When Eater LA asked our little Gong-Li-in-training, Hung Huyhn, about Anthony Bourdain's gentle exhortation ("A little humility; a willingness to accommodate what people are likely to enjoy and appreciate, instead of pursuing that which honors only his own perceived genius, would be a good adjustment."), Lilliputz had only this to say:I totally accommodate other people. And I'm definitely a team player. He loved my first dish, he said it was flawless.
Ah, how short-lived is flawlessness....
The second edition of Bourdain's guest-blog (since Tom Colicchio is out here in Los Angeles opening his restaurant, Craft, about which Eater LA also has a lot to say), contains some choice words for Hung. To wit:
"A realistic assessment of the situation is exactly what Howie [Kleinberg]’s good at--and what talented but increasingly delusional Hung seems utterly incapable of. When a pastry chef of MANY more years experience practicing their trade than you’ve got out of diapers tells you your chocolate mousse is crap? It’s crap. When you’ve got to resort to the transparently desperate measure of lining your saggy-ass wedge of chocolate tart with strawberry slices (to keep it from leaking all over the table like baby puke)? It doesn’t MATTER if you think “the flavors are there”. “Flavor” counts for very little in a competition for “Top Chef” if your dish looks like something you’d find circling the bowl after a whiskey binge. Hung’s look of utter incredulity and contempt when being advised of his deficiencies, his seeming total inability to receive or accept or understand criticism is dismaying. It seems almost…pathological."
Delusional? Pathological? Sounds flawless to us. Maybe we do have a great Gay Villain on our hands. Is it time to bring out the white Angora cat for him to stroke?
And finally:
"[H]e seems incapable of the economy of movement that all professionals learn EARLY, and which even Martha Stewart has in spades. And when the majority of your Latino guests, all the judges, and Tom Colicchio in particular agree that your RICE blows? That’s not anybody’s 'personal opinion'. It’s a fact."
The Angora cat definitely says, "Meow!"
7 comments:
Holy Heck! I check in to see if you have returned from your break and there are 13 new posts! I think I need to lie down.
oh hung hung hung. this madame butterfly does not fly. angry gaysians never fell well. see entourage.
Oh, Meeow indeed, but oh so accurate. Our Hung's self image is bloated. A little humility is in order here.
But please, please let him continue on his quest for villainy! His increasingly lunatic egomania is all that keeps this show alive!
His best line: "The flavors were all there." Translation: it's your fault if your palette isn't sophisticated enough to appreciate my brilliance.
However, to be a great evil master Hung will have to detect the trickster Joey who knows that it is actually all about the appearance of humility, not humility itself. His tart winning performance was genius.
He's got to go...soon
No. No. No. He MUST stay. I'm with Trixie; let him continue his quest to become the ultimate Gay Villain.
I love Bourdain. Thanks for sharing.
What a relief!!! I thought he was Pinoy the first time I saw him...but of course, not with that name.
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