Where we might have dreamed of some good, country-ass, rustic pasta -- we got cazzo instead. It is mind-boggling the bungled fundamentals, the elementary misunderstanding of basic Italian staples, the missed signals that went on in the kitchen during this course. Mike Isabella, at least, understood the challenge. His rigatoni with braised calamari and cherry tomatoes should have been great. The sauce (or the "gravy" as some old timers might call it), was just right: classic, familiar, delicious. But he'd ignored the very wise Junior Pellegrino who had advised earlier that "you can use dry pastas," and attempted to make his own fresh rigatoni. It was hard, too tough and it didn't cook enough (I'm not convinced it ever could) -- as a result it never took in the sauce, and went down like a mouthful of bullets. To his credit, he knew. I have never seen a more unhappy, shamed, and repentant-looking contestant stand before us at Judges' Table.Or, as Bourdain said on the show, “Some poor bastard in the Witness Protection Program is eating this right now.” Solid, straightforward challenge (I'm ignoring the Mizrahi amusement), and while I was surprised which of the bottom three went home, it was clear that this was the bottom three. [Also, does this really qualify Lorraine Bracco to be billed as an "award-winning actress"?]
Thursday, February 3, 2011
"I WASN'T AROUND FOR THE QUICKFIRE, SO MAYBE I MISSED WHY PADMA WAS DRESSED LIKE A SUPERFRIEND": Bourdain on the pasta disaster that was last night's Top Chef All Stars:
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Two interesting challenges, but I prefer when the Quickfire and the Elimination have some sort of link to one another. These two were completely unrelated to one another, and the Quickfire was kind of product placey to give Bravo a chance to pitch Mizrahi and give Padma a chance to pitch her jewelry.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd thought Bracco had won either an Oscar (which she lost to Whoopi Goldberg) or an Emmy (she lost to Edie Falco (x2), Sela Ward (for "Once and Again"), and Katherine Heigl (Sandra Oh, Chandra Wilson, Aida Turturro, and Rachel Griffiths were also nominees that year)).
Re: Bracco -- I'll allow it. I think any time an ensemble cast wins an award (a SAG, in this case), everyone in the ensemble is an award-winner.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Even before clicking through I thought, "Oh she must have won the SAG ensemble drama cast award at least once."
ReplyDeleteOK to bill Jamie-Lynn Sigler as "award-winning actress" then?
ReplyDeleteRobert Iler? Little Steven? The guy who played Bobby Bacala? All part of the winning ensemble.
ReplyDeleteI can't be the only one who misremebered and thought that she had won an award of note for Goodfellas or The Sopranos.
ReplyDeleteBummed to see Tre go and would have much preferrd Mike Isabella hit the road. However, I fell asleep just after Blais won the Quickfire and woke up just before Tre got the boot, so the only thing that remains to be seen is, you know, the episode.
ReplyDeleteShe did, Andrew; she won the CFCA for Goodfellas. Maybe not as big as a NY or LA film critic award, but certainly more credible than a Golden Globe. (Not a bad slate of winners that year, either.)
ReplyDeleteFair elimination if we're talking the tier system (I bet Mike I goes in the next 2 weeks - no way he makes the finals) and I understand Bourdain's rationale for getting rid of Tre over Mike this week, but I'm definitely over Mike in general. Go go go Richard! (My final 4 prediction - Blais, Antonia, Dale, Carla, with Fabio as a possible spoiler...)
ReplyDeleteI know that Dale has had a really strong showing this season, but the show made it seem like his dish- I can't even figure out what it was really supposed to be- was worse than Isabella's stiff rigatoni. I remember someone at Rao's simply shouting out "There's no sauce!".
ReplyDeleteI'd prefer to see Dale stay, largely because he's got a creative streak that a lot of the other contestants don't (or aren't brave enough to display), but unless Mike's rigatoni was leaving negative Amazon reviews on Bourdain's book I can't imagine it was THAT offensive.
I thought Mike I, Dale and Tre were pretty bratty about how "easy" the three women had it. They didn't have a choice about the antipasti course. And while I thought Fabio should have won instead of Antonia (his dish was the one I most wanted to eat), those guys reacted the same way Marcel did when Carla won with her bagel lettuce wraps. Lame.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, maybe not. I'm not sure if TV rules are the same as those for films, but, for example, Rashida Jones and Rooney Mara weren't included in the nominated ensemble for "The Social Network," nor was Yaya DaCosta included for "The Kids Are All Right."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bvonmovies.com/2010/12/17/rashida-jones-yaya-dacosta-left-off-sags-ensemble-award-noms/
DaCosta's barely in Kids, so I don't really think she deserves to be included. Mara and Jones on the other hand--yes, their parts are small, but Mara arguably has the single most memorable line in the film ("It'll be because you're an asshole") and Jones has to deal with tying the film together. (And Mara will almost assuredly be nominated for at least some stuff next year for playing Salander.)
ReplyDeleteI believe that "cazzo," the word Bourdain used, means, roughly, "cock" (on a lewdness scale), but in a more perjorative sense. I'm not sure about that, but that's what I infer from the phrase "non me frego un cazzo," which an old friend translated for me as "literally 'I don't give a dick,' except way more vulgar."
ReplyDeleteI was insulted on the chefs' behalf for that Quickfire. In spirit and in execution, that was just dickish. Why can't he eat the stuff? What is that all about? If one of those dishes screamed, "Get me a spoon," get the man a spoon! That's like when the guy went on the F Word to sample offal and kept a bucket with him, that he spit EVERY SINGLE THING back into. If you can't hang with eating the stuff, don't go on that show.
ReplyDelete