S18.E05: Meet You At The Drive-In

[Tess23]

Hey Maria? Why don't you take a big seat on the self-pity train. Little too much drama right there about being in the middle for what appears to be fairly lackluster food. That said, I know she was a James Beard semi-finalist and I'd happily eat anything she would care to serve me. Just no more whining, please.

Also, talking with sounds as an adult woman is cute for maybe 2 minutes tops, Jamie. Bye.

Those were my only two beefs with what was a really fun episode, and a smart way to have the public involved in judging during a pandemic. Gabriel doesn't even bother me. He's tame compared to previous TC 'villains.'

[mlp]

1 hour ago, Tess23 said:

Gabriel doesn't even bother me. He's tame compared to previous TC 'villains.'

He doesn't bother me either.  Once or twice during the first episode he mentioned that he once worked for Tom, a perfectly natural thing to do IMO, and that somehow made him a bad guy.  On other shows, like Chopped, I see far less accomplished chefs who are far more arrogant.  He tries to assume a leadership role.  That's what he does in real life.  I do understand why the other contestants might resent that or get annoyed with him as they're all executive chefs also but I don't think those things make him a villain.

[albarino]

On 5/1/2021 at 5:50 PM, The Solution said:

I tend to see the complaining about Maria as a means of denigrating her.

Well, this is Primetimer and if you mean we want to belittle her, yes, yes we do.  Wait, I can't speak for everyone, only me.  

If I complain about her, I am not applauding her and her food or demeanor.  I am criticizing her.

[seltzer3]

In all honesty the whole Gabriel/Maria seems kind of overblown.  Since it doesn't really seem like they actually have issues with each other.  Like it was interesting that after the judging they were next to each other laughing (making fun of Sara's stand up).

Also Avishar randomly decides to jump over the firepit. Avishar is such an oddball and I love that he's representing Columbus.

[Lamb18]

On 4/30/2021 at 7:53 PM, albarino said:

This is only me but I have lots of time to think (husband will be home tomorrow after three weeks away) so I am thinking about foods that may have been good for the movie challenge.  I'm not a chef, I don't particularly like to cook but I don't miss a meal.

For Drama, I've been thinking about the Greek (?) Comedy/Tragedy masks and think a sweet/sour sauce would be perfect.  Perhaps with a spring roll to dip into it?

Action?  I keep going back to movement.  Perhaps a lobster claw? Pinch. Pinch?  Wings had already been done but could have worked.  Humor and chicken had zero connection to me.  Oooh, for humor, how about the Duff/Valerie challenge that is a play on food look-alikes?  Something looking sweet which is a savory dish?  That would be cute.  You aren't doing fine dining with this challenge. Only takes me 24 hours to come up with something!  Ha.

Oooh, how about for horror, having a small chicken pot pie or mini muffin tin pie with chicken feet coming out of it?  Or something served with a knife?

Yes, I really have too much time on my hands!  Just sorta fun to ponder.

Speaking of look-alikes, maybe someone could have successfully recreated Mike Isabella's leek dish that he insisted was a protein because it looked a scallop.

Horror - a deep fried eyeball? Not sure how you'd do that, maybe a deep fried Doughboy with an olive for the pupil, it would be creepy.

[Empress1]

On 4/30/2021 at 2:26 PM, Irlandesa said:

I'd probably be the popcorn picker so I might be biased but I believe she added duck skin to her popcorn.  If good and unusual popcorn went up against ribs done in a that didn't feel new or special to me, I could see why she won.  You can have ribs at any time but duck skin popcorn is harder to find.

For the record, it sounds like there was a lot of spice on the outside of the ribs that didn't make it inside of the ribs. 

I think the spice and the fact that eating ribs at the movies/in a car is very messy is what worked against him there. 

On 5/1/2021 at 10:15 PM, Cheyanne11 said:

I thought Padma's movie intros were fun and she really leaned into it!

I loved them. She was clearly laughing at herself, IMO, and went at it cheesily on purpose. 

Those were some sad chicken wings - they looked rubbery from here. I thought "there's no crunch on those wings." Byron's chicken looked crunchy, flavorful, and wasn't there a stick to eat them with? Perfect for car eating. His face when he found out he won $10K was my favorite part of the episode.

Some of the connections to movies/intros of the food were real stretches. "Every mother watches her weight." ... Do they, though?

Edited May 3, 2021 by Empress1

[Fukui San]

I can’t believe I just thought of this.  With her sound effects and the comedy genre, Jamie should’ve done something inspired by Police Academy. A good fancy donut maybe?

[Lassus]

On 5/1/2021 at 8:16 AM, Yeah No said:

that it's somehow OK for a non-white person to refer to someone white by their ethnicity in such a manner, but if the shoe were on the other foot and Gabriel called someone an "Asian boy" or even worse "Black Boy"

This is not the place for the discussion, obviously, but there is an actual difference between Asian, Black, and Italian. 

[Empress1]

On 4/29/2021 at 10:21 PM, susannot said:

Are cauliflower tots and caulflower rice and cauliflower everything really that much lower in calories than their more carby counterparts?  Asking for a friend.

Cauliflower rice is much lower in calories and carbs than white or brown rice - a cup of plain riced cauliflower has about 10% of the calories of a cup of plain cooked white or brown rice. Cauliflower tots would have more calories than riced cauliflower because you're adding stuff to it to give it flavor and make it hold, and then frying it the same way you would tater tots.

[Heathrowe]

I had a hard time connecting with this episode. And it felt like the chefs didn't really get it either? Someone up thread mentioned that maybe they weren't allowed to mention specific movies and I think that must be true because Shota could have tied his scary dog in with Cujo. And Some Like It Hot-you could make any kind of spicy thing.  So there's a few ideas but I was pretty blank while they were cooking about what would be good. And then eating it in the car was a wrinkle. So yuck all round.

Gabriel (our Italian friend, lol) is getting the d-bag edit, but I read an interview with him and he seemed very kind and thoughtful. That said, his cauliflour tots sounded gross. The only foods that I remember from this challenge are the bad ones. There was nothing i wanted to eat this episode. 

Though I just did it as a joke, I generally don't think people should call anyone out by their ethnicity or their appearance. It feels like people from every point in life's rich pageant are figuring this out. And I've really appreciate this board, too-some nice thoughtful conversations here about language used and different biases-again, across the spectrum. It sucks to be marginalized.   

I was sad to see Jamie go but it was time. And it stinks to see someone lose based on listening to the group and not following what they know. I ruthlessly see that as a good reason to go now, though-if you aren't confident enough in what you know, you are probably not ready to be.....Top Chef

I did think Padma did a good job with her intros. Since she launched her own show she seems a lot kinder/less snarky. Maybe she's working on a new brand and toning done the sneering. (I love Padma when she is mean, and I love her when she is nice. I can't help myself.)

Lastly, I am not understanding the hostility toward Maria. I am not seeing all of this drama and making it about herself that people are commenting on - surprised people are being rubbed the wrong way. I think she seems pretty warm and funny. That said, I was not superwowed by her hot dog.

I hope the food is more delicious next week. 

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Heathrowe

[meep.meep]

On 5/3/2021 at 5:51 AM, Lamb18 said:

Speaking of look-alikes, maybe someone could have successfully recreated Mike Isabella's leek dish that he insisted was a protein because it looked a scallop.

Horror - a deep fried eyeball? Not sure how you'd do that, maybe a deep fried Doughboy with an olive for the pupil, it would be creepy.

You could do a Scotch egg!  Hard boiled egg breaded and fried.  Pair it with a spicy red sauce to look like blood.

[I Want My MBTV]

On 5/1/2021 at 6:58 AM, Chyromaniac said:

They talked about how rubber chickens are an old-timey comedy prop, as well as the wings being “funny bones.”  I think if they were better executed, they would have been fine for the theme- Jamie’s problem (besides Gabriel’s meddling) was that she already did a good wing, so she had to do something different this time.

No one forced Jamie to do a chicken wing.  Gabriel asked her "what about chicken?" and she just said "okay, I'll do a wing" or something to that effect.  She didn't say "I don't want to do chicken, or I just did chicken" or why she thought the burger was better, nothing she was like "okay" to me that's not meddling he just asked her a question he didn't say "Do this" (now with the pepper and Dawn that was different as he did say "don't put pepper on it".    If you can't use your words other than in a TH that's on you. 

[blixie]

Quote

why she thought the burger was better, 

I don't disagree that Jamie should have stood up for herself, but she came up with the burger idea on her own she didn't need his dumbass suggestion, he consistently offers his two cents when nobody fucking asked him (tom likes it this way, don't add any pepper, maybe a chicken wing...). Often it's said as a directive not a "suggestion", and given Sarah said he thinks he's the boss I'm pretty sure everyone else there thinks it comes off that way too. Take a seat and STFU Portland Gabe. 

[buttercupia]

super disappointed that 4 women and one african american man have been eliminated so far. 

[MartyQui]

I’m disappointed too, but I feel that for most of the seasons Top Chef has really eliminated chefs based on the quality of their food.

[AriAu]

Quote

super disappointed that 4 women and one african american man have been eliminated so far. 

Although some might argue (despite not tasting the dishes) that the sad looking and unoriginal tots were worse than the poorly cooked and sad looking wings, the other eliminations appeared to be very clear cut and totally justified. I understand how it looks, but maybe those were just the worst dishes of the week-are you disappointed that those cheftestants (regardless of gender or race) just didn't perform or are you advocating that the show allow gender and/or race and/or national origin to factor into the decision?  Personally, remembering that we do not get to taste the food and that under the rules of the game some chefs have immunity/an advantage, I have always felt that while Tom may have his favorites, the judges generally send home the cheftestant that made the worst dish that week, without regard to other factors.

[ree1778]

20 hours ago, blixie said:

 (tom likes it this way, don't add any pepper, maybe a chicken wing...). Often it's said as a directive not a "suggestion",

Personally I find it handy to know what a judge likes and doesn't. Like if I'm new at a job and someone knows how the boss wants things done, I am not opposed to knowing these things ahead of time.

The pepper thing was not him giving directive, at least in my eyes. He agreed that Maria's protein was better, he compromised and let her do everything the way she wanted to.  The only thing he asked was for her not to put pepper in the sauce, because she had already peppered the ribs and he was afraid his coffee wouldn't be able to be tasted if the pepper overpowered the flavor. He didn't say she shouldn't do it because it was a bad recipe choice or because she didn't know what she was doing, he simply wanted his flavors to be sure to come through. Maria was the one who who rolled her eyes and snapped that she was going to cook the way she knew was right. It bothered me because I feel like he had a right to have himself represented in the dish also. It was supposed to be their dish, not her dish.

The chicken wing? That I'm not sure. The slider sounds like a better food choice to me. However, again while he sounded dismissive it didn't sound like an order to me. Jamie should've just said, "Nope, I already did a wing. I'd like to do a slider, I can make it work!"

 

[Rai]

Gabriel was paired with Dawn, not Maria, on the coffee/beer challenge. He and Maria argued over leaving thyme stems on the plate in the very first Quickfire, where he said "Tom does that," and Maria responded "Okay, but WE don't have to," which was exactly right in my mind.

The fact that at least three different people -- three WOC, no less -- have mentioned or demonstrated Gabriel can rub people the wrong way does indicate to me that his personality is an issue at the very least. He's the common denominator here, so yeah, it's fair to assume that he can be difficult and condescending, both of which have been apparent in my viewings. Again, reactions are subjective, but he hasn't done anything to earn the benefit of the doubt on my end.

And it's interesting to note that the only chef who has gone along with his suggestion so far was the one chopped. The other two stood up to him, and their combined dishes were strong contenders for the wins at the end.

Basically, people can't have it both ways. You can't ding Maria and Dawn for refusing to incorporate his suggestions and then ding Jaime for not standing up to him. If it's fine for him to "suggest" directions, then it's also fine for those suggestions to be rejected.

[Ms.Lulu]

On 5/5/2021 at 1:55 PM, buttercupia said:

super disappointed that 4 women and one african american man have been eliminated so far. 

I think the cast is great this year. And it is more representative of the US population than ever before.   There are 8 men and 7 women. And there are 4 European Caucasians (Gabriel, Sasha, Sara and Brittany) out of 15 cheftestants.. 

I expect that the double elimination will shift things considerably today--I suspect there may be 2 men going tonight. 🙂

[BluBarbi98]

On 4/29/2021 at 10:34 PM, avecsans said:

I would totally watch a show with Gregory, Kwame and Melissa. They are fun, interesting judges.   Pretty sure Tom was stoned during the drive in challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

The returning cheftestants as judges have been a delight this season. I hope Top Chef keeps inviting them. 

[Macbeth]

On 4/29/2021 at 9:18 PM, bosawks said:

I can’t believe Tater Tot didn’t get the boot.

I can.  Didn't Gabriel work in one of Tom's restaurants?  He should have gone home for that bs, but for me, I always thought the judging on this show is jacked.  So here we are.

 

On 5/10/2021 at 2:18 PM, BluBarbi98 said:

The returning cheftestants as judges have been a delight this season. I hope Top Chef keeps inviting them. 

This has been the most positive aspect of the show this season for me.  I love Melissa, Gregory and Kwame.  

But then there's Richard.  Massive sigh.