Darren72 wrote:Yes. I originally thought the word "spoilers" in this thread indicated that result were here.

Spoilers for everything that has already aired are here. Beyond that, though, let's keep the thread free of them. Please.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Darren72 wrote:Yes. I originally thought the word "spoilers" in this thread indicated that result were here.

Spoilers for everything that has already aired are here. Beyond that, though, let's keep the thread free of them. Please.

=R=

Right - but that wasn't clear until you actually read the thread. I PM'ed tem and he gave me the ok read the thread.

Darren72 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Darren72 wrote:Yes. I originally thought the word "spoilers" in this thread indicated that result were here.

Spoilers for everything that has already aired are here. Beyond that, though, let's keep the thread free of them. Please.

=R=

Right - but that wasn't clear until you actually read the thread. I PM'ed tem and he gave me the ok read the thread.

Ok, cool. Frankly, it hadn't really occurred to me until this 'ultimate winner rumor' started circulating earlier this week. In other words, we're kind of making it up as we go along.

=R=

Two episodes down and a bunch to go. I like the show but I think judging is biased because the judges know who made the dish. These are all well known chefs; how do you tell one that their food's not up to snuff? So far, the mature chef has won each week.....does experience really play here or something else?

Make it interesting and have all the judging be blind (or mostly blind). The Girl Scouts didn't know who did the various desserts and I thought their segment was charming. Everyone else seems so start struck.

GEB rocked last week and I thought he should have won.

gleam wrote:Just a warning: the identity of the winner is floating around the internet, and seems solidly sourced. So, please don't post it here and be careful what top chef related posts you read on other sites.

I was catching up on the menupages blog, where they identify -- in a parenthetical remark, no less! -- who the supposed winner is. The blog post in question gave no "spoiler alert" or warning that this information was coming. Very crappy and they should know better. In any case, if you want to avoid reading who the supposed winner is, avoid the menupages blog.

Darren72 wrote:

gleam wrote:Just a warning: the identity of the winner is floating around the internet, and seems solidly sourced. So, please don't post it here and be careful what top chef related posts you read on other sites.

I was catching up on the menupages blog, where they identify -- in a parenthetical remark, no less! -- who the supposed winner is. The blog post in question gave no "spoiler alert" or warning that this information was coming. Very crappy and they should know better. In any case, if you want to avoid reading who the supposed winner is, avoid the menupages blog.

Yep, that's where I saw it, too.

I've always been a huge Bayless fan, but I'm finding it hard not to love the guy even more while watching tonight's episode.

Darren72 wrote:I was catching up on the menupages blog, where they identify -- in a parenthetical remark, no less! -- who the supposed winner is. The blog post in question gave no "spoiler alert" or warning that this information was coming. Very crappy and they should know better.

Wow. I couldn't agree more. Crappy and completely unacceptable.

Kennyz wrote:I've always been a huge Bayless fan, but I'm finding it hard not to love the guy even more while watching tonight's episode.

As far as Bayless goes, I don't think I've ever seen a Cheftestant get a more obvious softball than he did by drawing tongue in a street food challenge. His tacos did look delicious, but I didn't find his effort to be even slightly impressive in the creativity department. Talk about playing it safe...

--Rich

Yes, absolutely. The whole contest seemed to be designed especially for him. Then again, what in the world were the other chefs thinking when they decided to cook Mexican food in a competition with him?

I guess it shows my culinary bias when I say I couldn't care less what his score might have been in a creativity department. Also depends what one means by creativity. He did make an untraditional tomatillo-based guacamole because he realized his dish needed extra acid. It's not molecular gastronomy, but it demonstrated his tremendous ability to adapt traditional recipes to create balance while maintaining the integrity of his cuisine.

Setting aside Bayless' luck and/or ingenuity for the moment, Ludo was a quote machine, was he not?

• I was worried about Jay; I am French, he is English.
• I am sorry I told Rick that I was to make quesadilla. He copied me.
• My restaurant is Ludo Bite[s].
• I tried to [s]charm Gael with my accent . . .

And so on. A fun episode.

Kennyz wrote:Then again, what in the world were the other chefs thinking when they decided to cook Mexican food in a competition with him?

Yes. So true. We groaned when Ludo the Frenchie declared his intention to make quesadillas. Then we groaned again when we heard menudo.

Kennyz wrote:He did make an untraditional tomatillo-based guacamole because he realized his dish needed extra acid. It's not molecular gastronomy, but it demonstrated his tremendous ability to adapt traditional recipes to create balance while maintaining the integrity of his cuisine.

Now wait a minute. Even assuming tomatillo-based guacamole is nontraditional (which I'm not sure is the case), it certainly isn't uncommon. A Google search for "tomatillo guacamole" yields 26,400 hits. Tomatillo guacamole (without the quotes) yields well over half a million.

Bayless took a pitch thrown right over the plate and hit a home run. Big deal, Rick. Show me something you haven't made eleventy billion times. I've seen far more impressive efforts by non-Masters. (I'm looking at you, Izard, Blais, Huynh, and countless others.)

--Rich

Not to mention, the Frontera "guacamole mix" they sell in jars at the grocery store contains tomatillos:

fresh tomatillos, fresh tomatoes, green chiles, fresh onions, fresh cilantro, fresh garlic, citric acid, salt, pure cane sugar

Bayless took what they gave him and put out great food which is exactly what he was supposed to do.

It doesn't make me think he's any more likely to beat Keller or Tracht, though.

Bayless was presented an ingredient that was easy for him and didn't overexert himself in making a winning dish. What's the big deal?

"Work smart, not hard."

But how was the head-waggling component from The Rick, for those of us what don't got cable? Please tell me he seems at least partially on the edge of cackling, cilantro-scented madness.

Santander wrote:But how was the head-waggling component from The Rick, for those of us what don't got cable? Please tell me he seems at least partially on the edge of cackling, cilantro-scented madness.

He actually looked to me like he was genuinely having a lot of fun, which I thought was pretty cool. He wasn't laughing maniacally or giving the other contestants the heebie-jeebies or anything, he just seemed to be in a contageously positive mood.

Well, contageous for everyone except Ludo, who, during the quickfire, responded to a couple of Rick's happy exclamations with overt "WTF?!"-looking scowls.

Khaopaat wrote:

Santander wrote:But how was the head-waggling component from The Rick, for those of us what don't got cable? Please tell me he seems at least partially on the edge of cackling, cilantro-scented madness.

He actually looked to me like he was genuinely having a lot of fun, which I thought was pretty cool. He wasn't laughing maniacally or giving the other contestants the heebie-jeebies or anything, he just seemed to be in a contageously positive mood.

Well, contageous for everyone except Ludo, who, during the quickfire, responded to a couple of Rick's happy exclamations with overt "WTF?!"-looking scowls.

He did crack himself up just a little too much with that "Now you can tell all your friends you've been tongued by Rick Bayless" line.

RAB wrote:Bayless took a pitch thrown right over the plate and hit a home run. Big deal, Rick. Show me something you haven't made eleventy billion times. I've seen far more impressive efforts by non-Masters. (I'm looking at you, Izard, Blais, Huynh, and countless others.)

Sure. Instead of using the very limited time to get his meat nice and tender and build wonderful, complementary flavors, he should have spherified some tongue juice and served it atop cilantro ice cream made with liquid nitrogen.

This was a huge failure by the producers sticking Bayless in this type of challenge without any competition, say like a chef with experience in Asian street food.

I think that we may be putting Bayless's comfort with street food in a context that isn't applied to other Top Chef contestants because Chicago knows what Bayless does. Don't you think that other Top Chef and Top Chef Masters contests revert to their tried and true? I mean how many times do Banana Scallops, foam, etc. turn up on the menu?

While they are all great chefs, his opponents weren't exactly on top of their games in last night's episode.

Quite simply, Bayless did what he does. Nothing wrong with that, imo. In fact, I think that's the point of the show -- bring your personal aesthetic to the challenges and see how you fare. Tacos de lengua may not have been 'outside the box' but the challenge was to make street food in 3 hours, so I think he nailed it. Fwiw, menudo and quesadillas aren't exactly outside the box, either. Yes, it was a lucky break that his ingredient was tongue but he certainly made the best of it. And I'll bet he would have done equally well with the tripe and maybe even the heart. You can't fault him for playing the hand he was dealt in an extremely effective way.

As for Ludo, perhaps it was a language thing but he came off extremely poorly. Yes, he made the episode somewhat entertaining but his intensity came off as sour grapes and he managed to inject snark into an otherwise professional environment. Ludo Bites . . . yep.

=R=

I also thought that Ludo came off as pretty sour last night. Maybe he was really hoping to get into more episodes to get his name out there. He did also talk about how he took his food very personally (I'm guessing all chefs do) and maybe he wasn't able to take it easy for a charity based show. Ludo was easily the "poor sport" of the first three episodes. That said, I'd still go to his restaurant given the opportunity.

Did anyone else think that pig ear was easily the hardest to use of the four offal presented? Possibly kidneys, liver or cheeks would have given more opportunities for the chef to show off the ingredient vs trying to bury it.

I really want a tongue taco this morning.

I'd guess that he's a bit less snarky in his native French if he hadn't spurned Bayless' offer to help him finish his prep.

If Bayless had gotten the tripe he'd of made tripe tacos cooked with bacon and chorizon with an avocado and tomatillo topping sprinkled with Mexican cheese. Just guessing.

But I thought Bayless came off great. I almost can't watch his cooking programs but this showed him in a completely different light. A genuinely nice guy who wasn't taking himself or the event too seriously. Good to see.

Am I the only one that thinks that giving Bayless lengua was a complete work?

I'm sure he was smarting after being outclassed at the pork cookoff at Green City by Wiviott he could not bear to lose again so soon.

(I kid)

I see no reason why any chef should cook outside their comfort zone in this competition. They are cooking for their respective charities, not personal gain. I think Rick could care less that he's preparing dishes similar to what he cooks every day, as long as he can win the prize money for a good cause. These chefs have nothing to prove. It's not about future potential, it's about the money.

RevrendAndy wrote:I see no reason why any chef should cook outside their comfort zone in this competition. They are cooking for their respective charities, not personal gain. I think Rick could care less that he's preparing dishes similar to what he cooks every day, as long as he can win the prize money for a good cause. These chefs have nothing to prove. It's not about future potential, it's about the money.

I agree. Plus, two of the other three (Cindy and Wilo) seemed to cook something within their comfort zone.

Furthermore, I don't think the words "creativity" or "originality" were mentioned in the challenge descriptions. They simply needed to please the diners and judges.

I finally got around to the latest episode last night. I liked the interplay and gamesmenship between Ludo and Rick, and I liked generally the way that Rick Bayless held himself (I also like how Ludo took an instant dislike to him!). I wiil say this about the "competition": Rick Bayless was, and I believe continues to be, a contributing editor to Saveur. Having the Saveur Editor-in-Chief judge him smacked to me a little like, oh Michael Rulhman judging Michael Symon on the Next Iron Chef. Then, again it is for charity.

brandon_w wrote:Does Kelly Choi remind anyone else of Giada De Laurentiis, but Asian, I thought she also sounded a bit like her.

Yeah, my wife called that one about five minutes into the first episode. They both have that odd disproportionate look to them, though Kelly's emaciated frame makes it difficult to look at her for more than a few seconds at a time. I mean, she looks dangerously undernourished. Perhaps in the final episode, we learn that this "contest" is really an intervention, and all the chefs are there to cook up some dishes to kickstart Kelly back on the road to nutritional health.
Overall, I'm a bit underwhelmed by the show, though that may have more to do with my own ramped up expectations than the quality of the show itself. When I first saw the show bump, I thought, hell yes, this is what I'm talking about, so I probably was expecting something more than what's been delivered. I like the idea of putting these chefs in the exact same predicaments as the OTC contestants. The ability to compare the presence and demeanor of the vets vs. the rookies is kinda neat. I'm glad they're not treating it like a Bravo version of Iron Chef, though it does leave me wishing that they'd find a way to spend more time focusing on their cooking. In retrospect, I guess instead of seeing these chefs in a TC forum, I'd rather Bravo put together a show on these chefs in more of the format of their very early reality show called, simply, The Restaurant. I'd love to see a sort of Day/Week/Month in the restaurant life of Keller or Dufresne or, hell, all of them.
As far as the judges go, well, whatever. I don't find them particularly compelling, maybe even a little annoying in certain cases, but mostly I'm just relieved to find that Gail Simmons is nowhere to be seen. I could've sworn that they threatened us with her in the opening of the first episode, but luckily, it appears to have been an empty threat.

I think she's in the next episode.

When I watched it, I couldn't tell if "Ludo" was trying to act obnoxious, or that is the way he really was. There was a sense that he was acting in that manner as sort of a joke but it was never quite clear. I laughed at the French/English thing thinking it was intended to be funny, but wasn't so sure. And the "he's copying me" line? I just assumed that was not serious.

I note that the judges seemed better. The Brit was not as bad, the guy from Saveur (spelling?) was actually interesting, and that left the older woman for me to annoyed by.