JoelF wrote:Lastly... I was under the impression that Rocco and Tony couldn't exist in the same space-time continuum.

I was thinking the same thing.
I agree the city looked great, though. The incidental shots edited within were really great.
So, whose house were the contestants staying at?

According to Time Out Chicago, they were staying at a house on Paulina, just north of Fullerton, that had been languishing on the market.

I'm not sure what I think of this cast, either, but the first episode is always like that. I wasn't groaning at the pizza challenge as much as some, I think it's relatively easy, but at the same time, really showcases creativity and blending ingredients.

I used to think the show was more focused on sous chefs/people just out of culinary school, so I was frustrated that Stephanie Izard was on, but then I looked back over previous seasons and I guess I was wrong. Also, I like her, the potty mouth combined with the shaking hands are endearing to me.

Some of those pizzas had to be vile. One woman filled her pan literally to the rim with dough. The Bearded A** had one with a bottom crust about 2 inches thick that would have been like chewing on slightly grainy cotton balls. One would have thought they would have been able to observe how the pizzas they ate when the came in were constructed.

I do think the cheftestants this year have more "chops" than in past seasons. There are more with real experience running a kitchen (eg Izard) and time at high end places like Le Cirque. In past seasons there have always been at least 2 or 3 home cooks or "personal chefs" but not this year.

And I do think it's funny when they put "chef/consultant" as a title instead of "unemployed"

Anyone know where the kitchen was located ?

Me, I'm off to find a good piccata recipe.

brandon_w wrote:riddlemay - It is Top Chef Chicago because it was filmed in Chicago. I think the location might have more to do with how they might structure challenges vs where the chefs are from. In Miami they had episodes based on feeding a Telemundo TV crew/show (cooking latin foods), or they had to run a late night food cart (after hours/party food). In Chicago they started with deep dish pizza, which I'm sure had a few of you Chicago folks groaning. The girl who was eliminated last night was not from Chicago.

Thanks, brandon. I'm going to sic my DVR on a rerun of this episode so I can see it from the beginning. With the deep-dish pizza (which I missed--they were on to other things by the time I tuned in) I will probably sense the Chicago "raison d'etre." Looking forward to seeing the nice shots of the city that have been mentioned, too.

Me, I'm off to find a good piccata recipe

Funny that Tom Colicchio as well as the contestant didn't know what a piccata was. What he described has always been called Francese in any restaurant I've been to.

I'm pretty sure the booted contestant was from Atlanta.

tem wrote:And I do think it's funny when they put "chef/consultant" as a title instead of "unemployed"

Funnier than that is the contestant who referred to herself as "Line Chef".

I'm pretty sure the kitchen used in last night's episode is at the Washburne Culinary Institute of Kennedy King College which is located in the South Shore Cultural Center, at 7059 S. South Shore Drive.

As for accomplished chefs, even more than Izard, Richard Blais is a true ringer. The guy is extraordinarily accomplished and fairly well-known. He's had restaurants in Atlanta and other parts of the south.

It was a HUGE MISSED BET to have Bourdain appear with Rocco and leave the entire situation unaddressed. Talk about 'burying the lead." That confrontation is just a tad more interesting than Top Chef is, to begin with.

And as long as we're on the subject of Bourdain, I know that even though it's 'Top Chef Chicago,' every moment shown cannot be about Chicago. Still, to start off the season, separately with 2 guest judges from NYC, one of them judging Chicago-style deep dish pizza in the Quickfire, made absolutely no sense at all. I think the season should have at least been kicked off with some Chicago-based judges.

Oh well, here we go . . .

=R=

tem wrote:Anyone know where the kitchen was located ?

The kitchen appears to me to have been created at Resolution Digital Studio. The same space that the Season Finale from last year was shot.

It makes perfect sense. It's a huge space, easily has enough power for a kitchen and lighting and is a production facility. To me, it's a producers dream space since if you ent into a real kitchen you basically have to rebuild it with the sponsors appliances.

The brick wall was the tell tale sign for me.

JLenart wrote:

tem wrote:Anyone know where the kitchen was located ?

The kitchen appears to me to have been created at Resolution Digital Studio. The same space that the Season Finale from last year was shot.

It makes perfect sense. It's a huge space, easily has enough power for a kitchen and lighting and is a production facility. To me, it's a producers dream space since if you ent into a real kitchen you basically have to rebuild it with the sponsors appliances.

The brick wall was the tell tale sign for me.

Possibly but the establishing shot of the South Shore Cultural Center would suggest otherwise. Of course, that could have been an intentional misdirect.

=R=

sweetsalty wrote: Also, I like her, the potty mouth combined with the shaking hands are endearing to me.

I couldn't believe how Izard shook like a tree! When she had the saucing spoon hovering over her dish, and her hand was shaking, it just conjured up images for me of Rowan Atkinson or whatever nervous Christopher Guest character he usually plays in his movies.

She's great, though; I'm glad she won the elimination challenge -- that duck dish looked amazing and was totally "Scylla."

ronnie_suburban wrote:

JLenart wrote:

tem wrote:Anyone know where the kitchen was located ?

The kitchen appears to me to have been created at Resolution Digital Studio. The same space that the Season Finale from last year was shot.

It makes perfect sense. It's a huge space, easily has enough power for a kitchen and lighting and is a production facility. To me, it's a producers dream space since if you ent into a real kitchen you basically have to rebuild it with the sponsors appliances.

The brick wall was the tell tale sign for me.

Possibly but the establishing shot of the South Shore Cultural Center would suggest otherwise. Of course, that could have been an intentional misdirect.

=R=

Oh I didn't catch that shot but you're likely right as I do recall reading that somewhere.

My appologies for the inaccuracy.

JLenart wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

JLenart wrote:

tem wrote:Anyone know where the kitchen was located ?

The kitchen appears to me to have been created at Resolution Digital Studio. The same space that the Season Finale from last year was shot.

It makes perfect sense. It's a huge space, easily has enough power for a kitchen and lighting and is a production facility. To me, it's a producers dream space since if you ent into a real kitchen you basically have to rebuild it with the sponsors appliances.

The brick wall was the tell tale sign for me.

Possibly but the establishing shot of the South Shore Cultural Center would suggest otherwise. Of course, that could have been an intentional misdirect.

=R=

Oh I didn't cathc that shot but you're likely right as I do recall reading that somewhere.

My appologies for the inaccuracy.

Well, we're both just speculating

=R=

rickster wrote:

Me, I'm off to find a good piccata recipe

Funny that Tom Colicchio as well as the contestant didn't know what a piccata was. What he described has always been called Francese in any restaurant I've been to.

I'm pretty sure the booted contestant was from Atlanta.

Maybe it's me, but I thought it showed a bit of east coast bias. Is "piccata" really a classic. It's like how my wife still expects every Chinese restaurant to give you a plate of cold sesame noodles. To some people that's just normal, to others, it's a huh. I mean what if the dish was grits?

And I agree with Ronnie about the judges.

If I recall correctly, Washburne was the location of the Holiday Special, which was filmed in the fall. The judging table used in that special was also the dining area at South Shore & had a much different feel than last night's episode.

Also, the new kitchen space looks quite different in my opinion, and I would think that for all the cooking/judging, they would prefer a more centralized location to the North Side house. Also, the fact they use the WF in Boystown would seem odd to then go all the way down to Washburne for every challenge.

The new season just looks so much "spiffier" and modern than the Washburne facility, which had that more old school feel, which makes sense.

Just my 2¢,
Miss Ellen

ronnie_suburban wrote:It was a HUGE MISSED BET to have Bourdain appear with Rocco and leave the entire situation unaddressed. Talk about 'burying the lead." That confrontation is just a tad more interesting than Top Chef is, to begin with.
=R=

Tony said, when I asked him about endorsements, "I think it’s vanity. I was having a very thoughtful conversation about this with Rocco DiSpirito—whom I make a lot of fun of, but who’s not a stupid guy—and another chef, whom I won’t mention, whom I really respect. I felt foolish at the end of the conversation. I mean, what is my problem? I think I’m behind the curve on this. Maybe it’s cynical, but I think to be honest with myself it is sheer vanity that prevents me from doing it. At this point it’s almost a fault. I’m looking to lose my cherry to the right guy, I guess. I’m thinking Aston Martin—my ankles will be behind my ears in a hot second! Aston Martin, and Prada, I’m there!"

From my CHOW article back in December. http://www.chow.com/stories/10858

Hmmm...I wonder...who's that other chef?

ronnie_suburban wrote:
As for accomplished chefs, even more than Izard, Richard Blais is a true ringer.

=R=

I didn't know who he was, but after a quick google search, it was easy to see that he is indeed pretty accomplished.

However can you call him a ringer if he sent in a tape to be on the show? It seems like he might be using the show (gaining name recognition) as much as they are using him (high quality talent). Seems like a fair trade off.

brandon_w wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:
As for accomplished chefs, even more than Izard, Richard Blais is a true ringer.

=R=

I didn't know who he was, but after a quick google search, it was easy to see that he is indeed pretty accomplished.

However can you call him a ringer if he sent in a tape to be on the show? It seems like he might be using the show (gaining name recognition) as much as they are using him (high quality talent). Seems like a fair trade off.

Well, a ringer, relative to general perception. I'm sure the show's producers were and are very much aware of chef Blais's talents.

=R=

Louisa Chu wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:It was a HUGE MISSED BET to have Bourdain appear with Rocco and leave the entire situation unaddressed. Talk about 'burying the lead." That confrontation is just a tad more interesting than Top Chef is, to begin with.
=R=

Tony said, when I asked him about endorsements, "I think it’s vanity. I was having a very thoughtful conversation about this with Rocco DiSpirito—whom I make a lot of fun of, but who’s not a stupid guy—and another chef, whom I won’t mention, whom I really respect. I felt foolish at the end of the conversation. I mean, what is my problem? I think I’m behind the curve on this. Maybe it’s cynical, but I think to be honest with myself it is sheer vanity that prevents me from doing it. At this point it’s almost a fault. I’m looking to lose my cherry to the right guy, I guess. I’m thinking Aston Martin—my ankles will be behind my ears in a hot second! Aston Martin, and Prada, I’m there!"

From my CHOW article back in December. http://www.chow.com/stories/10858

Hmmm...I wonder...who's that other chef?

Thanks, Louisa, for the additional insight on this.

As for the unnamed, other chef, might he endorse orange clogs?

=R=

Does anyone know the official name, or brand for that handheld smoker that Blais used?

brandon_w wrote:Does anyone know the official name, or brand for that handheld smoker that Blais used?

I use the PolyScience Smoking Gun http://www.cuisinetechnology.com/thesmokinggun.html and highly recommend it.

I work with a lot of east coasters and tend to be fairly sensitive to slights on my beloved Chicago.

Imagine my consternation when I went on Tom Colicchio's blog and found several errors with reference to our well-known chefs. Paul Kahan's name was misspelled as was Grant Achatz's name. I also wasn't aware that Rick Bayless owned a restaurant called Nuevo Mexico, maybe it is less crowded than Frontera? Also, I had no idea Blackbird has a sister restaurant called Bluebird.

The whole first paragraph of the blog was a mess. The names have since been corrected, but jeesh!

Louisa Chu wrote:Tony said, when I asked him about endorsements...

I seem to remember him writing (blog? maybe "Nasty Bits"?) that he'd be a shoo-in to endorse Lomotil

According to a thread on yelp, the Top Chef house is or was at 2635 N. Paulina. The listing: http://paramounthomes.com/wrightwood.html.

I was told that the kitchen was in River East, by Fox and Obel. Someone told my husband that there's a sign over there advertising that Top Chef Chicago was filmed there. I have no confirmation though.

Leanne Wong talks about constructing the entire set from scratch on her blog.

Argh. That Spike(?) guy is such a dweeb what with the tired, affected "street-isms" and remedial use of the, in defter mouths, exquisite expletive, "m-f'er." Not to mention his culinary ignorance and snipey backstabbing(it's all so cliche'd and posturing). Get rid of him already.

Then sayonara poor Nimma who was obviously out of her depth and had some odd family/religious issues to pile atop as well.

So far I like Stephanie, the peach pizza guy, and the marmite cheftestant.

As for the footage of Chicago...it's glossy and unreal, shiny and distant...they've debrided it of presence.

---

no more faux hawks...please

(why are so many of these cooks stuck in 1995?)

Some random thoughts.

I actually thought the city b-roll shots were really well done.

It's hard to get a read on any of the contestants since there are still too many of them to get to know.

I may be mistaken but hasn't the winner of each of the first elimination challenges in previous seasons gone on to win the whole thing?

Lastly, I was speaking with a colleague of mine who knew someone on the crew, and this colleague told me that the kitchen was actually set up in a warehouse space somewhere pretty far west on Belmont. Thats second hand information so take it with a grain of salt.

JLenart wrote:I may be mistaken but hasn't the winner of each of the first elimination challenges in previous seasons gone on to win the whole thing?

True through the first two seasons, but not last season, when Tre won the first elimination challenge.

JLenart wrote:I actually thought the city b-roll shots were really well done.

I did too. Maybe it was because I was seeing those shots in the context of previous seasons -- and now seeing Chicago depicted with that particular Bravo Reality Series aesthetic, which was fun. In any event, I thought that footage was really enjoyable.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

JLenart wrote:I actually thought the city b-roll shots were really well done.

I did too. Maybe it was because I was seeing those shots in the context of previous seasons -- and now seeing Chicago depicted with that particular Bravo Reality Series aesthetic, which was fun. In any event, I thought that footage was really enjoyable.

Made me all misty. But then I'm missing home pretty badly right now, so it doesn't take much to put me over the edge