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Claudia Greco

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Everything posted by Claudia Greco

  1. I loved the "sqweasel" sequence. So, maybe Tony hasn't exactly jumped the shark - just jumped the sqweasel?(!) Just the word gets me laughing . . .
  2. I had been rooting for Keller, but was delighted to see Rick Bayless win - not only because of his culinary excellence and the fact that he is a truly nice, gracious, sweet-natured man and not only because his charity really resonates with me, but because he clearly demonstrated the wonderful nuances of Mexican cuisine, and his his mole proved that. 27 in gredients that has taken him 20+years to perfect - and he had Gail Greene drooling. No one ever gets Gail Greene drooling. Bravo, Rick! Nice guys DO finish first!
  3. Well, yeah, the regular TC has a story arc of 15 individuals seriously competing - so there is drama, tension, trash-talking, etc., and time for most of the personalities to emerge. TCM is more like a handful of topflight jazz musicians just jammin' or riffin' - they are competing, sure, but not for the chance to own their own restaurant, their careers or their reputations. So they are more relaxed, more experienced and confident, probably all know each other, and are just going in for their play-off round - one-shot deals. The critics aren't going to be as harsh, nor the challenges quite as brutal. I don't think they'll make these guys do a block party challenge from food they gather from people's pantries, for instance (!) The final should be a blast, though - they'll be going fort the 100K, full court press (!)
  4. Yep, if Rick had presented, I think he defintely would've won. But c'est la vie. As with Besh, I was really sad to see him tank so badly in the QF.
  5. I didn't say he hadn't been cooking on a line for a while - I said HIS COMPETITORS were analyzing his chances (against them), and saying, "Well, Michael hasn't cooked on a line in a while . . ." They were obviously wrong on two levels about their challenge-winning handicapping. Michael HAS been cooking on a line in recent times, and even if he hadn't, that in no way was a disadvantage, since he quite obviously trounced the other three guys in both challenges. Way to go, Michael!
  6. Because, while he's appearing in the spot, he never actually mentions it by name or endorses it, which indicates to me that the big ad campaign brains at Bing basically worked it out with TC that they'd produce and TC would air an ad for Bing with Tony in it - but Tony, being Tony, would not pitch anything. Bing buys air time on TC, like any other company buying air time, and TC gets the money - not Tony. Not as a celebrity spokesman (like Zeta-Jones), nor as a simple performer (like the dude in the AT&T commercials.) It's a little different from most TV ads - I'm betting TC made the deal with Bing and then had Tony simply appear in it, more like a cross-plug than a hard-sell ad. (Tony has contractually had to cross-lug a lot of other stuff for TC, if you recall - notably, Bizarre Foods with Zimmern, when that first came out). And remember, Tony refused to continue to blog for Top Chef simply because Bravo suddenly got Michelob to sponsor their web page. Tony's position on that was that he blogged for free and was not about to even seem to be appearing to promote Michelob nor to receive financial renumeration for it. (And, yes, I had a brief e-chat with him about that a year or so ago.)
  7. When did he rip chefs that don't cook every day? Going back as far as the Las Vegas episode of NR, he quite clearly says he has no problem with a celeb chef not being in his kitchen because he's already trained his chefs to his exacting standards and personal style. And Bourdain isn't a celebrity chef - he's a celebrity writer who was a chef. As for Bing, (1) he isn't pitching them for his direct $ benefit (like Catherine Zeta-Jones for TMobile), but, rather, seems to be cross-plugging them for his network (you can bet it's a contractual thing), and (2) he never actually says a word about Bing. Not to promote them, nor even mention them. That being said, he IS in a plug for them, so I'm sticking with my shark-riding, if not actually shark-jumping, position . . .
  8. I'm glad Michael won, too - just because he hasn't been cooking on a line in a while doesn't mean he can't cook, and cook to deadline, despite what some of his fellow competitors were suggesting. I'm placing an early bet on Keller to win, but if Lo did, too, I'd be equally pleased.
  9. I've seen the bing.com ad twice, too. He never actually mentions it or pitches it, but I guess he has to plug them - for his network. Not quite sure Tony's jumped the shark on this one - but he is riding the shark's back (!)
  10. I was rooting for Anita or John, and was glad to see Anita, a hometown girl, triumph. But I was really hurtin' to see Besh, one of my favorite chefs, crash and burn so badly. The eggs? Oy!
  11. I laughed all through this episode. First, I thought Bayless came off as a nice, enthusiastic team player kind of dude who embraced both challanges with both arms, and who helped his fellow competitors out a lot - good guy. I was surprised that Cindy Pawlcyn seemed to underperform, and Wilo I totally admired - he was just there to win for his kids' hospital, full-stop, and brought his A game to every challenge. But Ludo? Ahhhh, Ludo! Temperamental, cocksure, arrogant and vastly entertaining! I love watching a French chef of his pissiness unravel! But my thought here is - when a Mexican cuisine maestro offers you help - goodnaturedly, no underhanded intent - hel-LO! Take it! Particularly when he's the dude you're trying to take down! Having said that, I was in fits watching the exchange between James Oseland and Ludo by the quesadilla cart: JO: (Skeptically): Have you ever made tacos before? Ludo: (Pause. Hesitantly). Y-e-e-essssss . . . JO: Professionally, or in your kitchen? Ludo: Don't stress me!!! And why the hell not make the pig ears crackly, if you're trying to out-Mexican a Mexican maestro on the one hand, and a Puerto Rican one on the other? Hello, chicharrons? Crackly pig taco, no? Oh, Mon Dieu. I think one's Gallicness - or just gall - got the better of one, in this challenge! LOL!
  12. It was worth it just to see a chef of Hubert Keller's stature totally fazed by (a) having to grocery shop, (b) being French and never having been been to college try to cope with cooking in a dorm room of an American college, and © figuring out a microwave. "I have one at home but use it for . . . what? Drying out newspapers? I don't know . . ." Hysterical! And while these guys took their challenges seriously (and even the Girl Scouts' judging), being true professionals, their response to it was just a hoot. "Lose the redhead!" "She's tough!" "Future food critic!" And then they all went out for a drink after the elimination. YEAH! True chefs! Nice of Keller to offer his mixer to a desperate colleague. Class act.
  13. Count me in on that one, too!
  14. I was just thinking the same thing. But the Top Chef crowd really ARE working chefs, working cooks, which is what makes TC that much more enjoyable - and better. I watch both the UK and US versions of Nightmares and, yes, the UK is much more toned down. Gordon is still in-your-face but less so, and the British tend to be less challenging to him. The whay it's shot and the general tone is more restrained, mannered and less confrontational - more Brit. The US version is amped up, jump-cutted and hyped, just production-wise, AND the Yanks themselves tend to get right back in Gordon's face - remember the NY shows? The no-neck gorilla from the Italian restaurant on Long Island, I think it was, who got into fist fights with everyone and nearly took Gordon apart? Gordo is a first-class brawler himself and built to battle, but even he looked a bit hesitant to take on that "boombatz", as we say in New York. So it's a difference in both local culture as well as production. Having been a Yank with a Brirtish upbringing, I can see the stylistic differences from both sides of the pond. I imagine our British brethren, watching the Yanks get all up in Gordo's grill, would not even contemplate such confrontation - it just is not "on".
  15. I, too, like that the British shows (or Brit versions of American shows) don't select candidates for drama - I really feel Ramsay, though naturally volatile and amping up his vitriol for TV, really does get exasperated by the general mediocrity of some of the so-called professional cooks he's stuck with. But, yes, I think LSR does sometimes round up the truly clueless - clueless AND grandiose! "Hey, let's open up a restaurant! No, of course I don't have any culinary/front of house/business or other related experience! And of course I'm totally emotionally/mentally unsuited to be in this business!" God, look at the weepers - Lindsie and Michelle - and the clueless - Ali. And the weaselly, cheap and dismissive of his customers - Mike. Clever, but king of the shortcut, king of stabbing his own chef/daughter in the back through his machinations, and, ultimately, totally disengaged and disdainful of his patrons. I really felt bad that he killed his daughter's dreams. He is what the Brits would call "too clever by half." Unsuitable Americans? Colleen on HK. DUUUUUUHHHH! A culinary instructor? Oh, dear God, I agree with Gordon - her food looked (and tasted, probably) like the dog's dinner. And Seth? An egotistical, dumb-ass lout who probably burned every omelet he's ever fired. I can't believe HE ever worked a line.
  16. I do! I was raised in Hong Kong and while British food has improved tremendously since my childhood, I am still occasionally aghast at how clueless a lot of Brits can still be about food. That, and the fact that some of the LRS contestants were CLEARLY out of their depths even when they weren't cooking (poor Alasdair, for a start). Before I get some hate mail from our British brethren, let me point out that we've seen some equally ghastly contestants on the American Hell's Kitchen. For a start, Colleen, the cooking instructor who couldn't cook her way out of a brown paper bag - OMG!
  17. Michelle and Russell kept wafting to the top, but deep in my heart, I've been rooting for the talented but undisciplined James and the hapless and clueless Alisdair. I felt James was the best cook in the bunch, although inexperienced, and that he got shot in the foot a lot by his mate Ali. Then again, I think James shot Ali in the foot a few times, too. I thought both James and Ali were trainable, though, if Raymond was willing to invest the time to do so. I thought Russell was a good cook with hidden abilities, if only Michelle could stay the course and not get too emotional or weepy. (Her and Lindsie - Jesus!) I knew Lindsie and Tim were in trouble when the 10 vegans showed up. Michelle and Russell would've thought ahead and coped with that, but not Linds and Tims. Oy. And he's managed a group of restaurants? Really? How is that possible, when he's so dismissive of food costs? 92% margin? OY!
  18. My pleasure. This issue came up once before, a few years ago, so I saved my Breaulove stuff - because it just won't die!
  19. Basically, it's a typo. Both Lord Breaulove Swells Whimsy (a character created by an idiosyncratic NJ guy) and Tony are Bloomsbury authors, and years ago, for some reason, Whimsy and Bourdain got cross-referenced wrongly in various databases of current books, etc. They have NO relation or connection whatsoever, and Tony is no lord (!) http://www.bloomsbury.com/Authors/details.aspx?tpid=2952 The whimsy dude is a self-proclaimed modern dandy, practicing 18th century etiquette in 21st century NJ: http://www.lordwhimsy.com/whimsy/index.html And, as you can see, this bon vivant looks nothing like Tony: http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/i-new-...e-swells-whimsy And writes nothing like Tony: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AKOM13IH640VF. Basically, this eccentric little man spends a lot of time being FABULOUS! IN! MAKING THE SOCIAL SCENE IN NY! And doing so while sartorially resplendent. I forget what he does to support his fabulousness, but I believe I read somewhere that he's married. So he's not gay. Just EVER so fashion-forward and veddy, veddy Regency England (!)
  20. Her wake was today. As you know, Broadway dimmed its lights for 1 minute at 8p last night (traditional curtain time), and Liam Neeson came with Vanessa Redgrave to see her mourned and remembered. Poor man. He's aged about 15 years since Tuesday.
  21. Sadly, yes. She was the smiley, leggy blonde in the red dress. She was the wife of Liam Neeson, and the daughter of Vanessa Regrave and Tony Richardson. Her grandfather was Sir Michael Redgrave, and her aunt and uncle are Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave, respectively. What a tragedy. Who could see that coming?
  22. Excellent list - and commentary. Of course, I'd have the list in reverse order, but that's just because I enjoy wit, snark and mojitos more than anything(!)
  23. That's exactly what I got - he has a wife and little girl to think about , and the moment might have moved past him. Then, too, the Vietnamese family who had members forced to fight on opposite sides of the war - must've been just like the Civil War, when numerous American families had sons both on the Confederate and Union sides. Lovely episode, though. The bahn mi and cao lau was making me crazy with hunger (!!)
  24. Oh, and for those still interested in the alleged Ramsay mistress: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...s-husbands.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...d-adultery.html http://www.nypost.com/seven/11262008/news/...pain_141071.htm Trust the good old NY Post - usually suitable only for lining parrots' cages - to have more prurient details. On the mistress, of course - not Ramsay!
  25. No, the Ramsay mistress story - while it did break in the Brit papers - popped up here. And died, really quickly. And, yes, Ramsay's wife is a real looker (that might answer both the mistress and Colleen issue). And, yes, Robert did make me want to smack him - after I was all empathetic about him being picked on and humiliated because of his 400-lb. bulk, and then he keeps snarking about LACEY? Lacey, at least, can fit on a helicopter. Also, did you notice that EVERY male team, without exception, always calls the female team "bitches"? Just wait untuil Lacey does one ervice with them. That should give them something to bitch about.
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