Season 17: Last Chance Kitchen and What Would Tom Do?

[Brookside]

I will never be sad when someone with a butt ugly neck tattoo goes home.  (Full disclosure, I find all neck tattoos butt ugly, but his is particularly egregious.)  And skinless chicken breast?  As Tom Colicchio said, not the first choice of chefs around the world.  Bitter and immature - glad he's gone.

[BlackberryJam]

I have decided to root for Lisa. All through LCK, she had this look that said, “I know no one likes me but I’m not going to let them see how it hurts.” She was totally prepared to lose to Jen. Lisa doesn’t have a great personality and it’s only been made more difficult because no one ever likes her. So yeah...I want her to get back in the kitchen and at least take out Malarkey.

[ProudMary]

I loved the idea of tonight's LCK being a sauce challenge only. A good sauce makes such a difference. It's nice to see it as the star of the challenge.

Jen's sauce sounded much more appealing to me than Lisa's did. It's too bad it didn't reduce properly in time. One of the chefs in the gallery--I think it was Joe--said that Jen should have chosen a larger, flatter pan. That makes sense. I think had her sauce reduced properly, she would have been the winner. Lisa's sauce seemed to me like it needed editing. She really was just throwing ingredients into the pan the longer the time allotted went on.

So Lisa only has to beat one more chef to get back into the competition. I remember one other season that the :LCK winner came back into the competition with quite a few challenges left to go in the main competition, but I don't think it was before Restaurant Wars. This would be a very early returning point. Perhaps fairer, considering the caliber of chefs in this All-Star season.

Good LCK episode.

[Fukui San]

They might have the LCK winner return next week and then continue with another series of LCK since having it end midseason doesn't seem like something Bravo would want to do.

Anthony Bourdain (RIP) in Kitchen Confidential describes a chef with the trick of having four cast iron skillets heating at once.  To reduce a sauce in a hurry, the chef would pour the sauce from one superhot pan to another in quick succession. Maybe Jen need a trick like that. But I think Lisa made better strategic decisions given the time uncertainty.

We got two What Would Tom Cook segments. The telephone one was fun, but the host lady (who they finally named onscreen!) was too much of a food expert to make it a challenge for Tom. And I'm not sure about an eggplant relish but I wasn't watching that one very closely.

 

[caitmcg]

I wonder how next week’s LCK will go down. Tom said the winner would have only one more person to try to take down.

Spoiler

But the preview for next week's TC showed it will be a double elimination, so perhaps he just didn’t want to spoil it for the LCK competitors, to keep them on their toes.

 

[NowVoyager]

Aw, man. Jen kept dipping her fingers into the sauce to taste it, double dipping her tasting spoon & she even touched Tom's steak as he was preparing it & licked her fingers. Bleech! Come on, girl. I know Chef Ripert taught you better than that!

On 4/17/2020 at 7:38 AM, Fukui San said:

Anthony Bourdain (RIP) in Kitchen Confidential describes a chef with the trick of having four cast iron skillets heating at once.  To reduce a sauce in a hurry, the chef would pour the sauce from one superhot pan to another in quick succession. Maybe Jen need a trick like that.

That's brilliant!

[dleighg]

I also noticed all that finger-dipping by Jen.

And I was confused by the fact that Tom seemed to be making  a pan sauce for his steak (maybe it's just habit). After he took the steak out of the pan, he put the pan back in the wood oven (it had halved heads of garlic and ginger in it as I recall).

 

[Ashforth]

39 minutes ago, dleighg said:

I also noticed all that finger-dipping by Jen.

And I was confused by the fact that Tom seemed to be making  a pan sauce for his steak (maybe it's just habit). After he took the steak out of the pan, he put the pan back in the wood oven (it had halved heads of garlic and ginger in it as I recall).

 

I thought that steak was still in the pan when he added that and it was to flavor the steak and the butter that he was going to use to baste it. It could also be that he just can't not make a pan sauce LOL. Regardless, I love watching that man cook.

I was also grossed out by Jen's finger dipping and double/triple dipping in her sauce and touching of Tom's steak. I think this challenge was supposed to be a softball for her to hit and she blew it. I was ready to see her go.

[dleighg]

7 minutes ago, Ashforth said:

I thought that steak was still in the pan when he added that and it was to flavor the steak and the butter that he was going to use to baste it. It could also be that he just can't not make a pan sauce LOL. Regardless, I love watching that man cook.

No he definitely kept working on the pan sauce after he took the meat out of the pan to rest. Look starting around 8:17

https://www.bravotv.com/last-chance-kitchen/season-17/videos/waittoms-cooking

[ProudMary]

All I know is that I have been craving a good steak since watching Tom cook that beauty! I managed to find a single cryovac-packed NY Strip buried in my freezer, which will be my Sunday dinner. ☺ I do wish I could have tasted Tom's, sauce or no sauce. We talk about chefs who are now accustomed to being entrepreneurs/restauranteurs rather than working chefs. Tom certainly hasn't lost his touch!

[Fukui San]

Rewatching LCK. I have to say this challenge was a lot of fun. I actually thought that they should do a challenge in which another chef makes a basic protein and the cheftestants have to make  the sauce and accompanying ingredients.

Also noticed that Jen started her sauce by pulling out five different cuts of meat. Probably happens more in fine dining more than we know.

Double dipping a spoon has gone from a thing that annoyed other people that I could shrug away when the thing was cooking anyway to OMG Don't You Realize There's Pandemic! Throw it AWAY!

[Ashforth]

3 hours ago, Fukui San said:

Double dipping a spoon has gone from a thing that annoyed other people that I could shrug away when the thing was cooking anyway to OMG Don't You Realize There's Pandemic! Throw it AWAY!

In fairness, this was filmed before the COVID-19 outbreak. But it's still gross, and something that many cheftestants on this show have been criticized for and told is unacceptable.

3 hours ago, Fukui San said:

Also noticed that Jen started her sauce by pulling out five different cuts of meat.

She fell victim to Leanne Syndrome LOL.

[caitmcg]

The very first episode of TC, in the quickfire af Fleur de Lys, Hubert Keller blasted Ken for dipping his finger in a pot to taste, and said he’d consider it a fireable offense in his kitchen.

[sharifa70]

Count me with everyone who was grossed out by Jen’s double-dipping spoons and finger-licking. She can’t possibly have learned that in a professional kitchen. Hell, I’m a fair-to-middling home cook and even *I* know better than that! 

I enjoyed watching Tom cook, and it’s always fun to listen to the various chefs’ kitchen communication. I also liked that he expected them to know things like how long the meat should rest given the size of the steak.

[NowVoyager]

😍 What an exciting double episode! Yea!!!

Imma need Nini to stop burning stuff though.

[riprock]

From the title of the second LCK episode, I thought Nini had won, since it was a quote of hers (“Kick Down the Doors”; can’t remember exact words).

seeing burned food must have a subtle impact on Tom's judgment. even if they say it doesn’t taste burned, they know it was!

[BlackberryJam]

Lisa always looks like she's ready for someone to punch her ...because she's been knocked down so often. Once she came back in the kitchen, she was really supportive. I loved that the other chefs were complimenting the food and not being dicks.

I get that Nini was making a meal, but calling jasmine rice a separate dish? Really?

[seltzer3]

Karen has the best Padma impersonation.

Also, I kind of love Jen trolling Tom by taking a step forward, then quickly walking back.

[Msample]

I think the staff meal concept was cool , but they should have had to use cheap/leftover ingredients. 2 whole branzinos? I though Ninis dish looked better.

[dleighg]

5 minutes ago, Msample said:

I though Ninis dish looked better.

So did I. The pasta dish looked rather pedestrian to me-- must have tasted amazing!

[jalady]

For those of us who don't watch, who won?????

[dleighg]

Karen's headed back in. Nini gets to continue to compete in LCK.

[suebee12]

3 minutes ago, dleighg said:

Karen's headed back in. Nini gets to continue to compete in LCK.

Wasn't that the last LCK?

[dleighg]

4 minutes ago, suebee12 said:

Wasn't that the last LCK?

nope. It's restarting.

[jalady]

12 minutes ago, dleighg said:

Karen's headed back in. Nini gets to continue to compete in LCK.

Thanks!!!

[7-Zark-7]

I’m not going to miss Lisa and her “I’m the baddest bitch in the prison yard” stance.

[Fukui San]

Obviously we can't taste the food, but I don't think Tom's dish in "What Would Tom Do?" would survive the elimination. He did say he was being experimental, but it looked like a random pile of stuff.

[dvr devotee]

Hulu does not have the very first LCK and I'm mad about it. Also, when I was looking for them last night, Hulu had the WWTD segments listed with 2006 air dates. I must have scrolled past them ten times before I was like "alright, I guess I will check this one out and see if they've got air dates wrong." Get it together, Hulu!

I really enjoy WWTD because I really enjoy Tom. He loves food and he has such a great personality, and so it's a joy to watch him cook.

I was also bothered by the fact that the Telephone challenge was made infinitely easier for Tom because Nilou obviously has an incredible palate. But Tom also was asking her specific questions, listing ingredients so she could just say yes or no, to narrow down what was in the dish. I didn't really see the cheftestants do that during the QF.

Everyone noticed Jen with the fingers (and I wasn't too bothered by her touching Tom's steak, she was testing the temp to see how much time she still had), but I noticed Karen doing it, too. I feel like I've noticed it in recent episodes, as well--chefs dipping a finger and then wiping it off on their apron. I remember a couple seasons ago, Padma having an absolute fit at a cheftestant who, I think, double-dipped a spoon right in front of her at an elimination challenge where they were individually serving a huge group of people (and I'm feeling now like it was Eric, but I could be way off). Not sure why they wouldn't call it out in an All-Stars season, of all things!

I really enjoyed the family meal LCK, and I thought Nini had it in the bag because it seemed to me that she resurrected that curry from the literal ashes. How amazing of a chef must you be to turn something that looked completely incinerated into decent food? But maybe while it didn't taste specifically burnt, it just wasn't as delicious as they know she's capable of making a curry.

8 hours ago, Msample said:

they should have had to use cheap/leftover ingredients

I thought the same, and when Tom didn't announce it as part of the challenge, I figured they'd be finding odds and ends in the fridges and pantry. So strange.

Edited April 24, 2020 by dvr devotee

[Grundoon59]

I have never been a Lisa fan but I did like her grace in returning for family meal and showing what appeared to be heartfelt support for both Karen and Nini.

Also as a woman of a certain age who worked in male dominated professions, I loved Karen shutting down the "girls" remark.

[Ashforth]

18 hours ago, seltzer3 said:

Karen has the best Padma impersonation.

Karen's Padma impersonation was hilarious, in no small part because her voice sounded exactly like Padma's. It was startling and so funny.

7 hours ago, Grundoon59 said:

Also as a woman of a certain age who worked in male dominated professions, I loved Karen shutting down the "girls" remark.

I LOVED that. "Where I come from, they call me Chef"

Karen's branzino must have been delicious. I didn't really see how it paired with pasta with a tomato sauce, and it certainly was not something that would be served for family dinner for the staff at a restaurant unless there was such a surplus of it that it would go bad before it could be sold. But it wasn't a cheat because they had no restrictions. 

Nini might have won except for burning her dish, which apparently didn't affect the flavor but the sight of it couldn't be unseen by Tom, imo. It was much more true to the concept of the challenge. I'm glad she's still in the running to come back through LCK.

ETA: in regard to the fish, one of the men said, is that a spine? Well, yes, dipshit, it's a whole fish. Good grief.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Ashforth

[dleighg]

11 hours ago, Fukui San said:

Obviously we can't taste the food, but I don't think Tom's dish in "What Would Tom Do?" would survive the elimination. He did say he was being experimental, but it looked like a random pile of stuff.

Yeah I agree. I think he got the two flavors, but the harmony was completely missing. It was not a dish.

[Ashforth]

I thought it also looked like it had some pork belly looking component that went completely unmentioned. I could be wrong.

[NowVoyager]

2 hours ago, Ashforth said:

I thought it also looked like it had some pork belly looking component that went completely unmentioned. I could be wrong.

Oh, yeah! There's bacon. It even says so on the ingredient list. I missed that the first time. 

 

Edited April 25, 2020 by NowVoyager

[Nordly Beaumont]

I had to chuckle when Eric said Nini could out cook anyone in the competition, since they were in Last Chance Kitchen! Plus she burned everything last LCK (although he wouldn't know that).

[Sew Sumi]

Well, he was partly correct. Bye Eric.

[Ashforth]

Yay Nini!!!!!!!!!!

[Harry24]

So, "Coastal Italian."  Does that refer to an Italian coast or an American coast?  And which coast?  Does it matter?

[Ellee]

‘Move over NeNe Leakes. There’s a new Nini on Bravo.’ Lol 

Loved it, Nini. 

Edited May 1, 2020 by Ellee

[Ashforth]

6 hours ago, Harry24 said:

So, "Coastal Italian."  Does that refer to an Italian coast or an American coast?  And which coast?  Does it matter?

I assumed it meant the Italian coast. I immediately thought of Giada DeLaurentis' series of episodes set in Capri. Light, lemony, lots of fresh seafood (with a heapin' helpin' of cleavage LOL). I found this:

https://www.positano.com/en/e/flavors-and-aromas-of-the-amalfi-coast

Eric must have really been thrown by his loss in the pitch challenge. Rhubarb + Cod = Coastal Italian? I felt bad for him.

But Nini definitely deserved the win. I loved that Tom said he was going to steal her idea of partially filleting the fish but cooking it whole. That was ingenious.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Ashforth

[wlk68]

49 minutes ago, Ashforth said:

I assumed it meant the Italian coast. I immediately thought of Giada DeLaurentis' series of episodes set in Capri. Light, lemony, lots of fresh seafood (with a heapin' helpin' of cleavage LOL). I found this:

https://www.positano.com/en/e/flavors-and-aromas-of-the-amalfi-coast

Eric must have really been thrown by his loss in the pitch challenge. Rhubarb + Cod = Coastal Italian? I felt bad for him.

But Nini definitely deserved the win. I loved that Tom said he was going to steal her idea of partially filleting the fish but cooking it whole. That was ingenious.

Light, lemony and lots of fresh seafood sounds delicious. Pass on the cleavage. 😉 

[dleighg]

It was pretty clear who won before I even started the episode with this description on the page!

Quote

An eliminated chef wows Tom Colicchio with their roasting fish technique...find out which chef wins the chance to enter back into the competition.

 

7 hours ago, Harry24 said:

So, "Coastal Italian."  Does that refer to an Italian coast or an American coast?  And which coast?  Does it matter?

I also scratched my head on that. I was thinking "west coast Italian?  (California) east coast Italian? (New England or Southeast)" Somehow "coastal" doesn't ring the mediterranean sea bell for me.

Edited May 1, 2020 by dleighg

[ProudMary]

I have never been so anxious during LCK! Kevin Gillespie is my very favorite chef over all 17 Top Chef  seasons. I absolutely want him back in the main competition. The main competition is almost going to take a back seat for me until I know if KG is back in or not!

Nini's dish seemed to have very layered flavors. and looked very tasty. I was really worried there especially when Tom said that Kevin's corn wasn't warm enough. I exhaled mightily when Tom gave the win to Kevin.

[hendersonrocks]

Nini and Kevin are both great - it was hard to know who I was actually rooting for in this one. The way her food was packed into the bowl gave me pause, though, and it seemed like Kevin's was just a little bit tighter (lukewarm creamed corn notwithstanding).

I can absolutely see Kevin getting back into Top Chef and making a run to/through the finals.

[Fukui San]

And Restaurant Wars takes Nini out again... kind of.

[dleighg]

So why did Nini walk out the door instead of going over next to Eric? I assume she'll get a stool next week? And Tom said Kevin has one more battle before the finals begin? There are still 7 people left in the main competition!

[Msample]

Where were all the defeated LCK chefs ? Last week none, this week just Eric.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Msample

[dleighg]

1 minute ago, Msample said:

Where were all the defeated LCK chefs ? Last week none, this week just Gregory.

That struck me as well, but I think because Karen went back in, we can think of it as a whole new LCK. My guess is that the "first" LCK occurred in bunched up fashion at the same time that Nini and Karen got eliminated. After Karen won and Nini became the new queen of LCK, all the first set of stool sitters got sent off. Then the current crew of LCK (starting with Nini, joined by Eric and then Kevin, and whoever comes later) did a compressed LCK "season" at whatever time in the main competition that the winner gets sent back in. A couple weeks later than the first batch of LCK perhaps?

[mlp]

49 minutes ago, dleighg said:

So why did Nini walk out the door instead of going over next to Eric? I assume she'll get a stool next week?

I've wondered about that since LCK began.  Tom usually tells them to "exit the kitchen" then they show up with the others the next week.  Why don't they just walk over and join them?  Makes no sense to me.

[Sew Sumi]

I guess it's more dramatic to send them packing out the back door? Of course, Nini will be seated with Eric next week.

[biakbiak]

On 5/8/2020 at 11:59 AM, Msample said:

Where were all the defeated LCK chefs ? Last week none, this week just Eric.

They have done that in the past as well. Once they reboot LCK the chefs from the first half don’t have to show up. This is probably based on how they film LCK in big batches.