Top Chef: Season 3

[Swicks]

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She looked cute, but I'm a Camille guy myself.

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In the words of Jules Winnfield..."CORRECTAMUNDO!!"

[KristiB50]

Bravo has been advertising this Wednesday (Aug 1) episode as a "Super Sized" Top Chef. According to my cable guide that means it's an hour and 15 minutes instead of the usual one hour. Just wanted to let people know -- in case you're planning to tape it

[chappie]

First off, that quickfire where they had to identify an ingredient by taste or sight was a lot easier than the blindfolded contest they did in one of the previous seasons. Kidney beans? Bowtie pasta? Roasted red pepper? Celery salt? A third-grader could identify those.

Wasn't really a fan of this episode's elimination, either.

[pax]

Wow, I am amazed by the whining puling little Mama's boy from New York City. What a maroon.

That boy needs to be bitch smacked with a frozen block of crap. Sniveling fusilli wanker.

Edited August 2, 2007 by pax (log)

[KristiB50]

Is it Joey that throws people over the bus instead of under the bus?

Edited August 2, 2007 by KristiB50 (log)

[chappie]

I'm surprised Joey was eliminated. They either don't judge solely based on an individual episode as they claim, instead keeping certain people who make for "good TV", or more likely the editing could be a lot better.

In their dissection of the four possible casualties, it didn't seem like he was one of the ones most likely to go.

[KristiB50]

That's a Thai eggplant not Chinese eggplant CJ!

I thought I'd hate the episode when I heard what the challenge was but I actually enjoyed it.

I think Howie, Hung or Sara M should have gone. I thought it was funny CJ called Hung a douche.

And none of the chefs respected Rocco. And Rocco's face! Bad bad bad plastic surgery!!

I laughed when Howie said “Nah, tricolor fusili is so tacky and schlocky,” then they cut to Joey saying “Let's use tricolor fusili.”

[Kevin72]

This show is wildly uneven in some areas. The schlub who won last time gets a bottle of wine and the winner this time out gets two tickets to Italy?! One person has to identify lotus root sprouts during Quickfire and the one after them has to identify bowtie pasta?!

And I continue to think Lia should absolutely have been around for the long haul, particularly when stacked up against some of who's left.

Glad to see that Tre rebounded; I continue to hope he takes it all. But truffle butter was a bit fussy.

My guess at this point is that the final five will be Tre, Hung (barring some spectacular ego-fueled meltdown which he comes closer to each week), CJ, Brian, and Casey, who also put in a solid show last night after two previous eps of drama queenery. There's a pretty clear difference between those five and the two Saras and Howie, who I really hope goes soon.

[Kevin72]

I'm surprised Joey was eliminated. They either don't judge solely based on an individual episode as they claim, instead keeping certain people who make for "good TV", or more likely the editing could be a lot better.

In their dissection of the four possible casualties, it didn't seem like he was one of the ones most likely to go.

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I think it's the former. Hung and Howie make for too much drama to cut 'em loose this early. So I thought either Joey or Sara was going to go.

[DutchMuse]

I'm surprised Joey was eliminated. They either don't judge solely based on an individual episode as they claim, instead keeping certain people who make for "good TV", or more likely the editing could be a lot better.

In their dissection of the four possible casualties, it didn't seem like he was one of the ones most likely to go.

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I think it's the former. Hung and Howie make for too much drama to cut 'em loose this early. So I thought either Joey or Sara was going to go.

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On the credits at the end, there is a disclaimer that the decisions of who is eliminated is based on the judge's deliberations and consultation or input from the Producers. (I forget the exact wording but its close to that). They acknowledge that the producers have input so as to make for interesting episodes.

Edited August 3, 2007 by DutchMuse (log)

[Reignking]

I'm surprised Joey was eliminated. They either don't judge solely based on an individual episode as they claim, instead keeping certain people who make for "good TV", or more likely the editing could be a lot better.

In their dissection of the four possible casualties, it didn't seem like he was one of the ones most likely to go.

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Why? I thought it was a no-brainer -- Hung knew what to do, but just wasn't forceful enough. Joey was clueless, started putting things together, and destroyed their pasta. As soon as they started cooking, and said the pasta was mushy, I knew he was gone.

Loved the quickfire...but hated the camerawork. I'd like to play at home, but these side-angled shots don't help.

[Zeemanb]

And none of the chefs respected Rocco. And Rocco's face! Bad bad bad plastic surgery!!   

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Okay, I guess Michael Jackson turning himself into Diana Ross isn’t that huge of a leap when you think about it…….but why is Rocco turning himself into Elizabeth Falkner from Citizen Cake? They don’t cook similar food, live in the same city or anything!

[ninetofive]

Did anyone get Rocco's bizarre corporate-speak answer when Tom C. turned to him and said, "Let's talk about today's challenge." It was something like, "Bertoli's frozen pasta dinners are the wave of the future." Bleah. What a tool.

I loved when one of the contestants was describing how hard the quick-fire challenge was and said something like, "There's Padma, looking all sexy, and then there's that *sshole next to her."

Edited August 2, 2007 by ninetofive (log)

[Reignking]

Did anyone get Rocco's bizarre corporate-speak answer when Tom C. turned to him and said, "Let's talk about today's challenge." It was something like, "Bertoli's frozen pasta dinners are the wave of the future." Bleah. What a tool.

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No worse than bertolliGail'sbertolli blog...

[Dave Weinstein]

I expected it to be Sara, consider me fooled by the edit.

The prizes (and sometimes there aren't any) are provided by the guest judge, which is why they vary so wildly.

[dividend]

This episode pissed me off - how is it possible that 8/10 didn't understand immediately that IQF was the way to go? It's like the majority of them had never frozen and re-heated anything before, so the team with a smidgen of understanding wins practically by default. It was cringe-inducing to watch some of them dump huge frozen blocks into a hot skillet. It's too bad, because I actually thought this was a cool challenge.

[Artichoke]

Random thoughts as I procrastinate at work.

Am I the only one that finds Gail Simmon's hot? There is so much focus on Padma, but personally I think Gail is prettier, actually enjoys food and has a personality. I would much rather spend a weekend with her than Padma (not that they have been calling me with offers).

Also, I would love to see these people cook something other than chicken, pork loin, shrimp and the ever popular scallop. There was that first challenge using "exotic ingredients." They had one offal challenge in one of the previous seasons, they need another.

[Zeemanb]

This episode pissed me off - how is it possible that 8/10 didn't understand immediately that IQF was the way to go?  It's like the majority of them had never frozen and re-heated anything before, so the team with a smidgen of understanding wins practically by default.  It was cringe-inducing to watch some of them dump huge frozen blocks into a hot skillet.  It's too bad, because I actually thought this was a cool challenge.

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I have to agree...those Bertolli dinners are basically the equivalent of fast food in my house (faster than sitting in a drive-thru, plus they actually taste like food!). I was dumbfounded when nobody realized all they were going to get was a big hunk o' ice as they piled it all into the bags. Even if they didn't have frozen/bagged food experience....am I the only one who has ever looked at the five pound block of ice in my hands and gone "ohhh shit, should have bagged those boneless chicken breasts separately"? Huge rookie mistake, and it did make for some good reality tv as they seared the outsides of their ice blocks. Pesto, broth, demi glace.....who hasn't portioned out sauces for freezing? I guess that making viewers say "hell, even I knew that" is part of the draw of the reality tv format.

[chappie]

Random thoughts as I procrastinate at work.

Am I the only one that finds Gail Simmon's hot?  There is so much focus on Padma, but personally I think Gail is prettier, actually enjoys food and has a personality.

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Quite to the contrary, I find her grating, annoying and a waste of space on their panel. I think she also has a crush on Tre.

[chappie]

As soon as they started cooking, and said the pasta was mushy, I knew he was gone.

Loved the quickfire...but hated the camerawork.  I'd like to play at home, but these side-angled shots don't help.

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Maybe you're right about Joey, though I could have just as easily seen Hung getting hung for not being "chef" enough to prevent a disaster he claimed to see coming.

But as for the quickfire, you've got to be kidding me. There were maybe three ingredients that deserved to be there. You're having chefs identify kidney beans, tomato paste, tahini, roasted red pepper, celery seed (though that was hilarious when Hung was too cocky to taste it and failed) and oatmeal (!!! and Rocco praised Hung for getting it)?! In one of the previous season's similar tests, contestants were blindfolded and the ingredients were way more esoteric.

Bowtie pasta. What else was someone going to call it? Dumb. This season has seemed so far like Top Chef Lite.

I thought Sara would go, but then again she's made some nice dishes. Her chile relleno drew raves from the Telemundo people, yet she somehow wasn't picked as a finalist. Lia should still be around, but some people feel like Casey would've been the other cut that episode, and she is growing on me.

Joey should've stayed just for making that priceless comment about Rocco, whose dialog about Bertolli frozen products, by the way, came off really awkwardly.

He sucks.

[KristiB50]

As soon as they started cooking, and said the pasta was mushy, I knew he was gone.

Loved the quickfire...but hated the camerawork.  I'd like to play at home, but these side-angled shots don't help.

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Bowtie pasta. What else was someone going to call it?

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Farfalle?

[skoolpsyk]

Am I the only one that finds Gail Simmon's hot? 

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Nope--I do! I usually tend to look at the positives in people though...just weird that way! I love her eyes!

[chappie]

Bowtie pasta. What else was someone going to call it?

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Farfalle?

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I meant someone wasn't going to say it was umeboshi plums.

[Reignking]

Quite to the contrary, I find her grating, annoying and a waste of space on their panel.

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Ditto from me...

[Reignking]

But as for the quickfire, you've got to be kidding me. There were maybe three ingredients that deserved to be there. You're having chefs identify kidney beans, tomato paste, tahini, roasted red pepper, celery seed (though that was hilarious when Hung was too cocky to taste it and failed) and oatmeal (!!! and Rocco praised Hung for getting it)?! In one of the previous season's similar tests, contestants were blindfolded and the ingredients were way more esoteric.

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Perhaps I should've said that I enjoyed the idea of the quickfire -- but yes, the execution wasn't great. I'd expect some gimmes, but there were a few too many.

Bertolli must not be completely happy -- they were obviously trying to demonstrate the quality of their IQF'd products, and some of them produced meals that were unappetizing and ugly. OTOH, I might try one of these, now.