Food Network Star Exit Interview: Mary Beth Albright
Mary Beth Albright had quite a ride on Food Network Star. Multiple times she stared into the gaping mouth of elimination but persevered to make the final four. That’s impressive for the woman who says, “I’m not a reality show star, but I play one on TV.”
Throughout the show she had to cope with a knowledge of food that sometimes exceeded her ability to execute it. In other words she had terrific creativity but at times lacked the cooking chops to pull them of. It would be easy to say that was her final undoing and certainly arguments could be made to that point.
However predictable Mary Beth’s ouster this week was it was stunning to see just what lengths the producers went to to insure it. First she drew Vic as her challenger, the strongest cook of the remaining contestants and one with a lot of experience in cooking contests. Then she drew Penny as her sous chef and true to form Penny did her best to make sure Mary Beth went home.
Penny was deliberately lethargic while doing prep for Mary Beth. It was obvious enough that Bob Tuschman called Alton Brown over to have him quiz Penny about her apathetic movements. When Alton called her on the clear vandalism she shrugged, smiled and shot the camera a knowing look. I’m confident (the kind of confidence that comes from inside information) that was hardly the extent of Penny’s misdeeds but that’s all they chose to show.
I hope in the future that Food Network spares us this kind of barbarism. This is not Rock of Love or any of those other seedy shows who’s sole purpose is to entertain the lowest element of American society. Those people may watch a lot of TV but having no jobs they really can’t afford to buy anything the advertisers sell. Hopefully retailers will realize that one day and the whole “people behaving badly” genre will disappear from our screens.
For her part Mary Beth handled everything with grace and professionalism and earned a great deal of respect in the process. Take her post-elimination blog post for instance. There is no mention of the Penny/Food Network sabotage. I even gave Mary Beth a chance to vent and she passed it up. It’s clear that she only wants to focus on the positive aspects of her Food Network Star appearance. So if you came here looking for more of the fireworks we saw from Alicia, both Justins and Penny, too bad.
In commenting about the remaining contestants she said, “Everybody has really strong strengths. Jeff is an extraordinary performer.” On his food “He made this Asian tofu wrap in episode four,” she reminisced, “His tofu wrap was so good that I ate two of them and I can’t stand tofu.” Of Susie she said she, “has just the soul of a Mexican chef,” adding, “She has such deep history with the food that it makes me want to make it.” She ended with her thoughts on Vic, “I love Vic. He’s so endearing in person,” summing up his cooking with, “He takes risks with food.”
So what happened with your lamb being overcooked?
I roasted the chops individually and I usually roast the entire rack of lamb as one big roast when I do rack of lamb. I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to do the entire rack of lamb together. Because honestly, you hear that you have an hour on Iron Chef and then you’re running around and you look up at the clock and fifteen minutes has gone by and you have no idea where it went.
So I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to do the whole roast so I put in the oven individually. I think that I probably took them out at the right time. Then while you’re judging you have to keep your food warm and I think that it was probably in the oven for too long or I miscalculated in my own mind how long it would take them to warm.
I cook lamb. I cook lamb a lot and I don’t overcook lamb but you see that one shot of Giada De Laurentiis trying to saw through her lamb chop and it’s like “Ah, God!” But live and learn.
In your blog post you mentioned how having appeared on the show had earned you the respect of DC chefs – can you elaborate?
A restaurant in Washington just opened; it’s called Rouge 24 and RJ Cooper is the chef there. I just went there for a media tasting last week and he’s been on Iron Chef (click HERE for more on Forgione vs. Cooper). He and I ended up having this whole conversation about Iron Chef and it had nothing to do with food that I was sitting at the table eating.
I think that there really is a new appreciation. I wouldn’t call it new respect I call it a new appreciation that I have for what chefs do and I think that they probably know that. Not just the act of cooking food for a bunch of people but cooking for a bunch of people under time and pressure with limited resources which is what restaurant cooks do every single day.
I’ve already gotten phone calls from other chefs who’ve been on Iron Chef around town and I think it’s a really great experience for a food writer to have, to really understand what you have to go through.
What’s harder – facing the judges’ table on Star or facing a judge in a court room?
They don’t allow cameras in courtrooms anymore. It’s tough not only being in front of the Food Network judges because of all of the cameras and everything tat is going on while you are being evaluated but you’re being evaluated on your dream. That’s a tough thing to handle. When you’ve left a really good profession and really good money to follow a passion it hurts a lot for somebody to be critical. And of course they have to be critical; it’s a very important job to give someone their own cooking show and to trust them with the Food Network brand. I get that
But it’s really hard to be judged on your dream. Which a lot of people don’t do, a lot of people don’t follow a dream because it’s easier to keep it in a box somewhere. I’d say Food Network judges I really would. I know that sounds like a crazy answer. It won’t be the craziest thing that’s happened in my life in the past year.
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Food Network Star Exit Interview: Whitney Chen
For the second week in a row the person who had the best overall performance got eliminated. Whitney Chen, who’s resume is so good they should have canceled the show this year, rocked the judges’ table with both flavor and personality. The moral of this story? Don’t you dare have a better day than the preordained winner.
This is all anyone should need to know as to whether Whitney was the best candidate this year, she worked at Per Se. Don’t know what that means? It’s knowledge dropping time.
Depending on your school of thought there are two men that at any given time are considered the best chef on the planet today, Ferran Adria of Spain and Thomas Keller of America. Some will throw around a handful of other names but if you ask chefs, critics and restauranteurs from around the world those are the two names that come up most of the time.
If you have ever heard of Yountville, CA it is because Thomas Keller opened a restaurant there, The French Laundry, which makes it to virtually every “Top 10 Restaurants in the World” list worth reading. Per Se is Keller’s, “urban interpretation of The French Laundry.”
Ferran Adria closed his restaurant El Bulli just this past weekend. Prior to that he received over 3,000 applications a year from chefs willing to work for free at El Bulli. Thomas Keller has nine world class restaurants so one can only imagine how many applications he gets for folks so willing to work for him that they’d do it for free. Whitney worked for Keller and got paid.
Contest over.
Or at least it should have been anyway. But let’s not forget that Food Network is not looking for someone to draw great ratings on a weekly show; they are looking for someone to draw ratings to this one show. If the winner turns out to be another Guy or Aarti then great but they are perfectly happy if the winner is another Aaron or Amy.
One thing that is clear when speaking with Whitney is how damned smart she is. Her intellect is stunning. Listening to her handle the cleverly worded questions from a gaggle of food writers was like watching Bo Jackson running the football or Yo Yo Ma manipulating the strings of his cello. If she decides to run for politics Washington had better watch out because she’s a lot brighter than anyone in DC.
Observe how deftly she handled a question about the notoriously deceptive editing on the show, “Interesting things happen,” she understated. “. . . and I think it’s just too bad that everyone can’t see the whole thing and how everything works behind the scenes because it’s pretty cool.”
“In terms of the editing, they’ve got to tell story lines and we totally get how it works. But there were times where I felt like I was really happy and my personality was totally shining and then it didn’t get on. But it is what it is.” One of the things she regrets from the editing room was in the Cupcake challenge with guest judge Ina Garten. Whitney actually made three different cupcakes that represented her evolution as a cook. Read about them in her column for the Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Patch HERE.
What one moment best defines your experience on the show?
The show to me really did ebb and flow. I think the Fourth of July episode and being on stage there was really a great moment for me. I think I was really comfortable perhaps because I had a couple of beers before I went out. I was really comfortable; I was spontaneous. I was having a good time. I got to talk to people and be around people which is what I love doing. So I think that one moment for me was a highpoint.
Since the purpose of the show is to find someone who can inspire the home cook do you think more emphasis should be put on a contestant’s ability to actually cook something?
I think the Food Network knows what they’re doing. It’s a really successful network. I learned a lot in this experience about what you have to do and what you need to make a successful TV show.
Of course I think there are people who probably watch the Network to see people who focus on the food more. I think there are also people who watch the Network that probably want to see people are more there to entertain people. I am certainly in the previous category.
For me the food is of the utmost importance. That’s why I’m doing this. That’s why I left my job before. It’s what I love. It’s my passion. Although that (cooking ability) wasn’t the focus of this season maybe, and it’s not what the Network is looking for right now there’s certainly a place for it in the future.
What is your current project?
My current project is just to enjoy the rest of the summer and spend time in the heat and sunshine with my family and friends. I feel like I’ve kind of been off the grid with them. We couldn’t tell them anything about the show. I’ve been very secretive so I’m going to take a few weeks off and enjoy that.
I’m really excited; I’ve got a lot of stuff going on in the fall. I’m going to be writing new recipes, a contributing editor at Gilt Taste (Ruth Reichl’s new venture) which is great because I love to write. I’m excited to do that. I’m just going to continue to pursue the passion and to learn about food.
I’m still not counting the possibility of me having a cooking show out. I’m still going to continue to go after that.
I for one look forward to that show more than any other that might emerge from this season.
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Review: The Sorcerer’s Apprentices
How famous and important a restaurant is El Bulli? When preparing for this assignment I typed “el b” into a google search field and El Bulli was the first thing that came up. That’s impressive. If you have dining there on your bucket list but you don’t yet have a reservation then you need to replace it with something else because in just over two months the most famous restaurant in the world is closing it’s doors.
From the El Bulli web site:
First of all we would like to thank everybody who has shown an interest in visiting us to enjoy the El Bulli experience during these fifty years as a restaurant. Also to all the professionals who have been part of the team and helped make it happen.
On July 30th 2011 El Bulli will have completed its journey as a restaurant. We will transform into a creativity center, opening in 2014. Its main objective is to be a think-tank for creative cuisine and gastronomy and will managed by a private foundation.
In 2009 Lisa Abend, Time magazine’s Spain correspondent for the past several years, spent an entire season in the kitchen of the little restaurant in Roses, Spain. She was the proverbial fly on the wall as a staff of 40 sum odd cooks developed the 31 course extravaganza that has made Ferran Adrià the most famous and revered chef on the planet. The result was the newly released The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià’s elBulli.
She watched as a team of 32 stagiaires (apprentice chefs who work for no pay) invest six months of their lives just for the invaluable line on their resume, “worked for Ferran Adrià at El Bulli.” It is the culinary equivalent of walking on the moon.
What Abend captures extremely well are the emotions of the stagiaires as they discover that their tenure in Roses is nothing like they imagined. The El Bulli kitchen is unlike any they will work in the rest of their careers. At some point or another every single one of them will be vastly disappointed in the experience and rewarded by it.
Some will get angry. Some will be frustrated. Some will get laid. All of them, at one time or another will be bored. The most exciting dining experience known to man is quite possibly the most boring kitchen a chef could work in. That is but one of the ironies revealed in Abend’s book.
The author introduces the reader to many of the stagiaires who are gleaned each year from thousands of applicants. Another testament to the legend of Adrià, that each year 3000 chefs from around the world volunteer to work for him for free for six months. Their only compensation is sharing a small room with their co-workers and one meal a day.
If you are looking for the scandalous tales made famous in chef memoirs like Marco Pierre White’s The Devil in the Kitchen or Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential you’ll be disappointed. But that does not mean the book is devoid of scandalous revelations.
For all of Adrià’s unquestionable creativity and skill and vision and genius and artistry he is apparently not a very good businessman. With 32 chefs working for free, a large number of servers who also work with out pay and an average cost of $350 a head for dinner at a restaurant with a reservations wait list years long, El Bulli is not exactly a profitable endeavor.
If you are a foodie or a chef you will find this book engaging and eye opening. It is well written by an author who smiths words that are eloquently lucid. It is a must read. And I’m not the only one who thinks so either:
“Abend is successful in conveying the intense pressure felt by the young stagiaires, while providing insight into Ferran Adria’s commanding but beneficent rule over his well-oiled machine of a kitchen.” Leah Douglas, SeriousEats.com.
It’s a fascinating glimpse into a culinary rite of passage, and the incomparable genius behind it.” Dan Barber, chef/owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
“This is a worthy addition to the literature of the professional kitchen and a pleasure to read.” Michael Ruhlman, author of Ratio and The Making of a Chef.
Abend and I have Tweeted back and forth since I received my review copy and I have told her that she is the envy of every food writer in the world. She assured me that is not the first time she has heard that and that the experience was a once in a life time event.
Color me green.
