S14.E01: Something Old, Something New

[theatremouse]

On 12/5/2016 at 6:57 AM, Colagirl said:

I think they shot this in May/June - the oyster roast thing actually bothered me because in SC people don't have oyster roasts in warm weather months (rule of thumb: only months with a letter 'R' in them). Guess they wanted to include oysters in some way, though.

I might be remembering wrong, but I think the show has a history of theming episodes based on the time when they're expected to air, not the time when it was filmed, even though they know we know they shot this months ago.

So I'm assuming the "oyster roast" in May was probably because if that's a super popular thing to do in the area, and they knew this would air in December, doing it in the first episode was as close as they'd get to an R month (April), so if they were determined to do it, better sooner than later.

[sourpickles]

Aight, ya'll, bear with me here. I said on another post back on the PR forum that I had had a death in my family and was out of touch. True, and then I had to travel out of state for services and all, so I missed both PR and TC premiere, so I'm basing my opinions on what I read here, and my own observations. If anyone knows when this reruns, I'd be grateful, since I've no way to watch right now. To sum up: is it 8 vets and 8 newbies? From my list now the newbies are: Jim, Silva, BJ, Gerald, Jamie, Emily, Annie, and Silvia. The vets are...Katsuji (couldn't stand him), Sam (if any of you are having issues with remembering season 2, all I have to say is look up the Marcel bullying. This guy was an asshole. I couldn't stand him then, or in his subsequent appearance at least in season 4. And he had the worst Sumo wrestler hairstyle), Brooke (loved her, glad she made the finale), Casey (love her too, glad to see her again), Shirley (love her too! Not totally sold on her only Asian cooking, but she's kind of awesome as a person), Amanda (I always confused her with Leah from the 4 was is, hanging all over Hosea? A. was around too long I think. Pulling the season now to watch), and John Tesar, he of the glasses and attitude. I'm missing one, please fill me in if you all can. I remember someone on here filled me in on it being shot in Charleston, and I was as surprised as the recapper, no offense to those there, just wouldn't have been where I would have thought. Sorry I sound so clueless...................I'm off to confuse those on the PR forum! Oh, and if anyone still knows two seasons after I started asking WHY seasons 1-3 aren't on dvd, that'd be cool too ;).

[Jobiska]

23 minutes ago, sourpickles said:

I'm missing one, please fill me in if you all can.

Sheldon, who at one point amusingly teased Shirley about whether she was going to do an Asian-inspired Quickfire, when from everything I recall about him he also did a lot of Asian stuff in his own season.  Also, he was seated near Shirley as the returning chefs watched the newbies do their Quickfire first, and Shirley was all excited about everything, and at one point she hit Sheldon in the arm in excitement and at just that moment he was sitting like a sleepy lump, and it made me laugh.  I do like both of them so I found their interactions amusing.  

How annoying that there's a Silva and a Silvia, especially since I want to root on the Philly chef (Silva) and Silvia also seems likable *and* competent!  With Shirley and Sheldon and Sam (and I'm in the not-like camp for Sam), that's a lot of S names!  

Assuming that the weather did *not* spoil the dishes, John's oyster truffle cream thing sounded like something I would really want to eat.  

I've been to Boone Plantation and they do do a lot of interpretation of the lives of enslaved people etc., but no way would that come across in such a short visit.  It was an awkward location for this, for sure.

[dleighg]

I watch PR and TC either On Demand (FiOS) or directly on the websites for the shows--

31 minutes ago, sourpickles said:

If anyone knows when this reruns, I'd be grateful, since I've no way to watch right now.

[sourpickles]

Thanks, everyone ! Wasn't Sheldon on the same season as Brooke and Kristen? He was 3rd? I liked him. He had a cool vibe. I will try to watch this on what was recommended.

[spiderpig]

On 12/5/2016 at 5:57 PM, chiaros said:

 

I'm having a brain freeze here - what's PR?

[dleighg]

^Project Runway

[spiderpig]

3 minutes ago, dleighg said:

^Project Runway

Thank you!  I thought it might be something to eat!

[sourpickles]

Oh, that was me. Sorry. I know that some people from Project are on Top Chef too and I just didn't think it through!

[sourpickles]

Though it could have been Pickled Radishes!

[wallflower75]

15 hours ago, cherrypj said:

My favorite part of this episode (and I'll caution you that I only remember Sam and Casey) was the beginning, when the returning chefs were watching and commenting as the new chefs were cooking.

I loved that. I'd pay to watch a show, like Survivor, where past players comment on the current players. Give me the inside poop. Tell me what Tom/Padme (or Jeffy P.) really mean when do or say whatever. Tell me what's going through your head, since it's likely that's what happening to the new folks. 

Sure, sure, there are podcasts that offer this sort of thing. But those are not (usually) transcribed. Nor are they in "real time." 

Ditto.  But it would depend on who you got to do the commentary.  (Or how much alcohol you gave the participants ahead of time.)

Edited December 7, 2016 by wallflower75

[MajorWoody]

So is this now going to be Social Justice Chef?

Chef, how does it feel to know your ancestors were enslaved on this very spot where you are cooking for an entertainment show? Does that put added pressure on you?

Tesar came across as condescending with his claim that his mom attended civil rights rallies, or whatever lame response he had.  I'm surprised he didn't mention the black dishwashers he has hired over the years to show what a swell guy he is. I'll bet he even considers some of them his friends!!!!!

If I want sob stories, I'll go watch an episdoe of Chopped. This show was one of the last holdouts that emphazised cooking skills, not sob stories, and related nonsense.

[spiderpig]

West Coast dweller here. We have lots of oysters, but I'd never heard of finding crabs in them.  Turns out they're Zaops Ostreus, or oyster crabs, and typically found in Chesapeake Bay area oysters, where they are considered a delicacy.

Learn something new every day.

Edited December 7, 2016 by spiderpig

[LisaBLingLing]

On 12/3/2016 at 8:20 PM, Omega Mu said:

Sam... he'll always be the "hot diabetic" to me!

He'll always be the "hot diabetic" who made watermelon gnocchi to me!  He is one of the cheftestants I remember best because of that watermelon gnocchi.  

[chiaros]

On 12/6/2016 at 10:26 AM, AriAu said:

It was overall pretty forgettable other than Pea puree-gate. The winner was a good guy who has run successful restaurants....and they went to Singapore where Angelo got sick. The funniest tidbit is that they had on a congressman to judge a quickfire where they had to cook dishes served on a toothpick since that did not violate ethics rules and that Congressman (Aaron Schock) resigned over, you guessed it, violating ethics rules, and just got indicted!

And I still have no real recollection of Amanda.

I thought that season was one of the more memorable ones. :-)  Lots of stuff went on.  It was also interesting, the reactions of the finalists, when they sampled the food in Singapore - for example, the "recoil" that they exhibited (especially Kelly Liken) when they encountered room temperature Hainanese Chicken. Lots of folks also went overboard about the imagined "dirtiness"/"unhygienic food there - whereas Singapore is one of the cleanest and most stringently hygienic places for public food that one can find around...but, it is not a "Western" country. :-) 

The winner - i.e. Kevin Sbraga --- I still think he won in large part because he got Michael Voltaggio as his sous-chef. I do think it made a distinct difference. Whereas Ed Cotton got Ilan Hall, and it showed.  While Angelo Sosa got Hung Huynh, who greatly helped him not be the bottom of the three, practically carrying Angelo S through the shopping and prep and etc but who could only do so much because Angelo S was sick and absent until the last part.

As for Sbraga being a "good guy who has run successful restaurants" – I might murmur that he participated in dissing Angelo Sosa in their season for "always cooking "Asian" " although he was not as bad as two other African-American chefs who really sneered at him in this regard (which was quite, quite repulsive behavior from those chefs); and he has also been sued for FAILED restaurants in the past.

[chiaros]

17 hours ago, sourpickles said:

Shirley (love her too! Not totally sold on her only Asian cooking, but she's kind of awesome as a person)

 

16 hours ago, Jobiska said:

Sheldon, who at one point amusingly teased Shirley about whether she was going to do an Asian-inspired Quickfire, when from everything I recall about him he also did a lot of Asian stuff in his own season. 

Hmm, one could just as well object to most of the contestants doing only European cooking.  ;-) 

Indeed Brooke dissed Sheldon for "doing Asian" in their season - whereas I thought he covered a lot of ground - Filipino (his base), Vietnamese, Chinese, even Indian, etc etc. They are distinct cuisines.

[glitterpussy]

Yay, I love Shirley!

The plantation and the commentary from Tesar especially made me squirmy.

Amanda! I know who she is as she was here in San Diego working for Malarky for awhile, and then had her own place--a craft beer place that featured a play area for kids....which we loved, being new parents at the time. I got the impression from local media that she had a possible substance abuse problem. To hear she's now bartending in Chicago is kinda sad.

[Stillhoping]

Hi just watched on demand and pretty good episode. While not fond of twists and bringing back retreads I do like Brooke. Shirley was ok as I recall...perhaps a bit too much Family recipesII

Not thrilled about the location and hope it wont be all southern low country  challenges

I really like the Italian gal...her pasta looked great.  I liked the blond guy Jim? Liked his personality 

Hate to say I was glad Gerold lost because reality cliche sob stories bore me. I think we were spared mawky Skype session scenes of him and his kids. Yay

[snarktini]

On 12/2/2016 at 7:10 AM, cooksdelight said:

That woman who thinks she's all that and a bag of chips, the one who told Padma and Tom to stop talking... can't remember her name, but I already can't stand her.

 

I dislike her too, but she didn't say "stop talking", she said "enough talking". They misheard her in the stew room. To my ears it was actually one of the least rude things to come out of her mouth. More like "Okay, I really need to get back to work" than "Go away".  And, frankly, I'm surprised more chefs don't find a polite way to do that when judges are in the way.

BJ (heavy frame glasses + beard) killed me when he said he was making 3 dishes because that upped the odds that something would impress the judges. He must not watch the show much, or he'd have heard Tom say that multiple dishes also increases the odds of presenting something they don't like. Focus!

One of newbs said it was crazy for a 1st challenge. Uh, no. Making *anything* from any part of a chicken in a full hour is not crazy. More of them should have been able to execute 2 dishes. 

Glad to see Sheldon back. I like him. 

On 12/2/2016 at 0:12 PM, easypeasy said:

John is 58?!

Crazy, right? At first I thought I misheard that seemed so improbable. I didn't want to eat either of his dishes. He said he'd made the kimchi / shrimp before, but not with grits -- he was combining them to meet the challenge. Grits and kimchi sounds like an awful combo, texturally.

[archer1267]

I think the Washington DC season was easily one of the least memorable. I'm not sure why, since they did some cool things like go to NASA and the CIA, and Nancy Pelosi judged a QF. The season was heavily dominated by a handful of chefs and Amanda was one of the youngest, greenest, and - at least initially - most annoying. She was all bravado in her THs but then would get slackjawed when questioned about her food.

But she grew on me a bit, in part because she was one of the few not on the "pick on Alex" bandwagon. She was also kind of awkward and that made her oddly relatable too.

[Bastet]

Quote

Who the hell is Amanda the returning chef? She has been wiped from my memory.

Mine, too.  Of all the chefs who have competed over the years, there are only a few I know by name, but if I see their faces I can at least say, "Oh, yeah - she/he was on Top Chef," even if I don't remember which season.  Amanda?  Absolutely nothing.  Not a single flash of recognition. 

I could not stand John Tesar the first time around, so I'm hoping it's true that he's a new and improved version of himself.  He seems to be a congenital asshole, so I'm not sure how much stock I put in that, but whatever.

I loved Brooke and Shirley during their seasons, and liked most of the rest (I liked Sam until he assaulted Marcel [I probably would have torn my own hair out having to live/work with Marcel, but come on!], and I think I went back and forth on Katsuji).  I think Brooke has the most to lose by coming back, so I hope she doesn't regret it.

For the newbies' QF, I don't know why any of them bothered trying to make more than one dish, since the winner was going to be whomever made the (one) dish Tom liked most.  Thus, the guy who put three spoonfuls of food on a plate winning over someone who'd made another one of Tom's favorites plus a second dish, because that one dish was so good.  So just concentrate on making one chicken dish the best it can be.

That QF win felt like a storyline to the cynic in me - let's give the first win to the underdog - but I want to believe Tom has more integrity than that, so I'm going with it.  Same philosophy for accepting the sudden death QF results - they were there to eat the food, so I'll assume they're right that John's tasted better.  Without that crucial bit of information, I was thinking the newbie would win, because in an oyster ROAST competition, he followed the challenge prompt while John poached his oysters.

[ProudMary]

About those tiny crabs in Gerald's oysters:
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/Eat/archives/2016/12/01/dear-america-dont-freak-out-about-the-tiny-crabs-inside-the-oysters-on-the-top-chef-charleston-premiere
 

Quote

In fact, what Sombright didn't realize is that finding a pea crab in an oyster is not only OK, it's a sign of good luck. For real. I swear. Here, breathe in a paper bag while I explain. 
Local historian Suzannah Smith Miles says that the pea crab is a tiny soft-shelled crustacean (Pinnotheres ostreum) that "lives symbiotically in the oyster and is considered a delicacy by gourmands when found in a steamed bivalve."
For the premiere of Top Chef: Charleston, Bravo used ACE Basin biz St. Jude Farms' oysters and as the company's oysterman Danny Hieronymus explains, the pea crab is kind of like an oyster's canary in the coal mine.  "They're in oysters in very good, high quality water," says Hieronymous. "They live together inside the oyster and show up in water with good salinity. It's a very good sign to see them."  Hieronymus agrees that getting one in an oyster is good luck. "And they're delicious," he adds. That's right, you can eat those suckers and Hieronymous says you should. "You gotta eat the crab, that’s best part of it!"

And, some more info on pea crabs:
http://gardenandgun.com/blog/southern-secret-pea-crab

[devonshiredeb]

On 12/7/2016 at 3:00 PM, chiaros said:

I thought that season was one of the more memorable ones. :-)  Lots of stuff went on.  It was also interesting, the reactions of the finalists, when they sampled the food in Singapore - for example, the "recoil" that they exhibited (especially Kelly Liken) when they encountered room temperature Hainanese Chicken. Lots of folks also went overboard about the imagined "dirtiness"/"unhygienic food there - whereas Singapore is one of the cleanest and most stringently hygienic places for public food that one can find around...but, it is not a "Western" country. :-) 

The winner - i.e. Kevin Sbraga --- I still think he won in large part because he got Michael Voltaggio as his sous-chef. I do think it made a distinct difference. Whereas Ed Cotton got Ilan Hall, and it showed.  While Angelo Sosa got Hung Huynh, who greatly helped him not be the bottom of the three, practically carrying Angelo S through the shopping and prep and etc but who could only do so much because Angelo S was sick and absent until the last part.

As for Sbraga being a "good guy who has run successful restaurants" – I might murmur that he participated in dissing Angelo Sosa in their season for "always cooking "Asian" " although he was not as bad as two other African-American chefs who really sneered at him in this regard (which was quite, quite repulsive behavior from those chefs); and he has also been sued for FAILED restaurants in the past.

As a Philly gal who has eaten in several Sbraga restaurants, he has also been most gracious to the Top Chef venue for giving him the kickstart he needed.  And getting sued by an equipment installer is pretty common these days in a failed restaurant.  BTW his food is amazing......

[HunterHunted]

On Monday, December 05, 2016 at 6:11 AM, FinnishViewer said:

I'm curious why some are against bringing back former contestants to the competition. In sports athletes show up in the same competitions every year. Why would it be bad in a cooking competition but ok in sport?

It's not at all equivalent. When a college athlete is drafted to the NBA or the NFL, he's playing a game that he's played for years. The rules are largely the same even though the caliber of athlete is higher.

However this show is different. While chefs in restaurants have to deal with all manner of challenges in their restaurants like not having access to perfered ingredients, tools, or equipment and time constraints, it's rare that they see immediate consequences for their failure to meet expectations. The competition aspect is a head game and it's where the veterans have an unfair advantage. The vets know how to shop, know to cut a dish that isn't working a lot earlier, and know what you can accomplish in the time frame of the challenge. It's also why chefs who competed on Food Network tend to go further on Top Chef than their mediocre talents would suggest. They get the game play aspect. Philip Frankland Lee lasted far longer than he should have I suspect because he was a cooking challenge beast (Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, Guy's Grocery Games). The thing that Philip never figured out is that Food Network shows judge contestants on being the best of the worst. However, Top Chef is more than happy to not reward anyone if they all sucked. Top Chef is a game show, but it also wants to make sure contestants are producing good food.

[JeanneH]

On 12/5/2016 at 4:55 PM, heatherchandler said:

I think it is funny that most people on the board don't know who she is. 

Wasn't Amanda the one who gave a big greeting to everyone in general when she first arrived, and the other veterans all looked at her like "who are you?"

Edited December 10, 2016 by JeanneH

[Lillybee]

I think that when Annie was bitching that she didn't know what to ; she should have claimed bisuits.

[biakbiak]

Oops.

Edited December 10, 2016 by biakbiak

[Spaceman Spiff]

I like all the returning chefs. Never had an issue with any of them. The clip they showed of Tesar was him arguing with CJ who can be a bit a d-bag, other than that I don't recall having a huge dislike for the guy (like Blaise or Isabella). I never blamed Casey for Carla's misstep during her finally, and I loved Carla, but that is on her. I like most of the new chef, accept for the bitchy woman, I hope she goes fast. The whole plantation thing didn't bother me. I saw nothing wrong with how that went down. Last Chance Kitchen, I have a love hate relationship with. It allowed Kristen to come back and win, even though I liked Brooke as well, but that finale was messed up when they changed it to be an Iron Chef type of cook off. I like LCK because there is a lot less gimmicky stuff and just plain old cooking. But I agree it sucks that those in LCK don't have to deal with the crazy elimination challenges and just get to cook to stay in.

[chabelisaywow]

Ugh Sam - the one who claimed he wasn't "that guy" but ended up being that guy.

I remember him being the one most annoyed by Marcel and talked the most crap behind his back, but lucked out that the other douche bag from that season acted his aggression out.

[HunterHunted]

On Saturday, December 10, 2016 at 6:09 PM, chabelisaywow said:

Ugh Sam - the one who claimed he wasn't "that guy" but ended up being that guy.

I remember him being the one most annoyed by Marcel and talked the most crap behind his back, but lucked out that the other douche bag from that season acted his aggression out.

I rewatched that episode and it's just as terrible 10 years later. Sam is sitting on a couch laughing a couple of feet away as Cliff pins Marcel to the ground. Marcel is calling for help from Sam and Elia and they just respond with more laughter. And Marcel is so gracious. He doesn't want Cliff punished because he thinks this might have a negative impact on Cliff's career. I don't think the rest of them, including Sam, have gotten enough grief for their behavior.

Everyone gets it. Marcel was annoying and had this reputation for not helping (I watched the entire season over again and Betty is the one who starts the Marcel pile on), but they were all adults. You don't get to hit people because they annoy you. If you did, I'm sure that Emily would have been wallopped a couple of times in this first episode. 

I don't think that John's soup should have won. The challenge was an oyster roast. John not only didn't roast his oysters, he used his smoked cream to barely warm his oysters. I feel like he didn't meet the challenge definitions.

Edited December 12, 2016 by HunterHunted

[Christina]

On Twitter, Tom addressed questions about John's oysters. He said that they were roasted and it was a failure of editing. First he said it was shown quickly, but it must have been on the extended clip, because people were saying they didn't see it upon re-watch. I didn't bother to watch it again looking for it, so i don't know if it was shown or not.

It would be nice if no one went home on the first challenge.

[The Solution]

Quote

(I watched the entire season over again and Betty is the one who starts the Marcel pile on)

Because it can't be said enough, Battleax Betty was a harridan.

[proserpina65]

I loved Sam in his season, and thought he should have won.

[LillyB]

I am grateful that they didn't bring Josie, Jamie and Philip back.