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Top Chef Masters


Reignking

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Does anyone know where I can purchase the season for d/l other than iTunes?

“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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The first episode was truly disappointing. It was just boring. I have all the respect and adulation in the world for Tony Mantuano, but I never in my LIFE thought I'd watch an episode of anything and say "wow, he was the most entertaining guy there."

And so many of those quickfires just annoy me. I don't get the gas station or one-aisle quickfires, or most of them for that matter. They have nothing to do with a chef's abilities or talents, and they aren't even entertaining. It's so unrealistic to ask a chef to cook out of a gas station with only $20. I would MUCH rather watch one of the knife/prep skills challenges 50 times in a row before watching a single challenge where they try to make haute cuisine out of cheetos. It's annoying, boring, and unrealistic. UGH.

Anyway, I think this season will turn out pretty good, even though the first episode was major suckage. I'm looking for Graham Elliot Bowles to do some awesome stuff. I think he'll go far this year. I hope, at least.

-K

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I do hope the show improves from here. I found the first date thing kind of strained. And if the editorializing continues, yeah I know it is Bravo, I will find something else to record.

As Top Chef challenges go, this was a pretty reasonable one: something you might actually do in real life (cooking for a first date). Now, the quickfire was totally contrived (cooking with gas station food), but they've used that exact challenge, and many like it, before. It's typical of the show. What usually happens is that the more contrived challenges come earlier in the season; later on, they just let the chefs cook.

I think what made this episode boring is that these were such nice people. They might be very exciting companions in real life, but on the screen they seemed bland. There was a tiny bit of behind-the-scenes carping, but by reality TV standards it was nothing. There was no villain; there was no drama; there were no obvious screw-ups.

Edited by oakapple (log)
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Thanks, but I need to d/l it, and was just looking to resolve the time tissues with iTunes. I can't dvr it, I don't have telly. :biggrin:

“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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Now, the quickfire was totally contrived (cooking with gas station food)...

It's actually not so crazy. One Christmas we went over to my (nigh on elderly) parent's house and discovered they had neglected to take the turkey out of the freezer. We had nowhere near the amount of time it would've taken to thaw and cook the bird (it was meant to be done when we got there). There being nothing else in the house, my wife and I headed out to find something to salvage the Christmas dinner. It being Christmas day, only gas stations and pharmacies were open. So I was facing my own quickfire challenge. Very similar to this one.

This was before Top Chef. I really wish I had seen it first. I did view it as an interesting challenge, but it never occurred to me to think of it as a challenge on this level. We wound up finding a canned ham and some biscuit mix, and it was just okay. I wish I had the inspiration to, say, seek out some donuts for bread pudding, or do a spicy red Cheeto mac n' cheese.

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I liked this weeks episode much more than I did week 1's.

I fall into the group that doesn't care for the gas station or vending machine quickfires. I do like seeing them have to do things with ingredients that are available to the masses. Be it TC or TCM or other cooking shows, I've never cared much for ones in which the ingredients are either so exoorbitantly expensive or so hard to find that one cannot realistically find them. This is the other extreme. I wish they could find some middle ground.

Speaking of that middle ground, I thought week 2's quickfire is the kind of challenge I'd like to see on a regular basis. Twists on something we all fix. Let's hope we see more of this kind of challenge!

I thought both of the elimination challenges so far were fine, though I don't know that I cared for the win as a team lose as a team format. Since we are having (it seems) 2 shows with 6 and 2 shows with 5, I'm wondering if we will see the team concept again next week? What I liked best on week 1 was Govind Armstrong's complaining about the concept and worrying about what his partner was doing and then seeing him put out (what I perceived) as being the worst dish.

One twist that I like is that it appears all of the retreads appear to be competing next week. I don't think that the repeat chefs are in it for the publicity, I think they are back because of their egos primariy and to a lesser extent for their charities.

I enjoyed all of week 2's chefs. I was especially glad to see Carmen Gonzalez win. It's nice to see someone recover from a blunder and win. I think Bravo tried to create a villain of sorts in Marcus who was the only one (it seemed as they tried to make it sound) who wouldn't help with her yucca. All in all I'd hoped the second chef to go on would have been Monica but I think Marcus will be enjoyable to see in the finals.

Charles a food and wine addict - "Just as magic can be black or white, so can addictions be good, bad or neither. As long as a habit enslaves it makes the grade, it need not be sinful as well." - Victor Mollo

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Last night was better, but IIRC, last season didn't get really interesting until the first elimination round was already finished. Although judging from the previews, it looks like the episode where they bring back last year's losers is going to be a fun one to watch.

The quickfire was nice, but man did they overthink it in my opinion. I mean, to me, a grilled cheese is a simple sandwich. Please do not put an insane amount of weirdness into it or change it up very much. Just give me something that will remind me of what I had growing up while simultaneously reminding me that I'm now completely grown up.

What a bad day for Carmen though. I can't believe she won. I felt bad for her that she lost all that time, but I wasn't upset that Marcus didn't help her out, and I was surprised the others did. I could see if there was something that went wrong that she couldn't control, sure, help her out a little bit. But come on, she made a stupid mistake that was absolutely 100% her own fault. She didn't really deserve to be helped. And I know, I know, chefs are supposed to be helpful to each other like in the one episode where they picked ingredient baskets for the other chefs last season. But the reality is that its a competition. It was nice to see Marcus' competitive force. I'm really, REALLY happy that he is moving on and not the Texan chef.

Edited by KCWilkinson (log)

-K

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Count me in as another who really enjoyed last night's show much better. I agree that it got much more interesting last year after the first elimantion rounds were completed. I think I am going to have try the grilled cheese with feta - that's a twist I can handle. Next week's episode looks like it is going to be really good. Having failed last year, many of them feel they have something to prove. It looks like it may have some of the drama/competition element we're more used to seeing in the regular Top Chef series. I love this show!

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I felt bad for her that she lost all that time, but I wasn't upset that Marcus didn't help her out, and I was surprised the others did. I could see if there was something that went wrong that she couldn't control, sure, help her out a little bit. But come on, she made a stupid mistake that was absolutely 100% her own fault. She didn't really deserve to be helped. And I know, I know, chefs are supposed to be helpful to each other like in the one episode where they picked ingredient baskets for the other chefs last season. But the reality is that its a competition. It was nice to see Marcus' competitive force. I'm really, REALLY happy that he is moving on and not the Texan chef.

It's interesting that the two moving on are the one who wouldn't help and the one who was helped. The 'nice guys' finished last.

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So, no issues with the winner using store bought sausage?

Nah, it's not Top Charcutier. In fact I thought the question a little disrespectful, not only to chefs of this caliber, but also to a major sponsor ("What, you're serving me sausage from Whole Foods?").

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Gotta say I disagree with the preference of this episode over the first. There was nothing in this elimination challenge that I found myself dying to eat, which was in sharp contrast to the previous episode. And yuck yuck yuck to Marcus. His pinched forced face when Carmen won was the epitome of sore loser. To me, what makes this show different from the main Top Chef is that these people should all be at a level where they don't need to win by being happy to capitalize on someone else's misfortune. Marcus didn't need to drop everything to help her, but his win-at-all-costs attitude was totally at odds with Hubert Keller and Rick Bayless, my favorite contestants from last season.

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Oseland flirting with the other judge, the brit, whose name escapes me was a hoot! I like this panel of judges there are interesting to watch. I get the impression from reading Oseland's cookbook that he must have a really sensitive palate which may explain why he reacts differently and rather strongly.

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

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

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Marcus didn't need to drop everything to help her, but his win-at-all-costs attitude was totally at odds with Hubert Keller and Rick Bayless, my favorite contestants from last season.

The sound you hear is my clapping! I could not agree with you more. We loved last season of Masters for that very reason. They were true masters that had achieved a level where they could demonstrate a graciousness and "class" in all that they did...admirable! This season feels contrived, as if they are being pushed or "edited" to display what reality TV has come to feast on...the underbelly of the human psyche...jealousy, back-stabbing, whining, ruthlessness. As my grandmother would say..."Che peccata...what a shame!"

Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon, or not at all.

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I can not recall from last season of Top Chef Masters, but are they thinning the herd more in these early rounds?

I mean 4 out of 6 chefs are going home each week. You would think the producers would want to have some of their big name chefs that they have here, around a little longer.

I know I would like to see a elimination process similar to regular Top Chef, maybe send home just the bottom 2 each week.

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These chefs not only cook nightly in their restaurant(s), but own them - unlike the cheftestants on regular TC, I doubt they can commit to an extended length of time, week-to-week. They fly into LA for their first round and then, if they survive the chopping block, they fly back for their semi-final or final. I know they'd all like to showcase their skills and promote their eateries (as well as win for their charities) and have more of a chance to survive their first round, but the reality is - they have kitchens and restaurants - and maybe even culinary empires - to run. Though I, too, would like it if they just culled the bottom 2 every week, not the 4 who aren't the top two.

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Was happy to see Rick Moonen advance to the next round, along with Chef Waxman. Nice job by both.

...and happy to see that douche Ludo get his ass kicked again.

E. Nassar
Houston, TX

My Blog
contact: enassar(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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I can not recall from last season of Top Chef Masters, but are they thinning the herd more in these early rounds?

I mean 4 out of 6 chefs are going home each week. You would think the producers would want to have some of their big name chefs that they have here, around a little longer.

I know I would like to see a elimination process similar to regular Top Chef, maybe send home just the bottom 2 each week.

I think they are in essence thinning it less - I thought the early rounds of last season were 4 chefs, one goes on.

They switch to the regular elimination process once they get the final 8 - I'm sure it lessens the time commitments for these busy chefs until they have a pretty good shot at winning it (e.g. the 9th best chef only has to be in one show vs. 8 in your format).

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I wish they hadn't shown Sursur Lee in the preview commercials before the judging. :angry:

Ewwwwwww, I was *SO* peeved about that, I scared the dogs ! :raz::angry::raz:

Usually that's a Food Network screw-up.

I also have to say, I'm not nearly as enamoured of this season as I was last. I think the concept of having 2 chefs advance each week is making this season seem terribly rushed.

--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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