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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...

"Or that Tom make his one syrup and then mix it with carbonated water if he wants soda?"

Hilarious.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

I think it was a class move on his part.

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?

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