Casey said what?
I was reading the Top Chef message boards over at Bravo.com when I came across a post with a link to a story about Casey and her side of the story. Now, I wasn't happy with Casey but I felt Carla's failure to take control of her kitchen was her own fault. Its a flaw Carla needs to work on and I'm sure my girl will do just that.
Then I read what Casey had to say. This is the post written by Sarah Eveans for SideDish at D Magazine.
Casey speaks! And she doesn’t sound happy, folks. I asked her to comment on last night’s episode, and here’s what she had to say:
"Carla was not prepared and in over her head. The show did not talk about how the first course (crab) took her half of the friggin’ cooking time that day, I was left to work the rest of HER dishes.
She also did not have a plan. The ONLY thing she had in mind was a cheese course! I would NEVER do a cheese course. And where in the hell did french come from!? She is not even classically trained! It (the show) didn’t talk about how I worked on a sauce for 2 days and Carla forgot to put it on the plate… It didn’t show how the 2nd course (fish) was MINE. It didn’t show how she took the sous vide idea and decided to GRILL it last minute causing it to be tough… And it didn’t show how she WANTED to do the souffles which she does not even know how to make! That was HER food, because it certainly was me asking her how she wanted to do this and that while she was busy picking crab the entire time and making a souffle that didn’t rise!
I am done with TC. I did not influence her. She has NO ideas of her own, oh, except a cheese course."
I dunno, it comes off kinda mean girl-ish to me. What do you think?
posted by Blogging Top Chef @ 11:32 AM
20 comments
20 Comments:
Bitter, party of one. Your table is ready.
Nasty, nasty, nas-tay! That was just to cover her own inadequate, untalented a**. She was carla's kiss of death, and she knows it.
Maybe it came off more churlish than it needed to, but I'm sure there is a grain of truth in what she says, especially when she points out that Carla spoiled the purpose of the sous vide by also grilling the steaks. Carla either should have nixed the sous vide idea from the start or gone all the way with it. Instead, she undermined herself TWICE – first by listening to Casey, and then by not listening to her.
All I know is that Carla has never once blamed Casey and Casey is all over the place and said some pretty self serving things. She is not coming off well in the aftermath.
For the record, you have to sear sous vide meat otherwise it looks gray (like boiled meat). It could have been the cut of meat. Who knows, but suggesting that it was ruined because it was seared only deepens the culinary abyss that Casey's shouting from IMHO.
I wonder how much Casey actually knew about Carla coming in. If Casey hadn't seen Carla's run after Restaurant Wars, she might have thought Carla 'lucked' her way into the finals. It seems pretty clear that Casey thought Carla's food was to simple to win the title and, as Carla said, thought it needed to be "jazzed up." Shame on Carla for not trusting herself, and shame on Casey for thinking Carla's style was inadequate.
At this point, some 3-4 days after the show, I hope this dies down. From everything I've seen, Carla squarely takes responsibility for not sticking to her original ideas. Casey has now done a "Clean up on aisle 6" move by issuing a statement. The best PR advice I could give Casey is to call Carla to personally apologize and stop making public statements.
The first rule when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.
I hear what everyone is saying, and it is true that Carla herself has not said anything against Casey, but the show was definitely edited in a way that made it suggest that Casey was responsible for leading Carla down the garden path. I'm guessing this is why Casey spoke out against the show as much as against Carla.
True, it might have been better just to say nothing, but who wouldn't be angered by being blamed (if even only indirectly) for ruining someone's chances to win the top prize?
I think that Top Chef did not make Casey look bad at all. Confidence is a part of being Top Chef and a reoccurring them with Carla that she does not have confidence in herself. Stephan decided not to go with a suggestion from his sous and Richard stated in his blog that they kicked around the sous vide with the venison. I don’t think TC edited it to make Casey look bad but since Carla went with those ideas it was good of TC to show where the ideas came from. Remember that at Judges Table the judges and chefs did not watch the show and Tom’s questions and Carla’s reaction were all real and it made sense to us only because we heard the suggestion from Casey during the prep. I am not going to bad mouth Casey or try to understand why she said what she said. I know Carla in her public statements have been nothing but positive about Casey.
I don't recall Carla blaming Casey for anything, either in print or on the show. I'm really sorry that Casey has decided that Carla is trashing her when in fact, it's people in the blogosphere who have mentioned that Casey seems to have tried to sabotage Carla. I somehow doubt that Carla was as 'clueless' as Casey seems to think, considering she had a while to think about the finale. Just my opinion!
I think Casey did make bad suggestions, and I think it's Carla's fault that she took them. Both things seem true. As someone said above, Casey seems, wrongly, to have thought Carla's cooking was too simple. But Carla needed to trust her strengths. Carla's fault, as Carla herself has been gracious enough to say. (I loved Carla, so I'm sad about that.) But Casey is responsible for her own bad behavior since then. And it's been pretty bad.
I think Casey should be more concerned about what has happened to her face rather than putting Carla down.
Also I take issue with Casey's comments about Carla's training and decision to go with French food.
1. Carla WAS classically trained, at L'Academie d'Cuisine in French cooking.
2. New Orleans was settled by (and has a huge influence from...THE FRENCH.
Shut up, Casey.
I swear, if Carla had just been given 1st choice of sous-chef as she deserved, then I'll bet she would have taken Richard.
Girl-ish? You mean bitchy, right? Because that's the tone for that whole rant.
Carla is classically trained so maybe Casey was thinking about someone else. Maybe she just ate a bad mushroom and was having her own TC flashback.
Go chop an onion, Casey.
Casey is being painted as a villain. Everyone seems to think all these dishes were her ideas and influences. And because Carla is so "beloved" by everyone, it makes Casey look bad by default. All Casey's doing is defending herself and her reputation. Is it immature? Probably. But so is Carla's kooky "love fest" acting like a 9 year old in front of grown judges. Carla's the one who screwed up and couldn't plate her final dishes.....yet still received 60% in the fan poll that she should win TC???!?!??
Carla COULD have plated her final course but decided not to for reasons of integrity. She didn't want to send out something so bad.
Is it Carla's fault that she received 60%+ in the text vote?
Good grief. I think all sides have been called out for their mistakes. Carla acknowledged hers right up front. It appears that Casey's, albeit a different, more interpersonal type of mistake, is slowly coming around to admit that she aimed her gun at the wrong person.
...I think the the reactions reveal a gap in maturity between the two, if not class. There's almost nothing more humbling than have your backtalk about someone get aired for all to her--especially the person you're bad mouththing. Unfortunately, no matter what apology Casey offers to Carla at this point, it will be tainted by some suspicion of authenticity. Based on what we've seen from Carla, she'd accept an apology and move on.
. . .Casey has some sand in her vagina
Obviously, it was 100% Carla's responsibility for taking Casey's suggestions and I don't think Casey was wrong for making those suggestions. But it is equally obvious that those suggestions turned out to be bad ones and Carla would have been better off without them.
For Casey to suggest that Carla would be completely helpless without her is ridiculous! How does she think she made it to the finale?
It was nice to see Casey again....until this.....
Oooh, Casey must have gotten so much hate-mail!! Man, she's a defensive beeyotch. You're done with TC, honey? How about vice versa! Adios, amigorino and don't let the kitchen door slam your ass on the way out.
Post a Comment
<< Home