he was nuts and just ignored him.

good point

puff pastry takes like 4+ hours to make iirc. not a big deal to serve pre-made imo.

(haven't watched this yet btw)

the new sous chef at my gf's restaurant is on here. they did a screening/premiere there last night. will be watching with some added interest cuz of that.

the guy did get shitcanned on episode 1, I'd call that "making a deal" out of his puff pastry

Padma’s postpartum bewbs looked hueg last night btw

kenny!

also my gurl and i were sad to see hippy dude go cuz he was priceless when he talked

omg goofy hippie guy how did you even make it to the first round

also 2nd ep chef serving of sherry to kids = you are fucking retarded

OTM

she should've gone home for that but jacqueline was obv an abysmal chef... plus i think sherry girl brings some drama to the show

Angelo was basically trolling imo with that peanut butter + celery bs.

openly trolling -- gabe was right in his videogum post tho in that angelo should've realized that there was no way that kenny was getting sent home in the second episode, so angelo showed his hand/trolled way too early

i like kenny okay, and i like tim from DC a little, but maybe just cause he's from DC, and he's not that annoying aggressive lady from DC. angelo is the true worst, and i hope he goes down hard. the lady from atlanta is bleh, too, and her junk-food revelation last night was a little o_O and disingenuous or something? i think she just misses being around her gf and gf's daughter, and i feel that, but like, it seems kind bush-league of her to melt down like that, compared to when kevin from atlanta was much more professional in a tough situation last season, with his marriage basically dissolving right around the finale? i think it's just a real let-down after last season's really good bunch of chefs/"characters"

It is refreshing to have a bunch of assholes after a season where everyone was somewhat lovable.

the quickire double-apron thing was a cool challenge. still too many contestants for me to really get a handle on who's interesting/good, altho Angelo obviously being set up as the front-runner

Couldn't listen to that girl pronounce "carnitas" one more time! And she was so proud of them. Would have been very lol if she had flamed out but she freakin won.

Very strange sequence when the two losing teams were going at each other in front of the panel like they were. I don't remember anything quite like that in other seasons

I agree. Inter-team bickering, sure, but not ragging other teams that way.

She definitely invented pork carnitas, let's be real.

iirc it was totally fine of her to claim that shit, and the dude on the team was just being really paranoid about how his salsa wasnt gonna stack up

Couldn't listen to that girl pronounce "carnitas" one more time!

even tho i guess she was saying it "correctly" it's really fucking obnoxious and condescending when people do this

yeah I was also lol'ing over people getting persnickety about the pronunciation of gnocchi

In previous TC threads people have made fun of chefs for pronouncing words (ceviche, chipotle) wrong, and now we're making fun because they're trying to pronounce things correctly? They can't win!

lol yeah I know it's just funny to see people actually argue about it

mostly that girl just annoyed me in general iirc

Carnitas chick has got to get sent packing, god is she tedious.

tell it like it is, magill.

gnocchi came up in the national spelling bee finals and the judge pronounced it in a really goofy way

the little segment where Padma was with the kids was really cuet,they loved her.

Who wouldnt.

just now watched the first episode, swear to God Tom takes a sideways look at Padma boobies when they're discussing one of the dishes

Who wouldnt.

whoa dude was tracy a wreck or what? also where's the beardos? also pretty much all these dudes annoy me somehow

going by the reviews while eating i thought sockeye salmon and rootbeer beef were going in the bottom too wonder what happen there

episode summary: fat bitch can't make a pie, former pill-popping bitch is bitchy but makes decent flank steak, black contestants starting to wonder why they're stuck with all these crazy white people, celery foam

Tracy was a mess. Cooking style: "Ahh, fuckit, whatever".

Like the Colorado gal, and I still like Kenny bc of his meez skillz though he hasn't shown much since...hard to get a read on anyone else much. But dudes like that Alex guy that looks like Dobby the houseelf and says that he wants to eat the ass out of a pig, or Steve with his bacon-wrapped fish...they are kindling ripe for the fire.

too bad everyone's kind of yuk, personality wise, lots more fighting and weird survivor-gamesmanship alliances (I'm looking at you Angelo). Was lulled into a false sense of security by the fun and lols of last season.

I really miss Kev. He should just be permanently in Top Chef to give us someone to root for.

did you see that kikoman ad that aired? dude prolly got a nice check from teriyaki

yeah glad dude collected a paycheck (altho the "tip" was total no-brainer bullshit)

agree there aren't too many standout personalities this year, at least not yet. most of these people seem like jerks tbh

Alex guy that looks like Dobby the houseelf and says that he wants to eat the ass out of a pig

yeah I didn't need to hear this

He should really just not talk at all.

even tho angelo is supposed to be the villain here, i actually like him

he doesn't seem so bad to me. altho clearly angling to bone ex-pill-popper/sous chef chick (what is her name again?)

i love how the producers dropped the "i was a cokehead!" anecdote pretty much out of nowhere

He's watched too many reality shows, it's like he's playing a role because he thinks 'strategy' will win the competition.

If he just cooked, and played things a little closer to the vest, he'd be fine. He seems like an okay dude under all the black hat 'Imma beat you for I am Angelo' bullshit.

Yeah the whole cokehead revelation was out of nowhere. Like, "maybe this audio will explain why she's kind of a nightmare"

"wasted her 20s"

looks like she's well on her way to wasting her 30s too lol

Maybe she can use TC to leverage herself a spot on the Surreal Life.

Celebrity Rehab!

a relapse would be good drama

Quickfire "Cooking with Cocaine" challenge - guest judge Tony Bourdain.

Ha! Coke head girl reveal was weird. Not loving this season much

and they all smoke it seems like

which makes me want to smoke too

Ime a lot of chefs do

nothing says "delicious pie topping" like celery spuma.

lol "fat bitch" keep it classy dude

please clarify which part of my characterization is inaccurate k thx

she was a little annoying but hardly a bitch

eh I thought she was totally over-bearing/annoying/self-absorbed. all that constant yakking, talking about her psychic powers (gee did she foresee getting sent home lol)

She is like the fourth chubby tattooed southern lady to suck at Top Chef in a row.

she was awful... stephen seems like the worst chef on the show tho imo

at least tracie knew that she fucked up... stephen was all "i murdered this shit!"

he noted a bunch of times "i guess the fish could overcook?" as if there was no way that exactly that was gonna happen

yeah I would think it would be pretty obvious when fish is overcooked and bacon is undercooked

plus why wrap a nice piece of fish with bacon anyway? wont it just taste like bacon then?

tbf the judges do seem to love anything with bacon

On top of being wrong, bad and just stupid, "Celery spuma" sounds like a bodily excretion. Like, stinky asparagus pee.

Alex guy that looks like Dobby the houseelf and says that he wants to eat the ass out of a pig
yeah was this cuz he was cooking pork butt? cuz pork butt is the shoulder of the pig...

that was clearly something that the producers asked him to say

same thing with "and i've never taken advantage of an intern"

i'm pretty sure that that guy is actually 12

She is like the fourth chubby tattooed southern lady to suck at Top Chef in a row.

― no turkey unless it's a club sandwich (polyphonic), Thursday, July 1, 2010 3:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

She may live in the south currently, but that accent is all Chicago, or maybe Cleveland.

gnocchi came up in the national spelling bee finals and the judge pronounced it in a really goofy way― dmr, Friday, June 25, 2010 3:23 PM (1 week ago)

Finally someone admits to watching the bee besides me

It was weird last week when two teams were sent to judge's row. I was thing earlier on that episode that only one team would go and I beieve that was what Angelo was thinking when he picked Kenny to be on his team. It seems like the show's producer's wanted to save Kenny and that other guy's ass.

Angelo can be annoying with his cockyness but I'm liking him more when I see him trying his best to socialize with the other contenders. When they showed all the people having a smoke outside he was sitting in the middle but wasn't smoking... I wonder if he is a smoker (it would be interesting if he wasn't)

I've been to Angelo's sandwich place, Xie Xie, I think it's called? In Hell's Kitchen. It's really tacky gay chelsea into hell's kitchen style joint...all silver and purple and blasting club music. The food however, was fantastic. I had an asian lobster roll, and it was great.

I was only half-watching so clearly missed the cokehead thing. was that Amanda, the one with the ribs that was in the top 4?

I like Angelo. A little annoying, but I liked how his arrogance subsided when he tasted that rib.

She may live in the south currently, but that accent is all Chicago, or maybe Cleveland.

That accent seemed all Rosie O'Donnell to me.

i def enjoyed this episode but can we talk about how retarded this challenge was

so pretty much it was you cook shitty for two rounds and then make the best dish out of all the shitty groups and you win a free trip to spain! congrats at cooking a shit breakfast!

the dude w/ the puerto rican judge is bad at making food

ha - puerto rican wife

xp Almost as retarded as the "make anything, put it in a blender, and pretend you could feed it to an infant" challenge.

That was so wack.

The eliminnation challenge made for good drama a guess but it was weird. Best dishes from the whole challenge should have won those prizes. Really don't like Spike very much btw

The challenges were insanely stupid -- They should have let them know before the breakfast/lunch/dinner challenge what they would win if they went all the way to dinner...let the chefs decide if they want to throw the early dishes and go for the trip, or be satisfied with going out in an earlier round.

I don't care what dish won. I've eaten at enough Hilton hotels to know not to do that anymore.

baby food challenge was total bullshit for a) not including actual baby judges (come ON!) and b) judges pointedly ignoring the fact that some of the chefs served food YOU SHOULD NEVER SERVE AN INFANT (like shellfish!?!)

i was fine with the chefs eliminated; woulda been peeved if kenny got blown

never thought for a second they were gonna send Kenny home. the way this show is edited you can tell the producers are setting up this Kenny v. Angelo narrative, wouldn't make sense for them to establish it in the first few episodes and then have Kenny get ejected cuz he was paired with one of the shittier chefs.

"I don't know anything about babies, I just know how to make 'em. He he he he..."

http://www.bravotv.com/media/images/persons/Alex_Full.png

also i think i don't like her face:
http://www.bravotv.com/media/images/persons/Andrea_Full.png

also wtf at "$10,000? Get me a hooker and an 8-ball!" line

who said that?

He is clearly trying to make soundbites.

No comment on Padma's weird gorilla chest t-shirt?

lol yeah thought Padma was wearing a bulletproof vest for a second

who said that?

Glasses McBaldo. seems like the biggest asshole of the bunch, really

how can you not like spike, he wears cool hats like spike (actually maybe there is a good reason to dislike spike but I don't remember or haven't heard)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mhtIfkFNG40/RjJXn82CaSI/AAAAAAAAAOk/rVvnS33GoTE/s400/spike8zl.gif

I never saw season 2 but I used to think Marcel looked cool (because of his sideburns and hair) but then I saw him him on 'Fabio hosts a Top Chef dinner party show' and Marcel is just a weird guy. (not to mention that having just googled his name I came up with "DUI in Laguna beach")

------
RE: Last night's DC episode. The gay guy kind of got screwed. There was the undercooked noodles that he wanted to cook earlier and the old instructor lady insisted on holding off. To put a nail in the coffin she was the one who said 'I think the noodles were a bit undercooked' at the judges table(?!). What the hell was going on, she downplayed the dish quite a bit.

I couldn't focus on Padma's t-shirt.. too busy looking at the contour of her body

When the show was over and both of them get to have their two cents and the instructor lady was like "I shouldn't of let the young guy lead me" and the gay dude was like "I didn't get to do what I wanted to do". I have no idea what went wrong but obviously the whole teammate thing worked against them and it didn't help that Kenny was going against them (nor that Kenny and his partner basically told the judges that they did everything - the judge's couldn't pull a fast one a pick off one person from each team). He is sort of played up as America's favorite this season.

everything together*

otoh gay dude argued that black pasta, black sauce, and black clams provided a nice "contrast". dude that is the opposite of contrast.

I know that sounded weird, but I think he meant contrast to the pasta sauce. Not that it would've saved him, but he should've thrown his partner under the bus for insisting on waiting to put in the pasta, then making the comment that it was undercooked. Wait until he sees the episode when she blames him in the wrap-up...he'll throw the TV out the window.

Still, it was a bad idea. Not really Hilton-friendly to begin with.

I think the hookers and 8 ball dude is getting fed lines by producers -- also you could tell that arnold (Harold?) had been crying

8 ball dude reminds me of someone who is happy to have attention and therefore do whatever anyone asks him to

Before seeing last night's episode, I was just telling my wife that a cool quick fire challenge would be restricting the chefs to only using store-bought baby food as ingredients.

I'd also like to see a challenge where they drop them off to do there grocery shopping at Plaid Pantry instead of Whole Foods.

Darin, I think they did a quickfire challenge a few seasons ago where they could only use convenience store food.

For non-Oregonians/Washingtonians: Plaid Pantry is like 7-11, just waaaay sketchier.

they did the convenience store food thing on Top Chef Masters 2 also

That challenge was so stupid!! Stupid stupid stupid...also: pointless.

CIA lady showed her passive-aggressive colors, kinda glad to see the back of her.

Have to lol every time Tom soberly reminds the viewers "We have to judge them solely on the quality of this dish" when you know they would never send a dude like Kenny home this early in the season.

When Padma spat out the baby food bc of the lemon seed, at first I thought she was pretending to eat it like a baby, lol

Alex the House-Elf should not be allowed to speak on camera.

Angelo is growing on me. I think he might be starting to be a favorite.

Angelo is a total douche.

The gay guy's partner has to be one of the biggest assholes ever to appear on this show. The combination of her prominent role, Padma's shirt and the baby food challenge makes this one of the worst Top Chef episodes ever, saved only by the fact that she got sent home. This season better get better in a hurry.

baby food challenge was total bullshit for a) not including actual baby judges (come ON!) and b) judges pointedly ignoring the fact that some of the chefs served food YOU SHOULD NEVER SERVE AN INFANT (like shellfish!?!)

Angelo's dish had honey in it--any container of honey says in huge letters "DO NOT FEED TO INFANTS OR CHILDREN UNDER 4"

solid parenting all around

yeah it wasn't like just one of them did it, there were several. so dumb

yes i am pretty sure i hate them all except kenny

This is Top Chef, not Top Baby Food Expert.

No one on this season could crack the top 6-8 from last season.

Did enjoy the weird shot where one chef casually mentions her coke-and-pills lost weekend/half-decade out of the blue.

I was hoping for a baby-selling story from the Chef Cokehead.

the new sous chef at my gf's restaurant is on here. they did a screening/premiere there last night. will be watching with some added interest cuz of that.

― robotsinlove, Thursday, June 17, 2010 12:49 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Come back and dish about Amanda, plz.

^^^yes plz

can't believe she's made it this far

stephen is the worst chef in the show's history imo

totally

I can't believe they didn't take the opportunity to send him home. He's really earned it.

think they're keeping him around for comedic value

his idea of each chef putting out a fruit platter that represented each individual (??) being lustily shot down was certainly the highlight of the night

kinda amazing that he's still exec chef at the mgm grand at this point after consistent crock-a-shit meals have been served

kudos for getting a 4-star yelp review though! http://www.yelp.com/biz/seablue-las-vegas

That fruit platter was an amazingly dumb notion.

But...but...Angelo MADE LOVE to his duck. How could he not be in the top 4? Quelle horreur! /sarcasm/

My Angelo meter has swung back to "douche".

I have no idea how Steve is still in the competition. That salad gave me a stomachache just looking at it.

i do not care about any of these people in the slightest

Agreed--Angelo & Kenny seem like the lone standouts, and they come off as a pair of dicks. I'm sick of that 'alpha male' bullshit line, as well as Angelo's overall oiliness. Less gamers and more good cooks makes for a better TC.

This season so far has just succeeded in making me wish it was last season.

I'd be just as happy to bring Kevin, Jen & Brian V. back to compete & school these fools.

Really don't want anyone to win this.

Preview for next week looks interesting.

This week: "sexy salmon."

how has stephen made it this far? it's purely for our entertainment correct?

i love watching him enthusiastically recite the dish he's going to make because it's so easy to envision how he's gonna screw it up. like, he couldn't even make a salad.

really hope next week's preview of alex stealing the pea soup isn't some sort of editing trickery.

thought it was lame that they went after Kenny as the worst of his team when Amanda had fucking BONES in her dish

agree that this season is mostly boring jerks though

Colicchio said in his blog that Kenny's dish was worse than Amanda's -- even with cartilage.

I knew Tamesha was going home when she said she was doing a rhubarb jus with scallops. WTF?

The group this season seem to be about one step above the crew in Hell's Kitchen. The lack of culinary knowledge is incredible. From Arnold who didn't know how to start a charcoal grill to Alex who mispronounced "Provencal."

Cultural Learnings blog on why this season is kind of shit

speaking of mispronunciations was totally amused by Angelo's mispronunciation of spaetzle

I guarantee that "rivalry" between the visiting judge and the contestant from Miami was only a rivalry in the contestant's mind, and that she's probably a mere annoyance to the judge IRL.

I did lol at the "revelation" that weasely dude had banged Angelo's girlfriend in college

man I haven't seen any eps this season but from these posts, this one looks like such such a disaster

Angelo's creepiness is the only thing that's even been slightly entertaining this season. I have stopped watching it.

I did lol at the "revelation" that weasely dude had banged Angelo's girlfriend in college

yeah that is always some funny shit to have on a guy

Angelo's not even a jerk in a fun, entertaining way. He's just an douchebag the likes of which I, and I am sure others, have the misfortune of having to deal with on a pretty regular basis.

Entertaining, yet completeley jerky Top Chef contestant from recent years: Stefan the Finn. I enjoyed that guy even though he was a creep.

Stefan could even cook. None of these people have been very impressive as a chef this season.

I wonder if all of the weird challenges the producers are having the contestants do is an attempt to make up for the fact that the chefs are not up to snuff. If a Voltaggio or Blais were among this group, it would be game over.

this show is still amazing by nature

I wonder if the chefs appear to be less qualified than prior years because of the wacky challenges and teamwork angle, rather than lack of ability.

no,they pretty much just suck.

Stefan could even cook. None of these people have been very impressive as a chef this season.

― ô_o (Nicole), Thursday, July 22, 2010 11:37 AM (Yesterday)

Tiffany, Stephen, and Kevin all seem nice and competent. Kenny seems like a very good chef, but what an arrogant cock!

If they didn't have the stupid twists in the challenges, the world would have finally found out what duck testicle marshmallows are.

The twist on that challenge was absurd--the chefs were clearly just plugging in accompaniments without having any idea what the proteins were going to taste like, or even should taste like. Even though the soup was the winner there's no way I would even try it--it just reads as nauseating.

Did they really have to say 'Cold War' in every sentence of this show?

pea puree thievery! wouldn't they have this on camera? Was surprised Alex didn't get punched out, seems like such a dick.

toothpick challenge was stupid

i actually kind of liked that one... it's something of a dig at all the caterers of the past few seasons

i actually thought that this was the first time that a political tie in didn't feel incredibly stretched -- i mean, it was a sensical thing at least -- i liked it

altho it was hilarious when stephen was all "if it wasn't for this, WE WOULD HAVE LOBBYISTS BUYING UP ALL THE LAWS"

I am going to be so sad when Stephen finally goes home. He is the best.

It is hilarious how sure of himself he is.

Stephen reminds me of Gil from the Simpsons. Although I do wish they showed more of his 'At The Bottom' seminar.

There's no question that everybody seems to like him and he can be funny. He just keeps making these boneheaded moves, gets critiqued for it, then does it again and is like "I'm sure I'm taking the prize this time!" Though I guess he almost did last night.

More evidence last night that this season's contestants are one step above the mouth breathers on Hell's Kitchen: Amanda admitted she had never cooked a porterhouse before. But to her credit (not that she knew what she was doing though), by parting out the steak to a NY strip and filet mignon she turned a ginormous slab of cow into a more manageable dish. Seriously, those steaks looked like the ones cheap steakhouses use for their steak-eating challenges.

Eliminated Miami chick saying "I don't need 4 people at a table telling me I can't cook"...so, um, why were you even here since that's the whole premise of the bleeding show, you silly bint. And her vanilla beurre blanc swordfish looked hella gross.

Can we skip to the final 3 now? I'm getting tired of these people...stealing peas, crying abt salt, never cooking porterhouse before...zzzz

Why don't they just go to the video when someone looks like a cheater?

seriously, fuck all these people

Somebody should have dropped a dime on that guy. What a tool.

Colicchio is troubled by the possibility that Alex may have filched the pea puree:
http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/blogs/tom-colicchio/the-peas-that-split?page=0%2C0

However, this?
Not even I knew about the controversy, even though I spent some time in the kitchen, as I had arrived there after Ed had gone searching for his pea puree and there was no mention of the issue to me by any of the contestants while I was there.

Is patently untrue:
http://i28.tinypic.com/2zhmhpx.jpg

so glad Andrea got sent home, she was painful to look at (in addition to being a shitty chef)

swordfish and vanilla sounds fucking gross if you ask me

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I actually miss Toby Young.

No, with the way this season has been, Toby would be welcome relief. And that's saying something.

I think I said upthread, I'd welcome Robin back at this point.

I don't know what was worse: Kevin admitting he had never made Indian food before, or Steven's "Brazilian" dish of Argentine steak with chimichurri. I guess Steven's was worse because he went home. RIP "Gil from the Simpsons."

i don't know what's wrong with Kevin not having cooked Indian food before, especially since he apparently did a nice job of it. Indian cooking is easy imo; all you have to do is blend the spices right.

I almost thought they'd sent Alex home and I was all ready to run here and post HOW IS STEVEN STILL AROUND!

He did seem like the most fun person though.

xpost I suppose it was good if Kevin was top three. But parsnips and leeks in Indian food just seems...odd.

Oh yeah, I was commenting during the show how even despite the angelo/kenny rivalry there's really been no drama then they showed next week's preview. Get ready for some serious finger pointing, under the bus throwing and crying in the stewing room!

Sick of looking at Dobby the House Elf. :(

But parsnips and leeks in Indian food just seems...odd.

yeah I could grant that he made a good curry but these are not indian ingredients

but he was really explicit about it not being an Indian dish but rather inspired by Indian flavors

and the judges were like, yeah, it's not about authenticity

this season has been kind of blah, but psyched for restaurant wars!

Yes, it should get ugly with this crew next week.

Kevin admitting he had never made Indian food before

^this isnt bad. the guy was honest at least.

Seemed like Tom respected that. They judge by taste first. Then relevance. And his tasted good, and had some degree of influence at least.

even including "project runway", this has to be the gayest show in the history of bravo -- there were so many utterances of "the bottom" last night that i was almost unable to concentrate on what was going on

now rooting for tiffany btw

yeah i love tiffany

I kind of like Kelly, I think I will root for her.

I like Kelly, even though she was bitchy in the beginning. Her food is consistently simple, but good. And I would eat most of it. Her only huge mistake was oversalting last episode because she didn't want to share the salt with Amanda, right? Hilarious.

Would root for Tiffany or Kelly.

Can't get over how generally ignorant some of these chefs seem to be. Technique, skill, cuisines...it's like cooking school this season.

Is Kenny ever not going to make ribs?

Mikey the Turlock Applebees line cook could have come back as a real contender this season.

Otm

Is Kenny ever not going to make ribsduos?

ha, my brother and i have been making jokes about that all week at dinner

"I made a duo of ribs"

*cuts a piece of chicken, dabs hot sauce on it*

"i've made a duo of chicken"

I had a duo of steak tonight :D

And a duo of chicken sandwich for lunch

No more duos.

I decided that while yes, Kenny was one of the best chefs there and yes, better then a few of the remaining chefs (Alex and Amanda for sure) but I really think his was the case of positive thinking and marketing. Like we're all brainwashed that he's this uber-chef and so we're shocked he didn't make the finale and all that, but when you really think about it and think about all his dishes...how many times did he mess up? I don't think he was that clearly ahead of the pack. Can you imagine him up against a Voltaggio or Richard Blaise?

This season is lacking either a molecular gastro person OR a more esoteric cuisine person (Stefan, for example). It's just a bunch of Americans cooking American, French, Italian, and Mexican. Kinda boring.

+ a lot of Asian cuisine, but it all seems fairly western in preparation.

I don't get how Amanda is still on this stupid show. Not that I would raise my hand to eat Kenny's goat-cheese thing, which looked pretty frightening.

seriously this show is panning out like one big long drawn out root canal.

"And the winner is: ZZZZZZZZ"

The winner of this season immediately faces off with Hosea, and the loser is pushed off on an iceberg into the sea.

Preeti is the judge.

selzer otm

angelo has been consistently in the top three of quickfires and elimination challenges all season, while kenny has consistently talked about how he was as good as angelo

I think Hosea may currently reside on an iceberg somewhere

http://www.bestweekever.tv/bwe/images/2010/08/pelosiface.gif

Holy shit -- this episode. Where to start?

can somebody please kill that gif? It keeps freezing up safari. And it freaks me out.

Angelo is cracking. Tiffany now seems a front runner. RIP Alex, who apparently confirmed that he didn't steal the mushy peas.

Tiffany is pretty much all I still enjoy in this dull season.

Yeah, Tiffany is coming up. Too bad Angelo didn't win the quickfire for his mail order bride.

The rice cooker excuse was total bs -- You've been cooking at sea level for how many weeks now?

Although I did lol at the sheer stupidity of the Hellen Keller line.

Tiffany is the fucking boss

for his mail order bride

haha i had this thought, too.

i love tiffany she seems nice!

amanda (is that even her name?) is soooooo annoying.

I think I have a crush on Tiffany. She seems like a lot of fun

And yeah, I have an irrational hatred for Amanda. I mean, she gave drinkies to the kids @ the elementary school challenge. Also "I have overcome..." narrative drives me batty.

I don't really mind Amanda. She seems loopy and harmless.

there were so many utterances of "the bottom" last night that i was almost unable to concentrate on what was going on

― righteous lecoq (J0rdan S.), Thursday, August 5, 2010 2:34 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark

thank you angelo for bringing this full circle

BULLSHIT

hope next week's episode starts with ed softly sobbing himself to sleep

That was weird.

Angelo is from outer space and thus had an unfair advantage.

i don't really want to watch this now that tiffany's off. i guess she deserved to be but that was an uninspiring challenge imo.

also bizarro. bourdain had so many nice things to say and ripert seemed kind of nitpicky.

I will still watch the finale but I definitely don't care who wins.

yeah it was dumb -- i thought they were gonna at least make them cook the food the day before, then freeze dry it then serve it -- otherwise it was just... "make food that isn't too sweet and may be a bit spicy"

i want ed to win

I've been wishy-washy on Ed since he talked about how he is a better cook than his dad.

Like even if it's true, why say that.

maybe his dad's an asshole

Angelo is such a fucking weirdo that I think I'm rooting for him to at least make the final two.

best part of this ep was definitely bourdain being like, "i have no idea what you're talking about" in response to angelo's sexfood speech.

He is always talking to himself and stroking things.

Angelo's sexfood speech was so cringeworthy...ugh.

My two favorite things:
-Bourdain calling Ripert "Ripper"
-the way Ripert pronounces 'peashoots' = "pishuts" <3

Could give a fuck who wins now. Just happy that Amanda and her coldsore are long gone.

I want Angelo to win so that his ex-wife's parents will feel bad about being so negative towards Angelo's career

Kind of surprised to see Bourdain on at all considering his badmouthing of Padma in the past.

And fuck Angelo for mispronouncing Oregon.

yeah wtf was that.

Bourdain calling Ripert "Ripper"

haha didn't he even say something like "i gotta say i'm disappointed in my colleague eric "the ripper" ripert"? lol

i am sort of in love with eric ripert tbh

"I gotta say I'm disappointed with my colleague here, the ripper, with his snarky, dark, cynical world view."

Or words to that effect. His needling Ripert was hilarious.

put-upon face ripert made at that point was so cuet!

Bourdain & Ripert need to do a buddy movie together...I love their interactions.

Bourdain's 'No Reservations' episodes with Michael Ruhlman show much of the same chemistry as Bourdain and Ripert.

Possible spoiler alert to this season: Eater.com is saying that there will be a Top Chef All-Stars which will be a season of former Top Chef Contestants who did not win. One of the chefs from this season is listed as one of the contestants. Hint: the chef is one of those going to Singapore.

http://eater.com/archives/2010/09/02/uploads/kidsinthehall.jpg

haha
<3 mark

really cool or really nerdy

There was a recent episode of No Reservations that was just footage shot when Kitchen Confidential came out, a documentary that was made about his life till then and his newfound success and Les Halles that was never finished I think, and it contains footage of Bourdain getting invited to Le Bernadin to meet Ripert who had just read the book, and Bourdain loses his shit afterword. It was cute seeing the "origin" episode of that particular relationship.

aww Kelly.

So bringing back previous winners as sous chefs is probably better than bringing back this season's losers. Also if Angelo can't compete that would be a shame but a little lol.

i do not like the outcome of this last episode

Angelo cracks me up.

There was a recent episode of No Reservations that was just footage shot when Kitchen Confidential came out, a documentary that was made about his life till then and his newfound success and Les Halles that was never finished I think, and it contains footage of Bourdain getting invited to Le Bernadin to meet Ripert who had just read the book, and Bourdain loses his shit afterword. It was cute seeing the "origin" episode of that particular relationship.

― dan selzer, Sunday, September 5, 2010 1:07 AM

Totally! he went from being totally in awe and giddy upon meeting Eric, then fast forward to the present where he is busting his balls.

Weird shirts these people were wearing last night: Why was Kevin wearing a shirt with The Pixies' logo, and Seetoh's shirt? Rectangular dudes with rectangular dicks.

I am kind of in love with Seetoh.

Bye Kelly. Hung! Okay am a little psyched for next week now. Those guys as sous chefs, would kind of rule. And: they are more interesting than cheftestants imo

does anyone think that ed was pulling some shenanigans with that 'i was planning to do 2 dishes all along' shit?

lol Ilan is still a douche.

note to gale: you weren't actually punched with fruit, unfortunately

carry on

I was afraid of that. Fitting for the season.

i never would've guessed it but tbh it seemed like he cooked his ass off in the last two episodes, so good for him

ALRIGHT FINE I GUESS I'LL WATCH TOP CHEF: DESERTS

yeah, kevin's food looked good the last two days but cumulatively i'm not so sure. xpost.

Yay for Kevin. Don't really care a ton but he seemed to really pull it out.

Thing I learned most is that I kind of miss Mike V, and that I love Hung for all time...and that Elan is mayor of Douchebaggington.

So. Desserts? Really? Fine.

God I wish someone would punch Gale with fruit.

Elan is mayor of Douchebaggington
Which is why he and Ed were a perfect match!

Totally. Ed was sort of likable at first but the last 2 challenges he turned up the douchiness super loud. He got pretty tiresome

I thought he was kind of funny. I didn't see it as totally mean-spirited, just loving to push angelo's buttons, who probably deserved it.

It started to get really cocky, chest beating, it became off-putting to me.

There was one small snippet where Ed was taking some potshot at Angelo "recovering" so quickly and Angelo snapped "I'm getting tired of your attitude" or something to that effect.

Ed lost when he let Ilan make that pedestrian dessert with "fleur de sel creme chantilly" because he didn't want to fuck up a lemon curd. Tom's look on his face when Ed said that was like "Dude, I would rather have eaten a fucked up lemon curd than what you served me!"

And Angelo lost when he served duck with marshmallows.

Well and Ed was acting like such a control freak about everything else, it just seemed kind of lazy to let Elan do the whole dessert. I know he said he had his doubts about it before it went out to the table. It was like he figured he had everything else in the bag, the dessert won't be bad enough to make him lose. Annoying.

was really a dumb move to take the last thing the judges will taste and leave it in the hands of your sous chef.

The problem with the dessert wasn't how it tasted anyway. It was that it was so uncreative in concept.

Also, Kevin nailed three of his four dishes.

Really weird that he won.

he seems like such a putz

weak crop of contestants this season

http://cdn.videogum.com/files/2010/09/ripert_bourdain.jpg

this was basically the best thing about this season. when hung and voltaggio and what's his face showed up last night i wished the show was now totally about them.

There was one small snippet where Ed was taking some potshot at Angelo "recovering" so quickly and Angelo snapped "I'm getting tired of your attitude" or something to that effect.

yeah, I even thought Angelo responding that way was as much jokey as anything.

yeah i think he was joking -- just like ed was fucking w/ him at the baseball challenge

what i've decided about kevin is that he wasn't suited for the challenges during the show, like the stupid wacky shit they concoct to make the show interesting, but once he got to the finals and they were just like "okay, cook food" he kinda killed it -- it feel a bit underwhelming but he seems like a really nice guy, so good for him

agree with jordan abt kevin winning feels right. also thought that he didn't seem all that great until the end and even then it wasn't far and away. i always chuckled a bit when i saw that kevin worked at a place called Rat's; who the hell names their restaurant Rat's?? i feel like he won cuz the other guys made more or worse mistakes. but the contrast between ed gaming and all psychological and kevin saying 'i wanna compete against the best' kinda sealed it. pretty much knew sicko angelo wasn't going to win but it was nice to see him get back on the horse. in a general way i think this was the most meh of top chefs i have watched tho i have not watched all of them, like i wish i would've seen the hung season cuz dude was kinda marvelous.

The Hung season was fantastic.

The Ilan/Marcel season was the hardest to watch because everyone was so loathsome.

Hosea was the worst winner.

Why the name Rat's? In Kenneth Grahame's classic, The Wind in the Willows, one of Seward Johnson's, favorite books, the character Ratty represented everything a host should be. As founder of Rat's and Grounds For Sculpture, Johnson likens himself to Ratty who threw the best parties with the best wine. Likewise, the two share delightful imaginations and far-reaching dreams.

Apparently it's a highly regarded restaurant in a beautiful sculpture garden:

http://www.groundsforsculpture.org/RatsRestaurant/index.html

My gf and my NJ families were all familiar with it.

I had the same reaction re: the Rat's name ("no one wants to think about a mouse in a hotel" etc)

have they brought back Hosea for anything? that guy is so terrible...

I kind of wish they would have a Top Chef All-Stars competition (have they done that and i've just forgotten? maybe?) - bring back winners and/or fan faves...bring back Hung, Sam, Harold, Richard Blais!, Stephanie, Ilan, hell bring back Marcel, Kevin, Michael V...whoever else. I would love that.

I agree upthread that Michael V & Hung showing up made the episode far more interesting than anything the chefs were doing.

Way upthread I mentioned that eater.com had a posting about Top Chef All-Stars being filmed in New York. Basically it is comprised of people who did not win Top Chef. I mentioned that if you went to the site there was a spoiler as Angelo was listed as one of the participants.

I thought Kevin was a pretty nice dude, and I am glad he won. His food seemed pretty bland & boring at first but it seemed it was just a confidence/nerves thing. Scary when he got stressed out, but overall he seemed pretty thoughtful, hardworking, likeable...and lol afraid of live prawns, hee hee!! that clip was hilarious.

xpost sweet!

more like an All-Losers amirite

They'll drive Scions to and from Whole Foods.

And make Bertolli frozen food while wearing Glad garbage bags.

Fashioned into clothing by runners-up from Project Runway (the Bravo years).

wait why do you guys hate Gale? she's so pretty!

also i love Hung

i actually love gale -- i was just zingin

oh good. i love her, too

Has anyone watched Desserts? It's kind of O_o but I don't hate it

it's a bit boring but def watchable

Lol @ Snow Queen: "because I make ice-cream, and I'm gay". Uh huh Liberace-face, I would never have guessed.

And WTF at the girl who's bio is "my husband and I are trying to have a baby"...did we switch to Real Housewives? Tmi for a cooking show

It's gayer than RuPaul's drag race - seems all the truly flamboyant chefs go pastry!

top chef allstars season 8

http://eater.com/uploads/top-chef-all-stars-contestants.jpg

ugh

Best part of the finale for me was hearing Angelo say, "Good for Kevin, he deserved it, he's a great guy" or something like that. Reminded me of when Stefan lost a couple seasons back and was totally gracious. I think often the editors can conflate these people's personalities so that they are just "the douchebag" or "the sweet girl" or whatever. I felt like Angelo started the season off as a total creep, but somewhere around 5 episodes to go I started to really like him.

i think the all stars line up is pretty amazing

Hopefully Blais won't choke this time.

"The red hots were for my mommy!!" - TC Desserts guy

that was one of the most bizarre things i've ever seen in my life

that guy is a massive, massive asshole

that was insane. of course they kept that guy on in the judging, lol

that guy is physically uncomfortable to watch

i liked when the judges asked if he was going to reform his behavior and he was like, "i can't promise that" and bravo was like, then you can stay.

I liked the part where he said "you see where being nice got me, I cooked like crap, now I'm going to start being an asshole and WIN THIS WHOLE THING and you all can SUCK IT"

it's like, how much more of an asshole can you be @ this point? if you can top it that's impressive

"the red hots were for my mommy" was some all time weirdness though

and then he dumped what's-his-name's chocolates and wouldn't admit it

train wreck

god that poor guy whose chocolates he dumped. i would have KILLED him.

the dessert cast is crazy drama

just in watching the show, it seems like it's harder to judge which desserts are good based on looks. like something could look really tasty but be sickly sweet. or otoh that atomic fireball ho-ho with licorice sauce (!) looked and sounded freakin disgusting but was in the top.