S22.E11: Calgary, Yahoo!

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, cameron said:

Thought they went to one of the infamous "fish boils" in Door County.

They didn't. @caitmcg is correct about the details.  They brought someone in from Door County but it was on a beach in Milwaukee.

Edited May 27 by Irlandesa

[buttersister]

Would have loved to seen Halifax and Vancouver, but budget was set and somebody wanted to go to Italy. Can’t blame them, but Milan? Not my favorite Italian city, but new for the show.

 

Edited May 27 by buttersister

[Salacious Kitty]

2 minutes ago, buttersister said:

Would have loved to seen Halifax and Vancouver, but budget was set and somebody wanted to go to Italy. Can’t blame them, but Milan? Not my favorite Italian city, but new for the show.

 

Milan is tied into the Winter Olympics next year. NBC has spoken.

Edited May 27 by Salacious Kitty

[Vermicious Knid]

I wonder if Massimo will have an advantage since he speaks Italian. When they get turned loose in the local grocery store or Farmer's Market he won't struggle to read labels and can talk to the shopkeepers.

[Yeah No]

11 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

I just get a sense of "look at me!!!" from Massimo. I get that chefs have to have egos to some extent, but I feel like Massimo wants and seeks attention. 

I don't necessarily buy that the sour face we see from Massimo on camera is actually a reaction to someone else getting praised. Editing can be misleading, after all. I'm basing my impression of him from his "talking head" segments and his behavior in the house and the stew room.

And I'm not saying he isn't a good cook. I find his personality off-putting but I don't have to like the chef who's cooking my food. 

I like Cesar's personality as it's been presented on the show. Someone who comes across as humble and softer spoken will always be my preference over a loud attention seeker.

One thing I'll say for Massimo, he definitely doesn't lack self confidence!

I don't see anything wrong with the way Massimo manifests his personality type. There are always confident attention-seekers out there but it shouldn't be seen as negative to be that way and as they go he's by far not the worst I've seen by a long shot. He seems pretty mature to have achieved all he has in his career. And to have worked with some of the chefs he's worked with he can't be that bad. I've gotten the impression that Massimo's surface personality traits have been exaggerated and identified with others in a way that's not fair to him. AKA, judging a book by its cover. Just my opinion!

[buttersister]

Massimo as the show’s tornado in the kitchen, aka, slob, no regrets, and his try- too-hard talking heads are what annoy me. But his dish did look good. Pretty sure he’ll make Milan. Perhaps he’ll be super inspired there.Tristen is still my guy.  

With two Chicago chefs still in the mix, I checked their menus and Cesar’s is out, due to dietary restrictions—it’s prix fixe, and  reviews stress you’ll eat what the chef is serving. You’ll recognize his style from what he’s cooked here, but at these prices, you’d hope it wasn’t hit or miss. Of course, the location is lovely and Kish doesn’t throw in twists.

[jpgr]

17 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I don't see anything wrong with the way Massimo manifests his personality type. There are always confident attention-seekers out there but it shouldn't be seen as negative to be that way and as they go he's by far not the worst I've seen by a long shot. He seems pretty mature to have achieved all he has in his career. And to have worked with some of the chefs he's worked with he can't be that bad. I've gotten the impression that Massimo's surface personality traits have been exaggerated and identified with others in a way that's not fair to him. AKA, judging a book by its cover. Just my opinion!

I don't judge him by his surface traits ("cover"). I judge him by the behavior we have seen in the kitchen (chaotic, careless, starting a fire by tossing wet potatoes into hot oil), and the way he treated Paula when they were paired as a team. They didn't show the worst of that during the regular show but there is an outtake shown during the subsequent episode of "Dish with Kish" that lays out who he is.

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, jpgr said:

I don't judge him by his surface traits ("cover"). I judge him by the behavior we have seen in the kitchen (chaotic, careless, starting a fire by tossing wet potatoes into hot oil), and the way he treated Paula when they were paired as a team. They didn't show the worst of that during the regular show but there is an outtake shown during the subsequent episode of "Dish with Kish" that lays out who he is.

Those are such small snippets and I would never judge someone based on them because everyone deserves being shown in more context. The bigger picture with Massimo tells a much different story. I really doubt that those things are the tip of any iceberg where Massimo is a real jerk deserving of such judgment. I've been watching reality TV for decades and this show since day one and I think I know when there's an incongruence between what they're choosing to show us and what may be the broader view of a person. You can pick my posts apart and I have never come down that hard on anyone on this show. I am not judgmental and jump to conclusions on so little. Plus I never said he was perfect, just that I've seen a whole lot worse and I think whatever faults he may have are likely being exaggerated, showcased and made into far more than they are in reality. That's just the way these shows are. If you want to see and pick apart a real bastard I suggest watching "Sister Wives". 

What I didn't like about that clip on "The Dish with Kish" is that Massimo wasn't given the opportunity to explain himself there. So many times during judging the chefs are criticized for not doing more to make sure their partner didn't put forward a failing dish if they could have helped them avoid it. And I actually think Massimo had the right idea there in trying to prevent something he thought would hurt them collectively rather than just keep his mouth shut about it. I think he was putting feelings aside to get the job done right given that they were being judged as a team, and that's actually a positive thing, but it came off a little too intrusive and critical and she took it personally and pushed back. I think he got frustrated with that and that's when it devolved. So I think his intentions were good but his delivery and manner were a little too pushy and harsh because of the stress of the competition. That is something I can forgive. It is not evidence of him being a "douche" or whatever anyone wants to call him. When I see him do something that I think warrants him being called one, I'll let you know.

Edited May 29 by Yeah No

[AZChristian]

12 hours ago, Yeah No said:

If you want to see and pick apart a real bastard I suggest watching "Sister Wives".

Absolutely.  100%.  And they have two of them who are married to each other.

[jpgr]

16 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Those are such small snippets and I would never judge someone based on them because everyone deserves being shown in more context. The bigger picture with Massimo tells a much different story. I really doubt that those things are the tip of any iceberg where Massimo is a real jerk deserving of such judgment. I've been watching reality TV for decades and this show since day one and I think I know when there's an incongruence between what they're choosing to show us and what may be the broader view of a person. You can pick my posts apart and I have never come down that hard on anyone on this show. I am not judgmental and jump to conclusions on so little. Plus I never said he was perfect, just that I've seen a whole lot worse and I think whatever faults he may have are likely being exaggerated, showcased and made into far more than they are in reality. That's just the way these shows are. If you want to see and pick apart a real bastard I suggest watching "Sister Wives". 

What I didn't like about that clip on "The Dish with Kish" is that Massimo wasn't given the opportunity to explain himself there. So many times during judging the chefs are criticized for not doing more to make sure their partner didn't put forward a failing dish if they could have helped them avoid it. And I actually think Massimo had the right idea there in trying to prevent something he thought would hurt them collectively rather than just keep his mouth shut about it. I think he was putting feelings aside to get the job done right given that they were being judged as a team, and that's actually a positive thing, but it came off a little too intrusive and critical and she took it personally and pushed back. I think he got frustrated with that and that's when it devolved. So I think his intentions were good but his delivery and manner were a little too pushy and harsh because of the stress of the competition. That is something I can forgive. It is not evidence of him being a "douche" or whatever anyone wants to call him. When I see him do something that I think warrants him being called one, I'll let you know.

I have never called Massimo a douche or a jerk, or come down very hard on him. I have also watched reality TV for decades and this show since the start.

All we have to go by is what is shown. I'm not saying he's a horrible human being, just that what I've seen has made me not want him to win this show. He is somewhat self-aware and he has made some very good food.

 

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I still say Lana screwed up both challenges, but she did do the challenge.  Bailey did not do the challenge, by ignoring her required berry. 

[caitmcg]

4 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I still say Lana screwed up both challenges, but she did do the challenge.  Bailey did not do the challenge, by ignoring her required berry. 

Be that as it may, the judges have always privileged better food over hewing to the stated challenge perameters. And they also dinged Lana for muting the elements of her berry that would have paired best with her steak.

[dleighg]

7 hours ago, caitmcg said:

And they also dinged Lana for muting the elements of her berry that would have paired best with her steak.

I thought that was Cesar, who didn't allow the tannins of his berry to show by adding sugar.

[HappyDancex2]

This episode should have been renamed the Ick Factor.  First Lana test her meat thermometer by running it under her nose, which she swipes with the back of her hand a lot anyway like she has allergies.  I’ve seen chefs touch a skewer or knife blade to their lip to test but never a nose swipe with the probe.  
 

Then Massimo swipes the fruit leather from the floor, even if it landed up.  I’m not sure what the point is if we aren’t going to address these grey areas.  We’ve had episodes where finger tasting is called out by Tom and let’s face it, that’s old school and rampant.  And multiple episodes where Tom reminds people to use the tasting spoons.

sheesh, if not for the look on being on film…I guess it’s just Bravo showing the viewer what they want to reveal and it’s up to us to draw our own lines?

[Eulipian 5k]

On 5/23/2025 at 12:26 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

My family visited Alberta back in the aughts and in addition to Jasper and Banff

Jasper is on my list! : the annual Dark Sky Festival (17 October to 2 November 2025) held in Jasper National Park, one of the world's largest and most accessible dark sky preserves. 

[pasdetrois]

On 5/23/2025 at 6:18 PM, GiandujaPie said:

So they are not even going to make it to Vancouver? I thought they were going to go all around Canada. Why have the finale in Milan?

Every time they switch locations - even if it's across town - it costs a lot of production money.  So they chose to blow the budget they could have spent on Canadian travel to fly a huge crew to Milan. Disappointing.

Quote

The answer was that they had a limit (75 miles, I think) of how far they could travel from their main location other than the semi-final and finale trip. 

That was probably due in part to union rules (I belong to AFTRA).

The laborious manipulations to fit a challenge to a sponsor are obnoxious at this point. It's affecting the quality of the challenges and, in addition to the stupid time constraints, hampers the chefs' ability to show what they can do. 

Positive note: I'm enjoying Kristin as the host and I love her fashions.

Edited June 5 by pasdetrois

[Tango64]

4 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

The laborious manipulations to fit a challenge to a sponsor are obnoxious at this point.

I'm waiting for the challenge where they have to feature Saratoga water as their main ingredient.

[carrps]

Kristen is very politely sarcastic about Saratoga Water on Dish with Kish.

[mlp]

9 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

So they chose to blow the budget they could have spent on Canadian travel to fly a huge crew to Milan. Disappointing.

Quote

Yes.  I don't get it either.  They should have gone to Victoria and done something at the famous and beautiful Empress hotel.  Or Butchart Gardens.  Maybe those places didn't want to pay for the privilege.

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, carrps said:

Kristen is very politely sarcastic about Saratoga Water on Dish with Kish.

which episode? I don't usually watch.

[carrps]

All of them. 

Usually.

 

[caitmcg]

21 hours ago, mlp said:

Yes.  I don't get it either.  They should have gone to Victoria and done something at the famous and beautiful Empress hotel.  Or Butchart Gardens.  Maybe those places didn't want to pay for the privilege.

But don't they always go somewhere completely different (and usually overseas) for the finales? i understand the disappointment with not showcasing more of Canada, but I wouldn't have expected the show to completely change tack, personally.

[The Solution]

How can you do a cooking show like this in Canada and NOT go to Montreal?