Top Chef

[indygirl]

I am unimpressed with Marisa and with the blond girl who has no lips. The attitude if Lipless when she saw the kids was just frightening. And then her criticism of the woman who wanted more sugar--yikes.

[topher]

When will they learn that t(he clientele of Charlie Trotter's will not show up for a Quick Fire Challenge involving ice cream.

Wow! The muppet is gone. (Too cruel?, It is Television Without Pity, oh wait.)

[Deleted]

Good Lord, Avocado and Bacon Ice Cream? What the phuck was Wolfman thinking?

[indygirl]

No kidding. Avacado and bacon? Gah!

I wonder how much say the guest judge has. He seemed to really love Sam's dish the most, yet Betty won. I cannot decide how I feel about her treatment of Marcel, but I do think it was quite appropriate that she had a similar problem. She handled it better than Marcel did, but I think it may have been an easier fix for her.

[kafka]

indygirl said:

The attitude if Lipless when she saw the kids was just frightening. And then her criticism of the woman who wanted more sugar--yikes.

Emily's superior attitude reminded me of Harold's last year when faced with various challenges that he thought were below a gourmet chef. Like the child/monkfish challenge and the convenience store one.

Wolverine had a bit of the same haughty "I'm going to educate the masses" thing going on as WhatsHisFace/Wine Man from last season. There really is no other way to explain his ice cream combination. Bleuch.

Michael reminds me of an actor, one who always does supporting roles as the lazy fratboy type, but I can't think of the name right now. The resemblance is really strong. I'm strongly convinced the producers kept Michael on solely to generate drama.

Is it me or have they upped the product placement comments by 100 this year? They can't seem to go 15 minutes without mentioning Cephalon and Kenmore Pro. It didn't seem this bad last year.

[scarlet]

Michael reminds me of an actor, one who always does supporting roles as the lazy fratboy type, but I can't think of the name right now.

Are you thinking of Christopher Penn? That's who he reminds me of, especially when CP was younger.

I hate bacon, so I am biased, but how could anyone think that and avocado would make for a yummy ice cream?

[kafka]

scarlet said:

Michael reminds me of an actor, one who always does supporting roles as the lazy fratboy type, but I can't think of the name right now.

Are you thinking of Christopher Penn? That's who he reminds me of, especially when CP was younger.

Bingo!! Thank you, Scarlet. The funny thing is, during the judging scenes, I kept thinking to myself Michael is like Sean Penn... if Sean were a pugnacious surfer dude type who drank a lot.

[FiggyPudding]

Oversalting is a very non-executive chef thing to do, so I'm not surprised that Emily got the boot. Despite her rather wicked sense of humor, I knew she was going to cry the second I saw her face at judges table.

I didn't like the silly brawl between Betty and Marcel. Marcel needs to grow up and Betty needs to stop falling for his antics. Cliff seems very talented and likable, and the others amuse me with their petty backbiting and posturing.

The only person I'm actively rooting against is Marisa, the sour-faced, blame-deflecting, not!sexy pinchface. Kinda hard to tell I don't like her, ain't it?

[kafka]

figgypudding said:

Cliff seems very talented and likable, and the others amuse me with their petty backbiting and posturing.

I like Cliff too, FiggyPudding. He's slowly becoming one of my favorites: talented, mature, calm, a stabilising influence when others fight, and serious about his work. It doesn't hurt that he's cute too. I also happen to share your dislike of Marisa, but that seems to be quite a common opinion from what I read.

Tom Colicchio takes a few swipes at Wolverine Man in his blog tonight:

I’m a great admirer of conceptual chefs like the great Ferran Adriá (El Bulli, outside Barcelona) or Wylie Dufresne (wd-50, NYC) who experiment with culinary practices to push the envelope of flavor and texture. But when it’s time to eat at home, I’m pretty certain Ferran isn’t serving beet foam or foie gras cotton candy to his family. The man has a solid command of the basics, and probably roasts a chicken, or braises a piece of meat, just like the rest of us.
--snip--

I guess that’s why I’m always kind of surprised and amused by young chefs who label themselves “molecular gastronomists” before they’ve had a chance to establish their own foundation, or who insist that basic food is “just not what I do.”
--snip--

Right off the bat, some of our chefs took on a superior attitude towards the challenge. Marcel reminded us that, as a molecular gastronomist, “Comfort food isn’t what I do.” Emily sniffed that she was a practitioner of four-star cuisine, not a mass producer. As I’m sure you can tell by now, I don’t have a lot of patience for this. Just cook the damn food, will ya?

Re: Marcel's fryer problems

Marcel was quick to blame Michael for the fat in the deep fryer being too cool to cook onion rings. I give him credit for leaving them off the plate -- this showed confidence in his other components. His pork chop with mushroom sauce was good, if not memorable, but I would have liked to see Marcel shelve his natural petulance and roll with the problem he’d been handed. Kitchen equipment breaks down occasionally, and older equipment isn’t always up to speed. It’s a chef’s job to adapt. Marcel’s inability to let it go, coupled with his need to provoke his peers, could end up a real liability for him down the line.

Re: Marcel & Betty

There was a certain irony to the fact that Betty, like her nemesis Marcel, faced equipment issues. In her case, the griddle lacked heat, so she ultimately switched her grilled cheese sandwiches to sauté pans, finishing them with only seconds to spare. Marcel deliberately tried to mess with her head, but Betty had the support of the rest of the chefs who cheered her on, right down to the wire. Her grilled cheese with portabellas and red pepper soup put an adult spin on a childhood classic (grilled cheese and tomato soup) and the flavors were clean and good.

Because Betty didn’t consider the challenge beneath her, her choices were exuberant, innovative, and they hit just the right midpoint between comforting and healthy. I’m not sure that she taught the molecular gastronomists anything, but as far as I can see, the brass at TGIFriday’s could not care less.

"Natural petulance"... heh. Clearly, Colicchio puts attitude a close second to actual talent, which kinda makes it odd that he favours Tiffani even to this day. Because, if I recall correctly, Tiffani "sniffed" about quite a few challenges being beneath her and was endlessly superior about things like cooking lunches for kids.

[india7]

indygirl said:

I cannot decide how I feel about her treatment of Marcel, but I do think it was quite appropriate that she had a similar problem.

Well, I'm no fan of Marcel, but unless they show us some secret behind the scenes footage of him pissing in Betty's ice cream, I'm trying to figure out why she went totally ballistic on him. Not to defend him too much, because yeah, he seems like a smarmy little punk - but you'd think he'd bombed an orphanage with the way Betty went off on him. And given that she called him out for no real reason that we could see, I think his treatment right back at her was fair. Childish on both of their parts, but fair. I think she may be a little bit histrionic to say the least. He doesn't seem like he's someone I'd want to hang around with, but he also doesn't seem to be such a bad person either. "Inoffensive, yet annoying" would be my best description of Marcel, which certainly doesn't warrant a scathing calling out in front of everyone.