Top Chef 4/10/25--"Line Cook for a Day" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: we had “trivia” questions for everyone, but they were just to get ingredients to force people to use. Corwin won, which was whatever. I liked Kat making a fried Nutella sandwich. The Elimination challenge was to take “iconic Canadian desserts”, deconstruct them, and make savory dishes. The two with the easiest time, in my opinion, got what is basically figgy pudding, and promptly used all the spices to make Afro-Caribbean food. Tristen made lamb fat madeleines and won. Zubair overcooked his duck and then was sent home. (click for more)

In Last Chance Kitchen, Zubair and Bailey had to make one savory and one sweet dish with at least three ingredients in common. Halfway through the challenge they had to present their savory dishes to Tom, who then picked a loser to redo their dish before they could work on their dessert. Apparently despite her obnoxious condescending behavior, Bailey's food was better so now she's returned and we have to deal with her again.

Also, if you thought one of the women at the table eating with the judges looked familiar, you were right? That was Lenore, winner of “Crime Scene Kitchen”. This is a show where you have to enter a kitchen and see like, cream cheese wrappers and egg shells in the trash, and a springform pan in the sink, and a scrap of scorched parchment paper on the floor, and figure out you should make Basque cheesecake. It is an amazing show, hosted by Joel McHale.

Henry and Shuai return to tell everyone Zubair got eliminated, but he's not there because he's doing LCK. Someone will be back next Quickfire. Shuai knows he made mistakes today, but he isn't going to beat himself up over it.

Gail and Kristen appear to let everyone know there is no Quickfire tomorrow. Someone immediately asks where they're going. Nice. Everyone laughs but this is an accurate question. We have decided to focus on the “multicultural” aspect of Toronto. The contestants will be sent to some ethnic neighborhoods to find out about the food, eat something, and also “help push out some orders”. Kristen promises to be right back to let them know where they'll be going. Kat interviews that this is why they're chefs: to experience new flavors.

Kristen appears with the knife block. Tristen does not get to pick out what cuisine he will make, but he does get first pull. He gets Greek, which he is not thrilled about. It doesn't match his style. Henry and Shuai get Filipino (Shuai says “Asian Sensation, let's do it”), Vinny and Lana get Indian (they have worked together several times). Kat and Corwin have Portuguese. Kat thinks Corwin understands flavor and this will be fine, but as she interviews about this we see a shot of the room and everyone is standing around but Kat. She's sitting down in a chair, and she should be able to, it just stands out (so to speak) that she isn't standing, and this is a group that I feel might make some snide comments about it. Cesar and Katianna have Thai, and do not appear to make comments about it. Paula and Massimo have Caribbean, and while they don't get any screen time to make comments, every time I pause the recording Massimo has a great stank face. He is not happy. Tristen is told whoever comes back from LCK will be his partner. Kristen also tells the room that the person returning from LCK will have immunity, and this will extend to Tristen. This is very important because it's double elimination. Shuai says “Just when you thought you dodged a bullet, here comes a larger bullet”. You will create a dish inspired by your time on the line. Make whatever you want, but showcase whatever you learn at these restaurants today. Shopping will be $1000 at Whole Foods. Kat says they're cooking for a lot of people. True, 150 people plus judges.

In the morning, everyone hangs out and discusses who they think is coming back. They make Bailey knock and then she just walks in. Lana is happy because Bailey is “good vibes” (sigh) and a lady is coming back (OK fair). Bailey says it was pretty wild, and she needed to “recenter” how she thought about how she was approaching the competition. Whatever that means. Oh, it means she thinks she was cooking what everyone else wanted her to cook, and now she's going to cook what she loves. Except for today, when she has to cook whatever cuisine she got. Bailey acts like she has no idea what's going on, and reluctantly it's possible they told her nothing so this isn't an act. Tristen fills her in.

In the morning everyone piles in the [product placement cars] and drives to whatever neighborhood they got assigned. Shuai says he and Henry are on the Asian Sensation Redemption Tour. Heh. Since they were both on the bottom last week. Henry interviews that this is his second time on the bottom, and at this point he's a bottom queen. Nice. Shuai giggles so at least they'll have fun today. They have remember to do Filipino and not Chinese. Vinny and Lana have Indian, which they have eaten before but other than that they don't know what's going on. Lots of spices, that's all they have at the moment. At least Vinny knows to take a lot of notes.

As people arrive at restaurants and meet the chefs/owners, there are plenty of shots of food which look great. The Indian chef has gotten them flowers, which Lana freaks out about. He says when they're happy, they will make food from the heart. When we get to the Portuguese place, the chef is making them bacalhau a bras, which is salt cod and grated fried potatoes. I note it because this dish gets a chyron and everything. Corwin is thrilled because he knows salt cod. Lana and Vinny try chicken kamasutra, which has several descriptive terms you will expect from a dish called “kamasutra”. Vinny admits he has no idea about the Kama Sutra, in an interview that I think is supposed to be funny but ends up weird and kind of creepy. Henry is falling in love with the Filipino condiments.

So everyone is going to work the line during the lunch rush. Cesar has to work the wok station and manages to burn the pad Thai. Bailey of course loves getting thrown in the kitchen. It seems like the way they worked the contestants into the kitchen is to give them one dish to learn and make. So everyone got a crash course in a single dish, or maybe condiments and sauces, depending on where you are. I kind of wish they had more information than that, just because I feel like they're going to base their dishes of of whatever dish they were introduced to, and in the case of something like Indian it's only one tiny part of a vast cuisine. But I also don't know how they would have been able to work the line if they'd had to learn more than one dish. Massimo and Paula are making oxtail, which involves brown sugar and caramelization. Massimo claims he's never heard about this before. But he's learning Caribbean is not just heat and spice. Katianna and Cesar make dumplings, and talk about Royal Thai cuisine, where everything has to be beautiful, and the dumplings have purple dough and get pinched with tweezers to make flower petals. You guys, I watched “Amazing Race” last night and they had a task where they had to garnish a bunch of sandwiches and cakes for fancy tea, and only like, one person used the provided tweezers. The rest of them were just placing tiny flowers and coffee beans with their hands. I thought they didn't give them tweezers at first because who is not using tweezers in that situation? Kat discovers the shrimp they're making doesn't have piri-piri sauce added, they will create the piri-piri flavor in the pan. She says she makes gallons of hot sauce at her restaurant. Tristen discovers most of the dishes at the Greek restaurant are grilled so they should grill also. Everyone tells the contestants they did a good job and says good luck.

In the cars people are starting to brainstorm. Kat wants to take the grated fried potato in their dish and make something like an arancini. The potato was in a cake, but it didn't look like the whole cake was fried as one piece. Corwin says that's literally what he was thinking. It's croquette time. As Corwin points out, they have to cook for 150 people, so whatever you pick has to be you can make consistently and also 150 times. Tristen and Bailey are obsessed with octopus, and I notice that while Corwin was driving, neither Tristen or Bailey are driving their car. Bailey makes some joke about “Somebody's gonna match our Greek” which is apparently a play on some song or something. 1. I'm old and 2. shut up Bailey. Lana believes they can make the kamasutra chicken for 150 people, scaled up. Vinny asks if there are tomatoes, and Lana says yes. I only include that because it seemed like foreshadowing. Lana doesn't want to recreate the dish, but instead to be inspired. I wonder if that's going to be an issue for teams: who just makes the dish they were given at the restaurant and gets in trouble for not being inspired. Vinny has decided on hollandaise. I'm not sure why. Lana interviews that Vinny is fixated on the hollandaise, and she can't picture it, but he feels so strongly about it that she's going to go along with it. Vinny in the car is describing hollandaise folded into the chicken and rich buttery sauces. I don't know that going along with one person's wild idea is very smart, but that's exactly what they did during the first Quickfire and they almost won so I guess I can see why she would.

Apparently they do put up signs to warn other customers in the Whole Foods about filming. Bailey and Tristen discover that if they want octopus they have to buy frozen. Bailey interviews that this is actually OK because freezing tenderizes the octopus and also most of the time you get it frozen. Sure. Corwin discovers there is no salt fish, so they will have to get regular cod. Making their own salt cod would take a week, but would be better because of how the fish flakes when you cook it. The Asian Sensation Redemption Tour is making pork kare-kare, described both by Shuai and the chyron as peanut-flavored curry. Lots of condiments happening. Paula and Massimo buy short ribs, because they will be easier to deal with than oxtail. Same flavors though. People buy fresh flowers for some reason.

It looks like they will get two hours to cook today. Tristen and Bailey get their octopus on immediately so it will get tender. Bailey bought a ton of olives at the olive bar, but of course none of them are pitted. That seems like you should have found some pitted ones to save time? Also apparently Massimo and Paula are hilarious? According to Tristen and Bailey. I don't know. Massimo does ask the room in general if they've ever cooled down braised meat with liquid nitrogen. He then says “short rib ice cream”. You will recall he tried to make ice cream with liquid nitrogen a couple of episodes ago and it was garbage. I can't tell if he's serious here. Kat roasts potatoes to rice for croquettes, instead of boiling them. This is the plan because there is more moisture in fresh cod than salt cod, and they have to adjust. She's worried about the piri-piri, because breaking down all the peppers will take a while.

Henry and Shuai are making arroz caldo, which is like congee, and then pork kare-kare on top. Both Henry and Shuai grew up poor and they ate a lot of congee so it's nostalgic. Shuai demonstrates how you make rice “the Asian way”: put your finger in the pot and fill with water to your first knuckle. Never measure. This is true, but also, rice cooker. Vinny says he's going to just open the boxes of spices and “sprinkle away”. I guess that's a plan. Lana says they are making chicken thighs with curry hollandaise and flatbread. Cesar says next time, he's buying peeled shallots. Katianna cuts out a million flowers out of daikon with a little cookie cutter. Cesar says also pre-chopped shallots. Heh. Katianna likes working with Cesar because he's positive, and she would hate to cause someone else to go home.

Bailey has two frying pans overflowing with olives, but she has to take some off the stove because Tristen needs some for a caramel? Tristen says the octopus is “OK” and should cook longer. Vinny tells us he enjoys the “texture” of “hollandaises”, especially with chicken thighs. It's a throwback to one of his previous restaurants, although that dish was not spiced. Massimo and Paula discover their meat is cooked, but not where they want it. There was a clip earlier where Paula said something about how one of the Instapots wasn't connected? Not “on” but “connected”. I'm not sure if this is something they failed at, or just a glitch that screwed them. Katianna is marinating their beef, right before they start packing. Bailey interviews that they put the octopus in brine overnight. Kat and Corwin didn't get a chance to test fry anything before time is up, which also seems like foreshadowing.

In the morning, Katianna is feeling confident most of their prep is done. She interviews that it's her daughter's birthday and it would suck to be eliminated today. She is uncomfortable, but she's going to push herself and she wants to encourage her daughter to do the same. Cesar is confident too. In the car, he jokes to Shuai and Henry that they have to break down a whole lamb today. Heh.

90 minutes today to get ready. It's shitty outdoor kitchen time! They are literally under an overpass. I mean, it's paved, and is clearly a park reclaiming the space, but...overpass. Massimo and Paula also have bread, and the dough looks pretty good. But they have to form 180 portions and get them all cooked. And cook their meat more. Kat interviews that she and Corwin are confident but nervous about the double elimination. The fritters are a little wet, but Corwin says he's not worried. Kat also foreshadows that he added some flour, but you don't want to overwork the fritters. Henry and Shuai are very pleased. The octopus is great, according to Tristen. Vinny and Lana fry chicken skin. Lana interviews that she started doing pop-ups after pandemic, to get her name out as a private chef. The hollandaise is good. Katianna and Cesar futz with their portions.

Massimo is “very concerned about the meat”. The braising liquid has to reduce, in his opinion, and this might not happen in time. He's removing lids on pots so things can boil down. Paula interviews that the meat isn't cooked all the way through yet, and in order for that to happen it has to be covered in liquid. In her opinion, they have plenty of time to reduce this jus. Paula points out they're doing the same thing and have the same goal. Massimo has decided if he doesn't take over they will go home. Paula tells him don't fucking start. Then we go to commercial which is usually the indication that everything will be fine when we return from commercials.

Paula interviews that she will not let anyone disrespect her, but also she's thinking they're going to be eliminated because they aren't working as a team. Because Massimo is off somewhere else. Henry and Shuai put a bunch of condiments on their dish, all on top of each other. Katianna dyes her daikon flowers with butterfly pea flowers, for a bright purple. Tristen says “Kalamata olive and Greek honey caramel” which sounds weird but sure. He also says everything in Greek cuisine is kissed by the grill so they're going to make out with this motherfucker. Lots of last minute working. Lana has calmed down because Vinny's weird-ass idea has come together. Vinny says he's glad to work with Lana because she trusts him. Smash cut to Paula and Massimo, where to be fair Massimo is apologizing for being an asshole because the meat has turned out. He is also claiming in confessional that he handles stress well. Paula's eyes bug out.

As they always do, everyone comes in at once and mobs the tables. Corwin has fried enough fritters to get started, but he can't slow down because if they get behind they'll be screwed. Kat offers to change out his breadcrumbs or whatever else he needs, which I liked as a great understanding of how to help and not interfere with whatever rhythm Corwin has going. Henry and Shuai are plating six plates at a time, to keep everything hot. But they have so many garnishes it's taking a while. Hopefully no one minds the wait.

Cue the judges walking in and I'm sure someone is going to complain about the wait now. Also Sara Bradley is here. The judges discuss how some chefs will adjust to an unfamiliar cuisine and some will not. Gail asks Massimo and Paula how they got along, and Massimo says they both cook with fire so it got heated. Sure. Paula and Massimo: braised short rib with grilled flatbread, escabeche with sweet plantain vinegar. Escabeche is pickled vegetables, I think. They are cooking the flatbread to order. It's good but the meat is a little dry, because short ribs don't have the collagen that oxtail does. Gail wants more heat. It's fine, but Tom says he's not getting Caribbean flavor.

Oh of course the chefs from the restaurants are here. Cesar interviews that you don't want to be the booth that doesn't have food out. They are not that booth, he's just concerned about it. Kat explains to the judges that they wanted salt cod but couldn't get it. Kat and Corwin: cod and shrimp bomba with saffron aioli, smoked roe, piri-piri and pickles. The pickles are good, but Tom is very put out that it's not salt cod. He does have a good point though, which is that Kat could have kept her mouth shut and then the judges are not thinking about how the dish would be better with salt cod. The flavors are great but the fritter is still too wet. Tom is not impressed.

Vinny is schmoozing it up, and Lana is like, I have shit to do so if he wants to talk to everyone then go right ahead. He's telling everyone “it's a play on chicken kamasutra, yes like the book” and the editors cut in several repetitions of this line in a row. Katianna and Cesar: pad Thai glazed tenderloin, pickled mushrooms, and butterfly pea flower pickles. There is some good-natured shittalking about how Katianna does pickled daikon flowers a lot and is getting her money's worth out of the flower-shaped cookie cutter. It is delicious and has lots of texture. It's a little sweet but Tom says Thai food can be sweet. There are layers of flavor. Tom sounds dismissive but he also just defended them about the sweetness so who knows.

Vinny is schmoozing some random person about New York, and then Gail is like six feet away from the table all “Vinny did you know this gentleman's daughter lives in New York? It's me, that's my dad.” Ha! Gail's dad and brother are here and I find it hilarious that they seem to have been wandering around by themselves. Like it feels like this wasn't planned, they just ended up at the same table and Gail decided to fuck with Vinny because it's funny. Lana and Vinny: chicken kamasutra with curry hollandaise, chicken skin, and flatbread. Vinny does repeat his “yes like the book” line for the judges. The chicken skin is great, but they all seem to agree it's not as flavorful as they would want. Not punchy enough for Indian food. The chicken was cooked in cashew sauce, and some kind of tomato sauce also, so Tom asks why you would then put another rich sauce on top of that. Kristen says it's “an homage to the story” and I'm not sure what story. The story of their stage today? The story of how Vinny sort of used to make this dish before at his last restaurant? Gail points out the story has to work with the dish.

Bailey claims this is the first time outside of LCK she's felt this is great? I guess so. She is telling random people they were inspired by simple preparations and high quality ingredients. I'm not sure which is worse: this pretentious “we only use high quality ingredients” or Vinny's “yes like the book”. Henry and Shuai: arroz caldo with roasted pork kare-kare, fermented pickles, and bagoong XO sauce. Bagoong is a fermented seafood condiment, and XO sauce is made with dried shrimp so I suppose you can make one from the other. Shuai talks about being poor and having rice a lot and rice is life. True. Sara likes the story and family and this feels like a family dish. The meat is a little dry but there is a ton of flavor in such a small bowl.

Bailey simpers about being back from the dead, and then Tom gives Tristen shit for looking chill like it's Sunday afternoon and he's just grilling in the backyard. Tristen would like a beer. Bailey and Tristen: grilled octopus with Kalamata caramel glaze and charred green olive honey relish. Also Bailey has said “octo” more than once and this is starting to bother me as much as “it ate sweet” bothers me. The octopus is cooked well and the caramel is both sweet and salty. The dish makes sense.

Stew Room. Everyone discusses how they mostly feel OK but who knows anymore. Kat thinks they are making it hard on the judges. It's getting harder. I am worried about how much screen time Corwin and Kat have had today.

Judges' Table. Bailey and Tristen, and Katianna and Cesar, are the tops. Tristen explains the olive caramel, which helped caramelize the octopus but also retained some briny flavors. Somehow olive caramel is restrained and simple. Sure. They let the cuisine guide the dish. Cesar says the beef was just marinated and seared, and their dish had texture and was beautiful. They got the balance of all the different flavors in Royal Thai cuisine. Sara tells everyone not to cook for anyone else, you will go farther being true to yourself. Bailey nods vigorously and I am irritated because I don't like her. It makes me want to disagree with her on principle but Sara is probably right. The winners are Bailey and Tristen, because the universe likes to thwart me in this manner. Both Bailey and Tristen jump up and down, but not like, when you're excited and you jump for 3 seconds. Like they keep doing it like it's exercise. Also Bailey has to kiss ass and tell Sara “I thought your words were great and I don't think that this is how I was cooking before Last Chance Kitchen and being pushed into that made me refocus and recenter and just be cooking food that I love.” Shut up Bailey. Stop bragging about how now you're a better person because you got kicked off the show and just cook things. This is a confessional statement, not something you say at Judges' Table like you are about to turn to everyone else and lecture them about being true to themselves.

Paula and Massimo, and Henry and Shuai, are safe. Corwin says both he and Kat wanted to make something like the dish they had at their restaurant, which was salt cod and potatoes, but then they couldn't get salt cod. Kristen asks if they breaded to order, and Corwin tells her they breaded that morning. The flavors were good, but it was soggy inside. Kat says they didn't want to overwork it. I told you guys that was foreshadowing. Sara asks if they did anything to the fish before they put it in the mix. They did salt it heavily, I assume to get a salt cod flavor. But then all the liquid leached out because of the salt and now it's soggy. Vinny and Lana say this dish turned out how they wanted, and they do establish the hollandaise was Vinny's idea. Tom says they were supposed to put themselves into the dish, but there wasn't enough Indian flavor. Too much Vinny, I guess. Kristen asks what was the point of the hollandaise over already-sauced chicken, and Vinny says “different flavor components”. It was heavy (I'm not saying “it ate really heavy”, stop doing that).

Back in the Stew Room, Lana is sad because she thought she and Vinny worked well together. But she's never cooked Indian food before. No one did a terrible job but two people are going home. Vinny and Lana didn't have any Indian flavor, and they got wrapped up in “the story” which I guess is just “Vinny used to work at the Nomad and made chicken”. Seriously it's sort of a dish he used to make but they never showed him talking about “I miss that kitchen” or “that was my first job” or “that was the first dish I got on the menu” or anything that qualifies as a story. Gail says she doesn't know who Vinny is, but she knows who all his mentors are. It's Top Chef and you can't just redo a bunch of dishes that aren't even yours, they're your mentors'. That's fair. At this point he has to step up. Kat and Corwin had a good idea, they just had execution problems. It was unpleasant and then you couldn't enjoy the dish.

Tom says this was a difficult challenge, working for a short time in a restaurant, being inspired, and then working that into a dish “that's yours”. Quite frankly everyone up there has been cooking good food and he doesn't want to see any of them go. But they're going to lose two good chefs. Kat and Corwin are eliminated. Stupid. Why did we spend all that time shitting on Vinny? Is it because no one had anything to say about Lana? Shouldn't a dish that doesn't follow the challenge be worse than one that can be fixed? Whatever. Corwin talks a bunch about being a good loser. Kat says she wasn't here for a long time but she was here for a good time. Heh.

Next week: Susur Lee and his son, Danny from last season, “five course progressive pickle menu”, it looks like Shuai threw out Henry's mise en place by accident, there's a fire.

Last Chance Kitchen: listen a bunch of people said Bravo announced no LCK today and now there is? OK upon further review it was one person, who happened to be a moderator so I assumed they knew what was happening. It is also possible that Bravo's website said there was no LCK tonight, even though at the end of the episode it says it's happening, because Bravo's website is a trash fire.

Corwin is fighting to start a restaurant. He ties a Jamaican flag as a headband. Kat has to prove she can make good food. They are both sad they have to battle each other, because they're friends and they made a good team. But they both seem determined to win.

Tom praises both Corwin and Kat for their cooking. It's just a tough season. Usually Tom likes to make everyone rehash their mistakes, but today he just says you can't prepare for everything. They will have 30 minutes total, but for the first 10 minutes, they will be a prep cook for their dish. The twist is that they don't know what they're prepping for. After 10 minutes, Tom will return with a protein they have to use. They also can't prep anything else once this happens. No knives. No going back to the pantry for any new ingredients either: they have to grab salt, pepper, spices, etc. in the first ten minutes. After that they will only be allowed to get pots and pans. Not even a blender. See so technically I can see bending the rules to like, smash garlic with a pot to avoid using a knife. We'll see if anyone tries to get smart.

Corwin says this is like a Quickfire had a baby with the hardest Elimination challenge and it's constantly crying. He also hopes the surprise protein is saltfish, which is not the worst guess. That's totally a thing Tom would do. Corwin is going to make a coconut curry sauce because it can work with multiple proteins. Kat is planning a salad, which is not the worst idea. She's slicing a bunch of stuff on a mandolin. Corwin blends some herbs. Kat grabs produce she can tear into pieces without using a knife. See I knew someone would think about stuff like that. She cuts all her limes in half to make sure she can get into them.

Tom reappears to reveal salt cod, because he's a troll. Corwin celebrates being right, while Kat admits she's never cooked with salt cod before. But it is fish, so at least she can treat it like fish. Tom appears to talk to Corwin and find out how he's cooking the fish (flake it and add to the sauce). Tom also asks Kat how she's cooking the fish, and she admits she's never made it before. Tom is like, oh wow, never, and then walks away. Corwin realizes he never opened his can of green curry during prep time. There is also a shot of several whole limes, which are also not useful like that. That's huge. Kat has torn up bread by hand for croutons, and she's bragging in confessional about how everything is better when torn up by hand. Everyone's salt cod is flaking well, but Kat is worried her dish might be on the line of too salty. But Tom does love salt.

Kat: salt cod panzanella with fish sauce vinaigrette, pickled romanesco, and maitake mushrooms. Corwin: coconut green curry inspired salt cod with burnt scallions. They are both good, and treat the salt cod well. Kat had a ton of textures and flavors. Corwin got layers of flavor in his dish. We do not discuss the curry. Tom tells us the outcome by saying Corwin had his least favorite dish. Putting the salt cod in the sauce meant the salt cod overwhelmed the sauce flavor. Kat says don't underestimate a salad.