Top Chef Chicago (Spoiler Thread)

[robinb]

I just saw this week's episode. I think that any of the final 4 could go, but I am somewhat disappointed that Nimma went. I was looking forward to her working around Muslim dietary constraints.

 

[Nynaeve]

I agree with everyone that Nimma should have gone home. They kicked off someone in season 2 for oversalting too.
I was so happy to see Bourdain as a judge, but I miss Gail. I don't know why but Padma irritates me. Did anyone read the blogs on Bravo? Ted referred to Mark as "that dude from the 70s show". Very funny.
Great show and I'm excited for the rest of the season.

I actually like Padma better. Gail always makes these faces, and I think she acts like a snob. And I don't like her hair either.

I've never paid attention to Padma's voice, but now that you guys have mentioned it, I'm sure it'll annoy me.

 

[Diva of Dragons]

I remembered reading this a little over a year ago (not that it's a great source but it's definitely been out there):

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2007/01/26/bwe-exclusive-padma-lakshmi-is-a-literal-pothead/
BWE Exclusive: Padma Lakshmi Is a Literal Pothead
According to a source who worked on the set of Top Chef, the ex-model turned trophy wife turned hostess Padma Lakshmi allegedly enjoys smoking pot on set, giving a whole new meaning to the term “Quickfire Challenge” — see, cause she’s allegedly lighting up a joint instead of a stove! Anyway. Exactly how often this happened is disputed, though we were assured it was allegedly “fairly regularly.”

But really, is this shocking? An addiction to marijuana would actually serve to explain a lot of strange Padma-related phenoms, such as:

Her large appetite (remember, she’s an ex-model)
Her detached, soulless vocal inflections
Her insane outfit choices
The strainge “itch” she got in the back of her throat during this week’s Hawaiian challenge
Why she speaks soooo slooooowly
Why she married Salman Rushdie
Why she seems high all the time.

That "allegedly" does explain A LOT!! LOL! Glad it hasn't been my imagination!


anna_chronistic: Thanks for explaining the "lude" thing for me. It's such a 70s thing! LOL!!

 

[nannerbadnanner]

Bump!

 

[Imzadi]

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 2 coming!
If you haven't seen it yet, now is the time to back out of the thread.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
As someone who knows an extreme amount of catering, (my cousin is at one of the most exclusive caterers in NYC/NJ & I used to work for her,) it doesn't look like the chefs this week were told what heating/cooking equipment would be available to them on premises. In two of the bottom three foods, the foods were cold by the time the judges & guests got to them.

If the mushrooms had a proper chafing dish, they would have stayed warm enough to serve. Then either mushroom girl or Dale would have been sent home. I think neither of them were picked since they both participated in making the mushrooms bad, and the judges couldn't have sent both of them home.

If they had been told the blinis could have been cooked on premises, they maybe could/would have done so. OR, they too, could/should have had a chafing dish for the blinis. Our caterers cook them ahead of time, leaving them in single layers on cookie sheets, in heated trays, so they stay crispy, then assemble them right before serving.

I am shocked Andrew won the challenge. He always looks like he's had too much Red Bull... or something. Even he says he spaces out.

 

[CraftyMouse]

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 2 coming!
I am shocked Andrew won the quickfire. He always looks like he's had too much Red Bull... or something. Even he says he spaces out.

Posted in white...highlight to read...

He didn't, did he? I thought it was the Australian guy...Mark. He won because he was creative and adapted his dish when he realized he had forgotten an ingredient at the market.

 

[Figment22]

I have to say that in last night's episode I don't think there were any appetizers that looked particularly appealing to me. Mark scored a big hit with the anchovy one? Sure didn't do anything for me.

Pretty cool that he won the QC even though he left one of his bags at the farmer's market.

Also, which team was it that had been given a list of vegetarian items for their animal and yet went ahead and put meat in their appetizers anyway? The way the editors set that up I thought they'd get called on it but it never happened.

Oh, and I agree with you on Andrew, Imzadi. He always looks like he needs his adderall! I was surprised that he won the EC too.

 

[Crankyshank]

Hi guys!
The blinis just looked plain unappetizing. I have had cold ones before and it was gross. Add a weird topping, and that just makes it worse.
The thought of walnuts and blueberries in a mushroom just doesn't appeal to me either.

Did anyone else pick up the TC cookbook?

 

[Imzadi]

Whoops, CraftyMouse! You're right. I should get more caffeine in my system before I write details. Going back to edit my previous post.

The thought of walnuts and blueberries in a mushroom just doesn't appeal to me either.

Yeah, it doesn't sound appealing to me either - cold or hot. That's why I think Mushroom Girl should have lost. She should have made a blueberry & walnut dessert left out the mushrooms.

I also think the dishes that had meat in them when they should have been vegetarian should have been automatically disqualified.

 

[robinb]

Yeah, it doesn't sound appealing to me either - cold or hot. That's why I think Mushroom Girl should have lost. She should have made a blueberry & walnut dessert left out the mushrooms.

I also think the dishes that had meat in them when they should have been vegetarian should have been automatically disqualified.

I agree with both of your points. "Mushroom girl" should have gone home because her mushrooms looked like bear poop and she did taste them after it was made "prettier".

I also agree about the Gorilla menu. I was very disappointed that they added meat to their dishes. For goodness sake! You can make very nice vegetarian appetizers.

FWIW, I think that the anchovies might have been fresh and not canned. I had fresh anchovies once and they were much, much different than the canned variety.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay, I don't think I'm being too picky (and if I am, too bad ) but I've seen it four times now and I REALLY wish they'd use correct pronunciation. I must have heard "bellini" eighty times in the last 27 hours - and not ONCE did I see any Chef make that drink. I'm 100% serious. How hard is it to pronounce "BLini" - without tossing in any extra syllables????????????

 

[RUDisney]

Imzadi, perhaps you can answer this for me. Were the pancakes called blinis because they were small? When I think of blinis, I think of the ones that I ate in Russia that were wafer thin like crepes. When I heard that she was making blinis, I thought she was going to wrap them in filling but then I saw her making these thick, small pancakes. I think they'd have been better thin with filling that thick with non-appealing stuff on top.

 

[Figment22]

Okay, I don't think I'm being too picky (and if I am, too bad ) but I've seen it four times now and I REALLY wish they'd use correct pronunciation. I must have heard "bellini" eighty times in the last 27 hours - and not ONCE did I see any Chef make that drink. I'm 100% serious. How hard is it to pronounce "BLini" - without tossing in any extra syllables????????????

You are SO right! It made me nuts. I think Chef Wylie MAY have said it right but everyone else-NO.

The other thing was a funny: When Gail said (speaking of the mushrooms): "It looks more like something a bear would produce than eat."

 

[Imzadi]

Imzadi, perhaps you can answer this for me. Were the pancakes called blinis because they were small? When I think of blinis, I think of the ones that I ate in Russia that were wafer thin like crepes. When I heard that she was making blinis, I thought she was going to wrap them in filling but then I saw her making these thick, small pancakes. I think they'd have been better thin with filling that thick with non-appealing stuff on top.

Yes, I think the pancakes were called blinis because they were small. We serve them that way too, about 2" around, although about half as thick. (Hers looked about the thickness of English muffins. ) As hors d'oervers, they do have to be substantial enough to hold the topping without flopping or leaking when being picked up by hand, so paper thin crepes wouldn't work for our purposes. We serve the traditional blinis with sour cream and a huge dollop of caviar. I think we don't wrap them as that would hide the caviar. Can't be hiding where the money is being spent.

 

[Daxx]

I agree with both of your points. "Mushroom girl" should have gone home because her mushrooms looked like bear poop and she did taste them after it was made "prettier".

While I agree that "Mushroom Girl" should've gone home, I could swear that she didn't taste them after the cheese was added. I thought the main problem w/that dish was that nobody on the team tasted them after Asian Guy added the cheese. Can someone confirm?

Also, back at the TC Kitchen, when they noticed that the mushrooms looked terrible, I kept thinking "why don't they chop them up and mix them w/some kind of cheese (like cream cheese) or something from the pantry and make a spread of some sort!? I thought "Think of something else to do w/those things!" Even if they sliced them up and served them on the side as a garnish ... whatever ... just to have them since they were on the menu. I thought that they could've come up with something else. Heck ... they could put it on a spoon or topped something else w/a dollop of it. Just seemed like they weren't thinking of what they could do w/the mess they had.

Have to agree w/Gail that they looked like something a bear produced!!! I wouldn't have touched them!

 

[Nancyg56]

Yeah, it doesn't sound appealing to me either - cold or hot. That's why I think Mushroom Girl should have lost. She should have made a blueberry & walnut dessert left out the mushrooms.

I also think the dishes that had meat in them when they should have been vegetarian should have been automatically disqualified.

I finally got to watch this weeks episode. It was harder than I thought it would be to stay away from the thread until now.

First I hate Bellini! I was surprised that no one could manage to pronounce it correctly. I normally don't get worked up but this one and the infamous "papperika" make me nuts when professionals are not useing the proper words.

I was surprises that the gorillas were not disqualified. They played fast and loose with the ingredients and at least one of th guests commented on it. This was an opportunity to shine with vegetarian appetizers and had they done this they could have won this challenge.

As to the mushroom: I would not have touched them before the cheese, but after blech!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Figment22]

New episode in seven minutes!!

 

[goofinoff]

This Andrew dude is so cocky! I don't like him!!

 

[Oh Kay!]

What was that dark glob on top of Erik's tacos? The whole dish looked so gross!

Nikki doesn't seem to have much luck, does she? First, she used too much dough for her pizza, then she made that disgusting looking mushrooms, and now the brick-like mac-n-cheese. I don't think Ryan will be around much longer either.

 

[Imzadi]

I think this elimination was so unfair because again, they had technical problems which are actually catering situations. (Remember I'm the one with an extreme amount of catering experience - though I don't cook for them.) It's a shame that Eric got eliminated and some of the others almost got eliminated because of the technical reasons that they were not given the information ahead of time as to what cooking/heating equipment will be available to them AND how long of a wait it may be till serving. These are situations out of their control. It is info that is necessary & that you would only know how to compensate for if you had prior experience working with a catering company and have gone through the various technical problems encountered while transporting and holding food for a couple hours, in not the best of circumstances.

This show is supposed to be Top Chef, not Top Catering Chef. These are some of the best chefs in their fields, who are used to cooking & serving fabulous food right away, and are being eliminated for technical reasons, outside of their control. I'm sure that not only did the food have to sit in the cambros during transportation, but the two hours was probably also the wait for the camera crews to set up & such. So it wasn't "just" a twenty minute ride to the site, then set the food out, etc. I'm sure that if Eric had been told during the meal planning, HOW the food would be transported (in cambros only) and how long the wait might be, and that he would NOT be given equipment to re-crisp the dogs, he would have never chose to even make corndogs. He would have made something saucy with the dogs.

The other team didn't even have fuel to cook a s'more. They luckily had a mini blow torch someone had brought with him!

While seeing the show, it was then that I realized, when our company serves Four Cheese Pasta, (instead of mac & cheese ,) when it arrives off the catering truck and is in the portable proofing ovens, that it looks like one big soupy mess in the chafing pans. You can barely see the pasta because it's loaded with so much cheese sauce. Now I realize, that after sitting around for a couple hours in the proofing oven keeping warm, until it finally gets served, the sauce thickens & dries up. And it is perfect when we serve it. Sometimes, the first pans at the beginning of the evening are still a little saucy, but 2-3 hours later, as we're serving the last pan, it is still great, not dried out. My point is, they have experience in factoring in the food sitting time.

We've served corn dog like appetizers. I'm not sure what they do to prep them, since I never really paid attention. But I know our company has what's called large portable proofing ovens, loaded with shelves upon shelves of large cookie sheet pans. A layer of the corn dogs is pre-placed on the cookie sheets, uncovered, another sheet pan is stacked underneath a couple inches below that sheet on another shelf. Big aluminum cans of Sterno camp fire, cooking fuel is placed right on that second sheet. Multiple stacks alternate inside the oven like that. When the door is closed, the corn dogs cook just like a regular oven, so they can crisp up and stay that way. They can also regulate the amount of heat by how many cans of fuel they burn.

Other times when there is electricity on-site, the chefs used stacks of portable convection ovens. They have control over what equipment they need for their foods.

It appears, that in future challenges, if the chefs have to travel, they had better not cook anything that needs to stay crispy, or to cook any foods in which they can not control if the food even gets in a warming oven or chafing pan. 2 weeks ago, it was the celery salad that didn't have crispy chips. Last week it was cold, ugly mushrooms, (that then got overly dressed with parm cheese.) This week it is soggy corn dogs.

IMO, they should have sent Zoe home or the guy with the Waldorf Salad. Zoe had pasta salad. There were no special technical circumstances to account for. She just didn't know how to make a good pasta salad. If she had a knock out dressing, she wouldn't even have been talked about. I think they kept her because she's part of a couple and they hope they can get some good footage of her & Stephanie later, maybe talking together, consoling each other, maybe in a direct challenge against each other.