Top Chef 4/1/21--"First Impressions" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: I think...it was two years ago? Guys, it's been so long! (click for more)

They managed to film this last year, with quarantining and somehow having a rotating panel of judges. Lots of former contestants coming back to judge. Also consider this my once-a-season plea for Top Chef to come to St. Louis. I know Portland is great but come on.

We open with our usual montage of the season. Y'all know. If I recall correctly they filmed this last fall? The Top Chef kitchen is absolutely huge. The workstations are all next to each other as usual though. There's also a montage of everyone saying whatever creative cuisine they usually make. Padma says for the first time there are no sous chefs here. Wow. Everyone is an executive chef (or I guess a personal chef) so everyone is used to being their own boss. Gregory is here as the guest judge. Hilariously you can see in the shots that Padma and Gregory each have their own mat on the floor to mark where to be. There is at least one Portland native. There is also an Olympic long jumper. Padma talks about the pandemic and how it really has affected the restaurant industry.

The first Quickfire! Before they arrived, everyone named an ingredient they couldn't live without. So those are up front in bags, and then everyone is going to draw knives for numbers. Because it's a team challenge. Teams of 3, and they have to incorporate each of their ingredients into one dish. The whole winning team gets immunity and an advantage in the main challenge. Sweet. When they brought out the knives I thought they were going to make them swap ingredients.

The first team we see is Chris, Shota, and Roscoe. They have to combine butter, kombu (which is a type of seaweed), and rice vinegar. Honestly that doesn't seem that bad. Gruyere, caul fat, and Mexican chocolate for Brittany, Gabriel, and Maria. Hmm. Much worse. Avishar, Byron, and Nelson have “mom's chutney”, mushroom powder, and plantains. Oh that sounds great. Jamie, Gabe (a Gabe and a Gabriel, GREAT), and Dawn have fish sauce, masa, and smoked trout roe. Gabe suggests a memela, which the producers decided is something they need to explain. Not what kombu is, or masa, because I guess you know those. Anyway a memela is fried masa with toppings, sort of like a tostada. Jamie is the first person to talk about how they're usually the boss. Brittany, Gabriel, and Maria already seem to be in the weeds. They end up with mole sauce and pork and I guess cheese sauce. OK producers do not put white text on white backgrounds. Come on that's not rocket science. Kiki, Sara, and Sasha, have hot peppers (eventually they say they're Scotch bonnets), salted anchovies, and Meyer lemons. They decide on some fish which probably will be good.

Everyone seems to be getting along, but it's probably that initial “I don't want to be a jerk right away” thing. The phrase “Gruyere gremolata” is used. I don't know. Lots of running around, maybe slightly more because it's a bigger space. Jamie brings back some seared fish and Dawn is the first person to get pissed because she's done it wrong? I guess she left the skin on, and now Dawn doesn't want to put sauce over it because then the skin will get soggy. Dawn gets annoyed in confessional that she just assumed Jamie would know better. So I guess Jamie was supposed to know to not sear the skin because they were going to put sauce on it. Or you could put sauce underneath? IDK I don't plate anything. The kombu butter that Shota and Chris are making isn't quite right but they don't have time to fix it. Brittany goes to take the thyme stems off the plates, and Gabriel stops her by saying “I worked for Tom Colicchio. He does that all the time.” Yeah that's already old. His teammates manage to roll their eyes without actually doing so. You can feel it.

Kiki, Sara, and Sasha: harissa-rubbed seared halibut with Meyer lemon and anchovy salsa verde, roasted hot pepper relish and herb salad. Chris, Roscoe, and Shota: scallops poached in kombu butter with parsnip puree and pickles. Padma gives them a little shit for bringing things like butter which the kitchen already has plenty of. Avishar, Byron, and Nelson: “surf and turf”: scallops and mushrooms with tomato sofrito mofongo, mushroom puree and apple chutney vinaigrette. Sofrito is garlic and onions cooked in oil, and mofongo is mashed fried plantains. Dawn, Gabe, and Jamie: halibut memela with fish sauce butterscotch and smoked trout roe crema. Brittany, Gabriel, and Maria: pork loin roasted in caul fat with mole and Gruyere gremolata.

The scallops weren't buttery enough and the dish lacked acid. For all Dawn was worried about the fish skin being soggy, Gregory says the dish was all about the fish and not the ingredients they brought. On the good side, Kiki, Sara, and Sasha had ingredients that went well together. Somehow the Gruyere gremolata worked and this team didn't fail. The winners are Kiki, Sara, and Sasha. Gabriel whines to his teammates that they should have won because the girls had the easiest ingredients. Maybe but it's your own fault.

Padma says they're changing things up. Gail and Tom walk in. Gabriel is all “I know that guy”, like, WE KNOW. Tom tells everyone Gabriel used to work for him (I guess some people might not know, somehow) and of course promises he won't take it easy on him. Padma says that the three of them aren't the only people they have to impress, and then a whole gang of people comes through the door. And they all have covered dishes. Kwame, Dale Talde, Blais, Melissa, and Amar. Amar is the only one I don't immediately recognize. So Amar lost to Jeremy in season 13 and I don't remember anything about this. It was the California season. OK anyway, Padma says this is the All-Star judging panel. They will eat at every elimination challenge and rotate as the guest judge each week. There are more than these 5. Melissa is the guest this week. Everyone has advice and none of it is surprising.

Elimination Challenge. Padma says Portland is obsessed with birds. Sure. Use one of these five birds: quail, duck, partridge, turkey, squab. This will also be a blind tasting. They've done this before, but I feel like the last time they did it, it was late in the season and you could figure out who made each dish because you knew everyone at that point. First episode, you won't have any idea. They want to know them through the food and nothing else. They have 30 minutes to shop at Whole Foods, except I think they're placing online orders instead of running through the store. So I wonder how the usual fight at the meat counter will go. I guess it doesn't matter as much this challenge since they all have assigned proteins. 3 hours tomorrow to prep and cook. The Quickfire winners get to pick their bird, and then everyone else has to crack eggs. No one really wants turkey because it's boring, but then they also don't want like, partridge because no one makes partridge. Online shopping is extremely boring. They show people's shopping lists on screen but I can't read the small type and also who knows what they're making anyway with just a shopping list.

Also this year they're in a hotel and not a rented house, which is weird. Why wouldn't you put them in their own house where they don't have to run into other guests? I mean it's a huge penthouse apartment with lounges and stuff. Roscoe says he's worked at both Chez Panisse and BBQ pits. But he'd love to be a rapper. Brittany tells everyone she put pumpkin seeds in the oven and never took them out. They joke that that's why her team lost.

Cooking day. Gabriel says his restaurant is “a chicken and vegetable concept”. I immediately had to stop and look this up. It's just roasted chicken and sides? The press about it says it's allergy free. I don't know but it was shut down briefly because the neighbors complained about all the smoke from the ovens. I was suspicious of describing a restaurant as a “concept”. Anyway, Gabriel says he's only putting three ingredients on the plate. Maria is making enchiladas potosinas, which is made by putting peppers in the masa when you make the tortillas. Byron is making some street food. He says his style is really varied. Roscoe is making duck adobo? I think? He says adobo is his secret weapon. But he's never done this before. Shota is braising the duck in teriyaki. A bunch of people tell Shota they love his laugh. Sasha is unwrapping several sticks of butter. Dawn is making a West African stew with turkey and peanuts. Nelson asks Jamie what she is making, since apparently the fumes from the hot peppers are making him cough. Actually everyone is coughing which is interesting because I don't remember anyone else having that reaction to someone's hot dish. It looks like everyone with turkey is making something heavily spiced and interesting. Avishar is making a traditional dish and he's worried his mom will be disappointed if he screws up. Roscoe is not pleased with his adobo and wishes he'd done something more “him” . But I thought it was his secret weapon? Now it is frantic plating time.

Gabriel: roasted squab with local honey, charred onion petals, grilled plums and jus. It's simple but it seems to all go together. Byron: sweet Thai-style grilled squab with green mango jicama salad, sweet potato cake, coconut sauce and herb oil. They can't really find the grilled flavor and Dale thinks some of the sides don't add anything. Maria: enchiladas potosinas stuffed with braised squab and queso fresco over goat cheese crema. It's extremely spicy. It's a little lacking in squab but Melissa thinks it's a strong point of view.

Roscoe: duck adobo with sweet potato dumplings. The duck isn't cooked well. The Asians on the panel don't get it, which is telling. Shota: soy braised duck breast with candied pecans, bonito flakes, and pumpkin white miso puree. It's delicious. Gabe: chintesle braised duck with smoked mushrooms, charred figs, and pasilla mixe. Chintesle is a smoked chile paste, and pasilla mixe is a type of chile. It's well balanced.

Sara: glazed quail with green beans, charred dates and grilled eggplant coconut yogurt. It's very bright and confident. Sasha: roasted quail with polenta, crème fraiche, roasted grapes and red wine jus. It's not roasted? Or I guess no roasted flavor. And the polenta is pretty dense. Kiki: moambe quail with sweet corn grits, boiled and pickled peanuts. Moambe is palm oil, I think. It's a peanut stew. The quail is kind of lost. Kwame says with more sauce and more quail it would have been better.

Dawn is so behind when plating that she doesn't get her peanut sauce on the plates at all. She's immediately very upset. Chris: sous vide turkey breast and rum braised turkey thigh with toasted farro, roasted mushrooms, and corn soubise. Soubise is an onion sauce. There's a lot going on. Dawn: turkey peanut stew with sauteed vegetables and savory calas. Calas are deep fried rice fritters. They do seem to know she ran out of time and that's why there's no peanuts. Gail says what is on the plate is good. Jamie: lemongrass turkey with yellow curry cous cous, sauteed rapini and plum sauce. The turkey is lost and all these strong flavors don't really go together.

Avishar: “chukar fried chukar” with jhol, pilau, and south Asian fried spiced pickles. This is the partridge. Jhol is a type of curry, I think, and pilau is rice pilaf. It's not seasoned. And the rice is underdone. Brittany: chukar with sweet potato puree, red-grape ravigote and calvados jus. It took me a solid five minutes to get the word “ravigote” off the screen. Fuck you Bravo and fuck whoever's lazy ass thought white text on white dishes and a white tablecloth was appropriate. Ravigote is a highly seasoned sauce with lots of herbs, and calvados is apple brandy. The dish is good anyway. Nelson: Caribbean braised chukar with wild rice, black beans and tostones. Dale says he'd eat the dish without the protein, the sides are so good.

Padma comes back to the kitchen and asks for like 8 people. Everyone is confused because she didn't say if this was the top or bottom or a mix. Turns out this is both the top and bottom. Padma tortures them a little longer before explaining who is the top and who is the bottom.

So tops are Sara, Shota, Gabe, and Gabriel. Sara got a lot of char from the grill, and the yogurt was a good balance to the rest of the dish. A very bright dish and a confident plate. Shota's miso puree was excellent, and the chefs are very interested in his braising technique. Gabe made a beautiful fall meal with a lovely sauce. Gabriel had a very simple dish that was wonderful and the judges know how hard that is to do. The winner is Sara! She feels dumb because she thought she was in the bottom. She says she should be more confident but now there's more pressure to keep doing well.

Bottom is Jamie, Roscoe, Avishar, and Sasha. Padma says one of them will go home. But Sasha has immunity. Her polenta was dense, and each of her components was good but they didn't go together. Roscoe's broth was greasy and his duck was dry. So he sliced the duck thinly and then put the broth over it, and I guess because the duck is lean it just got dry. Jamie knows she didn't cook her turkey right. All of her flavors clashed too much. Avishar fried his bird really well, but the rice was underdone and bland and so was the curry. Padma tells them to go but says Sasha doesn't have to come back.

The contestants in the stew room really do not want to believe they are in the middle. Like, they've convinced themselves all 7 of them are in the bottom. Jamie had three strong flavors, and the turkey was immediately lost. So they think they can't figure out who she is. Padma is offended that Avishar served them the rice he did. It's bad enough they wish he hadn't served it at all. Roscoe's broth was muddled and not great. Gail is mad that he works for one of the greatest pitmasters in the country and he didn't make BBQ or smoke the duck.

Tom says the person going home made the worst dish of the challenge. And that's Roscoe. Of course there is Last Chance Kitchen though. Aww. He seems pretty OK.

This season: cheese, famous people on Zoom, public service, some tears but not a lot of actual fighting?