Top Chef Masters, on Bravo

[sandynva]

Nope. Just New York. He's more focusing on the Shang restaurant right now and probably can be found there, I believe. Have not been there to try the food though.

top chef masters is making me want to go to zentan too! one odd thing though is that when i pass the place on evenings, particularly weekends, i often see a line outside the door, which i thought odd for a place i thought was primarily a restaurant rather than a club. does anyone have any insight into this?

was i the only one a bit bewildered by Marcus' "indian" tomato soup with what he said were the "traditional garnishes" of nuts, melons, chickpeas and sambal? granted i'm mostly used to gujarati food, but i'd never seen those all together in an indian dish before, certainly not tomato soup. and i was under the impression that sambals were from indonesia and other places but not india? And then when hank azaria was confused as to what to do with the garnishes, marcus was so certain that apu would know how to use them.....

[JPW]

Nope. Just New York. He's more focusing on the Shang restaurant right now and probably can be found there, I believe. Have not been there to try the food though.

Shang has not been getting the best reviews from people I know and trust.

[sandynva]

NOTE: SPOILER BELOW

Am i the only one who thought susur was robbed? i think jay loved marcus so much because of the story, but i don't know if i think that's necessarily a legitimate criterion for judging food. Also, i thought gail made a bit of an excuse for him when she didn't like his last dish but "gave him credit for not changing the food to conform to western palates." these are some pretty adventurous eaters, and some on susur's stuff has been kind of out there but they loved it anyway, so i wonder if, with these diners, "it just didn't conform to western palates" is a valid excuse.....

[Ericandblueboy]

Am i the only one who thought susur was robbed? i think jay loved marcus so much because of the story, but i don't know if i think that's necessarily a legitimate criterion for judging food. Also, i thought gail made a bit of an excuse for him when she didn't like his last dish but "gave him credit for not changing the food to conform to western palates." these are some pretty adventurous eaters, and some on susur's stuff has been kind of out there but they loved it anyway, so i wonder if, with these diners, "it just didn't conform to western palates" is a valid excuse.....

The judging is suspect and I believe Marcus won by default because Susur shot himself in the foot with that blob of tuna - which did not look appetizing at all. It was his finale to win and he could have outcooked Marcus and Rick but he screwed up with that dish. I think Susur was consistently better throughout the show but they did say the winner is judged solely based on the final challenge.

[Tweaked]

it seemed like all three scored well with two of their dishes and flubbed one each. Marcus' final dish seemed to be less flubbed than the other chefs' worst dish.

Jay Rayner has a rant on the Top Chef Masters blog about taking Rick to task about the sustainability of the New Zealand venison.

[Ericandblueboy]

Marcus' final dish seemed to be less flubbed than the other chefs' worst dish.

Not sure if it was less flubbed or he just didn't get docked points for "keeping it real." It certainly didn't sound delicious to me, whether it's authentically Ethipian or not. Granted, I don't particularly like Ethiopian food.

[hungry prof]

That tuna thing that Susur came up with looked like something that a seven-year old playing with food would create. I'm sure it tasted better than that, but it was a very odd presentation. Frankly, I could have seen any of the three of them winning based on the diners' comments (and the scores were very close).

[Pool Boy]

Susur was probably the better chef overall, but I agree the tuna dish was bizarre. Ah well, it's just a competition and lots of charities got lots of money.

I seriously think Marcus needs to learn how to edit his dishes in general.

[hungry prof]

Rick Moonen doesn't appreciate Jay Raynor's criticism of his use of NZ venison. From Moonen's Facebook page:

I guess that Jay wants me to fly my food in by hot air balloon... Some people should not be allowed to speak. Find me one professional in the hospitality industry that has the integrity, respect and history of outspoken messaging for the environment as I and I will agree with Tiny Tim look alike.. My menu speaks volumes always has!

[Ericandblueboy]

Susur was probably the better chef overall, but I agree the tuna dish was bizarre. Ah well, it's just a competition and lots of charities got lots of money.

I'm actually surprised at how little money the show actually gives to charity (or to winners in Top Chef). $100k really? I think they should up the prize money to $300k or something a little more sizeable, heck they get to deduct it so it's really only $200k after taxes.

FWIW, I find Moonen's response ludicrous. He sells fish in Vegas...wow that's real environmentally friendly.

[qwertyy]

I hadn't realized the new season of Top Chef Masters was airing until last week, but it's officially become my favorite incarnation of the brand. Bravo is doing all it can to exploit a few little tiffs, but the collegiality, respect, and cooperation among the chefs make it infinitely more pleasurable to watch than the original, which is being increasingly cast as a pugilistic reality-show soap opera.

The first three episodes are available On Demand if you want to catch up.

[thistle]

I enjoy watching it also, I thought it was funny watching them try to do teppanyaki cooking(10 minutes, hot grill, & they want entertainment, too?) this week, & one of the critics ( I think it was Mary Sue Milliken) was complaining that they didn't taste their food-yuck, do you want to see your teppanyaki chef sampling off the tip of his or her knife? I like Chris Cosentino or Patricia Yeo for the win...