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ultimoDANK

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A new season of Top Chef Masters snuck up on me. I'm familiar with less of the chefs than I normally am but some stick out. David Burkes resturant in Chicago is quite good but not sure I see him winning. The obvious choice looks to be Bryan Voltaggio. Those 2 brothers are crazy good chefs.

The other show I'm watching for a reason I can't explain is Next Food Network Star. You think the talent pool for the Ultimate Fighter is bad? These people all suck. Not a star in the bunch.

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Yeah, Next Food Network Star is pretty barren this year.  Alton is trying desperatly to drag something out of mohawk guy, but outside of that, its been shitty this season.

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Top Chef Masters: The guy you may be sleeping on is Douglas Keane, who recently closed his two Michelin star restaurant in Sonoma County.  If it's too early to remember who is who, he's the guy who wouldn't sky-dive.

 

Food Network Star: I like Damaris and Nikki.

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For anyone interested, all of the Bourdain produced PBS "Mind of Chef with David Chang" is now on Netflix streaming. I enjoyed the show immensely the first time around and find it is worth a second viewing.

 

James

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Competitive food shows are fine, but PBS' Create channel with its cooking shows is where it is.  America's Test Kitchen is simple, but so much fun.

 

I love America's Test Kitchen because the main host guy is SUCH a condescending dick to all the other people on the show.  But like, in a good way.  Like a "eh, he's probably just joking...I think" way. 

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Speaking of Food Network Star...

So I happen to put on Bar Rescue today which I never watch but I know some folks who say good things about it.

Anyway - who should show up as the Chef consultant dude near the beginning but that Big Daddy guy Aaron McCargo - who won the 4th Season of NFNS

And according to Wiki he shows up on multiple Bar Rescue episodes.

I just found this weird but I guess he either has some sort of freelance deal with Food Network or since Spike's ratings are so terrible no one cares

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Speaking of Food Network Star...So I happen to put on Bar Rescue today which I never watch but I know some folks who say good things about it.Anyway - who should show up as the Chef consultant dude near the beginning but that Big Daddy guy Aaron McCargo - who won the 4th Season of NFNSAnd according to Wiki he shows up on multiple Bar Rescue episodes.I just found this weird but I guess he either has some sort of freelance deal with Food Network or since Spike's ratings are so terrible no one cares

The dirty secret about Food Network Star is that there has only been one "star" that came from the entire show...Guy Fieri.  None of these guys are going to be stars, they are just castmembers on a reality show.  With that said, the show always goes downhill when they eliminate the super catty person who is terrible on the challenges, but is great providing comedy in the interview sections.  Danushka was a crazy person, but she was an entertaining crazy person.

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Oh, man!  Christopher Kimball is such a weenie underneath the glasses and Ivy League education.  I *think* he's basically an okay guy, but who can tell? The man has a degree in Primitive Art.  I didn't even know that major existed.  Gawd, is that WASPy or what?

Mr. Kimball was very accommodating when we took a tour of the Test Kitchen last year and he happened to be walking through the lobby while we were waiting for the tour guide/EiC of the magazine.

 

ETA: If you like America's Test Kitchen, definitely give Cook's Country a try.  Same basic people (Kimball, Julia, Bridget, Adam and Jack), different set.

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Oh, man!  Christopher Kimball is such a weenie underneath the glasses and Ivy League education.  I *think* he's basically an okay guy, but who can tell? The man has a degree in Primitive Art.  I didn't even know that major existed.  Gawd, is that WASPy or what?

Mr. Kimball was very accommodating when we took a tour of the Test Kitchen last year and he happened to be walking through the lobby while we were waiting for the tour guide/EiC of the magazine.

 

ETA: If you like America's Test Kitchen, definitely give Cook's Country a try.  Same basic people (Kimball, Julia, Bridget, Adam and Jack), different set.

 

 

Yay, glad to know that he can keep his weeniness in check.

 

:P

 

But seriously, he does have a haughty air about him that seeps through, at least to me.  He could be a swell guy, but it doesn't always come across.

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Speaking of Food Network Star...So I happen to put on Bar Rescue today which I never watch but I know some folks who say good things about it.Anyway - who should show up as the Chef consultant dude near the beginning but that Big Daddy guy Aaron McCargo - who won the 4th Season of NFNSAnd according to Wiki he shows up on multiple Bar Rescue episodes.I just found this weird but I guess he either has some sort of freelance deal with Food Network or since Spike's ratings are so terrible no one cares

The dirty secret about Food Network Star is that there has only been one "star" that came from the entire show...Guy Fieri.  None of these guys are going to be stars, they are just castmembers on a reality show.  With that said, the show always goes downhill when they eliminate the super catty person who is terrible on the challenges, but is great providing comedy in the interview sections.  Danushka was a crazy person, but she was an entertaining crazy person.

 

It that pie guy makes it one more week I'm gonna throw something through the TV.  I have not seen him make ONE good looking pie this whole season and yet every episode is "that was such a fantastic, novel idea putting fucking chicken carbonara in a pie".  I mean...COME ON!

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I'm a decent home cook and I feel like I could compete with these Next Food Network Star people. It's really a brutal crop. Totally right about that pie guy not making a single decent looking pie. Alton had a good point, most of the challenges are a one hour time limit. Good pie is going to take more than an hour.

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I'm a decent home cook and I feel like I could compete with these Next Food Network Star people. It's really a brutal crop. Totally right about that pie guy not making a single decent looking pie. Alton had a good point, most of the challenges are a one hour time limit. Good pie is going to take more than an hour.

Yeah, the Pie Guy not only can't make a decent pie, but he can't complete a sentence.  How many times has he finished talking and everybody looked around and said, "I didn't understand anything he just said?"  Stacy has to win right?  She is the only one who seems to consistently make good food, while explaining it in a way that actually makes sense. The only criticism they have is that she is too polished.  Compared to all the others who either can't cook or can't speak, I think she has to win.

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I'm a decent home cook and I feel like I could compete with these Next Food Network Star people. It's really a brutal crop. Totally right about that pie guy not making a single decent looking pie. Alton had a good point, most of the challenges are a one hour time limit. Good pie is going to take more than an hour.

There are so many ways to make decent pie in an hour. Making the dough and baking a bottom crust takes half an hour, tops. And really like 10 minutes of active time. Throw in a few rounds of dough and place then on top. That leaves 45 minutes minimum to work on whatever filling. He's just a douche with no creativity who is the closest thing to Guy Fieri they have this year, so he stays.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Sooo...Damaris won, despite Rodney answering the question of "What is Pie Style?" with the great quote..."I'm just going to start saying words that don't go together in a sentence, until you look confused enough for me to stop."  I really thought he was going to win after that, because life isn't fair.  Damaris will probably be OK, but seriously Danushka need a TV show where she makes catty comments about everyone.  She has a talent for bitchiness that is somehow endearing.

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I figured she would win to get a new Southern woman on the network to replace the racist diabetic.  As already said they rarely actually become stars so what does it matter? Must not matter too much. One of my favorite shows is the Next Iron Chef and I rarely will put the American Iron Chef on. Not even sure when new episodes air.

 

I watched that new Cutthroat Kitchen show today and it was just as bad as it looked in the promos. Wonder when they will finally run out of different ways to reuse that basic Chopped format of start with 4 cut to 3 and finish with 2. 

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I did discover that American Iron Chef now does this wacky thing where you have to serve an appetizer in the first like 15 or 20 minutes of the contest which just is wrong

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I watched that new Cutthroat Kitchen show today and it was just as bad as it looked in the promos. Wonder when they will finally run out of different ways to reuse that basic Chopped format of start with 4 cut to 3 and finish with 2. 

 

Aw, I loved it. Helps immensely that all of the contestants are giant dicks... way too fun watching them put the screws to each other in turn.

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Aw, I loved it. Helps immensely that all of the contestants are giant dicks... way too fun watching them put the screws to each other in turn.

 

I think where it fell apart for me was how everyone ended up in a bad situation eventually. So the winners/survivors end up being whoever made the least worst thing that round. I won't give up on it right away since it is possible some sort of strategy might develop. It felt incredibly contrived though; but that is inevitable since the conflict is contrived and you can say that for basically everything on tv. Might be cool if they had people that worked at the same place compete to cut back on that some and make the interview inserts more interesting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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