S13.E08: Where's The Beef

[FormerMod-a1]

The chefs strive to create the most visually appealing ``food porn'' using only snack food; the chefs cook for a black-tie event called Beefsteak during which the diners eat with their hands; diners include Colin Hanks, Max Silvestri and Matt Selman.

[Crucial]

Of course Man Bun excels in this one.  I'm sorry but I hope he goes home soon.  From his stupid camera shot in the quick fire to his comment at the end. He should have been disqualified and put on the bottom for the time he took. I'm willing to bet he was the one to hold things up with his angle shots. 

 

 Don't need to watch another Blaize on the show.  One's a judge, and having another arrogant knob is too much.  Sorry but man bun is awful

[avecsans]

Okay, this was undoubtedly my least favorite episode of Top Chef ever. First of all, they wasted 20 minutes on that ridiculous Quickfire. Why do I care who can make the best looking plate of twinkies and Cheetos according to random people on Instagram? That is so far from what I want this show to be. And on top of that, we're forced to sit through an awkward product placement starring the Voltaggio brothers for some movie that has nothing whatsoever to do with food.

Then we get to the elimination challenge. Isn't it bizarre that a benefit for the food bank is a monument to gluttony? I don't think I've ever seen Padma and Tom be as obnoxious as they were at that event. Colin hanks and the Simpsons producer were overbearing as well. Worst of all, pretentious douche Hugh Acheson makes his first and hopefully last useless appearance of the season.

Maybe I am so negative because I am also watching the republican debate. These assholes are having a dementor-like effect on me.

[susannot]

Like your post avecsans.  I turned fromTop Chef to the R debate but had to turn it off because Ted Cruz was making me hurl.

 

I did like Philip's win.  He followed the rules of the challenge the best, and made a delicious cut of meat.  As soon as I saw people making fish, sausage, and veg, I figured they might be in trouble.

[FormerMod-a1]

If ever there was a time for something like Hung's Smurf Village, this was it!

[Thumper]

I think everyone dining with the judges was "over served." They were all giddy as they tasted the dishes.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Thumper

[Lassus]

I have never, ever, ever wanted someone, ANYONE to tell the judges to fuck off more than I did tonight.

 

Most idiotic judging of the most idiotic bro event ever.

 

Boo.  Fail.

[Lassus]

OMG HIPSTER MASHED POTATOES YOU DESERVED TO WIN UNTIL YOU SHIT-TALKED WEEZER'S ROCK COMPARED TO METALLICA.

 

GO PARTY WITH TOM COLICCHIO, HIPSTER LOSER.

Chad was a victim of stupid.  Although I was tired of the beard, so I suppose that's an ok result.

[dbell1]

I finally figured out who man bun reminds me of. Tom Cruise doing Scientology promos. Same intense, deluded look in the eyes.

Goodbye Beard.

[snarktini]

I felt for the chefs tonight. The way it was emphasized how there are no napkins & plates made me assume they needed to create food that could be easily picked up as single servings. And that they should elevate it, as they are always asked to. I would never have thought full-caveman was what the judges wanted.

 

Clearly the ideal way to elevate caveman was what Phillip did, something with a bone handle like a chop or leg. Even I thought of that. Otherwise, they were really expecting to just rip off pieces of roast? Eesh.

 

OTOH, they really did go too dainty with little garnishes and bits. Those choices were baffling.

 

Wonder what the judging really came down to. It sounded like Isaac got the challenge but not the food and Chad got the food but not the challenge. Was Chad's really worse? I'm not saying it's unfair judging or anything, just that it sounded like Isaac's was universally panned and they at least thought Chad's food was good. Usually food wins. Maybe this time past performance broke the tie.

Edited January 29, 2016 by snarktini

[HunterHunted]

The instragram/Jacques la merde challenge reminded me of this episode of Below Deck and Rocky's Oreo sand: http://previously.tv/below-deck/lets-just-hope-theyre-too-drunk/

I always think that I have the world's most eclectic TV tastes, but clearly the Top Chef celebrity wrangler does too. This episode featured actors from shows that I've been recently watching: Colin Hanks from Fargo, Ron Funches from Kroll Show, Cynthia Addai-Robinson from Arrow and Spartacus, and Sharon Lawrence from NYPD Blue.

I'm ambivalent about Phillip winning. He met the challenge parameters and it tasted good. Fine. I'm a little sad that we lost Chad. He was a good chef even though he couldn't deliver on Mexican, his signature cuisine.

Kwame and his somewhat mealy shrimp. That amount of shrimp is hard to cook perfectly and consistently. It's not like he had a gigantic immersion circulator.

Isaac's dry sausage. I think the judges were expecting pork and were disappointed by chicken. I really think that it might have been very good and was dinged because of their expectations.

Edited January 29, 2016 by HunterHunted

[awaken]

I was embarrassed for Padma.  Her behavior during that dinner was out of control!  I know it was supposed to be a festive and wild event, but she took it over the top and/or was seriously drunk.

 

I was disappointed that we didn't see any food really in keeping with what they expected for the event.  I'm glad a lot of it looked and tasted good, though.

 

Whew, I was afraid Kwame might be going home tonight with the mealy shrimp (ugh) and the extra time spent on his back story at the beginning!  I expected him to be called out at judges table more than he was.  I'm glad he squeaked by, and hope he remains consistently in the top from now on!  

 

I think Marjorie is heading for top 3, if not the win!  

Edited January 29, 2016 by awaken

[what]

This episode was awful. The judges throwing food, fast food on a plate, Instagram, man bun douche won. Ugh.

[bravofan27]

This episode was so dumb! No wonder Phillip won. He did the opposite of everyone else and he stood out which was good in this case. 

[Febgirl]

I hated this episode. Primarily thanks to the douchey celebrities and douchey hugh Acheson judging the beefsteak. Lame.

[Nidratime]

I think Kwame was really lucky that his team wasn't on the bottom, since I think he would've gone home if they had been.

 

Not surprisingly, I really dislike Phillip. He's so obnoxious and full of himself. To quote a favorite line from a movie I like, "he's so superior in an inferior way."

 

I'm sorry to see Chad go, but I don't recall enough about him to feel as bad about him going as I do about Phillip winning. That being said, micro-greens? Really? That's the last thing I'd put on the plate at an event like this.

[bitchin camaro]

I'm not sure how one was supposed to do well in this challenge. Was somebody really supposed to put a whole fish on the table and let 'er rip? Good for manbun to finally figure out to do what was being asked, I guess. I don't usually argue with taste since I'm not the one eating it, but I refuse to believe that a sausage that's almost half bacon was too dry. Come the fuck on. Yeah, I'm a total Isaac homer.

 

I didn't mind that there was a presentation quickfire, but it's kind of bullshit that it wasn't even intended to be eaten. I'd never be accused of cooking for fine dining, but I can arrange some dumb crap on a plate - that doesn't make it cuisine. At least they didn't have to cross country ski and shoot their ingredients, I guess.

[dewelar]

OMG HIPSTER MASHED POTATOES YOU DESERVED TO WIN UNTIL YOU SHIT-TALKED WEEZER'S ROCK COMPARED TO METALLICA.

 

GO PARTY WITH TOM COLICCHIO, HIPSTER LOSER.

Chad was a victim of stupid.  Although I was tired of the beard, so I suppose that's an ok result.

 

I don't think that's what 47 Specks was doing, actually. He was just saying the judges were expecting culinary heavy metal and they got alt-pop instead, which is a totally fair description. I don't think there was a value judgement involved.

 

This was definitely an odd episode, though. From what was presented, it sure seemed like the instructions given to the chefs were somewhat lacking. That said, if we couldn't lose Philip tonight, Chad's a perfectly fine alt-boot. He lost me back when he said his best date was with his daughters, and I have been unable to un-creep-out myself since. Of the remaining chefs (LCK notwithstanding), I think I might actually be fine with anyone other than Philip winning.

[Maverick]

It was very off putting to hear them go on about gluttony and decadence in order to raise money for hunger.  It felt like a party Marie Antoinette would love...except she was a chick so the cavebros really wouldn't dig her being there.  Was Neil Fraiser even at the dinner? It was weird having him introduce the challenge then be a non-entity.

 

 Yes, Chris, we know you walked 30 miles each way barefoot through the snow for your Quickfires.  Why don't you and Blaise go in a corner and remind each other you've been through what the Cheftestants are going through.  We already know....and don't care anymore.

 

 Probably the worst guest at the dinner was the guy who hosts that horrible Deception show.  I couldn't even watch a full episode of that piece of shit, in no small part because of the host...and then I have to see his face on TC and be reminded of that crapfest.

[biakbiak]

I didn't mind that there was a presentation quickfire, but it's kind of bullshit that it wasn't even intended to be eaten. I'd never be accused of cooking for fine dining, but I can arrange some dumb crap on a plate - that doesn't make it cuisine. At least they didn't have to cross country ski and shoot their ingredients, I guess.

There was actually a similar challenge (minus the instagram) where they were solely judged on presentation of a fruit plate. Stephen won and a few of the contestants complained because his combinations were inedible/disgusting.

I think for a challenge like this they should have been able to source from somewhere other than WF.

I at least got to hear a slight Funches laugh even if he didn't speak.

Edited January 29, 2016 by biakbiak

[Bees]

Man this episode was so underwhelming. While I'm glad my favorites didn't go anywhere (Carl, Marjorie, Kwame, Amar, Jeremy), I'm still a little bit annoyed. It just seemed like there were so many mixed messages. The issue I had with the quickfire is that while presentation-focused is not a bad idea, having Instagram judge it was silly. Also why not make the food edible? Though within the parameters of the challenge, I will say that Carl got robbed! That was an awesome presentation. I'm bummed to see Chad go but I think he'll do fine in Last Chance Kitchen (now watch him get owned by the competitor and make me look dumb). 

 

As for next week, oh god a 2-part Restaurant Wars where everybody takes a turn of being Front of House AND Executive Chef...how the hell are they going to pull off this magic. I know they're doing lunch and dinner but come on! Also I cannot help but wonder just how insufferable will Phillip be next episode. With his one win under his belt, it's going to be plentiful.

[GaT]

Anybody else think WTF when the female chef (no clue what her name is) was talking about how her mother was always concerned with healthy eating & wouldn't let her have sugar, then they showed a picture of her when she was little & her mom & they were both really fat? And she's still big, what was her mother's idea of healthy eating? No sugar but lots of fat? 

[whirlingdervish]

In my classroom, if *all* of the students fail, it ain't the students' fault.   

 

That's how this challenge felt to me--clearly the cheftestants didn't fully understand what the goals of the challenge were, they didn't have the resources to pull off the challenge, and the judges went in with a different set of understandings and expectations than the cheftestants. That's a big ole producer fail to me. Also, ffs...if it's big, messy hunks of dead animal you want, don't send the chefs to Whole Foods! Setting aside how costly Whole Foods is, it's a supermarket packaging and selling meat, produce, and products for home consumers.  The chefs were never going to get the kind of big huge products the judges were looking for.  If that's what Top Chef wanted, they should have laid out the expectations clearly, given the chefs the go ahead to get their proteins elsewhere (and the rest at good old Whole Foods), and let them go from there.  They were just set up to fail by poor challenge design, shoddy planning, imprecise challenge instructions, and entitled douchbaggery among the judges.  

 

It just made me mad. 

[forum4idiots]

just when you thought phil can't possible be any more douche...he takes it up a notch........

 

marcel....you have been detrhroned.

[forum4idiots]

wow.  this episode is just obnoxious. 

 

so the douchebag won because he was the only one to use a meat with a bone, not because it was the best meal....it was basically by default out of the 3.  best meal clearly was the bread, too bad she was in a bad trio.

 

the guy who got sent home got sent home because he used tiny vegetables even though it tasted fine...instead of the bland sausage.......

 

really dumb episode.  laughable judges who obviously embarrassed themselves in front of snotty celebs because they hosted a blah event.

Edited January 29, 2016 by lovebug1975

[savannah1985]

I record the show and watch it later because I hate commercials and I stopped watching the minute someone said they didn't like Kwame's shrimp, and I couldn't bear watching him get sent home, so I missed who got immunity, though I know Philip won. Who won the Quickfire?

[biakbiak]

I record the show and watch it later because I hate commercials and I stopped watching the minute someone said they didn't like Kwame's shrimp, and I couldn't bear watching him get sent home, so I missed who got immunity, though I know Philip won. Who won the Quickfire?

Karen won the quickfire which is why it was lucky for Kwame they weren't in the bottom.

[bravofan27]

The best part of this episode for me was Amar. I actually love him and have a relationship with him in my head. haha. I loved it when he got so excited about the aerosol cheese and imeadiately put a little pile on his hand and licked it, then yelped with happiness. Second thing Amar did that I loved was when he was asking Philip why he was plating already, and he's dividing his attention between Philip's plate and daintily selecting tiny little leaves from his basil or whatever it was. It's like these huge hands and body holding this little sprig and gently plucking. So funny.

 

I also loved when it was Amar's turn to present his junk food plate, he was happily eating cheese product. He looked genuinely freaked out and apologetic.

 

The last part that I did NOT like was when the judges, being rude and obnoxious for no reason other than to be cool, slammed their dishes and Amar was looking at the judges with this look like he just had no idea what was happening or what they were talking about it. It was like, "I really am trying to understand and you sound stupid but I know that I shouldn't think your stupid so please say something that makes sense so I don't think your an idiot."  Amar was trying so hard to be respectful but you could tell he was completely floored.

 

I listened to what the strange Beefsteak man said, and he told them, "The diners don't eat with any utensils or napkins so keep that in mind in your planning." He basically told them that they should make something easy to eat. He should have said, "We don't use utensils or napkins and we want to get dirty and have fun pulling meat apart and use our aprons as napkins." Or something, because even Phillip made something that could easily be dantily eaten.

 

Dumb dumb dumb challenge, with horrible instructions.

[In Pog Form]

Wow, that Instagram thing was so cringeworthy. Was it supposed to be ironic or not?

When the chef appeared at the beginning anonymously, it seemed like it was supposed to be a satirical/ironic take on wanky modern food plating and photography. But then when she appeared later as Christine Flynn, she seemed earnest about how the plates were "beautiful" and "soigné."

Wasn't the whole point of her Instagram alter-ego supposed to be about how pretentious and unnecessary "food styling" can be?

Edited January 29, 2016 by In Pog Form

[RCharter]

Man Bun won fair and square and I have no problem with it.  It just means he will likely be 10x more insufferable during Restaurant Wars.  

 

However, I don't know that Man Bun's win really reflected amazing food, or just food that was better than everyone else who either misunderstood the challenge, or still wanted to make something marginally pretty and light.  He understood the challenge the best, so his win is fair, but its not like it was one of those challenges where there were just so many amazing dishes and his dish was the king of amazing food.  It seemed more like "well, it tasted good and it was actually in the spirit of the challenge."

 

I'm very worried for Kwame, because this is how it went down with Gregory last year.  His confidence was shaken when he was in the bottom and he just never quite got his mojo back.  I sincerely hope he bounces back next week, because I think it would do him a world of good to get a win, or at least a top three under his belt again.

 

I think it was Beard's time to go, but I think it could have just as easily been Kwame or Issac.  I think Issac's sausage sounded tasty (get your mind out of the gutter!)  but I like chicken sausage, and with the addition of the bacon.....sounded tasty to me.

[RCharter]

It was very off putting to hear them go on about gluttony and decadence in order to raise money for hunger.  It felt like a party Marie Antoinette would love...except she was a chick so the cavebros really wouldn't dig her being there.  Was Neil Fraiser even at the dinner? It was weird having him introduce the challenge then be a non-entity.

 

 

I love that the challenge was at St. Vibiana's, a place I've actually been to!

 

However, I doubt anyone at this thing gets gluttonous at all.  Women in DTLA playing $100's of dollars for dinner aren't trying to split their Spanx over getting their money's worth of steak.  But I understand your point in that it celebrates gluttony, but the food goes to a food bank for people who can barely eat.  And honestly, so many of those people are less than a 2 minute drive away from St. Vibiana's.

 

Man this episode was so underwhelming. While I'm glad my favorites didn't go anywhere (Carl, Marjorie, Kwame, Amar, Jeremy), I'm still a little bit annoyed. It just seemed like there were so many mixed messages. The issue I had with the quickfire is that while presentation-focused is not a bad idea, having Instagram judge it was silly. Also why not make the food edible? Though within the parameters of the challenge, I will say that Carl got robbed! That was an awesome presentation. I'm bummed to see Chad go but I think he'll do fine in Last Chance Kitchen (now watch him get owned by the competitor and make me look dumb). 

 

 

I think having it judged on Instagram was just unfair.  Because if a chef has popularity in his region or his area or understands the nature of the game they may just get a lot of people to follow the show on instragram.  And so, while it may not have been rigged, it was open to someone being able to game the competition.  I think either the judges should have judged the beauty of the plates and maybe then uploaded it to Instagram so people could vote on it or like it.  Or if they really wanted to do an Instagram tie in, maybe have it judged on Instagram and the winner get some sort of bonus in next week's challenge.  

 

It also sucked, because a quickfire winner with immunity may affect how they and their teammates approach a challenge.  And its interesting to see that dynamic.

 

Anybody else think WTF when the female chef (no clue what her name is) was talking about how her mother was always concerned with healthy eating & wouldn't let her have sugar, then they showed a picture of her when she was little & her mom & they were both really fat? And she's still big, what was her mother's idea of healthy eating? No sugar but lots of fat? 

I was thinking about that, but she seemed super into bread, and too much of that can't be very helpful for the waistline.  Or perhaps there is some medical condition that runs in her family.

 

When I was younger, I was much bigger.  And I just thought that if I cooked food it automatically made the food healthy.  I didn't eat chips or fast food because they were "unhealthy" but I would easily put away a plate of spaghetti covered in Ragu cheese sauce.  I had the right intention I suppose, I just really didn't understand food.

[In Pog Form]

I felt for the chefs tonight. The way it was emphasized how there are no napkins & plates made me assume they needed to create food that could be easily picked up as single servings. And that they should elevate it, as they are always asked to. I would never have thought full-caveman was what the judges wanted.

I thought that was pretty obvious from the get-go. The description provided of the event made it seem pretty clear that "messy" and "caveman" was the nature of the challenge. I never got "easily picked up as single servings" from the set-up, as he was talking about how messy they would get, and how it's orgiastic and gluttonous.

Which made me surprised when the actual event was so tame. If this was all about no plates or utensils, then why were they serving wine in glasses? They should have been drinking directly from bottles or barrels (or a firehose).

And most of the guests were so subdued, and there were pristine white tablecloths. The event just really did not match the description. That's one strange idea of a gluttonous feast. I thought the sausage matched the spirit of the challenge the best - and they did seem to like the cabbage it was served with, so that probably compensated for the dry sausage.

 

Otherwise, they were really expecting to just rip off pieces of roast? Eesh.

Sounds good to me.

Edited January 29, 2016 by In Pog Form

[Merneith]

It was very off putting to hear them go on about gluttony and decadence in order to raise money for hunger.  It felt like a party Marie Antoinette would love...except she was a chick so the cavebros really wouldn't dig her being there.  Was Neil Fraiser even at the dinner? It was weird having him introduce the challenge then be a non-entity.

 

 

Neil Fraser is the guy who puts on the event. He's got a restaurant in LA which supports it. (I don't think they were at his place, though, but I've never been so I don't know.) I liked Neil when he was on the show, but I agree that this event, as a fundraiser, is gross and thoughtless (and it has nothing to do with the lack of utensils). It's an event about rich people throwing table scraps to hungry people.

 

That said, I was sort of surprised that Isaac didn't do crawfish boil.

[RCharter]

 

That said, I was sort of surprised that Isaac didn't do crawfish boil.

Thank you, that was the first thing I thought of too, and I thought I might be crazy.  Its dirty, decadent and fun.  Maybe it would take too long.   

[biakbiak]

I think having it judged on Instagram was just unfair. Because if a chef has popularity in his region or his area or understands the nature of the game they may just get a lot of people to follow the show on instragram. And so, while it may not have been rigged, it was open to someone being able to game the competition. I think either the judges should have judged the beauty of the plates and maybe then uploaded it to Instagram so people could vote on it or like it. Or if they really wanted to do an Instagram tie in, maybe have it judged on Instagram and the winner get some sort of bonus in next week's challenge.

The plates were posted without any names attached, just numbers, and when voting took place the chefs would not have known that there was going to be a Instagram challenge to be able to encourage fans to vote.

[RCharter]

The plates were posted without any names attached, just numbers, and when voting took place the chefs would not have known that there was going to be a Instagram challenge to be able to encourage fans to vote.

Okay, than that is fair.  I only thought of an unfair advantage to say "follow me on all my social media outlets" in the event that there was a social media challenge where those followers might affect the outcome.  But if there were no names attached than there is no way it was unfair.

[Julia]

The thing is, Jacques la Merde is sort of the Ruth Bourdain of Instagram - a popular foodie parody site - so the whole unveiling was kind of a thing. That said, I question how well Hugh or Tom or Chris Cosentino would have done at the Jack Shit junk food plating contest. 

 

The main event was kind of gross, and the manly-man posturing (particularly from Colin Hanks) and fellatio jokes were offputting. It's a shame some team didn't just give them a pile of ren faire caveman beef ribs and turkey legs and pork pies. 

Edited January 29, 2016 by Julia

[Josette]

They should have let them read the Wikipedia entry for beefsteak.  It may have given them a better idea of what was expected.  Based on what I read, I think Marjorie's bread could never be a winner no matter how good it was.

[PepperMonkey]

Oh, I can hardly wait until next week to see Phillip in all his glory, post-win. I guess his lamb chops might have been delicious, but he only won because his entree was closest to what they wanted, and didn't get from everyone else.

 

I'm warming to Marjorie a bit, especially now that Angelina's gone and has no chance to return. Marjorie is a baker, y'all!!! I love that she can do desserts and bread AND savoury, too. At this point, and because I'm only just now being able to suss out who's who, I wouldn't even mind if she went all the way and won.

 

I was okay with Chad's elimination because he failed in one of the first shows for his speciality, but seriously, if Isaac's sausage, which he stands by, by the way, was so dry and flavourless, he should have gone. They even said Chad's ate well and tasted good. So I just don't get that part. I guess the entire episode was based on plating?? Not cooking?

 

So a two part restaurant wars where they all HAVE to do something that keeps them from hiding... I can't wait to see Phillip in action...

 

On a more serious note, I'm worried about Kwame. He's gone from hero to halfway to zero in just a couple of shows. I hope he can get his mojo back, and SOON.

Edited January 29, 2016 by PepperMonkey

[jette]

NOLA girl, here. I'll bet Isaac couldn't do a crawfish boil because Whole Foods didn't have raw crawdads in stock. One thing I've learned from Top Chef - Whole Foods doesn't carry the stuff you need to cook your dinner. Not sure that was the company's intent when they asked to be featured in every episode!

 

Anyway,I felt really bad for Isaac's sausage getting dinged and agree with HunterHunted who said:  

Isaac's dry sausage. I think the judges were expecting pork and were disappointed by chicken. I really think that it might have been very good and was dinged because of their expectations.

 

I'm glad Isaac stood behind his food, because he serves that sausage in his restaurant and the judges sneering at it could affect his livelihood.

 

Also, it was interesting that Chad was eliminated after being shown as the only cheftestant who questioned the challenge...

Edited January 29, 2016 by jette

[elzin]

My tv listings site showed two new back to back episodes and I was super annoyed, but that ended up being an error. So I went into this ep already angry (incorrectly) about scheduling shenanigans.  I hated every second of it and I thought it was just me, so reading this thread makes me feel a little vindicated, that I wasn't being a major cranky pants unfairly.

 

What crawled up the judges' butts about microgreens?  Why was there so little cow for a beefsteak challenge? Not only was the quickfire one of the stupidest challenges in 10 years, it took FOREVER. Hey Bravo, you know what's super fucking boring? Watching people take pictures of food. And manbun winning... I wonder about his wife. Is she a saint or the 2nd most annoying person in the world?

[Dewey Decimate]

It was very off putting to hear them go on about gluttony and decadence in order to raise money for hunger.  It felt like a party Marie Antoinette would love...except she was a chick so the cavebros really wouldn't dig her being there.  Was Neil Fraiser even at the dinner?

French Revolution was exactly what was going through my head too. This whole episode turned my stomach. I wanted the poor and homeless scrap-recipients to run rampant through the hall, eating and murdering as they go. And the judges' attitudes just exacerbated the disgust. Might as well have been wearing powdered wigs and tittering. Gross, gross, gross.

 

For the challenge itself, clearly the instructions were bad. If they had been delivered properly, I have no doubt the editors would have cut to the contrast between "grease-running-down-your-fingers-and-meat-under-your-nails" and dainty microgreens, but we got none of that.

 

And on a shallow note, boy, Colin Hanks may have won the parental lottery, but not the genetic one. Dude is not exactly good looking. Acting like a bro-hole didn't help either.

[Auntie Anxiety]

I couldn't get over the hypocrisy; let's all get together and eat like pigs at a trough with $6K of food from the local WF market instead of donating that money AND the money that the participating Beefsteak diners spent to attend.  Yeah, just another day for the beautiful people to gather and feel good about themselves.  The entire thing was stupid and insulting, at least in my opinion.

 

This season is particularly boring to me and has jumped the shark. Don't really care about any of them although Man Bun can go home any time now. I was a little intrigued by his backstory; sounded like he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth.  

[Cheerwyn]

The producers really dropped the ball on explaining the challenge. As someone mentioned upthread, if almost all of the participants don't follow parameters or embrace the theme, there's a good chance it was poorly laid out for them.  If nothing else, they should have gone above and beyond to educate the chefs about the Beefsteak event, becuse the chefs are usually dinged for not "elevating" food.

 

And yes, once again Whole Foods disappoints.  It would have been much better if the chefs could have shopped at a meat/seafood market AND Whole Foods. That would have hopefully (1) given them access to the right cuts and sizes of proteins and (2) given more emphasis to what they judges were expecting from the challege - BIG MEAT.

 

Why didn't anyone do ribs?  They fit the challege perfectly, and there would have been so many options.  Or chicken lollipops.  That's become a fairly stale food trend, but again, meat on the bone that would have done well in this challenge.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Cheerwyn

[Primetimer]

Seriously. What if you threw a party called a Beefsteak and no one made beef?

Read the story

[attica]

I at least got to hear a slight Funches laugh even if he didn't speak.

 

Hooboy, did it ever scorch my knickers to have Ron so close and not given camera time. I'm convicting Top Chef of Crimes against Television. More Funches!

[Wings]

The best part of this episode for me was Amar. I actually love him and have a relationship with him in my head. haha. I loved it when he got so excited about the aerosol cheese and imeadiately put a little pile on his hand and licked it, then yelped with happiness. Second thing Amar did that I loved was when he was asking Philip why he was plating already, and he's dividing his attention between Philip's plate and daintily selecting tiny little leaves from his basil or whatever it was. It's like these huge hands and body holding this little sprig and gently plucking. So funny.

 

I also loved when it was Amar's turn to present his junk food plate, he was happily eating cheese product. He looked genuinely freaked out and apologetic.

 

The last part that I did NOT like was when the judges, being rude and obnoxious for no reason other than to be cool, slammed their dishes and Amar was looking at the judges with this look like he just had no idea what was happening or what they were talking about it. It was like, "I really am trying to understand and you sound stupid but I know that I shouldn't think your stupid so please say something that makes sense so I don't think your an idiot."  Amar was trying so hard to be respectful but you could tell he was completely floored.

 

I listened to what the strange Beefsteak man said, and he told them, "The diners don't eat with any utensils or napkins so keep that in mind in your planning." He basically told them that they should make something easy to eat. He should have said, "We don't use utensils or napkins and we want to get dirty and have fun pulling meat apart and use our aprons as napkins." Or something, because even Phillip made something that could easily be dantily eaten.

 

Dumb dumb dumb challenge, with horrible instructions.

 

I agree with all of this.  No one understood anything beyond something to eat without utensils aka finger food.  The delicate rib chop won because it was on a bone.  Funny that when that bone is scraped and trimmed it is called a lamb lollipop!   They were all stunned at the feedback; they did not know what this event was, at all. 

 

The Quickfire was just a bad idea.  Very disappointing. 

 

I am fine with Chad leaving, I barely knew him and cannot remember anything he made.  Phillip is not going to maintain a lead so I really don't care that he won.   I think as Tom watched this last night (or whenever) he saw the poor instructions were the reason for so many fails. 

 

 Marjorie is good, she can win this. 

[Febgirl]

French Revolution was exactly what was going through my head too. This whole episode turned my stomach. I wanted the poor and homeless scrap-recipients to run rampant through the hall, eating and murdering as they go. And the judges' attitudes just exacerbated the disgust. Might as well have been wearing powdered wigs and tittering. Gross, gross, gross.

 

For the challenge itself, clearly the instructions were bad. If they had been delivered properly, I have no doubt the editors would have cut to the contrast between "grease-running-down-your-fingers-and-meat-under-your-nails" and dainty microgreens, but we got none of that.

 

And on a shallow note, boy, Colin Hanks may have won the parental lottery, but not the genetic one. Dude is not exactly good looking. Acting like a bro-hole didn't help either.

Word.   i find Colin Hanks to be smug as fuck.  Also, the douche from the Simpsons with the Mad Hatter hat, was an even bigger douche.  I don't know why, it just makes me angry. 

[Rammchick]

You do realize that Jacques la Merde means Jack Shit, right? Totally sums up this poor excuse for a Top Chef episode.

[Cheerwyn]

The only thing that made this episode interesting was not finding out who had immunity until the very end. 

The quickfire itself was ridiculous, but it removed some of the gamesmanship and "I can coast I have immunity this week."