***OFFICIAL Top Chef New York Thread

[HardcoreRobot]

grats to hosea. was solid overall, especially when it counted. must have felt so freaking sweet to beat stefan. really unfortunate for carla, she would have had a better chance at winning by sticking to her guns, or at the very least would have been able to lose knowing she did everything she possibly could... now there are lots of whatifs. def hope to see fabio back in future seasons

 

[Ns1]

they should have an uber top chef allstars and do the top 2 who didn't make it from each season compete

that would be insane

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: torpid
I don't like the editing work they did to portray Stefan as worse than he was. They gloss over all of the friendly/kind moments during the show that we saw. He was made to be the bad guy so that the producers could favor the "good guy underdog" in the finale, IMO. I wouldn't ever want to eat at Hosea's restaurant unless it were cheap. I missed early seasons of Top Chef, but I think Hosea might be the weakest Top Chef I've seen. Why would anyone want to eat at a fancy restaurant where a guy is "consistently good but not great"? Stefan and Carla produced some great dishes in short periods of time. With a full restaurant they could easily produce a consistent line up of great items.

i disagree, world class judges said Hoseas food was delicious.

They said his food was consistent. They also said they thought Stefan's squab was the best dish of the night. Last week, Carla's dishes were superior by far. Possibly Jeff's too. I have yet to see anything from Hosea that would make me want to go to his restaurant. His food might be consistently good, but it's generally really safe and uninspired too. They basically awarded him top cook instead of top chef.

Stephan and Carla bombed on several dishes on the finally and in past shows. of the 3 chefs last night nobody had any issues with Hoseas 3 dishes he made.

yes Stephans squab got high marks but he blew it with his fish platter and his stupid dessert.

Carla did great on her dishes but blew it with her soufllee and the steak.

Hosea was rock solid on all 3 dishes and were inspiring. several judges commented on his presentation.

its a competition you cook what you know and dont experiment. that is what carla did and lost bad.

I'm not talking about the finale, I'm talking about the season as a whole. I have no problems with the decision they actually made based on the episode. Carla and Stefan proved to be inspired chefs over time. Hosea had two good moments and happened to win, but overall was much less impressive throughout the season. Several times he messed up cooking basic fish despite working in a seafood restaurant. And he never offered anything all that interesting. During restaurant week, Stefan had those fabulous looking desserts, for example. Carla had those beignets last week. I don't remember anything like that from Hosea.

This is why it's a competition--the show is just as much (if not more) about how you perform "when it counts" as it is consistent performance over time. It's just like with any major sporting event; you don't generally come out of the Super Bowl or the World Cup saying, "well man, Team A played great all year, they should've just been given the title even though Team B played better today."

Stefan was excellent when he came in; Carla and Hossea both improved greatly as the season progressed, despite missteps along the way. Beyond that, the editing you mention may have downplayed many of their earlier successes and strengths to try and foster the "underdog" image.

I remember reading Tom's blog from a few seasons back when Hung won. He was responding to criticism that said the dishes were close, someone else should've won, etc. He basically said that despite what was seen on the show (i.e., the edited version), Hung's cooking was head and shoulders above the rest in many respects. So it's very possible that despite what was seen throughout the season, the end results of multiple challenges may have been closer than they appeared.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: Whisper
This is why it's a competition--the show is just as much (if not more) about how you perform "when it counts" as it is consistent performance over time. It's just like with any major sporting event; you don't generally come out of the Super Bowl or the World Cup saying, "well man, Team A played great all year, they should've just been given the title even though Team B played better today."

Except that Team A and Team B don't play each other every single week with Team A usually winning. Take chess as an example. If there's a world championship chess match between player A and B, and player A wins the first 19, and player B wins the last 1, we wouldn't normally proclaim player B to be the "top chess player"

Stefan was excellent when he came in; Carla and Hossea both improved greatly as the season progressed, despite missteps along the way. Beyond that, the editing you mention may have downplayed many of their earlier successes and strengths to try and foster the "underdog" image.

Hosea may have improved (at the finale only) and created "on average" tastier dishes, but they still looked boring and uninspired even when they were cooked really well. And your assessment of performances early and late don't really gel with actual achievements. Hosea had only won two elimination challenges prior to winning the whole thing... week 3 and week 6, and one quickfire. Stefan won week 1, 8, 9, 11 and won quickfires in weeks 1, 8, 10, 11. Carla on the other hand did get substantially better (in terms of wins). She won weeks 8, 10, 13 and the quickfire in week 12. I don't see any evidence that Hosea greatly improved considering this.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: torpid
I don't like the editing work they did to portray Stefan as worse than he was.

What show were you watching? Producers can and will often edit a person a certain way to make them more or less appealing. The other contestants though see the REAL person and react accordingly. Other than Fabio who had a Euro man-crush on him everyone else loathed Stefan. They didn't loathe the editing work, they loathed the Stefan they worked and lived with.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: torpid
I don't like the editing work they did to portray Stefan as worse than he was.

What show were you watching? Producers can and will often edit a person a certain way to make them more or less appealing. The other contestants though see the REAL person and react accordingly. Other than Fabio who had a Euro man-crush on him everyone else loathed Stefan. They didn't loathe the editing work, they loathed the Stefan they worked and lived with.

He was cocky and tough to work with, but several contestants seemed to actually enjoy his company and had a friendly relationship with him. I don't think more than one or two people loathed him.

 

[torpid]

Hosea himself even stated he likes Stefan.

Bravotv.com: Do you actually like Stefan because sometimes you seem actually kind of playful.
Yes. As I said before, he is a friend. The show needs drama, so you see the fights and the insults. There are many hours worth of footage of Stefan and I having a great time together that are laying on a cutting room floor somewhere. In fact, I'd say 90% of the time we got along wonderfully.

 

[AdvancedRobotics]

reunion tonight fabio for fan favorite!