MovieChat Forums > America's Next Great Restaurant (2011) Discussion > Spice Coast should NOT have won

Spice Coast should NOT have won

posted 13 years ago by fletcbk
3 replies | jump to latest

I have seen over and over again people say "Spice Coast should have won" "Spice Coast was robbed" "Bobby Flay rigged it for Soul Daddy" Yeah, and the fact Soul Daddy won 4 challenges and Spice Coast won 1 had nothing to do with it...

People liked Soul Daddy better, period. If anything the other three judges really promoted Spice Coast/Harvest Sol past a point of any kind of logic. There is no way any sane judges not going out of their way to pimp healthier foods or be food snobs would have let Harvest Sol (a piss poor, badly conceived restaurant...conceived during the MIDDLE of the competition) anywhere near the top three. Spice Coast is a little more excusable, but the bottom line is people just didn't like this guy's food.

To me it looked extremely boring and the entire selling point is the originality of Indian Food. How do you look boring and standard and be the first chain of fast casual Indian food? How is that even possible? But Sudhir did it. Maybe it was his blatant rip off of Mexican food (an already crowded market even if the show didn't acknowledge the dozens of other Mexican food options besides Chipotle) or the overly sterile design of his restaurant, but nothing about that place looked new or exciting to me. And it's the only one like it! I just don't get the blind devotion to this concept from the 2 dozen people who actually watched this show...don't get it at all.

All things considered, I actually think Brooklyn Meatball Co. would be my personal pick just because I would be most likely to go eat there (that food looked delicious), but I'm not going to push it over a restaurant that has clearly done better in the overall competition.

[–] WSyd 13 years ago

Agree (surprised?) he should not have won, especially after changing his concept to Indian/Mexican fusion at the last minute. But I think he would have stood a better chance if he stuck to his concept the way it was earlier in the show (people DID like his food, the only crowd he had an issue with was the kids. In the end he tried TOO hard to make his food accessible.)

[–] fletcbk 13 years ago

I am surprised you agree...because I have seen a lot of posts saying this guy was robbed, and I just don't get that reasoning. They say the contest was "given" to Soul Daddy--an ugly reminder that overtime a black person gets something in the US people think it's handed to him/her--but this guy won more challenges than anyone, was a better leader, and people enjoyed his food the most.

I personally would be most likely to eat at the Brooklyn Meatball Co. but there's no denying Soul Daddy should have won this just based off how he performed every week.

[–] jurae 13 years ago

Agree here too. He should have stuck with Indian cuisine rather than trying to do a Chipotle fusion. (Don't think Steve Ells would be looking for such similar competition.)

Joey could have walked away with it - but he screwed himself with his lack of organization and inabiity to get his crew on the same page. Unfortunately for him, he chose to deviate from what apparently is the 'fast-casual standard' ala Chipotle (cafeteria style ordering but with assembly of items rather than scooping things onto a plate and sliding it along).

IMHO - if Joey would have gone the assembly line route, he might have won it. Choose your starch/base (roll for sandwich, pasta, polenta, slider buns etc.), then choose your ball (traditional meatball, turkey meatball, eggplant meatball, smashballs), then choose a couple of sides (salad, garlic bread, frites/fries). It seemed the judges like his food best and a few of the extras brought in to be the customers stated that it was worth the wait. My starting order probably would have been 3 slider buns, 1 of each ball, side salad and maybe frites (sprinkled with garlic and parmesan).