18 replies to this topic

[OoogleEyes]

Food Network has bottomed out.

Edited by TWoP Howard, Jan 3, 2013 @ 3:58 AM.

[Leshyn63]

This will explain a lot. . .

[SweetGAPeach94]

None of the contestants on the first episode were worth rooting for at all. Canned Chili and instant grits? Bitchy wife. Husband in a too small hot dog costume.

[biakbiak]

What the hell was up with the difference in the kitchens? One team got restaurant grade fryers with a decent prep table near it and then the other team got home table top fryers on a table with not enough space to put their ingredients.

Also, did I miss something what was with the name Kettle n' Spouts?

Canned Chili and instant grits?

To be fair that was just the first challenge where they had an hour to serve 50 people, they ditched the chili and went to real grits for the other challenges.

Edited by biakbiak, Dec 30, 2012 @ 3:12 AM.

[The Solution]

I found it thoroughly depressing that all four of these people expressed it as their D R E A M to run a takeaway stand in a food court. And that they all seemed to struggle with the execution of this dream.

Sad.Pathetic.Grim.

[Totale]

I made it through 20 minutes of this and don't know if I'll make it back for the rest. I couldn't pick the winner based on their sob story (always the best way to go with "amateur" competitions on FN), but what those 20 minutes really drove home to me is how much I really, really loathe Tyler Florence and his passing acquiantance with 25 cent Bic shavers.

[jcbrown]

So do FN execs have pictures of Tyler Florence with a goat, is that why he keeps getting stuck with these lame shows? The epi that aired last night is the only one I see on the schedule so am I to assume that this is just a throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks sort of thing? Just burning this show off in a weekend with low viewership?

I wouldn't want to spend 5 minutes with the bitchy wife, let alone go into business with her. If I were her husband, I'd be begging to be deployed.

[CPP83]

I found it thoroughly depressing that all four of these people expressed it as their D R E A M to run a takeaway stand in a food court. And that they all seemed to struggle with the execution of this dream

These people had no restaurant experience, so I thought it was just a realistic goal for them to think it would be a huge accomplishment to get the chance to open up a small shop in a place where they could drum up easy business without many of the pitfalls that a lot of restaurateurs face. Almost like those who run food trucks, except indoors. I, personally, have known of quite a few places that start up small in local malls and are able to branch their product out if it's good enough.

And I think they struggled to execute at times due to the fact that they were facing so many firsts in opening their own business. I wouldn't except simple home cooks to come onto this show and act as though they've been there before, or not make simple, sometimes stupid, mistakes.

I didn't think much of the show myself, but considering that FN is coming back with a second season of Rachel and Guy's pathetic, so called, competition, I saw this show as being mostly harmless and it could have been worse, imo. I am not sure if many will be signing up to try it, since apparently they're only taking spots from those in the general Alabama area. I would have thought, with Gordon headlining the series, that they would have stationed the show in NY or California someplace.

[HelloooKitty]

Well, I am from Huntsville and if I get out to the mall I will let you know how the food is.
That being said, it was funny when the one lady complained about people not being from Huntsville so they wouldn't get repeat business. The one person they showed her asking said she was from Madison- basically a suburb of Huntsville and possibly closer to that mall than me (I leave on the SE side, well away from that mall).

Also, the best I can tell, Madison Square Mall is dying. There are only about 2-3 other food options in the food court; the last time my husband went out there, he said that the majority of the former food places had been taken over by kiosk type businesses. A large number of the retail spaces are empty. There is a Sears and a Penny's as anchors and, if I hear someone say they need to go there, they usually are saying the need to go to one of those specifically- they don't go to the mall itself. Not to mention there have been a number of robberies out there as of late. (When I mentioned going out there to try it to the hubs, he joked about being sure he took his pistol with us) So, I am not sure how great a deal the "winners" got.

[Maverick]

Wow. That wife was a piece of work. Like, put her picture in the dictionary next to the word 'shrew'. I agree the husband probably kept re-upping just in the hopes of getting deployed and getting away from her.

Why wasn't this show called "24 Hour Restaurant Batle Goes to the Mall"? Because that's really all it is. I know that show, Cupcake Wars and a few others started out as some random seemingly one-off special like this only to show up as a series a few month later, so I'm assuming we'll see this one sometime in the spring after Sweet Genius has gone into reruns. I suspect it will be a different city/mall each week.

those 20 minutes really drove home to me is how much I really, really loathe Tyler Florence and his passing acquiantance with 25 cent Bic shavers.

I can't figure out if he [mistakenly] thinks he looks like some butch superstud like that, or if he's just a lazy slob. Since they dropped him into this instead of Conant or some other Chopped judge, maybe that means they've finally given up on making The Great Food Truck Race work.

[Ginandtonic]

Why wasn't this show called "24 Hour Restaurant Batle Goes to the Mall"? Because that's really all it is. I know that show, Cupcake Wars and a few others started out as some random seemingly one-off special like this only to show up as a series a few month later, so I'm assuming we'll see this one sometime in the spring after Sweet Genius has gone into reruns. I suspect it will be a different city/mall each week

I can't imagine that there are so many empty spaces in malls that they could do 2 new teams each week, I bet it's going to be The Great Food Truck Race only instead of food trucks, it will be a place in the mall. There will be a bunch of teams & they'll whittle them down every week. Then at the end they'll make the teams have a foot race to the finish line instead of the team who sold the most winning, & once again, the top of my head will explode.

Wow. That wife was a piece of work. Like, put her picture in the dictionary next to the word 'shrew'. I agree the husband probably kept re-upping just in the hopes of getting deployed and getting away from her.

Seriously, did they say he was done being in the military? I kept wondering how they would run the place if he was deployed. I couldn't understand how a bacon wrapped hotdog with a ton of crap dumped on it would be their big seller, when I get a hotdog, I want sauerkraut & mustard, not bacon.

[mlp]

I wouldn't want to spend 5 minutes with the bitchy wife, let alone go into business with her. If I were her husband, I'd be begging to be deployed.

I see I wasn't alone. I finally watched this last night and kept thinking the same thing. Her gamut of unpleasant facial expressions just made me want to slap her.

I was glad the black couple won because I liked them better but neither of them seemed too bright and the woman was slow and weepy and didn't know how to prioritize. I can't imagine that they're going to be a raging success.

Tyler appeared to have lost weight and shaved. I thought he looked a lot better than he did on the food truck race but I still don't like him very much.

[ilovecomputers]

Yes, I love how the wife kept saying she and her husband were a team, but she blamed him for everything. Had to laugh when he disappeared at the space camp. That was a lame idea anyway, because if he was supposed to steer business toward her, how was she supposed to serve everyone and be cashier too? Her fact went from shrew to snivel in 5 seconds flat.

I would beware of anyone who, under pressure, reheats canned goods and serves them as his own product. There is always going to be pressure running your own restaurant.

[GoMocs]

I too live in Huntsville and ate at the food court during Christmas vacation. I was aware they had done the compeition at some point and I saw the new restaurant. It is in the location vacated by a Chick Filet. I was there at lunchtime and my wife and I noted that the food court was dead with respect to customers. The Kettle'n Spouts or whatever it is called was empty, might have seen two customers in there.

[HelloooKitty]

Well, hey, Neighbor! I think the lack of customers on the day you were there could be more indicative of the demise of that mall than of the quality of the food at Kettle and Spouts. Not saying that the food is good, I wouldn't know. I wonder what will happen if the mall folds before the end of the year lease they were awarded?

[Maverick]

I can't imagine that there are so many empty spaces in malls that they could do 2 new teams each week,

If they are going to different cities, they should have no problem finding malls with open spaces. Every mall seems to have at least one or two vacat spots in the food court, and if they picked distressed malls (like it sounds like the one from this episode was) it's open season.

[Brooklynista]

Wait, are you folks telling me I gave an hour to this crap only to have the winner get a spot in a dying mall food court??

So it's not even like that other stupid Next Great Restaurant that Bobby Flay was attached to? ...oh wait, the winner of that tanked too.

[Kromm]

I have not seen this yet.

I fear brain cells might die.

Wait, are you folks telling me I gave an hour to this crap only to have the winner get a spot in a dying mall food court??

It could be worse. It could be "Mall Bookstore Wars".

[rippleintime]

I really liked James, so I was rooting for Kettle and Spouts from the get-go. I think the concept of this show needs work, though. Determining the winner based on sales when there is no insight to the pricing of the menu items is an issue. There was also little focus on purchasing ingredients and whether each team estimated how much they would need well enough to get through a long shift without running out. There was some attention to K&S's mac 'n' cheese overcooking in the oven but that was hardly enough to last through 20 or so customers. This show would work better if there was a little more focus and judging of the actual food along with a challenge period where customers can purchase menu items. Right now, the winner is basically based on how many people who know they're participating in a competition show go to one and how many go to the other. Tyler sure is blunt though!