An interview with Jeff:
Top Chef Exit Interview: Jeff Is Cut But The Sorbets Live On!Wednesday’s Top Chef saw the exit of Cheftestant Jeff McInnis after failing to wow the judges during the Top Chef Bowl Challenge. Fancast talked to Jeff in a press call today to see how he’s dealing with a self-proclaimed decade’s worth of disappointment ahead of him. Luckily, he’s got a lot to look forward to in his home city of Miami, with a new book in the works, and plenty of appreciative customers ready to gobble up his infamous sorbets. Read on for more on his take on his shocking departure, living with Fabio (who doubles as a hair dresser!), surprising challenges (is grilled unicorn next?), and who he’s rooting for from Miami.
You seemed pretty bummed last night at the end. How was it to watch it?
Yeah I was pretty bummed. I think usually everyone is a little upset whenever they get kicked off something like that. Watching it was just a reminder. It happened a little while ago for me, but, what can you do.
You said that you were really disappointed with yourself and it was going to stick with you for at least a decade. Has any of that pain worn off now?
It will definitely be something I remember for a while. If I could go back and change things there’s a few things I would change, but I wouldn’t change my style or anything I did. But I was pretty let down that I didn’t pull it off. I thought I would have at least made it into the finale. I know myself and I think I’m a better chef than I portrayed. You’re put in a situation and you’re cooking your butt off all the time and you’re stressed out, and away from home, and not even using your own toothbrush half the time and you’re on your feet. You’re just out of your element and I guess I got caught off guard and I was kicked off way before I was ready to be kicked off and I’m pretty bummed about it.
Has being on the show changed the way you approach creating new dishes? Are you still just as imaginative, or have you toned it down based on what judges said?
No, I haven’t really changed what I’ve done. The judges didn’t really give me enough critique for me to change anything so it was a difficult part of being let go. Fabio knew that he overcooked the venison; it was obvious, they said, “hey, you overcooked the venison, you put cheddar cheese with venison, you put on heavy vinaigrette that weighed down the lettuce and it was soggy” - those are direct critiques, so when someone turns to me and says, you gave a watered down version of ceviche, it’s like, okay, well I didn’t use water so what is he referring to? He didn’t say it was too salty, or too sweet, or overcooked, or too hot, too cold, so there’s really not a whole lot for me to go on with the critique that was given as to why I was kicked off. Did I do a lot more steps than I had to do? Maybe, but I’m not going to change what I did. Because the food I cook is the reason I am where I am today.
So it was a pretty big shock then, that it was you and not Fabio?
Yeah. I was surprised. As I said, I mean, those were all points - you overcooked this, overdressed this. I think Scott said something about the cheddar cheese with the dish. There were four main points they made to Fabio, and I think they showed all four on the show last night, and they really ripped him for a long time. You saw him get into a pretty heated conversation with Scott there. I guess I thought I was gonna scoot by on that one and that it was going to be Fabio. I mean, there was a little feeling in the back of my throat always that I was going home, but I thought it was going to be Fabio.
You and Fabio were roommates; what was the experience like with him? Are you guys still in touch?
Yeah, Fabio is a good friend of mine, I just saw him recently. Good guy, I like him a lot. Just a hilarious all around funny guy, good cook. He just finished a book and so did I, and he’s definitely been helping me with that a little bit and getting it to a publisher. I can’t say enough positive things about the guy; he’s a good person to have as a roommate too. Very clean, not a slob, well dressed, takes showers, and he cuts his own hair too by the way!
Tell us about the book. What’s the concept?
It’s called A Natural Course. I use a lot of organics. I can’t say the restaurant I’m in now uses a lot of because it’s impossible here in Miami. In Northern California you could base a restaurant off that, but here it’s difficult to get everything organic. So it’s called A Natural Course and the first chapter is Farm, the second is Ocean, the third is Garden, and the last chapter is called The Final Chapter, which goes into cocktails and desserts. It just talks about taking the elements from Mother Earth and presenting them on a plate. It’s a lot of clean, good, food. It’s a lot of stuff I’ve done over the years; dishes that I grew up with, dishes that I’ve always cooked, dishes that I love; it should be out in the summer.
You mentioned a dessert section in the book and it seems you really liked to use savory sorbets. What do you feel that they add to your dishes?
The sorbets I do at the restaurant are a little different from what I’ll be doing in the book. At the restaurant I have liquid nitrogen so I can make desserts that don’t have the high levels of sugar. In order to keep a sorbet or ice cream soft, you usually have to load it with sugar or salt or alcohol, and when you use liquid nitrogen you can do a lot of different things. On the menu right now I have a goat cheese sorbet, a yogurt sorbet, cucumber sorbet, the sangria sorbet, and those are all served as savory dishes. I’m in Miami and the dining room is outside on the beach and the guests get really hot, so I like to serve stuff that not only tastes good and gets you full, but it entertains you, and cools you down, and makes you comfortable. So there will be a big section on sorbets in the book and how to make savory sorbets, and I think that’s something that’s not in a whole lot of cook books, and it’s something most chefs don’t touch on. Stefan liked to make fun of me for it all the time but no one else really hit on me for it, like the “Top Scallop” thing with Jamie. And I wasn’t making the same thing all the time. A scallop is a scallop. A sorbet made of avocado or sangria is two different things and can be used as sauces to melt over things. There’s an olive oil sorbet that I do that has a little bit of vinegar in it and when it gets out to the guest and melts over the salad it’s a wonderful vinaigrette. It’s like the plate transforms in front of you.
What was it like having the All-Star Chefs there? Was it surprising?
Yeah, that was different. Nothing gets too surprising on the show though, they could tell you to run off into the forest and hunt a unicorn and put it on the grill; you never know with this show. There are always surprises. So, yeah, it was a surprise to have them come in. It was good and fun to meet some people from the old show and to talk a little bit with them.
Who do you think has the potential to win it all? Who do you WANT to win it all?
I think everybody has the potential to win it all. All those guys are really talented. Hosea and I became good friends on the show, Fabio and I became good friends on the show, so I’m pulling for both those guys. I don’t want to say Hosea is the underdog by any means but, for some reason, he’s just lost his focus as you can see on the show right now. So I’m pulling for him, hoping he gets his head back in the game. But there’s nobody to be underestimated. It will be a race to the finish, that’s for sure. Everybody is definitely talented.
What has your reception been like back home? Was it tough losing on a Miami challenge?
I guess the general public just saw the show so I haven’t had anyone throw a brick through my window yet. I haven’t heard anything. All my cooks and staff came in and said, “Sorry you got kicked off.” But, no one really thought, “Wow, she made a better ceviche than you.”
What about the show as a whole? What kind of responses are you getting?
I’d say at least half the people that come in, know about Top Chef and the show, and come in asking to speak to me. It’s definitely brought a lot of clientele in and has been a positive turn of events. The show does well and is always ranked very high in the ratings.
Do you think part of the reason they kept Fabio on is because he has this big, funny, TV personality?
I don’t know if I should touch that one too much. I can definitely say Fabio is a funny guy, he’s hilarious, and he’s good on TV. I mean, you see him, everyone likes him, and he’s a very likeable guy. That’s pretty much all I can say bout that one.
On the videos afterwards, you talked about the male judges not being able to look you in the eye after they asked you to pack your knives and go. Can you tell me about how you felt?
What if I didn’t talk about that one so much? I think I might stay away from that one too, I’m sorry.
What was the general reaction among the contestants to Toby Young coming on?
I liked him. He seemed to always like my food. Obviously he didn’t vote for me on this past show, but I thought the guy was very intelligent. I did a little research on him after I got off the show. Very smart guy. Has he ever been in the kitchen and cooked and known what it takes to cook? No, but then again neither did Gail. Gail is very intelligent also and for some reason I liked Gail a lot better than him. A lot of people thought he was very harsh and rough. He definitely pulled out the drama and had plenty of smart things to say and had a big character. I didn’t mind him at all, I liked him a lot, and I thought he had some important things to say. He was definitely witty and quick, but there were plenty who didn’t like him. Maybe scared of him because he was so harsh. His first show, as you saw, he made comments like, “this tastes like cat food,” “this is where the weapons of mass destruction are.” Those are the kinds of comments that hurt a chef when you’re at your restaurant and someone comes in and says, “hey, I’ll have the chicken sandwich but leave the cat food to the side,” or something like that. That’s the kind of stuff that would turn you into hating him down the road and I hope that hasn’t happened to Melissa, or Rhadika, or anybody. Those are harsh comments that I think those chefs will carry around for a while and they have every right to be mad. You have too much salt, or too much spice, did you taste that tuna? It tastes fishy - those are critiques, not, this tastes like cat food. But it is good TV right? It’s funny, unless you’re on the other end of it.
What about Padma? Did you think she was a fair judge?
Yeah, she’s a great talent. Very intelligent and she definitely serves her purpose and does a great job. I liked her; she seemed to always like my food and she always liked the spices and different elements I brought to the table. She had made several comments throughout the show that I could cook globally and do a lot of different cuisines and I definitely felt some respect from Padma.
What’s next for you? Do you plan to stay in Miami?
Yeah, I just bought a house recently, and I’m at the Ritz-Carlton still. I plan to stay here for a little while; the Ritz has blessed me and let me do this book here, and hopefully it will go well. So I’m just going to stay here cooking at the Ritz-Carlton in South Beach and put my book out there. I’m not going to try and open my own restaurant right now. Not today, today the economy is not what it should be for a young guy like me to go out there and start throwing around new restaurants. Miami just had a lot of new restaurants open, and if it wasn’t for that, maybe I would be thinking about it, but I think there’s a lot on Miami’s plate right now. Maybe four or five years down the road, we’ll see how it goes.
Would you want to do TV again?
Definitely. Perhaps one day. I’m happy right now but if something came along, who knows.
Link to the article:
http://www.fancast.com/blogs/interviews/top-chef-exit-interview-jeff-is-cut-but-the-sorbets-live-on/
