Has anyone seen this yet?

[link]

Yay! About time. I hope it starts soon.

And WTF on Ms. Jay's hair? I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Ack! I completely forgot about that!!! So funny!!! And he was totally dude-ing it up outfit wise as well.

And (Liese) I don't recall him saying anything of the sort to LeeAnn so I don't get where the remark came from.

Sumi and Liese, I think it came from how Hung has been talking about his background more (or they have been editing it that way), so Colicchio was calling him out on it. At least, that is how I took it.

Well, it kind of struck a nerve after a week of the whole Asian as technician discussion (not here) and then to have Ripert and others come out with the same thing. It's not that I like Hung - becuase he's not really my horse in this race but I don't want him to not win because of something so nebulous.

Sumi and Liese, I think it came from how Hung has been talking about his background more (or they have been editing it that way), so Colicchio was calling him out on it. At least, that is how I took it.

I don't recall anyone saying that he needed to cook more Vietnamese, but that they needed to see Hung in the dish. I think that the idea is that Hung makes very good classic dishes, but doesn't put his own spin or special touch on them.

I don't recall anyone saying that he needed to cook more Vietnamese,

I don't remember this either. Was it not aired but in a blog maybe?

Top Chef: I was really uncomfortable with Colicchio's "we need to see more of you; we need to see you cook Vietnamese" comment to Hung.

Wasn't that in response to Hung's "I learned to cook in my Vietnamese mother's kitchen" speech, though? If Hung is trying to prove to the judges that he's passionate about cooking by talking about his ethnic heritage, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask why that doesn't come through in his food.

[eta:

It's not that I like Hung - becuase he's not really my horse in this race but I don't want him to not win because of something so nebulous.

And see, I don't think it's nebulous at all. The reaction to Hung's food from almost all the guest judges has been that it's technically well prepared but there's no there there, which translates to a less enjoyable meal than something prepared with less precision but more attention to flavor. If Hung paid more attention to flavor and less attention to showing off his knife skills (and don't even get me started on the utter bullshit that is sous vide), I think he could win. But he's not cooking food he wants to eat, he's cooking food he thinks will score points.]

It was the juxtaposition of Tom saying that he doesn't see Hung in his food right after Hung tells his immigrant story.

Well, it kind of struck a nerve after a week of the whole Asian as technician discussion (not here) and then to have Ripert and others come out with the same thing.

Yeah, exactly, sumi. That was why it was ringing bells for me. It's in the context of the whole season.

If Hung is trying to prove to the judges that he's passionate about cooking by talking about his ethnic heritage, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask why that doesn't come through in his food.

I dunno about this, though. I read him talking about being passionate about cooking by talking about his family. That doesn't necessarily translate into Vietnamese food influences. And it certainly could translate as easily into French food influences, which he does show.

I deleted the episode, so I can't go back for the exact quote, but right after he said, "We need to see more of you in your food" he went on to say something along the lines of "You're Vietnamese, right? We haven't seen any of that." I'm wildly paraphrasing here, so you can extrapolate at will. But it seemed clear that the implication was "more of you" == "more Vietnamese" which, no.

It was especially weird a comment coming at the end of the cowboy challenge. What, exactly, was going to be Vietnamese about an elk preparation?