Top Chef!!

[Mulletizer]

Not surprising considering he's not a school trained chef, is it? From Kitchen Confidential it seems as if he enjoys and takes pride in his non-cooking school background.

He writes at length about his experiences at the CIA in Kitchen Confidential... I think he takes pride in being anti-establishment, but not in having no training.

[AbsolutStoli]

Alex the pea puree thief?

HAHA! that has not been proven. and i havent asked him about it, but honestly, its pea puree...and alex had peas. its a fucking reality show, its all editing and drama.

and yeah, same kelly liken from vail. i really wanted to go to her restaurant when my friends and i were up there, but we went to fresh basil instead, again.

[back bowl]

He writes at length about his experiences at the CIA in Kitchen Confidential... I think he takes pride in being anti-establishment, but not in having no training.

What he told me, in between slugs from the bottle, was that C School was great for a dishwasher who wants to become a cook, or for a good cook who wants an executive/corporate/hotel/big operations gig, but it was no way to get where I wanted to be (small-market fine-dining chef, maybe my own place). So I cooked for a few more years, quit, did other shit for a few years, then law school. Not the worst decision ever- I'd probably have burnt out by now.

[Missing Sock]

Not surprising considering he's not a school trained chef, is it? From Kitchen Confidential it seems as if he enjoys and takes pride in his non-cooking school background.

I'm pretty sure he is a school trained chef. Didn't he go to CIA?

[brice618]

I'm pretty sure he is a school trained chef. Didn't he go to CIA?

He did. He also smoked a lot of weed.

[Danno]

I don't care what all the judges (personalities) say about what goes on behind the scenes in their books and their speeches. They are selling you a product and to admit there are major decisions made not by them would shoot them, the production company and the network in the foot. Not to mention they probably have contracts strictly forbidding it. They say that 'sometimes' others get involved when the judges can't make a decision but that is just selling you a watered down dream to make you buy into it. I mean who here actually thinks that the producer or network exec is going to know better than the professional chefs?

I don't doubt the pea puree making footage was cut from the show to add dramatic value. I also don't doubt that the producers have a MAJOR role in the outcome of the show. I have never met a producer that doesn't think they are right. And in tv, the producer tends to be the final say on anything next to the network execs (well maybe also execs for the major sponsor, Dial). That is a fact and I don't think anyone who has worked in the reality style tv industry (or non-fiction television) would disagree.

So my "professional" opinion is these chefs are all really talented. So are the judges. But I all but guarantee that in their pow-wows deciding who goes home, the line producer (many times exec producers aren't on set for these type of shoots) is in on the convo and gives their opinions and probably demands at times certain outcomes unless there really is NO dispute to the viewers who lost. Not saying it is rigged, but they most certainly have a say in the decision making process and as has been mentioned, they give a disclaimer at the end stating that. I don't think they say "even though this was the best dish they need to go" but they have a major hand in the decision process.

Now take what I say with a grain of salt if you wish or argue until you are blue in the face but what you are seeing is very slanted. We (production/post crews) make people say what we want when we want it to give the audience what we feel makes good tv, even if it is an outright lie. I have literally taken single words from hour long interviews and made people say what the producer wanted them to say. And that usually happens in interviews when they won't say the lines the producer is feeding them. Guess what, all those attacks other chefs make about someone is the producers egging them on to trample others and make good TV. notice the backstabbing in the interviews but the niceness in person??? It is completely intentional. It is standard in the industry and I don't see this as the bastion of moral television where they don't do what people have been doing for years.

So, I just wanted to state my case. Now shut up, stop arguing and watch the show because it is awesome!

I don't doubt that producers have a HUGE impact on the presentation of the show and what the chefs say. But as someone who has watched the show since Season 1, let me tell you, many times the better chef or the better-for-good-tv chef has gone home. I have seen that happen frequently, and I just can't believe that if the producers called all the shots, those cuts would have happened. Reading the blogs has just confirmed my belief.

I respect your general reality TV show experience, but I don't think you're right WRT this one.

[lemmycaution]

He did. He also smoked a lot of weed.

this is a classic combination, see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/di...rijuana&st=cse

[Pegleg]

In an interview with TV Guide published last week, Amanda says she saw Alex making his pea puree. Consensus seems to be that he made it.

[MMP]

this is a classic combination, see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/di...rijuana&st=cse

[fool]

Not surprising considering he's not a school trained chef, is it? From Kitchen Confidential it seems as if he enjoys and takes pride in his non-cooking school background.

Apparently I was completely wrong...his writings in KC - most likely the drugs, alcohol, etc. - made me think of him as not being school trained. Woops.

[skinnyskier]

Speaking of the subject of another thread, did you see Dana Cowan's sideways boobs in the first Singapore episode? Skinny women got to be careful with that stuff-her surgeon got a little lateral and now all you can see is her sternum.

Cooking looked great, though.

[AbsolutStoli]

damn, didnt see that one coming. thought either angelo or kevin were going home. but i def. want to go to kelly's place now.

[BmillsSkier]

Is anyone else deeply saddened by Casey's premature departure from this series of the show? (For several reasons)

That Jamie chick has got to go, and last night was when it should have happened. She hasn't competed twice, cooked two bad dishes last night and they send the much more affable and attractive Casey home who wasn't even able to be in the kitchen to finish her dish? BS.

[Danno]

I agree that Jamie has looked awful. But the kiss of death was that Casey's dish was "inedible" (their words). In a restaurant full of starving people, they noted how her dish was left on people's tables. And the excuse that she wasn't cooking doesn't fly, because she went down there and cooked her dish for the judges.

[Pegleg]

Jamie has learned the cardinal rule of Top Chef, which is: NEVER "take one for the team." Casey did that, by volunteering to run the food (meaning she wouldn't be able to concentrate on her dish), and she went home for it. Jamie refused when they tried to get her to be a runner, which was smart (and refused to be the first-up sacrificial lamb in the tennis episode, which also resulted in her avoiding elimination). Casey also violated the second rule: NEVER let another chef touch your food (goes double for Angelo). So, she may be the better chef, but Jamie plays the game better; hence, Jamie's still there.

Another thing... it was hella cool to see Tom cook. I always wonder if these guys can back up their talk, and he sure as hell can.

[Lonnie]

While downunder, I watched the final of Australian version, with kids. Pretty impressive for 8-12 year olds...

http://www.masterchef.com.au/home.htm

[Danno]

Jamie has learned the cardinal rule of Top Chef, which is: NEVER "take one for the team." Casey did that, by volunteering to run the food (meaning she wouldn't be able to concentrate on her dish), and she went home for it. Jamie refused when they tried to get her to be a runner, which was smart (and refused to be the first-up sacrificial lamb in the tennis episode, which also resulted in her avoiding elimination). Casey also violated the second rule: NEVER let another chef touch your food (goes double for Angelo). So, she may be the better chef, but Jamie plays the game better; hence, Jamie's still there.

Agreed about Jamie (she is, however, a better chef than she's shown here; she was one of the best ones on her season). But someone had to be the runner, so I'd modify the rule to be "don't choose a hard-ass dish that requires a lot of attention and then leave it in someone else's hands." Carla's spring rolls (while not very good) could easily be handled by someone else. Chicken feet? Not so much.

[BmillsSkier]

While all that you, Danno and Pegleg, say is spot on. A little part of me will miss Casey's presence on the show. Their only mistake of this season was not adding a hot tub to the roof of their apartment like they did in her season.

[Danno]

oh, don't get me wrong, I liked Casey and wish that Jamie went first (or Marcel, can't stand that little fuck).

[Pegleg]

Slightly off-topic, but after Top Chef last night I clicked around and wound up watching a few minutes of The Worst Cooks in America. Not a show I'd generally watch, but damn - it was pretty amazing how bad these people were. One woman was literally boiling her vegetables in olive oil because she "could never remember how much oil you're supposed to use." Another guy apparently wasn't comfortable with knives so he was pulling raw chicken breasts into pieces with his hands, and when later asked if he'd washed his hands his response was "Uhh... I will now." Classic.

[Jumper Bones]

Goodbye Marcel, you fucker!!!

[Danno]

Poor, poor, misunderstood Marcel. Goodby douche. Go make some foam.

[Pegleg]

Glad the judges were able to see what really happened; I was worried that Tiffany was going to end up getting booted because the FOH person usually is the one to get booted. But it was pretty clear from the footage in the kitchen that Marcel just completely failed as a leader and was responsible for his team's breakdown. Which, come to think of it, is a point for Dale, whose strategy of picking Marcel to lead the other team worked beautifully.

Only criticism: Fabio should've gotten the nod. He not only killed it FOH (which is half the diner's experience), he made a dish they all really liked. I think he was passed over basically out of chef snobbery: (a) FOH people are service staff and therefore can't win over an actual chef, and (b) desserts aren't real food.

[grskier]

I thought Fabio and Blais were close to each other, but I always figure when they say that a dish has a million components and they all actually work well together it's saying a lot.

[Danno]

The exec chef of restaurant wars is a dicey proposition, that is how Tre got sent home his year (even though he was a much better chef than the people "under" him). As soon as Dale put Marcel in charge of the other team, I was hoping that it would play out the way it did.

I agree that Fabio was deserving, but at judge's table they said that Blais added positive things to everyone's dish. That, plus the fact that they loved his dish, plus they loved the chips to start, put him over the top.

At least that's what I think based on what I saw, need to go read the judge's blogs.