Top Chef All Stars - Page 23

Guess which top chef competitor was just anointed executive chef of a Michellin star* restaurant? Hung? Angelo? One of the Voltagio brothers? Jennifer Carroll? Nope, it was Amanda Baumgarten from season 7. Now, I liked her- I thought she was really cute and she seemed like she was a well rounded person outside the kitchen- but I wouldn't have even pegged her as an All Star. Just a year ago, she seemed so inexperienced in the kitchen- she had never cooked with this ingredient or that ingredient. And, now she's ready to be given the crown jewels of the King's Seafood Company? She made it kinda far in her season, but it seemed like she was always lucky in each episode not to get eliminated. And, you could tell that her fellow competitors never really take her seriously as a threat. * The Michelin Guide stopped covering LA, but her restaurant was awarded one star in their last LA edition in 2009.

I cannot believe it. She seemed to be one of those contestants who just get through pretty far because she's not the worst, but certainly never seemed to be the best.

Amanda -- who is Cordon Bleu-trained -- can cook. She's been the sous chef at The Water Grill and they knew exactly what they were doing when -- after a nationwide search for a new executive chef -- they turned to her. There's a big difference between who might win a television/cooking contest and who you want running your kitchen every night. Ask Eric Ripert about Jen Carroll.

Same can be ascertained from Top Chef masters... some of the most amazing chefs like Mantuano, Tremonto, etc... did not fare as well as they could have.

Yeah.. I think the timing thing is the most difficult aspect for those that are seasoned exec chefs. Also, when you get to the masters level, they have not done anything but their specialized cuisine in a very long time.

ala nba playoffs.

What would he say?

this goes eleventy-double when you're talking about an exec ... that's a job where creativity is about 10%, way behind things like reliability, organization and professionalism -- which are rarely noticed on TC.

Good things I would think, considering she was Le Bernardin's Sous Chef for a time and now is Chef de Cuisine at Ripert's restaurant in Philly.

He did say good things when he was her guest judge.

She also likes to party. IfyaknowwhatImean.

jenn carroll mmmmmmmm

Considering how close Jen came to winning, it's hard to draw conclusions about success in restaurants vs success on the shows from her.

Fourth in Season 6 and an early exit this season may seem "close" to you, but I'm not sure that would be a universal assessment. Regardless, the bottom line is pretty obvious -- there are great chefs who -- for whatever reason -- don't fare very well in such competitions but are superb in running a restaurant kitchen.

Ehh she was doing extremely well until the show before the finals. It also didn't help that her season was the strongest by several orders of magnitude.

She's a great chef.