[Season 21: Last Chance Kitchen]

I like Amanda and hope she returns to the competition.

[S21.E09: The Good Land]

This challenge sounds great, and ALSO, both the quickfire and the challenge were basically done in the Boston season. RW is a known reoccurring challenge, but pairing the same QF and EC together in one episode (the way they were in the Boston season) is a bit deja vu.

Since they did an Indigenous foods challenge in Portland that managed to be unique from what they did in Boston, I think it's really the cranberries being the quickfire that I'm annoyed about. They didn't need to run the two together again is my thing.

[S21.E08: Restaurant Wars]

I'm also a former TWOPer, and in retrospect, I don't love all the body shaming that happened there too. I am more in the TLo camp on these matters.

Anyway, just as there will be those who deride RW, there will also be those who defend Gail's cleavage. Both may be exercises in futility, but here we all are, regardless.

[S21.E08: Restaurant Wars]

Sigh. To all those who hate RW, I salute you because I hate posts bitching about Gail's cleavage. But here we are! At RW and with Gail's rack. I personally didn't notice her cleavage tonight, which to my mind means they were pretty restrained. But also, as a gal with a similar build, I'm tired of people making such a big deal about it. She's got what the lord gave her, and finding the balance between covered and dowdy is very exhausting. Sometimes, the world will just have to cope with being polite and not judging a woman's body for existing.

Anyway, it was fine. I think that's my reaction to the season overall. It's FINE. The contestants are FINE. The challenges are FINE. It's not worth getting particularly worked up about, but it's not worth super praising either. I enjoy it when I'm watching it, and then it just sort of drifts away in my memory. It's FINE.

 

[The Dish With Kish]

Stephanie is so short and Kristen is so tall, and there's like a whole person's length between them.

I really have come to enjoy the Dish with Kish. I wish (heh) there was a way to bring Kristen's host energy from this show into the main Top Chef show. If they ever do find another host though, I hope they continue doing the Dish with Kish. It's a lovely way to look back at the show's history for fans and also do something up-close cooking.

[S21.E07: Sausage Race]

I personally like what I've seen of most of her food, and it seems to do better than expected. You don't have to root for her! I will, though. 🤷‍♂️

[S21.E07: Sausage Race]

Amanda seems dry, not sour, to me. But more than that, she seems like a really good cook. It's not top bubbly personality.

I love Michelle and if she came out on top, that'd be great. But her momentum is pretty choppy.

[S21.E07: Sausage Race]

It was a cute challenge even though the Mexican sausage costume made me a little uncomfortable. But it's always nice when Tom is happy at the caliber of the food. That way everyone can enjoy it!

I don't mind everyone explicitly stating what their individual budgets should be. Seems like a solid plan for every team challenge. I will miss the power bottom camaraderie. I'm also glad Manny finally got it together again. I'm still rooting for you, dude!

Unsure who really is going to take the lead, but Amanda actually is coming out as a strong candidate. Right now, I'm feeling like it'll be her, Danny, and Soo, with Laura as the dark horse. We shall see!

[S21.E06: Chaos Cuisine]

I'm generally game for whatever Top Chef wants to do, but I literally did not understand how this challenge worked. If they'd given any examples of successful dishes, that would've been really helpful just to have a frame of reference. I just was lost, and the chefs largely seemed to be as well. I will say though I love that Savannah had her moment of redemption, even though I'd certainly be wary of mustard greens in a dessert. But go with your chaotic pastries, girl.

I will never steam creme fraiche though, I'll tell you what. Poor Rasika. I really didn't expect her to crash so hard and so early. But also, she's 25? She's gonna be okay. I already have forgotten who won though, so this season continues to be flattened in a weird way.

I do agree Laura just looked tuned out and not fully connecting that she had the dark chocolate Dan was yelling about. She didn't have any issue with him grabbing it off her station. I don't have a problem with Kaleena or Amanda. I don't don't have a problem with Kristin's outfit. I don't even care chefs lick their fingers after eating something with their hands. I am here for the hot power bottoms, and it makes me laugh they've turned it into a rallying cry.

Michelle, Danny, Dan, and Soo now seem to be the frontrunners with Rasika out. Hoping for a strong LCK run from Rasika! It'd be fun to see her and Soo have to face off at some point!

2 minutes ago, Domenicholas said:

Good thing that most chefs got decent-to-good dishes out, but if I were any of them, I would have done something completely ridiculous. For example:

- An actually properly-cooked risotto

THE SHADE 🤣

[Season 21: Last Chance Kitchen]

He's certainly been better than the first chefs eliminated so far because they were the chefs not cut out for this competition. I think that does naturally favor him. We'll see how he performs! But I admit even if he wins, it won't bother me unless I become really attached to someone else by the finale. So far, no danger of me getting very invested in anyone, alas.

[Season 21: Last Chance Kitchen]

Is Soo competing in LCK before he's been in the competition really any less fair than when they've had former contestants come back from other seasons to compete? Lee Anne and Brother Luck both got into the competition again (and didn't last long, so Soo may also have a short reign), and Jen Carroll, Marcel, Kwame, and Carrie Baird have all gotten a chance to get into the show -- heavy hitters all around. I just don't understand why Soo being favored to enter the show is bad. Instead of vets trying to re-enter, it's a new chef trying to enter, but there's not a lot of difference otherwise to me.

[S21.E05: Supper Club]

For the record, I think Laura did two things, so she racked up a big bill with the alcohol because she also did a spin on the brandy alexander in addition to her cake of many leches. Obviously, she still should've budgeted better or dropped the drink plan, but it wasn't just the dessert that sent her bill up.

[S21.E05: Supper Club]

It sounded like Manny's definitely wasn't rendered enough. Kevin's looked pretty and the description was great, so a bummer he messed that up.

I think yes, the real supper club had schnitzel, but it is funny that immediately became katsu. Well, whatever works. Amanda's did sound fantastic.

And agreed, @Bastet, I'd really like to know more about Laura's story there. Sounds potentially wild!

[S21.E05: Supper Club]

In the second (?) episode maybe, there was some yelling at Laura for making a mess and not cleaning it up, and in this episode, she talked about being independent at a young age and really needing to take care of herself first. I'm vaguely curious if this means this is destined to become a larger issue later on. Restaurant Wars would certainly be a place where something like that could blow up.

I think Rasika and Michelle should've arm wrestled or drawn knives or something to get what they wanted, but I don't have a huge issue with it. I don't have a problem with Rasika playing to win.

I love W. Kamau Bell, so my big critique is there wasn't enough of him. Two of my favorite shows in one! (And his guest appearance for the Parts Unknown: Kenya episode was really good. That whole episode is so great, albeit very sad in context of Bourdain's passing.) The Quickfire history behind chef Carson Gulley was really cool, and I wish we could've seen an actual clip of his and his wife's cooking show.

I don't know why both chicken chefs went with katsu, but okay. I don't know how the power bottoms could both mangle beef, but okay. The dinner overall sounded nice and comforting. But I admit nothing's standing out in my memory.

I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone gets salty with the outcome of Last Chance Kitchen though. Season 21: Needs More Salt?

[Season 21: Last Chance Kitchen]

I mean, this sounds similar to season 15 when both Lee Anne and Claudia got in/back in to the competition.

[S21.E04: The Wright Way]

Despite the change in hosts, Top Chef has become (pun intended) comfort food viewing for me, so I rarely get excited one way or the other, I just like being soothed by it. These chefs are saying interesting things and making interesting dishes in my mind, but I admit they are all kinda blending together into one stew that's solid, just not mind-blowing. But that's what I watch X-Men 97 for (which, until last week, was also solid but not mind-blowing).

ANYWAY. I did laugh at the DAMANDA promo, and also Manny and Kevin calling themselves the Power Bottoms. I'm sad I can't make Manny my imaginary boyfriend now, but I'll still keep cheering for him! Rasika is on quite the roll though.

The one surprise I did have was the losing team being cut that quickly, even before congratulating the winners. I gasped! I knew who was going home, and still, I wasn't expecting it to happen that fast. It was not a great team-up though, and I did feel badly for the both of them. For the record, I think a mushroom/goat cheese savory play on cheesecake has potential to be awesome (especially if the crust had been something like a dark rye), but the execution had to sing, and Kaleena's did not.

I'm also surprised no one did something compressed. Like, it would've been very literal, but with Buddha as one of the judges, literal would've been fine. (Never forget this was a man who made a figure eight out of mousse to represent a female pilot flying.) Some sort of composed salad with a compressed pickle and a yolk to be cut into and released all over the plate? Or someone doing a compressed component on their dish, and someone else doing one of those whole yolks raviolos?

I expect this season will struggle a little to find its footing in the overall Top Chef canon given it follows the amazing global All-Stars season and the departure of Padma. But I'm still in it to see someone (quite possibly Rasika) win it!

[S21.E03: Take It Cheesy]

That is a helpful breakdown even when we differ in our assessments! Alisha and Savannah are the ones who have been confusing me the most, for sure.

Also, once Kaleena said it, I finally remember seeing her win her Chopped tournament. I don't think a former Chopped contestant has gone on to win Top Chef, but there's definitely a Chopped to Top Chef pipeline, so she might stick around for a while.

[The Dish With Kish]

I looked it up. Marcel's season was 18 years ago. **walks into the sea**

He really did seem much more low-key in this episode, and I enjoyed them focusing on the food. Considering how unpopular he was on both his seasons, I'm going to assume Kristin/Production decided to just sidestep over the bad memories, which meant they could only really look forward. I didn't know he worked for Jose Andres though, that's pretty rad. And it makes sense he'd work with Andres if he was into molecular gastronomy and had already gotten on the wrong side of Wylie Dufresne.

I've already forgotten who will be on next week, but I'm sure they'll be delightful too.

[S21.E03: Take It Cheesy]

@bravofan27 I was specifically told there would be no math.

[S21.E03: Take It Cheesy]

I had nothing against Kenny, but in his short time here, he basically said, "I hate this" about every single challenge. Sir, have you seen the show? Do you not understand what you're in for? Come on. Get in the game. Twerk it! (Best slip of the tongue ever.)

Very glad Manny survived because he's my favorite. I would normally say that a former Top Chef contestant would have some kind of advantage, but Top Chef France seems specifically counter to Top Chef Original Recipe in ways that work against Kevin, IMO. I recall the French contestant from last season noting that even their quickfires were 90 minutes minimum. So I think Kevin might continue to struggle in this format.

(Also, Claudette did Top Chef Mexico and had the privilege to be eliminated twice from her TC: Colorado season, so really, no guarantee of being better prepared, I think.)

I love Michelle and don't mind that she thinks of herself as a Pit Master. That's actually a pretty huge thing to be, especially for a woman. I think the difference between what she normally does and what she's doing here is passing the fine dining, refined dishes test, and I do see that as somewhat surprising for her, but also a huge validation of "cook your food."

Getting closer to remembering which young female chef is who, but still not 100 percent. Sorry, gals. I'm part of the problem!

[S21.E02 Living the High Life]

Had a boring date yesterday. Should've known it wasn't going to be a success when he ordered the Miller High Life. Champagne of bad dates, amirite 😀

[Season 21: Last Chance Kitchen]

The mystery deepens! If he did opt out, I would feel like my theory was supported. But Tom's and David's accounts seem pretty contradictory.

[S21.E02 Living the High Life]

I think the chefs were a little confused by this challenge, but some fun dishes came out of it all the same. That pretzel dessert must have been some dish because it's wild that won.

Slowly getting to know the chefs! Still love Manny. He's such a cheerleader for the other chefs, and I love that. Michelle too! I like Amanda a lot as well -- maybe it's the (D&D) game recognizing (D&D) game going on there, but to make a palate cleanser interesting is pretty good work. Gail being all "I know we were crapping on the concept, but whoa" was pretty funny. I think Kevin with an accent is cute, but Manny is cuter, so it's okay if la France doesn't viva very long on the show. The dude who made the pave potatoes is clearly a talented chef, but I wish when he was getting all that praise, he'd shared some of the credit with his team for giving him the inspiration and helping hands.

The reverence to Miller High Life does make me laugh, but I'm a snob, so don't mind me. My closest encounter was accidentally getting sprayed with some when a friend was attempting to recreate a Miller High Life mimosa he'd had at a brunch spot. That stuff can fizz!

I generally know everyone's name by the time they're two episodes in, so it does bug me a bit that I can't place everyone yet. Some of the younger female chefs especially are blurring together for me, and I don't know why. Still, solid challenges so far, but I hope next episode allows them to solo cook, not be teams or in-group head-to-heads.

[The Dish With Kish]

Another enjoyable little diversion! I like the raw footage feel, and I like that Kristin is finding ways to get Stephanie in there. Stephanie's hat makes me laugh.

What's notable about Amar's appearance is how comfortable he and Kristin seem to be together. It's interesting to me that this little reality show has grown up enough that the kids are taking over the family business as it were. I've long heard about the camaraderie of the kitchen. It's funny that this day and age has created the camaraderie of the kitchen reality show.

I would happily sample everything they made on this episode!

[Season 21: Last Chance Kitchen]

Oh, interesting. If David the Hat didn't show up, my guess is Soo was meant to be an alternate for the main show, and this was the adjustment they made. Maybe I'm talking out of my (much prettier) hat! But that's the theory I'm going to muse about.