120 replies to this topic

[Fukui San]

I figured that it's time that this smiley little ball of crazy got her own topic.

I love Korean food, and am glad to see some on Top Chef, though she has made other types as well. She may also be the first cheftestant who turns aggressiveness at the Whole Foods meat counter into a strategy.

Beverly Kim, working through her Tiger Mommy issues on national TV.

[chabelisaywow]

Beverly Kim, working through her Tiger Mommy issues on national TV.

One scribbled note at a time.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

As a second-generation asian, I empathize with her. It seems like she can actually cook, she kicked ass during the preliminary rounds, kicked ass in the chili redemption, kicked ass in the first quickfire, and made good food in the first elimination challenge. It is sad that she still needs to seek that approval when it seems like she is quite talented.

[fivestone]

She's such a baby - she can leave my TV screen, oh, any day now. But, at least if she's gonna be a baby, she's a talented baby.

[stinkytofu]

To be honest, I'm not shocked that she has such a daddy complex (my parents were Korean immigrants). I know that quite a few cultures show favoritism to the sons over the daughters, but the favoritism is really emphasized in old fashioned traditional Korean families.

I think she can go far in this competition, too. Maybe she cries a lot during the downtime, but she seems to be all business in the kitchen. When the pressure was on for the chile dish redo, she was the one who passed the task with flying colors.

[pennben]

I figured that it's time that this smiley little ball of crazy got her own topic.

That is the best opening line to a thread I've ever seen. Well-played.

I can't figure out what her story is going to be on the show: Is she crazy (crying jags; yelling jags at butchers) or is she picked on (there's no crying in the kitchen; there's no hogging the kitchen in the kitchen).

I have a feeling that she is going to be around for awhile, for better or worse, and I have no idea which it is at this point.

[chabelisaywow]

I have a feeling that she is going to be around for awhile, for better or worse, and I have no idea which it is at this point.

She is the one who is going to be the thorn in the side for everyone. From the previews it looks like she found a whole different set of contestants to piss off. She's not only inconsiderate, she's slow.

[Fukui San]

I like having Beverly around because she a different type of crazy than I've seen before on reality TV, and one that I can relate to. For some reason among the Asian people I know, Korean parents seem to be more likely to, say, disown a child for not marrying one of their own kind than others or working in a low status field like cooking.

To me she doesn't seem malicious, just very, very, very high maintenance. It'll be "fun" to see what sets her off.

[chabelisaywow]

disown a child for not marrying one of their own kind than others or working in a low status field like cooking.

In addition to not being a son, those are strike two and three for her. No wonder she has issues.

[Cookie Hoarder]

She is the one who is going to be the thorn in the side for everyone.

She's going to be the one who cracks. She's already dialed up to "This is the most important thing in my life and I can't fail!" and we're not even out of the first five episodes. As the game progresses, they get less sleep, the field gets narrower, and they stop giving out immunity (if she makes it that far) and she's going to find herself in the weeds with no help since she doesn't have the goodwill of her competitors, and she's going to crack and melt down.

[Mr. 888]

She's going to be the one who cracks.

Well, to me, she's already cracked. But she didn't cry this most recent episode, so maybe the high emotions are being slowly overcome with increasing levels of fatigue. I think she's a strong chef and she's been very solid on an individual level, but if she makes it to Restaurant Wars, I think she'd have the hardest time rallying people together.

[tripon]

I found it hilarious that she had a celebrity crush on Eddie Lee from before the show.

[TryDelta]

She really made a dumb mistake in the quickfire. Infusing Asian ingredients into the mother sauce is actually a good idea but she executed poorly and the mother sauce was overwhelmed by the other stuff.

I honestly do feel a bit badly for her. I think she has talent but she's already been targeted as weak and people like Heather thrive on picking on weaker folk and using them as scapegoats.

[hissyfit]

I got a kick out of her crush on Eddie as well. It made her very endearing. She's a hot mess emotionally, but she's kind of fun to have on the show.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

She is a mess emotionally but at least she doesn't try to bring down the others around her.

[arc]

Responding to something in the 9-7 thread:

I did somewhat misspeak there. I was referring to where Bev said French wasn't her thing.

French not being "her thing" is a world away from "couldn't cook French very well" -- if it really had been the latter, she wouldn't have left the Ritz to go spend a year and a half at Charlie Trotter's. By her words, she says she left a very traditional French spot to work at a more forward - but still in the French/New American style - restaurant.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

And are we saying a chef is not worth their salt if French is not "their thing"?

Edited by HawaiiTVGuy, Dec 21, 2011 @ 7:19 PM.

[whirlingdervish]

French not being "her thing" is a world away from "couldn't cook French very well" -- if it really had been the latter, she wouldn't have left the Ritz to go spend a year and a half at Charlie Trotter's.

arc, you beat me to it. That was my reaction, too. It will be interesting to see if this refrain of "she only cooks Asian!" continues throughout the season. Don't see why it's any big deal, myself. When I watched The Next Iron Chef, I didn't notice the judges being all, "God, Chiarello, why are you always cooking Italian? That's all you ever do! Broaden your horizon, Gianni One-Note..."

[Honeysnout]

Arc:

French not being "her thing" is a world away from "couldn't cook French very well" -- if it really had been the latter, she wouldn't have left the Ritz to go spend a year and a half at Charlie Trotter's. By her words, she says she left a very traditional French spot to work at a more forward - but still in the French/New American style - restaurant.

I was speaking not just from that interview, but from things I know about Beverly from working in Chicago restaurants. The Ritz was not a "traditional" French spot, but Trotter's, by Bev's own admission, was a whole different style altogether from the Ritz, one she couldn't handle, again, by her own admission.

Beverly Kim has never had a very good reputation in Chicago as a chef (more than half her resume is catering and Whole Foods) and her restaurant, Aria, is considered mediocre hotel food. You can take that or leave it, but whether or not she can cook French food, she has shown on the show and in her restaurant career (and people who've worked for her have told me) that she has little diversity in her expertise, such as it is. I know all the Chicago chefs either personally or through friends of friends and Beverly is by far the least qualified and least respected here in Chicago. Sarah is the most respected and the most qualified. Heather is better known than the guys from Moto, although her skill set probably lies between Chris and Richie.

HawaiiTVGuy:

And are we saying a chef is not worth their salt if French is not "their thing"?

No, but it can certainly leave a chef at a disadvantage on a tv show where the vast majority of challenges are based on cuisine derived from French technique.

Chefs cooking mostly one type of cuisine is not a problem on Top Chef if they are prepared to do other cuisines when required. Neither Rick Bayless nor Michael Chiarello did Mexican or Italian cuisine in every single challenge they faced on Top Chef Masters. It's bizarre to me that this is such a focus this season, when it's been a critique of a number of chefs over the nine seasons the show's been on.

[sloper96]

"Couldn't handle?" or "Not her thing?"

If she doesn't like preparing French food... well, that sounds logical to me. I don't like eating it when I have other options. I can see why learning French techniques is important to being a chef in this country, but from what I've seen, it's not clear that her techniques are less than the other Chicago chefs on this show. In fact, she's kicking some ass.

I was rather harsh on Bev for her weepiness... but considering how she is performing, and how Sarah is even worse with the tears...yech, maybe I'll get used to it.

[Fukui San]

Beverly has to make Asian food, or else she'll be accused of not cooking with sufficient "soul".

[HawaiiTVGuy]

Well she can definitely cook asian food out of the park and just IMO, being a Top Chef means to cook great tasting and looking food, regardless of origin. No one ever says that Western centric chefs have to show their chops at cooking non-Asian food in order to win a competition. If at some point they decide they want to force the chefs to go "around the world" with their dishes then that is the case, but people don't go to Ming Tsai's restaurant because he may or may not know how to cook French food or have a refined French technique, they go because the asian fare there tastes good.

Lol Fukui San.

[tvmovielover]

While I think most of her up and down behavior is her reaction to the pressure of this competition, I now wonder if some of the emotion is also her hormones still being a little up and down after having a baby fairly recently. OTOH, if she is down the pecking order of Chicago chefs and competing with other better known Chicago chefs, she might feel in over her head and pressured into odd behavior by that too. I never thought her use of mostly Asian ingredients in dishes was worse than Fabio cooking mostly Italian, etc., etc. But did she not express in the first or another early episode a desire to showcase Korean cooking if and when she could? Ed and Paul seem to be a little better at both Asian, Asian-fusion, and other cuisines than she is or better at this competition in general but I give her an A for effort and the judges seem to like a lot of her food.

[stinamaia]

Beverly Kim has never had a very good reputation in Chicago as a chef (more than half her resume is catering and Whole Foods) and her restaurant, Aria, is considered mediocre hotel food. You can take that or leave it, but whether or not she can cook French food, she has shown on the show and in her restaurant career (and people who've worked for her have told me) that she has little diversity in her expertise, such as it is. I know all the Chicago chefs either personally or through friends of friends and Beverly is by far the least qualified and least respected here in Chicago. Sarah is the most respected and the most qualified. Heather is better known than the guys from Moto, although her skill set probably lies between Chris and Richie.

Thanks. This gives me some insight about why Heather was so unreasonably mean to Beverly. Beverly is not one of the Kool Kids on the Chicago chef scene. That makes her fair game for one of Heather’s ilk.

It also makes me root for her even more. She’s being judged on a national, not just a local level now, and she’s doing quite nicely for herself so far.

[biakbiak]

I don't know why but it annoys me that Beverly seems to take over the living space, putting her pictures and her huge note on the mirrors in rooms that she shares with others, like keep it by your bed! It doesn't appear anyone else is doing that.

[Vanquish32]

Chefs cooking mostly one type of cuisine is not a problem on Top Chef if they are prepared to do other cuisines when required. Neither Rick Bayless nor Michael Chiarello did Mexican or Italian cuisine in every single challenge they faced on Top Chef Masters. It's bizarre to me that this is such a focus this season, when it's been a critique of a number of chefs over the nine seasons the show's been on.

Just curious but why does Bev cooking 'Asian' food necessarily imply she only cooks one type of cuisine? Surely there are vast differences both in terms of actual taste and culinary technique between say Korean, Chinese, Thai and Japanese food even if they are all broadly classified as Asian. To say Asian is one type of cuisine, is like saying that French and Italian cooking shouldn't be differentiated on the basis that both French and Italian are European cooking styles. By this logic, Michael Chiarello should be considered as one dimensional as Bev because he only does 'European' but never Asian.

To me, Bev's ability to at least do Asian food well is as refreshing as Rick Bayless's emphasis on Mexican food on Top Chef Masters. It is refreshing to see a wide variety of culinary techniques represented in Top Chef. It would be really boring if Top Chef just made it about French cooking and French Technique.

Edited by Vanquish32, Dec 23, 2011 @ 8:10 PM.

[stinamaia]

I don't know why but it annoys me that Beverly seems to take over the living space, putting her pictures and her huge note on the mirrors in rooms that she shares with others, like keep it by your bed! It doesn't appear anyone else is doing that.

I thought Beverly lost her roommate last week and has the room to herself now.

[biakbiak]

She has done it in all the spaces. They also moved this week and appeared that she is at least sharing with Sarah.

[Fly on the Wall]

To me, Bev's ability to at least do Asian food well is as refreshing as Rick Bayless's emphasis on Mexican food on Top Chef Masters. It is refreshing to see a wide variety of culinary techniques represented in Top Chef. It would be really boring if Top Chef just made it about French cooking and French Technique.

Being Asian myself, I'm enjoying seeing Asian cooking well-represented in this season's Top Chef. And I do agree that emphasis on a particular regional cuisine should not, in and of itself, be cause for derision. But in my mind, the difference between Beverly and Rick Bayless is that, I have no doubt that if Rick Bayless had to cook the perfect mother sauce, he would nail it. But Beverly didn't. In other words, I'm sure that Rick's choice to cook Mexican food is exactly that -- a choice, not an excuse to cover up a lack of skill in basic techniques of European cooking. With Beverly, I'm not so sure. And while Asian cooking tradition and technique may be equal in depth and richness with European cooking, being that they living and cooking in the US, I think chefs coming from foreign or minority backgrounds do have an obligation to learn the skills and traditions of the majority culture. It would be rather narrow-minded of them not to learn from the majority culture and stick to just what is familiar to them. I'm not saying Beverly isn't making any effort to stretch beyond Asian, but her skill level with European cooking, and perhaps cooking in general, just isn't up to the level of the best of Top Chef contestants, much less that of the Masters. That said, I'm rooting for her to go as far as possible. It just feels good to have an Asian woman represented in the competition. I can't remember another Asian woman going deep in Top Chef since LeAnne Wong.

[Dayus1]

I like Beverly and the fact that she sticks mainly to Asian cuisine isn't a bad thing for me. I often feel like there is this tone to Top Chef sometimes that 'sticking to Asian' is akin to only being able to cook a burger. If she is given ingredients and produces top quality food from them, I don't care what style of cooking she does, tasty food is tasty food.