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Top Chef Season 5


Reignking

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Ariane has bugged me from the beginning. I think I'd like her more if she'd grow out of her bewilderment and into some confidence about her dishes. The skate was interesting, most of what else has done wasn't. I'm also falling out of love with Fabio's cooking.

The food in general hasn't been very appetizing in the last couple of episodes, or just meh.

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If caterers don't win, doesn't that mean Stefan is without hope as well?  I think he's going to be in the finals, myself.

Oh that's right-- he is a caterer. His bio suggests he's got a lot of restaurant experience though. I agree, he should make it to the finals with no problem.

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I too am happy Melissa and Gene got the boot.  I had given Gene some props early on for rigging up that grill (but then again, didn't Michael Symon do something similar on the Next Iron Chef?), but the daikon noodles with tomato and basil sounded disgusting even before they were paired with over-cooked fish.

I am conflicted about Ariane - I think some of her wins have been cheap and she doesn't seem very creative or inspired overall, but her skate dish was the only one that I'm curious about.

If caterers don't win, doesn't that mean Stefan is without hope as well?  I think he's going to be in the finals, myself.

Fabio has disappointed of late, but the judges did say that his pasta dish would have been perfect if he'd left off the lamb.  Hopefully, he'll learn from that and make a comeback.

Looks like next week, we get a visit from Hung.....I wonder how he and Toby would've gotten along?  :laugh:

Fabio should have asked Ariane to cook his lamb, then it would have been a winning dish.

Veni Vidi Vino - I came, I saw, I drank.
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Thanks to iTunes and my husband taking my kid away for a few days, I had a Top Chef marathon in the last couple of days and am finally able to read this thread without ruining it for myself.

I really loved Eugene's ingenuity with the grill. I'm sorry he didn't seem able to follow through.

Danny, what the $%^? "Maybe the tension was getting to her, maybe it was that time of the month". Maybe you're a sexist pig, honey, and need a giant bib. My 6 yo knows not to drip her pb&j on the floor.

The fact that there aren't any prizes for the individual elimination challenges takes away some of the fun for me, and I'm sure for the chefs, too. I like a good session of kitchen gear voyeurism as much as the next girl.

Kathy Lee is a tactless malevolent person, and she looks terrible. I recommend some whole foods, a nap, and way less plastics. As in surgery, not Gladware.

Gail is looking great this season. I think the new guy is going to be too much for lax U.S. telly watchers.

If I hear Ariane bitch about being the o"ld" 40 yo one more time I'm going to stick her between the eyes with a botox dart. Shut up.

ETA: I'm joking about the botox dart. But still. Shut up. If you're feeling old it's cause you never stop whining long enough to do something that makes you feel good.

Edited by pax (log)
“Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!”
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Thanks to iTunes and my husband taking my kid away for a few days, I had a Top Chef marathon in the last couple of days and am finally able to read this thread without ruining it for myself.

I really loved Eugene's ingenuity with the grill. I'm sorry he didn't seem able to follow through.

Danny, what the $%^? "Maybe the tension was getting to her, maybe it was that time of the month". Maybe you're a sexist pig, honey, and need a giant bib. My 6  yo knows not to drip her pb&j on the floor.

The fact that there aren't any prizes for the individual elimination challenges takes away some of the fun for me, and I'm sure for the chefs, too. I like a good session of kitchen gear voyeurism as much as the next girl.

Kathy Lee is a tactless malevolent person, and she looks terrible. I recommend some whole foods, a nap, and way less plastics. As in surgery, not Gladware.

Gail is looking great this season. I think the new guy is going to be too much for lax U.S. telly watchers.

If I hear Ariane bitch about being the o"ld" 40 yo one more time I'm going to stick her between the eyes with a botox dart. Shut up.

ETA: I'm joking about the botox dart. But still. Shut up. If you're feeling old it's cause you never stop whining long enough to do something that makes you feel good.

Goodness, you should not watch Top Chef and then catch up all at once more often! it does wonderful things for your snark potency....:wink:

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I made a big late-night mistake. Around 3 a.m., I shamefully caught an episode of the Real Lives of the Most Vulgar Bipedal Specimens Ever Captured on Film. Let's just say hurricanes are picking the wrong target. Anyway, one of these narcissistic vipers was hosting a dinner party, and who was the caterer? Why, none other than Bravo's own Brian Malarkey?

And then I remembered someone telling me they did a tie-in with the haircutting show and this OC Nightmare before, also. What's next? As the seasons roll onward into typecasted bland oblivion, Top Chef is just becoming another Bravo promotional snarkfest.

Oh, and somewhere I read about Tom's comments on Gene's fish, the writer claiming "he was visibly upset" that a fish had to die for this. And I call it melodramatic B.S. Yeah, like he never accidentally overcooked fresh seafood before in all his years cooking ...

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Here in New Orleans, rumors are floating around that the season finale will be shot tomorrow, January 15, at Commander's Palace.

Is it true? Hard to say. I read it on the internet, and you know how unreliable the internet can be.

Todd A. Price aka "TAPrice"

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

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Dammit, I was hoping they'd axe the girlfriend. And what's with the excessive sexual tension they are building up between those two, anyway. I thought I read an interview of a past season's contestant who explained that such things violated some rule. I'm sure it makes for good reality TV drama, but I tell myself that Top Chef isn't like all those other shows, and that's why it's OK to watch :smile:. More food, less relationship.

On the plus side, they must have muzzled new judge guy: he was much more restrained this time, and didn't launch into too many carefully-rehearsed lame-ass "critiques."

Chris Hennes
Director of Operations
chennes@egullet.org

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... In addition, Ariane keeps getting praised for her work... which is what, exactly? Um, not overcooking a protein? Hooray. Is this lost on the other contestants? I doubt it.

Ariana got the boot tonight for thrashing a protein.

The best bit was the part towards the end where she muttered something along the lines of "what goes around comes around...."

Yep. It did come back around. That sound you heard was the lamb biting her soundly on the ass.

Edited by 6ppc (log)

Jon

--formerly known as 6ppc--

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Second best TC quote ever......

"I'm the only cock in the stall"

I fell OFF my chair laughing, what an apt description of himself Stefan came up with.

New candidate for a T-shirt, although "I'm not your bitch, bitch" still wins as probably the best quote, ever, ANYWHERE.

Yeah, I'm getting more & more disappointed as each week goes along. Come on, you want to make a *cherry* tomato sauce for your ravioli, you go to a freakin' farm and because they don't have *cherry* tomatoes, you make......ummmmm....dense pesto???? Why not use, like regular tomatoes you dice really finely?

And why, on Earth, would you, as the judges kept harping on, take the meat off the bone? Even I, a marginally talented home cook, know that meat always tastes more succulent if its cooked on the bone. Come on. And even *I* know how to tie a roast.

Really underwhelming offerings tonight, seriously I could do better than that.

Bruschetta, Jamie, come ON.

--Roberta--

"Let's slip out of these wet clothes, and into a dry Martini" - Robert Benchley

Pierogi's eG Foodblog

My *outside* blog, "A Pound Of Yeast"

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Fabio should have asked Ariane to cook his lamb, then it would have been a winning dish.

OK, so Fabio is probably GLAD he didn't ask Ariane to cook his lamb....

This season continues to dissapoint. I thought the quickfire dishes over all, looked better than the on the farm, can't get fresher ingredients, elimination challenge dishes. I don't think the chefs gave any consideration to feeding people outside on a hot, sunny, day.

Edited by RAHiggins1 (log)
Veni Vidi Vino - I came, I saw, I drank.
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Arghh what a frustrating episode!

First Stephan is an ass. If you have immunity don't try to drive the bus.

Carla should have been the ONLY winner for her dessert. It pissed me off Stephan and Jaime were included.

Arianne was probably chosen to do the lamb because she won two challenges based on protein. BUT the other two (HoLeah) saw the roulades were a disaster and she couldn't tie. I think they sat back so she would fail. Their whole meal looked like crap.

Even I can tie a roast and it baffled me that as a chef, Arianne could not. I would have left it on the bone because I know I cannot butcher a leg. But a chef should be able to shouldn't they?

And how many times has Tom told us to honor the animal this season? Last week it was, "this fish sacrificed it's life..." This week I he mentioned it again. Several times. Smugly. It could become a drinking game.

And an hour to strip and grill 10 ears of corn? Radhika was useless.

Edited by KristiB50 (log)
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And what's with the excessive sexual tension they are building up between those two, anyway. I thought I read an interview of a past season's contestant who explained that such things violated some rule.

So how do you think they handled the Jen/Zoe relationship last season? I can't imagine that they were contractually required to not show any sort of affection for each other.

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And how many times has Tom told us to honor the animal this season? Last week it was, "this fish sacrificed it's life..." This week I he mentioned it again. Several times. Smugly. It could become a drinking game.

Yeah, I picked up on it too.

Maybe there's a list, at Craft, etched in stone, beginning with "Thou Shalt Honor Thy Protein".

There could not have been a better setting for the chefs, and I think that the food was still underwhelming. Heck, they could do the entire season from there. A soup, in summer? I can see making the pesto, as I'm sure there were plenty of herbs to choose from, but he should've just used fresh-from-the-vine tomatoes (can you get any better?).

Sounds like they all could use a week on the farm to learn about butchering, too.

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And how many times has Tom told us to honor the animal this season? Last week it was, "this fish sacrificed it's life..." This week I he mentioned it again. Several times. Smugly. It could become a drinking game.

Yeah, I picked up on it too.

Maybe there's a list, at Craft, etched in stone, beginning with "Thou Shalt Honor Thy Protein".

There could not have been a better setting for the chefs, and I think that the food was still underwhelming. Heck, they could do the entire season from there. A soup, in summer? I can see making the pesto, as I'm sure there were plenty of herbs to choose from, but he should've just used fresh-from-the-vine tomatoes (can you get any better?).

Sounds like they all could use a week on the farm to learn about butchering, too.

If they were so intent on doing a soup, given the outdoor temperature and the availability of ripe tomatoes, wouldn't a gazpacho have been perfect?

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I was disappointed that they had so many things that are difficult to get, but didn't even try to use them. I think that members of past seasons groups would have been more excited to see the pigs heads, lambs heads, etc and made some very interesting dishes.

Mike

The Dairy Show

Special Edition 3-In The Kitchen at Momofuku Milk Bar

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Reignking has a good idea. Top Chef Farm where they live on a farm and have to butcher their own animals and use produce exclusively from the farm. Jaime would be lost without her scallops though  :biggrin:

Then the farm would have to be near the ocean...or just stick them on a deserted island. Wait, that's another show.

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That they were given essentially a chef's dream (height of season ingredients, just picked produce, impeccable farm-raised meat) and then botched it so badly is frustrating. Really surprised at the poor showings. I was pulling for pork team and then for them to make a tame looking pork tenderloin and oversauced, overstuffed pesto? I cannot believe a native Italian like Fabio would make that kind of error.

But I was wondering though if three hours would be enough to cook a whole piece of meat on the bone . . . ?

Ariane had to go eventually but I would have liked to have seen her go under more clear-cut circumstances, where it was much more evidently her fault. Lost a lot of respect for both Leah and Hosea on that one.

I've been gaining more and more respect for Jeff as the season's gone along. His fatal flaw appears to be that he overthinks his dishes but he's got a lot of natural leadership and professionalism it seems.

And yes, Toby toned down some of his more pat, prewritten critiques. I think he does bring alot of salient observations to the table. I liked that he threw the rule of "judge on this competition only, not previous performance" in the judges' faces and seemed to pretty much switch it to Ariane. Padma didn't look too happy about that though.

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When they showed Blue Hill at Stone Barns (one of my favorite places, I just love those pigs) I wondered if they were going to make everyone pretend it was January and cook kale and beets.

New judge completely irritates me. They need Gail back. Oh, right, and more talented cooks. In seasons past it was so obvious to me who would be standing at the end. Here, I'm not even sure that I care.

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