# Top Chef - 2/25/2009 - Finale **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476 "2009-02-26T04:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/41 "2009-02-27T15:28:06Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > It was unfair of the Judges to mark down Stefan’s fish dish because he froze it. The only way they knew that was because they saw it being prepared. There’s no way to NOT know that fish had been frozen. It looked watery, and was probably mealy. Freezing that fish was a far, far stupider thing to do than making dessert was. I was really pulling for Carla, and was sad to see her fall apart like that. I don’t love Hosea, but I’m okay with the win. Really, Stefan gave them one outstanding dish, one utter disappointment, and one throwaway. If he’d made a great dessert, he’d probably have won. But as Tom always says, “Is this the dish to win with?” You can’t win with deviled eggs, and you certainly can’t win with ice cream, mousse, and a lollipop. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/42 "2009-02-27T15:52:31Z")
That was a total bullshit decision. There was no clear margin of victory for Hosea in the last challenge (they all said that Stefan had made the best single dish, and everything else was pretty much a wash). They were making up nitpicky shit to ding Stefan for just because they didn’t want a non-American to win. That airhead, Gail, said that Sefan’s dessert was “dated?” It was “1982” (or whatever the year was)? WTF does that MEAN? Did it taste good or didn’t i? At least he had the balls to cook a dessert. Hosea punked out and made an easy venison dish that anybody could make. It seemed to me like Toby favored Stefan, but Colicchio just had it in for Stefan for some reason and kept shutting down anything anybody said to praise him by making up some kind of bullshit, vaccuous criticism like “his dessert is eh.” On TWOP a lot of people seemed to be blaming Casey for Carla losing, but I don’t think that’s fair. There was nothing wrong conceptually with changing the tart idea to a souffle (a bleu cheese souffle actually sounds pretty good), she lost because she had a simple brain lapse, forgot to turn the oven down and boiled her batter. It was a mistake of execution, not concept. If she’d have remebered to turn the damn oven down, I think she might have won. I think the judges had been dying to give her the prize, but after that they just couldn’t. Oh well, another screaming douchebag wins Top Chef. I’d still rather hang out with Stefan. By the way, I think the whole, contrived “arrogant” villain edit they were trying to give Stefan all season got kind of blown out of he water when we saw how compassionate he was to Carla, going to put his arms around her when she cried at the Judges Table – especially in contrast to Hosea sticking the needle in her about having cooked “my own food.” That showed us who really was and was not a dick right there. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/43 "2009-02-27T15:59:06Z")
Casey must be getting a lot of hate, because she had [this](http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/02/26/casey-thompson-speaks-out-about-top-chef/) to say about the finale: > [@](#): > > Carla was not prepared and in over her head. The show did not talk about how the first course (crab) took her half of the friggin’ cooking time that day, I was left to work the rest of HER dishes. > > She also did not have a plan. The ONLY thing she had in mind was a cheese course! I would NEVER do a cheese course. And where in the hell did french come from!? She is not even classically trained! It (the show) didn’t talk about how I worked on a sauce for 2 days and Carla forgot to put it on the plate… It didn’t show how the 2nd course (fish) was MINE. It didn’t show how she took the sous vide idea and decided to GRILL it last minute causing it to be tough… And it didn’t show how she WANTED to do the souffles which she does not even know how to make! That was HER food, because it certainly was me asking her how she wanted to do this and that while she was busy picking crab the entire time and making a souffle that didn’t rise! > > I am done with TC. I did not influence her. She has NO ideas of her own, oh, except a cheese course. I don’t think this kind of attack on Carla is warranted at all. It’s not as if Carla blamed her - she already took full responsibility for the loss. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/44 "2009-02-27T16:10:51Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > That airhead, Gail, said that Sefan’s dessert was “dated?” It was “1982” (or whatever the year was)? WTF does that MEAN? Did it taste good or didn’t i? At least he had the balls to cook a dessert. Hosea punked out and made an easy venison dish that anybody could make. That’s a pretty lame defense of Stefan. Did the venison taste good, or didn’t it? And even if it was “easy”, how is an “easy venison dish that anyone could make” worse than a half-assed dessert that anyone could make? As for Casey’s post… that’s nice hon. Stay classy. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/45 "2009-02-27T16:17:48Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > Casey must be getting a lot of hate, because she had [this](http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/02/26/casey-thompson-speaks-out-about-top-chef/) to say about the finale: > I don’t think this kind of attack on Carla is warranted at all. It’s not as if Carla blamed her - she already took full responsibility for the loss. I just got done reading that and Casey just shot herself in the foot. Most people were upset that Carla listened to her, not that Casey made the suggestions. Only a few clueless people blamed Casey, but now Casey just made herself look worse by blaming Carla, the fan favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/46 "2009-02-27T16:19:55Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > That’s a pretty lame defense of Stefan. Did the venison taste good, or didn’t it? And even if it was “easy”, how is an “easy venison dish that anyone could make” worse than a half-assed dessert that anyone could make? I disagree that Stefan made a half-assed dessert. Toby didn’t think so, and that doesn’t make the “dated” criticism any more substantive. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/47 "2009-02-27T16:24:05Z")
It looks like the Hosea/Leah grossness is [still going on](http://www.nypost.com/seven/02272009/gossip/pagesix/hot_dishes_on_the_side_157168.htm). ---
**Author:** ![metonymic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@metonymic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metonymic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/48 "2009-02-27T16:37:21Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > I actually think it might be to Carla and Stefan’s favour _not_ to win. I know on _Project Runway_, winning the competition gives Bravo a stake in everything the designer produces for a time after the competition. If Top Chef is the same way, the runners up get the exposure and acclaim without selling their souls. > > StG Actually I was just reading an [article](http://nymag.com/news/features/35538/) yesterday that explains that the clause giving Bravo a stake was dropped after Project Runway season 1. From the article (p.5): > [@](#): > > After he won the first season of Project Runway, he discovered that the Weinstein Company would forever own a 10 percent stake in his brand—and he didn’t yet even have a brand—if he chose to take their $100,000 prize. He turned it down. The company has since dropped the clause. So thank god for that – what a ridiculous clause. Count me among those who were disappointed in Carla and thought Stefan should have won. I still think each chef’s performance over the rest of the season should have something (anything!) to do with the overall outcome. Similar to how the end of year exam in a course contributes only a percentage of your final grade, not the entire thing. But then again, for me, most of this season’s entertainment factor died when Fabio was booted. I didn’t realize I liked him so much, but he just added so much humour! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/49 "2009-02-27T16:42:50Z")
Fabio and Stefan should do a cooking show together. Stefan could teach technique and Fabio could keep the patter going. ---
**Author:** ![metonymic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@metonymic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metonymic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/50 "2009-02-27T16:47:18Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Fabio and Stefan should do a cooking show together. Stefan could teach technique and Fabio could keep the patter going. Yes! Now that’s a show I would watch! ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/51 "2009-02-27T16:58:16Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Fabio and Stefan should do a cooking show together. Stefan could teach technique and Fabio could keep the patter going. Well that _would_ achieve something I had heretofore thought impossible: A cooking show I’d find even more annoying than Rachael Ray’s. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/52 "2009-02-27T17:08:15Z")
I’d like the show to be run without the eliminations at all. Each chef has a scorecard or there is a leader board and the top three at the end make the finals. They could accumulate points for winning short quickfires and more points for winning more involved challenges. You could even give points for runners up- rewarding the chefs that were so close, but didn’t win. Group challenges could be handled by distributing the points based on how individual performed on the winning teams. Then the finals could be judged solely on the merits of the meals prepared in the final challenges, since the chefs performance in toto over the season was already considered in the fact that they made the finals in the first place. You might need to have fewer chefs to begin with in order to keep all the people from blending together- 12 maybe. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/53 "2009-02-27T17:15:34Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I disagree that Stefan made a half-assed dessert. Toby didn’t think so, and that doesn’t make the “dated” criticism any more substantive. The dessert didn’t seem all that challenging for him, or imaginative. I feel as if he’d done more impressive desserts earlier in the season - the panne cotta for Wylie Dufresne, for instance. As far as the presentation being “dated” I’m not in love with teetering towers, or the plate smeared with raspberry coulis either… In every TC thread we talk about how Colicchio insists that they judge each meal on it’s own merits. The problem with that is that it means that someone can win the whole shooting match by being less bad, without actually shining. What I find myself wondering is, what is really the goal of the show (besides ad revenue, I get that)? I don’t think Stefan is going to suffer professionally for having almost won, or Carla either, or even Fabio. **Mesquite-oh** ’s sports analogy helped smoothe it out for me. It’s curious to me that people are more upset this season than they were last season when Richard practically lapped everyone else all season and then didn’t win. Still, if I travel to Atlanta I would try and seek out Richard’s restaurant, but probably wouldn’t make an effort to find Stefan’s. I think he’s clearly proficient, and could probably make his squab and braised cabbage dish standing on his head blindfolded, but I’m not all that keen to eat squab and braised cabbage. And if I were Carla I’d just keep a clip of Jaques Pepin saying my peas were “scrumptious” and play it whenever I felt the slightest bit discouraged. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/54 "2009-02-27T17:16:22Z")
Edit: This is a response to **IvoryTowerDenizen** – the post by **gwendee** sneaked in while I was writing (shakes fist). I’ve pondered that structure myself. I think it’s unworkable to keep everybody around for so long; with that many people, and that many dishes being made, we barely have time to skim over what’s being made in the quickfires as it is. Part of what brings me to the show is the fact that the cooking gets additional attention in the final weeks, once there are few enough people that the episodes aren’t jam-packed with superficial-checking-in moments for everybody. It might work, instead, if people were eliminated in batches of three. Keep the running score, and cut off the bottom three, every third week. Or something like that. Then you can have a stellar performance insulating a fuckup, and only the most consistently poor will be at the bottom and at risk of elimination. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/55 "2009-02-27T17:19:19Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Edit: This is a response to **IvoryTowerDenizen** – the post by **gwendee** sneaked in while I was writing (shakes fist). > I’ve pondered that structure myself. I think it’s unworkable to keep everybody around for so long; with that many people, and that many dishes being made, we barely have time to skim over what’s being made in the quickfires as it is. Part of what brings me to the show is the fact that the cooking gets additional attention in the final weeks, once there are few enough people that the episodes aren’t jam-packed with superficial-checking-in moments for everybody. > > It might work, instead, if people were eliminated in batches of three. Keep the running score, and cut off the bottom three, every third week. Or something like that. Then you can have a stellar performance insulating a fuckup, and only the most consistently poor will be at the bottom and at risk of elimination. That’s an excellent idea- I couldn’t figure out to solve the problem of too many people/dishes blending together. I think your idea is a great solution- maintains the drama while mitigating some of the capricious nature of the show- a great chef booted because of one mistake! ---
**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:** [February 27, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/56 "2009-02-27T17:36:21Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It seemed to me like Toby favored Stefan, but Colicchio just had it in for Stefan for some reason and kept shutting down anything anybody said to praise him by making up some kind of bullshit, vaccuous criticism like “his dessert is eh.” You read the blogs, right? Toby Young’s blog (particularly the bit I quoted near the top of this thread) addresses this. They all basically agreed that Stefan and Hosea were tied going in to the last two courses, but then Stefan won the second to last course and Hosea won the last course. Even Toby seemed to admit Hosea won the last course. Toby’s argument was “Well, then they tied this meal, and we should give it to Stefan based on his overall body of work throughout the show.” But Tom and the other judges felt that Hosea won the last course by a _greater margin_ than Stefan won the penultimate course, so he was the winner of the challenge and thus the title. So that was the real argument – how _close_ was Stefan’s last dish to matching Hosea’s. I don’t know where you’re getting the idea that they didn’t want a non-American to win. If they had it in for non-American’s so much, how come Stefan and Fabio faired so well all season long? I think you may be letting your dislike of Hosea (which I share somewhat, although the editing may have exagerrated the Hosea/Stefan rivalry) cloud your judgement a bit. Or was their some clear sign of anti-Eurpoean bias on the part of the judges (besides the fact that a European didn’t happen to win) that I missed? ---
**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:** [February 27, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/57 "2009-02-27T17:37:21Z")
I also think it’s telling that Fabio, who had an _admitted_ pro-European bias, still thought Hosea was the winner. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/58 "2009-02-27T18:04:38Z")
Casey’s blog quote - > [@](#): > > And it didn’t show how she WANTED to do the souffles which she does not even know how to make! That was HER food, because it certainly was me asking her how she wanted to do this and that while she was busy picking crab the entire time and making a souffle that didn’t rise! In listening to Carla’s interview on yesterday’s NPR Talk of the Nation, she said, “… and then the souffle didn’t ‘souffle’. Although, in my head, I was saying ‘souffle’ but I never really **made** a souffle, it was just a custard, and I didn’t turn the oven down, so it boiled and curdled, so there was a lot of things that went wrong with me, but that being said, I don’t blame Casey, I take full responsibility for everything that happened.” (Transcribed by me directly from the podcast.) ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/59 "2009-02-27T19:18:38Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > Casey must be getting a lot of hate, because she had [this](http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/02/26/casey-thompson-speaks-out-about-top-chef/) to say about the finale:\ What an asshole! I mean, I can understand being angry and embarrassed if you feel the editing was unfair, and people are raking you over the coals on the intarwebs. I can even understand issuing a statement trying to defend yourself, but have some class about it. Especially when the person you were working with has not said one bad thing about you and took full responsibility for the things that went wrong! If she really had to say something, she could have phrased it more diplomatically and not looked like a total dickhead: mention that editing can be deceiving, and while she made suggestions at Carla’s request, she always did what Carla decided on and planned. Maybe mention that the extra appetizer threw them for a loop and put too much time pressure on the team for them to make everything well. But to lash out and mock Carla’s training and general skills as a chef, and bitch sarcastically about the cheese course and so on, reveals her as a totally immature jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476/60 "2009-02-27T19:33:57Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > I don’t know where you’re getting the idea that they didn’t want a non-American to win. If they had it in for non-American’s so much, how come Stefan and Fabio faired so well all season long? I think you may be letting your dislike of Hosea (which I share somewhat, although the editing may have exagerrated the Hosea/Stefan rivalry) cloud your judgement a bit. Or was their some clear sign of anti-Eurpoean bias on the part of the judges (besides the fact that a European didn’t happen to win) that I missed? I guess it was just an impression from the “arrogant Euros” edit that the show thought an American winning would be a more crowd pleasing outcome. I concede I could be wrong about the motivations of the judges. It just seemed to me like they (especially Tom) really didn’t want Stefan to win and were trying to contrive a justification for giving it to Hosea. I still think if you asked any of them straight up who the better chef was (not just who made the best 4th course today), they’d all say Stefan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-2-25-2009-finale/487476.md?page=4)