Previously on “Top Chef”: We had the mise en place relay race, which is always fun. Then of course everyone had to cook with the things they prepped, which was grapes, shrimp, pecans, and corn. Rhoda won some money, which was nice because she had said she hadn't won any money yet. Then it was time for “go fishing and cook what you catch” which is a great challenge. I like that challenge. Laurence made steamed fish but it was perfect so he won. Duyen undercooked her fish, and went home. Sadly it was a fish challenge, and she cooked it the worst. But it's sad because Duyen is the best. (click for more)
Jonathan gets a phone call home and says being on top now is better than before, because of how few people are left. His kids tell him they're counting the days until he gets home.
Everyone is out in some park somewhere. There are the usual shit outdoor kitchens, and a pergola with shade. Kristen says they've all been pushing creativity and trying things they've never done. So here are two people that know a lot about trying things: Keith and Rachel from The Try Guys. OK real talk: Rachel is a producer, although she does appear on camera sometimes. They have new cast members, but I don't know if they include Rachel in that number. But the other “Try Guy” is Zach, and I find his on-camera personality highly irritating, so I'm fine with this. Also they come up being driven in a pedicab. Laurence is a big fan already. They should make them do “Phoning It In”, which is where they have real chefs talk a non-chef through a recipe, with no written instructions, just verbal instructions over the phone. Rachel is like, you guys must be good at new challenges! And everyone says “no”. Heh. Also I know I said Rachel wasn't in front of the camera a lot, but her line reads are great.
For the Quickfire, it's time for fan votes. Hopefully a shit show, because letting “America” vote on things is always terrible. They get one element now, and then randomly during the challenge they'll get more requirements. Jonathan says there are a lot of trolls on social media so this is not great. I'm sad I didn't know this was happening so I could vote. First vote was peaches, boiled peanuts, or pawpaw. Sherry says she loves pawpaws, but don't eat the skins because you will have diarrhea. And don't eat the seeds because you will have diarrhea. Heh. The fans selected peaches, which is lame. Kristen says she voted for pawpaw, which is what I expected would win. They will be given peaches, but then they have to go shopping for everything else with $50 at some tiny market. And they don't know what random shit they'll have to deal with, so who knows what to buy. Said tiny market is two miles away. Do not make them run down there, we moved on from this bullshit, remember? Kristen talks about the nature trail that goes through this park, and that they're going to take these pedicabs. Kristen says buy her snacks.
Oh good, they have drivers. I thought they'd make them pedal the bikes, but this is just “waste travel time”. But everyone wastes the same time so it's fine. Sherry asks her driver about the market and he says the bread is great. Laurence wants to buy all local stuff. Sherry says she's expensive and $50 is not enough money. Anthony wants to buy local honey, but he's got three general dishes in mind. Jonathan buys stuff that is ready to go. Anyone who hasn't shopped here before gets a free loaf of bread.
Everyone returns, and then it turns out the fans voted for them to have 30 minutes to cook. The longest option. Everyone is too nice today. Winner will get $10,000. Everyone starts but I'm not sure that was the last twist. When time starts, Jonathan gets peaches first and then asks why no one else has peaches, which is weak. Someone responds that now he doesn't have any equipment. Anthony is making mostarda and toasting some bread, and waiting for another twist. Sieger has sardines for some reason. There is a lot of toasting bread and making some kind of sauce for fancy toast.
About halfway through, Kristen reappears and says everyone voted on: make your dish a sandwich, move one station to your right, or make a foam. Fans picked “move to your right”. There's the trolling I expected. Everyone is mad. You don't have to make what they were making, you're just stuck with their ingredients. Sherry asks what Jonathan was making, which is fancy toast. Everyone is making fancy toast. Meanwhile Rhoda is discovering Sherry's dish is great and she just has to season everything. Laurence is also pleased with what he's got from Anthony; meanwhile he's left Sieger seven pieces of bread and no salt. Anthony takes Rhoda's salad ingredients and makes...crostini. Sigh.
Laurence gets to serve first, and he jokes with everyone else that he's going to be the first crostini to go. The judges love the flowers he's used as a garnish, and he makes sure to say that's all him and not Anthony. Anthony yells that he can still hear him. Heh. Laurence: crostini with peach and raisin relish, pickled peaches, arugula, and yogurt sauce. There are two little flowers on top as garnish. Anthony: crostini, arugula, roasted peaches, pickled peaches, whipped feta, and toasted almonds. When they give him a little bit of shit for this looking the same, he admits they all got free bread, and Kristen laughs. It feels like she immediately knew she'd be doing the same. Rhoda: peach and burrata tostada with corn relish and chipotle aioli. She liked Sherry's idea, but also her own idea. Sherry: gochujang marinated peach crostini, burrata, marinated tomatoes, and fresh basil pesto. There's something bitter in the pesto, but Sherry isn't 100% sure what it is. Probably arugula. She did not want to change stations. Jonathan: heirloom tomatoes, peaches, sardines, and green harissa. Sieger whines that he didn't want to do bread. So then don't. Sieger: crostini, sunflower seed and peach aillade, roasted peach, whipped feta, and dill. Aillade is a garlic and walnut sauce.
Keith says there was plenty of variety in the dishes, even if they all looked like fancy toast. Rachel could taste the peaches in each dish, and that was the point so that's something. Jonathan used sardines and they were overpowering, and Anthony cut everything too thick. Sherry had that same problem (everything cut too big) plus the pesto was bitter. Laurence had great textures, and he says he totally thought that out from the beginning, as Anthony quietly seethes. Rhoda had a thoughtful and “intentional” dish, and she's much more willing to give Sherry credit. Sieger had a different flavor profile. Keith says he “went to Chow Town” on the winning dish. Calm down, Keith. The winner is Rhoda. Of course, because Sherry had said she hasn't won a Quickfire yet, and that was mostly her stuff. Rhoda says she owes Sherry a vacation, maybe.
Keith and Rachel take off, and it's time for the Elimination challenge. They are on the “Swamp Rabbit Trail”, and Kristen talks a bunch about cycling and bike trails, and then says this is also home to Michelin North America. It's the last challenge in Greenville, so maybe that's why LCK ended so early. They didn't spend enough time in any one place after Charlotte, so they couldn't build the Top Chef Kitchen, so they just ended LCK early. Anyway, you must pay homage to the trail and Michelin's French origins and make rabbit. I love rabbit. They'll have rabbits provided for them from a local farm, and then $400 at Whole Foods. Laurence gets an extra $100 for winning the Elimination challenge last week. Anthony is like, OK but how many people are we cooking for? I'm not falling for that. Heh. Kristen lists off the guest judges, including a Michelin-starred chef, and people nod because they know her. But it also sounds like maybe seven people? Oh and 24 other diners. Is 24 “a dining room full of people”? I guess it could be a small dining room. Somewhere in there will be some “very special mystery diners” who will score dishes. Highest score wins, and the judges decide who goes home. Kristen gives them three hours to prep, and says this is due to the fact that they're getting whole rabbits.
Sherry is upset after the Quickfire because it was “stolen” from her. She is out for blood. Jonathan thinks he's funny, and he's trying to joke with Sherry by asking her things like is she cooking rabbit today, and leave some money for them, or something. He cannot read the room, because she isn't in the mood. Sherry has to tell him to back off. We do not see him trying to “lighten the mood” by fucking around with anyone else. Anthony is buying carrots. Sieger tries to buy caul fat, but they don't have any so he buys a bunch of bacon. Laurence has never cooked rabbit, and he doesn't have formal training. He's going to make smoked rabbit siu mai, which I absolutely would eat. Sherry is making mofongo and jerk rabbit which I also would eat. Mofongo is mashed plantains. She brags that she's only ever worked in Michelin kitchens.
Back in the hotel, the contestants sit around and establish that Laurence actually had pet rabbits when he was a kid: Hockey and Bockey. Heh. Sieger tells a weird story about some reading he had done where someone told him he would shine in this lifetime. Sieger asks the group how they feel about their prep, with the time constraints and all. It's a lot, but Michelin is about consistent quality, but also elevated. Laurence says in confessional that he's always struggled with this, because Michelin includes both fine dining restaurants and hawker stalls. He's going to rely on things he knows he's good at.
The next day, Sherry is trying to practice gratitude. She's meditating, as she interviews that she has an evil eye tattooed on one shoulder, and it makes her feel better to have something watching over her. She's trying to have a clear head and feel confident, and it seems like she's more confident.
I guess this restaurant they're at is too small for all of them to be in the kitchen, so instead of making shifts, Rhoda, Sherry, and Laurence just get shafted and are cooking in the temporary outdoor kitchen. Rhoda then says the kitchen inside is very cramped so she's fine with it. But I do want to know how they decided who is where. Laurence says there are loin pieces which are probably more dry, and then leg meat. The rabbits are cleaned and skinned but then whole aside from that. Laurence takes some of the loin and “velvets” it, which is where you coat it in baking soda to lock in juices. He's also doing that thing where you take two cleavers and mince the meat. Sherry's making her jerk sauce for a marinade. Anthony points out that in the US, rabbit isn't considered fine dining, but in Europe it's “classical”. He's showing off techniques today. Sieger admits to the kitchen he just put together why Anthony making carrots is funny. Jonathan heavily salts some of his meat and he is going to try to stand out today. Sherry sears her meat, now that she's got the sauce on it, before it goes into the pressure cooker. Sieger grinds some of the leg meat with offal for a roulade. It looks like the ground meat and offal, inside the loin? And then wrapped in bacon.
Tom Time! Also he's brought the Michelin chef Niki Nakayama. Jonathan says he hasn't cooked rabbit in a long time. Anthony admits he made rabbit for his classical French final in culinary school, and he didn't get an A because his teacher was “strict” and the loin was a little over. Tom is like, he doesn't sound strict. Dang. Anthony tries to argue there should be some leeway, and Tom is like “no, if you learned something, then it's cooked correctly, and that's more important than getting the A right?” Tom's right, it's just funny to watch him immediately shut down Anthony. Rhoda says she has the loin so she's got some gigante beans and peas and tomato confit. Sherry says “jerk braised rabbit” and “mofongo”. Tom is like “but jerk isn't braised”. No, I guess it's grilled? I don't know . Sherry says its risky but it makes sense to her. She seems mildly annoyed Tom questioned her.
Sherry is thrown off a little by Tom saying that jerk meat is not braised, so she demands Rhoda and Laurence taste her rabbit and tell her it's delicious, even though it's braised. Rhoda says it's good, and Sherry is like “I know it's good, what I have made that is not fucking good?” She's spiraling, mostly because last week she said she hadn't been in the top? So I think she's insecure about how she's not winning, or in the top, and I fully believe last week when they had a top four and a bottom two and didn't say anything to her? That was deliberate to mess with her.
I think there are rounds? Or maybe a staggered service where they do the dining room in stages? I don't know. Anthony is going to wrap the leg meat in a wonton wrapper so he's test-frying one. He feels this is a good way to stay consistent and keep the meat juicy. Sherry returns from off-screen and apologizes, saying she was just hungry. Laurence and Rhoda are mostly confused. Rhoda's beans are not quite cooked yet, so she decides not to serve them. She says if it's one thing she's learned here, it's that you don't serve anything you aren't proud of. The judges arrive, and mention there are five “secret” diners who are doing the scoring. Jonathan says his duo is risky because it could be considered two separate dishes. I don't think that's why a duo is risky. It's risky because you have extra work and you could screw up half of your dish. But he wanted to highlight two different cuts. Sieger says once the outside of his roulade is golden brown and crispy, then the loin will be cooked. I just mention that because it feels like foreshadowing. Sherry is still bragging about how fucking great her dish is, and how it's her job to break people's outdated ideas about food.
Sieger: rabbit roulade with rabbit and offal farce, braised endive, hazelnut and cauliflower puree. Sherry: jerk braised rabbit, yucca and plantain mofongo, avocado crema. Sherry has great textures, since braised meat and mofongo can both be soft. But it sounds like she avoided that. Very flavorful. They have a shot of one of the “mystery diners” talking about her dish, and it's shot from behind and halfway across the room, like this person is actually a secret Michelin diner and they can't show his face because it blows his cover. Come on. Sieger did an amazing job, and it certainly highlights the rabbit. Kristen points out that while they all thought it was amazing, he has to reproduce it for the dining room, and if one roulade is off then it's possible some of the diners will get a different dish. Another secret spy cam shot of a “mystery diner” saying it was delicious but it's been done before.
Laurence is discovering the wrappers on his siu mai are not sticking to the filling, so they're just peeling off the meat center. His plan is to serve some of them upside down, so a meatball draped in the wonton skin. Then it's not as obvious the wrapper is not attached to the filling. I have seen a bunch of recipes for making dumplings by making meatballs with the filling, searing them in a skillet, then covering each meatball with a wonton wrapper and steaming them. It's supposed to be easy dumplings that you don't have to fold. I wonder if he's going to get nailed for not having “traditional” siu mai. Some are fine and some are not, and I wonder if he's going to be able to save enough “good” ones for the judges.
Laurence: rabbit siu mai. He admits he did not make the wrappers (but he does also know he might not have had time for that). Jonathan: rabbit croquette with butternut squash puree, and rabbit tenderloin with roasted mushroom and leek saute. The croquette has a leg bone in it so I thought it was just the leg meat. Laurence had good seasoning, but the velveting technique he talked about didn't come through, and the judges did end up getting some of the uneven ones. Tom says it's not that interesting Jonathan made two different dishes, but it would have benefited if he had focused on one of them. It's a little salty, and the croquette was too big to pick up.
Anthony is trying to baste his loin in as much butter as possible. Rhoda: roasted rabbit loin with rabbit sausage and pea stew. Tom calls her out on not serving the beans, and she says they “didn't quite make it”. This satisfies Tom, who says it's a “good decision”. Anthony: braised rabbit legs and thighs, carrot ginger puree, rabbit loin, carrot top salsa verde, rabbit jus, and carrot. Rhoda's dish is rustic, maybe not super tender, but Tom likes that she used all the parts, like the liver. Maybe it didn't need tomatoes. Someone else liked the tomatoes. Kristen says this could have been a broth with a rabbit loin and a puree, and it would have been perfect. Everything else is taking away from that perfect dish. Anthony's dish is “precious”. Each component, the puree, the loin, the braised meat, they were all in their own little pile, so it looked like every cliché “fancy” dish, where the portion is tiny but it's artistic. It didn't feel like a whole dish but a set of little canapes. The sauces were great, but the fried egg roll thing has dry meat. Kristen reminds them that they aren't choosing the winner.
Sherry is still yelling about how she loved her dish because she could have had a ton of technique and sous vide everything and like, a puree here and a little sauce. Anthony and Sieger feel called out. She says that's not what she meant, and to be fair, those two were inside the kitchen so I don't know if she saw what they were doing. Rhoda is much more diplomatic about it, saying there was a variety of points of view, and they were all able to show who they were as chefs.
Judges' Table. This is set up in the restaurant, and I want to know how that thing comes together. Is this long table that they have the same table all the time? It must be right? That top looks like one huge piece of wood. I want to know how this thing comes apart for transport, so they can set it up in any location. My vote is the underside of the tabletop has grooves and the front and side panels slot in and are on hinges so they fold up. Then you can move that thing in two pieces.
Anyway, Tom says they got some tasty food, knowing that most chefs hadn't cooked rabbit since culinary school. Rhoda admits she adjusted plating knowing the diners were choosing the winner. Or, some diners anyway. Gail asks if they're relieved that the regular judges aren't picking the winner, and Anthony says no. Sherry and Sieger are the top two. Kristen says they had the judges' favorite dishes, and one of them is going to be the winner. Sherry starts off by saying she feels she has to ask permission to go into a fine dining restaurant and represent where she comes from. But why? There are plenty of Latin American fine dining restaurants. Aren't there? I feel like this isn't wildly rare. Anyway, she feels it's about time she becomes more confident and there's still so much to be shown. OK so is she saying it's the judges' fault she's not more confident? I mean you can blame them for it, by saying they haven't recognized her when they should have, but that's hard to pull off. It was very flavorful and robust, and the balance of spices was perfect. Sieger made a very classic dish, but it didn't feel dated. The bacon was great, and he says this is a good representation of his food. Tom says he made a lot of smart decisions, and Sieger asks if they got that on the cameras. The highest score was Sherry. She says she needed that, and it's nice to have some validation to keep going. OK so can we drop this “Sherry is being ignored by the judges” storyline because it got old real quick.
Jonathan and Anthony get called out next. These are the bottom two. Oof. Anthony says he thought of how he wanted to present the different parts of the rabbit, and then the three sauces to complement the rabbit. Each component was separate but they didn't really go together, and Kristen says the first two bites she had were dry. Tom says you can't rest rabbit because it dries out. Anthony tried to plate with four or five minutes left, and Tom points out that certainly his rabbit was done cooking and resting before that. Jonathan's braise and sauce was too salty. He tries to be like “oh the finishing salt was salty?” and the judges correct him by saying the meat itself was salty. The croquette was huge, and Jonathan is like “my plate was not an hors d'oeuvres”. Damn. The four chefs off to the side all wince and react like I did, and Anthony is like “WOW”. Jonathan says “that's what I'm gonna take for this home” which makes no sense. I guess he's just...owning throwing Anthony under the bus? Even the judges are shocked.
Outside, Rhoda is like, “Anthony, how's your back? You know with how Jonathan ran over you with the train.” It's a bus, but same idea I guess. He claims he wasn't driving the bus, but surely he saw Anthony's plates at some point? Jonathan is trying to claim that it was just about how he gave them a good portion and shouldn't be penalized for having huge croquettes. Sure. Anthony claims he didn't take it personally. Neither of them cooked their rabbit properly. Anthony kept all the pieces separate on the plate so the fried egg roll wouldn't get soggy. The judges didn't feel like it was a complete dish, it was a bunch of things. And the egg roll was dry. Gail covered it in one of the purees, and Tom is like “well you have to”. I think Anthony wanted them to do that, actually, but I also know Tom hates being told how to eat so if the egg roll can't stand on its own, then it's a failure. The sauces were better than Jonathan's sauces, they just didn't go with each other. Gail says Jonathan's croquette was so huge it felt out of place with the rest of the dish. Tom liked the croquette better than the egg roll. But all of Jonathan's dish was too salty.
Tom says you have to cook with intention, and both Anthony and Jonathan made dishes that felt like a collection of ingredients. Anthony is eliminated. Oof. Tom says the egg roll was the worst rabbit today. Anthony is proud he was himself and he's proud of what he did.
Next week: time to go to Asheville, 200 diners, the shit outdoor kitchens out in the middle of the literal woods, this is the episode with the live snake at Judges' Table.
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