Top Chef: Season 6 – Las Vegas

[David Ross]

I guess what's coalescing in the foggy recesses of my brain (which actually includes most of the acreage available) is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of limitation on the ingrediants the have to use in a quickfire. Maybe to the point that it's the same range they would have for an elimation challenge? The theme, plus the prep time seems to be the limitation in both instances. But Jen in the potato quickfire cooked mussels or clams or some kind of shellfish if I recall, and garnished it with a potato broth? The edit is a mad scramble to cook, but it seems like maybe they they got more time to get their scheiss together than it might seem.

I agree, and I think you've pointed out what I see as the keys to the Quickfire Challenges--how to present a dish that fits within the time constraints of the challenge and using techniques that lend themselves to quick preparations. That has to be balanced with a consideration for the "theme" of the Quickfire. Applying those principles by selecting the appropriate, and unique, ingredients seems to be what makes the difference in who loses and who wins.

[Tri2Cook]

I personally don't think that slicing a raw scallop, garnishing it with a few chives, a drizzle of olive oil and serving it with a lemon wedge, (Jennifer's "Angel" portion of her scallop dish), is anything more than a pedestrian effort to race through and get the dish out to the judges.

To be completely fair, there was also seared scallop, a mushroom sauce and a celery root puree on the plate. While it doesn't make the "simple scallops" themselves any more challenging, it is a much better effort when viewed as an entire plate. One ingredient contrasting two textures and temperatures.

[CtznCane]

I for one thought it was tacky wearing the red bandanas thinking Mattin should still be there. As such I loved it when Robin won the quickfire. No, Robin will not be around in the end but other than talking a good game Mattin didn't show much. In no particular order it does seem likely that Robin, Ash, and Laurine are the 3 weakest links left.

Given the time constraints on the quickfires I don't find the amount of scallop dishes out of line.

While the V boys go over the top a bit, I think in the end that will eventually do them in. Let's face it, most good chefs have pretty strong egos, I'm just starting to find their aloofness to be greater than their abilities. All the while Kevin just keeps moving along, getting it done, and not being quite the egomaniac some of the others are. Ashley too seems to have settled in and is showing she can't be counted out. I guess with the V boys, more than anything I find their dishes getting a little more pretentious all the time.

[Tri2Cook]

I guess with the V boys, more than anything I find their dishes getting a little more pretentious all the time.

I don't like classifying peoples food as pretentious. It seems like it's the cool thing to backlash against modern creative cuisine by calling everything that doesn't resemble something knocked together after work and dumped on a plate pretentious. It's just another way of approaching food that introduces ingredients, techniques and flavor combinations in new or different ways to achieve the same goal that has always existed... good food. I wonder if the person who decided to dump a bottle of wine in the beef stew and call it bourguignon was considered pretentious or creative? If the brothers maintain the level of quality they've displayed up to this point and are eliminated based strictly on the techniques they use to achieve the result, that will be the end of the show for me. But that's not going to happen. If the food is good, Colicchio will say it's good regardless of whether he's a fan of the technique or not.

[gfweb]

Pretentious food has a lot to do with the spirit of the guy who cooks it. What's pretentious for one wouldn't be for another.

Pretentious food also varies with the setting. Fancy, white tablecloth-type food at a football tailgate or a school lunchbox is pretentious, but not at Daniel.

[et alors]

Has anyone else noticed how much the chefs are helping each other? i was touched with kevin and eli trying to help ron figure out paella, and ash saucing jen's plates... seems classy and right.

i cannot believe mike had never heard of eggs florintine. how is that possible? reminded me o his arrogance in the face of the french challenge... get out of your kitchen once in a while man.

Was Kevin's prize announcement dripping with irony or was that just me? "guess who got a box of non-stick pans? oh boy, i can die happy now!"

[pax]

i cannot believe mike had never heard of eggs florintine. how is that possible? reminded me o his arrogance in the face of the french challenge... get out of your kitchen once in a while man.

There was a little out take of a couple of them discussing where "Florentine" might be. I was really boggled that chefs, at least, wouldn't know the names of basic Italian regions. Ok, so it's not Tuscany, but jeez louis!

[chezcherie]

i cannot believe mike had never heard of eggs florintine. how is that possible? reminded me o his arrogance in the face of the french challenge... get out of your kitchen once in a while man.

There was a little out take of a couple of them discussing where "Florentine" might be. I was really boggled that chefs, at least, wouldn't know the names of basic Italian regions. Ok, so it's not Tuscany, but jeez louis!

actually, it IS tuscany. (i agree about the geez louis(e)!)

[Dignan]

i cannot believe mike had never heard of eggs florintine. how is that possible? reminded me o his arrogance in the face of the french challenge... get out of your kitchen once in a while man.

There was a little out take of a couple of them discussing where "Florentine" might be. I was really boggled that chefs, at least, wouldn't know the names of basic Italian regions. Ok, so it's not Tuscany, but jeez louis!

actually, it IS tuscany. (i agree about the geez louis(e)!)

Awesome!

[pax]

Er, I guess I meant...Florence is a city...not a region. You know what I mean?

[TimmDavis]

I didn't like her. Not even when she gave that turd Toby a hard time.

I want Gail back and right now!

She'll be gone for a couple episodes. If I recall correctly, with her obligations to Food and Wine - she had to miss a couple episodes because the Aspen Food and Wine event was going on. That's her baby, she's in charge of the whole thing. So get used to Toby, she's off doing her real job.

[CaliPoutine]

I think Jesse will be the next to go.  Jennifer, Kevin, Bryan and Michael - all strong contenders. Two James Beard nominees and a chef who works under Ripert MUST be treated seriously!

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I agree. I had to roll my eyes and laugh when Jesse started to cry in front of the judges.

I think the men vs women idea is lame.

And I think whining about a possible challenge (we're in Vegas so there has to be a wedding challenge and I'm gonna hate it cuz I can't get married!") is lame.

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Right. I agree it must bum out the gay cheftestants to have to cook for a ceremony in which they cannot participate, but as a chef, it's about the food, the event, the challenge. Ashley (?) could've pretended it was for HER wedding - that had a lot of men attending.

Funny, they didnt have a problem cooking for the military which has its own history of homophobia!! Dont ask, Dont tell!!

[eldereno]

What is this with no new episode tonight????

[tino27]

Totally agreed, eldereno. Come on, Bravo ... if you start showing new episodes on random Wednesdays, you'll lose me as a viewer.

[Doodad]

Wasn't it Gail Gand (sp) who made the baby food reference on TC Masters?

[gfweb]

Totally agreed, eldereno. Come on, Bravo ... if you start showing new episodes on random Wednesdays, you'll lose me as a viewer.

ditto

[oakapple]

Does anyone know when the next new episode will appear?

I recall some skipped weeks last season, but for obvious reasons (e.g., Thanksgiving and Christmas). I didn't know that the Wednesday after Yom Kippur is now elevated to a Top Chef holiday.

[pax]

I watch Top Chef bought from iTunes, and I make it a habit of not reading this thread until after iTunes is bothered enough to get around to putting the new episode up. I've been cursing out iTunes for weeks now. DON'T EVER BUY THE SEASON PASS.

And random non Top Chef weeks make me cranky.

[Dignan]

It appears the season will resume with a new episode next week and finish out without further interruption (though I don't know when the finale is to occur). And it looks like the only seasons that didn't have some sort of interruption in the schedule were the 1st and 4th. Season 3 had 3 of them, with the 4th of July, a "special" re"crap" episode week or some such thing, and then a late wednesday in August. Most hiatus occured during holiday "seasons" rather than because they fell on specific holidays. This gap and the 3rd one in Season 3 seems like the only completely random ones.

[Ochowie]

Michelle and Toby were talking past each other. Toby is right that there are a ton of foreign words that are not normally pronounced as the natives would pronounce them. We say PAIR-iss, not pah-REE, muh-DRID, not mah-DREED, FLOR-ence, not feer-EN-zay, and so forth. But he was being, I think, deliberately obtuse when he tried to get smug about the British pronunciation of Paella.

Although I prefer Jay Rayner to Toby, what's wrong with having Gail Simmons every week? She is more knowledgeable than Toby and a lot easier on the eyes.

Actually, the reason Toby mentioned the whole pronunciation of foreign words was because Tom called him out on his pronunciation of Paella. He was just talking about the dish and then Tom made some comment on how "We can't even agree on how to pronounce the word". Normally I hate Toby and wish he wasn't on the show, but this time I will have to defend him in his comments about pronunciation.

[Claudia Greco]

Well, yeah, Tom called Toby out on it because Toby couldn't get his brain around why a double L in Spanish is pronounced "y" - hence, "pie-EH-yah." And, in response to an earlier post last week, yes, "llama" should be pronounced "yah-ma", not lah-ma (as in "Llama 1-800-" - "Call 1-800-"), even though native English speakers almost always mess that up. So maybe the furry little Andean ungulate technically SHOULD be a yah-ma, not a lah-ma, but I doubt we'll get the whole of the English-speaking world to change, at this point . . . ("Yo mama, yah-ma!") (Fed up Preuvian posters, feel free to jump in (!))

Edited October 2, 2009 by Claudia Greco (log)

[David Ross]

I'm with the cranky group that's not all to happy with the Producer's for not showing a new episode this week. It just adds to my aggravation of when they run two or three previous episodes to build up to the week's new show. It seems to me that they are teetering on losing viewer interest by changing up the schedule format, but maybe they have some chart on a piece of cardboard with arrows and graphs showing this is a profitable way to air a reality cooking competition.

[tammylc]

I watch Top Chef bought from iTunes, and I make it a habit of not reading this thread until after iTunes is bothered enough to get around to putting the new episode up. I've been cursing out iTunes for weeks now. DON'T EVER BUY THE SEASON PASS.

And random non Top Chef weeks make me cranky.

I watch my Top Chef via Amazon Video on Demand, and they are much more punctual about getting new episodes up than iTunes.

[Doodad]

If you have comcast, they have TC up now too. They are usually only a day behind on current shows. They have the extras with Fabio cooking as well.

[Tsulli1]

I believe it was Wolfgang Puck who made the babyfood comment.

Edited October 5, 2009 by Tsulli1 (log)