Top Chef Season 6

[Khaldun]

Well, Ilan's first restaurant opened a little over a month ago...and was shut down right away by the health department. http://www.zagat.com/Blog/Detail.aspx?SNP=NLA&SCID=37&BLGID=23378. Fucking horrible name for a restaurant, also.

Marcel's still a sous chef somewhere, I think.

[Khaldun]

Speaking of Top Chef establishments, friend of mine here went to Jen's restaurant in Philly and said it's quite bad, though some of that is clearly Ripert's design for the place, not the cooking per se.

[schild]

Well, Ilan's first restaurant opened a little over a month ago...and was shut down right away by the health department. http://www.zagat.com/Blog/Detail.aspx?SNP=NLA&SCID=37&BLGID=23378. Fucking horrible name for a restaurant, also.

Marcel's still a sous chef somewhere, I think.

I'm sorry, but season 2 was all about Sam and by extension Cliff since he was Sam's only competition.

[Khaldun]

Yeah. Sam's restaurant is doing quite well, from what I've read, it's out on Long Island.

[HaemishM]

I didn't mind Ilan winning because I hated that douche Marcel, but yeah, Sam should have won season 2 hands down. Getting kicked for "not cooking" was a bullshit reason. Seeing how little Ilan has done with all that money and notoriety since makes me angry, and I bet it makes Chef Tom regret that comment.

Yeah, Lorraine and Robin were the dead weight. Mike and Eli will be after that unless something wonky goes on like the bitch wins immunity. I see on next week's preview that Isabella looks like he wants  to mack on Natalie Portman so bad - it's likely to kill him.

[Murgos]

I see on next week's preview that Isabella looks like he wants  to mack on Natalie Portman so bad - it's likely to kill him.

If you have to lose on Top Chef, and it's doubtful if Mike will win, then probably the best way to go out would be while making a pass at Schild's cousin.

[schild]

I see on next week's preview that Isabella looks like he wants  to mack on Natalie Portman so bad - it's likely to kill him.

If you have to lose on Top Chef, and it's doubtful if Mike will win, then probably the best way to go out would be while making a pass at Schild's cousin.

Wow. The post you're referencing was made like 4 years ago.

Not my cousin, one of the kids in my high school.

[voodoolily]

Yeah, schild has mentioned more than once that he wants to be in a Portman-Johansson sandwich. 

[schild]

Yeah, schild has mentioned more than once that he wants to be in a Portman-Johansson sandwich. 

I'd prefer an Amanda Seyfried / Scarlett Johansson sandwich, but I'd take one with Portman instead.

[Signe]

You would probably do it with any combination of those hot actresses who still look 17 as long as you didn't have to kiss them.  You're so slutty.

[schild]

You would probably do it with any combination of those hot actresses who still look 17 as long as you didn't have to kiss them.  You're so slutty.

Where'd that come from? Pretty sure I've said some seedy stuff about Bridget Moynahan, Maria Bello, Monica Bellucci, Julianna Margulies, Christina Hendricks and others.

Maybe not all of them here, but some of them here for sure, and other people.

I can say some pretty unlikable stuff about some Top Chef contestants too if you want to be topical instead of insinuating I like to feel like a predator.

[Murgos]

Wow. The post you're referencing was made like 4 years ago.

Not my cousin, one of the kids in my high school.

$PMONEY went to your high school?

[Evildrider]

Did they really need another Vegetarian challenge?  I mean come on.

[Abagadro]

Mike Volt bagging on Kevin? For shame.

[Evildrider]

The more the show goes on, the more I hate the brothers.  I really hope Kevin wins at this point.  I think Jen needs to just get her shit together, cuz she's proved she can cook.

[Signe]

I agree with Evildrider.  I think the brothers would piss me off irl, too.  Especially the really really whiny one with the sneery face.  I forget which name is his.  Last night I wanted to rip his face off and shove it up his brother's ass. 

[Khaldun]

They're the culinary equivalent of an all-A student from an Ivy League school who somehow come off as empty inside--that they do what the system requires of them at the highest level, but don't have an animating passion of their own. Like a hot young newly-minted MFA who is doing lots of gallery shows but is just reproducing whatever the current artistic fad might be.

[voodoolily]

Did they really need another Vegetarian challenge?  I mean come on.

Whenever it's a young actress that's the big twist. They already had to do vegan for Zooey Deschanel (btw, did anyone get a chance to have their ears bleed over her shitty cotton commercial?).

I call Mike Voltaggio "Tony Hawk." It's the only way I can keep them straight. He had the funniest sour grapes face last night!

[HaemishM]

Jen doesn't get her shit together, she'll be gone before Robyn. Except that even at her worst, she's still not as bad as Robyn. Mike being gone was inevitable - the minute your shit starts to fuck up and you don't change your plans, you're fucked. Kevin is right now my current favorite to win since he's maintained consistency. Jen's confidence has been undermined by losing Restaurant Wars. She can't decide what to do about anything because she's so worried she'll fail.

[stark]

Speaking of Top Chef establishments, friend of mine here went to Jen's restaurant in Philly and said it's quite bad, though some of that is clearly Ripert's design for the place, not the cooking per se.

10 Arts, I've eaten there and I thought it was amazing.

I think Kevin has reached an Obi-Wan like status, he can't actually lose.  He could literally lose the competition, but he obviously loves food and cooking so much that he's already won.  This is why Kevin is my favorite, he's there because he loves it so much, not to prove how awesome he is like Jen and the Brothers.

[Murgos]

Eli's reaction to being in the top 3 was pretty funny.  Almost a, "Sure Kevin and Michael but me?" sort of thing.

Shows you who the other chef's expect to do well.

It was pretty apparent that Mike wasn't going to make it much further, he was way to cocky for pretty much never being in the top.

[voodoolily]

I thought it was really cute how Eli was trying to hide his Jewnerd boner for Portman. He forgot that she was in V for Vendetta.

[Murgos]

Everyone knows that the best work Portman ever did was in Leon.   

[Khaldun]

Man, that was nasty when Mike slammed Kevin for cooking something delicious as if it were easy to do. If it's easy, baby, then go and do it and stop fucking around with purple-potato-banana-rye-chipotle whatev stuff. That was exactly like watching some art fag MFA who is doing installations of blood-smeared clay over live video feeds of Port-o-Potties at construction sites is getting pissed off because people like the work of a really great observational painter who does landscapes.

I think the thing about Kevin is that it's clear (and not just from his looks) that he lives food, that it's part of his family culture and history. If you look at the folks who are really amazingly gifted chefs who've changed the way we all eat in the last forty or fifty years, that's a pretty consistent thing that separates them from the people who are just great technicians or people who know how to sell a gimmick or image.

[voodoolily]

Evidently Collicchio says point blank on the blog that Kevin's food always tastes amazing and that's why he keeps winning.

[Khaldun]

Interesting.

Portman said she was a vegetarian, but I ended up assuming that she misspoke and that she's actually vegan, given that no one used cheese or dairy or eggs in what they made. I get why no one worked with beans--too long a prep or having to use nasty canned ones--but I was still surprised that there was no rice, no nuts to speak of, and that only one chef used lentils. No one tried an Asian-style prep either.

[fuser]

Anyone watch the reunion dinner? Harold really bulked up, Fabio should stick to cooking, and Marcel is 

[HaemishM]

Yeah, I watched the reunion. Marcel is still a cuntwhistle. I was really hoping when Fabio asked to cut off the cameras, that he was going to go over to the little wolf-haired fucker and punch him directly in the gizzard.

[voodoolily]

Interesting.

Portman said she was a vegetarian, but I ended up assuming that she misspoke and that she's actually vegan, given that no one used cheese or dairy or eggs in what they made. I get why no one worked with beans--too long a prep or having to use nasty canned ones--but I was still surprised that there was no rice, no nuts to speak of, and that only one chef used lentils. No one tried an Asian-style prep either.

No one used pasta either. Maybe they edited out the part where she said she only eats 300 calories per meal.

[Khaldun]

I read the blog: she's not a vegan. Would have been perfectly happy with cheese, dairy, what have you. So I'm seriously at a loss for why some of them cooked what they cooked. Weird.

[Murgos]

It's interesting how in a binary decision process you can get by being second worst for more than half the competition.

[Nebu]

As for the Portman episode, it reinforced my experience with people.  I get invited to dinner parties all the time.  When I tell people that I'm a vegetarian, they almost universally don't know how to handle it.  American cuisine has become so firmly rooted in meat+starch+veg that people don't know how to make a complete plate without meat being the show piece.  I swear to god that people think I only eat salads 24/7. 

[CmdrSlack]

Very true. When I was a vegetarian, people would almost uniformly assume that I ate fish, because fish isn't meat. My wife and daughter were coming to my office for lunch on Friday (I was unaware that we do lunch as a group on Friday). We were looking for vegetarian/pescatarian options in the various takeout menus and one place had "Non-Meat Sandwiches" as an option. Fish sandwiches were in this list. I expected it in the South, where at a diner you can get mac & cheese as a "vegetable" option at a diner. In Illinois? Not so much.

[voodoolily]

because fish isn't meat.

This is a Catholic thing, I think. I didn't eat fish when I was a veg either. I ate lots of bean burritos, mac and cheese and pasta though. You know, "normal people food."

[fuser]

Really good episode...
Tom is taking every opportunity to thank the chefs because my god they will provide an awesome finish.