Top Chef: The Finale

Well, again life and work has gotten into the way of some quality blogging time. Unfortunately, I missed the live showing of the Top Chef season finale. I finally got around to catching a rerun of the final episode last week. Wow, I guess that I didn't miss much. I don't know about you, but I thought that was perhaps one of the most boring episodes of Top Chef that they've ever broadcast. It would have been a forgetable mid-season episode, but for a season-ender, it was a downright snoozer. I would have almost rather watched an episode of that train wreck on the Food Network. Almost.

If you missed the episode, I suggest that you check out David Dust's summary of the episode for a fictional but far more entertaining version of the finale. Despite the end of the season debacle, I'll still be tuning in for the next season of Top Chef which will be set in the Big Apple.

Five Facts for Scott

Well, I'm in the middle of a five day off-site for work this week up in Napa Valley (I know, rough life), which unfortunately means that I will miss the live season finale of Top Chef. I hope that they upload the episode to Hulu tomorrow evening so I won't be kept in suspense for too long.

However, since I do have some time on my hands this evening, I thought that I would response to the meme for which I was tagged by Scott at One Food Guy.

So, without further ado, here are five facts about me, all food related of course:

1. For this off-site event, I took full responsibility for making all of the food selections. A few of my co-workers have joked that if the food sucks, they'll let me hear about it on my blog. So far, the feedback has been pretty good, but in case any of my colleagues are reading this, I'll be moderating my blog comments with extreme prejudice. Heh.


2. While I will pretty much eat nearly any food, one things that I can't stand is cottage cheese. It's pretty much an issue with texture. About the only time that I didn't gag from eating cottage cheese was during a visit to the Cowgirl Creamery, mostly likely due to the fact that this particular sample of the vile cheese was mostly curds with very little whey.


3. I eat a lot of frozen fruit directly from the freezer, mostly strawberries and blueberries from Trader Joe's.


4. Like Homer, many of my favorite cuts of meat comes from a wonderful, magical animal.


5. Karen is amused by the fact that I was happy to find out on our second date that she too enjoys eating that wonderful, magical animal.

So, Jo from Taking Over the World One Bite at a Time, Jen from Eatingplum, Chef John from Food Wishes, Biggie from Lunch in a Box, and Charlotte from her eponymous web, here is your mission, if you choose to undertake it:

1. Link to your tagger (me in this case) and post these rules.


2. Share 5 facts about yourself.


3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.


4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Didja Notice...

...that tonight's winner and loser had the strongest and weakest sous chefs, respectively? I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that the whoever has the best assistant next week will be crowned Top Chef.

The Final Four

Well, we're now down to the finals of this season's Top Chef. The venue for the last two episodes will move from the Windy City to the warmer climes of Puerto Rico. Had Lisa been eliminated instead of Dale, I believe that the top four of the original sixteen cheftestants would be vying for the title of Top Chef. Who will it be, early favorite Richard or five-time Elimination Challenge winner Stephanie? Or will it be one of the dark horses?

In any case, the Top Chef finale should prove to be some entertaining television, of higher quality than the train-wreck-that-I-can't-stop-watching, The Next Food Network Star. I hope that at the very least, they'll eliminate that chef from planet Vulcan before she drives me nuts with her "cooking education, community outreach, and culinary craft" blather.

D'oh!

Dear Padma, Ted, and Tom Tony,

I love your show, but you sent the wrong chef packing last night. Lisa's gotta go.

Yours truly,
A Devoted Top Chef Fan

Six Left Standing

After ten weeks of Top Chef: Chicago, six cheftestants remain going into the Restaurant Wars episode.

With a half-dozen chefs remaining, I'm going to make a prediction for the rest of the season. I predict that the chefs will be eliminated in the following order:

1. Spike
2. Lisa
3. Antonia
4. Stephanie
5. Dale

This means I predict that Richard will be named "Top Chef".

Who do you think will be "Top Chef"? Let's hear your predictions!

0 Fer Four

Another week, another Top Cheftestant going home. Indeed, another Bay Area chef has been eliminated, which leaves us with the following numbers:

• Number of Bay Area chefs remaining out of the four who started the competition: zero


• Number of seasons in which a Bay Area cook has been named Top Chef: zero

Looks like we are still below the Mendoza Line.

A Couple of Quick Comments

Lots of work + loads of wedding planning = no time to post on my blog...

I just have enough time for a few quick comments about my current favorite TV show, Top Chef:

1. Is it just me or are the chefs this season weaker as a whole than in past seasons? Maybe it's just the San Francisco-based chefs who are sucking...

2. Is it just me or are the cheftestants quite a bit more snippy and aggressive than in past seasons? See how often they are dropping the F-bomb on the show? Even Tom commented on the noticeable increase in profanity this season.

3. If you are looking for some morning-after commentary on the week's show, check out David Dust's Top Chef episode summaries - they are simply hilarious.

From the Glad Family of Products....

Did any of you notice the conspicuous product placement in the Chicago Block Party episode of Top Chef? I suspect that most people may not be aware of the fact that Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce, and Kingsford Charcoal are all cousins to the Glad family of products, one of the major sponsors of the series.

Top Chef Chicago: The Block Party

Three weeks into the new season of Top Chef and the first San Francisco-based chef is gone. It was too bad to see Erik go - having eaten at his restaurant, I was hoping that he would stick around for a while. So much for those rumors.

It was interesting to see the SF contestents group themselves onto the same team, though given the political leanings of this area, it probably would have been more appropriate if they had been on the Blue Team.

Let the Flames Begin!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Top Chef will be kicking off Season 4 tonight. Karen is a bit surprised at how much I've been looking forward to this new season of Top Chef, and I guess that I'm a bit surprised myself, especially since I don't watch all that much TV.

Anyway, I'll be looking forward to watching the flames begin!

Top Chef 4: Chicago

Attention Reality Food TV fans: Top Chef is back.

Set in Chicago, the Emmy-nominated series will begin airing new episodes from Season 4 on Wednesday, March 12. While I've been critical of Top Chef in the past, the last season reeled me back. I'm looking forward to the new season, especially with four local chefs in the running: Erik Hopfinger, executive chef at Circa; Jennifer Biesty, the executive chef from COCO500; sous chef Ryan Scott of Myth; and chef/consultant Zoi Antonitsas, formerly of the Presidio Social Club.

As Michael Bauer noted in his blog post today, San Francisco has been underrepresented over the past couple of seasons. Hopefully, one of the chefs will be able to take home the title of "Top Chef", bringing the prize back to where the series was first set.

A Visit to the Kwik-E-Mart

On the way home from work tonight, I stopped at the local Kwik-E-Mart. Yes, the Kwik-E-Mart. In conjunction with Twentieth Century Fox, 7-Eleven has transformed 11 of its convenience store locations into Kwik-E-Marts to promote the upcoming The Simpsons Movie, which opens nationwide later this month. One of these temporary Kwik-E-Marts is located in Mountain View, CA, just around the curve from the Googleplex and, fortunately for me, on my way home from work.

As I drove up to the store, I noticed that the 7-Eleven signs next to the parking lot had been liberated of their newly applied store logos, undoubtedly the work of souvenir-seeking scofflaws. However the store itself, with its new facade, was left unscathed.


Not surprisingly, a lot of other people were also checking out the newly transformed store. I counted at least 25 people, both outside the Kwik-E-Mart, snapping photos and loitering about a la Nelson Muntz and crew, and inside the store, taking in the new decor.


In addition to the cosmetic changes, 7-Eleven Stores are also selling a special line of Simpsons-inspired products, including Buzz Cola and KrustyO's cereal. Unfortunately, this particular location had run out of many of these specialty items for the day. However, I was able to procure a Squishee (although not the all-syrup Super Squishee which I had wanted):


The Squishee helped to wash down the pink frosted doughnuts that I picked up. Mmm.... sprinkles.


While my mission for KrustyO's and Radioactive Man comics was left unfulfilled, I'm sure that I will have ample opportunity to pick some up. These Simpsons specialty items will be sold at 7-Eleven stores across the country, so even if you don't live by one of these Kwik-E-Marts, you too can pick up some of your favorite products from the town of Springfield.

Reality Food TV

I told myself that I wouldn't do it, but I'm getting sucked back into watching reality food TV. Last night, I watched the special Top Chef All-Star Challenge pitting selected chefs from Season 1 against competitors from Season 2. I know that I said that I wasn't sure if I would watch that series again after the stuff that went down at the end of last season, but I did. Was it just me or did that show appear to be rigged? What a marvelous coincidence that the antagonists from each season (Stephen from Season 1, Marcel from Season 2) were selected to lead each team and then were set up against one another in a head-to-head battle! Or how about each season's winner (Harold from Season 1, Ilan from Season 2) duking it out over "Battle Duck"? In my opinion, the best thing that came out of that show was that a deserving charity got a $20,000 donation.

Tonight, I caught a rerun of the premiere episode of this season's The Next Food Network Star. I found it oddly entertaining, though certainly not a demonstration of culinary excellence. After watching the episode, I had a feeling that I just watched a slow-motion train wreck. A two hour train wreck. Nevertheless, like a rubbernecker staring at the scene of an accident, I was sufficiently drawn in to continue watching for the time being. Not so sure about this season's Top Chef though, but then again, I might change my mind.

Good Eats Wins a Peabody Award

Earlier today, Good Eats, the Food Network show hosted by Alton Brown, was named a winner of a George Foster Peabody Award. The Peabody Awards, administered by the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Georgia, recognize distinguished achievement in radio and television broadcasting and are generally recognized as one of the most prestigious honors in the field of broadcast journalism and educational programming. With regards to Good Eats, the award press release cites:

Rarely has science been taught on TV in such an entertaining – and appetizing – manner as it is in Alton Brown`s goofy, tirelessly inventive series.

Kudos to Alton, the Good Eats crew, and all of the folks at Be Square Productions that make it all happen week after week!

Top Chef Scraping Bottom?

Over the past year, I've been quite a fan of the Bravo reality TV series Top Chef. Though I was a latecomer to the first season, I have tried to catch the latest season's episodes whenever possible. As I watched this season, my feelings for the contestents changed quite a bit. For example, at the beginning of the show, I was really not a very big fan of Mikey, but as the season went on, I started rooting for him. While it was pretty apparent he wasn't going to win against the likes of Sam and Cliff, I really wanted the guy to do well. (Maybe I'll even make a trip out to Lodi to check out his work in person.) Of course, some of my feelings stayed the same, such as those for that asshat Marcel.

However, as much as I would love to see Ilan whomp that sniveling little Marcel's ass, I'm not sure that I will be tuning for the final episode. In my opinion, the best chefs in the contest were Sam, Ilan, Cliff, and Elia (more or less in that order, I'd reckon). While I felt that Cliff was fairly kicked off for that sophomoric prank that he pulled, I have no idea why the judges chose to give Sam the boot. From my viewpoint, he was certainly the most consistent of all of the contestants, as well as one of the most talented. And to pick Marcel over him, well, that was just a travesty. Tom Colicchio has been completely inconsistent in his reasoning. His remark that "behavior doesn't count... it's about the food" is both disingenuous and hypocritical. Tom, remember you kicked off Cliff (rightfully so) for his behavior? Remember Marcel's raw chicken wing? I'm not saying that Marcel isn't talented; it's apparent that he is very well trained, but the guy's a freaking jerk. While Colicchio is aware of how Marcel rubs the other contestents, he apparently doesn't think that it's such a big deal. Anthony Bourdain, on the other hand, has a differing viewpoint. Regarding Marcel's current chef potential, he says,

Presently zero. You have to get along with the people you work with--and I can't imagine this guy "working with others" over time. He's petty, vindictive, immature, a loudmouth, not a team player by any stretch of the imagination. And it's all about Him. I can't imagine him ever running a kitchen that actually makes its food cost percents--or appeals to the public--as Marcel would likely be too busy celebrating his own perceived brilliance on the plate.

If he can ever pull back his food to what TASTES good FIRST--and pull his head out of his ass, there's hope.

He goes on, as only one such as Bourdain can:

Being a great chef is about first knowing what gives people pleasure. And caring about that. Marcel strikes me as the sort of knucklehead/creative "genius" who insists on "educating the public" instead of finding new ways to please and delight and surprise them. There's nothing pleasing or surprising about foam anymore.

His tormentors were right about one thing: he needs to get laid. And the Astro-Boy haircut is a liability in the kitchen--where co-workers and subordinates will identify him as a fucktard from Day One.

Marcel has a LOT of growing up to do. A chef needs respect. A chef must be able to delegate. A chef needs to run a kitchen that actually turns a profit. I can't see Marcel doing any of those things.

Tom, given those remarks, do you really think that Marcel should be in the running to be Top Chef? Judging from the comments on Colicchio's blog, I am probably not the only fan who thinks that Marcel is not nor am I the only one who is considering skipping the finale.

The Hungry Detective

I've recently seen a couple of commercials for the upcoming series "The Hungry Detective", which premieres on the The Food Network on October 17. The host of the show is Chris Cognac, who you may have seen in the Alton Brown mini-series Feasting on Asphalt. He is the police officer who shows Alton the good eats around LA after Alton's unfortunate spill on his bike in the Nevada desert. Cognac, who is a member of the Hawthorne, California Police Department, moonlights as food columnist for the Daily Breeze newspaper and maintains a blog of his culinary adventures.

I've been thinking about ways of how I can get a gig like this. After all, I also write about food, albeit, not for a newspaper. Maybe I can use the same angle and get some air time on Alton's next show. Of course, I'll have to find a good name for the show, which combines my day job with my love of food. "Gastronomic Solution Architect" doesn't exactly roll off your tongue, does it? How about "The Food Prototyper"? Well, I guess that I'll have to work on that...