Top Chef 5/20/21--"Restaurant Wars" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: Jamie returned to the competition from Last Chance Kitchen, and then for the Quickfire everyone had to take a “second chance” at some dish they had previously failed at. Plus use some kind of reject ingredients like slightly off vegetables or fish heads or whatever. Shota won with fish heads. The Elimination Challenge was to make meals for hospital workers, and there was some feel-good discussion and video, but in the end it was about making semi-nutritious comfort food that could be transported and reheated. Jamie made some kimchi stew and rice and pork, and won. So there was much bragging about being back. Both Avishar and Chris were on the bottom for not seasoning their food, and the editing made it seem like Chris has always had this problem and his food was worst, but then Avishar was eliminated. (click for more)

In Last Chance Kitchen, Tom says that Avishar's curry tasted bloody because he didn't cook the meat properly, therefore he and Sasha had to cook with blood and then other products with blood in the name and also beets. Avishar decided to make scrambled eggs with blood? They looked terrible. Anyway, Sasha won.

Byron gets to call home this morning. He's thrilled to be in the top eight. Everyone heads to a big warehouse space because there's eight people left and you all know what that means! Kristen is here! Just kidding it's Restaurant Wars. I mean Kristen is here too. Padma forces Kristen to talk about how Restaurant Wars went on her season, what with her getting eliminated and everything. She says to overcommunicate. Maria has nothing but nerves and thinks she might vomit. Gregory says that he also had a poor first run. So they can't have randos come and dine this year, obviously, so instead they'll be having a chef's table. Which means the judges will be in the kitchen, watching everything they do. You have to serve a SEVEN course tasting menu, and you only get one service. Not like previous seasons where the judges split into two groups and you might have a chance to fix things. No outside waitstaff either, you'll be your own waitstaff. So actually that eliminates a major issue with Restaurant Wars, and that's having chefs who do not have front-of-house experience trying to train people who are maybe catering waiters but have never had to take orders. Coin flip for teams, everyone flips the coin themselves. Heads is Jamie, Shota, Maria, and Byron. Tails is Sara, Gabe, Dawn, and Chris. Interesting. Sometimes it's obvious which team is the disaster team and which is the good team but I don't think it's as clear this time. Shota thinks Tails has more cooking strength but his team has heart. Or something, I think that's what he said. One hour today to come up with menus and themes, and then they are forcing them to shop for décor, which is dumb and a waste of time. You also need to decide on a logo. Also they'll be going to “specialty shops”, and then tomorrow they get to shop at Whole Foods in person. Nice.

Shota floats the idea of kaiseki, which is the Japanese style of haute cuisine. Kaiseki with a Latin spin. That would be cool. There is also a specific progression of dishes in kaiseki, like, vegetables, followed by a raw dish, followed by a grilled dish, etc. Maria wants to make tongue. They also decide on hot pot. This team seems to be getting along pretty well. They name themselves “Kokoson”, a combination of the Japanese and Spanish words for “heart”.

Tails has decided to all do seafood and that'll be the theme. Sara knows from past seasons that a “global” restaurant generally doesn't work out. But maybe this year for a chef's table. They make a menu but no one seems super enthused about any of it. Maybe this team is just non-excitable people. They also decide on some kind of dessert with seaweed. Somehow they agree they won't need someone to expedite. This is bad. I am not sure what name they came up with? Later I see “Penny” written around in places so I guess that's it.

Shopping is whatever as it always is. The “specialty markets” are an Asian market and a Mexican market. And what looks like a fishmonger and a farm where people are picking their own vegetables and garnishes. Nice. Maria does not give a rat's ass that the other team has won more challenges.

Penny brainstorms at the hotel, and they ask Dawn what she's making for the first course but she refuses to tell them. She says she's going to think about it and that's how she works, she doesn't know what it'll look like yet. Gabe wants to give non obtrusive service tomorrow. On Kokoson they're being much more traditional about it, with Shota expediting and Maria doing front of house. Jamie has the heaviest courses, so Byron will do more of the actual serving. Shota interviews that he wasn't inspired last challenge, and his first restaurant got criticized for his not understanding things like heat, which, Japanese cuisine doesn't tend to be spicy. But he's working on it. He's expediting because that first restaurant was set up this way so he has experience, it sounds like.

Shopping at Whole Foods is very nice to see just because I've been missing it. But not much happens. No one even goes over budget!

We look at Kokoson first, and they have five hours until they open. The kitchens are set up, and then the chef's table is a big U shape. We see all the courses, which do seem like a good Hispanic-Japanese fusion. They do have a dessert, and the hot pot course has them all listed as being responsible.

When Penny comes in, it also says five hours so I guess it's staggered. They spend their first few moments decorating and folding napkins and stuff. When they finally get started cooking, Dawn says she's still forming her dish in her head. Their menu is all seafood, and unlike Kokoson, each dish belongs to a single person. Everyone has two dishes except Gabe, who only has one. Chris sort of nags Dawn about her dish, because in his mind she's not being a team player. They need to know what she's doing so they can figure out where it should go in the tasting menu. Except they already know she's going first? And the menus are printed?

Shota talks about making sesame mole which sounds very interesting. Gabe is making an amuse, which would be his second course. It's not one of their seven courses, but they want the judges to have something to snack on. Making extra courses rarely turns out well. Chris is making pasta but it's dry. Maria goes to set up the dining room, but it's clear she thought everyone would be helping her do it and no one else wants to. Of course magically with an hour left everyone drops everything to set up. Penny is tasting everyone's dishes except Dawn's, because she doesn't have anything for them to taste yet. She's just now making a stock with ham which seems like a late start for that. Shota looks like he's solidly in charge without yelling, but that makes total sense for him.

Kokoson has all their chefs come out, serve matcha limonada, and greet everyone. Matcha lemonade sounds great but Padma makes a face because it's sweet. Gail is so excited about the menu she curses. Maria serves water and interrupts a conversation. It's kind of jokey. I thought they might talk about how annoying that was but everyone seems entertained.

Shota and Maria: eggplant with sesame mole and ham furikake. They love it. There is some minor drama when Byron is not ready to serve when Shota asks him, and the All-Stars comment on it. But compared to the usual drama of Restaurant Wars this is nothing. Byron and Jamie: cured sockeye salmon with rocoto curry sauce and crispy quinoa. Rocoto is a type of pepper. They love this one too, it's very complex. Dale thinks maybe the curry overwhelms the fish, and they edit in a shot of Shota looking like he's eavesdropping. Maria: beef lengua sando with pickled mustard, onions, and dipping sauce. Lengua is tongue. Carrie says she's a sucker for anything you dip. Tom makes a labored tongue joke but they don't have anything bad to say.

Meanwhile Penny has an hour until service and Sara is very worried. But she's also opening the sparkling water and putting it into carafes? Doesn't that seem early?

Gail praises the pacing and how coordinated Kokoson is. Shota: lotus root shiso tempura with chopped rockfish and lime paste. The perfect way to get tempura since it's fresh from the fryer. Jamie is getting nervous because people are watching her. Jamie and Byron: short rib with kalbi glaze, quail egg, puffed rice, and salsa morita. Moritas are smoked jalapenos. Padma says it's too big a portion? The hot pot is served in big pots with lids so they can remove them with a flourish. Hot pot zosui with shrimp machaca and seafood broth. Zosui is a rice soup, so it looks like giant pots of rice. Machaca is usually dried meat that's rehydrated. It looks amazing but those are huge pots. Tom says “pretty fucking good”. Jamie and Byron: tres leches steamed cake with coconut condensed milk and pineapple. Kristen has not experienced Jamie's random noises yet and she can't stop giggling. Overall this meal raised the bar. Also just from what we saw this team really got along well and they looked like they had a good time. Just like, the one thing with Shota asking Byron to serve and Byron saying he wasn't ready yet, but even that didn't result in an argument.

The judges arrive at Penny, which also looks lovely. Seafood only. Padma has reading glasses on which is really cute. Also there are hot towels, which seems very fancy. Gabe jokes that they knew Kokoson would leave the judges all messy. Ha. It's not as funny when you know how well the other team did. They make a point to give Gregory a non-alcoholic drink, so I guess everyone else's has booze? He likes that they did that, and then Tom is all “I didn't see that in YOUR Restaurant Wars!” to Carrie. As if Carrie would have been able to get away with not serving whatever wine sponsored the show. The amuse bouche is by Gabe: heirloom corn tostada with Fat Bastard oyster and cured snapper. It's too big, an amuse should be one bite and this is like, four. Gail says the size of the fish weighs it down, and it's hard to eat. Tastes good though. Of course when they're right there, Gabe can see they don't like it, and he curses. It seems a little more tense over here.

Dawn: warm crab salad in a corn puff and island coconut sauce. They think maybe this should have been the amuse. Melissa wishes they were interacting more with the chef's table, so I guess Maria's interrupting and jokes were just fine. Sara: halibut crudo with ajo blanco sauce and confit green tomato. Ajo blanco is usually a soup with blanched almonds and bread. Oof. There's no connection between the dishes, because Dawn cooked hers. So there were two raw dishes with a cooked dish in between. Amar says the sauce is grainy. Dawn: seared scallop with creole XO and ham hock broth. XO sauce is made out of dried seafood and chilis. Dale drinks all the broth. They absolutely love it. In between courses it's very quiet and the chef's table almost feels like they shouldn't be talking. It's still a little tense but no one is yelling.

Sara: crispy salmon skin with bok choi, turnips, and hazelnut brown butter sauce. Someone asks where the rest of the salmon is, and Sara giggles that they're saving it for dinner. What? The contestants' dinner? How does that make sense? They wish she'd served the salmon here because they're missing it. It's good but I think that comment really bothered them. It feels like the improv challenge from Top Chef Chicago, where Lisa and Antonia were supposed to make something “drunk” and instead each took a shot of tequila without sharing with the diners. Chris: shrimp tortellini en brodo with seafood broth. It tastes fine, but Tom doesn't like the pasta technique. And it should have come before the course with the XO broth. So are the course problems because they just said “seafood” and don't have enough cohesion? Or is it because Dawn wasn't clear enough with what she was making so they didn't know to plan for cooked crab and XO sauce?

Gabe: charred octopus with mole verde, squash and serrano chile. It's good, although maybe too spicy. Tom points out to everyone that this is a seafood restaurant, and they had seven courses (counting the amuse), and not a single piece of cooked fish. Oh. Chris: kelp ice cream with cocoa nib meringue, toasted hazelnut and seaweed salt. Hey it's not sea salt caramel. Padma thought she'd hate it but she likes it. Dale asks for more ice cream. Heh.

Judges' Table. Tom says they've set the bar very high for Restaurant Wars. Padma tells them there is one restaurant they'd go back to, and that is Kokoson. Obviously. Gail says it felt like a concept they'd been working on for years. It was all one cohesive menu, and every dish felt like all four of them had had a hand in it. Tom praises Maria for the front of house, as if she'd been doing it forever. Each course gets praise and everyone has something nice about their dishes. Everything was exceptional. The winner is Maria. Finally! Hugs all around, but she says she couldn't have won without her team.

Padma asks Team Penny why they chose “seafood” as their theme. Because the menu was just everyone doing their own thing instead of something cohesive. The tostadas was underseasoned and not crisp enough. And the octopus was bitter. Dawn's crab was good, and so was her scallop. But the crab should have been the amuse. Sara's two dishes were very similar, and they both suffered from feeling out of order. Sara tells the judges she didn't think Dawn's crab dish was going to be so warm. So then a crudo wouldn't have been that weird, even if the crab was cooked. Tom liked how quirky the salmon skin dish was. Chris's pasta should have been earlier, and the pasta was tough, but they all loved the ice cream. Padma tells all of them that there was no clear front of house person, and the service suffered.

Penny didn't work together. Padma says Dawn is safe, because her dishes were so amazing. I mean Sara admitted she made assumptions about Dawn's dishes, but I guess they're blaming Sara for that, or the overall lack of communication on this team, but not Dawn deciding very late on what her dish was going to look like. Chris's broth with the pasta was good, but the pasta itself was not great. Gabe finally gave them a seafood dish with the octopus. Gail liked his tostada flavors better than Sara's halibut. Sara's salmon skin dish was well done technically. Gabe, Chris, and Sara each had a dish they didn't like.

Tom reminds them that Restaurant Wars often sends home talented chefs. Sara is eliminated. Interestingly, they do not show any shots of her team comforting her as they all go back to the Stew Room. They do back there though. She's happy she did this, but it's clear she's upset she's going home.

Next week: write a recipe for something and it looks like some All-Stars are going to follow them so they'd better make sense.

Last Chance Kitchen: Sara knows their team really lacked communication. No one was in charge and it screwed them. Tom reminds Sara that her halibut was too weird and didn't fit the progression of the meal. So for this challenge they each have to make a three course progressive meal, but each course has to fit in a Chinese soup spoon. Oh yeah no problem.

30 minutes. It sounds like Sara is going to make three soups. Well maybe just one soup. Heh. Sasha is a little more traditional, but it sounds good. They're both making scallops. Sara puts some stuff in the blender but since she's trying not to waste materials there isn't enough in there for the blender to work, so she bails on that and just goes back to her scallop idea. She's really flailing, but Sasha has a cohesive idea. With 18 minutes left Sara decides to make some steak. So we have soup, scallop, and steak, and tomatoes, scallop, and steak.

Tom Time! Sara says she has a big mess right now. They both describe their dishes and the second courses are both scallops and caviar, and steak for the third courses. With five minutes left Sara's steak is still in the oven. Sasha scraps her ricotta because it doesn't taste right, so she puts feta cheese instead. So Sara is plating in the soup spoons, but Sasha appears to have tiny ramekins? I mean they don't look that much bigger, I guess.

Sasha: tomatoes with feta and lemon sumac vinaigrette. Then scallop with pesto (pesto rosso, which is sun-dried tomato pesto). Flank steak with creamy caramelized onion puree. Sara: roasted red pepper soup with fish sauce and curry. Scallop with celery root and caviar. Wagyu steak with butter braised cabbage and shiitake mushrooms. They're very similar, obviously. Start with something very bright, then scallops and then steak. Sasha wins the steak round, because the wagyu isn't cooked enough. Sara wins the scallops, though, because Sasha's pesto rosso is too strong. So it comes down to the first courses. Both were good, but in the end Sara's flavor was better. Sasha seems OK in the moment but in confessional she's crying and she wishes she could have lasted longer. But it was a great opportunity. Sara feels pretty good.