House of Knives

As soon as they showed the contestants and judges and because the judges knew who cooked what, we knew who the winner was.

Scott Conant is a good judge but not a good host. The overall concept, what with all the medieval motif, is corny as hell.

The Asian chef can only cook Asian food but with an Asian judge that's no problem. For the noodle challenge she makes dumplings but still wins? All her dishes reminded the Asian judge of home and her childhood. Baloney.

How about a challenge that forces her to cook something Italian or Mexican or Southern?

Rigged from the getgo because of Food Network's new obsession with Asian cooks.

Loved all the chefs. The cooking itself was great. The judging was detailed. But poor Scott Conant- it seemed as though he might pop a vein at any time. The premise was just hokey. House of Knives, culinary council, a throne. Just ridiculous. I was embarrassed just watching it.

Scott is a great chef and has been a judge on Chopped for Years. He has always made insightful comments. Apparently the producers of this show wanted drama and made poor Scott practically shout when he would say things like "take the throne!"and "your house has fallen." It was just too much. I laughed so much I started crying.

Another reviewer complained that many of the competing chefs were little known. I think that's wrong, although talented chefs not frequently seen on television are a real positive. The episode I am watching now (S1 E3) features Ann Burrell, Shirley Chung, Jonathan Sawyer. Hardly unknown. Chefs Claudette Zepeda, Hign Tesar, and Martel Stone are impressive. Other chefs are skilled and not out of place.

Marcus Samuelsson and Judy Joo are very successful in their culinary careers and both are capable and fair judges here.

Host Scott Conant may be more conventional than the spiked hair, jewelry draped Guy that dominates food shows on TV, but Conant is knowledgeable, respectful, articulate, and authentic.

Concept never gels...a handful of Chefs, some you may have heard of, most not, in a dark silly set cooking for two judges who know who made each dish. So no mystery, no tiebreaker, and easily could be pre-determined who goes and who gets to sit on a pleather "throne" as the "Ruler" until the next round of cooking. With Anne Burrell looking so uncomfortable that she's gone from a long running Food Network series Host to a contestant on this lackluster show. Dreary to watch the forced reactions of both Judges and Chefs, standing the entire episode in their wrinkled, often sweat-soaked attire, and a waste of some otherwise entertaining and watchable talent.

Show itself is unspectacular but good, the whole theme and host delivery is pretty cheesy but in a very deliberate way that makes it kind of acceptable.

The real star of the show is the competition and level of cooking. Most of the contenders absolutely bring it, and the ones that cook anything that isn't incredible really stand out. Really high level cooking and competition.

The judging is ok. They're animated and it's fun to watch them eat a dish that you can tell they're really enjoying. But they do know who cooks what - anonymous judging is preferable IMO.

If you like competitive cooking shows, it's worth watching. There are cooking shows with better formats, but the competition is quite fun to watch nonetheless.