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Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
Top Chef goes to the Crescent City! Jazz! Beads! King cakes! That roux isn't dark enough!

For real, though, people gonna get told their roux's not dark enough.

Judges Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, Hugh Acheson, and Emeril Lagasse are back. It's New Orleans, so I'm assuming Emeril will be around a lot.


The Contestants




Aaron Cuschieri, 29 – Chicago, IL
Executive Chef, Slurping Turtle


Benedetto Bartolotta, 27 – New York, NY
Owner, Indulge by Bene


Bret Pelaggi, 34 – Miami, FL
Recently moved to Miami, doesn't appear to be currently employed. As far as I can tell, his most recent job was chef de cuisine at Chiara Bistro.


Brian Huskey, 32 – Los Angeles, CA
R&D chef for Ricardo Zarate, most recently involved in opening Paiche


Carlos Gaytan, 42 – Chicago, IL
Owner/executive chef, Mexique


Carrie Mashaney, 35 – Seattle, WA
Chef de Cuisine, Aragona. The restaurant's not actually open yet, and they don't appear to have set up a website yet.


Janine Booth, 25 – New York, NY
Trying to open a restaurant later this year. Used to work with Jeff from season 5.


Jason Cichonski, 27 – Philadelphia, PA
Chef/owner, Ela


Justin Devillier – New Orleans, LA
Chef/owner, La Petite Grocery


Louis Maldonado, 32 – Healdsburg, CA
Executive chef, Spoonbar and Pizzando


Michael Sichel – New Orleans, LA
Executive Chef, Galatoire's Restaurant


Nicholas Elmi, 32 – Philadelphia, PA
Chef/owner, Laurel, opening planned for November


Nina Compton, 34 – Miami, FL
Chef de cuisine, Scarpetta Miami at Fontainebleau


Patricia Vega, 29 – New York, NY
Sous chef, Fishtail by David Burke


Ramon Bojorquez, 31 – San Diego, CA
Sous chef, Nine-Ten


Sara Johannes – Minneapolis, MN
Executive chef, Shoyu at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport


Shirley Chung, 36 – Fremont, CA
Former executive chef of China Poblano. No mention of current employment.


Stephanie Cmar, 28 – Boston, MA
Sous Chef, No. 9 Park. Returning to Top Chef after being eliminated in season 10's qualifiers.


Travis Masar, 27 – La Junta, CO
His bio says he's an executive chef, but nobody's saying where.


Last Chance Kitchen

Introduced in Season 9, Last Chance Kitchen is a sort of losers bracket web series. After each episode airs, an LCK webisode goes up on Bravo's site. The chef or chefs eliminated from the main series that week compete head-to-head against last week's LCK winner for a chance to get back on the show. Each week's is a different quickfire-ish challenge with Tom as the lone judge. The winner returns to the main competition during the semifinals. Even if you don't love the idea of giving eliminated chefs a second chance, the challenges are usually straightforward and engaging.


Padma's Picks
In this new webseries, Ten New Orleans chefs competed for a spot in the main series. As the name hints, Padma was the sole judge. If you weren't paying much attention to the faces in this post, there might still be some suspense!

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Toast Museum
Dec 3, 2005

30% Iron Chef
:siren:Skip this post if you're not caught up:siren:


The Contestants

(Eliminated chefs are greyed out.)




Wikipedia-style Progress Chart




What Went Wrong
  • Ramon - Ice cubes don't belong in dashi
  • Jason - Bad summer rolls made worse by rolling in advance
  • Aaron - Salty fried kale
  • Bret - Didn't taste his seasoning blend
  • Janine - Disappointing fried shrimp
  • Michael - Worst risotto balls of the night
  • Bene - Sad steamed vegetables
  • Patty - Watermelon salad needed heat
  • Louis - Popcorn?!
  • Sara - Aggressively bad management plus a bad, incomplete dessert course

Last Chance Kitchen



Current champ: :chef: Louis :chef:
  • Janine beat Ramon, Jason, Aaron, and Bret in a cook-anything free-for-all with Fried Oysters with Southern Vegetables and Creole Mustard Aioli.
  • Janine beat Michael in a risotto challenge with Mushroom Risotto with Mascarpone and Rosemary.
  • Janine beat Bene in a frozen/canned veggie challenge with Seared Scallop with Pancetta, Minted Pea, and Corn Purιes.
  • Janine beat Patty in an onion challenge with Pork Loin with Apple Rolls, Goat Cheese, Bacon, and Caramelized Onion.
  • Louis beat Janine in a challenge using three ingredients selected from a $25 farmer's market trip with Olive Oil Poached Prawns with Tomato and Fennel Bisque.
  • Louis beat Sara in a blindfolded tag-team mascarpone challenge with Mascarpone Poached Snapper with Beech Mushrooms, Snap Peas, and Potato.

Toast Museum fucked around with this message at 14:43 on Dec 6, 2013

Poque
Sep 11, 2003

=^-^=

Toast Museum posted:


Aaron Cuschieri, 29 – Chicago, IL
Executive Chef, Slurping Turtle

Oh hell yes, Slurping Turtle is amazing. Early rooting interest for me!

jscolon2.0
Jul 9, 2001

With great payroll, comes great disappointment.
On Team Stephanie. One of last year's Tyler Stones gonna take it all the way.

Bright Future
Oct 9, 2007

[let's] fuck that crazy-ass robot
I never get my roux dark enough. :(

NOTinuyasha
Oct 17, 2006

 
The Great Twist

Toast Museum posted:


Ramon Bojorquez, 31 – San Diego, CA
Sous chef, Nine-Ten

Early cut spotted. But as long as he rocks that fedora each and every episode I know who's getting MY Save a Chef vote.

jscolon2.0
Jul 9, 2001

With great payroll, comes great disappointment.

Toast Museum posted:


Carrie Mashaney, 35 – Seattle, WA
Chef de Cuisine, Aragona. The restaurant's not actually open yet, and they don't appear to have set up a website yet.

Overly Attached Cheftestant

Ariza
Feb 8, 2006
Calling it now based solely on haircuts: Jason, Brian, and Sara are going to be awful.

gret
Dec 12, 2005

goggle-eyed freak


Stephanie was Kristen's roommate from last season right?

jscolon2.0
Jul 9, 2001

With great payroll, comes great disappointment.

gret posted:

Stephanie was Kristen's roommate from last season right?

Yes.

With 19 contestants, I wonder if they're going to add more repeat contestants again.

Last year was 21 - 6 at Elimination + 3 to get to the main 18.

Or are the Padma Picks not counted within the announced chefs? I haven't watched any.

edit: I can't count.

shadow puppet of a
Jan 10, 2007

NO TENGO SCORPIO


I fear that Bravo is going to try and serve us a play on season 6's Executive Cancer Chef Robin "Cancer" McCancer when Michael Sichel's bio kicks off with surviving his bout with Robin-itis. They love their built-in narratives.

Also is it wrong that I just want Chris Jones, of the unappetizing cigar Chris Joneses back?

physeter
Jan 24, 2006

high five, more dead than alive
In retrospect, Emmy Award-winning television program Top Chef may have begun as good television, but what it became was an increasingly successful breeding program using genetic material harvested from the stained bedsheets of Kevin "Pork Jesus" Gillespie.

Truther Vandross
Jun 17, 2008

Bret looks like a teenage Mario Lopez


also, predictions:
Winner: Aaron
Chef who is good who I want to punch in the face: Jason
Chef who sucks who sticks around too long: Sara
Chef who makes a variation of the same thing over and over again: Benedetto
Chef who gets overwhelmed a lot and cries: Carrie
Chef who goes home on their birthday: Nicholas
Chef who is dumb enough to do front of the house in restaurant wars: Carlos
WHY WOULD YOU VOLUNTEER FOR DESSERT: Louis

Truther Vandross fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Oct 1, 2013

Debbie Metallica
Jun 7, 2001

La Petite Grocery looks interesting so I'm already rooting for Justin.

Rap Game Goku
Apr 2, 2008

Word to your moms, I came to drop spirit bombs


Ariza posted:

Calling it now based solely on haircuts: Jason, Brian, and Sara are going to be awful.

I agree. All 3 look like they're trying too hard already.

Golbez
Oct 9, 2002

1 2 3!
If you want to take a shot at me get in line, line
1 2 3!
Baby, I've had all my shots and I'm fine
I gave up on Top Chef the moment they picked Josie over Kristen, because that was such unimaginable bullshit. However, I love New Orleans so much that I'm willing to give them the tiniest of chances at redemption.

I still want an Albuquerque or Denver season. First challenge: Cook rice. Anyone who fails gets eliminated on the spot.

shadow puppet of a
Jan 10, 2007

NO TENGO SCORPIO


Athenry posted:

I agree. All 3 look like they're trying too hard already.

I think Sara has the try-hard edge here. Ex theater major with an eye for 50's styling, serves upscale airport food at an iPad centric restaurant where all the positive reviews are written on the massive curve of "...for an airport terminal, its pretty good"

Here is a chef's special at "Shoyu":

jscolon2.0
Jul 9, 2001

With great payroll, comes great disappointment.
TV guide preview suggests no Qualifiers this season.

Cpt. Spring Types
Feb 19, 2004

Wait, what?
Wow, time flies. I had no idea this was starting up already.

GonSmithe
Apr 25, 2010

Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.
Oh poo poo, is this starting tonight? Awesome!

jscolon2.0
Jul 9, 2001

With great payroll, comes great disappointment.
This is bullshit. We all know that Jen Carroll is Philly's sexiest chef.

shadow puppet of a
Jan 10, 2007

NO TENGO SCORPIO


The Quickfire of the Vanities already up in here.

jscolon2.0
Jul 9, 2001

With great payroll, comes great disappointment.

shadow puppet of a posted:

The Quickfire of the Vanities already up in here.

Elimination of the Vanities.

Poque
Sep 11, 2003

=^-^=
That guy's boyfriend is totally gonna give him poo poo for mentioning his ex first.

shadow puppet of a
Jan 10, 2007

NO TENGO SCORPIO


Poque posted:

That guy's boyfriend is totally gonna give him poo poo for mentioning his ex first.
Is that equally or more demeaning than the reveal a few seconds later that "being asian" is what is boyfriend considers to be his best quality?

Poque
Sep 11, 2003

=^-^=
Alright, let's just kill this 'playlive' poll thing as quick as possible

Poque
Sep 11, 2003

=^-^=
Carrie looks like she could be a third member of Tegan and Sara.

GonSmithe
Apr 25, 2010

Perhaps it's in the nature of television. Just waves in space.
That Rocco/Karla commercial was horrifying :stare:

shadow puppet of a
Jan 10, 2007

NO TENGO SCORPIO


I don't think I've ever watched a live Bravo feed before, I love the show previews, it all seems like a parody. "The NEW Atlanta Cheating Spouse Drama!" "Formerly Homeless Rich Pastor". I had no idea I lived in this world.

Poque
Sep 11, 2003

=^-^=

shadow puppet of a posted:

I don't think I've ever watched a live Bravo feed before, I love the show previews, it all seems like a parody. "The NEW Atlanta Cheating Spouse Drama!" "Formerly Homeless Rich Pastor". I had no idea I lived in this world.

I'm not actually sure anybody lives in the world Bravo wants us to live in

Rap Game Goku
Apr 2, 2008

Word to your moms, I came to drop spirit bombs


Guessing lady who thought completely redoing her dish an hour before service was a good idea is going home.

Guy Fleegman
Jul 8, 2009

by XyloJW
Doesn't OSHA mandate "no cooking in hot pants"?

jscolon2.0
Jul 9, 2001

With great payroll, comes great disappointment.
There's no crying in Top Chef!

Poque
Sep 11, 2003

=^-^=
WHOOOOOSH

Poque
Sep 11, 2003

=^-^=

NOTinuyasha posted:

Early cut spotted. But as long as he rocks that fedora each and every episode I know who's getting MY Save a Chef vote.

Nice call :eyepop:

Doomsday Jesus
Oct 8, 2004

Doomsday Jesus we need you now.


In this moment he is euphoric, not because of some phoney god, but because of Last CHance Kitchen!

shadow puppet of a
Jan 10, 2007

NO TENGO SCORPIO


Season preview was half top chef, half Hell's Kitchen. And Lea Michele, who I guess has something to promote, or she's still on the My Fake Boyfriend Died of Real Drugs PR Tour.

But I didnt see a biathlon, so I remain hopeful. Good episode Top Chef.

PaganGoatPants
Jan 18, 2012

TODAY WAS THE SPECIAL SALE DAY!
Grimey Drawer

shadow puppet of a posted:

I don't think I've ever watched a live Bravo feed before, I love the show previews, it all seems like a parody. "The NEW Atlanta Cheating Spouse Drama!" "Formerly Homeless Rich Pastor". I had no idea I lived in this world.

The New Atlanta is painful. I live here with these people :smithicide:

NOTinuyasha
Oct 17, 2006

 
The Great Twist

Poque posted:

Nice call :eyepop:

I don't feel good about this at all.

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LTBS
Oct 9, 2003

Big Pimpin, Spending the G's
I didn't realize this was on last night until about 30 minutes through. Thankfully DVR-Man caught it and recorded it.

People I'm rooting for in this order: Justin, Nina, Carrie, Shirley, Nicholas, Janine, Stephanie, etc., etc., etc., Benedetto, and Fedora boy.

I'm glad TC:M is over though. That got really tough to watch around the 4th episode.

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