Perhaps Michael should have left his BURNING!

I just watched the finale last night. Everyone raved over Chiarello's food. To give him 3.5 stars was just a d!ck move. Then to blame the low score on the polenta dish that everyone liked was even worse.
I was happy for Rick Bayless, but I think Michael got the shaft.
On the side, I came away from the shows thinking Hubert Keller is a total badass. I hope to try some of his food one day.

quote:

Originally posted by Keeno:
On the side, I came away from the shows thinking Hubert Keller is a total badass. I hope to try some of his food one day.

I had a picture with Mr. Keller after dining at his restaurant in SF last week -- expensive but definitely worth the splurge. I hope to catch the last few episodes of the show. It's unfortunate that Bravo doesn't save the past episodes in full.

I ate at Frontera Grill for lunch last weekend. They now open an hour earlier on Saturdays - 10:30a when it used to be 11:30a. This place has always packed them in, but even more so now. I noticed more people than usual grabbing all of his cookbooks and other stuff he sells up at the front. It's got to be the Top Chef Masters effect.

Funny, a young guy sitting at the bar next to me ordered a Topolo Margarita and made the bartender put sugar around the rim instead of salt, then completely modified his lunch entree. Why bother?

quote:

Originally posted by Jamie:
I ate at Frontera Grill for lunch last weekend. They now open an hour earlier on Saturdays - 10:30a when it used to be 11:30a. This place has always packed them in, but even more so now. I noticed more people than usual grabbing all of his cookbooks and other stuff he sells up at the front. It's got to be the Top Chef Masters effect.

Funny, a young guy sitting at the bar next to me ordered a Topolo Margarita and made the bartender put sugar around the rim instead of salt, then completely modified his lunch entree. Why bother?

MLV, Roentgen Ray, his GF, Emilio and his wife and I had lunch there on Saturday. Totally packed but we scored a table for 6 in the bar thank to MLV and Mrs. E's excellent stalking skills. Probably waited 15-20 minutes I guess - was quite a good lunch

quote:

Originally posted by Jcocktosten:

quote:

Originally posted by Jamie:
I ate at Frontera Grill for lunch last weekend. They now open an hour earlier on Saturdays - 10:30a when it used to be 11:30a. This place has always packed them in, but even more so now. I noticed more people than usual grabbing all of his cookbooks and other stuff he sells up at the front. It's got to be the Top Chef Masters effect.

Funny, a young guy sitting at the bar next to me ordered a Topolo Margarita and made the bartender put sugar around the rim instead of salt, then completely modified his lunch entree. Why bother?

MLV, Roentgen Ray, his GF, Emilio and his wife and I had lunch there on Saturday. Totally packed but we scored a table for 6 in the bar thank to MLV and Mrs. E's excellent stalking skills. Probably waited 15-20 minutes I guess - was quite a good lunch

My wife and I had dinner there on Friday night. I was resistant since we get some pretty good Mexican food in S. Fla for very cheap. I have to admit it was worth it. Great dinner. We even got one of his signed cook books.

Een, Futronic and I had a long and wonderful lunch on the Topolobampo side of the restaurant last Friday.

All I can say is, MOLE'!

I have been avoiding this thread of late because I had the finale recorded and hadn't been able to watch. $1300 to spend on groceries. I could have a lot of fun with that!

I thought all three did great things, and I thought Bayless would have paid a heavier price for his "foam" the way the critics were talking. I thought Chiarello got screwed by the Saveur editor.

DnVsMom had dinner at Bottega shortly after opening. She got to talk with Chiarello and did say that he was extremely "confident". We actually tried to get reservations there two weeks ago, but not a reservation to be had on Friday night. He must be doing something right.

We sprinted over there Wed. night after arriving. A guy at the bar offered us his seat because he thought I looked NASCAR. He was mighty dissapointed when I told him I was a winemaker, but perked up a bit when I told him I had kin and friends in Nashville, his home city.

We went in the bar Saturday afternoon, but they were two deep at the bar. Given I didn't recognize MLV even a little on the bus, I could have walked right by that group.

It's one stop I make every time in Chicago.

quote:

Originally posted by Stefania Wine:

A guy at the bar offered us his seat because he thought I looked NASCAR.

Funny!

quote:

Originally posted by wine+art:
Een, Futronic and I had a long and wonderful lunch on the Topolobampo side of the restaurant last Friday.

All I can say is, MOLE'!

I can still taste the mole. For anyone interested, my recent blog entry is on our lunch at Topolo, including plenty of photos. The link is in my signature.

quote:

Originally posted by futronic:

quote:

Originally posted by wine+art:
Een, Futronic and I had a long and wonderful lunch on the Topolobampo side of the restaurant last Friday.

All I can say is, MOLE'!

I can still taste the mole. For anyone interested, my recent blog entry is on our lunch at Topolo, including plenty of photos. The link is in my signature.

The envy I have felt this week as EVERYONE at the office has inquired about the lunch.

quote:

We sprinted over there Wed. night after arriving. A guy at the bar offered us his seat because he thought I looked NASCAR.

You got a 'red neck'??

I get seats as folks think I look like Greg Norman