S19.E14: The Final Plate

[jackjill89]

11 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

This makes up for my heartbreak when Nick was cut!  I'm crying!  Wow!  I really yelled when Buddha won!

Here are my notes from when I watched.  At first I thought Buddha was ahead, then Sarah --- but then Evelyn won the dessert round.  I still love Evelyn.  I know people think it's not fair that she is from Houston and cooks Mexican food - but - I can't hold where she is from/raised against her.  She also cooks Asian food and correct me if I am wrong but I don't think she's Asian.  So I don't think she's complacent.

Padma is squarely in Buddha's corner.  She defends him.  Tom goes after him.  Tom is obviously pulling for Sarah.  I was so glad to hear the other judges praise Evelyn because that right there is her disadvantage - for all the crowing about her unfair advantage, she didn't have one of Padma or Tom pulling for her and it was super obvious.  Also, Evelyn just had a great personality throughout the show.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but I feel like I am now able to articulate just what it is about Sarah that grinds some of our gears.  She is just so self-aware.  It feels like every moment is for the camera.  Her screaming at the dessert round.  Her turning a 180 degree angle every single time she won a round.  Her little jokes.  Always the same jokes ("Let's never let go.")  Her little announcements.  It all feels so practiced and it's hard to believe someone acts like this without a camera around.

I have nothing against her, and she kind of grew on me in the end.  Her food looked great.  Her dessert especially, I was really into.

I'm just really happy.  What a great season and what a way to get rid of the taste of last year's.

Tom was kind of nasty.  He said "He's showing off" in a particularly disdainful way and Padma said "Why shouldn't he?  It's the finale."

Agree with the self-aware assessment of Sarah. What also grinds is the fact that she won't shut up. 

I did appreciate her food when she was brought back from LCK. She definitely made some things I wanted to try. But in the finale she lost me with venison tartare. Ugh. 

All the finale desserts looked wonderful! Yum.

Buddha's tuiles were amazing. His entire meal was gorgeous and looked delicious. 

[Leeds]

9 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

You can copy and paste emoticons and accents from Google into here.

comme ça

I do make an effort to proofread and correct my posts, but this sounds like too much work!

[Lassus]

2 minutes ago, jackjill89 said:

But in the finale she lost me with venison tartare. Ugh. 

Really?  I love tartare, that looked great.

[jackjill89]

4 minutes ago, Lassus said:

Really?  I love tartare, that looked great.

I wouldn't eat raw venison.

[Leeds]

2 minutes ago, jackjill89 said:

I wouldn't eat raw venison.

Because it's one of Bambi's relatives or because it's potentially diseased?  If it's the latter I'm sure they used the highest quality meat that had been closely inspected for disease.  In terms of the former, can't help you - lambs and calves are cute too!

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 hour ago, SweetSable said:

I really enjoyed TC Family as well and yes, the kids were definitely the ones in charge.  And except for the mother and daughter who screamed at each other all the time, the contestants were enjoyable.

I didn't for the life of me remember the cheftestant Sarah chose as her sous chef.  And now I have to find some way to incorporate acorns into a dessert.  

I think Robert was only in maybe the first 3 episodes or something. I really liked him.  He went home on a team challenge.  I believe it was teams of 2.  I was sad.

[nokat]

14 hours ago, Bastet said:

I'll just expand a little on something I said in the Live Chat:

Buddha was my third choice coming in, because I generally want to eat Evelyn's and Sarah's food more than I want to eat his, but he did a terrific job.

So did Evelyn, just a little bit less terrific.  Sarah made some mistakes that knocked her out of contention, but still made a meal to be proud of, especially that dessert.

This was an enjoyable end to an enjoyable season, and I love that I've been able to say that about so many seasons recently.

Buddha is an artist, and we can eat first with our eyes.  I was not surprised that he won. I probably want to eat Eveyln's food more. Her dessert in the finale! 

32 minutes ago, Leeds said:

Because it's one of Bambi's relatives or because it's potentially diseased?  If it's the latter I'm sure they used the highest quality meat that had been closely inspected for disease.  In terms of the former, can't help you - lambs and calves are cute too!

Getting fed rawish rabbit though. I guess if they are farm raised.

[hendersonrocks]

That was a wildly satisfying finale. They all cooked their food, they all had some great successes they can celebrate, but Buddha absolutely nailed it and seemed the clear victor. I have been impressed by his skill all season but good lord I got choked up in those final scenes of him talking about his dad and talking with his family. It's moments like that where I realize how much emotion and loss we're all carrying around with us right now.

[AriAu]

Quote

The judges actually had a hard time toning down their raves for Buddha in the finale and I couldn’t be happier for him. 

I think it was a big time editing fake out since the judges did rave about virtually everything Buddha did and the Elves  kept finding ways to get in the judges saying nice things about Evelyn and Sarah's dishes. I think if they had gone by rounds it would have been lopsided-Buddha clearly and substantially won the first 3 rounds and it wasn't close and he was very close to the top on the dessert round. Sarah's pasta was too chewy and she somehow overcooked and undercooked a protein so she was a goner and Evelyn's crudo and goat dish were sorta under-seasoned, so she wasn't winning unless Buddha imploded...and he didn't.

This result just goes to show how much better developed Buddha's skills and ideas are than the 2 he faced in the finale and based on how he did this season, every cheftestant this season. The chart at Wikipedia shows he was in the bottom twice but never in real danger-once was Sam's potato disaster and the other was when all the cheftestants made strong dishes and Luke went home.

My real issue with the episode is that these cheftestants were too prepared-they had it all planned out. After 19 seasons, these cheftestants showed up having done their research and decided on a menu and approach and technique etc.... hell, Buddha brought those stencils for the tuilles and leaves. There is NO WAY any of them came up with any element of these dishes on the fly and they didn't even pretend to show them menu planning, but instead they were prep planning. It was actually a little off putting to see them trying to squeeze into the concepts they "created"-Sarah was suddenly the sustainabiity queen???

Maybe they need a small curve ball like in the Las Vegas season where they had to cook one extra dish based on an ingredient Tom sprung on them, or one dish where they each have to feature something they don't know about until they go shopping. It doesn't have to be bizarre or unusual, but something that allows them to differentiate from each other more on the spot rather than fully planned out.

Quote

Tom was kind of nasty.  He said "He's showing off" in a particularly disdainful way and Padma said "Why shouldn't he?  It's the finale."

Was that really nasty-I think it was a combination of that Tom has never really been into the "flourishes" and that Buddha was kicking ass and this was like "gilding the lily". It was kinda like Eric Ripert's comment about the dish being from the 80's/90's -it sounded like a criticism of what was clearly a delicious dish, but I think the Elves were having trouble finding any other criticism in an attempt to create some level of drama.

I know that the judges seem to always cook for the finalists, and it is always cool, but my mind was blown at the idea of Eric Ripert whipping up a ratatouille for these guys!

And being completely shallow,  something they did with Padma's hair and make-up in this episode made her actually breath taking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she is one of the most physically beautiful women in the world, but in this episode it was like wow.

Edited June 3, 2022 by AriAu

[meep.meep]

12 hours ago, susannot said:

I didn't even know that acorns were edible.  For squirrels and deer, yes.  For people?  Didn't know.

Acorns were a staple food for the California Native American tribes.  You have to soak them multiple times to get them to be edible, otherwise they are too tannic.   Did they include a shot of Sarah finding acorn flour in one of the stores?  In all my searching through the "different" flours I don't think I've ever seen it.

As soon as they started serving, you could tell Buddha had it in the bag.  Those tuiles!  I wouldn't want to eat Sarah's tartare and the rabbit looked awful - how do you make some thing under and overcooked simultaneously?

Damarr was there with the sous chefs.  Guess he stayed another day or two.

[bosawks]

I would love to eat at any of their places but I am really impressed with Sarah because it feels like fine tuning and working through a recipe is more her forte.

In retrospect it makes complete sense that she had to work her way back in.

[tvfanatic13]

Very satisfying season and a very deserving winner. 

Did Sarah say that she brought miso with her? Is that allowed? I mean, I assume it is, but did we know that before? 

[barshi50]

Loved the result! Buddha was a deserving winner and I love his story.

One thing though. The chefs were cooking in the kitchen and the judges were seated on a veranda that seemed a long way away from the building. The servers made a long (and impressive looking) trek to serve the meal. Weren't they worried about the food getting cold?

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, meep.meep said:

how do you make some thing under and overcooked simultaneously?

The easiest way is to cook something too hot, so the outer part gets burned or dried out, but the heat doesn't evenly get to the inside. 

Frozen fish sticks have a reputation as something that people remember being served toasty burnt on the outside and cold on the inside. (Obviously not on Top Chef.)

[carrps]

12 hours ago, CSunshine76 said:

I can assure you, Evelyn and most all Texans would say she is from the South, not the Southwest. I was rooting for her to win,  it Buddha put forth one impressive dinner. His dessert looked absolutely stunning! 

I was told most Texans would say she was Texan.

No surprise. Buddha played the game perfectly. Rather a swot, but it worked for him. He really put his stompy foot down on the competition!

[Ohiopirate02]

43 minutes ago, tvfanatic13 said:

Very satisfying season and a very deserving winner. 

Did Sarah say that she brought miso with her? Is that allowed? I mean, I assume it is, but did we know that before? 

I remember Ilan bringing his Spanish spices to Hawaii back in season two.  I'm sure there are more examples of finalists bringing production-approved extras to other finales.  This season Evelyn was allowed to bring her bunuelo maker.  I'm also going to guess that the stencils Buddha used were ones he brought with him.  

[ML89]

14 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

This makes up for my heartbreak when Nick was cut! 

If you want to see Nick, there's a show on CNN called "Nomad with Carlton McCoy" - he's a chef/sommelier who goes to different countries/areas and the last show is about Mississippi and Nick  is there...

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 minutes ago, ML89 said:

If you want to see Nick, there's a show on CNN called "Nomad with Carlton McCoy" - he's a chef/sommelier who goes to different countries/areas and the last show is about Mississippi and Nick  is there...

Aw, thanks!  I really like him as a person and it's nice to hear about that.

[caitmcg]

5 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I remember Ilan bringing his Spanish spices to Hawaii back in season two.  I'm sure there are more examples of finalists bringing production-approved extras to other finales.  This season Evelyn was allowed to bring her bunuelo maker.  I'm also going to guess that the stencils Buddha used were ones he brought with him.  

Not just the finale. Evelyn did have her bunuelo/rosette iron during the regular season, Sarah brought her own homemade jerk sauce (which she used a couple of times in LCK), and who can forget Nick’s 26.spice mix, which he used multiple times in the competition. 

[blixie]

Quote

 personally think this was a one man race from the first episod

Evelyn and Buddha had almost the exact same track record through the finale, except Evelyn had 4 out right wins (Buddha had 3), 3 in the top (Buddha had 4), only touched the bottom twice,  it literally could not have been closer at least in a long view, and even in that finale meal I think the only knock on Evelyn was a slightly too firm panna cotta, and she went humble v. for broke.  

There is bigger drop off between them and Sarah who I love, but her cook wasn't well executed and obvs coming out of LCK is a very different game than scoring wins against the best of the best for whole 14 weeks. I did love that Padma stayed obviously unimpressed with Sarah's food through out and Tom who was just as hard on her turned into a major advocate for her. 

Quote

She also cooks Asian food and correct me if I am wrong but I don't think she's Asian

I thought she actually said for most of the early challenges Asian (Thai/Vietnamese in particular) was "her food" as in the thing she likes to make, her food POV, but I think being in Houston made her sentimental and wanting to do the food she grew up making, and I think she might have been better off in her "professional" POV than her personal one?

Edited June 3, 2022 by blixie

[Lassus]

27 minutes ago, blixie said:

Evelyn and Buddha had almost the exact same track record through the finale, except Evelyn had 4 out right wins (Buddha had 3), 3 in the top (Buddha had 4), only touched the bottom twice

I couldn't tell from this, was Buddha in the bottom a couple of times, or...?

[blixie]

Buddha was in the bottom twice, and Evelyn was in the bottom twice I believe one of Buddha's was a group challenge where he had immunity and was less vocal about the direction everyone went, while his actual dish was good even immunity aside. I can't remember if either of Evelyn's were group, but I thought this season had way too many group challenges. 

Edited June 3, 2022 by blixie

[jackjill89]

4 hours ago, Leeds said:

Because it's one of Bambi's relatives or because it's potentially diseased?  If it's the latter I'm sure they used the highest quality meat that had been closely inspected for disease.  In terms of the former, can't help you - lambs and calves are cute too!

The whole disease thing. I know it's not like they went out and shot it in the woods, but it still gives me the willies. 

[HurricaneVal]

I think this was Buddha's to lose, because I think he did have the fine cuisine edge going in.  I don't think he made a single misstep, and his choice of sous chef was perfect.  Jackson was a contender until he imploded, and Jackson and Buddha demonstrated that they collaborated very well in the past.  I do not remember Sarah's sous chef as a former cheftestant at all.  And Evelen chose well.  Nobody chose Nick or Damarr......were they not available, or as too recent competitors maybe the finalists didn't see them as collaborators yet.

I wanted nearly everything that was served on the episode.  Clearly I wanted the entirety of Buddha's menu, and all of Evelyns, but Sarah's raw rabbit turned me right off.  She made up for it with the acorn cake though.

Buddha didn't stumble at all.  It would have been closer if Evelyn had braised her goat in the "murry" and Sarah lost it from the moment they thought her scallops were mundane, and then tanked it when her rabbit was raw.  Her acorn cake brought her back up, so she did end on a high note.

I don't think Tom was being critical when he pointed out that Buddha was showing off.  I think he was thrilled.  Padma does have a point, if one doesn't pull out all the stops and show off at the finale, then when do you do it?  I don't think it was a risk, I think it was just the time for Buddha to really make his technique shine.

[mlp]

15 hours ago, Lovecat said:

Anyone know how to do an accent aigu in Microsoft?

Hold down Alt and type 0233.

I was absolutely delighted that Buddha won.  I was a bit surprised when he chose Jackson as his sous but then I remembered that Jackson had been doing very well before Restaurant Wars and that he and Buddha had worked well together on a fancy dish.  It was a smart choice.  Did anyone catch what Buddha said his real name is?

[caitmcg]

6 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

I do not remember Sarah's sous chef as a former cheftestant at all.  And

He and Sarah left on a double elimination, then Sarah and Leah beat him in a two-part LCK (which Sarah then won over Leah). So he was gone early on. 

6 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

Sarah lost it from the moment they thought her scallops were mundane

Evelyn served the mundane (and undersalted) scallops, not Sarah. Sarah served venison and beef heart tartare with focaccia and homemade smoked butter. They liked her starter, certainly more than her second course (the tortellini), which they thought had way too many components and needed editing. I think between that and the poorly cooked rabbit, she didn’t have a chance against the other two.  The critiques of Buddha’s food were really splitting hairs, where the other two had more serious dings. 

[Msample]

2 hours ago, barshi50 said:

Loved the result! Buddha was a deserving winner and I love his story.

One thing though. The chefs were cooking in the kitchen and the judges were seated on a veranda that seemed a long way away from the building. The servers made a long (and impressive looking) trek to serve the meal. Weren't they worried about the food getting cold?

Not just that but there several shots where you could clearly see bees buzzing around the table the judges were eating at.

[mlp]

6 hours ago, Ellee said:

Oh I wish you would watch TC Family and the kids were the chefs with the adults helping in most cases.  I really enjoyed it. 

Yes, the kids definitely took the lead in most cases.  I really enjoyed this show.  It follows the TC format but in a more relaxed way.  There were well-known chefs there to judge along with Marcus every episode.  Tom and Padma even showed up during the finale.

I'd never heard of Meaghan Trainor but she was fine.  She was the host, probably to appeal to the kids, not a judge and she made no pretensions to being a foodie or to even being knowledgeable about food/cooking.  I had no problem with her.

[Chicago Redshirt]

I'm glad for Buddha. Seemed like he'd been kicking butt all season and he brought it home.

I'm curious why no one chose Damarr, Nick or some of the other higher performers as sous chefs. I guess Jackson makes sense for Buddha because they had worked on a team before and I think Jackson was one of the few this season who seemed to match Buddha's creativity.

Sorry not sorry for mental-fist pumping when they started to point out Sarah's errors and it became clear that she had no chance of winning the title.

[HurricaneVal]

Thanks, @caitmcg!  I thought the mundane scallops were Sarah's.  Ooooh, they were Evelyn's instead!  I thought they were pretty, and I'd have to say that no matter who made them, they aren't mundane to me....but I don't roll in those fine dining circles the rest of the judges do. 

I meant to ask this before:  What were those spinning things in the middle of the table?  At first I thought it was just ribbons in the centerpieces blowing around, but then I realized they were spinning and attached to specific devices.  Something to keep the bees and insects away, maybe?

Well, would you look at that....there is such a thing!  Shooaway.  I've got to get some for cookouts and camping.  Maybe I can keep the extra protein out of my patio wine that way!

And Ooooooooohhhh....has anyone noticed all the new reaction options?  How long as that been available?

Edited June 3, 2022 by HurricaneVal
Shoo, fly...don't bother me.

[vmarsissmart]

3 hours ago, tvfanatic13 said:

Very satisfying season and a very deserving winner. 

Did Sarah say that she brought miso with her? Is that allowed? I mean, I assume it is, but did we know that before? 

I think the chefs are allowed to bring a few special ingredients to use when possible in the season.  I love that she got local miso in Detroit.  I kind of want to find out from where and go get some myself since I'm close to the border. 

Such a great finale but I knew Buddah had it during the first course when they all called it perfection.  Sarah definitely had missteps but the dishes I see on her instagram feed at Marrow make me want to try to get there this summer (if I can!)  I would have been happy with any of them winning but Buddah definitely deserved it.  

[nokat]

4 hours ago, barshi50 said:

Loved the result! Buddha was a deserving winner and I love his story.

One thing though. The chefs were cooking in the kitchen and the judges were seated on a veranda that seemed a long way away from the building. The servers made a long (and impressive looking) trek to serve the meal. Weren't they worried about the food getting cold?

They had to run back to the kitchen? It made no sense to me.

[Ms Blue Jay]

38 minutes ago, nokat said:

They had to run back to the kitchen? It made no sense to me.

You're both right, I didn't even think about how silly and impractical that was.

[essexjan]

8 hours ago, Lassus said:

(In one final melancholy commentary, all that I can be now and perhaps forever whenever I see Eric Ripert is just brutally sad, as he was the one who found Bourdain.)

Yes, that always breaks my heart too. How on earth would someone ever get over finding his best friend hanged? I loved Anthony Bourdain. He was such a badass, he looked like he'd give a woman a really good time, and then take her for the best ramen in the world in a tiny hole in the wall cafe that only he knew about.

[ProudMary]

6 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I think Robert was only in maybe the first 3 episodes or something. I really liked him.  He went home on a team challenge.  I believe it was teams of 2.  I was sad.

The irony is that Robert, who had actually WON the very first Elimination Challenge, was PYKAGd in a team challenge in the fourth round because he was paired with Sarah who had the worst dish. His was good. It was the challenge where they had to make two dishes that looked alike but were completely different. Sarah had been circling the drain for a few episodes and seemed a likely choice for quick elimination. She didn't seem to have been a threat at all, but then she really discovered herself in LCK. It didn't surprise me that she reached that far back to choose Robert as her Sous. She knew he was very good and likely carried some guilt that he was eliminated because of her.

I did wonder about the three finalists not being assigned some sort of pecking order for sous chefs. How would they have worked it out if two or all of them wanted the same Sous? There must have been some guideline that wasn't shown to the audience OR if there was a chef that two of them wanted, they decided that neither would have that chef? 🤷‍♀️  I'm sure Damarr would have chosen Nick (and vice-versa!) had he been in the finale. Made me sadder Damarr didn't make it all the way. I'd have loved to have seen those two side-by-side once more.

Big congratulations to Buddha though. He really stood head and shoulders above all the cheftestants this season right from the start. It was his to lose and he just excelled his way to the victory. A very worthy Top Chef.

[kirklandia]

I was 🙂 when I saw that my DVR was picking up new episodes of Top Chef Family, because I enjoyed the first season so much.  Then ☹️ when I realized I had already seen them. I guess when I watched it before it was on D+.  I hope there will be a second season. 
On another subject.   I do everything on my iPhone, and the keyboard makes it super easy to add diacritics.  Just hold the letter down and choose the one you want.  Voilà!

Edited June 4, 2022 by kirklandia

[caitmcg]

33 minutes ago, kirklandia said:

On another subject.   I do everything on my iPhone, and the keyboard makes it super easy to add diacritics.  Just hold the letter down and choose the one you want.  Voilá!

I agree, diacritics and symbols are very easy in iOS, and same thing works on the physical keyboards of Macs, no ASCII codes necessary.

[Souris]

2 hours ago, vmarsissmart said:

I think the chefs are allowed to bring a few special ingredients to use when possible in the season.  I love that she got local miso in Detroit.  I kind of want to find out from where and go get some myself since I'm close to the border. 

Right. Nick brought his spice blend he used several times.

[bravofan27]

21 hours ago, Leeds said:

Let's hope Buddha's future is free of Paul Qui-type scandal.

Paul Qui had a difficult past with little guidance and support-- Buddha seems to have a very beautiful supportive family. I'm sure he will be fine. 

I'm glad Buddha won, but I sort of thought Evelyn did better. That said, she had one dish-- mole? that looked revolting. Buddha's dishes looked delicious.

Broth made from corn husks does not sound great, and I have no idea why Sarah decided to take the no-waste food route.

I will be happy to never hear Sarah's deadpan quips ever again. I just can't stand her. If she were 12 I'd be more tolerant, but goodness, grow up already.

Ed Lee looked like he needed a good shower and a good shampoo.

Ripert is getting old. Gail's dress with the strap was distracting. Padma, as always, looked beautiful. 

That's all for me!

Edited June 4, 2022 by bravofan27

[PhoneCop]

5 hours ago, mlp said:

Did anyone catch what Buddha said his real name is?

Kah-Wai.

Happy with the outcome, sad to say goodbye to an asshat-free cast. And dreading the long drought between now and next season, but at least I won't spend it fuming about the most recent winner. (Forget Gabe, I'm still not over Nina losing.) Plus I could see half a dozen of these chefs returning to compete down the road, so there's that to look forward to.

[caitmcg]

58 minutes ago, bravofan27 said:

Broth made from corn husks does not sound great, and I have no idea why Sarah decided to take the no-waste food route.

She didn’t make it from corn husks, she made it from the corn cobs she'd cut the kernels off for her first course, which is a technique used in all kinds of recipes, e.g. every corn chowder recipe I’ve read. It imparts good flavor, and her corn broth was well complimented by the diners and judges.

[mlp]

29 minutes ago, PhoneCop said:

Happy with the outcome, sad to say goodbye to an asshat-free cast. And dreading the long drought between now and next season, but at least I won't spend it fuming about the most recent winner. (Forget Gabe, I'm still not over Nina losing.)

Ditto.  Nina was a judge on the last episode of TC Family Style.  I thought, as I do ever time I see her, she should have been Top Chef.

[Leeds]

8 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I remember Ilan bringing his Spanish spices to Hawaii back in season two.  I'm sure there are more examples of finalists bringing production-approved extras to other finales.  This season Evelyn was allowed to bring her bunuelo maker.  I'm also going to guess that the stencils Buddha used were ones he brought with him.  

One of the things I love about The Great British Bake Off is seeing the charming homemade gadgets and interesting ingredients some of the contestants bring.

7 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Buddha didn't stumble at all.  It would have been closer if Evelyn had braised her goat in the "murry" and Sarah lost it from the moment they thought her scallops were mundane, and then tanked it when her rabbit was raw.  Her acorn cake brought her back up, so she did end on a high note.

It wasn't until I read comments here about the "murry" that I realized what Buddha meant by naming it that.  I thought he was just naming the goat Murray for some reason!

[bravofan27]

24 minutes ago, caitmcg said:

She didn’t make it from corn husks, she made it from the corn cobs she'd cut the kernels off for her first course, which is a technique used in all kinds of recipes, e.g. every corn chowder recipe I’ve read. It imparts good flavor, and her corn broth was well complimented by the diners and judges.

Thanks for clarifying. It still doesn't sound too appetizing, but better than husks.

[Norma Desmond]

Yay Buddha!! I couldn't be happier with the winner. It was obvious he would be crowned Top Chef, no suspense at all  - he was miles ahead in technique and flavor. And my other favorite Jackson played a part in the win. Buddha's food is so stunning. I love how he doesn't care if something is dated or from the 80s. He cooks what he wants and always finds a way to make it interesting. I shed a tear over his dad's story. Loved it!! Great season.

[South]

4 hours ago, mlp said:

Ditto.  Nina was a judge on the last episode of TC Family Style.  I thought, as I do ever time I see her, she should have been Top Chef.

Ditto to infinity on Chef Nina Compton.

[Yeah No]

On 6/2/2022 at 11:42 PM, Lovecat said:

Hold the control key down and type an apostrophe; release the control key and then type the letter you’re trying to put the accent on.  My name is Renée…I know how to do an accent mark on both a PC and a MAC ;)

Same name here, however that has never worked for me anywhere but in MS Word.

10 hours ago, mlp said:

Hold down Alt and type 0233.

Alt 0233 only works on some computers/keyboards.  The more commonly accepted code is Alt 130.  There is very little online to explain why it's different from computer to computer and keyboard to keyboard.  Sometimes a software update can change which one works, or getting a new keyboard.  I've had both happen to me over the years.

And just to clarify, the number keypad has to be used for these.  My laptop doesn't have a number keypad so I end up copying it from a draft message I keep in my email program or Googling it.  Very annoying.  I have an automatic signature line on my email so it doesn't annoy me every time I write an email!

[Yeah No]

11 hours ago, mlp said:

I was absolutely delighted that Buddha won.  I was a bit surprised when he chose Jackson as his sous but then I remembered that Jackson had been doing very well before Restaurant Wars and that he and Buddha had worked well together on a fancy dish.  It was a smart choice.  Did anyone catch what Buddha said his real name is?

His real name is Kah-Wai, I think!

I was delighted Buddha won too as he was my favorite.  I would have been surprised if he didn't pick Jackson for his sous chef because I sensed something special about their relationship from when they worked as a team.  And that felt very satisfying to me because I also like Jackson.  I was very happy to hear that he has gotten most of his taste back.

I agree with those that sensed that the editing at tasting and judging was reaching to find ways to play down how much better Buddha's food was overall.  It was still no secret to me, though.  Just on appearance, his food reminded me of things I've eaten at Le Bernardin.  I'm sure it tasted like it too and that couldn't have been lost on Eric.  Eric's criticism of Buddha's dish being too '80s felt like a nitpick to me.  I felt like we were being thrown off and it makes me wonder what they left out.  I think they know they have to find some negative things to say for the editing.  Padma just about summed up the season when she said there was nothing wrong with Evelyn's food other than it was being judged next to Buddha's.  That was probably true of more than just that one dish.

It was very good to see Eric again.  He was absent from TV for a while after Tony's death.  I feel like he still has a heavy heart from the experience.  I can't blame him, it must have been very traumatic for him.  I think we all have heavier hearts now since the pandemic for one reason or another so I get it.  

[pasdetrois]

On 6/3/2022 at 12:48 AM, Andyourlittledog2 said:

Glad Buddha won because he has just been excellent all season. I really like how supportive the chefs have been with each other all season as well.

First time in many years where I've watched every episode. The weirdos and egos drove me away from previous seasons.

[carrps]

I agreed with Eric that Buddha's food seemed very 80s. When he mentioned the Bocuse D'Or, I knew why it felt dated and fussy to me. I never really cared for Bocuse D'Or type food. Too much fuss on appearance, and little fiddly bites of food.

Buddha's food looked good, but I was much more interested in eating Evelyn's and Sara's food. They were innovative and creative in a way Buddha wasn't. But since he's in NYC-ish, I guess he'll have his pick of the rich foodies.

I don't think they had to run back to the kitchen. They were just stressed and running was an expression of that.