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The final for The Next Food Network Star is tonight. They've been spending the day running most of the season up to the present.

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So who is your prediction Blarg? Do you have a favorite?

(and what's up with Paul and Jag? They sure are chummy.)

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Well, SPOILER ALERT FOR ANYONE WHO MISSED IT:

The person who I thought would win didn't.

I though Rory would win because she's more conventionally "pretty" on the one hand, as unusual looking as it is, because she comes off as more down to earth than Amy, who is a little ethereal, and because despite some flustered stammering toward the end in one show, she has maintained a more consistent idea of what she wants to get across.

Amy was who I was rooting for, because I thought she had the greater food knowledge. But seeing the episodes again today, it seemed clear that her original idea, which kept coming up, about wanting to cook "new food for new people" was really about introducing exotic flavors to people. What she later claimed as her vision, the "gourmet next door," wasn't as true to what she was really all about, and seemed scrambled together out of desperation in response to prodding from the judges.

That made me wonder who I should root for. I wondered, and wonder still, if Amy will really be fully capable of getting across the "gourmet next door" idea when it isn't really what she's interested in. However, I guess she'll be thoroughly coached and guided by the network to stay in line with the concept of the show. In a way, it will probably be the show that guides her, rather than the other way around. And that will be more like punching a clock, something she can handle. It's just too bad it's not really her vision. Or, that it's only her vision in the sense that making a good career for herself would be anyone's vision.

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When I was watching the segment on Rory, and they went back to her home town in Texas, I was certain they were going to choose her. She has very big stage energy and a dynamic personality. Also, Texan cooking is really popular (barbeques and stuff) so I thought this would make for a fun cooking show. I was surprised that they chose Amy.



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Amy was who I was rooting for, because I thought she had the greater food knowledge. But seeing the episodes again today, it seemed clear that her original idea, which kept coming up, about wanting to cook "new food for new people" was really about introducing exotic flavors to people. What she later claimed as her vision, the "gourmet next door," wasn't as true to what she was really all about, and seemed scrambled together out of desperation in response to prodding from the judges.

That made me wonder who I should root for. I wondered, and wonder still, if Amy will really be fully capable of getting across the "gourmet next door" idea when it isn't really what she's interested in.

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I know that my mom will enjoy watching Amy on TV. She has always been into cooking shows for as long as I can remember. She really gets into shows where they introduce exotic flavors and new cuisines.

Why do you think Amy will have trouble getting her gourmet ideas across?

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Well, the producers kept telling her to not get fancy, and she tended to do so anyway. Remember when she had to serve meatloaf, and made sneering remarks about how inedible the very concept was? Then charged with just dealing with it, she made a lousy meatloaf, and delivered it with a sneer at what "you Americans" eat? (I guess she was in France long enough to forget that she was an American too.)

She seems very wed to doing things her way, which is not really simple at all. She has great difficulty with and even resentment toward the task of doing what the show wants or what people want rather than what SHE wants. Her essential concept is to broaden people's food horizons in the directions SHE is most interested in. As far as eating, not preparing. Few people are going to want to go to cooking school to learn complex techniques so they can duplicate her flavors. And she doesn't seem to respect that. She's a good ways off on a cloud.

I don't think that makes her a bad cook, maybe quite the contrary. But it's at odds with teaching people on t.v. how to do simple recipes, which the Food Network guys repeatedly told her was her emphasis and which she only later in the game adopted as her new emphasis. She's going to have to change her basic outlook on what she wants to do with food to something that's not really in her.

You know that 50-ish southern lady who has a show where she does southern homey cooking? She can't stop herself from sticking EVERYTHING in her constantly going deepfryer after battering it up in her ever-ready bowl of all-purpose glop. As much as her food often looks like it completely stinks, she LOVES easy, crappy, trashy food. She doesn't have to pretend or lower her sights and talk down to her audience. She's easy-to-make-garbage incarnate.

Amy doesn't incarnate the "gourmet next door" that anyone could be. She's more like the person who would want to make an "easy" recipe the way JAG did -- with 25 ingredients just on the first page, and a five-minute dish that takes plenty of expertise and 3 hours and unusual ingredients to make.

P.S.: Yeah, Rory's video was so good I thought it would be impossible for Amy to win after that.

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Here's Bourdain's latest blog entry on Ruhlman's site. It was good to see he was as cynical as I was about the tetchy, very set up way that JAG had to "apologize".

TOP SECRET!

After the confusing, frighteningly eerie, Soviet style public "confession on NFNS last week, I put out feelers to sympathizers within The Organization. The following completely unverifiable document, alleged to be an internal memorandum from the Ministry of Information to the Central Committee, arrived anonymously immediately following last night's final episode:

"CLASSIFIED: NOT FOR DISSEMINATION! EYES ONLY!

"Citizen JAG did his duty, and 'repented' to Comrades Tuschman and Fogelson as arranged. His words, as written by this officer Ministry of Information, expressed appropriate regret--and most importantly, released the Central Committe from blame or liability for his Crimes. Comrade Tuschman's remarks concerning: "rumors swirling around" are to be commended for their deflection of further questions from the organs of the press. Citizen JAG's 'resignation' was accepted by the Comrades as agreed and he was--on recommendation from the Directorate of Propaganda--invited to join the Victorious Mayday Celebration at which time the "winner" was to be announced. Citizen Amy was returned from Re-Education Camp where she had been undergoing treatment for Anti-Party Utterances like "cocotte" and for suspicion of Foreign Influences.

During a film presentation to the audience, the lingering question of Citizen Rory's state of origin was neatly deflected--before it could become a problem. Agent Mark Somers, (Code Name: Unctuous Haircut) did a masterful job of keeping the Glorious Ceremonies moving. The former contestants were invited to return and to meet with the Old Comrades and to exchange expressions of Solidarity and Party Spirit before a compliant audience bussed in by our comrades at the Ministry of Transportation. (May I commend them on their work. They would laugh and cheer for a colostomy of requested to do so).

Old Comrade Flay made a serious slip at this time, making reference to the Group of Three who, he claimed, "started" the Network. To compound his Error, he made specific reference to Former Old Comrade Mario--whose photograph we had just succeeded in deleting from our literature and lobby mural. This smacks of Calumny Against The Brand, and the Glorification of the Individual vs. the State. Comrade Flay will be advised of his transgression in private session with the Security Directorate.

Old Comrade Lagasse did his Duty, making a personal appearance. His demeanor, while subdued, did not( as yet) reflect his disappointment with his change of time slot. Suggest an Award of some kind-perhaps at South Beach this year, commending him for his years of service--before retiring him.. This is a problem we have disussed at length with the Committee. Security Directorate, as you know, suggests a more..final approach. This Dept. would have to agree. The Old Comrade does not, as you know, fit in with our plans for the New Vanguard.

Nor does Citizen Amy.

Reeducation has its limits. And her French ways and lack of blondeness pose a serious problem in future. That the viewing audience was allowed to publicly rebuke the Committee by voting her the winner could have been embarrassing to the Maximum Leader--who Herself graciously consented to congratulate the victor. Fortunately, we followed the dictum that "When Confronted with a Steaming, Embarrassing Turd on the Floor, Cover It With Baloons." and it--once again, proved a successful strategy.

Sincerely,

Name Blacked Out Here

Deputy Director, Ministry of Information and Special Services

Food Network"
Ruhlman's blog where Bourdain often guest blogs

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I think the Food Network has done themselves a real diservice here. Which, ok, maybe isn't the end of the world or anything. After all, it's a cable network about food and they're probably doing just fine.

But what happened last night and last week, I think, represents a gap between where FN is now and where they're going.

The new shows seem to target some apparent need to produce decent food in little to no time. There's an obvious push away from anything more complicated, as if the network fears its viewers have a complete hatred of anything complex.

Assuming this was true, it just seems like FN is educating its viewers on the basics but then not graduating them. There's only so many times you can watch very simple food prepared very quickly — at some point your viewers will either stop gaining and so stop watching, or stop gaining and want something more, something FN doesn't do.

So the folks at Food Network voted off Amy - not approachable, too snooty, or whatever. And then, when the whole Jag thing hit the fan, they bring Amy back and the country votes for her.

That seems to me like they're a little out of touch with their audience.

And what a disaster - Rory having to lose to someone she previously beat, and with no additional challenge? Ugh. I really disliked Rory and I really liked Amy, but still, that's a lousy, lousy way for it to go down.

I think I would definitely watch Amy's show. I don't find her cooking all that complicated (jesus, she baked some eggs and the judges said she was unapproachable. She baked eggs.) ... But while her food isn't too much more complicated it maybe is a step or so above some of the other stuff.

It amazes me they let Good Eats survive. I love that show, but I wonder how it stacks up against others.

Granted, I'm coming at this from a different point of view than most people watching the network (culinary school). But I get the sense FN is really missing something, and last night's train wreck of an episode was a good sign of that.

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Good Eats is the Alton Brown one right? I'm sometimes interested in what he's cooking, and like that he gives lots of tips. But the style of the show is unbearable. Non-stop mugging into the camera, excessive super close-ups, idiotic skits pandering to an audience probably too infantile to actually exist. He's painfully awkward, frenetic, and over the top. His show should have an undertitle of "Save Me Before I Host Again" or something.

He's fine doing commentary on Iron Chef or NFNS, but given free reign, as knowledgeable about cooking as he may be, his own presentation is so awful that he comes off as a misguided weirdo.

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Good Eats is the Alton Brown one right? I'm sometimes interested in what he's cooking, and like that he gives lots of tips. But the style of the show is unbearable. Non-stop mugging into the camera, excessive super close-ups, idiotic skits pandering to an audience probably too infantile to actually exist. He's painfully awkward, frenetic, and over the top. His show should have an undertitle of "Save Me Before I Host Again" or something.

He's fine doing commentary on Iron Chef or NFNS, but given free reign, as knowledgeable about cooking as he may be, his own presentation is so awful that he comes off as a misguided weirdo.

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Everything you hate about the show is what I love about it.

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Good Eats is the Alton Brown one right? I'm sometimes interested in what he's cooking, and like that he gives lots of tips. But the style of the show is unbearable. Non-stop mugging into the camera, excessive super close-ups, idiotic skits pandering to an audience probably too infantile to actually exist. He's painfully awkward, frenetic, and over the top. His show should have an undertitle of "Save Me Before I Host Again" or something.

He's fine doing commentary on Iron Chef or NFNS, but given free reign, as knowledgeable about cooking as he may be, his own presentation is so awful that he comes off as a misguided weirdo.

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Everything you hate about the show is what I love about it.

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It amazes me that anyone could love that. It makes me want to stab myself with shards of my own skull after I've bashed my brains in diving off a balcony.

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She seems very wed to doing things her way, which is not really simple at all. She has great difficulty with and even resentment toward the task of doing what the show wants or what people want rather than what SHE wants. Her essential concept is to broaden people's food horizons in the directions SHE is most interested in. As far as eating, not preparing. Few people are

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Very nice post, Blarg. Thanks for your thoughts. I only watched a couple episodes of this show so I definitely did not pick up on a lot of this stuff you touched on. It is rather curious why America picked her if she was so resistant to doing the tasks that were asked of her. I like what little I saw of her but I did notice how on Rachel Ray she began using some odd expressions and when you combine that with the fact that she was rushing and getting slightly overwhelmed and sloshing things onto the side of a bowl, well, it became somewhat amusing.

Can they break of her habits? How much time did she spend in France I wonder.

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Citizen Amy was returned from Re-Education Camp where she had been undergoing treatment for Anti-Party Utterances like "cocotte" and for suspicion of Foreign Influences.

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It is rather curious why America picked her if she was so resistant to doing the tasks that were asked of her.

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I think because what the Food Network viewers want, and what the network executives think they want, are not necessarily the same thing.

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Can they break of her habits?

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I really hope not. I'd like to see another smart show that didn't pander to the lowest in the home kitchen brigade.

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The one habit I would like them to cure her of is doing tasks she doesn't care for with a bad attitude and the throwing in of an insult here and there. It just makes her seem petulant and block-headed.

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Hell's Kitchen was really good today, and both the cooks and Chef Ramsey surprised me today. SPOILERS BELOW!!!

SPOILERS:

First, because Ramsey kicked a guy out and off the show entirely, no need for an end-of-show build-up, toward the beginning of the meal. The white dude got kicked, leaving Rock with 3 females, Bonnie(cute white chick), Jen(less cute white chick), and Julia(black short-order cook chick).

Bonnie did the best during the service, so she had to pick two to go(leaving Ramsey to choose between those two, kicking only one). Guess one guy getting dismissed by Ramsey earlier that same service didn't cancel that out. She chose Rock, as he was yelling at everyone, and Julia, as she is the least experienced of the bunch. I thought these choices were fair. She only had one other choice, Jen, who seems like she was pushing Rock a bit, but still seemed more together than he did during the service, and at least didn't look like she was gonna throw punches at anyone.

Ramsey picked Julia to go, and then really surprised me. He said he was going to send Julia to cooking school himself, and then he wanted to see her come back to the competition a second time and win the whole thing. That was a huge statement of faith, and putting his money where his mouth is too. Wow! Serious business. All told, I can't think of a nicer way to get booted. After telling her that, Ramsey complimented her again, told her she had talent, seemed sincerely sorry to see her go, and gave her a hug. I was moved!

Seems like the bastid has quite a heart in there after all. I'm definitely watching next week, and am really glad I caught this episode.

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Seems like the bastid has quite a heart in there after all.

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It just shows that the bastid 'tude is somewhat contrived.

I agree this was a great ep. Best one yet IMO. The chefs actually got to use some of their skills individually in the first challenge. Unfortunately, it was tainted by the most cliched TV cooking show gimmick of having kids be the judges. Does Ramsay expect most of his customers to be HS kids for this new restaurant? I don't think so. Julia did what she does best and smoked 'em. But then she got eliminated because she's clearly the 4th best chef for the kind of restaurant this challenge is for.

Why do these cooking shows continue to create challenges that obviously don't decide who the best chef is? It's not cute, it's not shocking, it's not funny. It's just old and stupid. ENOUGH WITH THE KIDS!!!

I'm glad Josh went out in a blaze of shame. I can't remember him cooking anything correctly ever. Pretty lame that he lasted longer than Brad. And he's such an annoying turdbag too. He never admitted to doing a poor job and just kept trying to fake it.

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I managed to miss the beginning part because I was watching Age of Love (horrible piece of reality crap). So I would like to know what Julia made that was so tasty and won her the challenge.

I don't know if I agree with you guys on this Josh character getting booted. I hated the way Ramsay did it. That was the worst display of temper in the workplace I've ever seen. I don't care how bad a cook he was or how many excuses he made, you gotta stay professional. And then to turn around and get all mushy and huggy with Julia afterwards, well I just didn't like it is all I have to say. I don't go for people who are mean as [censored] to one person and then turn around and act incredibly reasonable and sweet with another person. I have no affection for someone like that. I feel this show has no credibility any more. And yeah, I agree it's weird that Brad went before Josh. Josh should have been eliminated last week.

As for Rock, what the hell? This guy needs to be taught some manners by his mom or grandma. I can't stand men who act like him. Talk about whiny. I hate that stupid look on his face when he's pissed. I'm sure he's a fine cook and he will very likely win but personally I could never work with someone who was that big of an [censored]. You can tell a lot about a person by how he behaves under stress. Rock just gave away his true self in that episode.

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Remember that bit Bourdain wrote about chefs positively getting wood about kicking the crap out of someone who really seems to be pushing it in terms of doing crap work or having attitude? You saw that here, I guess.

Admittedly, it's somewhat contrived in Ramsey's case. But if it were a real restaurant (it is not), it was even bothering to attempt good quality, and your name was on it, you'd probably be pretty freaked if you were about to serve people crappy food. Ramsey went overboard here, of course. But if it were real life, I don't think a chef who was messing up the food consistently would get off too easy or really deserve to.

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So I would like to know what Julia made that was so tasty and won her the challenge.

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I'm not sure exactly, but it was like grilled cheese w/ chicken and onion rings.

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That's pretty much it. Chicken sandwich and onion rings. Why it was so tasty, I'm not sure.

I kind of got thrown by Bonnie's goat cheese with greens salad. I haven't heard of kids being big fans of either salad or goat cheese before.

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Blarg,

Is Top Chef on tonight? Did I miss it?

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It's usually on at 10 p.m. PST, if I recall correctly. But it may sometimes be on at 9 p.m. PST depending on how many reruns they show before it. Should be today tho.

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The show was a reunion show. Had select people from all 3 seasons...was kinda dumb especially since I was looking forward to seeing a new episode tonight. At least Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is on tomorrow night [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Yeah, big disappointment. I like how the Simpsons guys refer to clip shows as their "cash-in" shows. Top Chef was cashing in, here.

It was cool to see that Sam was doing well, though, with his new restaurant. And that the Southern guy kicked off first still seemed in good spirits and hadn't offed himself like his dad. Camille was looking even hotter than usual, but they didn't give her a chance to say anything that I recall. Interestingly, the host had strabismus, and I don't recall ever seeing that on a t.v. host before, or pretty much anywhere on t.v. or in the movies before. Hard to believe times might actually be changing.

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Tonight Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is on BBC America, is anyone watching this show? It's one of my favorites, much better than HK I think.

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Wish I could. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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That's pretty much it. Chicken sandwich and onion rings. Why it was so tasty, I'm not sure.

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Because the people eating it were 15 years old?

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I kind of got thrown by Bonnie's goat cheese with greens salad. I haven't heard of kids being big fans of either salad or goat cheese before.

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That might've been one of the worst ideas in the history of TV cooking shows. lol dumblondeaments

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I just saw the RKN episode with the old couple who owned a roadside pub. That guy was hilarious with all those ridiculous plates from ebay.

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I gotta catch that thing when it gets to Netflix.

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I just saw the RKN episode with the old couple who owned a roadside pub. That guy was hilarious with all those ridiculous plates from ebay.

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lol that poor old guy had 2 days off in like 18 years, except for the few days he had bypass surgery. It's amazing how Ramsay gets most of the places turned around so they don't have to close.

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Just saw the latest episode of Hell's Kitchen. Very good. Now that the show has gotten through the real obvious junk contestants, it has been getting better and better.

Tonight we went down to two. SPOILER BELOW

SPOILER HERE:

We started with Rock and Jen and Bonnie left. The first challenge was a recreation of American comfort food classics, shades of the other shows. Each person picked a covered dish and then it was revealed what they got. Bonnie got franks and beans, and was kind of flustered as to what to do with it. I don't blame her. Jen got fried chicken. Rock got spaghetti and meatballs.

They each made three portions, and their moms were brought in to judge. Winner was the person who had the ingredient with the most potential to be dressed up, I thought: Jen. She made a stuffed chicken roll which Ramsey himself implied wasn't much like fried chicken. All moms chose it unanimously. Jen got a lunch out with Ramsey and his mom, and her mom, and a grand to go shopping for kitchen supplies.

Then came the main challenge. That, besides not screwing up in general during service, was quality control and expediting at the front of the kitchen. Ramsey brought in sous chefs and told them to screw up a couple or few dishes for each chef. And the person eliminated was Jen. The elimination seemed fair, because she did let a few dishes go through that weren't properly prepared -- like spaghetti with crab that had no crab in it.

Ramsey was very complimentary to everyone this time.

I have to admit I'm surprised Bonnie has lasted this long. She seems to have improved in her general organization skills very dramatically, as she seemed completely out of her element many times earlier in this season. Now it really does seem fair to say she seems to be holding things together as well as anyone. If anything, she's been getting along best with her peers among the four and then three that remained. Of anyone, she seemed to be getting on last nerves the least.

But I can't picture her as strong enough to run her own ship, while Rock seems to have natural authority and a certain helpful calm in his manner. I can see Bonnie getting too flustered and breaking down. Unless I'm mistaken, she also has less cooking knowledge than Rock.

It will be an interesting final. Both of these people are naturally very likeable -- as was Jen. It looks like it will have to do with designing a menu and handling the design of a restaurant -- or mock restaurant for the evening, as it were.

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I agree with everything you say about Bonnie. I would imagine if she wins, she really won't be getting her own place...regardless of how its advertised. Last years winner, Heather, is not the executive chef at TBones like the finale showed, rather she is the Senior Chef at Terra Rosa, which is at Red Rocks Casino

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The Red Rock people subsequently backed off their commitment, saying that Heather would instead be put in a position commensurate with her skill level. Later, they decided to move her out of T-Bones and into to a job described as "Senior Chef" at Terra Rossa, the resort's Italian restaurant. There's already an executive chef in place at Terra Rossa.

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http://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/article/14221

I actually ate there on July 4th [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] and the Lobster Bisque was one of the best things I have ever had.

Oh also the 1st year winner never claimed his prize either, but that seemed to have something to do with his gf at the time.

Going back to this years HK...i will be surprised if bonnie wins, but i was surprised last night.

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Interesting, thanks for the info. Getting past her not being given an executive chef job, would you describe Heather's move to Terra Rossa as simply a lateral move, or a demotion? Considered both in terms of her position and its eventual potential, and in terms of the quality of the restaurant and/or its profitability?

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I think it definitely has to be a demotion since she is like 1 of 3 Senior Chefs at TR, and she was supposed to be an Executive Chef at TBones.

For me TR was one of the more upscale places I've ever been, I'm a pretty simple person, but my friend that came down with me won 6k at the Binions Classic so he was buying [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]. TR was like $75 a person, but TBones looked like it would be double that...it was definitely more high scale than TR, and their menu had no prices on it, while TR's did.

Regardless I would imagine Heather is pretty happy where she is since it's a step up from where she was, and has a lot more potential I would imagine. Also I would think she has a lot less pressure on her since she isnt the one 'in charge'. It lets her do her thing, and learn more about running a place like that.

I just posted that article just because I find it funny that the show never once said she didnt get the 'promised prize' that they had been promoting. I also think this precedence makes it easier for them to pick Bonnie to win since she can win, and just be the Senior Chef, under some Executive Chef, so she canlearn the ropes.

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It has always seemed to me clear that simply winning a cooking contest is no indicator of anyone's ability to run a top restaurant, so I've always been curious how it could possibly be used that way. It makes sense that it hasn't.

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ate at Terra Rosa yesterday for lunch...it was great.

to add to the reply, it's def a demotion. at the same time, TR is a kick ass little restaurant so it's not like she's in bad shape or anything.

also, i will be amazed if rock doesn't win this. other than bonnie's palate - rock has outshined everyone in the pack imo.

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I watched Top Chef last night. Pretty interesting episode. They had to figure out how to freeze a pasta meal and then reheat it very quickly for customers at a local grocery. This proved to be a rather difficult challenge. I really enjoyed this episode a lot.

Pretty fun to watch the different teammates struggling to communicate with each other. Too many big egos! Now that I'm reading Kitchen Confidential (got my copy right before I went on vacation) it is all starting to make a lot of sense to me. That is, I never realized that chefs were so egotistical and passionate. It appears to be standard in the industry.

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Well I just read the OOT thread on Top Chef and it would appear that most people thought last night's episode sucked. Lol. I guess I'm the only one who finds it interesting how they freeze food for sale (which is really kind of weird as I never freeze any of my own food ever nor do I buy frozen foods [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]). I just found it really interesting to watch the process and also to watch the teammates attempting to be diplomatic.

I think Howie is pretty annoying. I read in OOT how others find him interesting but I find him to be antisocial and overly sweaty. Also, from the few episodes I've watched I can see he really digs pork. Have to say, though, that I was loving his little tirade at the end there. "As long as the cat's out of the bag..." Haha! That was pretty funny. He went a little over the line if you ask me but what the hell, I guess he figured why the hell not.

I thought the Indian girl would get voted off. What is her name? Also, I was a little taken aback by how much Joey was crying. Wonder what it means that I have such harsh views of men who cry on TV.

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Glad you got the book and hoping you like it, Katy. It's a fun and revealing read.

This show had very obnoxious product placement that I could have done without. Not only did they essentially make Bertolli frozen food the center of the primary challenge in the show, guest chef Rocco was shamelessly shilling it while describing the challenge. Yuck.

Hung got another well-deserved dressing-down, and I can't say I'm not glad of it. Having so much ego and inability to listen to people while still so young suggests he could become a true a-hole and failure in many aspects of life coming up in very short order. That said, I did feel bad for him anyway. He should have stood up to his partner, Joey, but he just collapsed and went quietly to his doom. He looked absolutely stricken during the judging, and the same spiked with anger during the service.

Howie, too, was terrible at working with his partner. Sara may not be a particularly good contestant, but a guy like Howie makes it very hard to contribute, much less do so without getting into a fight. He just started blocking out Sara from the very beginning of the challenge, and he was hardly graceful about it either.

I think many challenges on these shows are being discounted because working together as a team is being talked of as something that should take a very distant back seat to expressing one's culinary genius. The problem with that is that these chefs are not aspiring to cook at home, but in a business. Someone with an inability to work with and motivate others can sabotage the relevance of any level of his own talent. In a business, one simply does not work alone.

This makes Howie someone who seems like he needs to either work by himself or expect in his working life to be in big trouble if he can't find people who are absolutely perfect matches with him and stay with him forever -- which will entail putting up with his tunnel vision and tendency to angrily tune people out. An autistic savant is not what a kitchen needs. Maybe I should start calling Howie "Rainman."

I was glad to see CJ do well. He has said he never won anything before, but he has gotten plenty of compliments on doing good food, and from what I recall has not spent significant time at the bottom. His "tuna casserole" was ruinous in a previous show, but at least it showed him thinking. He seems to have potential, and I liked that for once, everything seemed to go well for him.

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Also, I was a little taken aback by how much Joey was crying. Wonder what it means that I have such harsh views of men who cry on TV.

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I think I've seen everyone on this show cry so far, and some of them haven't even been eliminated yet.

Men crying isn't socially acceptable, but then again neither is their being stoic all the time. So they're in a kind of grotesque, distorted bind. Given that, cutting them some slack seems fine to me. After all, how many days a week do you have one of the biggest dreams of your life completed crushed while being publicly humiliated about it? I'm sure Joey didn't particularly want to cry that much or plan it out, so I cut him some slack.

Re: TV cooking contest shows
 

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Howie, too, was terrible at working with his partner. Sara may not be a particularly good contestant, but a guy like Howie makes it very hard to contribute, much less do so without getting into a fight. He just started blocking out Sara from the very beginning of the challenge, and he was hardly graceful about it either.



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This is what I was thinking too. Personally I would have a very hard time working with a guy like that. I wouldn't even know where to begin. Also, I was very surprised that Howie didn't insist on using the type of pasta he wanted. I thought he would be a little more 'take charge' than that. I guess he really was trying to be a team player but man when things went bad at the end he really didn't hold back his feelings did he.