mhill95149 wrote:I thought it was funny that Radhika stated that she'd cook more than Indian food and then proceeded to cook a chutney straight away....

She's still at it. It won her something this time.

I thought that the editing goes a long way but a lot of the plates in the elimination looked really sloppy. The meatloaf and grilled avocado dishes just looked unprofessional.

Also, doesn't anyone watch this show before becoming a contestant? I seem to remember someone was *forced* to pick an ostrich egg in a weird ingredients challenge and it didn't help them out too much. But to do so voluntarily? That audible at the store didn't seem to do Jill any favors. But watching her unedited response at judge's table was just painful.

I liked the challenge. Did anyone notice all the volunteers to do dessert? That's sure a change from year's past.

gastro gnome wrote:I thought that the editing goes a long way but a lot of the plates in the elimination looked really sloppy. The meatloaf and grilled avocado dishes just looked unprofessional.

The Europeans seem to be the among the few that understand finesse in plating. The carpaccio looked very nice. Even the top dessert, the apple tart, looked plain on the plate by itself, with just that silly triangle of cheddar next to it. How about a quick cheese sauce puddle? How about a cinnamon foam, a cheddar whipped cream (ooh, that sounds good), a freakin' sprig of mint?

One plus -- so far with two challenges, we're not seeing last season's "Top Caterer" events. Both challenges have been either in a restaurant, or a restaurant-like set of plates up for judging, none of this "make for 100" crap that tripped up so many last season. I'm sure we'll see some of those, but it was refreshing to start this way.

eatchicago wrote:On a pure culinary basis, my personal favorite so far is Jamie. I loved the concept of the chilled corn soup, especially in that it fit the "Craft" theme perfectly (I thought it was better, conceptually, than the carpaccio). I like her cooking style.

Best,
Michael

I'd have to agree with you on this one. Jaimie nailed the challenge as it was described for us to hear - "New American." Her use of simple and unique flavors to create her dish was a winner for me. Carpaccio is an Italian dish and that should have been noted. If all it takes is using a molecular gastronomic technique to "wow" the judges, this is going to be a long season. Did I hear that next week he's making Tiramisu? Another stretch for him I'm sure...

Grant Achatz is the guest judge on tonight's episode.

Okay, you've got me hooked on this, and that annoys me, because this was a really annoying episode. Pardon me for stealing MJN's number format. (I avoid direct spoilers, by the way, but you still may not want to read this, just to avoid coloring the episode when you watch it.)

1. Top Chef NYC presents New York chef... Grant Achatz!
2. Who gets less screen time than the GE Monogram logo, and is generally unused throughout, for instance, HOW ABOUT MAKING THE CHALLENGE HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE CHEF? The most he had anything to say about was whether turkey was cooked properly. While I'm relieved to know that Achatz is qualified to run the carving station at the Evergreen, Colorado country club if this Alinea thing doesn't pan out for him, logically this was the equivalent of inviting Jascha Heifetz to judge, and then giving all the contestants a drum kit to beat on.
3. Annoyingly sponsor-driven episode. I wanted to hear a judge say, just once, "You did a really good job of masking the crap flavor of industrial broth." On the other hand, if I were the GE Monogram brand manager, I'm not sure that seeing a bunch of chefs botch dinner because they've been forced to cook it in my completely-inappropriate-for-the-job consumer products is what I ponied up half a zillion bucks for.
4. About ten clips of people saying "Oh, wow, the Foo Fighters." I don't want to eat food cooked by anybody who is all that excited by celebrities eating his or her food. A little "oh cool," fine. But if you give off a "I don't care about my other customers now" vibe, well, that's part of why I live in Chicago and not LA or New York.
5. How can you screw up dessert? Dessert is where you save a dinner that hasn't gone so well. Dessert has the widest margin of error of any part of the meal (except maybe green salad). They deserved to go down for that.

Mike G wrote:3. Annoyingly sponsor-driven episode.

Get used to it.

Second week I forgot that the show was on.... Ho hum.... guess I catch a repeat.....

Are there any other ways to stream it online for free? The last time I checked the Bravo website, they still had only the first full episode up.

Mike G wrote:1. Top Chef NYC presents New York chef... Grant Achatz!

In his and their defense, I don't think Grant could taste properly when TC was shooting in Chicago, so this is probably a raincheck.

Mike G wrote:5. How can you screw up dessert?

Get used to this too.

Although, as I commented earlier, it was interesting how many people volunteered to do dessert in the last epi. And it seems that Hair can make a decent pie crust which definitely puts her a leg up on most other folks. Sorry, she has a name. Carla? I don't know. I refuse to learn everyone's name until they are whittled down to a more manageable number.

I was thinking about the obvious bungle of using Achatz when making the year's most traditional meal (of course, in reality this must have been, what, Thanksgiving dinner in August?) Why didn't they make the challenge something about totally reinventing Thanksgiving dinner, and he judges how out there they got (ostrich egg stuffing)? Or, why didn't they save Achatz for some other episode and bring in some stuffy old bastard who runs the stuffiest holiday buffet at the stuffiest club in New York? Would have been lots of fun watching his obvious distaste at feeding these Foo Fighters, whoever they are. It's like they're not trying hard enough to find the real comedy gold in tormenting these contestants. In the Chicago episode they should have had to serve the waiters at Gene & Georgetti's, say.

Just getting caught up on this season since I was gone for most of November.

I also hate all of the product placement on the show, but it's just the way things are. They must be able to keep costs really low, because there are new sponsers every week to go along with the staples.

I thought this weeks challenge was a pretty good one and I don't remember it being done in the past. Like someone else mentioned I am glad that not every challenge has been a large catering event.

So far Eugene is my favorite. Making a grill out of the catering equipment was such a great idea, it really shows he can think on his toes. But Stefan and Fabio look like the sure bets for the finals. However one of them will probably end up getting canned for crashing and burning on one challenge while someone who has been on the bottom every time keeps skating by. Like that one girl from last season.

brandon_w wrote:I thought this weeks challenge was a pretty good one and I don't remember it being done in the past. Like someone else mentioned I am glad that not every challenge has been a large catering event.

This elimination challenge seemed way too easy. I'm astounded that so many of them got so flustered by the elimination challenge. If you remove the 2.5 minute presentation, the challenge was essentially "make a really good, simple dish in one hour". They never had to actually present it on live TV. No one was going to get kicked off for making a delicious dish and presenting it poorly. So, all you had to do was just cook something really well. Anything. Make a f-ing soup. Have all your components ready, explain the steps and bring in a finished swap-out. Done.

Every single one of these chefs should have been able to pull a nice, simple dish from their repertoire.

Mr. creme brulee deserved to get kicked off just out of pure stupidity.

an extra helping of meh this season.

So far I think Fabio is the only "personality" of the group, and mostly because he talks funny. But he can make great food, has some technical skills like dropping Ferran Adria's liquid olives, and seems to have a clue about how to win challenges by paying attention to the audience being served and the rules.

Ariane is coasting off lowered expectations the past two challenges, ok you didn't screw up the turkey, good for you. But she won the episode off a salad which means she won without cooking anything (Sam must've kicked his TV if he was watching) and that's not gonna last.

Mellissa probably had a good dish despite the habenero's which is why she wasn't eliminated...but does anyone else forget she's even on this show except for the few minutes they spend on her dishes?

Jamie's been on the cusp of winning a few challenges. She blew it with the egg demo because she didn't account for cooking on one of those portable butane burners that don't get as hot as she needed for her demo. She should be a top 5 if she can stay positive and avoid the attitude she showed after blowing the tv demo.

Leah's attitude was disappointing towards the 2nd challenge but she's been making good food since the beginning and is still my personal fave.

Hosea...I don't see this guy lasting more than 3 more weeks, his existence on the show so far has been limited to flirting with Leah.

Karla. I'm sure she's a great person, but if Sideshow Bob and Urkel had a love child who was a middle of the pack cook...

Jeff is pretty. He'll be his own worst enemy during challenges, he has great ideas but they'll be inappropriately applied (like the cabbage roll's at 7am) or not executed perfectly enough.

Stefan - on a great path towards being this year's Lisa.

Danny - perfect for a Food Network show if Guy Fiere goes to jail or dies, but not winning this thing.

Rhadika and Gene - both have been making good food, their advancement will come from being in the middle of the pack and letting others get picked off. I see these two making Top 6.

I strongly disliked this week's challenge. In general I don't like it when the challenge has little to do with being an actual chef. A lot of other challenges fall into this territory as well, but this one was over the line. I felt as if I was watching "the next food network star" - which really turned me off.

I felt as if I was watching "the next food network star" - which really turned me off.

I agree 100% with this.

If you remove the 2.5 minute presentation, the challenge was essentially "make a really good, simple dish in one hour". They never had to actually present it on live TV. No one was going to get kicked off for making a delicious dish and presenting it poorly. So, all you had to do was just cook something really well. Anything. Make a f-ing soup. Have all your components ready, explain the steps and bring in a finished swap-out. Done.

I partially agree with this but it misses a key point. They had two choices - take an hour to make something delicious which could then be held for an undetermined period of time while the other chefs ran through their presentations, and then "swapped out" while you were doing yours and still taste good. Not sure what fits this criteria other than soup, some stews and salad. The other choice, which most of them took was to try to do something a la minute, which almost all failed.

Wheattoast wrote:I strongly disliked this week's challenge. In general I don't like it when the challenge has little to do with being an actual chef. A lot of other challenges fall into this territory as well, but this one was over the line. I felt as if I was watching "the next food network star" - which really turned me off.

I don't agree with that. It was still all about cooking a really good dish in an hour. Even if they screwed up big-time on the 2.5 minute description, a really good dish was going to save you. The description part was gimmicky, but it didn't bother me.

rickster wrote:Not sure what fits this criteria other than soup, some stews and salad.

Those three categories cover a very broad array of dishes.

CleofusMcd3 wrote:Jeff is pretty. He'll be his own worst enemy during challenges, he has great ideas but they'll be inappropriately applied (like the cabbage roll's at 7am) or not executed perfectly enough.

You could hardly blame that on him. It wasn't until way after the dish was conceived and competition had been partially judged that they learned the venue for the final judging.

=R=

It was still all about cooking a really good dish in an hour. Even if they screwed up big-time on the 2.5 minute description, a really good dish was going to save you.

I was surprised at how poorly thought out a lot of them were, and the ultimate loser's was not necessarily the worst of the bunch (he could have won if he'd invented a way to make creme brulee in a frying pan in the last five minutes).

Three things, flavors that pop from ingredients people already know, Ariane nailed it dead on for a challenge where plain and simple was NOT a sin. That seems obvious to me, and yet many of them were way overcomplicated (I'd have dinged every soup just for being soup, what do you demo, the putting it in the pot or the serving it three hours later? Either way, you're not really representing the full prep or process). I actually thought this said a lot about why so many restaurants all across America serve overcomplicated food, throwing more and more into a dish in the hopes that it will magically come together.

You could hardly blame that on him. It wasn't until way after the dish was conceived and competition had been partially judged that they learned the venue for the final judging.

Well, a live TV food demo is almost by definition before lunchtime; I wonder if the experienced chefs and producers assumed everyone would instinctively understand that when, of course, most civilians wouldn't.

Mike G wrote:Well, a live TV food demo is almost by definition before lunchtime; I wonder if the experienced chefs and producers assumed everyone would instinctively understand that when, of course, most civilians wouldn't.

I don't think Jeff's demise had anything to do with the time of day the segment aired or his making a poor choice on his dish. After all, he was in the top 3. It appeared to simply come down to the specific people tasting the dish. Maybe he should have also known that because Bravo and NBC are owned by the same entity, his dish was likely to be judged by a panel on the 4th hour of The Today Show. Yeah, that seems about right.

=R=

jeff is interesting. i find myself kind of rooting for him even though he seems like a spoiled pretty boy. he reminds me of the cocky nemesis from the first 'karate kid' movie.

he appears to be a talented and experienced chef with a lot of food knowledge, good technique, and solid leadership ability. that said, he won't make the top five. he's too used to having things go his way and too easily gets pissed off at adversity.

he will be his own undoing.

as for the others--i'm completely surprised that carla is still with us. she will be gone very soon. ditto the blonde girl with the terrible bangs. bubbye. and is radhika even still on the show? i don't remember her getting booted, but they almost never show her at all.

elakin wrote:jeff is interesting. i find myself kind of rooting for him even though he seems like a spoiled pretty boy. he reminds me of the cocky nemesis from the first 'karate kid' movie.

he appears to be a talented and experienced chef with a lot of food knowledge, good technique, and solid leadership ability. that said, he won't make the top five. he's too used to having things go his way and too easily gets pissed off at adversity.

he will be his own undoing.

as for the others--i'm completely surprised that carla is still with us. she will be gone very soon. ditto the blonde girl with the terrible bangs. bubbye. and is radhika even still on the show? i don't remember her getting booted, but they almost never show her at all.

I wonder about Jeff. I'm surprised I like him because, as you point out, he reminds me of a character type that isn't particularly likeable. But he seems to personally and specifically transcend that. Perhaps he'll find solid footing if he hangs around long enough. He definitely appears to have skill and experience.

As for Radhika, et al, I think the field is just too big this season to provide adequate coverage of everyone in these early episodes. And as you seem to imply, the show suffers a bit because of it. When we're not even seeing some of the cheftestants' dishes, that seems like a big missed bet and a bad choice by the producers.

=R=

is the field larger this season than it's been previously?

elakin wrote:is the field larger this season than it's been previously?

Yes, by 1 over last season, in which there were 16. Season 1 only had 12, which seems far more conducive to good coverage. Seasons 2 and 3 each had 15.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

elakin wrote:is the field larger this season than it's been previously?

Yes, by 1 over last season, in which there were 16. Season 1 only had 12, which seems far more conducive to good coverage. Seasons 2 and 3 each had 15.

Though with the quickfire elimination in the first episode, this season's field was one larger for all of 15 minutes.

Only seeing about half the dishes has been typical in the first half of the season for a while. Irritating, but typical.

I wonder about Jeff. I'm surprised I like him because, as you point out, he reminds me of a character type that isn't particularly likeable. But he seems to personally and specifically transcend that. Perhaps he'll find solid footing if he hangs around long enough. He definitely appears to have skill and experience.

I've said this about all food TV but it's especially true of a show like this. The editor creates the story after the fact and so far the official story seems to be contradictory-- we see him being a bit of a cocky jerk, but we hear that everyone else finds him a solid leader. So it remains to be seen what storyline they'll pigeonhole him into, but in any case, I wouldn't buy it as the whole story (much as I think the "Leah decides to blow off today's challenge completely" storyline was largely invented out of a couple of stray comments).

However this episode was, I think, the first time that his food impressed anyone, which is not promising, however solid your leadership skills are....

As for Radhika, et al, I think the field is just too big this season to provide adequate coverage of everyone in these early episodes.

Radhika, like Karla and until last night Melissa (who had barely been on the show till now), seems to make pretty good food that doesn't interest the editor enough to show us much of it.

If I recall, in the past a couple of times somebody has been edited into the background only to emerge about midway through the season... quite intentionally, I'm sure. Whether that's at work here, I don't know.

A few notes after catching this week's episode this morning:

- Someone else goes out of their comfort zone and loses - on dessert, no less. Jill and Alex are newly matriculated students at the Lessons of Top Chef PS 5. Too bad they, like others before them, continue to ignore the past. Innovation counts, but put out good food first.

- Because of the multitude of chefs, I had been ignoring the pop-ups identifying where everyone was from. This week, I read Jeff's restaurant name too quickly and blanched. Maybe it's well known in the area, but that seems an unfortunate name for an establishment.

- Dirty little secret: Stefan's a caterer (well, currently at least). In fact, caterers have won 60% of the eliminations thus far.

- Eugene's a sushi chef? Wouldn't have known it from his cooking.

- I thought it was interesting that when all the chefs woke up and started watching the Today Show, Stefan had a notebook and was very intent on watching the broadcast. That guy doesn't mess around.

- I am still looking for details on exactly what went into Jeff's cabbage rolls but I'm really not sure what made Kathie Lee spit it out. In either case, this was completely unprofessional in my eyes - even for a TV personality.

The live show aspect also made me wonder. Did this air live months ago? Did they have 3 dishes on and pick a winner without showing or naming any of the chefs? That had to be riveting television. I'm curious how that was packaged when it made it to air.

Anyway, this episode was fine. The concept was interesting, I guess. For those commenting that this challenge had nothing to do with being a chef, look at Tom's grave face when he essentially told Leah that live TV might be a job requirement.

Thus far, the emphasis has been on the individual performances. It will be good to see them working again in some sort of team next week because, as others have said, there are too many chefs to focus on so some get cut out. Teams are easier to follow.

gastro gnome wrote:- I am still looking for details on exactly what went into Jeff's cabbage rolls but I'm really not sure what made Kathie Lee spit it out. In either case, this was completely unprofessional in my eyes - even for a TV personality.

Here's the recipe. Looks tasty to me.