Top Chef All-Stars

apparently Kiwi Mark cooks in my nabe. I've eaten there once. not a very fancy place.

He always seemed more like a backpacker than a chef, like he'd just wandered onto the set & decided to hang

Some stupid ass challenges imo

this episode has been awful

i guess the challenge was slightly better since they really stuck hard to the "only meat" thing, but still

haha wow. Jen going ham at judges table.

"welcome to Jen All-Stars"

RIP

kinda don't even want to watch the rest of the season now...

booooo hooooo hooooooo, I wuz robbed, cuss cuss cuss

ugh

damn those little bits of egg must have been completely atrocious

like, vs. a horrifically salty sauce? really?

Wtf?

Jen had her nervous breakdown early this season, wow.

Bitching about the challenge was super dumb - Tom said specifically that it was meat/products only (what would have been the point of the challenge if one team just got completely hosed?!). I liked one the one chef who said with authority that T-Rex 'ate both,' which I'm pretty sure is wrong.

bourdain to chefs: learn from Omar! it's all in the Game!

http://www.bravotv.com/media/u13/top-chef-all-stars-season-8-blog-bourdain-802-omar.jpg

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-8/blogs/anthony-bourdain/all-in-the-game

lol

^^^^ The Wire spoilers

Nice straight forward challenges this episode. I was glad to see Dale win if only because he reminds me so much of an old friend mine.

*of mine.

Yeah I liked this ep. That Quickfire challenge was crazy! And I loved the Elimination Challenge, it was cool to see all the chefs try to embrace the challenge. I'm glad Dale won...in behind the giant chip on his shoulder he seems pretty likeable and dedicated.

He was just really smart. Everybody who lost lost because they were confronted by these uber-chefs and could only think the way to win was to emulate their style and do something really ambitious. Then Dale comes out and says "I can't be WD" so he does his own food reflecting on aspects of WD50. And his dish looked totally awesome.

I ate at WD50 once, pretty good...I had some kind of carbonated bourbon. A drink that wasn't bourbon mixed with soda, but carbonated bourbon.

wow, that sounds cool. Would love to eat at WD50 one day. Wiley has always been my favorite guest judge on TC.

Lol @ Bourdain saying Stephen's dished tasted like a head shop. I'm glad he's gone. I'm honestly surprised he stayed as long as he did, he truly seems completely useless in facets of chef-ing.

anyone else notice...when they came in and Stephen was like "i'm out" there was silence then other Dale was like "me too" and the place erupted in "ooooh"

hilarious.

But the food at WD50 didn't kill me. Momofuko Ssam either. Either I'm a traditionalist or I just like the real cheap ethnic stuff instead. They were definitely great, but I'd rather eat at some weird place in Flushing I guess.

yeah we ate at WD50 when we were in nyc + i wasnt really feeling it

Did you expect to go to WD50 and get a really authentic bowl of pho or something?

No. But I was expecting it to taste as good as it was interesting. And it was cool, but it didn't really blow me away. When I've been to Jean Georges, I almost passed out out of pleasure.

yeah for me it just sort of made me realise what i really enjoy at a meal

I want to eat that egg cube

anyone else notice...when they came in and Stephen was like "i'm out" there was silence then other Dale was like "me too" and the place erupted in "ooooh"

hilarious.

actual lolz

I was expecting it to taste as good as it was interesting. And it was cool, but it didn't really blow me away.

Totally agree w/ the WD-50 comments. Hard to say this with authority having only eaten there once but I feel like they put things out on the menu that are still works in progress. Some of the stuff was good-to-great but my wife said her entree was one of the worst things she's ever eaten in a restaurant (it was v. weird, some kind of fish dish with cocoa nibs in the sauce)

what's the consensus on the best season btw? this show is fucking crack for me, and I wanna DL a good season Ive never seen before

2 & 6 are the best

Season 6 had the best talent, yet not sure if that makes the best watching though.
Season 5 was pretty drama and had a *shocking* conclusion.

i've never seen season 1 tho

after those 2 i'd say 3 then 4

saw the season with jen in it, also the one with jamie (was that the same one?)

jen = 6
jamie = 5

i think i missed the 5 finale. never saw marcel season.

in a world where people regularly get excited about Bourdain, Colicchio and David Chang, Season 6 raised the bar just for having Joel Robuchon, Eric Ripert, Daniel Boulud ON ONE SINGLE EPISODE. also Thomas Keller on another. The Voltaggio brothers are arguably better chefs than most/all of the Top Chef Masters.

so i should see season 2, then, thx

xp yeah i remember season 6 having that rep---the voltaggios were v impressive

Season 2 is like watching a slow-moving hate crime against a guy who sort of deserves it.

Love love love Season 6 for all time. I liked Season 3 with Hung, and Casey & Dale were cool too. I think the only season I didn't watch was the Fabio Season 5.

Season 2 is probably the best pure drama season. Season 6 pretty inarguably had the most talented quartet of chefs. Season 4 has some real characters in it (Spike, other guy who looked like Spike, totally self-obsessed crazy lady who finished 2nd, New Zealand dude who couldn't cook.) Plus it's in Chicago!

Season 2 is like watching a slow-moving hate crime against a guy who sort of deserves it.

Haha, this is so OTM. I started watching with this season and nothing has really measured up for me since.

xpost Season 6 had the Voltaggios and Beardo Kevin in that quartet. Who was the fourth?

jen

Ah, ok. Thx.

The talent level of season 6 was kind of terrifying; I sort of felt like any of the final 4, and possibly as deep as the final 7, would have won any of the previous 5 seasons (caveat: never saw season #1).

Season 6 talent was too good. People who own restaurants and have James Beard awards or Michelin Stars or whatever shouldn't be competing. There has to be some kind of amateur/professional divide.

ehhhhh, i dunno, i really watch the show for the food. the drama is kinda fun sometimes, but really i just want to see gangsta chefs go ham in the kitchen, you know. better chefs is better entertainment

exactly! Otherwise we end up with Priti seasons and no-one wants that