Top Chef-Masters
 

Anyone else catch the first episode last night? I have to say that I miss seeing Tom and Padma, but the show itself was still really interesting. It was great to see seasoned chefs deal with some of the same crazy challenges and bizarre food prep situations the regular contestants go through. I know I'll be following the rest of the series as it unfolds....

Caught it (on replay).

Loved it. Loved seeing the seasoned chefs dealing with the challenges, like you said. Also liked seeing that they were human and that they really respect the previous Top Chef competitors.

Was personally upset that Michael Schlow didn't fare better, but really Hubert blew them away in all phases of the game and deserves to go on.

Interesting format - I suppose they do it because they can't pull these chefs out of all their restaurants for a month at any point. But a day here-and-there is okay.

And I love that they're playing for personal charities.

lol

from Jay Rayner's blog on bravo.com

DVR'd it, I'll take a look at it tonight.

Same, although we've still got Deadliest Catch to watch, too. Not sure when I'll get to this one.

I'm trying to figure out which episode Rick Bayless will be on (I'm a Rick Bayless fanboy).

My wife and I watched it and figured Hubert would destroy that group. It was interesting to watch though. The biggest disappoint me for me is not having Padma.

Padma's too busy licking Hardee's BBQ sauce off her fingers this summer.

God, that's a plus for me. Her moderately decent looks were destroyed by the fact I thought she was a dipshit.

Really liked the first episode (just watched it).

I like how this is Top Chef without the "made for TV" drama. I love watching real pros cook (not to say that other seasons haven't had some fantastic chefs, but these guys are miles ahead of them, what I think they look up to be).

/tk

I still enjoy the show, though Wednesday's episode was a surprise to me. I was surprised to see how much of a d-bag Chiarello was to his sous-chefs, but I was also surprised at how Richard Blais was very...agitated. And the fact that he said "he should have been" the winner when he was on.

I still hope Keller wins (finale next week).

/tk

I thought Chiarello was giving off a vibe of false modesty in most of the other shows (and in his own shows), so I wasn't too surprised to see him come off that way.....I was surprised to see Dale get up in his face like that, though. How does a dude like that even make it through a single day? Does he end up chest-bumping dudes/women/children at the gas-station/grocery store/senior home, asking everybody what they're going to do about it?

Hubert has just got to win. He's been #1 constantly and hasn't really misstepped at all - what was the worst thing he did - the soup in his initial episode?

makes me want to visit his restaurants in SF!

Haven't started watching the new season yet, but the DVR is filling up.

In related news, Tom Colicchio was named the James Beard award winner, so he's, like, the REAL top chef now.