S06.E06: Showdown in Chi-Town

[In Pog Form]

I think the rules Tyler gave required them to cook Chinese in Chinatown, etc.

Which is my point - the show has very little to do with the actual food truck business. My memory may be faulty, but I think the first seasons had challenges that had a lot more to do with the issues food trucks face.

Why do a show about food trucks, and then eliminate everything that makes food trucks distinct from restaurants and other food vendors?

[biakbiak]

Which is my point - the show has very little to do with the actual food truck business. My memory may be faulty, but I think the first seasons had challenges that had a lot more to do with the issues food trucks face.Why do a show about food trucks, and then eliminate everything that makes food trucks distinct from restaurants and other food vendors?

The gimmick challenges have been there from the beginning: butchering a cow, collecting a bunch of catfish, cooking a five course meal with colonial tools, etc.

[backformore]

Why would you cook Chinese food in Chinatown, and Italian food in Little Italy? You're competing against local cuisines, of which there are plenty of choices.

And isn't one of the key benefits of food trucks that you can get different food in places where you wouldn't normally get it? Cooking the local food defeats the entire point.

Good point.   It does seem kind of stupid.  Two kinds of people will eat in Chinatown.  Tourists, who want to eat at authentic Chinese restaurants, and locals, who already know what Chinese food is, and are familiar with the "hidden" and more authentic places.  Neither of these groups seem like good customers for a food truck attempting a cuisine that is not their specialty. 

If I go to one of the neighborhoods where there is a certain kind of ethnic cuisine, that's what I'm looking for -   not a food truck selling  their own version, I want the real thing.  

 

I'd like the show better if they were actually looking for the best food truck, and not doing some weird food truck challenge which has elements of Chopped, grocery games, and Cut throat Kitchen.  

[SingleMaltBlonde]

Which is my point - the show has very little to do with the actual food truck business. My memory may be faulty, but I think the first seasons had challenges that had a lot more to do with the issues food trucks face.

 

The same can be said for most of the shows on FoodTV.  I can't even watch Cutthroat Kitchen or Chopped.  

 

I prefered when it was teams with an idea who wanted a food truck.  Some of the challenges will just be for drama but some really test their cooking chops.  At any given time they may only have 4 things on the menu (smart) but they need to rotate those items and roll with the punches....maybe if they are working an Oktoberfest or something.

[GeorgiaRai]

I like the Waffle boys, and would choose their truck over Pho if both were parked in my driveway right now.  But I was glad Pho won  - they're likeable & hard-working, too, and seem to actually need the money, not just the bragging rights.  

 

Not to take away from the girls' (deserved) win, but I tend to agree with an earlier comment in that it felt to me like this challenge had at least a dash of  "Oh, yeah? We'll show you what happens when you dare to ignore our stupid food challenge-of-the-week".  I wish it had come down to the finalists doing their own food and not a bunch of contrived, pointless gimmicks.  Of course, that's the same gripe I've voiced after most seasons of Top Chef and so far, it's gotten me... well, nothing.

 

Tyler's references to "best food truck in America" gave me chronic eye-roll. 

[MajorWoody]

I'm glad Pho won, they certainly seemed to be deserving.

I am confused with the criteria at the end of the competition. As others have stated, it appears it had little to do with cooking skill or being the best food truck, but more about navigating traffic and rule book minutia. You can bet if I was racing to the finish line, I would skip waiting at a few traffic lights if $50,000 was waiting. It seems unfair that someone could conceivably lose if an accident occurred in front of them, or as happened early in the show, a mechanical issue caused a delay. The whole issue about sending Pho back seemed staged and dishonest, as did the editing at the end when it seemd like both trucks were neck and neck closing in on the finish line.

Also, the actual ending seemd like a tremendous letdown, was the network out of money to dress up the finish line?

Edited September 30, 2015 by MajorWoody

[GoMocs]

Exactly, so, the best food truck in the world could be determined by now many traffic lights they had to navigate? Doesnt' that set up a situation like Domino's PIzza had years ago with their 30 minute guarentee? Drivers breaking laws to get there and causing accidents then getting sued? Shouldn't the best food truck in the world be determined by the food they sell and their profits, not how fast they drive.

 

Also as somebody noted, there has to be more rules than we know, or I would  have charged one penny per item..could have sold those 50 items real quick.

 

Also, another issue that bothers me is having a huge advantage determined by one person, for example, in St Louis, one chef gets to decide who gets a huge advantage. Different people have different taste preferences. I sensed the boss of the chef in St Louis differed with his opinion on at least one dish, which would have changed who got the advantage. What if you had a guest judge like Scott Conant, who will immediately vote against you and condemn you if raw onions are in your dish, even though many people like them.

 

Set the trucks up side by side and let them sell their products...see who has the best business model.

[HunterHunted]

Exactly, so, the best food truck in the world could be determined by now many traffic lights they had to navigate? Doesnt' that set up a situation like Domino's PIzza had years ago with their 30 minute guarentee? Drivers breaking laws to get there and causing accidents then getting sued? Shouldn't the best food truck in the world be determined by the food they sell and their profits, not how fast they drive.

 

Also as somebody noted, there has to be more rules than we know, or I would  have charged one penny per item..could have sold those 50 items real quick.

 

Also, another issue that bothers me is having a huge advantage determined by one person, for example, in St Louis, one chef gets to decide who gets a huge advantage. Different people have different taste preferences. I sensed the boss of the chef in St Louis differed with his opinion on at least one dish, which would have changed who got the advantage. What if you had a guest judge like Scott Conant, who will immediately vote against you and condemn you if raw onions are in your dish, even though many people like them.

 

Set the trucks up side by side and let them sell their products...see who has the best business model.

The owner had slightly different opinions from the chef about the BBQ in St. Louis. But there is a reason the owner is the owner and the chef is the chef. The chef has the skill to make the food and the palate to determine what tastes good. The owner just has the wallet. For the chicken, his comment was how he preferred it on the bone. Nothing in his comment was substantively about taste. Or how cooking meat on the bone imparts more flavor. I got the sense that he basically liked everything, but anything that was slightly out of his comfort zone wouldn't have been what he preferred. Given that, you have to let the trained chef who has slightly more impartial taste buds be the deciding judge. They've had other challenges where a single person's opinion gave a team an advantage. It happened in Amarillo where the restaurant owner judged the teams' steak items and Pho won. Maybe Waffle lost because every truck stop challenge was a savory one and Waffle was a dessert truck that mostly made crap savory dishes when they had to.

[xaxat]

Set the trucks up side by side and let them sell their products...see who has the best business model.

 

Personally, I'd find that to be boring for more than a single episode.

 

All reality shows deal in a certain amount of artifice. (And, in many cases a set of totally arbitrary standards.) But I really don't take the superlatives associated with a competitive reality show's concept too seriously. (The Bestest Bachelor!, The Bestest Singer! The Bestest Food Truck! . . ) I just want a thematically consistent dramatic portrayal of talented people pursuing whatever the mythical goal may be.  

 

I thought this season didn't do a good job with that. I didn't think any of the challenges were especially terrible (no one had to compete in a biathlon in order to get their ingredients), but they weren't designed in a way that got all of the teams playing the same game. I'm not sure what the producers could have done though. Waffle Love clearly had the best business concept and they were smart enough to work outside the box.

[windfall]

I searched for greektown on google maps and I can totally understand why the girls thought they were in greektown. The area in the boundary is only two blocks by five blocks and two of the sides are bordered by interstates. Actually the boundary shown during the show might be even smaller since that one appeared to end on the same street as the park but the one on google maps ends one block further up. But that might just be bad scaling.

[Jersey Guy 87]

I searched for greektown on google maps and I can totally understand why the girls thought they were in greektown. The area in the boundary is only two blocks by five blocks and two of the sides are bordered by interstates. Actually the boundary shown during the show might be even smaller since that one appeared to end on the same street as the park but the one on google maps ends one block further up. But that might just be bad scaling.

 

I'm sure they were told the geographical limits they had to work within, as in "east of this street, west of that street, north of this street, south of that street."  Because just saying "Greektown" is too open to interpretation.  I'm also sure they were given a list of specific spots that TPTB had obtained permits for.  If the race was close nothing would have been said about Pho's location, the whole "you were outside the borders" thing was just to create drama.

[Sai]

I think they advertise it on Food Network's website and/or Facebook page when they are filming different shows. I am signed up to be an extra on any of their shows, so I usually get emails in advance about the L.A. or Atlanta area (two places I asked to be notified about).

Where do I sign up to be an extra?  I'd like to do that.

[cooksdelight]

This company casts extras in a lot of shows:

http://onsetproductions.com/calendar/default2.aspx

Also, check Food Network casting calls, Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef... anywhere there are people tasting food or watching people cook and rating it.

If you register and get on a mailing list, they will get in touch.

[meep.meep]

My sister finally hit on what it was about the Wafflers that made me have this song running through my head every time they were on screen.....

"Ooompa Loompa, doopity do.... we've got a waffle to sell to youuuuu...."

I said that weeks ago! Glad someone else finally sees it.

Yippy skippy! Glad the gals won and that they got rid of their horrid corn dog banh mi.