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Top Chef: All-Stars

post #1 of 47
12/2/10 at 4:19am
Thread Starter 
Not a bad start. Tony Bourdain as a fixture at judges' table definitely beats master of the strained metaphor, Toby Young. I would certainly enjoy seeing AB rip into Spike and and Marcel at some point.
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post #2 of 47
12/2/10 at 8:36am
ehh. Didnt watch last season due to the brothers the previous season totally ruining the show for me .... but with them out I figured i'd give it a shot.

The kiss of death "please dont eliminate me."

What was with Tom laughing after every bite he took at the challenge? Quite annoying.
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post #3 of 47
12/2/10 at 12:56pm
Season looks to be quite legit. Excited to see Tom go head to head against the chefs in that one challenge.

The amount of back talk to the judges seems to be heading to unprecedented levels.
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post #4 of 47
12/3/10 at 11:41am
I have a feeling that a lot of this go-round is going to revolve around revisiting things that the chefs did well or fucked up in their respective seasons.
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post #5 of 47
12/3/10 at 12:37pm
The reveal that the first elimination challenge was to cook what got them knocked off was brutal and brilliant, though. I loved that and it's when the show had me hooked.

Aw, hell, it's Top Chef. I was hooked at the promo adds a month ago.
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post #6 of 47
12/3/10 at 12:46pm
Thread Starter 
I doubt they'll be doing much repeating of dishes they've made, but I agree that it was a smart opening challenge.

Favorites? Richard and Angelo?
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post #7 of 47
12/3/10 at 12:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey View Post

Favorites? Richard and Angelo?
Indeed. And even though she didn't do great on the elimination challenge, I bet Jennifer will be strong. Girl can burn.
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post #8 of 47
12/3/10 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 
I would put Jen up there, but she's like the perfectionist who always seems to crack when the pressure is on. Of course, maybe that was just something they were playing up during her season.
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post #9 of 47
12/3/10 at 2:30pm
Richard with no reservations whatsoever. I'm betting on him to take the whole thing.
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post #10 of 47
12/3/10 at 2:44pm
I don't know, I like Fabio.
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post #11 of 47
12/3/10 at 4:07pm
I think the only reason Fabio did (and will do) so well is because the producers want to keep him on board.

Homeslice didnt deserve to go nearly as far as he did during his season.
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post #12 of 47
12/3/10 at 4:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Closer View Post
I think the only reason Fabio did (and will do) so well is because the producers want to keep him on board.

Homeslice didnt deserve to go nearly as far as he did during his season.
Absolute truth. Expect to see him on the bottom a lot.
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post #13 of 47
12/3/10 at 7:14pm
I like Fabio, too, but he's a good chef and not a good competitor. Not that he couldn't take it if he came ready to rumble, but I don't see him getting all that far.
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post #14 of 47
12/4/10 at 5:18pm
Wow, what a group of Chefs! I don't recall Stephen or Fabio being that great, but everyone else absolutely can cook their asses off.

Favorites as chefs are Jen and Angelo. Favorites as personalities are Carla and Mike. I hope the four of them stay a long time.

The elimination challenge was such a great concept. Some people really rose to the challenge and that's always awesome to see. I can't believe Spike was able to do something with those awful frozen scallops. And I have to say, as much as I loathed Angelo last season, I had a huge grin on my face when he won. I feel connected to him now, for some reason.

This looks to be a really fun season.

jstraw, how could you hate the V. Bros? They are arguably the most talented chefs to ever to grace the Top Chef kitchen!
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post #15 of 47
12/6/10 at 5:22pm
Man I missed this show.

Fabio is great for TV but he's not a strong chef.
Jen cracks under pressure constantly.
Richard is still going strong but he's a bit rusty since leaving the show so we'll see how that impacts him.
Angelo is still a freak of nature but damn can he cook.
Carla, Tre, Tiffany and Antonia can always surprise you, don't count them out yet.
Mike got fat, but he's funny and not the uber-douche I originally thought he was.
Casey's still hot.
Jamie will find a way to cook scallps every chance she gets.
Stephen still sucks.
Marcel is still a dick and may finally get his ass beat, literally instead of figuratively.
I hate Spike but he finds ways to be entertaining and the name of his restaurant in DC is genius.
Dale T. has a bad case of LMD or Little Man Disease.
Dale L. has a bad case of YCCTSYL or You Can't Cook To Save Your Life.
Elia is already forgotten.
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post #16 of 47
12/9/10 at 1:18am
God Im so glad she got sent home.
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post #17 of 47
12/9/10 at 1:29am
Holy shit! Jen must have been sleep deprived. That girl was out of her god damn mind.

Fucking Marcel. I do not look forward to his drama.

Richard, Angelo and Tiff seem like the three to beat so far.
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post #18 of 47
12/9/10 at 2:59am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Closer View Post
Season looks to be quite legit. Excited to see Tom go head to head against the chefs in that one challenge.
I was expecting this in this episode- I guess that must have been a "This season, on Top Chef" kind of a promo.

Not exactly sure why Jen went home over Jamie. If Jamie could have helped the team's dish, she let them down. If she couldn't have, she's useless and she bailed class to go to the nurse's office.
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post #19 of 47
12/9/10 at 3:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey View Post
Not exactly sure why Jen went home over Jamie. If Jamie could have helped the team's dish, she let them down. If she couldn't have, she's useless and she bailed class to go to the nurse's office.
That baffled me as well. I can't remember, was the dish Jen's idea? That's the only way I can fathom her getting kicked off, if her tantrum was as unimportant to their decision as Tom claimed.
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post #20 of 47
12/9/10 at 8:57am
With Jen, its amazing that people think shes such a great chef and competitor. She works at a very high end restaraunt and is so completely self absorbed. She didnt show off anything in either quickfire and sucked at both elimination challenges.

It's always nice to see someone who thinks that their shit dont stink get put in their place.
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post #21 of 47
12/9/10 at 11:32am
I remember Jen winning or being at the top of each challenge during her season. She did choke toward the end though. In any case, she went home because she put out bad food. Take Tiff and Andrea's dish: only half the people got undercooked eggs and the chefs acknowledged their mistake. The judges thought Jen's bacon was soggy and her egg bland. Add to that, she didn't realize that her food was soggy and bland, and it is pretty obvious why she went home. As for Jaime, I understand the judges dilemma. You can't judge someone for food they didn't cook. She had a legitimate excuse for not cooking. Whether or not other people would do the same is irrelevant.
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post #22 of 47
12/9/10 at 11:55am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
With Jen, its amazing that people think shes such a great chef and competitor. She works at a very high end restaraunt and is so completely self absorbed. She didnt show off anything in either quickfire and sucked at both elimination challenges.
I don't recall anyone saying she was a great competitor. Most of us have mentioned her history of choking. As for if she's a great chef, none of us taste their food, we go by what the show tells us. The show told us she was an incredibly accomplished chef-- to the point that a couple of the chefs seemed slightly intimidated by her.

Quote:
I remember Jen winning or being at the top of each challenge during her season. She did choke toward the end though. In any case, she went home because she put out bad food. Take Tiff and Andrea's dish: only half the people got undercooked eggs and the chefs acknowledged their mistake. The judges thought Jen's bacon was soggy and her egg bland. Add to that, she didn't realize that her food was soggy and bland, and it is pretty obvious why she went home. As for Jaime, I understand the judges dilemma. You can't judge someone for food they didn't cook. She had a legitimate excuse for not cooking. Whether or not other people would do the same is irrelevant.
A cut on your thumb is barely a legitimate excuse in a professional kitchen, as the other chefs correctly indicated. But in a cooking competition? It strikes me as getting a free pass. I've watched more cooking challenge shows than I probably should have, and in every case I can remember, even putting out food with mistakes is better than putting out nothing.
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post #23 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:04pm
It's legitimate in the sense that a doctor was called in and recommended her to get stitches. The judges can't fault her for that. If the doc said she was fine and she demanded to go to the hospital anyway, then you could make a case it wasn't legitimate. But I agree with you that I personally have had much worse cuts and just taped it up and moved on. In any case, its a cooking show. You get home for food you cooked. Jen's bad food outweighs Jaime's non-food.
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post #24 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:16pm
I was really hoping Tom would say, "This is Top Chef and you're making bacon and eggs. Poorly at that."
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post #25 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:17pm
Thread Starter 
Like I said, I've watched a lot of cooking competitions. If a mistake or misfortune causes you to produce nothing, from what I've seen, that's always been more damning than making something with technical errors. Wasn't there a show last year where someone got sick, but had to drag their ass out of bed because not competing would have meant not advancing?

edit: I guess that was the finale, but still... no free passes seems to be the standard set for competition.
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post #26 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey View Post
Like I said, I've watched a lot of cooking competitions. If a mistake or misfortune causes you to produce nothing, from what I've seen, that's always been more damning than making something with technical errors. Wasn't there a show last year where someone got sick, but had to drag their ass out of bed because not competing would have meant not advancing?
That was Angelo. Still, I'd prefer keeping her around another week to her bleeding all over the food.

Kid: "Oh look, these eggs come with hot sauce."
Jamie: "Um, yeah...that red stuff is hot sauce..."
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post #27 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:21pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Devildoubt View Post
That was Angelo. Still, I'd prefer keeping her around another week to her bleeding all over the food.

Kid: "Oh look, these eggs come with hot sauce."
Jamie: "Um, yeah...that red stuff is hot sauce..."
You wrap it tightly and put a glove on. You're not going to bleed on the food. I've done it several times.
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post #28 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:31pm
Holy sore loser, Batman!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Elia on Tom after being axed
"People change. Fame gets to your head and makes it grow, very sadly," she said. "He has become a very different person. He has become someone who is not all about the food anymore. He's not all about supporting farmers markets. He's all about high-fructose corn syrup and there's only corn-fed beef on all of his menus now."


"Since that time when I got here five years ago, Tom did a commercial for Coca Cola, which is basically poison. And at that time I remember him speaking about how he was against obesity and how children were tricked and all of a sudden maybe a check was good enough. I went back to CraftSteak eight months ago and there is not one grass-fed animal on his menu. There is rarely organic produce on his menu. All of it is corn-fed. Obviously, corn fed is cheaper. It's easier to work with. It's always available. And it just made me really, really sad. Very, very sad. His chefs don't talk about him the same way they did. It broke my heart that somebody who knows what it's all about –- he came from starting with nothing and fighting his way through and arriving to a great spot. He could be the voice of something amazing. Sadly, he is shaping the cuisine in our country. He could be the voice of something amazing and instead he is sort of selling out. It's sad, because instead of being inspiring it's heartbreaking that someone has so much power and voice today is not doing what i believe it's the responsibility for every one of us as chefs to do."

I do, however, love Tom's response:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Awesome
"I would say I'm probably buying more local produce at all of my restaurants, especially in Vegas. We get a truckload of stuff that comes from the Santa Monica market and from California farmers three times a week," he said.

"So, anytime she wants to stand by the back door when the truck comes in from the farmers market and help unload it, she's more than welcome to do it. "
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post #29 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey View Post
Like I said, I've watched a lot of cooking competitions. If a mistake or misfortune causes you to produce nothing, from what I've seen, that's always been more damning than making something with technical errors. Wasn't there a show last year where someone got sick, but had to drag their ass out of bed because not competing would have meant not advancing?

edit: I guess that was the finale, but still... no free passes seems to be the standard set for competition.
Maybe on other shows. Not on Top Chef. Making bad food always outweighs making no food.
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post #30 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:38pm
Thread Starter 
Maybe if they have another responsibility, like front of house- but otherwise, what's to stop someone from just finding some excuse when they don't feel good about a challenge? It's a poor standard for a competition. Do you have an example of someone literally doing nothing, and being kept in favor of someone who at least put out food? I've missed a lot of Top Chef episodes over the years.
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post #31 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:44pm
You're bolstering my argument. There is precedence when one has a legitimate excuse (front of house, injury) putting out no food will not hurt you. Just because you think its a weak excuse does not make it a legitimate one. If Jaime's excuse was not considered legit, she'd be going home.

Also, I can't remember what season but it involved broccolini. The judges hated it so much they said they'd rather the person not have put it out at all. Same with Tre's sauce. It was so bad, they would rather have bland fish than have salty sauce. The judges have consistently told contestants if they know their food is bad, try and salvage it and if you can't, don't plate it.

They do not tolerate bad food on a cooking show. It either shows a lack of taste (you don't know its bad) or lack of judgment (you know its bad but put it out anyway). Either one is considered worse than not being able to execute because of time, injury, or incompetence.
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post #32 of 47
12/9/10 at 12:56pm
Thread Starter 
Dealing with clientele is part of being a chef. It is not the same thing as not cooking.

If there have been episodes where the judges have made it clear that it's better to serve nothing than something bad, I have not seen them. Like I said, it's a poor standard to have for a competition. A lot of chefs have known they made poor dishes, but none seemed to feel that if they didn't serve the judges, it would increase their chances of surviving.
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post #33 of 47
12/9/10 at 2:28pm
Really surprised that Jen could ever be in a position to go home second, but there you have it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Closer View Post
Holy sore loser, Batman!




I do, however, love Tom's response:
Haha, I love Tom so much.
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post #34 of 47
12/10/10 at 2:16am
Woof, that was tough to watch. Guess I was wrong about Jen...to say the least. I thought the salty Salmon sauce guy was going home.
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post #35 of 47
12/10/10 at 2:23am
Anthony Bourdain has a blog over at Bravo. I enjoy his latest post, which get bonus points for Wire references. This tickled me:

Quote:
In trying to understand what the Deep Thinkers at Bravo Central were thinking, one can only imagine an urgent desire to appeal to that vital demographic of potential car buyers in the age 8-13 group. I would have thought it past their bedtime when Top Chef airs. In fact, I'd guess that about 99% of the people who even know or care who the Jonas Brothers are would be long asleep in their jammies by the time Top Chef comes on. But what do I know? At least many of these young people will be, in time, making heavy use of the Glad Family of Bags -- as I did as a tween. Good to start early building that kind of brand loyalty. You could actually see the chef/contestants' expressions cave, their spirits slump -- as it became clear that whomever was going home today would be doing so covered in a sticky sheen of Twizzlers, Silly Bandz, and crushed Ritalin.
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post #36 of 47
12/10/10 at 7:00pm
Bourdain's blog is phenomenal. Give this guy a topic and he'll write the shit out of it; he's a great food mind for sure but I also generally consider him one of the best writers out there today.

He crushes in that entry. Some highlights:

Quote:
That said? I don't have a lot of sympathy for Jamie -- who deserted the front lines (all too happily, it seemed) in order to have TWO stitches put in. Just about any line cook I ever knew would have gone for the Vince Lombardi option of "spit on it and run a lap" -- at least until the end of the shift. And when you're competing for a quarter million dollars? Most would cauterize even a sucking chest wound with a hot spoon.
And:

Quote:
And whether you believe -- as I do -- that Tom Colicchio is one of the most important, pioneering chefs in American gastronomy -- and a fair and incisive judge ... or whether you think he's a high-fructose swilling, gas-guzzling enemy of locavores, Satan worshipper, tormentor of small animals, possible JFK conspirator and television whore -- as Elia seems to believe -- you know what?

He STILL knows what a raw piece of fish is.
Bang.
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post #37 of 47
12/16/10 at 1:13am
Thread Starter 
This episode proceeded almost according to form. Glad to see Dale get a win and the glorified Maitre d' go home.
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post #38 of 47
12/16/10 at 8:42am
wow, the producers must really like Fabio, lol... hanging on by a thread every week.

Favorite moment was when they walked back into the room after the elimination. Steven says i'm leaving, dead silence... Dale says me too, the oh my gods and moans start.
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post #39 of 47
12/16/10 at 12:04pm
I never liked Stephen. He's a wormy, unctuous little prick, and I'm glad to see him go. Dale L., on the other hand, is pure awesome and a huge lovable gay bitch. I think the show will be a little less entertaining without him around.

Dale T. deserves a win. My hope is that the whole season will see a lot of variety in its winners, that should make the experience a lot more rewarding.
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post #40 of 47
12/23/10 at 4:05am
Thread Starter 
What a boring episode. Not only does this show not focus on the food enough, but when you have ridiculous team competitions like this, the food is basically an afterthought. And whose idea was it to have a game dynamic where someone wouldn't have to serve anything? Dumb. The only silver lining is that more of the annoying dead weight was sent packing.
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post #41 of 47
12/23/10 at 8:36am
I disagree. Spike has seemed to have grown since he was last on. He was at the top of every challenge this season, except for this one.

He got screwed. But you're right, this was not about the food, this was a pure entertainment episode, and a boring one at that.
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post #42 of 47
12/29/10 at 7:03pm
I thought this last episode sucked, too. Not sure what the point was, and I'm not sure why Jaime gets to progress when she doesn't cook. At least she gives the impression that she's not happy about not being judged for her food, but I don't think any contest should reward participants who don't, you know, fucking participate.

That said I'm dying to see tonight's episode if only because the idea of having Tom cook in front of the chefs is legendary. Should be pretty cool.
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post #43 of 47
12/29/10 at 7:10pm
I'm eager to see Tom cook also.

Jaime not getting kicked off was beyond lame. Her attitude is so oddly shitty. It seems like she doesn't even want to be there, so I don't see why the judges don't oblige her.

EDIT: Also, I found Carla kind of annoying during her season, but her return has won me over. Maybe it's because she cut her finger and didn't drop everything to go to the hospital.
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post #44 of 47
1/6/11 at 8:27am

That was a fantastic hour of reality TV. Watching Tom knock that dish out in 8 minutes was awesome. I'm really enjoying this season.

 

Oh, and I hate Jaime.

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post #45 of 47
1/7/11 at 9:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mangy View Post

That was a fantastic hour of reality TV. Watching Tom knock that dish out in 8 minutes was awesome. I'm really enjoying this season.

 

Oh, and I hate Jaime.



Agreed on all counts. Seeing Tom cook and basically whip everyone's asses in doing so was phenomenal, truly awe-inspiring stuff. If anyone ever had any doubts about Tom in the kitchen, this should shut them right the fuck up. This might be my favorite season so far, though I am disappointed to see Jaime remain on board. If Casey's food was just worse than Jaime's, I can live with that, but Jaime's gotta go. I don't think she's a particularly inspiring cast member or chef.


Glad to see Fabio in the top, and Dale is cleaning up like crazy. I always liked him in season 3, despite his hotheadedness and his tendency to lash out and act like a douche, but this new, improved version of Dale is pretty awesome.

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post #46 of 47
2/11/11 at 11:52am

I am absolutely positive that Carla and Antonia will represent 2 out of the season's top 3 at this point, and if one of them (or God forbid both) winds up getting cut out I'll be shocked. For the third, I don't really know; my instincts tell me Blais but Dale has been performing well enough up until the last couple of eliminations. Mikey, bless his Jersey Italian soul, probably isn't going to make it, and Tiffany, well, always seems to just come short of her competitors. Angelo probably has a better chance of making top 3 than Blais just by virtue of his slightly better record for the season, but then again as Blais put it this week, you don't have to win all of the challenges, just the last one.

 

Carla and Antonia for sure. They're making the men look like run-of-the-mill line cooks with both their skill and professionalism. After that, I'm going to say Blais. Top 3. Bang.

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post #47 of 47
2/23/11 at 8:02pm
Thread Starter 

Angelo going home I get.  More talented than Mike I. or Tiffany, but he was kinda sleepwalking lately.  But Dale. Ugh.  He was killing it this season.

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