Top Chef All-Stars Exit Interview: Episode 7

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All together now – RESTAURANT WARS! It’s everyone’s favorite episode and this year Top Chef got all trendy, forcing the chef’testants to create a pop-up restaurant. Bourdain came back, Padma sported shoulder pads and one of the most controversial characters got the axe.

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Endless Simmer: During Judges’ Table did you think Tiffany was going to go?
Marcel Vigneron: I never know which way the judges were going to go. Blais won but wasn’t the team leader. I think I was an easy target. I had a disadvantage from the start. I cooked my heart out and I don’t think they went to bat for me at all. As for Tiffany, it was one of the worst performances I’ve seen out of her.

I get popped for leadership but no one listened to me. Am I a bad leader or are they bad cooks for not listening to their chef? Front of the house was a shit show. They made it look like we had problems when food went to wrong tables and no one greeted the judges. Front of the house was impacting the back of the house.

ES: What’s your fondest memory of the All-Star experience?
MV: Acutally a lot. The beginning was a lot of fun and I am good friends with lots of them. I picked Mike up at the airport in LA last night. But my favorite was fishing at Montauk. I used to commercial fish in Alaska. And that day I caught three 30lb bass. Whenever you get your own fish, you feel very close to the dish. There’s a very emotional connection to both the food and to the guests.

ES: Can you talk about your new show?
MV: I’d love to. It’s Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen on the SyFy Network starting March 7th. With some of my friends I started a catering company for high profile clients. It’s all about catering for guests and understanding our clients. We do a lot of things that people have never seen before and you’ll get to see a different side of me.

Some of the clients are a major car company, one of the most prominent ones in the US, designers, Hollywood firemen and Steve Waldon, surfing legend.

ES: On the show, you said  “I didn’t make any mistakes, per se.” What’s the disconnect between the judges and the dish?
MV: You’re never really gonna know what the judges are going to say. Everyone tasted [my dish] and agreed that it was good. I used an ingredient, coconut powder,  that I used in my finale and they liked it then. I think the use of dry ice to emit an aroma is actually really cool. But Anthony Bourdain isn’t in to that sort of thing.

ES: Would you do the show again?
MV: I would not do the show again. First time around was pretty rough seeing how I was being portrayed. I got my own show now and I don’t need to be shown in a false light.

(Photo: Bravo / BuddyTV)

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