[betts4]

Man, that was a great challenge. It was cool to see them have to think it out and figure how to make it work.

I didn't like that they picked Joey to go. IMO, I think whatshername the girl should have gone. She didn't seem to help Howie at all. Joey has shown he can cook before this. She is pretty bland.

 

[montag]

Yep, the definitely sent the wrong person home.

Two other comments...Casey's win in the quick fire was a joke. She was getting easy stuff to identify. Hell, I called most of them out with only a quick glance.

And WTF happened to that Rocco guy? He's had a little too much work done on his face, especially his eyes.

 

[Gunnyman]

I laughed when I saw Rocco was a judge. But then they wrapped the whole show in Bertoli's ads.
Product placement was over the top even for THIS show

 

[pdhenry]

I made a Bertolli bag dinner for the first time the other day and the thing I immediately noticed was that the sauce was little individual frozen sauce icecubes. I was surprised at the number of chefs who missed that or thought it wasn't important.

The pasta was rubbery and the vegetables watery, by the way.

Rocco's praise for the Bertolli concept seemed a bit weak - Hey, you're using a skillet! You're cooking!

 

[ireland967]

Rocco looked drastically skinnier as well.

The whole concept of essentially handicapping seasoned chefs by forcing them to cook within the confines of frozen then reheated meals seems out of place for this show. I don't buy Rocco's response that the world's great chefs are focusing on this market. Let them cook, don't play gimmicks for the sake of incorporating a sponsor.

Bravo has Food and Wine providing their magazine spread and entry into their event and the "Glad family of products" footing the $100,000 prize. With an emmy-nominated show in their hands you'd think they could drop the weekly product placements within the show.

Agreed that the wrong person went home. He wouldn't have won the competition, but Joey's passion proved to me he deserved to move on over Howie's partner.

 

[gossamer88]

I got the sense that a lot of them didn't care for Rocco. Didn't Joey called him an ass wipe (bleeped of course).

 

[Gunnyman]

His "Partner" from "the Restaurant" Jeffery Chodorow was a much more credible judge, what was that season 1? They should bring him back.

 

[Jesda]

Howie is awesome!

 

[betts4]

I made a Bertolli bag dinner for the first time the other day and the thing I immediately noticed was that the sauce was little individual frozen sauce icecubes. I was surprised at the number of chefs who missed that or thought it wasn't important.

The pasta was rubbery and the vegetables watery, by the way.

Rocco's praise for the Bertolli concept seemed a bit weak - Hey, you're using a skillet! You're cooking!

I hate to say it, but I use the frozen, heat in a skillet dinners every few months. And I had noticed that the sauce is in little cubes also. It did seem to make the sauce melt better. And, YES the pasta and veggie pretty much suck no matter what you do to them. I usually add more veggies to the dish.

I am sorry that Haung didn't speak up more, but he did say freeze them seperately a couple few times. I found the theory of 'why give us an hour to prep if we don't have to do anything?' an interesting thought from CJ. Good thinking.

I found the challenge interesting in that it wasn't just make something out of a drink or use this seafood from the aquarium. It was to be food for everyday people.

 

[coolpenguin]

It was to be food for everyday people but it was boring food for everyday people. It's really not hard to make pasta at home. I really did like the meatball idea. I'm not a pesto fan, but it was very smart for that to be used since it does freeze so well. Overall a blah week for me. Howie is one of the most obnoxious characters I've seen on tv and it looks like it only gets worse next week!

 

[Ruth]

These people are idiots. Of course you need to freeze everything separately. Common sense would tell you that, and if that didn't help then looking at the meals you were supposed to be emulating would make it clear, plus as CJ pointed out, that's the only way to make sense of the schedule they were given. I cannot believe only one team followed all those giant clues. Did they really think those giant chunks of frozen food were going to heat well in a skillet? And why would you ignore the model for the product you were supposed to be emulating in a product placement challenge.

I was also surprized that nobody thought to make an extra package to practice heating up during the hour prep time the next day. Most of the teams were just doing nothing. If they had prepared an extra meal, they could have figured out the best way to heat it up. That might have improved some of the terrible dishes a little -- like if they realized it was dry they could change the cooking temp or cover the pan or add some water or something. Instead they just sat around doing nothing.

That said, I thought the challenge was pretty dumb. They want to be restaurant chefs, not product developers for industrial frozen foods. And that kind of processed food is full of preservatives and chemicals, so it's not even like they were making anything close to what would be sold.

 

[GDG76]

If anyone watched Roccos previous reality show, they know what an @##hole he really is. He wasn't well respected in the food community back then either.

To me, this show did nothing to change that opinion. He's a hack.

 

[Jesda]

That said, I thought the challenge was pretty dumb. They want to be restaurant chefs, not product developers for industrial frozen foods. And that kind of processed food is full of preservatives and chemicals, so it's not even like they were making anything close to what would be sold.

I agree. It felt like a waste of an hour, except for when Howie flipped out. That was fun(ny).

 

[Gunnyman]

If anyone watched Roccos previous reality show, they know what an @##hole he really is. He wasn't well respected in the food community back then either.

To me, this show did nothing to change that opinion. He's a hack.

I totally agree.
Here's hoping last night was the last time we see him on TV trying to pass himself off as a chef.

Wait scratch that, I'd love to see Gordon Ramsay come in and fix a restaurant he'd screwed up, Kitchen Nightmares style.

 

[NinerK]

I totally agree.
Here's hoping last night was the last time we see him on TV trying to pass himself off as a chef.

Wait scratch that, I'd love to see Gordon Ramsay come in and fix a restaurant he'd screwed up, Kitchen Nightmares style.

Wow, I watched the Restaruant show that Rocco had but I didn't remember him being the worst dude in america. Was he that much of a jerk? I mean, I thought he was being a jerk to the investor guy somewhat just for the show.

Wait, now my memory is jogging back. Ok, yeah now I remember him declining to meet the investor and then also just leaving the rest. during dinner service.

Either way, I enjoyed that show.

This episode was pretty weak and +1 on the fact that the chica shoulda went. At first I thought Howie was being oversensitive and then she started irritating me. I think for me it was the WAY she said things. Bossy instead of, "hey, in the rest. I work in they normally do it this way,do you think that's a good idea?"

Ultimately though, Howie needs to go at some point. And Joey, I know you get attached to these people and all but sheesh; show some diginity MAN!

 

[Agatha Mystery]

This is the one time that I felt sorry for Hung. He did speak up and try to steer Joey away, but Joey wasn't listening. I do think that is Hung's fault, to some extent. He's been such an egotistical jerk the entire time that everybody just tunes him out. Hung did choose penne and Joey was saying that he didn't - trying to blame their pasta choice on Hung. I wonder if he has now watched the episode to see that he was wrong.

I think Sara should've been the one to go. She didn't seem like she contributed much to the dish. She did seem to be directing Howie the entire time, like he was a member of her kitchen staff instead of a partner. Howie just kept dripping sweat. I'm honestly surprised he didn't blow up on her in the kitchen and waited until the judging. I did think that her nagging of him did not count as a contribution (which is what she seemed to be saying during the questioning period).

I felt bad that Casey and mohawk dude (can't remember his name at the moment) were marked down due to partially frozen meatball. They tasted their food quite a bit. We watched it. When you're cooking something from frozen, sometimes you can't tell that all of it is cooked until you bite into it. It's unfortunate that that was held against them. I'm sure they didn't want to overcook things just to make sure nothing was undercooked.

 

[kaszeta]

If anyone watched Roccos previous reality show, they know what an @##hole he really is. He wasn't well respected in the food community back then either.

My comment upon seeing Rocco was "wow, look what washed up...."

 

[montag]

I felt bad that Casey and mohawk dude (can't remember his name at the moment) were marked down due to partially frozen meatball. They tasted their food quite a bit. We watched it. When you're cooking something from frozen, sometimes you can't tell that all of it is cooked until you bite into it. It's unfortunate that that was held against them. I'm sure they didn't want to overcook things just to make sure nothing was undercooked.

I totally agree. Even one of the judges asked them after they said they did taste their food, "did you taste everything?". What the hell, they expected them to taste every meatball?? Yeah, that is logical.

Regarding the mohawk guy... I really want to dislike him. His hairstyle and overall "style" makes me want to write him off as a tool. But I can't help but actually like him. He's level headed and has the skills to win this thing. He and Tre are my favorites.

 

[logic88]

This is the one time that I felt sorry for Hung. He did speak up and try to steer Joey away, but Joey wasn't listening. I do think that is Hung's fault, to some extent. He's been such an egotistical jerk the entire time that everybody just tunes him out.

Yeah, for once Hung was right. Though it was rather amusing during the quickfire when Hung was so sure that he was right that he didn't even taste the seeds and got it wrong.

But all in all, a rather mediocre episode. I watch this show to see how creative the chefs can be and the constraints of this challenge really handcuffed them.

 

[betts4]

I think Sara should've been the one to go. She didn't seem like she contributed much to the dish. She did seem to be directing Howie the entire time, like he was a member of her kitchen staff instead of a partner. Howie just kept dripping sweat. I'm honestly surprised he didn't blow up on her in the kitchen and waited until the judging. I did think that her nagging of him did not count as a contribution (which is what she seemed to be saying during the questioning period).

Ditto on this. I also was watching the repeats today, not of this episode, but realized she has been up on the chopping block for Bad cooking a lot. Joey really shouldn't have gone. So, are we all in agreement? It should have been her.