This week’s Top Chef Masters gimmick — cooking a meal for the folks who labor on Lost that included a Dharma Initiative-approved shopping list — wasn’t nearly as hokey as it sounded, and resulted in another satisfyingly civilized, amusing hour. I’m really enjoying what is now one of the rare reality/competition shows that doesn’t rely on a lot of bad, rude behavior for its drama. Instead, we get the pleasure of watching what judge-critic Jay Rayner referred to, in praising one dish, as a “generosity of spirit” that extends to the whole hour. The fact that the food was also being eaten and judged by Lost brainiacs such as Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, and Brian K. Vaughan was visual dessert.
Granted, these chefs weren’t without competitive spirit. It was fun to watch lank-haired Wylie Dufresne mutter bleepingly when his vending-machine Quickfire Challenge didn’t go completely as he’d planned. But I was happy that the ultimate winner (here you go: spoiler alert) was the soothingly calm, wry Suzanne Tracht. Her heaping bowl o’ various foods, from risotto to sea urchin to boar, certainly seemed truest to the Lost theme of hungry-stomach-filling grub.
What did you think? Are you enjoying the Masters as much as regular Top Chef? Did you agree with the judges’ choice of winner?
Comments (1-30) of 43 Add your comment
This version of Top Chef is pleasant eough. But last night’s winner (Suzanne I think) was so personality free. And Wiley came off as kind of a dbag.
I’m definitely liking the show, but I enjoyed the first episode more than this one. The chefs in the first episode all seemed to get along as a group. These 4 didn’t seem to bond as much. I assume it was because Graham and Wylie were already close friends so that kind of altered the dynamic. And I agree with Buffy Freak, Suzanne Tracht seemed like a very nice woman, but she may have been the most boring person I’ve ever seen on TV.
I long for the days of Padma Lakshmi. I hope that she is coming back for the next real season.
I love this version of Top Chef because the contestants DO seem to care about the outcome. It seems like a smart way of getting some great chefs involved while including challenges previously seen on Top Chef for nostalgia.
I was gonna watched, so I turned it in Bravo…and it wasn’t on! Turns out, Bravo Canada doesn’t carry it. I as pissed.
http://tvdonewright.com/2009/06/17/tv-tonight-thursday-june-18th-2009/
There wasn’t a lot of personality in this group – they were a pretty dull group.
This show is great as a straight food competition show, same way that Iron Chef is, but it still is no Top Chef. I miss Tom and Padma. The new host just doesn’t have it, and she looks like she should eat a few more of the meals the chefs are serving.
httP://www.joeonthetube.com
And I did seriously geek out when I saw Brian K Vaughn. It was the moment I knew I was truly a fanboy. SMH.
Love the spirit of this show! I enjoyed Wiley and Graham’s antics at the grocery; they have a passion for food and cookery. Wiley was hilarious when he was ****ing everything up! I was disappointed that the vending machine challenge allowed pantry items; I think the original challenge did not allow that. Loved the Dharma challenge! I still can’t decide if the hosts and judges lack personality or are just different people than I’m used to.
I loved it when they were in the Stew Room and decided to bake cookies!
I miss Tom and Padama. That said, this version of the show is growing on me. I think it’s because the judges are so collegial and friendly with each other. Yes, it’s “fun” to watch in-fighting and discord, but this is nice for a change.
Susanna was the correct winner last night. But, I would have liked to see Wylie again especially in the company of Hubert. I could have watched Wylie the whole hour. This group was really fun I thought and the whole episode was v interesting.
This had less “cooking as carnival act” than the first one and thankfully, no food prepared in a college dorm bathroom. With top-level professionals, we’re not gonna get the crazy/embarrassing antics we’re used to on TC, but I think it’s a good sub for the summer. Padma will be back; calm down, people!
I’ve seen that brash yet highly insecure Elizabeth “I have a Rock Star vibe” Faulkner on so many Food Network competitions. I would love for Christopher Guest to write a film spoofing foodie culture just so the divine Jane Lynch could play her.
I have seen the brash yet highly insecure Elizabeth “I have a Rock Star Vibe” Faulkner on so many Food Network challenge shows. I’d love Christopher Guest to write a film spoofing foodie culture just so the divine Jane Lynch could play her.
Good show last night. It works in much the way the arena league of football worked (and hopefully will resume working) vis a vis the NFL: Its different enough to be interesting in its own right but it is ultimately only a fill in for the real thing. (of course where as the arena league uses lower quality players than the NFL, the opposite is true here). I fully intend to keep watching and can’t wait to visit LA to get a taste of Suzzane Tract’s restaurant. Wiley should get his own show
I am enjoying the series, as much for the civilized degree of rivalry between professional chefs as for the originality of what they serve up. I do have to agree that Chef Tracht wasn’t the most dynamic personality, but her food apparently far outshone some of what the others made. I’m also not too thrilled with the hostess – Padma has no worries of being replaced for sure. Apart from the usual suspects, it’s interesting to see some of the other chefs who have been on PBS rather than Food Network or Bravo. I would have liked to see Elizabeth Faulkner win because of the charity she was supporting. I sure wish I’d had the chance to learn to grow & harvest food from a garden when I was in elementary school.
Still getting used to “Padma Wannabe,” I mean Kelly, but otherwise this is a good companion to Top Chef.
I like this version of Top Chef. My only nit pick is the challenge last night was not nearly has difficult as the first week.
I am really enjoying it being all about the food with no dramatic relationship stories or sleaze pushed by Bravo. It’s great seeing these chefs try to come up with a great meal under the constraints the regular contestants have to deal with. I think the past chefs haven’t done too bad after seeing some of the dishes these “professionals” put out.
I am enjoying this show. (Don’t miss Padma at all).
Love this version of TC! It truly is about the cooking and competition and not about throwing each other under the bus. I loved how Wylie said at the end that he’d lost a “fair fight”. The regular TC contestants have a lot to learn from these chefs including humility and camaraderie.
It’s kind of a bummer that Graham or Wylie didn’t win – that would have been interesting to watch in the finals against Hubert. Suzanne is a big yawn fest, and her food follows suit. I love that Wylie got “5 stars” from a judge who doesn’t dig his form of cooking – prove ‘em wrong, buddy! I want to pack Graham up in a box & take him home & eat him with a spoon, he’s so adorable. FembotKelly wasn’t much better this week. But thanks for the brief glimpses of Tom – that made it more bearable this week. And less Gael was good – less to feed my nightmares (she is a blonde Cruella DeVille…)
I loved the crossover with Lost! It made for some really interesting dishes. I also love seeing these very established chefs work out the themes. I love the ‘regular’ Top Chef, but a departure from the relationship drama is welcome occasionally (though I still miss Tom & Padma).
For those of us who used to think the blandness of Padma Boresmi was only a shade worse than the Juliebot from *Big Brother,* Kelly proves there is a much more soulless, Stepford-Chefbot out there, and she has arrived to flatly lead the celebrity chefs along with her blank stare and monotone diction. I’ll never knock Padma again, I swear if you just bring her in to replace Kelly for future installments. Otherwise, this show is worth watching, and it’s nice to see these celeb chefs ripped out of their comfort zones. I’m not sure what to make of the behatted bizzybody from the New York Times or wherever, but otherwise it’s all pretty smooth sailing.
The contestants are fascinating – really doing it without the drama. The judges don’t feel obligated to never enjoy themselves. Please re-negotiate Kelly’s contract so that she might EAT some of the food on the show. Looking at her skeletal personal gives one the creeps.
I think it’s a great departure just so long as we get our usual show when this is over. The Pro’s show why they are the pro’s, but it also shows how insensitive and unfair the judges can be during the normal show. I bet Wylie has a new understanding of the quickfire challenge. The biggest difference in the competitors of this show and the regular appears to be twofold: confidence and money. You’re more desperate when you have to make a name for yourself versus someone who is already there. The cordiality of the contestants is certainly making for a better show for me personally, but I know the angst is what feeds many others. The first show I was sure Hubert would win, and I thought this a pick ‘em when it started and I wasn’t let down. I only wish I could actually taste the food!
Not one of the chefs last night made an amuse-bouche! On regular TC, the judges (including Wylie) would have ripped the contestants a new one for that.
I’m enjoying the show very much. However, I would find it even more entertaining if the judges didn’t know whose dishes they were tasting. I can’t help but think that they know one another, travel in many of the same circles, etc. and so may have personal biases which effect their ratings of the food. I wish it weren’t so, but how can they be truly neutral if they know which chef cooked which dish?
What is with the Suzanne bashing? Does everyone on the show need to be an Alpha-type? Or can it just be enough that she completely outgamed her competition?
I absolutely LOVE this iteration of TC — yes, we chefs can be egotistical boors. But we genuinely respect talent and are willing to collaborate and learn from others. What a let down it will be go revert to the adolescent back biting and mediocracy of the regular season when it returns this winter.
Plus, I love that they are throwing the same types of goofy challenges at these contestants. I laughed out loud during last week’s show when I saw the master chefs struggling to use a microwave. I can totally relate — I don’t have a microwave and have never actually used one in more than 30 years of cooking in a professional kitchen.
Love this version of Top Chef. Hope they keep it up for many seasons.
I really liked Suzanne last night, and Graham. Apparently, the judges and diners felt the same, according to their scores.
Looking so forward to the championship.