Friday, February 6, 2009
Restaurants The British invasion of 'Top Chef'
Posted by Besha Rodell @BeshaRodell on Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 6:52 PM
I've always been a little jealous of British journalists. For some reason, they get away with over-the-top florid writing that no journalist in the U.S. could possibly get away with - a mix of cheesy and often clichéd metaphor, offhanded meanness and stickily sweet earnestness.
New "Top Chef" judge Toby Young certainly embodies the first two of those characteristics - the amazing thing is that he actually talks that way as well. I guess I should have expected that from listening to a certain amount of British radio, but when this guy opens his mouth, the results are often astounding. For instance, on pesto: "That pesto was the big bad wolf that blew that pig's house down."
What can't I write like that? How awesomely awful!
Unfortunately, for us and for Toby, it doesn't seem to translate that well to American TV. Perhaps we've come to expect too much from "Top Chef" - too much seriousness, too much reverence. I hear that Simon Cowell gets away with being an oh-so-British dick (not really an "Idol" fan, so I wouldn't know), so how come Toby Young falls so flat?
Of course, I'm not the only one who has noticed the discord (is it just me, or does Tom look as though he wants to throttle Toby half the time?). Over at endlesssimmer.com they have a Toby Young Insult Tracker.
Gawker, which I'm finding to be the best place to obsess and gossip about "Top Chef", also has some choice words about Mr. Young.
Well, at least he's interesting. After coming back from vacation, I sat and watched the last four episodes on my DVR, and the fact that Hosea and Leah's nasty romance is the most interesting thing that's happened is a disgrace. I hope next season they find a way to make the food, rather than the horny contestants and the bitchy judge, the place where the excitement lies.
Comments (7)
Showing 1-7 of 7
The trouble with Toby Young is--and I say this as an Englishman--that he's an complete wanker. He's so utterly smug, and one has the feeling that he's more concerned with trying to come up with witty one-liners than he is with the taste of the food that he's been tasked with judging. Cowell, though himself also rather a twat, at least believes in what he's saying and isn't doing it with the *effect* in mind; Young, on the other hand, just looks as though he's trying to be an unlikeable little git.
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Er, *a* complete wanker. (Really, I just wanted the opportunity to write "wanker" again.)
I don't think he "gets away" with it anymore than you would Besha. I don't know whether this guy knows anything about food, but you are probably a better writer. People read reviewers like him just so they can say "I can't believe he said that." He seems like the Rush Limbaugh of food critics. And a complete wanker (that is a great word).
Toby Young as a food critic on Top Chef has seemed to be to all flash and no pan. It's as though he spends an inordinate amount of time thinking of clever things (or rather what he finds are clever things) to say than to actually describe the food. And hell, I am, more than anyone I know and often to my detriment, too fond of the British.
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