Debunking Beer Can Chicken: A Waste Of Good Beer, And Dangerous
Famous Death Row Last Meals
Photo: David Giesbrecht / Bravo
Slashfood's exclusive exit interviews with the latest Top Chef contestant to get the boot. In an effort to prevent spoilers, we've included the text after the jump.
Oh, my God, they killed Kenny! In last night's surprising elimination, the judges sent chef Kenny Gilbert packing. Who's going to defeat the arrogant but talented Angelo Sosa now? Gilbert, who hails from Ohio but serves as the executive chef of PGA Resort and Hotel in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was the main contender (he was fond of referring to himself as "the beast"), but last night's restaurant wars were his undoing. After winning the Quick Fire challenge -- the now-infamous relay in which blindfolded members of a team try to complete a dish without knowing what happened before their turn) with a well-executed prawn pasta, the blue team, featuring Kenny, Kevin Sbraga, Kelly Liken and Amanda Baumgarten, looked like favorites to win Restaurant Wars. But despite the fact that Alex Reznik did no cooking for his team, the red team -- helmed by Sosa with help from Tiffany Derry and Ed Cotton -- got the win. Gilbert served up a beet salad that the judges – including former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni – thought was packed with too many ingredients. In addition, his dessert, a goat cheese round served with strawberry-rhubarb relish, was called a "goat cheese monstrosity." He and Sbraga made a last-minute appeal for Reznik to get the boot, but in the end, Gilbert was told to pack his knives and go.
How's the day after? Is it brutal to watch your own elimination?
KG: The day after is a little rough. You've already gone through this once, and you have to go through it again. It's a little tough. But I'm keeping my sane stance on the whole experience, so it's not terrible.
Before you arrived, you were running your own catering company. Did you feel like you were going to stand out as a competitor?
KG: From day one, I wanted to appoint myself as a great competitor and show that I was skilled. Going into this challenge I had formed great relationships with just about everyone in the house, so to be part of that team for Restaurant Wars, I thought I was in a great position to do really well.
Reality show contestants often complain that they're turned into a character through selective editing. How did you feel about the edit you got?
KG: I think for last night's show, I wouldn't change a thing about the editing. They did a great job portraying exactly the circumstances that took place. And it's really now up to the viewers and the public to say, "You know what, how could [Alex] move on when he didn't prepare a dish?" That's going to have to be for the judges to explain and Bravo to explain. What it boils down to is that the other team did put out a really nice meal. Our meal, they didn't enjoy it as much but they respected the overall vision and execution of our service. But when it was all said and done [the other team] didn't follow the rules they way they were supposed to be following. It should have been a clear disqualification. But you also don't want to sit there and cry over spilled milk. The reality is that I'm a big boy and they didn't like my food so I went home.
One of your judges was former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni. Did you feel his criticisms were valid? He seemed to be playing things up for the camera a bit.
KG: I don't know Frank Bruni -- they said his name and I didn't know him. I don't work in New York, so I can't say who he is as an individual, but all I know is that he took the opportunity to be a version of Simon Cowell, kind of replacing Toby [Young] from last year. And I think it's really sad because as chefs, we don't want to hear an analogy that's really trying to embarrass somebody. Just speak the facts. To me, I would have more respect for him if he had articulated what he felt was wrong with the dish. If he'd said, "your beets were undercooked" or "it wasn't well seasoned," or "the balance of the acidity in the dressing was off," but he didn't do that. I think Eric Ripert or Patrick O'Connell or Jose Andres would have. Just tell me what I should have done to bring it all together instead of making a blanket statement. He said, "It just didn't come together for me," but well, what was wrong with it? I think that he was just saying some things to get brought back for the next couple of years.
Like when Bruni said your salad was "beet salad done through the guise of hamburger helper?"
KG: Yes. It's absolutely ridiculous. Anyone who knows what Hamburger Helper is would know that doesn't make sense. I mean, my salad had no association with pasta or anything like that. It was a chorizo-citrus vinaigrette that I've served a billion times and it's been great. For him to make that kind of analogy is absolutely ridiculous.
So we know you think Alex should have gone home for not cooking or coming up with the idea for a dish, but how do you feel about Amanda staying? The judges said her meat was overcooked, and she only made one dish, whereas you made two.
KG: Well, I helped plate all the food, and we had a great service. I don't think she did a bad job with her dish at all. I don't think the meat was overcooked -- it was a nice medium-rare to medium. It's not like they ordered the steak rare. How do you identify something as overcooked when you didn't specify a temperature? We served it as we felt it was best made. It was really important for me to defend her because I thought she did a good job. I didn't want to be the guy who says we had a great service and then when we ended up on the bottom, slam my teammates. We all ate each other's food and we were shocked that we were in the bottom. We were floored. Angelo's team was literally still cooking 45 minutes after we finished our service. We were cleaned up, the girls had time for probably five cigarettes. I mean, we waited over an hour for them.
They've been setting you up since the beginning of the season as the main challenger to Angelo, and obviously a lot of people are surprised that you went home. Who do you anticipate taking your spot as a serious contender?
KG: My gut tells me that Ed, Angelo and Kevin are going to do really really well. Between Kelly and Tiffany, either one of them could continue. Tiffany does really soulful, simple food and I feel like she's sort of like Kevin Gillespie from last season, that very simple approach to food. She potentially could squeak it out.
What's next for you?
KG: I have a book that's coming out. I'm still looking for a publisher. It's called "A Chef's Journal: From Fire to Redemption." It's my memoirs, from growing up cooking with my mom to dealing with my wife's death and raising my daughter on my own to keeping thing all tied together in order to hone my craft as a chef.
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8-12-2010 @6:37PM James said... The losing team especially Kenny and Kevin are whinning little kids who tried to redirect their teams own faults. If what the other team did was against the rules, the judges would have done the right thing. Obviously it wasn't against the rules. Restaurant wars is a team competition and not an individual one.
I'm not saying Alex shouldn't have gone home. Alex should've been gone long ago. I don't think Amanda and Kelly will be around much longer. Kelly cooks bland food.
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8-12-2010 @6:38PM James said... I forgot to add that Amanda seems lost most of the time especially up at the judges table.
8-12-2010 @8:25PM Deb said... The thing that concerns me about the situation with Alex is that in previous seasons, if an issue of rules being broken the judges did take that into account. "Camp Glucose" in season two is a perfect example.
The judging is so out there these days, one day Tom will be in the kitchen to make sure all is kosher, and then at judges table they will say they don't care what goes on in the kitchen. Huh?
They say they only judge on the one elimination challenge, yet often bring up in their discussions how someone did in the quickfire or previous challenges, it's often obvious that previous performance does affect the outcome..
The judging has become really hit or miss, depending on the judges mood (?)...and as much as this saddens me to say, I think Chef Tom is just calling it in this season, gone are the commentaries after his visit to the kitchens, heck, his visits to the kitchen are rare. Gail seems to be the most vocal these days (love you Gail), but I miss Tom.
The judges and/or editors don't seem to care what goes on in the kitchen, and is that not why we watch this show? It definitely has lost lot of credibility this season, and it's not all the contestants fault, there is no direction or interaction with the judges ( that we the viewers have seen).
After last season's stellar performances, this season seems to be a "throw-away", and Tom, we all hate those "throw-away's", don't we?.
PS Never Pelosi again! Kelly, yes she is the first female Speaker of the House, but she should not to be revered for that reason, but by her performance in that crucial position. If she screws it up (it's up to individuals to judge so far) she'll put womankind back 100 years.
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8-13-2010 @1:05PM Deanna Hoard said... I absolutely agree with all your comments. I wasn't sure if it was just me, but I have not felt this season was as good as previous ones, and a good deal of that feeling comes from the fact I don't think many of the challenges are fair, or that the same attention is being paid to what is going on in the kitchen. I realize that "luck of the draw" in certain challenges is inevitable, but I just have not been as comfortable with the show this season and have seriously disagreed with several things that have happened. I think this season really feels scripted to me.
8-13-2010 @10:52AM Frank said... Those food snobs who call themselves judges are ridiculous....what picayune, petty details they whine about. This reminds me of Shakespeare ...."much ado about nothing".
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8-14-2010 @2:16AM Marti said... I was devastated and shock that Kenny got voted off...I really thought he had a chance to win it all. How sad that the producers/judges are not following the rules. And I agree that Tom is "out to lunch." He seems to just sit/stand there with a smirk on his face....what's he's problem?
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8-13-2010 @11:39AM Nitelady said... A chef from the winning team will not go home. I feel we have the right to know if Alex stole the pea puree. Did they investigate? His picture shouldn't be on the restaurant wall until the matter is investigated. I would love an update.
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8-13-2010 @12:51PM Lynn said... Alex absolutely should have gone home, regardless of which team won or lost. He even looked astonished himself when the other chefs on his team talked about how he cooked his dish: he knew he hadn't done anything and they were lying. Kenny is a realy good chef and for him to have been eliminated is ridiculous, The judges were just plain wrong.
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8-13-2010 @11:40AM Lorraine said... I am really disturbed that Top Chef is turning into more of a game than a measurement of skill. This is not supposed to be a cooking version of survivor.
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8-13-2010 @12:20PM Bob Farrell said... Rules are there to be followed in any contest, if you don't follow the rules, it's the same as cheating.
Alex should be gone, pea puree incident. Not doing his own dish. Not performing basic competent Kitchen 101 prep.
I hope the Judges have opened their collective eyes when they had to sit down for the final edit.
ALEX good bye
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8-13-2010 @12:23PM Samantha Lehman said... When an article pertains to a specific person, then that person should be 'shown', NOT the judges. When is the show going to get rid of PADMA, that whiny, nasal nosed bore?
I'll never understand how taste judges are chosen. I mean, not one person on this planet has a pallet identical to another; we all taste differently. Same goes for wine tasting. It isn't fair to cooks around the world, or in contests to be judged by people with their own individual taste buds, AND every one of them has their own taste attitudes; no onions, garlic, salt (I hate salt), etc.
Judging this year has been pretty bad so I'll await a whole NEW cast of judges next season.
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8-13-2010 @12:27PM Bob Farrell said... oh, and let me add...his team mates having such faith in his skills that they 'exiled' him to the front of the house so he couldn't screw up snything moe in the kitchen.
I also have high praise for the professionalism of the wait staff that had to put up with his attitude of "I am the King, my way or the high way", any other staff would have made sure that he got payback in spades, just remember it was a one night gig
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8-13-2010 @12:51PM Megs said... It's happened in plenty of Season's before, someone is an awesome chef, they take on the role of executive chef in rest. wars and bam, they go home. I liked Kenny, a lot, but it comes down to this. If the judges don't like your food, you go home. They didn't like either of his dishes.
As for the pea puree, and "did Alex conceptualize that dish?" We don't know, they didn't show us. Maybe there is no proof, because it wasn't caught on film. Don't you think if they actually video taped Alex stealing the pea puree that they would have shown us? We'll probably never know, because even if its brought up at the reunion, Alex will still say "no", whether that is true or not.
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8-13-2010 @1:12PM jan said... Kenny told it like it is. Kenny was a great cook. He was also an awesome executive chef. Kicking Kenny off and leaving Alex and leaving the dipsy girl on Kenny's team was a mistake. Neither are good cooks and neither could ever be leaders. I'll miss Kenny. These judges are very pompous. They are perhaps the most pompous unlikeable judges on TV.They are judging food forh heavens sake not war and peace. I watch the show because I get to know and love the characters and because I love to cook.
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8-13-2010 @1:35PM James said... Kenny may be a good cook, but not a smart cook. Every one of his dishes is way over the top with ingredients. Hasn't he learned from previous challenges that he needed to dial back on the number of ingredients in his dishes? Stupidity and arrogance took him out. Yeah, he was such a beast that he made food that the judges didn't like.
8-13-2010 @1:56PM Hannah Smith said... The judging this season has been awful. Tom has become a passive aggressive snarky tool...his comments about the dishes and the chefs themselves have been inconstructive and smarmy. Padma is just eye candy, vapid. Gail is the only one that provides insightful and helpful criticism. Frank Bruni was a jerk...I don't care for critics judging since they know little about what goes on in the kitchen or how the dish was prepared. He wasn't funny and his comments were rude. Maybe it's time to shake up the Top Chef regulars and put new hosts and judges in to being back some credibility to this show.
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8-14-2010 @12:18AM Ken MacLean said... This isn't a "Top Chef" competition so much as it's a TV show that creates drama.
Why do you think Alex keeps staying on, even though he's a bungler?
Because he creates drama and contention, and that leads to viewers and ratings and MONEY.
You have to think like TV producers: they don't care about integrity, or a level playing field. For them, these ideas are for naive idiots. TV producers want to appeal to the emotions, which leads to more viewers and more money, and Alex gives them a better chance at that, even though he can't cook. So he'll stay on the show as long as he's useful. If a good chef like Kenny has to be sacrificed, so what?
So look forward to Alex for another week or two as long as he keeps stirring up trouble.
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