Anyone else addicted to "Top Chef"?

[HamdenRice]

I really don't watch reality tv, but I find this show utterly addictive. I suppose that unlike other reality shows, the participants in this show actually have a great deal of talent and are competing in a field that has recognized standards. I'm really interested in great food sometimes toy with the idea of someday opening a restaurant.

The latest season has some really talented young cooks. Many seem to be sous chefs at major restaurants and even executive chefs. The one voted off last night, Leila (?) is the sous chef at Jean Georges. There is one fascinatingly paranoid chef, Joey, who remarkably is the executive chef at New York's Cafe des Artistes.

When you compare them to other restaurant reality shows there is just no comparison in terms of talent and professionalism.

The one voted off last week, Camille, owns a restaurant, Paloma, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, that has received very good press. Funny, our recent DU meetup in Brooklyn was just blocks from Paloma.

For some reason, Camille received very little kitchen face time before she was voted off, but was frequently filmed in the hot tub of the apartment they were staying in. This prompted a number of top chef bloggers to write "Camille, pack your bikini and go."

[buddhamama]

1. since season 1

i have been an addict. :)

i am always impressed with the level of talent on the show. i know i could not do what they do, in the amount of time they are given.

[HamdenRice]

2. "in the time they are given"

Yeah, I find that this season is a little more gimmicky in terms of time constraints. Last night was just plain unfair -- telling them they had 3 hours and then cutting it to 1 1/2 at the last minute.

[RebelOne]

3. I love Top Chef. I don't care for reality shows usually,

but Top Chef if the only one that I do watch.

[MissMillie]

4. I love it -- I try to never miss it.

But Bravo has yet one other "reality" TV show were talent comes into play: Project Runway.

But, being the food addict that I am, it's the food shows that get my attention first. I have programmed my DVR to record every Wednesday night.

Joey's dish last night looked delicious... and I guess Sarah M. made killer chille rellenos (:loveya:).

[HamdenRice]

5. I was surprised Sarah M didn't get an honorable mention thingy

The guest lunchers absolutely loved her dish. It had no meat in it and I detect and distinct anti-veggie dish bias in the show. In prior seasons, they first get rid of the vegetarian cooks, then the caterers and it's usually the sous chefs from good restaurants that battle it out.

BTW, I was utterly amazed that Howey made pork shoulder in 1 1/2 hours. I guess because it was deboned and trussed.

I love Puerto Rican style roast pork shoulder -- it's called pernil -- and we cook it for 6-7 hours. I guess braising it was a smart choice and Chef Tom's idea that he could have roasted it in the amount of time given was way off the mark.

[Longhorn]

9. There's also Shear Genius and Top Design.

I like all of them! :)

[Deep13]

6. Jesus, no.

That show makes me tense. I'd like to take that chef and stick him in the oven.

[HamdenRice]

7. Sometimes it is like an anxiety nightmare (show up at school w/o pants, homework, etc)

I'll admit that. But I'm amazed at the stuff they pull off -- especially in terms of presentation and plating.

It makes me want to go to Ikea and buy huge white plates and serve tiny portions stacked up in towers in the middle!

[Longhorn]

8. Don't forget to paint streaks of sauce on the diagonal!

:)

I think that they are all such good chefs to begin with that they have to create these adverse situations just to see how they are able to pull them off. They strongly hinted about the time situation when they stressed how the television show cast and crew worked on a tight, ever-changing schedule. And the judges seemed to be more impressed, at least in their questionning of the chefs, with those who made adjustments than those who didn't.

We love the show!

[HamdenRice]

18. I watched it twice and you are right

only in the second viewing did I realize they were dropping really obvious hints that the timing might change. The whole challenge was called "time" or some such and they were warned that the Telemundo crowd's schedule often changed on a dime.

[PeaceNikki]

11. I think you're thinking of Gordon Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen.

He's the mean one. But the "chefs" on that show are incompetent ninnies so I kinda can't blame him.

[Deep13]

16. You are right. I was thinking of a different show. nt

[ceile]

10. Totally!

I hate that Lia was voted off after winning last week. I'm just waiting for that smug SOB Hung to go. Can't stand him!

[AwakeAtLast]

12. Hung is the new Marcel

Last season also had a winner go home the following week. Seems to be a trend.

[AwakeAtLast]

13. Self-delete

Replied to myself! :blush:

[HamdenRice]

17. Each season has one a pretentious, pompous ass

The first season was the wine guy. Season 2 was Marcel. Season 3 has Hung. Each season the bad guy actually has gotten worse. The wine guy was just a little pretentious and clueless and not nearly as bad as Marcel and Hung.

Have you gotten the running joke about foam? "Culinary foam" is the signature of Ferran Adria, chef of El Bulli in Spain, supposedly the greatest restaurant in the world. I think it is only open for 6 months of the year. The rest of the time, Adria experiments. It's this weird pseudo-scientific trend of "molecular gastronomy."

Any way, anyone who uses foam is at the very height of pretentiousness, and Marcel used foam all the time last season and Hung has used foam at least once this season.

[bicentennial_baby]

19. Well, I wouldn't call it 'pseudo-scientific'

There is some real science involved in what Adria does. He's a genius. That being said, I find the whole molecular gastronomy trend to be way over-hyped, and tiresome. I can live without flavored air with my meal, thank you. :P

[buddhamama]

15. he takes criticism as well as Marcel did

which is to say not very well.

[HamdenRice]

21. Did he say "my monkey" could cook that?

or a monkey could cook that?

[buddhamama]

22. hahaha

i recall him saying 'my monkey' but i could have misunderstood. :)

[HamdenRice]

20. I can't believe she was voted off, but I also can't believe how uninspired

so much of her cooking was. She's the executive sous chef of Jean-Georges for chrissake! Come on, store bought chicken sausage and undercooked lentils??? No wonder she says she was embarassed.

[AwakeAtLast]

14. Never miss it!

I've been addicted since season one. I read Harold's blog on Bravo's website - I almost always agree with him. I would love to go to his restaurant someday!

[HamdenRice]

23. Anyone else notice they adjusted Padma's meds?

In season two she had this slack-jawed presentation that was much commented upon in the media reviews as kind of endearing in a robotic sort of way.

She talks like a human now, however. My guess is she either (1) had her meds adjusted, (2) was told to put some energy into it, or (3) is so relieved to be splitsville from demonic Salman Rushdie.

Also, I just learned that Padma actually is not just a model but a cook! She was a successful author of cookbooks before she was tapped for the show.

[Myrina]

26. I hope she can cook ...

... I was wondering wtf they ever found her to host the show in the first place? :shrug:

[HamdenRice]

27. I was shocked to read in her bio

that she hosted other food shows in the past. I thought she was just a model. Turns out she seems to have some cooking chops.

[AwakeAtLast]

28. She was on the Food Network a few years ago

She did a few "Melting Pot" shows, and then she had her own show or special. That's where I knew her from.

[Phentex]

29. She still sounds robotic to me...

but I've grown to like her better.

I thought the pocahontas look on the last episode was ridiculous.

[fishwax]

30. I confess, though, that she still gets on mynerves

Some of her cotton-mouth mumbling has improved, but I still find her annoying. Oftentimes (and this might simply be due to editing) she just repeats what other people have said without adding much new, as in the "health food challenge."

Tom: This is dry.
Padma: It's very dry.
Tom: It's just ... it's not edible.
Padma: It's inedible.

I heard an interview with Mikey from season 2, and she said there was lots of tension between her and Tom at the judge's table, because she (according to what Mikey said) didn't have an actual vote at the judge's table, but was always talking as though she did. They might have changed that for this year, though.

I do think her knowledge of food is coming out more in this season, and though she still gets on my nerves, she's at least an improvement now over Katie Lee Joel from the first season.

[Godhumor]

31. Not sure if it is meds, as she's a notorious marijuana user

According to contestant reports from last season she lit up on the kitchen set, between takes, etc. Frankly, it explains a lot of her rather odd traits on the show.

[HamdenRice]

33. One more reason to actually like her!

Do you have a link to those contestant reports about her lighting up? I would love to read about that.

[WindRavenX]

24. I used to love it, but now I don't have cable

So...not this season.

I'm a foodie, I admit it, lol...

[Myrina]

25. Not as addicted this season as last ...

... Ilan and Sam were just so cute and so creative ... this season ... nobody's personality has really jumped out at me (yet).

Although I have to wonder why Hung is still there - he's been middle-to-bottom almost every week thus far, and seems to really
be on his own planet - even at judges table.

:wtf:

[Godhumor]

32. I am so glad they changed what the show focuses on since last season

Season 2 was just awful for all the drama, in my opinion.

I think Hung's personality is a lot better than Marcel's--sure, he's arrogrant but his food actually backs it up most of the time (He does need to take criticism better, though.). He's been at the top table 2x, won a quickfire, and has only been at the bottom once. I don't know if he's going to be in the final 4, but it wouldn't surprise me.