Do you watch Hells Kitchen and Top Chef?!

Do you watch Hells Kitchen and Top Chef?

I watch Top Chef and really like it! I am considering downloading Hells Kitchen, but not sure if Ill like it.

I watch (and love) both, but they are very different shows. "Top Chef" focuses more on the food: while you hear about the drama in the kitchen-- Hung's arrogance, close call with Kasey and the knife, the quickly-resolved argument between Joey and Howie, etc, you actually get to see them preparing the food, and more importantly, they focus on each final dish. They show a close-up, explain what it is, and show the judge's reactions so you know just what was wrong with it, even if it looked delicious. Since we can't taste it ourselves, I think that helps to explain the elimination.

"Hell's Kitchen," however, focuses more on running a kitchen during dinner service, and much of each episode is dedicated to watching the contestants run around frantically as Chef Ramsay barks orders at them. You get a high angle shot of the food they put out, but I swear sometimes I don't have any idea what they're supposed to make for the night. There's also a large portion of the episodes dedicated to the "punishment" from the quickfire in the beginning-- one team gets a reward, like a photo shoot or a paintball extravaganza, while the losing team has to prep the kitchen, take deliveries, etc, and none of that has to do with food, so I don't care about it.

If you like "Top Chef," you should check out "The Next Food Network Star" on the Food Network. It's very similar to "Top Chef" in the way they run the challenges, and while the season finale airs this Sunday, you can still catch a marathon of the previous episodes before then.