# Top Chef D.C. - 6/16 (season premiere) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485 "2010-06-16T23:32:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/21 "2010-06-17T18:20:15Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > When we were predicting who would go, I was sure it would be grainy fat free pate chef. My husband said it would be John. I argued that they needed to keep Crazy Eyes 2.0 for at least a few more weeks. I knew it was bad news when he bought something frozen? and premade while they were shopping. Not only that, it WASNT the brand he was used to using! THEN, when I saw it was a DESERT I was like NOOOOOOOOOOO! At least at the end when they asked him what he was thinking, he answered something along the lines of " I guess I was just being stupid" :smack: I did feel sorry for the guy because I think he would have really just enjoyed being on the show for awhile rather than seeing it as the ultimate dick measuring contest some folks take it as. And whats up with all these contestants wanting to make a strong showing? The best strategy at the start is to not royally screw up. THATS what gets you booted early on and what you are most likely to do if you try to get too fancy/out of your zone. Don’t these contestants watch the old programs? I still think 2.0 would have beat out grainy liver lite pate girl if his desert had actually tasted like maple syrup rather than just sugar. Making light liver pate that taste pretty bad without a good reason to do so justs seems amazingly stupid for a chef. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/22 "2010-06-17T18:39:16Z")
Exactly **bill**. Note to Top Chef contestants: **Do not make dessert unless absolutely necessary**! After 5 seasons you would think that they would have enough evidence to know this already but I guess not. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/23 "2010-06-17T18:52:55Z")
> [@gravitycrash](#): > > Exactly **bill**. Note to Top Chef contestants: **Do not make dessert unless absolutely necessary**! > > After 5 seasons you would think that they would have enough evidence to know this already but I guess not. Seriously, I just can’t understand why this is true though. I can’t think of any time when I was ever served a dessert that was _bad_. How tough is it to make dessert yummy? I can see it not being a winner or challenging enough toward the end, but, seriously? I suspect that Pastry/dessert chef is not a respected position, and that many people are messing it up subconsciously. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/24 "2010-06-17T18:59:22Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Seriously, I just can’t understand why this is true though. I can’t think of any time when I was ever served a dessert that was _bad_. How tough is it to make dessert yummy? I can see it not being a winner or challenging enough toward the end, but, seriously? > > . Yeah, while desserts often seem to be a death sentence, I too do not know why the judges have such a stick up their butt when it comes to deserts. I’d be interested to know why. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/25 "2010-06-17T18:59:32Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Seriously, I just can’t understand why this is true though. I can’t think of any time when I was ever served a dessert that was _bad_. How tough is it to make dessert yummy? I can see it not being a winner or challenging enough toward the end, but, seriously? > > I suspect that Pastry/dessert chef is not a respected position, and that many people are messing it up subconsciously. I suspect that measurements and proportions are much more critical with pastries and such, so just winging it (especially if it’s already not your forte) is very dangerous, especially if you’re as ego-driven as most of these contestants are. They’re just as likely to think “I haven’t done this often, and don’t exactly remember the details, but how hard could it be really? I’m awesome, after all!” > [@](#): > > And whats up with all these contestants wanting to make a strong showing? Before the show was half-over, I was already tired of hearing how all of them wanted “to represent”. Argh, what a tedious and meaningless phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/26 "2010-06-17T19:14:52Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I knew it was bad news when he bought something frozen? and premade while they were shopping. Not only that, it WASNT the brand he was used to using! When I saw him pull something out the freezer I thought: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a chef on this show use a premade frozen ingredient (except maybe ice cream).” So I wasn’t surprised that he got the boot. Really a bad move on the first challenge to take short cuts and demonstrate how much you can’t cook. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/27 "2010-06-17T19:26:01Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Seriously, I just can’t understand why this is true though. I can’t think of any time when I was ever served a dessert that was _bad_. How tough is it to make dessert yummy? I can see it not being a winner or challenging enough toward the end, but, seriously? > > I suspect that Pastry/dessert chef is not a respected position, and that many people are messing it up subconsciously. It is, apparently, more difficult than you might think. I attended a thank-you luncheon as part of a business function once, that was catered by the local Keiser College culinary school students. The meal was delicious until they brought out the baklava for dessert. I lurve me some baklava. This one was horrible. The recipe is super simple too; I have no clue how you’d screw it up, but these kids did. It was not sweet and sticky, as it should be, which made me suspect they either didn’t use enough honey, or forgot it entirely. It was bland and dry and grainy. Vile. That’s the only time I’ve ever taken a single bite of baklava and left the rest on the plate. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/28 "2010-06-17T19:30:24Z")
> [@gravitycrash](#): > > Exactly **bill**. Note to Top Chef contestants: **Do not make dessert unless absolutely necessary**! > > After 5 seasons you would think that they would have enough evidence to know this already but I guess not. You’d think that, but someone makes a salad and gets sent home every season, too. Regarding the disdain for desserts, when Padma introduced Gail did y’all catch her saying “and host of the upcoming show Top Chef: Just Desserts?” They haven’t been advertising it Bravo saturation style yet so I don’t know when it’ll show up. Seems as if Bravo figured out that _we_ like desserts even if chefs don’t. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/29 "2010-06-17T19:52:13Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > . . . I lurve me some baklava. This one was horrible. The recipe is super simple too; I have no clue how you’d screw it up, but these kids did. It was not sweet and sticky, as it should be, which made me suspect they either didn’t use enough honey, or forgot it entirely. It was bland and dry and grainy. Vile. . . . See, there you go. Now I’m no chef. I’m a fairly good amateur cook, of the “I know what I like” foodie variety. (i.e. the lowest level of knowledge, but quite appreciative.) But I can whip out a baklava for 50 and make them cry. You don’t even really have to cook for baklava, just assemble it ferchissakes. You can use the orange blossom honey, or the pistachios, (but not both) to jazz it up and make yourself look brilliant. Unless you are rolling your own phyllo, what’s the difficulty? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/30 "2010-06-17T20:45:43Z")
I laughed at the big chick from Atlanta. Complaining that she was chosen because she can’t cook. Then demonstrates that she really can’t. 😉 She reminds me of that lady last season with all the piercings. Big butt, big mouth and couldn’t cook anything. I’ll let the worst get eliminated before learning their names. ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/31 "2010-06-17T22:37:53Z")
I think there are two reasons why desserts are the kiss of death on this show: 1. Proper baking is a real science, and the cheftestants aren’t allowed to use recipes to get their proportions right. So the desserts that do get made tend to be loose conglomerations of vaguely liquid stuff rather than full on cakes and such. 2. Desserts and cooking are, in most professional kitchens, done by completely separate people, often on a different sort of schedule, and not infrequently in a completely separate space. Your average chef may not have put out a dessert since they graduated from culinary school. They think it’s the easy part of cooking, the thing that any random chick can do, but it’s not that simple and they haven’t done it in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/32 "2010-06-18T12:10:58Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I totally forgot about this. Probably the best news is that Toby is out and **Eric Ripert** is in. > > Hopefully they bring back Anthony Bourdain as a guest judge so we can get those two on the same episode. YES! That would be AWESOME!!! ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/33 "2010-06-18T13:31:20Z")
Yeah, this is the reason why I don’t mind missing the first few episodes. Too many people trying too hard to position themselves as the one to beat. This season there seems to be plenty of them. Cockiness, I predict, will be a primary downfall as the season progresses. That said, I did watch it On Demand. The guys are giving the better first impression. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/34 "2010-06-18T13:54:18Z")
It looks like two of the early front runners are African-American. I hope they continue doing well. Top Chef needs a little color in the finals. I’ve been surprised there haven’t been more black chefs represented on TC. The restaurant industry was one of the early professions that welcomed minority’s. Some of the best meals I’ve eaten were prepared by black cooks. I recall in S4 there was a guy that seemed really good. He got eliminated during restaurant wars. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/35 "2010-06-18T14:03:54Z")
Correction - S3 CJ did a piss poor job managing/delegating and the black chef tried to do too much. I think he would have made the finals otherwise. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/36 "2010-06-18T14:08:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ll let the worst get eliminated before learning their names. I find myself wishing it was like a lot of online multiplayer video games, with their names floating above their heads. I can’t remember who half these people are and by then half of them are gone. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/37 "2010-06-18T15:38:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I recall in S4 there was a guy that seemed really good. He got eliminated during restaurant wars. I think you’re thinking of Tre Wilcox from Season 3. As I recall, many people thought he was sent home too early that season. ---
**Author:** ![Jelly\_Roll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Jelly\_Roll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelly_Roll)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485/38 "2010-06-18T18:46:59Z")
Just my 2 cents on the dessert issue- I heard one of the Top Chef contestants say that the reason most chefs hate desserts is because once the dessert is put in the oven to bake, there’s nothing you can do about it if it is a flop. Whereas, with cooking, you are constantly tasting the food and making corrections here and there. I think when you combine that with the fact that most of these guys just don’t do desserts that often, it can (and often does) lead to disaster. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-d-c-6-16-season-premiere/543485.md?page=1)