Top Chef Season 4

[Coffee Warlord]

Yes, I love this show. Season 4 premiere (right here in Chicago) on right now.

Anyone else watchin?

[JetsIn06]

Holy crap. This is one of my favorite shows and I had no idea it was on. I suck. At least Bravo shows episodes at least 20 times during the week, so I'll definitely watch ASAP.

[MJ4H]

Yeah my wife is addicted to this show and I like to watch it, too. She's watching hard-core right now while I'm paying about 10% attention to it. I will have no trouble seeing this episode again at some point, I'm sure.

[Coffee Warlord]

Tell you what, this is one of the shows I wish I had Tivo or some sort of DVR for. The commercials for Bravo's other shows are...painful.

[Ksyrup]

I can't read this, the 1st ep is one of the shows backlogging our DVR right now.

[terpkristin]

I didn't catch it last night, as I was watching South Park and Lewis Black's new show, but I'll definitely be checking it out on one of the many re-runs. Only down side for me to this show, I really loathe Padma.

/tk

[rkmsuf]

shit, it's back on? love this show. and hell's kitchen which is on again soon I think.

[Ksyrup]

If I had a nickel for every woman who despises Padma...

And yeah, rkmsuf, check the 2008 new shows/seasons thread I started. This one and HK are mentioned.

[Ksyrup]

One of the other boards I post at is largely based in Chicago, which is where this season was filmed. One of the guys posted this today:

< dumb dumb dumb...they were staying in a house not too far from our place on paulina. we thought something was fishy when there were xmas decorations set around this empty new home in the middle of sept.

At least one of the guys on that board is a chef, too, so it will be interesting to read their comments about stuff as the season progresses.

[MJ4H]

My wife loves Padme and I don't like her. Gail Simmons is more my speed. Yum.

This will be so hard to believe for some of you that have read a select couple of other threads of mine, but I have this friend (the best-buy, Maaco, movie-maker, playmate cameraman guy) that is a very good chef (was a professional chef for years) and I like to watch this show with him so he can explain to me just what the eff is going on most of the time. We backlog these episodes on the DVR and my wife watches them when they air and I usually ignore them until I can watch with him. I'm more interested in the food side of what's going on, I just don't understand any of it without help.

[Coffee Warlord]

I'm rootin' for the New Zealand guy.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

If I had a nickel for every woman who despises Padma...

Well, I just don't think she adds anything to the show. I know she's written a cookbook, but that doesn't really mean she knows much about "being a chef" or what makes food good. Quite often, she disagrees with the other judges about what is "good" or shows "great skill," because she just is too stupid to know. I definitely watch this show for the techniques and the food, not because I care about the fighting they inspire (forced or otherwise) to make it a "true" reality show.

If most women hate her because she's pretty...well, there's that. I think she's pretty. Not super-model pretty, but I don't hate her because of her looks. She just doesn't seem to really know much about food and haute cuisine.

/tk

[MJ4H]

I agree she doesn't seem to know what is going on most of the time. There was one time last season where I think they intentionally edited the show to include as many times as possible where she would just, quite literally, repeat whatever Tom said. I thought it was terrific.

I don't really think she is all that pretty either. I mean, she is mildly attractive, sure, but her look is really not my kind of thing.

Repeating:
Gail freakin Simmons

yeah

[Ksyrup]

She's the host - her knowledge of food is irrelevant. Jeff Probst didn't have to prove he was Les Stroud before hosting Survivor, did he?

And even though she's allowed to "vote" on who wins/loses, we never see how the discussions are ultimately resolved. Just a hunch, but if everyone is evenly split, I don't think she casts a deciding vote. She's just there to move the story along and serve as eye candy.

[Ksyrup]

Gail Simmons is as attractive to me as Tom the Bear.

[MJ4H]

Please! Link to Tom the Bear!

[MJ4H]

Wait does Tom the Bear look anything like Sgt. Grumbles?

[Ksyrup]

Tom the Bear is Tom Colichio, the chef/co-host. Last year, on one of those Top Chef Specials where they bring back former contestants, it came out that Tom has a huge following among certain types of gay men. Tom seemed distinctly unhappy and uncomfortable with that revelation. One of the funniest, out of nowhere moments on a reality show I've seen in some time.

It's up to you to research "bears."

[ntndeacon]

Crap! I did not know this was back on either. I love watching this.

[kcchief19]

As much as I love this show, my appreciate would go up an additional 10% if they could land Anthony Bourdain as a permanent judge instead of just once or twice a season. And Rocco DiSpirito has largely redeemed his reputation thanks to Top Chef, even if I thought he displayed a few of his douchebag-esque qualities last night.

Hard to say I have any favorites yet and won't say too much for spoilers. There are a couple of people who definitely demonstrated potential to get on my nerves though.

[Ksyrup]

I agree about Bourdain, absolutely.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Tom the Bear is Tom Colichio, the chef/co-host. Last year, on one of those Top Chef Specials where they bring back former contestants, it came out that Tom has a huge following among certain types of gay men. Tom seemed distinctly unhappy and uncomfortable with that revelation. One of the funniest, out of nowhere moments on a reality show I've seen in some time.

It's up to you to research "bears."

Oh yeah I saw that. That was indeed pretty funny. I really like Chef Tom, by the way. Not in the way those particular followers do, but he seems like a really cool guy.

Anyway, you underrate Gail Simmons!

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, I like Tom a lot, too. I wish he was on more as well. I particularly like it when he interviews them as they are preparing something and you can tell from his facial expression that he thinks they are making a terrible decision. If I was one of those people and I saw that, I'd just stop what I was doing, say screw it, and go have a smoke.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I agree about Bourdain, absolutely.

I'm still cracking up from the Thanksgiving episode in Season two when he told Mikey that his cooking technique was "Flintstonian" in its execution.

[GrantDawg]

What I loved about this episode was Bourdain not liking the sakee martini. If you make an achololic drink that he doesn't like, it must be bad.

[General Mike]

Is it just me, or are all these people d-bags?

[Coffee Warlord]

I like Mark (the Kiwi).

And like...that's it. The likability of these guys just isn't there. The guy they just axed last week (Erik, the big tatooed dude) was cool as hell.

And one of the lesbos needs to go now. They made their point, no more.

[JetsIn06]

I'm also rooting for Mark. Seems like the only person there that I would like if I met them. Totally agree with the d-bag comment, and I liked Eric also.

Last season had much better contestants, for sure.

[Coffee Warlord]

What I wanna know now.

Is how the hell mushroom bitch (that tall skinny older chick who has made like...nothing decent) still there?

[General Mike]

I hate these people. I'd punch every single one of them in the face, and it would be justified.

[Ksyrup]

We'll probably watch this episode tomorrow or Friday. I don't think there's anything wrong with Richard, but the Beardo Twins and Dale need a good kick to the nads. And I'm glad Peppermint Patty went home a few weeks ago, too.

[PurdueBrad]

There really is nobody likable at this point. It is just a train wreck IMHO. My wife can barely stand to watch and I'm getting close to that as well. I'm to the point where I wish I could just skip ahead to it being Dale vs. Richard because I'm not sure anybody else there can cook with them. And I hate to root for that since Dale is a prick and Richard is fairly arrogant but if I saw one of the others walking down the side of the road, I'm pretty certain that I would swerve to hit them.

[Ksyrup]

Richard may be arrogant, but at least he's quiet about it. And he's clearly the best cook of all of them. If he was carrying on like Andrew, then I would agree with you. I find him pretty well spoken, funny, and dead-on with nearly every decision he makes in the kitchen.

[General Mike]

I agree. Richard definitely seems like the best cook. You'd have to be pretty good to be an opponent on Iron Chef America, right?

To me, it seems they are really scraping the bottom of the barrel tho, as compared to past seasons. I guess you could say that about a lot of these competitive, non game show, reality shows.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Richard may be arrogant, but at least he's quiet about it. And he's clearly the best cook of all of them. If he was carrying on like Andrew, then I would agree with you. I find him pretty well spoken, funny, and dead-on with nearly every decision he makes in the kitchen.

he was also on Iron Chef America - which makes me think that he has more legit "recognition" in the industry than any of the others at least.

I think it does basically have to come down to the two of them, but I have very little doubt that Richard will win.

And as someone else said, at least he's not "in your face" about being better - in fact early on when he had won immunity I appreciated the fact that he was still being an active part of his team and driving them to victory and then in the wedding episode sharing the prize with cake-girl (whatever her name is).

He's not a dick. Dale's clearly arrogrant. Therefore I gotta pull for Richard.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

...I think it does basically have to come down to the two of them, but I have very little doubt that Richard will win...He's not a dick. Dale's clearly arrogrant. Therefore I gotta pull for Richard.

I agree on the Richard and Dale thing.
Also completely agree about Dale. He reminds me way too much of Hung from last year, who I wish would get a swift kick to the nuts, because I really don't want that wad procreating.

I also like Stephanie, though. She had a few down weeks, where she was really hit or miss, but I like her cooking style.

I still think it'll be Richard at the end. As a side note, I thought he was great with his kid sous-chef a couple weeks ago, which gives him bonus points in my book.

/tk

[Ksyrup]

Also, his Seinfeld impression and that whole idea for the "confused" or whatever word they had to work with dish they made was brilliant. You could even hear someone (camera man, other contestant?) laughing in the background.

[kcchief19]

Richard, Stephanie and Antonia are fine competitors. I would have no problem with any of them winning. Richard had some toolish moments early on and I really want to shave that faux hawk off and shove it sideways, but he's growing on me.

But the remainder are douchebags. Lisa can go anytime now. Spike is an absolute tool, and Dale is as well.

Right now I'd bet on Richard ... he seems on a roll. Stephanie has had moments of brilliance and serious lapses. Antonia seems like a great cook but I'm afraid she's going to struggle at some point as a "chef." Just the way the show seems to go, it seems like there will be a cool chef versus a tool at the end. Dale seems the most likely of the tools to make it through, although Lisa reminds me a lot of Tiffany from season one. Spike should have been gone a long time ago.

[kcchief19]

Next week's episode should filter things out a bit ... Restaurant Wars is always a deal breaker for someone.

[thesloppy]

Man, since I had to watch this thing in the PST, I come into this thread all late, and everybody's already said everything good.

It took all of like what, ten minutes of this season's premiere to pick Richard out of the crowd as the obvious winner. There ARE enough variables in Top Chef's wacky contests that he could bow out any time, but his skillz are obviously a level or two above everybody else's, and although he doesn't win every time, people consistently seem to enjoy his food, and almost none of those other toolsheds can say that.

As an aside, I think my first inclination upon watching both Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen for a few seasons was to assume that Top Chef is the more 'pure' of the cooking shows, because it presents itself as a little (okay a LOT) classier, and all the contestants seem to come from much better culinary backgrounds....but really for all of these guys the ultimate goal IS to run a restaurant, and in that context Top Chef's challenges really are kinda useless. Top Chef is all about making them cook around ingredients, or without certain ingredients, or with jaguar fetuses, or in an iron lung, while all Gordon Ramsey really wants is for you to COOK THE FUCKING RISOTTO, YOU DONKEY!! Night after night, day after day. And really, isn't that actually much more representative of restaurant life in reality?

[Ksyrup]

I disagree, because the winner of Top Chef does not get to open a restaurant. That's not a prize on the show. Obviously, most of them want to do that, but that's not what the competition is about or designed for.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I disagree, because the winner of Top Chef does not get to open a restaurant. That's not a prize on the show. Obviously, most of them want to do that, but that's not what the competition is about or designed for.

This is true. I guess my point is that up until the endgame it's not so much 'Top Chef' as it is 'Chef Who Can Cook Best Under Goofy Conditions'....which certainly isn't to say that's not an impressive and totally critical skill, necessary to being a good chef, but I think it can result in knocking out cooks who might be better 'pure' cooks, in favor of people who just better adjust to the games rules. But you're totally right that's an obvious design point of this, and all reality shows, and without some aspect of a game it would be pretty damn boring: "I'm going to make a salad" "OK, that was good."

[Barkeep49]

While I have found the competitors underwhelming this season, I have found the challenges to be twice that amount. There were too many catering and team events. The quickfires all felt like rehashes of previous ones.

[Coffee Warlord]

And they axed my OTHER favorite guy on the show last night. Blegh.

I also concur...very tired of catering type events. Seems like there's just a TON of those.

[Ksyrup]

Based on some of the comments, I'm fairly certain I know who got kicked off.

[oliegirl]

I've been watching this show and agree with the hatred toward Dale and Andrew. They are so obnoxious that I fast forward through their interviews/one on one's half the time because everything they say makes me want to throw the TV out the window.

I really like Stephanie, as well as Richard. Living in Atlanta, I'm hoping to get to go to his restaurant at some point. I'd never heard of him (or the restaurant) before the show, and it still isn't getting any press (that I've seen) so who knows what is going to happen.

I still think it's a good show, and even though some of the challenges are a tad overdramatic, it's still entertaining. I don't think they are any more "out there" than the challenges on Project Runway or any of the other "non Survival" style reality shows.

[Thomkal]

I picked Stephanie to win after the first show, so I hope she makes it to the end. The bottom 3 this week are really the three that need to go the most. It will be an interesting battle between the remaining four. Antonia has surprised me, and Richard of course was good from the start. Dale is an ass but keeps winning challenges, hard to believe he will win after Hung won last year though.

[Barkeep49]

I don't think Hung was an ass in the same way that Dale is an ass. Hung could be quite likable and was a good teammate. I don't think that's true of either Richard or Dale.

[oliegirl]

I think Richard is an excellent teammate...giving Stephanie the prize after the Wedding Wars challenge was very impressive in my book. I think he has a good balance of taking the lead and "driving", but not becoming a dictator or having attitude when someone disagrees or voices their opionion, like Dale does.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, I don't get the Richard hate at all. Especially when he won that one QF challenge, then actively participated in giving great ideas that were used in the main challenge that ended up winning the week. Compare that to the bitchfest that ensued after that one chick won immunity and the events that lead to Peppermint Patty's GF getting kicked off.