Yeah, but we all know they're not making it much farther so it doesn't really bother me.Originally Posted by OlgMvp
I'm rooting for Tiffany, I think she has a good shot at winning.
Yeah, but we all know they're not making it much farther so it doesn't really bother me.
I'm rooting for Tiffany, I think she has a good shot at winning.
"You know how pissed off I was when US Weekly said that I was on crack? That's racist! I'm not on crack. I'm straight-up mentally ill!" -- Tracy Jordan
I was recommending that to a friend a couple of days ago, and then he showed up. Kinda weird. It's a terrific book, though.
I'm rooting for Tiffany too. She's awesome. Go away, Alex.
Likes the Yankees.
Kenny did present two bad dishes last night--that goat cheese monstrosity looked just awful--and Colicchio is pretty much a stickler for sending home the chef with the worst food for that particular week.
When I was spoiled about Kenny going home during the Restaurant Wars week, I just automatically assumed that it would be because he was the leader of the losing team and that things went awry (as they so often do during RW.) He actually did a really good job as the team leader; everyone on the Red team kept commenting on how smoothly everything was going on the Blue Team.
I would like to have tasted both Ed's turbot and Kevin's halibut. Each of those dishes looked absolutely delicious.
Yeah, I think Kenny went home solely on the basis of producing one bad dish and one horrific dish. I thought the executive chef role might actually save him and send Amanda home - she only did one thing, and they didn't like it. Maybe it was the tush factor.
Kevin and Ed have both been increasingly impressive. Nobody's cooking has seemed spectacularly creative, though.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
I'm only half joking. The producers have a say in who gets eliminated, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they wanted to keep the sexiest babe on the show as long as possible.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
I think putting Kelly as front of the house was a bad idea, it should have been Amanda. Kelly can cook and really probably would have made sure that everything tasted good before it came out of the kitchen. Amanda didn't know what to do with that woodfired grill and that hurt her (sidenote: I've been to the restaurant they cooked at last night, it's pretty good.)
In other Top Chef related news, the wife and I ate at Volt tonight, which is owned by Brian Voltaggio. It was fabulous, I highly recommend it to you all if you are visiting DC/Baltimore and have a car so you can drive out 40 minutes to Fredrick MD.
"Long Island is New Jersey with a GED." - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
Funny you should bring this up. I'm currently reading Medium Raw, Anthony Bourdain's newest book. In it, there's a chapter called, "I Lost on Top Chef". Bourdain, of course, has been a guest judge on the show several times. According to him, the producers do not have a say in who gets PYKAG'd. I'm going to quote him directly here from page 186 of the book:
BTW, in case anyone is interested, Medium Raw while mostly enjoyable, is not as good as Kitchen Confidential or The Nasty Bits. IMO, there were a few boring chapters in MR, which was unheard of in his earlier works.What I can assure you--without hesitation or qualification--is that the judging I've been witness to or part of, in five appearances as a judge, has always been straight. Meaning, no matter how much the producers of the show may want the contestant with the heartbreakingly tragic story (and amazing chesticles) to survive until next week, the worst cook that particular week goes home. On Top Chef--as long as Tom Colicchio is head judge--the best food that week gets you the win. The worst gets you the loss. It's the "what have you done for me lately" criterion at judges' table. Due to the fact that guest judges can't and haven't been witness to a contestant's previous efforts, past works do NOT factor into the final judgment. I feel for sorry for the producers sometimes, imagining their silent screams as Tom reluctantly decides that the all-around better contestant, with the movie-star looks and the huge popularity with viewers, just [messed] up too bad to make it to next week and has to go home.
Their lips mouthing, "Nooooooo! Not Trey!!! NOT TREY!!!" impotently in the control room as another beloved fan-favorite gets sent packing.
Judging is taken seriously by the permanent judges and guest judges alike. I've spent hours arguing with Tom, Padma and guest judges--trying to reach a consensus on winners and losers. It is a thoughtful and considered process.
I completely agree. During Restaurant Wars the best cooks should be in the kitchen. That's where Kelly should have been and truthfully she should have acted as Exec. Chef although you know that Kenny would never have stood for that. Amanda has the right personality for FOH (and apparently a good tush too.)
Sounds great! What did you eat there? Bryan was my favorite cheftestant from last season.
Has anyone else eaten in any of the former contestants' restaurants? Given the opportunity, I'd like to eat at Perilla or Woodfire Grill.
I liked Kevin's ideas about food a lot - he liked straightforward food prepared exceptionally well.Funny you should bring this up. I'm currently reading Medium Raw, Anthony Bourdain's newest book. In it, there's a chapter called, "I Lost on Top Chef". Bourdain, of course, has been a guest judge on the show several times. According to him, the producers do not have a say in who gets PYKAG'd. I'm going to quote him directly here from page 186 of the book:
BTW, in case anyone is interested, Medium Raw while mostly enjoyable, is not as good as Kitchen Confidential or The Nasty Bits. IMO, there were a few boring chapters in MR, which was unheard of in his earlier works.
I completely agree. During Restaurant Wars the best cooks should be in the kitchen. That's where Kelly should have been and truthfully she should have acted as Exec. Chef although you know that Kenny would never have stood for that. Amanda has the right personality for FOH (and apparently a good tush too.
Sounds great! What did you eat there? Bryan was my favorite cheftestant from last season.
Has anyone else eaten in any of the former contestants' restaurants? Given the opportunity, I'd like to eat at Perilla or Woodfire Grill.
With all due respect to Anthony Bourdain, I question what he says. There's a disclaimer flashed with the closing credits that says that the decisions are made by the judges in consultation with the producers, and that some eliminations are discussed with Bravo as well. They're a TV show, they have to take ratings into account.
I will say that Kenny's elimination does suggest that the judges' decisions hold. But then I can't figure out why they didn't re-slant the first episodes somewhat to downplay Kenny a little more.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
I kind of question what Bourdain says too.
Anyway, my take on Volt:
We were very pleased with it. I loved the vibe of the place, classy for sure, but the wait staff were wearing Converses and they were softly playing the new Arcade Fire album. My wife ordered not too expensive merlot and I had a Flying Dog Raging Bitch, which is what I like to drink when I am relaxing at home so I just went for it.
They started the experience of perfectly, with what might have been the best thing I tasted all night with an amuse bouche of a small lobster cake with sturgeon caviar on top of a light sauce (which I can't exactly remember what it was). Fantastic. We then rolled into the first course, I had the chilled corn and crab soup, which I thought was pretty nice and my wife had the yellow fin tuna tartare which she RAVED about.
Second course I had the scallop and veal sweatbreads and she had a goat cheese ravioli, we both wolfed them down pretty quickly. The scallop was perfectly cooked. For the main course I had the rabbit with applewood bacon and she had the lamb chop. I loved my rabbit, I generally always do, and I feel like it is an event to eat one. She was a tad disappointed with the lamb chop in that she felt it was a bit salty in spots, but in the spots where it wasn't oversalted she said it was delicious. For dessert we each had the taste of chocolate, which is always right up my alley, as long as there is a really rich chocolate in front of me.
What they did really well there was the nice little complimentary touches, the lobster amuse bouche, they gave us a nice little free dessert tasting sampler also, and when they brought out the check they gave us two individually wrapped muffins to eat for breakfast.
We were very impressed.
"Long Island is New Jersey with a GED." - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
I've also been to a few other Top Chef restaurants here in the DC area. Spike's Good Stuff Eatery and Zaytinya where Mike I. works, but that isn't really his place that is a Jose Andreas restaurant.
Oh and last week we went to Toronto and I west to Suser Lee's restaurant Lee.
It was the best restaurant I have ever been to.
"Long Island is New Jersey with a GED." - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
Thanks for taking the time to post a detailed review. It sounds like Volt was a very nice, quality dining experience. I liked the idea of the muffins to go at the end of your meal. A nice touch at the end of the evening.
Tom Colicchio's blog about Restaurant Wars is up on the Bravo site:
http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/seas...we-re-bastards
Apparently the judges really want us to believe that they're in control:
And something of an answer about the "stolen" pea puree:For any wanna-be producers out there, and for all conspiracy theorists: please realize that from a TV standpoint, getting rid of Kenny was a bad thing to do. Believe me, the show’s producers were not happy with our decision, because it brought to an abrupt end the rivalry between Kenny and Angelo. So if ever anyone still speculated that we judges make our decisions for any reasons other than the food before us, I hope this dispels those thoughts.
By the way, I’ve been in touch with some of the contestants, who have confirmed that that they did in fact witness Alex making the pea puree. He bought the peas and blanched them but had not yet decided what to do with them the day before. The next day, he made the pea puree. When asked why he didn’t defend himself in the episode, Alex answered, “Why should I defend myself against something I didn’t do?” Some of his fellow cheftestants may have wanted him out this week because they believed he had cheated in that earlier challenge and harbored ill will against him, but we now have corroboration that he didn’t.
I just watched the episode and was stunned that Kenny left. I couldn't figure out why they would send a guy home who seems so clearly superior to some of the other chefs. Sure, the goat cheese thing looked terrible. Sure, his food wasn't necessarily the best this week. But they should be able to bend the rules a little bit when Alex doesn't even really make his own dish. In a cooking show, isn't it important that the contestants cook? Wasn't that one of the stipulations of the challenge? I normally like the win as a team/lose as a team concept, but there should be an exception when one contestant doesn't even cook a dish.
In what alternate, bizarro universe do Adam Dunn, Matt Capps or John Lannan qualify as good-looking? Please, someone help me out.
$$$$$ makes anyone good looking.
"Long Island is New Jersey with a GED." - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
That's kinda lame. All they talked about was how the dish looked. They didn't mention a single thing about the way it tasted (other than Tom saying her veggies were good). I think that was a producer call, to keep the Angelo conspiracy alive.
And what the hell was with the French dude bitching about the meatball sub being messy? You're in a f'ing BASEBALL STADIUM. Man up, Frenchy!
Raw tuna that's turned gray is pretty gross. I can't argue with that one.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
Yeah, I'm surprised Amanda got this far. Not surprised to see her finally go.
"You know how pissed off I was when US Weekly said that I was on crack? That's racist! I'm not on crack. I'm straight-up mentally ill!" -- Tracy Jordan
Thanks to your avatar I have The Final Countdown stuck in my head.
At least they spent some extra time at the beginning showing Amanda in that tight gray T-shirt. Her food may have sucked, but her body was fine.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
DA NA NA NAA NANANA
"You know how pissed off I was when US Weekly said that I was on crack? That's racist! I'm not on crack. I'm straight-up mentally ill!" -- Tracy Jordan
Congratulations are in order:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...,1060044.story
Bravo's cooking competition "Top Chef" scored one of the Emmys' biggest upsets when it beat out "The Amazing Race" for the reality-competition program prize. The international chase show had won seven consecutive times in the category and had been the only winner in the division since it was established eight years ago.
The win marked the first Emmy for the producers of the cooking series, who appeared entirely stunned when they crowded onstage to accept the award. Executive producer Dan Cutforth said, "It's something we never expected, and I have nothing prepared to say."
Hey, Eric Ripert is used to a more sophisticated spread than a meatball sandwich. He's still getting acclimated to our choice of culinary fare at sporting events.
I wish I had seen this before I went on vacation, I drove through Frederick, MD. I didn't stop, though.
To be sane is more dramatic than to be mad - GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Padma was magnificent tonight.
I think it's really unusual, even this late in the game, to have a show where all of the chefs perform as well as they did this week. No one really screwed up a single thing.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
It may be a little late to post this, but as Top Chef: Just Desserts is premiering tonight after the Top Chef finale, Bravo is having a free dessert promo for anyone who books a table for dinner tonight online through Open Table at over 800 restaurants in 10 cities nationwide:
http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?pid=477&ref=8554diners who make reservations using OpenTable.com/freedesserts for dinner only on September 15th will get a free dessert, courtesy of Top Chef Just Desserts, per reservation at over 800 participating restaurants. Bravo will donate $1 to City Harvest for each reservation made in NYC through OpenTable.com.
I'm looking forward to tonight's TC finale.
So happy for the winner! I won't mention who won, in case someone hasn't seen it yet.
The New Top Chef deserved the title, IMHO.
What I liked was the class the two losing chefs showed. Total class all around.
Fall down a rabbit hole: Joe Frank.com
You're right... but I guess those other 2 couldn't argue with the decision... it was a clear choice. I want that dessert!!!
I also loved the winner's shock when Padma announced he was Top Chef.
Haha, his reaction was funny indeed.You're right... but I guess those other 2 couldn't argue with the decision... it was a clear choice. I want that dessert!!!
I also loved the winner's shock when Padma announced he was Top Chef.
Fall down a rabbit hole: Joe Frank.com
The best part of the finale was seeing Hung kick ass again and Ilan suck... again.
"You know how pissed off I was when US Weekly said that I was on crack? That's racist! I'm not on crack. I'm straight-up mentally ill!" -- Tracy Jordan
I'm pretty sure the shock was mostly because they pulled a switcheroo on the format. In the past, they've always started with, "So-and-so...you are not the Top Chef." So when Padma called his name, I think that's what he was expecting.You're right... but I guess those other 2 couldn't argue with the decision... it was a clear choice. I want that dessert!!!
I also loved the winner's shock when Padma announced he was Top Chef.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.- Barry Manilow
From Tom's blog:
After a season in which the cooking perhaps was not as consistently high caliber as that of last season, this was an incredibly exciting finale, and, I’ll say again, Kevin’s food was the best we’ve had in any finale ever.
"Long Island is New Jersey with a GED." - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
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