MARCEL’S QUANTUM KITCHEN “Rules of Engagement” Episode 2 – The week Marcel and his staff are hired for an engagement party, and things get lovey in MARCEL’S QUANTUM KITCHEN. The couple, Greg and Karen, were high school sweethearts, and spent thirty years apart before meeting again and rekindling their love. Their party has to be extra special, they have everything they need: a top-notch party planner, a beautiful venue and a chef who is different. “Rules of Engagement” indeed. The sparks start early, and it’s not love in the air, but rather a battle between Marcel and the party planner, Summer, over the plates. He thinks they should be plain to showcase the food, she things they should be fancy and party-like. I’m beginning to sense a Marcel/party-planner theme here.
After the meeting, Marcel is off to the kitchen for menu planning and fun experimenting. For me, this really the best part of the show. Bill Nye the Science Guy running around in the kitchen. The thirty inch wine noodle was interesting, but the watermelon “tuna” was awesome. His cunning plan to create an engagement ring was almost foiled when Devon stacked the bon bons wrong and they were ruined. (He promptly blames the pastry chef, but luckily they have just enough.) The science meets haute cuisine is what I love. Even though some of the food looks a little… odd.
Of course the tasting with the planner is always interesting, and Marcel starts it off perfectly by presenting her the food on plain white plates. She was not pleased, and her displeasure was increased when she discovered he had custom service ware coming in from Spain. The scene in his kitchen between the two of them was amusing in that “prime time soap Diva” kind of way. Really amusing.
And the fun doesn’t stop… Marcel launches “Operation White Plate.” Which goes over really well. Summer refers to it as ghetto, and pretty much accuses him of unprofessional behavior. She’s right, it was, it was a calculating, sneaky and I would have reacted the same way, and his little temper tantrum was just [i]fabulous[/i].
There is a certain fascination to this show, I have to admit it. Like I said last week, I like a lot of the cooking-themed shows, in fact I was watching Cupcake Wars right before “Rules of Engagement” came on. I really enjoy the cooking portion of the show, it’s really interesting, although there isn’t as much of it as I would like. What there is, I find compelling, although I do wonder if it really tastes as good as the guests at the event say it does. That’s not just Marcel’s cooking ,though, I’ve often wondered about dishes cooked up on shows like this—I mean beef with a veil of wine sprinkled with truffles? Watermelon “tuna” sushi? Hmm, not so sure about all that. Still it’s interesting.
It’s the reality portion of the show that I am still not quite sold on. Sure, it’s fun watching the party planner lose her top, or watching Marcel’s machinations in regards to plating, but how long will that be fun? Last week we had a difference of opinion with the party planner, this week we had close to all out war, and I honestly wonder how long can his business be viable if he keeps making planners crazy? Is he really that good? The guests were thrilled, but Marcel is a diva and a little annoying at that. Part of the thrill for me was waiting to see if he was going to get smacked down. Of course he wasn’t, it’s his show, but once or twice I hoped.
All in all, Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen is hanging in there. The food in interesting and the reality is not so overwhelmingly dramatic to drive viewer straight to The Soup for highlights instead of watching the show itself. I’m enjoying it.
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