Top Chef 6/12/25--"Finito" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: There was one last Quickfire, making risotto in Milan. They asked the chefs to be creative and that it didn't need to be “traditional”, and so Cesar and Shuai didn't make rice but vegetables. Then Tom got pissy about it, but you can't ask them to not be traditional and then be mad about it. After this, we had a progressive elimination challenge. The chefs had to make a polenta dish, a beet dish, and a Gorgonzola dish. Bailey re-made the bruleed Gorgonzola everyone hated the last time, but I guess did it well and stayed in the competition, sending Cesar home. I know the internet has decided if you don't like Bailey you're sexist, but I simply do not want to hear from someone who uses phrases like “big-time yumbo” to describe their food. (click for more)

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Top Chef 6/5/25--"Viva Milano!" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: No Quickfire, but some time to forage in the woods for foods to make one last Canadian dish. Shuai won, because he is great at taking the ingredients he's given and matching them to his own style. Even though Bailey didn't cook her beans properly, everyone decided she did a better job than Massimo. I did see some people assuming Massimo didn't fulfill the challenge, but he did. He just foraged wild mustard and the judges told him that was too boring. Honestly it felt like they decided he wasn't moving on and they just came up with something. He met the challenge so they had to come up with “we wanted you to forage but not mustard”. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/29/25--"Foraged in Fire" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: everyone went to Calgary so we can justify the “Canada” label. The Quickfire was a pancake breakfast, which was cute but too many people made cornmeal hoecakes. Shuai won because he is surpassing Tristen as the frontrunner. Then everyone had to make beef and berries, because of the Calgary Stampede. The editing leaned heavily on Tristen's “narrative” and insistence on making pemmican because otherwise how is he going to honor anything. But Massimo “cooked from the heart” or whatever so he won. I need him to understand “umeboshi” is a specific thing and not a technique. In general people who tried to cover up their berries were in the bottom, but because Bailey did well in the Quickfire and Cesar and Lana did not, Lana went home. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/22/25--"Calgary, Yahoo!" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: Cesar returned from Last Chance Kitchen, and immediately won the Quickfire. Both challenges were about Montreal, but they didn't even leave the Top Chef Kitchen to go to Whole Foods. They made a fake bodega with everything labeled in French, and everyone had to make something from convenience store foods, which is what Cesar won. The Elimination challenge was about rooftop gardens and seasons. Shuai won by making hot pot and having a personal story about it. There's a side plot about Tristen cooking with “narrative” and Massimo not, or being soulless or whatever. Which is why he didn't win, I guess. Cesar did poorly in the Elimination challenge but the judges told him that since he won the Quickfire, he was safe. Vinny ended up being eliminated for making “aggressive” consomme and not putting garnish on all of the plates. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/15/25--"From Dep Till Dawn" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: the Quickfire involved mussels, which wasn't that bad actually, but it was time for Tom and Gail to appear and start tasting Quickfires and “factor” the Quickfires into Elimination performance. Which just means that if you do well at the Quickfire you have immunity. Case in point, the Elimination challenge. There was a very dumb tie-in to the new Mission: Impossible movie, and some stunts, and making a dish with “a stunt”. It ended up just like the “chaos” challenge where the challenge is so poorly defined that no one follows it. Massimo won because he made salmon en croute and you can't look at it before you serve it? But a risk is not a stunt? Whatever, then Cesar went home for weird flavors. But Lana won the Quickfire and she was in the bottom, but immediately safe. And Vinny froze his tartare into a solid block, which no one could eat, but he was in the top for the Quickfire so he survived. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/8/25--"Cooking on the Edge" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: it was Restaurant Wars. Teams were completely selected with random draw. The Nonna restaurant side was very behind on prep, so all their food suffered and Paula, who was executive chef, did a ton of extra work. On the other side, Phora discovered Tristen's dad had passed away, and they rallied around him. Tristen won, while Paula was sent home. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/1/25--"Restaurant Wars" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: instead of the dumb Quickfire where you had “one pot meals” but you could wash the pot between ingredients, we had a different way to advertise the dish detergent sponsor. Everyone got a dirty dish and had to make that dish. It was dumb but less obnoxious than stretching the definition of “one pot meal”. Henry won by making oatmeal dumplings with glutinous rice. Then everyone had to make pizza because of reasons. The contestants were supposed to be “controversial” but I don't think they cared that much about it. Tristen won by making anchovy ranch, and Tom pretended he did not understand the concept of ranch dressing. The bottom three all made bad pizzas in the sense that they were soggy or the crust was not good. Henry was trying to save money and only bought one bag of flour, so he had to use rice for his crust and the judges said it wasn't pizza. So Henry was eliminated. (click for more)

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Top Chef 4/24/25--"You Wanna Pizza Me?" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: A dumb Quickfire which at least confined the product placement to the Quickfire so we didn't have to deal with Chipotle in the main challenge. Tristen didn't make Mexican but a rice bowl thing so he won. The Elimination challenge was to make a progressive tasting menu revolving around pickles, and also in teams. Massimo won because he's extra of course. Shuai accidentally threw away a bunch of Henry's garnishes and pickles, so Henry had to scramble. He and Shuai both ended up in the bottom, and there was some discourse online that Shuai should have quit, but they ended up eliminating Katianna instead for weird cucumber seed pudding. But it did seem for a minute like they'd get rid of Henry for not enough pickle flavor. (click for more)

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Top Chef 4/17/25--"Pickle Me This" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: Bailey returned from Last Chance Kitchen, and then contestants were paired up to learn dishes from various ethnic restaurants. Then they were supposed to put their own spin on things and serve a food festival. Bailey and Tristen won, by making olive caramel or something. Bailey almost lectured everyone else on being true to themselves but settled for kissing up to the guest judge. Kat and Corwin, two strong competitors, wanted to get salt cod but couldn't find it and used regular cod instead. They ended up making soggy fritters and were eliminated. (click for more)

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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)

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Top Chef 4/3/25--"Top Chef Trivia" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: for the Quickfire, everyone had to make Jamaican patties, or at least their spin on them. Katianna won by making bacon and kimchi. Then everyone had to make a cold dish using an ingredient that had something to do with a hockey term. I don't know anything about hockey, but I did read somewhere that most of those slang terms were bullshit and there were actual food-related slang terms that the producers ignored. Katianna made cold noodles with licorice flavor, which were perfect cold, and she won the Elimination challenge also. Anya failed to make good ice cream and cake, which was supposed to be for the ingredient of “eggs”, so she was eliminated. (click for more)

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Top Chef 3/27/25--"Best Served Cold" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: We got two stereotypical food challenges out of the way. The Quickfire was the poutine challenge, which everyone should have seen coming. Like Shuai, who practiced fondant potatoes at home because he knew he'd have to make poutine and won the Quickfire. The Elimination challenge was a team challenge to make brunch dishes with maple syrup. Zubair won, for making fried chicken with maple. The same fried chicken that he used to start his restaurants. Bailey made tarts but she screwed up the filling and then had both honey and maple and then underbaked them, so she was eliminated. (click for more)

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Top Chef 3/20/25--"Brunch a la Boulud" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: We began “Top Chef: Destination Canada” which seemed to be a usual season of Top Chef. The Quickfire asked everyone to get in groups of three to make random dishes, and the winners got money. Immunity is only for Elimination Challenge wins. We had five regions of Canada, represented by five sets of ingredients, and each group had to pick one. It was a good challenge, honestly. Vinny won, which is fine because he seems to be a good chef but I find him annoying is all. Mimi screwed up all of her components of her dish and was sent home. (click for more)

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Top Chef 3/13/25--"Across Canada, We Go!" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: Kristen had her first season hosting, and it went very well. The show was in Wisconsin for whatever reason, which was odd. This season is in Canada. “But wait! Isn't there already a “Top Chef: Canada”?” Yes, there is a whole version of Top Chef in Canada already. I don't know. (click for more)

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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)

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Top Chef 6/12/24--"Set Sail" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: we had the blind taste test. They had 26 ingredients in alphabetical order but no one caught on. Manny somehow won but then made a boring dish so he did not win all of the money. Savannah made the best dish. Then the Elimination challenge was the standard “it's the last week here so everyone make a dish that shows how you've grown” only this time they had to have a story about the dish/how they have grown. Savannah made potato pave and said that potatoes have everything they need to be pave, they just need heat and pressure. Just like Savannah needed heat and pressure to become a better chef. So she won handily. Laura made a good dish so she also moves on to the finals. Danny did OK in the Quickfire, so it's between Dan's oversmoked fish and Manny's raw fish. Finally Manny was sent home. Not only was it raw but his story was “I make this dish all the time”? So the judges knew there was no excuse for it to be bad. (click for more)

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Top Chef 6/5/24--"Goodbye Wisconsin" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: Laura returned from LCK and promptly got into the Quickfire, which was to guess what Tom had made based on yes/no questions and the look and smell of the empty plate. People did not pay attention and tried to ask the same question more than once. In the end, Savannah won, partially by noticing the kitchen had woks in it for the first time and knowing that must be important. The Elimination challenge was to serve a dish directly on the table. I don't know. Laura won, because her dessert was impressive but also because it makes her narrative work better. Even though Manny screwed up the cooking on all of his elements, Michelle was boring I guess so Michelle was sent home. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/29/24--"Leave It All on the Table" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: We said “meat raffle” was a thing, which just means for the Quickfire it was random draw for first dibs on proteins. Savannah made corned beef salad and was the winner. Remember that for later. Then we had to do a fish boil, which is where you boil fish on the beach and then throw kerosene on the fire for no reason other than people are drunk on the beach. Danny won, because he took care to make sure the fish cooked in something other than just salted water. Savannah cut herself, and ended up in the bottom, but “we will consider the Quickfire performance” is translating to “doing well in the Quickfire is basically immunity” because no one wanted to send Savannah home. Instead, Soo was sent home for being too disjointed. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/22/24--"Door County Fish Boil" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: Tom and Gail made the announcement that from now on, your Quickfire performance would be factored into elimination decisions. First, make a dish with cranberries. Somehow no one made dessert. Danny won with sea bass and a good sauce. Laura, Manny, and Amanda were the bottom three. For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs had to cook with Native American ingredients. That means no wheat flour and no cane sugar and no citrus. Overall this went pretty well. Savannah won, because she wanted to make a cake and when it turned out weird she just went with it and it was great. Michelle, Laura, and Amanda were in the bottom. Since Michelle was actually in the top for the Quickfire, the judges decided to send both Laura and Amanda home. (click for more)

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Top Chef 5/15/24--"The Good Land" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: Apparently the way you do Restaurant Wars with an odd number of people is one team just gets an extra person. The smaller team said they were doing Korean and Mexican fusion, which sounds like a perfectly good, cohesive theme. The larger team said “let's be seafood and vegetable forward” which is not cohesive. And Michelle didn't serve the first judges' table properly. But somehow they had the better restaurant? And then Tom was like “oh smoked whitefish is perfect for your regional seafood concept” which is bullshit. That wasn't their concept, the concept was “everyone does their own thing, but just with seafood”. Whatever. Dan won with said smoked whitefish. The Korean/Mexican team I guess had a boring theme? Didn't do a good job with the theme? Who knows. The worst dish was the one the whole team worked on together, so since Kaleena was executive chef she was sent home. (click for more)

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