Top Chef Portland

[TonyTexas 10684]

On 4/11/2021 at 7:44 AM, Biff Tannen said:

Aw, the shopping part is kinda fun. You get the old Supermarket Sweep vibe. 

I like online shopping for staples. But for meat, fish and produce, I want to pick that stuff out myself. Also, it’s easier to get inspiration seeing stuff than having to scroll through a grocery store’s entire inventory. 

[DanRydell 799]

Aw, the shopping part is kinda fun. You get the old Supermarket Sweep vibe. 

I miss the Whole Foods scenes too. They’re a fun few minutes.

[Deej 77676]

Sasha had a FitLump thing going.. 

[Biff Tannen 46063]

39 minutes ago, Deej said:

Sasha had a FitLump thing going.. 

Sigh. Yes. 

[Biff Tannen 46063]

Not going to spoil what happened tonight, for those of you who can’t watch live. 
 

Does anyone else not like what they are doing with bringing the top and bottom out to judges’ table?  It’s like the worst of both of the old ways. 
 

I don’t really like when they bring everyone out to watch, like the last couple of seasons, but i at least get it. It would suck to be in the middle all season and then get to the bottom in the last 6 or something and not know how to defend yourself. 
 

What they are doing now is just mean. Making the losers sit there and watch the winners get glorified while they know they are about to be eviscerated?  No thanks. 

[TonyTexas 10684]

The food in the elimination challenge looked really good. This cast might not have a lot of superstars but is very deep. 

[Nicole44 22206]

I’d like another blind tasting from the judges. Jmo. After they get to know and like/favor contestants. Seems fair, or am I wrong?

[Biff Tannen 46063]

8 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

I’d like another blind tasting from the judges. Jmo. After they get to know and like/favor contestants. Seems fair, or am I wrong?

I think when they get to know people’s styles, it actually helps the chefs, because the judges know what they are going for or are capable of. But maybe it should be blind, if we were really believing the idea that it’s about the worst plate of food that day. 

[Nicole44 22206]

 diaspora

1. the dispersion of the Jewish people beyond Israel.

   • Jewish people living outside Israel.
   • the dispersion of any people from their original homeland.

     plural noun: diasporas

     "the diaspora of boat people from Asia"
   • the people so dispersed.

     "the Ukrainian diaspora flocked back to Kiev"
      

      

[Neonmoon 38130]

I just caught up on episodes. How much do I have to pay to see blais murdered or have his mouth stapled shut?

. 

[idigTexas 2321]

On 4/16/2021 at 11:05 PM, Nicole44 said:

I’d like another blind tasting from the judges. Jmo. After they get to know and like/favor contestants. Seems fair, or am I wrong?

I've always felt that anything where the results are judged should be done blind, but it seems that they only like to do it as an occasional gimmick for some reason.

[Nicole44 22206]

13 minutes ago, idigTexas said:

I've always felt that anything where the results are judged should be done blind, but it seems that they only like to do it as an occasional gimmick for some reason.

Ya. Especially since it appears the judges are gonna be the same throughout? I think their bias definitely starts showing (once they start liking certain ones.) finally got my mom to start watching and she’s like, “wow the judges sure get angry at those contestants when they don’t season their food enough.” 

[Biff Tannen 46063]

19 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Ya. Especially since it appears the judges are gonna be the same throughout? I think their bias definitely starts showing (once they start liking certain ones.) finally got my mom to start watching and she’s like, “wow the judges sure get angry at those contestants when they don’t season their food enough.” 

Lol.  Season your food!  Tom gets very upset!

[TonyTexas 10684]

The problem with blind tasting is the absence of dialogue between the judges and the chefs. I think there is a lot of information gleaned from those conversations. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by TonyTexas

[Deej 77676]

42 minutes ago, idigTexas said:

I've always felt that anything where the results are judged should be done blind, but it seems that they only like to do it as an occasional gimmick for some reason.

Then they'd have to eliminate Tom and whatever guest judge pissing away the contestants' valuable time in the kitchen.

[Nicole44 22206]

4 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Lol.  Season your food!  Tom gets very upset!

Sometimes I think they really want to say, “DIAF you fucking amateur! Salt and pepper mother fucker. You dumb POS! You thought this was ok to put on plate and serve to us?  You’re lucky there are cameras all over or I would murder you right now.” 

[Deej 77676]

The number of times the contestants fail to taste their own food is astounding.

"Did you taste this?"

"Wut?"

[Nicole44 22206]

Just now, Deej said:

The number of times the contestants fail to taste their own food is astounding.

"Did you taste this?"

"Wut?"

It’s stunning to me. Of course it’s also stunning when they taste their food and say, “Man that’s delicious! I knocked this out of the park.” And at the Judges table  Tom is like, “How can you not know how awful what you made is? Are you insane?” 

[Biff Tannen 46063]

9 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

It’s stunning to me. Of course it’s also stunning when they taste their food and say, “Man that’s delicious! I knocked this out of the park.” And at the Judges table  Tom is like, “How can you not know how awful what you made is? Are you insane?” 

One of the quickest ways off the show is to not understand that what you made was crap.  People always say "stand behind your dishes", but I don't think that's wise when Tom and/or the other judges tell you it's crap.

[Nicole44 22206]

10 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

One of the quickest ways off the show is to not understand that what you made was crap.  People always say "stand behind your dishes", but I don't think that's wise when Tom and/or the other judges tell you it's crap.

Exactly. You are better off saying, “this dish just went in a different direction than I anticipated and I tried to salvage it the best I could. I’m really disappointed because this doesn’t reflect who I am as a chef.” It might save you one time. Especially if the chefs with the other two shitty dishes are delusional and in denial about what they made. Unless you are always in the bottom. 

[Deej 77676]

Or when they call a dish something it obviously is not.

"That was good, but it wasn't *insert dish name here*."

Edited April 18, 2021 by Deej

[Nicole44 22206]

35 minutes ago, Deej said:

Or when they call a dish something it obviously is not.

"That was good, but it wasn't *insert dish name here*."

That will get your ass sent home too. 
or trying to do too much/ not editing (Malarkey man) will get you sent home. 

Making Risotto. don’t do it! At this point, I will assume the contestant is a moron or has never watched the show.

But my favorite is when a fucking contestant inaccurately sells a component in their dish. Like if it’s a purée fucking call it that. Don’t tell the judges it’s avocado foam bc the judges will lose their damn minds over it and forget everything else on the plate. 

[idigTexas 2321]

1 hour ago, TonyTexas said:

The problem with blind tasting is the absence of dialogue between the judges and the chefs. I think there is a lot of information gleaned from those conversations. 

 

1 hour ago, Deej said:

Then they'd have to eliminate Tom and whatever guest judge pissing away the contestants' valuable time in the kitchen.

Yep.  We have to sacrifice unbiased judging for the sake of entertainment, but I can live with it.

[Deej 77676]

Bravo can't, though.

[Nicole44 22206]

Sometimes I could do without the camera asides. I mean I pretty much know who is gonna go home based on how many times we see them talk to the camera solo in an episode. I only get irritated with the contestants who are homesick/ miss their family and keep fucking telling us that in their swan song episode. I get it! It’s a brutal competition. Everyone is tired and beaten down by criticism and having to battle against some really formidable contestants

I get it. They all miss their family as the show goes on. But this particular type of contestant truly pisses me off. You made it onto a show that several people would love to be on. If you were to win it would be life altering in a great way for your family. Suck it up and try and win. You will see your family when you are victorious. But no. This person is usually the fourth or fifth person to go and I know when they are going home. 
 

I just wish Bravo would trick us. Lmao.

[Deej 77676]

Meanwhile, their families are like "Fuck, you're back already?"

[Deej 77676]

Top Chef has caught some flack for having only one African-American winner. Calling my shot. Number two happens this year. 

[Biff Tannen 46063]

1 minute ago, Deej said:

Top Chef has caught some flack for having only one African-American winner. Calling my shot. Number two happens this year. 

Has it?  And I think the early results favor Sara or Shota.

[Deej 77676]

Season 7.

[Deej 77676]

There was some controversy over Eric getting booted in the final when he was trying to represent the history of the slave trade with his food, and two white women doing Southern cooking ended up in the final two. 

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/top-chef-judges-diversity-representation-reaction-eric-adjepong

Edited April 18, 2021 by Deej

[Nicole44 22206]

So the way the preview is filmed for this week they sort of gave away ( not gonna spoil) who the contestant was that made the dish that caused that judge to literally lick his plate clean. 
 

So far I really like Shota, Avishar, Dawn, Gabe and Sara. 

[Biff Tannen 46063]

36 minutes ago, Deej said:

Season 7.

I meant has it gotten flack?  But you provided that in the next post.

[Biff Tannen 46063]

8 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

So the way the preview is filmed for this week they sort of gave away ( not gonna spoil) who the contestant was that made the dish that caused that judge to literally lick his plate clean. 
 

So far I really like Shota, Avishar, Dawn, Gabe and Sara. 

Oh yeah, Gabe has been quietly good too.  He got fired from his restaurant in Austin after the show.  Curious to see what happened with that.

[shadow_operative2.0 16183]

Finally watched because this thread kept getting bumped all day, was expecting some off-the-rails shit. 

Team Sara for me, but Deej is probably ultimately correct. 

[NoName 17107]

16 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

It’s stunning to me. Of course it’s also stunning when they taste their food and say, “Man that’s delicious! I knocked this out of the park.” And at the Judges table  Tom is like, “How can you not know how awful what you made is? Are you insane?” 

"how did you feel about your plate tonight?" is a hell of a question to be asked when you are in bottom 3.

[Nicole44 22206]

1 hour ago, NoName said:

"how did you feel about your plate tonight?" is a hell of a question to be asked when you are in bottom 3.

Exactly. “I stand by my dish! I’m doubling down! I tasted every component. My idea for the dish was brilliant! I have no clue why I am standing here!” 

[idigTexas 2321]

On 4/18/2021 at 4:37 PM, Nicole44 said:

So far I really like Shota, Avishar, Dawn, Gabe and Sara. 

This is where I am as well, with Jamie also growing on me.  I need a few more eliminations to whittle it down a bit. 

[Bash Riprock 1695]

I hope Top Chef doesnt starting making Oscar guidelines when it comes to the winner.

[Chewbacca 7827]

On 4/18/2021 at 11:21 AM, idigTexas said:

I've always felt that anything where the results are judged should be done blind, but it seems that they only like to do it as an occasional gimmick for some reason.

I really like that aspect of Tournament of Champions.  Judges not only don't know whose food they are eating, they supposedly don't know who is in the competition.  Not sure how tight Food Network keeps things, but I really like the blind tasting.  

[idigTexas 2321]

On 4/21/2021 at 4:04 PM, Chewbacca said:

I really like that aspect of Tournament of Champions.  Judges not only don't know whose food they are eating, they supposedly don't know who is in the competition.  Not sure how tight Food Network keeps things, but I really like the blind tasting.  

I watch a few different cooking competitions, but somehow this one escaped my radar.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks!

[Nicole44 22206]

13 minutes ago, idigTexas said:

I watch a few different cooking competitions, but somehow this one escaped my radar.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks!

It’s damn good. I really enjoyed it. The competitors are bad ass.

[Chewbacca 7827]

14 minutes ago, idigTexas said:

I watch a few different cooking competitions, but somehow this one escaped my radar.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks!

There are 2 seasons out there.  They just finished season 2.  It's nice to see Food Network embrace Top Chef and other cooking competitions.  

[Biff Tannen 46063]

24 minutes ago, idigTexas said:

I watch a few different cooking competitions, but somehow this one escaped my radar.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks!

 

10 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

It’s damn good. I really enjoyed it. The competitors are bad ass.

I also have never heard of this.  Think it's gonna be on the agenda after Top Chef tonight.

[TonyTexas 10684]

I’m going to give it a shot despite the fact that Guy Fieri is the host. That guy gets on my nerves. I’m also not wild about the Food Network’s stable of chefs. But season 1 has a good representation of Top Chef cast members. Antonia, Brooke, Voltaggio and Blais are on it. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by TonyTexas

[Nicole44 22206]

22 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

 

I also have never heard of this.  Think it's gonna be on the agenda after Top Chef tonight.

They have this device called the randomizer (this isn’t giving anything away.) 16 contestants. East vs west with brackets. Couple of badass Top Chef contestants competed. As well as many as judges you may have seen on Chopped, Beat Bobby Flay or Guy’s grocery games. Some have even competed on those shows. Once the Randomizer gives the contestants the ground rules for their dish the contestants each have one of two observers (both well known in the food industry) to write down and ask questions of the contestant and their dish. So the judges never see nor know any of the contestants competing AND the observers describe for them what components were in the dish and how it was made for the judges. The judges are heavy hitters in food. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by Nicole44

[Deej 77676]

42 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

Antonia, Brooke, Voltaggio and Blais are on it. 

[Biff Tannen 46063]

Oh wait wait wait. I did see like the first two episodes of this. Clearly it didn’t hook me. Eh, I’ll give it another shot anyway. 

[Nicole44 22206]

This show is my happy space. It’s such a nice distraction. 
 

The next two episodes are typically when a dark horse emerges. And the contestant that whines about misssing their family Swan song motif. 
I wonder who the dark horse will be: Maria, Byron or ....?

I would love to be able to taste some of these dishes. I was damn jealous with last week’s elimination challenge. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16183]

Was @creasy the one that got to go to Restaurant Wars a few seasons ago? 

[Biff Tannen 46063]

1 minute ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Was @creasy the one that got to go to Restaurant Wars a few seasons ago? 

Whaaaaaaa?