Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

S15.E08: Restaurant Wars


FormerMod-a1
  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

Was anyone surprised at the eliminated chef?

Can’t wait to read what all of you have to say. 

A current thought is the editor mustn’t like Claudette too much.  Between the cheftestants looks/reactions shown and Tom’s reaction when Claudette walked out without saying good-bye. 

I guess ... that’s one way to influence  friends and potential business contacts.  Not sure it’s my way ....

So was it Top Chef Vanilla or Vanilla Top Chef???

Again can’t wait to read all your thoughts.  You make me think. :D

  • Love 13
Link to comment

If I didn't see the judges reactions to the food, I still would have known Common Place was on the bottom with all of Joe's assertions that both teams were doing great!

Also? Good riddance Claudette.

Did anyone watch LCK? Please tell me she lost again.

  • Love 12
Link to comment
1 hour ago, MerBearStare said:

a positive note, I'm glad Chicago Joe won. He did a really good job at front of house. I don't know why Tom was so surprised Joe was FOH. I could see that reaction if it was Bruce, but it's not like Joe is slovenly or anything like that. It felt slightly sexist, like he expected one of the women on the team to do it.

I think it was specific to his personality, he didn't react when Carrie and Adrienne weren't but specifically to Joe, I think he probably assumed it would be Bruce. Several men have rocked front of house Fabio and Travis to name two. 

I thought the name Common Place was dumb. Joe Sasso so clearly knew they were failing and his talk was so about convincing himself. I am so happy Claudette is gone. 

I have to wonder about these customers that want to stay after they have finished their food and drinks even when they can see there is a long wait, that's rude in a normal restaurant but doubly so in RWs where you know there is a specific number of people that are going to be served and want to have this one night only experience. I would think producer manipulation but it never seems to be an issue for both teams so maybe people are just assholes.

I am curious if the chefs had more input then was shown into the design of the logo and menus because from what we saw they had very limited input but then they talked a fair bit about both.

Not to armchair analyze Chris but I wonder if his need to take on the blame even when he wasn't responsible is rooted in his recovery and how important accountability is to the process.

Edited by biakbiak
  • Useful 1
  • Love 19
Link to comment

So...  In Common Place, all the apps were underseasoned, and of the 3 main courses one was on a too hot plate and Chris' was overseasoned/oversalted even according to Tom.  At least the donuts were good, even if not very beety.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

That's one way to go out, I guess. I actually thought for the first third of the episode the show was maybe trying to show us that Claudette was actually going to succeed, and have us question our judgment of her. Then I was like, ha! NOPE. Same story, different day. Tanya should send the woman a fruit basket for taking any remaining questions out of how she chose to go out.

Conifer looked and felt like a great concept. Kudos to that team for doing Restaurant Wars right. I looooooved that the judges saw right through the Common Place "concept" (at least as it related to this challenge - I think it's a neat idea as an actual concept; they just used it in RW to try and justify not being able to agree on anything coherent).

Edited by hendersonrocks
  • Love 17
Link to comment

Good episode!  I didn't need the editing to tell me the winner; it was clear just looking at the teams.  Even the names of the restaurants told the story. 

@biakbiak. I agee that could be the answer to Chris' feeling he had to fall on his sword.  I wanted to slap him silly.  I was glad Carrie set him straight.

Claudette's exit was fabulous!  

The judges said any of them could go home and i saw that. Joe had 3 bad dishes and Chris only had one, his donut, but his chocolate sauce was bad.  So who did they send packing?  The one with the bad attitude,  of course.  Tom has said,  in the past, that it takes more than being a good cook to succeed.  You have to be able to run a restaurant. 

Loved the look on everyone's face when she walked out. 

Edited by Wings
  • Love 12
Link to comment
13 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

Fatima should not have been front of house. Joe would have been a better choice, as he seems much more charismatic than she. And I didn’t see her touching every table, I saw her standing around with a deer-in-the-headlights look most of the time. I love her to death, but she was out of her element

Who knows what she actually did but the reason we saw that is the editors wanted to reinforce the judges thoughts, if you notice when she is standing around nearly all the tables around her were empty so it clearly wasnt at the height of service. There were also other moments like when she noticed tgat the server had put out the wrong utensils that illustrated she was clearly involved with the guests experience.

Edited by biakbiak
  • Love 19
Link to comment
9 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

Who knows what she actually did but the reason we saw that is the editors wanted to reinforce the judges thoughts.

True, I think she probably touched each table before the judges were seated.  Things began to fall apart when diners refused to leave.  She became overwhelmed and hyper focused on the judges table. She hung in the shadows watching them. 

Edited by Wings
  • Love 8
Link to comment
10 minutes ago, pally said:

I don't think I've ever seen a Restaurant Wars episode where the losing team was more delusional as to the outcome.  They were absolutely oblivious.  

Right??  When they were in the kitchen between the second and third courses, talking about how well it was going and patting themselves on the back, I was yelling at the teevee, "THEY HAVE HATED EVERYTHING YOU'VE PUT OUT!!"
 

  • Love 15
Link to comment

For a second, I thought we were going to have to change Chris's name to Christen and he would be sent packing ...and then win LCK anc come back and win the finale - it gave me flashbacks of Kristen and Josie.  Perhaps, if Claudette would have kept her mouth shut, the judges would have let Chris take the fall.  But Claudette just could stop herself from being herself.  I am so glad she is gone.

I remember other teams doing well in Restaurant Wars in the past, but I don't ever remember a team doing so well that the judges said it didn't seem like it was the first day they were open.  

3 hours ago, Ellee said:

I guess ... that’s one way to influence  friends and potential business contacts.  Not sure it’s my way ....

True, but it begs the question - What was she trying to influence them to do? 

  • Love 4
Link to comment
16 minutes ago, needschocolate said:

For a second, I thought we were going to have to change Chris's name to Christen and he would be sent packing ...and then win LCK anc come back and win the finale - it gave me flashbacks of Kristen and Josie.  Perhaps, if Claudette would have kept her mouth shut, the judges would have let Chris take the fall.  But Claudette just could stop herself from being herself.  I am so glad she is gone.

I remember other teams doing well in Restaurant Wars in the past, but I don't ever remember a team doing so well that the judges said it didn't seem like it was the first day they were open.  

 

 

There have been a few rare times. Wasn't there even one season that both restaurants did so well that no one was eliminated? 

I think the "Bodega" restaurant might have been the one that impressed the judges most. 

  • Love 3
Link to comment

This episode put a spotlight on the cotenders to win.  I expect to see a member of team Conifer win this.  They are superior in all ways necessary to be successful.  

 Carrie and Adrienne are my personal favorites and have been from the start.  I just added Joe who I had not paid close attention until last night.  Nifty guy! 

Chris fell off that list early on.  

Edited by Wings
  • Love 2
Link to comment
17 minutes ago, Blonde Gator said:

I was kind of shocked to see Joe Flamm step up to FOH, which can be a death trap on this show.  But he obviously knew what he was doing, and was as good as Fabio was,  without being so handsomely flamboyent! 

I was very surprised at Joe's hidden charm. It was so nice to see him embrace the role and make the evening special for all the diners, not just the judges. And I know that this may be sacrilege, but I was never a Fabio fan. I found his FOH stint to be obnoxious and off putting. Joe seemed to know just the right level of interaction without making it all about him. 

  • Love 18
Link to comment
50 minutes ago, Lovecat said:

Right??  When they were in the kitchen between the second and third courses, talking about how well it was going and patting themselves on the back, I was yelling at the teevee, "THEY HAVE HATED EVERYTHING YOU'VE PUT OUT!!"
 

Seriously. Was Fatima so absent that she didn't relay what was going on out front at all? 

 

Meanwhile, literally the only complaint about Conifer was that one plate was too hot. That was it. What a total dominating win. 

  • Love 12
Link to comment
7 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

However, when presenting at Judges' Table, Fatima was terrible. Padma had to repeatedly ask her who made each dish. She was flummoxed and out of her league.

After being corrected once, Joe got that he needed to announce who was responsible for each dish. It took Fatima awhile to get that.

Edited by HunterHunted
  • Love 3
Link to comment
10 minutes ago, hkit said:

I was very surprised at Joe's hidden charm. It was so nice to see him embrace the role and make the evening special for all the diners, not just the judges. And I know that this may be sacrilege, but I was never a Fabio fan. I found his FOH stint to be obnoxious and off putting. Joe seemed to know just the right level of interaction without making it all about him. 

I agree!  Was not a Fabio fan.

  • Love 6
Link to comment
13 minutes ago, hkit said:

I was very surprised at Joe's hidden charm. It was so nice to see him embrace the role and make the evening special for all the diners, not just the judges. And I know that this may be sacrilege, but I was never a Fabio fan. I found his FOH stint to be obnoxious and off putting. Joe seemed to know just the right level of interaction without making it all about him. 

Joe Flamm was charming and executed FOH very well. Props to him.

 

I thought Fabio was both smarmy and like a used car salesman. And you should have read his "recaps"/"commentaries" on his blog, at the time, on the episodes of his season, ESPECIALLY after he got kicked off for his "Booorrger". Those recaps were nasty and utterly cringe-inducing, and he took pleasure in attacking and sliming people left, right, and center; and especially Angelo Sosa, whom he mocked for all sorts of things, questioning Angelo's "masculinity" in the process, and dwelling on his "camel toes" (yes, he wrote that repeatedly) and his "tight pants".

Edited by chiaros
  • Love 11
Link to comment
26 minutes ago, stacyasp said:

Vanilla = white ?

I’m thinking that’s a ‘no’.  

Again, I know I’m not impartial on this but I really think Claudette thinks she is all that and a bag of chips and without her the show will not be the same.  It will become plain.  Maybe???

Wish I had better posting capabilities.  

  • Love 6
Link to comment
25 minutes ago, Charlesman said:

 

Meanwhile, literally the only complaint about Conifer was that one plate was too hot. That was it. What a total dominating win. 

Agreed it was total domination, but there was more to their dislike of that plate than it being hot (which cooked her plate sauces, a serious problem) -- they also didn't like the taste and Tom asked why anyone would put that pickled cauliflower on the plate. They pretty much hated that dish from what I saw. When she said she added that pickled cauliflower to make it more "earthy" like the other entrees, I had a guess that would go sideways.

Still! Just one bad plate out of 9. And she did great at her others. Versus a team where most of the food had major criticisms. It was a blowout on food.

However, noticeable this year was neither team had a full-on meltdown in either kitchen or FOH. Some lame food and service, but nothing on fire. I'm not usually prone to schadenfreude but I do kind of look forward to RW meltdowns :)

  • Love 2
Link to comment
Quote

I was kind of shocked to see Joe Flamm step up to FOH, which can be a death trap on this show.  But he obviously knew what he was doing, and was as good as Fabio was,  without being so handsomely flamboyent!

I'll take Joe over Fabio 10 times out of 10. As FOH and anything else.

  • Love 8
Link to comment
1 hour ago, Charlesman said:

Seriously. Was Fatima so absent that she didn't relay what was going on out front at all? 

Yes, as I posted earlier, she was totally out of her element in that job. She was hapless and lost. But I love her anyway. :)

  • Love 11
Link to comment
3 hours ago, LeighLeigh said:

Claudette brings drama with her. I wonder if she will indeed be invited onto a show for that fact (maybe Cutthroat Kitchen).

Before Claudette appeared on this season of Top Chef (US), she had already competed on Top Chef Mexico.  It bothered me all season that wasn’t mentioned.  To me, it seemed an unfair advantage.  I can’t find a reference to how she did on the Mexican version but assume she was not the winner.

  • Love 7
Link to comment

In the Pack Your Knives podcast, Claudette made reference to how on Top Chef Mexico, everybody understood each other, that they all seemed to have similar backgrounds. That group had more in common with her.

She said that the person that she got along with the most was Laura ( who seems really nice), when they were in the "loser's house", after she was out of the competition.

She seems to have a huge chip on her shoulder. I can't imagine what it's like to become a mother at 16.  I am sure that she didn't have it easy. 

Maybe she felt like she had unfinished business after not winning Top Chef Mexico.  Maybe the producers pursued her for this show and convinced her she can go further? Who knows.

I really want to find her humanity and empathize, but it's not easy.

  • Love 16
Link to comment
2 hours ago, Blonde Gator said:

A favorite old saying..."I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no class". 

You had me at Ding Dong. (I guess they know the Heart Button and # likes are missing)

It's like Karma (Kadma?) and soo interesting that Chris chose Claudette over Tanya but Jebus stepped in to smite the evil one.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
2 minutes ago, Eulipian 5k said:

You had me at Ding Dong. (I guess they know the Heart Button and # likes are missing)

It's like Karma (Kadma?) and soo interesting that Chris chose Claudette over Tanya but Jebus stepped in to smite the evil one.

The heart button's way over on the right side now. But no "like" count.

  • Love 4
Link to comment

I was really surprised at how badly Fatima did as FOH because she's so charming and funny in her THs.  I'm glad she at least had a pretty dress with her for the job.

I would have like Joe as FOH more if he had tucked his damn shirt in under his suit coat.  (I don't care if it may be fashionable it looks sloppy to me. )

Quote

who wants to eat at a "commonplace" restaurant?

Based on their initial discussion, I think the phrase the team wanted was "common ground" not "common place".  And honestly, I think they all knew they were going to lose when they got Claudette.

Edited by Quilt Fairy
  • Love 11
Link to comment
23 minutes ago, Eulipian 5k said:

You had me at Ding Dong. (I guess they know the Heart Button and # likes are missing)

It's like Karma (Kadma?) and soo interesting that Chris chose Claudette over Tanya but Jebus stepped in to smite the evil one.

Years ago (dark ages in my 20's), I found that saying, "I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no class" as a poster, it had a pack of Emperor Penguins on their long Antarctic march.  I framed it, and had it for years and years.  A dear work friend of mine almost killed himself in a car wreck, so I took it out of its frame, and all of us at work signed it (instead of a card), and put it back into his frame as a get-well card.  He later told me that was one of the things that made him fight really hard to get better....that so many of his colleagues thought so well of him as a man with class.

It's a great motto to live by.  That's a hard lesson, and one which Claudette actually has never learned.  There's something wonderful about being self-confident, but combined with being tone-deaf to others just equals UGLY person.  And Claudette is that in spades.  That's why we were all rooting for Chris, and happy that he didn't get sent home.  He is a man with personal integrity, and it oozes forth from his pores.  It's in his core.  And good for Fatima for standing up for him.  Bottom line, any one of those chefs could have gone home, on "cooking technicalities", but I truly believe Claudette was chosen because of her personal flaws, she just doesn't  have "it" to rise to the top in the world of professional chefs, and she never will....not with that attitude.

As for the little Hearts....they're way over there on the bottom right of each post.------>

It took me a while to figure that out.  The big server upgrade last night has obviously caused some glitches, including no "Heart Count" per post, for now.  But I'm grateful to TPTB for the server upgrade, maintaining a site like this is a gigantic nuisance....they'll get it worked out.

  • Love 19
Link to comment
8 minutes ago, Blonde Gator said:

As for the little Hearts....they're way over there on the bottom right of each post.------>

It took me a while to figure that out.  The big server upgrade last night has obviously caused some glitches, including no "Heart Count" per post, for now.  But I'm grateful to TPTB for the server upgrade, maintaining a site like this is a gigantic nuisance....they'll get it worked out.

There's a list of the known glitches in the "January Update" forum(?). I note also that there's no Heart on your own post; no auto-erotica allowed, lol.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
18 minutes ago, Figster said:

Well I'd think Common Place would know that they'd lose with Claudette as the EC.  Chris is a coward imo; he set his team up for failure.  He had to know she'd be a bad EC with her poor people skills.  Perhaps he made a gamble that she'd be the one to take the fall (when he had to know they'd lose), and apparently he was right.  A real "top chef" wants to be the EC, not shove it off to the worst choice for the position.

LOL have to laugh at that!  Such "integrity" setting his team up to lose.

I don't believe he did that.  I think he really believed Claudette would be better at it than he would have been, and who'd have known dear Fati would be a deer in the headlights as FOH?  I'd have thought she'd be bubbly and very customer oriented.  Besides, Chris pretty much offered up to throw himself on his sword when things didn't go as planned.  That IS integrity.  I saw no game playing from him.  Do you believe Joe Sasto would have been a better EC?  He's the "out there" chef.  I don't believe half of the chefs understand what he's doing half the time.  Maybe Chris should have stepped up, but he didn't, and Claudette was perfectly happy to be EC when she thought she'd get the glory without having to take the responsibility.

10 minutes ago, Eulipian 5k said:

There's a list of the known glitches in the "January Update" forum(?). I note also that there's no Heart on your own post; no auto-erotica allowed, lol.

LOL!  I guess they know who we are!

  • Love 22
Link to comment
3 hours ago, pally said:

I don't think I've ever seen a Restaurant Wars episode where the losing team was more delusional as to the outcome.  They were absolutely oblivious.  From the mish mash menu, to the uneven cooking, to the clueless FOH, and Claudette totally abdicating the actual job of executive chef they messed up in all aspects.  But to hear them talk they thought they were perfect.  You knew Claudette was toast when they showed Bruce meticulously checking every plate and continually taste testing throughout service verses Claudette saying if the plate was bad it was on the chef.  If that is how she runs her kitchen I don't want to visit her restaurant.  I'd far rather have simple food cooked well than so-called more creative food cooked poorly.  

In the stew room- I was amused when Joe S said, this is going to be a close call.   But his vibe said, 'I know we got this.'  Common Ground rolled their eyes (figuratively) at Bruce making a meat ball and polenta.  I bet they thought Carrie making a kale salad was dumb, too.  HA!  I love it when this happens.  I do like Joe S but though.  

  • Love 10
Link to comment
1 hour ago, escatefromny said:

Before Claudette appeared on this season of Top Chef (US), she had already competed on Top Chef Mexico.  It bothered me all season that wasn’t mentioned.  To me, it seemed an unfair advantage.  I can’t find a reference to how she did on the Mexican version but assume she was not the winner.

It was mentioned in her bio on the Bravo site but it is weird they didnt mention it, I assumed it was and I just forgot. It's also weird because she is the one who went on about having to live with so many people and I assume TC:Mexico has a similar set up. The first season of the Mexico version is on my On Demand, I should see if they have English CC since my Spanish is no bueno. 

  • Love 2
Link to comment
16 minutes ago, Blonde Gator said:

I don't believe he did that.  I think he really believed Claudette would be better at it than he would have been, and who'd have known dear Fati would be a deer in the headlights as FOH?

I agree with you. Now, had it been Claudette who asked Chris to be EC, I could see that. But Chris, and I would say the rest of the cheftestants, don't seem that Machiavellian.

 

16 minutes ago, Wings said:

I bet they thought Carrie making a kale salad was dumb, too. 

Claudette did make fun of Carrie for making a kale salad. I'm not really a fan of Carrie or beets, but I really want to try those gummi beets she made.

  • Love 7
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.

×
×
  • Create New...