Top Chef 6/17/21--"The Cheesier the Better" summary

 Previously on "Top Chef": There was a blind taste test Quickfire, that somehow involved pairs and no communication. Byron almost made it back to the main competition, but he failed to win enough challenges to do so, and no one returned from Last Chance Kitchen. Brooke joined the contestants to make pairs for the Quickfire, and she and Dawn won, mostly because of Dawn's palate. The Elimination challenge was to cook with the contents of a care package your family sent to you. This seemed to hinge on whether or not your family is genre-savvy enough to send you actual cooking ingredients instead of junk food and booze. Gabe won, and I know he is a good chef, but his wife sent him bay leaves is what I'm saying. Maria lost, and briefly Jamie tried to quit in her place, but everyone talked her out of it. (click for more)

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Top Chef 6/10/21--"Blind Ambitions" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: the judges showed up and decided to use buzzwords from Chipotle to force the contestants to make dishes. It was mostly not exciting. Dawn was declared the winner, for following the “criteria” the closest. Then the Elimination Challenge was to cook with tofu. Each contestant got assigned a firmness (medium, firm, extra firm) and they cooked head-to-head. Losers had a three-way battle using fried tofu and then a final two with soft tofu. Dawn cut herself and bled onto some of her plates, so she automatically lost that round. The final battle was Byron vs. Dawn and Byron lost. There was actually no winner this episode. (click for more)

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Top Chef 6/3/21--"Tournament of Tofu" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: the contestants were asked to make food with hipster ingredients using vintage equipment. Yeah, sure. Dawn won an advantage in the Elimination Challenge, which was useless in the end because it didn't matter. The challenge was to write a recipe for home cooks. It should serve six and take 90 minutes. Some people did not do that well, but honestly it usually takes months or years to write a cookbook and many chefs will hire editors to make sure the recipes are written well and makes sense. Some of the All-Stars followed the recipes so the judges could try them side-by-side with the contestants, supposedly to make sure the recipe was easy to follow. Gabe had an amazing sauce and the recipe resulted in an identical dish, so he was the winner. While Byron had a four page recipe, and Jamie's dish was a poor concept, Chris once again screwed up pasta. As in, not only was the recipe dish bad but the dish he himself made was not great. So Chris finally went home. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/27/21--"Portland-ia" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: it was time for Restaurant Wars! Since we couldn't have diners (or servers) we instead had a chef's table and the contestants served all the food. Honestly I think it was the best way to do this challenge. Kokoson decided on a Latin-Japanese fusion, based on kaiseki which has a very rigid sequence of courses. It was possibly the best Restaurant Wars team/restaurant in the history of the show. Maria won for amazing front-of-house service. Penny had the theme of “seafood”, which did not go well because the courses didn't make sense. And they were not all cooked well. Sara cooked one dish that was not great, and one that it seemed like only Tom liked, so she was sent home. I know people are mad because Dawn didn't tell anyone what her dishes would look like and she for sure was not a team player, but Sara's dishes were still not great. (click for more)

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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)

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Top Chef 5/13/21--"Feeding the Frontline" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: everyone had to make mushroom dishes on tree stumps. Not sure why they were on stumps or why whoever cut them failed at making them tall enough, but whatever. Gabriel won, but he did not win immunity. The Elimination Challenge was to make “surf and turf” dishes in pairs, using local game meats and fish. With a double elimination. The contestants met with some local Native Americans to learn about the local foods, and then served several of them along with the judges. Sara and Shota both made a good dish, and were creative about using smelt and not just frying it, so they won. Nelson's knee injury he got in the orchard was still bothering him, and he also overcooked their fish, so he and Gabriel were eliminated. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/6/21--"Stumptown U.S.A." summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: apparently Portland is the City of Roses, so for Mother's Day (which is this week, not last week, not the only counting mistake today) everyone had to make dishes with roses or rose flavored things. Chris won by making Haitian food, and was given immunity and the ability to pick his team in the Elimination Challenge. Which was to make food for a bunch of fans at the drive-in. Two teams, six courses, each course was supposed to be themed around a genre of movie. Some people did this well, but let's say, “action” was not really action-y? Once again, Top Chef failed to count properly and had this challenge when they had 11 people left. So one team had to have everyone contribute to the last course, when they could have done this the week before and had one course per person. Anyway, Gabriel bossed his team around because he's very annoying. It came down to a tie, and the win was given to the best dish overall, which was Byron's Korean fried chicken. Jamie made limp chicken wings (on the “advice” of Gabriel) and was sent home. (click for more)

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