S18.E06: Stumptown U.S.A.

[susannot]

I really loved this episode.  The Oregon scenery was spectacular.    I have never been to Oregon and now i so want to go there,  I did not realize that there were so many tribes in Oregon. It was so great to see that the tribes loved the chefs' preparation of their food.  The tribal elder's prayer was very moving.

Enjoyed my hometown fave Avishar's interaction with a tribal elder:  "How would you cook these ingredients?"  A:  You're in a chef competition.  Show us what you got!"  And he did, they loved the sturgeon and venison.  (I think it was venison.  Not sure.)

Sara and Shota were too cute for words.  Team Tiny Fish.  

[buttersister]

I enjoyed watching this one. A respectful introduction to an indigenous people through their food history and culture (a favorite thing), some very creative dishes, Gabriel won’t be condescending to women chefs on my TV again, Padma looked amazing at the Quickfire, and no food fuckery. The stumps? Feh. There must be a producer responsible for goofball stuff.

Native Gabriel saying he’d never have experienced this without the show wasn’t a big surprise. Not where he got his inspiration from, so not on his radar. Perhaps he’ll take away a broader perspective and meet new people he can tell he used to work for Tom.

[ChiefWiggum9-1-2]

I long for the days of when when Top Chef was about cooking and not about “personalities.” That was the ONE thing this show had over all others. Now, the producers stock the contestants with indecisive, ineffectual people who can only cook one type of food, no matter the challenge, but as long as they smile and can tell a joke, the fans just love them. 
 

Padma: Next week on Top Chef, we change things up a little . . . Maria makes a molé!

[cameron]

15 hours ago, rlc said:

I just read all the replies, and I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked! No one has mentioned Tom’s hat!

That is all.

I been waiting for that.  He looks like a dork with that hat.  Producers get him a better hat.  He trying to give Michael Voltaggio a run for the money on who wears those hats the best.

Edited May 8, 2021 by cameron

[couchcelery]

Loved this episode. Got some tips for mushrooms and it was fun to see how the chefs interpreted the unusual EC pairings. 

But most of all, learning about the culture and cuisine was very interesting. I'm currently watching Top Chef France where the level of cooking makes contestants from other countries look like total amateurs ( + their judges /guest judges are usually Michelin 3 stars - they had Pierre Gagnaire come to judge soup!) but the lack of diversity is quite jarring. I'm appreciating the wide range of different cuisines and influences the cast of this show provides, and how the production is trying to incorporate more diversity this season. I know it's a cooking competition and it should focus on cooking, but I'm also grateful for the exposure to something more so I can broaden my horizons.

[NYCFree]

1 hour ago, ChiefWiggum9-1-2 said:

I long for the days of when when Top Chef was about cooking and not about “personalities.” That was the ONE thing this show had over all others. Now, the producers stock the contestants with indecisive, ineffectual people who can only cook one type of food, no matter the challenge, but as long as they smile and can tell a joke, the fans just love them. 
 

Padma: Next week on Top Chef, we change things up a little . . . Maria makes a molé!

While Gabe has very clearly said he wants to showcase Mexican food, and Shota mainly has Japan as a culinary focus both have created dishes (Shota with Sara) that Tom has specifically said he never would have thought to create. For Gabe it was plums with meat gravy and for Shota and Sara it was rabbit covered in smelt. So even though chefs may have a culinary point of view, they are very adroitly adapting extremely well to the challenges and creating fantastic food.

There are other examples, I just wrote up the two that came most to mind. Literally the only person shown to be indecisive is Jaime. A couple of the chefs have expressed self doubt, but that happens every year; in a year when restaurants were closed by the thousands and chefs lives were in turmoil, I think some more angst than normal is to be expected. No need to be so dismissive of these talented chefs and the fans of the show.

[ChiefWiggum9-1-2]

Time and time again, female chefs complain to the camera that they disagree with other teammates, but then back down to keep the peace. Maria railed against Gabriel because he was assertive, however she backed down in this episode about the amount of her molé. And what did the judges say? There should have been more molé. You can’t complain about assertiveness when she herself should have exhibited some herself. If you believe in your dish, fight for it, don’t back down. 

[Mellowyellow]

I am absolutely gutted for Gabriel. Unlike almost everyone else here I really like him. He just strikes me as someone who is very intense and takes everything super seriously. Really glad he at least won $10,000.

Sarah and Shota are the cutest little munchkins who can cook! But not as cute as Avishar who I find adorable and seems like such a fun guy to be around.

I totally missed the whole "hen of the woods" mushroom and spent the first part of the Quick fire wondering why the heck everyone was cooking chicken. What was wrong with them and why were they all defaulting to chicken in a mushroom challenge? 😅

 

[weixiaobao]

Like usual, a lot of self projection of the posters on the people on screen.  But then again, even the most lovable people like Shirley Chung had her own haters (for the weirdest of reasons) so of course that magnify 20x for someone like Gabriel.  One thing is for sure, without him, there would be way less tension in the first few episodes.  In season past, there are seasons where everyone are lovely (probably molded by the backlashes of other contestants in season past), and some viewers had complained how boring those seasons were.  We are in the 18th seasons.  Gone are the contestants that said "I am not here to make friends."  People, by now, know winning isn't everything.  Asked Hosea, Nicholas Elmi and the likes.  And losing isn't all that bad.  Ask Carla, Fabio, and the likes.  But the image on screen is everything.  Tiffani Faison and Dale Talde learned it the hard way. 

 

The things you see on screen is but a fraction of the overall time a contestant spent on this competition.  And the competition is but a very tiny fraction of their overall resume and personal stories.  The only thing that is constant is that we are always prejudices as h***.  But now, there is even a new breed who rambling about it all about personality now and not the cooking (see a post above).  The same sort of folks who think Dawn shouldn't have won in the pan African challenge and Brittanny shouldn't have gone home for the same challenge.  These same critics are so blinded by their own identity politics to the point not knowing their very own personal opinion is colored by their own bias.  Maybe, just maybe, Dawn did make the best dish of the night.  And why should there be any doubt of that when she is consistently making wonderful food even when the challenges aren't even in her wheel house?  REALLY REALLY loving this season so far.

 

There is a moment in this episode where I got nervous.  In which someone ask the host about how they would prefer a dish layout would be.  But the host correctly pointing out that the contestants are chefs and they should do whatever they need to do to honor the food.  And I am glad for that.  Or else, many of the dishes tonight would not have worked out well.  The best thing about this season is that there isn’t one or a few dominant.  Almost everyone shine at one point or another.  Feeling like Avishar maybe the best performed contestant that worked with Wylie Dufresne.  Even Wylie, himself, didn’t do all that hot on Top Chef Master.

Edited May 8, 2021 by weixiaobao

[Msample]

I think the cast this season is one of the more interesting ones ; less preaning and self promotion than in the past. Or people that deliberately tried to get noticed as much as possible. Its a fairly grounded group. 

We also seem to be getting less Blaise than in earlier episodes. Thank god. 

[Rai]

I admit I had some trepidation about how this episode would be received given the weird divisiveness of the pan-African challenge. I personally love a good Top Chef surf and turf challenge because there's usually an interesting twist, and making all the turfs game-based was a fun concept. However, making it be a double elimination did feel a little unfair, especially in a season where everyone's a little more isolated and with free time on their hands as is. And the food all seemed good! So I really didn't expect Gabriel to go home this early, irritation toward him aside. And yet, here we are. 

I'm relived though because I totally thought it could be Avishar and Chris given their uneven performances so far, and just in terms of entertainment, Avishar is definitely a favorite for me. I really didn't think Maria and Byron were in any danger though, despite the fake out of putting them in the bottom.

This is indeed a very pleasant cast overall, so yeah, compared to other "villains," Gabriel was pretty mild*. What bugged me about him is how he issued his suggestions. They came off as commands, but when everyone's an executive chef or an owner of their business, the ability and right to command will be challenged. Moreover, for all Maria and Dawn told him straight up they weren't taking his advice, they never told him how HE should cook, at least not what we saw. They just said "no" to his demands when he issued them. So I'd say that's why his personality wasn't the best fit with the cast. It seems clear that they were all able to find some friendly ground, but you can enjoy someone's company socially and not want to work with them.

Bummed for Nelson and his injury. Sometimes Top Chef really promotes unhealthy working habits ("just work through the pain!") and I hope his knee is doing better.

 

*But then again, it baffles me that Lisa Fernandes from season 4 is considered one of the worst villains EVER. Half the time, people in the cast seemed to like her. Dale hating her doesn't say a damn thing because he was pretty obnoxious himself. So. YMMV.

[The Solution]

This episode felt a little rushed to me. Maybe it's just that I'm bored in general and would have liked to see more of the background and preparation this week. I seriously don't dislike any of the contestants this season and that's a new sensation for me.

That being said, Maria's goodbye to Gabriel was one of my favorite moments this season. It showed both her spiciness and her tenderness and it really seemed liked Gabriel is fond of her as well.

Best wishes to Nelson.

[staphdude]

On 5/7/2021 at 7:19 PM, catrice2 said:

This amuses me. How do you know she is finger pointing, etc. any more than anyone else? It kills me how everyone thinks they know people from highly edited footage of a show on people they've never met.   

Gabriel may be confident and tries to speak with authority, but some of these people come in from running their own restaurants. I am sure it is hard for them to move away from directing people.   

I am also sure this environment leads people to have self doubt and be more emotive than usual. 

This amuses me. As mentioned this is the edited version of these people and so Maria’s edit it rather focused on complaining. I don’t know her and don’t claim to but what is presented is rather whiny. That’s the nature of these shows...

[Thumper]

Somehow I don’t know who Byron is!  I remember Maria, and they were partners. Hmmm ... might know his face but not by name.

[Yeah No]

16 hours ago, ChiefWiggum9-1-2 said:

I long for the days of when when Top Chef was about cooking and not about “personalities.” That was the ONE thing this show had over all others. Now, the producers stock the contestants with indecisive, ineffectual people who can only cook one type of food, no matter the challenge, but as long as they smile and can tell a joke, the fans just love them. 

I think Top Chef has always been about personalities in addition to cooking.  In early seasons we had strong and difficult personalities like Tiffani, Dale and Howie.  There were also annoying personalities like Marcel, Stefan, Mike Isabella, Jamie Lauren and Hosea.  Then we had the TV fame wannabes like Blais, Carla Hall, Fabio, Antonia and Spike.  I have noticed more chefs in later seasons that tend to only cook one type of food in many of the challenges, though, but I wouldn't call them "indecisive and ineffectual" either.  Maybe they're just a little less full of themselves, which I kind of like.  I think Gabriel's only issue is that he came off as a little too full of himself compared to the rest of the cast this season.  Meanwhile compared to earlier seasons he wouldn't look so bad at all.

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, Thumper said:

Somehow I don’t know who Byron is!  I remember Maria, and they were partners. Hmmm ... might know his face but not by name.

[seltzer3]

The early seasons were way more focused on personalities than on food.  Especially like season 2, where like majority of the contestants really suck at cooking (and the highlight of the season was the head shaving incident).  When you have a restaurant wars, and the judges are like both of you teams suck and there is no winner (crushed oreos or watermelon gnocchi for dessert?).  That's pretty bad.  Or add a pastry chef that sucks at making desserts, or a contestant that can't cook rice, or oversalts food, or made a cheeto stuck in chocolate as an amuse bouche.

I think for chefs to be competing during Covid (where the restaurant industry has been crashing on the rocks), I think its natural for there to be tension and the prize money is probably a lot more life changing.  So its actually been kind of amazing the minimal amount of conflict between the chefs.

It was interesting though that both Sara and Shota were making jokes about Gabriel being bossy in the car though.  I think Gabriel is just kind of awkward.

 

[albarino]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

I think Top Chef has always been about personalities in addition to cooking.  In early seasons we had strong and difficult personalities like Tiffani, Dale and Howie.  There were also annoying personalities like Marcel, Stefan, Mike Isabella, Jamie Lauren and Hosea.  Then we had the TV fame wannabes like Blais, Carla Hall, Fabio, Antonia and Spike. 

ITA.  I love Top Chef but now look at it wondering who will be the next fresh face on the Food Network. So many of them have become quite successful on that network.  I feel like I turn around and say to my husband "That guy (gal) was on Top Chef."  I like the rise of Chef personalities; don't get me wrong, it is fun to see them, just like it is fun for me to see prior contestants so heavily featured on this version of Top Chef.

[Ellee]

Gabriel.  Does anyone wonder if the feelings about him have more to do with how TPTB played up that he knew Tom or worked for Tom or something?   That definitely had to affect the way ‘he acted’ and the way the others perceived him.   There is enough pressure on the chefs.  

I have a feeling that if we see more of the real Gabriel chances are he will be a totally different person. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

10 hours ago, seltzer3 said:

It was interesting though that both Sara and Shota were making jokes about Gabriel being bossy in the car though.  I think Gabriel is just kind of awkward.

 

Jamie during the drive in episode made the talking head comment that "Nobody wanted to work with Gabriel". That combined with what I quoted above and Maria's asshole comment makes me think there was a general dislike of Gabriel, or at least of being teamed with him.

[Calamity Jane]

4 hours ago, Ellee said:

Gabriel.  Does anyone wonder if the feelings about him have more to do with how TPTB played up that he knew Tom or worked for Tom or something?   That definitely had to affect the way ‘he acted’ and the way the others perceived him.   There is enough pressure on the chefs.  

I have a feeling that if we see more of the real Gabriel chances are he will be a totally different person. 

A good friend and her husband went to “snot on a rock” Philip’s restaurant (from the California season) while that season was still airing. He got a pretty rough edit that season. My friend didn’t know anything about him, and said he was completely charming and funny when he came out to talk to diners, and even joked about how bad he looked on the show. And she said the food was really, really good.

So it’s worth bearing in mind that reality tv can distort personalities and situations. I didn’t mind Gabriel at all after I realized how mild his transgressions were compared with other seasons’ villains. 

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

That combined with what I quoted above and Maria's asshole comment makes me think there was a general dislike of Gabriel, or at least of being teamed with him.

I suspect it's the latter.  We've heard comments from several different people about his attitude, and seen plenty to explain why they - especially the women since he chefsplains (TM Dawn) differently to them than the men - wouldn't want to work with him.  Nelson, in saying he's fine with being paired up with the Gabriel no one else wanted, said he knows everyone or most of them (I don't remember which) thinks Gabriel is arrogant, but he's good with him.  So, while that could mean they find him arrogant in general, and don't particularly care for him - and, indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them aren't exactly itching to spend time with Gabriel socially once it's safe to do so - I get the sense they were fine with him during their communal time back at the hotel, and liked and respected other aspects of his personality, they just didn't appreciate his way of interacting with them in the competitions.

[marybennet]

I hear Maria's "asshole" comment as thoroughly affectionate, the way you can be about a friend you are terrifically fond of who nevertheless in some circumstances can be difficult.  Part of caring about that person is telling them that you know who they are and like them anyway.

[JenMcSnark]

On 5/8/2021 at 4:28 AM, cameron said:

I been waiting for that.  He looks like a dork with that hat.  Producers get him a better hat.  He trying to give Michael Voltaggio a run for the money on who wears those hats the best.

He looked like he had a random dog sweater on his head.  Who wore it better?  The dog.

Edited May 10, 2021 by JenMcSnark
typo

[Mmazeo]

Let’s be honest...an intense, straight, white man is probably not going to be popular amongst the fans and some of the other chefs. Unfortunate because he seemed like a good guy, real talented too. Did not deserve to go here. 

[NYCFree]

23 hours ago, Mmazeo said:

Let’s be honest...an intense, straight, white man is probably not going to be popular amongst the fans and some of the other chefs. Unfortunate because he seemed like a good guy, real talented too. Did not deserve to go here. 

Let’s really be honest....intense straight white men have been fan favorites, popular amongst the other contestants and winners several times over the years. Harold Dieterle, Sam Talbot, both Voltaggio brothers, Fabio, Kevin Gillespie, Isaac Toups, to name just a few.

Tom Colicchio, Eric Ripert, High Acheson, Anthony Bourdain (R.I.P) are intense, straight white male judges who are loved by the fans and world famous chefs.

Intense straight white men have dominated the world of Michelin starred restaurants for decades.

If an intense straight white man is not popular on this show it’s because he has some unlikeable characteristics OTHER than his race and sexual orientation.

What an amazing excuse for no self reflection “I’m really fantastic, it’s just that I’m a straight white man and others are biased against me.” 

Edited May 14, 2021 by NYCFree

[watchingtvaddict]

On 5/9/2021 at 12:44 AM, Mellowyellow said:

I am absolutely gutted for Gabriel. Unlike almost everyone else here I really like him. He just strikes me as someone who is very intense and takes everything super seriously. Really glad he at least won $10,000.

Sarah and Shota are the cutest little munchkins who can cook! But not as cute as Avishar who I find adorable and seems like such a fun guy to be around.

I totally missed the whole "hen of the woods" mushroom and spent the first part of the Quick fire wondering why the heck everyone was cooking chicken. What was wrong with them and why were they all defaulting to chicken in a mushroom challenge? 😅

 

Same! My husband told me I had my own Chicken of the Sea: Jessica Simpson moment 😂😂😂

[Macbeth]

On 5/6/2021 at 10:28 PM, avecsans said:

I like Nelson but I was willing to sacrifice him in the service of pykag-ing Gabriel.

Same here.  Gabriel was a non-starter for me when I learned he was one of Tom's former cooks. He should never have been let on the show given his connection to Tom.  Tom can't be objective.  He worked for Tom so his cooking skills should be on point.  

Shocked.  Shocked I was when Gabriel won the mushroom talent.  Of course Tom loved his dish, he knows how Tom likes his mushrooms cooked.  And of course Tom said he had the best meat of the night.  Tom knew he was being eliminated - but he still wanted it out there that his former cook was a very good cook.  

I don't think Tom was hoping he would win the competition.  He might just have wanted to give a former employee a helping hand.  But this is the core of the problem.  You get in due to who you know and not your own skill.  You're a legacy candidate.  So he had a automatic head start over the other chefs.   

I think that Gabriel became a liability to Tom given the clashes he kept having with the WOC chefs.  It's not a good sign when no chef wants to pair up with your former employee.

I really loved last season.  But Gabriel's inclusion in this season really soured me on the show.  I hope he's gone for good.

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Macbeth

[Yeah No]

On 5/14/2021 at 8:12 AM, NYCFree said:

If an intense straight white man is not popular on this show it’s because he has some unlikeable characteristics OTHER than his race and sexual orientation.

Not necessarily.  In this group, he's in the minority.  In my experience people tend to single you out for dislike based on your race even when the tables are reversed.  Case in point, I felt hate and prejudice simply because I was a white girl growing up in the Bronx.  And I did absolutely nothing to deserve it.  Plus I didn't personally see what some are assuming were Gabriel's unlikable qualities.  I've watched enough reality TV to cast a skeptical eye on any edit that has to try that hard to make someone look bad.

8 hours ago, Macbeth said:

Same here.  Gabriel was a non-starter for me when I learned he was one of Tom's former cooks. He should never have been let on the show given his connection to Tom.  Tom can't be objective. 

I agree with you if only because his connection to Tom made him unable to get an even break.  If he won a challenge, people would assume that his connection to Tom gave him an unfair advantage.  If he lost, people would assume he must be really bad because he worked for Tom so he should be much better.  I don't think Tom would appreciate people thinking he couldn't be objective so I wonder why he would agree to allowing Gabriel on the show.  I would think they would all know better that even just on appearances it wouldn't look good to at least part of the audience.

[NYCFree]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

Not necessarily.  In this group, he's in the minority.  In my experience people tend to single you out for dislike based on your race even when the tables are reversed.  Case in point, I felt hate and prejudice simply because I was a white girl growing up in the Bronx.  And I did absolutely nothing to deserve it.  Plus I didn't personally see what some are assuming were Gabriel's unlikable qualities.  I've watched enough reality TV to cast a skeptical eye on any edit that has to try that hard to make someone look bad.

I simply don’t buy that all the chefs who have said they don’t want to work with Gabriel are doing so because he is a white male. The same chefs have not expressed reservations about working with Sara. 
I’ve also grown up in NYC and have been the “minority” white person in schools and the workforce and frankly I’ve never experienced group animosity such as you’ve described. I’m not saying you didn’t experience it, but it’s simply not so universal to be expected as a given.

I am assuming that when the chefs express a dislike of working with Gabriel they are not all racist man haters, but rational people who can assess their colleagues.

[Yeah No]

40 minutes ago, NYCFree said:

I simply don’t buy that all the chefs who have said they don’t want to work with Gabriel are doing so because he is a white male. The same chefs have not expressed reservations about working with Sara. 
I’ve also grown up in NYC and have been the “minority” white person in schools and the workforce and frankly I’ve never experienced group animosity such as you’ve described. I’m not saying you didn’t experience it, but it’s simply not so universal to be expected as a given.

I am assuming that when the chefs express a dislike of working with Gabriel they are not all racist man haters, but rational people who can assess their colleagues.

Who are "all the chefs" that said that?  I don't take Maria's word for it that no one wanted to work with him but given what she's said to him and about him in the past she may be a shit stirrer that wants to make someone she feels threatened by look bad.  Wouldn't be the first one on this show or any TV competition that I've seen do that.  Plus even if people didn't want to work with him because he's particular or assertive doesn't necessarily make him a dick or an asshole.  That's all a matter of perspective.  He may be a very nice person but doesn't work according to the criticizer's style or is just used to being in charge.  And the criticizer may be assuming things about him that are not true or fair. 

And no, nothing is universal but my point was that it is still possible for a white male to be trashed based on being a white male.  It doesn't have to be because he's a dick and deserves it, which is what it sounded to me like you were saying.  I don't automatically assume that anyone is necessarily a rational person that can assess their colleagues, especially Maria.

Edited May 17, 2021 by Yeah No

[NYCFree]

At least Jamie, María and, I believe Dawn have expressed they didn’t want to work with Gabriel. I think there were others but I can’t remember specifics. When at least a quarter of your colleagues don’t want to work with you, there is usually a reason why.

My first post on this topic was responding to another post that said the only reason Gabriel was disliked was because he was an intense white man and therefore destined to be disliked by the other contestants and fans. I pointed out all the successful and popular intense white male contestants, judges and chefs as showing that was a spurious argument to make.

While it is possible for a white guy to be disliked solely because he’s a white guy, that has simply not been the history of this show or the world of chefdom.  
 

[Yeah No]

5 minutes ago, NYCFree said:

At least Jamie, María and, I believe Dawn have expressed they didn’t want to work with Gabriel. I think there were others but I can’t remember specifics. When at least a quarter of your colleagues don’t want to work with you, there is usually a reason why.

My first post on this topic was responding to another post that said the only reason Gabriel was disliked was because he was an intense white man and therefore destined to be disliked by the other contestants and fans. I pointed out all the successful and popular intense white male contestants, judges and chefs as showing that was a spurious argument to make.

While it is possible for a white guy to be disliked solely because he’s a white guy, that has simply not been the history of this show or the world of chefdom.  
 

I personally don't think Tom would want to work with a guy if he were anywhere near as much of a dick or an asshole as Maria has made him out to be, nor would he want to have him on the show either.  I don't see Tom as the type that would put up with that garbage for one minute.  So that's one big reason why I turn a side eye to what's been said about him.  Maria all by herself may have given him a bad reputation among the group so that's why most of them wanted to avoid him.  It may not be because of any first hand experience with him whatsoever.  As it turns out, if his partner in his last challenge had listened to his advice they would both still be here.  If he was that much of a dick he would never have given the guy a heads up about his potential mistake.  But some people interpret that kind of advice as disrespect or being an asshole.  Meanwhile he was nothing but professional and trying to do both of them a favor.  I'm just not seeing what has been said about him.  I need to see the evidence.  Again, I've watch too many reality TV shows not to know that this is the oldest trick in the book.  Create drama and smear a person's character when they've done nothing wrong, just based on what others have said about them.  If what he had done was that bad I'm sure the show would have shown us some of it.  When someone hands them drama they never waste it.

[vibeology]

8 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I personally don't think Tom would want to work with a guy if he were anywhere near as much of a dick or an asshole as Maria has made him out to be, nor would he want to have him on the show either.  I don't see Tom as the type that would put up with that garbage for one minute.

The way someone treats their boss is probably not the way they treat their peers or their competition. He could have been perfectly respectful of Tom but certainly had a few occasions where he talked over his female competitors.

The whole show is heavily edited so we can never know but I wouldn't use that his boss liked him as a pass for how he treats everyone he works with.

[Yeah No]

20 minutes ago, vibeology said:

The way someone treats their boss is probably not the way they treat their peers or their competition. He could have been perfectly respectful of Tom but certainly had a few occasions where he talked over his female competitors.

The whole show is heavily edited so we can never know but I wouldn't use that his boss liked him as a pass for how he treats everyone he works with.

I can't agree with that either.  Knowing what a teamwork environment a kitchen is I doubt how they get along with their peers is not factored into the equation by a boss and I'm sure that wouldn't be overlooked by Tom.

[NYCFree]

I’ve never filed a HR complaint about a co-worker, but I know with whom I’d prefer working. I know who I consider sexist, a loud mouth, a gossip, a procrastinator, etc. I don’t know how my former principal would know, or even care what I think. That doesn’t mean the person isn’t sexist, a procrastinator, etc. My former principal cared solely about a teacher’s Regents’ pass rate (NYer you know what I’m talking about).

We are getting into ridiculous minutia here. Some people feel that Gabriel is so great, the only reason people must be against him is due to their unfair prejudices. Others feel that there is evidence that perhaps he would not be great to work with, other than his race and gender.

Edited May 17, 2021 by NYCFree

[akr]

10 minutes ago, NYCFree said:

We are getting into ridiculous minutia here. Some people feel that Gabriel is so great, the only reason people must be against him is due to their unfair prejudices. Others feel that there is evidence that perhaps he would not be great to work with, other than his race and gender.

Agreed. I don't get the impression Gabriel is terrible to work with, just not everybody's first choice. Somebody's going to be the last pick even when all of the choices to pick are pretty good. I'd have been more worried about being paired up with someone who's been a bit hit or miss in their culinary judgment - under these weird cooking conditions, of course, as they're all evidently very successful in real life - or whose preferences about what and how to cook didn't match up well with mine.   

Edited May 17, 2021 by akr

[FormerMod-a1]

If you want to talk about the cheftestents in general (as opposed to how they did in this specific episode) please take that to the Chefs/Cheftestent thread.  Thank you. :-)

[Rai]

Nelson noted that a lot of people didn't want to work with Gabriel but that he, Nelson, personally didn't have a problem with Gabriel. So if all the female chefs are unreliable somehow in noting they/people don't want to work with Gabriel, a guy said it too.

[Yeah No]

8 hours ago, Rai said:

Nelson noted that a lot of people didn't want to work with Gabriel but that he, Nelson, personally didn't have a problem with Gabriel. So if all the female chefs are unreliable somehow in noting they/people don't want to work with Gabriel, a guy said it too.

I'll have to go watch it again, but I thought Nelson gave the impression in that talking head that he didn't have a problem with Gabriel because he preferred to go by his personal experience with him and not what others were saying about him.  Which lead me to believe that one or two people were talking down about Gabriel and the others were avoiding him based on their opinion, not on their own personal experience with him.

[Rai]

I think we're saying the same thing about Nelson's approach here. In contrast to what other people had said, Nelson didn't have a problem with Gabriel. He still noted that other people had a problem working with Gabriel and seemed aware that he didn't have a popular partner. I don't have an issue with how that came to be, whether it was some influencing others, or if everyone just doesn't enjoy Gabriel's methods. At the root of it, Nelson noted the tension around Gabriel and said he didn't feel similarly. But he still was aware of the vibe.

[ratgirlagogo]

I was pleased to see a challenge based on foodstuffs native to this area and familiar to the original inhabitants of the area.  I wish, however, that the show had focused a little bit on the weird anomaly that is meat consumption in North America. I don't mean that it's weird to consume meat - I mean that almost all of the meat consumed in North and South America is from animals that are not native to this hemisphere.  We could be eating bison, antelope, elk, deer, grouse,  etc. - and yet we are eating European cattle, pigs,  and sheep (and goats if you are Mexican/Caribbean etc), chickens and geese (either European or Asian).  Much of the territory of both continents has been terraformed to better allow these non-native species to thrive.  Of course this is also true of much of our vegetable and grain consumption as well.

The only native food I can think of that makes up a significant part of the American diet that hasn't been replaced by non-native species would be seafood, and freshwater fish/shellfish also I guess.  But overfishing has lessened that.

Edited May 19, 2021 by ratgirlagogo

[FormerMod-a1]

Don't forget about tomatoes, potatoes, and turkey.

[carrps]

4 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

Don't forget about tomatoes, potatoes, and turkey.

And corn (maize).

[Mmazeo]

On 5/14/2021 at 7:12 AM, NYCFree said:

Let’s really be honest....intense straight white men have been fan favorites, popular amongst the other contestants and winners several times over the years. Harold Dieterle, Sam Talbot, both Voltaggio brothers, Fabio, Kevin Gillespie, Isaac Toups, to name just a few.

Tom Colicchio, Eric Ripert, High Acheson, Anthony Bourdain (R.I.P) are intense, straight white male judges who are loved by the fans and world famous chefs.

Intense straight white men have dominated the world of Michelin starred restaurants for decades.

If an intense straight white man is not popular on this show it’s because he has some unlikeable characteristics OTHER than his race and sexual orientation.

What an amazing excuse for no self reflection “I’m really fantastic, it’s just that I’m a straight white man and others are biased against me.” 

We’re simply in different times right now than even 2 years prior. Gabriel had no unlikeable characteristic unless confidence counts as that?  Yet many on here and some sentiment from the other chefs was negative in tone towards him. 

[Nordly Beaumont]

14 minutes ago, Mmazeo said:

Gabriel had no unlikeable characteristic

Some people thought he did. And that's okay. Some people like a chef, some people don't. That's always been true in these forums. 

[Yeah No]

11 hours ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

Some people thought he did. And that's okay. Some people like a chef, some people don't. That's always been true in these forums. 

Of course, but this situation is not typical.  The impression some of us have gotten is that the reason they didn't like him is influenced by their own form of bias and prejudice, pure and simple.   And to his credit, Nelson wasn't going to buy into that.  It speaks to his character, IMHO.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Yeah No

[chabelisaywow]

On 5/14/2021 at 5:12 AM, NYCFree said:

Harold Dieterle, Sam Talbot, both Voltaggio brothers, Fabio, Kevin Gillespie, Isaac Toups, to name just a few.

Sam Talbot didn’t want to be “that guy” and he was. I always preferred Bryan Voltaggio who was not as cocky and kind of quiet compared to the douchey Voltaggio. In fairness, the douchey Voltaggio looks like he’s going through some stuff lol when he appears on Guy’s Grocery Games. 
 

 

 

[tljgator]

11 hours ago, chabelisaywow said:

In fairness, the douchey Voltaggio looks like he’s going through some stuff lol when he appears on Guy’s Grocery Games. 

He looked kinda rough in the cameo on the just-released back-half of the Lucifer season, too. Apparently there was a deal with the devil we never knew about. 😉