Top Chef Masters - S2E1 Postmortem

Oh, of course we're going to talk Top Chef Masters!

Now that we're out west, depending on how the schedules work out, I might be watching most of these on a bit of a delay. But no reason that should hold up the rest of you. I may jump in a couple of hours late from time to time, but I'll be sure to have the postmortem thread up by the time the episode stops airing on the East Coast.

I'll weigh in later tonight. In the meantime, jump in!

UPDATE : Now that's what we love about Masters... that the elves dispense with the gimmicks and just let outstanding chefs do their thing.

Wait, which season are we watching, again?

Ehhhhh, it's one episode. Nothing to see here. Plus, Bravo has apparently added extended Critics' Table discussion to the website, so I'm pretty much prepared to forgive anything tonight (even if, in typical Bravo fashion, the link to the video is currently broken... along with the Rate the Plate images... and Jay Rayner's blog).

Actually, I got my wish. I was rooting for Mantuano and Feniger at the start (for mostly non-culinary reasons), even if it hurt to watch Jerry Traunfeld get hosed.

Always fun to see somebody gripe about a teammate, only to later be overshadowed by him. One episode in, and Govind Armstrong is already the Michael Chiarello of season two. Except for the making it past the first round part.

As usual, Jay Rayner wins the episode, with a snarky comment about, god forbid, using taste to determine which food he likes best when the others start getting a little too concerned with the dish's first date propriety.

And as has already been pointed out, brilliant move to keep Keller's silhouette. Brilliant.

Discuss!

UPDATE II : Just wanted to point this out up top, because I sure can't figure it out. There are 22 contestants. We just saw an episode featuring six, where two advance. And the graphic shows eight in the Champions Round. How the heck is that supposed to work?