Bravo's Top Chef Season 2

[BryanZ]

Ooo, btw I loved Elia's headbands. Very late 80's.

[dockhl]

Ooo, btw I loved Elia's headbands.  Very late 80's.

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As an optometrist, I have to say that her glasses bug the crap out of me.

*whew*

I feel better now............

[WHT]

But come on, have you not heard of a meat thermometer???? There is no excuse for undercooked chicken when you are cooking on that level

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I have never seen a meat thermometer used on fried wings. This is why they are often over cooked since they are often cooked by time rather than an imperical formula. As long as the breading is not burnt I can live with overcooked meat.

[psychobombshell]

But come on, have you not heard of a meat thermometer???? There is no excuse for undercooked chicken when you are cooking on that level

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I have never seen a meat thermometer used on fried wings. This is why they are often over cooked since they are often cooked by time rather than an imperical formula. As long as the breading is not burnt I can live with overcooked meat.

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Were they fried? I missed that.. my bad

[Dasha]

Watermelon + blue cheese might be fine, but turning the cheese into a creamy sauce is disgusting. 

I have to say that while I'll eat just about anything, the idea of watermelon and creamy blue cheese sauce seriously made me want to hurl. I can't think of a worse dessert combination.

[rconnelly]

But come on, have you not heard of a meat thermometer???? There is no excuse for undercooked chicken when you are cooking on that level

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I have never seen a meat thermometer used on fried wings. This is why they are often over cooked since they are often cooked by time rather than an imperical formula. As long as the breading is not burnt I can live with overcooked meat.

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I think they were undercooked! Raw chicken, ugh1 This isn't the army/

[hsm]

I'm betting the undercooked chicken and the Watermelon con WTF? will assure that their respective chefs will not make Top Chef.

[enurmi]

Why does Ilan sit there with the hoodie up all the time?

Over at the TWOP forums, there is speculation about hair-cuttery going on, and someone compared a photo of him in confessional without his hood with a screenshot of him with the hood. He has no sideburns with the hood, so many suggest that production made him wear it to hide the fact that they shoot half the confessionals after the episode, and to not spoil any upcoming surprises.

[brooklyncook]

Some of the contestants wax poetic re: Marcel.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/01/top_c..._doesnt_lo.html

[BryanZ]

Damn, I was just about to post that.

Here's my favorite part:

What was your favorite annoying Marcel moment?

Sam: There's no single moment, but he would switch into different alter egos in different places. On the beach he'd talk like a surfer, and other days he'd go gangster.

Ilan: This didn't air, but he had to make this dish about lust and I told him that he's never lusted after a woman, all he does is go home and jerk off thinking about Joël Robuchon. And the only thing he could think of as a comeback was, "I don't jerk off to Joël Robuchon." That was it!

Good times.

[scottie]

Man, Ilan really is a child. I hope he's the one who goes this week. I liked him at first, but he needs to grow up.

[Meredith380]

Good show tonight. Cliff seemed legitimately regretful as to how it went down, as did Marcel, but hell if I woke up pinned to the ground, unable to move, I would have handled it way worse than Marcel did.

I'm looking forward to Hawaii.

[jasie]

This episode made me sick.

What cliff did should have earned him jail time, probation or both.

Grabbing hold of someone and not letting go when person says stop is false imprisonment. Dragging etc = kidnapping. Maybe they can't prosecute him or sue because of "contracts" they sign... but seriously, signing up to be on a COOKING competition and waking up to someone twice your size manhandling you while 3 other people look on and goad the aggressor on? Seems to be more like a bad episode of COPS rather than top CHEF.

If I were Marcel, I'd be having an attorny sue the crap out of bravo/the other 4 ppl involved.

I had been thinking for the past few episodes that he was getting rather ganged up on in kind of a "lord of the flies" way... and wondering what he was doing to annoy people that much. (He doesn't seem to do anything at all other than to be a little odd... ) But I don't think ANYTHING he could have done or did would make him deserve treatment such as this! Ugh.

Now about the food.. Chocolate and livers? Ewww. I don't even want to imagine the taste and the aftertaste that would be biting into that. *shudders*

[KristiB50]

I was so disappointed in Cliff even though he seemed to regret his actions. It looked more aggressive than a "prank" and Marcel felt threatened enough to spend the night in the bathroom without blankets. I think Sam was kind of egging him on too.

Sending Cliff home was the right thing to do.

Chocolate and Chicken Liver Truffles.

And Elia and her whining... she 's not much of a competitor if she wants to pack her own knives and leave because things aren't going her way.

Edited January 18, 2007 by KristiB50 (log)

[Tess]

That was really jacked up. Worse than anything I've seen on The Real World, and that is saying a whole lot. It also amazes me that Sam and Ilan are still badmouthing Marcel to the press. What is the matter with these people?

[Daniel]

That was really jacked up.  Worse than anything I've seen on The Real World, and that is saying a whole lot. It also amazes me that Sam and Ilan are still badmouthing Marcel to the press. What is the matter with these people?

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They still bad mouth him because MArcell probably won the competition.. Sam is such a chick.. And Ilan is some broke mans Spanish Chef.. Hmm chicken livers and chocolate, lets add some Sherry Vinegar? That makes it Spanish you know? You could tell with that clam dish he pulled out of his ass, he has been saving that one for a while... Probably one of the only decent dishes in his repetoire, although it had nothing to do with the challenge.. I was interested to see how Sam was going to represent love.. Considering he is head over heals in love with himself.. Cliff is a completely moron and it was upsetting to watch him almost prison rape Marcell. Whatever, he had a good run staying under the radar and went further then he should have.. I am happy to see that ratty hair under the head band French girl was wearing is fake.. I think she looks great with the buzz cut.. This show is a lot of fun..

Edited January 18, 2007 by Daniel (log)

[annecros]

I'm predicting a Marcel win at this point as well. I didn't think he had it in him at the beginning of the series, but everyone else is coming unglued at this point. He's the only one demonstrating any dignity out of the whole crew.

I am so dissappointed in Cliff, and that was entirely unacceptable. Far from a career builder, I think several of these contestants have ruined future job prospects.

[Darcie B]

Marcel probably didn't make a big deal out of it for two reasons: he knew he had been pushing people's buttons, and it got him sympathy. Of course, Marcel being a snot and utterly annoying doesn't excuse Cliff's behavior. Too bad Marcel wasn't a wrestler. It would have been funny if he had been able to get Cliff in a double chicken wing (pun intended) and made him cry uncle.

If Marcel is the winner, I suspect that the editing which seems to favor Marcel is done to build up sympathy/support for him.

I hope that next season they can get people who are focused on food and not on juvenile pranks.

I wish they wouldn't crown any of these people Top Chef.

Edit to add: I would suspect that the release the contestants sign indemnifies Bravo et al against lawsuits for pretty much any reason. I suppose Marcel could file suit against Cliff personally but it probably wouldn't get him anything. We just handled a similar lawsuit in our court and the plaintiff settled for only actual medical expenses. Since Marcel had no medical expense (that we know of), I don't think it is worth his while to sue.

Edited January 18, 2007 by Darcie B (log)

[rconnelly]

This episode made me sick.

What cliff did should have earned him jail time, probation or both.

Grabbing hold of someone and not letting go when person says stop is false imprisonment. Dragging etc = kidnapping. Maybe they can't prosecute him or sue because of "contracts" they sign... but seriously, signing up to be on a COOKING competition and waking up to someone twice your size manhandling you while 3 other people look on and goad the aggressor on? Seems to be more like a bad episode of COPS rather than top CHEF.

If I were Marcel, I'd be having an attorny sue the crap out of bravo/the other 4 ppl involved.

I had been thinking for the past few episodes that he was getting rather ganged up on in kind of a "lord of the flies" way... and wondering what he was doing to annoy people that much. (He doesn't seem to do anything at all other than to be a little odd... ) But I don't think ANYTHING he could have done or did would make him deserve treatment such as this! Ugh.

Now about the food.. Chocolate and livers? Ewww. I don't even want to imagine the taste and the aftertaste that would be biting into that. *shudders*

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Not false imprisonment. Not kidnapping. I agree it was extremely over the top but assault is probably the "crime" here.

I'm not defending the action. But if Marcel had been more of a "man" and stood up to the harrassment way back when, they would've eased up.

Bullies, if you want to call them that, are only successful because the person they're picking on reacts in a passive way. A little more assertiveness without the whining would've shut them all up.

Besides if you read about what we didn't see, you could understand their frustration with big baby Marcel.

He is a gnat.

[Tess]

I'm not defending the action. But if Marcel had been more of a "man" and stood up to the harrassment way back when, they would've eased up.

Bullies, if you want to call them that, are only successful because the person they're picking on reacts in a passive way.

Helps if they're twice the other person's size, too, and prepared to fight dirty (e.g. sneak up on them in their sleep.)

What some call "standing up" to harrassment is going down to the bully's level in other people's books. It would almost certainly have been edited to look that way. Marcel wound up looking like the only mature one in the bunch.

[hsm]

Top Chef Wrestling was about as distasteful as Ilan's chocolate covered chicken livers. Although they did inspire the best line of the night. (Thanks, Chef Ripert.) "...should not be served, for example, in a restaurant."

Edited January 18, 2007 by hsm (log)

[rconnelly]

I'm not defending the action. But if Marcel had been more of a "man" and stood up to the harrassment way back when, they would've eased up.

Bullies, if you want to call them that, are only successful because the person they're picking on reacts in a passive way.

Helps if they're twice the other person's size, too, and prepared to fight dirty (e.g. sneak up on them in their sleep.)

What some call "standing up" to harrassment is going down to the bully's level in other people's books. It would almost certainly have been edited to look that way. Marcel wound up looking like the only mature one in the bunch.

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SO if you have to "stoop to someone's level" so they understand you mean business, that's what you do....I've seen it work. It's like a tight of passage.

Kitchens can be intense places to work, but until you prove yourself you will always be the one who gets hassled.

[Swicks]

My two cents....

I am a little surprised by the outrage over this episode. I think Cliff took a joke to far and acted like a bully and it was uncomfortable to watch but it didn't something that could be considered a crime as some have suggested. I don't think Cliff was being malicious and seemed to genuinely regret taking it that far. I also think Marcel milked it for all it was worth, which, to me, was almost as bad. In front of the judges he could have said something like, "I understand it was a joke, no harm done, lets move on and focus on the food" but for me he was working the sympathy angle pretty hard.

They can justify it all they want but could the judges really justify sending cliff home? I mean its easy for them to say that after they send him home for other reasons but overall i think his performance has been much better than Marcel's or perhaps even Elia. I think the producers had some incentive to keep Marcel around because he causes conflict and controversy so to that end it makes sense to keep him.

I absolutely agree that at this point after the competition it is pretty childish the Sam and Ilan are bad mouthing Marcel, I think at a certain point you just have to let it go. Does this mean that Marcel won and they are bitter? I sure as hell hope not but it would explain their bitterness.

I will be surprised if Marcel wins, very surprised, I would think if he does Sam must blow it big time.

After seeing the brief previews I really hope the final challenge for the final two is not something like cooking a huge "luau party" dinner for a bunch of tourists, I just don't think that is a good test. I hope it is similar to the final challenge from last year, in which the chefs are tested to cook at their highest level for a smaller group of people.

[tmgrobyn]

This episode underlines the reason alcohol can ruins even the best of celebrations. They had a good night, they gitched and growled at each other but it was marcel that popped the first bottle of bubbly on camera. A few too many for Cliff got him into a bit of a jam. I really don't believe any of it was career threatening at all. I've seen worse in the backrooms of many a shop.

The producers are milking this sorry season to make the most of it. The timing of the "bad-mouthing" articles are just that. Sensationalism will get you viewers any day. There is a lot happening behind the scenes or left on the cutting room floor that we don't see that adds to the controversy. No one gangs up on Marcel, it's the perception the producers want you to see.

All in all a pretty good night. Ilan- what was that??????? Chicken livers and chocolate, wow, what a let down. All in all I think Ilan is a weeny. He hides behind everyone and can cook, but not very impressively. I don't know who wins this, but I will be sorely disappointed to see Marcel walk away with this. Although, I'll be able to put it in perspective with the rest of reality tv. A bunch of limelighters that amount to not much of anything but entertainment.

Think about it. Anthony Bourdain and Marcel co-equals? I think not.

Edited January 18, 2007 by tmgrobyn (log)

[Toliver]

After seeing the brief previews I really hope the final challenge for the final two is not something like cooking a huge "luau party" dinner for a bunch of tourists, I just don't think that is a good test.  I hope it is similar to the final challenge from last year, in which the chefs are tested to cook at their highest level for a smaller group of people.

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More likely that the cookoff will somehow involve Spam (product tie-in).