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Season 14:Top Chef Charleston Spoilers

ProudMary

By ProudMary
in Top Chef

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tenativelyyours
tenativelyyours

I found Brooke smug and annoying her season.  So of course she is back. I found Sam smug and annoying every time he is on and so don't want to have to watch him purse his chicken anus lips in his

cooksdelight
cooksdelight

If that happens to Jim, here's hoping he aces it in LCK.

cooksdelight
cooksdelight

I'm thrilled Graham is joining as a judge. I've missed his thoughtful gazes upward and to the left when he tastes something.

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dleighg

dleighg

17 minutes ago, mlp said:

 

I think that's Jennifer Carroll.  I've never liked her and have no interest in seeing her again so I hope I'm wrong.

 

interesting; yes I thought her exit from all stars was not very classy. But I think she's a good chef. I'd be willing to give her another chance.

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DavidJSnyder

DavidJSnyder

The 14th cycle of the show, which premieres at 10 pm E.T. on Thursday, December 1, will see the return of Sam Talbot (Season 2: Los Angeles), Casey Thompson (Season 3: Miami & Season 8: All-Stars), Amanda Baumgarten (Season 7: Washington, D.C.), Brooke Williamson (Season 10: Seattle), Sheldon Simeon (Season 10: Seattle), John Tesar (Season 10: Seattle), Shirley Chung (Season 11: New Orleans), and Katsuji Tanabe (Season 12: Boston). Link

I have no memory of Amanda from Season 7.

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dleighg

dleighg

Amanda from Season 7 (I've recently rewatched) looked a bit like Leah from the Hosea and Leah season. She was young and kind of cocky but went reasonably far (I'm too lazy to look up on Wikipedia)

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AriAu

AriAu

Quote

Amanda from Season 7 (I've recently rewatched) looked a bit like Leah from the Hosea and Leah season. She was young and kind of cocky but went reasonably far (I'm too lazy to look up on Wikipedia)

6th place, right after Mr. Pea Puree. She was not memorable.

Mostly a likeable crew....other than Tesar, who was a manipulative, condescending ass on the show, who then opened a few places in Dallas and got into fights with lots of others since he was a manipulative, condescending ass. Brooke came in 2nd to Kristen and I am afraid she had no where to go but down-same for Sheldon.

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AriAu

AriAu

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and, imho, they can quit trying to make Casey happen.

She is attractive and did well on the show in the past and, most importantly, is available....and therefore they will keep trying.

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Maverick

Maverick

 I don't remember Amanda, Sheldon or Shirley.  Like, at all.   I'm talking like Monica from the Survivor Fan Casted season levels of non-remembrance.  I barely remember Tesar.  I only remember Brooke because she was doing Healthy Choice commercials.   Not a fan of Casey (she's kinda whiney as I recall), Sam's full of himself and I find Katsuji annoying.   Not a great bunch.  

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ProudMary

ProudMary

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I feel as if I have to speak up for Sam a little!  I was lucky enough to meet Sam several years ago at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival (I think it was 2008, maybe '09.)  He could not have been nicer.  Very down to earth, took time with everyone.  And very funny.  I liked him from his season on Top Chef but even more after I had the pleasure of speaking with him.  

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mlp

mlp

I'm glad I was wrong about Jennifer Carroll but I'm not looking forward to seeing either Brooke or John Tesar again because I didn't like either of them.  Like others above, I have no recollection of an Amanda.  

All the people I thought of that I'd enjoy seeing (e.g. Fabio, Carla Hall) have been busy and successful since Top Chef and probably have neither the time nor the desire to put themselves through that again.  I don't know enough about the returning chefs, except John Tesar, to guess where they are in their careers.  

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chiaros

chiaros

8 hours ago, AriAu said:

6th place, right after Mr. Pea Puree. She was not memorable.

Mostly a likeable crew....other than Tesar, who was a manipulative, condescending ass on the show, who then opened a few places in Dallas and got into fights with lots of others since he was a manipulative, condescending ass. Brooke came in 2nd to Kristen and I am afraid she had no where to go but down-same for Sheldon.

I didn't mind John Tesar. In fact, I was on his side quite a few times, especially when he was being dissed by various whipper-snapper kids who fancied themselves "chefs".  In terms of native skill he has been praised highly by others (including Anthony Bourdain) but his downfall - at least once - was his drinking and his drugs.

Brooke Williamson was constantly condescending towards Sheldon Simeon. I thought her quite repellent especially towards the end. I'll be watching to see how she behaves (as portrayed on the show, of course) in this season.

I've already mentioned my dislike of Katsuji Tanabe, perhaps I'll find him more agreeable this time round. :-) 

Shirley Chung was constantly trying to butter-up Tom Colicchio, and harping on her supposed family inspirations for everything.

Amanda Baumgarten - IIRC she was the one who insisted on sherry chicken for the budget-limited school lunch (for KIDS - um, sherry?) in TC DC episode 2, I believe...

Sheldon Simeon was the most likable chap in this bunch of returning cheftestapants, for me anyway.

I don't have strong memories of Sam Talbot but he *was* part of the foursome who tried to shave Marcel Vigneron's head and it was reported that he and Ilan Hall were the ones egging Cliff Crooks on when he physically attacked Macel.

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Bastet

Bastet

As per usual, I only recognize about half of these people by name, and looking up their prior appearances shows I'm happy to see everyone other than John Tesar again.  I'd rather they just keep on with fresh contestants, because how will the returning contestants' experience be accounted or - or ignored - as compared to fresh meat, but if they're going to bring people back this seems like a talented and largely inoffensive group so I look forward to the food.

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dleighg

dleighg

14 hours ago, AriAu said:

She is attractive and did well on the show in the past and, most importantly, is available....and therefore they will keep trying.

I totally agree. She also had a nice rather than nasty personality, and cooked well enough to get to the finals, no small feat.

9 hours ago, chiaros said:

Amanda Baumgarten - IIRC she was the one who insisted on sherry chicken for the budget-limited school lunch (for KIDS - um, sherry?)

Yes that's right. She messed up a number of things and managed to avoid elimination by sheer dumb luck, much like Jaimie (sp?) in her NY season.

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Xazeal

Xazeal

I really hope they at least asked Stephanie Cmar. I loved her, and she went out in a really unfortunate way. She deserves a second chance. 

I'm not surprised that Casey is the first three-time contestant. I always kind of enjoyed her, because there were times when she was just so visibly over it. Example from one of the TWOP recaps: "Casey interviews that she's confident, because she saw a T Rex in Jurassic Park and it ate a lot of brontosauruses. Then she kind of shrugs like, 'You asked me a really dumb question and I gave you a really dumb answer and I'm not sorry.' " I hope this Casey is still there.

When I saw that Brooke was in, my immediate thought was "well, we have a winner". It's rare that I actually remember specific dishes unless they're Hung's smurf village, but Brooke's lamb-stuffed squid on black rice really fascinated me at the time. And looking at her track record, she went toe-to-toe with Kristen, and won almost every challenge while Kristen was on LCK. I think the show loved her, and I remember the viewers loving her as well, so I'm surprised by the lukewarm response so far.

I think it's an okay crew. I just hope John leaves early.

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spiderpig

spiderpig

I have horrible facial/name recognition skills.  When I clicked on the link to the profiles of the returnees and saw John - my first thought was "oh yeah - the glasses!"

Also remembered Sheldon as well once I saw him on the link. Liked him a lot.  Thanks for posting!

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AriAu

AriAu

Quote

When I saw that Brooke was in, my immediate thought was "well, we have a winner". It's rare that I actually remember specific dishes unless they're Hung's smurf village, but Brooke's lamb-stuffed squid on black rice really fascinated me at the time. And looking at her track record, she went toe-to-toe with Kristen, and won almost every challenge while Kristen was on LCK. I think the show loved her, and I remember the viewers loving her as well, so I'm surprised by the lukewarm response so far.

I liked her too and do not remember her being crappy to any of the other cheftestants and that had to be hard since Josie and Stefan were there. I thought she had great skills and she did win like 5 or 6 challenges and was rarely on the low end.

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wallflower75

wallflower75

Thrilled to see that Sheldon and Brooke are back.  I don't remember Brooke being that bad...but then that season is clouded by the Josie debacle, so maybe I should rewatch it.  Less than thrilled about Katsuji and if they were going to ask anyone from New Orleans to come back, I wish it had been Stephanie.  She really got screwed over by being stuck on that team with Nicholas.  I'm "meh" about Amanda--she skated by in her season.  Sam?  Um...well...

As for Casey, I still haven't forgiven her for hamstringing Carla in the season 5 finale.  Less than thrilled about seeing her be the first to get a third shot.  But going over the list of contestants who I would love to see compete a third time, I realized the reason I want to see them again is because I've been seeing them on television already.

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tenativelyyours

tenativelyyours

I found Brooke smug and annoying her season.  So of course she is back.

I found Sam smug and annoying every time he is on and so don't want to have to watch him purse his chicken anus lips in his constant attempts at "sexy".  Go back to stroking each others' egos with Kelly Bensimmon.  Of course he is back.

I found John Tesar tiresome and overly self-involved.  Of course he is back.

I don't remember Amanda.  Of course she is back.

I thought Katsuji was horrible his season.  Of course he is back.

I got tired of Casey two seconds into her last go at the show.  Of course she is back.

Shirley had some decent dishes her season but I also found her a bit much in terms of trying to craft her non-cooking narrative for the show (that probably doesn't make sense to anyone else but me).  Of course she is back.

Sheldon I actually liked most of his season but he made some choices late in the show that made me wonder if he understood the show at all.  Of course he'll probably go early.

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chiaros

chiaros

8 hours ago, tenativelyyours said:

I found Brooke smug and annoying her season. ...

I thought Katsuji was horrible his season. ...

...

Shirley had some decent dishes her season but I also found her a bit much in terms of trying to craft her non-cooking narrative for the show (that probably doesn't make sense to anyone else but me). ...

Sheldon I actually liked most of his season but he made some choices late in the show that made me wonder if he understood the show at all. 

In agreement there. :-)  

I completely understand what you said about Shirley.

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AriAu

AriAu

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 So of course she is back.

Tentativelyours, who would you want back? Remember, they have to be willing to be away from work and family for 3-4 weeks so likely have to own their restaurants or be out of work/between jobs/underemployed or be employed by someone that wants them to get publicity

Personally, I would have preferred 8 new contestants, but of what they could have gotten (let's face it Josie is ALWAYS available), this is not bad.

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chiaros

chiaros

On 10/27/2016 at 3:19 AM, tenativelyyours said:

Sheldon I actually liked most of his season but he made some choices late in the show that made me wonder if he understood the show at all.  Of course he'll probably go early.

An additional comment... 

I took a look on the web at his current place, Tin Roof.  It illustrates what he does best, homey unpretentious food. In fact, his place is billed as a mom-and-pop place. In terms of Top Chef, however, it raises (yet again) concerns --- about whether what he does is "Fine Dining" enough and Western-European-Refined enough. Notwithstanding the nods to "ethnic" and "down home" cooking the show puts out from time to time, IMO it still (via the judges involved) has a bias towards European-style fine dining, with beautiful plating (by European standards) as dominant criteria. So I worry anew about him, on Top Chef the (reality game) show.

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chiaros

chiaros

(edited)
On 10/20/2016 at 11:25 PM, mlp said:

All the people I thought of that I'd enjoy seeing (e.g. Fabio, Carla Hall)

BTW, after Fabio Viviani got tossed out of TC All Stars (season 8) he wrote some of the nastiest, juvenile and eyebrow-raising "recaps" of the following episodes as well as "reminiscences" on previous episodes. He especially dwelt on Angelo Sosa, repeatedly harping on what he considered his "camel toes" with his supposedly "tight pants" as well as what he mocked (in his estimation) as his less-than-manly attributes - like his supposed Mermaid poses etc. Many others got the Viviani Treatment, including Antonia Lofaso, but lots of people got slandered. These "recaps" were disgusting reading.

Edited by chiaros
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chiaros

chiaros

14 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

John Tesar posted he's "in a relationship" on Facebook. Does anyone know what happened to his wife? They had a son together, I think.

Hmm, I just took a look at his FB page and don't seem to see that comment, but I looked only at the latest entries. When did he post that?

Anyway, for those interested, here's a piece about why he walked away from 4 restaurants earlier this year.

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chiaros

chiaros

2 hours ago, AriAu said:

3 weeks from the debut and no spoilers, not even any "saw them at Whole Foods and in the park..." kinda posts!! Come on Charleston-get with it!

 

1 hour ago, cooksdelight said:

None of my friends in Charleston have seen them anywhere, nor any of the chefs I know. Unless the chefs are under contract not to say anything. I really hope this is a beautiful season and not a rushed one with stupid challenges.

See the first post on this thread.

They seem to have started shooting in May. If one goes by what has been reported for previous seasons, they probably finished shooting by, say, end of June. If that holds, then all those not based in Charleston would have been gone for months already. :-) 

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ProudMary

ProudMary

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The Chicago Tribune has a good article up today about Top Chef: Charleston.  Most of the article revolves around new TC judge, Chicago based Graham Elliot and his personal travels and tastings around the city during filming but he does drop a couple of spoilers within the interview indicating three of the Charleston restaurants that were featured.  I'm delighted to see that FIG was one of them!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/travel/ct-top-chef-charleston-best-restaurants-travel-1127-20161115-story.html
 

Quote

Another non-chefy spot Elliot liked is The Wreck, a no-frills joint on Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant, a suburb on the other side of Charleston's iconic Ravenel Bridge. Think paper plates piled with deep-fried oysters, doughy hush puppies and fresh-as-it-comes fish (www.wreckrc.com).

"It's right there on the water, and you can watch the shrimping boats coming back in — just a ton of character," Elliot said. "We did a challenge there."

The cameras also rolled at some of the most revered restaurants in the Southeast, such as FIG and McCrady's, both helmed by James Beard Award winners. FIG founder Mike Lata and McCrady's high bar-setter Sean Brock were doing the whole farm-to-table thing before it was, well, a thing. They're both masters at making the most of what's in season, and both of their eateries are worth the extra effort it takes to snag a reservation well in advance of a visit to Charleston.

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tenativelyyours

tenativelyyours

On 10/31/2016 at 1:15 PM, AriAu said:

Tentativelyours, who would you want back? Remember, they have to be willing to be away from work and family for 3-4 weeks so likely have to own their restaurants or be out of work/between jobs/underemployed or be employed by someone that wants them to get publicity

Personally, I would have preferred 8 new contestants, but of what they could have gotten (let's face it Josie is ALWAYS available), this is not bad.

 

Sorry I had posted a reply but apparently it got eaten.

The answer of course is no one.  I don't watch As the Top Chef Turns.  I don't give a crap to see the drama of returning chefs.  I want the original simplicity with no last chance kitchen and as basic challenges as can be aimed at good dishes.

But if they are bringing back contestants then bring back ones that have never been given a second chance with All Stars or whatever.  Or bring back eight that got the first boot and see if they have grown professionally enough to not be in the bottom eight of this season.  That way they still might retain interest to me as someone to evolve and reveal themselves as individuals and chefs.  Otherwise just hand the franchise over to Jonathan Fucking Murray, call it Real House Top Chef and the show can fall into its worst tendencies and play who hooks up first.

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mauras

mauras

(edited)

I'm excited for Charleston. Only been there once, but I absolutely loved it, and I had a few memorably great meals while I was there. 

The new chefs look like a talented bunch. I wish there were more of them so that the likes of Casey and Sam could have just stayed home. I'm kind of indifferent to the rest (not a Shirley fan, sort of a Brooke fan, can't remember Amanda to save my life even after watching the Bravo preview), but I hate the concept of bringing back past cheftestants. Maybe they just couldn't get enough qualified new chefs to apply?

Edited by mauras
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