Top Chef: Seattle

[Brown Hornet]

Following my last post, I think this season is much better if you include LCK which has been stellar. Maybe it's just the format of the quickfire-style challenges, but the dishes on LCK appear to have been far more creative than on the regular episodes.

[huiray]

Following my last post, I think this season is much better if you include LCK which has been stellar. Maybe it's just the format of the quickfire-style challenges, but the dishes on LCK appear to have been far more creative than on the regular episodes.

Heh. Perhaps we should consider skipping the upcoming episodes in Season 11 (Yes, it's happening!!! Yes, it's coming!!!) except for the finale and the LCK webcasts *if* they stick to that "new" style? :-)

[annabelle]

Yay! The breakfast and bacon guy with the arrogant attitude and ridiculous mustache is gone! Gone after failing in LCK too!

Brooke Williamson is increasingly unlikable.

Here's to Kristen FTW!

[Zeemanb]

Yay! The breakfast and bacon guy with the arrogant attitude and ridiculous mustache is gone! Gone after failing in LCK too!

Brooke Williamson is increasingly unlikable.

All I know is, as someone who became a parent a little over 2 months ago....I can't imagine a scenario other than being drafted into a war where I would have missed the birth of my daughter. My wife didn't like the guy for the majority of the season, then started warming up to him, and last night when we watched the episode she hated him again. Hindsight is 20/20, but he would have been far more likeable as the chef who skipped his first chance at TC to be with his wife and competed during the next season....vs. the dude who missed something like a birth and then got sent packing.

[gfweb]

Yay! The breakfast and bacon guy with the arrogant attitude and ridiculous mustache is gone! Gone after failing in LCK too!

Brooke Williamson is increasingly unlikable.

All I know is, as someone who became a parent a little over 2 months ago....I can't imagine a scenario other than being drafted into a war where I would have missed the birth of my daughter. My wife didn't like the guy for the majority of the season, then started warming up to him, and last night when we watched the episode she hated him again. Hindsight is 20/20, but he would have been far more likeable as the chef who skipped his first chance at TC to be with his wife and competed during the next season....vs. the dude who missed something like a birth and then got sent packing.

I was at the birth of both of my kids and after a few years I remembered very little. I remember fish I've caught better. Odd.

Anyway. I sympathize with the guy a little. He's offered what seems like his one big break...how do you choose? Not easy if one has a little ambition. I blame the Elves. They could've said that they'd just put him in the next TC, but they obviously didn't cause they lusted after the drama of him missing the birth.

[Dignan]

Don't know if it will change any opinions, and not saying it should, but this was either his third or fourth time through a delivery. His bio says he has three daughters, but I don't know if that includes this one or not. I've seen commentary suggesting it was his first child, which I think would be ... "more of a challenge to miss?"

[Jaymes]

I was on his side a lot more until he was asked something about preferring to be home and he said nope.

I noticed that. And I'll bet his wife will, too.

[annabelle]

This was their third child. My husband was with me when I had my kids and I didn't find him to be particularly useful, so this was a non-issue to me.

I'd like to get inside the decision making process on who gets the boot and why. Generally in the past, making a broth that is too salty to eat is a ticket home. Everyone at the Governor's dinner agreed that the fish/shellfish was well-prepared, but the broth ruined the dish.

Josh makes a trio (always a bad idea) of fois gras, one of which is wrongly prepared yet edible and it's adios!

I don't get it.

Where is the next season to be filmed? Anyone know?

Thank goodness The Worst Chefs in America returns on Sunday.

[huiray]

...

Where is the next season to be filmed? Anyone know?

...

Not known yet to non-insiders. If you look again at the eater.com link I posted above, it says this in the blah-blah:

"Eater spies should start fixing their eyeballs on Whole Foods in cities with well-heeled tourism bureaus sometime after March 1. Both Portland and Boston have been mentioned as possible shooting locations in the past."

Sooo....if you have a Whole Paycheck in your area and you go there you might keep an eye out too for notices posted on the doors regarding a "special event" going on in the store and if you enter you may be on camera...or what seems to be cheffie-types running around shopping in a hurry...with cameras chasing them...etc etc. :-) Those who follow up-and-coming chefs on Twitter etc who suddenly notice they have gone silent may have their suspicions suitably aroused too - that has been one way in which "possible cheftestants" have been reported in the past. :-D

[annabelle]

Nope, no Whole Foods around here. Portland? Do we know which one, Maine or Oregon? Boston might be okay, but it is a right pain in the rear to navigate, let alone with a camera crew in tow.

Wait a minute. The comments to that article were written in April of last year. It sounds like they are speculating on this season.

I'm a little sick of the Northwest (sorry Dave) and would love it if they would go to the South. Somewhere like Savannah would be great.

Edited February 16, 2013 by annabelle (log)

[David Ross]

I doubt they'd shoot in Portland, Oregon, right after the Seattle season. While the food cultures are different, the seasons for ingredients are basically the same in both cities.

I have on-demand from Comcast Cable so I watch the episodes about three times. Gives me a better idea of the dishes they prepared. I wasn't sorry to see Josh go. I just never thought that he was at the Top Chef level, although his mistake with the scallop pasta that turned out to be scrambled scallops ended up being one of the better dishes this season. I didn't think the sauteed foie gras with an apricot was all that inspired, but I'm sure it was delicious. I did like the foie gras profiterole, but overall I thought his dish didn't really gel with what he's told us about his background in cooking. Sort of the rustic Chef trying to cook Michelin.

[Shelby]

I'm ready for a more southern state, too, Annabelle.

Have they ever done a New Orleans based one?

[David Ross]

Don't be sorry about over-saturation of the Northwest, I'd love to see Top Chef go South. I'm not that familiar with the South, but I'd like to see them go somewhere other than New Orleans, maybe to a Southern city with an up and coming culinary scene.

[chezcherie]

Don't be sorry about over-saturation of the Northwest, I'd love to see Top Chef go South. I'm not that familiar with the South, but I'd like to see them go somewhere other than New Orleans, maybe to a Southern city with an up and coming culinary scene.

charleston?

[huiray]

I think Charleston or Savannah would be great locations. Both are cities I love visiting too - although certain aspects might have gotten a tad "touristy" in more recent years. :-) But that means there are large Tourism Departments in both, no? With $$$ in hand, perhaps? Dinner in Mercer House? ;-) Taking over dinner service in the Pink House? :-D

Shrimp n grits (or another Lowcountry staple) would probably be a compulsory QF challenge then, heh... but PLEASE keep that Deen woman far away from the TC sets...

[David Ross]

The final show typically challenges the Chefs to create a signature 4-course menu that speak to their culinary style. I think it's safe to say that Sheldon's food has an Asian accent. But I'm not sure, after all these weeks, that I can get my arms around what actual style of cuisine that Brooke cooks. I hate the word "New American," but I suppose some of her dishes fit in that category. I've seen French accents in her dishes, and the frogs legs and mussels "Surf and Turf" she did on the ship was bordering on Indian cuisine.

Sheldon, if he pushes himself creatively and seriously focues on technique, put serve some really fantastic dishes. My head is spinning with the possibilities of his menu. Brooke doesn't seem to have a problem with either creativity or technique, but I'm not sure what the focus of her cooking is in terms of cuisine. And then there's the final winner of Last Chance Kitchen............................

[annabelle]

If they do go to the south, I'd like to see Chef Louis Osteen become a judge. He was in Nashville and Charleston and is quite an authority and would be a great change from Terrible Tom.

Low Country cooking is fantastic and very layered and deceptively easy to screw up.

If they stay out of hipsterized college towns, I'll be a happy camper.

[annabelle]

I'm ready for a more southern state, too, Annabelle.

Have they ever done a New Orleans based one?

I think so, Shelby, but I may be thinking of a finale that took place in New Orleans. We can rest assured they won't choose our fine states.

[David Ross]

I really wanted to slap Sheldon and say "come on Man, you can do this, you can do this." He told Tom that he "tasted the broth after I served it." Sheldon, dear boy, why? I have to strongly believe that if the broth wasn't overly salty he would have beaten Brooke's chicken and quail dish. I reflected back on Sheldon's two failed attempts at tempura, something he should easily have mastered. Poor fellow, I'm rooting for him, but the obvious roadblocks staring him in the face are seemingly not being seen.

[huiray]

If they do go to the south, I'd like to see Chef Louis Osteen become a judge. He was in Nashville and Charleston and is quite an authority and would be a great change from Terrible Tom.

Low Country cooking is fantastic and very layered and deceptively easy to screw up.

If they stay out of hipsterized college towns, I'll be a happy camper.

It would be nice to have some new judges, yes - but this thing is Tom Colicchio's gig as far as TPTB is concerned, I fear. Sigh. He can't even get the age of his guest judges correct, smirking in his latest blog about Roy Choi being only "30 (years old) or so" and his saying he came to cheffiehood "late in life". Roy Choi was born in 1970, Tom. I think 42+ years is quite a way off from "30 or so".

BTW that stuff about how he (Roy Choi) was at "rock bottom" &etc and being inspired by Emeril Lagasse is not completely new. He related the circumstances of his personal renaissance in a Food & Wine Best New Chef 2010 Profile . (Which one would have thought Colicchio would have read) Wonder if he is still vegetarian, though.

[huiray]

I'm ready for a more southern state, too, Annabelle.

Have they ever done a New Orleans based one?

I think so, Shelby, but I may be thinking of a finale that took place in New Orleans. We can rest assured they won't choose our fine states.

The finale of Top Chef Season 5 was in New Orleans, "guest-hosted-judged" by Emeril Lagasse.

http://en.wikipedia....inale.2C_Part_1

[lindag]

but PLEASE keep that Deen woman far away from the TC sets...

OMG yes! With her nasal voice and grotesque cackle she'd empty the set.

All that while she's groping all the men.

[Jaymes]

Houston is the 4th-largest city in the US, and all the "experts" seem to be in agreement that it's one of the best food towns in the country. It's an immigrant city, with folks arriving from all over the planet. This has resulted in a lively and rapidly-growing number of businesses, including restaurants & food markets, catering to this international community. In addition, many top "celebrity chefs" have chosen to locate businesses in Houston because of the large population of potential customers, and the relatively low costs of living and doing business here.

So, a great many in the Houston food community were perplexed as to why, when Top Chef came to Texas a short while back, they left out the state's largest and most vibrant food city.

Immediately following the article to which I've linked below, there's an interesting discussion that, if true (and who knows), might shed some light on that mystery; and might help explain Top Chef's other location decisions that you are discussing:

http://www.29-95.com...od-cities-south

.

Edited February 17, 2013 by Jaymes (log)

[huiray]

Houston is the 4th-largest city in the US, and all the "experts" seem to be in agreement that it's one of the best food towns in the country. It's an immigrant city, with folks arriving from all over the planet. This has resulted in a lively and rapidly-growing number of businesses, including restaurants, catering to this international community. In addition, many top "celebrity chefs" have chosen to locate businesses in Houston because of the large population of potential customers, and the relatively low costs of living and doing business here.

So, a great many in the Houston food community were perplexed as to why, when Top Chef came to Texas a short while back, they left out the state's largest and most vibrant food city.

Immediately following the article, there's an interesting discussion that, if true (and who knows), might shed some light on that mystery; and might help explain Top Chef's other location decisions that you are discussing:

http://www.29-95.com...od-cities-south

.

The stuff about Houston declining to shell out $$$ has been known for quite a while. My understanding is that it IS (was) true. Eater.com talked about it even before Top Chef Texas got underway and before it was shown on TV. That Bravo asks candidate cities (for TC-stardom) for money has been known for a while. This is why I mentioned in my previous post about the Tourism Bureaus in Savannah and Charleston possibly having $$$ (or not, as the case may be); and why Eater.com when reporting that the TC franchise had been renewed for Season 11 asked readers for possible tips regarding cities with Whole Paychecks in them that also have "well-heeled tourism bureaus".

It should come as no surprise that the network is such a money-grubber. What do you think all those product placements on TC mean? Or that the Bravo website is so laden with ads and flash content all touting those many products (which shall not be named here) that it not infrequently stalls one of the web browsers I use?

Edited February 17, 2013 by huiray (log)

[annabelle]

If Bravo is going to hold the host city hostage (Houston, for example) I'd tell them to go film elsewhere, too.