Season 14 Last Chance Kitchen

[Kareem]

I kinda like Silvia because she's quiet and calm, a  breath of spring compared to Amanda and not smug like Brooke. Colicchio seems to find her fascinating and may be curious to know what more she can do. Her Italian food is probably right up his alley.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Kareem

[chiaros]

23 hours ago, Kareem said:

 Her Italian food is probably right up his alley.

Keep in mind though that Tom Colicchio is more of an Italian-American chef.  Silvia still cooks a lot of Italian-Italian stuff, including at her restaurants, although I suppose she is changing over to at least partly Italian-American to cater to her clientele. (The two styles are distinct)

(There are also arguments about Italian-American vs American-Italian, where the discussion is on from which end one is approaching whatever one is making, whether it is an Italian dish changed for Americans, or an American dish affected by Italian sensibilities)

Edited January 8, 2017 by chiaros
spelling & grammar

[Kareem]

I was raised by Italians and am from New Jersey so I get where he's coming from but I do think he may be curious about what she can do, since she's the real deal (here in the States just a short while), young and seemingly talented.  Glad she's back.  

[rho]

4 hours ago, PepperMonkey said:

Unpopular opinion time: Ugh! I guess Sylvia is destined to come back to the finale.

There's something about her that bugs me and I feel kind of bad for saying that, because I can't put my finger on it. It's almost a sense of entitlement? The comment that she's only 26 and has three restaurants. And then what Brooke was saying about how Sylvia moved to America to do Top Chef??

I dunno. I have such mixed feelings on LCK anyway. Maybe that's colouring everything. Sorry.

You're not alone. I thought she was annoying from day 1. I think it was the comment about being the first Italian Top Chef and since then everything she makes is inspired by a snack her mother/grandmother/cousin/landlord made when she was young back in Italy. It's the same reason people don't like Shirley but for some reason Shirley doesn't bother me. I do think she comes across a little smug and entitled but she's coasted so far because Emily has pretty much dominated the smug and entitled department. Was not sad to see her leave, especially for something that didn't even resemble salsa verde.

I don't see her coming back from LCK unless TC is that biased toward her.

Edited January 7, 2017 by rho

[ratgirlagogo]

8 hours ago, rho said:

the first Italian Top Chef

Wait, what about Fabio?

[biakbiak]

20 minutes ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Wait, what about Fabio?

She was talking about winning the competition not just being a contestant.

[ratgirlagogo]

Oh, ok, got it.

[Wings]

On 1/7/2017 at 9:55 AM, chiaros said:

Keep in mind though that Tom Colicchio is more of an Italian-American chef.  Silvia still cooks a lot of Italian-Italian stuff, including at her restaurants, although I suppose she is changing over to at least partly Italian-American to cater to her clientele. (The two styles are distinct)

(There are also arguments about Italian-American vs American-Italian, where the discussion is on from which end one is approaching whatever one is making, whether it is an Italian dish changed for Americans, or an American dish affected by Italian sensibilities)

No matter which, we don't need more tomato sauced dishes in this country.  How about a northern Italian chef for a change?   We can all get the parmigiana, spaghetti, meatballs etc in a pizza joint on almost every corner USA.   I would like to see French cuisine become a stronger presence in this country.  More Korean restaurants would be welcome, too.  I cannot find Bibimbab where I live and I want some!  

Edited January 9, 2017 by wings707

[spiderpig]

I agree with being tired of the Italian=tomato sauce meme.  I'd like to see more alternative ingredients to get away from the Godfather sterotype.

One of the many reasons I love Northern California is that even in my little bedroom suburb we have Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, British pub, Filipino and Mexican restaurants within city borders. You can find anything else within a 30-minute drive.  

[Constantinople]

When Top Chef aired at 10 pm, the LCK episode was online at 11 pm (or shortly after).  Now that Top Chef has moved to 9 pm, it would be nice if they made the LCK episode available at 10 pm.

[dewelar]

9 minutes ago, Constantinople said:

When Top Chef aired at 10 pm, the LCK episode was online at 11 pm (or shortly after).  Now that Top Chef has moved to 9 pm, it would be nice if they made the LCK episode available at 10 pm.

The show wasn't over at 10. It was over at 10:15.

[Michichick]

Jim beat Silvia, then Jamie beat Jim. Bummer, I love Jim and am so sad to see him go.

[zxy556575]

I like Jamie (and his fiery wife) now that he distinguished himself and I know which one he is, so go Jamie, I guess.

Kristen Kish won five LCK challenges but I honestly don't see anyone having a winning run this early on, so goodbye Jamie.

[spiderpig]

How much did Jamie's giving up immunity weigh in on Tom's decision to pick him over Jim since their dishes were both competitive?

Nothing against Jamie, but Jim was such a little spark plug who provided whatever energy this season's had.

I thought traipsing around an abandoned city in the pouring rain was a fitting metaphor for this year's contest.

Edited January 13, 2017 by spiderpig

[riverheightsnancy]

I cannot remember if this occurs in other Last Chance Kitchens, but I really do not like the other chefs giving hints and telling the chefs what to do or not to do. Silvia redid that sauce because of what the audience said to her. She didn't end up winning, but I still don't think that is fair. If the audience chefs really are pulling for one chef over the other, then they can essentially help them quite substantially. I think Jim would have won the 2nd round if that last garnish hadn't been so salty. I thought his dish looked sublime. 

[HunterHunted]

If Chef salt lick thought the garnish was salty, then it was way too salty. Tom thinks everything is undersalted.

[MerBearHou]

Totally agree with the chefs on the side providing assistance and clearly cheering for one chef over the other.  They need to cut it out.  The playing field is supposed to be level without several other sets of eyes providing guidance to one chef.  

[Wings]

I agree on no help from the onlookers, absolutely.  In this case it didn't matter due to Jim's mistake.  I feel certain he would have won.  A purée of canned peas?  Oh god no.  Has to be the worst canned food ever. 

I was rooting for him and so sorry to see him go.  He is such a compelling man that I would not be surprised to see him as a guest on some other shows or even a guest judge.

[ratgirlagogo]

Trust me, he's going to be a returning guest on THIS show, if he cares to do it.  

[lynny]

I have a question for any Canadian viewers: I've been watching Last Chance on FoodNetwork.ca and I saw the Silvia/Jim (?) competition  (the state house chef). But then the video ended as they introduced James(?) (the guy who gave up immunity). And there was no video for Silvia/James. Did I miss it? Is it not there?

[Wings]

3 hours ago, lynny said:

I have a question for any Canadian viewers: I've been watching Last Chance on FoodNetwork.ca and I saw the Silvia/Jim (?) competition  (the state house chef). But then the video ended as they introduced James(?) (the guy who gave up immunity). And there was no video for Silvia/James. Did I miss it? Is it not there?

Jim beat Sylvia. He was eliminated first in QF.  Next eliminated was Jamie so he faced Jim.  

[Jesse]

On my US On Demand, at least, they were two separate "episodes" of LCK.

[innocuouspuff]

10 hours ago, lynny said:

I have a question for any Canadian viewers: I've been watching Last Chance on FoodNetwork.ca and I saw the Silvia/Jim (?) competition  (the state house chef). But then the video ended as they introduced James(?) (the guy who gave up immunity). And there was no video for Silvia/James. Did I miss it? Is it not there?

It's not there! I came here to ask the same thing. Really wanted to see the Jim/Jamie battle.

[Janimo]

I'm able to see them, but I'm in the U.S., not Canada. Maybe the links will work for y'all.
Here's Jim versus Silvia:
http://www.bravotv.com/last-chance-kitchen/season-6/videos/lck-ep-6-raw-deal

Jamie versus Jim:
http://www.bravotv.com/last-chance-kitchen/season-6/videos/lck-ep-7-treasured-ingredients

 

Edited January 14, 2017 by Janimo

[estellasmum]

Every time I go to watch LCK, it plays the episode I want for about a millisecond, then switches over to the preview for the entire season, no matter what I do. I haven't seen one yet. Way to go, Bravo.

[chiaros]

47 minutes ago, estellasmum said:

Every time I go to watch LCK, it plays the episode I want for about a millisecond, then switches over to the preview for the entire season, no matter what I do. I haven't seen one yet. Way to go, Bravo.

Hmm. I assume you are in the USA? Do you have some form of ad-blocking software/plugin? If so you might try disabling it or "pausing" it.

[innocuouspuff]

1 hour ago, Janimo said:

I'm able to see them, but I'm in the U.S., not Canada. Maybe the links will work for y'all.
Here's Jim versus Silvia:
http://www.bravotv.com/last-chance-kitchen/season-6/videos/lck-ep-6-raw-deal

Jamie versus Jim:
http://www.bravotv.com/last-chance-kitchen/season-6/videos/lck-ep-7-treasured-ingredients

 

Region locked for me, boo. Thanks though! Maybe foodnetwork.ca will get it together soon, some intern probably didn't know to look for two episodes.

[riverheightsnancy]

I watched it online and the 2nd episode came up immediately after the first. Like they were combined. Did you let the first ep play all the way out? 

[innocuouspuff]

I did, and was very confused by the apparent cliffhanger. I also scoured the whole Food Network Canada page in vain. No sign of LCK episode 7. Maybe you could link the rest of us sad Canadians if you can get the website to do it again. :) Not the first mistake I've found on there and not likely to get fixed over the weekend, probably. 

[RealityCheck]

Bravo posted the Last Chance Kitchen videos on Youtube.

LCK S14E06 - Raw Deal (Silvia vs. Jim)

LCK S14E07 - Treasured Ingredients (Jim vs Jaime)

[riverheightsnancy]

YouTube to the rescue! 

[innocuouspuff]

Yay YouTube! I had no idea they wouldn't be region locked on there. Aw at Jim's sad face, and at Tom telling him what a tiny mistake it was. I really liked him. The chefs in the peanut gallery are having way too much fun.

[JeanneH]

IIRC the peanut gallery has always cheered and commented from the sidelines. If they're in favor of one or both chefs depends on who is cooking.

[estellasmum]

6 hours ago, chiaros said:

Hmm. I assume you are in the USA? Do you have some form of ad-blocking software/plugin? If so you might try disabling it or "pausing" it.

I am, and I did disable my ad-block, and still does the same thing. 

2 hours ago, riverheightsnancy said:

YouTube to the rescue! 

Sweet! Thank you for that. I don't know why I never thought of that.

[Nordly Beaumont]

2 hours ago, innocuouspuff said:

The chefs in the peanut gallery are having way too much fun.

They really are! That's why I like LCK, it seems like it softens the blow of being eliminated. Sort of like "Wow, that sucked. Hey! A party!"

[dleighg]

16 hours ago, estellasmum said:

Every time I go to watch LCK, it plays the episode I want for about a millisecond, then switches over to the preview for the entire season, no matter what I do. I haven't seen one yet. Way to go, Bravo.

that happens to me on Chrome. I have to watch it on Safari (I'm an Apple person). May have to do something with my ad blocker (which some sites blacklist me for, even though I've already whitelisted that site.) Go figure. Not worth my mental cycles to figure out.

Edited January 15, 2017 by dleighg

[chiaros]

4 hours ago, dleighg said:

that happens to me on Chrome. I have to watch it on Safari (I'm an Apple person). May have to do something with my ad blocker (which some sites blacklist me for, even though I've already whitelisted that site.) Go figure. Not worth my mental cycles to figure out.

I use Chrome 55.0.2883.95 on a Mac OS Yosemite. I pause Ad Block to successfully watch the videos on Bravo Top Chef including LCK.

[innocuouspuff]

14 hours ago, JeanneH said:

IIRC the peanut gallery has always cheered and commented from the sidelines. If they're in favor of one or both chefs depends on who is cooking.

This is true but I find them particularly festive this season for some reason. Gerald and the Santa suit, Sam and the one-liners. Even Tom seems particularly happy/chill this season.

 

14 hours ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

They really are! That's why I like LCK, it seems like it softens the blow of being eliminated. Sort of like "Wow, that sucked. Hey! A party!"

Yeah, it's nice that we get to see them shake off the sadness rather than forever having the sight of them having their dreams crushed as our last image of them.

Edited January 15, 2017 by innocuouspuff

[essexjan]

Booo, YouTube videos not available in the UK, and Bravo is locked out too. As I can't see LCK, I usually try to avoid spoilers until the finale so I can be surprised at who returns. But I really wanted to see if Jim got through. :-(

[Dewey Decimate]

Just binged all the LCK eps, and wow, it was better than any real episode! Love how fun and convivial everyone is, and enjoy the growing peanut gallery. Bummed that now I have only one ep to watch at a time.

[Wings]

I have Chrome on HP laptop and iPad and watch Last Chance without a problem on both.  I can get it on my galaxy 5, too. 

I knew Jaime would win if both dishes were good. It then comes down to who has the better chance to keep going without annoying the shit out of you.  

[chiaros]

Yay! Katsuji is gone. Too bad, so sad, he had ONLY five ingredients to work with and it seemed he didn't know where he was going with just those five.

Edited January 20, 2017 by chiaros

[spiderpig]

I didn't have a dog in this hunt since I didn't care whether they kept Jamie or Kansuji.  I'm still bugged that Jim got the boot over these two.

How can you limit ingredients to five and not have chefs come up with pretty much the same presentation within the time frame?  Or was I missing something?

[Jobiska]

I have three cats.  

Sometimes they gobble kibble too fast; sometimes they eat grass.

Katsuji's dish looked like the natural result of a combination of the two.

I don't even usually care about presentation that much, but ew!

Silvia was so proud of her clever idea to give them the time remaining in Italian!  The peanut gallery was also quite proud of snagging the tequila.

[racked]

Katsuji makes it very easy to not have any sympathy for him. He really discounted Jamie, and even though I don't care that much for the guy, it made it even better when Jamie beat him.

[Wings]

2 hours ago, Jobiska said:

I have three cats.  

Sometimes they gobble kibble too fast; sometimes they eat grass.

Katsuji's dish looked like the natural result of a combination of the two.

I don't even usually care about presentation that much, but ew!

Silvia was so proud of her clever idea to give them the time remaining in Italian!  The peanut gallery was also quite proud of snagging the tequila.

Yes and LOL @ bold.   Love your entire post and dry wit.  

[awaken]

Sad to see jim go. Would like to see him back!  (Hint, bravo producers!)

bearded glasses hipster in the peanut gallery having way too much fun, and is way too pleased with himself!

I love how Sylvia speaks with her chin up!  It makes her seem so regal and proud.

Jamie sounds like a lifelong smoker. 

[Corgi-ears]

I didn't actually watch, but Katsuji must have realllllly fucked up his dish for the producers not to have kept him on LCK for an eventual face-off with Tesar.

[spiderpig]

2 hours ago, awaken said:

I love how Sylvia speaks with her chin up!  It makes her seem so regal and proud.

 

I've been wearing contact lenses since the stone age, when it was much easier to use them if you tilted your head back and looked downward.  Hillary Clinton did the same thing for ages, and we saw from early pictures she once wore coke-bottle glasses like mine.  Optometry has advance lightyears over time, but I still react to that head-tilt, since I did it myself for years.  Silvia's only 26, so maybe her head positioning is more reflective of thinking about what she's saying in a non-native language.

Interesting, but I noticed it.

[PepperMonkey]

I was rooting for Katsuji, but as soon as I saw the ingredients Tattoo picked, I knew Katsuji was screwed. His own fault for having no range beyond his comfort zone.

That being said, I'm glad he's gone from the show. I didn't think of him a shit stirrer his first time on, but he really is.

I honestly have no interest in LCK since Jim is not in the running anymore. I was only watching in case he got sent there so I could root for him to make it back to the finale.