S20.E13: Champions In Paris

[AriAu]

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However, the final winner of LCK has gone on to take the whole thing 😏

So.....you are telling me there is a chance!!!

3 times...I think. Kristen Kish (after the Josie debacle), Brooke and Flamm, I think.

[blixie]

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What can chefs bring with them?

Sara said they give them a certain sized box and anything that fits in it can come? Including non perishable ingredients and obviously tools.

 

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if they did it based on the whole season, there would be no reason to watch next week given Buddha's dominance...

No it wouldn't because other people would have been judged the same aka a Begona or a Charbel might be there instead and they might have beat Buddha's ass. But I don't want them to just do that automatically I just think in the situations like this episode,  and two dishes are both very very good, and sometimes they even both fit the brief than you should go with the person who is more consistent. In the episode last night  I think it was pretty clear though that while they both very good dishes, Gabri's was just better. My issue is with all the other times The Black Hammer was in the bottom and won out over more consistent chefs. And if say it had been Buddha v. Gabri and Buddha's dish fit the brief and Gabri's didn't Gabri would have left, because they'd rather die then boot Buddha, they know it would make no damn sense. Besides which I think they already do this, favor consistent chefs over ones like Gabri, I can only think of three in 20 seasons: Lisa, Dawn, and Gabri, but Dawn wasn't anywhere near in the bottom as much as those two were. 
 

[Arizers]

Anyone notice Rich Marchand gettin slightly creepy w/ Padma while they were tasting Sarah's dish? There's a point where RM talks about how the soup just makes he want to get cozy and cuddle up with.....then Padma cuts him off with BLANKET. Lol. 

Doesn't sound like much but he's givin her the eye like crazy as he's saying it, then his face changes when Padma swats him. Hilarious. 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Arizers

[pally]

I think there may have been less obvious enthusiasm for the announcement of Buddha in the finale because they expected that.  Sarah winning was a surprise.

In the past, they have used family members for the wall challenge.  Besides the obvious Olympics tie-in for this competition making Olympians an easy choice, Buddha's wife is also a chef which would have been an obvious huge advantage for that team over everybody.  Maybe next time instead of them getting their own family member, they are assigned another contestant's family to work with.  

They've had 2 straight seasons of Buddha's food, his challenge is to do something that surprises them for the finale. They already know it will be delicious and beautiful but will that be enough against 2 chef's who consistently have surprised the judges with their flavors

 

[Chickabiddy]

Hmm….well the cynical me is at least content that judging was consistent from last episode to this one. Fail the tromp l’oeil portion of the challenge but move on because the food tastes better. 🙄

Glad this worked in Le Chat’s favor this time given the strong aroma of chicken. As someone posted above, chefs should just ignore the elements of a challenge they don’t like/can’t execute and hope they good tasting food wins the day. What’s the point of having challenge parameters if chefs can ignore them at will and still move on. 😐

Interesting  that  Buddha feels his brother and Mother are his strongest support system. That seems to put his wife in last place behind the dog. 😳

And boy did Gail decide to bring the girls out for a meal or what? Vavavooom. Was this Gail throwing her …um…hat into the ring to replace Padma as the sexy judge? She gets my vote.😉

And before anyone criticizes me for focusing on female appearance, we need to talk about Tom. Tom needs to never ever, ever again where a black turtleneck with a dark jacket. All I could think of was that Uncle Fester came to dinner. Sure, a spiffed up Uncle Fester  with a facial and a fancy red pocket square, but Uncle Fester none the less. Someone needs to fire his stylist.  Ok, that’s shallow me done for the evening. 😘

 

[caitmcg]

23 hours ago, buttersister said:

And that judges table must have gone on for awhile, it kept getting darker and darker (stays light until almost 10 pm this time of year). Glad

The season was filmed last autumn, though, so not when it’s light quite that late. Note how relatively bundled up they were in the outdoor scenes. They have said that judges' table can go for hours, especially when they’ve got a tough decision to make.

20 hours ago, violet and green said:

I was really excited to see all the Michelin-starred chefs enjoying Gabri's plate so much - especially after hearing that when he was five he wanted to own a restaurant in France! I really hope he takes up that 3-Michelin-stars chef's offer up of taking his number and coming to work for him, after the competition at some point, and one day does own his own restaurant in France.

I really hope the judges told Gabri about his comment at some point!

9 hours ago, Lovecat said:

I was thinking about this when they were flailing around in the fancy grocery store.  Gabri and Ali already have 2 languages competing for space in their brains--their mother tongue + English--and then they were thrown into a big store full of French.  That's enough to give anyone a headache.

However, Gabri was the only one of the four proficient enough in French to be able to effectively communicate his needs to the employees, as the editing contrasting this with the others failing to be understood in English pointedly showed.

[HyeChaps]

The NBC synergy kicks in. 
They have started in on the promotions for the 2024 Olympics. 
There will be a big preview next week with Savannah Guthrie. 

[Rai]

I think Suni was giggling out of nervousness, frustration, and the absurdity of the whole situation. I like that QF, but it is kind of ridiculous too. I can't believe an Olympic athlete wouldn't be taking any sort of competitive moment seriously. Different people react and process their emotions in tense moments in different ways. Both Ali and Buddha did great strategy in their directions by describing the ingredients or specifying which amounts to use, and it paid off for them. I was surprised Sara was on the bottom for that one though.

And speaking of Sara, congratulations! She might be the dark horse after all. I've heard it said before that a true test of a French chef is how one prepares a soup. If true, then I think she made one of the smartest dishes AND she was able to course correct. "Technique" isn't always about weird tricks or complicated methods of preparation. It's about how to maximize the flavor of one's ingredients at the end of the cook, and Sara did that.

However, I'm bereft that Ali is gone. Habibi! Hotbibi! Admittedly, the emotional reaction from Gabri at having made it into the finale was pretty moving, even to my cold, dead heart. But I truly thought the story coming together was Buddha, Mr. Technique, against Ali, Mr. Heart. I guess you can still get that with Buddha vs. Gabri and have Sara the Disrupter thrown in there as the wild card, but man. I've been rooting for Ali since the first episode, and I'm legit shocked he's out at this stage. Still, the judges' critiques made it pretty clear who was in danger. No Michelin-starred chef was offering Ali a job any time he wanted it like that one guy did for Gabri.

Who will win -- Buddha

Who I'm most rooting for -- Sara

Who I'm rooting for just to freak everyone out and cause a riot -- Gabri

[susannot]

Gabri Rodriguez Deserves to Win 'Top Chef: World All-Stars' - PRIMETIMER

 

I agree with this article on the front page.  Gabri's win would be a nod to the concept of World All-Stars.  I think if he pulls off a dinner of elevated, modern Mexican cuisine he can do it.  I'm looking forward to the sous chefs.  Undoubtedly Ali, Amar, and Tom.  Who else?

[Irlandesa]

On 6/2/2023 at 3:39 PM, RoseAllDay said:

I just watched this again and she definitely was not taking it as seriously as the rest of the athletes. Ali and his partner had a similar language deficit and she took the time to listen and ask questions to make sure she understood what he wanted. Lee didn’t do that, at least not in a meaningful way. I will say that Gabri should have described the pepper he wanted better, but again she should have asked questions. She was being cutesy, which would get on my last nerve PDQ.

I just see it as nervousness because she was the youngest athlete there.  And the judge did say he almost liked her version more than his version.  I don't think it's much of a surprise that the winning dish happened to be with the oldest Olympian. 

I thought the QF was a lot of fun because it was pretty low stakes.  Ali got a great prize but they were equal for the final challenge. 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Irlandesa

[Guest]

On 6/2/2023 at 9:01 AM, potatoradio said:

 I might watch a Buddha and Gabri spin off show. They crack me up together - Buddha's deadpan expression as Gabri flies around like a maniac. Plus, they cook great dishes together, as seen in a past challenge.

I wish this season had had an earlier start on the Buddha and Gabri pair. It happened so organically and yes I think they could do a Two Hot Tamales type show (waaay back machine required for reference) personality wise. Ali and Amar were cool but it kind of felt forced to me from the get go so I never meshed with them. Buddha had the best line, they come as a bundle, said off the cuff and in humor but that line just reinforced my annoyance with those two. 

Is it going to be a final three or final two this year?

[gorgy]

Slightly miffed about Ali going home. 999 times out of a 1000, if the cheftestant failed to meet the challenge criteria, Tom “Mr Persnickety” Colicchio would have packed their knives himself. This isn’t some slight at Gabri (although being a lifelong Yankees fans has tempered my affection toward “the underdog”). I like him. If he wanted me to move down and help him on his farm or in any other areas, I’d consider it (this is moving into a different sort of forum post…) Anyway, Ali’s dish must have really sucked (relative to the others) for him to be sent home over sentimental favorite Gabri. Maybe it’s Tom softening with age, maybe it’s the magic of tv editing, maybe it’s Maybelline.

[CrazyInAlabama]

1 hour ago, susannot said:

Gabri Rodriguez Deserves to Win 'Top Chef: World All-Stars' - PRIMETIMER

 

I agree with this article on the front page.  Gabri's win would be a nod to the concept of World All-Stars.  I think if he pulls off a dinner of elevated, modern Mexican cuisine he can do it.  I'm looking forward to the sous chefs.  Undoubtedly Ali, Amar, and Tom.  Who else?

I wouldn't want Tom for a sous chef, he has too many accidents that impacted the other chefs.    

[Ellee]

At the end of the show, you can see Buddha and Gabri with their sous but it doesn’t show Sara’s.  Well at least that’s how I saw it. 
 

Spoiler

Buddha and Ali, Gabri and Tom, Sara and ??  I’m assuming it is Amar.  I’m also guessing Sara win means 1st pick, Buddha 2nd pick with Gabri 3rd.  

 

[violet and green]

4 hours ago, gorgy said:

Slightly miffed about Ali going home. 999 times out of a 1000, if the cheftestant failed to meet the challenge criteria, Tom “Mr Persnickety” Colicchio would have packed their knives himself. This isn’t some slight at Gabri (although being a lifelong Yankees fans has tempered my affection toward “the underdog”). I like him. If he wanted me to move down and help him on his farm or in any other areas, I’d consider it (this is moving into a different sort of forum post…) Anyway, Ali’s dish must have really sucked (relative to the others) for him to be sent home over sentimental favorite Gabri. Maybe it’s Tom softening with age, maybe it’s the magic of tv editing, maybe it’s Maybelline.

I think when a chef with 3 Michelin stars offers to have Gabri take his number and come and work with him, it gives you an idea of how exciting the dish was to the guest chefs. Ali using a mushroom as a steak was good, but his other elements were flawed (the pomegranate, for example) and there was not enough done to elevate the mushroom steak.

Gabri may have had chicken flavour at the forefront in some ways, but he also had multiple mushroom elements (even with the mushroom cookie he left off, running out of time) and the elements he did have were so well spiced and interesting all the guest chefs exclaimed. He di not fail to meet the criteria of the challenge. I think Tom was making a valid point, but bearing in mind all the other mushroom elements on Gabri's plate, it was never a close race in that cook.

[Norma Desmond]

I was more sad than I expected when Ali was PYKAG'd. I really like all 4 finalists, and all of them deserved to be there. Buddha and Sara have been my favorites all along, but I'd be happy if Gabri won too. He is a fine chef; maybe not made for the constraints of a competiton of this kind, but fine nonetheless, and he's got a bright future ahead of him. Sara cooks with her heart; Buddha is technical brilliance and Gabri has the best backstory, I was genuinely moved by his speech of "I give my all to the kitchen cause the  kitchen gave me all" and his story.

 

May the best  chef win. This has been a great, lovely season, and was apleasure to watch.

 

Oh and Padma? Please don't go! I will miss you and your radiant beauty.

 

[RoseAllDay]

7 minutes ago, Norma Desmond said:

I was more sad than I expected when Ali was PYKAG'd. I really like all 4 finalists, and all of them deserved to be there. Buddha and Sara have been my favorites all along, but I'd be happy if Gabri won too. He is a fine chef; maybe not made for the constraints of a competiton of this kind, but fine nonetheless, and he's got a bright future ahead of him. Sara cooks with her heart; Buddha is technical brilliance and Gabri has the best backstory, I was genuinely moved by his speech of "I give my all to the kitchen cause the  kitchen gave me all" and his story.

 

May the best  chef win. This has been a great, lovely season, and was apleasure to watch.

 

Oh and Padma? Please don't go! I will miss you and your radiant beauty.

 

Agreed! I love Top Chef, because despite the competitiveness, you can tell their love for food and cooking bonds. This season especially has been a pleasure to watch.

Wait…wut? Padma leaving? Say it ain’t so. She IS Top Chef.

[Leeds]

On 6/2/2023 at 12:38 PM, Pandora said:

Suni Lee is the reigning Olympic individual champion, not sure how much more known you can get in Olympic circles.

The two para athletes are less of household names but I’m glad Top Chef chose them to both highlight their own talents and the Paralympics in general. It’s more of TC doing good where they can, imho.

"Olympic circles" yes, but the three most popular spectator sports in the US are football, basketball and baseball.  Take 100 fans from these three sports and ask them to name a current American Olympic hurdler or gymnast and I'm pretty sure most of them would be hard pressed to do so.  Which is why I said "relatively" unknown.

On 6/2/2023 at 9:27 AM, MerBearHou said:

  I wish she'd stop calling the men "boys".  It's fine once, but she does it a lot.  I find her to be irritating.  I do love mushroom soup and hers sounded delicious, but mostly, I am underwhelmed by her food.  

I also wish she'd stop saying "bitch" and "bitches".  It doesn't make you edgy or hip, Sara, and your mother and the other good ladies of Paducah are probably cringing.

[Norma Desmond]

11 minutes ago, RoseAllDay said:

Wait…wut? Padma leaving? Say it ain’t so. She IS Top Chef.

Yep :(

 

She truly *is* Top Chef. More so than Tom.

[jcbrown]

On 6/2/2023 at 10:54 AM, Lovecat said:

I was thinking about this when they were flailing around in the fancy grocery store.  Gabri and Ali already have 2 languages competing for space in their brains--their mother tongue + English--and then they were thrown into a big store full of French.  That's enough to give anyone a headache.  OTOH, Victoire would have had a big leg up had she made it this far.  

It is definitely exhausting to work in a second language, no matter how fluent you are.  My Spanish (particularly reading comprehension) is pretty good, and I can carry on a business conversation in about 60-75% Spanish, but I have to write my notes in English, which means that even if I don't have to mentally translate something that's been said in order to understand it, I do in order to write it down.  So tiring.  It fascinates me how Gabri sometimes talks to himself in Spanish (particularly when counting) and sometimes in English.

I had to laugh at Buddha's talking head, though:  My French is pretty good...no, that's a lie, my French is rubbish.

I think it depends on how your brain works. I started studying French and Spanish at about the same time and stuck with French for like seven years before I decided to also learn some German. It was much more natural for me to take my German notes in German-to-French, rather than letting English into the equation (and my teacher, who was from Colombia, used to want to read my notes after class because she was studying French). It's like my brain has a space for "native language" and a space for "other" and staying on the "other" side is easier than switching back and forth. Mileage varies, obviously.

I love love loved this episode. I enjoyed how supportive they all were of each other, I enjoyed watching talented people work, I love that the producers don't push fake drama. This was just about a perfect episode, IMHO, except that they could not all go through to the final.

 

[Talented Tenth]

Gabri is so annoying to me.  He always screws up and skates by.  

[Chickabiddy]

4 hours ago, Talented Tenth said:

Gabri is so annoying to me.  He always screws up and skates by.  

I don’t know. Is he skating by or is that even with screw ups, his food is still THAT good. No matter his flubs, the quality of what he brings out is still better than the competition. It’s not like he’s skating by in Top Chef Season 1 where half the competitors were practically home cooks or culinary dilettantes. Gabri won Top Chef Mexico and has managed to hold his own against some of the best chefs in the world. 
 

Maybe Gabri is exhibiting a  wild frenetic side of genius in all its messiness and mistakes that is the flip side to Buddha’s focused, calculated, and disciplined genius. Both got them to the finale. And while one may have a significant edge in term of winning, I know who I much rather have dinner with. I’m in good company - that Michelin starred chef wanted Gabri’s number, too. 😜

 

 

[catrice2]

So excited to see gabri still here.  It was also nice to see him acknowledged by a judge.

Still sad about Ali.

The show has a formula so Padma leaving will be interesting because I am mot sure it will make a big difference.

Wonder if they give her some kind of tribute in the last episode and that's why she announced it now. 

 

[jpgr]

17 hours ago, jcbrown said:

I think it depends on how your brain works. I started studying French and Spanish at about the same time and stuck with French for like seven years before I decided to also learn some German. It was much more natural for me to take my German notes in German-to-French, rather than letting English into the equation (and my teacher, who was from Colombia, used to want to read my notes after class because she was studying French). It's like my brain has a space for "native language" and a space for "other" and staying on the "other" side is easier than switching back and forth. Mileage varies, obviously.

Same here - I majored in French but started learning Russian my junior year and my brain went Russian -> French -> English and back.

I'm happy with the finalists, and glad that Sara won that challenge with her soup. Can't wait for the finale!

[dleighg]

I appreciate Buddha's expertise but would really love to see Sara win. Her attitude is so great, and she seems very real. If Buddha wins, he will certainly have earned it.

[tinderbox]

I honestly will be happy with any of the final three winning, although I do have a soft spot for Gabri. ❤️  I’ve enjoyed this season tremendously.  Hate to see it end.

[ILuvShibaInus]

On 6/4/2023 at 4:09 AM, Talented Tenth said:

Gabri is so annoying to me.  He always screws up and skates by.  

We know Buddha was a lock for final three and since Sara was another American, they needed a non-American chef for the third spot. And they chose Gabri - the chef with six bottom placements. People will say he won Top Chef Mexico, had a great human interest story and I've seen people say on other social media, "well, he was never the worst." Is that the description of a (potential) Top Chef winner- "never the worst?" The chef with the worst track record versus the chef with the best - like that is not stacked in Buddha's favor. LOL. He was Dawn Part 2 and if they have another season with someone "skating by" and getting questionably pushed through to the end, then they really need a new script.  

[snarktini]

On 6/2/2023 at 3:54 AM, Leeds said:

I usually like the wall challenge because it's a funny hot mess - but not at this stage of the competition. And so much for fulfilling the brief of World All Stars - they could only drag up 4 relatively unknown American athletes?  Which also meant an inherent disadvantage for the non-native English speakers.

It was patently unfair challenge. The wall challenge is already meant to make communication hard - adding in strong accents is just mean. Either rework the challenge, or pair them with someone who speaks the chef's preferred language.

However, it didn't affect the outcome of the show.

On 6/2/2023 at 10:11 AM, Heathrowe said:

Yes and also - someone mentioned he was the only one who had a language barrier to deal with. I noticed it when he told her to use Coriander and she was like - what's that?  Because we say cilantro in the US. I think the language thing has been very under-rated this series, I worked for a German company for years and even listening to them speak English with a heavy German accent exhausted me! I can't imagine how my colleagues felt speaking in another language for hours or days if we were together. (I tried to learn German and failed.) Anyway - it's tiring in the brain, and I think it definitely led to some challenge misunderstandings for Begona and Victoire, I think. So hats off to all the international chefs, and I guess Buddha is technically not American....I wish the final 3 were a little more international!

Yeah, it's unfortunate that the competition was always going to favor the chefs who are the most comfortable with English and who know the norms / challenges / judges of US Top Chef. Language on top of fatigue and stress must be brutal. I don't know what the fix would be.

On 6/2/2023 at 12:30 PM, HurricaneVal said:

Though, to be fair, when he told Suni to get the poblano chile, and she held up what looked like an Anaheim and asked if it was the green pepper looking thing, and he--holding his squatty, dark, poblano pepper--said "yes" and then they both went forward thinking they were both right.  When Suni said "green pepper" she was thinking color, and when Gabri heard "green pepper" and agreed he was thinking shape. 
 

I was confused in that interaction. How does green mean shape? Why did he think one green pepper was more obvious than the other? That was such an understandable mistake, he should have noticed there were two green peppers and said something about size.

On 6/3/2023 at 7:24 PM, violet and green said:

I think when a chef with 3 Michelin stars offers to have Gabri take his number and come and work with him, it gives you an idea of how exciting the dish was to the guest chefs.

Good point! I wasn't sure which would go home or which I thought deserved to go home -- after all, I didn't get to taste the food -- but this really cements why they would keep Gabri.

Edited July 28, 2023 by snarktini