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Top Chef: Season 3

KristiB50

By KristiB50
in Food Media & Arts

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dockhl

dockhl

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Posted

Did anyone else notice that when they announced the Quickfire challenge, the contestants all ran to do their thing.....with yucky, dirty hands. I hope there was some serious handwashing before the plating of those dishes. :wacko:

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Brad K.

Brad K.

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Anyone else notice that they dropped Kenmore in favor of GE? I guess NBC wanted to keep the money in-house.

Notice?? It's a blessing! Completely aside from the fact that GE makes a better product - I wanted to scream everytime Mrs. Rushdie mentioned "Kenmore Top Chef Kitchen" - which she did 12 times per episode. Since they are just calling it the Top Chef Kitchen now, I assume GE realized how ridiculous it sounded previously.

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TAPrice

TAPrice

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BTW, anyone notice the new scar that Marcel was sporting, on his left eyebrow?  Glass bottles will do that...

And the wicked scar on Padma's arm...

From Vogue, here is more than you ever wanted to know about Padma's scar (or Padma herself): click.

Edit: Turns out Padma wrote a cookbook. According to her homepage she is a "brilliant chef." Who knew?

Todd A. Price aka "TAPrice"

Homepage and writings; A Frolic of My Own (personal blog)

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Slamdunkpro

Slamdunkpro

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I don't know if I can handle another season of Gail.  What value does she add to the show?  I think all she managed to do last night was repeat everything Tom and Tony said.  I would not have been surprised at any point if she started complaning about overcooked eggs from last season.

Other than that, hoping to see some good dishes this season.

Well you only have to deal with Gail 50% of the time this year. They're tag teaming her with Ted Allen. Neither Gail nor Padma looked like they wanted to put any of the exotic dishes in their mouths.

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tmgrobyn

tmgrobyn

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Oh Bourdain. You. were. priceless. Never leave the Ecuadorians on the table! :raz:

It was good to hear that he actually had read your books. He doesn't seem to be a bad chef, just his timing was off and it was great that you called him on it.

Gail. Gail. Gail. sigh.

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
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hsm

hsm

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New and improved TC3: Now with 50% less Gail. I don't read Food & Wine and if Gail is representin', that won't change.

Speaking of new and improved, these cheftestants (tm Keckler, TWoP) seem head and shoulders above the Season 2 crew. There seemed to be a slight reduction in the incessant hammering of product placement. A wee bit, anyway. I'm hoping that amidst the anticipated reality show drama, they will feature less gimmicky challenges and so less reason to laugh like a hyena* whenever the VO points out that tonight's recipes are available at their website.

*Blessedly not on the protein table.

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Qwerty

Qwerty

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According to Collichio's blog, the first time anyone on the show heard about his dad was during filming. Ansd apparantly he is the chef of a fairly well regarded restaurant in his hometown, so maybe it really was just nerves that got him in the first episode.

I gotta give props to my hometown man Tre. The restaurant he works at is fantastic, and I've been waiting for him to break out on his own for a while now. Hopefully he can do that after the show.

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TAPrice

TAPrice

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According to Collichio's blog, the first time anyone on the show heard about his dad was during filming. Ansd apparantly he is the chef of a fairly well regarded restaurant in his hometown, so maybe it really was just nerves that got him in the first episode.

Tom said the judges only learned Clay's history when watching the show:

This is TV, but this is also real life. The judges did not know much about Clay and first heard him talk about his father when we watched the episode.We didn’t know any of this. He really bared his soul. This isn’t all fun and games, and there’s a real serious side to what we do.

Who knows what the producers knew. It's still reality t.v. At some point, they're going to engineer some silly personal drama.

Todd A. Price aka "TAPrice"

Homepage and writings; A Frolic of My Own (personal blog)

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oneidaone

oneidaone

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I like Tre as well.  He seems to have his head screwed on straight, and also seems to have a ton of talent.

On first blush, this crop of chef-testants seem both more normal and more talented than Season 2.  There was no one that immediately annoyed me tonight.

And I must say, I am in Trash TV heaven.  Food Network Star on Sundays, Hell's Kitchen on Mondays and Top Chef on Wednesdays.  Life is good......*sigh*.  :laugh:

I must add, I've become addicted to "Deadliest Catch" and the 4 part min-series "After the Catch"

Tuesdays on Discovery, man, that crab fishing is one tough job! Anyone else watching? A hui hou!

"You can't miss with a ham 'n' egger......"

Ervin D. Williams 9/1/1921 - 6/8/2004

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BryanZ

BryanZ

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A surprisingly strong first episode. Hung seems like a solid, confident dude, and I like that. The same could be said for Tre except he's got more of Harold streak going on with the strong, silent archetype. I really like both of them. I also appreciate how Hung didn't make a big deal of the sous vide thing like Marcel did. And thankfully Collichio didn't do his usual poo-pooing of anything that wouldn't be served at Craft.

I also like the JG exec sous chef; it will be interesting to see what she comes up with. Having eaten at JG many times it's fun to see how her dishes already channel some JG aesthetics. Then again, the same could be said for Marcel and Illan.

There are a couple screw-ups in this batch of cheftestants, but overall the talent level seems much higher. If you compare the comments in this episode to the episode where Bourdain made his previous appearance, this season is already several levels higher than the last. Hopefully the violent egos will stay in check and some good cooking will result.

Bryan Zupon

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handmc

handmc

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Have they learned from last year? Who knows. Tom C's blog says that they were looking for referrals from chefs so you get the impression they were actually looking for contestants that can cook.

I have to say, some of the protiens would have been a real challenge as I have no experience with eel, snake, black chicken or monk fish liver. I really liked the challenge it was a lot more interesting to see what they came up with.

Help me with this. I have been in and around commercial kitchens for 20 plus years now and I have yet to run into a guy working in the kitchen that crys at the drop of a hat.

Dave from season 1, the guy from Hell's kitchen this season, now it appears from the previews another there will be another leaky chef on Top Chef 3? Where did all the cry babies in the kitchen come from?

**************************************************

Ah, it's been way too long since I did a butt. - Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"

--------------------

One summers evening drunk to hell, I sat there nearly lifeless…Warren

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annecros

annecros

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Have they learned from last year? Who knows. Tom C's blog says that they were looking for referrals from chefs so you get the impression they were actually looking for contestants that can cook.

I have to say, some of the protiens would have been a real challenge as I have no experience with eel, snake, black chicken or monk fish liver. I really liked the challenge it was a lot more interesting to see what they came up with. 

Help me with this. I have been in and around commercial kitchens for 20 plus years now and I have yet to run into a guy working in the kitchen that crys at the drop of a hat.

Dave from season 1, the guy from Hell's kitchen this season, now it appears from the previews another there will be another leaky chef on Top Chef 3? Where did all the cry babies in the kitchen come from?

Great question. I cannot stand the whiners, and that guy on Hell's Kitchen is just REALLY pathetic.

What happened to the good old days when the rest of the kitchen would beat the stuffing out of the crybaby and put them head first into the dumpster?

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Elrushbo

Elrushbo

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I think there is a lot of talent in this season. I think Clay was like Michael of last season. Nice, likeable, but not suited to actually win. I think Michael would be gone faster if he was competing against the current people. I was impressed with the things they whipped up from a table of finger food in ten minutes. Hung has impressive credentials, the food he made looks great.

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Elrushbo

Elrushbo

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Hung is the man, he is my friend Adam's Sous at Guy Savoy....I know for a fact that all those young chefs at Guy are top notch...I am rooting for Hung!

Hung just seemed so comfortable with the challenge, I don't think anyone would have been able to make anything like what he did with those ingredients.

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nduran

nduran

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New and improved TC3: Now with 50% less Gail. I don't read Food & Wine and if Gail is representin', that won't change.

I've thumbed through it at my endodontist's office and the recipes seemed decent enough, though much of the content comes across as a wine ad. I hate wine so I'm certainly not subscribing.

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TAPrice

TAPrice

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I was watching the end of episode 1 again with my wife, who fell asleep during the original showing. Has anyone else noticed that the repeats are heavily edited. Lots of stuff missing (for example, Tre isn't asked about tasting Hung's dish, Bourdain doesn't get to present the prize, etc.).

Does this always happen? Guess that's incentive to watch the original showing.

Todd A. Price aka "TAPrice"

Homepage and writings; A Frolic of My Own (personal blog)

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Bueno

Bueno

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Good first episode in my view -- though, I do tire of the "make haute cuisine from the leftovers / pre-chewed food / 7-11 farmer's market" schtick.

Hung, Tre, the JG sous.. all 3 have a chance to win, as they should -- they're top-level chefs (the ones actually cooking the food at their big name restaurants). It'd be exciting to see a lesser "darkhorse" come from behind and shock everyone though, as this is supposed to be a mix of drama/reality.

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spaetzle_maker

spaetzle_maker

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I like Hung and Tre. Hung was really confident and focused. His dishes looked impressive. I thought he did a good job backing up his product when asked about the monochromatic beige of his dish - he wasn't fazed and his answer was successful in making that flaw less important.

Tre's food looked extremely tasty. He behaved like a complete gentleman when at the judges table. It was refreshing to see the way he genuinely complimented Hungs food. That's just plain cool. This gave me hopes that season 3 would be more about the food and less about the drama. But, then I saw the previews for episode 2...

I like Lia too - her pedigree seems strong and so far her reflections about the challenges are about the food and about being focused. She gives a nice, sweet impression. I also like that she's from Brooklyn :) :)

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KristiB50

KristiB50

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  • Topic Starter
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I was watching the end of episode 1 again with my wife, who fell asleep during the original showing. Has anyone else noticed that the repeats are heavily edited. Lots of stuff missing (for example, Tre isn't asked about tasting Hung's dish, Bourdain doesn't get to present the prize, etc.).

Does this always happen? Guess that's incentive to watch the original showing.

I watched the end while waiting for the new episode and I noticed that too. Guess I'll be sure and watch first runs...

I found this tidbit about last seasons winner Ilan. He did an Iron Chef type competition against Jacques Pepin and well...

At the 11th Annual Classic Cookoff, this year to benefit Food & Wine's Grow for Good campaign, Top Chef winner Ilan Hall got his ass handed to him by Jacques Pépin in a battle of long short ribs, and Bobby Flay absolutely crushed a groggy-seeming Tom Colicchio in a liver face off. Colicchio sound byte of the day: "Hey Bobby, after this weekend you could probably use a new liver, huh?"

From http://www.eater.com/index.php?page=2

About tonights episode I really dislike Joey. I was hoping he'd be out with his drumsticks.

I was shocked to see Tre humbled but maybe karma got him for all his big talk. :smile:

Hung cracks me up. He's confident but he seems like a decent guy unlike the cheftestant who said, "I won't help you." to the other cheftestant when she asked him about meat portioning. I don't really know a lot of names yet.

I was worried about Sara's habarnaros. I can't believe she's never heard of them.

The Global Kitchen
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