An Open Letter to Ryan Scott
Dude,
Get over yourself.
You were the chef at a glorified soup-and-sandwich shop. It closed in under two years. Not exactly stellar. Besides, since when does a soup-and-sandwich shop need an actual chef?
Based on your Top Chef performance, you can’t follow instructions. You won’t listen to feedback. Rick Bayless dissed you. You dissed Daniel Boulud. Not good.
Sure, you look great. Chicks dig a great looking chef. But that’s gonna wear off soon if your food sucks. And from the little I’ve seen, I’d bet your food’s gonna suck. Why? Because you can’t follow instructions. You won’t listen to feedback. And you diss and get dissed by your bosses.
I’m not the only one who’s noticed these unfortunate tendencies, by the by.
In her Top Chef blog, Andrea Strong said, “Part of your job as a chef is not to cook what you want to cook, but to cook for your customer. … I found Ryan’s lack of understanding of his mission to be a bit frustrating.”
Rocco DiSpirto wrote in his TC blog, “It took us a long time to judge [the chicken piccata]...because it was nearly impossible to get through to Ryan. … We tried and tried to explain it to him. He was very defensive. Instead of trying to learn something…he made excuses and generally frustrated us. … There is nothing worse than a cook who is unwilling or unable to learn from his mistakes….”
So why bother to call you out?
Because I suspect that there’s real talent lurking underneath all the crap. But that talent will never bloom unless you get a serious attitude readjustment.
A little free advice, worth every penny you’re paying for it.
Listening is a good skill to acquire. What are your mistakes (yes, you make them) telling you? What are people more accomplished in the kitchen telling you? What are your customers telling you? What is your staff telling you? Incorporate what they say into what you do. This is only way you’ll learn, the only way you’ll hone your skills, the only way you’ll reach your full potential.
I watched your exit interview on bravotv.com. Your performance there was in stark contrast to the shows and recaps I’ve seen. In your exit interview, you showed real humility. That Ryan Scott, if he’s the real Ryan Scott, will realize his potential as a chef.
If your career goal is to be a celebrity first and chef second, by all means, keep the ‘tude. It’ll be a PR plus.
But if you want to be a great chef, be the Ryan Scott we saw in your exit interview, not the one we saw in the Top Chef episodes.
Sincerely,
Grumpy
you echo exactly how I felt about Ryan.
the same goes with Zoi who should realize that the 4 judges had tasted more food than she ever had.
ego ego ego. it always happen when you are growing young chefs
Reply to this