Previously on “Top Chef”: everyone went to Asheville to drive around and look at cool restaurants from the outside but not go in. Listen I know this was to raise awareness about the hurricane recovery and talk about how apparently chefs are the most important part of that, but driving around for hours just looking at the outsides of buildings isn't really helpful. Then making everyone go back to Charlotte to have a benefit, meaning you threw a benefit for Asheville, that was held three hours away from Asheville. The final five had to make apps for 200, featuring at least two Appalachian ingredients. Everyone was successful on the ingredients part, so it came down to Jonathan having too much acidity and Sieger serving runny chicken liver mousse. Outside in 90 degree weather. When Sieger was sent home, he started arguing with the judges, and according to someone on social media claiming to be a PA, it was louder and worse than shown in the show. This man asked production for a written copy of the rules, like he was going to find some loophole to stick around. This did not happen. (click for more)
OK guys I think there are only two episodes left? That's what Wikipedia says. After this is over I will be talking about Project Runway, or at least that's the plan. I may go insane before that and ragequit. There are TWENTY-TWO designers. Said designers include: Joseph McRae (why is he back? Ugh), Robert aka Q from Drag Race, and Plane Jane, also from Drag Race. I don't remember Plane Jane designing a lot, so she's probably there for drama, and Q is a good designer but I believe Utica was cast to increase viewers but would never have been allowed to win. So I think Q is headed that way also. There is also someone from Next in Fashion, a show I never watched, and another designer who happens to be Alexis Matteo's ex boyfriend. And Alexis has said they tried to get her to come on the show, but she had a conflict or something. There's no reason for that unless you are just trying to have as much drama as possible and you don't give a shit about design or fashion. Also if they don't have multiple double or triple eliminations I don't think I can last the length of that season.
In the morning the final four hang out in the living room. Jonathan confirms the finale is next week. I guess in Charlotte because they haven't talked about going anywhere else. I swear this season feels like Bravo was trying to kill the show. Laurence says early on, you thought you could at least go home and see your family if you got eliminated. You know that's not how that works. Anyway they've come too far now for that.
In the Top Chef Kitchen Tom is cooking. I can spy leeks, white wine, garlic. Kristen comes in and asks Gail if she hired a private chef, because he looks expensive. Heh. So Tom describes his dish as “billi bi but if you wandered over to Spain”. Billi bi is a French soup with mussels, wine, and heavy cream. But I think Tom is putting chorizo in it? And little round chili peppers. They look like pattypan squash, but red and the size of scotch bonnet peppers. This is going to be the last Quickfire. There's a piece of fish, and the billi bi like a sauce with mussels and the peppers. Kristen thinks once they get some of the ingredients, these are all classic pairings. Tom covers the empty plate with a cloche.
So the contestants come in, and find everyone waiting for them so they're not super pleased. You will remember this Quickfire from last season. Right, it was last season? Anyway, you get to look at and smell the empty plate that Tom just cooked, and then you get 20 questions (five each) to ask him about the dish. Closest to what he actually made wins. All questions are yes or no. They can all ask a question right now, which is helpful. Laurence asks if there was a main protein element to the dish. Yeah the fish was a “main” element. Jonathan asks if it was a side dish. What the fuck dude. As everyone looks at him confused, he claims it looks like a small plate. Obviously no. Sherry asks if it was fish, either as a good guess or maybe knowing there's only so many things you can cook in the short time you get for a Quickfire. So now they know it had fish. Rhoda asks “Does it lean more toward a classic preparation?” and Tom does say yes. Kristen reminds them to listen to what other people are asking. Yeah, last time they did this people repeated things and wasted questions. Winner gets $20,000. Everyone freaks out.
30 minutes to cook. Everyone runs up to smell the dish, which has like, some chives and the sauce which is vaguely yellow. Sherry can smell mussels, and in addition to the chives she says she can see leeks and chervil. Laurence also smells shellfish (and assumes they all do) and he is grabbing a bunch of different kinds of fish to hedge his bets. Sherry asks if there is a white wine based sauce (yes) and Laurence wants to know if the fish was seared (no). Laurence is leaning toward a beurre blanc, which is not quite right. I mean it's a French soup, I'm sure there was butter in it. But not a beurre blanc. Jonathan decides it's sauce meuniere, which is browned butter, lemon, and parsley. But he doesn't want to ask yet. Rhoda asks about tomatoes (no), and Jonathan asks about spinach (no). Sherry asks about shellfish (yes), I think because Jonathan had said he thought there was shrimp, so I guess she's confirming her thought that she smelled mussels. Rhoda asks if it was finished with butter (yes), and Laurence asks if there was fresh pepper. I guess as opposed to cracked black pepper? Someone saw the stem. Anyway, yes fresh pepper. Sherry confirms the fish was poached. She thinks she's got most of it, since she has mussels (the shellfish), poached fish, white wine, butter. She's also got the pepper, an aji dulce, which is apparently a non-spicy habanero. It does look correct.
Laurence asks if it's monkfish (no), so Jonathan asks if it's cod (yes). Only so many fish you can poach maybe? Or maybe those are the most likely options they found in the fridge. Rhoda is so pleased to find out it's cod she's willing to forgive Jonathan for asking if it was a side dish. Jonathan immediately asks if there is Tuscan kale, as Kristen laughs at him and Tom rolls his eyes. No kale. Rhoda: “Never mind.” Rhoda asks if the fish was poached in a liquid (yes) which seems like a weird question. Isn't the definition of poaching “cooking in a liquid”? Anyway, Sherry asks if the vegetables were poached in the same liquid (no). We flashback to Tom sauteing I think potatoes and chorizo. Sherry's out of questions but she seems to know what she's going to do, which is poaching in fish stock and then finishing with butter. She's also got clams as well as mussels. Laurence asks if the dish has shishitos (no). I guess he could be trying to figure out the pepper? Jonathan asks about shrimp (no) and Rhoda has the last question, which she uses to ask if there is lemon. No lemon.
Jonathan has successfully gotten mussels, while Laurence has clams. Laurence feels like he's the underdog in terms of classic cuisine. He also can see that everyone else has mussels, so he's hoping maybe they're all wrong and he will get an advantage if he's the only one right about the clams. Sherry thinks there was something green, so she's got some spinach. See what we said about listening. Tom can't believe it, but she's got lemon too. I guess Sherry was not paying attention to anyone else's questions. Jonathan grabs white asparagus. He think it's a great base, so he is in the spot where he's just trying to make something that tastes good. Rhoda knows there's a red tinge so she's got some smoked paprika.
Tom reveals his dish: billi bi with potato and leek. Then he wanted a main dish, so there is cod. Then the “went to Spain” part is saffron and chorizo. There was chives and chervil, and Sherry had the correct peppers. Sherry: cod poached in shellfish broth with sauteed spinach, aji dulces, and lemon zest. Rhoda: poached cod with mussels steamed in white wine and paprika. Jonathan: poached cod with mussels meuniere sauce, asparagus, leeks, and roasted red pepper. The pepper looks like a red jalapeno. He also had cream, but added lemon. Laurence: butter poached cod, clams, fresno chiles. He admits he just grabbed clams and not mussels.
All the dishes tasted good, but of course not everyone was on top of it. Laurence got close but he had clams, and was missing a lot of the aromatics. Jonathan was missing a bunch of stuff too, and didn't get the flavor. Sherry got a lot of ingredients, and the correct peppers, but she added two things that she should have known were not there. Rhoda added paprika, but she lucked out because it got her closer to the chorizo flavor that no one had. The winner is Rhoda. She's won a total of $40,000, which is impressive.
This is the last elimination challenge before the finale. Tom asks a dumb question, which is about dumb bullshit people use instead of plates. Tom describes this as “pushing the boundaries of how to plate food” and not “being creative just to be wacky”. It's just like people using molecular gastronomy just to use it and not because it makes the dish better. For the last Elimination Challenge, everyone has to make a dish that “pushes your creativity” and is served on something that is not a plate. Laurence is lost because his restaurant plates on 1/8 sheet trays. Gail claims that “pushing the boundaries of what plating means” will push them to do something incredible. There's the usual assortment of ceramic containers, anything with a flat surface, miniature bathtubs that I know I've seen used for drinks, baskets, whatever. Also those clotheslines that you hang bacon from. They each will pick out a “vessel”, and then get $200 at Whole Foods. Two hours to prep today, and two hours tomorrow, to serve six people. The guest judges are another chef, a magazine editor, and Liza Koshy, who is an actress and comedian.
Rhoda gets to pick first, for winning the last Elimination challenge, and Kristen warns her that there are only three of one of the plates (a set of maybe 20 tiny round silver dishes like lily pads, all attached to each other in a circle and mounted on two pipes). If she picks that one out, since there are only three plates, she'd have to do family style. Then Kristen says everything that doesn't get chosen will stay on the display table, so they can swap out. But if you're supposed to be matching your dish to your “vessel”, then how can you swap out? Anyway, Rhoda picks up a chunk of driftwood that looks charred and burnt. I'm not sure there's much of a flat surface on there but maybe there is. The other three have to race. Sherry grabs the clothesline, which is a big flat piece of wood with two tall bars. Like imagine the uneven bars in gymnastics. The bars are all hung with binder clips. Jonathan claims in confessional that his restaurant already does this, and he takes a ceramic tote bag. He's going to put dirt in it and then put food in the dirt? Like actual dirt? Laurence took the big family style dish, and I think there are actually 16 dishes. Time to be ambitious.
At Whole Foods, Jonathan buys pumpkins, those little ones you are supposed to be able to cut up and cook. Now he's serving in the pumpkin. Will he get in trouble for not using any of the dishes they offered him? He's pivoting I think. Laurence is making a dim sum platter, with different sauces. Too many different things is going to be hard to execute. Sherry thinks her vessel is the perfect vessel for banchan, which are all the side dishes you get with Korean meals. Not sure how that's going to work, but she's thinking about Korean BBQ.
Two hours to cook today. Jonathan immediately puts his ceramic basket back and grabs a bowl on a pedestal. This bowl will fit a pumpkin perfectly so that's how he's going to serve in pumpkins and also manage to use a dish. He's making brioche, which means he has to hope the yeast works. Rhoda juices beets for beet soil. I'm not sure what she's dyeing with the beets, but it looks sort of like soil. Sherry jokes that the wine she has is for her, not the dish, so she's more relaxed. Laurence is also making short ribs but Sherry seems unconcerned. She's making galbi, while Laurence is making cheung fun. Cheung fun is steamed rice rolls with fillings, so he's making different fillings and one of them is short ribs. There's also lobster, Chinese sausage and mushrooms, and poached sweet potato.
Tom Time! And Liza. Jonathan demonstrates how his pumpkins fit into the dishes, and says he's making pumpkin seed brioche, put into the pumpkin. That's it? Tom is like, that's what you're making to get you to the finale. Oh there's also fancy butter? Liza sort of saves him a little by loving pumpkin, but I think Tom has a point. Laurence talks about how he's looking out for Rhoda, because she's on fire right now. Rhoda describes making some tree bark, maybe having the soil and having vegetables “growing” out of it. Like a forest. Sherry is going to hang the banchan from the clothesline, and put the meat on the bottom of the plate. Liza and Tom go over to look at the rejected vessels. One of them looks like a stiletto heel, so Liza asks Tom if he knows what a shoey is. I think Tom can figure it out from context clues, but a shoey is when you drink out of a shoe. Alcohol, obviously, because people literally take off their shoes that they are wearing and do it and you would need to be drunk for that. Liza asks for beer and they do a shoey. I don't think that counts, it's not a real shoe.
Laurence makes his cheung fun base out of Carolina Gold rice. It should work, but he also says he's only ever made this with jasmine rice before. The chyron claims Carolina Gold has a “unique” starch structure so maybe it will work? Sherry is reminded of playing with her food. Deep down she's still a little kid. Rhoda says Sherry's short ribs are delicious and her dish is interactive so she's done a great job.
In the morning Laurence calls his wife, who looks like she's already crying. He tells her he's in the top four and she's so pleased for him. Laurence is struggling with not having his wife and son around. He processes everything with her, so I can see how this would be hard. When everyone comes to hang out together, Sherry says she's finally feeling in her element. I think she's gotten comfortable with herself.
Two hours to cook before service. Laurence checks the rice and he says it's perfect. Lots of planning for sauces. Jonathan's yeast has proofed, so he's putting rolls into ramekins so they all have the same shape. He is very carefully scooping pumpkin out of the shells, and adding it to a compound butter that is going back into the pumpkins. He's serving bread and butter and it better be fucking amazing. Jonathan gets his bread in the oven, and Laurence asks him to let him know when he's done. Jonathan agrees and says he'll put it on steam for him. I note this heavy foreshadowing. Rhoda is frying kale so it looks like the forest. Sherry's short ribs have turned out. Jonathan's rolls have baked, so he takes them out and sets the oven. Or steamer? Anyway, he says he's setting it to 212 degrees and 100% steam. He does show this to Laurence.
The judges arrive, and sit at a big round table. I assume so they have room for all these bullshit “plates”. Laurence is making thin sheets of rice so when he rolls everything up, he can have multiple layers. Then he opens the oven and says “it doesn't feel very steamy in here” because I told y'all. Laurence isn't familiar with that type of steamer, or that brand, or whatever. It would be terrible to go home now for something like this. Then we go to commercial, which is foreshadowing for everything to be fine when we get back. He doesn't want to waste time panicking, so he's got several pots on the stove to steam the old fashioned way. Now he's got to reassemble things into smaller pans, and stack them three to a pot, or else he won't get done in time. Rhoda cuts all her food into bite-sized pieces, because it's not like people can cut anything on this log.
Jonathan celebrates because somehow his brioche rolls fit perfectly inside the pumpkins. He wanted to have a pumpkin on a pedestal. So each pumpkin has a wedge cut out of the side, attached to the stem. He put the bread inside, and then spread the butter on the wedge and closed it back up for service. Jonathan: pumpkin seed dinner roll with pumpkin puree compound butter. Kristen asks if he made his own butter, but no. Opening the pumpkin was fun, and the bread is delicious. Tom wanted him to make pumpkin marmalade? And put it inside the pumpkin underneath the roll? It might not be enough but maybe it's a confident flex.
Sherry knows she can't make kimchi properly, so she bought some from the store and re-seasoned it and added pears. Rhoda has little vegetables and purees and her dishes are very fiddly. But the end result is very cool looking. It does look organic, and like leaves and stuff you'd find on a log. Kind of wish there was a tiny mushroom but this is fun. Rhoda: grilled ribeye, beet soil, baby carrots and turnips, burnt leek puree, and pickled seaweed. Tom points out that each log is different, so Rhoda had to plate each plate differently and that didn't throw her. It's earthy, which is exactly what you expect when you see the log.
Laurence has stuff ready. It's not how he usually makes this, but he has a dish. Laurence: cheung fun four ways. Chinese sausage and shiitake with creamy peanut sauce, lobster with black bean and garlic relish, braised short rib and daikon, sweet potato with coconut crema. He's also put like, raw rice and some herbs in some of the other dishes on the plates. Maybe scallions? It's a great dim sum feel. The rice rolls are thick, but they have a good texture and it was basically a four course meal.
Sherry is frantically plating but I think she finishes in time. Sherry: gochujang braised short rib, pear kimchi, rice, and banchan. So on the flat wood supporting the clotheslines, there is the chunk of short rib, lettuce leaves, the kimchi, rice, and some sauce. Then hanging off the clothesline are various vegetables, like a strip of cucumber, or a shishito pepper, or some strips of seaweed. The idea is you can make like, a little lettuce wrap with whatever you want off the clothesline, or just take things off there to eat. She admits she didn't make her own kimchi, but they know that was impossible. Her short ribs are the best protein today. It's very fun and it's also delicious.
Judges' Table. Tom tells the final four that they crushed it. Everyone was creative but the food also tasted great. Jonathan and Laurence joke that they're all going to the finale! Tom is all “that would be nice if we could” as if they couldn't change the rules and do it. No, don't do what Project Runway does. Sherry was drawn to the clothesline because it made individual items stand out. Gail says that hers was the least conventional vessel, but it was adventurous and fun. She had the best beef preparation today (cut to Rhoda looking upset). Tom said it was so good you just enjoy it and then ask why you would do things differently. Rhoda wanted something earthy, and Gail says that her vessel really “begged” for her dish. They had to dig for stuff so it felt like the woods. Kristen says it was so much like art that you could put it somewhere and not realize there was food. Her flavors were amazing too.
Jonathan claims the dish he took “spoke” to him. No I think the pumpkin spoke to you but whatever. Tom did not think just serving bread and butter was enough, but it was delicious and it's ambitious, no matter what else. Gail asks if he thought about incorporating the vessel more, but Jonathan says he “felt the pumpkin was the move, because it was just like, wow, on a pedestal.” It was great bread and butter but in the end it was bread and butter. Laurence knew he wanted to do something interactive, so he just went for it. He picked out the vessel before coming up with the dish. Now that we can see a big shot, he didn't put food on every dish. There's the four flavors of cheung fun, but then like, some dishes have rice (cooked? unknown), some green onions, and I think sesame seeds. He does admit the wrappers were more uneven than he wanted. It was a ton of work and the flavors were great.
Before they all leave, Kristen asks if anyone has anything they want to say. No don't do this. We all know everyone's sob stories. Fine, Sherry feels it's important to represent Latino female chefs, and she prioritizes hiring single mothers and people with families. Rhoda is like “I just want to beat Laurence” which is great. Then she says she's only been living in Hawaii for a year, but the whole island is rooting for her, and there are a lot of Filipinos there, and she's very thankful for the experience. Jonathan admits Brandon made him apply like 10 years ago and he didn't get it, and he just wants to brag to his brother forever. The judges point out he already made it further than Brandon. Laurence says winning will make being away from home worth it. Laurence wants to tell his wife that what he did will give them everything their son deserves. But he takes a while to get it out over his emotions. Now everyone is crying and the judges have a much harder job.
All the food was excellent today. Tom thinks the win is between Rhoda and Sherry. All of Rhoda's food was cooked perfectly and it was all intentional. Sherry put a ton of thought into her dish. It wasn't forced, and her cooking also made this possible. Jonathan had the skill to make brioche and that's important. However he didn't really use the vessel they gave him. It was all about serving inside the pumpkin. Laurence knew what was wrong with his cheung fun, but he also made a four course meal and all the flavors were amazing. All four of them were very close.
They all come back, since they don't know who won. The winner is Sherry. She matched her dish to the vessel and elevated it. She also gets an advantage. Rhoda is also moving on to the finale. She starts crying, and then bows, and then says “I don't bow, I don't ever bow, what am I doing”. Heh. Jonathan is eliminated. Yeah, that feels right. The brioche was delicious, but he didn't connect to the vessel. Also I think the fact that he made a roll and butter (technically mixed butter with stuff), while Laurence made four different fillings and four sauces, probably played a roll too. He says he loved every part of it. But he stands behind his dish so he feels pretty good. More confident than ever. So that means Laurence is also in the finale. He's relieved.
Next week: four course meal, you know the drill. I believe I see eliminated contestant sous chefs. Lots of cooking but not really any screw-ups or fake crises or panicking.
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