S20.E01: London Calling

[Rahul]

21 hours ago, Daisychain said:

Yes, even on Chopped you hear so many contestants say that they practiced at home with their family members throwing crazy ingredients at them.  Wouldn't you practice timed challenges if you're going to be on Top Chef?  That said, I think it's the Pack Your Knives guys (Kevin and Tom) who have pointed out that this is a specific competition that may not work for all chefs . . .  Dawn herself mentioned during Restaurant Wars (Chef's Table Edition) that it takes time for her to develop her ideas.  I recall an episode when Hubert Keller described his process for conceptualizing, drawing, creating, and plating a new dish.  Those slower processes of development are fine, they're just maybe not for all competitive cooking shows.  (Tho, nonetheless, Chef H. Keller did great in Top Chef Masters and the judges liked Dawn's flavors a lot.)

I do unforch think that Dawn's and Sara's plates looked rustic compared to other cheftestants'.  

I give Dawn a bit of a pass because she wasn’t always a chef. She switched careers later in life after her Olympic athlete days were behind her. 

7 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

Fellow loud mouthed broad saluting you in agreement. Amar is also hella loud, brash, and a finalist-but-not-a-winner but no one seems to rail on him the same way they do Sarah. 

I cannot stand Amar—from the way he looks to the way he talks or the dishes he makes. Why does Top ached insist on shoving this guy down our throats? He’s come back as a guest judge or been in the background of diners for several seasons now. Clearly production plays favorites asking certain folks to return time and again, Dawn included.
 

Excited about this season and seeing the international contestants and their culinary takes. I just wish Asia had a bit more representation and sad there is no Top Chef India.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Rahul

[ratgirlagogo]

On 3/11/2023 at 12:29 PM, Irlandesa said:

Dawn has time management issues, but I disagree with Mark here.  Adding a bunch of water to a dish isn't a small thing when it comes to preserving flavor and texture even if she did dump it out. 

Agree.  If Gabri had dumped a quart of water into Charbel's roasted onion dish he would have been pretty screwed, same as if you were pan roasting a steak and somebody dumped a quart of water on top of it.

 

On 3/11/2023 at 3:26 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

I don't anything anyone else did was as bad as leaving the prawn poop in the dish.    That was disgusting.

Yes, because it was raw.  Cooking shrimps in the shell (with vein and head and tail) is done all the time.

Victoire's calm insistence on serving al dente risotto made me think she was nuts.  Then I began to wonder if it's somehow become a kind of hip happening now thing in Italy.  It sure isn't here. 

[sATL]

On 3/10/2023 at 11:37 PM, Salacious Kitty said:

I think many former cheftestants have sold out and are finding fame on Food Network. Heck, even Dawn appeared on Beat Bobby Flay (and didn't advance due to time issues, shocker). But I guess these four weren't poached to be on Tournament of Champions, so why not compete amongst international peers? I feel this is more representative of what Guy Fieri sells as the "world's best" cooking competition than the hugely American TOC. Well, they do have Shota, a guy I think would fare well in this particular Top Chef arena. But I understand the lure of fame via Food Network shows. Doesn't mean I like it! 

Early non-American favorites for me are Onion Slayer and the Brazilian woman. Give me a couple more weeks to get the names down! 😃

I still miss the voltaggio brothers.. or Brooke... or Mellissa.. or Kelsey

. Agree I think the list of whom to represent US is a great and powerful than who we have to see for this season. Now I guess we have to wait to see what does Blais have to do with this..

I like Dawn as a person, and if I'm nearby her places I would eat but she's out of her sandbox here.

[Pj3422]

On 3/10/2023 at 9:16 PM, Leeds said:

 

My dad was a biologist and would never eat cooked shellfish, never mind raw, cleaned or not.

Reminds me of that quote from “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” when all but one of the pageant contestants are sick from the shrimp: "Don't ever eat nothin' that can carry its house around with it.”

I’m really looking forward to this season and the London/Paris locations will be fun! 

[Pine]

I keep thinking that we saw another Top Chef around the World a few years ago.  Pre Covid.  They also started in London.  But, different hosts.  Am I thinking of another network?   Regarding Shota, I adore him, but he seemed to cause some dislike in a venture he was hired to work with in Cle Elum, Washington.  I took it as an attitude towards the more laid back population, 80 miles East of Seattle.... 

[Leeds]

21 hours ago, Rahul said:

I give Dawn a bit of a pass because she wasn’t always a chef. She switched careers later in life after her Olympic athlete days were behind her. 

 

Can you imagine being the athlete following Dawn, waiting, and waiting, and waiting for Dawn to complete her jump.  In fact, now I think about it, you would think Dawn would get her dishes in under the wire, since if she missed the time in athletics she would presumably have been disqualified.

[MaggieG]

17 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Victoire's calm insistence on serving al dente risotto made me think she was nuts.  Then I began to wonder if it's somehow become a kind of hip happening now thing in Italy.  It sure isn't here. 

I love her partner (Nicole from Canada) just saying "well ok then." So far I like her and the other Canadian guy. I'm still trying to learn everyone's names. The German guy that works on a boat (Tom?) was pretty cute. 

[MerBearHou]

45 minutes ago, MaggieG said:

I love her partner (Nicole from Canada) just saying "well ok then." So far I like her and the other Canadian guy. I'm still trying to learn everyone's names. The German guy that works on a boat (Tom?) was pretty cute. 

Yeah, Victoire going to the mat on her risotto method and sure enough, it was too al dente as Nicole knew it would be.  Major kudos to Nicole for being so deferential, even though in a team judging, she knew this could / would affect her too.  Didn't love seeing that side of Victoire right off the bat, and then in the 2nd round, she cried at Judge's Table which is a big pet peeve of mine.  Victoire has some ground to make up with me :)

[seacliffsal]

Am glad the show is back and am excited about this season being an international all-star season.  So many of the dishes looked great-but a few, not so much (to me).  However, I am disappointed that Dawn is back (yes, I know this is an unpopular opinion).  I was surprised she was brought back as a 'mentor' (?) in a previous TC season and now again as a competitor (and I did see her Bobby Flay episode).  I thought she was given a lot of leniency in her previous season and it just rubbed me wrong (sorry).  For whatever reason though, the producers must love her so I will endeavor to try to enjoy her as a contestant.

[Spicysweet]

47 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

Am glad the show is back and am excited about this season being an international all-star season.  So many of the dishes looked great-but a few, not so much (to me).  However, I am disappointed that Dawn is back (yes, I know this is an unpopular opinion).  I was surprised she was brought back as a 'mentor' (?) in a previous TC season and now again as a competitor (and I did see her Bobby Flay episode).  I thought she was given a lot of leniency in her previous season and it just rubbed me wrong (sorry).  For whatever reason though, the producers must love her so I will endeavor to try to enjoy her as a contestant.

I'm not a Dawn fan either.

[CrazyInAlabama]

No matter what Dawn is like in real life, she's not cut out to be a competitive chef on a TV show with strict timing constrains.     I suspect she'll be gone soon.   

[MerBearHou]

15 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

No matter what Dawn is like in real life, she's not cut out to be a competitive chef on a TV show with strict timing constrains.     I suspect she'll be gone soon.   

I guess the former track star Dawn refuses to throw in the towel on competitive cooking, but it is so clearly not in her wheelhouse and frankly, I don't think it ever will be.  

[Mellowyellow]

Ugh! Really don't care for Dawn! Couldn't they bring back Eric instead of her? I liked him the first time round and am very fond of him after seeing him host Alex vs America.

Nicole! Dale! Buddha! Sara! Yay!!!

I liked Sara in Kentucky! She comes off a little rough but I recall thinking she was a good sport! If only they would have Eric instead of Dawn 😭

[Fukui San]

6 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I guess the former track star Dawn refuses to throw in the towel on competitive cooking, but it is so clearly not in her wheelhouse and frankly, I don't think it ever will be.  

She’s an improv actor in a Shakespeare cast. I want to eat everything she cooks, but her creative process fails her on Top Chef. 

[Bastet]

22 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I guess the former track star Dawn refuses to throw in the towel on competitive cooking, but it is so clearly not in her wheelhouse and frankly, I don't think it ever will be.  

I don't think it's odd she agreed to come back for another season of TC.  Despite her recurring issues with timed competition, she kept placing high enough to advance all the way to the finals.  So if she's been practicing having to conceptualize and execute under typical TC time constraints and wants to compete again to see if she can, by that practice, overcome that block, I can easily understand her saying yes. 

Now, with this being an all-stars competition where everyone else has also made it to the finals (and in some cases won), I doubt she'll have changed enough in that aspect to go the distance again.  If that's the case, maybe after this she'll throw in the towel on short-timed competitions.  I just think that, in her place, I might well, having been invited, also be driven to take this opportunity to find out if I could train my way into better time management rather than throwing in the towel without that effort.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Bastet

[pasdetrois]

17 hours ago, Spicysweet said:

I'm not a Dawn fan either.

I'm a fan of her cooking but only if she completes it on time. She's wrong for this show.

Is production idiotic enough to believe they have to seed every season with someone they know will have pronounced time issues - you know, to bring the drama?

Edited March 14, 2023 by pasdetrois

[Spicysweet]

1 minute ago, pasdetrois said:

I'm a fan of her cooking but only if she completes it on time. She's wrong for this show.

Is production idiotic enough to believe they have to seed every season with someone they know will have pronounced time issues - you know, to bring the drama?

Absolutely wrong. I'm sure she's a great chef, but if you can't plate in time, you don't belong on Top Chef.

[hendersonrocks]

I wish Dawn could charge rent for the amount of space she takes up in people's heads.

[Leeds]

On 3/13/2023 at 8:59 PM, Fukui San said:

She’s an improv actor in a Shakespeare cast. I want to eat everything she cooks, but her creative process fails her on Top Chef. 

To me she's one of those kids who thinks the rules don't apply to them - and unfortunately the judges are the indulgent parents who play into it.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Leeds

[SemiCharmedLife]

Judging from the comments on this forum, the producers were right about casting Dawn for this competition:  we are all talking about her!  I liked Dawn in her previous run, even though, by the end, I couldn't believe she was still able to maintain her spot despite her timing issues.  I think, along with timing, she has a different approach to conceptualizing a dish, which also works against her in this competition.  I'm always amazed at how fast so many chef-testants can come up with a plan, given a last minute twist or on the spot change.  Seeing her reaction after Gabri's accidental spill makes me think that this competitive format is causing immense pressure.