I like it a lot! Whoda thunk it? I didn’t realize she had lived in Queens. She’s a home girl! Comes across much more relatable than on Top Chef.
“Lakshmi has real presence here, moreso than her admittedly fun moments on “Top Chef.” We see her speak in multiple languages, from Spanish to Tamil, see her really get her hands dirty cooking and eating produce fresh from the ground, and witness her whimsical sense of humor that’s previously been relegated to her Instagram posts. Her immigrant story is also woven in through the episodes, not just the one about Indian cuisine, and at the heart of it is her relationship to food.”.
She can be something else on Twitter.
" The gold standard of these kinds of shows, of course, is the late Anthony Bourdain, whose personality was always present but knew when to let the food or the person he was talking to take center stage. We know Lakshmi is there; her presence is pretty much unavoidable. It could be her already-significant star power, or it could be just that she looks like Padma Lakshmi (Haddad calls her a “knockout” when she compares her 49 years on the planet with the idea that he’s been in the U.S. for almost 60 years; she takes the compliment but not all that comfortably). But there doesn’t seem to be a moment during this first episode where we don’t think this is her show."
I’ve watched almost all of them and never once thought “why the heck are we listening to her?” which I sometimes think when I’m watching Top Chef.
“… And if you’re wondering who currently serves as the mayor of Twitter, look no further than her inspiring, occasionally incendiary, feed.”.
