S19.E02: Friday Night Bites

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

The chefs are challenged in the Quickfire to put their own spin on the Tex-Mex classic queso; for the Elimination Challenge, the competition heads to the field of a high school football stadium.

Original air date: March 10, 2022

[Bastet]

Jo joking about putting on 10-15 pounds in queso weight when she moved to Texas made me laugh.  I don’t particularly care for Tex-Mex, but, yeah, bring on the queso.  Padma’s face when Jackson served that non-queso was everything.

Dawn and Brooke are two of my favorite former cheftestants, so it was nice getting both of them in one episode. 

I knew the Wildcats made a mistake in deciding at the last second to send out the dessert early (I can’t remember that chef’s name) instead of sending Sarah’s stupid study of canned chickpeas out for a loss and save the dessert for a sure influx of yards at the end.

Stephanie is way too limited to last long, so I was not at all surprised to see her go.  “I haven’t even started to show the judges what I’m capable of.”  Well, why not?  If you introduce yourself by saying all you know how to cook is Midwestern meat and potatoes, and then remove all the interesting ingredients from your attempt at something else so you just serve beans and rice in your second EC, you go home.

I was happy for Damarr to win with a dish that meant so much to him.

[CSunshine76]

Fun episode, and I thought the right chef went home. Also, I’d love to try Damar’s winning dish. Yum.

My Houston nitpicks:

Not one person pronounced “queso” correctly. It’s “keh so”, not “kay so”.  Not uncommon, but surprising not one person said it correctly.

Padma, you were not at “Tom Ball” Stadium. It’s Tomball. 

Edited March 11, 2022 by CSunshine76

[Straycat80]

I never knew there was such a thing as a cheese fountain. I love cheese/queso, I was salivating. 
I don’t know what the blue team was thinking sending out their dessert so early. And I knew blue team would lose on the canned chickpeas. Judges don’t like anything canned. 
I’m going to Chicago next weekend, I may try to find Damarr’s restaurant. So happy he won this week. 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Straycat80

[Harry24]

Demarr looks more like Denzel W than Denzel’s ACTUAL son.  

[rhofmovalley]

1 hour ago, CSunshine76 said:

Not one person pronounced “queso” correctly. It’s “keh so”, not “kay so”.

I kept shouting "it's Keh-so!" at my TV. It's a Spanish word. I don't recall if any of the Hispanic chefs pronounced it correctly.

Yeah, Padma's WTF face in the Quickfire was hilarious.

Nothing made me drool but Chef Canned Chickpeas was doomed as soon as she made the choice to use canned.

I must be the only one who thinks the eliminated chefs look alike.

[mlp]

I was happy to see Stephanie go.  She reminded me way too much of Sarah Grueneberg and she seemed less skilled than the others.  However, I've read more than once that canned chick peas are perfectly acceptable when there's no time to use dried ones.  She shouldn't have used them because the judges were going to turn up their noses at canned no matter how her dish tasted.  Her bigger mistake was not making something else entirely.

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

Stephanie is way too limited to last long, so I was not at all surprised to see her go.  “I haven’t even started to show the judges what I’m capable of.”  Well, why not?  If you introduce yourself by saying all you know how to cook is Midwestern meat and potatoes, and then remove all the interesting ingredients from your attempt at something else so you just serve beans and rice in your second EC, you go home.

The judges hated her dish - sorry, but they did - and she said "And I would make that dish again!"  Um, okay, why?  For what purpose?

2 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

I never knew there was such a thing as a cheese fountain. I love cheese/queso, I was salivating. 

I was too, but at the same time I'm lactose intolerant.  I'd need a bucket of Lactaid.  Padma's reaction to eating all of the cheese made me laugh.

2 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

 And I knew blue team would lose on the canned chickpeas. 

I was confused.  The judge asked, did you make these chickpeas?  I was like make?  How?  

1 hour ago, Harry24 said:

Demarr looks more like Denzel W than Denzel’s ACTUAL son.  

I love that John David doesn't look like Denzel at all yet somehow they have the exact same voice.

[Steph Sometimes]

1 hour ago, rhofmovalley said:

I must be the only one who thinks the eliminated chefs look alike.

Nope. I mentioned it to my brother last week when they were on the same team and had their hair up the same way.

I was half-watching the episode. I was also on Yelp frantically searching for places near me that serve queso.

[GaT]

The elimination challenge was too convoluted & IMO, stupid.

[LBS]

12 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

I’m going to Chicago next weekend, I may try to find Damarr’s restaurant. So happy he won this week. 

 

I think his restaurant is still closed for dining.  I know it was opened for outdoor dining this summer but every time I walk past it since the weather turned, it looks closed.  I’m hoping it survives and can’t wait to go!  It’s in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago (where U of Chicago is, Robie House, MSI, the Obama) which is awesome and I encourage you to check it out on your visit. DM if you want.  
https://www.virtuerestaurant.com/

As for the show, I was so glad Demarr won both!  Stephanie was the right person to leave.  I’m sure she’s a good cook but was overwhelmed in this competition.  I really wanted to taste that rice dessert!  It probably would of knocked Jackson’s dessert out. 
So far none of the contestant really bug which is nice. 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by LBS

[jcbrown]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

The elimination challenge was too convoluted & IMO, stupid.

I agree, actually. I do not subscribe to the American devotion to football so this left me cold. Sam was my favorite until they came back to the “locker room” and one cheftestant was saying how hard it was for him to make friends and Sam said, mockingly, “oh, do we need a group hug?” Or some such. I know, editing monkeys, but bad ones, in this case. 

[sheetmoss]

3 hours ago, mlp said:

I was happy to see Stephanie go.  She reminded me way too much of Sarah Grueneberg and she seemed less skilled than the others.  However, I've read more than once that canned chick peas are perfectly acceptable when there's no time to use dried ones.  She shouldn't have used them because the judges were going to turn up their noses at canned no matter how her dish tasted.  Her bigger mistake was not making something else entirely.

 

One of the tricks for making canned chickpeas better is to 'peel' them--i.e., use your fingers to remove the skin

3 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

 

I was confused.  The judge asked, did you make these chickpeas?  I was like make?  How?  

 

Soak and cook them from scratch

[Fukui San]

The Top Chef rice curse strikes once again. Why does everyone mess that up soooo often on this show?

I remember an earlier season rice noodles befuddling a chef in the first episode as well.  I soak those in hot water rather than boiling them, so that may be it.

I wasn't paying full attention so I don't know why football and carbs were paired thematically. Seems kind of random. Did no one do anything with actual potatoes?

I'm a bit annoyed they didn't name a top 3 or 4, just one winner. I want to see who was at the top level. 

I was wondering if Dawn and low rent Jeff Goldblum impersonator Sam was going to do anything actually useful in their coaching roles. And they were somewhat useful as mouthpieces who didn't have any actual kitchen work to do.

[CrazyInAlabama]

Jackson's non queso, and Padma's reaction to it was hysterical.    I thought the guest Quick Fire judge did a good job not slamming Jackson's awful idea of queso.     The right person went home this week.    I never actually understood the scoring in the 'football' yardage either.  I really would have preferred a simple contest of one on one of everyone on the two teams against each other, and choose a winner on the number that won, without that yardage scoring. 

Edited March 11, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[Yeah No]

5 hours ago, sheetmoss said:

9 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

 

I was confused.  The judge asked, did you make these chickpeas?  I was like make?  How?  

 

Soak and cook them from scratch

But doesn't that take at least 1 hour if you use the quickest boil/soak method?  How would anyone make chickpeas in a competition unless they used canned?

It's true that chefs generally consider dried beans superior to canned for several reasons, but with recent improvements in canning good quality canned beans are gaining and considered a close second by many.  The main reasons not to like them revolve around controlling the sodium (reduced sodium are available), tenderness, price and sustainability.  And some dishes come out better using dried beans, like falafel.

I can't find the reference, but even America's Test Kitchen has "softened" on using canned beans at times when they used to be staunchly against it.  Chickpeas are included and although not technically a bean, belong to the same general legume family as beans.

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Yeah No

[Seelouis]

58 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

 

That said, I think Stephanie would have gone home anyway.

 

I thought the chef who went home was the one from North Dakota who made the Brazilian stew without the meat, not the chickpea chef. But they were interchangeable to me so I may be wrong. 

[Lassus]

55 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

But doesn't that take at least 1 hour if you use the quickest boil/soak method?  How would anyone make chickpeas in a competition unless they used canned?

Pretty sure Tom's counter to this would simply be: "OK.  Then make something else." 

Fair or not, anyone at this point should know that canned anything is a greater kiss of death than even risotto.

Demarr's food and personality is an early favorite, and I don't understand the reaction even to the CONCEPT of Jackson's inventive queso, especially when the judges frequently whine about boring food.

Agree the right person was Padma'd.

[Nordly Beaumont]

37 minutes ago, Seelouis said:

I thought the chef who went home was the one from North Dakota who made the Brazilian stew without the meat, not the chickpea chef. But they were interchangeable to me so I may be wrong. 

You are correct. Sarah made the chickpea dish. Stephanie made the Brazilian stew with three kinds of meat (which she removed before serving) and over cooked rice.

[Yeah No]

57 minutes ago, Seelouis said:

I thought the chef who went home was the one from North Dakota who made the Brazilian stew without the meat, not the chickpea chef. But they were interchangeable to me so I may be wrong. 

No, you're right!

I edited my post.

[Yeah No]

54 minutes ago, Lassus said:

Pretty sure Tom's counter to this would simply be: "OK.  Then make something else." 

Fair or not, anyone at this point should know that canned anything is a greater kiss of death than even risotto.

So no one can make beans on Top Chef because Tom has a hair up his ass about canned.  Whatever, Tom, LOL. 🙄

Has he ever had wonderful Spanish canned seafood?

This isn't the first time I've thought that Tom's opinions about food need to be updated.

[dleighg]

I was surprised that the chef who made teff meatballs said something like "teff is usually used for injera, which is spongy, so I'm thinking it will give a moistness to my meatballs."

Injera is spongy because it's fermented, not because of the teff itself, which is like little hard seeds. But hey, what do I know, everyone loved her meatball.

That milk crepe in the quickfire was something I've never seen before. Did he just cook milk down in a pan?

[backgroundnoise]

To my midwestern self, "Keh so" and "Kay so" would be pronounced exactly the same.  I pronounce it "KEE so."  Is that wrong?

My cynical self always assumes in the this type of matchup that they keep the teams pretty even in scoring, regardless of how the judges actually feel.  I think they think it ramps up the drama.  Yawn.  I agree the scoring was convoluted and I didn't get it until the first actual head-to-head.

I liked the Quickfire challenge.  Football one was okay.  I'm just glad Top Chef is back.

[Lassus]

Language mutates.  I'm pretty sure plenty of first-generation Latin/Hispanic Americans say KAYSO at this point.

[LennieBriscoe]

29 minutes ago, backgroundnoise said:

To my midwestern self, "Keh so" and "Kay so" would be pronounced exactly the same.  I pronounce it "KEE so."  Is that wrong?

My cynical self always assumes in the this type of matchup that they keep the teams pretty even in scoring, regardless of how the judges actually feel.  I think they think it ramps up the drama.  Yawn.  I agree the scoring was convoluted and I didn't get it until the first actual head-to-head.

I liked the Quickfire challenge.  Football one was okay.  I'm just glad Top Chef is back.

"KEE-so" is definitely wrong! (The long "e" sound is for the letter "i".)

 But so is the 100% "KESS-so."  The Spanish "e" needs a bit of a long "a" to it, so "KAY-so" is not totally incorrect.  

https://youtu.be/liUCLLmcRP8

Bottom line: It's cheese dip. Wow. 

My least favorite  past contestants are Dawn and Brooke (and the insufferable Voltaggios). 

What not speaking or football has to do with being a chef, I'd like to know. "Top Chef: Family Style" is stacking up to be much better, IMO!

[FormerMod-a1]

"Keh so" and "Kay so" would not sound the same if this midwesterner pronounced them, but I have never heard it pronounced "Keh so" not even any of the times I've been to TX. 

[Rammchick]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

So no one can make beans on Top Chef because Tom has a hair up his ass about canned.  Whatever, Tom, LOL. 🙄

In a challenge where there's more time, dried beans could work.  I'm thinking of the challenges where the cheftestants prep and then cook the next day -- the beans could soak overnight.  To be honest, when I do this, I always run into a few clunkers that didn't cook properly and are hard and starchy, and they totally ruin the dish.  For that reason, I always use canned chickpeas when I make hummus, but I guess I won't be on Top Chef anytime soon 😏  

[Leeds]

9 hours ago, GaT said:

The elimination challenge was too convoluted & IMO, stupid.

I agree, I don't know why the producers still insist on having gimmicks.  I suppose at least it didn't involve ice picks or bicycles.  (Though I do wonder how many people floated the idea of incorporating tackle dummies or other training components, or having them cook while dressed as mascots.)

[Msample]

They must have been told ahead of time there would be limited equipment? Or else why not use a pressure cooker with beans? Also surprised not even a mention of some sort of pasta in a carb theme challenge. No pasta roller available maybe ?

[susannot]

Apparently the NOMA manifesto of purity, simplicity, and freshness does not translate well to American (meaning Tom's) palates. Luke's confit pumpkin was visually appealing but not salty enough for Tom.  That's what he means every time he says something is bland.

[Lassus]

I laughed and rolled my eyes at the explanation of the rules, which it seemed even the editors thought was funny at the time as it was going on.  It's annoying, but I get it as far as making it vaguely compelling to watch vs. just repeated "make food, serve food", so can forgive this weird little football game pretty easily.

What I CANNOT, and WILL NOT forgive is the skiing/shooting/mutant biathlon competition they had that one time.  I consider that a line crossed.

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 hour ago, aquarian1 said:

"Keh so" and "Kay so" would not sound the same if this midwesterner pronounced them, but I have never heard it pronounced "Keh so" not even any of the times I've been to TX. 

When I was in Austin I was recommended to get queso and I could swear they said "Kay So" too!

Edited March 11, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[JTMacc99]

My son was in the room with me when the Quick Fire was on. By the end of it, a formal request was made for me to provide him with queso.

Understandable.

 

As soon as I saw the football mascots move up the field after the first 4-1 judging, I was fine with the concept. There have been SO MANY challenges where it's "red votes versus blue votes" or "Team 1 is in the lead over Team 2" and to me, this one was no different than any of those in the past.

On the one hand, it was nice that both teams kept it close so that neither team lost. On the other hand, it's always interesting TV when one Top Chef team soundly defeats another team. That's when we get to watch the last dishes served while the losers are already doing the math on which one of them might go home and which teammate they might have to throw under the bus.

[Thumper]

2 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

"KEE-so" is definitely wrong! (The long "e" sound is for the letter "i".)

 But so is the 100% "KESS-so."  The Spanish "e" needs a bit of a long "a" to it, so "KAY-so" is not totally incorrect.  

https://youtu.be/liUCLLmcRP8

Bottom line: It's cheese dip. Wow. 

My least favorite  past contestants are Dawn and Brooke (and the insufferable Voltaggios). 

What not speaking or football has to do with being a chef, I'd like to know. "Top Chef: Family Style" is stacking up to be much better, IMO!

Agree with your pronunciation assessment!  At least they didn’t say “kway-so” or “kweh-so!” 😂. 

[caitmcg]

Sarah's real downfall wasn’t even using canned chickpeas, it was making boring hummus. They liked her other components (panisse, socca, etc.), and Tom suggested that if she’d made some kind of chickpea stew instead of hummus, she’d have done way better.

[Pj3422]

Is it wrong that the devil in me was hoping someone would make the standard queso of Velveeta and Rotel? 

[meep.meep]

Every other season they do a head-to-head centered around some sport, often football.  Watching the mascots move was a nice touch.  It was also good that the judges were all food professionals (if you can call Padma that), rather than "fans" or random crowds as so often happens.

It's always strange which items they think should be made from scratch, and which ones they don't care about.  If the one gal had served rice noodles, would they complain that she didn't make the noodles herself?

[rhofmovalley]

11 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

It was also good that the judges were all food professionals (if you can call Padma that), rather than "fans" or random crowds as so often happens.

Probably couldn't have fans due to Covid. But I agree, it always looks weird to see a huge, empty stadium.

And I believe the competition was tweaked with just a bit. If one team ran away with it, it wouldn't make for very compelling TV.

 

[caitmcg]

38 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

It's always strange which items they think should be made from scratch, and which ones they don't care about.  If the one gal had served rice noodles, would they complain that she didn't make the noodles herself?

Usually, they harrumph about store-bought tortillas, but they didn’t even ask about it when they had the tacos.

[tljgator]

I liked the overly complicated game because, to me, it felt like they wanted to find a way to escape the problem that often arises (and we all inevitably bitch about) of the single worst dish being on the winning team, and, thus, not up for elimination (and vice versa -- especially when something fairly good by comparison leads to the boot because of being on a losing team). The odds of one team getting enough points to reach the end zone for an outright win was low with individual judge's picks counting, and if a team did manage it, the odds of them having the worst dish were nearly impossible.

 

[carrps]

11 minutes ago, tljgator said:

I liked the overly complicated game because, to me, it felt like they wanted to find a way to escape the problem that often arises (and we all inevitably bitch about) of the single worst dish being on the winning team, and, thus, not up for elimination (and vice versa -- especially when something fairly good by comparison leads to the boot because of being on a losing team). The odds of one team getting enough points to reach the end zone for an outright win was low with individual judge's picks counting, and if a team did manage it, the odds of them having the worst dish were nearly impossible.

 

Yes, this is what we were discussing when we were watching. It's always so sad to have the best dish on a losing team and infuriating to have the worst dish on the winning team.

[meep.meep]

Tom's expression when Padma blew the whistle right next to him was priceless!

[Cheetara1986]

18 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

I never knew there was such a thing as a cheese fountain. I love cheese/queso, I was salivating. 
I don’t know what the blue team was thinking sending out their dessert so early. And I knew blue team would lose on the canned chickpeas. Judges don’t like anything canned. 
I’m going to Chicago next weekend, I may try to find Damarr’s restaurant. So happy he won this week. 

Let me just say, if you do hit up Demarr's spot, get the dirty rice....oo baby.

[PhoneCop]

3 hours ago, Pj3422 said:

Is it wrong that the devil in me was hoping someone would make the standard queso of Velveeta and Rotel? 

Wouldn’t be the first time they’ve used junky processed food in a challenge! “What I’ve made for you today is baked butternut squash chips served with a Mornay plastique, roasted tomatoes, chilaca peppers, and miso.”

Bonus points if they seasoned it with Hidden Valley Ranch (although I don’t think that’s the sponsor of Last Chance Kitchen anymore?).

Meanest thought I've had all week: As soon as Stephanie was knifed, my kneejerk reaction was "Well, at least she can go back to being the sous at that Olive Garden."

Edited March 11, 2022 by PhoneCop

[hacman00]

Was shocked team "Dawn Burrell" didn't get any delay of game penalties.

[hacman00]

Keh or Kay?  QueSo what?  

Kehso = cheese

Kayso = CHEESE!!!

Edited March 11, 2022 by hacman00

[jrzy]

8 hours ago, Leeds said:

I agree, I don't know why the producers still insist on having gimmicks.  I suppose at least it didn't involve ice picks or bicycles.  (Though I do wonder how many people floated the idea of incorporating tackle dummies or other training components, or having them cook while dressed as mascots.)

I hate gimmicks like this, just let them cook and judge the best and worst among them. On a completely shallow note, I just can't with Brooke and her stupid hair.

Edited March 12, 2022 by jrzy
Grammar

[Ms Blue Jay]

8 minutes ago, jrzy said:

 On completely shallow note, I just can't with Brooke and her stupid hair.

Fillers fillers Botox and fillers.......

[Irlandesa]

I didn't need to see the mascots running up and down the field, especially since no team won.

That said, I did like how every vote counted.  Usually in head-to-head battles, the person who wins is the one who gets the most judge votes compared to their competition; here, though, you could lose and still gain points for your team if the judging table was divided.

[Josiemae]

19 hours ago, GaT said:

The elimination challenge was too convoluted & IMO, stupid.

So stupid. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching The Price Is Right. Can't they just let the cooks cook, without mascots?

Edited March 12, 2022 by Josiemae