Thursday, September 20, 2007

Amuse-Biatch Photoessay: Appearances to the Contrary, Lioness Gail Simmons Doesn't Like Her Meat Raw


32 comments:

Vic said...

I thought she looked spectacular! And ooh, she was feisty. I've missed Gail.

Anonymous said...

she is so beautiful

cb said...

i thought she looked a bit haggard, actually. but then i've never been a big fan of Gail.

even when she says something nice, it always sounds bitchy.

Anonymous said...

She's so much more beautiful than Padma and so much more knowledgeable and genuine.

Anonymous said...

I adore Gail. Wish we'd see more of her.

Anonymous said...

I appreciate her knowledge, too, and I appreciate that she seems like a real person rather than a beautiful automaton.

Anonymous said...

coming from a completely straight girl, day-um! gail was looking hot in this episode.

more gail, por favor!

Marius said...

Let me add my voice to the choir. We need more Gail. Oh, cb, give Gail a chance. She can be feisty, as Ms. Place mentioned, but I love smart (and spunky) woman.

Anonymous said...

Feisty? I thought she was going to pounce into the kitchen and devour Sara after she was served that chicken.

Anonymous said...

And where has Gail been? Oh well at least Riperts on the next episode.

Christina said...

Dude if someone served me raw chicken I'd be pissy too. I heart Gail.

Anonymous said...

I can understand giving Sara some dressing down for not cooking the chicken properly, but good lord Gail was acting as if Sara was trying to personally offend her. Her reaction was just a bit vitriolic for my tastes. Dont get me wrong I like Gail, I just think she was in a bit of a mood before arrival.

Anonymous said...

Anon, I'm kind of surprised by your opinion that Gail was harsh. To me, she was actually tactful.

Maybe it's just that, after hearing comments like "what the f*ck is that?" doled out by a judge, I think she had tact.

I absolutely love Gail. If it were my call, she'd be there every week, and my eyes would never have to look at Padma again. (Sorry, darlin'... I stood up for you, P, when everyone else didn't, but this season, I'm done with it).

Anonymous said...

No no dont get me wrong, i can completely understand her statements and agree with for the most part, what i found objectionable is her orginal outrage at the chicken. If you put people, chefs for that matter, in a severely high stress situation, there are for sure going to be mistakes made. What kind of irked me, was Gails really over the top reaction towards the chicken. Sure it was undercooked, but by no means do i understand why she was so personally upset. All i can say is if Gail does cook, with an attitude like that she'd better be doing it perfectly. If not her attitude was beyond overblown.

Anonymous said...

wow prove myself wrong here, looked up gails impressive career and but still maintain that while saying the right thing, she did so a bit fiercely.

Anonymous said...

please excuse my awful grammar, its a bit late.

Anonymous said...

I'll have to go back and watch it again. Maybe I just didn't notice it. I think I was probably blinded by the guest judges, LOL.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said:
What kind of irked me, was Gails really over the top reaction towards the chicken.

Her comment to the other diners was
"I have to say my chicken is quite undercooked. It's quite pink. Which, I'm not a huge fan of".

Not really "over the top".

At the judges table she became more
adamant about the issue to the other judges:
"...but the rest of my chicken was raw which is inexcusable."

When the contestants came in, Gail said to Sara:
"Chef Jacque(?) Torres(?) turned to me and said - you shouldn't eat your chicken it's still very pink in the center - and it really was".

Were those comments really "over the top"?
I don't think so.
You could kill someone by serving them undercooked chicken.

Anonymous said...

Hey i agreed with her comments, i just think she delivered them a bit snootily, and hey after so many ceviches this season, i cant believe she was suprised to be served something raw haha.

Anonymous said...

No worries, Anon. We aren't ganging up on you here. I mean, at least I'm not.

Trust me, I've gone off on some wild tangents, far more aggressive than the point you were making. (Of course, several glasses of wine were usually involved). : )

It's family here. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Anouk said...

Un-excusable, I believe, was the verdict from Gail, Queen of the Antonym. Her English is approaching the quality of Padma's French.

Anonymous said...

On that note, while reading about Padma's books on amazon, I learned that she speaks 5 languages and is fluent enough in Italian to have hosted a show there. I'm just saying.

Anonymous said...

angela said:
Un-excusable, I believe, was the verdict from Gail, Queen of the Antonym. Her English is approaching the quality of Padma's French.

In response to your post I replayed the clip several times and she says "inexcusable".

Anonymous said...

Gail is just absolutely beautiful.

I am a big big fan of amuse-biatch!!

another blog for Top Chef obsessives:

http://dontsweatinmyrisotto.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

anyone besides me will be willing to offer her my raw meat ;-) ?

Anouk said...

Eh, shows how un-perfect my hearing was... :)

Vic said...

Love Gail feisty. She's blunt and plain spoken without being mean. I like her straigtforwardness. Plus she knows food.

Anonymous said...

These were the five best contestants cooking for the most prestigous group of judges they have probably had in all three seasons combined and Gail is served undercooked chicken. hicken. I can cook chicken. There just wasn't any excuse--especially since I believe Sara herself said it was sliced chicken (she had looked at every slice herself to check if it was done.) I am the most easy going person there is but I would be embarrased for a chef who made such a basic mistake this late in the contest. With chicken no less.

Anonymous said...

Of course I am embarrased for spelling chicken--hicken! So there you go!

Anonymous said...

I think "hicken" would be deep fried...

Anonymous said...

Yea, i just thought that the undercooked chicken probably spoke for itself and didnt need Gails loud and contemptful announcement, given that the rest of the panel of guest judges were probably more than capable of seeing it was undercooked. It was just a little "Hey look at me".

Its why i'll always wish that Bourdain was a more permanent judge over Gail or Ted. Her way of coming out on the attack just sets up an adversarial situation between her and the chefs, making them less likely to heed or take any of her advice on its face. Bourdain may be harsh but he always does so in good spirit, being able to keep a smile on someones face as you eviscerate them for the meal they just made is quite a talent.

Joel Theriot said...

Gail is a fox.