Top Chef: Season 6 – Las Vegas

[Dignan]

has it occurred to anyone that this is a competition, and sabotage of a competitor's dish (the lamb) is certainly possible.

perhaps the lamb was undercooked on purpose?

That sounds silly. Kevin seems like the most mature and even mannered person out of this bunch. That aside, I think trying to sabotage someone else by cooking poorly in a cooking competition would be a foolhardy manuever. If Laurine had stepped up and managed the service well, then the blame for the lamb dish probably would have weighed Kevin down more. So rare as to be gelatinous, or words to that effect. He stumbled, Jen stumbled, and what's more they were very aware of it which is why they were obviously upset. Laurine, though, was going through the motions and didn't really appear to care anymore.

[CtznCane]

has it occurred to anyone that this is a competition, and sabotage of a competitor's dish (the lamb) is certainly possible.

perhaps the lamb was undercooked on purpose?

Kevin takes far too much pride in the food he puts out to even think of doing something like that. Additionally they had let the 10 K from the quickfire ride which would be insanity of anyone even remotely had a thought of sabotage.

Kevin's anger was at himself for screwing up. As to not talking about it, remember that Brian was the one who got all pissy and wouldn't say anything when Kevin asked about Mike V's dish when he was up for elimination. I thought it was rather petty and somewhat asked just to piss Kevin off anyhow.

Of course the producers want thier to be stron emotions from the viewers about the personalities as that only improves the ratings, but the brothers V to me have surpassed Mike I in terms of being total --- well, jerks to put it politely. Mike V is the worst but his brother isn't too far behind.

As to Jen, she just got lucky. Laurine didn't even take the hint the first time about explaining the dishes. As mentioned before here, Jen did do the halibut right, Laurine on the other hand didn't have any positive to grab onto.

[Tri2Cook]

I'm just disappointed that I wasn't there when Jennifer asked if anybody wanted to cuddle.

[GwennP]

Kevin does not need to rely on sabatoge to win a competition. I find him to be one of the most above board they have ever had on the show. He is also confident enough in his own skils that he chose the $$ over immunity when he won that high stakes quickfire. I would not be surprised or disappointed if he took the title.

[TimmDavis]

has it occurred to anyone that this is a competition, and sabotage of a competitor's dish (the lamb) is certainly possible.

perhaps the lamb was undercooked on purpose?

Are you serious? I don't know where to begin.... I've been involved in competition (ACF), I've worked in kitchens, there is a certain honor code. That's stuff you just don't do. And to think that Kevin of all people, is even more absurd.

[MattyC]

Are you serious? I don't know where to begin.... I've been involved in competition (ACF), I've worked in kitchens, there is a certain honor code. That's stuff you just don't do. And to think that Kevin of all people, is even more absurd.

I completely agree. As much you as you might think some people would do something like that, and as much of an ass as some chefs can be, nobody would do something like that. As much as you want to win, you want to win on the strength of your own food. And like mentioned, kevin, of all of them, seems to be the most genuine and level headed guys on there - I couldn't in a million years picture the jolly, pork-loving chef, try something like that.

[CKatCook]

Let's see if I can get this post right

I too cannot imagine Kevin sabatoging anyone's dish, he just don't seem like the type to me.

I think the judges realized that Jen was just having a hard time or she was still sick, maybe they took under consideration her past sucess? But I do think she "dodged a bullet"

I thought some of the arguing that went on in the other kitchen was just uncalled for. I mean, did that guy (I cannot remember his name, but he was one of the V brothers)go after Robin like that? It was her dish and ultimately she would go down for it.

[Tri2Cook]

I mean, did that guy (I cannot remember his name, but he was one of the V brothers)go after Robin like that? It was her dish and ultimately she would go down for it.

I would say that depends on how seriously one takes the theme of the challenge. If he was taking the idea that this was a restaurant seriously then he can't just walk past somebody doing something differently than it's supposed to be done and ignore it because it's "their dish". They discussed exactly how they were going to do things, right down to the portion size and plating. If she was doing it differently, he was perfectly correct to step in and say "it's supposed to be like this...". Unless it's your restaurant or you are an exec. chef with full freedom to risk such decisions, you don't start taking creative license on dishes during service. It may seem like a small thing but a train with over 200 wheels connecting it to the track can be derailed if you mess up just one of them. Yes, I realize it's a tv show and an individual competition but restaurant wars is all about the team theme. If your team wins, you are safe. If your team loses, you have a one in four chance of getting the boot depending on where they decide to lay the blame.

[RWells]

Here is the proof of the pudding. Let's say that the roles were reversed. Robin was in the position of telling the evil VBrother that his plating and portioning was not up to snuff and this is what he HAD to do. Would we even be having a conversation beyond the fact that Robin was the biggest bitch in the world and how justified the Brother would have been in smacking her down? Get this straight I am not a big fan of Robin. She and that idiot Mike, who phoned in his "asparagus" dish are easily the weakest links left. It must be said however that Robin realized her limitations, and frankly outperformed Kevin, Jen, and much to his personal chagrin the evil VBrother. What given the criteria of judging is more impressive. Doing something really well, delivering it on time or overextending yourself, getting lost in the weeds and putting out a late, crappy plate?

I also get a kick out of the "Robin is a yammering, obnoxious old woman who doesn't belong here" school of thought. If being a yammering idiot was a criteria for being voted off the island what pray tell is that neanderthal Mike doing slinking around the kitchen still? We can only hope that the "tease" for next week is true and he poisons Natalie Portman and is voted off.

[Tri2Cook]

Yes. If Michael V. was intentionally or inattentively doing the dish differently than it was agreed as a team that it should be done during service in a restaurant setting and Robin said "Hey, that's not right. It's supposed to be like this..." she would be correct and I would back her every bit as much. It's "restaurant setting" that's the key to my opinion. Otherwise, why bother with menu planning and testing? Just pile some ingredients on the stations and tell everybody to do whatever they feel as the tickets come in.

[RWells]

Do you think for one second that the Evil VBrother would defer to Robin if she called him on altering a planned dish for service? This is about respect, not kitchen organization. Mr. V has no respect for Robin and therefore feels perfectly comfortable in running right over the top of her. Imagine what the video would have shown if Robin had tried to pull the same stunt as the EvilOne did to her. I also for the record think that it is a testosterone issue plain and simple. . This is an assertive good thing if a guy does it and a bitchy, bad thing if a woman does it? I also think that the right way to handle a situation like this is the way the other brother did. Call both of them for disrupting the team. For the record, I am male.

[Tri2Cook]

I didn't say he would defer... she didn't either. I said calling someone (any one) for not doing the food the way it's supposed to be done is perfectly okay with me. Male or female. Should it be done in a polite, respectful manner? Probably (the first time anyway). Is it unusual for things to be done in a less than cuddly manner in restaurants, especially during a busy service? No. Pulling the gender card is unnecessary. As I said, if she had busted his chops for the same thing, I would be fine with it. In the very first episode of this season Jennifer mentioned that she's made more than a few guys cry in her kitchen. I believe her and I don't assume it's because they were guys or because she's "bitchy". I'm willing to bet it's because they wouldn't or couldn't do what she needed them to do the way she needed it done. "You don't have to like it, you just have to do it" is the nature of the business.

[MattyC]

Do you think for one second that the Evil VBrother would defer to Robin if she called him on altering a planned dish for service? This is about respect, not kitchen organization. Mr. V has no respect for Robin and therefore feels perfectly comfortable in running right over the top of her. Imagine what the video would have shown if Robin had tried to pull the same stunt as the EvilOne did to her. I also for the record think that it is a testosterone issue plain and simple. . This is an assertive good thing if a guy does it and a bitchy, bad thing if a woman does it? I also think that the right way to handle a situation like this is the way the other brother did. Call both of them for disrupting the team. For the record, I am male.

I have to disagree with this. Personally, I like Mike V, and wouldn't at all call him evil. I've worked in a lot of kitchens where a chef has acted like that - to either a boy or a girl. It's a simple matter of following the plan, and running a tight ship. When it's really busy, everyone needs to be 100% on the same page, or else the ship can sink. Heck, I can remember one time I had a pan thrown at me, because I was plating a dessert and i changed one small thing. Yeah, a little extreme, but it's you learn that you plan things out for a reason. One small thing can throw a kink in the works. And also, you could say she didn't respect the others for sticking to the plan if she were in fact changing things up? Yes, it was her dish, but it's a team thing. Say she changed one thing, and that one thing the judges didn't like , and it ended up bring the house down on the team? Was she in the right because it was her dish, or was she in the wrong because she set the entire team back?

Mike V ran it like he would run a line in a real restaurant. You keep tight reigns on things, and push people to the goal - and any chef will tell you, it's not personal, it's just pushing. I mean look at the other team. No real leader, and everything went down the drain.

[hsm]

But to have a final 4 without her in it seems not right.

Padme referred to there being a Final 3. So that might be it. Or one of the brothers self-destructs. Hard for me to imagine Kevin not being there.

Padme Amidala? She is next week

The next week preview; had an effect on me it did.

It appeared to me, too, as though Robin had decided to go her own way with the dessert plating. I don't blame the exec chef for calling her on it. I think it might have been Robin's little f.u. to the team, and while I don't blame her for feeling that way, not being the team player isn't much different than not being treated like a team member (or even a game show co-cheftestant).

[et alors]

I think Mike V is far form the evil brother-- he might be the bad boy, but he acts like most chefs who run a great restaurant, and demands perfection and doesn't care much about feelings only about quality. Robin cussing is actually typical in kitchens, although you certainly wouldn't tell your chef to f*ck himself. But Robin had not accepted the authority Mike had given himself, so no protocol was broken, it just was distasteful. I thought it was a an interesting reflection of a new type of kitchen culture, exemplified by Thomas Keller: quiet, polite but intense beyond belief... I think many young chefs are trying to move away form the marco/ramsey violence and obscenity run kitchen.

The proof of Mike V's action are in teh results. Bother of his dishes were called out as some of the best of the night, and he led the kitchen to a win. He took the luck of the knife draw to heart, and acted like a leader. Jen forgot to lead, and got lost in her muscles, and it almost cost her. Mike V might be a jerk, but he may be a winning jerk like Huang. Excellence is not for the faint of heart.

I am a woman BTW. Robin seems to know how to cook, albeit in a more alice waters style rather than ferran way... I rather wish she was more if a bitch and whined less, but then it's not an easy place to be older and a woman. Mike I must go. I hope natalie drops a tofu bomb on him.

[oakapple]

There's pretty strong circumstantial evidence about where the finale is being taped and who the guest judge will be. Don't follow the link if you'd prefer to be surprised.

Edited October 26, 2009 by oakapple (log)

[Dignan]

There's pretty strong circumstantial evidence about where the finale is being taped and who the guest judge will be. Don't follow the link if you'd prefer to be surprised.

Well, color me corrected. I sure didn't think that would ever be in the cards.

[GwennP]

There's pretty strong circumstantial evidence about where the finale is being taped and who the guest judge will be. Don't follow the link if you'd prefer to be surprised.

Well, color me corrected. I sure didn't think that would ever be in the cards.

Well, all I can say is "WOW"

[MattyC]

There's pretty strong circumstantial evidence about where the finale is being taped and who the guest judge will be. Don't follow the link if you'd prefer to be surprised.

Considering the level of talent this season, this would be an awesome finale.

[CtznCane]

The finale, when it arrives should be interesting.

If it comes down to creativity, Kevin and the V Bros are the ones thusfar who've shown the most creativity I think. While they, along with Jen, comprise my top 4 I think Jen has been slightly behind the other 3 on the creativity side. Beyond them yes, there is a bar (and a good sized one) down to Mike I and Eli, and another bar down to Robin.

It's accepted and necessary to have a pretty strong ego for any chef and certainly at this level in this type of competition. That aside, you can have the passion and ego, even some of the arrogance yet not be a total a--. Bottom line is I don't find Mike V to be very respectful. He's certainly shown he likes to push his brothers buttons and to steamroll others. He made a comment (which I can't exactly remember) that he isn't arrogant in response to how he comes across. Sorry Mike V you are arrogant. I liked the fact that Robin got on him about her desert. Yes, she is (based on what we've seen) not on the same level as Mike as a chef yet let us not forget she has (for whatever reason) made it this far and they are equals taking the field at this point. I don't like the condescending attitude many have shown towards Robin and she's taken' all the crap rather gracefully up till now. She knows (I think) that she isn't going to be in the finals but she's at least, to some degree, not going to let people step on her till she leaves.

If this next weeks competition does turn out to be vegan how does that bode for the top 4? Yes, Robin is the weakest but perhaps a veggie week might keep her around for another week.

[Claudia Greco]

Awesome. I can hardly wait.

BTW, I back Mike V on the dessert to-do. I think the team agreed on how the dessert should be plated beforehand, and I think Robin went a little free-form. That being said, I think Mike went into Exec Chef mode and rode herd on one of his kitchen. If he had got that way with anyone else, I don't think his behavior would even be called into question. And had they been in reverse positions, I would definitely have backed Robin, but she is never in a leadership position (!)

The other chefs seem to hold her in low regard not because she's 43, but because (1) on a professional level her skills aren't up with theirs, and (2) on a personal level, she drives everyone crazy with her non-stop, stream-of-consciousness yapping, even aggravating Jen (who is a lot less confrontational and easy irritated than Mike I, Eli, etc.) The only people she hasn't seem to aggravate are the very mature (at age 26) Kevin and the highly mature and laid back Bryan V. Her being 43 isn't the issue, I think - her chatchatchatchatchat and micromanaging people like she's their mom seems to be more to the point - ON TOP on her lower skill level.

[KristiB50]

I can cook better vegetarian than those chefs. Kevin's dish is closest to what I would have made but the rest of them were uninspiring. And I'm not into large portions but a lot of them were so small.

I also noticed Brian followed the servers out with some little copper pots but I didn't see him put anything on the judges plates. Did I miss something?

Really any of the bottom three could have gone and I think Jennifer was hoping it would have been her. She's falling apart. she's probably a good chef on her own time and without restrictions.

I honestly thought Robin would do better. I also think the other chefs need to get over it and accept she's there so quit kicking walls and worry about yourself Eli!

Natalie was a good judge. She really seemed to enjoy being there and didn't have a list of restrictions. I wonder if the kitchen had restrictions because with vegetarian you can still use butter, cream, and cheese and with the exception of Jens sauce I didn't see any of those items.

[TAPrice]

I continued to think Michael V. just doesn't understand that food should taste good. His disparaging comment about Kevin's dish pretty much confirmed that. He scoffed that he could have pulled that off in 20 minutes.

Well, maybe, but it seemed pretty clear Kevin's dish tasted better and was actually filling. Can someone remind Michael V. that food is made to be eaten?

It does seem like Michael V. (and probably his brother) is a chef's chef. That might ultimately be his downfall.

[Darcie B]

I continued to think Michael V. just doesn't understand that food should taste good. His disparaging comment about Kevin's dish pretty much confirmed that. He scoffed that he could have pulled that off in 20 minutes.

Well, maybe, but it seemed pretty clear Kevin's dish tasted better and was actually filling. Can someone remind Michael V. that food is made to be eaten?

It does seem like Michael V. (and probably his brother) is a chef's chef. That might ultimately be his downfall.

I couldn't agree more. Michael V. seems to think that because his food is more challenging or creative it should automatically win over something more simple. It seemed he wasn't just disparaging in his comments; he was seething. Someone needs a timeout!

It's really sad to watch Jen fall apart. I think she almost wanted the judges to send her packing. I hope she can pull out of this but I don't think that's likely.

[TAPrice]

In his blog, the big man confirms my impression of Michael V.:

I know that Mike V. was furious that Kevin won this challenge — as we all saw in the episode, he felt that Kevin’s techniques were more rudimentary than his and didn’t merit the win. He said something to the effect that he could have made Kevin’s dish in culinary school, that he cooks that way when whipping things up at home on his weekends off. In general, please do not be snowed by the techniques employed by the Voltaggio brothers. Yes, they’re employing advanced techniques versus Kevin’s more basic methods, but at the end of the day unless you can pull off those elevated elements and actually make the food taste great, I don’t care how many blowtorches it took to create the dish — Kevin’s food not only is consistently well executed but also tastes really incredibly good. Young chefs are often keen to use technological wizardry and forget how to just roast something and make it really delicious, and perhaps Michael would do well to use the “weekend technique” he’s disparaging in order to make his food soulful and flavorful. In general, when Kevin has won challenges, the Voltaggio brothers’ methods might have been more advanced and out there but were weaker on seasoning. So I usually agree with the results when Kevin wins.