Previously on “Top Chef”: it was technically an All-Star season, because they had winners and finalists from international versions, and they went to London. Buddha won again, so hopefully he won't compete again? I think he's writing a column for People or something. It was also Padma's last season, so Kristen Kish is the host now. (click for more)
Also we're in Wisconsin. Please come to St. Louis.
Montage of people who have awards and have worked in impressive places, intercut with them burning things and running out of money at Whole Foods. Everyone comes into the kitchen but no one has chef's coats on. Tom and Gail are here too. Applause for Kristen. She tells everyone she was surprised to have the opportunity to host. Kaleena says she gets the contestants, but the bad side of that is she gets the contestants. Also Kristen grew up in Michigan so she does get the Midwest. Savannah has not been nominated for a James Beard Award, nor has she worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant, so she is feeling behind and unqualified. Kevin reveals he competed on Top Chef: France and was a finalist. Then why weren't you on last season? David has a cowboy hat and he says he cooks in it. Gail razzes Tom about how he has “hat game competition” and David is like “Tom's hat game, lol” so everyone freaks out. Tom claims he won't hold a grudge.
Tom says something about how important first impressions are, but they won't be making one today. Everyone looks worried. No Quickfire today. Huh. Well it makes my life easier. Kristen then says there are some new rules this season. No immunity awarded for Quickfire wins, only for Elimination Challenge wins. Quickfires are still important, because now there are cash prizes for Quickfire wins. I mean, there were before, but now I think we're solidifying this as cash for Quickfires and immunity for Eliminations.
Now it is time to draw knives. Everyone has one of the judge's names. Gail is all “I bet you're wondering why you have knives with our names on them” and someone immediately says “maybe you're our teammates.” Gail's like “yeah no” because her team would get screwed. I'm sure Gail can cook but compared to Tom and Kristen? The judges have picked out challenges for each group. Individual challenge, though. Kristen's group (Amanda, Dan, Manny, Charly, Laura) is making soup, because Kristen's season was the one where they were all split up and had to cook for random guest judges in order to make the season at all, and Kristen made soup. You have to develop flavors. Gail tells her group (Alisha, David, Kevin, Rasika, Michelle) that there's one type of dish that contestants can't ever get right: stuffed pasta. Do whatever you want, but it must involve fresh pasta dough. Michelle says she's been doing barbecue for six years and hasn't made pasta in ages. Why would you say that out loud? Gail is all, here we go. David also volunteers that he hates pasta. Tom brings up a very common problem: improperly cooked proteins. This group (Danny, Valentine, Kaleena, Kenny, Savannah) must roast a whole chicken. Make a whole dish. OK now that we have names down, let me just say 1. both a Dan and a Danny, FML, and 2. Savannah and Laura look very alike so thank God they put the names on the groups. 30 minutes and $200 for Whole Foods today, and then tomorrow 2 hours to cook. The guest judge is Paul Bartolotta, who is a big name in Milwaukee (Dan immediately declares he knows this guy, not in a “oh wow he's amazing” way but in a “I'm better than all of you because I've heard of this guy” way). Also coming is Adam Siegel, who owns the restaurant they'll be using. Dan tells the other group he cooks Italian food. The pasta group kind of got screwed.
In a very nice gesture, Kristen asks who didn't raise their hand when they were going over accolades, and then tells those contestants that when she was cast on Top Chef, she had had three jobs total and she was a sous chef. So those awards do not matter.
They let the chefs drive the cars to Whole Foods. David says he's worked with Amanda before and she's a killer. Amanda is saying how the girls' car is the best (true) and then cut to Charly talking about finding out where this season would be. I can't understand him but based on everyone else's reactions he's saying he was pissed. Michelle looks especially horrified for some reason but her bio also says she's originally from St. Louis (woo!) so maybe she's feeling the “flyover country” insult. Kenny says every city has something to give so he wasn't that pressed. This car jokes a little bit about Dan and how they should ask him about the city. I think someone in Dan's car says something about “Midwest nice shit” which I heard as “Midwest night shit” at first so please caption people, Bravo. The point is to say “Midwest nice” is a thing and then cut to Dan yelling at other drivers. Manny talks a little bit about being from Mexico and coming up to Colorado with some family recipes and then he shits on hard shell tacos and cheddar cheese.
Everyone runs to shopping, as Kevin leisurely strolls into the store. You'll recall from last season that we discovered there is no shopping on Top Chef: France. He is excited about the “novelty”. Elsewhere it is chaos as expected. David is making stuffed gnocchi, and a ragu with offal. You will not be surprised that he has a very loud restaurant in San Francisco that focuses on food waste. I know it's a cowboy hat but he gives off a very specific vibe and that is it. Kenny is roasting his chicken in sriracha-hoisin butter. He says he wanted to be a back-up singer but he fails in confessional which is funny. Valentine has an eclectic style. Dan tries to tell the fishmonger person he is from Wisconsin so help him out. I'm already kind of tired of him? David is sort of eye-rolly but along the lines of Phillip (that guy that like, served food on a rock he found on the ground and shit). Valentine's bill comes to $198.98 which is pretty impressive. Over a shot of people leaving the store, someone says they think they forgot something. I don't know if that will pan out later but I mention it just in case.
Everyone goes to a bar? Hotel common area? There are snacks and drinks and everyone hangs out. Dan announces he's the only Wisconsin person here “so I just wanted to welcome you all to Wisconsin and Milwaukee”. OK that was not as bad as I feared. Kaleena says she is in Chicago so they should keep in touch. She's just moved here from Seattle so the food scene is very different. Amanda is very into astrology and then she just casually drops “I'm a witch” which is hysterical to me for some reason. Kaleena thinks she is the only Asian person here but Kenny is Filipino and also Rasika is literally from Chennai. The oldest people are in their 40s which feels young?
In the morning everyone actually puts their chef jackets on to get started. The restaurant kitchen looks great but also very crowded with 15 people. Michelle doesn't know what shape of pasta she's going to end up with. David appears to be forcing liver through a fine sieve. I guess it could be good. Alisha is also making stuffed gnocchi, like David. Rasika is making something similar to a religious offering? I'm not sure but she's putting beef in it and she knows she might piss off some people.
The soup group show up so I guess it's staggered serving. Dan makes Asian food, even though he is a white man from Wisconsin. We will see if he's good at it. Manny doesn't know if he can make chicken stock in two hours but how could he use store-bought stock for the soup challenge? Fair point. Valentine is making Haitian spice paste. The judges get a slo-mo perp walk shot, to the bar counter where they can see the kitchen. Amanda is in the soup group, but she is also making dough and roasting chicken for some reason.
Tom interviews that many chefs don't know how to roast a chicken, which to him is a basic skill. The chicken group got stuck with the stations directly in front of the judges. Danny doesn't want to hide the chicken at all. Gail straight up asks Kaleena what she's doing, because she's got a million spices. There's a curry happening. Savannah has a background in Japanese cuisine so she doesn't roast chicken that often. Kevin says his dad is Italian so he can't fuck this up. Michelle is grilling some green onions for her pasta sauce. Tom and Kristen see David rolling pasta and snicker about how behind his is. But Michelle is also still rolling dough. People keep asking her if she's good and she'll say “yes” and then freak out.
Manny is having imposter syndrome because other people are doing fancier things. But it's also common to overthink soup. He's making pozole with soul. Amanda's roasted chicken and dough is to make chicken and dumplings. I think she is adding cream because her soup is too salty? The pasta group frantically plates. Kristen is giddy about her first tasting.
Kevin: squid ink raviolo stuffed with lobster and shrimp, bisque, and fennel puree. David: mushroom stuffed gnocchi with speck and chicken liver gravy, mascarpone, and calabrian chile. Both of these plates have had one piece of pasta. Rasika: keema stuffed kozhukattai with kurma. I think these have several dumplings and it's very colorful. Keema is a curry made with mutton (although this is beef, I think she said), kozhukattai are dumplings made with rice flour, and kurma is an alternate spelling of korma, a different style of curry with vegetables. I think? Alisha: ricotta gnocchi stuffed with mushroom bechamel, truffle goat cheese, and preserved lemon. Michelle: ricotta and lobster stuffed pasta with charred corn sauce and chorizo.
Kevin got a lot of flavor in his dish, although his pasta was thick. Michelle did a great job. David did not do well, and they all shit on his presentation, one gnocchi off to the side and a dozen dots of sauce on the rest of the plate. Rasika had a great flavor, but not a pasta dish. Alisha didn't season her pasta, but the mushrooms were good. So they call all of this group back out, to tell them the favorite dish was Michelle. She freaks out. The bottom was David. Not pasta and too many dots. He says pasta isn't his thing, and Tom says there are going to be a lot of things in this competition that “aren't your thing”.
Danny is testing his chickens and they're still raw. Is his oven broken? He switches ovens (many in the chicken group seem to have like, tabletop convection ovens? Like a toaster oven looking thing?). Something is burning somewhere and that's what whoever wanted.
Soup group serves the judges. Charly: corn and ham soup with pickled shrimp. Manny: green pozole with chicken and charred salsa verde. The judges are giving feedback but I don't feel they did that with the pasta group? Dan: tomato and fennel broth with seafood. He kisses ass and says “I love this restaurant” and “I wanted to give your restaurant respect” and blah blah. Laura: yuvalama: mint yogurt soup with bulgur meatballs, morel and maitake mushrooms. Amanda: chicken and dumplings with citrus gremolata. Gremolata is basically parsley and lemon zest, and Tom straight up tells Amanda it's too salty and she needs to go back and taste it. Oof.
Charly's shrimp wasn't that pickled but they loved the corn soup. Manny did great, as did Dan. Laura had too many things happening. Amanda's dish was way too salty. Manny did the best, and Amanda did the worst. That tracks.
The chicken group frantically plates. Kenny doesn't finish because he didn't get dark meat on the plates. Actually. He says that with 30 seconds left he “hasn't even looked at the dark meat yet”. Once time is called and he curses, he says he “didn't get his dark on on time”. They show a shot of a drumstick that is kind of hacked up and...it doesn't look cooked. I wouldn't eat it? So did he really forget to plate or did he not look until the last second and then decided “I ran out of time” was a better excuse than “I screwed up the cook”? Hat tip to Buddha for suggesting that and I think it makes a lot of sense.
Kenny: pho butter roasted chicken with coconut carrot mashed potatoes. He says he “missed” the dark meat on a couple plates. Kaleena: roasted chicken with spiced curry, corn, shiitake and lobster mushrooms. Danny: fines herbes roasted chicken, brown butter sherry vinaigrette, and carrot miso puree. Fines herbes are parsley, chives, tarragon, and chervil. Savannah: roasted chicken with avgolemono sauce, chicken skin gremolata, potato puree. Avgolemono is egg and lemon. Valentine: roasted harissa chicken, corn puree, and warm shishito salad. He says he forgot pickled shallots.
Danny's dish was delicious. Kaleena had dry chicken and the sauce was too strong. Kenny had a good idea but the dark meat thing is going to screw him. Valentine had too much other stuff, not enough chicken. Currently Valentine is whispering to Savannah that they got both white and dark meat on the plate so they're fine. Savannah had watery sauce but her chicken seems to be OK. The top is Danny, of course. And Kenny is the bottom for not completing the challenge.
It's hard to compare the top three, because they are different dishes. Michelle's pasta was thin and the whole dish was very well balanced. Danny's chicken dish was also well balanced. Manny made a wonderful pozole and no one could stop eating it. Did Danny do more work? Did Michelle? How do you decide?
Judges' Table. Everyone has to come out, which is still dumb and I wish they would let them hang out in the Stew Room. But they're still at the restaurant anyway. They don't really say anything to the top three but quickly declare Manny the overall winner. Everyone cheers. He has immunity. He says it's one of the proudest moments of his career.
The bottom three get a reprieve. Kristen says they're not eliminating anyone just yet. Everyone looks upset. They're going to have a cook-off right now. Make a good plate of food. Anything. The worst dish goes home. 20 minutes and whatever is left in the kitchen. Kenny and Amanda are worried (although I think slightly relieved at the second chance) while David is very cocky about using everyone else's leftovers.
There is a small fight over ingredients but David loses. Then he complains he can't find anything to cook with. Tom says you have to commit immediately, while David yells that he should never have said anything about Tom's hat and he's so sorry chef. Heh. Amanda is making snapper crudo with salsa, and Kenny is making a salad with roasted shrimp. David is flailing hard. He's sort of making some sauce, or a relish, who knows. Amanda tastes everything a million times so it's not too salty. David finds some shrimp but I don't know if it'll poach in time. He dumps a whole bunch of some powder into his broth, and I assume that was salt because when he tastes a shrimp he says it's fucking salty. That was so much salt! You idiot. So he...rinses the shrimp off? That's not going to help? Frantic plating.
David: poached shrimp with Sungold tomatoes, coconut cilantro broth, and green curry sauce. He admits he had no idea what he was making, he kind of had an idea “and then Amanda stole my fish ha ha”. You snooze you lose. Also a dick move, she got there first. Which she says, so good for her for standing up to David. Kenny: Vietnamese cabbage salad with sake and tamari shrimp, and cilantro lime gremolata. Amanda: snapper crudo, hominy puree and crispy tortilla.
This should have been simple dishes but there is still a lot going on. Tom is surprised by this. David threw a bunch of shit in a blender and then threw it on the plate. It wasn't super bad, although it is two green sauces you can't differentiate. Kenny was done on time but it's sloppy and there are cabbage cores in there. But it's refreshing to have a salad after everything else today. Amanda took a firm direction, and had the best idea.
Tom says they should have been more focused, since nothing should focus you like the chance that you'll be the first one going home. This won't be easy. David is eliminated. That tracks. He jokes that he's the first person Kristen eliminated, but in confessional he is in shock, like he really didn't think he was in any danger.
This season: cooking outside, lots of fire, sausage races, they will go to Madison also, some tears and Tom saying stuff about friendships. Not a lot of fights? IDK my recording cut out.
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