Top Chef Vegas

[terpkristin]

Starts/started tonight.

Nice seeing some local folks. I've been to Abacrombie, it's not my favorite local "fancy restaurant" to go to (ok, it's not terribly local to me). My friend has been to Volt, the restaurant of one of the brothers. She said it was quite good.

Robin looks a lot like my sister in law. It's eerie.

/tk

[DaddyTorgo]

I've got the DVR going so I'll catch it later (I missed the first few minutes) and comment then.

Finale of Top Chef Masters is on after it too (GO HUBERT!!!)

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Me From Earlier Thread

Just from the bios, my random predictions that will likely go all wrong.

Ron Duprat is going to have some awesome dishes, push early, and colossally fuck up mid season and go home.

I'm going to despise Jesse Sandlin. She's going to be this season's arrogant lesbian bitch.

Ash Fulk is going home early.

So is Eli Kirshtein.

Michael Isabella is going to the finals.

Mattin Noblia is going to get into pissing contests with at least half the contestants.

I didn't know Cringer cooked under the alias Kevin Gillespie.

Ashley Merriman is also on the Dead Men Walking list.

Just for kicks, I'm storing my random snap judgement picks from when I saw the bios.

[Thomkal]

well I like to pick who I think is going to win in the first few minutes of the first episode. I actually had some success with this with the last two winners. So I make my pick...and then they show the scene with her not unpacking because it was bad luck. And we all know what happened then. I think it kinda sucked she went home actually. Yeah the dish was apparantly terrible, but I think she should have gotten some credit for using a risky ingredient like that-especially over the woman (Eve?) who did a scallop and shrimp dish-how many scallop dishes have we seen over the past seasons? And worse yet she didn't cook either one properly and didn't have near enough seasoning. I wouldn't have wanted to see what she would do next unlike the one who went home.

Favorite moment-Wolfgang Puck throwing a donut across the room-I was really thought she might be going home after doing doughnuts. He had some pretty funny comments actually.

Stupidest Moment-the Team letting the woman shuck the clams even though she had never done it before.

People I either want gone soon or want to see go head to head in verbal and cooking combat: the woman hater vs the man hater. The brothers.

Fun Stuff: Like the added "Las Vegas" elements they are adding-the $15,000 prize for the quickfires should hopefully make the chefs try to win them rather than just coast into the elimination rounds.

Not so fun stuff: The woman who got the gold chip and thus was safe from elimination without even having to cook anything...and then she didn't finish her dish in the elimination round. Hearing no criticism of some of the dishes by the judges in the elimination round.

New Prediction of who will win: They have some really top notch chefs this season it looks like so its tough. I will go along with CW and say Michael Isabella.

[DaddyTorgo]

Kevin's got to be a strong contender after what Wolfgang said. I also think the lady who worked in Ripert's restaurant in Philly is a strong contender. I imagine between her dish and Kevin's it was very very close to pick a winner - at least from what we saw on TV.

[TheOhioStateUniversity]

The contestants do not seem particularly interesting this year but perhaps the new group will grow on me.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Kevin's got to be a strong contender after what Wolfgang said. I also think the lady who worked in Ripert's restaurant in Philly is a strong contender. I imagine between her dish and Kevin's it was very very close to pick a winner - at least from what we saw on TV.

She also won the quickfire, and I too got the impression, even from just those two events, that she may be the one to beat. I also agree with the others above that for some reason Michael Isabella struck me as the next choice...he handled himself very confidently, which must've stuck with all of us.

[LoneStarGirl]

I really like the brothers and hope that one of them win. I believe Kevin, Ron and Jennifer will more than likely go far in the competition as well from watching the first episode.

And its nice to see foreigners in the competition for once who aren't as cocky as last year's two English guys

[Coffee Warlord]

Think I'm going to like this season. Seems the judges were just floored by some of the creations here, and that's a good sign.

Tell you what, the women this season just seem collectively awful in comparison to the men, talent and attitude wise.

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah. well except for Jen who has gotten good reviews on everything so far.

[DaddyTorgo]

Kevin's kicking ass though - Todd loved his quickfire dish and they all loved whatever it was that he made (i forget) for the elimination challenge

[DaddyTorgo]

nice to see Hector take on the tough challenge of tofu and really knock it out of the park and the judges give him props for that - i wonder if they realized that the bride had asked for a vegitarian option?

[kcchief19]

The talent level this season just seems light years above and beyond past years. Season one they really went for anybody who was good on TV and in the season two disasters they just went with nutcases. In the last few seasons, they've put much more emphasis on credentials and abilities.

The only thing I'll say is that this is a much more motley group than in past years, and they aren't trying to hide it. Some of the past chefs had body art and piercings but they seemingly tried to mask it. Now it seems like everybody has tattoos or lip rings or whatever and they're not hiding anything.

[Thomkal]

now see if the judges had listened to me and gotten rid of Eve last week we wouldn't have been subjected to her messing up yet another shrimp dish.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

now see if the judges had listened to me and gotten rid of Eve last week we wouldn't have been subjected to her messing up yet another shrimp dish.

Heh this was my thought, too, I totally figured she was the one going home last week.

Didn't exactly like this week's elimination challenge, but oh well. Can't like 'em all.

/tk

[JPhillips]

FInally caught up on both episodes on demand. I really wanted someone in the vice challenge to say "My vice is sex, so I fucked this chicken before I cooked it."

[terpkristin]

For any of you that are into that sort of thing, Daily Loaf does a Top Chef podcast about a day after each show. I recognize it's probably not for everybody, but I've enjoyed it. Unfortunately I haven't found it in iTunes yet.

Top Chef Podcast | Daily Loaf

/tk

[DaddyTorgo]

has anyone ever been as dominant in the quickfires and elimination challenges as Kevin has been this season? he's been more dominant then stefan even

[terpkristin]

And he's a hell of a lot nicer (at least he SEEMS a hell of a lot nicer) than Stefan, too.

As much as I want Jennifer to do well, her days are numbered on the show. She's lost too much confidence.

And Robin NEEDS to go.

/tk

[kcchief19]

Kevin and Stefan are tied right now. Both won four quickfires and four eliminations, but obviously Kevin still has some challenges to go. Interesting, Stefan won the quickfire and elimination in the same show three times. Kevin did that for the first time this week.

Also from looking at the results, Bryan is the only cheftestant to not be in the bottom group at least once. Early on it seemed like Kevin, Jen, Bryan and Mike V. were in a group all by themselves. Jen is clearly slipping -- think the pressure may be getting to her. Eli seems like a good cook but I don't think he's on the level with the others. And how Robin has survived this long is amazing.

A final among Kevin and the Voltaggios would be awesome. There is so much foreshadowing with the brothers needling each other -- you just get since that one of them will be the undoing of the other at some point.

I think Kevin is clearly the favorite at this poing but remember how Richard and Stefan flamed out at the end the last two seasons.

[terpkristin]

Well, since this thread has life again, I have to ask, did ANYONE understand how each person's TV dinner (this past week's quickfire) relate to the show in question? Maybe Kevin's did (Soprano's...meatballs...I can see it), and maybe Eli's (but he loses in my book because he's only a little younger than me and he said Gilligan's Island is 20 years before his TV watching time, and I don't know ANYBODY my age who didn't watch reruns).

One thing that kind of frustrates me is hearing/reading a lot of sites comparing Robin this season with Carla last season. I think Carla has a lot more talent than Robin's shown on this show. I have yet to see Robin cook anything inspiring, anything that makes me say, "Wow, I need to figure out how to make that." Actually, she has yet to make anything that I couldn't make in my own kitchen without a recipe. Carla, especially towards the end of last season, was making things that made me wish she had a restaurant, not a catering business.

As glad as I am to see Mike I. go (I've been to his restaurant, it's "meh" at best...then again, that seems to be a trend, Spike's burger joint doesn't even hit "meh" in my book, maybe it's a DC thing...or at least for Spike, maybe it's just that his burgers don't compare to Bobby Flay burgers), I would have almost preferred Robin going. And speaking of Mike I. and Spike, what is it with the DC-area chefs (Bryan V. excluded, though he's more Baltimore-area hahah) being complete d-bags?

I guess time will tell on Robin...would be a true shame if Jen went home before her.

/tk

[JPhillips]

Robin sticking around is the first time I felt like the results re being manipulated to make the personal interactions more interesting.

[DaddyTorgo]

I didn't really get how most of the "TV Dinners" related, but I think that was a pretty "open ended" challenge.

Re: Kevin - I think he has a leg up on someone like Richard or Stefan, because he at least SEEMS to be a lot more versatile (Richard was all molecular gastronomy, Stefan was all comfort-food). Kevin has cooked fish, meat, vegetarian, etc. and done a lot of different styles, from "comfort food" like the meatballs to some of his more exotic stuff.

I'm definitely pulling for him at this point.

Michael V. is a complete douchebag - I thought it really showed this past episode when he was so bitter about Kevin winning - I hope his brother whups his ass.

[Mr. Sparkle]

At this point, anyone going home before Robin is a crime. She's been in the bottom three, what'd they say, something like eight times? How can she still be there? Hell, I'd cut her just so she'd shut up.

[Bad-example]

I like this show and am enjoying this season, but I really wish it were aimed more at making food for average people with adult-sized appetites. These dinky little fine dining dishes are cute and all, but come on. Can I get that super sized, please? I don't want to have to stop for real food on the way home because my stomach is rumbling.

I've been rooting for Kevin all along. That we both belong to the 'fat white guy with red beard' club probably has a lot to do with it.

I echo the thoughts on Robin. She should have been gone weeks ago.

[kcchief19]

Kristin, I'm with you. I don't see any comparison between Carla and Robin. Carla was a little out there and she tried to be "out there" early on last year. After she almost got whacked a couple of times, she stopped trying to be somebody else and cooked "her food" and hit it out of the ballpark at the end.

While she is definitely in the simple-food-done-right genre, the problem is that everybody else there can do that too and have a few more clubs in their bag. She's limited, and I think she'll be gone soon.

I've been warming up to Mike V. slowly but surely. He can be a punk sometimes and he has that little-brother attitude thing but he seems like a good guy. I really like Bryan and Kevin. I like Jen but I don't think she can make it to the end. Eli seems like a complete d-bag along with Mike Isabella.

[Coffee Warlord]

I'm just amazed at how consistent Kevin is. AND he's not arrogant as all hell. The V's alternate in my mind between being incredibly awesome and incredible punks.

And yes. How Robin has lived this long is a mystery to all mankind.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

I'm just amazed at how consistent Kevin is. AND he's not arrogant as all hell. The V's alternate in my mind between being incredibly awesome and incredible punks.

And yes. How Robin has lived this long is a mystery to all mankind.

exactly. Kevin is constantly winning or in the top-group in the quickfires and elimination challenges. It's damn impressive.

The elder V isn't a douchebag-punk like his little brother. He's more calm and reserved. Little-V is such a jerk to everyone - he has this massive ego. It really hit home for me again last week when he was so pissed about Kevin winning with his meatballs "they're just meatballs...wah wah." Between that and the way he treats Robin (and I'm no Robin fan, but c'mon, at least treat her like a human being), I've had enough and I'm ready to see him go. Unfortunately I don't think we will.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

exactly. Kevin is constantly winning or in the top-group in the quickfires and elimination challenges. It's damn impressive.

The elder V isn't a douchebag-punk like his little brother. He's more calm and reserved. Little-V is such a jerk to everyone - he has this massive ego. It really hit home for me again last week when he was so pissed about Kevin winning with his meatballs "they're just meatballs...wah wah." Between that and the way he treats Robin (and I'm no Robin fan, but c'mon, at least treat her like a human being), I've had enough and I'm ready to see him go. Unfortunately I don't think we will.

The older V didn't do himself any favors by being pissed that his younger brother was going to give him 2500$ after restaurant wars. The two of them need some serious family therapy.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

The older V didn't do himself any favors by being pissed that his younger brother was going to give him 2500$ after restaurant wars. The two of them need some serious family therapy.

valid point. but i think on the "asshole scale" the younger V is like a 9 and the older one is like a 4 or 5

[DaddyTorgo]

Yeah okay - after tonight I think I'll bump them up to like

Arrogant Asshole Scale

Michael V. -- 9.5
Brian V. -- 8

I get that there's a lot of big ego's involved in cooking, but funny how nobody else on the show has been quite the assholes that these two are. And I'm sure some of that is editing...but still.

[PurdueBrad]

DT, you're right, unfortunately the older brother kind of shot up in the asshat standings this week. I am rooting for Jen but she seems completely burned out. Ultimately, I think it'll end up being the three guys in the finale and I do think it'll be interesting to see how one brother would react to the other winning or, worse yet, how both would react if Kevin (or Jen) would beat them.

[kcchief19]

I don't see how anyone can think Bryan is an asshole. Clearly he and Michael have a sibling rivalry and his brother annoys him, but throughout the season Bryan has been calm and rational and gone out of his way to help. Great example is in the last episode before the finale when Michael went off by himself the night before the challenge and Bryan gave Kevin a tip on what he was cooking the next day that helped Kevin win the challenge.

I think this is the Final Three we all wanted. But I'm pissed off at Bravo.

Spoiler

They did this once before -- I think it was the season Stephanie won. In the previews of the final episode they show all three chefs standing in at judges table and they show a shot of Padma saying, "You are top chef." Based on the angle Padma is looking, I have 98% percent confidence she's looking at Michael. If Michael does indeed win, this will be the third of six times that Bravo has spilled the beans on the winner before the finale. Ugh.

[DaddyTorgo]

thats pretty impressive kcchief. you should prolly just not watch that promo anymore.

i dunno - there have been times where Bryan has done the whole "kevin just cooked a simple dish...my dish was so much more complicated" whining bit.

[LoneStarGirl]

KChief when I saw the Bravo promotion I thought Padma was looking at somebody else, and since I dont know how to do the Spoiler Tag, I am not going to say who it is.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by LoneStarGirl

KChief when I saw the Bravo promotion I thought Padma was looking at somebody else, and since I dont know how to do the Spoiler Tag, I am not going to say who it is.

I think the same as LSG, and I can't do the spoiler tag either. It sucks big time that they did that yet again.

[gstelmack]

Two threads in two days:

{spoiler} text {/spoiler}

But use the square brackets instead of the curly braces.

[DaddyTorgo]

bah

bad kevin...you blew it with your last meal there bud.

once our lil friend padma said he wasn't Top Chef I just turned it off and deleted it off my DVR...didn't care which of the two douchebags won.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

I don't see how anyone can think Bryan is an asshole. Clearly he and Michael have a sibling rivalry and his brother annoys him, but throughout the season Bryan has been calm and rational and gone out of his way to help. Great example is in the last episode before the finale when Michael went off by himself the night before the challenge and Bryan gave Kevin a tip on what he was cooking the next day that helped Kevin win the challenge.

I think this is the Final Three we all wanted. But I'm pissed off at Bravo.

Spoiler

They did this once before -- I think it was the season Stephanie won. In the previews of the final episode they show all three chefs standing in at judges table and they show a shot of Padma saying, "You are top chef." Based on the angle Padma is looking, I have 98% percent confidence she's looking at Michael. If Michael does indeed win, this will be the third of six times that Bravo has spilled the beans on the winner before the finale. Ugh.

I have to admit that I found out Michael had won through a slip up on a flyer for a local event, but given that Kevin had already been dismissed and only Michael and Brian were standing there, I'm not sure your spoiler is actually a spoiler.

[DaddyTorgo]

douchemaster won? ugh

ah well. at least hosea beat stefan so we were spared back-to-back arrogant assholes

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by digamma

I have to admit that I found out Michael had won through a slip up on a flyer for a local event, but given that Kevin had already been dismissed and only Michael and Brian were standing there, I'm not sure your spoiler is actually a spoiler.

I was right wasn't I? I've been certain Michael was the winner for a week due to the damn promo.

All it would take is for Bravo to either not show a shot of the finalists at judges table or not show a shot of Padma telling the winner they won. Either edit and secret preserved. This is the second time the promo for the finale gave a HUGE clue to the identify of the winner. Food and Wine leaked out Ilan winning season two by putting his winner bio online a few days before the finale.

Even after last night I think Michael is cocky but I don't think he was even one of the five biggest d-bags on this season. And while I agree Kevin seemed like the coolest and nicest chef this year, I don't think Bryan was that far behind -- he was confident of himself but there were plenty of times that he offered good advice to other contestants and pitched in to help others. And I don't remember him ever running anyone down or speaking ill of anyone else. In fact, he stepped in a couple of times to settle things down, including once when Michael and Robyn were getting into it. I liked Bryan -- he seems like a good guy.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

I was right wasn't I? I've been certain Michael was the winner for a week due to the damn promo.

Touche.

[Thomkal]

Yep they faked me out on the promo. It looked like to me she was looking at Kevin when she said that, but I knew he wasn't going to win by the time they got around to that. Too bad, I would have liked to have seen him beat "Kevin's food is what I make at home on the weekends." But as they went on and on about how bold his dishes were, you knew he was going to win. In fact I think it was perhaps one of the easiest decisions in Top Chef history.

[terpkristin]

Given what the judges were saying, it doesn't surprise me that they chose Mike V, but I still held out hope for Bryan. I think it's funny how much America (those who voted in the Bravo poll) didn't want him to win. That trend was also seen on various Top Chef blogs.

I follow Toby Young on Twitter, there were a lot of tweets related to TC last night. He implied it was a tough decision, but it definitely seemed cut and dry.

Oh well. I'm probably much more likely to go to Bryan's restaurant or Kevin's restaurant than Mike V's, sheerly by location...

/tk

[Coffee Warlord]

Michael's little deadpan answer about "why should you be top chef" *was* funny, though.

That said, my 5 second review of this season. Talentwise, off the charts. I don't think there's been a season with such a clear cut gap in talent. And the top 4 (okay 3 - I was never enthralled by Jen) were freaking gods.

But, the season missed one major thing. Humor. There was none. I cannot recall any instance this season where I could laugh. The personalities were just not there. There was no "I sleep the bunky bed and cook monkey ass" Fabio, there was no Richard the Lunatic Gay Chef, no crazy Aussie, no "I ain't your bitch, bitch"...just nothing FUNNY. And that was part of the charm of the show, in my opinion.

The talent was there. The charisma wasn't.

[CraigSca]

I thought Bryan was great, truly a nice guy and we were rooting for him. Michael's comment WOULD have been funny, but the problem was he meant is as he had said the same thing throughout the final episodes. He is a very talented jerk.

[terpkristin]

Bumping this because one of the foodie websites I read regularly, minxeats, created some screen caps of a "spoof" of Top Chef, "Top Chef Bastards." Hey, it made me laugh, and it's only a little over a month away until Top Chef Masters season 2 starts!
minxeats: Top Chef Bastards Part I

/tk

[Ksyrup]

Eric Ripert will judge Top Chef DC, replacing Toby Young

May 13, 2010, 1:44 PM

For its seventh season, Top Chef is getting a new fourth judge: Eric Ripert. The season is officially titled Top Chef: Washington, D.C., and will feature guest appearances by Nancy Pelosi and Leon Panetta, among others.

Bravo’s press release says Ripert, the chef owner of Le Bernardin in New York City who has appeared on the show before, will be “a regular guest judge” and join judges Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Padma Lakshmi. Toby Young isn’t mentioned and thus is presumably gone; he replaced Ted Allen two seasons ago, and then promised to tone down his harsh criticism during the Las Vegas season.

The press release also announces the 17 contestants and challenge-related guests for Top Chef Washington DC, who include Buzz Aldrin, Nancy Pelosi, White House chef Sam Kass, Joe Scarborough, Senator Mark Warner, Representative Aaron Schock, and CIA Director Leon Panetta. On the challenges that Bravo has revealed, “the chefs take over the concession stands at the Nationals stadium, go inside the CIA’s closely guarded headquarters and literally receive out of this world direction on one challenge from a NASA astronaut orbiting Earth.”




I'm glad that douche Toby Young is gone, but Ripert was like a gigantic pompous ass, as I recall.

[heybrad]

Toby Young added nothing to the show.

[CrimsonFox]

bah; you guys got me excited thinking another season had started. I liked Toby. He was hilarious. I really like it when they are actually hard on the chefs and call them out for bad food, especailly the obnoxious contestants that think they are always awesome. Toby was a great judge. So was Ted. But I extremely dislike Gail. Hope someone replaces her permanently but doubt it will happen. Eric Ripert has been on that show a LOT! Even dressed as Santa Claus. I've kinda skipped the whole masters thing this time as I didn't find it interesting the first time through. Just kinda dull. And the judges/host were all stiffs.