The Shows of 2016: New Year, New Chefs, Same Sob Stories

[spiderpig]

5 hours ago, mlp said:

First episode of the new BBQ competition............................ I wish we could have seen more of the Napa venue.  Wherever they are is absolutely gorgeous.

I never would have recognized Chad from FNS a few seasons back if they hadn't said his name.  He's a good-looking guy without that long, greasy hair.  I ended up rooting for him because the other finalist was just too weird and sweaty.  He must be good to have won all those major accolades but yuck.

I was delighted when they eliminated the red-haired girl.  She just couldn't talk herself up enough.  

Mean Girl here, mlp - I live half an hour from Napa Valley. (-yes, I'm gloating- ) It is jaw-droppingly beautiful any time of the year.  Beringer's a pretty big property, so they probably did the whole grill thing at that venue, but I hope they find excuses to drop in some side visits. 

It was an "Oh, shut UP!" burst from me every time Ms. I-Am-An-Empowered-Woman-Who-Is-Brilliantly-Talented-At-Age-23 opened her piehole. If she'd made it further I'd have to buy a new flatscreen.

[caci]

I couldn't stand the girl either and  I am a woman.  In fact, every time any woman starts with the cliche "people don't think I can cook because I am a woman" speech, I automatically put them on my please lose list.  I get that there is discrimination,  but neither is this the 1800's.  You are not breaking any new ground.  Just shut up and cook! 

[cattykit]

19 hours ago, mlp said:

First episode of the new BBQ competition............................ I wish we could have seen more of the Napa venue.  Wherever they are is absolutely gorgeous.

I never would have recognized Chad from FNS a few seasons back if they hadn't said his name.  He's a good-looking guy without that long, greasy hair.  I ended up rooting for him because the other finalist was just too weird and sweaty.  He must be good to have won all those major accolades but yuck.

I was delighted when they eliminated the red-haired girl.  She just couldn't talk herself up enough.  

He cleaned up nicely.  But for the name and the accent, I wouldn't have recognized him, either.

About time they offered an intermediate prize for winning a preliminary tournament round, even if it had to be tied to a corporate sponsor. 

If you don't want people to think you look like a little girl when you walk into a kitchen, you might not want to show up in a Pippi Longstocking braid and hipster glasses.  Just sayin'.

[grisgris]

I hate know-it-all millennials and I hate women who think they're the eighth wonder of the world because they can butcher meat and/or grill. Combine the two and there we had it. Glad to see her go.

I knew the hometown hero was going to go when he insisted on trying to prepare haute cuisine on a grill.

I guess I was glad that the guy who won, won. He was kind of repelling, yet endearing at the same time. I began to dislike his opponent when he kept bragging on how awesome his BBQ was. Loved it when Amanda dinged him for saying his sauce tasted like ketchup. I knew he was headed for a loss with that remark.

It was nice to see Michael Chiarello. I think that I am maybe the only person on the boards who actually kind of likes him. However, he didn't really seem to get into judge mode until midway through the program. Even then, he was kind of bland.

Loved the Napa scenery!

[Bastet]

Not that I want them making up bullshit criticisms of the winner's dishes to make the decision sound closer than it is, but from the judges' discussion they showed, there was zero suspense as to who'd won in the grilling competition.

[spiderpig]

2 hours ago, grisgris said:

I guess I was glad that the guy who won, won. He was kind of repelling, yet endearing at the same time. I began to dislike his opponent when he kept bragging on how awesome his BBQ was. Loved it when Amanda dinged him for saying his sauce tasted like ketchup. I knew he was headed for a loss with that remark.

It was nice to see Michael Chiarello. I think that I am maybe the only person on the boards who actually kind of likes him. However, he didn't really seem to get into judge mode until midway through the program. Even then, he was kind of bland.

Loved the Napa scenery!

I know what you mean about cartwheeling Jonathon.  But as someone originally from Cleveland, a rust-belt town if there ever was one, I liked how he kept mentioning ol' Cleveburgh (I still wear a Browns cap).  My sis says his original restaurant, Greenhouse Tavern is fantastic.  I'm very fond of Michael Symon too, who constantly supports the community.  His new BBQ joint, Mabel's, is a knockout.

Michael Chiarello may strike some people as arrogant, but I find him extremely attractive (yeah - down, girl) and thought he was a good judge.

More Napa! (Just realized they mentioned on the show the $50,000 grand prize was courtesy of Beringer Vineyards, so I guess we'll have to suffer looking at their incredibly beautiful estate for the duration.  No snark intended.)

[HappyDancex2]

Oh good...I'm not the only person who was repelled by the chick butcher hear me roar speech ad nauseum?  I thought these cooking shows were starting to make me really jaded.  I wish she would have been eliminated first.

almost seemed like the Napa chef was a last second fill in.  And I was weirded out because it looked like he had a small but juicy knuckle cut and was touching food with his bare hands.  

I recognized chad's name...so glad he cut his hair!  Ironic he's coming out with a bottled BBQ sauce line LOL.  Glad to see him cook from a point of authority instead of the dancing bear they made him on FNS.  Good for him.

Sawyer is nutty.  He personifies whimsical...(note to Tregaye and all the other whimsies).  Dude rides his bike to work from the east burbs into downtown CLE....even in the winter.  That's CLE winter y'all.  The one thing he will never be accused of is putting on cuz WYSIWYG.  If you want real deal stuff follow him and his forager on Twitter.  Those guys forage and mad scientist stuff all year for Trentina and a little at Greenhouse.  Good read...you'll never look at pine needles and weeds the same again LOL.

i like chiarello too.  He had a really great stand and stir show that I enjoyed watching.  I'll never forget his love of grey salt!

[Christina]

I haven't watched Chopped in a while, because it just got too frustrating and repetitive, with the basket ingredients getting ridiculous and the judging being cut out completely until the end. Four items that don't sound like they should work together is the premise of the show, but it started being things like a double thick pork chop with chocolate sauce, horseradish and honey with a 20 minute time limit and the judges complaining it was too sweet, or the horseradish didn't mix with the chocolate sauce and I was yelling at the screen that of course it wouldn't go together, but it is what they were given. 

Anyhoo, I tuned in to the BBQ episode and immediately came here to see if the girl went very far because if she made it to the end, I was going to have to stop watching. She acted way younger than 23 with her comments about women cooking. Grilling and butchering meat obviously requires a penis, which I didn't realize, so now I guess I can refuse to do either task. 

ETA: I was just thinking about why her comments irritated me so much, and I think it is because she is, to an extent, claiming credit for walls that have been being broken down by women for years before she ever entered the picture. Female chefs talk about how hard it was for them to get positions in kitchens, having male chefs of less experience being promoted above them, and how that has changed a lot in the last decade. Not only are there more women chefs in the field, but there are more women in authority positions for many of the top-tier (for lack of a better term) restaurants around the world. So her acting like she is something special because she is a female chef that grills and butchers meat is just obnoxious. I haven't slept in 20 hours so I acknowledge that I may be being petty about it, but I was annoyed enough to have to edit my post to get the thought out.

Edited July 8, 2016 by Christina
Added petty diatribe

[spiderpig]

On 7/8/2016 at 2:42 AM, Christina said:

Anyhoo, I tuned in to the BBQ episode and immediately came here to see if the girl went very far because if she made it to the end, I was going to have to stop watching. She acted way younger than 23 with her comments about women cooking. Grilling and butchering meat obviously requires a penis, which I didn't realize, so now I guess I can refuse to do either task. 

ETA: I was just thinking about why her comments irritated me so much, and I think it is because she is, to an extent, claiming credit for walls that have been being broken down by women for years before she ever entered the picture. Female chefs talk about how hard it was for them to get positions in kitchens, having male chefs of less experience being promoted above them, and how that has changed a lot in the last decade. Not only are there more women chefs in the field, but there are more women in authority positions for many of the top-tier (for lack of a better term) restaurants around the world. So her acting like she is something special because she is a female chef that grills and butchers meat is just obnoxious. I haven't slept in 20 hours so I acknowledge that I may be being petty about it, but I was annoyed enough to have to edit my post to get the thought out.

Hey Ms. Self-Proclaimed Trailblazer (addressing Pippi Longstocking, not you Christina).  You know who were pioneers in Bay Area cuisine 30+ years ago?  (As you kept reminding us, that was well before you were born.) 

Alice Waters, Cindy Pawlcyn

Add Traci Des Jardins and Dominique Crenn, who debuted in the 90s when you were all of what - 2? and many others.

Reserve Pippi a front seat on the Obnoxious Bus.  Even Mr. pig said "what is her problem?"  He applauded when she got the boot.

[cattykit]

I had to turn it off when Cambodian Chef wasn't chopped at the end of round 1 because her vocal fry made me suicidal and I couldn't have stood two more rounds.  Worse than Katie Lee's.  Who the fuck is responsible for this trend and how many ways can this person or persons be annihilated?

[spiderpig]

16 hours ago, cattykit said:

I had to turn it off when Cambodian Chef wasn't chopped at the end of round 1 because her vocal fry made me suicidal and I couldn't have stood two more rounds.  Worse than Katie Lee's.  Who the fuck is responsible for this trend and how many ways can this person or persons be annihilated?

When will they make autotune for TV viewers?  I can't stand it either.

[nonnybaby]

The final for this week was the ultimate sob story vs. privileged white man. Not enjoyable. 

[jcbrown]

At least I liked the white guy. Couldn't stand the sob story woman.

[HappyDancex2]

The vocal fry made me stabby.  And the edited version of her story was odd...she hasn't seen her mom in 18 years but she'd reach out because of her daughter?  What if gramma tells the kid to buzz off?  I think she may want to at least plant the idea of "not every family is a storybook"."

i was rooting for the Maui guy.  I'll hit up his place next time I'm there.

[backformore]

Once again I found myself bored with the BBQ/Grill versions of Chopped.  I watched half of the first episode, and about 5 minutes of the second, before deleting.  I just can't stay interested.  IF they have to grill, and they're given a protein, they will grill it.  SO you have 4, or 3, versions of grilled halibut, or goat, or whatever protein was in the basket.  for some reason, when they step out of the Chopped kitchen, I can't pay attention. 

[cooksdelight]

I've quit watching unless someone I know and admire is going to be on. I watched Chad's episode because we're Facebook friends and I salivate over his food. This show is now resorting to gimmicks to keep viewers interested, and I'm not the gimme a gimmick type.

[grisgris]

Mommy abandonment issues trumps a guy who just wants to have fun with his winnings -- again! Bah! Humbug! That even beat out mom with pancreatic cancer. (The Cambodian woman's story rang hollow and I wonder if she just ad-libbed that on the spot.)

That guy with all the knife tattoos gave me the creeps. I guess if he fails as a chef, he has a career waiting at Wusthof.

Yeah. I agree this is a boring series. However, I'll keep tuning in to get the fleeting glimpses of Michael Chiarello.

[caci]

I had to laugh at the female chef who said she watched the show enough to know that a lot of contestants want to buy a car.  I thought, what show have you been watching because I honestly don't think I have ever heard that!  I actually find it refreshing when a contestant just wants to have fun with the earnings.

[spiderpig]

On 7/15/2016 at 10:28 PM, HappyDancex2 said:

The vocal fry made me stabby.  And the edited version of her story was odd...she hasn't seen her mom in 18 years but she'd reach out because of her daughter?  What if gramma tells the kid to buzz off?  I think she may want to at least plant the idea of "not every family is a storybook"."

i was rooting for the Maui guy.  I'll hit up his place next time I'm there.

I wondered the same thing about the winner's timeline while watching the episode.  IIRC, her mom left when she was 9 years old, she hasn't seen her in 18 years, and she (winner) has a 13-year-old daughter.

[cattykit]

On 7/18/2016 at 9:02 AM, spiderpig said:

I wondered the same thing about the winner's timeline while watching the episode.  IIRC, her mom left when she was 9 years old, she hasn't seen her in 18 years, and she (winner) has a 13-year-old daughter.

It's possible that she'd seen Mom some time in the interim after age 9 but before the 18 year drought.

So Chopped needed another corporate sponsor this week, so instead of Michael Chiarello, they have Outback guy as guest judge.  With the built-in commercial followed by the actual commercial.  It wasn't as egregious as the so-called Australian episode with Outback guy, but still, as always, nothing says fine dining like a chain restaurant.

I only watch Chopped these days with half an eye and don't ever catch the names, so when I would intermittently look up for this particular episode, it was easiest to keep track by cheftestant with hair on face but not on head, hair on head but not on face, hair on face and head...  Since we didn't have any trend-setting hipster pioneer women cooking this week.

Edited July 21, 2016 by cattykit

[spiderpig]

Wonder what the market price was for those honking huge ribeyes.  A teeny NY strip is $15 at Trader Joe's.

I couldn't separate the chefs in my mind except the one who was eliminated first.

I was surprised that the Outback corporate sponsor guy's comments were concise and relevant.

[nitrofishblue]

I DVR the show so I can watch it later.That way I can fast forward through all the boring introductions plus commercials. It is nice to be able to cut out all the gibberish and get straight to the point. I refuse to listen to all the cute banter between the chefs in the stew room. The hour show ends up being a 30 minute show that way.

[cattykit]

9 hours ago, nitrofishblue said:

I DVR the show so I can watch it later.That way I can fast forward through all the boring introductions plus commercials. It is nice to be able to cut out all the gibberish and get straight to the point. I refuse to listen to all the cute banter between the chefs in the stew room. The hour show ends up being a 30 minute show that way.

I stopped watching the intros years ago.  I used to like the banter in the stew room because then they would cut to the judges' deliberations, so we could compare the cheftestants' impressions directly with what the judges were actually thinking and saying.  But of course, now we just go to commercial because there just aren't enough product placements already in the show.  We can't taste the damn food and they won't let us see what the judges think of it.  Short of replacing Ted, Chopped has done a fine job of waxing those water skis at the shark tank.

I think with everything I FF, it's not even 30 minutes for me any more.

[questionfear]

Did anyone else think the one chef in the third Grillmasters episode looked JUST like those Wooly Willie magnetic shavings toys? Like someone took the wand and took all his hair off his head and moved it to his chin. 

[spiderpig]

43 minutes ago, questionfear said:

Did anyone else think the one chef in the third Grillmasters episode looked JUST like those Wooly Willie magnetic shavings toys? Like someone took the wand and took all his hair off his head and moved it to his chin. 

YES!!!  I was disappointed when he got busted.

[spiderpig]

Just watched the fourth heat of Grillmasters.  I liked all the chefs, so I was pleased with the winner. 

Now on to the final, with a $50,000 prize AWARDED BY BERINGER VINEYARDS (in case you weren't aware...).

[cattykit]

Unless it's a breakfast challenge, bread pudding and French toast need to be permanently outlawed.  And is it too much to ask, just once, that the equipment in the kitchen be in good working order?

[nonnybaby]

Loved the woman who came in 2nd place this week. Thought she (as well as the winner) would blow the other 3 finalists out of the water. But there was NO WAY a James Beard award winner wasn't going to be given the win this week. 

[spiderpig]

6 hours ago, cattykit said:

Unless it's a breakfast challenge, bread pudding and French toast need to be permanently outlawed.  And is it too much to ask, just once, that the equipment in the kitchen be in good working order?

Don't let them sneak under the finish line with Pain Perdu, catty.

Edited July 28, 2016 by spiderpig
sp

[nitrofishblue]

I can not remember the last time that the whip canister ever worked. Like clockwork, when there is a bread in the basket for dessert, you get bread pudding.

[grisgris]

Sargento must have balked at the lack of cheese in the other baskets. It was practically beaten into the ground during the dessert round judging. I think I would have made a big slab of CHEESE toast with an apple-salted caramel sauce or something. (I know I'm being simplistic, but geez ...) I'll bet those contestants hated having to use shredded cheese tossed with chemicals. No matter how much you use, you will just never get the sharp robust cheddar flavor from a higher quality product. (No offense to Sargento, I certainly use their products. They just don't have a place in a "Chopped" grillmasters competition.)

I would have been happy with either finalist winner. Man, that guy who won sure had a mouthful of white teeth. Giada, watch your back!

[TDT]

On 7/17/2016 at 5:40 PM, grisgris said:

Mommy abandonment issues trumps a guy who just wants to have fun with his winnings -- again! Bah! Humbug! That even beat out mom with pancreatic cancer. (The Cambodian woman's story rang hollow and I wonder if she just ad-libbed that on the spot.)

I kind of knew the fix was in for her to win when every time the judges asked her why she wanted to win,they would start playing the sad piano music before she started talking lol

[xaxat]

Is it mandatory that every Asian chef have some kind of family estrangement and will use the prize to travel to the mother country for the first time in 80 years?

[mlp]

I couldn't stand that woman right from the first episode she was on.  When she knocked over her blender and had no sauce, I figured that would do her in because the judges on regular Chopped always make a big deal about lack of sauce but Noooooooooooooo.  I'm not usually into conspiracy theories or claims that a win was "rigged" but I didn't understand how she won her first round much less the final one.  I hope to never see her again.

Wasn't it curious that she went on and on about her mother and her daughter during the first round but never mentioned leukemia until the second?

[HunterHunted]

18 hours ago, xaxat said:

Is it mandatory that every Asian chef have some kind of family estrangement and will use the prize to travel to the mother country for the first time in 80 years?

There was that one episode where the Asian chef (I think she might have be Korean) talked about dropping out of her PhD program in something like biochemistry and her parents were super supportive of her decision. The show contrasted it with a chef who had 2 or 3 restaurants who was upset about his father who was basically the Great Santini who only denigrated his son's decision to be a chef.

[spiderpig]

20 hours ago, mlp said:

I couldn't stand that woman right from the first episode she was on.  When she knocked over her blender and had no sauce, I figured that would do her in because the judges on regular Chopped always make a big deal about lack of sauce but Noooooooooooooo.  I'm not usually into conspiracy theories or claims that a win was "rigged" but I didn't understand how she won her first round much less the final one.  I hope to never see her again.

Wasn't it curious that she went on and on about her mother and her daughter during the first round but never mentioned leukemia until the second?

I was puzzled by her backstory, which was edited completely differently from the other chefs.  She seemed like such a joyless person and certain things didn't add up.  I Googled her because she's a local.  Lots of different restaurants, most recently exec chef at Calavera in Oakland, specializing in the food of Oaxaca.

The chefs I wanted to win were the first two eliminated.

Edited August 4, 2016 by spiderpig

[caci]

I once heard vocal fry described as "world weary and disinterested".  That's how I would describe the winner.  Just joyless.  I was very disappointed.

[spiderpig]

3 hours ago, caci said:

I once heard vocal fry described as "world weary and disinterested".  That's how I would describe the winner.  Just joyless.  I was very disappointed.

I like that description.  It seems so prevalent among contestants on cooking shows.  Is it that common in real life?  (Used to hear it a lot from Berkeley students - really! - when I was working.)  I'm a civilian now living quietly in the burbs, so not so much anymore.

[BW Manilowe]

On August 3, 2016 at 1:43 PM, mlp said:

I couldn't stand that woman right from the first episode she was on.  When she knocked over her blender and had no sauce, I figured that would do her in because the judges on regular Chopped always make a big deal about lack of sauce but Noooooooooooooo.  I'm not usually into conspiracy theories or claims that a win was "rigged" but I didn't understand how she won her first round much less the final one.  I hope to never see her again.

Wasn't it curious that she went on and on about her mother and her daughter during the first round but never mentioned leukemia until the second?

I was just going to ask if the winner in the Finale was the same chef who kept saying, in her previous round, if she won she was going to take her daughter to Cambodia to meet her grandmother--who'd estranged herself from her daughter/the kid's mother years ago. So thanks for confirming that. It was definitely weird how her story suddenly changed in the Finale from going to Cambodia with her daughter to whatever it was about the daughter having cancer (I thought it was celebrating she was in remission, or something similar).

[jcbrown]

Gak. I did not have a strong favorite in this round but I did have strong opinions of who I did NOT want to win, and that was sad sack I-hate-my-mom Cambodian my-daughter-has-cancer. Just no fun whatsoever to watch in either round. Stop it, Chopped! We don't care about sob stories! I agree, I never ever want to see her again. She seemed like a poor sport, in addition to being someone who sucks all the air out of a room.

Edited August 5, 2016 by jcbrown

[grisgris]

I guess the daughter-with-cancer, estranged mother sob story bought the win. In each round, clearly her dish was chop-worthy. I knew something was fishy when the two James Beard award winners went out in the first two rounds. Typically, I root for any woman in the testosterone-fueled grilling face-offs, but not this time.

[spiderpig]

Chopped was previously pretty much product-placement free.  We'd all joke about Generic Chocolate Sandwich Cookies and Generic Spiced Pork Product in a Can.  Now we have Bush Beans, Sargento Cheese, and Beringer Wine shown prominently during the competition, and they're footing the prizes.

Again, coincidental with the management shakeup at FN.

The product placement wouldn't bother me, but it seems coincidental with the production values on their other shows definitely smelling of extreme budget cuts.

[xaxat]

23 hours ago, grisgris said:

I guess the daughter-with-cancer, estranged mother sob story bought the win. In each round, clearly her dish was chop-worthy. I knew something was fishy when the two James Beard award winners went out in the first two rounds. Typically, I root for any woman in the testosterone-fueled grilling face-offs, but not this time.

And then she beat a chef working at a Michelin starred restaurant.

I'm not saying the fix was in. . . but. . . 

19 hours ago, spiderpig said:

Chopped was previously pretty much product-placement free.  We'd all joke about Generic Chocolate Sandwich Cookies and Generic Spiced Pork Product in a Can.

I miss those days.

[spiderpig]

Glad I wasn't one of the judges having to chow down Fried Chicken Appetizer/Entree/Dessert.

Heart attack on a plate times 3.

Edited August 8, 2016 by spiderpig

[cattykit]

Well, there's sob stories, and then there's "my mom's a widow four times over."  Hmmm, what's she been putting in the dinner?

I'm not willing to go back and do the math, but how often has there been a complement of three women and one man and the man goes home first?

But I really would like it if not every time a woman goes on this show, she belts out a chorus of "I am Woman."  We need to get to the point where it's not a news item for women to be chefs, and they're not Susan B. Anthony for going on a reality competition show.

[spiderpig]

2 hours ago, cattykit said:

Well, there's sob stories, and then there's "my mom's a widow four times over."  Hmmm, what's she been putting in the dinner?

I'm not willing to go back and do the math, but how often has there been a complement of three women and one man and the man goes home first?

But I really would like it if not every time a woman goes on this show, she belts out a chorus of "I am Woman."  We need to get to the point where it's not a news item for women to be chefs, and they're not Susan B. Anthony for going on a reality competition show.

I wondered the same things about widowx4 mom. ???

I'm also tired of another chef bemoaning the trials of being a female in a male-dominated world.  And she was working in the Bay Area, where there are plenty of women culinary professionals.  Didn't she say at the end she was moving back east?  Better luck there, kid.

[BW Manilowe]

On August 5, 2016 at 2:56 PM, spiderpig said:

Chopped was previously pretty much product-placement free.  We'd all joke about Generic Chocolate Sandwich Cookies and Generic Spiced Pork Product in a Can.  Now we have Bush Beans, Sargento Cheese, and Beringer Wine shown prominently during the competition, and they're footing the prizes.

Again, coincidental with the management shakeup at FN.

The product placement wouldn't bother me, but it seems coincidental with the production values on their other shows definitely smelling of extreme budget cuts.

Chopped is normally so product placement-free that they don't even name the restaurants the judges--like Geoffrey, Alex, Marcus, Amanda, Scott, etc.--own or work at now. They haven't for years now, but they did for awhile after it originally started.

[backformore]

On ‎8‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 1:11 PM, spiderpig said:

I wondered the same things about widowx4 mom. ???

Yeah, maybe she needs to stop marrying guys in their 90's?

[spiderpig]

13 minutes ago, backformore said:

Yeah, maybe she needs to stop marrying guys in their 90's?

(made me laugh)

[backformore]

The most recent episode, Kaley, with the blonde hair, who was chopped in the last round - it was driving me crazy who she reminded me of.  then it hit me -  she looks a lot like Carly, who was on Bachelor and is currently on Bachelor in Paradise.