In Videos: 'Tom Colicchio on Taste' Diet Coke Commercial
If you're watching the Oscars, you've probably seen the Tom Colicchio Diet Coke commercial.
In it, Colicchio, restaurateur and Top Chef judge, rolls his eyes at tall food, at plates artfully dressed with sauces, and at shrimp and beets skewered on a complicated arrangement of wires. (Is that a comment on Alinea, Mr. Colicchio?)
Colicchio then orders a Diet Coke but waves off the fancily cut citrus arrangement that the bartender tries to slip in his glass.
It's a strange commercial, but I've got to give it props for advocating an ungarnished glass—it's just plain presumptuous on a restaurant's part to assume that everyone wants a slice of lemon with his or her Diet Coke. [The video, after the jump.]
'Tom Colicchio on Taste' Diet Coke Commercial
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33 Comments:
anyone else notice the fact that the glass looks gigantic in the clip of him taking the drink? I do love Tom though.
inspteofsilence at 11:58PM on 02/22/09
It's not presumptuous, it's just a way of marking the glass so other servers and bussers know what to refill it with without asking.
sobriquet at 12:04AM on 02/23/09
Of course taste is all that matters, which is why all of Tom Colicchio's restaurants are in thatched roof huts and all of his food is served entirely unadorned with no time or thought wasted on plating.
frackle at 12:06AM on 02/23/09
If you want more Colicchio, check out our video from his BubbleQ at SoBe Wine and Food: http://www.livethelushlife.com/content/bubbleq-part-2-sobe-stories
livethelushlife at 8:39AM on 02/23/09
I saw this during the Oscars and exclaimed something about Alinea, Achatz, and Colicchio...to the blank stares and questioning looks of my non-foodie husband and friends. Thanks for the post so I can show them all what on earth I was talking about!
cdp1223 at 8:43AM on 02/23/09
Lol. I think it was a tastefully done commercial.
ErikaWaz at 9:45AM on 02/23/09
Tom is adorable. I do like a slice of lemon in my Diet Coke, though.
buffy at 10:26AM on 02/23/09
Diet Coke needs lemon, because it's way too sweet - sweeter than HFCS Classic Coke, or original Coke with sugar. Disgustingly sweet.
I guess he needed the money. His barber bills must be astronomical. Wonder if he got the same deal as Michael Jackson?
PerkyMac at 10:39AM on 02/23/09
I have to be honest and say that I'm a little disappointed in Tom for doing this. Amazing that he's on during the Oscars, yes, but a spokesperson for Diet Coke? As a chef, a restaurateur and a rep for good taste, it seems that he has certainly sold himself out.
cuisson at 10:51AM on 02/23/09
I always ask for no lemon in my Diet Coke. There are so many reports out there that have found E.coli and other bacterias on lemons in different places.
Amybear at 10:55AM on 02/23/09
If a server needs a reminder of who has diet coke, put a small stir straw in the glass or a different color napkin under it. I'm not trying to beg off on the scurvy so wait staff should ask before they alter the flavor of what I order by putting a lemon in it.
Pavlov at 10:57AM on 02/23/09
The lemon is used for distinction purposes between diet, and non-diet coke.. for some servers whom have a tray full of glasses of coke, the lemon/lime indication really helps them serve the right drink to the right person.
.
Papagorgio at 10:57AM on 02/23/09
i only hope that the money they gave him to pimp the black waters of imperialism was enough to offset the damage to his reputation.
cybercita at 11:26AM on 02/23/09
I doubt the wire thing was a shot at Alinea. It was probably a shot at restaurants rushing to do some molecular gastronomie but failing to really get the concept and thinking it's just food on wires and stuff.
Amybear, there's also bacteria on the glass probably. And in your body. And almost everywhere.
Cybercita, I doubt this will hurt his reputation all that much. He's already the head judge on a show with massive and blatant product placement. And really, you shouldn't be banned from liking Diet Coke just because you're a big fancy chef. It's like Alton Brown for Welch's Grape Juice. What are we expecting there...that he harvest grapes and make juice himself if he wants to drink it? Or that Tom make his one syrup and then mix it with carbonated water if he wants soda?
wunami at 11:41AM on 02/23/09
Seriously? I don't think this harms his reputation. I'm going with Wunami here.
Adam Kuban at 11:45AM on 02/23/09
I think it was a class move on his part.
Boscompb at 12:01PM on 02/23/09
@wunami
I'm with you on the reputation part. A great chef should be allowed to like (or at least endorse) an everyman's product without fear of losing his rep. I had the best french fries of my life at DB Bistro Moderne, but even Boulud himself says that McDonald's makes great fries. I agree with him.
As for the shrimp on a wire, it's very obviously a shot at Alinea. Those serving vessels were created exclusively for Alinea - particularly the one with the fried shrimp sitting in a nest of wires. That's a signature Alinea piece, and at the restaurant it petty much always has some kind of crisp fried food in it, like here.
GoodEaterKenji at 12:16PM on 02/23/09
I dunno, I'm kind of on the fence about this one. When I saw the commercial, I was deeply shocked that he was shilling Diet Coke, but that could have partly been a knee-jerk reaction to my hatred for all things Diet Coke-related. Wunami makes some good points though -- if people still respect him after Top Chef (and I know I do), I guess one commercial for a product that so many people love isn't really that bad.
kfarrel3 at 12:24PM on 02/23/09
It's only diet coke, shouldn't really hurt his rep. If it was lets say hmmmm 50 cent in a commercial drinking a diet coke, then his street credit will definitely get ruined.
lesteralvin at 1:53PM on 02/23/09
I didn't love it. It's supposed to be Tom Colicchio on taste, with a capital "T". Problem is, Diet Coke taste like sh*t.
AlisonEats at 1:59PM on 02/23/09
I cringe when I'm at a nice restaurant and people order coke/pepsi/whatever with their meal. If you like good food how can you eat it and drink that garbage at the same time? You might as well dump a big pile of aspartame all over your foie gras. For shame Tom, for shame.
mgnnn at 2:47PM on 02/23/09
i think it's extremely snooty to judge somebody on what they choose to drink. personally, i don't like diet coke or soda, for that matter, but it's not going to affect me or make me cringe if somebody chooses to drink that. for example, maybe somebody doesn't like wine, champagne, or whatever they are "supposed" to drink with a meal. there's nothing wrong with somebody liking soda and drinking it with a fine meal, if that is their preference.
mikeismora at 4:29PM on 02/23/09
Ever eaten at Craft? Then you'll know that the Diet Coke commercial's theme was spot on with Colicchio's food worldview. Simple. Let the food stand for itself. I enjoyed it. i thought it was well done.
Luckily for most of us, we dont care if others cringe when ordering a certain beverage with their food - you could say the same things about certain types of wine - mind your own table and enjoy your own meal...
DrChile at 4:35PM on 02/23/09
I have to admit that I judged Tom a little for shilling for Diet Coke of all things. I don't give a hoot what most people choose to drink, but Colicchio makes a TV show about judging other chef's productions, and here he is saying that something with artificial sugar is quality? Somewhat questionable.
Also, I wouldn't worry about bacteria on a glass or a lemon that diet coke was going to touch. That stuff has a pH of 2 (super acidic) - you could probably disinfect your bathroom with it.
ScienceandtheCity at 5:40PM on 02/23/09
Anyone with an elevated appreciation of food know that Diet Coke tastes artificial. You can taste the chemicals and its just plain bad, citrus or no citrus. It doesn't fit with Tom's philosophy of letting food speak for itself, because the drink is BAD. Tom MUST know this and, so we all have to come to the conclusion that - HE IS LYING - LYING = SELL OUT. No excuses. I like the guy too, but lets call a spade a spade!!!!
DudeLovesFood at 9:37PM on 02/23/09
Does this mean he's going to start selling Diet Coke at 'wichcraft? Because the one I go to now definitely only sells Boylans and Fizzy Lizzy...
bkey23 at 9:51PM on 02/23/09
Didn't the universe rip Rick Bayless a new one a few years back when he shilled for Burger King? How is this any different?
maered at 11:56PM on 02/23/09
i don't see the big deal. what if he genuinely likes diet coke? haha. david chang loves popeyes. what if he did a commercial for them? would everybody cry and whine because popeyes probably uses subpar, full of chemicals, and maltreated chickens? the responses usually are "oh, i love popeyes too!" b/c it's perceived to be okay. seriously though, you can't have his philosophy and like diet coke at the same time? i know that makes sense to the detractors, but that's horrible logic. it's not impossible that somebody even tom colicchio enjoys an artificially sweetened soda from time to time. seriously, we might just collectively explode if one day it came out that eric ripert likes to pop open a sprite on hot days.
mikeismora at 1:26PM on 02/24/09
Good point, Mikeismora. In fact, Eric Ripert says he's inspired by McDonald's and Burger King.
Adam Kuban at 1:31PM on 02/24/09
"Or that Tom make his one syrup and then mix it with carbonated water if he wants soda?"
Hilarious.
bobbob at 3:00PM on 02/24/09
I never really understood describing things as having a chemical taste. Everything is made of chemicals. So you'll be tasting the chemicals in everything. In fact that's what taste is: your brain recognizing chemicals.
So you don't like things that taste like chemicals? Good luck with that whole..uh..not eating thing...
wunami at 11:30AM on 02/26/09
a lot of great chefs drink diet coke, and very regularly
Eric Ripert says 4x a day http://magazine.wsj.com/gatherer/the-nose/eric-ripert/
Grant Achatz was up to 10x a day at one point http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_max?currentPage=all
I personally try to keep it to less than 1x a day, but I don't have to work all day/night in a kitchen....caffeine better than cocaine? Bourdain's restaurant sucks...
jpmcd at 11:05AM on 03/05/09
Come on @wunami, you know what I meant. The natural chemical make up of a fruit such as an orange, grown from the earth, is completely different than the manufactured "natural flavoring" in an "orange drink". Same goes for Diet Coke, yo!
DudeLovesFood at 9:48AM on 04/21/09