I liked the first season. Some good talent and looking forward to it.

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters

The complete list of competing Top Chef Masters for season two:

- Jody Adams - Rialto Restaurant, Cambridge, Mass.
- Govind Armstrong - 8 oz Burger Bar, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Graham Elliot Bowles - Graham Elliot Restaurant, Chicago, Ill.
- Jimmy Bradley - The Red Cat, New York, N.Y.
- David Burke Townhouse, New York, N.Y.
- Wylie Dufresne - wd~50, New York, N.Y.
- Susan Feniger - Street, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Debbie Gold - The American Restaurant, Kansas City, Mo.
- Carmen Gonzalez - Chef Consultant, New York, N.Y.
- Maria Hines - Tilth, Seattle, Wash.
- Susur Lee - Madeline's, Toronto, Canada
- Ludo Lefebvre - Ludo Bites, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Tony Mantuano - Spiaggia, Chicago, Ill.
- Rick Moonen - Rick Moonen's RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nev.
- Mark Peel - Campanile, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Monica Pope - t'afla, Houston, Texas
- Thierry Rautureau - Rover's, Seattle, Wash.
- Marcus Samuelsson - The Red Rooster, New York, N.Y.
- Ana Sortun - Oleana, Cambridge, Mass.
- Rick Tramonto - TRU, Chicago, Ill.
- Jerry Traunfeld - Poppy, Seattle, Wash.
- Jonathan Waxman - Barbuto, New York, N.Y.

Oh, and shooting for TC Season 7 also begins in April.

Ain't gonna lie a lot of these don't really sound familiar. But maybe I know their faces than just their names. Hopefully it can be half as good as the first season was.

Bolded are the only ones I recognize, and marginally at that.

You'll probably recognize these guys from other TC Shows. Especially Wylie Dufresne - he is the Molecular Gastro guy.

Wylie Dufresne is honestly the only name I recognized.

OK, ya I know who that is. The last name threw me.

Me too, and even then it's only because they kiss his ass in every season of Top Chef.

Govind Armstrong has also been on tv a lot, including Top Chef. He is this guy:





Him and Dufresne are the only names I know.

Graham Elliott Bowles (Know him, maybe because he's from Chicago.)

Marcus Samuelsson (he was on Iron Chef and also has Aquavit in Vegas.)

Tony Mantuano (Don't know the name, but I know Spiaggia)

David Burke has a place here in Chicago as well.


Plus the ones you've all mentioned already.

Do I win?

Yes. Your prize is an edible butt plug. Enjoy!

Bump: Season starts this Week.

As well they should, he is god.

thanks for the bump nearly forgot about it.

Still dream about your wd-50 experience?

Govind seemed like a bit of a prick.

You could really sense the disappointment when the Chefs leared that the Elimination Challenge would be performed as teams - I thought is was a poor choice by the Producers. I'd rather see them compete as individuals.

When the Obama lovers kept on talking about their favorite President my wife and I predicted that they'd be the winners. The food was going to be close enough that Liberals would use that as a "tie breaker". Yeah, we're conspiracy theorists, but overcooking prawns seemed like a rookie mistake. She didn't seem to take it or the competition very seriously.

Overall the food seemed sort of "Meh". The Lamb Carpaccio looked pretty good. How could people be surprise that it would be raw?

Best line was while the rock & roll band was criticizing the food and the Chefs were getting all pissy one of them said: "Let's play one of their songs and make them listen to us comment on it."

Yeah, Govind was totally a bit of an asshole. And of course he looked even worse because the dish he was bitching about ended up really impressing the judges.

Frankly, even I was annoyed at the crazy old lesbian when she was like, 'My favoritest president ever!!' Re: your conspiracy theory though, at a quick glance and a quick job of stereotyping (by me), all 6 contestants probably voted for Obama. First there was lesbo-Obama-lover, and we all know who she voted for. And her partner claimed to be Obama's favorite chef while he was a Senator - you can bet he voted for the guy. Then there's Govind Armstrong (black), flower-guy (gay), flower-guy's partner (was she gay? either way she's from Cambridge so it's moot - Obama 100%), and then Govind's partner, and he just didn't strike me as a Republican. It's possible, but regardless I'm pretty sure that flower-guy and his partner were at least as liberal as crazy lady and Obama-chef.

Just sayin..

Also though I disagree with you about the food - for the elimination challenge it all looked gorgeous, and the judges seemed duly impressed with it for the most part. They had very few criticisms compared to the praise they had. Did the judges take it kind of easy on the 'Masters' last year? I honestly can't remember, but unless they were taking it easy on them last week, I think all of the elimination dishes were pretty impressive.

Yeah. I was (mostly) kidding about the conspiracy. The Judges definitely took it easy on the Masters last season - apparently in recognition of their status and the fact that it wouldn't serve them well to embarrass them on the show and that it is all mostly for Charity (and some camera time). Why take time away from a successful career to be embarrassed on TV?

totally agree with you guys about govind. Judges seem to be judging extremely tough this season. They spoke like things were pretty good but their scoring was really low.

This week's show was sort of unsatisfying. After reading the Blogs from the Judges it seemed like none of the dishes were that great. Marcus ripping on Monica for trying to help a fellow competitor showed a complete lack of class. Carmen's win seemed strange. Because of her mistakes, she was forced to deliver only a very small part of what she'd planned. Reading the Blogs it sounded as if all of the Chefs tried to over deliver while the Judges were looking for simplicity of Soul Food. Seems a little odd to me to present a challenge to known talents and then look for simplicity.

I have been unimpressed with most of the Top Chef Masters over the past two seasons. I also can't believe how cocky some of them are. The black guys on the past two weeks were flat out pretentious pricks.

The cockiness last season seemed more playful. This season (especially the two chefs you mentioned) it is more annoying - as you said "pretentious".

I finally got caught up, and I'm just so deflated.. I'd been looking forward to some mind bending dish from WD, and the dish he brought out was nice.. but it wasn't.. I dunno.. the post-modern craziness he is famous for. He said that he made a conscious effort to consider his audience and not try and make a dish people couldn't get their head around....


and that's fine, I guess, if you're tryijng to win... but ****, that's not what I want to see from him, I want to see stuff that blows your mind, that's weird and wonderful and completely new. He ended up getting eliminated, and I wouldn't have minded it, if I felt like he went out using his style.. but he didn't, and now I literally don't care about the rest of this series at all.

I'll root for Susur Lee. I actually ate at one of his restos a few years back.

And for those who were surprised carpaccio was "raw": Carpaccio is a dish of raw meat or fish (such as beef, veal, venison, salmon or tuna) generally thinly sliced or pounded thin and served as an appetizer.

How the **** do you get on a show about Chefs to taste test and not know carpaccio is raw?

yeah finally got all caught up on the episodes and totally agree with that statement about those two pricks.

I liked how Graham Bowles called jonathan waxman the jedi cook. It was nice to see how everyone had a lot of respect for him. Also funny how he finished the quickfire really fast and the other chefs were grumbling how he finished so quickly.

Season has been alright but nothing spectacular.

Gotta say though Kelly choi looks better I guess cause she is wearing a lot less makeup.

And yes can't wait till gail simmons poses for playboy to see those funbags she is hiding.

I'm not sure you interpreted it correctly, if you're talking about the judges. I got the impression that everybody was well aware of what a carpaccio is, they'd just never heard of it being done with lamb (or maybe just never personally tasted a lamb carpaccio) because lamb is notoriously stanky.

Oh, I get it. Maybe there were no menu cards and the chefs just presented "Here is my lamb carpaccio" which might surprise people. As you say, rather indelicately (;-), lamb has a very distinctive flavour. Organic lamb is probably pretty rockin'.

What's the school of thought out there on lamb, anyway? It seems to be a love/hate thing. I love it, my gf hates it.

If I was given a choice for my last meal it would probably be either Lamb Chops or Sushi.

Why not meet in the middle and have lamb carpaccio?

Last Meal:

Starter: Bouillabaise
Main: Mixed Grill, possibly Moroccan style, with lamb and beef (chicken and pork are OK, but come on....it's a last meal)
Sides: Rice Pilaf; Garlic Rosemary mashed potatoes; Green bean/asparagus almandine stir fry
Salad: Caesar
Dessert: some kind of chocolate mousse that costs a lot to make

Drinkage:
Rusty Nail to start
a nice crisp white with the bouillabaise (Riesling, Gewurz?)
a proper claret with the meats, probably a St-Emilion or something randomly expensive
Sauterne with dessert
Absinthe after dinner...lots of it

Nice.

No beer at all during the last meal?

WP.

I wonder if they'd let you drink yourself into a Coma for your last meal.

I don't watch the show, but I did eat at Ludo Lefebvre's latest pop up restaurant, Ludo Bites at Gram & Papa's, last night.

Ludo was in the kitchen, cooking and plating. He chatted a little with some patrons.

Ordered, and Consumed Three from Appetizers
Tartine Plate "Warm Baguette" Honey-Lavender Butter & Smoked Lard
This sounds simple simple simple, but I loved it. The bread was really fantastic (procured from BreadBar, for anyone from LA) and the smoked lard was light and delicious, and truly the devil's candy.
Brie Chantilly Napoleon, Honey Comb, Frisee Salad, Balsamic
This was good, but I found the plop of cheese a little overpowering and rich. The balsamic was a great, sticky acidic counterpoint to the honeycomb and brie. I didn't finish my portion, and I don't know if I would order this again.
Scallop, Almond Puree, Pickled Grapes, Capers, Curry Oil & Cauliflower Ice Cream
I'm allergic to shellfish, so I only had a tiny bit of the ice cream (tasted like cauliflower!). My husband got a dreamy look on his face and told me he doesn't eat enough scallops.

Main Course
Squid "Carbonara", Pancetta, Poached Egg (63 degrees), Parmesan Snow, Chive Flowers
This was my main. Squid replaced the traditional pasta, and was super, super tender. I really liked this, and ate all but one bite. The pancetta and soft egg yolk took this dish up to the salty fatty stratosphere.
Rack of Lamb, Fresh Goat Cheese, Smoked Eel, Artichokes, Potato Mousseline, Mint
This was my husband's, and while we usually share, we were both in deep deep food comas by this time. I had a couple of bites of his lamb--gorgeous! It was super pink, and tender, while the deep bowl of potato mousseline was whipped potatoes and oceans of butter. (Chef, if your google alerts has pulled this review to you, I'm sorry if I missed any of the other ingredients.) This dish had so much butter, it was less like potatoes, and more like a porridge.

Dessert
Macarons, Organic Strawberry & Chantilly
This was our attempt at going out on a lighter note. The soft pillow of sweetened cream on top of the strawberries didn't make it very light, but it was very, very good.

All in all, I'm really happy we got to go to this type of a restaurant. The pairings in each dish aren't for everyone, but we didn't have one clunker the whole night. And since this place is BYOB, the meal was reasonable ($95, before tip).

Last couple of episodes have been a little better. But generally speaking, I haven't been blown away. The challenges haven't been "special" in any way. It seemed like the first season of TCM was really more fun to get to know some of the personalities. Even though challenges like cooking in a dorm room were a little silly.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100504/D9FG02D81.html

http://www.voltaggiobrothers.com/

I was just commenting the other day how many times they mention the James Beard Award on TC and TCM. Not saying that Colicchio doesn't deserve the Award, but the James Beard Foundation sure has received a lot of promotion from TC & TCM.

And did you see how many Awards Beard gives out? There must be 50 awards.

I'm not a big foodie I guess, and I'm from the UK, but I have never heard of James Beard (except from on TC). It does sound like they give a lot of awards. In my opinion if he doesn't have any Michelin stars (which he doesn't) then he isn't the nations best cook. Just my opinion, but Michelin stars and an internationally recognised accolade, and any top chef should be able to get one.


This weeks TCM was kinda dissatisfying. I really felt that the cake on the winning team was just absolutely unacceptable. How could they serve that? The way they mashed berries into the cream and then tried to hide it with flowers.... it was disgusting.

I had to agree with the elimination though. A corn salsa and some tiny crab cakes is not a comparable amount of work to everyone else, no matter how good they are. How long could a corn salsa take to make, really? She didn't pull her weight.

Not entirely true. If the nation's top chef is in NYC, you should be able to get one, but Michilen has only been to a few US cities to grade chefs ( and yet to be to Chicago, most famously, which is probably USA's number 2 food town), so if Our nations best chef is in Seattle or chicago, tough shit, no stars.

This statement is exactly why your argument isn't relevant. If Tom's restaurants were based outside of NY and San Fran, it would be a totally acceptable argument and I would agree with you.

http://www.thediningroom-langham.com/chef.html

I think it's interesting that in Michael's bio, he mentions a 3.5 star rating from a newspaper, but the only reason anyone knows him... Top Chef... isn't even mentioned.

I wasn't arguing that Tom shouldn't be able to get one, obv. I was just taking issue about your statement " any top chef should be able to get one" because it's simply not true. I'm particularly bitter on this issue, because Michilen hasn't been to chicago ( where some of the nation's most interesting high cuisine is happening) and used this as an opportunity to grind that axe, not to defend Tom.


That said, I also don't think Michelin stars are the end all be all of a chef... to suggest, say, that the brother from Top Chef last year with a star is a better chef than Tom ( at this point in his career, at least) is probably silly.


That said, I would guess the James Beard award going to Tom has more than a little to do with their relationship to Top Chef.

I actually disagree with this. If I was offered a tasting menu from either Tom or Michael, I would pick Michael. That doesn't make him better, but I think his food is really exciting, whereas Tom's is more classic. I imagine that things like Michael's knife skills and knowledge of molecular gastronomy are objectively more advanced than Tom's.

Tom might still be the better chef overall, but I don't think he's silly-far out of Michael's league.

Um, I have no basis to judge if Michael's knife skills are more advanced than Toms, but were I to bet, I would bet on a world class chef with like 20 years more experience having more advanced knife skills. Molecular gastronomy you are no doubt right, as Tom's cooking philosophy is fairly minimalistic as I understand.

Re: knife skills, Michael uses various techniques which require advanced knife skills which Tom's food probably doesn't require. A big part of what I was trying to say is this: Tom isn't in the kitchen anymore, and Michael is, so Michael's skills are probably more practiced and honed at this point in time. Tom's busy opening new restaurants and ventures and tv shows. I'm sure he can still cook like a motherfucker and does frequently, but it's nowhere near the level he would be at if he were still doing 80 dinners a night or whatever, like Michael is.

Well, to LG's point then, maybe someone who isn't in the kitchen cooking anymore shouldn't be winning chef awards.

While I agree that the presentation/artistry is part of the overall experience, I don't think Knife Skills make/break the Michelin chef. I'd rather innovative cooking technique and flavors than a Benihana experience with shrimp tails being tossed around.

Agreed! I'm pretty sure I've never heard of the James Beard foundation or awards outside of Top Chef, but Top Chef is also my only real window into the world of chefery, so I guess that's sort of a wash.

Susur crushing faces. I'm glad this Waxman guy is still there too, he's pretty intriguing.

This Susur guy's food must taste great, because it sure looks disgusting.

I don't think I would have eaten either of his dishes. The Marge pork chops just looked absolutely gross, and chicken foot in the leg thing made me shudder, and I will pretty much eat anything, within reason.


If given those choices I probably would have picked Goueduk and Kangaroo. Not that I have ever had either, but I would at least have an idea how to cook them. If not the Goueduk, then the giant squid. Not sure I could prep it properly though.

It's geoduck.

Agree that Susur's dishes look gross.

Weird that Waxman put out such a cluttered dish, very unprofessional. Glad that raw-goat woman went instead of him though.

The quickfire judging was weird, points didn't seem to match up to the critiques. I thought after what they said about the shrimp sloppy joes that he had lost, because Homer would never pick that. The spaghetti and grilled cheese or the vegetarian dish seemed like the dishes most suited to their characters, and I thought that was the main criteria of the challenge. Marcus putting out nuts and stuff with his was dumb though, if it's not supposed to be eaten as part of the cooked dish then why add it on?