Tournament Of Champions - General Discussion

[Ellee]

😘 @Bastet

Thanks 

[Bastet]

For those who like to know who won before watching, here are the results of the other two match-ups:

Spoiler

Mei beat Shota, by a pretty wide margin (by ToC standards), and Jet beat Adam by two.

 

[DEL901]

29 minutes ago, Bastet said:

For those who like to know who won before watching, here are the results of the other two match-ups:

  Hide contents

Mei beat Shota, by a pretty wide margin (by ToC standards), and Jet beat Adam by two.

 

Spoiler

So, once again Jet is the last man standing. Again.   I hope he wins, but if not, I want Britt to win…I like the idea of the 8th seed taking it.  

 

[Grizzly]

I want a blouse just like Maneet's cooking smock. That's gorgeous.

[roseslg]

Spoiler

So glad Jet won

Adam just rubs me the wrong way. Seems like a total tool. I know chefs have massive egos, but he seems hella obnoxious.

[Bastet]

I was rooting for Britt, since she's the underdog (and a woman) and I have no particular feelings about Jose.  I thought her dish seemed better than his, but was a little nervous about her lack of crunch -- until the judges got to his and he'd failed to cut the secreto properly.  I don't know how an Iron Chef manages to fuck that up, but, if you do at this level, you're going home.  I'm very happy for her!  And loved Maneet and Karen's reaction to her win.  (I would lick my plate clean eating both those dishes, even with the chewy pork on his.)

I didn't know who to root for between Maneet and Karen as I've always liked both of them.  I decided on Karen just because Maneet had already won, but then I wound up liking Maneet's ingredients and presentation more.  They had a tough randomizer.  I don't love any of the ingredients they had to use, so it was more about what else they brought in than how they cooked those assigned things that made one dish more appealing than the other to me.

I like both Mei and Shota; I was rooting for her (I dearly love serious women), but knew I couldn't be disappointed if he won.  (And I'm glad he wore a bandana after sweat was dropping off his face last time; not much grosses me out [people can re-use their tasting spoons all cook long and I don't care one bit], but that does it.)  They got a great randomizer, and those were both beautiful dishes.  But I knew she absolutely nailed it and that 91 was hers, no question.

When it came to Jet vs. Adam, I was 100% Team Jet.  Ever since I found out my mom knows his mother-in-law, I feel like I have to root for him other than against one of my favorites, and Adam is not one of those; I know very little about him or his food, and he bugged me in his last round.  Another great randomizer, but it should have had to be re-spun.  Two great dishes, so I was hoping Jet's flavor (I love nuoc cham!) would put him over the top.

This was one of the rare episodes in which one presenter (in this case, Simon) presented for all four higher-seeded chefs.  It doesn't matter in terms of judging, of course, it just stands out to me when Simon or Justin present three or four of the higher-seeded chefs, since mixing it up two and two is the more common scenario.  (I've been paying attention ever since someone wondered back in season two if Simon always presented the higher-seeded chef's dish.)

The final four is going to be a nail biter, I'm sure.  And, once again, blind judging results in most of the finalists being women.  I wish more competitions would do this.

[susannot]

I really enjoyed the Jet vs. Adam cook-off.  What amazing chefs!  That said, it is amazing that 3 of the final 4 are women which is a result of the blind judging.  I think Maneet will win again against Jet.  Whoo-hoo!

[MerBearHou]

Tough choices with these final 8 — I like them all.

I did not think the word “Nashville” should have been said when describing Maneet’s dish.  That is where she lives — I mean, if I know that, the judges had to know — she mentions alot that Nashville is her hometown now.  Given the rest of her flavors, it had to be obvious to the judges that Maneet was the cook.  

I agree with Bastet — that Jet / Adam randomizer should have been re-spun.  It was a funny moment, but I didn’t think Guy should’ve given in.

Edited April 3, 2023 by MerBearHou

[Ohmo]

26 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Another great randomizer, but it should have had to be re-spun.

My thought on that was that everyone has been saying over and over again that you have to play the game.  Jet's an OG TOCer, and he knows that Guy always plays to the crowd. Jet did the same thing.  I thought it was a clever move.  Who knows? Maybe for TOC V, that will be a wildcard option---audience veto.

This final four works for me. Either another woman wins and that streak continues, or Jet becomes the first man to win.  That seems fitting.

Simon, I beg you. Will you please hide the stuff that Justin puts in his hair?  I'm Team Curls.

My order of preference for an overall winner is Jet, Mei, Britt, Maneet

[mlp]

31 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

I did not think the word “Nashville” should have been said when describing Maneet’s dish.  

I was going to say the same thing and for the same reasons.  I was very surprised that the producers let that go by.  

I think I would have been happy with either Jose or Britt winning.  I like Jose a lot but I also like Britt and her advancement from practically unknown to the top four is a great story.  I think her career will really take off no matter how she finishes now.

I was happy that Maneet beat Karen.  She said once that she orders her chef's coats from India.  They really are gorgeous.

I wanted Shota to win this round because I like him and can't stand Mei Lin but I have to admit that her plate looked better.  

The last round had me holding my breath.  Adam is clearly a great chef but his arrogance is off-putting.  I love Jet and want him to win the whole shebang this year.

Edited April 3, 2023 by mlp

[DEL901]

So….

Year 1 no men in the final 4

Year 2, one guy.  Year 3 2 guys.   Year 4, back to one guy.   

Eta, so, of the four male chefs to make the semi-finals, three of them are Jet, lol. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by DEL901

[MerBearHou]

15 minutes ago, Ohmo said:

My order of preference for an overall winner is Jet, Mei, Britt, Maneet

Weighing in — my order of preference for an overall winner — Jet, Britt, Maneet, Mei.  

[susannot]

19 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

So….

Year 1 no men in the final 4

Year 2, one guy.  Year 3 2 guys.   Year 4, back to one guy.   

Eta, so, of the four male chefs to make the semi-finals, three of them are Jet, lol. 

 

[Stardancer Supreme]

I'm glad I'm not the only one put off by Adam Sobel. I just can't rock with him after being so snarky with Shirley Chung.

Britt is the Dragon Slayer. As awesome as that is, I'm still rooting for Maneet.

If Jet can't take it home, I'll settle for Maneet having 2 belts. 

[Gramto6]

5 minutes ago, Stardancer Supreme said:

I'm glad I'm not the only one put off by Adam Sobel. I just can't rock with him after being so snarky with Shirley Chung.

 

Totally agree, Adam Sobel is so full of himself, I was happy to see him lose!

[Fukui San]

I can't believe in the last round they got away with convincing Guy not to respin. The elements were actually pretty straightforward. Adam Soebel went with almost the most Route 1 approach, seeing "Pork" and "Sweet and Sour" and making Sweet and Sour Pork. Jet's wasn't all that much more creative. These are actually two dishes I have made in the past, just not with the hearts of palm. Lemongrass Chicken (instead of pork) is something I make every week, practically.

The equipment category in this episode was particularly uninspiring. All just differently shaped cooking vessels. And that bamboo whisk.

Wanted to add that the use of microwave Minute Rice in multiple battles now is hilarious given rice's history of screwing people over on Top Chef.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Fukui San

[DEL901]

Other than the last match which was close with  a 2 point win for Jet, all the other matches were 6 or 7 point blowouts iirc.   Interesting.  But even the losers were in the mid 80s.   

[dleighg]

9 hours ago, Ohmo said:

Simon, I beg you. Will you please hide the stuff that Justin puts in his hair?

Seriously, he needs a new hairstyle. That is NOT flattering at all, and it gets more unflattering as he ages.

[dleighg]

10 hours ago, mlp said:

I was happy that Maneet beat Karen.  She said once that she orders her chef's coats from India.  They really are gorgeous

Gorgeous, but a coat that would need to be dry-cleaned (I assume)? It seems an affectation to me.

[Tippi]

I just have a feeling that if Britt beats Maneet, she'll end up being the winner of TOC.  I'd like to see Jet win, but Britt seems to be clicking on all cylinders the way that Tiffani was last year.

 

[JTMacc99]

I have no problem with not doing the complete re-spin. This isn't chopped, where a big part of the competition is "You have  banana pudding, pigs knuckles, sarsaparilla, and Ritz crackers... GO!" 

Both chefs were fine with the randomizer as it was, and they ended up having the closest match. 

Just now, Tippi said:

I just have a feeling that if Britt beats Maneet, she'll end up being the winner of TOC.  I'd like to see Jet win, but Britt seems to be clicking on all cylinders the way that Tiffani was last year.

Certainly a possibility! I don't watch a lot of the other FN competitive cooking shows, so it's really cool to see a tremendously talented person like Britt just pop up on my screen and be every bit the match for all of these other people I already know and respect.

[FormerMod-a1]

Nashville fried chicken is a specific kind of fried chicken so I have no problem with them describing Maneet's dish as Nashville fried because there's no other term for it.  She did the livers like Nashville fried chicken.  I can get Nashville fried here in MN, even.  It really tells you nothing about where the chef is from.

I was surprised and sad Britt beat Jose.  When I looked at the scorecard it seemed all the difference was in the "randomizer" and not taste or plating.  But it was a 3 point difference and that seemed odd since she had undercooked pork and not enough crunch.  Seems like it should have been closer.  I wanted to verify the scorecard breakdown but my google-fu has failed me, and I am at work and can't dedicate all day to it. :P  Also, I'll admit I'm the oddball that doesn't like her that much.  She was better this episode but last week  and prior I found her demeanor to be OTT and "too much" and coming off as fake/unnatural.   I just want Maneet to take her down, though.  I love Maneet and would love for her to take the belt again.  

[meep.meep]

I think Mei is shaping up to win this.  No one else has got a score in the 90s, and she has two.  The scores seem lower than previous seasons.  Mei has the RBF of all time, but her flavors are always on point.

If we can comment on the commercials - are they planning to rerun TruTV's Fast Foodie episodes, or did they actually remake it?  The set looked different to me, but I cannot believe that Justin has recovered from his accident in time to do this.

[dleighg]

23 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

No one else has got a score in the 90s

I thought Maneeet had a score in the 90s in the first round, but I'm too lazy to look it up. I'm not so fond of Maneet myself.

[JTMacc99]

46 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

The scores seem lower than previous seasons. 

Lack of Brooke Williamson and Michael Voltaggio will do that.

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

[Britt] was better this episode but last week  and prior I found her demeanor to be OTT and "too much" and coming off as fake/unnatural. 

I'm not Britt's biggest fan either, but to be fair, most of them come off as a bit fake/unnatural on this show at times. For example, when the judges were coming in during one of the rounds this episode, I believe it was Adam who said "oh, he'll appreciate the bold flavors." Like...first of all, I'm sure most of them would, but also, that's such a weird thing to say in general, and they say a lot of things like that.

They're surely encouraged to amp up their demeanors for this, either by Guy/the producers, or just by the general atmosphere/having seen the show. Some are worse than others, but they all have a bit of a fake veneer to me. It generally works for this show, but it does make me roll my eyes a bit.

Edited to add that this makes me appreciate the moments that do seem spontaneous. Like when Maneet and Karen got the camel's milk and Maneet said "as long as we don't have the actual camel", Karen gave her a little bump and smile that seemed very off the cuff and natural. It was a cute moment.

Edited April 3, 2023 by tracyscott76

[Spicysweet]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I think Mei is shaping up to win this.  No one else has got a score in the 90s, and she has two.  The scores seem lower than previous seasons.  Mei has the RBF of all time, but her flavors are always on point.

If we can comment on the commercials - are they planning to rerun TruTV's Fast Foodie episodes, or did they actually remake it?  The set looked different to me, but I cannot believe that Justin has recovered from his accident in time to do this.

It's reruns. I recognized the episodes and the "stars" in them.

[Mondrianyone]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

I thought Maneeet had a score in the 90s in the first round, but I'm too lazy to look it up. I'm not so fond of Maneet myself.

She did. Maneet also scored a 92.

I like her. We have similar taste in earrings. Which is very important in evaluating a chef.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

Nashville fried chicken is a specific kind of fried chicken so I have no problem with them describing Maneet's dish as Nashville fried because there's no other term for it.  She did the livers like Nashville fried chicken.  I can get Nashville fried here in MN, even.  It really tells you nothing about where the chef is from.

Nashville hot chicken is everyfuckingwhere these days (it seems like I see an ad for a new restaurant/food truck weekly), so, yeah, hearing that would not remotely make me assume the dish was made by a Nashville chef.  Maybe five years ago, but not now.

If I was judging this show, I wouldn't assume in general, trying to guess who the chef might be based on the dish and who I know has competed in the past, because that would be a waste of mental energy -- this isn't Beat Bobby Flay, where he uses signature ingredients in everything he makes; these chefs have famously cooked a variety of cuisines throughout the tournaments.  So my guess would probably be wrong in the first place; better to just relax into the blind judging.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Bastet

[Maverick]

I didn't care for ignoring the respin.  On GGG he's always making up/ignoring rules. Which is fine, it's his show and the randomness is kinda part of it.  But this show is supposed to be in the level and even if it didn't have an impact it still comes off as "Guy does what he wants" with erodes the appearance of a fair competition.  

 I also didn't like Hunter wheeling out mystery ingredients.  They're starting to add wacky hijinks like GGG. 

 At least half the final four isn't repeats this year.  I like Jet but it does get a little boring with the same handful of chefs making it that far.  I'm more convinced that Ode to Britt last week means she wins the whole thing. Either way, I'm sure she'll be added to the FOG rotation. 

[buttersister]

10 minutes ago, Maverick said:

"Guy does what he wants" with erodes the appearance of a fair competition.  

Welcome to TOC. And all things Guy.

[allirish47]

What kind of accident did Justin have...when, etc.?

[MerBearHou]

34 minutes ago, allirish47 said:

What kind of accident did Justin have...when, etc.?

I love Justin.  He had a horrific accident on a boat where he was struck by the propeller -- I think he fell off the boat while trying to retrieve a hat or when the boat hit a big wake.  He was severely, severely injured, including his eye area.  It was in July 2022.  I saw an Instagram with Justin not too long ago and he's come a long way with his healing -- incredible.  

Edited April 3, 2023 by MerBearHou

[Rammchick]

So sad for Shota 😞  But my fingers are crossed for Jet to go all the way this year.

[MerBearHou]

I never watch Chopped, but it was on after the Spring Baking Championship Easter finale tonight so I kept it on.  And there’s Britt (they’re calling her Brittany) competing and Maneet is the judge.  It’s from 2019.   Lots and lots of Britt on FN these days.  

Edited April 4, 2023 by MerBearHou

[HappyDancex2]

If you can get past the bravado of Adam sobel he picked up on game play extremely quickly.  He got a ton of points for randomizer use and seemed to have an idea on parsing what the judges would want.  I’m going to give him credit for cooking Asian food as well.  In this format I would do the same thing.  I’ve been joking with people that I’m making pad Thai for 3 rounds lol.  
 

venison?  Venison pad Thai.  
duck legs?  Duck legs pad thai

He s good TV and he’s got the cred to back up the attitude and it feels authentic to who he is and how he got to the stature that he is.  Loved the back story with jet and them showing how much the battle meant to both of them.

[Daisychain]

On 4/2/2023 at 9:53 PM, DEL901 said:

So….

Year 1 no men in the final 4

Year 2, one guy.  Year 3 2 guys.   Year 4, back to one guy.   

Eta, so, of the four male chefs to make the semi-finals, three of them are Jet, lol. 

I thought I was behind by a week.  Maybe not, since it is 4/4. Anyhoo:  I think there are so many tremendously talented people of both genders in the competition.  I wanted Shota to win because he was amazing on Top Chef, but he didn't - he probs will later, I love him.  More than that, I love all these women Wipe-Out chefs.  This is only achieved in blind judging I think, tell me if I'm wrong.  The judges might be able to tell when it's Maneet, maybe, but they could not tell who Britt was. I love it.

[Daisychain]

8 minutes ago, Daisychain said:

More than that, I love all these women Wipe-Out chefs. 

Shoot, I'm quoting myself - just to be sure to avoid misunderstanding, these women don't wipe out, they slay others.  A lot of women chefs I've been watching for years. 

Query: if you could visit any chef's restaurant you could go to (and of course it depends where you are), what would you choose?  I once went to a Maneet restaurant in Chicago, and as much as I love Indian flavors, we scorched our faces in the appetizer round.  We have been to 3 out of 4 Stephanie Izard restaurants in Chicago.  Universally wonderful. However one, I couldn't hear a thing for the decibels. Thoughts?

 

[eclectcmoi]

8 hours ago, Daisychain said:

Query: if you could visit any chef's restaurant you could go to (and of course it depends where you are), what would you choose?  I once went to a Maneet restaurant in Chicago, and as much as I love Indian flavors, we scorched our faces in the appetizer round.  We have been to 3 out of 4 Stephanie Izard restaurants in Chicago.  Universally wonderful. However one, I couldn't hear a thing for the decibels. Thoughts?

 

I'm in So Cal and would love to go to Antonio Lofaso's Scopa or Brooke Williamson's Playa Provisions.  They're only about 4 miles apart from each other.  Just have to get there! 

[MsNewsradio]

On 4/3/2023 at 10:58 AM, meep.meep said:

I think Mei is shaping up to win this.  No one else has got a score in the 90s, and she has two.  The scores seem lower than previous seasons.  Mei has the RBF of all time, but her flavors are always on point.

If we can comment on the commercials - are they planning to rerun TruTV's Fast Foodie episodes, or did they actually remake it?  The set looked different to me, but I cannot believe that Justin has recovered from his accident in time to do this.

Looking at the first airing episodes, it looks like they are moving at least some of the previous Fast Foodies episodes to Food Network from TruTV. However, it was implied by the announcement on Justin’s instagram that there will also be new episodes. So maybe the repeats are to lure in those who haven’t seen it previously?

Thank god, Justin seems to be making an incredible recovery. I’m sure he’s still got a long road ahead of him, but I know he’s had posts of himself cooking again and he’d been making the rounds for a cookbook he did. Cannot believe how much he has improved since that accident. After hearing about the initial injuries, he’s honestly lucky to be alive.

[buttersister]

Quote

 I once went to a Maneet restaurant in Chicago

I was unaware she had a place here? Currently?

I've been to all of S. Izard's places and love them all. They can be a little noisy (lively?), but everyone is having such a great time (or appear to be;-) I did! Also, great flavors (I like her Tokyo dumpling sauce--WF carrie it).

 

[schnauzergirl]

Never seeing Adam again -- priceless.

[Yeah No]

I'm just catching up today on this show - Either I was asleep when Adam acted like a dick or my standards for dickishness are a little looser than the rest here.  I don't find him any more off-putting than a lot of competitive chefs.  In one way or another they all annoy me and he doesn't stand out as one that annoys me any more than any of the others.  A lot of them have put on that posturing, competitive attitude, and that's just par for the course in an intense competition IMO.  What I have seen from him and everyone seems good natured, not offensive in any way.  So while Adam was not my favorite, I am left scratching my head once again. 

I usually have a pretty good nose for dickishness, too.  I have been watching these cooking competitions for over 20 years since day 1 with the original Iron Chef back in the '90s, so it's not like I'm not aware of what it is.  I think that recently we have seen a lot less of that behavior on these shows in general.  When I rewatch a few of the first seasons of "Top Chef" there's dickishness galore compared to here and now.  I'm still not over Tiffani and her "I'm not your bitch, bitch" and Mei Lin's off putting attitude in her season either.  Karen A., while not offensive to me in any way is not my favorite so I wasn't sad to see her go, although I would have been happy if she won too.  Same with Britt. R.  I love an underdog but I am not rooting for her particularly, and I was a little sad to see some of the people she sent home go.  Unlike so many I was not especially in love with Shota.  He's OK but again, not my favorite, so him losing wasn't a big disappointment to me.

That said, I am rooting for Jet.  I think he's amazing, underrated and a genuinely nice person so I'm in his corner now.   I did not know about Justin's accident - wow that's amazing and I am so happy he's doing so much better now as I love him.  Also, Nashville Hot Chicken is EVERYWHERE now on cooking competitions and elsewhere so I would not expect the judges to immediately identify it as coming from Maneet.

 

[roughing it]

55 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Either I was asleep when Adam acted like a dick or my standards for dickishness are a little looser than the rest here.  I don't find him any more off-putting than a lot of competitive chefs. 

Agreed.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

I'm still not over Tiffani and her "I'm not your bitch, bitch"

She didn't say that, Dave said it to her.  And then Andy Cohen, that jackass, found it so funny he put it on a t-shirt for the Top Chef reunion.  (Tiffani did stuff to criticize that season, no doubt, but insult people for their actions, don't bring their gender [or race, sexual orientation, etc.] into it.  And sure as hell don't put slurs on t-shirts after the fact.)

As I've said before, while I completely understood why most disliked Tiffani in that first TC season, I did not (like her, no, but I didn't dislike her).  And I'm really pleased with how she evaluated herself after that and changed how she interacts with competitors, so I've enjoyed her ever since.

The thing I like most about this series is the blind judging (and how that consistently results in so many more women making it to the finals than is typical in cooking competitions; this show has got to be a chapter in someone's thesis by now), next is - like Top Chef - the caliber of cheftestants, and third is the respect and camaraderie among the competitors.  Just like the last several-plus seasons of TC, there's very little petty posturing going on.  It's nice that someone like Adam, who's mildly obnoxious, is the worst we get.

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

She didn't say that, Dave said it to her.  And then Andy Cohen, that jackass, found it so funny he put it on a t-shirt for the Top Chef reunion.  (Tiffani did stuff to criticize that season, no doubt, but insult people for their actions, don't bring their gender [or race, sexual orientation, etc.] into it.  And sure as hell don't put slurs on t-shirts after the fact.)

As I've said before, while I completely understood why most disliked Tiffani in that first TC season, I did not (like her, no, but I didn't dislike her).  And I'm really pleased with how she evaluated herself after that and changed how she interacts with competitors, so I've enjoyed her ever since.

Oh I know she didn't say it, I was referring to her "bitch, bitch days" because it became identified with her because Dave said it to her.  She was that season's villain, which I know was probably mostly undeserved, but her behavior on screen was pretty unsavory and I know a lot of people still remember that including me.  I don't know anything about the Andy Cohen thing so I can't comment on that.  She does seem to be much nicer and more mature now so that's good but I'm still not a big fan.  I think my point, (which probably got lost) was that I don't just find the male chefs annoying or "dickish" or whatever and that most of these chefs have bugged me for one reason or another at various times.  I just don't dislike any of them enough to want them off my screen and I guess I can't wrap my mind around that, but that's just me.  🤷‍♀️

 

[Daisychain]

23 hours ago, buttersister said:

I was unaware she had a place here? Currently?

I've been to all of S. Izard's places and love them all. They can be a little noisy (lively?), but everyone is having such a great time (or appear to be;-) I did! Also, great flavors (I like her Tokyo dumpling sauce--WF carrie it).

1.  I don't think she's still associated with it - it's called Vermilion and it's apparently transitioned from Indian-Latin to Indian-Chinese, I would say with an emphasis on the Chinese.

2.  I love the original Girl and the Goat but I probably enjoyed the Chinese restaurant (Duck Duck Goat) and the new one, Cabra, more.  During the pandemic we got the Peking Duck kits a couple of times for special occasions.  (You open the bake tray and the head is still there!)

[mlp]

6 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Either I was asleep when Adam acted like a dick or my standards for dickishness are a little looser than the rest here.  I don't find him any more off-putting than a lot of competitive chefs.

I thought he was arrogant (but not with Jet) but I've seen so many young chefs on Chopped who were far more arrogant despite having nowhere near Adam's expertise and credentials that he really didn't annoy me.  I would have been rooting for him if he'd been up against anyone but Jet.

My biggest worry is Mei Lin.  I disliked her all through Top Chef and I don't like her any better now but I know she's darn good so...........  

[kaesawjun]

Xm lh b

[Ohmo]

On 4/3/2023 at 8:04 AM, dleighg said:

Seriously, he needs a new hairstyle. That is NOT flattering at all, and it gets more unflattering as he ages.

Justin's curls are lovely. It's unfortunate that he doesn't think so.