Top Chef 6/19/24--"Cruising to a Win" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: the final four arrived in Curacao and had to do a Quickfire combining lionfish and gouda. Basically everyone except for Danny made a crudo with crispy cheese. Dan still managed to win somehow. The Elimination challenge asked the contestants to make an eight course tasting menu of fish, each course with a different technique. No one did very well. In fact, there were major issues with at least one of everyone's two dishes. In the end, Danny had the best dish, with Dan a close second. Savannah just messed up less than Laura, so Laura was eliminated. (click for more)

We start with just a distance shot of the cruise ship. The final three call their spouses (well Savannah's fiance, same difference) to tell them they are in the finale. We get some montages of how good each person is. You already know.

The captain gets on the PA system to announce they are approaching Aruba. I still think this ship is empty except for them and the crew. OK so the the final challenge is four courses, one table (not a full restaurant), famous people. I don't really recognize the names but Dan curses about at least one person. Tom says they are saving the best for last but he's not going to tell them yet. It's eliminated contestant sous chefs this year. Weirdly Kaleena is here, which I'm a little surprised by. I guess it's possible when she left LCK she just meant she didn't want to compete, but she wasn't refusing to fulfill her contract or participate at all. But I could easily see her refusing to have anything to do with the show. Or the producers kicking her. Anyway, Dan gets to go first and he takes Amanda (“his partner” and she knew it). Danny takes Manny, who seems surprised. Savannah picks Michelle. Kaleena, Laura, and Soo get kicked to go enjoy themselves. Two hours to shop at markets in Aruba, plus you can have access to some stuff on the ship. Five hours today, 2.5 hours tomorrow. Tom says make it hard on them. Kristen says she's pumped to declare someone Top Chef.

Of course all of them have plans. Danny has planned everything to a T. Smash cut to Savannah saying she doesn't have everything planned to a T in case she gets inspiration from the market or something. Dan asks Amanda to be honest if something isn't working. Savannah's plan is to showcase her personal journey through her life. Michelle has some good suggestions. Danny is doing “first significant food memories” which involves aguachile which I thought we had escaped. Dan wants to show who he is right now in this moment. But first he tells Amanda that Morimoto cooked for them. Heh.

Shopping looks to be at a supermarket, not a farmer's market. Maybe multiple supermarkets. We are editing things to look like Michelle is giving Savannah a ton of suggestions and the boys have ideas and know what they are doing. They all go to a fishmonger, and Danny doesn't see what he wants so he is planning to get scallops and mussels from the ship. Dan gets oysters and sardines. For some reason when he asks for sardines the worker cooks them, which is not what he wanted. I guess she was just supposed to clean them? And there aren't any more sardines so he gets some small red snappers.

Back at the ship everyone gets to work. Savannah has Michelle making pasta which is funny. She is kind of freaking out about having to make pasta. Savannah is also making hummingbird cake for her last course. Hummingbird cake is banana-pineapple spice cake. Danny has a bunch of seafood, and then sorbet and marshmallow. Dan is inspired by buckwheat tea which Danny introduced all of them to. That feels kind of sweet. Dan appears to be the only person making meat, oxtail, and not all seafood. Also a basic dessert so everyone is making dessert. I do like that. I went to a tasting dinner and there was no dessert, the last course was steak. It was so heavy.

Danny is pushing Manny, but he's pushing himself just as much. He tells Manny to make 600 grams of juice, but also he says “two quarts” somewhere. It doesn't matter because in order to get that much juice, Manny used all the melon. Even the melon balls that Danny was going to put in his dessert course. Dan lights something on fire as Danny scrambles to get something acidic. Is cantaloupe acidic and lemon a good replacement? Who knows.

Tom Time! And he's brought Emeril. No pressure or anything. Everyone freaks out quietly. Danny promises not to curdle his mayonnaise. Savannah says her menu is for her. Dan says “bold classics” but not a lot of detail. Tom leaves but not before telling them they're all having breakfast tomorrow morning. Danny is soaking seaweed in sugar but also trying to fry it? He dumps a batch in the trash but I think he has some that has worked. Savannah is a little behind maybe but she thinks they can get it done.

In the morning it's Tom, Gail, Kristen, and Emeril all at breakfast. Dan has tried out for this show eleven times (I feel like we knew that?) and Kristen asks Danny if he'd tried out before. The timing was never right, but he's about to open a restaurant so at the moment he's not tied to a working restaurant. Savannah was an executive chef of someone else's restaurant and it sounds like she quit to do the show. They all reassure her she'll probably have no issue getting another job. Everyone gets emotional. I'm a little sad Tom and Gail didn't cook for them.

They let the sous chefs return to help. Danny has a list for Manny, but Savannah interviews that she does not have a list for Michelle because she's taking suggestions. Amanda is communicating with Dan, but not in the same way as Michelle. Michelle is acting like when Casey was Carla Hall's sous chef and kept telling her how to do things, and then they didn't turn out. At the moment nothing is a disaster but I feel like the editing wants you to think it will be? They are discussing the size of the fritters, because Savannah had planned on one per person but Michelle made them small and now maybe they're going to serve more than one? It might be fine.

Dan: tuna tartare, ruby red grapefruit, Caribbean pepper puree, garlic chips, and black garlic labneh. He really took what Morimoto said to heart, and he wants to live in the moment. That's why his menu is him right now. Savannah: saltfish fritter, sweet potato puree, pickled mussel, habanero honey glaze. Her menu is a journey through significant locations in her life, starting with North Carolina where she was raised. Danny: scallop and habanero leche de tigre with breadfruit and nori tuile. The other two dishes are pretty but Danny filled a shallow dish with rocks, then put a scallop shell on top, the food on that and then the tuile is the same size and shape as the bottom scallop shell. Danny's menu is significant food memories for him, and also the ocean. Scallops were the first things he cooked professionally. One of the judges jokes that the three dishes work surprisingly well as a trio. Heh. Dan's dish is the loudest, but Tom knows there's something weird going on with the tuna. Dan put it in the sous vide, so the texture is not the same as raw. It's got the same texture as the grapefruit, which maybe is not ideal. But the flavor is addictive. Savannah had a good balance. Danny's dish was beautiful but it needs salt.

Savannah makes filled pasta and hopes it will be thin enough. Dan grills several different components. Savannah's pasta is now maybe underdone, so that the lobster won't be overdone. Dan: grilled snapper, braised pumpkin, and smoked snapper dashi. Savannah: spiny lobster agnolotti, lobster broth, smoked marcona almonds, and grapes. This reflects her time in Boston. Kristen asks a very specific question about her pasta dough which must be terrifying. Danny: smoked mussels with plantains and cabbage, smoked mussel mayo and fines herbes puree. Dan's dish is simple but delicious and umami. Savannah did screw up her pasta but there is a lot of lobster flavor. Danny's dish has plenty of char but it's like a big chunk of cabbage and Gail struggled to physically eat it. It's a lot but Tom likes it.

Savannah wanted to make mofongo, but the plantains are dry and maybe too green. Was that one of Michelle's suggestions? I don't want to go back and check, it's 1am. Mofongo is supposed to be green plantains but it's also supposed to be mashed and mixed with garlic and salt. Manny was supposed to steam lobsters but they are all raw. At least he brought them to Danny to check. Now they have to be boiled and that seems to do it. Dan: oxtail ragu with dumplings, tomato concasse, pikliz of cabbage, carrots, and scallions. Tomato concasse is tomatoes that are blanched, peeled, and then diced. Savannah: seared grouper, epis spice, mofongo plantains, and flying fish roe butter sauce. Epis is a Haitian spice. Danny: spiny lobster with salsa macha, squash, persimmon, and chaaza sauce. The sauce seems to be in conch shells. Chaaza is a Burmese curry style dish, so this is a sauce with similar flavors. Dan's dish is rustic but that's what he wanted. It's a little sweet but it works. Danny made a very complex dish that everyone seems to be really impressed with. Although someone did get undercooked lobster. Savannah got a good beachy vibe, but she didn't actually make mofongo and no one is happy about it. It's chunks of plantains, not mashed or mixed with anything.

Danny busts out an anti-griddle. He also confirms that the lemon relish is supposed to replace the melon balls. I'm not sure how those two things were supposed to have the same function but whatever. Savannah empties out her ice cream and it's weird and...stretchy? She eyeballed the stabilizer and screwed it up. So she adds I think coconut milk and makes a sauce out of it. Dan: yogurt mousse, coriander olive oil, grilled pineapple, salted phyllo crisp. Savannah: “hummingbird” banana upside down cake, lime and pineapple granita, rum coconut sauce. Danny: “piragua con leche”, melon sorbet with avocado yogurt, candied seaweed, and condensed milk stamp. Piragua is shaved ice with syrups and this dish was inspired by his grandfather taking him home from school and always getting piragua. Danny's candied seaweed was amazing and they love the lemon. Tom seems to love the story and the connection between shaved ice and this. Dan had some good savory flavors. Savannah had nice combos and someone calls it “kind-hearted”. I think Tom said something nice but I'm not sure.

Judges' Table. Dan explains how he got his tuna texture and confirms that was on purpose. It was weird but he had bold flavors that all worked together. Savannah did have salt cod but the point was hush puppies. A great set up for the rest of the meal. Danny had a beautiful presentation. Tom tells him he had a great story but the scallops need salt. When Danny says he brined them for 15 minutes, Tom gets pissy and insists everyone agreed they needed salt. Calm down Tom. The first time I watched this I thought Tom was saying they were too salty, which made no sense, but he is just mumbling I guess.

Dan made a very simple second course and he executed it very well. Savannah knew her pasta wasn't perfect but it was too late to do something else. It was too firm and Gail says that the filling ended up being bits of overcooked lobster, not something smooth. Danny tells the table that if he could do it over, he would maybe pile the ingredients on a plantain chip, instead of making a big stack of things. The mayo did work, and the flavors were good regardless.

Dan, with the only meat dish, made a dish from the heart and it was rich and homey. Savannah admits she's never made mofongo but she knows the plantains were not right. Tom does that thing where he insists if she had left it off the plate, he would have loved it. He wouldn't, he'd look on the menu and be mad there's no mofongo and ask pointed questions about it. Danny does insist that he wanted medium-rare lobster. Emeril says maybe a third of the lobster was undercooked. The two sauces together were amazing.

Dan's dessert was perfectly tropical and balanced. Savannah's dish was a little salty and Tom loved that. Kristen admits she would take cake and ice cream and wait for the ice cream to melt to make a sauce. So she had a nostalgic memory about the dish without ever having had hummingbird cake before. Emeril tells Danny a story about sno cone stands in New Orleans but they don't have candied seaweed. Everyone loved the lemon and Tom says it's going to become his signature dish.

Kristen is already excited about being on this side of Judges' Table. First course: Savannah had a great dish, Danny did something beautiful but needed salt, Dan had delicious flavors but the tuna texture was weird and they all know he did it on purpose. Second course: Danny's was hard to eat but exciting, Dan's was simple but perfect, Savannah screwed up her pasta and the filling too. Third course: Danny didn't cook the lobster consistently but the flavors worked, Savannah cooked the fish well but did not make mofongo, Dan made a very strong dish. Fourth course: Savannah made something satisfying, Dan's was different but it worked, Danny's was surprising and exciting.

The final three come back out. Tom says that they all did an amazing job and it's been a great season. The winner is Danny! Kristen almost can't say it without losing it. He won $303,000 in total, which a producer quickly says is the most anyone has ever won ever. Dan is proud, he says Danny just did better today. Manny is busy telling Dan how great he is as they drink. Savannah claims she's at peace, and more willing to take chances. She's a little emotional, but it seems like she can't believe she was here. Kristen gets emotional about how this was her first season and being accepted and it's very sweet. A producer asks Danny in confessional what this means to him and he takes a long time to get himself together to answer. And he's not that successful because I think it just hit him.

I refuse to watch Andy Cohen but Michelle won Fan Favorite.

Thanks for reading! They are filming the next season of Amazing Race, and I'm assuming they will find somewhere to film Top Chef again. But sadly Project Runway didn't do very well last season and they have yet to announce casting for another season. If anyone has ideas for shows to recap, I am open to suggestions. Otherwise thank you again and I will see you soon.