Top Chef - Wisconsin

TonyTexas · June 17

17 minutes ago, deac_tracy said:

I'm actually going to Milwaukee in a few months and usually go out of my way to go to a Top Chef contestant's restaurant whenever I'm traveling. Not going to bother going to Dan's spot

I suggest you seek out a Door County fish boil.

Texzilla588 · June 17

How bout a Texas Fish Boil? Buffalo, Shad, snakehead, drum boiled up with a finishing flambé of west Texas sweet crude.

Herpa Derpa · June 17

19 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

I suggest you seek out a Door County fish boil.

someguy · June 18

I still can't believe the winning chef in a semi-final served a totally inedible mousse. That was the kind of dish that gets you sent home 4 episodes in. It wasn't even a particularly difficult challenge! I know it has been beaten to death, but yikes the talent level is low this season. There isn't a single chef remaining who would make the top 6-8 of a halfway decent season.

Texzilla588 · June 19

It’s obvious Tom has a hard on for Danny. I don’t like that shithead. He should have been in the bottom two and possibly gone. Actually Tom should have sent them all home in Wisconsin and said no top chef this season.

Biff Tannen · June 19

53 minutes ago, Texzilla588 said:

It’s obvious Tom has a hard on for Danny. I don’t like that shithead. He should have been in the bottom two and possibly gone. Actually Tom should have sent them all home in Wisconsin and said no top chef this season.

/thread

Biff Tannen · June 20

So as we lead up to the finale, with everyone bitching all season (and seemingly most recent seasons) about how bad it all is, here is my question:

If I give you the assumption that the talent level is lower than the previous 20 years, what is your theory?

Do yall think Top Chef is no longer looked at by legitimate chefs as something to strive for? Did it jump the shark in the chef community? I don’t think it has, as the visibility alone could make your career.

Otherwise, do y’all think it’s just a casting problem? Do yall think they are going for people that are better for the camera and not the stove?

I ask because I don’t see the massive drop off that y’all seem to see. No, every season isn't better than the last, necessarily, but i think that’s a tall fucking order.

I'm willing to learn if y’all can give me some actual logic and reason other than “I want every season to be the Voltaggios vs Tom vs Morimoto” or some shit.

Edited June 20 by Biff Tannen

shadow_operative2.0 · June 20

4 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

the visibility alone could make your career

Don't think this is really that big of a thing anymore. What has Buddha even done lately?

WBT · June 20

aguachile, drink!

WBT · June 20

lulz, predictably choosing the moron as his sous isn't working out for Danny

WBT · June 20

damn, Gail came to play tonight

Biff Tannen · June 20

I’m ok with the winner. I wouldn’t have picked that winner, but there’s an argument to be made.

can’t wait to hear all of yalls bullshit for the next 7 months or whatever about how it all sucks and the show is done and how it should just end.

Yet you will show up AGAIN for the next season to complain AGAIN about the same bullshit.

Seriously. It’s super fun. Can’t wait.

kevwun · June 20

I thought Dan was gonna win. I think the tuna in the first dish is what cost him. The judges didn't like the texture, but they liked the flavor of the dish.

Texzilla588 · June 20

So as we lead up to the finale, with everyone bitching all season (and seemingly most recent seasons) about how bad it all is, here is my question:

If I give you the assumption that the talent level is lower than the previous 20 years, what is your theory?
Do yall think Top Chef is no longer looked at by legitimate chefs as something to strive for? Did it jump the shark in the chef community? I don’t think it has, as the visibility alone could make your career.

Otherwise, do y’all think it’s just a casting problem? Do yall think they are going for people that are better for the camera and not the stove?

I ask because I don’t see the massive drop off that y’all seem to see. No, every season isn't better than the last, necessarily, but i think that’s a tall fucking order.

I'm willing to learn if y’all can give me some actual logic and reason other than “I want every season to be the Voltaggios vs Tom vs Morimoto” or some shit.

I think if there is one thing in the actual
show I’d like to see it’s blind judging. I think what we see with women dominating ToC is because of blind judging and the domination of men on TC emanates from Tom. Maybe as kristin grows in the show she can push back more than Padma.

The show is not what it was in its hey day. Mainly from the level of contestants. On peacock is every episode of TC plus the spinoffs : masters, desserts, duels, amateurs, kids. Bravo doesn’t do those shows anymore and there’s not as much hype for the show. Plus Food Network now embraces a lot of top chef talent. Lots of dilution.
The constant is Gail’s magnificent rack. Just get better.

I think the primary issue for attracting chefs is the time commitment. It’s a long commitment with no guarantee of a payday. Look at the folks here. Dan owns a restaurant but Danny is “planning a seafood place” and Shannan is unemployed having quit her exec chef job. Times are tough for restaurants these days and it’s probably a challenge for a working cook to quit a gig, vs the early days when the economy was better.

And I think the winner is very flawed. The cabbage dish looked like a barnyard. Raw pumpkin. Gross. Candied fried seaweed. No thank you. Raw lobster. Raw fucking lobster! That’s as inexcusable as Savannah’s overcooked lobster if not worse. “Medium rare lobster” my ass. It’s obvious he was anointed by Tom for some reason after that shitty mousse. Savanah had zero chance; she could have cooked like escofier and would have lost. So there’s Dan. He outcooked Danny. But he’s not a New Yorker; Tom always goes nyc.

Texzilla588 · June 20

Watched it again. Savannah was a mess and spent no time in her unemployment actually preparing. I don’t get the recent infatuation with plantains, especially for folks not familiar with them. She picked out ones that won’t be ripe for a month. All three had questionable sous chef choices picking buddies .

Dan had some odd choices but seemed to have better execution. He also seemed less prepared. Missed on salt on his first dish. As much as they harp on seasoning every dish should get a toss of coarse salt at the end.

Danny’s mousse in the qualifier should have whacked him. The raw lobster should have killed him along with the weird stacked cabbage dish. Where did he win? His story. Tom is a sucker for personal stories about food and cooking careers. And Danny’s stories resonated with Tom especially the final one where he talked about getting a Puerto Rican ice from a street vendor with his grandfather and made a fancy dessert echoing that. Tom nearly started crying.

There was no extended discussion at judges table. It was like they had to get off the boat. So Danny won it there.

kevwun · June 20

I've never actually seen a green plantain. They always look like overripe bananas.

idigTexas · June 20

20 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

I’m ok with the winner. I wouldn’t have picked that winner, but there’s an argument to be made.

can’t wait to hear all of yalls bullshit for the next 7 months or whatever about how it all sucks and the show is done and how it should just end.

Yet you will show up AGAIN for the next season to complain AGAIN about the same bullshit.

Seriously. It’s super fun. Can’t wait.

No complaining from me. I agree with you that it compares well to most non-all-star seasons. People clearly have short memories, and some just like to bitch. Padma left some big shoes to fill, but I think Kristen crushed it.

It sounded like they may have preferred Dan's dishes from taste and eating experience perspectives, but as I've said previously, they reward chefs who take risks and demonstrate technical skill. When things are equal, or at least close, they are going to favor the chef who shows them elevated food in ways that they haven't seen. Degree of difficulty always counts.

Texzilla588 · June 20

As long as you execute. Fucking raw lobster would generally be a trip out the door regardless of risk or edginess.

Deej · June 21

His shitty mousse should have sent him home the week before.

Biff Tannen · June 21

1 hour ago, Deej said:

His shitty mousse should have sent him home the week before.

Then yall all would have been bitching that Manny didn’t go home.

shadow_operative2.0 · June 21

Good call 6 weeks ago.

On 5/8/2024 at 10:24 PM, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Danny better win this whole thing.

He was the best chef, period.

idigTexas · June 21

11 hours ago, Deej said:

His shitty mousse should have sent him home the week before.

Multi-course meals, how do they work? If that was his only dish of that challenge, then you may have a case, even though they loved everything else about the dish.

shadow_operative2.0 · June 21

He won that challenge, don’t feed the troll.

shadow_operative2.0 · June 21

Just a little bump for the troll.

DixonHur · June 21

Tom needs to step aside and let Gordon Ramsay take his place.

Gordon would have ripped Danny a new one for serving "medium rare" lobster.

kevwun · June 21

Everyone likes a good medium rare lobster.

DixonHur · June 21

11 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

He was the best chef, period.

Texzilla588 · June 21

But it wasn’t a uniform “medium rare” lobster. Tails went from overcooked to raw.

Gail is now stating that the finale wasn’t close, that Dan’s tuna was horrible, though she called it “absolutely delicious.” They had months to fix the editing if that’s the case.

shadow_operative2.0 · June 21

Now you’ve done it, Biff the Quitter is gonna type another essay.

Chips O'Toole · June 21

To the couple of guys who are white knighting this season, what show did you just watch? Yeah, there are a couple of goons who complain about Top Chef being terrible every season like they complain about every show they continue to consume despite not knowing how to enjoy things, but most of us still find the show entertaining and appreciate it for what it is and has been for the last few years. It lost its fastball long ago, but it scratches an itch. I do occasionally call it out for challenges that are not very fun to watch or produce shitty results.

I like Kristen, and I might love her. I think she's going to be a fucking star. Tom seems pretty bored but still carries the judging, Gail is doing a lot of heavy lifting as well (hey-O). Danny and Rasika appeared to be the real talent this year, and both made massive fucking errors. Danny was lucky not to be at the bottom simply due to there being so many atrocious dishes throughout the season. Like, holy shit, there was a lot of bad food. I'm not going back to other seasons to compare because I don't really care to be right about this or anything, but it was exceptionally bottom-heavy imo.

I rarely was like "Damn these are some amazing looking dishes", and usually I was like "wtf are they doing?". I think the producers approached this season with a new host as an opportunity to throw some new ideas out there and see what happened. A lot of them were really crappy ideas and the problem was that the chefs weren't good enough to make anything exciting within the parameters of the challenges. That's it, that's why I have been negative about this season. The show was entertaining enough most episodes, but this is not a good enough version of this show to keep me interested if it doesn't recover.

shadow_operative2.0 · June 21

To Dixon, not the idiot above.

Zilla, damn y’all keep sneaking posts in.

shadow_operative2.0 · June 21

3 minutes ago, Chips O'Toole said:

To the couple of guys who are white knighting this season

Nope, just the guy saying we will bitch for 7 months.

Chips O'Toole · June 21

While we are on the topic, I had some lobster thing at Uchiko once that I would probably call "medium rare", maybe "rare plus", and it was not a good texture at all.

I'm not that crazy about lobster in general though. It probably would have been better with a few kerosene flare-ups.

shadow_operative2.0 · June 21

I liked Savannah, a lot. But has anyone ever finished a more distant last in a finale?

idigTexas · June 21

27 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

I liked Savannah, a lot. But has anyone ever finished a more distant last in a finale?

Not that I recall. She took "just happy to be here" to a new level.

Biff Tannen · June 21

39 minutes ago, Chips O'Toole said:

To the couple of guys who are white knighting this season, what show did you just watch? Yeah, there are a couple of goons who complain about Top Chef being terrible every season like they complain about every show they continue to consume despite not knowing how to enjoy things, but most of us still find the show entertaining and appreciate it for what it is and has been for the last few years. It lost its fastball long ago, but it scratches an itch. I do occasionally call it out for challenges that are not very fun to watch or produce shitty results.

I like Kristen, and I might love her. I think she's going to be a fucking star. Tom seems pretty bored but still carries the judging, Gail is doing a lot of heavy lifting as well (hey-O). Danny and Rasika appeared to be the real talent this year, and both made massive fucking errors. Danny was lucky not to be at the bottom simply due to there being so many atrocious dishes throughout the season. Like, holy shit, there was a lot of bad food. I'm not going back to other seasons to compare because I don't really care to be right about this or anything, but it was exceptionally bottom-heavy imo.

I rarely was like "Damn these are some amazing looking dishes", and usually I was like "wtf are they doing?". I think the producers approached this season with a new host as an opportunity to throw some new ideas out there and see what happened. A lot of them were really crappy ideas and the problem was that the chefs weren't good enough to make anything exciting within the parameters of the challenges. That's it, that's why I have been negative about this season. The show was entertaining enough most episodes, but this is not a good enough version of this show to keep me interested if it doesn't recover.

I believe this is probably directed at me, so I will say, as I think I've said before, that it wasn't the best season, but it certainly wasn't the worst either. They can't all be winners I guess, but it brings me back to a question from upthread: Do y'all think the overall talent of the chefs has gone down because the show isn't attracting the best anymore? Was it ever really attracting the best? I know it's a time commitment and some chefs can't or don't want to make that sacrifice, but it seems to me the media exposure alone and being able to say you were on Top Chef at all would be worth tens of thousands of dollars, if not more. Not to mention the overall grand prize is $250k compared to 100k when it first started.

If I get bored this weekend, I may go through the seasons and see which ones stand out to me as majority inferior talent and see if the trend is really downward or not. Would be an interesting experiment.

idigTexas · June 21

The cast this season was full of James Beard nominees and chefs who have worked for some of the heaviest hitters in the industry, the same as always.

No one has claimed that this was the best season ever, but there was enough to like to keep me entertained. I have considered it must watch television since Season 1, and that has not changed. Expecting each season to equal or surpass the one prior is setting yourself up to be disappointed.

Texzilla588 · June 21

Every season has an event or two that is silly or nuts. The two I thought were terrible this season was the chaos cooking and the fish boil. They should have scrapped chaos and used the great Christina Tosi for a dairy episode, and found something else for fish boil. Both showed an overreliance on free shit or promo tie ins. Even the finale, in Curacao, on a docked cruise ship, was a Holland America commercial. I was fine with the supper club, the FLW episode, miller beer, whatever. And I think kristin knocked the skin off the ball. The best parts of the season was LCK and Dish with Kish.

Biff Tannen · June 21

47 minutes ago, Texzilla588 said:

The best parts of the season was LCK and Dish with Kish.

This was great, for multiple reasons, and I hope they continue to do it.

Chewbacca · June 21

On 6/19/2024 at 9:03 PM, kevwun said:

I thought Dan was gonna win. I think the tuna in the first dish is what cost him. The judges didn't like the texture, but they liked the flavor of the dish.

And they raved about Danny's dessert. Those 2 things got Danny the win, IMO.

Chewbacca · June 21

Fun Top Chef story. Wife and I had a tasting meal at a former TC contestant's restaurant. Was a great experience. Only 6 couples and the chef cooked in front of all of us and we talked while she cooked. Ate 10 courses over the course of 3 hours with wine pairings from the Somm. Just a great meal. Wife told me ahead of time that I wasn't allowed to ask about Top Chef. So after the event we were talking to her for a few minutes and when we ask about TC, her first comment is "Padma is a cunt". Caught us by surprise, for sure. She loved Gail and Tom but said Padma only cares about herself and how she looks.

WBT · June 21

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

Padma is a cunt

TonyTexas · June 21

@Chewbacca Share the contestant’s name with the class

Biff Tannen · June 21

13 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

@Chewbacca Share the contestant’s name with the class

Yes, this.

Chewbacca · June 22

[mention=1769]Chewbacca[/mention] Share the contestant’s name with the class

It was a private conversation so I'd rather not.

Biff Tannen · June 22

7 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

4 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

[mention=1769]Chewbacca[/mention] Share the contestant’s name with the class

It was a private conversation so I'd rather not.

It’s not like I’m going to go find them on social media and call them out. We’re in the trust tree here. The nest.

If you don’t say anything, I’m just going to assume it’s Brian Voltaggio.

Texzilla588 · June 22

I’m guessing Izard, or Tiffany Derry, or Casey Thompson.

DixonHur · June 22

On 6/21/2024 at 1:23 PM, Chewbacca said:

her first comment is "Padma is a cunt"

16 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

If you don’t say anything, I’m just going to assume it’s Brian Voltaggio.

Hey, @Biff Tannen, do you know something we don't?

Biff Tannen · June 22

18 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

Hey, @Biff Tannen, do you know something we don't?

Maybe, lol

16 hours ago, Texzilla588 said:

I’m guessing Izard, or Tiffany Derry, or Casey Thompson.

If we assume it’s Austin, Tiffany is a good guess. Hell, Kristen maybe.

Edited June 22 by Biff Tannen
Oh it’s Chewbacca. Somewhere up north then?

Deej · June 22

Jennifer Carroll?

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