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Top Chef in the Media

Bella

By Bella
in Top Chef

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susannot
susannot

Re Mike Isabella: anyone who invested in his restaurant empire should have watched Top Chef.  It is 100% obvious that he is a gross sexist pig and probable sexual harasser.  I can't count the number o

akr
akr

Re podcasts vs synopses:  I'm always going to prefer a 3-minute read to a 45-minute listen, but I've pretty much given up on anybody putting such things in writing anymore.  Podcasts are easier for th

Rambler
Rambler

There was a reddit thread the other day titled “People that have been on a cooking show, what does the viewer not see? Are the time limits legit? Does the food go straight to the judges? Any behind th

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Julia

Julia

I wonder how long he'll keep his job.

 

His twitter status is "I'm a FREELANCE Top Chef, looking for a place to call home..."

 

Wonder what order his Top Chef unpopularity, his job troubles and his marital difficulties came in.

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Julia

Julia

(edited)

Richard's got a blog post up defending his judging style which pretty much sums up what grates about him as a judge.

Here I thought for twelve years there's been a designated mean judge and this year Richard was tapped for the role, which he's struggling with. But no, Richard's flights of cattiness aren't mean, they're necessary. Because actually describing the food on a cooking competition is a cliche, and what Richard's there to do is describe the fireworks going on in Richard's "unique" brain, which is complex and races.

So, Stacy's vegetables were "beetle juiced" and Rebecca's food was mediocre food service. Because actually describing what was wrong with the way Stacy and Rebecca cooked the food conveys less valuable information than describing the Proust moment Richard had when he ate them.

Funnily enough, Hugh somehow manages to convey his thoughts in a memorable, evocative and snarky way by, you know, discussing the food, without becoming Toby Young 2.0, so I think there is a third way here.

I'm sort of hoping he's been infected by the nasty game show host vibe at the Food Network, or maybe this is just the box the Top Chef people want him in, and he'll settle down. Because as much as his sad sack persona has nettled me in the past, I haven't found him as unlikable as I'm finding Richard 2.0.

Edited by Julia
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Bella

Bella

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Not that this means anything, but current contestant Gregory is part of a Food and Wine magazine feature on chefs in Portland, OR, partying together. He's shown and identified twice, and one of his recipes is included, but he's by no means the focus of the article. Still, I expect them to promote him regardless of his placement this season.

 

Also, either Food and Wine or Cooking Light (I read them back-to-back and they've sort of blurred) had a feature on chefs and their families cooking, and they had a couple of the Voltaggio brothers' mom's recipes, as well as a hopelessly cute photo of the brothers and their sister as small children.

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Lura

Lura

(edited)

I was happy to read this from Eater.com:

 

"One of Portland's favorite chefs will soon be heading to the Mile High City -- temporarily we hope.  There's no stopping Gregory Gourdet.

 

"He's killing it on the current season of Top Chef Boston, he's been animated into a video game, and he's one of Portland's favorite (and hottest) chefs. And now, he'll help bring a second location of Departure restaurant to the Mile High City.

 

"Eater Denver reports that a new, $60 million, seven-story, luxury hotel in Denver will be home to a new offshoot of the Pan-Asian restaurant. Gourdet will lead the kitchen and serve as the opening chef. Does that mean he's leaving us? Rumor has it, it's only temporary. He'll serve as executive chef of both kitchens, but he'll still be based in Portland. Eater has reached out to Gourdet for details. More info as it become available."

 

And I wondered how Greg knew how to make dumplings so well!  He probably makes 100 of them every day!  lol

Edited by Lura
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Lura

Lura

Yet more Gregory news from Eater Portland:  Starting in February, Greg will open his own pop-up restaurant for 20 people and will feature some of the foods he's eager to try.  It seems that Greg visited Japan this past year and became fascinated by the food, techniques and flavors of all of the Asian world.  Moreover, Greg says that the food of his youth was Haitian, so he will have a Haitian night featuring a menu of those foods.  He goes on to say that the foods he's selected from Asia haven't been tried at Departure Restaurant where he's executive chef because they are all too complex to serve that many people.  He feels that he can create them for 20 people much easier.  The complete menu and drinks will be $95 for the evening.   He wants these evenings to be "fun" for the diners.  For info, email info@departure.com (email link provided).

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

Arnold Myint, who was on TC during the DC season, had a couple of popular restaurants (or worked at them) in Nashville for a while. He's bounced around a good bit since then. He had Cha Cha and Suzy Wong's House of Yum. Something interesting you may not know about Arnold is his alter ego, Suzy Wong, and the nightclub act he does dressed to the nines. He's a very talented singer and entertainer.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2014/02/06/arnold-myints-suzy-wong-struts-her-stuff-in-korby-lenkers-forbidden-fruit-fresh-vid

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

Reading in the last episode thread about all the interpretation challenges, what on earth will Nashville hold for us?

Make us something Elvis would like.

A challenge at the Grand Ole Opry

Make a dish that conveys this song.

Take over the Bluebird Cafe for one night and feed all the patrons and singers.

Oy vey!

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Wings

Wings

(edited)

I see the challenges much the same from city to city.  They differ in the theme.  Boston had battles, if that challenge were in Nashville they would do something with music.  It was really just teams going against each other.  

 

Nashville has some excellent restaurants.  Great food city.  I would not be surprised to have a quickfire that had to include bananas and peanut butter.  Actually, count on that!  

 

Not sure what food represents Nashville.  Someone will come by that knows.  

 

Some quick fire ingredients, maybe. 

http://www.nashvillescene.com/bites/archives/2009/06/18/five-items-or-less-foods-purchased-only-by-native-nashvillians

Edited by wings707
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Lamb18

Lamb18

Maybe a challenge w/cast and crew of "Nashville" and of course, a Tennessee Titans stadium challenge or maybe w/U of Tennessee Volunteers. I wonder if they will go to Graceland. If they go to Memphis, a challenge on a riverboat would be interesting.

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

I don't think they'll travel as far as Knoxville or Memphis, unless they add in some extra time. The state has a lot to offer food-wise that is outside of a lot of people's comfort zones. They have a cornbread festival in Chattanooga every year. :)

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Noreaster

Noreaster

Interesting Grantland article on how to fix Top Chef. I agree that the talent pool on the show appears to be diminishing.  According to a NY Post article (linked in the Grantland piece), some restaurateurs are less willing to let their employees go on the show.  

Even the most ravenous of fans would admit that Top Chef is losing steam. Ratings are down across the board (though, it should be noted, still relatively robust by cable standards). And in a far more worrying trend, the talent pool is severely diminished as well. Part of this can be ascribed to competition — sous chefs with loans and a lack of free time are better served by Chopped; hacks will always have Hell’s Kitchen — but it’s also clear that established chefs are increasingly wary of loaning out top talent for six weeks of televised ego-stoking. If the country’s best restaurateurs are no longer willing to offer up their lieutenants — José Andrés, onetime mentor to Michael Voltaggio and Mike Isabella, has shut off the pipeline for good — then Top Chef will surely suffer. A considerable chunk of the show’s prestige has always come from its connection to the deeply ingrained, highly respected chain of influence that defines the American culinary scene. Without access to the best-trained young cooks, Top Chef is forced to skim from the same cloudy consommé as everyone else. The result, which was evident in Boston, is a very clear distinction between legitimate contenders and a soggy stew of betoqued human interest stories, overmatched culinary instructors, and vain, dilletantish private chefs.

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

That quote sort of reaffirms the thought many had that George was brought back on purpose. All it did was alienate people who are tired of all the gimmicks. However, I think this season's chefs were not that bad, it was a tight competition toward the end. But if major chefs and restauranteurs are not willing to let their chefs compete, we'll see the show denigrate into a bunch of private chefs and/or chef wannabes, I think.

Loved the comment about hacks always having Hell's Kitchen.

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

Who was Kristen working for at the time? I remember it being a very small place where people would come in and watch her and the owner/chef cook and learn the recipes. Or something like that. Her mentor is famous, I cannot remember who it was.

ETA: Found it

Kish became an instructor at Stir, a culinary demonstration kitchen in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2012, Kish was promoted to Stir's chef de cuisine by the owner, Barbara Lynch. She was the chef de cuisine at Barbara Lynch's Menton Boston until March 2014.

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Noreaster

Noreaster

That quote sort of reaffirms the thought many had that George was brought back on purpose. All it did was alienate people who are tired of all the gimmicks. However, I think this season's chefs were not that bad, it was a tight competition toward the end. But if major chefs and restauranteurs are not willing to let their chefs compete, we'll see the show denigrate into a bunch of private chefs and/or chef wannabes, I think.

I wouldn't be surprised if the show brought George back in on purpose. The competition was getting boring with fairly predictable eliminations. George, as one of the more experienced qualified contestants, had the potential to shake up the competition.  And he arguably was eliminated way too soon due to a stupid gimmick.  

 

However, I don't buy into the conspiracy theory that Tom is somehow buddy buddy with Mike Isabella and that's why they brought George back on. That seems like a stretch.  

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Bella

Bella

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I actually take George's return at face value: he was voted in by the other eliminated chefs, probably because they thought he was eliminated too soon due to a gimmick as Noreaster notes. In addition, they were sequestered together and they'd gotten to know him. That had to be a factor. He seemed awfully well-liked by just about everyone, so the eliminated chefs probably felt the same. That may have amplified their sense that he'd been eliminated unfairly.

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Lura

Lura

(edited)

It's a little hard to believe that "Top Chef" could be running low on talent since Gregory Gourdet said in an interview with Fortune that he tried and failed twice before he finally made it onto the show.  

Edited by Lura
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Wings

Wings

I actually take George's return at face value: he was voted in by the other eliminated chefs, probably because they thought he was eliminated too soon due to a gimmick as Noreaster notes. In addition, they were sequestered together and they'd gotten to know him. That had to be a factor. He seemed awfully well-liked by just about everyone, so the eliminated chefs probably felt the same. That may have amplified their sense that he'd been eliminated unfairly.

 

 

I see this, too.  He was voted back in by his peers.  There is no way production could set that up without being exposed.  

 

I don't believe they can't find top notch chefs to compete either.  I don't see this show slipping at all.  Sometimes people write articles on specific topics because they are asked to by their paper, magazine or site.   And some just like to hear themselves talk.  :>) 

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Noreaster

Noreaster

I don't mean production was explicitly telling the contestants to vote for George. But if they know most contestants in the elimination house feel bad for George, then doing this twist practically guarantees that George is voted back in. There are also ways for the producers to prompt this line of thinking when explaining the challenge to the contestants. Someone discussed this in the episode thread and I think it makes a lot of sense.  

 

Regarding contestant talent, this season had culinary instructors and private chefs. A couple of self-taught people. Not many head chefs. Plus two people who work for former Top Chef contestants. It's feeling like the show is back to pre-season 6 level talent. Who knows. Maybe casting is deliberately downgrading the talent. Texas should have been awesome based on the contestant pedigrees. Maybe having too many strong personalities in one season doesn't work.

 

Nothing against Gregory, but the complaints about him staying in his comfort zone were very reminiscent of past middle-of-the-pack contestants. He was supposedly this season's frontrunner.

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Julia

Julia

and speaking of the all-important New York nexus of influence with no women in it, a bank sponsored a video with Dale Talde talking about who in his life he's most grateful to. He's worked for Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Masaharu Morimoto. He has four restaurants now. The person he says he owes the most to is Carrie Nahabedian, a Michelin star and James Beard award-wining woman with a restaurant in Chicago.

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Bella

Bella

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Now there is a new location in play for the next season:

San Diego

 

We'll see. I'm not convinced that location scouting necessarily has to be for the immediately upcoming season.

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Julia

Julia

If they sink to the level of season 2, things will be bad.

 

When I hear Nashville, I think barbeque. Is that wrong?

 

The only dish I know of that's specific to Nashville is Hot Chicken. They featured it on Mind of a Chef this season. It's basically fried chicken with an insane amount of hot pepper on it.

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Lura

Lura

Last week, I read somewhere that Gregory Gourdet was taking a job on a cruise for a short time.  He'll be demonstrating cooking, giving lessons, etc.  I thought he was busy in Denver, but maybe that company gave him some time off to do the cruise.

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Lura

Lura

Associated Press reported today that Bobby Flay and Stephanie March will soon announce their impending divorce.  The couple dated for four years before marrying but spent their recent 10th anniversary apart.  According to the AP, two women have been linked to Bobby in recent weeks: actress January Jones and Giada DiLaurentiis.

 

This was Bobby's third marriage, Stephanie's first.

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