Letters to the Editor
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"Top Chef" a bit of a scam?
Chefs who make chicken piccata with bread crumbs and souffles with a mashed-potato base. Production staff who spell out "duck a la orange" and "halla bread" without anyone crying "Not on Earth you don't!"
Does "Top Chef" recruit a few Burger King rejects for early-episode human sacrifice? Who's steering this leaky boat?
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It's the Gastronomy, Stupid
The appeal of "Top Chef" has always been the jaw-dropping creativity of the cooks--the ability to create gorgeous-looking dishes from seat-of-the-pants ingredients. I don't give a damn about the so-called drama. Please, please, spare me from the "They're a couple! And they're competitors!" bullshit the first episode promises. Maybe Anthony Bourdain will swallow anything, but I won't. Cut the crap, get back to the kitchen or pack up your knives, producers!
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It's no "Project Runway"
If Top Chef were as serious about the food as Project Runway is about the clothes, it would be worth watching. It has to be challenging to convey what the viewer cannot taste or smell, but, rather than meeting this challenge creatively, the producers at Top Chef simply ignore it and give the food short shrift, making virtually no attempt to provide the appreciation for ingredients and techniques that the producers of Project Runway manage to include for their designers' work, even among all the "drama." And the cutesy hurdles the producers devise for the chefs, all too routinely forcing them to try to create great food out of junk under impossible conditions, are insulting.
We're giving Top Chef a pass this time and watching the new season of South Park and the new Lewis Black show.
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Top Chef 4
Poor start for this season. Arrogance factor is way up there with too many of the "I have cooked food that they can't even imagine" types. And half of this crowd can't even cook classic dishes or don't know what they are.
I have to agree that "Top Chef" doesn't take food as seriously as "Project Runway" does with clothes. Where have any of the "Top Chef" winners gone? You rarely see them any where, as opposed to "Project Runway" winners and even runners-up who have successful fashion lines on the market.
"Top Chef" does the drama better than the food. And having Rocco Dispirito as a judge? He's a major failure in his own right. Tom Coliccio's schitck is getting old and he seems like he's there just to get a check. I'll give it another show or two, but if it doesn't pick up any, I'll be missing this season without regret.
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Where have the winners gone?
Where have previous Top Chef winners gone? They've gone into their kitchens, where they should be. You don't see them as much as Project Runway contestants because their job is behind the scenes, whereas a fashion designer's job is often to be right in front of the camera making headlines. Chef's who can't stay in the kitchen because they crave the limelight (cough, Colicchio, cough) arent' the best chefs. Fashion and cooking are not comparable.