It's Begun - Top Chef Washington

[Coffee Warlord]

I decree the culinary cockery of a collective of cocky and kookey cooks in the capitol open!

[thesloppy]

I am already happy to see Eric Ripert, and an absence of Toby Young, even if only in flashes so far. Young would try way to hard to set up his crusty bon mots, and I assume Rippert will bring both his better (appropriately dry and french) humor and more insightful criticism.

[Coffee Warlord]

Hippy guy is already terrifying me every time they do a close up of him.

[thesloppy]

Yeah, we don't need so many tight angles on that dudes dreads and/or teeth. Using my analysis of the bravomatic screen time algorithm, at 35 minutes in I'm guessing

Spoiler

hippie dude is going home, and the lady making the liver mousse in the apple cups is taking the win.

[thesloppy]

Ooooh, I'm already sooo wrong.

[Coffee Warlord]

Well. Half wrong.

Spoiler

Had him pegged the second he pulled something out of the frozen aisle.

[thesloppy]

Those were some obviously crappy decisions that have been made dozens of times before. That's just self sabotage.

Spoiler

Anytime you hear a Top Chef contestant start rambling about how "Sure, choosing to do a dessert at this stage is a risky move..." you just want to start rolling up their knives for them. Who the hell tries to bake without a recipe (although as you noted, that's obviously less of a concern if you're intent on using delicious frozen dough)?

[DaddyTorgo]

forgot it started tonight, catching the repeat in a bit

[terpkristin]

I watched it last night. Right off the bat, I started by saying Angelo looked "douchey" and my mom took umbridge (yes I think it's spelled wrong) with that, but hey, it's how I'll remember him. I was surprised, for the caliber of most of the chefs, at some of the presentations. The one who made the carpaccio, the presentation was sloppy. Another one made some salad of some sort that looked a bit like throw-up to me.

I don't fault Angelo for winning either challenge, but I don't really know how you can deconstruct arctic char. It's a fish. I wished Alex would have won for his deconstructed borscht. Alas.

I figured hippie boy was leaving when he said "well, the NYT likes it." Though Jacquline gave me a scare when she decided to not use any fat in the chicken liver mousse and then decided not to strain it in any way. She got lucky that dreadlock boy was so freaking out there.

/tk

[Coffee Warlord]

Granted, you can't really get into personalities this early in the show, since there's just so many people, but I'm already slightly concerned that I utterly dislike, well, most of this year's cast.

[Crapshoot]

Angelo and Kenny seem head and shoulders above the rest. So far, no characters like the Voltaggio's or the great beard.

[Coffee Warlord]

And I know it's Bravo, but do we really ALWAYS need to cast the Outrageously Flaming Homosexual?

"To prepare for Top Chef, I got a facial!". Come on.

[DaddyTorgo]

Yep. It's clear Angelo is supposed to be the "Douchey" guy, the hometown guy is the "overconfident" one, and Kenny is the one we're all supposed to like.

[Coffee Warlord]

Has this show run its course?

I'm finding myself less and less interested in it, and I have to say, the production quality is slipping. It's begun more of the horribly annoying Hells Kitchen-esque commercial breaks in cutting right before they announce a quickfire winner and they're giving less and less time to judging and showing off the food.

Add to that a cast of utterly unlikeable chefs, and I dunno. It's just significantly less enjoyable this season.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Has this show run its course?

I'm finding myself less and less interested in it, and I have to say, the production quality is slipping. It's begun more of the horribly annoying Hells Kitchen-esque commercial breaks in cutting right before they announce a quickfire winner and they're giving less and less time to judging and showing off the food.

Add to that a cast of utterly unlikeable chefs, and I dunno. It's just significantly less enjoyable this season.

This season is particularly bad. More so because I thought last season was so good. Oddly, I think that it being in DC is a large part of the problem...it's a place with too much going on that isn't food-related, and they keep trying to tie that in (to their detriment). Also, having douchey fomer DC-area contestants with crappy restaurants doesn't help (I freaking HATE Spike's burger joint and Mike Isabella's Zataynia was shite the one time I went). Only Bryan V (from last season) is good in my opinion and his restaurant is AMAZING. Though I just read that Mike I. is leaving Zataynia, good riddance.

/tk

[terpkristin]

Dola,
DC, unlike a lot of other places they've done, doesn't have a "food identity" as it were. It has a lot of places for food, some places that are good and some that are bad, but few that are "DC."

/tk

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Has this show run its course?

I'm finding myself less and less interested in it, and I have to say, the production quality is slipping. It's begun more of the horribly annoying Hells Kitchen-esque commercial breaks in cutting right before they announce a quickfire winner and they're giving less and less time to judging and showing off the food.

Add to that a cast of utterly unlikeable chefs, and I dunno. It's just significantly less enjoyable this season.

yes. They lost me a year ago. I think they've shifted focus from food to characters. Like the Real World arc, actually.

[DaddyTorgo]

I missed the first half of last night, but tuned in in time to see "annoying and over-confident flaming homosexual guy" get sent home.

You don't even get to really see the food and hear what the judges thought about the food anymore pretty much. Stinks.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

I missed the first half of last night, but tuned in in time to see "annoying and over-confident flaming homosexual guy" get sent home.

You don't even get to really see the food and hear what the judges thought about the food anymore pretty much. Stinks.

I have to admit, this is where I am too. And this is the first season I've watched. I did immediately start rooting for Kenny, and having Angelo as his foil willing to play any sort of game to out his biggest opponent.

I think they did pay more attention to the food in the first episode, but not so much since. Last night was particularly bad.

They've even geared me to like Kenny enough that I believed him when he said that he knew his dishes were right on target in every element. I even thought, the judges must just be screwing with him, making for tension in the audience so that the favorite they've developed is in jeopardy.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

They've even geared me to like Kenny enough that I believed him when he said that he knew his dishes were right on target in every element. I even thought, the judges must just be screwing with him, making for tension in the audience so that the favorite they've developed is in jeopardy.

I just saw last night's episode. I have to wonder what kind of editing went on, because the stuff they showed at Judge's Table made me think that Kenny's team's mistakes were much more egregious than Lynn's team's. Even when Padma was saying it, her tone implied "the only thing you did wrong was undercook pasta" whereas Tom kinda laid into Kenny and Kevin about the lack of glaze AND the horseradish not being distinct enough...

/tk

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

I just saw last night's episode. I have to wonder what kind of editing went on, because the stuff they showed at Judge's Table made me think that Kenny's team's mistakes were much more egregious than Lynn's team's. Even when Padma was saying it, her tone implied "the only thing you did wrong was undercook pasta" whereas Tom kinda laid into Kenny and Kevin about the lack of glaze AND the horseradish not being distinct enough...

/tk

I was pretty sure about Kenny was going home as well after judges table, then during the closing credits I noticed there was a disclaimer saying that the judges consult with the producers before making a decision, and that they sometimes consult Bravo as well (not those exact words, but that's the general idea). I wonder if the producers or Bravo forced them to keep Kenny because he's been so strong so far, even though Tom made his usual "we have to judge them on today's challenge, only" disclaimer...

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

I just saw last night's episode. I have to wonder what kind of editing went on, because the stuff they showed at Judge's Table made me think that Kenny's team's mistakes were much more egregious than Lynn's team's. Even when Padma was saying it, her tone implied "the only thing you did wrong was undercook pasta" whereas Tom kinda laid into Kenny and Kevin about the lack of glaze AND the horseradish not being distinct enough...

Oddly enough, this past season of Top Chef Masters kind of ruined the judging table for me, and that's carried over to regular ol' Top Chef. They had Susur Lee on TCM who made multiple 5-star dishes that bordered on perfection, but there was absolutely no way to tell from the judging, until they announced the score. I guess in order to keep 'The Drama' flowing they figured they had to edit/inject enough comparable bad/middling comments about Susur's dishes to make them seem comparable to the other chefs so that the viewer was given some sense of drama about not knowing who the winner was going to be.

Well the intent backfired, as their attempt to engage me by camouflaging Susur's results completely shattered my suspension of disbelief. I feel like if there's a 5-star dish being served, there shouldn't be any mystery at the judges table....they should all be saying "DAMN! This shit is goooood!!" with wide eyes, and it should be obvious to me, the viewer, that it was worth five stars. If a five star dish and a three star dish elicit roughly the same response from the judges, how the hell is the viewer supposed to get any insight into the dish, or care about the judging portion, in any way? When I thought I was in step with the judges, and they were feeding me meaningful criticism, it's a lot easier to kind of slip yourself into the judges shoes and pretend you can taste those dishes....when it's all just a clusterfuck, and you don't have any idea who the winners/losers are, until their names are announced, it sucks a lot of the enjoyment and immersion out of the show.

[Glengoyne]

On the undercooked pasta bit. I loved how Mynnt(sp?) kept telling Lynn to get the pasta going, and how she kept insisting on "it will only take one minute to cook".

I fully agree with theSloppy's assessment that in their efforts to build suspense, they are really neutering what should be the best part of the show.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

I fully agree with theSloppy's assessment that in their efforts to build suspense, they are really neutering what should be the best part of the show.

Yeah, I agree.

What I'm hoping is that right now they just have too many contestants and don't have the ability to cover too much about the food, but as they have fewer contestants, they'll be able to focus a bit more on each chef's dish(es). But I'm not holding my breath for it.

/tk

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

My favorite restaurant in DC at the moment. The Olive Oil Ice Cream is phenomenal.

I've been there once. The food and service were terrible. I was quite disappointed.

Volt on the other hand...been there twice now, and I want to go back....NOW.

Edit: Story about Isabella leaving: Mike Isabella Is Leaving Zaytinya to Open His Own Place - Young & Hungry - Washington City Paper

Hmm it says he joined in 2007. As much as I'd like to begrudge the guy, I may have actually gone there before he came.....

/tk

[lordscarlet]

Zytinya doesn't do it for me either. Oyamel and Jaleo are far better. DC needs less tapas, though.

[PurdueBrad]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Oddly enough, this past season of Top Chef Masters kind of ruined the judging table for me, and that's carried over to regular ol' Top Chef. They had Susur Lee on TCM who made multiple 5-star dishes that bordered on perfection, but there was absolutely no way to tell from the judging, until they announced the score. I guess in order to keep 'The Drama' flowing they figured they had to edit/inject enough comparable bad/middling comments about Susur's dishes to make them seem comparable to the other chefs so that the viewer was given some sense of drama about not knowing who the winner was going to be.

Well the intent backfired, as their attempt to engage me by camouflaging Susur's results completely shattered my suspension of disbelief. I feel like if there's a 5-star dish being served, there shouldn't be any mystery at the judges table....they should all be saying "DAMN! This shit is goooood!!" with wide eyes, and it should be obvious to me, the viewer, that it was worth five stars. If a five star dish and a three star dish elicit roughly the same response from the judges, how the hell is the viewer supposed to get any insight into the dish, or care about the judging portion, in any way? When I thought I was in step with the judges, and they were feeding me meaningful criticism, it's a lot easier to kind of slip yourself into the judges shoes and pretend you can taste those dishes....when it's all just a clusterfuck, and you don't have any idea who the winners/losers are, until their names are announced, it sucks a lot of the enjoyment and immersion out of the show.

I agree a lot with what you've said here and know the episode you are talking about. Interestingly enough (and, to me, annoyingly enough) something like that has happened this season. I ran across Tom's blog for the episode that the crass, heavy-set girl got sent home (Tracy, I think). Tom stated that "While discussing Tracy’s dish at the picnic, we judges all downplayed how improperly seasoned and how generally poor it was lest we make it completely obvious that she’d be going home, but we all knew instantly that her dish was the weakest by far."

Well if it is that farking bad, say so and don't play up false drama. Just like in Top Chef Masters they should've been jumping for joy over Susur Lee's dishes. For a show like this, transparency is better because you can then put yourself into the shoes of the judge and envision what they are eating.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

Love Oyamel. Jaleo seems to have gone downhill recently. Two very meh meals in the last 6 weeks or so.

DC seems to have a lot of well hyped places whose quality falls off once they're established leading to quite a few decent meals that don't live up to expectations.

As I said, tapas aren't my thing -- but I definitely think Oyamel is the best of the trio. Rasika may be my pick for best (affordable) restaurant in the city that I have eaten at.

[DaddyTorgo]

Wow - Kenny gets sent home even though Alex didn't do shit?? And even though Amanda fucked up her steak?? That's messed the fuck up.

I'm not sure I can watch this show anymore. It's just going to be everyone bitching at Alex and a lame Angelo ego-fest.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Wow - Kenny gets sent home even though Alex didn't do shit?? And even though Amanda fucked up her steak?? That's messed the fuck up.

I'm not sure I can watch this show anymore. It's just going to be everyone bitching at Alex and a lame Angelo ego-fest.

+1
This season, while I tried to hold out hope for it, has gone from bad to worse.

/tk

[Coffee Warlord]

I had stopped watching about 3 weeks ago, and apparently am not missing much.

[DaddyTorgo]

I mean, at least Kenny took risks and put interesting food out there. Sure, maybe it could have used a component or two less, but it's not like he fucked up cooking a steak...or didn't even conceive of a dish like the rules said he should.

Maybe it's the editing being really shitty and Kenny's food tasted horrible and they just didn't show us that, but if so - that's their fault. I'm done with this season.

[Thomkal]

Kenny shouldn't have gone before the likes of Amanda and Alex, but I think he's not nearly as good a Chef as he thinks he is. This is the second or third time in the bottom, and both dishes in this challenge were not good according to the judges, so there was some merit for him to go here.

But really it should have been Amanda, who should have been gone weeks ago. The only dish she did wasn't good and at least Kenny led the team well. Alex should have been gone weeks ago too, but got lucky this time with being on the winning team.

Get rid of him and Amanda and the rest are pretty good. Ed's my pick to win it all right now.

[kcchief19]

I'm as disappointed as anyone that Kenny went home but the judges pretty much let Kenny have it for all of his dishes last night. The only hope I had was that Gail pointed that as head chef he kept the team together whereas in past seasons the head chef usually melted down. If it's truly about the food, Kenny should have gone because his food sounded as though it was the worst of the night.

I hate that because I was pulling for him. Angelo's move to hide Alex from the kitchen and keep his hands out of everything was pretty sleazy. Really hope he doesn't win.

I think this has been a rough season because a lot of good chefs have gone by while Alex and to a lesser extent Amanda have skated by. But so far I think every elimination was justified and in most cases was my pick to go.

Tiffany has been moving up my list quickly. I like her attitude and she seems to have some skills. Ed doesn't bother me as much as he did at first but he's still not my favorite. Right now I'd probably put Tiffany and Kevin at the top of my list of who I want to win. I'd rather see Alex win than Angelo. Ugh.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Tiffany has been moving up my list quickly. I like her attitude and she seems to have some skills. Ed doesn't bother me as much as he did at first but he's still not my favorite. Right now I'd probably put Tiffany and Kevin at the top of my list of who I want to win. I'd rather see Alex win than Angelo. Ugh.

I agree with everything said here.
I want ANYBODY to win over Angelo.

/tk

[thesloppy]

I wish they'd leave the political drama out of this show completely (wishful thinking I know, with a Bravo reality product)...at least I wish they wouldn't promote it so much.

On almost any other reality show/format the drama and politicking wouldn't bother me, as the any-publicity-is-good-publicity rule applies to just about every reality shlub in the world, but with these peoples being established chefs/restaurant-owners I can't help but think about the financial implications of every flub or freakout. Alex is the prime example, as I'm not exactly impressed by his antics either, but I can't help but see images of his restaurant and career going up in flames with every mention of that stupid pea puree and folks ganging up on him in the waiting room, as he just kind of naively bumbles around. Sure he's a creepy goofball who doesn't mesh well with other chefs, and he might not have the best technique or create well under pressure and with little time....but none of that necessarily means he's a bad chef, or runs a crappy restaurant, but I can't help think that his reputation is pretty much taking it up the pooper from Top Chef. The majority of folks probably get a substantial boost from being on the show and just getting their name and face out their, but I can't help but feel sorry for the chosen 'heels', and wish they'd maybe be a little more gracious in their treatment of the losers/weirdos (as they were in the masters competition), rather than going all Real World style.

[lordscarlet]

Disclaimer: I have never seen Top Chef

I'm not sure why you want the "political drama" gone? How else can you judge the contestants? I don't understand the allure of these types of shows. How do you judge who is best? Based on what the judges tell you? Shows like American Idol I can understand -- you are able to experience their talent and judge for yourself. With chefs, you can't taste the food. You can merely what the judges tell you. I often disagree with the judges on American Idol, I have to imagine that if you were to taste the food from Top Chef you would also disagree with the judges at times. So instead, I would imagine that you choose who you like based on their personalities and the "drama".

[Thomkal]

Hey its set in DC this season-there has to be political drama!

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Disclaimer: I have never seen Top Chef

I'm not sure why you want the "political drama" gone? How else can you judge the contestants? I don't understand the allure of these types of shows. How do you judge who is best? Based on what the judges tell you? Shows like American Idol I can understand -- you are able to experience their talent and judge for yourself. With chefs, you can't taste the food. You can merely what the judges tell you. I often disagree with the judges on American Idol, I have to imagine that if you were to taste the food from Top Chef you would also disagree with the judges at times. So instead, I would imagine that you choose who you like based on their personalities and the "drama".

While the absence of taste-o-vision certainly makes it hard to judge the most important part of the final product, you can absolutely judge someone's ability to cook by watching them cook something. The entire attraction to the show, like a few other shows in the reality sub-genre with this formula, is watching someone create something (at least for me), of which the end product is certainly a critical part, but not the entirety. Likewise, if you like food, it's not hard to fill in the taste blanks with your imagination, if you see most of the process/ingredients.

If the drama/politicking of which I speak was focused on food/cooking I might be more interested, and I 've certainly got nothng against exploring the contestant's personalities, but drama for drama's sake is tired, and exactly why I do watch this show and not most other reality crap. Using the American Idol analogy, how interested would you be in watching a contestant cattily accuse another of stealing the other's hair dryer, or yelling at eachother in the green room? If it's just the drama you want, any reality show will do, but if your actually interested in the supposed topic, it can get in the way......perhaps exacerbated by the fact that this is shaping up to be a pretty crapass season in general.

To be more specific, this week's Top Chef episode began with a recap of a contestant's (the above mentioned Alex) previous mishaps, including a suspected theft of a GOTdam english pea puree (how can you not watch this show, doesn't it sound RIVETING?), that happened like three episodes ago, was never really resolved in any conclusive manner, and never mentioned by the chefs again in any capacity.....but the producers have snuck this bit of contrived drama back into every show for the last three weeks, presenting it like some kind of ominous smoking gun, and I don't think the chefs themselves even care about that shit in the slightest, let alone the audience. DID ALEX TAKE THE PEA PUREE??!??!? To paraphrase former contestant Fabio, it's-a Top-a-Chef not-a Top Detective. And the persistence of the flashbacks make me think that I certainly haven't heard the last of the mysterious Mr. Pea Puree, and they're saving up for some sort of convoluted reveal at a later date that I'm already dreading.

[lordscarlet]

Like I said, I've never seen it, so perhaps that's the problem. I watched a couple episodes of Hell's Kitchen and most of the (largely contrived) drama was at least about how they ran the kitchen. What you're talking about does sound a bit annoying.

[CrimsonFox]

Darnit I JUST found out this was on! The TiVO will be busy this week.

[albionmoonlight]

Mrs. A had a funny line the other night about Amanda. Whenever she gets bad news, she looks like she just got shot and forgot to fall down.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

T(I freaking HATE Spike's burger joint and Mike Isabella's Zataynia was shite the one time I went).

Two questions:

(1) Really? I really liked Spike's burger place the couple times I went. What inspires the HATE from your end?

(2) This isn't about you, but since you did it, you might have an answer for me. Why do so many people on the internet spell "shit" "shite"?

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Two questions:

(1) Really? I really liked Spike's burger place the couple times I went. What inspires the HATE from your end?

(2) This isn't about you, but since you did it, you might have an answer for me. Why do so many people on the internet spell "shit" "shite"?

1) I've been there twice I think. The line was long (OK, manageable). My burger was overcooked both times. Second time I went, trying to give them benefit of the doubt from the first time, they completely screwed up my order and then blamed doing so on me (and didn't fix it). And on a side note that wouldn't have mattered if they had been good to start with (I understand TV editing to increase drama), Spike seemed like a complete d-bag on the show. Nothing I experienced at his joint convinced me otherwise.

2) Dunno why people do it, other than to possibly offend people less. But really, if you're going to use a word like "shit" then use it. I think mine was a typo/fingers running without thought.

/tk

[Ksyrup]

Well, we finally pulled the plug on this and TC Masters, deleted all of them from the DVR. Just no interest in watching (or at least, not enough time/interest to try to fit it in our schedule). That's 3 seasons (2 regular, 1 Masters) that we've skipped now. I think that's a trend.

Not sure why - I used to love this show. I guess it just got stale and feels like the same thing over and over.

[Ksyrup]

This might stoke my interest in this show again...

Top Chef all-stars filming in New York, probably for a full all-star season

September 2, 2010, 8:42 AM

The next season of Top Chef may be a full all-star season, as contestants from the previous seven seasons are currently filming in New York City. They include Spike Mendelsohn, Marcel Vigneron, Richard Blais, Fabio Viviani, Carla Hall, Angelo Sosa, Tiffany Derry, Michael Isabella, Dale Talde, Tiffani Faison, and Stephen Asprinio.

Could this just be another all-star special like the show did at the start of season three? Eater NY was told that “this is a full season and not a one-off special” after earlier reporting on “unsubstantiated rumors” that “they’ve been shooting for the past week or two, [which] would make for a very long episode.”

A separate Eater NY report said that “Marea was closed for lunch last Tuesday to film and its definitely an All-Star reunion. not sure if they’re filming an entire season, but they 100% shot an episode here last week with no new cast — just the previous chefs.” That tipster also told Eater that “Padma is so inept at hosting that she wears an earpiece and the crew is there telling her exactly what to say through it. would explain her weird pauses and lack of seemingly any brains.”

[Coffee Warlord]

That, I'd watch. I'd love to see Marcel & Richard paired up sometime, just to see what insanity they'd come up with.

And I'd be utterly not surprised about Padma, if that's true. I cannot stand her, and never could.