Season 18: Last Chance Kitchen

[hendersonrocks]

Quote

 

So Gabriel got "eliminated" three straight times in short order?

That's got to hurt.

 

He looked EXHAUSTED. 

I am glad all five of them got to hear that they made good dishes.

[dleighg]

6 minutes ago, mlp said:

I knew Gabriel had done himself in as soon as he said the word "salad."  Shoot, even I know that Tom wants to see people cook something, not assemble. 

And I thought that salad looked ..... unattractive. Somehow it looked like it had been sitting around for awhile. You know how leftover, dressed salad is always sad? That's what it looked like. I think Gabriel has lots of skill, and makes lots of elegant food, but I'm not sure this competition format is his strong suit. I was happy to see Sasha win that round. I think she was eliminated too soon.

[biakbiak]

I really don’t  like Gabriel so it did crack me up when he kept insisting that he was giving Tom vegetables because he hadn’t used them and the three largest components on the plate were smoked feta, watermelon and tomatoes. I realize there was some cucumber but he didn’t choose to highlight it when he kept talking about vegetables he was serving and it was a few slivers.

Edited May 7, 2021 by biakbiak

[akr]

58 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

he kept insisting that he was giving Tom vegetables because he hadn’t used them and the three largest components on the plate were smoked feta, watermelon and tomatoes. I realize there was some cucumber but he didn’t choose to highlight it when he kept talking about vegetables he was serving and it was a few slivers.

technically, cucumbers are fruits, too ;)

[caitmcg]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

I really don’t  like Gabriel so it did crack me up when he kept insisting that he was giving Tom vegetables because he hadn’t used them and the three largest components on the plate were smoked feta, watermelon and tomatoes. I realize there was some cucumber but he didn’t choose to highlight it when he kept talking about vegetables he was serving and it was a few slivers.

Don’t forget the plums! Although it was his use of plums that Tom said was the highlight of the dish, I believe.

[BlackberryJam]

It looked to me like Gabriel had been sobbing before the final LCK. He does wear his emotions on his face.

[xaxat]

4 hours ago, akr said:

technically, cucumbers are fruits, too ;)

Maybe Gabriel moonlights as a lawyer. The Supreme Court, in Nix v. Hedden, declared that tomatoes and cucumbers are vegetables.

Edited May 8, 2021 by xaxat

[gorgy]

I'm glad Sasha is back in the competition. She's the only cheftestant I've warmed up to this season.

[7-Zark-7]

"Oh, y'all wanted a twist, eh?" 

 

I did not see any of this coming.

[Yeah No]

10 hours ago, dleighg said:

And I thought that salad looked ..... unattractive. Somehow it looked like it had been sitting around for awhile. You know how leftover, dressed salad is always sad? That's what it looked like. I think Gabriel has lots of skill, and makes lots of elegant food, but I'm not sure this competition format is his strong suit. I was happy to see Sasha win that round. I think she was eliminated too soon.

I agree.  I felt that way about chef Tyler Anderson a few seasons back.  He's in my area and I've eaten in his restaurants.  He's been nominated for a James Beard award umpteen times and is well known as one of the best chefs in CT.  I thought he would kill it on Top Chef but like Gabriel he ended up getting in his head and trying too hard to give the judges what he thought they wanted, which lead to his earlier than expected departure.  When I saw Gabriel say he gave them meat all the time and then suddenly make a salad not even thinking about what he was up against I knew he was sealing his fate.  I mean who doesn't give them meat all the time?  He was obviously second guessing himself and trying too hard.

I agree about Sasha too.

[meep.meep]

18 hours ago, xaxat said:

Maybe Gabriel moonlights as a lawyer. The Supreme Court, in Nix v. Hedden, declared that tomatoes and cucumbers are vegetables.

 

Good for the Supremes!

There is no botanical definition of a vegetable.  Vegetables come from the plant kingdom and can be root, stem, leaf, flower, or fruit from the flowering plants.  They can also be a fungi (mushrooms).

Tomatoes and cucumbers are both fruiting bodies of their respective plants.  They are both vegetables.

People make the distinction between whether something is a fruit or a vegetable.  I once had to explain why rhubarb was a fruit and not vegetable, to a bunch of Mexican employees in a grocery store.  It was hard!

[Yeah No]

8 hours ago, meep.meep said:

 

Good for the Supremes!

There is no botanical definition of a vegetable.  Vegetables come from the plant kingdom and can be root, stem, leaf, flower, or fruit from the flowering plants.  They can also be a fungi (mushrooms).

Tomatoes and cucumbers are both fruiting bodies of their respective plants.  They are both vegetables.

People make the distinction between whether something is a fruit or a vegetable.  I once had to explain why rhubarb was a fruit and not vegetable, to a bunch of Mexican employees in a grocery store.  It was hard!

I was taught that fruits and vegetables are classified differently depending on who's doing the classification.  Chefs tend to classify them based on their common uses and taste while botanists distinguish them from each other based on whether or not they have seeds, etc. To a botanist cucumbers, eggplants, squash and even bell peppers are fruits but no one I know would classify them as anything but vegetables.  Usually the culinary distinction is made based on savory vs. sweet, with savory things being classified as vegetables and sweet things classified as fruits.  Rhubarb is one of those nether-zone things that's technically a vegetable and isn't really sweet unless you sweeten it but most chefs and ordinary people consider it a fruit because it is most often sweetened and used in desserts.  Court cases have decided these things, LOL, and have pretty much always determined that the "popular" definition is the "official" one, not the scientific definition.  Interesting!

[ree1778]

I think it sucks that Gabriel lost because Nelson overcooked his fish, then Nelson quit. If Nelson had quit before the actual challenge Gabriel would still be on the show. The judges thought that his Elk was the best cooked piece of meat in the whole challenge, then he gets kicked off and the person responsible for the problem quits anyway.

 

[JenMcSnark]

2 hours ago, ree1778 said:

I think it sucks that Gabriel lost because Nelson overcooked his fish, then Nelson quit. If Nelson had quit before the actual challenge Gabriel would still be on the show. The judges thought that his Elk was the best cooked piece of meat in the whole challenge, then he gets kicked off and the person responsible for the problem quits anyway.

 

I don't fully disagree, but I think that you can say the meat was cooked the best without saying that it was the best meat of the day.  He cooked it perfectly.  Were the flavors and creativity as good as some of the other dishes?  Maybe not. 

I feel bad for him as well, but if it were me, I would want to go out having cooked something well.  And he did.  The judges made a point of saying there was no bad dish, per se. There is no shame for Gabriel.  Except not having been to that part of Oregon when he's grown up there.  

Hell, I'VE been there a few times and I live in California!  (to be fair I have family in Portland and Southwestern Washington, so I make a point to stop there when I visit the fam.)

[xaxat]

On 5/10/2021 at 3:32 PM, ree1778 said:

I think it sucks that Gabriel lost because Nelson overcooked his fish, then Nelson quit. If Nelson had quit before the actual challenge Gabriel would still be on the show.

I don't think Nelson quit. He suffered an injury that prevented him from continuing. And he made the decision to leave after receiving a diagnosis from the doctor. Based on the TC episode and LCK it looked like he was trying to gut it out, but a sprained knee ligament is an injury where you should stay off your feet for a while.

Edited May 13, 2021 by xaxat

[seacliffsal]

My heart goes to Nelson who was injured during the ridiculous run through the forest to collect whatever so you can cook it challenge.  Knee injuries are serious.

I don't dislike Gabriel as so many others do.  Although he tried to take a leadership position, others could also take leadership positions and even -gasp- disagree with him.  He was helpful to other chefs when he had extra time.  It was obvious he wasn't well liked by the other contestants, but they all seem to like chefs that drive me crazy (Jamie).  Shrugs.  

[stewedsquash]

I have been a Gabriel fan from the get go so I was bummed to see him go from the EC and then twice during LCK. He was always pleasant during the competition, helpful to others, all kinds of nice things about him. Yet, I got such a sense of anxiety and desperation from him once he got to last chance kitchen. I think he has a lot going on below the surface that he kept in check during the TC portion (major props for that) and when he went out it seemed to bubble up to the surface. He should have done something more than the salad, some seafood if he didn't want to do a meat. 

I was super confused (more than y'all here) since I thought Gabriel and Nelson were set up at the end of the TC episode for a death match to see which one would stay and which one would go to LCK. I thought the surprise addition for the next episode was going to be either Nelson or Gabriel. I now get that Jamie is going back in the next episode but I am still confused over if Sasha is going back next week or just the reigning LCK and has to go against next week's loser. 

Jamie's quirks don't bother me because I think she is a very good chef so I am glad she is the one getting the second chance (even though I hate the whole LCK thing). I am also glad Sasha is getting another chance since she is also a good chef and because I think her (and anyone who would have won if she didn't) getting another chance is logical because it was based on a contestant unexpectedly leaving.  

[caitmcg]

1 hour ago, stewedsquash said:

I was super confused (more than y'all here) since I thought Gabriel and Nelson were set up at the end of the TC episode for a death match to see which one would stay and which one would go to LCK. I thought the surprise addition for the next episode was going to be either Nelson or Gabriel. I now get that Jamie is going back in the next episode but I am still confused over if Sasha is going back next week or just the reigning LCK and has to go against next week's loser. 

Only Jamie is back in the next TC episode. Sasha is still competing in LCK, and will face whoever’s next eliminated from TC. They'll keep on with LCK until sometime later in the season (probably closer to the finale, as in the past). The trick is that the eliminated chefs in LCK didn’t know they were still going to be in the running until Tom said so after Jamie won against Gabriel.

Having seen the LCK developments, it seems like they planned the double elimination so they could bring two people back in this two-stage LCK, which doesn’t feel entirely fair.

Edited May 13, 2021 by caitmcg

[stewedsquash]

Thanks @caitmcg for the information. TC/LCK is getting a bit convoluted. I understand what you explained. Yet it still seems off in my head. What would have happened if Nelson had not taken himself out before he had a chance to cook against Gabriel and Jamie? It would have been a three way, winner goes back to TC next week, then who would be the reigning champ of LCK? Would they have done another LCK with Nelson and Gabriel and all the others since there was not a winner left for next week since Jamie is back to TC? I don't get that Nelson leaving threw it off, but I don't get what the plan was if Nelson had stayed. I think there was a season where someone left during the TC challenge (maybe LeeAnn?) and they went to LCK and everyone had to put up a dish to get back into TC immediately and that made sense.

I am going to stop now trying to figure it out but feel free to help me get it, haha. TC planners need to stop with you're out, haha joke! you are back! Double elimination! haha joke you are back! Just have the competition, and when you are out you are out. If someone has to leave the game (aside from elimination) then you can have the eliminated chefs compete quickly to get back in. This in and out is a nope for me.

I do wish that Kiki had been in a better head space during the competition because I just like her. I hope she is doing well in real life and she got something meaningful out of her time at TC. Nelson and Brittanny just seem so goofy, not in a disparaging way. Food Network should hook these two up for a show together. 

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by stewedsquash

[Mmazeo]

Really feels one of the 3-4 best chefs is gone with Gabriel being gone. Just so ridiculous he gets eliminated for someone else’s mistake. 

[ree1778]

15 hours ago, xaxat said:

don't think Nelson quit. He suffered an injury that prevented him from continuing. And he made the decision to leave after receiving a diagnosis from the doctor.

I don't disagree with this. I just think the timing really sucked for Gabriel. I feel bad for Nelson, but the timing is very unfortunate.

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by ree1778

[stewedsquash]

4 hours ago, Mmazeo said:

Really feels one of the 3-4 best chefs is gone with Gabriel being gone. Just so ridiculous he gets eliminated for someone else’s mistake. 

 

4 hours ago, ree1778 said:

I don't disagree with this. I just think the timing really sucked for Gabriel. I feel bad for Nelson, but the timing is very unfortunate.

 

I feel bad for both of them! I started feeling bad for Nelson back at the orchard. I disagreed so much with having them have to pick their own fruits, even before Nelson hurt his knee and started his downward shift, physically which affected his food. TC dropped the ball with that challenge/injury. I agree about Gabriel being in the 3-4 best chefs. I had in my head Dawn/Shota/Gabe/Gabriel being the final four with Maria being a long shot surprise. I don't see Sara because she irritates the hell out of me. And I don't think she is all that great food wise.

 

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by stewedsquash
final four not top four

[SailorGirl]

Okay, eating pizza and watching a challenge that involves pig hearts, blood sausage, and . . . actual blood . . . was probably not advisable. That was just gross, even I wasn't eating something with tomato sauce. . . 

For those who don't want to watch . . . Sasha pulls it out again and Avishar PYKAGs from LCK. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by SailorGirl

[The Solution]

Sasha deserved to win this one and she did.

Being a Heinz 57,  in this case I prefer to see something Jews could eat vs the other and  Sasha definitely prevailed rather than Avishar, but not by a whole lot. I think this is the most talented Top Chef cast by far, even over the fancy  pants casts of previous winners.

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by The Solution
Damn, that's a shame ain't it?|

[mlp]

1 hour ago, SailorGirl said:

Okay, eating pizza and watching a challenge that involves pig hearts, blood sausage, and . . . actual blood . . . was probably not advisable.

LOL  I was doing exactly the same thing.  

I hated to see Avishar go because I really liked him but Sasha's dish did look more appetizing.  I'm glad I didn't have to eat either of them though.

I wonder why none of the other losing chefs were present.  That's the first LCK I remember with no peanut gallery.

Edited May 14, 2021 by mlp
add to comment

[Nordly Beaumont]

1 hour ago, SailorGirl said:

Okay, eating pizza and watching a challenge that involves pig hearts, blood sausage, and . . . actual blood . . . was probably not advisable. That was just gross, even I wasn't eating something with tomato sauce. . . 

My stomach hasn't been turned like this since they cooked tarantulas! Maybe I shouldn't feel that way, I've eaten somewhat rare and bloody steak, but the idea of using just blood - blech!

[buttersister]

2 hours ago, SailorGirl said:

For those who don't want to watch . . . Sasha pulls it out again and Avishar PYKAGs from LCK. 

Blood. Oy. Thank you!

[Fukui San]

2 hours ago, mlp said:

LOL  I was doing exactly the same thing.  

I hated to see Avishar go because I really liked him but Sasha's dish did look more appetizing.  I'm glad I didn't have to eat either of them though.

I wonder why none of the other losing chefs were present.  That's the first LCK I remember with no peanut gallery.

In past seasons when a LCK chef graduated back to the main competition but a chef remained behind as LCK champ, they also dismissed the peanut gallery.

Blood! Not my favorite but I've had it. Blood cubes in rice porridge for me. Sweet Italian blood cake also intrigues me.

It never fails to amuse me that the standard, dull English breakfast includes blood sausage which Americans couldn't even fathom.

[candall]

I always thought that fruit continues to ripen off the stem but vegetables are finished when they're harvested.  That's why people always say tomatoes are a fruit.

 

That's wrong?   The Supreme Court is involved now?  Am I still allowed to watch Top Chef?

[akr]

Fruits contain seeds, and develop from the flower of the plant. Vegetables are other parts of the plant. I believe the legal case was instead looking to the intent of either legislators or parties to a contract - did they mean fruit vs vegetable in the botanical sense, or according to a more colloquial understanding, based on how we use them as foods. When we say "eat your vegetables," some of the things we're talking about are technically fruits, and the law will follow that common understanding where appropriate.

[Leeds]

22 hours ago, stewedsquash said:

 

I feel bad for both of them! I started feeling bad for Nelson back at the orchard. I disagreed so much with having them have to pick their own fruits, even before Nelson hurt his knee and started his downward shift, physically which affected his food. TC dropped the ball with that challenge/injury. 

 

 

I didn't have a problem with them picking their own fruit.  At least that's something most people actually do in real life.  Unlike, say, using icepicks to get a food item out of a block of ice.

I'm sorry about Nelson's knee problems, but as I'm often reminded when watching competitive reality shows, "More haste, less speed.".

[weixiaobao]

I saw some weird reddit post accusing Tom of favoritism and gave Gabriel an immediate chance to come back to the competition.  And then another LCK chance after he lost the first one.  Here is my response.

.

When Last Chance Kitchen first came to be, there are some obvious flaws. 1) Early eliminate chefs had no way in hell to actually come back to the competition. 2) And in the event that they did, they could literally miss 90% of the seasons and win it all. Which would make the fans outraged. LCK came to be in the first place to the fandom always had chefs that they think unfairly eliminated and or eliminated too early. Later on, there are couple of adjustment. One of which was that you actually have two chances of coming back to the competition. The first is earlier in the race, and the second is toward the finale. Though, I think later implementations are good. Since there is always that one or two chefs who never really had a "second chance." So take season 17, when Kevin G actually had to competes against contestants that still in. Meaning all of the contestants had a second chance and or able to deny someone a second chance. I think this is rather fair. Brian Malarkey for example wasn't able to have his second chance in Season 17. However, he was able to cook against Kevin G during Keven G's last chance kitchen in order to put in effort to deny Kevin G to re-enter the competition. So, was it a coincident that Gabriel's elimination coincide with a contestant re-enter the competition. NO, this is perfectly correspond with the first re-entry.

.

You notice, that there are challenges that require divisible by 2 or by 3 or whatever (sometimes the team are uneven). The structure of the season already been layout. Although this week episode don't really have a team challenge, so an odd number due to someone coming back is fine. The year prior, the LCK contestant was able to comeback following a double elimination (in this case Karen was part of double eliminated and basically back the following episode). Nini who lost to Karen in LCK, was able to have another go at LCK against who ever eliminated next which was (Eric). If following this logic, Gabriel should have an automatic shot to fight against who ever got eliminated at the cooking for frontline worker challenge. But that didn't happen, if Tom was pro Gabriel, he would just follow this format. Instead, he use the excuse that Nelson was medically separate and allow all of the remaining to have another shot. I think the original plan was to only eliminate Nelson and or Gabriel, and or just let those cook against each other for the next spot. But since Nelson is out, Tom allow Roscoe, Kiki, Sasha, and Brittany another shot. If anything, then it feel like Tom is pro Roscoe, Kiki, Sasha, Brittany than he is pro Gabriel who by the way did well for his part of the elimination challenge. And They could have very well keep the immunity in which would save Gabriel and this happen before when only one teammate go home due to the other have immunity. And beside, it isn't like that isn't fair especially because Gabriel did cook his portion of the dish very well.  However, it seemed like they want 2 people to go, and another 1 to comeback to have 9 contestants. Because the next episode is restaurant war where they do need an even number. Mindblow isn't it.  Either way, it seemed like they planned out that the eliminate chef is to return an episode prior to and or on the episode of Restaurant war to make sure there are 8 contestants. 

[ProudMary]

On 5/7/2021 at 3:50 PM, xaxat said:

So Gabriel got "eliminated" three straight times in short order?

That's got to hurt.

I've got to admit, I'd really like to know the circumstances under which Gabriel left Tom's employ years ago. The first elimination, from the main competition, was before the full panel of judges, so no issue there; but the next two LCK eliminations were all in Tom's hands. I know that Tom always says they judge only by the plate of food put before them, but it really does make you wonder. I had Gabriel pegged for Top 4. He was clearly one of the stronger chefs in the competition.

On 5/7/2021 at 9:51 PM, xaxat said:

Maybe Gabriel moonlights as a lawyer. The Supreme Court, in Nix v. Hedden, declared that tomatoes and cucumbers are vegetables.

I think my 10th grade biology teacher would like a word with SCOTUS. 😅 Back in the dark ages of HS, bio teacher challenged the class to bring in an original fruit, one that no one else in the class brought in, and be awarded extra points toward our grade for the marking period. I brought in a tomato and won the extra points. 😄

I'm glad that Sasha is still standing. I do think she may be able to make it all the way back. She seems to be every bit as talented as the chefs most of us believe will make it to the finale. Here are the 8 chefs left in the main competition: Dawn, Gabe, Byron, Sara, Maria, Shota, Jamie, Chris. I think she could legitimately beat any of them in a head-to-head quickfire, which is what LCK amounts to, and she'll only have to beat four most likely, possibly only three depending on the way the producers want to handle it.

[Yeah No]

8 hours ago, weixiaobao said:

If following this logic, Gabriel should have an automatic shot to fight against who ever got eliminated at the cooking for frontline worker challenge. But that didn't happen, if Tom was pro Gabriel, he would just follow this format. Instead, he use the excuse that Nelson was medically separate and allow all of the remaining to have another shot. I think the original plan was to only eliminate Nelson and or Gabriel, and or just let those cook against each other for the next spot. But since Nelson is out, Tom allow Roscoe, Kiki, Sasha, and Brittany another shot. If anything, then it feel like Tom is pro Roscoe, Kiki, Sasha, Brittany than he is pro Gabriel who by the way did well for his part of the elimination challenge. And They could have very well keep the immunity in which would save Gabriel and this happen before when only one teammate go home due to the other have immunity. And beside, it isn't like that isn't fair especially because Gabriel did cook his portion of the dish very well.  However, it seemed like they want 2 people to go, and another 1 to comeback to have 9 contestants. Because the next episode is restaurant war where they do need an even number. Mindblow isn't it.  Either way, it seemed like they planned out that the eliminate chef is to return an episode prior to and or on the episode of Restaurant war to make sure there are 8 contestants. 

I agree with you.  I think it you really look at it there is more evidence that the deck was stacked against Gabriel than anything else, and it does make you wonder how fair that was and whether there wasn't some intent to get rid of him.  The convolutedness of LCK makes it easy for them to "hide" any gerrymandering they might engage in in order to ensure the result TPTB wants.  I'm not even sure it's what Tom wants but someone at a very high level with the show.  This isn't the first time I've felt that someone's departure was engineered to happen.  Like this week's episode - Avishar gave them the excuse to send him home when in reality his dish didn't suck any more than Chris', and TPTB's real personal preference can slip in when no one's looking and remain secret.  I think perhaps TPTB thought it needed to go to great lengths to ensure that Gabriel was done in so bad that there was no way he could get back into the competition but they tried to make it look like he had every chance to get back in.  Clever, these reality show folks....Too bad it was a little clunky and had some of us suspicious.  I think that's a testament to Gabriel's talent as a chef, that they tried but couldn't prevent his departure from looking a little suspicious.  I still think the fact that he was not given the possibility of immunity looked like the first step in nailing the coffin for him.  Now suddenly they go back to immunity this week?  Ho-kay, come on, how many disadvantages did they have to think up to prevent Gabriel from prevailing?

1 hour ago, ProudMary said:

I've got to admit, I'd really like to know the circumstances under which Gabriel left Tom's employ years ago. The first elimination, from the main competition, was before the full panel of judges, so no issue there; but the next two LCK eliminations were all in Tom's hands. I know that Tom always says they judge only by the plate of food put before them, but it really does make you wonder. I had Gabriel pegged for Top 4. He was clearly one of the stronger chefs in the competition.

Yes, it really does make you wonder, but Tom may be doing what TPTB wants, and he may not even be TPTB in this case.  But even if he was solely in charge of those decision, it doesn't surprise me because he may be harder on Gabriel just because he is trying too hard to be "fair" and overcompensating for any appearance of preference for him.  It likely has nothing to do with any negative relationship with Gabriel.  In fact it may be just the opposite and he may actually really admire Gabriel and prefer him personally but is trying so hard to look like he's not giving him preferential treatment that he instead is too hard on him.  I actually even thought that something like this would happen as soon as I found out that Gabriel once worked for Tom, and the events as they have unfolded haven't change my perspective on that.

[Leeds]

I'm really ready for orange Sasha to go home.  Her upspeak drives me bananas.

[amass]

On 5/13/2021 at 9:43 PM, The Solution said:

Being a Heinz 57,  in this case I prefer to see something Jews could eat 

 

I’m Jewish (and keep kosher) and I was totally grossed out by this challenge, but I think a lot of people would be lol .... but what does Heinz 57 mean? Is this some MOT slang that I don’t know?!? LOL 

On 5/13/2021 at 10:39 PM, mlp said:

I wonder why none of the other losing chefs were present.  That's the first LCK I remember with no peanut gallery

I noticed that too! 
 

Hmmm

Edited May 18, 2021 by amass
Messed up what I was quoting

[The Solution]

1 hour ago, amass said:

but what does Heinz 57 mean? Is this some MOT slang that I don’t know?!? LOL 

Heinz 57 just means that I have numerous ethnicities in my background. 😊

[tvfanatic13]

Here’s why I don’t mind LCK. In the main competition to advance you need to not come in last. Every time. In LCK you have to win each time. That is way harder. 

[hendersonrocks]

I think I have seen every episode of every season of Top Chef and Last Chance Kitchen, and I can't think of a single challenge that was as difficult to stomach as this one was. It might be a while before I stop seeing bloody scrambled eggs at random moments of the day.

[carrps]

On 5/7/2021 at 11:23 PM, Yeah No said:

I agree.  I felt that way about chef Tyler Anderson a few seasons back.  He's in my area and I've eaten in his restaurants. 

I thought I had a good memory. I had to google this guy because I didn't remember him. And I still don't! Guess he wasn't very memorable.

But it's a good point that lots of great chefs have done badly on Top Chef. Competition and certain types of competition don't suit everybody.

 

[ProudMary]

8 hours ago, carrps said:

I thought I had a good memory. I had to google this guy because I didn't remember him. And I still don't! Guess he wasn't very memorable.

But it's a good point that lots of great chefs have done badly on Top Chef. Competition and certain types of competition don't suit everybody.

Tyler Anderson competed in Top Chef: Colorado. He was one of "The Bears" along with Bruce Kalman and (eventual winner) Joe Flamm, but he was the first of the three eliminated from the competition.

[carrps]

9 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Tyler Anderson competed in Top Chef: Colorado. He was one of "The Bears" along with Bruce Kalman and (eventual winner) Joe Flamm, but he was the first of the three eliminated from the competition.

Thanks! I remember Bruce, and Joe (of course). Seem to have wiped Tyler from my brain!

[The Solution]

While I prefer Sasha's approach to things and I would have been happy to eat all three of her courses (she's my paisana afterall), I did think Sara's courses looked better and were presented more nicely. I agreed with Tom that the soup was more intriguing than Sasha's tomato first course. Too bad there couldn't be two winners this time.

[Thumper]

So who won tonight?

[Nordly Beaumont]

11 minutes ago, Thumper said:

So who won tonight?

Sarah

[ProudMary]

I was rooting for Sasha. I wonder if she would have prevailed over Sara had her ricotta whip come together for her roasted/raw tomato salad as she originally wanted. That carmelized onion puree that went with the steak sounded delicious. I'm trying that myself! She had a great LCK run.

Sara makes good food, but her "Aw shucks," giggly attitude has worn thin IMO.

Edited May 21, 2021 by ProudMary
Additional thoughts.

[mlp]

I was happy to see Sara win.  I could do without some of the giggling but she's nervous so...............  She comes across to me as unaffected and natural and I like her.  I hope she stays away from yogurt and white sauces in LCK.  Those haven't done her many favors so far. 

[dleighg]

I hated seeing Sasha pat the porcini powder on the raw meat, and then put her fingers back into the jar of powder to get more! No double dipping after touching raw meat!

[Tdoc72]

On 5/13/2021 at 10:39 PM, mlp said:

 

I wonder why none of the other losing chefs were present.  That's the first LCK I remember with no peanut gallery.

I think they do it in 2 parts. So the first group of LCK losers leave after the first person returns to the competition.  Then the next group hangs around until the end when some are picked to be sous chefs. 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Tdoc72

[biakbiak]

5 minutes ago, Tdoc72 said:

I think they do it in 2 parts. So the first group of LCK losers leave after the first person returns to the competition.  Then the next group hangs around until the end when some are picked to be sous chefs. 

Yes because they actually film LCK in two days (sometimes three depending on when the winner renters the competition) which is one of the reasons it can be hard on the winner to keep winning because they are cooking back to back.