tofuburrito's Profile
Top Chef Masters Season 3, Episode 4 [Spoilers]
The judging has made it unwatchable for me.
No Reservations: Hokkaido
Agree that Japan and Vietnam are the cream of the crop when it comes to No Reservations. I would also include Brittany & Provence in a Best Of compilation.
Anthony Bourdain (and Eric Riper--heads up LindaWhit) on the lines at Les Halles, No Reservations
Agree with Fydeauz - enthusiastic thumbs up.
Top Chef Masters Season 3, Episode 3 - Spoilers
Not a fan of these judges. Surprised to see someone gets sent packing at this stage for making "safe" risotto. As we have seen on Top Chef, risotto is rarely "safe."
By the way; I ate at (Colicchio's) Craftsteak in Vegas last weekend and had an awesome risotto with pork confit and wild mushrooms.
Top Chef Masters, Season 3, Episode 2 - Spoilers
Thanks! Border Grill & Alaska Seafood sponsored the contest.
Top Chef Masters, Season 3, Episode 2 - Spoilers
I missed the quickfire and came in about half-way through. I'm a fan of the classics so I enjoyed the elimination challenge. Pulling for Mary Sue - received a signed letter from her a couple of weeks ago for making the top 20 in the Alaska fish taco contest. It doesn't take much to get my support (plus, I do like Border Grill).
Top Chef Masters, Season 3, Episode 2 - Spoilers
One thing that I frequently notice when watching TCM that contrasts somewhat with TC is when the TCM chefs don't do well they seem to take it hard that the people eating their food are disappointed. Whereas the younger TC crowd tends to be more sensitive and easily angered when people don't "get" or "understand" their creativity. I guess with experience comes the maturity to realize that you're ultimately cooking to make other people happy and not to boost your own ego.
New Cooking Channel Reactions??
I really like the food Laura makes. I picked up one of her cookbooks and have found it useful (it's all text, no food photos, so it's meant to be used not looked at). I'm usually a little loopy too so we're on the same wavelength.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #15 (Finale Pt. 3) - 03/23/11 (Spoilers)
That would have been interesting. Do you think he would have played it straight like mamma Morimoto or would we have seen the return of the chocolate wasabi?
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #15 (Finale Pt. 3) - 03/23/11 (Spoilers)
Agree, I've done it twice and it wasn't pretty either time. I thought it miraculous that Richard was able to pull it off as well as he did but then the posts mentioned the premade dough (which I don't fault him for).
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #15 (Finale Pt. 3) - 03/23/11 (Spoilers)
I agree but I think if she had executed it perfectly she still probably wouldn't have won unless the other two both had major errors. I don't dispute Mike won fairly in accordance with the rules, what annoys me is that at this stage of the competition my preference would have been for less gimmicky challenges.
I think it is possible for the competition can be fair and entertaining. When one chef is practically eliminated from a chance at winning before the challenge even begins I don't see what the point is.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #15 (Finale Pt. 3) - 03/23/11 (Spoilers)
I agree it was a bad idea but she didn't have the luxury of turning a biscuit into an egg filled epanada because it better suited her abilities.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #15 (Finale Pt. 3) - 03/23/11 (Spoilers)
I have respect for Wolfgang as well as Michelle Bernstein but I think Morimoto was the toughest draw. Very few chefs can create as Morimoto does and as good as Puck and Bernstein are there are a lot of chefs who can do what they do.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #15 (Finale Pt. 3) - 03/23/11 (Spoilers)
I agree but I think if she does it perfectly it comes off as boring to most of the judges in comparison to her competition. It also makes it impossible to put her own spin on it.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #15 (Finale Pt. 3) - 03/23/11 (Spoilers)
But if that's how she served it Morimoto would have been happy and Tom would have said, "she didn't do anything but cut up some fish. She was in the very difficult position of having to make something uncluttered while at the same time adding her own interpretation and keeping the non hard core sushi people interested.
Contrast that with Blais and Mike who both were free to interpret their own versions.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #15 (Finale Pt. 3) - 03/23/11 (Spoilers)
The difficulty is in who you're making it for; perhaps the greatest Japanese chef of all time. That an absurd quickfire could lead to such a huge difference in the challenges the contestants had to face led me to the conclusion that Top Chef jumped the shark last night.
I also think that skin falling off fried chicken is a much greater error than slightly salty miso soup.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #15 (Finale Pt. 3) - 03/23/11 (Spoilers)
I don't care either, Blais vs. Antonia would have been a lot more interesting and I've had about as much of Mike as I can take for one lifetime. The way they conducted that episode was ridiculous.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #14 (Finale Pt. 2) - 03/16/11 (Spoilers)
He's the last person I'd want to have a beer with. Imagine listening to him boast about himself and criticize everyone else all night.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #14 (Finale Pt. 2) - 03/16/11 (Spoilers)
I get that it's time intensive but I didn't think that was the point he was making. My impression of what he was saying was that it took superior skill and creativity to come up with their dish, but apparently he was really just impressed with his dazzling speed and couldn't understand why the other dish would win based on flavor.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #14 (Finale Pt. 2) - 03/16/11 (Spoilers)
I think there is a big difference between expressing joy over winning 5K in a quickfire and going into the stew room and jumping up and down in front of the doomed after an E.C. win. I also didn't see how the guys quickfire was so creative and difficult. Was it because of the fresh pasta? Remember Nikki in Chicago? She could knock out fresh pasta in her sleep, it's not that difficult.
I wonder why Tom announced the winner rather than the guest judge. I wonder if they had a major difference of opinion. She and the guests seemed to like Anotnia's best but maybe Tom overruled her.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #13 (Finale Pt. 1) - 03/09/11 (Spoilers)
Good report on lionfish on Dan Rather Reports on HD Net. Also well covered in the Divers Alert Network magazine. It would be a great thing if they could spotlight this important issue.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #13 (Finale Pt. 1) - 03/09/11 (Spoilers)
+1
And if Richard had come up with the lamb/pistachio/blackberry dish everyone would have said "Blais is such a genius, only the professor could have thought of such an idea."
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #13 (Finale Pt. 1) - 03/09/11 (Spoilers)
I may not be remembering correctly but I think she made a lamb dish with a blackberry sauce that the judges really loved.
A search revealed the recipe below and I think this was it:
http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/1308837-Roasted-Lamb-Medallions
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #13 (Finale Pt. 1) - 03/09/11 (Spoilers)
I think some chefs don't realize that on any given day they can be beat in this competition by just about any other chef. There seems to be a sense of superiority with some of the cheftestants that you don't see in other competitions. I'm thinking in terms of sports and in most cases the losing team/competitor will handle the defeat with some dignity, congratulate the winner, and not hold a grudge for years into the future.
I think one of the things that bugs me is that you never hear Richard say that Stephanie really cooked well and knocked it out of the park in the finals. It's always about how he should have won.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #13 (Finale Pt. 1) - 03/09/11 (Spoilers)
Why should he have won it? Stephanie beat him in the finals, period.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #13 (Finale Pt. 1) - 03/09/11 (Spoilers)
I've always been a Blais fan but he is getting on my nerves. I'm tired of hearing him say he should have won Season 4. He got beat by an excellent chef and he should move on, no one owes him anything. Both Richard and Mike are coming off as very whiney in my opinion. Mike saying that he really went for it while Antonia and Carla just skated by all season. Look at the scoreboard Mike and see who was cooking for the middle all season.
The girls are showing a lot more toughness, class and guts.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #13 (Finale Pt. 1) - 03/09/11 (Spoilers)
As soon as I heard shrimp & grits I knew Antonia was doomed but on Top Chef raw meat will trump overcooked anything, every time.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #12 - 03/02/11 (Spoilers)
If you have Dish Network HD you can watch it on east coast time. I'm in CA and watch at 7:00 PST.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #12 - 03/02/11 (Spoilers)
I guess Stephanie will have double duty taking on Richard and Antonia.
