Hell’s Kitchen vs. Top Chef: Head-to-Head

Last night, I decided that I would check out this Top Chef business. So let’s take a look at HK vs. TC.

Premise

HK-A handful of chef hopefuls compete to win the executive chef position at a new restaurant in Las Vegas.

TC-A handful of chef hopefuls compete to win seed money to open their own restaurant.

Advantage: Push. The only difference is that the Top Chef peeps get full autonomy over what they are doing.

Host

HK-No real host. Action is moved along via cuts and voice over.

TC-Indian model chick. Watching last night I had no idea who she was. She is so striking that it’s almost distracting. No, strike that. It IS distracting. After some wiki research, come to find out that she is related to food. She is a cookbook author. Also of note, married Salman Rushdie.

Advantage: Hell’s Kitchen. The Indian model chick makes me think I’m watching Project Runway. It’s better to concentrate on the contest itself.

Contestants

HK-Whole range of contestants here. From a Waffle House line cook, to a retirement home cook, to an executive chef. They’ve got it all! Last year they had a prison cook. This year a nanny. Which is neat. But clearly, some of these people are better then others… as opposed to…

TC-All the people who are really good cooks. Well, with the exception of that hick country guy from the first episode. Still, the rest? They all know what they are doing. If you put the TC crew on Hell’s Kitchen, they would all be able to consistently pan sear scallops, rest their wellingtons, cook a rissotto, turbot, etc. I’ve pretty much described most of the HK menu. That seems to not change at all from season to season. Why don’t people just sit there and practice that sh*t? Anyway… so you have great cooks. Do you lose some drama factor?

Advantage: Top Chef. Actually, you don’t lose drama. The drama in HK is built in because you just KNOW that someone is going to rip into the Waffle Cook chick. But in TC, you’re not sure who’s going to get testy. In HK’s this season, for example, you still haven’t seen someone really shine. That kind of hurts the balance of the show. It also makes you wonder who is going to win and if they do, would you really ever go to their restaurant?

Judges

HK: Well, it’s just the one guy. But what a guy! Gordon Ramsay is a certified *sshole! And he has an outrageous temper. So the whole show you’re waiting for him to call someone a cow or donkey. You know he’s going to stop service. It’s just a question of when.

TC: You’ve got the hottie chick from Food & Wine mag, the big chef dude, and then a rotating third judge, as well as comments from the host chick. Watching the show, I always didn’t respect the host chick’s opinion. Even knowing she wrote a cookbook, I still don’t. I don’t know what it is. Again, I think it’s the whole model thing. That’s shallow, right? But there it is. Anyway, the others are really good. But there’s no danger.

Advantage: Hell’s Kitchen. You’re getting mostly sober critiques from the TC group. Whereas Gordon Ramsay is going to cut these people down to size. It reminds me of our acting teacher in college. He was harsh. So harsh that people were afraid to take his class. Same way with improv. There’s one of them that just gives some really poignant notes. And many people purposefully avoided those classes. But I loved them. Because you knew if you were doing crap, you were going to hear it. And if you did well, then you were doing very well if they said something.

Challenges

HK-They do pretty much dinner service for quite some time. During the day, they have some smaller challenges like the palette test and prepare your own meal and things like that. But by and large, it’s getting through service. And it never really changes that much. Just who they are serving and who judges them sometimes changes.

TC-This is one of the best parts of this show. It combines the best parts of something like Project Runway and Iron Chef. You get to see these people’s creativity because they really have to come up with some things on the spot. With not a lot of time to do it. I will say this though, the TC dudes don’t have pressure like the HK kids do. But, if they were put under that, I think they prolly would shine.

Advantage: Top Chef. The challenges are all different. The infusion of the new judge every week helps as well. You see a lot of different kinds of food too. As opposed to the repetoire on HK.

So the end tally? That’s 2-2. It’s all tied up. I’m going to have to watch more Top Chef to see which I like better. I think they are prolly different strokes for different folks. The real foodie would enjoy TC, whereas the reality junkies will love HK. Me? In a dearth of tv, these summer shows are great!