Thursday, June 21, 2007

Top Chef 3.2

So this week's Top Chef was fairly entertaining, though I'm already developing dislikes. Word of advice to Top Chef casters -- don't cast more than one bull-necked bald man with a heavy New Yawk accent next season, m'kay? One is interesting grit, two are an overload of testosterone and not in a good way.

Some observations:
Of the two bull necks, I think I prefer the BS artistry of Howie to the loud and loud of Joey.

Sandee, I really liked you, but girlfriend, Florida lobster tail is prime grilling meat! Why, oh, why would you poach a lobster tail in a grilling contest?! I mean, vanilla bean butter sauce sounds like a yummy thing to baste the tails with. Skewers when grilling the lobster in its tail is so good? nonononononono. And you live in South Florida, you should know better.
That said, I really wouldn't have minded them sending Bullneck 1 or Bullneck 2 home, cuz I thought Sandee's tai chi was really cool.

And CJ came across as a bit of a jerk, didn't he? I mean, OK, you weren't going to help Casey. And granted, she makes snippy, superior asides to the camera and maybe off camera as well. But why not shrug your shoulders and say, your guess is as good as mine? Why be mean?

Speaking of mean, Hung cracks me up and I don't know whether to hate him or root for him. I notice he has two personas. He's a total in-your-face, I'm number one to the camera. But notice how likeable he is with the rest of the crew. I wonder how many of his fellow chefs are watching tv in shock right now. He did help Sara N. Unlike CJ. Maybe it's Hung's supreme self-confidence. He doesn't see Sara as competition. And he definitely seems to have the cooking chops to back the bragadiccio.

I'd like to root for Micah, since I'm a former PBCer, though never a BO-CA Ra TONE fan. Boca is like the nouveau riche guy who wants to mimic the Palm Beach blue-blood who inherited his millions. For the Palm Beacher, it's effortless, for Boca it's all flash. (Boca is number one in telephone fraud, btw)
But anyway, Micah seems to have a wry sense of self in some ways, but in others comes across as a little too emotional and frazzled and we're only a week into the competition! I like a lot of her food, though.

And finally, you might have noticed how many chefs didn't know how to cook with a grill. It's a conspiracy, I tell you. Hank Hill has taken over corporate America and is pushing out charcoal grills. I sure can't find any. Home Depot has gas grill after gas grill with elaborate push buttons and knobs and gizmos. But if you want a charcoal grill that can hold more than four burgers? Outta luck. So with this corporate conspiracy to rid the US of its charcoal grills comes less and less experience with the art of charcoal grilling. Alas.