303078 Thu Apr 06 10:38:13 -0700 2006 36 29 Not About Food 0 1701559 ooooo SNAP! Andrea winning the tasting immunity challenge was a great twist for me, pointing out the breadth of information available outside of conventional chef training as much as the importance of visuals. Of COURSE she knew what omboshi tastes like! It doesn't exactly redeem her from not cooking her kale properly in an early episode . . . she was lost altogether for me there, letting down the natural food crowd . . . or not cooking her brown rice fully on this episode. Sure left her partner in the main challenge Miguel in a rotten position -- can they really be setting him up as the next off the show?! I thought this was an all around fun episode - the tasting challenge being a brilliant start, and the blow-off-steam junk food challenge back at the ranch . . . hilarious. Street food is an apt main challenge - FUSION! I gotta get to work, so I'll leave the summarizing to those who do it well. LOVE this show. Thu Apr 06 10:38:13 -0700 2006 0 pitu 1 1701563 interesting that, if you look at the picture on the top chef home page at bravotv.com, the contestants are being eliminated begining from the middle of the back row and working forward. if this holds true, it will come down to being between harold and dave. i'm sure it's pure conincidence... Link: http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/ Thu Apr 06 11:41:35 -0700 2006 1701559 0 mark 2 1701650 I find it even more interesting that they had to point out that Tiffany is bisexual, yet don't mention anyone elses sexual orientation. What does being a bisexual have to do with cooking? Fri Apr 07 11:46:15 -0700 2006 1701563 0 rl 3 1701652 when did they say that? I noticed they used Tiffani's mention of being in an article about lesbian chefs with one of the guest judges...and then she mentioned how she used to make krispy kreme bread pudding with her boyfriend. But that doesn't make her bisexual. Anyway, I think it's the kind of detail that is just color commentary, to flesh out who the players are. Same as where they're from, what their mamas made for dinner, how much they love junk food, whatever . . . Fri Apr 07 12:07:52 -0700 2006 1701650 0 pitu 3 1701659 well, a chef should be into pleasing everybody... Fri Apr 07 12:47:37 -0700 2006 1701650 0 mark 3 1701665 Maybe Tiffani made a point of stating this in her interviews. She is an in-your-face kind of woman, and wouldn't surprise me if SHE was the one that made it part of her persona. Fri Apr 07 13:13:08 -0700 2006 1701650 0 macca 1 1701572 Darn, I missed the first fifteen minutes so I missed the taste challenge. I do remember seeing in the previews, though, that it looked like one of the foods they were given was natto. I'm sure that put someone like Stephen at a total disadvantage. It's hard not to like Harold -- he hates to see his teammates take the fall for a group failing, and what seemed like might have been grandstanding in the monkfish challenge appears to be a genuine willingness to take responsibility for the sucess or failure of the team. I think that's a really important quality in a leader: if your team thinks you'll "die" for them, then they'll "die" for you. Stephen seemed a little looser in the episode -- maybe he actually is learning not to take himself so seriously. But if any of these people say one more thing about how they're "educating" people, then I'm washing my hands of them. They're walking the streets of one of the most sophisticated food cities in America, for heaven's sake! I thought it was a great put down when the guest judge told them that he'd been doing seared ahi with avocado for years, and it was not at all innovative. As always, it was fun to see them in familiar places -- from the brickwork and the fencing in the background, it appeared their carts were set up at the 24th and Mission BART station. Thu Apr 06 13:40:28 -0700 2006 1701559 0 Ruth Lafler 2 1701576 ruth it seems like it shows over and over so you defintely should try to catch it this week or doesn't it also play right before next week's show? that first part is worth it if you're hooked and care about these people like i do! Thu Apr 06 15:00:50 -0700 2006 1701572 0 ton casmo 3 1701577 It's on more than 25 times a week in the Boston area!! Thu Apr 06 15:06:02 -0700 2006 1701576 0 macca 4 1701578 You're right -- I should be able to catch it before next week. Thu Apr 06 15:07:38 -0700 2006 1701577 0 Ruth Lafler 5 1701580 I know I have to catch the ending- I fell asleep right after Stephen was walking around in his suit. Thu Apr 06 15:27:37 -0700 2006 1701578 0 macca 6 1701592 Oh, you definitely MUST see Stephen's astonished bug-eyes in front of the judges. :-) Thu Apr 06 16:57:33 -0700 2006 1701580 0 Linda W. 7 1701612 I know- he is someone i have come to love to hate. He is soooooo condescending, and I wonder how he came to think he knows everything. I know a lot of chefs have the ego thing going, but he is horrendous ( and he is not even a chef!) Thu Apr 06 19:12:13 -0700 2006 1701592 0 macca 8 1701628 he has the typical CIA grad tude Thu Apr 06 23:53:41 -0700 2006 1701612 0 beteez 9 1701645 I beg to differ, but of the hundreds of fellow students and colleagues from the CIA that I've come across, I've never met anyone even nearly as cocky and arrogant as Stephen. Fri Apr 07 10:49:00 -0700 2006 1701628 0 David 8 1701657 I think he's the pampered child (an only child or, from the way he talked to Candice, with a much younger sibling he lords over) of high-powered lawyers (his repeated use of the term "on point" leaps out at me). Clearly he's someone who was exposed to fine dining and wines at an early age and who comes from a background where they never resorted to fast foods or convenience foods. Fri Apr 07 12:41:20 -0700 2006 1701612 0 Ruth Lafler 9 1701660 YOu are probably right- but he is still hard to take. And I would surely HATE to have him as my sommelier if I was dining out. But who knows, maybe he can cook. Fri Apr 07 12:48:05 -0700 2006 1701657 0 macca 9 1701661 i don't know, he reminds me of patrick bateman (see brett easton ellis' "american psycho"). from what i've watched of the show, his actions are all very studied, stiff and unnatural. i wouldn't be surprised if he grew up on the "wrong" side of the tracks, vowed to one day be part of the world he so envied, then set about emulating the elites he so admired. Fri Apr 07 12:58:02 -0700 2006 1701657 0 mark 10 1701664 bingo! If he really had access to all of that, he wouldn't be treating it so freakishly now. I keep wondering how all that pretension could possibly be real! It strikes me that the producers of the show could be using the term "educate" alot in their questions for those interviews -- when Harold started saying it, it seemed like a canned setup thing. O, diabolical reality show producers! Fri Apr 07 13:12:12 -0700 2006 1701661 0 pitu 5 1701781 if you go to www.bravotv.com, you can find when they replay the episodes. Sat Apr 08 21:59:32 -0700 2006 1701578 0 daantaat 1 1701598 And did anyone hear what I thought I heard? That during the tasting test Dave (with his usual pained grimace) tasted the chili paste and called it Sriracha and was counted incorrect. Meanwhile another contestant called it chili sauce and was given a correct score. Come on. If Sriracha is not a chili sauce, what is it? What judge made that decision I wonder? Too late for corrections, of course, since the outcome was determined before the show first aired. But at least the producers could find a spot to insert an acknowlegement of error. Thu Apr 06 17:30:35 -0700 2006 1701559 0 al@Fairfax 2 1701601 The same thing was pointed out in my household! Thu Apr 06 17:52:46 -0700 2006 1701598 0 eric 2 1701674 If it was Siracha, and was called chili sauce, that would be ok. But all chili sauce is not Siracha. The stuff they tasted was a dark maroon color, so it wasn't siracha since siracha is a more bright red color. Fri Apr 07 14:37:23 -0700 2006 1701598 0 boogiebaby 1 1701603 Who is the robotic woman who chairs the panel? What are her qualifications? Thu Apr 06 18:14:25 -0700 2006 1701559 0 sally from LA 2 1701604 She's Billy Joel's designated driver....errr, i mean, wife. Thu Apr 06 18:20:02 -0700 2006 1701603 0 eLizard 3 1701627 Trophy wife? Daughter's best friend? Baby sitter? As far as I csn see, her only credential seems to be that she is as wooden and unlively as Heidi Klum, at least Heidi can use the fact that she is German as an excuse. Thu Apr 06 23:45:34 -0700 2006 1701604 0 Phaedrus 4 1701668 God! Katie Lee Joel is horrible. She's painful to watch. It's as if she's being offered cue cards with one word on each one at a slow pace. She's so bad. www.oliveandpeach.com is her company...i've not looked at the site yet. Fri Apr 07 13:35:19 -0700 2006 1701627 0 Gayle 5 1701721 The website is truly pathetic. It's sub-Sandra Lee. WAY sub. "Be Love"? WTF? Sat Apr 08 02:35:35 -0700 2006 1701668 0 peg 2 1701763 According to the web site, her family ate dinner so apparently that qualifies her. And yes, I'm being snotty and taking the info out of context. Sat Apr 08 16:31:40 -0700 2006 1701603 0 mw 1 1701617 Last night was my favorite episode so far. I liked the tasting challenge, although I thought the ingredients they chose were too narrow (Asian) and they didn't give them much time (15 sec/ingredient). The winner only got 4/20 right! Andrea winning was quite a twist given her underdog status, but she clearly works w/ fresh, raw flavors and turns to Asian products for variety and healthfulness. She looked happy to win, and seeing Stephen lose to her was pleasurable. The mock challenge at home was a treat to witness, as it was light-hearted and brought everyone together. Even Stephen was laughing his butt off and looked more human. That Miguel sure likes his junk/processed foods! Pairing him w/ Andrea for the food cart challenge was quite the contrast, and I'm surprised he didn't stand up to her brown rice shenanigans. They really should have used basmati!! The food cart challenge was very cool; I loved how they were really enmeshed in the neighborhood and its people. The food and personalities really came to life and emitted a vibrancy matched by the colorful murals and cityscape. Made me want to get in my car and drive to the Mission ASAP! I thought that Lee Anne and Stephen should have won...their food and drink were unexpected, creative, and beautifully presented. Upscale street food. Tiffani and Dave's cubano looked delicious too, but didn't make me go "wow!". They didn't have a drink either... Lisa was such a class act. Good head on her shoulders and knows that winning "top chef" isn't everything...she has a whole life w/ kids and career at home. Colicchio seemed genuinely sad to see her go. Dave seems to bawl when anyone leaves. Harold isn't as strong as I thought he was; he seems to get fixated and doesn't look at cooking from a broad perspective. Lee Anne and Tiffani continue to impress me. I think Miguel is next on the chopping block, but one never knows since this is TV... Thu Apr 06 20:27:25 -0700 2006 1701559 0 Carb Lover 2 1701640 I think they are already forshadowing Miguel's demise in the tease for next week's show. Although they could be just playing with us. I think the top chefs are Lee Anne, Tiffani, and Steven. Harold is falling off fast. I think Colicchio is supposed to be the Tim Dunn of this show, but he isn't doing that much. He doesn't really voice his displeasures as overtly as Tim did but he does do so in his blogs. So far, the guest judges have been the most interesting. Gail Simmons is a snooze. Fri Apr 07 10:04:20 -0700 2006 1701617 0 Phaedrus 3 1701729 I admit that I watched part of this episode again, and it became very clear that both Lee Anne and Tiffani steered their teams to victory. I think that they are the full package, whereas Stephen can be innovative and edgy but lacks a certain openness that comes through in his personality and food. He has alot of potential if he'd learn to be more open, curious, and humble. Harold and Lisa really flopped. Am predicting the next tier to leave will be Andrea, Miguel, and Dave. I know some people have liked Miguel, but his food hasn't done much for me and I am not endeared to him. I assume that Tim Dunn is that guy on Project Runway who walked through and gave the contestants feedback during the creative process. Colicchio is limited b/c he's also on the judging panel; I wish he were in a more neutral role so that he could mentor a bit. His blog is more interesting than what was said on the show. The voice overs from him and Ms. Joel while showing the contestants only was really noticeable this last episode. Agree about Gail Simmons. Sat Apr 08 05:37:13 -0700 2006 1701640 0 Carb Lover 4 1701759 Yeah, except it's Tim *G*unn. He really makes Project Runway. Sat Apr 08 15:55:22 -0700 2006 1701729 0 Ruth Lafler 4 1701835 I've only seen parts of most of the shows and never seem to see a rundown of who the various judges and commentators are. Who *is* Gail Simmons anyway? She has zero personality and brings the whole show down IMHO. Can she have any less inflection in her voice? She's icky. And where does the main chef/judge work? Tue Apr 11 08:07:50 -0700 2006 1701729 0 Joanie 5 1701839 Here's a link Link: http://www.tv.com/top-chef/show/55264/summary.html Tue Apr 11 08:30:45 -0700 2006 1701835 0 ChowFun (derek) 6 1701921 Now I can't tell if Miss Blandness is Gail or that Katie Lee Joel person. One is slightly better than the other but they look enough alike and have a similar lack of personality, it's hard to tell. Wed Apr 12 09:30:18 -0700 2006 1701839 0 Joanie 7 1701929 Probably Katie Lee. Gail isn't nearly as bland -- her comments are often quite cutting. Katie Lee doesn't say much more than "pack your knives and go" -- and she doesn't say that very well! Wed Apr 12 12:20:51 -0700 2006 1701921 0 Ruth Lafler