Anyone watching?

It was pretty entertaining last night to watch the Quickfire challenge where they formed two teams of three to do some prep work relay race. The were all laughing about how long it had been since they had to do prep work - that's what they have sous chefs for...

I'm rooting for the local guy - Rick Bayless.

I've been meeting to start a thread on this one. Very entertaining indeed. You should try to catch the previous episodes. Pretty top notch chefs competing, and it's great watching them work and come up with things without the help of their sous chef armies.

addicted!

Rick Bayless has been a favorite chef of mine for quite some time and seeing him kick ass on this show is pretty nice.

and chiarello, that smug bastard, got knocked down a notch.*

*no ill feelings towards chiarello, just being competitive in the spirit of the show.

I love top chef, definitely one of my favorite shows, but I haven't been able to get into the masters...it's okay, but I just haven't gotten hooked.

I love the masters. I particularly adore Hubert Keller, and am for sure going to have to go to Anita Lo's restaurant when next in NY...

It is nice to see people who are being competitive, but also being good sports and helping each other at the same time.

Anita was close to going home last night. Good to see Rick Bayless near the top again.

Enjoyable show. Art Smith was out of his league with these chefs IMO. Definitely could have gone either way with that elimination.

I enjoy watching the show. The vegan dinner?

Just caught up on this week’s show. It’s been a fun season so far and it’s been good to see the chef’s get along and help each other out. Art deserved to go, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Chiarello go next. Dude is annoying. Rooting for Rick or Hubert overall as they seem like good peeps.

I actually skip through the judges table just to get to the result so I don’t have to hear the judges. Has to be the worst panel of people on TV.

quote:

Originally posted by GlennK:
Just caught up on this week’s show. It’s been a fun season so far and it’s been good to see the chef’s get along and help each other out. Art deserved to go, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Chiarello go next. Dude is annoying. Rooting for Rick or Hubert overall as they seem like good peeps.

I actually skip through the judges table just to get to the result so I don’t have to hear the judges. Has to be the worst panel of people on TV.

He's annoying but his dishes have looked pretty solid. He can cook for me anytime.

quote:

Originally posted by Gigond Ass:
He's annoying but his dishes have looked pretty solid. He can cook for me anytime.

Agreed

I happened upon this show and enjoyed it enough to seek out the earlier episodes. Very good, some great food and it is nice to see some aggressive competition without all the backroom nonsense that goes on in the normal Top Chef.

Fun episode and it really showed the good leaders from the bad. I already thought Chiarello was a douche and this just proved it even more…

Watching Hubert Keller in action has definitely swayed my decision to dine at Fleur de Lys next week.

I adore Chef Hubert Keller. He reminds me of the chefs I studied under at school.

We dined at Fleur de Lys in June and it was impeccable. I almost opted for the veggie tasting because it looked that good. I ended up going the very meaty route instead and was not sorry. Definitely go.

Most industry folks' opinion of Chiarello is that he's an ass. The episode obviously magnified the fact even more.

With that said, the dude knows how to cook and have the right idea of building a good restaurant wine list. Bottega in Yountville has been wildly successful. Wonderful food, beautiful decor, and a wine list that's very well priced. '07 Rivers Marie Occidental Ridge at $66 off the list is a prime example.

quote:

Originally posted by Powell Yang:
Most industry folks' opinion of Chiarello is that he's an ass. The episode obviously magnified the fact even more.

With that said, the dude knows how to cook and have the right idea of building a good restaurant wine list. Bottega in Yountville has been wildly successful. Wonderful food, beautiful decor, and a wine list that's very well priced. '07 Rivers Marie Occidental Ridge at $66 off the list is a prime example.

Exaclty my reaction on the show, he certainly acts like a deuche but the food certainly looks good.

Great show last night. Very happy to see Rick Bayless win. I was a little surprised to see Keller in third as I thought he was probably the favorite coming in to the final.

I fell asleep before the finale, but figured I'd watch it next week on rerun before the new Top Chef episode.

However, I did see a rerun of the second-to-last Top Chef Masters that showed Chiarello and his "tough guy" antics. I didn't have a big problem with that. After all, he has paid his dues and has walked the walk. I did, however, have a problem with Dale getting up in his face with the, "What are you going to do about it?!?" What a little punk. Just a punk. I was embarrassed for him. I thought he was great when he was in Top Chef, but I just lost all respect for him. That was really silly. What a child.

I agree completely. Chiarello is perhaps a bit old school, but he has a LOT of skins on the wall. What has Dale done anyway? When he has a current top drawer restaurant going, one he sold (Tra Vigne) that was a signature Napa star, his our TV show and a successful mailorder business....maybe he can mouth off.

Until then...shut up, do your stuff and try to learn something.

Doesn't he cathc a clue that he is on Top Chef MASTERS? They called it that for a reason.

What a pinhead.

Agree Dales an idiot. Plus, what chef is going to hire him after seeing that??

So glad to see Rick win. Of all the menus, I would have picked his to eat. I wish I could have tried that mole sauce as it’s so hard to find a good one in the states. Hubert’s first course and the lamb course looked great to me, but the others were not exciting. Chiarello’s polenta dish was the only dish of his that I really wanted to try. Everything else was seemed like something I could get at a lot of restaurants. I love a good braised short rib, but it’s on almost every menu out there right now.

Fun season, hopefully they do something similar in a couple years.

LOL. I just watched a re-run of the said second-to-last show. My goodness, many of those Top Chef runner-ups are way out of bounds. That prick wearing hats all the time is a real piece of work; and the clown telling the other guy to refuse to do as asked and then applauding after is a jerk too. Those types of guys are destined to never work for anyone other than themselves, which is not a bad thing if you are that good. The best was Dale. WOW. I can think of two(2) of my past bosses who would have treated him right. One was in an old world/fashioned home-style Bohemian place in Cicero. Two minutes after that display, the lowest on the kitchen-help totem pole would have walked up to Dale, paid him his due earnings up to that time, and told him not to come back. The other was a mob run joint in Westchester. The maître d' would take him under his arm, walk him out the front door, say "Thank You", and "Good Night". He would then have to fish all of his stuff out of the garbage in the back. Let me just say that you were not going to argue in either place. Chiarello is not a douche, he is simply a boss. One of the easiest kind to work for. You learn his way and follow his directions. I'd be willing to guess that he pays well for quality service.

Good finale - as expected impressive courses. Happy Bayless won, it seems like he deserved it - could have gone anyway really

The judge from Saveour seemed to be a little tougher it seemed with Chiarello each week than the other contestants. I mean 3.5 stars? Come on...

quote:

The judge from Saveour seemed to be a little tougher it seemed with Chiarello each week than the other contestants. I mean 3.5 stars? Come on...

even after chiarello used his magazine as a doily... loved it!