Put Down Your Knives
Top Chef ends next week, and what an exciting season it's been! I make no secret of my love for trash TV, and I do love this stuff.
Top Chef is brought to us by the same people who brought us Project Runway and the upcoming Top Design. I love these reality show competitions where people are creating things. Yeah, it's all edited to maximize the drama, but I love a show where a handful of people can create innovative amuse bouche using two vending machines and a roll of quarters. What's not to love about that?
And of course, they didn't do what I would do, which would likely be something like a Dorito topped with processed cheese and maybe accented with Snickers shavings, but noooo, Carlos wins with a sunflower seed and carrot loaf with cilantro and sesame, served with Squirt and lime. Genius!
I love watching the creative process in action, and with this show, I'm actually less interested in all of the drama. This one is about creating great food, and so I've really had it with crybabies Elia and Ilan. I was soooo glad to see Elia eliminated before the finale--she's been complaining and crying since early on--and I sensed that host Padma Lakshmi (Mrs. Salman Rushdie Number Four, doncha know) took great pleasure in saying, "Elia, pack your knives and go" after Elia's pathetic little crybaby scene before the judges. She just had that look on her face.
Yeah, Marcel is a prick, but so what? He's a really creative prick, along the lines of chef Ferran Adria--and it's obvious that's where Marcel and his interest in food science draw a lot of inspiration. Yeah, he's an irritating little shit who makes too many foams, but his food is memorable.
An innovative, "top" chef's role is not to cook to the average Olive Garden diner (like, say, Michael) but to expand people's experiences and palates. Yeah, I wouldn't want to eat Marcel's meals (or Adria's) meals every night, but I'd pay a lot of money (someone else's preferably) for one evening in either of their kitchens. Bring on the Xantham gum pineapple poi and chili foam!
Fine dining, is a sensual experience; it's not about serving the same slop seven nights a week with your $9.99 All You Can Eat pasta special. It's about the whole experience--the tastes, the smells, the sights, the pairings of flavors in both the food and wine. The types of meals the Top Chef contestants are preparing (or should be...) are about these types of experiences and creations.
So, now we're down to two: Marcel and Ilan. I don't think much of Ilan, really. Sam or Cliff should have been in the finale instead, but given Marcel and Ilan's season-long rivalry (quoth Ilan: You know what's really funny Marcel, the first day I got here I've been wanting to smack you across the face. Why don't you fucking go to a new school, learn some shit, go to France, go to Spain, go travel, go relax, go learn how to use some fucking salt, paprika, come back to me, you know, come to New York, maybe I'll show you how to cook a little bit. I'll show you how to grill something. But until then shut the fuck up, keep making your foams and go cry in a corner!) I should have seen this pairing coming.
Oh well, it's been a fun season. I don't know who will win this one, though I suspect it could be Marcel, so may the best chef win. Now, bring on Top Design!
Top Chef is brought to us by the same people who brought us Project Runway and the upcoming Top Design. I love these reality show competitions where people are creating things. Yeah, it's all edited to maximize the drama, but I love a show where a handful of people can create innovative amuse bouche using two vending machines and a roll of quarters. What's not to love about that?
And of course, they didn't do what I would do, which would likely be something like a Dorito topped with processed cheese and maybe accented with Snickers shavings, but noooo, Carlos wins with a sunflower seed and carrot loaf with cilantro and sesame, served with Squirt and lime. Genius!
I love watching the creative process in action, and with this show, I'm actually less interested in all of the drama. This one is about creating great food, and so I've really had it with crybabies Elia and Ilan. I was soooo glad to see Elia eliminated before the finale--she's been complaining and crying since early on--and I sensed that host Padma Lakshmi (Mrs. Salman Rushdie Number Four, doncha know) took great pleasure in saying, "Elia, pack your knives and go" after Elia's pathetic little crybaby scene before the judges. She just had that look on her face.
Yeah, Marcel is a prick, but so what? He's a really creative prick, along the lines of chef Ferran Adria--and it's obvious that's where Marcel and his interest in food science draw a lot of inspiration. Yeah, he's an irritating little shit who makes too many foams, but his food is memorable.
An innovative, "top" chef's role is not to cook to the average Olive Garden diner (like, say, Michael) but to expand people's experiences and palates. Yeah, I wouldn't want to eat Marcel's meals (or Adria's) meals every night, but I'd pay a lot of money (someone else's preferably) for one evening in either of their kitchens. Bring on the Xantham gum pineapple poi and chili foam!
Fine dining, is a sensual experience; it's not about serving the same slop seven nights a week with your $9.99 All You Can Eat pasta special. It's about the whole experience--the tastes, the smells, the sights, the pairings of flavors in both the food and wine. The types of meals the Top Chef contestants are preparing (or should be...) are about these types of experiences and creations.
So, now we're down to two: Marcel and Ilan. I don't think much of Ilan, really. Sam or Cliff should have been in the finale instead, but given Marcel and Ilan's season-long rivalry (quoth Ilan: You know what's really funny Marcel, the first day I got here I've been wanting to smack you across the face. Why don't you fucking go to a new school, learn some shit, go to France, go to Spain, go travel, go relax, go learn how to use some fucking salt, paprika, come back to me, you know, come to New York, maybe I'll show you how to cook a little bit. I'll show you how to grill something. But until then shut the fuck up, keep making your foams and go cry in a corner!) I should have seen this pairing coming.
Oh well, it's been a fun season. I don't know who will win this one, though I suspect it could be Marcel, so may the best chef win. Now, bring on Top Design!
posted by Kay at
6:43 AM
2 Comments:
You know, although I also observed them setting up the Marcel/Ilan rivalry from Episode 1, I really did not expect them to put Ilan through to the final. I thought the viewers would not accept him as the winner after he was revealed to be a bully and a weasel. The comment he made to the diners about Marcel's dessert during the Seven Deadly Sins challenge really brought him down in my estimation, although I'd been a little bit rooting for him up to then for being M.O.T. (I'm shallow that way, what can I say?...Was shaken by the corn/bacon dish he attributed to his father but re-won by the "I've never celebrated Christmas" remark during the Xmas quickfire.)
The razorgate, incident, and the subsequent conspiratorial stuff with Elia and ongoing nastiness to and about Marcel just made him look like a prick. I couldn't get behind him at all. And I thought the rest of the audience would feel the same way, so I figured Bravo would give us a showdown between Marcel and Sam.
What I did not expect was a huge "The little pissant deserved it" attitude among the viewing public. Which apparently there is. In the Bravo poll, Marcel was getting something like 70% of the vote on the "Who do you want to go next?" question. I think it's a sad commentary on our society that the audience wants to see the bully beat the pissant.
But then, what do I expect after a humiliationfest has become such a juggernaut no other network will schedule anything to compete with it?
From the first episode, Marcel was whining about how everyone was out to get him. And, sure, he's been innovative with some of his creations.
Some things about Marcel that scream, "NOT a Top Chef," are that he served raw chicken, foam on most of his dishes, failure to work as a team player (remember the catering thing where he claimed he hadn't needed leadership?), poor wine pairing, and general immaturity.
Last season, one of the qualities the judges touted as so important in a Top Chef was their ability to lead and inspire. Marcel doesn't do that.
Of course, I don't think Ilan is Top Chef material, either. He doesn't have the range or maturity, either.
I'm disappointed. I don't watch much reality TV and I really liked this show. I feel like the producers and judges made a very poor decision with who they've put in the final round.
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