Gypsy Boy wrote: I was absolutely thrilled to see that he confused the hell out of Colicchio, who didn't even realize that the "pasta" was sweet potato. Anything that takes Colicchio down a notch or three is great in my book.

Well said!

I agree that Richard is the most talented, but it seems like he's turning into a charicature of himself, however that could be how the show is edited. The momentum Mike has right now is strong, and that could make for an upset.

I was really hoping they'd decide not to send anyone home again this week so they could milk another episode out of this season.

=R=

But if I understand right (judging from the Wiki page?) there seem to be two episodes left -- usually the finally is a three-way competition, so how will there be two more shows? Or am I just misinformed?

i<3pizza wrote:But if I understand right (judging from the Wiki page?) there seem to be two episodes left -- usually the finally is a three-way competition, so how will there be two more shows? Or am I just misinformed?

Appearances are that they're going back to an S1, S2 2-chef finale. But nothing has been confirmed. That there are two more episodes plus the reunion is pretty well-documented. Beyond that, anybody's guess.

Oh that's right! The first season's finale was one-on-one, wasn't it?


Also, I was just curious -- in Tiffany's exit interview, she said she was a "small-town girl"; does anyone happen to know which town she was talking about?


...


:-p

i<3pizza wrote:
Also, I was just curious -- in Tiffany's exit interview, she said she was a "small-town girl"; does anyone happen to know which town she was talking about?


:-p

LOL! My theory is she cut a deal with the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce; $100 everytime she got the name aired.

Richard Blais - "...we all associate ketchup with hot dogs."

With a comment like that, I'm sure he is no one on this fair forum's Top Chef.

ziggy wrote:Richard Blais - "...we all associate ketchup with hot dogs."

With a comment like that, I'm sure he is no one on this fair forum's Top Chef.

And he didn't win the quickfire, in part due to Puck's comment, "Too ketchupy"

Good to see Carla again, although briefly.

Message To All:

A possible spoiler post has been removed from this thread.

Please, do not post about anything that has not aired yet -- either on Top Chef or other media outlets.

Thanks,

=R=
for the moderators

Thanks, Ronnie. Last week's episode was spoiled for me by the Tribune. The day after the show, they had a headline "Antionia's exit interview," or something like that. I decided that I have to watch the finale live, otherwise the surprise is certainly going to be spoiled.

Darren,

I was pissed also. Saw the same Tribune blurb. I hope Ronnie didn't do it to us this week. A little late to pull the post.

RevrendAndy wrote:Darren,

I was pissed also. Saw the same Tribune blurb. I hope Ronnie didn't do it to us this week. A little late to pull the post.

Fwiw, I didn't make the post. I just pulled it once I became aware of it. I'm sorry that my 'day job' prevented me from taking a more timely action.

=R=

How dare you let your day job interfere with what really matters, dammit!

Well done, Top Chef judges. Good looking eats all around, but the call they made was certainly the one I preferred. Even prompted me to offer an old-school fist pump or 2 on the couch.

And, no, I don't want to be the first to post the name.

Hopefully the winner is able to make a restaurant in the spirit of Girl & Goat (that is, the food he really wants to do, and does it reallly well, and is a smash hit).

I was very pleased with the outcome, although I'll need to hit the blogs to figure out exactly why the judges made the pick that they did (I suspect it had to do with the winner's restaurant being better run, but who knows).

The post-show with Andy Cohen, however, was a trainwreck of epic proportions. Also, who was that guy who announced the Fan Favorite and why did he eat Harold?

Also, I'm really glad the producers found a way to work in more of Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone (and kudos to Mike by the way for basically describing Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone as "a guy who exists"). That guy is seriously underexposed at the moment.

jesteinf wrote:I was very pleased with the outcome, although I'll need to hit the blogs to figure out exactly why the judges made the pick that they did (I suspect it had to do with the winner's restaurant being better run, but who knows).

That was part of it, but according to Tom's blog, the vote was 3-1 with only Gail standing alone. He said also said that Richard's highs were higher than Mikes, and that his lows were not as low.

SSDD

Also, I'm really glad the producers found a way to work in more of Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone (and kudos to Mike by the way for basically describing Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone as "a guy who exists"). That guy is seriously underexposed at the moment.

Curtis Stone is just plain creepy. I hope I never run into him at a grocery store.

bean wrote:

Also, I'm really glad the producers found a way to work in more of Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone (and kudos to Mike by the way for basically describing Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone as "a guy who exists"). That guy is seriously underexposed at the moment.

Curtis Stone is just plain creepy. I hope I never run into him at a grocery store.

Ditto. His whole "look" is too contrived. I have a feeling I'm going to miss Kelly Choi when it's all done, if that's possible.

I know Dmnkly will kill me for saying this, but I get the sense that Tom decides in advance who he wants, and then does his best to justify it. I gained respect for Gail when she called him out on his proclamation that Mike's fish was the best he'd eaten all season after he voted for Richard's dish for that round. He seemed a little caught off guard, but more than that, it seems like any zeal Tom had for this show is long gone. I'm ready for him to move on.

aschie30 wrote:I know Dmnkly will kill me for saying this...

Season six me would have been all over it. End of season eight me doesn't have the energy.

aschie30 wrote:... I get the sense that Tom decides in advance who he wants, and then does his best to justify it. ....

Do you mean he decides before eats the food, or before deliberations at Judges Table?

This is the first ending in three seasons or so that hasn't been ruined for me (most often by my inadvertently reading Stephanie Izard's Twitter reaction to the shows' t.v. airing -- I can't watch the show until the weekend), so it was great to go in not knowing who would win.

My only letdown was that Tony Bourdain basically disappeared from the show halfway through the season, whereas the first episode convinced me he'd be a consistent staple at judges' table.

Maybe they can make up for it by bringing Ruth Bourdain alongside Ruth Reichl this coming Top Chef Masters ...

aschie30 wrote:...but more than that, it seems like any zeal Tom had for this show is long gone. I'm ready for him to move on.

Amen, amen, amen. Walking into the kitchen in the middle of the limited time they had to cook and asking Richard, "So, right now, what could go wrong?" smacks of either monumental boredom, lack of creativity (which is why he's the wrong person for that position), or monumental thoughtlessness. Or all three. Colicchio may be a well-respected chef, but as a host, as an ostensibly knowledgeable "top" judge, he lost my respect long, long ago. He makes his obligatory visits to the kitchen and repeatedly asks silly or pointless or inane [see above] questions. He seems to have no sense whatsoever of the pressure cooker these chefs are in, either the time constraints, the artificial atmosphere, or the stupidity of some of the "twists." He has the empathy of a woodchuck (and that's probably unfair to woodchucks). He is sometimes wrong in his knowledge or wrong in knowing the food and has never once, in any season or show I've watched, had the grace to admit an error. He seems to think that his position (or his experience) confers infallibility.

However, I would rather write about the finale: I was actually impressed with the method the show came up with for them to choose their sous chefs. I thought it was creative and smart. (And even though Mike tried to game it for his first choice by picking a dish that he thought Jamie would have put together, they both seem to have been helped greatly, rather than hindered in any way, by their choices.)

Bravo [no pun intended] to both chefs. Neither is exactly my cup of tea but I think both are to be applauded for doing a terrific job. As seems to me inevitable, some dishes were better than others but the judges seemed pretty damn impressed with the level of cooking and I daresay impressing Hubert Keller and Lidia Bastianich (et al.) is a great accomplishment. I was pleased to see Richard win but felt bad for Mike as well--he had a whale of a last few shows. They both have great talent and seem, based on this bit of evidence, destined for terrific careers. Much luck and success to them both.

I don't take nearly as dim a view as Gypsy Boy on Colicchio, but I think there is an issue (which I believe Gypsy Boy, amongst others, has pointed out on these boards in prior seasons) in that he has some biases that are more personal than "universal" (at least in the realm of cookery/dining) with respect to how certain foods should be prepared, what flavor profiles should be highlighted or "work," etc. In one of the last few episodes of this season, Mike Isabella basically acknowledged that he was cooking at least one dish for Tom's palate specifically. That is smart for one to do as a competitor and it is a level playing field of sorts as all contestants can do the same (as Tom's body of work in judging/critiquing is now rather voluminous), but it pushes the show from "who had the best dish" in the direction of "who made the dish best suited to Tom's tastes." This will happen on any subjectively judged show (or in any subjectively judged competition or, hell, in court, for that matter) where there is a long-standing judge whose preferences are well known, but unfortunately it makes the competition seem a bit less "pure." And, Tom, obviously, has some moments where he puts his biases aside because the food is so well prepared (his liking a dish with okra this season was an example), but it should not be that hard and contestants should not have to work within a more limited acceptable range because the capo di tutti capi has certain strong preferences.

On balance, I personally think the good with Colicchio outweighs the bad -- he is generally comfortable on camera, seems to have a sense of humor, is obviously knowledgeable, experienced, and well-respected, and when he says something is outstanding, that seems to me to carry some weight (as opposed to when he says something is bad, which may just mean it is not consistent with his personal preferences) -- but he did seem to be mailing it in a bit this season, particularly towards the end, and maybe it is time for a change for him and for the show. But I would be surprised if it happens -- I assume it is win-win for both him (more publicity, additional income, whatever associated pride/ego boost he gets) and the show (my guess would be the majority of regular viewers like Tom a lot and any replacement would have big shoes to fill from that perspective).

Re: the degree to which Tom judges based on preference, I'd be more convinced if we saw more instances where there was strong disagreement between him and the others. Usually, when he comes out strongly against a dish for reasons that might seem to be subjective, the others seem to have his back.

Naturally, we could also be getting a highly distorted view of this through the edit.

Usually, when he comes out strongly against a dish for reasons that might seem to be subjective, the others seem to have his back.

I don't know. I've often thought it looks like the other judges back off when he voices a strong opinion, from a combination of the force of his personality, knowledge of food/cooking and his role on the show.

As you said, it could be the editing.

Re Tom Colicchio's defensive claim last night on the TC:AS "reunion" show in response to Elia Aboumrad's accusation of his not serving grass-fed beef at Craftsteak, it appears that she may well be correct:

Tom Colicchio Needs to Apologize for Serving Mislabeled Grassfed Beef

sundevilpeg wrote:Re Tom Colicchio's defensive claim last night on the TC:AS "reunion" show in response to Elia Aboumrad's accusation of his not serving grass-fed beef at Craftsteak, it appears that she may well be correct:

Tom Colicchio Needs to Apologize for Serving Mislabeled Grassfed Beef

Apologies for not watching a 9 minute video. But, I thought Tom was pretty clear that he uses corn fed beef. He said no one would go otherwise.

Darren72 wrote:

sundevilpeg wrote:Re Tom Colicchio's defensive claim last night on the TC:AS "reunion" show in response to Elia Aboumrad's accusation of his not serving grass-fed beef at Craftsteak, it appears that she may well be correct:

Tom Colicchio Needs to Apologize for Serving Mislabeled Grassfed Beef

Apologies for not watching a 9 minute video. But, I thought Tom was pretty clear that he uses corn fed beef. He said no one would go otherwise.

I just took a quick look at the menus for his various restaurants. I could only find a reference to grass-fed beef on one menu--the Craft in LA. While it doesn't appear on the other menus, the dinner menu at the LA shop lists "grass-fed beef tenderloin."

Gypsy Boy wrote:

Darren72 wrote:

sundevilpeg wrote:Re Tom Colicchio's defensive claim last night on the TC:AS "reunion" show in response to Elia Aboumrad's accusation of his not serving grass-fed beef at Craftsteak, it appears that she may well be correct:

Tom Colicchio Needs to Apologize for Serving Mislabeled Grassfed Beef

Apologies for not watching a 9 minute video. But, I thought Tom was pretty clear that he uses corn fed beef. He said no one would go otherwise.

I just took a quick look at the menus for his various restaurants. I could only find a reference to grass-fed beef on one menu--the Craft in LA. While it doesn't appear on the other menus, the dinner menu at the LA shop lists "grass-fed beef tenderloin."

I think there was some reference to the menu since being changed.

In any case, I thought it was bullying and bad form for Colicchio to go after Elia in that way on the Reunion Show. As a celebrity, he must know that he's not going to agree with everything that's said about him. Apparently, Elia wasn't aware of the contract clause in which you pledge undying loyalty to Tom Colicchio in return for putting your butt on the line on Top Chef. And Tom's statement that he doesn't comment on the dishes he eats at the contestants' restaurants -- well, I would hope not as a matter of ethics and good judgment-- he's not a restaurant critic though as a public figure, his opinions are unduly weighted. But that doesn't mean that there's some silent deal in return for the contestants not to comment on him. It's not that Elia shouldn't have shot off her mouth, but he's a millionaire chef who is comparatively leaps and bounds more successful and well-known than someone like Elia, such that he should silently take some slights, no matter how unjustified he personally believes them to be.

aschie30 wrote:In any case, I thought it was bullying and bad form for Colicchio to go after Elia in that way on the Reunion Show. As a celebrity, he must know that he's not going to agree with everything that's said about him. Apparently, Elia wasn't aware of the contract clause in which you pledge undying loyalty to Tom Colicchio in return for putting your butt on the line on Top Chef. And Tom's statement that he doesn't comment on the dishes he eats at the contestants' restaurants -- well, I would hope not as a matter of ethics and good judgment-- he's not a restaurant critic though as a public figure, his opinions are unduly weighted. But that doesn't mean that there's some silent deal in return for the contestants not to comment on him. It's not that Elia shouldn't have shot off her mouth, but he's a millionaire chef who is comparatively leaps and bounds more successful and well-known than someone like Elia, such that he should silently take some slights, no matter how unjustified he personally believes them to be.

I'm not sure where the line between bullying and disagreement is here. I thought she leveled a criticism against him and he responded.