Top Chef Season 3
How cool is it that the first real challenge including some really unusual meats? There were a number of things I've never tried and I was sitting on the edge of my chair awaiting Bourdain's reaction to the dishes. Now I want to try Geoduck!
And I love that Howie was able to quote Bourdain's book in his own defense.
mojoeater
Jun 13, 2007 09:50PM
Loved the idea and how it connected to Bourdain. Good to see that the first show focused mainly on the food and only slightly in the drama (the advertisement on Bravo seemed overly dramatic-the whole bad-a**, bit** attitude-which is entertaining to a certain extent, but in small portions). Personalities were only highlighted to a slight few though, there were some I was lost on and wondering "Who is this?". Can't wait for next week!!
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I'm really excited about this seaon...it looks as if many of the chefs here could kick the butts of the last season's winners...right now its clear who the early favorites are...I hope the other chefs have some tricks up their sleeves!
It's funny, compared to the reality show on the Food Network, this is by far, television of much better quality. The contestants seem much mroe qualified and the challenges are by far more interesting (and the drama seems potentially better)
The Food Network should take some lessons from this show!
Can't wait until next week!
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We can't rightfully compare TC with TNFNS. I mean, just look at the titles: top CHEF - next food network STAR. The two shows are looking for completely different things. One is focused on food, the other on star-quality. I can enjoy each show for what it is.
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mojoeater is right. You can't really compare the two shows. One show you win money to start your own restaurant. Another you win your own TV show. So it's a given that you definitely would want a really top-notch chef for the first one because who wants to eat at a bad restaurant? But for a food show, I just want someone with interesting tips and fun personality.
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I agree with your points but I still think that the Food Network stars that do best (except for maybe Alton whom I love and Rachel whose sucess is still a mystery to me) are the ones that are successful restaurant chefs and owners as well. It would be great to have more of the star/top chef combo in the Food Network...
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You'd be surprised who is trained and who isn't. Ina Garten has no formal training. Giada does. Nigella's background is in publishing.
Then there are the many hosts who have degress in hospitality or nutrition, but never attending any culinary school: Ellie Krieger, Robin Miller, Guy Fieri...
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The pre-package food queen herself, Sandra Lee studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris.
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For two weeks. Didn't even complete the course. But, apparently, her show is one of the top three on the Food Network. Shows who their target audience is.
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"Classical training isn't for Lee, either. Back in 1998, she took a two-week course at the Cordon Bleu in Ottawa, Canada."
Quoted from this link at:
http://www.semihomemade.com/press/gou...
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Yes if you check their bios you find surprises, but I still think the best hosts (not necessarily the ones with the highest ratings) are the chefs. As a dietitian myself, I like Ellie Krieger and love watching her tips for the public, but again it is not the same as watching Mario... (oh and I think poor Robin is a fiasco...very cute though ;-))
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no substitute for street cred... er, kitchen credibility.
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Oh, don't get me wrong, my favorite FN hosts are the chefs like Bobby Flay, Mario, Dave Lieberman (he was a private chef), and back in the day with Jamie Oliver. Right now I mostly watch Iron Chef America because they're all chefs.
I think celebrity chefs are too busy these days opening restaurants and building an empire than going on the Food Network.
However, one person that can probably do with some positive publicity is Rocco Dispirito. Where is the guy? He should stage a comeback with a solid cooking show, not a reality show.
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I was extremely pleased with the show and the food focus. These cheftestants seem quite strong, at least the few who were focused on in the first show. One of the weakest links definitely seems to have been eliminated.
Pretty amazing for Bourdain to give such high praise to Hung and Tre's dishes. They looked GREAT. I agree that Howie defended himself perfectly...Bourdain loved it. They bent over backwards not to eliminate him since he can obviously cook.
I am sure there will be drama coming but the first show bodes well. In the Bravotv blogs Tom basically says they really tried to raise the overall talent level for S3 and Lee Ann mentions that this crew seems more mature than past seasons.
OTOH...how can a chef never have tried monkfish liver???
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<I agree that Howie defended himself perfectly...Bourdain loved it. They bent over backwards not to eliminate him since he can obviously cook.> Clay made it easy for them to keep Howie, imo. His food was not even visually appealing.
This season's crop of contestants does seem to be more restaurant-savvy than the previous two, altho time will tell.
I'm picking Tre to win....
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I am cautiously optimistic about this group of chefs. After one show there seems to be no shortage of talent. While some are going to be better that others so far they all seem decent. There are no ‘retirement home chefs’ no earth mother types. These seem like real seasoned pros. In season 1 it took a couple of episodes for Harold to come to the top. Season 2, in one episode it was clear Sam was the best.(Still feel he was the rightful winner if not for the producers sense of drama. Don’t think I’m alone in that.). So far it is still up in the air. It would appear that if there is ‘drama’ this year it will be back up by culinary talent. I like to think that the producers looked around at the other ‘chef’ show and realized they had something good and wanted to redeem themselves after last seasons farce and disgraceful (I can’t cook it if it’s not Spanish) ‘winner’.
And I am already hoping that there will be a cook off between season 1 and 3.
Compared to TNFS could any of those contestants even get on TC? (Perhaps in season 2) And for that matter ho many of these TC’s would get kicked off TNFS for being too intense, not showing their ‘fun side’, not saying 'mmmmmm' convincingly enough or for food being overly complicated.
http://meandmyfork.blogspot.com
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No earth mother types? Sorry, I was disappointed that there weren't any more mature women int he group. I have this dreadful feeling that they were cast based on how they'd look in a bikini in that hot tub!
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I am glad Howie stayed (personality goes a long way), but not sure that it was fair, since he didn't complete the challege. I wouldn't want to keep someone whose food is "inedilble" (Clay), but I guess I would have been pissed if I got the boot when someone else didn't even get thier food on the plate. I knew Clay was going as soon as they showed him talking about his dad- not exactly subtle foreshadowing...
I am excited about these chef-testants: looks like they are pretty serious about the food.
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I do feel bad for clay, but Howie made a mistake I think he couldn't possibly make again... whereas Clay would almost certainly be kicked off the next time. Plus I think even if they don't say so the quickfire plays into that decision... Clay didn't know what an amuse bouche was, and also made an inedible plate of food. He doesn't belong with that group. Howie made a pretty significant mistake and further along in the competition I would be harder on him, but if what he did make was delicious sea urchin -- and he proved himself to be knowledgable in the way he defended himself; I thought that was great -- then he probably does belong there.
I couldn't believe they didn't edit out what Clay said about his dad. TMI for national TV.
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I bet the producers were hoping to get lots of drama out of the father's suicide. Probably a big reason they picked him.
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Watched the show and tried to keep up with the fast pace at the end of the challenge, but, I really did not understand why Howie's frog legs didn't make it to the plate. Chef Tom said he thought he had enough time and wasn't rushed so what happened?
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Howie paced himself too slowly during the two-hour prep time. He was overly methodical in doing what he needed to do, and essentially ran out of time. The frogs' legs were cooked, he was able to snatch the basket out of the fryolator, but time was called just as he was rushing over to finish the plate. Chef Colicchio had talked with him 40 minutes before end of the challenge, and Howie seemed to be on track, but the cameras showed him walking around just looking at things vs. finishing his prep/cooking.
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Thanks! I hope the rest of the season is as good as this first episode.
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I thought he also said he wanted to recrisp them right before serving?
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Yup, he did. Perhaps if he had fried them the first time closer to plating, he might have been able to get everything on the plate on time. But hey - he's still on the show - let's see if he makes the same mistake twice.
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I thought the whole discussion about how they wanted their food done right and on time was a little overblown. He'd have been able to put those frog legs on the plate with 5 more seconds of time- a diner wouldn't have known the difference.
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I agree that it was a little unfair for Howie to stay-- especially because I was a dave fan from season 1, and I think Tiffany went to the finals because Dave left out one dish. He did have a great come back to Tony (it was almost too good not to be scripted). That said, Clay was a sweet kid, but way out of his league.
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Tiffany made great food- as was reenforced during the season 1 versus season 2 challenge. Dave forgot to make the other dish- not the same thing as Howie's problem. I'd rather wait a few minutes for the dish I ordered than not to have it show up at all.
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Howie might have left one dish out, but Clay's food tasted bad. Let's face it. Any diner would prefer one good dish to two bad ones. Clay had to go.
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This first TC3 show has almost completely redeemed the debacle that was Season 2! Here's hoping that TC3 doesn't go down the path of drama over substance in future episodes.
I was thrilled to see the quality of ALL of the cheftestants - during the Quickfire Challenge, they almost all rose to the challenge and presented pretty amazing amuse bouches in 10 minutes (except for that apple appetizer!). And a few looks of panic on their faces when they saw the tables of unusual fare from which to make "surf and turf." Even more so when it was announced that Bourdain would be the guest judge. :-)
Unless the producers start showing too much of the cat-fighting and drama, I really think this season is going to be excellent. Tre & Hung come to top of mind as standouts, as the focus seemed to be on them for this episode, but I think there are many who can rise to the challenges, as they all seem very good at their craft.
Here's hoping to good, inventive food!
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It was obvious from the start that this season is going to be phenominal. In one of the interview bites one of the girls said something like - it's amazing everyone here owns their own restaurant or business. There are no pastry chefs or Friday's line cooks in this bunch. Thus far the only character that really annoys me is Joey, I really wish he would have claimed his hometown as Strong Island instead of NY - gives the rest of us a bad name.
I was a bit scared though when Marcel let on that Huang and him are good friends but Huang seems to be way more focused on the taste of the food than Marcel ever was.
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I didn't get that they were good friends as much as just had worked together...and Marcel obviously had respect for Hung's (Is it Hung or Huang?) cooking. They are both from Vegas; I assume they had both worked at Guy Savoy's or another Vegas restaurant.....
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I think his name is Hung Huang and I think his food looked great but he was a little too heavy on the "i'm here to win and i'm going to be the guy everyone hates" schtick.
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I agree but at the same time he seemed to take criticism better than cheftestants in the past who have had that same attitude and did seem to at least socalize with a few of them in the non-cooking moments. Really the only guy who bothered me with that attitude was the strong islander; anyone think he now has Journey's greatest hits in his cd player?
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I think I actually saw that his last name is Nguyen. First name Hung. Don't think he's related to William Hung.
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I could be wrong!
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For a second, I thought they wrote his name as Hung Nguyen, but they changed it later to Hung Huynh. Hung is his first name, and it's a common Vietnamese first name.
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Nguyen is the last name of another contestant, I think it's Sara.
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Why is it that whenever I try to picture Marcel in my mind, I see Seth Green?
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I thought that initial challenge raised the bar very high....you need to know your stuff people...you should be very afraid...Love it! I also loved how Howie quoted Bourdain's book. I live in Miami Beach and by coincidence passed by Howie's restaurant "The Food Gang" and have to say I was unimpressed with the ambiance and the menu which was a little "generic" in my opinion. Very much full of what everyone else is doing in south Florida, with the same indredients and types of dishes. Didn't even feel like trying it! I swear if I see tuna tartare in another menu... Also, I love truffles but truffle oil does not have to be on every menu everywhere... Also, the food shop was nothing special at all. They had a few expensive salts and prepackaged "gourmet" things like potato chips and pancake mix??? Reviews on local papers have not been good...I guess I will observe him on Top Chef and see if I should go back to try the food. I also agree with most posts that these chefs seem to be of higher caliber than the past season and that the Food Network needs to "kick it up a notch" really.... Can't wait to keep watching... :-)
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Tre and Casey both have tuna tartare on their menus as well, so it's not dead yet. At least not in Dallas.
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I love Top Chef! I think Hung is my early favorite. I recently dined at Guy Savoy in Vegas. It was an amazing experience...I wonder if he was cooking for me?
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Marcel is friends with Hung. Supposedly the Top Chef producers asked for recommendations for contestants from previous contestants. I bet Marcel recommended him.
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definitely promising and a solid group of chefs, i look foroward to the next episode. Clay seemed the youngest and least experienced of the bunch. the first to go is always a bit unfair - little opportunity to show their chops. still, somebody's got to go.
Tre and Hung look really strong
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Here's a link to a Q&A with Tom Colicchio about the new season:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19210247/...
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borzoi, good interview, thanks for the link. very interesting to see how they approached the casting this time
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I don't think letting Clay go the first episode was unfair at all. He was able to show pretty much from the get-go that he was not as well versed in the culinary arts as the other contestants. Not only did the judges judge both of his dishes (in quickfire and elimination) to be fairly inedible and not up-to-par, they were definitely the least visually appealing. He deservedly and fairly had to go
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Interesting that Frank Bruni from the NYT has weighed in on TC3. And supposedly there is a comment Colicchio in the reader comments section. :-)
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.co...
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I agree that this year's contestants seem more qualified to be a top chef of a restaurant because many of this already own their own restaurants. So that's good. But I have to say there seems to be more A--holes this season. I guess you can expect that from any reality show because supposedly that's good tv, but I don't like watching A--holes because they're just bad energy.
I thought the elimination challenge was fun, seeing the different ingredients. But I have to say I felt some of the contestants didn't really truely do a "surf-and-turf" where there's a complementary pairing of something from the ocean and something from the land. Some dishes combined it all into one mush, or one element was more dominant and the other turned out to be a starter or salad. Still, it was interesting to see the rare ingredients. And really, snake is best fried. I don't know why Padma was so upset that the guy fried it. (And Padma, I really wouldn't eat your fried toe, O-kay.)
I didn't like the quick-fire challenge. It was an interesting idea and nice to catch them off guard, but, ugh, I didn't like the idea of using food that was sitting out there for at least an hour and there really wasn't any cooking. It was just combining ingredients. I thought it was a silly reality TV challenge and not really a cooking challenge. But the show was redeemed by the elimination challenge.
And finally, I wasn't that turned off by Bourdain. Typically, I can't watch him and he was more critical when he guest judged in Season 2 during the Thanksgiving dinner challenge. But this time around he seemed a bit more tamed and looked like he was having fun so I wasn't that bothered by him. Who knew?
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I'm ok with their creating something that isn't a strictly ying-yanged surf and turf. What bothers me is that at least two of them made surf and surf, and none of the judges mentioned it. FROGS and ALLIGATORS are NOT TURF.
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They aren't really surf, either. They can't breathe underwater.
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I had the impression that the surf and turf options were on separate ends of the table -- it looked like some people picked one ingredient, then moved down the table to look for the second. If so, then the crew saved them the ambiguity of deciding land vs sea. (or swamp)
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I thought so at first but it was only people towards the very end who did the ambiguous not-quite-surf-and-turf combos, so I think it's possible that the true turf items were already taken...
and mojoeater I agree with ya that they're not really surf either... they just don't belong in a surf and turf. they are unto themselves surf and turf :)
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Ha! My daughter said the same thing, "they're not turf, they're amphibians!" (at least the frogs). Anyway, I'm glad they spared Howie. Technically, I suppose he should have gone, but Clay was SO out of his league, he would have been booted next week anyway. Want to see Howie redeem himself. It will all be forgotten by next week. I, too, loved his Bourdain book quote, and so did Bourdain!
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