Top Chef 'Restaurant Wars' OAD 1/21/09

[Gunnyman]

Wow no thread yet?

I enjoyed this episode and agree with the judges' decision regarding sending Radikah (sp) home.
There doesn't seem to be a stand out chef so far this season which is interesting considering we are at the half way point.

[Ment]

I think Leah should have gone home. The things that saved her team were duties she delegated and never supervised; 'front-of-house' and desserts.

Guess the producers wanted some drama post-Hosea/Leah kissy-face.

[timr_42]

I have been able to guess the chef to leave within the first half hour of the last 2 shows. I think they seem to telegraph it(or at least I'm noticing it).

[mrpantstm]

I have been able to guess the chef to leave within the first half hour of the last 2 shows. I think they seem to telegraph it(or at least I'm noticing it).

Well I'm sure the editing afterwards helps lean us towards certain chefs going home. I virtually didn't see Jeff cook or say anything during service so I assumed he wasn't going home.

While Leah should have gotten the ax this and last episode, Radika certainly should have gotten the ax this episode.

Even if you take away the front of house duties and simply made Radika the expediter or just the executive chef in charge of the kitchen, she would have been just as much of an empty shirt. She's a perfectly good cook, fine. But she's definitely not a leader and that's part of being Top Chef.

Fabio and Stefan totally saved the day. Fabio was the easiest choice to make for front of house and why Radika didn't pick him for her team was just the beginning of her problems.

I loved Jose and Leah grousing about Stefan not explaining his desserts to them and then the desserts being the saving grace. While I don't know how secretive Stefan was about his desserts, I also don't know how much Leah or Jose asked either. Especially Leah who seems very complacent at times.

Stefan for the win simply for the scene where his dessert didn't freeze properly and when asked what are you going to do by Jose, he said 'Fix it. Of course I'm going to fix it.' and he just did using what he had in the kitchen.

If Stefan had been front of house, then we would have seen another story. Then perhaps Stefan may have been on the chopping block but given Leah's poor food and direction, she would have gone home.

Man if you're a Top Chef contestant, dodge the bullet of being in charge of the restaurant. Always the one to go home.

[verdugan]

There doesn't seem to be a stand out chef so far this season which is interesting considering we are at the half way point.

I think Stefan is a stand out chef. I think he's a cocky a$$, but he's one hell of a chef.

Fabio is just a cocky, but I don't think he's as good of a chef.

I can see Stefan being in the top two and winning the whole thing.

[Cainebj]

I don't understand how Leah and Josea are both still on the show...

[sushikitten]

Fabio ROCKED as front of house.
Radikah was such a wet rag it was pathetic.

[Jesda]

I don't understand how Leah and Josea are both still on the show...

Big noses. They look a lot alike.

[GoHalos]

When they said that the "winners" of the quick fire competition would be chef/owners of the restaurants, and even before one of the contestants said that they didn't want to win, I said to my wife "I'd tank it". The leader seems to always pay the price for the team (not saying they shouldn't, but I'd rather not be in that position for Restaurant Wars).

[gossamer88]

I said to my wife "I'd tank it". The leader seems to always pay the price for the team.

So did I (not in those words of course). It's like being the PM in The Apprentice. You either get praised or get slammed. I agree with the judges. Radhika definitely deserved to go home. She wins the quickfire and then decides not to cook anything?!

I knew Fabio was gonna be good up front, but he's really not that good otherwise. I predict Stefan will win this.

[Cainebj]

I agree with the judges. Radhika definitely deserved to go home.

I disagree with the judges - I think Leah should have gone home regardless of what team won.

[Bananfish]

The simple fact of the matter is that Radhika choked. She looked into the oncoming headlights of the service, and froze in the middle of the road - it's hardly surprising that the judges 18 wheeler came barreling down the road and smushed her like a wayward raccoon. She was of no help in the planning or the food preparation and was a horrible liability in the front of the house. You just had to see the look on her face one time to understand that she was freaking the heck out - and that's not one bit comforting to a diner coming into a restaurant for a meal. In short, this episode proved beyond all doubt that however good a cook Radhika might be, she's woefully lacking the ability to be a chef, never mind a Top Chef.

Also, it was a telling contrast between Stefan and Buglady (Carla) that Stefan saw that the freezer wasn't working and rapidly came up with an alternate solution while Buglady just whined "but the freezer wasn't working."

Another mistake Radhika made: not picking Stefan. Say what you want about him, but there's no way that guy would let a dish he's associated with be the downfall of the meal. And Radhika could have used a take-charge guy for her team. Yes, he's a bit arrogant and can be difficult to work with, but that's because he's almost always right and easily has the best cooking instincts of any contestant this season.

I'm bringing back my official rankings:

7. Buglady
6. Leah
5. Hosea
4. Jeff
3. Fabio
2. Jamie
1. Stefan

[murgatroyd]

The simple fact of the matter is that Radhika choked. She looked into the oncoming headlights of the service, and froze in the middle of the road - it's hardly surprising that the judges 18 wheeler came barreling down the road and smushed her like a wayward raccoon. She was of no help in the planning or the food preparation and was a horrible liability in the front of the house. You just had to see the look on her face one time to understand that she was freaking the heck out - and that's not one bit comforting to a diner coming into a restaurant for a meal. In short, this episode proved beyond all doubt that however good a cook Radhika might be, she's woefully lacking the ability to be a chef, never mind a Top Chef.

The judges were making remarks about wanting to take certain people and shake them.

My turn came when R. whined in the interview bit about how it sucked to go home for a challenge where she didn't even do any cooking. :rolleyes:

My God! How friggin' clueless can she be?

It was HER CHOICE not to cook. Nobody made her work the front of the house. She was supposed to be the boss. That was her decision to make.

So if she wanted to cook, why didn't she cook? Carla can be personable, and she looks exotic. Send Carla out to the front of the house and let her shower love on the customers out there. Carla says she doesn't have any experience doing that. So what? You're the boss, so you find a way to motivate Carla to do what needs to be done. If you can't do that, it is your fault for picking Carla because you are the boss.

I wonder sometimes if any of the people on these shows have ever set foot in a restaurant. Suppose you were on a team where NO ONE had any front of house experience -- what could you do, then? Well, I've never run the front of the house, but I know what pleases me when I'm a guest at a restaurant. Sit down with your team and pretend one of them is a guest, and go through the motions of serving them -- make a flowchart of all the stuff that should happen in the course of a meal, and think about it beforehand so you can try to get it all covered!

The dessert debacle really annoyed me, too. So what was the big deal -- why couldn't they not serve the frozen yogurt and just tell people that "the frozen yogurt wasn't available tonight" because they lost a freezer?

One of my local favorite places to eat is run by a chef who used to do desserts at Stars. There was a span of several weeks where one of their freezers went out, and during that time I couldn't get some of my favorite desserts there. The owner explained that they had lost the freezer and couldn't make the desserts (rather obvious, when you have no freezer, you can't make house-made sorbets, but some people have to have it explained to them), and apologized.

During that time, I ordered other desserts. Diners will understand that sometimes stuff just happens and your plans go awry, especially if the desserts you CAN offer are high quality.

But if it really did go down anything like it was edited to look like, can you really blame Carla? She wanted Radhika to taste stuff, and Radhika dithered around and couldn't make a decision. Did we see her make an executive decision anywhere in that episode? I can't remember.

On the other side, I almost fell off my chair when I saw the trouble Leah was having with the bones. Why do people pick dishes for their menus that have stuff they can't cook properly?

I see all these contestants come in complaining about stuff like the quick challenges that make people show off their knife skills or other techniques. "I haven't done this since cooking school" wah wah wah. Honey, you are supposed to be a professional -- why do you think that they teach you all those fancy skills in cooking school -- because when you are actually in a professional setting, you may NEED them.

I have to agree, it's between Jamie and Stefan at this point. Carla is going home soon, Leah and Hosea clearly aren't taking this seriously or they wouldn't have been f-ing around the night before the Big Game, and Jeff and Fabio, while they have some chops, are also skilled at shooting themselves in the foot.

It's Stefan's to lose, but I hope Jamie can give him a good run for it.

Jan

[coolpenguin]

while the cast isn't impressing me this season, I think this was probably my favorite Restaraunt Wars from Top Chef. not sure why, though. nothing stellar with the food...but I really enjoyed Fabio. Leah needs to go next.

[Jesda]

Hopefully Leah isn't living with her boyfriend. She'll come home to her luggage on the porch.

[jtlytle]

I hope Dave Martin will be on the show next Thursday!

[cherry ghost]

I hope Dave Martin will be on the show next Thursday!

Huh?

[Bananfish]

Hopefully Leah isn't living with her boyfriend. She'll come home to her luggage on the porch.

Yeah, I was thinking how horrible it would have been for her if she had been booted this episode. Suck face on the couch for an hour or two, and have it cause you to perform so poorly that you get eliminated - then all you can do is go home to the boyfriend with that episode hanging out there like Damocles sword.

[marksman]

I like how every week someone complains about Stefan, moans about having him on their team and how arrogant he is.

And how every week he wins. This group is amazingly dumb. Right now I just want to see Stefan win because the rest of them are pretty much morons.

I don't get the idea in a team competition where you choose the get-along person who sucks over the talented person who might be difficult to work with... that is so dumb. If you were to hire any of those people to run your restaurant, kitchen, Stefan is pretty much the only one who has shown any aptitude. Very unbalanced season this year.

[TIVOSciolist]

Yeah, I was thinking how horrible it would have been for her if she had been booted this episode. Suck face on the couch for an hour or two, and have it cause you to perform so poorly that you get eliminated - then all you can do is go home to the boyfriend with that episode hanging out there like Damocles sword.

We may have to wait for the reunion show to find out what happened with Leah and her boyfriend. Hosea says that he told his girlfriend, with not-unexpected results.

http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/The_Dish/index.php?article=http://www.bravotv.com/blog/thedish/2009/01/hosea_id_like_to_offer_my_apologies_1.php

I'm really going to miss Radhika. She was one of my favorites.

[betts4]

The simple fact of the matter is that Radhika choked.

Yep. And last week it was Arienna. Both Radhika and she were good chefs, but couldn't make it thru the challenge and are not judged on the past, but on the present.

Leah and Hosea were just a ticking time bomb.

[TAsunder]

Did they intentionally bring in non-functional freezers and questionable servers? It seems like a good strategy for really testing them, but maybe it was just coincidence...

[jsmeeker]

Did they intentionally bring in non-functional freezers and questionable servers? It seems like a good strategy for really testing them, but maybe it was just coincidence...

IIRC, they were doing this from a regular restaurant kitchen. Non or poorly functioning equipment seems to be pretty common. Don't you ever watch "Kitchen Nightmars"? :)


Anyway, this season is getting a big Meh from me. No single cheftestant stands out for me. There isn't one I am really rooting for. Also, it seems that they aren't using the culinary capitol of the United States (arguably, the world) to it's fullest.

[TAsunder]

IIRC, they were doing this from a regular restaurant kitchen. Non or poorly functioning equipment seems to be pretty common. Don't you ever watch "Kitchen Nightmars"? :)

The best part was when they mentioned winning appliances from the show afterwards. They probably meant the ones in the regular top chef kitchen but it seemed kind of funny to me to mention it in the one episode where the appliances clearly didn't work properly.

[jsmeeker]

The best part was when they mentioned winning appliances from the show afterwards. They probably meant the ones in the regular top chef kitchen but it seemed kind of funny to me to mention it in the one episode where the appliances clearly didn't work properly.

Yes.. They did mean the ones in the TopChef kitchen. Those appliances are actually residential appliaces. Most real, actual professional appliances wouldn't be used in a residential setting. They wouldn't meet building codes.

[justen_m]

Stefan for the win simply for the scene where his dessert didn't freeze properly and when asked what are you going to do by Jose, he said 'Fix it. Of course I'm going to fix it.' and he just did using what he had in the kitchen.

This is the attitude that makes a person valuable on any team. It reminded me of Eugene making charcoal grills on the Foo Fighter challenge when the teams were only provided with very limited cooking tools (one burner, toaster ovens and microwaves. I only know this because I am watching a repeat of that episode on Bravo right now in the background as I surf).

On the Top Chef blogs, Lee Anne mentions in hers that the freezers WERE working fine. The problem, according to her, is that people kept running in and out of the freezers every five minutes. We didn't really see that on what made it paste the cutting room floor. Ovens don't hold temp very well when you open the door every five minutes either.

[betts4]

Did they intentionally bring in non-functional freezers and questionable servers? It seems like a good strategy for really testing them, but maybe it was just coincidence...

It seems to happen a lot. I think this would be another thing I would try to prep for if I was going to the show as a chef. Non functioning appliances. Sort of like the 'make a fire' for survivor. It is a skill you need.