Top Chef: Chicago

right?

Spike looks like a Backstreet Boy

Intense Erik is intense

Haha there is a guy from Invercargill who worked at a freezing works in this season! As long as he doesn't turn out to be a dick I am in full support.

Not the most auspicious premiere.

http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/season/4/_images/headshots/andrew_150x200.jpg

this guy was pretty out there

"and then padma's like CASA, MOTHERFUCKERS and I'm all OOHHHHHH FUCK yea-yah"

can't believe the kiwi dude made vegemite pizza right out the gate

dude was all sorts of twitchy

I really enjoyed the final challenge format. They should do that one every season.

They kinda wasted Bourdain this time.

Is Bourdain the new Gale? Dude is awesome as a judge usually, but now they're all "ooh yeah, and anthony's here"

It was weird when they had to pretend to be surprised to see Rocco.

just flipping through some of the bios .... I've eaten at the place Nikki co-owns (24 Prince), it was pretty good. Manuel was a sous chef at Babbo.

what's up with the one dude having no idea what chicken piccata is?

can't believe they cheaped out, not giving a prize to the winner. At least give her a handful of those skanky pre-made pasta meals that Rocco endorses.

the winning dish did look pretty good.

I assumed faux-hawk dude was going to be a douchebag but he seemed kind of mellow. Beardo pictured above is going to be annoying as hell.

big time

I don't think he knew what mayonnaise was made of?? and then after richard inadvertently tipped him off he was at judges table with his crab cake getting all MY AIOLI I MADE MYSELF, LET ME SHOW YOU IT and swinging his elbows like a Beastie Boy

too much cursing last night.

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2008/03/13/the-10-greatest-foie-hawks-in-top-chef-history/

I think beardo might have Asperger's or something, he's real weird.

I don't think he knew what mayonnaise was made of??

he admitted as much

And then got pissy when faux-hawk dude offered him some. Douche and a half.

"We're a couple" was so cringeworthy. How long until the producers maneuver them into a relationship-killing face-off?

I assumed faux-hawk dude was going to be a douchebag but he seemed kind of mellow.

the bit where he noticed that he and the girl from S.F. had dueling fauxhawks was pretty funny

Rocco trying too hard to be Bourdain with that one overly harsh zing ("the gnocchi wasn't the only thing that was dense")

I kind of wish they'd make Bourdain the host and demote Colicchio.

er, not host, I guess - head judge

oh damn. i just realized that they were on the same panel and i had forgotten the beef they had going last season.

rocco and bourdain that is

we get a Gale blog... and a Rocco blog... but no Bourdain

Give him time, he's probably hung over.

I was definitely thinking about the beef but it never surfaced .... fully squashed I guess

beef carpaccio

according to bravo.com Spike lives in Williamsburg, NY. That's brooklyn, dickheads.

did they say he was from somewhere else on the show?

i wish they would have cooked actual penguins and gorillas.

that anchovy thing that the New Zealander (Mark?) made looked great

new game: drink every time Richard says "molecular gastronomy"

he was so butthurt when WD didn't liek his dish

i can't separate mark and murray from flight of the conchords in my mind.

yeah that was hilarious - xpost

I don't know why but I always expect Wylie to be more of a hardcore dick as a judge. and he ends up seeming pretty laid-back and a nice guy

he was so butthurt when WD didn't liek his dish

also didn't it seem like there wasn't anything remotely "molecular" about it? it was just plain ol' roast chicken that smelled like eucalyptus.

yeah, and the smell of eucalyptus never struck me as something pleasant to eat(unless you're kola)

he was so butthurt when WD didn't liek his dish
worse was when the spazzy guy let out a little sound of joy when wylie liked his

Wylie Dufresne looks like a guy who played bass in a band from Chapel Hill or Urbana or Lawrence, maybe put out one record on Matador or Sub Pop, had their video played one time during the last ten minutes of 120 Minutes, and then broke up. Then the guy continued to dress and style his hair the same way for the next 15 years.

he actually looks a lot like a guy I know who was in a band in Tulsa OK in the mid 90s

I thought Nikki deserved to get the boot after her team decided the mushrooms were too awful to serve and yet she kept handing them out. Woulda been really bogus if they kicked Dale for putting the cheese on.

"those looked like something a bear produced"

I thought it wasn't fair...they specifically decided NOT to serve the mushrooms. Then Padma was like "can I try them anyway?" and people kept asking them. She wasn't selling them. Still, she should've just tossed them. And the dude should've taken the hit for it instead of her, everyone complained the cheese was the worst part, and he put it on them to make it look better and didn't even taste it.

did the guy who won the elimination challenge win for the glacier? or did he do something else?

;_y

I thought they were gonna give it to Lisa, I do think they preferred her dishes last night to the others, and she didn't fail as badly as the other two. The worst criticism she got was that something was pedestrian. But then again, even though her dessert sucked, Stephanie's entree was the fave and even though for drama they have to talk about how it's all about this one meal, they really couldn't ignore the fact that she was way better then Lisa the entire time.

I also promised myself that if Lisa won, I'd quit watching TV forever.

High fives all around the house when lisa didn’t win.

felt bad for richard who choked and knew it. but i figured going in that one of those the two would beat out lisa. that coconut soup she made did look good though.

I think Richard overthought it and second-guessed himself too much

when you've got Eric Ripert and Dan Barber ohhing and ahhing over your oyster freezie preparation how do you not serve that dish??

Oh yeah, I forgot - what happened to that dish?

I think he decided to use the nitrogen for the bacon ice cream instead and thought the oyster thing was too gimmicky

but three of the people who are gonna be eating the meal were already wowed by it so wtf

the fact that he did a cutesy dessert he had done before on the show (banana scallop) made me think he either had serious brainlock under pressure or his bag of tricks wasn't that big after all

oh well, I kinda picked him to win at the beginning but stephanie seems cool

I thought maybe he had used up all the remaining liquid nitrogen on his fauxhawk.

And incidentally:

Final folks: fauxhawk dude, asian guy, cute chubby girl, kiwi.
-- forksclovetofu, Tuesday, April 22, 2008 10:21 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

Two out of four and Dale got robbed.

cute chubby girl

she was looking a quite bit thinner right before the finals episodes. but after the 6 month period between she put on a few lbs.

WTF was with Cololzicchio the last few episodes? Dude couldn't be bothered to even shave for the final episode. He had a constant look on his face like he had fallen behind on his mortgage payments and was trying to figure out if he had time to get to the bank. Seriously, is he going through a divorce or something?

I learned last night that Stephanie showed up at the neighborhood bar over the past weekend. Would've liked to be there and thrown some awkward game.

but three of the people who are gonna be eating the meal were already wowed by it so wtf

I thought they were just wowed by the technique.

xpost "I'd sure like to braise YOUR pistachios"

I thought they were just wowed by the technique

well yeah they didn't taste it. I just thought it was weird to be all proud like "I just showed Eric Ripert something he didn't know" and then scrap the dish.

I think Richard was paid to take a fall.

Also, if you remember all the comments the judges made, Lisa came out as the winner with more victories and close second place victories. TOP CHEF producers didn't want Lisa to win and I didn't either. Since Stephanie and Lisa we're close enough in the "overall which meal would you eat again", they were able to give Stephanie the win. Richard must have taken a fall, cuz I don't think he over-thought anything except "what fancy dishes can I make that will show I'm skilled but also put me in last place".

I might go to his new restaurant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh70LSWL2q4

bring in the senate subcommittee

gggnarly (1 week ago) Show Hide
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blais u are raw dog - keeping molecular gastronomy moving forward, cheers

gggnarly

Also, if you remember all the comments the judges made, Lisa came out as the winner with more victories and close second place victories.

how on earth are you justifying this statement?

By not remotely understanding the concept of editing, I am thinking. . .

My impression:

Course 1:
Tie between Lisa and Steph, potentially Lisa winning based on a few comments, but maybe Steph based on Lisa's comments.

Course 2: Lisa, with Steph and Blais clearly behind but not by a wide margin.

Course 3: Steph, with Lisa potentially in 3rd.

Course 4: Lisa, with Steph probably in 3rd.

Disagree?

I don't disagree based on what we saw, but you don't think that maybe they edited those comments to add some drama ("oh noes maybe LISA will win") rather than this "oh shit the fix is in" conspiracy theory stuff!

it was definitely edited, they always need a villain to almost snatch the prize from the audience favorite(s) even if the villain doesn't have a shot in hell. these decisions are made by the judges in consultation with the producers, remember.

Apparently those judges tables can go on for hours, and of course it was almost dawn by the time they brought them out, so heavy heavy editing to make it look closer indeed.

these decisions are made by the judges in consultation with the producers, remember.

Every interview I've read with guest participants (Bourdain, etc.) has indicated to me that this idea is very overblown, and that Colicchio would probably quit rather than reward a meal/performance that was obviously inferior.

that shit works in mysterious ways behind the scenes

Colicchio wanted to kick out all the chefs who bullied Marcel in season 2, but the producers stepped in. I think it's more about that than it is about who would make the most entertaining contestant.

Dale surely would have stayed otherwise, but apparently he really did cook the worst meal that day.

i don't think there's any conspiracy but i'm sure they tone down criticism/play up the positives with the eventual loser in order to make it look closer than it really is in the end.

of course, every reality show does this

why dont we agree to talk about things that were actually shown on tv

like lisa being a bitch O_o

Course 1: Lisa won, Steph close 2nd (remember they liked her prawns with chile sauce and steph used truffle sauce that they didnt like)

Course 2 & 3: Lisa won (tom ka soup) which they loved, Steph's lobster ravioli didn't enough like lobster, Lisa had too sweet of sauce on something (making it a complete failure), and Steph had the blueberry pistachio thing they loved (best dish of the night? they certainly loved Lisa's tom ka soup but since it wasn't the meaty course maybe they favored steph's dish)

Course 4: Lisa won with Black Thai Rice over Steph who clearly failed with her cake

Technically Richard may have won this one. But we can't take Richard's meals into account since he was paid to take a fall.

I think on your average week-to-week show they definitely boot the person with the worst meal no matter what they're like overall (see Dale this season, Tre and Sam previously) but for the finale there's no way they were going to give the win to someone who was in the bottom three multiple times and only continued on by not being the absolute worst over either of the two who together split half the total wins.

lisa had a face for radio anyways. the judges didn't want to see that girl again in the requisite past winner guest show.

Regarding the editing - it's patently obvious that they edit judges' comments to create a positive or negative spin. The judge will say "the beef was cooked really well(CUT)" and it's easy to tell that a "but" was coming. So while the producers may not unduly influence the decision making, their editing certainly can distort the tenor of the deliberations. When the producers want to justify someone getting the boot or winning, they build a case by splicing together short comments (positive or negative) from the judges. The viewer has little notion of the overall discussion.

I actually thought the judging seemed to have more integrity this season.

Colicchio in the reunion show saying that he would have booted Lisa instead of Dale.

was it good? i havent watched it yet

i'd like to apologize because i actually completely misunderstood the comment and thought it was an overall thing rather than that-meal-specific thing. but yeah a) editing for drama b) as has been pointed out it is naive to think that the entire season did not come seriously into play in decision-making, even if they did think lisa had won.

i don't remember closely enough the actual final meal to dispute any of the "who won what course" being mentioned here, though i think there was a lot of dissent that seemed to be getting kind of edited out during the deliberations (much like when gail announced loudly "wasn't everyone's FAVORITE thing on the plate (some bullshit)" and padma moaned "NO!!" and then seemed to be immediately ignored in the ep where -- i think -- dale was cut).

honestly, i'm just offended that a person who can't fucking cook rice (two separate episodes, two separate epic fails!) even made it past the pre-quals of the show, much less far enough that she can be making haughty, bitchy, godawful pronouncements to the media about how she doesn't give a shit if a bunch of people who "can't afford" her restaurant thought she wasn't as good as the other chefs (which, presumably, means she thinks tony bourdain can't afford her joint? i'd love to hear his reaction, i imagine it involves middle fingers!).

tony, tom, padma -- you cannot afford to eat her shitty rice! you impoverished idiots! go start a blog!

i mean, honestly.

bunch of people who "can't afford" her restaurant

what restaurant does she even work at btw? on the show it just always said "New York Sous Chef," I figured she might have quit her old job to be on the show or something

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/restaurants/tribeca/3615/mai-house

she works here. it's okay. and not as pricey as she's implying. but why would you bother affording "her" overpriced, bourgie versions of thai food in a city that is teeming with absolutely delicious, some more, some less expensive thai options?

{i'm assuming that's the restaurant she's talking about, because the interview was given after she took the position as sous chef there)

lol that's where spike works (worked?)

haven't been to mai house but I'm sure it's not fucking w/ sripraphai

in other words schefter otm -> but why would you bother affording "her" overpriced, bourgie versions of thai food

yeah, and not only could she not cook rice, but both times she fucked it up, she blamed it on someone else, all, who touched the stove? i loved the first time it happened, when Ted was like, okay, maybe she was sabotaged, but clearly he just thought she sucked. she sucks.

dmr, worked! he quit. i love how the yelp reviews are all "omg spike from top chef is so hot" and then when news broke that lisa was hired and he quit, the last post on the yelp page is "i will boycott this place forever, because of this terrible lady" basically.

Hahaha oh my.

I guess I fell behind on my top chef news feed at some point!

I knew that one guy left dos caminos a while ago

Stephanie interviewed in The Onion; she comes off genuine and likable as usual.
http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/stephanie_izard

yelp reviewer chixors in falling for transparent dbag spike shocker