Top Chef Greatest Moments, What's Yours?

[Big Joe the Pro]

It might be funny to mention some of our favorite moments of the show?

Mine's season two (had to look on Wikipedia to narrow that down to specifics as I couldn't remember) when Mike wanted to get a six-pack of beer with his food at the store checkout and Sam talked him out of it.

Remember that guy? He also started 'boxing' at Chef Tom (who didn't look too pleased). What a corker!

Sam Talbot is running his own restaurant in NYC now, I believe?

Ok, what are some of the funny, interesting, stupid, silly, etc. things that you remember?

[weinoo]

I'm trying to remember the skimpiest outfit Padma has worn.

[Big Joe the Pro]

I'm trying to remember the skimpiest outfit Padma has worn.

THAT'S what I'm talkin' about.

It's gotta be the bikini in what, last season, or was that two seasons back now? I remember the other Mike and Tiffany were there so it had to have been All-Stars on what, British Virgin Islands or some such place.

[Syzygies]

Hawaii, season two.

[weinoo]

What ever happened to Marcel?

[huiray]

Sorry, but Padma does nothing for me. Nada. Zip.

Some greatest good moments (I'm going to include sequences etc) right off the top of my head?

• "I'm not your bitch, bitch".

• Michael Voltaggio explaining why he wanted to be Top Chef in S6's finale before JT.

• The Voltaggio brothers' dust-off with Robin Leventhal in the kitchen during Restaurant Wars. "Relax. Relax. Reeeeelax."

• Mike Isabella brushing up before the final stretch of Season 8 and cooking the pants off everyone else except for The Perpetual Doubter (Richard Blais) in the finale and even then only by a hair. That finale meal was also one of the most memorable, including that (heh) Pepperoni Sauce.

• Hung Huynh going through those chickens in no time flat. Awesome.

• The meal presented for Charlize Theron in that "Evil Queen" episode. Special mention for Grayson Schmitz's and Paul Qui's dishes.

There are lots more, but that's enough for now...

Some greatest low points/sequences for me:

• Almost anything where Josie Smith-Malave said or did anything, especially on the current season.

• The attempted "Marcel Vigneron Head Shaving" incident.

• Dale Talde smashing those lockers with his fists in anger.

• Colicchio accusing Hung Huynh of not cooking with soul whenever he did something French-like (in which he was trained) and expecting him to cook Vietnamese because he was Vietnamese.

• Colicchio & José Andrés so misunderstanding Chinese cuisine and making pronouncements on how bad Ed Cotton's Chinese-style duck was when even the Chinese guy from the Chinese embassy had said it was very good, very authentic (and Cotton had been taught the dish by his Chinese girlfriends at the time).

• Kelly Liken (and the other cheftestants) being so squeamish and scared about sampling the "Pak Cham Kai"/Hainanese Chicken in that shop KF Seetoh took them to in Singapore because it was "cold" (actually, at room temperature) and had been at that temperature for a while.

• Angelo Sosa being dissed constantly for "cooking only Asian" especially by Timoty Dean, Kevin Sbraga and even Kenny Gilbert; whereas in truth he did NOT. What, just waving soy sauce over a dish would make it "Asian", whatever that means? (Also, if you want to say "Chinese" or "Japanese" or even "East Asian", why not say so?)

• The whole Heather Terhune show. (I still won't go to her place anymore to eat. I might have a cocktail); followed closely by the Sarah Grueneberg show.

• Special mention to the Heather Terhune oleaginously leeching over Chris Crary show in the piano lounge.

OK, enough for now, too, in this category...

I'm sure I'll add more...

p.s. On a related note and in a related show - Top Chef Just Desserts - that jaw-dropping sequence of Seth Caro having his meltdown... Oh, I particularly remember Morgan Wilson's chocolate dress.

Edited February 6, 2013 by huiray (log)

[huiray]

What ever happened to Marcel?

Marcel Vigneron last appeared on TV on The Next Iron Chef: Redemption, when he made it to the final four. I think he is currently still developing/working on his own consulting/cooking company?

[Broken English]

Gail Simmons' cleavage is always a special time.

Honestly though, Blais coming good on his potential and winning All Stars.

[Zeemanb]

The cheftestants walking into a hotel room to find Padma and Nigella in bed in their robes is a moment that has no equal for me.

[et alors]

anytime Hung picked up a knife. And his smurf village. Elia's roast chicken. "This isn't Top Chef Scallops." and Consentino wining with raw beef heart, if I can throw in a master's moment. I loved that finale.

I was looking at the past winner's table on teh finale in season ten and thinking: is it time for a top chef all-winner show? They are NOT created equal. and they have about enough, esp if they fill in with a couple runners up.

[Big Joe the Pro]

anytime Hung picked up a knife. And his smurf village. Elia's roast chicken. "This isn't Top Chef Scallops." and Consentino wining with raw beef heart, if I can throw in a master's moment. I loved that finale.

I was looking at the past winner's table on teh finale in season ten and thinking: is it time for a top chef all-winner show? They are NOT created equal. and they have about enough, esp if they fill in with a couple runners up.

A 'Top Chef Winners All-Star' show? That sounds like a great idea.

[IndyRob]

I would like to see a side-by-side of Hung going through chickens, and Kristen going through LCK contestants.

Who went through more?

[et alors]

I would like to see a side-by-side of Hung going through chickens, and Kristen going through LCK contestants.

Who went through more?

LOL! It *was* remarkably similar....

Kristen crushing Jose was another fine moment in more recent memory.