WANTED: One mentor who can cook.
By Chef Back Burner
What does it mean when the best part of an episode of TOP CHEF is the chefs playing soccer with a bunch of food conscious kids?
“Wake Up Carlos”
Let’s be honest, they saw the success of PROJECT RUNWAY and decided to translate that proven formula into a cooking show...Great idea!...except you forgot a very important part of the equation...the plus sign, otherwise known as Tim Gunn. Ignoring the fact that I’m missing Tim’s sophistication and multi-sylabic vocabulary...the chefs are missing the mentor. As proven by this episode...
“Huh? How many calories? Where am I?”
The producers know it too...they wouldn’t have started the season out with that “I’m not your mentor or you friend” speech that Tom gave them. They know that the chefs need someone they can bounce ideas off of or get clarification from. This episode was chaos.
Mike’s lack of motivation...I can’t believe she ate it...
Dessert as an “amuse bouché”? Hah...(I was attempting my best snobbish laugh...I had no idea a “mouth teaser” couldn’t be sweet)
Not much needing to be said here...
All of these things could be fixed and bettered with a little guidance and directed questions from a mentor...questions that are getting asked at the judging table should have come earlier. Some of the finished products are not so finished and more of a rough draft...So BRAVO needs to decide if they want to run a soap opera about cooking or a contest looking for the next “thing” in the culinary world.
If they want the latter... I have a suggestion...
drumroll please...
They don't even know.
On a final note...if you’re thinking of applying for the mentor job I just saw something on one of the morning shows about how to dress appropriately for work...
Do you think Rushdie approved this wardrobe?
posted by Blogging Top Chef @ 2:02 PM
18 comments
18 Comments:
Someone call Ted Allen right now. that is a fabulous idea.
Great idea Chef Back Burner.
He is already a part of the Bravo family.
You are very right, Bravo needs to get a mentor in there soon. It's not fair to Chef Tom if he has to do the disipline and then be an objective judge.
Why didn't Padma, as the host and issurer of challenges, go talk to them about the "cheating"?
If Ted Allen is not available, I suggest LeeAnne.
Chef Back Burner, Sous Chef Humor knows how I feel about Ted Allen. Love him like good vodka! Keep up the good work, BTChefs!
nutmeg
Caught the episode this morning. Well said. Bravo needs to clone Tim Gunn fast.
I like those hootchie outfits they put her in. She may be just as dull as the old host, but she is much easier to look at.
great post, did you send it to Bravo ?? Hope they read this and act on it fast !!
Yes, Ted Allen or Lee Anne would be great and the chefs sure need their help..
Keep up the great blog !!
Some more 'food' for thought....
as we now know, they are in Hawaii for the finale, so the season is already 'cooked'. While a mentor is a terrific idea and Ted Allen would be wonderful, I think the producers should also consider more carefully just what kind of an audience they are appealing to. When you bring on someone like Marissa, who self admittedly, will use her 'sexuality' to get what she wants, I think the answer is already apparent. The other thing I find pretty appalling, is the living conditions for the chefs. I think it is ridiculous the budget does not allow for better accommodations. Really now, bunk beds for adults, communal toilets...what else would this breed but negativity, emotions running on high and the urge to drink heavily. If you read Lee Anne's comments about last year, they were physically sick and called the housing a 'petri dish'. I think the producers should be ashamed of themselves. Come on producers, some attention to detail and caring could bring a show that represents the quality of food you would really like or want to eat when you are out on the town putting down your money for a fine dining experience.
Tom has stated the difficulty of trying to be a mentor in this show. And it is sound. Check out his comments on Bravo.
A mentor for Top Chef can work in just two stages of a challenge... reviewing the recipes and at the end, reviewing the presentation.
A garment can be deconstructed. A embellishment removed. With cooking, to change direction is far more difficult once cooking has begun.
There are ways to compensate in cooking. But we are dealing with ingredients. How do you remove an ingredient or flavor that's already been mixed in?
Dont get me wrong... I only WISH Top Chef had a mentor like our beloved Tim Gunn. Oh how I wish.
But you know... I'd far and away just be happy if this season they gave us chef's who's cooking was so interesting that there really WAS A CHALLENGE BETWEEN THEM.
Sure, Bravo, it's amusing that Mike is such a yahoo Mike Spicoli that he put a cheeto in a candy bar. But honestly, I COULDNT CARE LESS.
I learned something very intersting this season. I'M ACTUALLY WATCHING TO SEE WHAT THEY COOK. If I wanted a knock down drag out reality show, I'll watch bad girls.
Has anyone other than me noticed that, in the elimination challenge, when they bring out the dishes, they barely even show them? It's like "we'll show this dish for 1/4 of a split second so we can get on to our next footage of Marissa being a cow or Marcel rolling his eyes"
BOO. Next season, Bravo, give us good strong contestants. Dave, Tiffany, Lee Ann, Stephen (yeah, hated him but he could cook). Give us A DAMN COOKING SHOW where we're actually excited to see the food they make.
Ok, I'm done venting.
Peachpie- I agree with your post. I think maybe what is lacking ia someone with personality and discerning taste, both of which Ted has in spades. I do like Padma, finding her both kind and articulate and I frankly don't care what she wears as that is not why I watch the show. Stephen was a pain, but on the reunion show he did turn out to be a pretty good guy and I think most of the chefs did like him. I am even liking Marcel this season as I am thinking this is the Stephen clone per the producers with an attitude of, it worked last year, let's find another Stephen, or as Marcel said, the odd man out. What I think the producers are missing and what we are discussing is what we liked last year, real creativity in the dishes created from the challenges and chefs with very distinctive personalities, not just chosen to create controversy or imposing "reality TV" types on the viewers.
Someone needs to be in the kitchen watching over the chefs more closely. Whether they are a mentor or kitchen cop doesn't matter. This is a contest and the rules need to be followed. There will still be drama and isn't that what get's the ratings? And I do agree that Ted Allen is a great choice! You have my vote there. On a side note, I love this blog! The difference in opinions, awesome interviews, witty captions and the hilarious Chef Biatch keeps me coming back for more. Keep up the great work!
I think wed's episode will be known as the episode when TC jumped shark.
Exactly Zippitee. Totally agree with both of your posts. And ditto about Marcel.
Padma's outfits make you long for Billy Joel's child bride, she of the wooden face but more interesting wardrobe.
As for Tom, he's chicken hearted. He should have rescinded the winning team's win and started all over.
I totally agree. I find Tom's visits to the kitchen completely pointless. I understand how he can't be both judge and mentor but, as you say, they need someone for that spot.
And to hear that Tom is saying that it is so hard to change a dish after you have already started cooking it is so stupid. We hear him at the judges' table every week saying the chefs should have figured out a way to fix something. He can't have it both ways.
ok, next time you bake a chocolate cake, try changing it to vanilla once the coco is in there.
Well, I probably couldn't do that. But if I told someone I was planning to make a chocolate cake and they told me that wasn't a good idea, I could make a vanilla one instead. Or if someone told me early enough that the chocolate one wasn't working, I could make another batch.
My point is that every week I hear Tom ask someone, "Why didn't you fix the problem?" That, to me, implies the problem was fixable.
I'd have to agree with Eric.
Have a Tim/Ted run around when they are buying ingredients asking questions about their choices and ideas...reminding them to take it up, make it richer, asking can you really do that in the time given, asking if their idea fulfills the criteria....we'd get a whole lot better, less "sloppy" food. Less faux bois.
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