Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

The Chefs/Cheftestants of Top Chef


  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 1.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

What exactly did John do during his two seasons, that make people hate him so much, or is it just because of his past behavior in real life? Because I honestly am baffled by the hate towards him. I don't even remember him behaving badly towards other contestants, unless you count that time when he argued with Stefan over some frozen protein during the Seattle season.

  • Love 2
On 9/4/2017 at 6:59 PM, Christina said:

Isaac Toups is on the Aug 15, 17 episode of Bizarre Foods titled Cajun Country Trail. They go fishing and cook their catch. It also has an Aniza (?) Toups who I think he referred to as his grandma. 

 I thought that was one of the best episodes of Bizarre Foods ever.   I want to hang out with Isaac and his dad! 

7 hours ago, FinnishViewer said:

What exactly did John do during his two seasons, that make people hate him so much, or is it just because of his past behavior in real life? Because I honestly am baffled by the hate towards him. I don't even remember him behaving badly towards other contestants, unless you count that time when he argued with Stefan over some frozen protein during the Seattle season.

John's first go round on TC was bad for him.  He came across as very pretentious.  The second time around he was overly nice and enthusiastic, to make up for the image-bashing. But then it just came across as fake.  I thought he and Katsuji's dynamic was hilarious. I would watch the hell out of a show with them going "on the road" together.

Edited by StrictTime
Oh, Siri!
  • Love 5
20 hours ago, FinnishViewer said:

What exactly did John do during his two seasons, that make people hate him so much, or is it just because of his past behavior in real life? Because I honestly am baffled by the hate towards him. I don't even remember him behaving badly towards other contestants, unless you count that time when he argued with Stefan over some frozen protein during the Seattle season.

He was an ass to many, many people in the Seattle season culminating with being a complete and total dick to Lizzie during the extra challenge that got him eliminated including his baffling notion that if he had just withheld the communal jar of dill pickles that they were both required to use in their dish he would not have been eliminated, Tom and Chris Constantino were both flabbergasted at judges table.

  • Love 2

Margarita Kallas-Lee, Phillip Lee's wife, gave an interview to the clothing brand she models. I came across it while reading the about the participants of Best Bakers in America, in which she is participating. It has a few throwaway lines about their restaurants, including:

Quote

JW: How did Scratch Bar come about?

MKL: Phillip and I created Scratch Bar literally from scratch. We had a pop up restaurant in a coffee shop at first, then moved into a brick & mortar in Beverly Hills, and after 3 years we decided to move it over the hill to the valley, where we grew up. We're opening two more restaurants next door to the original Scratch Bar & Kitchen, and just recently signed a deal with the Montecito Inn to take over the food program, so 2017 is looking very busy.

This is very interesting to me because, during his season of Top Chef, I came across an article discussing his previous restaurant and he was the financial back while the other partners were the creators of the menu. That business relationship soured, and the other chefs left, along with some of the sous chefs, and started their own restaurant. Phillip kept cooking the food from the restaurant and the judges didn't like it. After reading that interview, I came to the conclusion that he didn't really know how to cook those meals correctly because he didn't create them. So the balance of sweet and salty was never correct. 

He also took exception to an article written by a food critic who didn't enjoy her meal at Scratch Bar, and he hinted that he knew the name she was using to pay for her meal and tried to out her for being there with a man who wasn't her husband. Someone here said that is how food critics operate, by eating there twice before writing the review. He came across as a petty, bitchy manchild who didn't create or cook good food, and if Scratch Bar wasn't up to scratch, opening two more restaurants will likely cause all three to fail.

  • Love 1

Cheffest is going on on the Big Island.  The first night was a very Top Chef tasting event with stations that you'd love to eat....it was only missing Tom and Padma lol.  Neil Fraser did a Huli pig, Jonathan Waxman did Opah skewers, Gabrielle Hamilton did gorgeous prawns with anchovy butter, ed lee did fruit with XO sauce....list goes on and on.  Some of the regional hotel chefs put out some killer food too.  Really high quality food stations.

If u ever wanted a TC experience but can't get on the TV show, this is a great recreation, minus the drama, add much better food LOL.

now I'm wondering if that was Ashley manning the grill at Gabrielle's station....she looked familiar.  I felt bad for her because that grill was hot and the night was humid.

  • Love 1

Aw how cool!  I have to go back and check my phone pictures.  Jonathan and christof are both tennis players too.  Ridiculous nice guys.  Some people are born to be in the spotlight.  I don't expect others to be like that...some are quite crabby but they were real chefs long before celebrity chefdom came along YKWIM?  

  • Love 1
On 10/8/2017 at 6:58 PM, cooksdelight said:

OMG, my PR friend must have eaten his food I'm sure!  We heard from her yesterday.  She just got her electricity and water back.  She says the response from all sides has been incredible and touching.  One more reason to love Jose Andres.

  • Love 2
On 11/11/2017 at 11:18 AM, nitrofishblue said:

Amazing how many former Top Chef competitors are showing up on Food Network. Antonia was a judge on Chopped this week and I see Kristen as a competitor on Iron Chef America where Stephanie is now an Iron Chef. Many of them competed on Iron Chef America (including our lovable Richard Blaise).

It's very funny how Food Network will use Top Chef alum, but Top Chef rarely casts Food Network alums. The exceptions are Phillip Frankland Lee, Katsuji Tanabe, and Frances Tariga. Unsurprisingly, they are some of most mediocre, but loudest mouthed contestants to be featured on Top Chef.

7 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

It's very funny how Food Network will use Top Chef alum, but Top Chef rarely casts Food Network alums. The exceptions are Phillip Frankland Lee, Katsuji Tanabe, and Frances Tariga. Unsurprisingly, they are some of most mediocre, but loudest mouthed contestants to be featured on Top Chef.

Bruce Kalman will be on TC, and won Chopped previously. He’s a great guy and an excellent chef.

23 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Union Pasadena

Yep - been there, but only once because there was no full bar; beer and wine only, and not a great selection.  Good food, but the menu and decor are fairly indistinguishable from all the similar establishments in the area; these local, seasonal, farm-to-table restaurants are ubiquitous now, which is great, as that's how I like to eat, but they need to stop decorating and writing their menus the same twee way, not to mention get a little more creative with their food in order to stand out.

  • Love 3
On ‎9‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 2:16 PM, cooksdelight said:

I love these two together, it would be an epic show if FN or Bravo woke up.

 

IMG_2833.JPG

Martin & Lewis.

Both A-holes with egos to match! It seemed as if they sabotaged each other during their all-star season! I saw Katsuji on "Chopped," so he knows his stuff, but his persona just PO's me big time! Sometimes he nice and other times he's only about himself! ;-(

Edited by Fiero425

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.


×
×
  • Create New...