Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

The Judges: A Food Critic, A Journalist and An Actor Walk Into A Bar...

David T. Cole

Recommended Posts

SophiaD

SophiaD

I'm watching Battle Fresh Beans with Bobby Flay and Sabrina Tinsley.  Wow, Joe Bastianich is a piece of work.  He's making Jeffrey Steingarten seem reasonable and polite by comparison. 

 

I hope he doesn't judge many more competitions.  They're a difference between having an informed opinion and being a complete jerk about it. 

Link to comment
GaT

GaT

I'm watching Battle Fresh Beans with Bobby Flay and Sabrina Tinsley.  Wow, Joe Bastianich is a piece of work.  He's making Jeffrey Steingarten seem reasonable and polite by comparison. 

 

I hope he doesn't judge many more competitions.  They're a difference between having an informed opinion and being a complete jerk about it. 

Being a complete jerk pretty much describes what he's like on Masterchef (where he's a judge)

Link to comment
SophiaD

SophiaD

I thought Bobby Flay (who sometimes annoys me on other shows) responded perfectly.  He was just standing there, listening politely, and it was as if he has giant, "Whatever, dude," balloon floating above his head.

 

I just Googled him and realized that he's Lidia Bastianich's son, and apparently very successful.  Well, good for him, but I still think he was way rude.

Link to comment
Julia

Julia

(edited)

I just Googled him and realized that he's Lidia Bastianich's son, and apparently very successful.  

 

Yeah, being Lidia Bastianich's son is pretty much what he's very successful at. He used her money to buy a spot with Mario Batali after he washed out of his financial career.

 

I'm watching season 1, and wow, Karine "Bobby Flay's agent" Bakhoum was even more insufferable at the beginning. Hard to imagine.

Edited by Julia
Link to comment
Crucial

Crucial

Donatella (sp?) and Karine are the worst on this show.  I'm watching a few shows on Hulu and Netflix and don't care for either.  Donatella, I remember from Next Iron Chef and she was such a delicate flower when she ate something or her 'choking'.  I find both of them exhausting. I'd much rather actors be judges rather than the food critics because I find the food critics just so obnoxious.  They seem to want to be so edgy in their critiques that it is just so irritating.   You're a blogger and self proclaimed "food gal"  you know your stuff.  Please.

Link to comment
Julia

Julia

(edited)

Donatella is a second-generation restaurant person who went back into restaurants after becoming a lawyer and figuring out how to get people to fund her restaurants. Her restaurants tend not to last long, and when she's been the financial partner of a famous chef (David Burke, Michael Psilakis) they don't seem to end well. She is, however, not voting for  Bobby Flay's food while being Bobby Flay's PR minion, and Karine Bakhoum for a long time was doing exactly that. So I think Donatella wins that one. She generally pretended the food was inedible because she's an asshole, and because her TFN connection helped her brand. Karine was pretty much feeding at the bottom of the tank.

 

In fairness, I should say that as much as I love Micheal Ruhlman's writing, he should not have been judging Michael Symon's food, since one of his books was written about Symon and another with him. 

Edited by Julia
Link to comment
SteveAC10

SteveAC10

(edited)

I hadn't watched this show in ages and for some reason embarked on a Netflix binge today (well mostly because of crappy weather and a general intolerance of the Queen for a Day vibe that permeated my first choice Chopped, and the aroma of douchery that hung over my second stop Triple D). When the hell did the judging panel turn into a campy giggle fest? The first episode I watched was a bar food battle battle with cocktails accompanying every dish, so I gave it a pass - because booze. But with every ensuing episode I became more flabbergasted. It was like watching those infamously pickled Friday episodes of Match Game. Especially annoying was Karine, who has morphed from a dour Flay toady into an over accessorized, helium voiced trophy wife who flirts relentlessly and titters at all of the mens' pathetic double entendres (but still shills for Flay).  Just Yuk.

Edited by SteveAC10
Link to comment
Lillybee

Lillybee

(edited)

Don't forget that they had Jill Zarin of RHNJ judge Zakarian's first battle. She even said that she was going to go home and make one of his dishes.

 

Wasn't it was something about the caliber of the judges one of the reasons Batali quit Iron Chef?

Edited by Lillybee
Link to comment
Julia

Julia

Don't forget that they had Jill Zarin of RHNJ judge Zakarian's first battle. She even said that she was going to go home and make one of his dishes.

 

They had a set of Real Housewives (OC, I think) judge one of the challenges on Top Chef Masters. The chefs had some definite opinions about the quality of the judging. They didn't do that again.

Wasn't it was something about the caliber of the judges one of the reasons Batali quit Iron Chef?

Batali was one of the examples Anthony Bourdain used to illustrate the decline of TFN, but by all reports Batali was let go because TFN didn't own his show or get a piece of his merchandising. I think the fact that they have mostly mediocre chefs on now is more a byproduct of the fact that B-list chefs don't really have anybody else clamoring for their services, and the iron chef franchise going back to the japanese version has always been known for B-list judges.

Link to comment
Lura

Lura

I miss Michael Symon.  Does anyone know what's become of him this season?  I not only haven't seen him on this show (except for an old re-run of the Thanksgiving show),  but I haven't seen him on anything.  Does anyone know?  Don't tell me he's not on the FN anymore!

Link to comment
chessiegal

chessiegal

(edited)
1 hour ago, BW Manilowe said:

He's been doing The Chew for, like, 6 TV seasons now. At least they said recently that this current season is their 6th.

And that's about how long it's been since he's been on FN.

Edited by chessiegal
Link to comment
BW Manilowe

BW Manilowe

(edited)
1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

And that's about how long it's been since he's been on FN.

He's been on FN since he started on The Chew though. I just remembered when I read your post.

He's been doing a show there that's not on right now, & I'm not sure when/if it'll be back on, but I think it was just on again recently & has been on for around 2 or 3 seasons/cycles (whatever FN calls them), I think. It's called Burgers, Brew, & 'Que & it's (obviously) about the best places to go for burgers, beer, & BBQ. He's done it at the same time as The Chew & mentions it there. When it's on, I think it's usually on a couple of times on Friday nights, breaking up the zillion hours FN usually airs Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives that day/night.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/burgers-brew-and-que.html

Edited by BW Manilowe
To change a word spelling & add a link & a comment.
Link to comment
chessiegal

chessiegal

8 minutes ago, BW Manilowe said:

He's been on FN since he started on The Chew though. I just remembered when I read your post.

He's been doing a show there that's not on right now, & I'm not sure when/if it'll be back on, but I think it was just on again recently & has been on for around 2 or 3 seasons/cycles (whatever FN calls them), I think. It's called Burgers, Brew, & 'Que & it's (obviously) about the best places to go for burgers, beer, & BBQ. He's done it at the same time as The Chew & mentions it there. When it's on, I think it's usually on a couple of times on Friday nights, breaking up the zillion hours FN usually airs Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives that day/night.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/burgers-brew-and-que.html

You're right! I forgot about that. I haven't seen any new episodes or Food Network Gossip reporting it's coming back, but I may have missed it. Michael was good on that.

Link to comment
Lura

Lura

(edited)

I hope the FN advertises the new Iron Chef until we're sick of seeing it, in hopes that gazillions of viewers will watch.  This was always my favorite show, and I was disappointed when it ended.  I noticed that Sarah Gruenberg will be a contestant, she of Top Chef fame.  She was so mean-hearted and rude to an Asian chef named Beverly that I hope Sarah falls on her face on this show.  Her discrimination was unforgivable.

Edited by Lura
  • Love 6
Link to comment
Happytobehere

Happytobehere

I was scrolling through my tv channels and saw an Iron Chef marathon on and wondered what prompted it since I never saw the show on anymore and figured it was cancelled.  I'm glad to hear they are trying to reboot the show (hope they are not changing the format), it was my favorite FN show even when IMO, it morphed into the "Find a way to justify giving Bobby Flay the Win Show."

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Irlandesa

Irlandesa

21 hours ago, Happytobehere said:

I was scrolling through my tv channels and saw an Iron Chef marathon on and wondered what prompted it since I never saw the show on anymore and figured it was cancelled.

There are a lot On Demand too. 

Link to comment
Christina

Christina

Jaymee Sire is the floor reporter, not a judge, but this seems to be the best place for this comment. I've been hoping that she will become more comfortable and blend into the show more, but this is the third episode and she's not very good. She seems awkward, stiff, and speaks haltingly. 

I tried to follow along with her live tweets, but they really aren't anything. She considers herself a foodie, takes part in something called Foodie Chats and has a food blog but doesn't come across as knowledgeable about cooking or food to me. From reading her Twitter feed, I learned she was a host on ESPN SportsCenter so I'm not sure why she is coming across so stiff on this show, but she is. Since she has experience with this type of thing, hopefully she'll loosen up soon. She doesn't try and draw attention to herself which is something I appreciate, and she is nowhere near Katie Lee levels of bad, and I don't want to change channels or anything, I just hope she improves soon.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
OneWouldHope

OneWouldHope

I’ve noticed the same thing, Christina. I’m disappointed that she seems very uncomfortable and not very knowledgeable. Alton even chided her during a battle that he didn’t know something because “Jamie didn’t tell me that.” I hope she grows into it. I don’t remember Kevin when he first started - maybe he was also hesitant?

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Peper81

Peper81

Has anyone heard about an air date for Alton's Return of the Eats show?  I'm trying to keep an eye out for it but I don't watch a ton of FN so I am afraid I might miss its debut.

Link to comment
chessiegal

chessiegal

3 minutes ago, Peper81 said:

Has anyone heard about an air date for Alton's Return of the Eats show?  I'm trying to keep an eye out for it but I don't watch a ton of FN so I am afraid I might miss its debut.

Someone asked him on Twitter and his answer was "soon".

Link to comment
Peper81

Peper81

(edited)
On 7/5/2018 at 3:10 PM, chessiegal said:

Someone asked him on Twitter and his answer was "soon".

He just posted on Twitter that new episodes will air October 15 at 9:00.  I can’t wait!

 

edited to add:  looks like the new title might be Good Eats Reloaded.  That’s the hashtag he keeps using.

Edited by Peper81
  • Love 1
Link to comment
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...