# Top Chef 1-28 -- The Top Chef Bowl **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2009, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530 "2009-01-29T12:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530/21 "2009-01-29T23:06:06Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > The more I see of her the more I like her. I don’t think she has the cooking talent to win, but I’d love to see her in the top 3. I agree, Carla sort of grows on you. I found her very annoying at first, I think because she doesn’t blink. My eyes water when I watch her for a few minutes. But her personality and her food are sort of interesting, after you get used to her. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530/22 "2009-01-29T23:23:23Z")
Anyone else notice that Toby didn’t get in one of his oh-so-clever (but actually TERRIBLE and VOMITOUS) quips? Either the producers or Toby himself have wised up that they are a distraction. Although watching the other judges react to his “I want to have sex with it!” was pretty amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530/23 "2009-01-30T04:40:31Z")
> [@atlantic](#): > > slight hijack … but anyone else read “The Dilido Beach Club” when Jeff’s name is shown as “The Dildo Beach Club”? > > Maybe it’s just me. 😉 Not at all, but I’ll bet it was intentional. Nobody is likely to forget the name! We actually saw Jeff smile briefly in this episode, which foreshadowed him getting his ass steeltoed back to Miami. It was fun to see Spike and Andrew again. And I guess the foodies out there will disagree, but what the hell chance does chicken livers have versus steak? ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530/24 "2009-01-30T04:53:58Z")
> [@KRM](#): > > I thought the producers were in something of a pickle (no pun intended) because ISTM that Jeff was the most talented of the 3 up for elimination but Stefan and Fabio were the best for ratings. In the end, I guess it’s no real surprise which direction they went. I think that’s pretty unfair to the judges, who are adamant that they aren’t choosing the winners and losers based on ratings. Stefan has won 3 quickfires and 3 eliminations, Fabio has won 1 elimination and until this week had never been on the bottom, Jeff had won nothing and had been on the bottom once before. Is it really that hard to believe Jeff may have had the worst dish? (I believe he was also the only one who lost 3-1 on the judging this week, with the others going 2-2 and losing because of the audience vote.) ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530/25 "2009-01-30T05:00:08Z")
> [@Tom Colicchio's blog](#): > > The only thing I didn’t like about this challenge was the voting power invested in the young culinary students, who, I’m afraid, tended to vote personality over palate. I suspect this was particularly referring to them choosing Andrew with his faux-southern accent over the eventual challenge winner, Carla. I was pleased Tom called them on the BS of calling this group “all-stars”: > [@Tom's blog](#): > > Top Chef All-Stars? It might be a stretch to say so: Some didn’t make it more than half-way through their season’s competition. Andrea was eliminated not once but twice, and not one of the members of the “All-Star” team made it to their season’s finale. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530/26 "2009-01-30T06:03:23Z")
> [@Billdo](#): > > Does anyone _ **NOT** _ read it as “The Dildo Beach Club”? > > I was very pleased that Carla won this week. I think she’s funny, warm and personable as hell, and I can’t wait to see if she does anything else on television after this. She may not make the best dishes all the time, but she seems to be nearly unique in that she is a realistic judge of her own creations. I also appreciated how at least one of the judges (I forget which) tasted how she cooked it with love this week. I think she might be the front-runner for fan favorite (and certainly would be if I were the only voter). > … > > Of the three that were up for the axe (and perhaps of the full group of seven), Jeff was the right one to go. He always overcomplicates and not only does he not edit his work, he doesn’t even understand that he has to edit. He seems never to have done anything spectacular, and I doubt he had much chance to go a lot further. It’s interesting how differently the show can play to different people. I really disagree about Carla. To me she seems prickly and distant. And when she defended her bad desserts the other week as having been “sent out with love,” she came across to me as deluded, and I thought for sure she’d be fired. I totally agree about Jeff. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530/27 "2009-01-30T14:43:18Z")
Carla’s “sending the food out with love” was basically her way of saying “I know I screwed up, but que sera sera”. Not too strange if you ask me. Jeff’s departure was a heartbreak. He really felt he did great and gave it his all and now he’ll be thinking this over for at least a decade. There was such sadness in him. Yes, he was naive and lacked of editing and self-awareness. But I still feel bad about it. Stefan interrupted Carla’s meditation. Was he being a jerk or was he playing the game? I like him nevertheless, he seems really intelligent and is probably a decent (if self-centered) man out of the competition context. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530/28 "2009-01-30T16:32:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Jeff’s departure was a heartbreak. He really felt he did great and gave it his all and now he’ll be thinking this over for at least a decade. There was such sadness in him. Yes, he was naive and lacked of editing and self-awareness. But I still feel bad about it. Hehe that’s about the opposite of How Jeff seemed to me. He seemed so Arrogant. Each time he just rolled his eyes amazed at the Philistines lack of understanding of his masterpieces. He never even considered changing his methods are listening for a second. He constantly loked like he was throwing in trendy techniques or ingrediants, and assuming that if he used them all at once, it would automatically be great food. Just a total lack of understanding of it all. The judges table seemed really contrived to me. During the actual live judging they made most things seem close and praised both dishes nearly equally on both sides. Several even going to ties. But then at the Judges table, everybody who had happened to win was praised for a great dish, and everybody who had happened to lose was total shit. Seemed like after the fact justification a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530/29 "2009-01-30T17:01:34Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Hell, we call Jeff “Dildo Beach.” I can’t believe nobody thought to themselves “this might be a poor naming choice…” when the restaurant was opened. > > I was pretty sure when Fabio mentioned his poor, sick mama that he was going to go home. I still don’t quite understand why overcooked venison and disgusting looking salad didn’t get him eliminated. I would have rather Leah gone and Jeff stayed another week, but I’m glad Fabio wasn’t sent home. I want him to pull his shit together and really shine in the next four weeks. Yep, we always laugh at Dildo Beach Club. I also thought Fabio was getting the loser edit but I think that was probably done to throw us off since once we saw the bottom 3 we’d know who was going, so they had to throw a little doubt in there. I liked looking at Jeff and he had some good food moments but nothing fantastic, so I have no qualms about him going. I’d still like to see Hosea and Hosebag go next, even though I think Carla’s only there because she’s lucky. > [@tim314](#): > > I think that’s pretty unfair to the judges, who are adamant that they aren’t choosing the winners and losers based on ratings. > > Stefan has won 3 quickfires and 3 eliminations, Fabio has won 1 elimination and until this week had never been on the bottom, Jeff had won nothing and had been on the bottom once before. Is it really that hard to believe Jeff may have had the worst dish? (I believe he was also the only one who lost 3-1 on the judging this week, with the others going 2-2 and losing because of the audience vote.) In this case I can’t help but feel that they did take into consideration past performance, not ratings, going by previous judging comments on not respecting the ingredients, overcooking the meat should have been the worst offense. But Fabio had done much better before and at least won one once. Jeff had never really distinguished himself. > [@wolfman](#): > > Hehe that’s about the opposite of How Jeff seemed to me. He seemed so Arrogant. Each time he just rolled his eyes amazed at the Philistines lack of understanding of his masterpieces. He never even considered changing his methods are listening for a second. He constantly loked like he was throwing in trendy techniques or ingrediants, and assuming that if he used them all at once, it would automatically be great food. Just a total lack of understanding of it all. > The judges table seemed really contrived to me. During the actual live judging they made most things seem close and praised both dishes nearly equally on both sides. Several even going to ties. But then at the Judges table, everybody who had happened to win was praised for a great dish, and everybody who had happened to lose was total shit. Seemed like after the fact justification a bit. As I was saying above, it seemed like the only bad comment the judges made at the tasting was that Fabio had overcooked the meat. The others seemed to have good food but their competitor was just a little better. Then when they get to the table they talked about how horrible this or that was and it did seem very contrived. I also thought that leaving the final decision to the “fan tasters” when the judges split was stupid. They could have easily pulled in a fifth guest judge, like Leanne Wong who’s on the staff. Why not have a guest judge be an All-Star, too? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-1-28-the-top-chef-bowl/483530.md?page=1)