Other Great Reality Shows > Other Reality TV Shows & News

Top Chef New York Season 5

<< < (27/73) > >>

marigold:

--- Quote from: apskip on December 11, 2008, 01:24:19 PM ---Marigold, that blog by Tom Colicchio is pure gold. Thanks.

I have some opinions developed from the first 5 episodes and even before the beginning of Top Chef 5. On paper I picked Jamie as having the best background. She has not quite reached her potential, but she has been in the Winner's Group of Elimination Challenges most of the time. I expect her to be in the final 3. Ariane is going great now, but I do not expect her to make it to the final group as one bad episode and she will be good without any regard to all her wins. For the final 3 I expect Fabio to be there and Stefan (if other chestestants don't lynch him first). There are several other good chefs in this competition (Leah, Radhika, Hosea come to mind), but I don't think thye can beat the ones I have identified.

--- End quote ---

Lol I love reading Tom’s blogs it gives great insight and reasoning behind his judgment

Thank god he likes to write a lot because he does go in great detail about the episode.

I completely agree with your top 3 they are some good competition.

Fabio remains iffy for me as I wonder if he is more all talk and plenty of ego than he can perform.

marigold:
Gail Simmons' Blog:

One Very Lucky Girl

I just returned from my belated and much anticipated honeymoon and am so happy to be back in time for the airing of this very special episode. Thanks so much to those who sent good wishes to my blog while I was gone. I really enjoyed reading all your kind messages and am so appreciative of your enthusiastic encouragement!

At first I was a little reluctant at the thought of having my shower, a truly personal celebration, on national television. But after giving it some thought, and knowing my wedding would be completely private and focused on just my soon-to-be husband and me, I realized this would be a great way of documenting such an important event in my life. Besides, I knew my girlfriends would love it. They have all been incredibly supportive of the show and this was the perfect way to give some of them a taste of just how fun and exciting working on Top Chef can be! Once the party began, I was so glad I had agreed to do it. We shot the episode in early August, just weeks before my actual wedding, and despite the few culinary disappointments you witnessed, it was in fact a really poignant evening and one I will remember for years to come. As you can imagine, getting so many of my girlfriends together in one room is not something that happens very often. We ate, drank, and laughed for hours and had the most wonderful time. Although marriage is of course about two people sharing the rest of their lives together, this shower enforced for me the importance of having the rock-solid foundation of close friends and family in starting such an extraordinary new adventure. OK, enough of the sappy stuff...let's get to the food.

I have a feeling many viewers will complain that this episode's Judges' Table was extremely harsh and critical. In watching the final cuts, I have to agree. But as Tom mentioned, this was not just anyone's party. We were not serving strangers at an event we would otherwise not attend. The diners here were not only my closest friends, but many were colleagues, personal mentors, and bosses, several of whom not only have expert palates, but are people Tom, Padma, and I admire.

Selecting a winning and a losing dish from the evening's four courses was actually quite straightforward. Everyone at the table agreed that the "Something New" Team had made a number of serious errors, as if the dish had been created not by chefs, but by a group of high schoolers as a practical joke. Their new take on sushi was all over the map and we were given no direction on how to navigate it. There were so many disjointed components on that plate, it was obvious that questionable decisions had been made by each of the chefs who conceived it: Eugene's overcooked rice and cold tempura, Carla's ill-fated salad, Danny's renegade mushrooms, tasteless beef, oddly-paired peach barbecue sauce, and of course the yuzu sorbet, which we were specifically told to eat at the end of our meal, but which had completely melted by the time we attempted to do so. Choosing who would go home from this team was our initial concern. As soon as we started speaking with the team, we realized how little communication had occurred among them. We also discovered that Danny had no insight into the mistakes he had made. As much as I am all for people defending their food, Danny's inability to see how poorly executed their dish was made it clear that he would be leaving.

The "Something Old" Team's Heirloom Tomato Trio was simple, smart, and refreshing. I remember thinking that parts of it could have used more salt, specifically Stefan's terrine, but on the whole the trio rose to the challenge and succeeded as one cohesive vision. I definitely appreciated the thought behind the "Something Blue" Team's concept and am actually quite thankful they did not try to create a dish made up of blue-colored foods. There was nothing unpleasant about their Blue Corn Encrusted Chilean Sea Bass. It was cooked well enough and in fact many of my guests enjoyed it. The reason it was ranked at the bottom was only that, comparatively, two of the dishes were stronger and it was our task to rank them. The sea bass is not as interesting a dish and, although it tasted just fine, was void of much texture or color. Part of creating good food is giving your diners a complete sensory experience -all aspects, from taste to sight to mouth-feel (touch), must be taken into consideration.

On the other hand, the "Something Borrowed" Team served a dish that was absolutely delicious. The flavors were creative and well-balanced, the textures were beautifully varied and each element was flawlessly cooked. The dish surprised us all - a bold ray of light in an otherwise lackluster meal. It was unanimous among both judges and guests that this was the winning dish of the night. As to whom we chose as the specific winner, although Jamie may have spearheaded the effort, as judges we only see the end result, and the star of that plate was without doubt Arian's Indian Spiced Lamb.

I will not appear on the next several episodes, as I took a break from taping after that fabulous evening to finish planning my wedding and finally get married (which by the way was pretty special too!). I promise that you will be in good hands and I will be back for the finale. In the meantime, I will try to answer some of your questions on this blog and promise that lots more good food and good drama lie ahead. Oh, one more update: so far married life is fantastic. I am one very lucky girl indeed!

Link: http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/season/5/blogs/index.php?blog=gail_simmons&article=2008/12/one_very_lucky_girl

marigold:
An interesting article:

Top Chef 5: Conference Call with Danny Gagnon

Danny Gagnon left Top Chef 5 last night making a football analogy: the refs made the wrong call on the play.

Danny spoke with us today and the football references continued; Top Chef is the Superbowl for chefs, he said, and while he clearly has strong feelings that it wasn't his time to go, he's still glad he had the chance to play at all.

Danny still stands behind his contributions to the dish, saying that a complete dish contains a veg, starch, protein and sauce. His contributions of sauce and veg were solid, he thinks, and worthy of defense. Danny seemed to feel pretty strongly that it was Eugene Villiatora's turn to go home, comparing him to a football coach that calls the wrong play. Danny felt that Eugene drove the sushi concept, overcooked the shrimp and rice and failed to tell the guests how to eat the dish, so was more deserving of heading home.

Danny also said the addition of mushrooms to Carla Hall's salad was actually discussed prior to the plating, contrary to what Carla said, and he maintains they were seasoned properly, despite what Tom Colicchio said.

He was disappointed overall, he said, that Tom didn't seem to have much positive to say about his performance on the show, saying he thought that Tom took his positives and turned them into negatives.

Otherwise, he felt the judges were “nice” and “knew what they were talking about.” He found Padma Lakshmi kind and beautiful.

As to the other chefs, he said he did continue to find the “Euro Duo” of Stefan Richter and Fabio Viviani kind of annoying due to their cockiness and attitude of superiority towards the American chefs.

He admires Hosea Rosenberg's skills the most, and said he didn't mind Hosea's comments in the episode about Danny being smarter than many folks would assume. Danny acknowledges that his Long Island accent can give people the wrong impression, contrasted against, say, Fabio, whose Italian accent will immediately charm people.

We also got the story behind his sculpted facial hair. He said when he played football, he shaved spikes into his beard so that was all that showed when he had on his helmet. So the look was very much his “game face” and helped him get in the mindset of the competition.

I asked him if he was disappointed to be competing so close to home, missing out on the chance to visit a new town, but he said he was happy to be only 40 minutes away from home, playing on his home turf.

He did, of course, get in a few additional “Baba Booey” shout-outs and seems to be maintaining his sense of humor despite the elimination from Top Chef.

Danny said knows it's tough to have a family in the restaurant biz, and wants to find a way to make more time for his personal life at some point. He'd like to open his own restaurant in the future, but for now, if you'd like to try Danny's food for yourself, he's currently working at the Babylon Carriage House in Long Island, NY.

Link: http://www.buddytv.com/articles/top-chef/top-chef-5-conference-call-wit-25194.aspx

marigold:
An interview with Danny:

Top Chef Exit Interview: Danny Cut Loose, Loves Football Analogies, Wanted To Create A New Take On Pickles

Three things Danny Gagnon loves: cooking, talking, and football analogies. Last night the affable 26-year-old Long Island native hit the chopping block on Top Chef after spearheading the "veg and sauce" components of a dish that was doomed as soon as the words "peach," "barbeque" and "sushi" were mixed in the same sentence. This morning, Danny talked to reporters about his experience on the show ("it's like the Superbowl"), his distaste for Eurpeans, and what on Earth was going on with his "jowl-cut" beard.

What made you think pickles are "new?" And how did you know Gail likes pickles?
Basically I knew Gail liked pickles because of the past seasons. In order to do something new you have to start with something old. In that sense, starting with something like pickling - which goes back to the old ages, you know, The Vikings. What I really wanted to do was a new style of pickling.

When you were watching last night's episode and Hosea made a comment about you actually possessing brains, implying that you
weren't just a meathead, were you offended?
Not at all. I took it as a huge compliment. I'm from 'Looongggggeyelaand,' I have a Long Island accent. Say if someone told me to say 'I want mustad on my hotdawg,' and then they told Fabio to say the same thing. They're going to like the way Fabio says it better than me, because of the fact that I sound like a meathead with my Long Island accent. Fabio would say it with his Italian accent, and it sounds much better. I was totally fine with it. I am who I am. It's a compliment because I know people see me and think Look at this guy, but I'm more than that.

It seemed like you couldn't stand Fabio and Stefan from the get-go. Did they grow on you?
First of all, I don't know if you've ever met a European before, but Europeans think that us American's aren't educated, or aren't up to speed with them. I didn't like that. But they were very talented, I must say, and let the best man win.

You seemed really adamant about defending your dish. Do you still stand by what you guys created?
I stood by it. In order to make a plate you need a sauce, a veg, a starch and a protein. I picked the sauce and the veg. I was in charge of the barbeque sauce, the ginger poached asparagus, and the mushrooms, which I thought were well seasoned. I still stand behind what I did - the components on that plate.

Why did you add mushrooms to Carla's salad?
It was a last component to the dish that we had talked about. I thought it would have been a nice compliment to the dish. It was a little light salad and I thought it needed a little more body. So I made an executive decision and I put it on the plate.

You made an analogy to a ref making a penalty call on something they didn't see. Was there something the judges missed?
Yeah. Well, with Gene. They saw he overcooked the sushi rice and the tempura shrimp. He was basically the leader of the team. I really had no knowledge of sushi. He took it upon himself to lead the team. Sometimes when a call is made in The Superbowl you get an extra 5 yards, and in my case, I didn't get the extra 5 yards. They kicked me off.

Is there anything you could have said at Judges Table to change their minds?
No, not at all. I was very confident. I stand behind the leader and what I did. If I wasn't confident about myself than what's the point of me being on the show?

Was it a good experience?
It was one of the best experiences of my life. It was unbelievable. Just to be there and to make it as far as I did is a real accomplishment. I'll refer back to football - I was in The Superbowl, but I didn't win.

What did you think about Carla's reservations and the way she stood by the team in judging?
During the planning stages everyone was confident. Gene was confident. It was his idea to put this dish together. He failed to tell the ladies how to eat this dish. I'm not bashing him but this is a competition. He should have gone home and not me. Unfortunately I went home.

What did you think of the judges?
I thought they were very nice. They knew what they were talking about. One little thing I was really disappointed in was Tom Colicchio. I really respected that guy. I still do respect him, but of all the positive things I've done on the show, there were no positive compliments towards me from him. That was really upsetting to me. I thought he would at least give me one positive compliment throughout the show, but no.

Why do you think that was?
Well he has a strong personality and I have a strong personality, but I don't know. I was upset that he found negatives in all my positives.

What did you think of Padma?
What did I think of Padma? [Laughing] Oh man! I thought she was beautiful. She was kind and caring. She said what she wanted to say. That was the beauty of being on a reality show.

Whose skills on the show are you most impressed with?
Hosea. I think Hosea is a very talented chef. He's very charismatic and knowledgeable around the kitchen.

Is there anything you would have done differently?
I wouldn't have done that sushi. It's like saying, how can I make an analogy of this? I'll go back to football again. It's like the head coach saying 'take the ball here, run this play, and I know it's going to work,' and then it doesn't work and you go to the coach and say 'what'd you make me do this play for? You said it was going to work,' and the coach says 'oh, sorry.' So it's like 'what's the matter with you, are you retarded?'

And that's how you feel?
That's exactly how I feel. It is what it is. It just made me stronger.

You had some changing facial hair throughout the show. Can you talk about the cut-outs in your beard?
Here comes football again! When I used to play ball I used to shave spikes into my beard. So it was comforting to do that to my face for this. It was game time, game day, ready to go!

Now that you're done with the show, what are you doing?
I'm the same way on camera as I am off camera. I'm cooking at the Babylon Carriage House in Long Island. I'm looking to still progress and move forward. Maybe open my own place, or be a private chef. Things I can do while having a family. In this business you can't really have a family. In general you can't have kids, you're cooking all the time, I don't want that. I want to be a private chef, make my own hours, get some laughs, and cook awesome food. Ba-Ba Boom! I'm the boss of this kitchen!!

Link: http://thebiz.fancast.com/2008/12/top_chef_exit_interview_danny.html

marigold:
An interview with Danny:

Top Chef Exit Interview: Episode Five

In last night’s extra-long episode, the cheftestants banded together to make some bad food and the staff of Food & Wine balked at having to eat it at Gail’s bridal shower. The phrase “deconstructed sushi” was the first sign that the “something new” team was doomed, but its culinary architect, Eugene, was spared from elimination. Rather, it was young Danny Gagnon of Long Island who was sent to pack his knives. Tom didn't appreciate the chef's undercooked, unseasoned mushrooms, and Danny's emphatic defense of his cooking didn't help matters. We caught up with him by phone this morning to talk about the judges’ bad decision and what’s so new about pickles.

You said in the episode that the word “new” made you think of pickles. Why?
Pickling is an old technique, and basically to make something new you have to start with old first. That’s why I came up with the idea of pickling — do different types of pickling on the plate, and maybe have a protein, a Chilean sea bass or sirloin or filet mignon or something like that, but obviously Gene thought otherwise.

You compared your elimination to a ref making the wrong call in football. What would have been the right call, in your opinion?
The right call would have been getting rid of Eugene and keeping me. Sometimes a football player catches the ball in the end zone, and drops it because of the other guy, but the ref didn’t see it and he made a bad call.

Why should Eugene have gone?
The “sushi master” messed up rice and messed up shrimp tempura. What kind of sushi master does that? It’s kind of ridiculous. Gene should have told them how to eat it, and he didn’t do that.

How’s that?
It was his idea about deconstructed sushi, and he failed to tell everybody how to eat the damn thing. Everybody’s sitting there with their thumbs up their butt, [wondering] "How do I eat this thing?" And that’s where the concept failed.

What other factors contributed to your elimination?
They thought I didn’t do that much. But I made a barbecue sauce from scratch. I’m not taking Peter Luger’s sauce and pouring it out of a bottle. There’s a lot of steps involved and a lot of technique involved in making a barbecue sauce. I was kind of shocked.

While you were there, did you ever feel outmaneuvered by the experience of the older contestants?
I saw the other contestants as actually a little less talented than I was. Ariane — I always resort back to Ariane, when she was like “Move over, little kids, here comes the older woman” — Get outta here. The judges spit your food out into a napkin. You should have been eliminated. It’s ridiculous that she’s still on the show.

She’s been winning challenges. What do you think about that?
I think it’s a bunch of malarkey. I can’t take away what people did, and I can’t go on from the past and change things, but the proof’s in the pudding — and her pudding sucked. Her pudding got spit out into a napkin, and people will always remember that.

Are Stefan and Fabio as annoying as they appear to be on the show?
Yeah. These guys are really, really annoying. There’s been multiple cases when I wanted to just throw them off the balcony. But unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to touch the contestants. They’re very cocky. They think Americans suck, which pissed me off because I’m an American, and you’re in my backyard here. So watch where you go.

Who’s your personal choice for Top Chef?
My personal pick has to be Hosea. I think he’s the most talented on the show so far, he’s a gentleman, and he can cook his ass off.

What’s your dream job? At the pinnacle of your career, where would you be, what would you be doing?
My pinnacle of my career would be opening up my own restaurant, or being a personal chef. Being a chef is hard. There’s no benefits, no dental, no vision. My dream job is to be happy, to be making good food, making a good salary for my family eventually, and just having medical, dental, and vision, and being comfortable in life. I hope there’s a job out there like that for me.

Link: http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/12/top_chef_exit_interview_episod_2.html

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page