ulterior epicure

To clarify, are these deletions or demotions? The difference that I'm drawing focuses primarily on the total absence of stars and the loss of one or two. Am I to understand that the former 2-starred restaurants listed above (I know the fate of the two 3-stars listed) now have no stars?

Agreed completely. Great news.

Yes, sorry, I meant on the inside. Its almost as if they're hollow.

Almost as if they had been freeze-dried, they were so crunchy, no?

Yes, this awesome display of generosity was extended to me two years ago. You can see photos of the carving here. If I recall correctly, Philippe Vongerichten, a consummate craftsman, made the trolley on which the pineapple was plated.

Even if he did present the alleged comments as facts, the thing is, Ripert has run the kitchen of one of the world's best restaurants. I would have thought that would make him a pretty good candidate to present a TV cooking show. And anyway, when it comes to "facts", how many TV chefs go on about "browning your meat to seal in the juices" when Harold Mcgee has shown this not to be true? ← Right. I'll give you another example: How many of you have read a recipe or spoken with an Italian chef who insists that wine corks are essential in making tender octopus? For those of you who aren't familiar with this "technique," I invite you to look inside Mario Batali's and Dave Pasternak's cookbooks, among many. I've had tender octopus the world around, and I'm sure the Chinese and South American's don't chuck cork into their pot of octopus.

Babies are delivered by storks? What? Couldn't agree with you more, Tri2Cook.

Yeah, you're right, sorry. Stephan is my neighbor's dog. I mix them up. ← It's okay, you're not alone. Either a lot of people on this thread live in your neighborhood, or a lot of people are naming their dogs Stephan these days.

Stefan.

There certainly is an element of luck in the show. Sometimes you perform poorly, but luckily for you, someone else makes an even worse mistake. Hosea was in the bottom 3 four times, more than anyone else who has ever gone on to win the season.There are other examples. The penultimate episode clearly favored those who had deep experience with southern U.S. cuisine. The two worst performers in that episode (Stephan and Fabio) were the chefs to whom Creole cuisine was least familiar. Substitute another challenge where they were on more solid ground, and maybe Fabio would have been in the final 3 instead of Carla. That kind of luck happens all season long. In the Restaurant Wars episode, Leah was the worst individual performer, but her team was rescued by Stephan's desserts. No one had wanted Stephan on their team: Leah was saved by a guy she was trying to avoid. As a result, Leah (a weaker chef) stuck around three more weeks, while a stronger chef (Radhika) was no longer around. This is not to deny that Hosea did a lot of things right, but he also got lucky. ← Absolutely. Hosea didn't just pluck the baby out of king cake with skillz. Neither did he happen to draw #1 from the knife block that landed him Blais, which some here claim was his ticket to the title.

joiei initiated this thread with an article, and I'll add another one here. Justus gets press in the New York Times Magazine

Hosea wasn't the weakest of the finalists; he was the second-strongest. Despite his blandness, he is a much more dependable chef than Carla, who is far too uneven in the results she produces.I'm not sure I agree. I would argue that had Casey NOT suggested what she did (i.e. sous vides on the beef and souffle on the dessert) (or had Carla NOT acted upon those suggestions), that Carla might have won rather handily. And, if we are to look back on a cumulative basis, I *think* (does someone have a running tally?) that Carla did have more overall wins than Hosea. But in any case, that is why I wrote "perceived-weakest." *nods*

... And sometimes people just get lucky. Look, I don't know if Hosea (or who) really deserved to win. But based on last night's episode alone, it sure seemed like Hosea was the rightful winner. The makers of Top Chef, whomever they be (and not the "Glad family of products"), set themselves up for such a fallout among viewers like some present on this thread by instituting and sticking with the rule that the best chef of each episode wins that episode. Following this rule to its ultimate destination (i.e. the finale), they risked/risk having to name the perceived-weakest of the finalists the winner. That is what it appears to have happened last night. To some, this is not the first season it has happened. And, unless they change the rules next season, it may happen again.

I simply don't see how this is possible. Personally, I thought Stephanie deserved to win last season (or, at the very least, every bit as much as Richard did). I don't know Richard Blais and I have nothing against him. I'm sure he must be a very talented chef. And he seems like a downright nice guy too. But Blais has a very zealous following - one that I can't quite comprehend. From whence this belief that everything he touches should turn to gold? I'll admit that Casey wasn't the strongest from her season. And it does seem that she help derail Carla's finale (although Carla willingly rolled over on this one). But I can't see how you have come to make the statement you have made, RAHiggins. Do you mean that out of the three sous chefs, he's the one that would follow directions the best? If so, you might consider Marcel as the strongest - he took directions from the chef without question; resulting, perhaps, in those frozen and leaky fish carpaccio. If I'm not mistaken, the one contribution that Blais DID make to Hosea's dinner were those carbonated blackberries with the venison, which one of the judges (was it Gail?) said were superfluous. By the way, did any of you see the Stefan's exit interview? Get that boy a Prius! And that out-take of Fabio and Stefan assembling their ideal woman from various parts of Top Chef players was just hilarious.

Best scene of the show was when Rocco said that and they panned over to Gail who couldn't have been rolling her eyes further back into her head if she was passing out. I don't think it was a pan. I think it was a cut. I wonder if that shot was taken out of context. She did look awfully bored by whatever was going on at that time. Finally, a sensible post. I agree.

Has anyone had the fried chicken here? ← Yes, several times. Nicely done, worth eating. Similar style, but not as good as Redhead's. ← I haven't had, nor am familiar with the fried chicken at Redhead. Crusty? Thick shell? Thin shell?

Right, right. Agreed.

I don't agree. Whereas the French have historically gone globetrotting - conquering foreign lands and incorporating and bringing back their cuisines to their homeland - the Chinese simply have no such history. It is only within the modern times that the "diaspora" of "Kung Pao chicken" and "beef & broccoli" has occurred. It's much more of a one-way street: Chinese outbound, and rarely inbound. Now, whether or not Susur Lee's "fusion" is extreme, I can't say. I've never eaten his food. But I have his colourful cookbook and, without actually tasting his food, I can only say that it strikes me as being precious and whimsical.

Maybe he's eating his dinner? It's particularly interesting when you consider the two guys at the main counter, who seem to have OCD in the cleanliness department - wiping the counter non-stop.

Silly question here: can you sit at "the bar" and order food off the menu?

I don't think I've seen a thread on the Buttermilk Channel yet. Bruni just gave it one star. What caught my attention was this: Has anyone had the fried chicken here?

I'm not sure I (a) understand or (b) agree with this. moto isn't a Japanese restaurant - that I know for sure. So, yes, going to moto and expecting and evaluating it as a Japanese restaurant is a faulty line of reasoning. But Shang IS a "global Chinese" restaurant (as Frank Bruni described it). Can someone tell me what exactly what that is? Because, as an outsider who's never eaten at any of Susur Lee's restaurants, I'm thoroughly confused before I even walk into the restaurant. As a consumer, I'm not sure Lee has done a sufficient job of convincing me that HE knows what be wants this restaurant to be. And, people here, who have been to the restaurant (and seem articulate and intelligent enough to explain and describe with some accuracy and competence, and often wit), seem also unable to nail down what Shang is supposed to/wanting/trying to be. So, what I'm saying is, I'm not sure how Shang is supposed to be evaluated, if one is to do so. But what I am hearing is that whatever people think Shang is supposed to be, it's present state is far from solid.

I think those who are making that claim are primarily basing it on the fact that there are alinea-specific instruments/serving pieces shown in the commercial. In particular, this peculiar contraption.

For someone who is "all about the ingredients," the diet coke ad is something of a sellout, dontcha think? All about the chemicals, baby. ← It's not like Top Chef isn't one big, multi-episode product placement. ← Every time a chef lands an endorsement someone is going to say that chef sold out. I can see that if it is someone like Rocco selling a line of frozen Italian entrees - the implication being they are just as good as Rocco makes. I assume Craft doesn't whip up its own cola flavored beverage and, given Colicchio is a tad on the bulky side, he might very well be a Diet Coke consumer. I also think Colicchio does a decent job holding himself above and away from the extensive product placements on Top Chef. ← To clarify, I wasn't making a value judgment. I'm simply pointing out that Colicchio's close proximity to product placement is not new.

For someone who is "all about the ingredients," the diet coke ad is something of a sellout, dontcha think? All about the chemicals, baby. ← It's not like Top Chef isn't one big, multi-episode product placement.