LiquidSky

Me too. Didn't the judges give someone on season one the boot for dipping the spoon back into food after having it in his mouth? The judges seem to switch back and forth on their "rules".

BDB

It's my first season watching, so I wouldn't have the answer to that.

Ryan's a local here in SF, although Myth where he worked has closed..

cornyt

Just curious, because of the show or before?

BDB

Oh no, it was closing for a while, its a much bigger restaurants than he is..

Most recent link..

http://sf.eater.com/archives/2008/04...eader_comments

Mad Dawg

Yeah, either Mark or Nikki, who chose to not really do anything and wasn't prepared to be judged and had a nonsense addition to her offering just to make it look like she did something. You can say a lot about what Ryan did wrong, but he was the least deserving to be booted of the three.

Sweet Baby James

Ken was the very first cheftestant to ever get the boot. He double dipped his finger while working on the line at a fancy restaurant. He was also a colossal prick, so I'm sure that that didn't help. I thought that Mark was a goner too. However, Ryan is truly a maroon.

LiquidSky

I wish the judges would stick with their own "rules". Oh well. Yeah, Ryan was good "eye candy" for me but he didn't seem like the sharpest stick around. His "New Zealand or New England" and favorite movie "Dumb and Dumber" comments didn't do much for me.

matta

I say it every week, but...

1) How can any of us who didn't actually taste the food talk about who deserve to go home? For all we know, Mark's food wasn't that bad and Ryan's tasted like absolute crap.

2) The only datapoints we have to make any decision (about the probable food quality, hygiene, etc.) is based on edited comments from the judges, other people who tasted the food, and the feed, and all of that is heavily edited by the judges. For all we know, Ryan took a piss in his soup, and they didn't air that or show it as a favor to him.

I'm not defending Mark or anyone - just pointing out that things aren't always as they seem on these reality shows (case in point: the different opinions of people in the Big Brother live feed and aired feed threads).

FantasticVSDoom

Shit, I just realized that my DVR didnt record this last episode...

chowderhead

usually, I would agree with you there but you do get a sense who is a good cook versus who is just skating by. Now with Nikki, she should have gone home in my opinion. She didn't make the sausages, ran out of peppers and grilled some shrimp.

FantasticVSDoom: They replay the episodes constantly, so you should be able to check the schedule and see it probably 1 hour beforehand on Wednesday night.

LiquidSky

Matta: I was thinking more along the lines of Mark being sent packing for tasting and placing the spoon back into the food. Unsanitary. If the judges felt strongly enough to give someone the boot for this the first season, then their "rule" should still stand. Same with Richard serving fish with scales that someone could have choked on.

Big Boy Laroux

That was part of it. In the quickfire (pretty sure it was the quickfire), they each took turns running the kitchen in the guest chef's restaurant. any slip-up, and their "turn" was over. He tasted with his finger, i believe (or maybe he re-used the spoon, but i think it was his finger), and the guest chef ended his turn. He was also (as stated above) a huge douchebag, and was VERY disrespectful to the guest chef that week, challenging him on the finger thing.

As for Ryan, i loved how he said "look at me, do i look like i enjoy sports?" And i thought, "he's the only one that DOES look like he enjoys sports".


haven't commented on the other episodes so far. just had to say that to me, the scales thing was huge. definitely producer intervention to have Richard stay. That is unforgiveable.

nemein

That's exactly what I was thinking

BTW is it just me or are some of them just not "getting it"? I understand each chef wants to establish their own flair but cooking basics should be part of any chef's ability. Several times it seems they have taken what should be simple dishes and blown it all out of proportion. Maybe that's part of the show though, this is the first season I've seen it.

Big Boy Laroux

yeah, that's pretty much it. The judges always say taste is important, but they're often more wowed by the presentation or conceptualization or the method used. So that's what the contestants do.

Anyone see the SNL sketch about Top chef in the Christopher Walken episode? it's not top chef unless a faux-hawk is involved.


one other random note - in all 4 seasons, i have NEVER seen anyone as horrible at presentation as the big bald guy (forget his name already). His plates looked like someone threw up on them. He said he was a soul food chef. Well, stick to basic presentation, then. Don't try to fake the "smear things on a plate" style, cause he couldn't do it.

LiquidSky

The guest judge was somewhat of a sourpuss not even cracking a smile at the "erect" asparagus.

Congrats to Richard and Dale. Did anyone notice the look on Andrew's face when he and Spike didn't win? I guess Antonia will have to eat some humble pie since Spike's squash soup was in the top two.

Well, Jen can now stop pining away for Zoi.

Noonan

I'm not really liking the fact that they're not showing much of the judges talking about the dishes this season. In previous seasons, we'd get a good 5 minutes before they called in the winners and the losers of them talking about what they liked and disliked.

LiquidSky

noonan4224: I agree.

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I think Lisa or Antonia should have had to pack their knives for being snobbish assholes and not following the rules.

BDB

Sad to see Jen gone, and I like antonia, don't really like Lisa.

The improv choices were not all that great, but spike and andrew did good. the soup was a good choice, and I liked the fact that they took away all the electric equipment!

TeamAnS

Glad Jen is gone because we no longer have to hear "I'm doing it for Zoi".

I am also sick of hearing these chefs say something in effect of " I would never serve this" or "that is beneath me". Do what you are told if you want to win. This is like the previous season where they had to make a dish out of things they got from the vending machine and all a few of them did was bitch about it not being what chefs would do. CHefs prepare food that customers want.

Ephemeral_Life

I am so totally amused by these wanna-be gourmet chefs sipping on some of the nastiest beers known to mankind. With the kind of palate they have, shouldn't they be drinking Sierra Nevada or Dogfish Head instead of Michelob?

Mok

Lisa has to go home I am really getting tired of seeing her turn her nose up at the judges. Like she is so great.

Sweet Baby James

Michelob is probably a sponsor. I certainly know Toyota, GE Monogram and Gladd are.

Matthew Chmiel

Antonia and Lisa are easily the biggest bitches on the show next to Dale. I hope they're eliminated sooner rather than later.

What I loved about last night's episode is the awful cut away shut to the gifts Dale and Richard won and the guest judge's response. Almost as bad as Anthony Bourdain giving a winner signed copies of all of the books he's written.

BDB

Pleased with the winner tonight..

LiquidSky

Yeah, she kicked some ass!