A Surprise Guest Chef Stops By The Kitchen
Just kicking back from a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, when another wonderful guest chef stop by the kitchen to chat with us.
Us: Hi Chef Marcel, welcome to the Blogging Top Chef Kitchen.
Marcel: Sorry for the delay but I'm extremely bizay!
Us: Who do you admire, in the cooking realm and outside of it as well?
Marcel: My culinary muses, are Ferran and Albert Adria (El Bulli), Grant Achatz (Alenia), Heston Blumenthal (Fat Duck), Wylie Dufresne (wd~50) For their creativity and development of molecular gastronomy. I also admire Thomas Keller (French Laundry) For his pursuit of perfection, simplicity, and finesse Lastly, every chef I’ve ever worked for that either pushed me, taught me, lit a fire under my ass, patted me on the back, and ultimately made me the cook I am today.
Us: If you could not be a chef, what would you be doing?
Marcel: If I wasn't a chef I would probably be a musician. You work with your hands, get to be creative and make something for other people to enjoy. Not to mention chefs and rock stars have similar lifestyles.
Us: What inspired you to become a chef?
Marcel: My first trip to Europe was the spark that ignited the fire that fueled me to pursue a journey to chefdom. Seeing how food was such a big part of all of these different cultures lifestyles and how it was so vastly different from place to place was something I found very intriguing. As I began cooking I realized that I had found my calling. No other occupation requires you to utilize every scense which kept the inferno blazing for me. I also like the fact that cooking gives you the opportunity to be creative with flavors and artistic with your plate presentations which is extremely fulfilling for me and continued to fuel the fire.
Us: Whats your favorite junk food?
Marcel: In n Out as far as establishments and Chicken Wings in terms of food.
Us: Got any funny stories you’d like to share?
Marcel: Maybe another time remind me later.
Us: What do you do for fun?
Marcel: Live life! I love the outdoors so anything outside: hiking, skiing, surfing, mountain biking, rock climbing, wakeboarding. Other than that I just like to hang out with my friends and family.
Us: Got any quick recipes you would like to share?
Marcel: Another time.
Chef Biatch: Ok, gotta ask, what’s with the hair and how do you feel about being compared to Heatmiser and Syndrome?
Marcel: I don’t know who those people are or that I’m compared to them, so ?
I actually asked production to let me cut my hair several times during the show because it was getting out of control, but they wouldn't let me do it due to "continuity".
Chef Biatch: Ok, I did post your picture with Heatmiser and Syndrome as a joke, don’t hold it against me, ok? Lol, you can tell me fat jokes if it makes you feel better.
Us: Thanks for playing along. We at BTC wish you the best of luck on the show,
Marcel: Thanks I will try to give you more info later.
Enjoy Chef Marcel and fine dining at Joël Robuchon at The Mansion in the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas.
Learn more about Molecular gastronomy .
posted by Blogging Top Chef @ 2:02 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
I just finished reading this interview with Marcel and the one over at tc2blogger and am just astonished at the sheer immaturity on display. I've been more than willing to give Marcel the benefit of the doubt because I've attributed the disdain for him to his on-camera Stephene-esque overconfidence, arrogance, whatever...but now I'm just embarrassed for him.
It all started off with his comment on tc2blogger when he talked about cooking being the way for him to express his "creatively witty and poetically complex personality". Good lord, is this coming from a grown man or a teenage girl on her Live Journal page?
His whole diatribe on "self-disappointment" with cooking imperfection further highlighted his grandiose vision of himself. (I've got news for you, Buddy, you'll never reach your own "levels of expectation" for yourself because your vision is too myopic.)
A lot of what he talks about in his interviews--and even on the show--is littered with buzzwords; if I hear the term "flavor profile" from him again, I think I might gag, and, like a teenager, just outright contrarian. (Which knife would he pick out of the 2 given to Betty and Harold? Neither!) And here we go again with "molecular gastronomy and avant garde cuisine" that he really has yet to define. In fact, the person who has best described it so far has been Lee Anne on her blog--and she's not even the one throwing around the term all the time.
So I left tc2blogger shaking my head and wondering how anyone could just take themselves so seriously without realizing how silly and shallow they sounded. Then I read his interview here and my annoyance grew. "Chefs and rock stars have similar lifestyles"?! What crack has this boy been smoking? With the exception of celebrity chefs, there is little to compare in the lifestyle. Being a chef is just like any other job in that you start at the bottom and have to bust your butt to move up the ladder. It's years of training, work, physically demanding work environments, and an average annual salary just over 50K in expensive cities like San Fran, NYC, etc. The well-known big money makers in the industry aren't the chefs--they're the financiers that back them and the restaurants. And most of those people didn't initially make the money they're investing in the food industry. Maybe Marcel meant that that the similarity in lifestyles is that of the sensory hedonism that goes hand-in-hand with the job, if he didn't, then he needs to get himself into an intro to finance class ASAP.
I skimmed over Marcel's inspirations (tedious butt-kissing) and his enjoyment of outdoor activities (What? No long walks on the beach?) and just shook my head at the waste of time his interviews were. While I'm sure he's just mesmerized by his own profundity and supreme mastery of all things culinary, I wonder if he knows just how detrimental his words and attitude will be to his career? More than likely, I think he's so oblivious to the idea that anything he thinks could ever be wrong that the possibility of not being the Top Chef (on TV or in the real world) is unfathomable to him.
Poor Marcel--shallow, immature, and transparent. Maybe he'll outgrow it.
I like the fact that he came forward for an interview. Nice job ladies. I may not agree with him but I learned a little bit more about him.
oh god, what a dork. he's so annoying and pompous yet also uncomfortably awkward and bambi-like. i'm always torn between understanding the other chefs' making fun of him and feeling bad about it at the same time.
thanks for posting the interview :)
I found that interview fairly innocuous. I wouldn't mind meeting Marcel to see what he's like in real life. I know some people who seem dorkified and pompous, but when we're just hanging out, they're okay.
Couple of things:
A. He's really, really young yet. Cut the guy some slack.
B. Is it possible that by "rock stars and chefs have similar lifestyles" Marcel could have met that they keep similar hours? Both work primarily late evenings and probably sleep late/don't sleep much to compensate. Both have jobs that are entirely about the audience's tastes. And the similarities don't end there. Sounds like a fair comparison to me.
C. The producers wouldn't let him cut his hair? Yikes! Can we say "control freaks"?!
An, I agree with you. The rock star and chef thing IMO is more along the lines of stress, hours, maybe even drinking. Good points.
Ladies, love your blog, not a big fan of Marcel, but you give us a little of everything and that is what I enjoy about this blog. It is a one stop show.
Tina/NY
I think people need to chill a little - he's a chef, not a politician. I don't know what sort of profundity you were expecting in a brief hasty interview. I think the whole "he's young and immature" critique needs a rest as well. He may be young, but obviously he's talented and creative. Besides, no one criticizes the other (older?) chefs for being pompous. Is it any surprise that Marcel needs to overcompensate? He has people lodging the words "young" and "immature" at him left and right.
Yes, we know he's younger than the other chefs. Can we move on now?
Marcel appears to be a sore winner and loser. Not traits worthy of being a Top Chef. Listen to Franks interview on CHOW.com. It was not the toothbrush incident that sent Frank over the edge, apparently Marcel broke a $300 pair of Franks sunglasses in a hissy fit because he had to cook Thanksgiving Day meal. He also told Frank he would buy new sunglasses to which Frank said never happened.
On the Christmas Party Challenge where they made the canapes/hors d'ouerves. Sam was the leader, Sam was awarded the box of knives, which I may add he allowed the other team mates to select knives from as a reward. Marcel began to say how no one led him and I am my own man, blah blah blah, shut up! You won, accept it, dont fight over who should be the winner on the winning team. Is he talented, yes, however he is very one dimensional in his style of cooking, its molecular gastronomy or nothing. 3/4 of America does not even know what that is! Only a very small percenatge of people eat that food. I ma not knocking it, its here to stay and the Chefs who master it are a credit to the ever eveolving world of cuisine. My real problem with Marcel is he is selfish, self absorbed and has an ego the size of his overblown pompador.
Man oh Man, this guy is so full of beans, maybe thats why his hair looks like that. I look forward to the reunion show and cant wait to see how he views himself on TV.
He'll probably give some explanation that the camerea put him in a bad light. Marcel, news flash- THE CAMERA DOESNT LIE!
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