Top Chef: California – Season 13

[huiray]

Top Chef Season 13 will be returning to California, spread over 6 cities: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Diego.

 

http://www.eater.com/2015/4/14/8315117/confirmed-top-chef-season-13-san-diego-california

[lindag]

Portland (OR) was hoping to be chosen, especially since two of the finalists from last season were from there.

I'd have love to have seen that.

[Shalmanese]

Speaking as a Californian, I'd much rather see Top Chef choose a previously unfeatured city like Portland or Atlanta vs doing LA and SF over again.

[Toliver]

Call me cynical but does anyone want to bet that when they get to San Diego they end up at Richard Blais' Juniper & Ivy restaurant? 

[huiray]

Confirmed: A gay wedding, officiated by Art Smith, on TC Season 13.**

 

http://www.eater.com/2015/5/14/8609271/confirmed-top-chef-season-13-will-feature-a-same-sex-wedding

http://www.eater.com/2015/5/8/8573573/top-chef-california-rumor-gossip-season-13-same-sex-wedding

 

p.s. TC SEason 1 (episode 8) had a same-sex couple being catered to by the cheftestants, but it was a commitment ceremony rather than an official wedding (California did not have legal civil marriage until 2008, interrupted by Prop 8 for a while)

 

[gfweb]

Isn't about that time of year for another TC?

 

But I don't see it scheduled.

[huiray]

Isn't about that time of year for another TC?

 

But I don't see it scheduled.

 

Neither do I. Curious. 

[Jaymes]

Had the same thought.  Even went searching.  No mention of date.  And, on their Facebook page, other folks asking.

 

Curious indeed.

[Jaymes]

Did see an announcement saying "Late 2015" - whatever that means.

[heidih]

Info received from member Pierogi  http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/videos/playlist?clip=2915634

 

Looks like Dec 2, 2015

Edited October 19, 2015 by heidih (log)

[huiray]

Aha! Thanks, heidih & Pierogi.

 

I just picked this up from my emailbox :

http://www.eater.com/2015/10/19/9568451/top-chef-announces-season-13-road-trip

 

Grayson Schmitz (from Season 9) is re-competing.

 

Here's the list, copied from the eater.com article:

 

Karen Akunowicz, Boston
Angelina Bastidas, Miami
Carl Dooley, Boston
Garret Flemming, Washington, D.C.
Jeremy Ford, Miami
Renee Kelly, Shawnee Mission, KS
Phillip Frankland Lee, Los Angeles
Marjorie Meek-Bradley,Washington, D.C.
Kwame Onwuachi, Washington, D.C.
Amar Santana, Orange County, CA
Grayson Schmitz, New York City
Jason Stratton, Seattle
Frances Tariga-Weshnak, New York City
Isaac Toups, New Orleans
Wesley True, Atlanta
Giselle Wellman, Los Angeles
Chad White, San Diego, CA & Tijuana, Mexico

..

 

The companion piece to the one Pierogi sent on was posted to Bravo this afternoon, which also has some blurb from them.

http://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/top-chef-season-13-chrissy-teigen-mc-hammer

and the chef bios are now also up on the bravotv site.

[Toliver]

From the San Diego Tribune online:  "San Diego on menu for new ‘Top Chef’ season"

 

December 2nd & 3rd are the premiere nights for this new season.

 

[Chimayo Joe]

I enjoyed watching Grayson, but I really don't like it when Top Chef lets contestants compete again. That just seems like a huge advantage over the other contestants. If they want to recycle people through the show, they should do a season made up entirely of people who have already competed.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Chimayo Joe (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Chad!!! That's so cool. He is a great guy. Can't wait to watch him compete.

[huiray]

I enjoyed watching Grayson, but I really don't like it when Top Chef lets contestants compete again. That just seems like a huge advantage over the other contestants. If they want to recycle people through the show, they should do a season made up entirely of people who have already competed.

 

They did. It was called Top Chef All Stars. :-) 

 

Apart from that season, they've also had 4 cheftestants who competed twice in past seasons: 

Chris "CJ" Jacobsen (S3 & S10)

Josie Smith-Malave (S2 & S10)

Stefan Richter (S5 & S10)

Stephanie Cmar (S10 & S11)

 

List of all competitors through S12.

[Chimayo Joe]

Right, I enjoyed the All Stars. I just don't like it when they put people who already have experience with TC in with the noobies.

[huiray]

Reminder: TC California (Season 13) starts tomorrow night Dec 2 at 10 pm EST on Bravo.

[Lisa Shock]

Interesting start to the season. I like the basic skills tests, I think they reveal a lot and offer a level playing field.

 

This should be a good season, I think. First challenge and only one person made a mistake. Sure there was some boring food as well, but overall, the quality of the dishes was quite high. I suspect Grayson might have been trying to land in the middle of the pack as a strategy (nothing too risky, nothing too weird, make something you know well, don't fall on your face) and it backfired on her. As the judges noted, a couple of their top picks were not chosen by the crowd as placing in the top. I think that reflects a really strong group.

 

Although, I bet the slob, Wesley gets booted off quickly. The tasting spoon incident was really disgusting. I wager that he will become the first chef ever booted from the show for a health code violation. Also, his disingenuous voiceover about how he doesn't know why winds up being so messy was annoying. I will take this opportunity to be the first person to quote Star Trek's Captain Picard, "Shut up Wesley!"

 

The website has pictures of each contestant's dish and a slideshow of extra tools some brought.

[huiray]

I agree with Lisa Shock.  A good start.

 

The TC judges seemed to be more measured than before, I noticed, at least in what was broadcast after the show had been edited of course. They also put emphasis in this first episode (again, could simply be editing) on saying that nothing really stunk, although that could also simply be a function of an overall fairly uniformly strong group - as Lisa alluded to.

 

Yes, Grayson got through by the skin of her skinny-chin-chin, but she didn't make a BAD dish - rather, a somewhat confused dish that fell below the others and not of the standard that the judges expected from her. So much for any "advantages" a past competitor may have from competing again. Mind you, from the limited perspective of what I saw as a non-taster and from my armchair I wouldn't have complained about her meatballs. (Still, Amar Santana's meatballs DID look very good!)

 

The chap with the man-bun (Phillip Frankland Lee) appears to be the budding villain - with his blather and "New Californian Cuisine" strutting. The TC judges (Emeril Lagasse and Gail Simmons) also made some side remarks about THAT, heh. (And, later, his claiming to know "all the critics" etc.)  And he used the dried grass/hay on the ground just besides his setup to burn and smoke his stuff? He just walked on it, plus whatever else, plus whatever shit may be in it... Personally, I found his dish the least attractive and scattered and much too futzy and precious. And foam. Ick. Of course, I did not get to actually taste it.

 

I, too, blinked a bit at the lady who sunnily introduced herself as that blah-blah exacting chef (the first one in the introductions) just before the 1st Quickfire. Really? Is that how you introduce yourself? Some of the other cheftestants in brief vignettes after that rolled their eyes at that, and rightly so IMO.

 

Regarding Wesley True ("The Pig" (his self-characterization); the slob (per Lisa Shock)) — I have to say even I - who is NOT the neatest person in the kitchen - was taken aback by the mess he created everywhere he banged around, even semi-spilling that other chef's food when he plonked down his pot on the stove. And --- that tomato water he made, gummy label and all included (!!!) – what happened to it? What he presented at the actual event (Shrimp & Clams with Mustard Potato Salad) didn't seem to contain that tomato water, or at least was not described as having it as a component...

 

Glad that Jeremy Ford made it through and was eventually successful. I wondered about the wisdom of preparing a crudo a DAY before it was to be served, but he seemed to have pulled it off quite successfully.  His sticking those chicken pieces in the oven during the QF cook-off, though, then expecting Wesley to find them --- that was risky, at the least. But his comments about what Jason Stratton could possibly have in mind when he (Jason) made all those "preparations" seemed to me to be justified.

[huiray]

Gail Simmons' blog on episode 1 (episode 1.1?) is good reading. She comments on various issues including the strength of the chefs, the nastiness of the man-bun guy using that dried grass, reiterates that Grayson Schmitz's meatballs weren't bad - just ho-hum, and explains why it was Garret Fleming who got chopped. 

 

BTW1, in the slide-show of the dishes in the EC for episode 1, they left out the winning dish (Jeremy Ford's crudo).  WTF.

 

BTW2, in the slide-show of extra tools the cheftestants brought, they didn't show the cleaver in Frances Tariga-Weshnak's set that she was clearly and audibly using in breaking down her chickens. WTF2.

[huiray]

Good, the Kardashian-wannabe (a.k.a. Renee, the "super sassy" chef) is gone. After sashaying and smirking through episode 1 and the garden at the vegan restaurant and extolling her oh-s0-healthy lifestyle she produced a pretty underwhelming beet dish. Then she nonchalantly burnt her chicken and managed to cook with lemongrass without imparting any lemongrass flavor to her dish in Last Chance Kitchen. Buh-bye.

 

 

 

 

[Lisa Shock]

Renee will probably show up with her own series on the Cooking Channel within 2 years. She's cute, but, really doesn't have much imagination.

 

The losing team, running a popup at a vegan restaurant, lacked team spirit and I think each of the individual chefs on the team were responsible for sinking themselves with a bad attitude. I mean, really? You can't cook one dish, just one dish without animal products? There isn't a single vegetable that makes you happy? Not to mention ignoring the restaurant owner, when they could have been grilling him on bestselling dishes, customer requests, and generally asking him what to cook. Attitude played a huge role in this team's downfall. If they had just admitted ignorance like Team Persia, they could of picked up pointers and had their food elevated. Instead, they chose to make fun of the cuisine and then, unsurprisingly, made uninspired food. Phillip was bossy, but showed that he isn't a leader or manager.

 

I was really surprised that Team Mexico dropped the ball so badly. Funny that the one guy who didn't know much about it had the 'Hail Mary' dish.

 

I was afraid for Team Korea, but, it all worked out. Asking people at the specialty market was a good idea. Overall, it was risky making the wings, but, they turned out easy enough to make and tasty enough to be solidly in the upper end of  middle of the pack.

 

In some ways, I wish this episode was longer, I would have liked to have seen more about  certain kitchens and the restraints working there.

[Shelby]

UGH my DVR didn't record.  I can't wait to watch.  

 

I know nothing about Renee (who got kicked off) but she was one I was going to cheer for simply because she's from KC.  I guess that's out the window lol.

[gfweb]

Grayson has a big attitude problem. Hope she gets over it.

[huiray]

Grayson has a big attitude problem. Hope she gets over it.

 

That's true, but she also does have valid beefs with the TC judges IMO, especially as she becomes more "firm" in her way of doing things and in her approach 4 years on. She definitely is a carnivore (if not an omnivore), which is quite plain from her comments about animals being placed on this Earth to be eaten, heh – but also from her sticking to what she does. Those meatballs of hers in episode 1 - they were of her style, encompassing various European influences; but was still faulted by the judges for "not showing whom she was". Uh, I though she just did.^¶¶ Reminds me of Tom Colicchio blasting Hung Huynh for not cooking Vietnamese food (at least TOM's conception of Vietnamese food^§§), because he was of Vietnamese heritage, even though he had been trained in French cuisine and had chosen to do French cuisine.

 

^¶¶ I also dunno about Padma Lakshmi's comment about it being like any pizza parlor's meatballs -- some pizza parlors produce pretty good food including very nice meatballs. Just because it isn't EMP or Per Se doesn't mean a corner low-down diner can't produce wonderful food.

 

^§§ See, as another example, Tom's blasting of Travis Masar's shrimp in tomato sauce in TC Season 11 as NOT Vietnamese but was "Italian" --- uhh, Tom, had you ever heard of tôm sốt cà chua? If not you just need to stop pretending you are an expert on "ethnic" food.

ETA: Or of his (and José Andres') bashing of Ed Cotton's tea-smoked duck in TC season 7 as garbage, when the Chinese diplomat at that meal had praised it as very good, very authentic.

Edited December 4, 2015 by huiray (log)