S19.E07: Swallow the Competition

[tvfanatic13]

I have a pedestrian food palate and no offense to African food, but good god those slimy pulls looked positively revolting. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

Same here.  Good grief, that's just the shape of her body. 

A lot of us have similar shape to our body and we still enjoy the topic as food for thought.

Edited April 16, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[dleighg]

9 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Tom just looked so sour last night.  He was really not a happy camper, it looked like someone pissed in his Wheaties. 

I noticed that as well; I kept waiting for some really nasty comment to come out on whatever was in front of him, but mostly it didn't happen. Weird.

[Yeah No]

OK so we're mad that the show is not taking itself seriously enough by pushing dinosaur movies but then we're talking fondly about "brestesses"?

The last time I heard anyone use that term was in jr. high school.  Just sayin'.  😏

[Cheyanne11]

23 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Gail, please pack your breasts and go. 

The past couple seasons she's definitely decided this is her look.  I'm not a fan of hers in general, so I'll just say well, bless her heart.

Jackson mentioned not being able to taste, but I thought he said a couple episodes ago he got his taste buds back, so I'm confused.  It's amazing how well he's doing without that component--I'm impressed!

 

[sharifa70]

7 minutes ago, Cheyanne11 said:

Jackson mentioned not being able to taste, but I thought he said a couple episodes ago he got his taste buds back, so I'm confused.  It's amazing how well he's doing without that component--I'm impressed!

 

He said he can taste some things but his sense of smell isn’t back so he’s still struggling with really being able to taste.

I’m wondering if the other chefs know; I’ve noticed that he does a lot of asking others to taste things for him, like with the pecans (he asked Nick if they tasted toasted) and the five-spice when he asked Evelyn if the flavor came through. Conversely, I haven’t noticed other chefs asking him to taste things for them. It seems like the only times he’s been called on to taste things have been when challenges are being set up.

Edited April 16, 2022 by sharifa70

[Totale]

I used to go to a BBQ restaurant which served alligator tail.  I tried it once, it tasted like chicken.  Why did Buddha feel the need to acquire and butcher an entire alligator to extract maybe a pound of meat to use in an appetizer?

[HurricaneVal]

So far as I know, Jackson hasn't disclosed his problem.  His plan was to keep it a secret, but I don't know if he stuck to it or not.  None of the other cheftestants have mentioned it.

Next week is Restaurant Wars.  I don't know if he can keep it quiet all through that crucible of stress.  

I know several people who have lost their sense of taste and smell due to COVID.  It is variable as to when and how it comes back.  For some, the sensory pathways actually have to regrow and retrain the brain.  Peanut butter doesn't taste like peanut butter, for instance, until things settle in.  Taste will be off for a long time as everything adjusts.  One friend said a nasty metallic taste would flood her mouth at random intervals even if she wasn't eating.

I don't know how Jackson is doing it.  Maybe it is an advantage?  If he can't taste, then he can't second guess or get inside his own head and be his own enemy.  He has to rely on pure instinct and bull straight forward, throwing care to the winds.  It is a strategy forced on him by circumstances, but maybe it is a winning one?  

We'll see.  At this moment, I'm throwing in with y'all who think the final three will be Jackson, Evelyn, and Buddha.  I think that will be an amazing finale if that's the case!

[sharifa70]

3 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

We'll see.  At this moment, I'm throwing in with y'all who think the final three will be Jackson, Evelyn, and Buddha.  I think that will be an amazing finale if that's the case!

I like these three for the top as well, but I’m also keeping an eye on Damarr as a potential dark horse. He has been quiet and steady and has presented some standout dishes for the judges so I’m not quite ready to count him out. 

[JLaw]

35 minutes ago, Totale said:

I used to go to a BBQ restaurant which served alligator tail.  I tried it once, it tasted like chicken.  Why did Buddha feel the need to acquire and butcher an entire alligator to extract maybe a pound of meat to use in an appetizer?

I was wondering what happened to the rest of the alligator.  Hopefully it wasn't wasted

[caitmcg]

I had to laugh about the whole alligator. Clearly, the producers made that possible, because it’s not as if even the biggest, best-stocked Whole Foods in Houston (or any WF anywhere) stocks whole alligators in their meat department.

[The Solution]

I finally got to re-watch the show when I could concentrate on it and not be distracted by twenty other things. I am so jealous of the judges who get to eat all of the beautiful and wonderful-sounding food this season. All of the dishes in the Nigerian quickfire looked amazing as did most of the food in the elimination challenge. Jae's dish actually looked and sounded like something I would love to eat, Tom. Again, this is the best group of cheftestants I can recall and they all seem like wonderful people.

I did think the elimination challenge was a bit convoluted, but not because of the Jurassic/dinosaur tie-in, being a big dinosaur geek. There were too many things going on in the challenge: were the teams arranged by dinosaur or by apron color (I finally figured it out but c'mon)? At this point in the season and with the caliber of these cheftestants, we should be past the team challenges.

Finally, Gail and Padma are both beautiful, lovely and intelligent women. We should be embracing them and however they choose to enhance their beauty. I tried to address it with humor earlier in the thread, which maybe wasn't tasteful, but let's support them.

 

[Josiemae]

Ashleigh simply cannot season her food properly despite being told time and time again. She needs to go and NOT come back. 

Restaurant Wars next week - yay!

[Colorado David]

3 hours ago, caitmcg said:

I had to laugh about the whole alligator. Clearly, the producers made that possible, because it’s not as if even the biggest, best-stocked Whole Foods in Houston (or any WF anywhere) stocks whole alligators in their meat department.

My first thought when I saw the whole alligator was 'okay, here's the tie in to Jurrasic Park. The whole friggin alligator LOOKS like a dinosaur, complete with safety gloves on the claws'. That is the ONLY reason I can think of for them to show the whole dang thing. Otherwise it disrespects the kill, wasting the animal if it's not all used. (Sorry, animal-lover hat on there. I'm definitely a carnivore, but if you kill something, don't be wasteful in it - respect it gave its life for your sustenance.)

I'm thinking Damarr gets this, he is really good and totally flies under the radar.

One final thought re Padma and Gail - they are competing with complete over the top shows like who's under the mask etc, which are costume contests - so if they wish to dress it up some, absolutely fine. Heck remember one of the earlier season episodes where they all did a bondage type party competition? They are competing with tons of 'reality' competition shows, so yeah I bet they don't mind cranking up the beauty some. Yall have brought me around from my earlier 'demure' comment.

 

[dleighg]

2 hours ago, The Solution said:

There were too many things going on in the challenge: were the teams arranged by dinosaur or by apron color (I finally figured it out but c'mon)? At this point in the season and with the caliber of these cheftestants, we should be past the team challenges.

I agree. I also had to go back and rewatch to figure out what was going on with the teams. And it's totally unfair to have someone with immunity on a team challenge with elimination. OK it didn't seem to matter here, but sometimes it does. And that's not ok.

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, The Solution said:

There were too many things going on in the challenge: were the teams arranged by dinosaur or by apron color (I finally figured it out but c'mon)?

That took me a minute, too.  I initially thought the teams were arranged by dinosaur, but then I realized the teams were based on what color their dossier was, and every team had one of each dinosaur -- thus the three-course progressive meal going from sea to air to land.  I don't know why they didn't stagger the cook times so that one team would present their whole meal, then the next, then the final, since it wasn't a head-to-head competition by course, but a team competition based on the whole meal.  I would have a hard time judging how progressive each team's meal was eating the way they did, but I suppose it's easy for them.

Edited April 16, 2022 by Bastet

[snarts]

On 4/15/2022 at 4:11 PM, Bastet said:

There was something about this challenge that felt different - more forced, and more stupid - than most of the other this challenge is one big promotion for X things they've done, but I can't pinpoint why I felt that way.  It's not just lack of interest in the subject (I saw Jurassic Park back in the day and it was fine, but I've never re-watched it or seen any of the other films in the franchise), because a lot of the films and such they've based challenges on are things I haven't seen.  But, for some reason, I was rolling my eyes when I normally just shrug.

Yep, It felt more like Masterchef to me. I was waiting for balloons to drop from the ceiling.

2 hours ago, The Solution said:

There were too many things going on in the challenge: were the teams arranged by dinosaur or by apron color (I finally figured it out but c'mon)? At this point in the season and with the caliber of these cheftestants, we should be past the team challenges.

I was also confused by the teams and whether they were by dinosaur or apron color. Admittedly, I was having a difficult timing paying attention but why did they even have to be in teams?

[bravofan27]

A couple of reasons that Tom may have been pissy. First, he wanted dishes that were dramatic, and he wasn't feeling it. The only dish that he said was dramatic was Jackson, who 100% copied the dish from the last Top Chef Kitchen when they brought on Charlize Theron. Charlize was pretty much in character during the meal as the witch and was very theatrical and everyone was super enchanted. Plus the food was creative given this recap. 

https://ew.com/recap/food-fit-for-an-evil-queen/

This episode the studio brought an unknown actor (I mean, compared to Oscar winning Charlize Theron?) who couldn't even describe her character and did not bring anything to the table except a comment or two here and there that had nothing to do with her character. Charlize's comments were all from the lens of a witch. 

I sort of thought, almost if not more showcased than the movie, was that  one Kwame's nail polish line with his purple fingernails. That is the second reason I think Tom was pissed.

[caitmcg]

4 hours ago, The Solution said:

At this point in the season and with the caliber of these cheftestants, we should be past the team challenges.

This is basically the halfway point, and usually they make every other challenge or so a team challenge up to restaurant wars.

[Ms Blue Jay]

One thing that drives me crazy is the so-called "brown aprons".  To me they're yellow.  I'm always thinking what brown team?

I guess technically, they're brown, but they really present as yellow on my TV!  Especially in comparison to the other aprons.

 

Edited April 17, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Colleenna]

23 hours ago, tvfanatic13 said:

I have a pedestrian food palate and no offense to African food, but good god those slimy pulls looked positively revolting. 

Ethiopian food is wonderful.  Never encountered  Nigerian food,  and after this episode,  I have no desire to.  There's a reason that okra is one of exactly 4 vegetables that I absolutely  WILL. NOT. EAT. 

[Yeah No]

10 hours ago, caitmcg said:

I had to laugh about the whole alligator. Clearly, the producers made that possible, because it’s not as if even the biggest, best-stocked Whole Foods in Houston (or any WF anywhere) stocks whole alligators in their meat department.

For sure, but how likely are they to stock cut up alligators either?  From what I read only a few states (including Texas) can legally sell alligator meat and only in specialty stores or alligator farms.

[Yeah No]

12 hours ago, sharifa70 said:

He said he can taste some things but his sense of smell isn’t back so he’s still struggling with really being able to taste.

I’m wondering if the other chefs know; I’ve noticed that he does a lot of asking others to taste things for him, like with the pecans (he asked Nick if they tasted toasted) and the five-spice when he asked Evelyn if the flavor came through. Conversely, I haven’t noticed other chefs asking him to taste things for them. It seems like the only times he’s been called on to taste things have been when challenges are being set up.

I think the show is focusing on showing Jackson asking the others to taste things for him because it has made a "thing" out of his loss of taste.  The other chefs might also ask others to taste their food on occasion but the show hasn't made it a point to show that to us.

[Yeah No]

12 hours ago, Cheyanne11 said:

The past couple seasons she's definitely decided this is her look.  I'm not a fan of hers in general, so I'll just say well, bless her heart.

It reminds me of TV competition judges and female celebrity chefs back 10 -15 years ago when the cleavage look first became popular.  Famously done by Giada DeLaurentis and Nigella Lawson, among others.

[rhofmovalley]

13 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

One thing that drives me crazy is the so-called "brown aprons".  To me they're yellow.  I'm always thinking what brown team?

I guess technically, they're brown, but they really present as yellow on my TV!  Especially in comparison to the other aprons.

 

They look mustard brown on my TV.  But definitely not BROWN brown.

[ProudMary]

Per Crayola, Burnt Sienna perhaps? 🤔

 

[Msample]

This is a bit out of left field but this whole season I felt like I’d seen Jackson somewhere before then it hit me - he’s Lt Marimow from THE WIRE !🤣

 

https://thewire.fandom.com/wiki/Charles_Marimow

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, ProudMary said:

Per Crayola, Burnt Sienna perhaps? 🤔

 

Yesssssss!!  

49 minutes ago, Msample said:

This is a bit out of left field but this whole season I felt like I’d seen Jackson somewhere before then it hit me - he’s Lt Marimow from THE WIRE !🤣

 

https://thewire.fandom.com/wiki/Charles_Marimow

Nope, not seein' it.

[SemiCharmedLife]

3 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Per Crayola, Burnt Sienna perhaps? 🤔

 

Great detective work!  Unfortunately, they are not going to refer to the "Burnt Sienna Group" on a cooking show!  😉

[ilovebeaarthur]

On 4/16/2022 at 10:20 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

One thing that drives me crazy is the so-called "brown aprons".  To me they're yellow.  I'm always thinking what brown team?

I guess technically, they're brown, but they really present as yellow on my TV!  Especially in comparison to the other aprons.

 

My colorblind ass sees the color “spicy brown mustard”

[Lamb18]

Stephanie Izard won season 4 Chicago and Paul Qui won season 9? Texas. There may have been others but I don't remember who they are.

[Leeds]

On 4/15/2022 at 9:11 PM, tvfanatic13 said:

I have a pedestrian food palate and no offense to African food, but good god those slimy pulls looked positively revolting. 

They were a reminder to me to never, ever consider trying natto again.  (Apologies to natto lovers.)

On 4/16/2022 at 10:39 AM, JLaw said:

I was wondering what happened to the rest of the alligator.  Hopefully it wasn't wasted

I'm sure it wasn't wasted.  There's a huge production team that gets the leftovers on these kind of shows, if they're not repurposed in some other way.

[dleighg]

27 minutes ago, Leeds said:

They were a reminder to me to never, ever consider trying natto again.  (Apologies to natto lovers.)

On 4/16/2022 at 1:39 PM, JLaw said:

I just finished the tournament of champions over on FN, and natto was a featured ingredient. It looks absolutely disgusting. (Apologies to natto lovers). Yeah the whole "draw" thing was not my cup of tea.

[dgpolo]

2 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

Stephanie Izard won season 4 Chicago and Paul Qui won season 9? Texas. There may have been others but I don't remember who they are.

Was this in response to something?

[dleighg]

^I assume it was an answer to whether "home town" chefs had won Top Chef in previous seasons

[dgpolo]

25 minutes ago, dleighg said:

^I assume it was an answer to whether "home town" chefs had won Top Chef in previous seasons

Thank you, I did look all up this page and didn't see anything it might have been a response to, so it must have been the previous page. A quote would've helped, I follow enough content that I need the reminder.

[Crs97]

I think we’ve seen one person ask Jackson to taste her food, and he actually said, “You might want to ask someone else” as he took the bite.  I appreciate his talking about how disappointing it is to have these opportunities and not be able to taste the food properly.  I laughed when he responded to the question about how he liked the Nigerian food with how interesting the opportunity was.

[jcbrown]

23 hours ago, ilovebeaarthur said:

My colorblind ass sees the color “spicy brown mustard”

My non-colorblind ass agrees with you. Or actually, my non-colorblind eyes do. 😉

[CrazyInAlabama]

My comment on Aprongate, on the clip from last week when they showed the brown team, the aprons were a nice, dark brown, and not spicy mustard.   I'm wondering if they were photoshopped, because they were screwed up when they showed them before. 

[cameron]

On 4/15/2022 at 12:27 PM, tessabq said:

I'm always happy to see Kwame!!!  I agree about his nails being lovely. He has gone where no Top Chef judge has gone before-he has his own line of nail polishes!

I think his nails look dumb.   Don't like a man with painted nails.  And someone should also tell him that you don't wear a baseball hat to dinner in a restaurant.  Bad form.

Edited April 22, 2022 by cameron

[bybrandy]

I didn't mind the Jurassic World Theme at all but maybe mostly because as soon as it was announced I was like, "They better be going to HMNS" and they did and HMNS makes me happy so the episode made me happy.   It looked so nice on TV.