Top Chef
Top Chef Season 3 Round Table
The experts hash it out
We gathered five media experts who were soaked in Top Chef juice for this entire season: Josh Ozersky of Grub Street, Charlus and Miss XaXa of Amuse-Biatch, Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic a.k.a. Keckler of Television Without Pity, and our own Meredith Arthur, who conducted most of the interviews for CHOW.
They discuss whether this was the best season ever, the merits of skill versus passion, and if Top Chef bears any resemblance to My Fair Lady. Plus: Wouldn’t the show be better with some hot sex? And if so, who would have hooked up?
Listen to all of this season’s Top Chef podcasts:
Hung Huynh
Dale Levitski
Casey Thompson
Brian Malarkey
Sara Mair
CJ Jacobsen
Howie Kleinberg
Tre Wilcox
Sara Nguyen
Joey Paulino
Lia Bardeen
Camille Becerra
Micah Edelstein
Sandee Birdsong
Clay Bowen
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So were still having the complete nonsensical debate as to whether Hung has heart and soul, or the leadership skills to be Top Chef. He leads a crew of a few dozen chefs at Guy Savoy, so the leadership discussion is a bit moot at this point. Also the fact that he got along better with both his sous chefs in the Finale. Even more so than "Heart and Soul" Casey, Who attempted to blame her mistakes on Howie. He deserved to win, he is the Top Chef, and im going to love watching his career skyrocket whilst this silly discussion of whether he has enough "soul" in his food is still going on.
I don't think the question of whether Hung has a "soul" is silly, so much as a silly way of trying to convey what I think they really mean: that his cooking doesn't have much vision. I didn't see in Hung a burning need to create -- it seemed like he often fell back on his classical training and repertoire rather than showing what he would do if he had a kitchen of his own and the freedom to do what he wanted, which is the difference between a "top chef" and a "top sous chef." You can be a great technician, a great administrator and even a great leader without being a great artist, and I think that's what they found lacking in his cooking over all. Not to say that eventually he won't develop his own way of expressing himself through his food, but so far, he seems to have focused on technique and copying other chefs rather than developing his own "voice."
Its a completely stupid argument. Yes Hung has a soul, Yes he does indeed enjoy cooking, no he hasnt developed his singular style yet as some of the other competitors have, but i love that no one recognizes that as a sous chef, developing his own style is something he hasnt had time to yet, his job at Guy Savoy, is to recreate Guy Savoys dishes, perfectly. Experimentation and creating his own style are not part of his job description. Lots of people talk about how Hung had an edge because of his talent and extensive training. Yet no one mentions that he was a Sous Chef, and he beat out more than a dozen Executive Chefs, all of whom have had the time and luxury to develop their own respective cooking styles.
Hung is Top CHEF. It was always going to be him or Tre - that was clear from the beginning. Just because it's a reality show doesn't mean it has to be a soap opera, as you guys seem to yearn for. He leads an entire kitchen in one of the top nation's restaurant, and everything has indicated he's a fine leader (with Rocco, Sara in the finale), so can we put that lame argument to rest? This is Top CHEF, not "Top Interesting Charming Good Looking Person Who Can Cook and Lead." I'm sorry, but I smell some prejudice, and I'm calling BS on this panel.