NYC Food Bloggers On "The Chopping Block"

"The Chopping Block," the latest in a long line of restaurant-themed reality shows premiered last night on NBC with Marco Pierre White, the famously maniacal Michelin 3-star chef, overseeing a charge of eight hapless couples who predictably embarrass themselves in pursuit of the show's $250,000 prize.

The premiere seems to be the topic du jour on the food blogs so we thought a little side by side critic summary might be a helpful way to get some insight into the show and learn a bit about the tastes of the NYC food blogoscenti.

EATER
Amanda Kludt concisely sums up the show, describing it as "a season-long episode of Top Chef's Restaurant Wars" and gives a lukewarm thumbs up: "they chose the right Bravo concept to steal, and this could turn out to be quite the interesting season."

Eater Highlight: "The critic! The Atlantic's Corby Kummer is such an awesome jerk in this. (When a server pronounces a Claret "Clar-ay," he says, snippily, to his guests, "It's Clar-et.")"

Read Amanda's full analysis

GRUB STREET
Daniel Maurer pulled together a neat little summary complete with comparisons to "Top Chef" and an overview of the judges and food. In the end, he wasn't wowed:

"Will We Watch Again? Sigh. Maybe -- but only for Marco-worship purposes, and if the guest judge puts on a show (meaning we'll be there for Steingarten). But much as we appreciated the dramatic string music and sexy shots of the Bowery, we'd probably pick Hell's Kitchen over this. After all, it's the original show where everyone freaks out when the lights go off."

Read Daniel's full summary

THE VILLAGE VOICE
Over on Fork in the Road, Haily Eber notes the post-apocalyptic tone of the show and finds the whole thing a bit overdone:

"Some may call Tom Colicchio "the Don" but he seems like Fredo the clown when compared to the show's treatment of White. When he's not shown walking across a bridge like Jesus, a ray of light behind while a voiceover pronounces "one man will guide them on their journey," White is sitting in a dark room in a club chair like the Godfather."

Read Haily's full critique

SERIOUS EATS
Serious Eats head honcho Ed Levine simply wasn't impressed:

"I just didn't buy into the whole thing. I know Marco Pierre White is supposed to be this galvanizing, charismatic presence, but I just wasn't feeling him last night. Does that make me a heartless, jaded serious eater with a rotten food television palate? I don't think so. It may be that that the hard drive that is my brain has no more room for any additional cooking competition shows."

Read Ed's full assessment

THE-FEEDBAG
Perhaps no one was more enchanted with the show than Josh Ozersky at Citysearch. His review loosely translates to, "I would like to make sweet, sweet love to MPW:"

"There's a new favorite show in Ozerkistan, and it's called The Chopping Block. How can anyone not love this show?...The true greatness of this show begins and ends with Marco Pierre White. Can I easily express my awe at the coolness of Marco Pierre White? I could sit there watching him pontificate in that chair for hours. Sign me up. I've found my new spiritual leader."

Read The-Feedbag's full worship

Missed the show last night? Watch the full first episode on nbc.com.