Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

The Chefs/Cheftestants of Top Chef

Veruca Assault

By Veruca Assault
in Top Chef

  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

Bella

Bella

I want Fabio to help me by showing up to my house, cooking my meal, and charming me by talking to me

 

He could boil water, read my junk mail out loud, and flirt with my cats, and I would be delighted.

  • Love 8
Link to comment
  • Replies 1.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Posted Images

Lura

Lura

LOL!  What a group!  I think I like Tom better without hair.  I guess I'm used to that shiny, bald head.  For me, the real winner is Dick Blais!  No wonder he thinks he's so hot now!  I cracked up over that silly beard growing right along his double chin.  Nothing like highlighting your drawbacks!  Little Dicky is so egotistical that he probably thinks he was one honkin' dude back then! 

Link to comment
cooksdelight

cooksdelight

I caught a rerun of Top Chef Duels yesterday when Kristin Kish was on. It struck me as really odd that she won all that money....and hasn't yet gone home to Korea. That was something she talked about constantly, wanting to go back to her homeland. And she's not gone. Also, she was comparing herself to Stephanie Izard, her competitor, by saying how Stephanie has a restaurant, and she doesn't. Girl... what are you doing with all that money? She won a round on this show and said she would use the money to travel some more. Sounds like she's been flying all over and seeing the world, except for Korea. She could open a small place like Nick Elmi did and be wildly successful. But I get the feeling she doesn't want to be tied down, she wants to be free to travel. I know she was a model before she became a chef, maybe she liked that lifestyle more than she realized.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
Julia

Julia

I don't know, Kristen's choices make a kind of sense to me. Barbara Lynch gave her a restaurant and a crew to run, which means Kristen gets to learn to run a restaurant (which, I think, we all remember was not one of her strong skills) on someone else's dime and gain a following.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
cooksdelight

cooksdelight

She didn't mention having a restaurant to run. I got the impression she's been hopping all over the place, and as evidenced by some of her Facebook and Twitter activity, she is getting around to a lot of places. But if so, that does indeed make sense for her to learn without it costing her all of her own money.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
larapu2000

larapu2000

I think travelling the world is the best possible experience for a chef.  New cultures, dining customs, ingredients, techniques, and everything else that make each country/region unique and special and seeing it in the most authentic way would be a dream for any chef that is passionate about food.  She's young, she'll settle down and cook eventually.

 

One of the things I loved about Stephanie in Season 4 is how delicious her food always looked and how accessible it was, especially as compared to Richard.  Having dined at all of her places in Chicago, I'm struck at how she manages to combine comfort and simplicity with exciting and complex.  They're really great!

  • Love 7
Link to comment
cooksdelight

cooksdelight

Did anyone catch Restaurant Revolution on Esquire? Lots of TC people featured.... Tom C and how Craft came to be, Wolfgang, with a really fascinating backstory I wasn't aware of. Jonathan Waxman....man, what a hard partier. And I am more in love with John Tesar than ever. The guy is so much more than we saw when he was on TC. Absolutely amazing with some great stories.

Link to comment
mlp

mlp

 

Did anyone catch Restaurant Revolution on Esquire?

 

Nuts.  I wasn't aware of it.  I just checked and found that it's airing again tomorrow at midnight Central Time so I set my DVR to get it.  Thanks!

Link to comment
RealityGal

RealityGal

Wow!  Tom was, and remains, a stone fox.  

 

I always think of the scene in "A League of Their Own" when I see Hugh.  "Eyebrows, thin and separate.  There should be TWO."

Oh thank goodness I'm not the only one who feels that way about Tom.  I know he is an asshole, and I know I'm wrong, but I can't help myself!

Link to comment
Julia

Julia

(edited)

I'm watching Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken as baby chefs all awkward on TV demonstrating south- and southeast-asian food with Julia Child on PBS.org.

Words cannot describe how adorable this is.

Edited by Julia
  • Love 1
Link to comment
cooksdelight

cooksdelight

I stopped in to meet Katsuji at his tiny little restaurant in west Hollywood. No, it's not in Beverly Hills as has been cited on the show. It's in a funky little neighborhood that I would be scared to be in after dark, alone, etc. Seats about 12 inside, there were some tables and chairs on the sidewalk out front also. One guy manning the counter, where you go up to order, cafeteria-style, but there were no customers at 5 o'clock so I didn't get to see anyone cook anything.

He's a very nice guy. Not like you see on TV, from the time we spent talking. And he was very nice to take time to chat with me. He's friendly with everyone from the show, couldn't tell me how he ended up but said "I did well" with a wink and a smile.

And he is five foot nothing, when you see him standing next to the other chefs on the show, keep that in mind.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
Bastet

Bastet

I love the mango habanero tomatillo salsa at Mexikosher.  The meats are all tasty but not particularly noteworthy.  Not a destination by any means, but a good lunch if I'm in the area.  But he's pretty close to becoming, by his on-air behavior, someone to whom I no longer want to give my money.  We'll see, but I'm glad to hear he was nice in person.

 

(It's close enough to Doheny that I'll give him "Beverly Hills adjacent," and I don't mind the neighborhood, but, yeah - not Beverly Hills.  I didn't even notice that being said on the show.  Odd.)

Link to comment
cooksdelight

cooksdelight

Yeah, he was quiet and low-key in person, nothing like the guy on TV. But I have to keep reminding myself they are prompted by production to amp it up for the show.

The Ivy and SUR are a couple of miles north on Robertson. THAT, to me, is more in line with having a Beverly Hills neighborhood vibe. There is one of those quick-in-and-out dentists right next to Katsuji's restaurant. Not a valet in sight. LOL

Link to comment
Lura

Lura

I'' have to meet Katsuji the next time we're in LA.   I enjoyed your "sketch" of him, cooksdelight.

 

Do I sense that there are others here with crushes on Jonathan Waxman?  If so, please step aside!  Jonathan is MINE, ALL MINE!!!  He's an incredible chef, a wonderful person, and I'm a huge admirer of him.  He's a Californian by birth, and he worked at Chez Panisse in Berkeley with none other than Alice Waters.  He spends untold hours working for charities.  He adores his wife and children.  Most of all, he's a genuinely nice guy who remains humble despite his success.  No wonder so many of us like him! 

  • Love 2
Link to comment
biakbiak

biakbiak

(edited)
Do I sense that there are others here with crushes on Jonathan Waxman?

I am pretty sure everyone does. I loved how much love and respect the other chefs had for Obi Wan when he was on TC Masters!

Edited by biakbiak
  • Love 2
Link to comment
Lura

Lura

(edited)

Julia, what is Panna?

 

We could split Jonathan.  One of us could have him on Mon., Weds., and Fri., and the other on Tues., Thurs., and Saturday -- and let him go home on Sundays.  BTW, I won't part with my Top Chef Masters recordings from Jonathan's season.  Remember his birthday cake?  Let's hang out in the French Alps with him -- and hope that he cooks!  Biakbiak, you can come, too, if it's OK with Julia!

Edited by Lura
Link to comment
biakbiak

biakbiak

The Brothers Voltaggio have a Christmas special on The Cooking Channel airing tonight at 8:30, it's called An International Christmas, if it's like their Thanksgiving special they will replay it a few times and will show up on the Food Network as well. It is awkwardly sponsored by Starbucks. 

 

I think Michael is much more at ease on camera but they have a cute chemistry together.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
Lura

Lura

I loved Kevin.  I got to know his sous chef (long story), and he told me once that everyone who works with Kevin loves him.  He said that Kevin is "the original nice guy."  Nice to hear.

Link to comment
biakbiak

biakbiak

(edited)

Given that its clearly a riff on Thug Life one of Tupac's albums (and group), don't see what the big deal about sticking to a theme, must have been a slow day at DCist to take a tweet and create a controversy,.particularly because there are several restaurants that routinely have similar names on their regular menu.

Edited by biakbiak
  • Love 1
Link to comment
cooksdelight

cooksdelight

I saw an interesting interview with Bobby Flay this morning, who said that chefs who go on TV are all of a sudden not taken seriously as chefs. Well, he should know, as much as he's on the tube. He's just openened a new restaurant and seems to be concentrating on that, as evidenced by his leaving Worst Cooks in America.

I think that has happened to a lot of the chefs we've seen on this show. Yes, it's helped some of them get a boost and help them launch a restaurant, Others, not so much. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Katsuji told me he took a real risk, but the risk was worth it since he's increased business. It may just be a momentary boost, but for him he embraced the chance to go on television and be noticed.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
Lura

Lura

That's interesting, cooksdelight, but it surprises me that chefs like Bobby feel that they're not being taken seriously.  Or was he talking about other chefs feeling that way?  I don't feel any less admiration for Hubert Keller's abilities because he has a show on PBS or any number of other chefs for that matter.  I can see how being attached to the FN would lump you in with some rather iffy "chefs," especially with its stupid  game show mentality these days, but otherwise I'm not sure that I understand what Bobby means.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
cooksdelight

cooksdelight

He was criticized in the press for "abandoning" Mesa Grill to be on TV, and one of his restaurants lost a star. Critics said it was because he was too busy being a star. I think that took him back a bit. And reinvigorated his drive for the new place to succeed.

He was talking more about himself than anyone, not once did I hear him criticize any other chefs.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Julia

Julia

I think it's more the craven constant personal reinvention and arrogance that bothers people, honestly, although the way he threw his weight around to give his only moderately talented (but equally owing her career to being well-connected) protege Alex a title she should never have been close to winning kind of sealed it for me. He's a brand and a producer and a restaurant owner, not a working chef (it's downright embarassing watching him chop onions and throw herbs in the blender in slo-mo while his sous cook all his dishes on Iron Chef).

And, hey, more power to him. It's not often someone with a seventh grade education gets that far, particularly with his personal challenges, despite his family connections in what at the time was a far less competitive field. But being a pet project for Gael Greene and Jonathan Waxman, much as I admire them, made Bobby Flay the moderately well-known proprietor of a small restaurant in an unfashionable neighborhood. Relentlessly pimping himself on TV as a man of the hard-grillin' people and jumping on cutting boards with his agent a fixture at the judge's table made him a star chef.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
eleanorofaquitaine

eleanorofaquitaine

I think it's more the craven constant personal reinvention and arrogance that bothers people, honestly, although the way he threw his weight around to give his only moderately talented (but equally owing her career to being well-connected) protege Alex a title she should never have been close to winning kind of sealed it for me. He's a brand and a producer and a restaurant owner, not a working chef (it's downright embarassing watching him chop onions and throw herbs in the blender in slo-mo while his sous cook all his dishes on Iron Chef).

Are you talking about Alex Guarnaschelli? And are you talking about Iron Chef?  I don't really understand this claim that she shouldn't have "won" that title.  I mean, either you take chefs on television seriously or you don't. And if you don't, then it is hard to feel as if anyone "deserves" the Iron Chef title, which, at the end of the day, is just a tv competition.  But if you do take them seriously, then it seems like Alex won fair and square.

 

FWIW, Alex is a distant relative of mine (and I mean distant - we share a great grandparent, but I didn't even know we were related until after she had been on Food Network already), and so I took the opportunity to eat at Butter several years ago.  The food was excellent and she personally made two separate dishes for me and my boyfriend.  She is hardly "marginally talented," IMO and in my direct experience.

  • Love 4
Link to comment
anonymiss

anonymiss

(edited)

All of these insultingly lazy new shows cropping up that are all the same with a slight variation. (I'm looking at you, Late Nite Chef Fight.) I'm still waiting for the Spike and Marcel show. Dale et al. can make guest appearances. 

 

I love watching Blais cook. He was great on Tasted's Burger Lab show because it was just him doing what he does best: cooking with passion and creativity. I wish he could get his own show doing something like that rather than narrating or judging.

Edited by anonymiss
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...