Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Chef!


spqr

Recommended Posts

Does anyone know if I can get the show CHEF! on videotape. That show was the inspiration behind many a prolonged rant--at the unfortunate expense of my commis and waitstaff. I think in reality I took it a little too far but damn, that was a good show. I'd love to get the whole collection on tape and relieve it all. "....Serious profession...."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some Chef! Videos.

Unfortunately of the 3 seasons broadcast only the first 6 episode season is available on tape. It was not until watching these episodes that I realized what a selfish bitch Chef Blackstones wife was...

Edited by =Mark (log)

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i think actually two seasons are available. in fact, i just sent them to a friend for christmas. beware amazon, though, i ordered them in early november and they just shipped the second season at the end of feb. i understand from brit friends that the third season was a complete washout. honestly, it ws heading that way at the end of two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for that. She was definitely a little on the selfish side but being the wife of a chef is a marathon of missed dinner dates, forgotten anniversaries and bad blood...Well, not always but being the significant other to a chef is tough. I actually felt for his wife, snooty little vixen.....Appreciate it....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually felt for his wife, snooty little vixen.....

Did she ever get "rodgered" in the E-type?

-- Jeff

"I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." -- Groucho Marx

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually felt for his wife, snooty little vixen.....

Did she ever get "rodgered" in the E-type?

Good question....I'd say by the stick up Blackstoke's you know what that he was deficient in the "Rodgering" area. She was probably plucking the butchy Sous Chef if you ask me. I think she levitated precariously close to bisexuality. Something aint right there....But that aside, I say we petition to get that show back on air..., replacing 30 Minute Meals or at least one of Emeril's. I'll organize the effort....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of BBC shows, has anyone here seen the BBCs airing of PG Wodehouse's "Heavy Weather?" I've been looking for a Video copy of it for years and have only come up with a VHS tape of it in the PAL format. Would have been nice for viewing last Saturday as one of the main protagonists is a pig... :laugh:

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of BBC shows, has anyone here seen the  BBCs airing of PG Wodehouse's "Heavy Weather?"  I've been looking for a Video copy of it for years and have only come up with a VHS tape of it in the PAL format.  Would have been nice for viewing last Saturday as one of the main protagonists is a pig...  :laugh:

Speaking of British TV, can anyone PLEASE tell me where I could get a copy of 'Boiling Point', the doc that featured Gordon Ramsey?

I'm dying to see this but have come with nothing.

Any help would be appreciated!

thanks!

2317/5000

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chef was only good because of Lenny Henry. If you like him you must seek out Bernard and the Genie. His reminiscing about his mother's stir fried camel dung was funny. Speaking about English movies has nyone seen 24 Hour Party People? Soon to be a cult classic.

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wondering if I was the only one who liked "Chef!"  Any comments on his kitchen or food?

His kitchen was cliche/caricature of most of the smaller French kitchens. His brigade was the typical flotsam/serious types. Someone who had spent time in such kitchens obviously worked on the show. His food was--from what I saw--fru fru French, tourned roots, extravagant plouche and the asparagus tied up with a blanched leek green stuff--interesting maybe, tired probably. The best part about that show for me was watching the brigade react when Blackstoke flared up. God the looks, the sniveling ass-kissing eyes, the nervous energy. I know every single one of those reactions....Biblically...It was like floating above your body and observing.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

. Speaking about English movies has nyone seen 24 Hour Party People? Soon to be a cult classic.

Coop, I went to see this last April (2002) and loved it. Get the two disc DVD, lots of good extras.

"You were right about Mick Hucknall. His music's rubbish AND he's a ginger". :laugh:

Great soundtrack CD too.

Unfortunately, the Hacienda is no more. They are building some sodding flats on the site and calling them ... 'Hacienda'. It's bloody sacrilege!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

For a while WTTW the PBS station here in Chicago ran Chef! A comedy from our friends across the pond. It started out on Friday nights, then was moved to Saturday night, bumped a few times by local programming and then just disappeared. WTTW claims they have plans to run it again but will not state when.

Though they fell it totally appropriate to show an hour of Mr. Bean and quite a few other shows of the same class. Chef! To me was brilliant as far as giving a comedic look into a kitchen with all the stuff you would expect. Egomaniacal, perfectionist lead and the usual quirky supporting cast. Though to some pop references and a bit of the slang might be obscure it is an enjoyable show.

The reasons for my diatribe are as usual self-serving. If anyone knows more about the show I would love to hear about it. The number of episodes, if it is out on tape (I can’t find it as of yet.) any outstanding episodes. Most of all I would like to see3 the show running again locally. Please take the time to drop WTTW a line at NetworkChicago@networkchicago.com and let them know the show is wanted.

Living hard will take its toll...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are two videos available on VHS that together make up the first season of 6 episodes. I can find nothing to indicate that they plan on releasing material from seasons 2 or 3.

You can click on the above link or do eGullet a favor by scrolling down and clicking on the Amazon link below to kick a few sheckels toward the forum...

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is out on tape.

There are a couple other threads about Chef! around here somewheres, which astounded me, since, for a long time, it seemed as though I was the only one who'd ever seen the show.

edit: =Mark beat me to it. O well.

Edited by Bux (log)

A jumped-up pantry boy who never knew his place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

I recall enjoying a UK show on Television here in the US a few years ago(I think it was on PBS).

It was sort of a culinary Fawltey Towers and it featured a Black Chef (lilting Carribean accent (I believe) with a beautiful wife who ran a very French restaurant .

I would love to get the episodes on DVD is possible but without the name.....

Thanks for any help--

I really need to do something to improve my memory--either less wine or more!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:biggrin: Glad to hear that its out on DVD, my VHS casette is now very grainy

http://www.allium.uk.net

http://alliumfood.wordpress.com/ the alliumfood blog

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, champagne in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming - Whey hey what a ride!!!, "

Sarah Poli, Firenze, Kibworth Beauchamp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Believe it or not, John Burton Race was the unlikely model for Gareth Blackstock and L'Orlotan =' La Chateau Anglais, a country restaurant in Oxfordshire'. While Blackstock was portrayed as a tyrant, Burton Race was revealed by a concealed video camera as sadist who employed his sous chef, Nigel Marriage, to enforce kitchen discipline by meting out cruel and unusual punishments.

Remarkably, since Chef! Burton Race has morphed into Blackstock and become a character off the telly with a charming wife who understands his culinary obsession and tolerates his, erm, eccentricities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Burton Race was revealed by a concealed video camera as sadist who employed his sous chef, Nigel Marriage, to enforce kitchen discipline by meting out cruel and unusual punishments.

Indeed he was. Inside Story, Channel 4, 1995. Jaw dropping insight into the mind of a cycle path.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...