Top Chef - S7E6 Postmortem

Annoyance.

I was kind of taken aback by how many people didn't like last week's episode. Straight-up cooking challenge with an exciting local ingredient in season, and a mostly straight-up challenge with great local farm products, the only angle being that they had to cook outdoors (with pretty decent facilities, it seemed) and work on the fly. Contrast the EC with analogues from previous seasons, where they had mystery facilities but were supposed to plan and shop beforehand. These were two true tests of creativity and skill with great ingredients. What's not to like about that?

This week, however, could easily have been a total train wreck, and the only thing that kept it from becoming so was luck. Sounds like Kenny and Tamesha did, indeed, have very weak dishes, but with that format you could have easily lost a top contestant for no other reason than the rest of the field wanted him gone. Lame. And for the quickfire, why not just randomly assign the proteins and take five minutes off the clock? Same challenge, no BS.

Good look at the chefs' styles in the EC, though. With the time off, I think I finally have something to work with.

Thanks for all of the healthy thoughts, guys. By the end of the day, we anticipate having everybody home and if not 100%, then well on their way.

Comments

[BritBrit]

Wow. Hated hated hated this episode. From the needless quickfire protein bait and switch, to the ludicrously judged EC. The look of disgust on Tom's face during the first group's critique said it all. What a pack of @ssholes.

[Joe S]

Agreed Britani. I really hope there are less shenanigans next episode, but the preview was not reassuring. I found it interesting that Tom mentioned in his blog that Kenny's dish was worse than Amanda's Gallantine. Tamesha's apparently was pretty awful.

[Bart]

I think the text poll they had during the middle of the show should put to rest for once and for all who this show is catered to. 70% of people replied they wouldn't eat duck "liver" - a clear majority, and a majority that isn't mostly made up of foodies.

It's a reality show first, a foodie show second. Last night's episode showed that. While some of the dishes looked good, I was a little disappointed by the outcome. I didn't want to see Tamesha go home so early; I thought she had some real potential.

It was nice to see Jersey boy Kevin perform well!

At this point, I think the rankings have to go:

1. Angelo
2. Kelly
3. Leave it blank.
4. Kenny
5. Kevin
6. Ed
7. Tiffany
8. Amanda
9. Alex
And at the bottom, the Bobby Hill look-alike.

Also, I really, really hope Alex didn't steal Ed's pea soup. And if he did, he should get kicked off the show for it.

[timothy]

Okay, so a few episodes back, Tracy said she thought Angelo was cute, and he buddied up to her and she went home. Then we had Angelo saying Tamesha was cute, and she buddied up to him, and she goes home. There is a curse of Angelo working here. If you come in contact with his sexy, you are doomed.

[Kim-in-Chicago]

"70% of people replied they wouldn't eat duck "liver" - a clear majority, and a majority that isn't mostly made up of foodies."

I had always thought TC's audience was made up of mostly "foodies" - really was taken back by that poll. (Then again, who texts to those things anyways and spends 99 cents per text? Nuff said)

HATED this episode.

[KinderJ]

I loved the QF... until they swapped the dishes around. I hate that shtick. It reduces a difficult but doable challenge to the level of pure luck. This, to my mind, explains why the emu egg dish won. Ostrich eggs, according to Jamie Oliver at least, are basically oversized chicken eggs with a slightly higher fat content. Assuming Emu eggs are not much different, any egg dish you might normally make in 30 min or so becomes viable. On the other hand, many of the other proteins require special handling or more cook time.

As for the dinner, group B seemed to show more class while judging, recognizing good dishes when they ate them. Tom's question to group A- 'Did any of you get the meyer lemon? The tomato? It seems like there is plenty of acid on this dish to me.' I almost cannot get mad at the cheftestants. The producers set them up to knife each other, and some of them went at it with more enthusiasm than others. It sounds like the judges did not disagree too strongly with the decisions, but were very unimpressed with the methodology. The methodology being to trash everything. Feh.

On a related topic, I just finished reading Medium Raw. Bourdain has a whole section in there on TC. Bravo apparently has pretty restrictive covenants limiting what people who were on the show can say about the show, so not a lot of behind the scenes info. One interesting note though is Bourdain's flat assertion that the judging is on the level and always will be so long as Colicchio is head judge. He makes it quite clear that the producer's preferences play absolutely no role in the judging criteria. Kind of heartening. Also the chapter about the guy who breaks down fish at Bernadin is as good as everyone says. Worth a read.

[Dreamboat]

I thought the poll asked if you would eat duck testicle. I have to say that I would have a hard time choking down any testicle.

[TxGriff]

To be fair, the poll asked what you eat duck testicle. I would have a hard time swallowing a duck's testicle...just saying. But yeah, disappointing episode. I'm glad to see Kevin getting his groove back a bit.

@Bart, I think you forgot Andrea in your rankings. Or is she supposed to go in the "leave it blank" slot? ;-)

[Bart]

@TxGriff: I knew I was forgetting someone. Hmm, I think I'd put her above Amanda, but I'm not convinced she needs to go that high.

I found the little strained interaction between her and the guest judge to be a bit odd. Then again, the way Michelle really laid into Kenny at Judge's Table reveals a blunt personality, so it's easy to imagine some sort of argument/fallout in Andrea/Michelle's past.

[dach]

talking about testicle food, I saw a british country cooking show where they fried up fresh testicles from newly gilded calfs. It really looked quite delicious on the screen.

Tamesha has made spicy food before... she went overboard on adjusting too high. The editing and confessionals imply to me Angelo had a hand in Tamesha spice level. Amgelo decided pump up the flavor of his dish... possibly Tamesha decided to follow Angelo lead. Fatal mistake when her spices are already strong.

[dach]

What do you all think final 4 now? Things are coming to focus.

== final 4
Angelo
Kelly
== likely final 4
Kenny (though he's had slippage, possibly fatigue or burnout)
== in the hunt
Kevin
Tiffany
Ed
== MOTP
Alex
Andrea
== bye bye soon
Amanda
Stephen

Far more jostling for top spots than last season, when final 4 where almost preordained from week 1

[bryanD]

"Wow. Hated hated hated this episode."---britbrit

Yeah. Both teams should have been isolated (screw the boat) and an attempt at a blind tasting made. Of course, the producers wanted exactly what they got: the brevet judge-chefs in their own version of Lifeboat. Oh! The BOAT! I get it!

As for the stunt-food QF: I never take QFs seriously at all. QF is Padma Time plus some chefs running around which impinges on RANDOM knife selection. M'eh! The good chefs don't need immunity, anyway. That's why I'm all for awarding cash and (big) prizes..."high stakes". Losing $10,000 by forgetting to drizzle on a key component that was ready and at hand can make good two seconds of good TV wherein some premeditated goody-goody might let the mask slip. I'm thinking (and smiling) of Fabio's reaction to Scott Conant's critique of his "cheese steak". LOL.
But on the bright side, the person (Tamesha) who dreamed up that revolting scallop sundae deservedly went home.

[nomnomnom]

Still think Kelly is given far too much credit on here and everywhere. She made a country club omelette with goat cheese with some reduction and everyone is ready to declare her some sort of Montreal lock. It was very fortunate she didn't have to do an EC. Any main plate she's been mostly responsible for to date has been panned so far. So in that case it was excellent timing.

Editing is setting up odd for next week with the pea puree thing. No telling what they are trying to sell here. It's certainly possible that they are on the same team and just want to build some drama in a season where the food is so squarely in the box.

[Steve F.]

I also was disappointed to see Tamesha go. She did have potential as shown by her baby food and her duck tongue soup, and I would have loved for her to outlast the bottom tier of Stephen and Amanda. Kenny's manic depressive trajectory is getting old and is very disappointing. He's letting his ego affect his cooking from what I can tell. He thinks he's better than everyone else and tries too hard to prove it, hence the emphasis on overly complex, convoluted food.

As for the "challenge" to the QF and the judging structure this episode, nothing that really helps determine the Top Chef, just gratuitous gimmicks.

The top chefs this episode were a big surprise, so some tweaking of my rankings....

1. Angelo
2. Kelly
3. Kenny (have no idea whether to keep him here or to place him lower as he's the one most likely to flame out as well as hit culinary heights)
4. Ed
5. Tiffany
6. Alex
7. Andrea
8. Kevin (needs to do more to convince us that his win wasn't a fluke after being on the bottom for most of the season so far)
9. Amanda
10. Stephen

Finally, the "Angelo curse." Much ado about nothing. Angelo's advice seemed to be given to help the other chefs. The other chefs are responsible for using that advice effectively. They should be aware of their own technical limitations and maintain quality control for their vision. Tamesha admitted as much.

[Bill]

I liked the QF and enjoyed the twist. I also like the parity this year, just about anyone left has a shot at winning and I think over the past couple of weeks we’ve been seeing the gap between top and bottom greatly reduced. Kenny almost got it last night and would it really be a huge shock if Angelo had to pack up at any given point?
I think the cooking has been solid also, there isn’t the wow factor we had with the fantastic four last year, but I think most of the chefs who are left have the ability to bring forth good food on most challenges.

[Steve F.]

Great to hear about your family, Dom!

[Helaine]

Bravo Polls: Sorry if i'm being a geek, but i don't think we can determine anything about who watches Top Chef by the Bravo polls. If i remember correctly, the results give the percentages but don't tell you how many people voted. So, 70% saying "nay" to duck testicles could mean that 10 people voted in total and 7 of those people voted "No" OR 1,000,000 people voted in total and 700,000 people voted "No". Without knowing how many voted, we really can't generalize to the Bravo audience, just the people who watch the show (in real time) AND are willing to spend 99 cents to text useless information. Of course, if I am misremembering about Bravo providing the total numbers, then everything I just said is wrong.

Elimination Challenge: Just agreeing with those who hated this format. In addition to the format being annoying (random boat trip!) it really messes with the integrity of the process (if you actually want it to be mostly about people's food).

[Nikki L]

I 100% agree with Dom's post. Last week's challenge was great and we got to see some real cooking but this week was awful. I was so disappointed by the first groups critique. Once they heard the words "Kenny's dish" you could tell they had their game faces on. They were sending him in no matter what. Although it sounds like his dish wasn't great, serving a piece of cartilage is much worse and Amanda should have been in the bottom. I'm glad at least Andrea was able to see that.

Also, Tamesha was a little arrogant at the end there.. "There is no way I am going home." Didn't she hear the comments the judges made? It was clear that her dish failed on every level whereas Kenny probably could have tweaked a few things and had a winner.

Anyone think Angelo sabotaged her?

[Lisa S.]

This is my first time commenting, but I've been reading this site for quite awhile. I've always enjoyed the intelligent commentary from Dom and his readers. Up to this point, I've been pretty ambivalent about this season of TC, and I just haven't felt like rooting for anyone. But I still watch, because it's TC, after all! I think I'm still watching because of Tom, and I'm hoping that the food will excite me again. I like, as Bill mentioned, that it's still anyone's game, but I'm hoping that some wow factor emerges. I did wonder about the supposed rivalry between Andrea and Michelle. Was it because they both have curly hair? Just kidding!

[Skillet Doux]

"Still think Kelly is given far too much credit on here and everywhere ... Any main plate [Kelly's] been mostly responsible for to date has been panned so far."

You think so?

She wasn't officially on the top, but her EC dish for episode one got very positive comments on air and an honorable mention from Gail in her blog.

She won the E2 EC, and she made absolutely certain we were all aware she was mostly responsible for that :-)

Top mention for her pie, a questionable EC win in E4 (still unclear whether that was the top dish of all courses or just dinner), top EC in E5 and a QF win this week where she, admittedly, had an easier go of it than some.

I don't disagree that the circumstances dull the shine of a couple of her wins a bit, but that's still an impressive run.

[Anon Man]

I've come to the conclusion tha these people are idiots. Nominating a strong chef for ellimination just because you didn't like him or fear him puts YOU at risk. So, Kenny is in the ellimination group. Then someone in the other group, maybe Y-O-U, is going against him. Sure, it is supposedly about the dish that night, but when the idea is that Kenny's dish failed because of concept, and maybe yours fails because of technical mistake, it isn't him leaving.

Through the editing, you could tell where the judges agreed with the nominations either way and the results followed quickly from that distinction. Clearly Amanda and not Kenny was the worst of that group to Tom. And Angelo was probably the judges' pick from group B to win. So, the results that followed were clear.

I didn't mind the QF twist, I mean the idea of making them cook with proteins that they don't know is the challenge. I would have grabbed the boar, because I've used it before fairly extensively. So, not much of a challenge even for me. Duck nuts? Not so much. So the switch randomized the playing field.

One thing did really bother me though: that latent girl fight atmosphere between Michelle B and Andrea? WTF was that? They run rival restaurants and have some sort of latent animosity? We've seen judges and chefs who've known each other before, but this is the first time where they appeared to actively dislike one another. Very strange. Or, maybe just sly editing. But, I found it off-putting and somewhat soured the episode for me.

[Skillet Doux]

" I did wonder about the supposed rivalry between Andrea and Michelle. Was it because they both have curly hair? Just kidding!"

Andrea and Michelle Bernstein both have restaurants in South Beach. Bernstein's a star with a big, successful restaurant, while Andrea and her husband run a small joint that, from what I understand, has been a little quiet recently. Andrea and her husband appear to be of the opinion that they have the better restaurant and that people are being seduced by a flashy space and Bernstein's star power, and Andrea's husband, at least, has been quite vocal about it.

I'm paraphrasing and haven't looked into it in depth, but that's the gist of it, I think.

[heather]

i'm in on the "glad everyone's okay (or getting there)" party.

in other news, can we talk about what a toolbox ed is? i cringe every time they throw in a "smarmily schmoozing with tiffany" piece (watching him flirt...(shudders)), and then last night, re: angelo: "i used to bang his girlfriend." nothing but class, this one.

[Polybus]

I really like it when they bring in unusual ingredients like rattlesnake and emu eggs and I don't mind it when they make the chefs randomly change places. It tests their ability 1) to cook anything, and 2) to think on the fly. I'd like my Top Chef to be able to do those things.

However, like many, I hated the format of having peers actually decide top and bottom, especially in a elimination challenge. Plainly, Tom hated it, too. In spite of that, it sounds like the judges agreed with the contestants about top and bottom, so that was good. I must say that I don't really care for the gamesmanship, either. C'mon, just cook your best and let the chips fall where they may. It is a reality show and some gamesmanship will happen, but I'm just saying that it makes you look bad. If you think that making a bad impression is going to attract more customers to your restaurant, you are probably mistaken. Make the best dishes and that will attract customers.

I really am losing confidence in Angelo and I think that Kelly may have a more rounded repertoire, so I am bumping her up. I am tempted to move Kenny down further than third, but I just can't see anyone moving up to that position right now. I think Ed has been breaking out and moving upward, but I just can't put him that high yet, nor Kevin. However, I agree with most everyone in the bottom two.

1. Kelly
2. Angelo
3. Kenny
4. Ed
5. Kevin
6. Andrea
7. Tiffany
8. Alex
9. Amanda
10. Stephen

[TxGriff]

@ Anon Man- actually, in Tom's blog, he conceeds that Kenny's dish was indeed worse than Amanda's. And he criticized Angelo's heavy hand with the seasoning, so I don't know if he would have been the judge's top pick.

I do agree that IF the chefs' strategy was to nominate a strong competitor for elimination, it would have been a foolish gable because that would mean that somebody from their group would be up against that competitor when it came time for JT. However, I think Tom's blog makes it pretty clear that the right people were up for elimination:

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/blogs/tom-colicchio/cruise-chev-kenny-dy

[juli]

Dom, so happy to hear you are all on the mend!
@ Kinder J: The fish guy chapter was great! Bourdain can be such a good writer when he has a story to tell. The more stream of conscious stuff can be tiresome though.

I have a question about the cooking the exotic meats though. Don't many of those meats need more time to cook to be tender? I know someone (Tiffany?) said she used the pressure cooker, but even so, wouldn't they need more time than 45 minutes?

Perhaps I'm too naive, but I really didn't think Tom (and Gail to some extent)would allow someone to go home that didn't deserve it. Tom would have called out that egregious of a schemer.

[Danny]

Well I had two duh/aha's watching the episode. Watching last night I realized that they were playing up the D.C. politics thing what with the voting and strategizing. Also, I realized that part of picking D.C. for this season had to do with promoting The Real Housewives of D.C. I guess next season will be Top Chef New Jersey.

What they haven't done is show how D.C. makes a strong culinary statement. We did have the crabs but isn't it interesting that they had a judge from Miami come in? Weren't all the guest judges last season judges who had restaurants in Las Vegas? Why not more of what D.C. brings to the table (besides Mike I.)?

[Gilmore]

Glad things are coming along with your family, Dom.

I cook a lot of wild game and am always interested in these challenges. To see an egg win is disappointing. Is that a comment on the other chefs or was the omelette that great?? Given a menu, would you choose a wild boar anything or an omelette?

The Michelle vs. Andrea tension pissed me off. Coliccio has lots of his competition on to judge with him. TCMasters has lots of competitors going head to head. Respect and growing the reputation of all restaurants in a city is important. Do Michelle and Andrea cater to the same audience? South Beach has a party reputation. Does it have a great food reputation? Maybe if they stopped the silly games and worked together to make it a food spot, that would help.

Intriguing promo for next week. More elf games or a true controversy? Another Tre being eliminited for behavior moment?

[Bart]

From Tom's blog:

"While they sounded harsh, and while it seemed as though the members of the second group were being strategic in selecting Kenny’s dish for elimination, they were actually generally fair-minded, usually correct, and most certainly correct about Kenny’s dish, which, despite his posturing, was the weakest in his group. And yes, it was weaker than Amanda’s cartilage-laced Chicken Gallantine. Please trust me on that."

That should settle the whole "Amanda deserved to be nominated, not Kenny" argument.

[JJH2]

The one-sided Andrea rivalry with Michelle Bernstein was absolutely hilarious. I have a feeling that Michelle hasn't wasted two seconds of her life obsessing about Andrea, and this rivalvy exists only in Andrea's head. I still like Andrea but... whew!

[Gilmore]

Juli - I am not a chef, but I think that any meat (depending on the cut) can take a long time or a little time depending what you do with it. A brisket no, a tenderloin yes. A deer backstrap fast vs. a roast slow. etc.

I am probably assuming too much, even with Tiffany gone, but I would hope they selected animals and their parts/cuts based on what would cook fast.

[Anon Man]

@TX and Bart, Thanks, I hadn't made it to the brabo blogs yet. The latency there drives me nuts. Ok, so I retract the comment about them being idiots. I replace it with "their thoughts about nominating the strongest competitor just to get the upper hand were idiotic."

Stillwant to see the Andrea/Michelle caged death match. Ok, not really.

[Megan H.]

Chiming to join those who disliked the set up of this episode. I kept assuming that at some point they would "surprise" the chefs by saying that the judges would also get to nominate a winner and loser from each group, or something like that to even it out. It's an interesting psychology experiment, but a very poor way to judge on actual cooking.

Also, more importantly, glad your family is on the mend, Dom. I hope recovery continues to happen quickly! (And not just because I miss the rankings! Promise!)

[Luray]

This episode summed up for me what I don't like about this season- these chefs seem more in this as a reality show than a food show. I know others have strategized before, but it just seems more obvious this time. I may be remembering incorrectly, but it just seems more blatant in their actions and critiques that they don't trust each other or help each other. I know not every season had people that would work together, but even when someone tries to give suggestions, like Angelo, the first assumption is that it's a strategy and not one chef helping another.
I was wondering why it wasn't a blind tasting as they did another season, but I think even when they weren't told who cooked what, each chef was able to figure out who cooked each dish by their styles.
It may be too much faith in Tom, but I assumed he would have really spoken up if he thought it was the completely wrong person for going home.

[nomnomnom]

Meh, I think they sold this QF swap a little too much. For the most part stuff was still in the early prep stages. Not a huge big deal to me. It is disappointing they picked the most boring dish of the ones they showed.

I think my "final 5" that I put out last week is a near lock now and it's just a matter of shuffling them. Yes, Kelly is boring and hasn't shown range, but she's still certain to outlast chefs here.

Of the challenges remaining in DC I'm trying to figure out where she might trip up.

-E7 Next week a restaurant takeover - safe
-E8 An embassy challenge with MarcusS - risky, but there is still some bigtime dead weight
-E9 Restaurant week? Is my math off?
-E10, E11, etc. : They still go to NASA, CIA, and feed Pelosi (QF only perhaps).

Nasa we know the food is freeze dried and Bourdain is on the panel. This could be problematic for Kelly. If she goes out in the USA it's in the spaceman episode. She makes it past that I can see her winning it all.

If I had to rank I'm going with

Ed
Kevin
Angelo
Tiffany
Kelly
----Dropoff---
Kenny
Everyone else
Stephen

There are some that liken Kelly (hehe) to MikeI. I think that's probably the most accurate. She's got some good bullet points on the resume. She had offers from Trotter, and others so someone else sees talent. The reality is it's hard to see her winning with such little range displayed. Then again Hosea had won just as much at this point, and then went on to be totally invisible until New Orleans. I can certainly see that happening here.

[KinderJ]

Dom- Glad to hear the family is on the mend. Having family in the hospital is really scary, but being able to take them home is just wonderful. I would recommend chicken soup but a) I don't like chicken soup and b) your probably have some killer variation of chicken soup up your sleeve. Feed them that instead.

[Bill]

I wonder what the impression of Amanda's galantine would have been had there not been bits of cartilage in it. I thought it looked like it was made well and showed some nice technique.

[bryanD]

"Still think Kelly is given far too much credit on here and everywhere."---nomnomnom

Kelly can be rated no lower than 2. Here's why.

1) Aptitude: Kelly exhibits high situational awareness...her early, decidedly UNhistrionic territory-marking ("I, me, mine") signaled Stay out of my hair, you foundlings! in a roundabout way. Then she immediately confirmed herself with a top-tier finish (win?). Now she has a sort of consensual buffer zone around her ultimately based on respect. That works in her favor. Neutral for her mates, at best.

2) Experience (practice, practice, practice!) Kelly's food never sucks and often wins and she's eager and able to work with ingredients that require more finesse, ie the non-proteins. Even desserts!

3) Intangibles: Kelly is married and might be the backbone of that whole family business home operation. Thus Top Chef might just be a damn vacation for her. I don't see her getting terminally rattled like Jen did last season.
She's obviously a thinker, but her physiognomy isn't one of a brooder. Indeed, I see an opportunist in her forehead, temples and eyes.

That being said, I must rate Angelo fractionally higher.

Angelo
Kelly...
Ed
Kenny...etc

[nomnomnom]

I wouldn't say her food never sucks. She was bottom on E1EC, and in her first Andrea pairing she drove the first two legs of that into the ground. Only when she let Andrea drive did she limp home with a "win".

The desserts she did were amateurish in concept, but pro in execution. And that's often all it takes. So she came prepared in that regard.

I had her pegged early as a second coming of Arianne. That's clearly not the case. She has something, but I don't really see the ceiling as being super high. The lack of a connection on a high concept dish is enough to hold her down in my eyes.

[paula]

Very glad to hear your family's on the mend, Dom.

I hated last week's episode: Yes, ultimately it was a straight cooking challenge, which should have been good, but they wrapped it all up in goofy pretenses and misdirection so that I didn't really feel I got to appreciate the ingredients they had or even follow what they each made. I was too busy trying to figure out why they had to divide the dishes the way they did, etc. I was also shivering the whole time, skeeved out by smarmy Angelo.

This week's sucked, too, for all the reasons you guys have stated above. I wasn't a Tamesha fan, so that's no big loss for me. And yeah, it was stupid of Kenny to say "they're all out to get me cuz I'm the best" at JT, but damn, I thought MB was a complete b*tch in her response. That seemed really unnecessarily nasty--like he'd insulted her personally or something.

[bryanD]

"Only when she let Andrea drive did she limp home with a "win"."----nomnomnom

Oh. [paging fruitlessly through notes]
My big toe still likes Kelly's face in the finals.
My only impression of Andrea??? is that she really really really savored giving her imaginary rival, guest judge Bernstein, the frickin' evil eye (Oy vey!). And that can't be a good portent of anything. "Add ballast, lady!"

"The lack of a connection on a high concept dish is enough to hold her down in my eyes."---nomnomnom

Point well taken. Top Chef Finale duz luv dem sum hi konsept dishuz. That's why I have Angelo at #1.

Thank gawd the rest of the season isn't so hampered, and thank gawd Mister Essence, Colicchio has his head perpetually screwed on straight, ie Tastebuds uber Alles!

[El Paso Mark]

I wasn't too keen on that team vs. team judging. Seemed like too much room for manipulation/back stabbing. Suppose Angelo had any prior input into their decision?

My opinion of Angelo? He's a weasel. I expected his "Tutoring" of Tamesha to come back and bite her in the butt, but expected it later rather than sooner. Oh well.

This may have been discussed before, but- Does anyone else think this season isn't on par with/as entertaining as seasons gone by? Seems the skill level is lower (As compared to last season in particular) and certainly this season lacks the colorful characters of say season 4 and 5. I dunno, just seems kinda dull this year.

Cheers,

Mark

[David]

So Kelly wins immunity...and loses her shot at a Hawaii vacation? Brilliant.

Regarding the EC, I agree with everyone that the peer-judging format was dumb in principle, but I think the producers lucked out in how it unfolded in practice. The key factor that prevented any serious shenanigans at the judging table was that the real judges were sitting right there. If, say, Kenny had produced a decent or better dish, I doubt that many, if any, of his peers would have had the nerve to look Tom in the face and say, "The worst dish was Kenny's." That would have earned them only the judges' disdain and, as some here have pointed out, a better chance (for one of them) of being eliminated when matched against Kenny at the "bottom."

[dach]

Tamesha exit interview talked about Angelo. Their relation is more as sibling / fraternity. Not the weird/skeezy relationship like the editing made it appear. Her boss worked for Angelo, so they are closely related by chef family tree.

And talking about faux reality tv drama, I find it a bit funny how last season Robin got on every other chef's nerves, and most posters took Robin sides. This season it's Amanda that the entire chef house turned against, and has said other chefs don't respect her, but no poster has any sympathy for her. Boozy, druggy, smoky, Amanda easier to edit a villain than Robin and her cancer (in Eli's petulant words -,- ).

[paula]

It wasn't just editing that made the Tamesha/Angelo thing skeezy. I don't know the exact wording, but Angelo did say something like "I sense an inner sexuality in Tamesha and I want to extract it from her."

Well, isn't that special? Who might say something like that, hmm? Oh, I don't know...SATAN?!?!?!

(Ok, maybe I'm pushing it a little with the Angelo-is-the-devil thing. And yes, I'm obviously old.)

[Steve F.]

To end the conspiracy theory...from a Washington Post online chat with Tamesha Warren:

Q.
Do you think trusting Angelo was your undoing as some of the other chefs suggested? Did you make most of the choices about your final dish, or did he?

A.
Tamesha Warren writes:

I made all the choices about my final dish and talking to him the day prior, he asked me if he could taste the sauce. He did say it needed more sugar and my response to that was "I know." My dish was all me. I can't sit here and say Angelo sabotaged me. It was all me 100%.

[doktarr]

Oy. Come back, Lee Anne, please. That's the second EC this season where a poor structure made it possible for a top contender to go home early. And this one was worse than the other one.

[timothy]

"This season it's Amanda that the entire chef house turned against, and has said other chefs don't respect her, but no poster has any sympathy for her." -- dach

I definitely have sympathy for her. I don't see the fact that she mentioned her addiction history as a weakness. I admire people who are honest about who they are and who they have been, and more power to her as she works her recovery and grows in her craft as a chef. Seriously. That said, I don't think she's made very good food so far except for maybe the ribs at the grill challenge. Even Robin made some food I wanted to eat at this point in last season. The more the chefs in the house pile on her, though, the more I cheer for her because I hate that bullying stuff. I think the best way for her to get more support from viewers and posters is to make better food.

[Wangus]

Like others, I've not been thrilled with this season, but I'm going to attribute it more to the elves than the chefs. Certainly they're aren't of the caliber we saw last year, but I think the editing this year is doing them a disservice.

I'm posting here just as a quick reply to Danny about this season's guest judges versus last season's guest judges. There were 14 episodes and the last one had no guest judge (though there were lots of guests in attendance to try the food). So out of the remaining 13, you might be surprised to find that 7 of them have no affiliation with Las Vegas, Michelle Bernstein being one of them. Here's the list (it's possible one of these may have a Vegas restaurant that I'm just not aware of):

Mark Peel, Tim Love, Michelle Bernstein, Tyler Florence, Nigella Lawson, neither Gavin Kaysen nor Jerome Bocuse (in the Bocuse D'or challenge), and Michael Chiarello

Currently we've had 6 challenges with guest judges this season (wikipedia had to remind me that the first episode had no guest judge), and it looks like half of them were representing DC so both seasons so far look on par.

Episode 2: Sam Kass
Episode 4: Nora Pouillon, Mike I., Bryan V., Spike
Episode 5: Patrick O'Connell

That being said, I think a note should be mentioned. Las Vegas tends to draw a lot of big name chefs by throwing tons of money at them so that the newest-greatest-bestest casino resorts can put that chef's name on their restaurant title. Some chefs take their vegas restaurants seriously, some don't. Either way, it makes the chance of finding a Top-Chef-friendly chef in Las Vegas easier to find for guest judges (note that Todd English and Daniel Boulud were both previous Top-chef guest judges and Mark Peel and Rick Moonen were TC:Masters contestants).

On the other hand, DC is a new area for TC (no Masters contestants and I can't think of any previous Judges off the top of my head) so they've had to make acquaintances from scratch mostly (I personally think managing to grab Patrick O'Connell should be considered a big win for the TC crew even if he wasn't the most stimulating guest judge). Therefore it wouldn't surprise me if they couldn't keep the 50% ratio that they did last year in Vegas.

[Lon]

Being too negative as a contestant judge can have fatal consequences, especially in front of the "real" judges. I have a lot of faith in Tom C, Gail and Eric when it comes to decisions as their reputations are really on the line. Playing favorites would damage them a lot.

That said, I remember the previous time Michelle Bernstein was a judge and thinking that her decision was based on her kinship with the contestant as much as the way the food tasted. Not having been there to taste food makes me uneasy about making that statement, but I remember wondering at the time because the edit made it appear that way.

After 7-plus seasons of Top Chef I've learned to take the editing with a grain of salt. I rely much more for my impressions on the judges' blogs. Show editors are tasked with making the show interesting. Remember, Top Chef is competing with "Housewives" ad naseum, the Art show and other high conflict Bravo shows. Even the best editor is going to feel the heat of being compared to them by network and viewer.

A true "cooking" show would probably be so dull as to never make it on the air. While we may remember Julia Child for her cooking, we also remember her for her personality.

Finally, to add my anthem to the song of disappointing season. I can't seem to find anyone for whom I WANT to root for more than one episode. I still think Kelly is a sleeper. It could be she purposely is trying to stay out of the camera's eye. I think Angelo is a good chef, but. . .let's say I don't think he'll ever be an audience favorite. Maybe that's the issue. I don't see anyone this year who is an overwhelming choice to be voted audience favorite. No Stephanie, no Kevin, no Casey, no Carla or Sam, etc.

[Anon Man]

@Wangus, DC increasingly has some non-local celebrity chefs coming in. There's Michel Richard (semi-local), but also Wolfgang Puck and Ripert has one. I think I heard there was a CraftSteak going in. It isn't Vegas, of course, but there are a handful of "celebrity chefs" putting down outposts.

[Wangus]

@Anon Man

Absolutely agreed. In no way was I trying to disrespect DC as a food scene (I'm a Baltimore/DC man myself) even for celebrity chefs. But Vegas is more or less designed for bringing in big name chefs just by the way the city runs: New casino (or renovation) = new chef name.

Personally I would love to see 'new' guest judges even though I understand the ease and even comfort of bringing in a judge that has done this (or TC:Masters) before. Let's be honest, I know some people don't like Michelle Bernstein, but she has a much better TV show presence than either a Nora or a Patrick does. Sometimes, I'm sure the TC crew appreciates that. Todd English, Johnny Iuzzini, etc: these guys know how to compose themselves for airtime after so much practice.

Again, that being said, I would just geek out to see Michel Richard, Johnny Monis, or Eric Ziebold on the show.

Also, I take something I said in my earlier post back: I think Jose Andres was a guest judge a few years back, so there's definitely been at least one DC based chef before. (I expect to probably see him again this season).

[nomnomnom]

I fully expect Andres to be the RW guest judge. In fact, I can't imagine anyone else they would pick.

[Anon Man]

Dream DC-based Guest Judges:
In addition to Richard: Cathal Armstrong (Eve, etc), Tom Power (Corduroy), Johnny Monis (Komi), Peter Pastan (Obelisk, etc.)

Anti List: Michael Landrum (Ray's).

Unfortunately given the types of guests they've had in the past, Ladnrum seems the most likely.

[Anon Man]

And yes, I forgot Andres. Of course he's on the deam list. #facepalm

[garik16]

Andres was the RW Guest Judge back in season 4. no way he guest judges the same challenge...

[nomnomnom]

Why not? They've had Bernstien, Ripert, Bourdain, and a few others on 3x or more. Hell, even DeSpirito got on 3 times right?

He's the most identifiable chef in DC. Makes sense to put him on the signature challenge of the series.

[Chef Boy-R-D]

Andrea..."We came up together and she went one way and I went another..."

Translated this means Michelle got puffy lips, fake boobs, tight jeans, and a publicist while I got married, had kids, and run a small, marginally successful family business.

And comes across as petty jealousy. Ba-bye to Andrea soon, I hope.

[Ted Allen]

Chopped is more compelling televison than this season of TC

NOTE : Not Ted Allen. See comment from actual Ted Allen, below.

[Bart]

Aw, Ted, why is it that I sense a bit of paternal partiality for Chopped over Top Chef? ;-)

[Vega]

Oh, Ted. I'm sure you can plug your series harder than that!

[vizoroo]

Just watched the chopped episode with Lance and Madison and both seemed impressive to me. Also have been watching Next Food Network star and it is fun, but not sure about the culinary skills.

But back to TC. I really thought the judges would be able to throw in a top and bottom person. Maybe if the cheftestants had been totally off and the gamesmanship had been too obvious they would have.

Angelo
Ed
Kelly
Kenny
Kevin
(alphabetical order)
Sleeper--Tiffany
All the rest
Stephen

[Pants McCracky]

I'm no fan of "Chopped," but I'm inclined to agree with "Ted Allen" -- this is by far the least compelling season of Top Chef ever. And, yeah yeah, past seasons have had moments/episodes as boring and annoying as this one, but those seasons also had some redeeming highlights or at least interesting personalities, which this one is utterly lacking. Season 7 is playing out like a "Worst Of" Top Chef, featuring the most irritating bits of previous seasons while omitting any of the high points.

[garik16]

nomnomnom, I wouldnt be surprised if he shows up to judge. But I can't recall a judge returning for the SAME CHALLENGE. It's always a different challenge iirc.

[wolfefan]

I loved the episode of Chopped with Lance and Madison. That was genuinely compelling to me...

[vizoroo]

Just watched the last episode without interruption. Arrogant, egotistical and paranoid. The first three words that come to mind after watching Kenny's performance. And then he didn't perform!

[nomnomnom]

They posted RW format/judges. It's unlikely Andres appears unless he judges the CIA competition.

Season 7, Episode 9
Episode Synopsis: The chefs battle in a culinary relay race---while blindfolded. Then it's time for the time-honored "Restaurant Wars" challenge, in which the chefs are divided into teams and run an eatery. Guest judges include Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) and food critic Frank Bruni. Original Air Date: Aug 11, 2010

That covers the Pelosi segment as well.

[KinderJ]

Ehhhh... I am now at the stage where I hope one of the chefs suddenly reveals that he was dogging it up to this point and actually is a ninja. Or she. Or, in an ideal world, they, as the entire cast reveals that they had the same strategy the whole time, and in a freak coincidence have chosen this exact moment to reveal their skills. And then I wake up crying, and for a few blissful moments I cannot remember why.

[gilmore]

I do like Chopped and the Lance vs. Madison episode was excellent - cottage cheese basil Ice cream?

You do not get a chance to know the chefs, but some chopped chefs look like they could hold their own on Top Chef.

[Ted Allen]

Hi, all. For the record, whoever posted that remark on July 24 claiming to be me is, um, not me. I could type my name as Eric Ripert in that field up there, right now, and it wouldn't make me a handsome Frenchman who really knows fish. Pity.

As Dom knows, I've been reading (and commenting now and then on) SkilletDoux for ages--I blogged on Bravo's site that SD had by far the best coverage of TC back when I was judging on the show. I actually referred Andy and other Bravo execs to the site because I thought they should read it.

In all honesty, I am watching less TC these days than I used to, only because I'm busy, and I don't know how compelling this season's chefs are. But I'm sure they're great, I have nothing but affection for the Tom, Gail, Padma, and the network, and I hope the best damned cook wins.

All the best from me and from your friends at Diet Dr. Pepper (Doh! Couldn't resist!), Ted ;)

[Erin]

Don't worry Ted - I doubt any of us hangers thought it was really you! And Chopped is a great show lol.

[Danny]

Thanks Wangus. It is weird how an impression gets stuck in your head irregardless of the facts. Somehow I was thinking it was all LV guest judging crew and clearly it wasn't. And you are so right. When you go to LV you know which chef put their name on the door and which chef cared about what was on the plate.

That being said, unlike the other seasons, they haven't done anything to show that D.C. is a great culinary center (I've had some wonderful meals there). If they don't show how the city makes a culinary statement they might as well have Top Chef Nome. All of the other seasons focused on the uniqueness of the city. Season 1 had great chefs from amazing restaurants and also S&M desserts and drag queen diners. Chicago started out with the signature Chicago dish - pizza. Miami's diversity and flavors were prominently displayed. The first challenge in NY was about representing the various neighborhoods. Except for showing some scenery and featuring the contestants lobbying, scheming and voting there is nothing about this season (sans the Crab) that says, "No wonder they are in DC"

[Ally]

Good point about lack of food-location correlation this season. They don't want to repeat host cities? Maybe it was Top Chef Where is a New City that New Parents Padma and Tom can Commute to from NYC.

Tbh I am glad about the Ted Allen imposter because it put Chopped back on my radar. Unfortunately, it doesnt seem to be available anywhere online :((((((

[Duffy]

I like "Chopped" and do watch it from time to time. But there is no continuity from show to show -- no chance to develop any rapport, pick a favorite to root for, or develop any sense of "home-team" spirit to carry over. All four chefs just disappear, seldom to be heard from again.

[rab01]

I think there is a bit of group-think going on regarding this season. They are featuring DC about as well as they featured NY (admittedly not awesome). These chefs are WAY more skilled and WAY more likeable that the crew from season 2. It's just not a contender for worst season ever (in my book). All-in-all, it's not bad. It's just that it's not as good (yet) as one of the better seasons.
Let's start looking at the bright side -- for example, there have been way fewer "prep your food and then keep it warm over sterno challenges."
I think all this season really needs is a scattering of Dom's magic dust over the proceedings. A few more post-mortems and rankings and it may start to feel special again ;-)

[Steve F.]

It appears that Dom has not yet had the chance to publish this week's rankings...in the meantime, consider the average of the readers' rankings submitted to this blog post-Week 6:

1.5 Angelo
2.2 Kelly

3.2 Kenny
3.5 Ed
4. Kevin

5.5 Tiffany

7. Andrea
7.3 Alex

8.5 Amanda

9.8 Stephen

[Kyle]

My rankings:
1. Kelly
2. Angelo
3. Tiffany
4. Kenny
5. Kevin
6. Ed
7. Andrea
8. Alex
9. Amanda
10. Stephen

[Steve F.]

Grrrr....someone always posts rankings after I've already compiled the averages. Updated to include Kyle's input:

1.6 Angelo
2.0 Kelly

3.3 Kenny
3.9 Ed
4.1 Kevin

5.1 Tiffany

7. Andrea
7.4 Alex

8.6 Amanda

9.8 Stephen

I have only two disagreements: I believe Alex should place slightly higher than Tiffany and Andrea for his creativity in the deconstructed borscht. Kevin I cannot rank above Tiffany, Andrea and Alex because of Kevin's inconsistency. Kevin could very well be sent home this week. I think we need more of a trend before he can be ranked higher.