Top Chef Season 6 - Page 4

Sad to see Jen go, but not that surprising - she'd been hanging on by her fingertips for weeks now.

I'd dearly love to see Kevin win this whole thing. If not him, then Bryan, with Kevin coming in second. If that douchebag Mike gets anywhere near a win, I'll kick my TV in. Nothing would make Mike choke like either losing to his brother, or losing to the guy who's food "he makes on his day off". Fucker.

Bump because I just caught up.

BULLshit on Jen getting the boot. I don't get it. They seemed to enjoy her food more then Mike V's. I think they gave him a win based on past experience. The whole excuse about not using the coals was weak sauce.

Oh, and Beardo or Brian for the win. Anyone but Michael at this point. I'm ready to watch him have a fail induced meltdown.

Honestly, I can see how the cooking thing could irk the judges. If I were in a restaurant and the menu said grilled duck, but I was served roasted duck, I'd eat it but that's not what I ordered.

Also, I'm not remembering the specifics, but there was something else "wrong" with Jen's dish. I think she over salted her veggie dish. So arguably, Kevin had one "mistake" with the stringy brisket, Mike had one "wrong" thing with slimy eggs, but Jen had two "wrong" things with the salt and change in cooking method.

Looks like People Magazine's issue already on newsstands has a feature and a photo of this season's as-yet unannounced winner. As if I needed another reason to hate People Magazine for even existing in the first place, they go ahead and spoil the finale of Top Chef by not realizing their article would hit newsstands before the finale aired.

What a pack of assholes!

Yeah! Fuck the haters!

Booo.

Oh well. I knew Beardo deserved it, but once he started fucking up I was rooting for Brian. But they were all talented and they all deserved it. I still think Jennifer deserved to be in the finale. You can't deny that Michael was talented. Intense, but talented.

Regardless, really good season of this show.

That's why they play the games. Surprising that Kevin dropped the ball on that, of all dishes.

I think Michael's "heart" has always been underestimated by fans of the show. Just look at the moment when he shared that 10K with his team. Or how respectful he always is of every big time chef. I loved what he said tonight. Not only was he the best chef, he had the best answer to why he should be Top Chef.

Wherever he opens his restaurant, I'm hitting the road to eat there.

I think it was pretty clear Michael was far from a cold technician- he was just brash and single-minded. The only thing I wonder is how much more creative are his techniques than somebody like Kevin's when the he is not the innovator? If it wasn't for Ferran Adria, Thomas Keller, Heston Blumenthal, etc... would Michael even be doing some of the more advanced things he was attempting?

It just seemed to me that the judges liked the complexity of the flavors and textures in Kevin's dishes more consistently than Michael's... which is why I had him as the slight favorite. But, no question, it appeared on that day Michael was the winner.

Boooooooooo

I think Kevin floundered because his mind was preoccupied with how to deal with his shitty sous chef draw.

I think its bullshit that despite executing every one of his dishes to perfection, the judges ragged on Brian because they didn't like his seasoning. It wasn't that he "under seasoned" his dishes, he merely played to his palate not the judges. Unfortunately that hurt him, because I can't imagine any other season where someone who so clearly fucked up a dish like Mike's dessert would win.

Congrats to Mike though. There is no denying his talent. It's one thing to be courteous to the master chef's, but his professionalism towards the other contestants was lacking.

Well that's what the editing made us focus on, but who knows how much of a role that actually played? After all, the dishes that hurt Kevin most were the ones that had no restrictions placed on them... dishes he probably had in his head in some form or another for a long time.

Again, regardless if he's made the dishes before, if the ingredients aren't properly prepped and/or his mind is racing because the Preti is taking 3 hours to peel lemons, shit's gonna go wrong.

Though, there's certainly a gap between what Kevin thinks is good and what other people do (outside of his flavor combinations). For example, in the Restaurant Wars ep his medium rare was pretty much "bloody as hell", and more recently his braised brisket was tough and his pork wasn't cooked long enough.

Well, on the bright side, at least Michael's win wasn't as offensive to me as Illan or Hosea's wins - I fucking hate those two hacks. Michael may have been a dick, but he's a great chef, which is the point of the show.

I did like the way he humbled up a bit right before they handed him the prize. I liked when he said, "I never got good grades in high school, I've never ever earned a paycheck in my life doing anything other than this." I warmed up to him a little at that. Still wish Kevin had won, though!

Atlanta chefs crap the bed in the finale once again! Damn. Oh well, Michael is a great chef and seeing a human side of him sure doesn't hurt. His line about "I just don't want Brian to win" slayed me, by far the funniest moment of the season.

All 3 of the finalists are great chefs which is so much better than prior seasons (Josea/Hosea/Whatever the fuck his name is winning still pisses me off to no end). I'm working on some reservations for Kevin's restaurant here in the next few weeks. He's still my favorite of this season and I look forward to seeing him more and frequenting his establishments.

Yeah, you nailed. In this season, the differences between the top three and top two were probably very slight. If given another chance to compete, the outcome would probably be different.

I swore to never watch this show again because of what happened last year with psycho lesbo, but i ended up watching this year. I wish i hadn't.

Yes all three chefs could have deserved to win, but in the end they pick the a-hole. If you rank the final four dishes, according to the editing, it goes like this:
Dish one: Kevin, Brian, Michael.
Dish two: Michael, Kevin, Brian. (maybe switch the last two)
Dish three: Brian, Kevin, Michael. (maybe switch the last two)
Dish four: Brian, Michael, Kevin.

Clearly Brian should have won.

Kevin was the favorite because of his simpleness, likeability, and the fact that he isnt an robot like the other two.

As for people giving Michael a pass, lets not forget the fact that he consistently put Kevin down by his comments.

F.U. again Top Chef

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/blog.../bait-n-switch

Always interesting to get Tom's take. Reunion special tonight. Any way Kevin doesn't win audience favorite? We didn't have a charismatic Fabio-like chef and Kevin was the only consistently likable chef this season. I liked Bryan just fine, but the guy was a little humorless. No one outside of the top 4 made any kind of positive impression on me. Along with the cash and swag he got for winning so many challenges, this will be a nice consolation prize for him. I feel bad that Bryan, the runner-up, will likely be going home with absolutely no prizes or cash from the show.

I get that editing is often misleading, but Michael fucked up a dish. I guess the question is, did his two good dishes outweigh his shitty dessert? The outcome suggests yes, but I personally haven't seen anyone who has completely failed on a dish take the prize over someone who performed well on all of their dishes. And if Michael really beat out Brian's venizen dish then the editing was all sorts of fucked because the judges were saying that was the best dish period, not just of the round.

ETA: Just finished reading the entire blog. Interesting that Tom said Mike's dish hadn't failed. He said it was "overcooked, yet tasty". I swear I recall the edited version saying that had Mike executed perfectly, it would have been great, but as is it missed the mark. Also, Tom mentions Mike's squab beat out Bryan's venison. Again, in the edited version, a judge clearly said it was the best dish of the whole night.

In any case, the ultimate outcome doesn't mean that much to me because all three are stellar chefs. I'm not as angry as others over the decision. Just a little disappointed that the asshole won out over the nice guys.

I would have liked it if Kevin had won, but the biggest problem with the season was that the top 4 chefs were clear from the very start. I don't think we'd be dwelling on the outcome if the season had any sort of intrigue.

No shit. I called them out at the 3rd episode. ad called Eli the 5th one. Didbn't expect Cancer girl to last that long, but oh well...



I cheered for Bryan and Kevin, but all 4 chefs were great. It's all about editing, as a soon as the decision was done, leading you to believe that Bryan was gonna win, It was too easy.

I don't care if Michael won, really, as it's much much better than Hosea and Illan, but the editing was garbage.

I agree that Brian seem to win the last cook off. He got the car and that is almost a clear sign he was going to be runner up, no matter what they cooked.

I thought Michael won the car.

Yeah, Mike won the car.

That reminds me, did Bryan win anything for the first half of the finale after Michael got a Prius for the quickfire?

I thought it was Brian, easy to get them mixed up.

Bryan's and Mike's mom showed up at the reunion show and gave Bryan a fully restored '79 Corvette she and her husband had because Mike won the show. If Bryan had won, she would have given Mike a Harley they had in the garage. I thought that's what Lonnie was talking about at first till I reread the post.

And what the hell was up with making me watch that ridiculous talk show on Bravo a night after the finale to find out who won fan favorite? That crap was excruciating. I had to endure almost 40 minutes of an interview with Skeletor Jessica Parker to find out Kevin edged out Bryan.

The Prius challenge was when Jen was still in the competition. I'm pretty sure Brian won the quick fire when it was just the top three.

Crap my DVR didn't tape these. Pretty cool of the V bros parents to think about how to handle their children's competition in a way that wouldn't make one's win over the other too big of a deal.

Speaking of the Voltaggio Brothers, they are planning some projects together and even have a new website.

The only interesting piece of info that came from that terrible talk show last night was that Kevin and his wife actually split up a few days before the finale. I wonder how much that affected him.

I am talking about Bryan winning the elimination round in part one of the finale. On the theme of Bryan sort of getting the short end of the stick as compared to his brother- Michael gets a car for the mini-game and Bryan gets nada for the main challenge.

Yeah that sucks. But its in line with the rest of the season. Quickfire's had the promise of money or prizes, the benefit of winning the main challenges was immunity. But at that point, immunity was off the table. I agree, Bryan should have won something.