Beachside Brawl - General Discussion

[Lurk]

How scripted is this competition? The people have to make something with some random, weird ingredients from a game. Then the dish they are making has some other weird things you wouldn't think of as a staple, pantry/fridge ingredient. There didn't seem to be that extensive of a pantry/fridge to "shop" from. 

[Ohmo]

On 6/19/2023 at 7:16 PM, Darian said:

Eric can even make me suffer through Malarkey (who wasn't as nerve-shattering as usual, but, yeah, I expect I'll be saying, "Shup up, Malarkey" a few times).

Yes to this.  I groaned when I heard Malarkey was leading a team.  He's an acquired taste, and I haven't yet acquired it.  However, he was relatively calm in the first episode.

Count me among those who had never heard of brown bread in a can.

[Salacious Kitty]

I'm pretty certain that production glued down that can of bread. Knocking down all the cans would defeat the purpose of the game. At any rate, it didn't budge. 

[Grizzly]

I would hate to cook on the beach. How do you keep sand from getting into everything? Brian did say the wind was blowing. And their work stations seemed a bit low. My back would be killing me from bending over like that. I'm not bothered by Brian yet. He seems serious about being a good mentor. Still rooting for Eric and the east coast.

[Lois]

I wish west coast David (with the hat) would tie his hair back. 

[Lois]

ok I see he did pull it back during the second episode 

[Bastet]

Malarkey bugged me this episode, but not terribly.  Ms. "Sando" was working my last nerve with that stupid word (I love them including a producer asking here what the hell that is), so I was glad she was eliminated.

Even though I'm rooting for the East Coast team so far because of Eric, I by far wanted to eat the West Coast team's feast more than theirs.

[Rammchick]

17 hours ago, Bastet said:

Malarkey bugged me this episode, but not terribly.  Ms. "Sando" was working my last nerve with that stupid word (I love them including a producer asking here what the hell that is), so I was glad she was eliminated.

Even though I'm rooting for the East Coast team so far because of Eric, I by far wanted to eat the West Coast team's feast more than theirs.

Actually, "sando" is what the Japanese call sandwiches.

And yawn...who didn't predict that the East Coast was going to lose a player this round...?

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Actually, "sando" is what the Japanese call sandwiches.

That didn't apply here.  She's not Japanese, wasn't making a Japanese sandwich, and the only location she referenced was Boston; when asked by the producer what a sando is, she said it's "what I affectionately call my hand-held sandwiches".  It's like Rachael Ray calling them sammies, although perhaps slightly less annoying.

[Lurk]

9 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Actually, "sando" is what the Japanese call sandwiches.

And yawn...who didn't predict that the East Coast was going to lose a player this round...?

No surprise there. It will be a toss up who loses someone next week. Then the week after that, it will be the other team to even things out. 🙄

[Rammchick]

22 hours ago, Bastet said:

That didn't apply here.  She's not Japanese, wasn't making a Japanese sandwich, and the only location she referenced was Boston; when asked by the producer what a sando is, she said it's "what I affectionately call my hand-held sandwiches".  It's like Rachael Ray calling them sammies, although perhaps slightly less annoying.

I was just stating a fact.  Maybe she heard it somewhere and forgot that that's where it comes from.

[eclectcmoi]

On 6/20/2023 at 1:49 PM, eclectcmoi said:

Emily on the West Coast looks so familiar to me and I feel I've seen her cook before. Perhaps it was on Grocery Games? 

No seafood from the west coast.  Antonia pointed out they were mostly tropical fruit forward. 

Okay... weird to be quoting myself... but... Emily was just on the most recent episode of Guy's Grocery Games.  She went out in the first round with a mess of a plate of food. Hope she has better luck here! 

[dleighg]

On 6/26/2023 at 8:21 PM, Bastet said:

Ms. "Sando" was working my last nerve with that stupid word (I love them including a producer asking here what the hell that is)

"Sando is what I affectionately call hand-held sandwiches."

Um, isn't the definition of a sandwich basically "hand-held"??? (yes I know about open-faced, but seriously)

She even tried to say this was some sort of Boston thing?

[dleighg]

(Twice) the long-haired guy on the west coast team said that boiling the corn would turn starch to sweetness. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way.

[Leeds]

On 6/20/2023 at 3:39 PM, Bastet said:

I didn't think I'd ever seen canned bread before, but now I have a vague memory of it being an ingredient on Chopped many moons ago.  It looks odd, but I'd try it if handed to me.  I doubt very much I'd like it (I'm not much of a bread person to begin with, and don't like bread with sweet stuff added to it [bread is not cake]), but I'd try it.  I would not, however, want to eat either of the sickeningly sweet things they made with it.  Those looked like disgusting creations a kid would come up with if let loose in a sweets buffet.

Try telling that to the American packaged, sliced bread industry.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Leeds

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, Leeds said:

Try telling that to the American packaged, sliced bread industry.

I know; I am down to one local bakery (there used to be three) that makes the whole wheat bread that I want -- just whole wheat flour, water, yeast, and salt.  I could make my own, of course, but I don't eat a lot of bread, so I prefer the convenience of just picking up a half loaf when I want some.

[Bastet]

With the holiday weekend I'm all mixed up as to what day is what, so I just watched the latest episode.  The West Coast team had a much better spread overall, even though two of the three favorite individual offerings were from the East Coast team.  After those cursed tamales, I'm glad Sam was able to stick around with her "endangered" burger.  The other one was just a tall smashed burger, probably delicious, as burgers are, but nothing special.  (And I dislike when burgers are so tall they're difficult to eat.  It's just plain excessive.)

[dleighg]

15 minutes ago, Bastet said:

he other one was just a tall smashed burger, probably delicious, as burgers are, but nothing special.

He also tried to pass a slice of tomato off as his "red" component. No style points there. Also glad that Sam survived the multiple crises thrown at her.

[eclectcmoi]

20 hours ago, dleighg said:

He also tried to pass a slice of tomato off as his "red" component. No style points there. Also glad that Sam survived the multiple crises thrown at her.

The incredible couch-chef that I am (Ha!), since he had bacon on the burger also, I would've made a tomato bacon jam for the burger.  He might've done better with that. 

Edited July 5, 2023 by eclectcmoi

[Guest]

Ah, Emily. I had a bad feeling when the need for MORE SPICES kept coming up. I feel like some of these judges have had their taste buds blown out by all the extreme crap they eat on these shows, so "normal" levels of spice/seasoning don't come through anymore.

Oh well, that's one less show I have to worry about watching now #silverlining

Edited July 10, 2023 by tracyscott76

[Ohmo]

It was painful to watch Eric not be able to mentor.

Speculation based on the preview:

Spoiler

I hope the "chef coming back" twist = Eric wins that challenge so Martel can come back.

Will someone with more cooking experience than I have (which is none) explain how David's allowed to have his hair like that when he's cooking?  I thought you had to have short hair or have long hair pulled up in some way (as many female chefs have to do)?

[MerBearHou]

1000% hope the same in your spoiler, @Ohmo

Last night was a tough episode to watch -- I was sad for those eliminations and Eric and his team having such a rough day.  

I think Malarkey is having a delightful showing.  He's still fun but is committed to mentoring very well.  

[chessiegal]

19 minutes ago, Ohmo said:

It was painful to watch Eric not be able to mentor.

Speculation based on the preview:

  Reveal spoiler

I hope the "chef coming back" twist = Eric wins that challenge so Martel can come back.

Will someone with more cooking experience than I have (which is none) explain how David's allowed to have his hair like that when he's cooking?  I thought you had to have short hair or have long hair pulled up in some way (as many female chefs have to do)?

There is no law against cooking with flowing hair. Humans naturally shed a certain number of hairs every day (some more than others 😉) so, pulling long hair out of the way is considered a good practice. Even people with short hair can shed a hair or more that could get into the food. The only way to prevent that is hair nets or head coverings.

[Bastet]

Asked to make a game day snack, Malarkey plops two whole ribeyes down and covers them in shrimp.  I was really hoping that would earn him the loss, as I applaud any challenge that ends in Malarkey not being able to speak.

I didn't care for this episode, with all the "and now for another twist" gimmickry. 

[Grizzly]

Malarkey should have lost the challenge. That was not a snack! Come on, Antonia. You've obviously been spending too much time with Guy and his games. You should value gameplay above all else.

[MerBearHou]

13 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Malarkey should have lost the challenge. That was not a snack! Come on, Antonia. You've obviously been spending too much time with Guy and his games. You should value gameplay above all else.

I could not believe Malarkey won for that feast / not-snack!!  I sure hope Martel comes back.  He’s my favorite.  

Edited July 15, 2023 by MerBearHou

[Maverick]

 Food Network:  so predictable they don't need an AI to script their shows.   I knew exactly who would win that challenge and I knew exactly who he'd bring back.   It's great that Eric has a chef he's invested in but if I were on his team I would definitely feel slighted.  

 The rules and challenges on this show are more arbitrary than Ciao House.  And that's saying something.   It's like MadLibs each week to see how the show is going to work. 

[dleighg]

it is MAScarpone. There is NO R before the S! Drives me nuts.

[Lurk]

I keep recording this show and every time I sit down to watch it i just can't stay engaged with it. My mind wanders, my body wanders to another room, I start doing random chores or whatever. I wander back to the TV and realize I've missed a bunch of it and start the recording over again and I wander.... It's just not holding my attention.

[Bastet]

Lots of good food in the beach club episode.  I had no idea what Jasmine could even find for ten bucks in the seafood store, so good for her making a great dish.

But, gee, what a surprise the East Coast chef went home, so now there are two each.

[MerBearHou]

Who won?  I stopped watching last night after Martel was eliminated.  

[Rammchick]

3 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Who won?  I stopped watching last night after Martel was eliminated.  

Sam (East Coast).

Hands up -- who didn't think it was going to come down to one chef from each coast?  I hate how contrived these shows seem to be.

[Salacious Kitty]

20 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

Sam (East Coast).

Hands up -- who didn't think it was going to come down to one chef from each coast?  I hate how contrived these shows seem to be.

And further, as I commented after the first episode, an east coast chef would win? West Coast won last year, can't have this getting lopsided. 🙄

[Maya]

I like cooking competition shows. I like Antonia. I like the beach. Why was this show so boring? 

[Madding crowd]

I watch a lot of cooking shows with my husband and this one is so boring to me. I don’t know why, maybe because they are doing the same kinds of challenges every week. 

[Rammchick]

13 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I watch a lot of cooking shows with my husband and this one is so boring to me. I don’t know why, maybe because they are doing the same kinds of challenges every week. 

Plus, they started throwing on a lot of ridiculous rules for every challenge that seemed very random.  After a while, I stopped paying attention.  Shame, really, because the food looked amazing. I really wanted to see David win, but Sam's sob story was better (plus she was from the East Coast, which was due for the win this year).

[schnauzergirl]

3 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Plus, they started throwing on a lot of ridiculous rules for every challenge that seemed very random.  After a while, I stopped paying attention.  Shame, really, because the food looked amazing. I really wanted to see David win, but Sam's sob story was better (plus she was from the East Coast, which was due for the win this year).

Yes!  I was just coming here to make the same comment.  I fast-forwarded through Antonio's explanations and don't think I missed a thing.

[mlp]

7 hours ago, Rammchick said:

I really wanted to see David win, but Sam's sob story was better (plus she was from the East Coast, which was due for the win this year).

David was my favorite all along.  I figured the east coast would win this year no matter what and I was sure of it when Guy Fieri rather aggressively said the final dish was an eggplant challenge.  It wasn't.  The chefs were told they had to use eggplant and the fruit (forgot what it was) in their dishes but no one said those things had to be the "stars" of the dishes.   They just had to use them.  I felt sure that Guy was setting David up for criticism.

I think Sam was less impressive overall but her sob story got her extra points plus, of course, she was on the right coast.  I liked her just fine but I didn't think she should have won.

[Salacious Kitty]

The fruit was persimmon. They both used it in ice cream. 

[MerBearHou]

I get irritated on competition shows when sob stories get the win.  Like 100% of the time, this makes me cranky.   I just KNEW it would work for Sam who I did not think was the strongest final chef.  That’s why when Martel lost to her, I tuned out.  

[FormerMod-a1]

I love Antonia as a competitor, love her as a judge, and I'm sure I'd love her food if I got the chance to eat it. She seems like an awesome person.  But I don't love her as a host.  I don't think she's bad or anything, it's just a certain something is lacking or "off" and I can't quite put my finger on it.  

As for this show and the finale.  I agree, it just hasn't held my attention.  I put it on and then don't really pay attention until the food presentation.  I use it as "background noise" but I pay even less attention that I do to a L&O rerun.  ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ 

[Ohmo]

On 8/1/2023 at 8:07 PM, mlp said:

I liked her just fine but I didn't think she should have won.

I liked her fine, too, but I was surprised that she won.  She always seemed all over the map to me.  I was hoping Martel would win.

This year, there weren't a lot of people beyond Martel that were that interesting to me. I didn't dislike Sam, Jasmine, or David, but I wasn't that interested in them either.  I didn't find Sam's backstory that compelling.  Given that she's from Miami, which has a large Latinx community, the stories about her grandmother seemed like they would be events that would happen in many Latinx families in Miami.

A "nice" story to be sure, but not one that stood out to me.

Slow isn't the right word, but this show..lacked energy?  It was missing something.  I found the captains more interesting than the chefs.  I think Eric really embraced his mentor role.  So did Mularky, even thought he's loud and liked to micromanage.  Loud is Brian's "persona" for TV.  That's what he's gonna do, but there were mentorship skills there if you looked under the surface.

I found myself most interested in the mentor relationship between Eric and Martel.  There have been mentorship competitions on FN, but I'd like to see more of a documentary series about it.  Eric, Brooke, Tiffani, and the Voltaggio brothers are all good at it.  I'd like to see them in mentor roles, but not necessarily in a competition.
 

[Ohmo]

On 8/2/2023 at 2:30 PM, aquarian1 said:

I love Antonia as a competitor, love her as a judge, and I'm sure I'd love her food if I got the chance to eat it. She seems like an awesome person.  But I don't love her as a host.  I don't think she's bad or anything, it's just a certain something is lacking or "off" and I can't quite put my finger on it.  

I will say I think Antonia did a better job last year, and I liked her as a host on the Julia Child Challenge.

[schnauzergirl]

Maybe I'm reading my own disdain for the convoluted rules/challenges, but I had the sense that Antonia wasn't totally on board with them.  

Edited August 5, 2023 by schnauzergirl

[Salacious Kitty]

3 minutes ago, schnauzergirl said:

Maybe I'm reading my own disdain for the convoluted rules/challenges, but I had the sense that Antonia was totally on board with them.  

As the host, wouldn't she have to be? 

[schnauzergirl]

9 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

As the host, wouldn't she have to be? 

Sorry -- I didn't catch my error.  I meant I had the sense Antonia wasn't totally on board with them.  Lesson for the day: proof read before hitting Send. I corrected my original post.

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by schnauzergirl

[Salacious Kitty]

Just now, schnauzergirl said:

Sorry -- I didn't catch my error.  I meant I had the sense Antonia wasn't totally on board with them.  Lesson for the day: proof read before hitting Send.

 

I didn't observe Antonia close enough to opine either way. If she didn't seem on board, they'll find another host. 

[Bastet]

I finally watched the penultimate episode, and what a mess -- that had a season's worth of "and now, for another surprise" in one episode.  I don't remember last season being this extreme in terms of how things changed from challenge to challenge and how many gimmicks there were per episode.

At any rate, while I came in rooting for East Coast due to Eric, I have often preferred the West Coast's food this season.  This time around, with the seafood feast on the beach, I didn't want either platter.  They both looked a hot mess.  And Malarkey was 100% Malarkey this episode, which means he was unbearable.  And he was ridiculous going on and on about how he really wishes they'd brought some bread or tortillas from the pantry; well, they didn't, you don't have any, and repeatedly stating how great it would be if you did is just putting them in a bad mental space.

Ugh.  Not a good episode.  The only thing I liked was the final cook-off between Sam and Martel.  I laughed at him trying to pass that steak off as what he'd intended.  They said it was close, but her dish looked a lot better to me; the steak was way too rare, and the fish was boring was so little of that salsa.

I hope the finale is better (I'm already spoiled for who won, and I'd have been happy with any of them - Jasmyne has had my favorite food of the three, but I've really liked what the others have made, too - so I hope I like the way it's structured ... especially since I'm going to have to endure the presence of Malarkey and Guy Fieri at once).

[Bastet]

Thankfully, the finale was more straightforward.  It was a bummer to lose Jasmyne first, but that yuca puree was a terrible idea from start to finish.  David was a moron for not using more persimmon and, especially, more eggplant.  The dessert wound up working a lot better than I thought it was going to given how late he was in coming up with it and how little you could taste the persimmon, so I think they'd have let that slide had he not used such a paltry amount of eggplant in his main course.

Sam's crab cakes sounded interesting; no surprise they were such a crowd favorite.  I wouldn't care for her main course in the final round, but that's just personal preference.  I'd have liked to try those fritters, though.

Antonia talked about season three, so I guess they're going to keep going with this.  I wonder who they'll get to be the coaches next time.

[Rammchick]

On 8/6/2023 at 6:40 PM, Bastet said:

 David was a moron for not using more persimmon and, especially, more eggplant.  The dessert wound up working a lot better than I thought it was going to given how late he was in coming up with it and how little you could taste the persimmon, so I think they'd have let that slide had he not used such a paltry amount of eggplant in his main course.

I don't know that I would have gone so far as to say that David was a moron, but it was a definite mistake.  And where was his mentor Malarkey, in ensuring that he was using enough of those ingredients?  If anyone was at fault for that, it was him.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Rammchick