Top Chef Season 6

[LonnieBeale]

Once they get down to the finial four it is really going to be interesting, because the is a lot of talent this year. Jen just seems to be falling apart, a shame because she was so strong at the beginning.
Best restaurant ever is impressive, but they need to lay off Robin. She is not really a threat, so it seems rather petty they are constantly on her.

[Malloy]

This is Jen's first trip to the bottom, and she was in the top for the previous two challenges, so I don't think she needs to be written off yet.

I think I tend to cut Michael V. some slack just because he has such typical younger brother insecurity. I do think if only Bryan or Michael were there, we'd probably get a different perception of each of them. Nothing can bring out the pettiness like an annoying younger brother or an older overachiever brother who you're sure everyone loves more than you.

[Bryan ODonnell]

I know she's always been pretty snarky, but is it just me or has Padma gotten SUPER bitchy this season? To the point where the contestants are actually making comments about it

And as far as that money thing, I respect what Bryan was saying, but that seemed more like a brother vs. brother, mad that you got one over on me-kinda thing. Because thats the same shit my brothers and I pull. If he really didn't want the money, he didn't have to make a big passive-aggressive stink about with everyone there.

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by Bryan ODonnell

I know she's always been pretty snarky, but is it just me or has Padma gotten SUPER bitchy this season? To the point where the contestants are actually making comments about it

It does seem that way, but it's hard to take that part of the show seriously.

[Diva]

She's preggers people! Give her some slack.

[agracru]

Hormones can suck it. Lighten up, Lakshmi!

My reaction to this episode: Still haven't seen it. Will watch tonight. I fucking love DVR. I LOVE IT.

[Parker]

My gal Jennifer needs to pull herself together. She needs a huge boost of confidence. She's good, but because she's surrounded by good chefs she's flaking. Come on girl, you can do it. You're better than Eli at least. And Robin? If she's not gone by next week I'm calling shenanigans.

[Bailey]

I don't eat meat and who doesn't love Natalie Portman but damn was this a dull episode. Mike's V.'s dish was interesting, they hot girls talked about sucking cock... that's about it. And I was surprised nobody said anything about how only two of those quickfire dishes seemed to have any connection to the TV show.

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by Parker

My gal Jennifer needs to pull herself together. She needs a huge boost of confidence. She's good, but because she's surrounded by good chefs she's flaking. Come on girl, you can do it. You're better than Eli at least. And Robin? If she's not gone by next week I'm calling shenanigans.

You can already call shenanigans... they admitted a long time ago they've kept people on the show for dramatic interest over skill.

[Tylenol Jones]

Clapped a little when Mike got the boot. Farewell ya misogynistic douche bag child.

I think the narrative that Bravo has built against Robin is absolute bullshit. Sure she may be a little annoying, but the hate she gets from bravo and that troll boy is ridiculous.

It's a bummer she was picked to be the Lisa character or whatever. At least Lisa deserved it.

[Kirby Drummond]

People are feeling sorry for Robin? She's so annoying and out of her league. How she runs a kitchen I have no idea. People think Mike Volt is a dick but at least he's honest with his look-at-me-ness. Robyn does the same thing except from the victim angle: i had cancer, i'm old, no one likes me, i can't make food special, crycry. Mike is a rock star and she's Lidia Soprano ---> who's cooler and better is not much of a question to me.

[Kirby Drummond]

Originally Posted by Malloy

I think I tend to cut Michael V. some slack just because he has such typical younger brother insecurity. I do think if only Bryan or Michael were there, we'd probably get a different perception of each of them. Nothing can bring out the pettiness like an annoying younger brother or an older overachiever brother who you're sure everyone loves more than you.

This is a great point. Mike is competing against all the chefs -- hard enough. But add to that his brother? It's a handicap for sure and he's still aces.

[Kirby Drummond]

The other Mike was way too cocky. I never saw much from him. He deserved the boot.

I always forget that they have to do this every day. No wonder some people like Jen burn out.

[The Closer]

I have a feeling Mike V wont make it to the final four. I see him taking one of his characteristic big risks and it blowing up in his face.

Glad to see Kevin got back on top after last week, and phuck Mike for talking about how he could have made that dish in 20 minutes.

[Parker]

Yeah, I hate that kind of shit. If you could make it in 20 minutes, why didn't you? Not everything has to be some crazy post-modern food experiment. You got in the top three, you can't win every week. Guy is a great cook but a cockey asshole and a whiney little bitch of a sore loser. I prefer his brother.

[Diva]

There's no doubt in my mind Kevin is winning it all. And Mike V. (as well as his brother) will make Final Three. The judges will never fault someone for taking risks.

I honestly don't care that Mike I. went home over Robin. Neither he nor Robin will make it to the end. Eli might grab the fourth slot I currently have Jennifer slotted in if she doesn't pick up her game, but honestly I don't see eithor of those two as top 3 material.

Also, good point on the brother dynamic. I can definitely see that Mike V. competing against his brother might bring out childhood tensions.

[LonnieBeale]

I kind of liked when the one brother (was it Mike V?) tried the thing that didn't make it to the dish and said "it was greasy anyway". Head game are cool!

[Parker]

My pick for the top three:

Beardo

Brian

Jennifer

Mike V is amazing, (if cocky and annoying) but as someone else predicted I think one of his experiments is going to get him into trouble. I'm banking on a big Jennifer comeback the next couple of weeks.

Robin's gone soon. Eli might stick it out a little longer, but I don't think he's top 3 material.

[Arjen Rudd]

The only way Beardo loses is if he makes a massive fuck up. And even then, he's won more than half of the challenges, he might have to make two or three in a row. Which is just as well, he seems like the best chef.

[Parker]

Beardo strikes me as the type of guy who does really well throughout the competition and then chokes at the end, like Richard and Stefan.

I really hope that's not the case, however, because I really like the guy and at this point it seems like he deserves to win.

[Bailey]

Based on my perception of their skill I would put Kevin ahead of Stefan and Richard, though. Actually I'd put the two brothers ahead of them too.

[Diva]

I'm convinced Kevin has some bizarre robot brain. He had a free ride to MIT and turned it down. I bet he sees food like mathematical formulas. He knows the right amount of flavor, texture, what-have-you to make his food taste amazing. Like most mathematicians, he's weakest at the creative part (making his plate look pretty and colorful), but he excels where it counts. I can't think of a time on the show where people thought his food tasted bad. And like Carla, he includes the one ingredient Mike V. never adds - love! Kevin genuinely loves food and wants to share that love with other people. Mike loves food, but wants to prove to others that he's the best. Kevin is in a competition and wants to win, but that's not his motivating factor for making good food. He would put as much time and care into feeding a total stranger as he would for the judges. I love that about him.

[agracru]

Kevin does indeed love his food, and this is proven not only by the fact that he is a cyborg programmed and designed to cook food via methods involving love, but also by the mini-Top Chef vignette placed in between commercials that shows the group out at a high-end and delicious dinner. (Where Kevin states something along the lines of either, "I'm fat for a reason", or "I'm fat by choice". Either way, awesome.) Even if he doesn't win, I'm pretty much convinced that he's the best cook Top Chef has ever seen out of all of its lineups; the guy is just incredible.

I would love to eat his food and talk with him. He's the man.

I liked this episode. Eli is DEFINITELY out of my favor for stating that the most important thing Portman has done is the Star Wars prequels. In terms of exposure? Sure. In terms of acting excellence? Shut the fuck up, Eli. And hearing Padma and Natalie go back and forth talking about penis was...well, it was something else. I'm not really sure what. But it was something. Did they pre-game before drinking the wine served at dinner or what? That whole exchange just came out of left field.

Anyways, not getting hung up on cock discussions, I'm glad Mike I. went home (Leeks that look like scallops? What was the fucking point?), and I'm now firmly in the "shut the fuck up Mike V." camp. This episode was just too much for me. Yeah, sure, you cook using really elevated techniques. No one gives a shit if your food doesn't taste good. Obviously his food was good. Kevin's was better. Taste will beat fancy-as-fuck techniques every single time. I don't understand how a chef with as much skill and know-how and experience as Mike V. doesn't get this. Mike V.? I wash my hands of you.

I'm calling a top three of Bryan, Jen, and Kevin, though my gal Friday has to get her shit together. This week her food was good, it just wasn't portioned properly. Maybe she can take that as some kind of assurance and get her confidence back; last challenge definitely rattled her and she needs to recover real soon or she'll be packing her knives. That would be a poor way to finish the show out for such a talented chef.

[Diva]

Finally, bye bye Robin. I wish she had the confidence to just make her food. She makes simple food. But simple is okay if it tastes good.

Mike is still a giant dick. I really wanted Kevin to win.

Jennifer, what the fuck is going on? Get your shit together already.

[LisaNY]

Given the way Robin was treated by Mike Isabella and Eli just because she had the audacity to be older, I was hoping that she'd outlast Eli. I mean, I know, she was constantly circling the drain every week, but I though, "Oh, just one more challenge to get rid of Eli, and THEN send Robin home." That would have been sweet to have had her outlast both of those douchebags.

[Mangy]

Watching Jen fall apart has been painful, but Eli's dish seemed to be the clear worst last night. I think Robin Fatigue finally set in for the judges.

[Mad Man Mundt]

Eli's dish had to have been the most disasterous thing I have ever seen in the history of Top Chef. I thought he had a good chance of going. Robin is a great chef she just can't compete. I don't understand why she thought she needed to be something other than herself. Ultimately I think what cost her was consistant underachievment and her failure to execute a panna cotta which is remarkably simple.

[Bailey]

Since both Robin and Eli need to go, I was hoping Eli would go first, even though Robin was less deserving to still be there.

What was it Mike said it the preview for next week? "Kevin makes the food I make on my off day." It's actually a compliment, although surely he didn't mean it that way. This is exactly why Kevin needs to win. He doesn't worry about fashion, he worries about flavor.

[agracru]

If Robin had gone home last week, Eli definitely would have gotten ejected this time around. Jesus, what a catastrophe of a dish.

Bryan had some nice moments this week and we got to see more of him as a person and a chef, and not just a guy in a cooking competition. Mike, on the other hand, looks like he's going to act like an even bigger dick than before next week. But hey, let him attack Kevin's food. Kevin's food has rarely if ever failed to impress the judges. And if Kevin's food is that good when it's the kind of food that Mike V. makes on his days off, then Mike V. has no excuse for ever falling behind Kevin while he's competing. He's setting himself up for failure.

Jen's slow burn is really hard to watch. Maybe she just needs the right inspiration to pull her out of her slump, but she seems really embedded in this spiral of self-doubt.

[Mad Man Mundt]

Yeah when Mike V said that about Kevin's food I said out loud, "well maybe you should not try as hard because then you'd win more." That is also a gross underestimation of what Kevin is capable of.

[Diva]

Originally Posted by Mad Man Mundt

Ultimately I think what cost her was consistant underachievment and her failure to execute a panna cotta which is remarkably simple.

Quite the opposite, she was overachieving. Tom repeatedly called her out for attempting to make dishes she's never made before. And he asked her point blank at the last Judges Table whether she felt she needed to try more complicated techniques because she wanted to keep up with the other chefs. She tearfully said yes. It was clear Robin was out of her league. But if she stuck to making food she knew how to make (like her dessert in Restaurant Wars), she'd do ok. Mind you, she still wouldn't have any winning dishes, but they wouldn't be outright disasterous.

[Mad Man Mundt]

That isn't overachieving. That is overreaching. She overreached and underachieved. How do you overachieve if you consistantly fail? Yes Tom called her out. That is because because she failed at every attempt to outreach her ability and make food that was not her food as I said in the post you quoted (thinking she had to be something other than herself). The menu at Robin's restaurant Crave was comfort food heavy and very delicious. She never should have moved out of her wheelhouse. And quite simply if you can't make a panna cotta you can not be conisdered top anything.

[Diva]

You win. Vocabulary FAIL. I'll force myself to eat this slop as punishment:

[agracru]

...and Clown. I don't even want to think about that.

You know, my heart breaks for Robin; it's hard to see someone fail because they felt so pressured to be something that they're not. She just isn't a Mike V. or Kevin. She's Robin. She should have played to her strengths and done what she does best; maybe if she had, she would have made the kind of food that gets her into the top 3. It's entirely possible, but we'll never know because she shrank into herself this whole competition.

[Kirby Drummond]

Robin sucked. Thank god she's finally gone.

[LisaNY]

I'm pretty worried for Jen that she's not going to be able to pull herself out of this downward spiral in time. Especially with the stress of being in the final five, I'm worried she's just totally in her head by now.

Speaking of the finals, let's hope that Kevin mops up the fucking floor with Mike V. Asshole.

[Bailey]

Is this the first time they've gotten the final four right?

[Mangy]

This has been a fairly predictable season, but I think that's because the final four were clearly leaps and bounds ahead of the others.

How good must Kevin's food be when he does a "safe, boring" dish and it still beats everybody else?

[jstraw80]

I know alot of it is editing, but you cant edit stupid remarks like "what Kevin make sis what i make on my day off!"

Those two brothers have done nothing but make me hate them more and more each week and never want to visit their place of businesses. The fact that Kevin keeps winning and they don't recognize him as being an equal is the best part of the show.

young bro should have gone home based on that performance, but overall i think they made the right decision.

[Devildoubt]

I missed this last night. Who's in the top four?

[Diva]

The Fab Four: The V bros, Kevin and Jen.

Originally Posted by jstraw80

Those two brothers have done nothing but make me hate them more and more each week and never want to visit their place of businesses.

How can you hate Brian? He's been nothing but nice to everyone. In fact, I'm not sure if Kevin would have gotten the win if Brian hadn't taught him how to sous vide the lamb.

[agracru]

Wow! That top 4...who saw that coming? I mean really?

I have to say, playing the "who's gonna make it" guessing game hasn't been all that satisfying this season. At least the finale is going to be fantastic.

Who else caught Mike V.'s "we've gotten into each other" line in reference to Jen? (I hate to bring up gossipy bullshit but frankly it was one of the more interesting points from the episode.)

[Diva]

Did he say that? I thought he said something along the lines of "we've gotten close", but I didn't read anything beyond that.

[Arjen Rudd]

I'm still not quite sure I understand what that competition was all about, but it all seemed pretty damn serious, and seriously goofy. I'm calling Brian as the winner.

[Mad Man Mundt]

http://bocusedorusa.org/about.html#foundation

[Kirby Drummond]

Man, they were really try to sell it like Mike V could get zapped. Tom's comments to him at th end were so edited.