S14.E02: Southern Hospitality

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

The chefs join the judges for a traditional shrimp boil; the newcomers face off against the returning chefs to put a spin on a low-country family meal; after dining with chefs Carrie Morey and BJ Dennis, each team creates a family-style feast.

[spiderpig]

Yay! A new ep tonight.  Let's get the knives out.

[ProudMary]

57 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

Yay! A new ep tonight.  Let's get the knives out.

Tomorrow night.  Thursday.
But yes, I'm also happy about a new episode.  I'm already so tired of how many shows are on winter hiatus.   It's nice to have something new.

[spiderpig]

Oops! Getting ahead of myself. 

Yeah, 'tis the season to clean out the DVR - all those shows you never got around to watching.

[tiredofwork]

Dang.., didn't know they had started the season.  One thing watching tonight, Gail seems pissed and removed from participation tonight.  Seemed to get more involved in the elimination discussion however.

[Pickles]

Annie is not cut out for this show. She seemed thrown for a loop that they were all sharing the kitchen and she didn't have enough counter space, etc. The guy with the tattoos all around his neck--I hate that look. Looks ridiculous. Emily Hahn looks like a mole to me. She just looks unpleasant. Padma looked very pretty at the dinner. Crazy that the rookies did not bake any biscuits, after they had gone to the biscuit lady's house!

[archer1267]

I missed the show last week. Did they have the same kind of elimination, where everyone was in a large group at first, standing off to the side before retiring to the stew room? And did the judges critique the dishes after each sampling with the chefs right there? It seems like they changed some of the background music they've had in pretty much every elimination segment since the start.

The veterans vs. rookies thing is already getting old to me! I have so many veterans I'm rooting for, but I wouldn't mind seeing the veteran group get taken down a peg in the coming weeks.

Edited December 9, 2016 by archer1267

[ProudMary]

Wow, there were so many dishes on this episode that I really wanted to taste, not just see!  Casey's greens looked amazing.  I also liked that Brooke featured benne in her biscuits.  That is SO Charleston.  Sam's fried chicken looked great too.
I don't like them pitting the "rookies" against the "veterans."  I hope that this will be the last episode where they do that.  I really don't want to see that continue throughout the competition.

[Bastet]

I feel a little bit sorry for Annie; I suspect she's right that she's a better chef than she is competitor in this particular environment.  She should have stood up for herself more about what she wanted to make, fundamentally, but group dynamics can be tricky, and women especially can be bulldozed over, so I have some sympathy for the fact she died on a dish she never wanted to make in the first place.

I'm pleased Casey won, not just because I've always liked her, but because, while I sometimes cook collard greens long and slow, my favorite is to cut them into ribbons and lightly cook them with other ingredients to just enhance the flavor enough.  I prefer the texture, and I think the flavor is intact.  So I was glad to see her win for a similarly unconventional preparation.

I dislike okra and eggplant in most dishes, but can like them under the right circumstances, so I had particular respect for the two chefs who prepared dishes rooted in those ingredients and got people who normally dislike them to enjoy.  (And both looked good to me.)

For a team challenge at the beginning of the competition, when there are still a gazillion people, I think dividing them up between first-time competitors and veterans makes sense, but I'll grow tired of that really fast if it continues.

I had forgotten Sam was a diabetic; I always like seeing how someone makes the necessary adjustments.

I wonder when this was filmed.  The squash casserole was made with summer squash (incidentally, the "watery" criticism of it particularly struck me as the squash casserole served at home looked very watery to me), indicating summer, but Brooke had to go searching for corn.  So, early summer?

At any rate, it looked like two delicious meals.  I haven't made dinner yet, and now I'm hungry for something far more delicious than I can whip up quickly with the ingredients I have on hand.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Bastet

[chiaros]

They started filming in May.

They have been commenting on the dishes in front of the cheftestants right then and there as they eat them since the past few seasons, in both the QFs and ECs.

[MerBearHou]

I love Top Chef and I adore Charleston so this is heaven for me.  Both Carrie and BJ were warm, welcoming hosts and their biscuits and gullah cuisine looked sooo good.  Googled both during the show.  

Have watched TC for several seasons and the first time I've ever teared-up for a second was tonight when Casey was talking about the wonderful communal effect of sharing food with friends around a table -- she got choked up and all she could get out was "isn't food cool??"  Just a beautiful sentiment -- I absolutely LOVED that moment.

Edited December 9, 2016 by MerBearHou

[rustyspigot]

Note to self. Don't mess with Gail's pork! Its like her first born child was sent to a gulag.

Padma seemed extra high/drunk? even more so than usual during the meal. Which I'm fine with.

Annie was confused as much as her hairstyles were for her short stint on the show.

[snarktini]

I felt bad for Annie. She wasn't aggressive enough to survive in a group competition this early. She got run over. 

It was somewhat unfair of the guest judge to say Annie shouldn't have chosen the tart considering the time & kitchen. The former is fair, they shouldn't plan dishes that take too much time. (Although 2-1/2 hours for a tomato tart? I could EASILY do that.) But she, and the rookies in general, had no idea how limited the kitchen would be. No oven racks?! No wonder Brooke's biscuits were overdone on the bottom and Annie didn't have oven space. They have to choose menus and shop before they see the cooking environment, and that sometimes does screw them.

[Ms Lark]

Huh. I was pissed that the pork loin bozo who wasted a good chunk of their budget and then poorly cooked the meat was kept. Surprised no one threw him under the bus on that account. Oh, well. Thought the watery squash guy would have been next in line. Surprised Annie got it, her tart was a really pretty presentation. Guess soggy bottoms are a deal breaker here, too.

Nice that Casey got the win for her collards. I'm always happy when a veg wins.

[Gajic]

The editors need to spend less time on snippy trash talk and more time on cooking. This is Top Chef not big brother. I tune into watch cooking and they're devoting a 3rd of ths time to the veterans bad mouthing the newcomers' lack of experience. it's not like all these returning players are champions. Some of them went out early. Like one of the newcomers said just because they're new to Top Chef doesn't mean they're new to the kitchen. 

Hopefully as the season moves on and the teams mix they will stop hitting us over the head with the vet vs noobie thing. Survivor always starts with a theme as well and they forget about it after the merge. 

[spiderpig]

1 hour ago, Gajic said:

Hopefully as the season moves on and the teams mix they will stop hitting us over the head with the vet vs noobie thing. Survivor always starts with a theme as well and they forget about it after the merge. 

I was just going to say that TC is taking on unfortunate Survivor undertones.  I really hate that GenX tribe vs. Millennial tribe stuff when it comes to cooking, and I hated to agree with odious Emily that they are ALL experienced chefs - just some have never been on TC before.

Grumpy McGrump here, but none of the dishes on the show appealed to me other than that huge ol' pile of seafood at the beginning of the show.  BJ was engaging, but Biscuit Lady annoyed.

I'm hoping this season improves.  Rapidly.  There are only so many shots of horse-drawn carriages and colonial homes to pad out the show.

[Wings]

Crab gravy over rice! Oh wow, I want that.  And now I am going to be craving biscuits.  I cannot maintain low carb eating when this show is on.  

Looked up the recipe for permanent slaw; it does not sound good to me but I will try a small batch.  It must take the place of a pickle, it is not something you eat as a full on side dish.   Whoever made that had an easy dish and not something personally creative.  It is stupid easy. 

I am keeping an open mind because I love this show but I don't like the division and not sure how I feel about sticking with southern fare.  

Experience shopping really paid off!  Those returning smoked the rookies in Whole Foods.  

Jim continues to stand out as skilled, confident and easy going.  I like him a lot. 

I don't remember Shirley much but had to laugh at her making her grandfather's oyster dish since I read about her propensity to bring her family into everything here! Funny! 

Edited December 9, 2016 by wings707

[HunterHunted]

14 hours ago, snarktini said:

I felt bad for Annie. She wasn't aggressive enough to survive in a group competition this early. She got run over. 

It was somewhat unfair of the guest judge to say Annie shouldn't have chosen the tart considering the time & kitchen. The former is fair, they shouldn't plan dishes that take too much time. (Although 2-1/2 hours for a tomato tart? I could EASILY do that.) But she, and the rookies in general, had no idea how limited the kitchen would be. No oven racks?! No wonder Brooke's biscuits were overdone on the bottom and Annie didn't have oven space. They have to choose menus and shop before they see the cooking environment, and that sometimes does screw them.

No one from either team had seen the kitchen before, so they were all equally handicapped.

Given that, the critique of Annie should have been based on her failure to adapt to the competition challeges. She could have borrowed ingredients from the other chefs to make a variation on confit byaldi. She could have baked the pie crust separately and topped the dish with the pie crust prior to serving. This is a game show. It is completely legitimate to eliminate contestants for failing to adapt to the impediments and obstacles of the competition.

My personal choice for elimination would have been Jaime, who made the summer squash casserole. He fundamentally didn't understand how to treat his ingredients to achieve his desired outcome. And it's not like he using exotic ingredients. It was squash. I find that to be the greater sin because he isn't knowledgeable enough as a chef to understand what he needed to do to make his dish.

Annie probably could have produced a nice tart in the time frame if she had enough space to work. Jaime never would because he didn't know how to treat the squash to not end up with a watery scrambled mess.

Edited December 9, 2016 by HunterHunted

[Primetimer]

The chefs get a crash course in Lowcountry and Gullah cooking.

View the full article

[cooksdelight]

My dislike for Emily grows with each episode. I am praying that at some point she gets her comeuppance and goes down in flames.

With all the emphasis on low-country seafood, I want to see these people on a boat, then cooking their catch. Sam's chicken looked delicious, as did Brooke's biscuits. I'm not a collard greens fan, but I'd have tried Casey's and probably loved it. Can't really remember much about the "rookie" team's dishes, just poor Annie's unfortunate tart. I felt bad for her most of the episode, she just wasn't cut out for this type of cooking competition. 

[PepperMonkey]

Enjoying this season so far.

Sam and Casey always seem so smug to me. Wish I could shake that, especially with Sam, because I want to like him as much as I did before the "Marcel incident." Having said that, both of their dishes for the family dinner looked awesome.

I can't stand Emily (? Is she the one from NYC who lives in Charleston now so says she's representing for Charleston?) . . . The thing that made me most angry was BBQ guy spending so much of their budget on his one item. And then he didn't even cook it that well, or Gail hated the hell out of it anyway. Felt bad for Annie but yeah, she is not cut out for this type of competition.

Tat guy should be gone already. I keep thinking he's still there because Colicchio loves his "credentials" and he liked his knife skills the first week. Dude cannot really cook competently, though.

Looks like next week they may be shaking up the teams. I'm tired of newbies vs. veterans already, so good thing.

Edited December 9, 2016 by PepperMonkey

[Kickboxer]

That was a reminder why I dislike Casey, she is always so smug. On the other hand, I like rude Emily. The vibe I get from her is one who is usually considered an underdog and she copes by going on the offensive. It is a lot like my little dog who acts aggressive to big dogs but I know that really he is covering up fear with bravado. Also Emily's facial expressions crack me up. The biscuit lady being so offended the Rookies didn't make any biscuits was amusing. I hope she felt better about it after seeing the footage of the Rookie's disasterous shopping trip.   

Edited December 9, 2016 by Kickboxer
take a word out, put one in

[archer1267]

Quote

That was a reminder why I dislike Casey, she is always so smug.

I was okay with Casey until she went off on Carla - and I don't buy that "I thought I was talking off the record/my comments were taken out of context" BS. 

What was with none of the ovens having racks?? In all my years of watching TC, I've never seen them have that problem, in all the times the contestants had to adapt to a new kitchen environment. That was just strange and I wonder if the production elves did it on purpose to throw everyone off their game. 

[Pickles]

No oven racks was just odd. I suppose it was some sort of ploy by production. Let's remove the racks and see how they cope! Ugh.

[spiderpig]

5 minutes ago, Pickles said:

No oven racks was just odd. I suppose it was some sort of ploy by production. Let's remove the racks and see how they cope! Ugh.

I wondered about that.  There have been a lot of claims that on Hell's Kitchen (I know, I know) the producers mess around with the oven controls, resulting in undercooked items.

[archer1267]

That's just nuts and I hate these "twists," like John Besh showing up on TC: New Orleans and announcing (where there was less than an hour of cooking time, IIRC) that the chefs had to incorporate Philadelphia cream cheese into their dish. I think the show can be dramatic enough without throwing these wrenches into the mix...and in this case, unfairly favors those who made their dishes on the stovetop.

[Calamity Jane]

Maybe I'm just desperate for diversion just now, but I am really enjoying the show so far.  I'm really glad to see most of the returning chefs, and the newbies seem pretty intriguing overall, even Emily and her 'tude.  Jim from Alabama is my favorite overall.  

I do agree that the guy who messed up the squash made a more fundamental error than the other two, and I really expected to see him go, or the guy whose specialty is meat but couldn't manage to cook the pork loin consistently.  Surprised they sent Annie home instead, but of course, we don't get to taste the food.  

Noticed Tom once again criticized a dish for lack of salt.  He does love his "seasoning"!

[LuciaMia]

Quote

Emily voices her objection that she is "p.o.'d" to be referred to as a rookie, because she's a fucking good chef.

In the first episode, didn't she say she'd been fired a couple of times for her attitude? 

Gosh, really?

[HunterHunted]

5 hours ago, Pickles said:

No oven racks was just odd. I suppose it was some sort of ploy by production. Let's remove the racks and see how they cope! Ugh.

5 hours ago, spiderpig said:

I wondered about that.  There have been a lot of claims that on Hell's Kitchen (I know, I know) the producers mess around with the oven controls, resulting in undercooked items.

 

Though this is a game show, I can't imagine that the producers would do that only because they have so much money tied up in the relative integrity of the chefs and the show. They've had 10,000 product placement plugs on the show. They have branded cooking equipment, an online university, cruises, cookbooks, and a dozen international versions. They've collaborated with Bertolli and Healthy Choice to sell frozen food inspired by Top Chef meals. So any little drama that makes it look like the chefs are incapable of making good food compromises the viability of their secondary revenue stream. However, moving ingredients doesn't make it look like the chefs can't cook. Moving pea puree might be something that production would do. It makes it seem like a chef is overwhelmed and forgetful, but still a good cook.

[seacliffsal]

The food in Charleston is amazing.  Not necessarily traditional southern cooking as was presented in this episode.  I was a bit confused about the chef who was eliminated-she said she didn't want to make a tomato pie, but that a prestigious newspaper wrote an article about her green tomato tarts.  So, she was experienced with the dish that she served, but could not adjust to the timing and shared kitchen scenario.  Is this correct?  If so, the fail was all on her.

The squash casserole chef also burned his broccoli, so maybe he had to adapt on the run.  However, he is also the chef who burned vegetables last week and PROMISED us that he would not burn his veggies this week.  Epic fail.

Pork chef had the gall to yell at the others at Whole Foods about eliminating all unnecessary ingredients after ensuring that his huge pork loin was covered.  It also looked like he bought way more pork than he needed.  Of course, the other chefs could have all agreed to a $50 per chef budget and followed it.  Pretty impressive that the favorite dishes were all primarily vegetable dishes which were probably much less expensive than the meat dishes (yes, I realize the crab gravy had blue crab in it).  So, pork chef was an entitled hypocrite fail.

[ProudMary]

6 hours ago, archer1267 said:

What was with none of the ovens having racks?? In all my years of watching TC, I've never seen them have that problem, in all the times the contestants had to adapt to a new kitchen environment. That was just strange and I wonder if the production elves did it on purpose to throw everyone off their game. 

I was shocked by the ovens not having any racks.  It had to be a production thing.  The chefs were cooking at McCrady's, which is Sean Brock's flagship restaurant and routinely shows up in the top 50 on lists of the best restaurants in the US.  There is NO WAY they don't have racks in the ovens!

[HunterHunted]

23 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

I was shocked by the ovens not having any racks.  It had to be a production thing.  The chefs were cooking at McCrady's, which is Sean Brock's flagship restaurant and routinely shows up in the top 50 on lists of the best restaurants in the US.  There is NO WAY they don't have racks in the ovens!

I guess it's possible that production removed the racks. However, I looked at the menu and maybe 20% of the dishes on the menu. If the restaurant has a salamander broiler, you could knock a couple of dishes off the needs an oven list. There are some baked desserts. I don't know if they're baked in house. I guess that I'm 50/50 on whether the producers removed the racks or if the restaurant has some weird rackless set up that works with their menu.

[GaT]

14 hours ago, spiderpig said:

I'm hoping this season improves.  Rapidly.  There are only so many shots of horse-drawn carriages and colonial homes to pad out the show.

I'm not finding it all that interesting either, & I'm not someone who likes lots of drama on my reality show. I don't know if it's the challenges, the chefs, or the whole "experienced vs newbie" thing, but I'm kind of bored. 

[spankydoll]

22 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Wow, there were so many dishes on this episode that I really wanted to taste, not just see!  Casey's greens looked amazing.  I also liked that Brooke featured benne in her biscuits.  That is SO Charleston.  Sam's fried chicken looked great too.
I don't like them pitting the "rookies" against the "veterans."  I hope that this will be the last episode where they do that.  I really don't want to see that continue throughout the competition.

Sooooo tired of the rookie shade. I hope that all of the olds go PYKAG

[MaggieG]

Sam's fried chicken looked amazing. I lovr okra and would have gladly eaten John's dish. 

Can't stand Emily, she looks like doesn't want to be there

[biakbiak]

21 hours ago, wings707 said:

Looked up the recipe for permanent slaw; it does not sound good to me but I will try a small batch.  It must take the place of a pickle, it is not something you eat as a full on side dish.   Whoever made that had an easy dish and not something personally creative.  It is stupid easy. 

That was Sylva and he did  a "permanent" chow chow to accompany his Hatian Cornish game hen and was well received by the judge and definitely had a spin on it.

Edited December 10, 2016 by biakbiak

[Richness]

Emily, you're a newbie because you've never been on Top Chef; it has nothing do with the amount experience you have. The others are veterans because they've been on TC before. I didn't mind her in the premier episode, but her attitude about being a veteran chef annoyed me.

Unfortunately, this episode perfectly illustrates the unfairness of putting newbies against veterans. While I continue to support and enjoy TC, I really hate when they mix veterans with newbies. I want a newbie to win just on principal alone even though I really like some of the veterans. Katsuji is not one of them.

[Wings]

I agee with you, Richness u]p until wanting a newbie to win. I am not partial to which side wins.

[candall]

16 hours ago, Calamity Jane said:

Maybe I'm just desperate for diversion just now, but I am really enjoying the show so far.  I'm really glad to see most of the returning chefs, and the newbies seem pretty intriguing overall, even Emily and her 'tude.  Jim from Alabama is my favorite overall.  [snip]

Noticed Tom once again criticized a dish for lack of salt.  He does love his "seasoning"!

S'truth.  I've always been a big fan of TC anyway, but it's particularly welcome when I'm glum about whether I want to invest time learning the rules of the latest dystopian society.  I'm not crazy about the focus on The Cuisine of South Carolina, since that's not my foodie preference, but at this point I'm not about to kick it out of bed for cookie crumbs.

Good for Jim for not caving to the peer pressure on jiggering up some kind of quasi-biscuit to offer the Biscuit Queen.  That would have been a long walk on a short pier. 

I'm still on Team Bad Attitude, heh.  Is it Brooke who was whining and second-guessing her decision to return?  That seems much more artful, and annoying, to me.  Of course, Emily's overdue for a homerun if she's going to keep talking the big talk.  (I do have to wonder, though, how much the producers were responsible for prompting those testy soundbites.  How do you feel about being a new chef and having to compete against these seasoned pros?)

ETA Note:  I'm a carnivore and own up to my part in animals dying for my dinner plate.  But I don't like to see people carelessly dumping out such a bounty of food that part of it slides off the table and goes on the floor and then those creatures were killed for nothing.  (I feel the same way when Gordon Ramsay makes a big show of throwing eight ribeyes into the garbage because someone made a soupy risotto.)

Edited December 10, 2016 by candall

[queenjen]

I've never watched Top Chef before, but Emily is giving me serious Wendy Pepper from Season 1 of Project Runway vibes. 

Never eaten a grit, a collard green or buttermilk fried anything in my life (Australian), but I'm about to devote a year of my life to cooking only Southern cuisine. Our climate is very similar. It makes sense. I think I love this show.

[Spaceman Spiff]

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 1:35 AM, Gajic said:

The editors need to spend less time on snippy trash talk and more time on cooking. This is Top Chef not big brother. I tune into watch cooking and they're devoting a 3rd of ths time to the veterans bad mouthing the newcomers' lack of experience. it's not like all these returning players are champions. Some of them went out early. Like one of the newcomers said just because they're new to Top Chef doesn't mean they're new to the kitchen. 

Hopefully as the season moves on and the teams mix they will stop hitting us over the head with the vet vs noobie thing. Survivor always starts with a theme as well and they forget about it after the merge. 

I really didn't see much trash talking. Just observations when they were all shopping, and the rookies were being very noobish. In the stew room Sam even imparted how it sucks being in the bottom and I think was truly empathizing with them.

This was enjoyable. Family style cooking, cook from the heart type of challenge, very fun to watch. Glad Casey won. I was surprised the mousy girl went home (can't remember some the new Chef's names), over the guy who cooked his protein incorrect, which is normally the PYK kiss of death. I also think the guy who burned his vegetables AGAIN should have gone before her.

[Jobiska]

On 12/9/2016 at 7:00 AM, wings707 said:

Looked up the recipe for permanent slaw; it does not sound good to me but I will try a small batch.  It must take the place of a pickle, it is not something you eat as a full on side dish.   Whoever made that had an easy dish and not something personally creative.  It is stupid easy. 

Sylva made chow chow as a nod to the permanent slaw, but he also made another dish, Haitian-inspired in some way per his heritage.

edited to add that for some reason I did not see the additions since I last looked at the tab, which I usually do, and so I missed that biakbiak answered this!

Edited December 10, 2016 by Jobiska

[Texasmom1970]

23 hours ago, PepperMonkey said:

Looks like next week they may be shaking up the teams. I'm tired of newbies vs. veterans already, so good thing.

I am so glad to see this, did they not learn anything from that one season of "Project Runway" that team crap gets old real fast.

I also in some way think it is a bit unfair having all the experienced chefs together since they to some degree know they judges, have cooked for them before and have that experience under their belt. I want to see them compete one on one, even playing fields as much as possible.

[dleighg]

5 hours ago, candall said:

ETA Note:  I'm a carnivore and own up to my part in animals dying for my dinner plate.  But I don't like to see people carelessly dumping out such a bounty of food that part of it slides off the table and goes on the floor and then those creatures were killed for nothing.  (

totally agree. I hate food being wasted.

[pbutler111]

  On 12/9/2016 at 9:24 AM, PepperMonkey said:

Looks like next week they may be shaking up the teams. I'm tired of newbies vs. veterans already, so good thing.

I am so glad to see this, did they not learn anything from that one season of "Project Runway" that team crap gets old real fast.

I also in some way think it is a bit unfair having all the experienced chefs together since they to some degree know they judges, have cooked for them before and have that experience under their belt. I want to see them compete one on one, even playing fields as much as possible.

I agree with both of you. It's sort of like having people compete to get through one of those giant hedge mazes, with teams consisting of people who've never even heard of a hedge maze before, and people who've been through this specific hedge maze at least once, if not twice. I also think bringing the former cheftestants back is just way too gimmicky. There aren't enough really great up and coming chefs to populate another season of this show? Doubtful. I've seen what the previous chefs have to offer. I'd like to be introduced to new chefs.

[Canada]

Ugh, people like Emily annoy the shit out of me with her comments about not being a newbie, people who spin words to find offense where none was ever intended.  Just shut up and get over yourself!!

The big rack conspiracy of 2016!  I just really hope that this show is not turning down the same path that Hell's Kitchen ended up going down.  I just dumped that trash and don't want this show to go the same way.

[wallflower75]

Got to see the new episode today, and...man, if I'm not careful, Casey's going to get back onto my good side.  Her seemingly spontaneous moment about how awesome cooking was really got to me.  *must remember Carla and how Casey torpedoed her chance to win, which meant freakin' HOSEA won that year....*

Hmm...maybe my initial concerns of Jim from Alabama being in over his head were unwarranted?  He again presented a dish the judges seemed to really like, even though his team was on the bottom.  Yay!

Other than Emily (honey, they didn't call you a rookie chef, they meant you were a rookie to Top Chef, think before you speak next time), I thought it was a pretty good episode overall.

[dleighg]

I don't get the hate for Casey re: Carla's demise. It's totally on the competing chef to take, or not take, any advice given. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

I don't get the hate for Casey re: Carla's demise. It's totally on the competing chef to take, or not take, any advice given. 

I agree. I mentioned it in the episode 1 thread. Carla failing is all on Carla.

Slightly off episode topic, but does anyone else watch on Comcast? Last year I was able to watch LCK on demand, but I didn't find it. Is it only online at Bravo's site? Because that would suck.

[dleighg]

I have FiOS and don't see LCK on it either.