Top Chef All-Stars

The season will premiere on December 1, 2010.[1]

Judges

* Tom Colicchio (Head Judge)
* Padma Lakshmi (Host)
* Gail Simmons (Judge)
* Anthony Bourdain (Judge)

Bourdain is new to the show as a judge in Season 8. Colicchio, Lakshmi and Simmons returned from Season 7.[2]
[edit] Contestants

There are 18 past Top Chef contestants competing in Season 8. Names below are from the Bravo website.[3] In alphabetical order:

* Elia Aboumrad, Season 2
* Stephen Asprinio, Season 1
* Richard Blais, Season 4
* Jennifer Carroll, Season 6
* Tiffany Derry, Season 7
* Tiffani Faison, Season 1
* Carla Hall, Season 5
* Mike Isabella, Season 6
* Jamie Lauren, Season 5
* Dale Levitski, Season 3
* Antonia Lofaso, Season 4
* Spike Mendelsohn, Season 4
* Angelo Sosa, Season 7
* Dale Talde, Season 4
* Casey Thompson, Season 3
* Marcel Vigneron, Season 2
* Fabio Viviani, Season 5
* Tre Wilcox, Season 3

Potential for awesomeness, though I don't know they'll ever have as strong a group of chefs as season 6.

Wasn't Bourdain supposed to join as a judge last season?

Excited!

well, i know who i want to LOSE

and i want everyone else to win!

whoa i would not have recognized jamie

this was a great idea -- the chefs last season were of such low quality, whereas this season maybe not every chef has a chance of winning, but it probably won't be like last season where they were just slicing off the most low hanging fruit every episode

i never bought angelo as season 7 villain because he was legit more talented than like everyone on that show, but i'm not sure i'm ready to have him back in my life

FABIO ON THE OTHER HAND

would immediately wife elia

seeing Tiffany and Dale in this is like, the 40-year-old dudes from season one MTV Real World that are still on The Inferno Part 7

sorry Stephen not Dale. Dale's cool.

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

elimination challenge was cruel and ingenious

Can I just....

<3 TRE!!!!! <3

yes you can

Also: my girl crush on Jen is back in full effect

mine too! ^^^<3<3<3^^^

wait wha..

Lol :D

Damn I kind of love everyone

Though confession: I didn't watch S5 and judging from Fabio etc, I'm kinda glad? WTF

oh man he's so funny

he was being a bit butthurt tonight tho -- also he's not really a great chef, but he's got a huge personality so they prob had to a. bring him back b. not kick him off tonight

AHM NUT SLIPPING ON A BONK BEHD

Casey's new restaurant is pretty close to me and relatively affordable. Wil have to try it soon.

yeah, review please!

background picture on her website kinda looks like she's selling anti-depressants or feminine hygiene products
http://www.chefcaseythompson.com/

Lol. Welcome to my new restaurant "Midol"

he was being a bit butthurt tonight tho

haha, a "bit"? he basically told Bourdain "say that about my food again and I will fight you"

Interesting seeing these people after a few years: o_0 at Jamie's tattoos.

Also, to echo upthread, the elimination challenge was ingenious. I was thinking, if you were told to pack your knives and go based off of your last dish, wouldn't you go back and master that motherfucker? It seems like most of the chefs did just that and the one who went home didn't.

Certain people really had an advantage though ... like Angelo's dish was probably pretty good to begin with, it was just the least good among the three dishes that were meant to send people to the finale. On the other hand two of the ones that seemed really tough to fix ended up in the top (Spike & Dale).

Awesome challenge, although pretty unfair to Stephen, so I'm glad he will have one more chance to cook "his" food. I don't think he'll last long, but at least he gets a fair shot.

Will be disappointed if Jen doesn't walk away w/this.

A little early for predictions, but I think this is Blais' to lose.

Even if he was DQ'ed last night.

Bourdain chalking up his slam on Fabio to being too familiar with Italian food and knocking back too many gin and tonics with Collicchio during the taping:

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-8/blogs/anthony-bourdain/the-sorrows-of-gin?page=0,0

i'm glad to know that they get drunk

referring often to his original "Scallops with Butterscotch Sauce" as an experience akin to "felching Mrs. Butterworth."

omg

<3 Bourdain, so glad he's judging.

Hoping that Jen doesn't lose her mojo again, and that her & Blais go toe to toe.

I didn't like Stephen much in S1, and he seems not very much improved since then. It's like he thinks that *he* is the selling point of his dishes, and not the food. I don't get his appeal at all.

haha bourdain's mea culpa is almost harsher than his comments on the show

I mean, look at that thing. Its supreme ugliness only reinforced and highlighted by its presentation on paper, bringing to mind immediately and inevitably, the command oft directed at a bad puppy: "Go on the paper! The paper!!"

bourdain would prolly kick fabio's ass tho

and wtf is so great abt jen? she's lame dudes

can't wait to see dale punching shit and yelling again

i missed season 6, and yeah, i don't get what's so great about Jen.

seems like Elia totally deserved to go home but i love her! sad

oh wait Elia got bounced ALREADY

boo

Jen works for Eric Ripert, which gives her automatic cred in my book. And I thought she was the #1 contender halfway through her season, before she started cracking under the pressure.

Love how everyone still hates Marcel's guts.

I love Jen because she seems like a serious alcoholic and yet has a cool job.

http://eater.com/uploads/IMAGEisabellaslap.gif

Jen has balls of steel & she rocks fuiud

^^^

Love how everyone still hates Marcel's guts.

― boots get knocked from here to czechoslovakier (milo z), Thursday, December 2, 2010 2:00 PM (1 hour ago)

Having hair like Wolverine just screams douchebag in my book.

Marcel's a tool but I like him more than Stephen.

Elia made me sad. I think that maybe since she didn't think anything was wrong with her dish in the first place, she didn't re-work it smartly enough. Plus maybe there's the fact that her losing dish didn't kick her ass like, say Spike's scallops did. Or Dale's butterscotch nightmare. Or poor Blais and his flameout. You know? She didn't feel like the dish defined her as some kind of failure so she didn't think she had anything to prove except that she can cook. I dunno. Love her.
LOVED seeing that old clip of her shaving her head btw.

in my dream world, jen would hire mike, tre, carla, and the bearded southern guy from season 5 in the awesomest restaurant ever

Wtf is stephen even doing on this show? Dude looks like he hasnt even been in a kitchen since season one. All these other people are like working chefs and then u have this douche taking up space just waiting to get bounced.

court jester?

It seems like they've brought him back for something every season. Maybe he has naked pictures of Tom.

The only restaurant I can picture Stephen working in is a theatre restaurant

i didn't like how they changed the whole dynamic of the two seatings by not telling the first group that the others were watching.

and bullshit to giving a group of 4 chefs imunity in the quickfire

Totally disagree about the listening thing.

I would be more upset about the immunity thing if any of the four chefs had done a bad job.

Only on a season of incredibly talented chefs, Jen was made to seem weak in comparison. Put her on any other season and she waltzes into the final.

The collective resumes of the chefs of TC Season 6 were more impressive than the TC masters season 2! I mean Tom Collichio admitted it felt weird to be judging the Voltaggio brothers' food because both of them were far higher regarded critically than his food (which to be fair is commercialized dreck).

i was under the impression that other chefs really respected Collichio's food

Guys I really miss season 6. I remember when I couldn't STAND Mike at first, but now on the All Stars I'm all, "Oh Mike you lovable scamp."

I know! It's weird.

I think it helps cuz that he is the only one with jen from that season

and is it me or did most of the chefs gain like 20 lbs?

well there were some weight fluctuations in both directions tbh

the quickfire where they cook against tom might be pretty interesting

the previews for the season rest of the season looked pretty great in general

Psyched for Sesame Street!

It's interesting how most of the chefs (at least the dudes anyway) are pretty overweight, but the dessert chefs on the last show were all really thin. Maybe the stress of being a head chef promotes a lot of comfort eating and heavy drinking.

Although Richard looks like he's lost about 30 pounds.

he looked slightly unhealthy i thought

Yeah Blais is looking gaunt. Spike has bulked up.

Jamie looks like she's dropped a few pounds, too.

Maybe the stress of being a head chef promotes a lot of comfort eating and heavy drinking.

jamie is a rock star coming in with the giant aviators on

kinda wish they had brought back Kiwi Mark so that there could be more drunk bathtub lols with him & Spike.

oh well

apparently Kiwi Mark cooks in my nabe. I've eaten there once. not a very fancy place.

He always seemed more like a backpacker than a chef, like he'd just wandered onto the set & decided to hang

Some stupid ass challenges imo

this episode has been awful

i guess the challenge was slightly better since they really stuck hard to the "only meat" thing, but still

haha wow. Jen going ham at judges table.

"welcome to Jen All-Stars"

RIP

kinda don't even want to watch the rest of the season now...

booooo hooooo hooooooo, I wuz robbed, cuss cuss cuss

ugh

damn those little bits of egg must have been completely atrocious

like, vs. a horrifically salty sauce? really?

Wtf?

Jen had her nervous breakdown early this season, wow.

Bitching about the challenge was super dumb - Tom said specifically that it was meat/products only (what would have been the point of the challenge if one team just got completely hosed?!). I liked one the one chef who said with authority that T-Rex 'ate both,' which I'm pretty sure is wrong.

bourdain to chefs: learn from Omar! it's all in the Game!

http://www.bravotv.com/media/u13/top-chef-all-stars-season-8-blog-bourdain-802-omar.jpg

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-8/blogs/anthony-bourdain/all-in-the-game

lol

^^^^ The Wire spoilers

Nice straight forward challenges this episode. I was glad to see Dale win if only because he reminds me so much of an old friend mine.

*of mine.

Yeah I liked this ep. That Quickfire challenge was crazy! And I loved the Elimination Challenge, it was cool to see all the chefs try to embrace the challenge. I'm glad Dale won...in behind the giant chip on his shoulder he seems pretty likeable and dedicated.

He was just really smart. Everybody who lost lost because they were confronted by these uber-chefs and could only think the way to win was to emulate their style and do something really ambitious. Then Dale comes out and says "I can't be WD" so he does his own food reflecting on aspects of WD50. And his dish looked totally awesome.

I ate at WD50 once, pretty good...I had some kind of carbonated bourbon. A drink that wasn't bourbon mixed with soda, but carbonated bourbon.

wow, that sounds cool. Would love to eat at WD50 one day. Wiley has always been my favorite guest judge on TC.

Lol @ Bourdain saying Stephen's dished tasted like a head shop. I'm glad he's gone. I'm honestly surprised he stayed as long as he did, he truly seems completely useless in facets of chef-ing.

anyone else notice...when they came in and Stephen was like "i'm out" there was silence then other Dale was like "me too" and the place erupted in "ooooh"

hilarious.

But the food at WD50 didn't kill me. Momofuko Ssam either. Either I'm a traditionalist or I just like the real cheap ethnic stuff instead. They were definitely great, but I'd rather eat at some weird place in Flushing I guess.

yeah we ate at WD50 when we were in nyc + i wasnt really feeling it

Did you expect to go to WD50 and get a really authentic bowl of pho or something?

No. But I was expecting it to taste as good as it was interesting. And it was cool, but it didn't really blow me away. When I've been to Jean Georges, I almost passed out out of pleasure.

yeah for me it just sort of made me realise what i really enjoy at a meal

I want to eat that egg cube

anyone else notice...when they came in and Stephen was like "i'm out" there was silence then other Dale was like "me too" and the place erupted in "ooooh"

hilarious.

actual lolz

I was expecting it to taste as good as it was interesting. And it was cool, but it didn't really blow me away.

Totally agree w/ the WD-50 comments. Hard to say this with authority having only eaten there once but I feel like they put things out on the menu that are still works in progress. Some of the stuff was good-to-great but my wife said her entree was one of the worst things she's ever eaten in a restaurant (it was v. weird, some kind of fish dish with cocoa nibs in the sauce)

what's the consensus on the best season btw? this show is fucking crack for me, and I wanna DL a good season Ive never seen before

2 & 6 are the best

Season 6 had the best talent, yet not sure if that makes the best watching though.
Season 5 was pretty drama and had a *shocking* conclusion.

i've never seen season 1 tho

after those 2 i'd say 3 then 4

saw the season with jen in it, also the one with jamie (was that the same one?)

jen = 6
jamie = 5

i think i missed the 5 finale. never saw marcel season.

in a world where people regularly get excited about Bourdain, Colicchio and David Chang, Season 6 raised the bar just for having Joel Robuchon, Eric Ripert, Daniel Boulud ON ONE SINGLE EPISODE. also Thomas Keller on another. The Voltaggio brothers are arguably better chefs than most/all of the Top Chef Masters.

so i should see season 2, then, thx

xp yeah i remember season 6 having that rep---the voltaggios were v impressive

Season 2 is like watching a slow-moving hate crime against a guy who sort of deserves it.

Love love love Season 6 for all time. I liked Season 3 with Hung, and Casey & Dale were cool too. I think the only season I didn't watch was the Fabio Season 5.

Season 2 is probably the best pure drama season. Season 6 pretty inarguably had the most talented quartet of chefs. Season 4 has some real characters in it (Spike, other guy who looked like Spike, totally self-obsessed crazy lady who finished 2nd, New Zealand dude who couldn't cook.) Plus it's in Chicago!

Season 2 is like watching a slow-moving hate crime against a guy who sort of deserves it.

Haha, this is so OTM. I started watching with this season and nothing has really measured up for me since.

xpost Season 6 had the Voltaggios and Beardo Kevin in that quartet. Who was the fourth?

jen

Ah, ok. Thx.

The talent level of season 6 was kind of terrifying; I sort of felt like any of the final 4, and possibly as deep as the final 7, would have won any of the previous 5 seasons (caveat: never saw season #1).

Season 6 talent was too good. People who own restaurants and have James Beard awards or Michelin Stars or whatever shouldn't be competing. There has to be some kind of amateur/professional divide.

ehhhhh, i dunno, i really watch the show for the food. the drama is kinda fun sometimes, but really i just want to see gangsta chefs go ham in the kitchen, you know. better chefs is better entertainment

exactly! Otherwise we end up with Priti seasons and no-one wants that

even Prithi who was one of the worst chefs on Season 6 owns a massive catering business and makes serious bank.

But the first half of that season was boring because people like the Volt brothers were just so obviously superior. That's one thing I'm liking about this season, there isn't that huge and obvious disparity in skill. There's a bit, but not as much, so already you're getting a lot of very solid chefs competing against each other.

well right, which is sorta the point, right? all-stars!

but the flipside is season 2, where you had the seriously repellent Marcel somehow managing to kung-fu other chefs off the show by being an infuriating mix of good enough to get judge's praise and obnoxious enough to get otherwise okay chefs to focus on him instead of their food, leading them to make mistakes while cooking or, in one incredibly regrettable case, back in their rooms that led to their ouster

holy shit, I just read the wikipedia entry on that season and had no idea the Marcel got attacked by a viewer with a bottle and has a permanent scar because of it

wau, dude knows how to make ppl hate him

Marcel is kind of my favorite Top Chef contestant.

I love Marcel.

holy shit, I just read the wikipedia entry on that season and had no idea the Marcel got attacked by a viewer with a bottle and has a permanent scar because of it

this has to be a wiki prank

oh wait then i've seen season 2, or at least bits of it

marcel is so hatable because he reminds me, in some ways, of smug douchers i have met in real life. who, like him, are probably decent enough, but because they're juuuuuust good enough at something to feel smug about it and bad at a lot of other things (bein macho, human interaction) to be defensive, they're just cocks 24/7

^^^

like, the dude was probably teased a LOT in high school, i'm guessing. and not for being studious or a wimp, but for being a litttttle too articulate and quick with sarcasm, fucking alex p keaton style

or maybe it's just his haircut

J0rdan:

http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/top_chef_2/2007_Jan_22_marcel_hit_ilan_friends

well yeah, and his haircut

Honestly I can't imagine why anyone would watch Season 2 and root for anyone OTHER than Marcel. Elia before the head-shaving incident maybe (and boy did she come off badly on All Stars) and that Mike-y line cook dude seemed like a total bro, but seriously the rest of those folks were either total whiney douchebags or completely macho assholes. I'll totally take one socially inept midget egomaniac over any of them, thankyouverymuch.

Marcel seems like he's created a 'douchebag' persona for himself but I never feel like it's 100% him. He seems like he's pretty insecure and awkward and just puts up this RARR I AM AMAZING front to keep people away. lol because I know him sooo well :)

Cliff 4eva

I did route for Marcel though, because his food looked good and because his doucheyness seemed to come from some sort of sad insecurity, and I thought Ilan's food was pretty consistently boring looking.

He seems like he's pretty insecure and awkward and just puts up this RARR I AM AMAZING front to keep people away.

no that seems right to me. and probably evidence of an insecure youth or something, i dunno. you always hope that guys like this will lighten the fuck up when they hit 25 or something but w/e

maybe he'll be a really chill 50 year old...

yeah unsurprisingly I was rooting for the black guy and the hot girl

also I wanted... Betty? Marcel's mid-season nemesis with the inconsistent food; I wanted her to stab him.

I quite enjoyed shirtless Tre in the Night At the Museum episode <3

HATED Betty.

yeah betty was the worst

Bringing Mikey back from S2 would have made for more fun, but who knows if he's even cooking these days.

spike was never very likeable to me at all

Head to head challenge was fun, the setting was cool and they really got into it.

More then just one story going on with Jamie skating by in a couple challenges by not doing anything and Angelo sabotaging peoples food.

Carla is great btw

I wanted to eat that soup so bad.

jamie is the worst -- at least angelo can cook

that's why it was hard for me to believe he overcooked a few pieces of salmon

by "mistake"

caucasian dim sum next week looks great!

that's why it was hard for me to believe he overcooked a few pieces of salmon

― http://www.ilxor.com/glyloop.mp3 (Aerosol), Thursday, December 23, 2010 2:48 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

by "mistake"

― http://www.ilxor.com/glyloop.mp3 (Aerosol), Thursday, December 23, 2010 2:48 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark

true

I wanted to eat that soup so bad.

Watched Rick Moonen recreate the dish on the TC website and think I'll give it a try this weekend.

Jamie is the worst of humanity...just UGH its like she has chromic fatigue syndrome. gtfo

lol Jamie's cute looking when she talks to the camera

I used to know a guy who looked a lot like Marcel in season 2 (bladey side burns and sprite hair - but my dude was a bit taller and could grow a full beard if he wanted to). My dude is a chill hard rocker guy who was best buds with a tall, skinny, peppy, raver dude (also a cool guy). To make a pointless story short, some badass people can look like sprites. And even though I never saw season 2, I immediately liked Marcel for his looks and real talk. It's just his temper that gets on my nerves... and is starting to make me not like him at all

Marcel reminds me of Ed Grimley. I think it's the Season 2 hair.

Tre on the other hand, I didn't remember him but it's easy to like him for the his lightheartedness. Tre is always laughing. I don't know if he is ever egotistical or a jerk (it doesn't seem so) but he didn't even talk sh*t about Angelo messing up his fish - well at least not yet. I mean he had immunity but still

tre's laugh is annoying, imo
blais being all 'u got an interesting story line' was otm. jaime looked like she bucked up with that but we'll have to see. i like it when dudes just do their best and not fool about with all this strategy shit, gamin. i mean i know it's a game but be a stand up dude and don't fuck around. sabotage is some bullshit, angelo if that's what you did. carla working thru a sliced finger was dope. and spike goin home for not boxing out under pressure was fine with me. i hated that mofo when he was on, but for some reason on this all stars he was less annoying.

lol i had my own carla moment a few weeks ago when i chopped my thumb while chopping something. blood! wondered if stitches were needed! wrapped that shit, put on a glove, and powered through to finish my dish. in the end i decided that although the cut was deepish it was probably not stitchable anyway bc it's in an awkward place and it's healing ok now so what i am basically saying is: jamie sucks.

totally. unless you cut fucking bone or sever an artery, wrap that shit & keep going.

jamie is terrible, and pretty clearly trying to game as much as possible.

And what's even the point of being on All Star Top Chef if your whole game plan is 'cook as little as possible'? Fuck her. Srsly.

i just don't understand why anyone would even bother going on an all-stars show unless they wanted to fight to reclaim their lost glory or whatever.
xpost lol

I thought Jaime was hilarious. Also don't comprehend why anyone would let Angelo touch anything on their plate?!?!

^^^ this. And Spike and Tre of all people. Just shove him out of the way and arm wrestle him to the ground.

How great was the little behind the scenes clip of Mike dancing? Have a newfound love of Mike now.

so do they all get lit every night or

yeah they always get drunk in the stew room

i feel like they talk about this on the reunion shows -- sometimes they sit in there for hours just drinking & doing stupid shit like making up games

Mike is wayyy more likeable this time than on his season!

All the contestants, especially Mike, Dale & Spike seem a lot more mellow this time around. That stuffing challenge was some bullshit. Not having utensils was a pointless handicap. the 20K might as well have been handed out at random.

'. . . and make sure nobody uses that peppergrinder anymore'

Yeah that stuffing challenge was ridic.

The stuffing challenge aka the "we give the judges food poisoning" challenge

lol

I could see the no utensils twist if it was 'cook an awesome paleo dish' but yeah... random and kinda wtf for stuffing. carla was a+ this ep, had me laughing a lot.

Her soup looked great. Didn't Marcus Samuelsson make it on Masters? It was great that she won despite her teammates telling her not to make the dish altogether.

i thought the stuffing challenge was hilarious, and a pretty good way to challenge their ingenuity. esp since tre figured out that freezing/crushing is basically the same as chopping, and i think it showed in his dish

Bourdain channeling Debbie Downer:

Fabio improvised a polenta and cheese stuffing by grating cheese on a wire rack shelf, congratulating himself while doing it by commenting "That is genius!!" No, Fabio. Actually, that is "clostridium perfringens," the third most common cause of food poisoning.

I know Jamie is the least competent contenstant this season and has to go soon, but that chicken feet disaster had to be punished.

least competent remaining contestant, I should say

surprised that there was no deference given to carla & casey for stepping up & doing front of the house -- that alone should've sent jaime home

Also, Jamie hasn't made anything good yet!

If you've never made chicken feet before as a dim sum dish -- just don't.

Exactly. At least the other dishes were reasonable concepts, executed poorly. Also, giving 8000 chickens a pedicure with a paring knife, wtf? Haul out the cleaver and get busy, eh?

Yeah, or use kitchen shears.

I hope last night's show discourages chefs to stop cooking chicken feet in general.

I've rarely seen it outside of dim sum.

OTM upthread about the cleaver & chicken feet: that was the first thing I said is WTF is she using that stupid tiny knife? Butcher schmutcher. Expected a bit more from Casey. Her dish looked wretched and she didn't leave it in a good position to be cooked right anyway. but omg will Jaime ever go home. She is THE WORST.

oh and huge lols at Marcel's impression of Isabella in the Prius "goin to the cohnah faw sum cawfee". And I'm still big time loving Isabella.

Tiffany no bra shenanigans: dude she scared ME with that, never mind scaring dudes. Cannot unsee that.

I still miss Jen though. She would have busted the hell outta the dim sum challenge. She feeds off crazy stress like that.

Really? In Jen's season, she totally wilted under the stress until she got booted, if I remember correctly.

Hmm. Maybe my memories are being clouded by nostalgia. ;_;

She had a good run for about half the season, but she totally started to crumble near the end iirc.

Nostalgia, ruined

Yeah, she started out tough as nails, then seemed to fall apart. I remember it being kind of weird, it was almost uncomfortable.

On a lighter note, Anthony Bourdain's recaps of each episode on the Top Chef website are friggin hilarious.

I forget to read them, I'll have to go catch up.

whoever comes up with the concepts for the challenges is killing it this season. the Tom quickfire was great.

^ for real

Yeah that was amazing. A+ television.

I forget to read them, I'll have to go catch up.

― VegemiteGrrrl, Friday, January 7, 2011 2:11 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you gotta. the one about the chinese restaraunt episode almost had me spitting my coffee all over my office computer.

I had two ideas this week that I'd like to see on the show. Never watched any previous seasons, so I don't know if they've already done anything of the sort -

1. The challenges usually have a very tight deadline, speed is essential, etc. I'd like to see this reversed and have a slow-food challenge that takes 4-5 days. Someone might try sauerbraten, someone might make gravlax, it'd be an opportunity to make really good stock from the bones up, etc. Cures, pickles, whatever. They could have one or two regular elimination challenges between the start time and the end time of the slow food challenge -- if an eliminated player happened to win the slow-food challenge, they'd be brought back.

2. They always have the best ingredients. Make them work with cruddy salvage-grocery canned-goods and (especially) commercial-grade or US#2 produce one week.

Seems like doing anything front of the house is the kiss of death on Top Chef. Never volunteer!

yeah, fuck if imna be on that show and let someone else finish a dish for me

xpost -- I believe they have done #2 at least once before. It was kind of a weird snack challenge where the main ingredients had to be something that was packaged (like Fruit Loops and Twinkies).

wasn't that season 2 or 3? they had to make an amuse bouche where the main ingredient came from a snack machine?

That's cool...not exactly what I had in mind, though. I'd like to see them picking through a box of lemons to find the few that don't have citrus mold on them, or trying to figure out what to do with wilted lettuce.

'cooking with leftover product on the day before grocery day'

xpost Maybe Season 2 because I didn't see it -- I started watching with Season 3.

"just how soft does a potato have to be before it's too soft"

I just read Bourdain's recap. Lol'd at "durian souffle."

Exactly...step into the kitchen the rest of us cook in, hotshots...if you dare. xp

Love this opening line from Bourdain on the Tennis episode:

I was watching from home this week and I'll tell you straight off: I thought this episode was going to suck. Early on, as I got the idea that somehow "tennis" and "Swanson" were going to be involved, I reached blindly for the bong

'cooking with leftover product on the day before grocery day'

Doorknock Dinners w/ gordon elliott was kinda like this. used to be on Food Network.

wasn't there a challenge where they had to reinvent classic "American" dishes, but only using the ingredients of the classic dish?

or am I confusing it with something else?

xpost yeah Tyler Florence did a similar show...way more watchable with Tyler bc hello CUET

Gordon elliot is just...ugh...WHY

yay, so long Jamie, gtfo

otm

wanted marcel out too though

ditto, at the very least for the gang-ish hand jive and the "oh the camera's on" aggression

what I hated most about Jamie was how she learned so little from her mistakes. so stubborn. so stupid.

ericripert SPOILER! Dear Jamie: Sorry to see you go. But I gladly
offer you a free training at Le Bernardin on how to cook a fish
about 2 hours ago from web

BURN

omg Marcel's aggro wigger routine should have equaled a beatdown. so irritating

Really admired Dale's poise there.

Tre has been fantastic this year, btw. He does not give a fuck.

that weird freakin growl thing marcel did was 0_o

http://eater.com/archives/2011/01/06/uploads/marcelfistpump2.gif

According to his blog, Bourdain "helped design" next week's episode.

plus the fuckin wolverine haircut on this jackass. and his foams on everything. ugh

ha welcome to saeson 2 and why his getting bullied didn't come across all THAT badly, Shakey

During Season 2, the editors tried harder to make him seem somewhat sympathetic.

I always thought people were too hard on him but after last night's display...oh boy. And I'm glad Dale actually said "I took anger management". Remember him slamming appliances? He used to be scary. Now he's content to ignore Marcel...and beat him.

love to see carla gettin wins

Yeah, I was proud of her last night. Sounded like she took some real chances.

omg Marcel's aggro wigger routine should have equaled a beatdown. so irritating

― assorted curses (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, January 13, 2011 1:52 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

to be fair he was chugging gin

what kind of asshole chugs gin

THE KIND WITH A WOLVERINE HAIRCUT

straight gin is a whore's drink

what kind of asshole chugs gin

― assorted curses (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, January 13, 2011 3:37 PM (26 seconds ago) Bookmark

the kinds stuck on a reality tv show?

w/e "stuck" it's not like he was court-ordered to participate

lol not that i'm excusing his whole outburst, but he was clearly pretty drunk

and i was lolling at the whole thing -- scrawny ass marcel acting all aggro, then dale being all "i'd beat his ass" & they were beefing over DUMPLINGS! or some shit

at this point Marcel is such a villain I fear it would suck a lot of the tension out of the show if he got eliminated

Hooray! Jamie finally banished. Surprised Marcel didnt get the chop ...but I guess he keeps things interesting. But that rant..pity abt Dale's anger mgmt. That was a perfect facepounding opportunity, lol

But Marcel is kinda all hat & no cowboy...hed be so much better off not trying to prove himself ALL the damn time. Kid is good, he just needs to grow up & calm the hell down

glad that they've finally cleared all the dead wood and we can get to the meat of the matter.
been a much better season this go round. Better challenges too.

lol at the "i'm a lesbian btw" on tiffany's exit

Yeah, that was interesting.

Marcel is doing I thought was impossible: making Angelo look almost like a decent human being in comparison.

I am so mad that I keep missing this because these updates make me think I am missing pure comedy

very happy that my years of Marcel HATRED are getting validation

You will enjoy, Marcel made a complete and utter fool out of himself. And I wont spoil why for you, but he even snaps at Carla, probably the friendliest, most likable contestant in Top Chef history.

Oh come on guys Marcel's "I cook for the people" routine was hilarious! Plus the hand gestures! I also loved Tre's "after spending the last couple of weeks around Marcel I've basically concluded the guy is kind of an asshole" line.

Apparently a lot of editing hijinks per usual:

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b220472_top_chefs_marcel_vigneron_astonished_by.html

Not sure why Marcel would be astonished by them though.

"Marcel's Quantum Kitchen premieres March 7 on Syfy"
wtf?

lol at the "i'm a lesbian btw" on tiffany's exit

I know I shouldn't be surprised when these occur but when they do, it seems like such poor editing that they sound so off the wall:

"Well, now that I'm eliminated I can finish the surgical procedures so that I can become a man."

wait I totally missed Tiffany's exit waht

She basically said "I can't wait to get home to my girlfriend!"

 So when Carla [Hall] breaks down crying and says, 'Marcel, I was so wrong about you…you're actually the nicest guy I've ever met'—because I was helping her roll her spring rolls [which received more praise from the judges than their actual flavor], developing her recipes, giving her recommendations—they just don't show any of that. 

"If they want to paint me and portray me as an asshole, I don't really have any control over that.

You do, however, control whether or not you sound like an asshole in interviews.

Ironically the most assholish thing about that statement is the parenthetical which obv Marcel had nothing to do with! Even his interviews with friends are edited to make him sound like an asshole!

I suspect it is because his friends are also assholes

How can y'all hate a man who "cooks for the people"? Why do you hate "the people"?

I wonder if the chefs have the presence of mind to be able to recognize that they are on the chopping block. I mean that when Casey was eliminated, Jamie thought she should have gone. Wouldn't you step up your game at that point instead of serving cucumber water for the next elimination?

I'm not sure Jamie has much of a game to step up.

we ate her restaurant for the company Xmas party one year and a whole bunch of people got sick (they ordered the seafood option)

ate AT her restaurant

She also seemed/perpetually exhausted/bored of being there ya know. Not sure she was much interested in hanging around.

never get the scallops at jaimies restaurant

Having been to one of Jamie's restaurants I would just say don't go to one of Jamie's restaurants.

I was gonna say, was it scallops they ate?

iirc they only serve scallops at Jamie's restaurant lol
her restaurant is a giant scallop

pureed cucumber with water. just thinking about it made me feel sorta queasy.

nah I think it was salmon or sea bass, something like that

(I had the chicken)

and my tattooed bisexual coworker hit on Jamie when she came to our table

also saw Jamie when she was doing hot dogs at that street food festival thing on Folsom st

lol @ "doing hot dogs"

sorry that just sounded hilarious in my head, bc I am a 16 yo boy

no, i was gonna post "german shepherds?" but stopped myself

hahah

Ironically the most assholish thing about that statement is the parenthetical which obv Marcel had nothing to do with!

am finally warming up to Carla, I didn't get her for a while (never saw her season) ...but that moment where Marcel slaps her down for celebrating that she won really turned me off Marcel. I've been stanning for him but that was just the worst kind of dickishness. Especially to her, she seems very open and would not treat anyone that way herself.

ha, i was saying when that happened that the phase carla made was all "o i'm such a bad person"

Carla is amazing IMO (not necessarily as a chef, although I am 100% certain she is great, but as a person I wkiw)

er "face" rather

So far she and Dale have made the food I'd most like to eat. I think it was Dale who made the deconstructed breakfast, right? With the broth that Dufresne said tasted like buttered toast.

carla is going to get so high in Amsterdam

HOOTIE

carla is going to get so high in Amsterdam

― Aerosol, Friday, January 14, 2011 12:48 PM

hahaha...and she can research space cake recipes and write the whole thing off as a business expense!

1st of all, Carla is the best. 2nd of all:

I also loved Tre's "after spending the last couple of weeks around Marcel I've basically concluded the guy is kind of an asshole" line.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Friday, January 14, 2011 9:50 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that was my favorite part of the episode.

i felt bad for marcel on his season because of the meangirls behavior of the rest of the cast toward him but he is being ridic on all-stars.

the thing is, he GENERATES meangirl behavior, so I don't have all that much sympathy

^^^

Marcel disappointments me most because he ruined his "cool guy" potential

I feel he ruined any "cool guy" potential when he showed up in season 2 looking like Hermey the Misfit Elf

Most of these people are pretty uncool.

like I said upthread, I knew a really cool guy with the same haircut and blade burns as Marcel. but he wasn't an outspoken asshole. and he was 10x more gritty

yeah but did he KEEP IT REAL like Marcel does

I mean it's not like Angelo or Jamie or for that matter Anthony Bourdain comes across any less narcissistic or lame than Marcel does really.

Anthony Bourdain seems like he would be pretty insufferable in person, I'm always perplexed by people that claim he seems really "cool"/down to earth. he seems like a douchebag - the kind that still thinks wearing leather/riding a motorcycle/knowing the names of the Ramones makes him "rock and roll"

He'll ride that ex-heroin-addict tricycle until he's 99.

thanking you

Bourdain is a total ass, but he is also funny.

Old dude struggles to stay cool, news at 11

Bourdain talking about being "cool" (which precludes him from doing things like dancing or singing karaoke) is one the best parts of his show

YES. There's one where he's in Russia (?) and he has to go to this massive cabaret with dancing girls and disco lights and he is so uncomfortable and talks so openly about how much he hates it that it's even better than if he had actually enjoyed it.

His 'coolness' can be a bit of a bugbear at times, but he's self-effacing enough to know when it's good comedy.

i dunno just watching a few eps of no reservations would suggest to me that bourdain is actually a pretty gracious guy, and not at all a self important gasbag like Marcel. I mean maybe he was like Marcel in his 20s but he isn't now

Marcel would benefit from army bootcamp imo. Or a tour of duty. Or just a series of short sharp punches to the face. Maturity and perspective is what the dude needs in spades.

have a coworker who assisted carla in a class once who confirms that she actually is, in reality, one of the nicest people ever.

She definitely come across that way.

Anthony Bourdain seems like he would be pretty insufferable in person, I'm always perplexed by people that claim he seems really "cool"/down to earth. he seems like a douchebag - the kind that still thinks wearing leather/riding a motorcycle/knowing the names of the Ramones makes him "rock and roll"

― assorted curses (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, January 14, 2011 5:34 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Holy shit, i agree totally. But he's fun to laugh at, and he can be funny at times, not only despite, but sometimes because of, his ridiculous notions of coolness.

I also know some of the union-crew guys who worked on his New Jersey "No Reservations" show, and said he is a massive prick.

can I make lol New Jersey jokes without getting punched?

I always thought Bourdain was pretty self-aware about his notion of being cool not really being cool. But that's from his books, I usually can't make it through entire episodes of No Reservations.

so satisfying

genius move by Dale to make that hysteric a team leader

About ready to make out with all of the Team Bodega peeps...love all those dudes/gal! Onboard with Fabio now that I've seen him work the floor. And that huge grin Dale gave Bourdain over the "stoner food" comment. Want to eat their food now pls. And love the Blaise/Fabio friendship, so cute.

Much as I repped for Marcel in the past, a person can't be a vacuum and the dude clearly just cannot work with people...he seems like a decent guy somewhere in there, he's just gotta stop fronting so goddamn much.. It was the right call to get him outta there.

when marcel was drunk and yelling at dale and dale didn't snap on him i thought his days were numbered and dale basicly engineered his knife packing. also thought tiff was more of a competitor, she sucked today

I never understand why the people stuck running FOH don't tell the judges they got hectored into taking the spot (Fabio aside).

That felt great.

I was expecting a "Come at me, bro" from Isabella.

i thought the bodega concept was pretty brilliant & the food looked awesome

marcel was obviously going to be an utter disaster leading a team

blaise is also a str8 genius

Dale was the supergenius for making Marcel a team leader.

First team challenge I can remember where the judges loved every dish from a team.

not readin this but i can't find a stream/torrent anywhere :(

missed the end of this last night but glad Marcel went home - setting him up as the leader was total payback

There's one where he's in Russia (?)

Uzbekistan! Only remember that because it's one of the most unremarkable culinary countries I've ever visited, the sort of place where they sell lamb kebobs on the street that alternate meat and cubes of fat, and the fat is considered the good part. In that ep. they make him start drinking in the morning and he gets a painful massage.

Good bread in Uzbekistan, tho.

Oh that massage looked awful.

oh this was delightful

blaise seems like a total bro, glad he won. dale is a tactical mastermind. wkiw fabio 94/7. marcel gtfo and go commiserate with that other pathological narcissist that went home last time

94/7? gbx are you on diet pills?

Thinking this season is shaping up nicely with a lot of likeable & talented bros and gals.

definitely the best season in a long time; down to the hardcore now

Dont wanna jinx it but with all the love I'm feeling it's up there with the Beardo Kev/Jen/Voltaggiobot season.

Marcel hilarious clueless ("I'd do everything exactly the same! EVEN THOUGH EVERYTHING WAS ALL FUCKED UP!"). I will miss him.

Remaining contestants mostly seem okay, although Angelo is a sleaze and Dale is still a total dick.

awesome episode. so glad marcel is gone. dale is brilliant.

yeah Dale and Carla and Isabella are gettin my vote these days

that ep was the perfect way for Marcel to exit, too. almost seemed staged.

"Marcel's Quantum Kitchen premieres March 7 on Syfy"
wtf?

― From the novel "Spinster Dinner" (forksclovetofu), Friday, January 14, 2011 9:01 AM

This bears repeat-wtf'ing.

Marcel's Quantum Foam Kitchen

Marcel's Quantum Tantrum Kitchen

No doubt pitched himself as a knife-wielding MC to MTV as well.

wow, isaac mizrahi is COMPLETELY THE WORST!!

who would've guessed????

i still want to marry lorraine bracco

guys can we talk about how angelo wrote "crocadile" on the table like a crazy serial killer? that mizrahi challenge was nonsensical btw.

angelo is remarkably creepy

padma's yellow silk sheath was the business btw

quickfire challenge was stupid - seemed like everyone was aware of this except Mizrahi

CROCADILE

http://cdn.videogum.com/files/2011/02/stupidfood.jpg

padma's yellow silk sheath was the business btw

― horseshoe, Thursday, 3 February 2011 04:05 (Yesterday)

do a lot of people say "the business"

I ask this question because one of my friends is completely convinced its some sort of common phrase that's making a comeback

it's real annoying, whenever he says it, his voice gets all hushed, it's like when the words come out of his mouth they're bookended by tildes

that quickfire was LAME, Mizrahi is the worst of all time. WTF at setting up that stupid challenge AND not eating any of the dishes.
How about Tom Coliccho judges his stupid fashion show wearing a blindfold? Moron.

Loved the elimination challenge. I get why Tre went home, because risotto has always been a 'thing' but still. I was pretty sure Dale was gonna lose out bc of no flavor and just a bad dish all round. Poor Fabio losing the Italian challenge. He looked so sad.

it's real annoying, whenever he says it, his voice gets all hushed, it's like when the words come out of his mouth they're bookended by tildes

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, February 3, 2011 7:57 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that's totally how i say it too tbh

~the business~ is def a thing that ppl say, get with the times hombre

reflecting, i think i say it about hot dresses a lot

I should have realized they were doing a little hubris foreshadowing with Tre talking about how he won on a risotto in his season

quickfire was terrible

The look on Mizrahi's face when Creep-o was going about his love of Roberto Cavalli and alligator was pretty lol.

Cant believe (well I can, but you know) how bitchy Mike and Fabio were about Antonia's winning dish. "She won for steaming a bunch of mussels". No dudes, she won for being on point, which neither of you were or you would have won. Especially Mike and his undercooked rigatoni. And not even clapping when she came back to the stew room? Kind of a dick move from the fellas there.

You've really gotta undercook fresh pasta to make it taste like "bullets going down your throat" (as bourdain remarked in his recap).

i can not believe antonia won for mussels, whether or not mike or fabio would have won.

i kinda wanted tiffani to win, even though she annoys me. they seemed to really appreciate her dish and it would have been a cool coup.

i really enjoyed this episode. Weird about the fondue in that some of the chefs are like 'This is for key parties and hippies!' I mean fondue is classic Swiss/French/German cuisine. But I must say everyone's food looked good for the elimination challenge.

carla is insane

v good ep tho

Carla looks like a crazed ostrich most of the time, she is nutty as a fruitcake. Was dying to eat her pot pie though, bottom crust is genius.
Fabio's booooger, oh dear. Mr Veg and I knew he was doomed when he said he was putting the melted cheddar on the side. Cheddar is the worst as a melted cheese unless you melt it ON something. It sounded gross from the get go.

Loved the quickfire..Dale and his "Pho-ndue".

I kinda thought it would be Dale to get axed, followed by "oh the cruel game, I won the quickfire but didn't get immunity."

I love Jimmy Fallon but he was insufferable.

he's the nicest guy and so embarrassingly boring
IT WAS OUT OF THE PARK
Fabio and Carla both need shows of their own.

Bravo tried to give one to Fabio where he sat around and talked with former Top Chef contestants. It was disastrous.

what he needs is a show where he seduces old women and then shows them how he cooks gnocchi in crazy detail
and sometimes he goes bowling

lol yes

booooooouuurger

Him and Richard Blaise need a "Perfect Strangers" sitcom together. <3 <3

That "top chef dinner" that Fabio hosted was TERRIBLE.

I'd watch a show hosted by just him or him and Stefan.

The Quickfire Challenge last night would have been great if you were 2. Otherwise, it was a very bad idea.

And why use only crockpots and hot plates? Did they not allow them the full run of the store? Even in the kitchen section along with the crockpots you can find fryers. Plus, nowadays most Targets maintain a camping section year round. Those camping stoves can kick out some serious heat.

i was surprised & tbh a little disappointed to see big sosa go home

it's weird tho, like, angelo seemed like one of the most confident chefs & he even he got knocked out by a bout of insecurity w/ what he was tasting

hose camping stoves can kick out some serious heat.

I thought of this too - sure there's no kitchen-standard gas lines, but surely one of them must know how to use a propane tank

Angelo made a serious seasoning error: if your dish is "missing something," add salt or bacon, not both.

Nice fake out showing Carla in the weeds, no protein with her dish and in the bottom 3, and then sending Angelo home.

Camp stoves would have been a good idea, but my guess is that they were not allowed to for fire code/liability reasons.

I think Target took a big risk in sponsoring this challenge and putting their name all over it. By the end of it, it was clear that the chefs were frustrated by not having the cooking equipment they'd have preferred and had to make do with chefs' equivalents of Easy-Bake Ovens. They couldn't find some of the ingredients they wanted to cook, either.

For BTUs, I'm surprised nobody went to an electric skillet. Those things can go nuclear in a minute or two. They're a southern-kitchen staple, maybe they're not widely used elsewhere.

yeah i thought they were really gonna boot carla, but honestly it would be bullshit imo to boot someone who has won the most challenges just cuz of one dish -- i always thought that whole idea was BS

i ended up liking angelo a lot more this season.

And more then any of the other chefs this season, I felt like when Angelo was on top of his game he couldn’t be touched

Carla's quest for tablecloths was an impossibly dumb decision.

xpost I've been liking Angelo more as well. Helps not to have another bit about Russian mail order brides.

I've noticed Dale has been getting the douche edit lately.

Carla's quest for tablecloths was an impossibly dumb decision.

― reggaeton for the painfully alone (polyphonic), Thursday, February 17, 2011 12:30 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

even the editors themselves showed utterly no desire to integrate the random designer associated w/ target into the show

I had a dream that Blaise and his wife were at some function I was at and I felt awkward pretending I liked him and didn't refer to him as Tintin behind his back. also both of them were kind of orange skinned and both had that weird Dr. Seuss-ish haircut that he has.

it was clearly gonna be mike or angelo.

Mike is one of those rare guys whose neck is wider than his skull

I think that exact line was used in a recent review of the movie The Eagle, maybe in the New Yorker?

no one ever makes Indian food on this show, do they? I guess there have been a samosa or two...

Carla's quest for tablecloths was an impossibly dumb decision.

― reggaeton for the painfully alone (polyphonic), Thursday, February 17, 2011 12:30 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i know i just wanted to shake her. because i love her.

think i am developing a crush on richard blaise; not sure how i feel about it.

kevin made indian food last season i want to say but i believe he was specifically assigned to do so for a challenge.

indian girl from a while ago, radhika, would make indian-inspired food i think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8pARgwB19Q

L

LOL

"no one ever makes Indian food on this show, do they?"

Is this maybe a time limit thing?

^^^yeah that's what I was thinking. it takes a while to make a decent curry from scratch. and then I guess there's the issue of ingredients (I don't shop at Whole Foods, have no idea if you can find Indian stuff there - ghee, garam masala, etc.)

otoh you'd think someone would try to suck up to Padme by making some goofy "deconstructed" indian dish or something

She's so picky though! She hated Mike's things on principle for not having fresh coconut.

He did say it was a fresh coconut flavor first though!

Yeah, she wasn't hating his stuff, just calling him on hyperbolic bullshit.

I still want to see a slow-food challenge. Probably will never happen though.

Padme is a horrible horrible human being

"Yeah, she wasn't hating his stuff, just calling him on hyperbolic bullshit."

Didn't she say "I can only eat one bite." That seems pretty hating on to me.

Why, for being criminally sexy? xp

Oh, I forgot that was the same dish. Yeah, that was pretty hatey.

damn didn't see that coming

re: elimination. pretty big upset imo.

also when I saw last week's trailer I figured the plagiarism angle would be some trumped up BS but no, Mike actually pretty much stole Richard's dish. bad chef karma dude.

Mike Isabella, that was serious, serious fail in the quickfire, bad bad form there...and I was really liking him a lot this season, the big jerk...glad Richard got a bit of vindication at the end. And the fact that he stole the dish, admitted it, and still acted like a total cock to Richard anyway. The big jerk.

sad elimination. I mean, it was the right move but still...

also big lols at Antonia's "I'll take Spike and his crabs"

it was good to see Dale come back this time and really show that he had changed a lot from his appearance on season 4.

i was happy to see carla stay

this is blais' to lose anyway

for sure.
dude would really take it badly if he fell to any of the chefs that are left

It was Blais' to lose his season too though.

true

i liked dale but i've grown to like antonia + carla more & i guess mike is whatever

Dale talking about last nights ep

I literally went to therapy, sometime after season four. I had some issues unresolved from my childhood.

ladies and gentleman... reality television!

dale needs to chill out this is a really long conversation about one tv episode

I've been rooting for Dale. He's such a good chef and he has kept his emotions in check this time around. More sorry to see him go than Angelo. It's nice to read that Dale thinks that Mike wasn't a complete recipe stealer. Mike's not my favorite but he makes for good tv (irl troll). But I can't read that whole article: tlcria

Blais seems a little too on edge for me to root for him. But gourmet burgers and hot dogs sound good. I would like to try his restaurant(s?). Maybe just for dessert. I loved how he plans on taking Fabio on his reward vacation. I wouldn't be sad if he won

Hooty Hoo - How can you not lover her? She's a great chef

Antonio - I'm surprised at how good she is doing in every single challenge. She's made me a fan

Tiffany and Mike please go home so that we can have the other three in the final. No offense

A pretty great episode marred by an inane and irrelevant quickfire. Five chefs trying to make the least worst dish using the food from a ferry snack bar. Fucking gross.

Next week should be interesting: The chefs go up against the respective winners of their season. Which poor bastard has to go up against Voltaggio?

I knew they'd have all of them. ESPECIALLY after they punk'd Richard like that, which was totally brutal but he kinda deserved it. It's interesting that while they didn't want to choose and thought everyone killed it, they still showed a clear hierarchy.

You're right about the hierarchy. If someone had to go, it probably would have been Carla.

It's Isabella against Voltaggio next week. Poor Mikey.

"Why would you... ffff... thank you, thanks"

^^^^ that had me in stitches

Most of the season I've been hoping it would come down to Blais and Carla, but now I'm rooting for Antonia to win it. She got the combo of good taste and judgment, top skills, unbreakable calm under presssure and winning personality.

honestly glad to see Tin Tin and his Magic Jar of Liquid Nitrogen sent packing

No one went home..?

oh he just lost the challenge? I admit I was falling asleep by the end

no, they faked him out, too

he came THIS close to calling padma a fucking bitch so he's my fave of the remaining bunch
well no, carla is really but he's a close second

love carla so much
http://petcaretips.net/miss_prissy.jpg
A MAYUNNN!

I love how Carla always looks so surprised when she wins anything - like a puppy that's been thrown a steak

xp hahaha yup Blais looked REALLY pissed about the fakeout. They ended up sending all 5 to the final round.

seems like the "EVERYBODY GOES TO THE BAHAMAS" thing is just a punt cuz i will be shocked if they don't can tiffany and mike in the next episode anyway.
Carla, Antonia and BLAZE seem sorta de facto to me since they dumped Dale in the annual SHOCKERS A MAJOR PLAYER HAS BEEN DEFEATED end-of-mid-season tradition

Isabella is the worst, can't believe he's made it this far

I still kinda feel like Tiffany is a weak link

That was a great episode for me. I rather Carla or Antonia win over Blais because I'm liking their personalities better. I just hope that none of that strong 3 is eliminated before the final three but anything can happen.

As far as forks "annual SHOCKERS A MAJOR PLAYER HAS BEEN DEFEATED end-of-mid-season tradition" comment I have to disagree. It wasn't midseason anymore + Angelo & Dale back2back was abnormally brutal.

I was really happy that all five of them moved on (not just because I didn't want to see Carla go). Also, Mike was more likable that episode.

If someone had told me "this week, no one gets eliminated, and the judges love all of the food" i would have said that sounds like the worst episode ever; yet, this was one of the best episodes of top chef i've ever watched.

i know blais is probably the best chef but it annoys me how he seems to think he's so much better

But he also seems completely willing to talk recipes and ideas with the other chefs at any time.

I kinda don't believe he can even make a meal without liquid nitrogen

Blais and baby

thought this episode was kinda boring actually

baby gonna get flash frozen

cooked actually, right?

didn't know how to spell sous-vide

thought this episode was kinda boring actually

― dmr, Friday, March 4, 2011 10:23 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark
x2

i need to rewatch it because i was distracted but it didn't seem all that killer to me.

challenges were not very Dan Barber-y for one

"very special" family episodes are always zzzz

sous vide for baby is like hot tub

one of the best episodes of top chef i've ever watched.

YES

Fucking emotional.

I always like it when they let them just do their thing instead of catering for 500 people with weird-ass restrictions, but the family angle was pretty zzzzzzz

was really weird to have dan barber judge that fucking terrible ferry challenge

That ferry challenge was just terrible period.

Just a mess all around this week, a big waste of an hour.

missing u

tiffany should've gone

but like undercooked pork can give a dude trichinosis and they might die!

I've started to hate Blais.

Yeah, the "I hate everything I do" is kind of obnoxious.

there is nothing wrong w/ 'undercooked' pork

It might not make you sick, but there's still plenty wrong with it.

i havent seen the show yet but if you just mean pork thats cooked rare - i've eaten at quite a few restaurants that cook it that way

No, rare is fine, but she had it done perfectly at the thin end of the tenderloin (a portion Ripert got) and totally raw at the thick end.

oh ok yeah thats gross

Terrible episode with the fake out on the royalty bit (it's a British Commonwealth people! You are not going to be cooking for Queen Elizabeth!). I also thought that the quick fire was wasted: Seriously, you fly these Top Chef winners out to the Bahamas just to do a quick fire and possibly make $10,000? Nice work if you can get it!

Was it my poor listening skills or did Tiffany say at one point "bohemian royalty"?

I'm still pulling for Blais though.

grr at this point I want Tiffany to win just out of spite

grr

Was it my poor listening skills or did Tiffany say at one point "bohemian royalty"?

lol yes, she sure did

eh it sounded that way whenever any of them said it

I thought Tom said something about Bohemian Royalty too?

I mean it's Bahamaian royalty, it's pretty easy to slur those vowels

p boring ep imo

Kinda cool that Isabella beat Voltaggiotron ...but to me the quickfire felt like it would have been more worthy of the actual elimination challenge somehow...and the challenge just seemed kind of a mess with the fire and whatever, and sort of a nebulous challenge to begin with. Kinda meh about the whole thing.

Feel like Blais is headed for a meltdown. Dude seems like he is shortcircuiting

Tintin can't handle the pressure (probably the new baby thing tbh, that's brutal)

dug seeing Voltaggio again.

I think they should reboot that season, bring them all back again.

I'm happy for Mike. He acts like an irl troll and I probably wouldn't be friends with him but he is entertaining in an underdog "villain" sort of way. He seems more like a good chef in that he beat a Vollagio. Plus he beat everyone last week and they all had superb dishes.

Tiffany - I don't dislike her - but she doesn't deserve to be in the final. I already lost Carla. I don't want to lose Blais or Antonia for the final and I rather Tiffany go before Mike. If Blais or Antonia goes next week then I'm just shocked about how a couple of these guys made it to the final. (I need at least 2 obvious champs in the final).

We don't need a reboot of Top Chef All-Stars as much as we need the next season of Project Runway and Work of Art to start airing :]

i really don't understand why tiffany is still here. i get carla's undercooked pork, but tiffany has been a weak link for a LONg time.

Yeah, the "I hate everything I do" is kind of obnoxious.

― WmC, Thursday, March 10, 2011 8:49 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

dude i thought that was a ray of light for him. i feel that way sometimes too and i found it endearing, cuz normally he's saying something about how he is so much better than everybody else or some shit.

also i am not sure if isabella would be the chef he is w/o some of that blais rubbing off on him

Blais seems like he's saying that on his worst day (aka everyday) he's still better than everyone else.

or like how one can over analyze or obsess over details to the point of missing the forrest for the trees

his hair looked different in every fuckin scene

this ep/challenge was so horrible

woulda been much improved if the quckfire and the elimination challenges had been reversed.

^^^

Agreed, the quickfire was a massive letdown.

would've preferred a longer, more sxcruciating humiliation of Hosea, that guy is such a tool

sexcruciating?

But but he showed all the haters!

sexcruciating

typo I swear!

likely story

(on the bright side, we can now all retire our old, worn out Rachel Ray joeks)

look Shakey either you have a crush on Hosea, or you don't

sex-crushiating

I heard that the chick Hosea sorta-hooked up with on his season is now heading a Michelin-starred restaurant. Pretty sure that tops anything he's done with his career.

someone should tell Hosea that Michelin stars aren't exchanged via bodily fluids

she's at centro vinoteca, it's alright iirc

n/m I had the wrong chef - Amanda Baumgarten is who I'm thinking of

Chef cokehead you mean? She does kind of look like Hosea's gal

it's bahamadian, ain't it?

Bahamamna

Doo dooo do do do

Bahamana

http://eater.com/archives/2011/03/10/uploads/carladance.gif

easy call for Tiffany to go
a boring episode imo

I think she could have bluffed her way through if she'd claimed she made a dish that could be served at any temp-- nahhhh, she messed that timing up too bad.

Soon as she said "cold ceviche on top of hot soup" or whatever, I knew there was gonna be a problem.

so now it's the cranky italian cousins versus blaze?
no wonder they're playing up his self doubt.

love how antonia was all 'that was what i was going for' abt her lame piece of snapper

most awkward morning after ever

fuckin Mike Isabella can't believe he's one of the finalists. so lame. can hardly bear to look at his big fat grouper face for another episode. hope Tin Tin beats his ass.

That decision seemed random to me...was so hoping Antonia would get the chance to bring it against Blaise

Also can I just say...I WANNA HUG MORIMOTO TOOO

yeah loved seein Morimoto

he's such a bro, I love him

The straw poll of judges at the end sure sounded like 4-3 in Antonia's favor to me. "Your curry was too spicy" seemed like very weak justification to send her home.

if Mike wins...

xpost Exactly. And the notes to her before the final judging indicated they all seemed to like it, and I got the feeling Mike was going to lose because he went too big. I dunno, kinda bugs me

god if Mike wins that would be the worst thing

I mean, i've sort of grown to like him more than I did, in spite of many dick moves on his part...but there's no way I'll support an Isabella win.

but fuck, if Blaise loses then he is the #1 all time choker of the century

Mike has consistently won because he's gotten to do the easiest shit. fried chicken? gimme a fuckin break

If I was Michelle I would have picked up the plate that Mike served me and thrown it against the wall. NO!!! THIS IS NOT WHAT I ASKED FOR!! I thought she was nice to give him leverage to mess with it, but it didn't sound like his chicken was anything near good

And he's such a dick about simple food, always giving shit to Antonia for meat and salad or whatever, but you know what dude: she's not making black olives in caramel sauce to impress the judges

yeah several people complained about his chicken even! wtf

he did beat that one voltaggio dude tho

or at least the judges said so, so...

I watched the premiere of Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, and yiiiiikes

do tell

I know I'm predisposed against olives, but "black olive caramel" sounds like something Mike found on Dr. Strongo's Nuevo Cuisine. So if he's reading this... 'EY MIKEY, YOU SUCK.

wait

he didn't really combine black olives and caramel, did he

yup

Gayle loved it, which kinda tells you what you need to know

he made something called "black olive caramel," but there wasn't any description of how it was made
xp

huh

maybe I can sell my idea for caper-flavored cotton candy after all

do tell

I don't even know what to say.

Marcel acts like a dick to his coworkers and makes some molecular gastrofood for rich people.

Yet I found it compelling for some reason. I should probably be put to sleep.

Mike has consistently won because he's gotten to do the easiest shit. fried chicken? gimme a fuckin break

― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier),

Well he did win the quickfire to get first choice.

The elimination challenge sucked but Antonio clearly lost. The twist gave her a BIG second chance. Mike winning the twist makes me think he really should be in the finals instead of Antonio. If she won, it would of been sketchy that Mike had to leave since he clearly beat her in the elimination challenge.

But Mike should of known how to make biscuits. I don't think he knew how.

Well he did win the quickfire to get first choice.

yeah but he totally had the easiest one! a one-pot and then no utensils. the other two had WAY harder tasks in front of them.

also yeah his bullshit biscuit excuse. even *I* know how to make a good biscuit

how good he did on the quickfire and elimination challenge didn't really matter because of the twist so it's hard to have challops about those

Gayle looks like she's been dippin into the boozy juice quite a bit this season

I'd like some kind of chart for how drunk she has been throughout the series

Find any chart and hold it under water.

The elimination challenge sucked but Antonio clearly lost. The twist gave her a BIG second chance.

yeah this

episode was fairly boring in that it was all recycled challenges and twists but at least it had some suspense. right up to the end I wasn't sure who was getting the boot.

did anyone else lol at the very dramatic presentation of the envelope that just said "there will be another challenge"? like - no shit, what will the challenge be ... wait that's not in the envelope

he made something called "black olive caramel," but there wasn't any description of how it was made
i am actually really curious about this - i'm guessing he caramelized olives, and that sounds fascinating to me, but i love salty/sweet.

envelope sucked.

Did a little searching and most of the recipes followed this general method:

# Olive Caramel:
# 1 cup sugar
# ½ cup heavy cream
# ¼ cup black olive paste
Caramelize sugar to a medium amber color. Slowly whisk in heavy cream, bring to boil, and add olive paste. Strain through a fine chinois and let cool.

It looked like a smooth dark sauce rather than caramelized olives, so I think this is what he made.

I like salted caramel but caramel + olives just makes my brain dry retch

btw where has bourdain been?

i think he probably started filming no reservations

;_;

i've missed his blogs the past few weeks :(

He probably told the producers "You actually want me to watch and write about this thing on weeks when I don't appear on it? Yeahright!"

did anybody here catch the really obvious tip-off in the promo for next week's episode? like, i'm 95% sure i know who wins...

i think i've had a black olive caramel before... altho it does sound weird

I saw Preeti from Season Whatever at Rainbow Grocery.

Did you tap her on the shoulder and say "btw you are very Preeti"?

Nah I just thought, "it must be kinda tough to be on show and have everyone on it think you were a lousy chef."

Brian Mullarkey was on an (old?) ep of Real Housewives of Orange County

It must be tough to be on the Real Housewives and not be a Real Housewife.

http://eater.com/uploads/richard-blais-top-chef-all-star-winner.jpg

tbh i got pretty tired of this guy by the end of the season

got pretty tired of the season by the end of the season

My wife jumped up and celebrated when that guy won. Not because she liked him, but she just really disliked the other guy...was he really that unlikeable???

got pretty tired of the season by the end of the season

― slight even by tweet standards (forksclovetofu), Thursday, March 31, 2011 9:13 AM (2 minutes ago)

otm!
seems like they stretched out the final rounds at least one episode too many

Mike really is kind of unlikeable but I think that's a case of editing as opposed to Marcel who really does seem like a dick

yeah, Mike is amiably abrasive but at least has some recognition/acknowledgment of social cues and graces, whereas Marcel is basically a monster.

but can you really be a "Top Chef" unless you are a little bit touched in the head??

I only ask this because the head chefs at both of my favorite restaurants eventually went insane

You can be a raging egomaniac without also being a belittling freak, yes.

i really grew to like mike a lot more and was kinda rooting for him because blais was the favorite and he was really starting to annoy me by about half-way through the season.

Mike was extra-dickish early on and checked his behavior as the season progressed. Especially after they went to the Bahamas. I wonder how long the break was before those last few episodes -- Mike seemed a lot more chill and Blais seemed 5x more neurotic.

Jen Carrol looking totally wasted in the background shots was great

ha, yeah, I see her as the chef that goes out drinking with the waiters after the last shift and ends up making out with a gay guy around the fifth margarita and crying in a bathroom
"WHY DO I ALWAYS DO THIS" *pukes*

I pictured her backstage putting lipstick around her mouth like Diane Ladd in Wild at Heart.

Chocolate vinaigrette? No, thank you.

i wanted to taste this pepperoni sauce!

everybody seemed wasted on the Bravo Live after-show

Blais was getting super annoying with his "I already choked once before" mantra but I'm glad he won. otherwise they might have had to put him on suicide watch.

yeah, they were all tanked!
padma seemed especially loopy.

also I watched half an episode of that Marcel show on Syfy and goddam it is unwatchable. Marcel is such a douche, why anyone would give him a show is beyond me. it's not "love to hate," it's "hate hate hate must change channel."

padma seemed especially loopy.

otm

also was that bit about her and Gail noshing on bacon at the craft services table for real?? lol.

andy cohen is always OTT on that show but toward the end he seemed legit sloshed

also lol @ Mike predicting that Jen might have won fan favorite

yeah he progressed from his usual andy cohen-ness to like, flat out wasted and messy at the end!

Who won fan favorite? Bravo's site is useless.

carla!

oh damn i missed the after show party thing . i was just loling at jen looking all jacked in the background of the actual finally

Cool, Carla is who I would have voted for. I had a bit of nerves when Mike put her at front-of-house last night, since she did a terrible job of that earlier in the season.

it was Carla vs Fabio (which was what Richard predicted when asked ... like, duh). Mike said he thought maybe Jen would get it.

was sort of impressive (although totally insane) that Blais sent Spike out to spy on the first round of judges and then actually changed -- and successfully improved! -- one of his dishes before the second group of judges arrived. kudos, you neurotic nutjob.

It's weird that he had issues with the foie gras ice cream. His burger restaurant has foie gras milkshakes on the menu. I've heard they're really good.

that sounded disgusting to me.

yeah dnw

If I were a contestant on this show, part of the appeal would be cooking without having to think too much about food costs. Ten lobes (at first I thought he said "loaves") of foie gras, that's a few dollars, right?

xp -- I'd definitely give it a taste

that first round of foie ice cream looked like cat food

my cat would've eaten it

coulda been editing tricks but after Tom's comments on Mike's first two dishes I thought Mike was winning for sure

me too!

But they made a point, one that Mike will probably be hearing till he dies, that Tom said "this is the best fish I've ever tasted on the show" then later he said he loved Richards and someone said "well you said Mike's was the best you'd ever tasted" and Tom said "that was before I ate Richards!"

brutal

coulda been editing tricks but after Tom's comments on Mike's first two dishes I thought Mike was winning for sure

― dmr, Thursday, March 31, 2011 6:16 PM (3 hours ago)

And then the editing on the judging table made Tom look all gung-ho about Richard: "that was until I tasted Richard's fish"

I thought Mike won that second dish for sure. I was rooting for Mike (all alone at my house). His dick moves earlier this season were sort of tame. I liked how Mike was always jovial and had that hint of sensitivity (femininity). I liked how he chose not to make a big deal out of everything (total opposite of Richard in that way); of course he still played the game and tried to say everything the judges wanted to hear. I like that he has such high self-esteem - he did prove himself to be a great chef. Mike rooting for Jen as one of the fan favorites was probably just because he's friends with her, and was probably drinking with her before that live segment started (his giggling got tiresome but I can excuse joviality).

I'm sure the producers of Top Chef wanted Richard to win too. They would be the ultimate tie-breaker

sort of like how on the season finales of American Race the least liked team always gets the shittiest cab driver. surprise surprise

sensitivity (femininity)

on the after-show a viewer question asked Richard "who would you battle next?" and he was like, "Michael Voltaggio"

thought Andy Cohen was gonna get out his blackberry on set start emailing Michael V with his show proposal

The second episode of Marcel's quantum cooking show was a lot better than the first one. He is more likable when he is in his element - which includes him being the boss. He threw a pretty great anniversary party on the second episode. He gave shit to the lady he was working for at the end of second episode. I understood why - unlike on top chef. Ultimately, his show gives me more respect for Marcel but I'm not interested enough in Marcel or quantum cooking to put this on my series manager.

Gonna have to read this whole thread tomorrow. I started with this series and it's the first I've watched.

Guess that technically spoiled like all seven seasons before it. Oops.

i’m almost through World All Stars (currently streaming on Peacock) — and after so many seasons of this series i’m surprised that it might be one of my favorites overall? super good

the stories of all the different chefs, the sharing of cultures, the insane high level of skill plus the intensity of the challenges (holy shit @ the beef wellington challenge) … it’s so good. and so many favorite contestants , new and old: love begoña from spain, victoire from italy, tom from germany, gabri from mexico, buddha from houston and my alltime top chef boyfriend amar from cali <3

the friendship between aman and ali was so cute

it’s a lot of fun & well worth it if you like the series

*amar

agreed, I thought my interest in TC might be waning but this season really hit. apparently Padma’s leaving the show and knowing that made the season finale even more touching

Top Chef: Wisconsin is out with new host Kristen Kish.

Looking forward to Wisconsin getting the TC treatment. Cheese challenge, what else?

yeah i’m interested to see Kristin hosting!

Top Chef: Carolinas now streaming on Peacock - ep1 was really good, feels like it will be a good season !