I watch the show, I liked the show. I thought his commitment to excellence was admirable and I so wanted to try his deserts. FAIL!!! This is all media hype and the deserts were bland, sub par and very expensive. The wait is a min of thirty minutes and the staff were all smug and seemed to be in a bad mood. I am Italian American, my maternal grandfather came straight from Italy to New York and was a baker. That being said I grew up with these pastries and I know how they should taste and believe me this is just CRAP.
I distinctly remember an episode of the Next Great Baker when Buddy was pissed at the fact that the cup cakes were not filled to capacity. The (Famous) red velvet cupcake I had at Carlos was filled less then 3/4 of the way to the top of the paper, there was a tiny amount of frosting set all the way to one side and it looked like something your kid sister made in Jr High and as far as taste goes is was horribly dry and almost frozen. I've had red velvet cupcakes from Ralph's grocery store that were moist and tastier.