Other Great Reality Shows > Other Reality TV Shows & News

Top Chef New York Season 5

<< < (16/73) > >>

apskip:
Here's a New York Times article on top Chef 5 (premiering tonight at 10pm on BRAVO) which is highly provocative:

Trying to Stand the Heat in a Pressure Cooker
by Ginia Bellefante, 11/11/08

Last season on “Top Chef” we learned never to undercook beets. Undercooked beets will destroy you. As the show’s executioner in chief, Tom Colicchio, frigidly chided the cook who had inadvertently disrespected this root vegetable, “No one has ever heard of an al dente beet.” Though issued before the final verdict, the words felt ominous and settled.

So often on “Top Chef” (which begins its fifth season on Wednesday on Bravo), as in life, it is simple misjudgments that result in failure — the mistakes people make when they know better. Just when you think a contestant will be felled by a feat of crazed ambition — the deployment of liquid nitrogen, say, to make bacon ice cream — something more mundane humbles instead. People may lose it around Mile 12, even though you know they could really run the full marathon.

Overcooking a slab of pork belly might do you in, or letting a noodle get too gummy. Contestants, vying for $100,000 and coverage in Food & Wine, can be tossed off the kitchen island for undersalting, and it is painful to see this, as if you were watching someone bleed from a sports injury that could have been prevented with just a little padding.

I’m already feeling pangs for Ariane, a chef from Montclair, N.J., who is 41 and more experienced than many of the 16 other competitors this season, but who, during the first episode, gets into avoidable trouble with some faro.

Even more than “Project Runway,” “Top Chef,” in which success is so dependent on timing, reminds us that skill can become virtually meaningless in the face of an inability to manage performance anxiety. The series has been a hit among the people who go for high-priced cuts at the butcher, but not only because it is on Bravo, the network that so aggressively courts the rack-of-lamb demographic. The “Top Chef” kitchen also exquisitely mirrors a certain kind of creative workplace where the obsessively gifted flounder in the face of the coolly confident. The show is rife with inventive chokers, cooks who lack the stamina or emotional wherewithal to keep the flame under the magic burning. In them we see ourselves and a thousand promotions lost to the chumps who never permitted their heads to swivel.

This season “Top Chef” is set in New York, a city especially unkind to the inadequately secure. To symbolize the harsh realities of the environment, contestants must peel and dice apples in their first challenge, leaving no flesh on the skin. Ariane is a self-doubter — perhaps rightly; she isn’t a natural culinary improviser — so her prospects seem grim.

The Everyelitist, Mr. Colicchio tells Ariane, a suburban mother, that she should expand her epicurean repertory by traveling. He is at ease referring to a dish or culinary approach as “intellectual.” (Next time I encounter an interesting pork chop, I’ll ask it if it has read Bertrand Russell.)

In addition to the pretensions, there is xenophobic conflict brewing: two Americans with chips on their shoulders versus two Europeans, a Finland native named Stefan and an Italian-born chef named Fabio, who seems to be impersonating a Roberto Benigni impersonator.

Stefan imperiously goads his rivals into fights about emulsions, and obviously thinks Americans are too stupid to carry on a knowing conversation about vinaigrettes. Danny, a chef from Babylon on Long Island, who believes the world has failed to recognize his talents for far too long, is already taking offense.

And it is hard not to be right there with him. “Top Chef” promises more than a clash of personalities; it inspires patriotism.

TOP CHEF

Bravo, Wednesday nights at 10, Eastern and Pacific time; 9, Central time.

Produced for Bravo by Magical Elves. Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz and Shauna Minoprio, executive producers for Magical Elves; Liz Cook, Gayle Gawlowski, Rich Buhrman and Fred Pichel, co-executive producers; Nan Strait, supervising producer; Steve Hryniewicz, director of photography.

WITH: Padma Lakshmi (host), Tom Colicchio (head judge and host), Toby Young (judge) and Gail Simmons (judge).


Where is new judge Toby Young when you need him? I understand he will mirror the "zap" approach of this author in his ooutspoken judging.
 
 
 

marigold:


Hmmm interesting provocative indeed

This line here "carry on a knowing conversation about vinaigrettes" immediately reminded me of Season 1’s Stephen Asprinnio and his expertise in wine and his need to educate everyone lol I don’t know why but it brought back that bad memory  :lol:

Thanks for sharing apskip and enjoy the show, sooo looking forward to your thoughts after the show

marigold:
An interview with Tom and Padma:

Top Chef’s Tom & Padma (Heart) New York’s Restaurant Scene

The chefs are packing up their knives and heading into the kitchen as Top Chef’s season 5 premieres tonight (Bravo, 10 p.m. ET). For the first time, New York will be the backdrop to all the cooking action –a prospect that makes the contestants and the judges excited. Both head judge Tom Colicchio and host Padma Lakshmi call New York home – and are actively involved in the city’s food landscape as food industry professionals, diners and yes, even volunteers. With Thanksgiving approaching, Colicchio is involved in the Cascade Feeding America program, dedicated to providing needy children with meals for the holiday. “Just the act of feeding people is . . . why I got into the business,” he explains. But back to the business at hand–the food competition–Colicchio and Lakshmi spoke to PEOPLE about what to expect now that the show has arrived in the Big Apple – and why they love eating in New York. –Brian Orloff

Everybody says this season is much harder than past seasons. Are the chefs just more accomplished or are the challenges harder or both?
Padma: We really try to make it interesting. We have really hardcore fans who are foodies themselves. We don’t want to repeat ourselves, but we want to keep some of the traditional elements of the challenges.
Tom: I think the caliber of the chefs has definitely improved overall. But I think also what happened is a lot of the contestants have seen three or four seasons of Top Chef, so they all have their own opinion of how it works. This season, it seemed they were always a little savvy about how to go about possibly winning. It’s kind of funny because in the end we don’t care about all that stuff. All we care about is food. We’re not privy to all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

You never judge based on people’s behavior in the kitchen?
Tom: Everyone assumes we see it and that’s how we judge. We don’t care. Last year, people were like, ‘I can’t believe you would take that from Lisa.’ Take what? I don’t care what she does. She can sit there with her arms folded all she wants.

How do you plan to take advantage of New York’s neighborhoods?
Padma: New York is such an expansive culinary landscape that it’s really hard to hit everything. I am sure there are going to be some people who said, “I can’t believe they didn’t do this.” That being said, I think we tried to do our best and highlight New York chefs and restaurants – but also street food and people on budgets. Everything from high to low.

Talk about what you love about New York’s culinary scene.
Tom: What makes New York such a great food town is its diversity. It’s such a demanding town that the chefs that are here . . . [are] on the top of their game. You can’t take a break here. You constantly have to reinvent yourself and what you do. Its friendly competition and its diversity are what makes New York such an exciting food town.

What are your favorite New York food spots?
Padma: I like Mamoun’s Falafel [in the West Village]. A falafel is good because it’s quick and you can hold it. I never have enough time. I totally grew up on street food. I love street food. I used to eat pretzels with mustard by Gracie Mansion because I grew up on the Upper East Side. What else? There’s a Dosa guy down in Washington Square Park, and he has a line around the block. The Shake Shack. I used to go to the Water Club and have blinis and caviar.

Link: http://tvwatch.people.com/2008/11/12/top-chefs-tom-padma-heart-new-yorks-restaurant-scene/

marigold:
An interesting article:

Big Apple-flavored 'Top Chef' is back



'Top Chef' contestants Hosea, Carla, Jamie and Leah work on dishes inspired by New York neighborhoods.

"Top Chef," which has evolved into a well-paced, no-nonsense show over its first four seasons, kicks off Season 5 Thursday night with more fast action and lots of food.

Based on the cast and tasks, it should have little trouble staying near the top of the food chain in the "reality show" world.

As an added bonus for New Yorkers, the new season takes place here. Wisely, it filmed during the summer, so while we look out the window at bare trees and chill winds, we can watch all these hopeful chefs gathering under bright, warm sunshine in the park.

While the creators never turn "Top Chef" into a travelogue, they smartly make the host city a major part of the action, not just the studio where food preparation takes place.

For the premiere episode, the 16 chefs draw knives labeled with the names of eight New York neighborhoods. Each chef then has to create a dish that reflects that neighborhood.

So even though the contestant from Colorado has never heard of Brighton Beach, he has to create something Russian and hope the judges find it better than whatever was created by the other chef who drew a Brighton Beach knife.

Happily, the contestants are all professionals. Tell them "Little Italy" and they've got a fairly good idea what would constitute a memorable Italian dish. The show's creators also realize that the food itself can be a star when it sounds or looks interesting, so the dishes themselves are not just an incidental prop. We get a look at pretty much every one.

The judges like a few, don't like a few others. Their critiques can be acidic, but even though two contestants are eliminated in the opening episode, no one is pounded into submission on the way out the door. Those who remain get some encouragement.

Just in general, the bar for getting onto "Top Chef" has been set high enough that the contestants aren't going to be fumbling around the kitchen and stumbling into the kind of disasters that so often mark, say, Gordon Ramsey shows.

That said, the contestants also have a sense of how to keep it lively for TV. The three gay entrants quickly bond, while others talk about how close they come to a meltdown when, say, the noodles came out gummy or the risotto half-raw.

In contrast to some "reality" shows where the question is whether anyone simply survives to the finish, "Top Chef" is a show where you wouldn't mind having almost any of these people fix your dinner. That may sound like a formula for disaster among these types of shows, but in reality, it works out well.

Link: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2008/11/12/2008-11-12_big_appleflavored_top_chef_is_back.html

marigold:
An interesting article an interview with Padma:

Top Chef Host Padma Lakshmi's Food for Thought

Top Chef starts cookin' tonight with the premiere of season five.

I caught up with the reality show's sultry host Padma Lakshmi yesterday to talk hot dogs, the economy and her dreams of bringing the show to London.

Read on for all the—yeah, I'm gonna say it—dish…

Top Chef is in New York City this time around. How does that feel?

I was so excited to do it here. You know, every season I kept saying, "When are we going to do it in New York? When are we going to do it in New York?" And they kept saying, "Next season, next season." Finally, next season is this season.

Why is the city so special?

I really think it's the culinary capital of the world. I'm biased because I'm a New Yorker, but I think the greatest chefs are here and the best restaurants. And I'm not just talking only about the fine-dining restaurants. I'm talking about everything.

So, does that mean you eat hot dogs from hot-dog stands?

I do.

What do you like on them?

I like sauerkraut and mustard or relish and mustard.

What about Europe? When will Top Chef go overseas?

I'm dying to go to Europe. I don't know if it'll happen though...The airfares, the hotels and the dollar is so low against the pound and the euro.

What city would you pick?

Oh, gosh. It could be Rome. It could be Paris. But London's a great city, too. It's not that dissimilar from New York in that it's got all these great chefs but it also has an interesting mix of different ethnicities and restaurants...Obviously, countries like France and Italy have their own food traditions, as do Morocco and Spain, but if you're going to do a whole season in a city, I think the European city that I would go to first would be London.

Has the bad economy affected the tone of the show in terms of what the contestants are asked to prepare or how to prepare it?

That's a great question. You know, I think we have addressed it without knowing how timely it would become because, if you notice, a lot of our challenges have a really tight budget. We do it by making parameters of, you have this much money, but you have to feed this many people. So that's always a struggle. Every challenge is about balancing your food budget. Every single one.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20081112/en_tv_eo/68314

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page