S12.E10: For Julia & Jacques

[Mumbles]

I don't believe any of the cheftestants watched Julia Child.  Nobody had any specific memories and all their praise was just kind of vague. That's fine, just don't pretend how awe-inspired you were of her if you weren't. Hell, Dougie couldn't even pronounced Jacques Pepin's name right.

[HappyDancex2]

I did like the fact that the chefs seemed genuinely in awe of Jacques himself.  I got to hang out with him at a cocktail party for an hour and even got a picture with him at a different event when he was signing books and talking to people for about 10 minutes a person.  The pic is literally my most prized celeb pic possession.  He's ridiculously gracious.

 

I never saw Julia on TV but I did see a few episodes of Jacques and Julia.  Greg's impression of Julia was funny.  I don't believe it when he said that he's NEVER made coq au vin though.  And are we surprised that Mei won?  Did she say that she staged at Joel Robuchon in freaking France??

 

What was the purpose of notGay Andy Cohen?  I didn't mind him but what was the point?

 

The Herb Lyceum (sp?) location was gorgeous.  I loved the buddha in the garden and the table was spectacularly simple.

[biakbiak]

I wish Sara Moulton had been one of the guests at the Julia dinner!

[Bees]

As much as it sucked to see Doug go, it was the right call. He took a big risk and it didn't pay off. That sucks big time but better to take a huge risk and go for it than to just skate by. 

 

I'm glad Gregory is doing well and I really hope that both him and Mei are in the finale. I feel like Melissa should've been eliminated a few challenges ago. 

 

I'm not a huge fan of George. There's just something about him that rubs me the wrong way. Am I the only one who feels that way?

 

Next week looks like fun. Family cooking and I see they're incorporating some shellfishing and the like. Odds are, they'll be down by Cape Cod doing that stuff or New Bedford. Possibly Maine or Rhode Island but those seem like a stretch. Here's to Doug winning Last Chance Kitchen.

[radiochik]

What was the purpose of notGay Andy Cohen?  I didn't mind him but what was the point?

 

I think the point was that he was Andy Cohen's college roommate and they were cooking a college staple using ingredients supplied by college kids.

 

I was bummed to see Dougie go.  I truly hope he can win LCK and come back. I was rooting for a Gregory, Mei and Doug final 3 so maybe it can still happen.  Like so many others, I thought Melissa was a goner based on the beginning with her and Mei and a lot of the talking heads w her.  The editing monkeys fooled me!

[Julia]

Yeah, I want Dougie back, and I really don't want to see Melissa advance to the finals. Also, it was shown with current footage, but I wonder when that talking head from Mei about bonding and solidarity was taped, because, really?

 

I kinda don't get what about Andy Cohen's roommate made him a not!gay version of Andy Cohen. He didn't preen, he didn't do any leadenly outrageous attention whoring, and he seemed to realize he was talking to sober people who are on tv because they're actually good at something. It felt a little like an excuse to point out that roommate isn't gay, which, um, OK, I guess that's two things America knows about you now?

Edited January 10, 2015 by Julia

[Crucial]

I'm glad Greg and Mei are still there and I hope they are the final two.  Either person winning would be great with me.  I am so tired of seeing Andy Cohen on tv, please go away.  He's the Ryan Seacrest of Bravo.  He won't go away..at all.  Please keep him on WWHL and Housewives reunion shows only (dare to dream they both go away in 2015, lol not happening I know).

[NowVoyager]

All of those ramen noodle dishes sounded disgusting. It was a cute quickfire idea---I'm sure the students & Andy's old roommate got a kick out of being on television---but I wouldn't have wanted to eat that food. And poor Mei looked humiliated serving it.

Andy Cohen cracked me up when Padma loudly slurped her noodles & he said: "Sweetie!"

And are we surprised that Mei won? Did she say that she staged at Joel Robuchon in freaking France??

When she said that, I flashed back to the first episode when Keri Ann spoke about that fake-sounding award. Meanwhile Mei has just been quietly sitting on this juicy little tidbit.

It was nice to see Mei & Melissa talking about their friendship. I guess we'll just have to wait for the reunion to hear more about Clamgate.

Mei or Greg for the win!

[Kromm]

Oh man.  I had Do The Douggie pegged to win this whole damn thing.

[leighdear]

At least with all that goo on George's head, there probably won't ever be any of his hair falling in his food. (ewwww, I know!)

 

This reminded me of the Top Chef: Masters challenge a few years back when they had to raid dorm rooms & cook IN them with whatever they found.  My beloved Hubert Keller won the challenge by making a pasta dish, in a coffee pot, in the shower.  Good times.  

[mlp]

 

I had Do The Douggie pegged to win this whole damn thing.

 

I did too.  I don't think he has any chance now.  I do think he might become the last chef standing in LCK but I doubt that Tom will let another winner come from there so soon after Kristen's win.  I'll be very surprised if the final two are other than Mei and Gregory.  I don't like Mei at all so I hope Gregory takes it.

[DHDancer]

I must be the only person who didn't have a problem with Greg using "exacerbate"  He was concerned that sitting overnight may have negatively impacted the quality of his dish.  Exacerbate means to make worse... from vocabulary.com "For a formal-sounding verb that means to make worse, try exacerbate."

 

So glad Doug won LCK....long may he continue to do so.

 

ps I'm so excited to have TWO Portland chefs where I will actually be able to go to their restaurants and try the food for myself. Yay!!  

Edited January 9, 2015 by DHDancer

[Julia]

My vibe with exacerbate is that it means making something already problematic worse, which is an odd thing for Gregory to say about his own dish.

 

I still say, it's a lot of fun to say.

[Brookside]

Who's George and what's he doing there?

[Beebee111]

 

Earlier in the season I would have given him the benefit of the doubt, but his bragging makes me just want to Nelson Muntz "HA HA" at him.

I'm not sure it's "bragging." Gregory is probably answering producers' questions about his life experiences. It's not like he can lie in response to a question like: "Where did you go to school?" or "What do you do in your spare time?" in order to give viewers the illusion of humility. He seems liked well enough by his colleagues - not something I would associate with a braggart. He has also been very open about his life as an addict.

 

 

My vibe with exacerbate is that it means making something already problematic worse, which is an odd thing for Gregory to say about his own dish.

 

What I think Gregory was going for was "intensified flavours . . . to a point that was no longer appetizing" (hence the need for him to add broth). Intensification of flavour often happens to any food you leave in flavoured juices overnight. I can see how "exacerbate" came to mind. It's an odd use of the word, but I am not entirely sure it's incorrect.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Beebee111

[cattykit]

I can't help but think they took immunity away from the quickfire to avoid another situation where Jacques Pepin might be asking a cheftestant with immunity why they didn't recuse themselves for having the worst dish.

[Calamity Jane]

Was that Jacques Pepin?  I had forgotten -- knew it was a male with a French accent, but wasn't sure which chef. 

[bunnywithanaxe]

Julia Child's coq au vin recipe doesn't use a rooster, so maybe that's why Tom kept his mouth shut this time. Julia child's recipe

Boy, am I a rotten person. You won't believe how happy this post made me.

Edited January 10, 2015 by bunnywithanaxe

[Lura]

While watching the show, I couldn't think who Joann Chang was or where I'd seen her.  Thanks to those of you who mentioned her.  I saw her on "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay, making her famous sticky buns -- and I didn't know she had a cookbook!

 

IMHO, Gregory has been just the opposite of a braggart.  He has a self-deprecating sense of humor and frequently talks about how daunting one task or another seems to him.  He's so super intelligent that I've noticed times when he's dumbed himself down so he wouldn't look like an egghead.  I really like Greg.  He's come a long way from his bad boy days, and I admire his honesty about it.

 

For the finale, I'd love to see Gregory, Doug and Mei.  I like Melissa very much, but I see her as being just a tiny bit short of the others.  I really think Doug will come back from LCK.  With those three duking it out. I think we'd see one of the epic battles in Top Chef history!

Edited January 10, 2015 by Lura

[Norma Desmond]

Why is Melissa still there? It boggles the mind.

[Kromm]

Was that Jacques Pepin?  I had forgotten -- knew it was a male with a French accent, but wasn't sure which chef.

Well you know those Frenchies.  Interchangeable!

 

Hell, Dougie couldn't even pronounced Jacques Pepin's name right.

I don't know if that last is really that big a deal.  I mean I'm sure it is to Pepin, but for a chef not immersed in French tradition with just a loose second hand knowledge from TV and such, I'm not surprised.

EDIT - Although his bio says he attended what is now a Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, before it was Le Cordon Bleu (it was "Western Culinary Institute"). Even still that probably does mean he learned some French technique. But does that necessarily mean a knowledge of how to pronounce "Pepin"? I dunno.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Kromm

[Bella]

Why is Melissa still there? It boggles the mind.

 

On occasion, a Top Chef contestant will be mediocre for a while, then suddenly the light bulb will go on and they will have a late surge, or at least hang with the big kids. In the mean time, we viewers establish them in our minds as being mediocre, and the surge/hang goes against what we've come to believe about them.

 

To me, that's Melissa. And I don't have a problem with someone "getting it" halfway through the competition and doing better in the later stages than they did in the earlier legs. I find it more interesting than a bunch of predictable front-runners making it to the end without anyone coming in to upset their ranks. So I like that Melissa is a better cook against the better chefs. I don't want her to win, but I like her for playing the spoiler.

 

As always, however, YMMV.

[Nilo]

I was really surprised no one went with filet of sole - that's the dish that inspired Julia's love of French cooking to start with, plus it comes together really fast.  I was just sad to see so many of them going for things that they KNEW weren't going to be ready in time.  

[Happytobehere]

Loved the ode to Julia Child. Gregory was right, were it not for her, there would most likely be no Top Chef, she made watching shows about cooking accessible to the masses.

Based on the editing monkeys, I knew that either Gregory or Doug was going home, when Gregory's dish was loved, I knew Doug was gone,

How is middle of the road Melissa still there. This is why I have always said their should be a point system until the show gets to the final four, where it should then be simply best versus worst.

[Noreaster]

Pretty bored by this episode.  It seemed obvious that Doug had the worst dish.  With the judges/diners providing immediate feedback, no way to hide the fact that his dish was way undercooked. Too bad for Doug. He actually had the balls to take on a huge risk but just couldn't pull it off.  

 

I must say that I am thoroughly underwhelmed with this season. This is a sorry-looking cast. The "frontrunners" Gregory and Mei didn't even have the cojones to take on the executive chef role back in Restaurant Wars. I'm not compelled to root for them.

 

I said a couple of episodes ago that I hope George gets eliminated before the finals because it didn't seem fair to the remaining contestants. But really, I just don't give a damn now. I don't care about any of these contestants. I'm actually still irked about George getting screwed over in general where silly gimmicks will forever mar his Top Chef appearance. 

 

Maybe I need more drama to get excited.  Contestants these days pretty much know to behave themselves on camera.  Perhaps the contestants need to be pushed out of their comfort zone more.  I hate the really gimmicky stuff, but this season's challenges seem too open-ended. I mean, Gregory was able to get away with doing coconut or curry or whatever for way too many dishes.  And he's considered a frontrunner!  In previous seasons, we would probably say that he should take more risks and doesn't really deserve to win Top Chef.  Mei seems like she's stepping up a bit lately, but I don't remember feeling particularly wowed by anything she's cooked.  

 

Hey, for all we know, this season's food might rank as the best of all of Top Chef.  But I can't taste the food, and my goodness, I'm so damn bored.  

[GaT]

I'm actually still irked about George getting screwed over in general where silly gimmicks will forever mar his Top Chef appearance. 

 

 

The 25 pounds of grease in George's hair is what mars his Top Chef appearance, anything else is secondary.

[Noreaster]

I guess I care more about the cooking part.  Not the contestants' use of hair products.  

[cooksdelight]

Just my opinion, if George had been competing in LCK all along, a weekly thing -- and not just voted in as someone who should get a second chance -- I think his presence wouldn't need an asterisk.

[Julia]

I guess I care more about the cooking part.  Not the contestants' use of hair products.  

 

I about 85% agree with you - I 100% agree that the chefs shouldn't be downgraded for their personal style (I've never seen that asymmetrical half-shave Melissa's rocking not look silly and affected on anyone) as long as it doesn't affect their product.

 

I have to say, though, I'd be a little nervous that some of George's product or the stuff that inevitably would get stuck in it would end up in my food. 

[Noreaster]

Just my opinion, if George had been competing in LCK all along, a weekly thing -- and not just voted in as someone who should get a second chance -- I think his presence wouldn't need an asterisk.

Personally, I think any re-entrance-via-LCK deserves an asterisk.

 

Then the whole deal with George's initial exit and re-entrance is just fucked up all around.  And none of this is really his fault.  These ridiculous gimmicks made it so that George is never going to be deemed "deserving".  A far-from-ideal Top Chef appearance.

 

 

I about 85% agree with you - I 100% agree that the chefs shouldn't be downgraded for their personal style (I've never seen that asymmetrical half-shave Melissa's rocking not look silly and affected on anyone) as long as it doesn't affect their product.

 

I have to say, though, I'd be a little nervous that some of George's product or the stuff that inevitably would get stuck in it would end up in my food. 

LOL.  Fair point.  It doesn't bother me since I'm guessing that the seemingly absurd amount of gel prevents anything (hair or gel) from falling in.  But I see what you're saying.

[ZoloftBlob]

Then the whole deal with George's initial exit and re-entrance is just fucked up all around.  And none of this is really his fault.  These ridiculous gimmicks made it so that George is never going to be deemed "deserving".  A far-from-ideal Top Chef appearance.

 

Fair point - if they hadn't eliminated George on the very first quickfire in a team event, if he had gotten to compete in the first real elimination challenge, then no one would consider his exit "unfair". I personally don't consider his exit terrible but I can see where the quick boot seems unfair, but.... don't boot contestants before the game even starts.

[GaT]

I about 85% agree with you - I 100% agree that the chefs shouldn't be downgraded for their personal style (I've never seen that asymmetrical half-shave Melissa's rocking not look silly and affected on anyone) as long as it doesn't affect their product.

 

I have to say, though, I'd be a little nervous that some of George's product or the stuff that inevitably would get stuck in it would end up in my food. 

The stuff on his head getting into the food is all I can think about when I look at him, especially because he gets all sweaty too. I keep waiting for the stuff in his hair to liquify, roll down his face, & drip into the food :-O

[HappyDancex2]

The stuff on his head getting into the food is all I can think about when I look at him, especially because he gets all sweaty too. I keep waiting for the stuff in his hair to liquify, roll down his face, & drip into the food :-O

That. Is. Just. A. Nasty. Visual.

[gryphon]

Mei lost me when she said, "Melissa and I's relationship..."    I think it will be Mei and Gregory in the finale, though.  

 

When Doug is giving his last talking head, I thought he said, "I hope to kick some ass in Flashdance Kitchen."   What a feeling...!

[Chasing Whitebeams]

Mei lost me when she said, "Melissa and I's relationship..."   

 

Why? "Melissa and I's" is correct.

[Julia]

Generally, the way to test that is to remove one of the people. Melissa relationship or I's relationship is a bit awkward. I believe it would be Melissa's and my, although bluntly it's a really awkward construction and I'd've gone with "our" or "the relationship between me and Melissa"

Edited January 11, 2015 by Julia

[NewDigs]

Why? "Melissa and I's" is correct.

Wouldn't "Melissa's and my" relationship be correct?

Love Jacques Pepin so was like a little fangirl throughout this episode.

[Kromm]

Wouldn't "Melissa's and my" relationship be correct?

Love Jacques Pepin so was like a little fangirl throughout this episode.

Yeah, there is no such word as "I's."

 

"My" is the correct usage.  It's not the same thing as saying "me" (or would someone actually DARE to try "me's"?).

 

Of course the best way to convey the same thought is the word "our" (replacing the whole phrase).

 

EDIT - Oh, Julia already covered this.  Sorry.  Just consider this extra independent confirmation, if anyone doubted...

Edited January 11, 2015 by Kromm

[NewDigs]

... "...the relationship between me and Melissa"

I know times have changed but I remember being taught to put the other person first and one's own self last which would make that, "... between Melissa and me."

And I loved the clips of Julia. Makes me want to watch some of her old shows.

[Kromm]

I know times have changed but I remember being taught to put the other person first and one's own self last which would make that, "... between Melissa and me."

And I loved the clips of Julia. Makes me want to watch some of her old shows.

Actually in this case, I think the easiest construction would probably be "between us", but Strunk and White actually agrees with you that “between you and me” is also correct (so if follows that “between Melissa and me” probably would be as well).

Edited January 11, 2015 by Kromm

[Julia]

I know times have changed but I remember being taught to put the other person first and one's own self last which would make that, "... between Melissa and me."

 

sigh. Is there a name for the internet rule which holds that if you post about grammar, you inevitably get something embarrassingly wrong?

[Bella]

sigh. Is there a name for the internet rule which holds that if you post about grammar, you inevitably get something embarrassingly wrong?

 

There is indeed a name for that: it's called "being human." It afflicts us all.

 

Moving back on-topic, I think my favorite part of this episode was actually the quickfire. I liked having Emerson students participating instead of students from the more frequently named Boston-area schools like Harvard, Boston U, etc. I liked having the dorm room food be the only ingredients. And I liked that the chefs had to pick without knowing what was in the various bags. How would you guess that, anyway? Which student looked healthiest, had the best skin, seemed the most robust, or what?

[Bastet]

And I liked that the chefs had to pick without knowing what was in the various bags. How would you guess that, anyway? Which student looked healthiest, had the best skin, seemed the most robust, or what?

 

Didn't one of the chefs chose based on which student looked like a stoner?

[Chasing Whitebeams]

Of course "I's" doesn't exist in on its own, and you have put forward alternative ways to say it, but one could certainly treat "Melissa and I" as a syntactic constituent, therefore applying the "'s" to it. (Similarly to "Doug and Katsuji's room was dirty.") (Similarly, if your phrase ends in 'me', you can still apply 's to it, even though one would never apply 's to a lone me.)

[Uncle Benzene]

Oh good lord.

[Julia]

And I liked that the chefs had to pick without knowing what was in the various bags. How would you guess that, anyway? Which student looked healthiest, had the best skin, seemed the most robust, or what?

 

Didn't one of the chefs chose based on which student looked like a stoner?

 

Yep, although judging from the food in their fridges that could have been any or all of them. I'm sort of glad Andy Cohen was the judge they chose to taste this.

[JES004]

 

I don't understand what George is thinking with that hairstyle!!  Nuts!!  There is something appealing about his voice though, and his face is friendly and open.

 

Thanks for this.  I agree, he appears to be a genuinely nice person, if not an overly creative chef.  He seems to be holding his own.  

Edited January 12, 2015 by JES004

[Noreaster]

Fair point - if they hadn't eliminated George on the very first quickfire in a team event, if he had gotten to compete in the first real elimination challenge, then no one would consider his exit "unfair". I personally don't consider his exit terrible but I can see where the quick boot seems unfair, but.... don't boot contestants before the game even starts.

Yes, exactly.  No reason to make that first quickfire a team challenge (well, except for the drama). Nothing "team" about it except the contestants had to divide up the tasks, leading some contestants to get stuck with tasks that they didn't want or didn't suit them well. 

 

I remember another mise-en-place quickfire elimination that was much better designed (and I think also in a season premiere). There were multiple rounds where all the contestants had to work on the same tasks. They all started off on one task (something like chopping onions). The fastest X number of contestants were safe.  Then the remaining contestants had to work on the next task (like breaking down chickens). The fastest X number of these contestants were safe.  Then it kept on going until eventually, there were only 3 or 4 contestants left.  These guys then had to cook a dish with the mise-en-place ingredients, and the person with the worst dish was eliminated. This seems so much more fair to me.  Still sucked that this was a first-quickfire elimination, but at least everyone was being judged on the same skill set.  And the few at risk had to participate in a cook-off.  (Instead of this season's bizarre "only one person is at risk and he has to pick a random person to do a cook-off".)

 

Thanks for this.  I agree, he appears to be a genuinely nice person, if not an overly creative chef.  He seems to be holding his own.  

I think this is why I continued to be annoyed by the initial gimmick that booted George.  He is cooking just fine and holding his own with the remaining finalists.  Putting aside his choice/usage of hair products and his association with the apparently "hated" Mike Isabella, he seems like a good guy and a good cook. It sucks that he never really had a fair shake in this competition. Who knows. If he wasn't eliminated on day 1, maybe he would have made it far and been considered one of the "favorites" to win.  As it stands, I think almost everyone (including myself) thinks he shouldn't win since he didn't participate in a good portion of the competition.  

Edited January 12, 2015 by Noreaster

[ChelseaNH]

one could certainly treat "Melissa and I" as a syntactic constituent, therefore applying the "'s" to it.

 

No, one could not.  Possessive pronouns exist for a reason and they need the work.

[jimene79]

On occasion, a Top Chef contestant will be mediocre for a while, then suddenly the light bulb will go on and they will have a late surge, or at least hang with the big kids. In the mean time, we viewers establish them in our minds as being mediocre, and the surge/hang goes against what we've come to believe about them.

 

To me, that's Melissa. And I don't have a problem with someone "getting it" halfway through the competition and doing better in the later stages than they did in the earlier legs. I find it more interesting than a bunch of predictable front-runners making it to the end without anyone coming in to upset their ranks. So I like that Melissa is a better cook against the better chefs. I don't want her to win, but I like her for playing the spoiler.

 

As always, however, YMMV.

In my opinion, she's still exhibiting mediocre skills.  The mistake she made with with the shortribs shouldn't have been made by a chef of higher caliber and she has yet to make any dish that I can remember.