S20.E14: Fin.

[Pj3422]

I started out thinking, “I’m happy with whoever wins.” because I’ve liked nearly every contestant on this season. 

But when Buddha won, I realized I was only content with a Buddha or Gabri win; a Sara win would’ve made me happy. 

And I’m slightly surprised that Amar won Fan Favorite. 

Oh, well, now time to speculate over who will try to fill Padma’s shoes. 

[JTMacc99]

14 hours ago, susannot said:

Boring and bad TV.  

This is because Buddha is so smart, so well prepared, so in control. He is absolutely terrific at the game aspect of Top Chef.

He's not just a great chef. He also nails every part of what a person needs to do to win this game. 

As a person who frequently get agitated by people who have all the skills in the world to win competitive reality shows but don't understand there is an entire gameplay component they need to respect (from people who can't manage time on Top Chef to people who don't know how to bet correctly on Jeopardy), I rather enjoy Buddha's style. 

[MerBearHou]

3 minutes ago, Pj3422 said:

And I’m slightly surprised that Amar won Fan Favorite. 

Love this news!  I had missed that.  He got all of my votes.  Lovely guy -- delighted for him.

[Jamaraz]

This is a TV show, and the producers want an element of excitement. It was pretty clear to me that Buddha was far and away the best chef in both of his seasons. The guy knows how to create elevated cuisine. The judges might gush over more rustic dishes, but they clearly appreciate refined dishes. I think the judges downplay their reactions to Buddha's dishes because it would have been obvious he was the winner, which wouldn't make for good television. 

I also have no issue with Buddha's approach to the competition.  He's a competitive guy and prepared for all possible scenarios. He is a talented chef who studied before the competition began. That's awesome, although not quite as exciting as Gabri's craziness in the kitchen.

[JTMacc99]

8 minutes ago, Jamaraz said:

That's awesome, although not quite as exciting as Gabri's craziness in the kitchen.

Heh. Gabri is good TV. He's a big hugger too.

I do love how well both Gabri and Sarah did in the final here. I get the sense that each of them are perfectly capable of running a Michelin Star restaurant, but you know, a smaller destination kind of place. Somewhere with a limited number of tables, a little off the beaten path, where they can put all of their considerable creativity and talent into absolutely delicious food. 

Buddha on the other hand, it's easy to see him in a big city chasing after the third Michelin star. 

[carrps]

Yeah, trophies are important to Buddha.

[JTMacc99]

Based on some of the stories Buddha has told about his experiences growing up, I think it's less the trophies and more the validation that is important to him. 

A lot of very successful people have an internal drive like his.

[marybennet]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Padma tearing up at the end of the tasting got me in the throat knowing she is leaving.  Too bad they couldn't mention it at the end of the show.  Maybe she didn't want anyone to know at that point

I saw something where Tom said that he’d found out about Padma’s leaving only a few minutes before she posted her announcement.  I wonder if keeping it to herself made that last judges’ table even more an emotional event for her.

[RoseAllDay]

2 hours ago, carrps said:

Oh, gawd, my mom, too. I had to leave the house when it was cooking it smelled so bad.

Yeah, ho hum finale for a pretty great season.

On edit: I just wanted to say that I'm not impugning anyone's taste who likes liver. My mom liked liver and ate it, too, besides cooking it for the dog. I just don't like it. My sister and I were talking recently about picky eaters, and I said I couldn't think of any food I hated. And she said "liver." And I said, oh, yeah. I hate liver. LOL.

 

I had to eat liver as a kid, I hated it, and I cringed when Sara said she was going to serve it in the final. It took every ounce of fortitude on my part to eat it, because I had no choice. I still remember my folks telling me it “was good for my blood.” Yeah? So? It was still gross to me. Maybe it was the way they fixed it. But it’s something I’ve not eaten in years, and would never order off a menu. My ex, however, loves it, so to each his own.

Sara had no choice but to plate it, but raw? How did that happen?

[sATL]

spoiler alert:  "your contactless MasterCard will allow you to..."

forget the answer - Padma just had to say something extra too many times about food shopping

[RoseAllDay]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

I agree on that one, but his "rose-shaped ice cream" or whatever that mold thing was left me cold (pun not intended). It really looked very old-fashioned to me, and reminded me of those butter roses that "fancy" restaurants sometimes served back in the day (and they were uselessly rock hard to keep their shape!)

Speaking of buddha's dessert, what was he doing with that liquid nitrogen at the end of creating his dessert?

It looked like Ali threw something in it — like he was flicking water from his hands…I dunno. 

[Leeds]

16 minutes ago, RoseAllDay said:

I had to eat liver as a kid, I hated it, and I cringed when Sara said she was going to serve it in the final. It took every ounce of fortitude on my part to eat it, because I had no choice. I still remember my folks telling me it “was good for my blood.” Yeah? So? It was still gross to me. Maybe it was the way they fixed it. But it’s something I’ve not eaten in years, and would never order off a menu. My ex, however, loves it, so to each his own.

 

We once went to a restaurant with our very young (think around five and seven) children.  As a joke, the restaurant had kids' menus with items like brussels sprouts and liver.  Before the waiter had the chance to give them the "real" kids' menus, they tried to order from it.  They ended up ordering from the regular menu because they had no interest in a PB&J sandwich or hotdog or the other dumbed down "restaurant" food aimed at children. 

[sATL]

I wish the finale had the last 4 chefs - meaning include Ali. He had a bad day over shrooms (that only grow on horse manure?) but I think he would have brough it to the finale round.

[South]

What are the chances that we will see food served on the backs of diners/judges hands next season?  It was beautifully done last night, but I can imagine endless, absurd possibilities.

[sATL]

41 minutes ago, RoseAllDay said:

I had to eat liver as a kid, I hated it, and I cringed when Sara said she was going to serve it in the final. It took every ounce of fortitude on my part to eat it, because I had no choice. I still remember my folks telling me it “was good for my blood.” Yeah? So? It was still gross to me. Maybe it was the way they fixed it. But it’s something I’ve not eaten in years, and would never order off a menu. My ex, however, loves it, so to each his own.

Sara had no choice but to plate it, but raw? How did that happen?

Yep - last liver I had was at the parents - when I moved out , that was the last time I ate that dish.

Actually I was in a restaurant , in the midwest, just before memorial day, that had Liver and onions on the menu. I just figured there is a market of eaters back for that dish and/or it is one of the cheaper cuts of meat - given how food costs have risen.  I don't know which animal the liver was from where I was, but I think chicken livers is a delicacy in many restaurants in ATL.

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by sATL

[MerBearHou]

27 minutes ago, RoseAllDay said:

It looked like Ali threw something in it — like he was flicking water from his hands…I dunno. 

Editing-wise, I thought that was a cool moment to see.

When Helene served the caviar on the side of everyone's hands and they all oohed and aahhed, I had the thought that some would criticize Buddha if he tried that.  The food she prepared last night reminded me very much of his.

[Leeds]

On 6/8/2023 at 10:19 PM, HappyDancex2 said:

Liver is harder to cook than sweetbreads lol and maybe the creaminess of sweetbreads would have cut that cookie butter flavor down a bit.

 

Adding cookie butter (ie Speculoos/Biscotti) to "creamy" sweetbreads sounds utterly revolting, and I'm an adventurous eater.  If any regular denizens of Padukah (Sara's favourite customers) tried it with no context  and not knowing sweetbreads are neither sweet nor bread, they are going to be asking themselves "Is it an attempt at an avant garde appetizer?", "Is it a daring main?" or "Is it a hip dessert?" while reaching for the barf bucket.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Leeds
Spelling of Padukah

[dleighg]

18 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

When Helene served the caviar on the side of everyone's hands and they all oohed and aahhed,

That was awfully "precious." Do they warn you not to use hand cream before dining there? I don't think I'd typically want to eat off my hand.

[sATL]

The smaller Mexican food store didn't have plantains for Gabri ? What was the final count of pots of food that he burned ? He must have a thing about not using too much water to boil beans & lentils..

Edited June 9, 2023 by sATL

[dleighg]

1 minute ago, sATL said:

The smaller Mexican food store didn't have plantains for Gabri ?

I noted that above and was similarly mystified. 

[nokat]

2 hours ago, Leeds said:

I think that some of the antipathy/apathy regarding Buddha is that, just as I and others suffer from RBF*, he has RSF - Resting Serious Face.

 

*Resting Bitch Face".

More like RNF - Resting Nothing Face.  Or poker face. He has the techniques down, that is for sure. I admired all three chefs and was happy enough with the win.

2 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

This is because Buddha is so smart, so well prepared, so in control. He is absolutely terrific at the game aspect of Top Chef.

He's not just a great chef. He also nails every part of what a person needs to do to win this game. 

I had said something similar earlier in the season. He's an excellent contestant as well as chef.

[sATL]

how many michelin stars does Tom have? They give a count of everyone else - but I don't recall his number. Tom said he hasn't cooked in 2 years . Why ? covid closed all his restaurants and he couldn't reopen/ recover back ?

Edited June 9, 2023 by sATL

[rhofmovalley]

1 hour ago, Leeds said:

they had no interest in a PB&J sandwich or hotdog or the other dumbed down "restaurant" food aimed at children. 

This reminds me of my former husband's brother's wedding dinner. They had stations set up self serve style (which was great because no one has to wait to be served and no one had to serve). Know what station ran out of food? The "kids" station that had chicken nuggets, mini corn dogs and mini pizzas. The kids weren't getting a chance to have any of it because the grownups were hogging all of the food that was intended for the kids. 

I wonder if Buddha will either be ineligible to compete in any further seasons or if he'll be able to participate if they ever do a Top Chef Masters season again. He's just so far ahead of everyone else it's almost not even fair. But he seems to crave competing. Maybe an appearance on Iron Chef if that still exists. 

[Tess23]

I'll say right up front that I'm team Sara all the way. We had the absolute pleasure of dining in her restaurant last month and I'll be dreaming about that dinner (particular my cover crops with shrimp entree) for quite some time.

Based on Padma's outburst about the liver, I'm 100% positive that the contest was Sara's to lose...and she did.

Maybe it's just me, but I sensed a big lack of enthusiasm about Buddha's dishes overall from the judges - they loved the appearance of all four course and talked about how delicious they were, but I never did hear the 'oh my gosh, this is incredible.' Their comments regarding Buddha's food seemed slightly robotic. My daughter lives in NYC and we dine in Michelin star restaurants enough that I'm sure that's where Buddha is heading and that's fine. He has a niche and will be a success in life. I just hope that people don't confuse his 'urban chef' with being better than Sara's "I'm a chef from rural Kentucky." Personally, I'll take the fresh ingredients used creatively and cooked with love any day. YMMV.

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Tess23
Edited because I need to learn how to spell the winner's name

[dleighg]

@Tess23 I think you nailed it. Buddha has his "fancy fancy" niche, but while I (very) occasionally eat that way, it isn't really my thing. I think (hope) all three of them will succeed in the way they want to succeed.

Does Gabri have a restaurant?

[LennieBriscoe]

Raise your hand if you thought it would be Anybody But Buddha. 

No-one? Heh.

All the mentions of his "technique" were the BIG CLUE! But I must say, he knows how to present an absolutely beautiful plate of food. That butterfly! That dessert flower! 

Gabri was dinged ever so slightly for his 1st Course. Clearly Sara lost with the raw liver (maybe she needed a nice Chianti?).

Still do not want grasshoppers! Or anything named burgoo! 

❤  ➡️ Gabri, but 🥇 ➡️ Buddha! 👏👏👏

 

[barshi50]

Sara's dessert sounded delicious, but why did she serve just a couple of crumbles instead of a slice or a cube?

[pally]

I said in the previous episode thread that the biggest challenge Buddha would have in the finale would be that he wouldn't surprise the judges (and he didn't) whereas both could and did surprise them.

Sarah's undercooked liver is just not acceptable at this level so it didn't matter how good the other 3 dishes were especially since the other 2 didn't make any game-changing errors. I thought Gabri put together the menu I wanted to try the most but his too thick overcooked grasshopper thing and his textureless dessert did him in.  Buddha just didn't make any errors that would give the win to someone else.

I think Sarah grew the most as a chef.  She has finally figured out how to mesh her food with upscale ingredients and international flavors.  I can't wait to see what she does with her menu going farther.

Gabri's restaurant would be the most fun.  His growth came in finally really embracing his Mexican food heritage (except for the bean cooking).  He just needs some fine tuning but maybe in his own kitchen his cooking style isn't quite as frentic.

I would love to sit at a chef's table and watch him cook.  He needs to embrace making his food and menus playful and fun because he has the flavors down

I'll miss Padma

Tom seemed like he's been having more fun this season than in years

 

 

[bosawks]

And just when I didn’t think I could hate liver more than I already did…..

[violet and green]

10 hours ago, blixie said:

The all clearly loved the Pea Cake best of any dish, so no they weren't all "equal".

As I said, individual judges liked one more than the other. Tom was nuts for Sara's, for instance. But Tom, even so, declared that round equal in terms of no one chef winning it overall. I rewatched, as I was confused by the edit, and what I remembered and thought Gabri would win.

[sATL]

54 minutes ago, barshi50 said:

Sara's dessert sounded delicious, but why did she serve just a couple of crumbles instead of a slice or a cube?

I never understood the serving sizes of elimination dishes on this show. It's not really enough food to see what it tastes like. Gail always says the next bite, as I kept eating- which doesn't make sense sometimes. The peas seemed large compared to the cake slither. 

I will leave the "delicacy" of pea-cake alone-except : 1-it sounds like something created to get kids to eat their veggies. 2-maybe she should have made that on the trick-a-dish-illusion challenge.

And since it's such a small portion- why not throw undercooked meat on the flattop/pan/broiler?

Edited June 10, 2023 by sATL

[Leeds]

38 minutes ago, pally said:

 

Gabri's restaurant would be the most fun.  His growth came in finally really embracing his Mexican food heritage (except for the bean cooking).  He just needs some fine tuning but maybe in his own kitchen his cooking style isn't quite as frentic.

 

Best neologism of the day @pally - frenetic + frantic + hectic = frentic = Gabri 😉

[violet and green]

6 hours ago, dleighg said:

I agree on that one, but his "rose-shaped ice cream" or whatever that mold thing was left me cold (pun not intended). It really looked very old-fashioned to me, and reminded me of those butter roses that "fancy" restaurants sometimes served back in the day (and they were uselessly rock hard to keep their shape!)

Speaking of buddha's dessert, what was he doing with that liquid nitrogen at the end of creating his dessert?

He was I am guessing blasting the molds with the flower-shaped ice cream in them to form the "roses".

[Bastet]

6 minutes ago, sATL said:

And since it's such a small portion- why not throw undercooked meat on the flattop/pan/broiler?

She didn't have time; she said if she'd sliced it earlier, she'd have been able to do just that.

[buttersister]

Quote

Speculoos/Biscotti

Da best. But a little dab will do ya.

As for the 70s plating, Buddha reminded me of a very old school restaurant in Chicago (Les Nomads), 4-star, expensive prix fixe, white table clothes, tuxedo'd waiters, formal French-style service (waiters remove the covers from plates in unison). Been there. Never needed to go back.

Sara knew the liver sank her. But not with as much certainty as Padma did. Felt that, Padma, for sure. That Sara could take her ingredients and turn out what looked to be something the table of judges loved (mushroom soup, anyone?) shows me her talent and growth and emotion on a plate. Sara, can you GoldBelly some of that matzo ball soup to me?

My Jewish mother and grandmother (not German) made liver and onions, it was on the menu at the local delis and the recipe is in my copy of the 2nd Ave. Deli cookbook. FWIW.

Edited June 10, 2023 by buttersister

[violet and green]

2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

She didn't have time; she said if she'd sliced it earlier, she'd have been able to do just that.

I don't like Sara much, didn't like her on her previous season - but I really felt for her with that major mistake on the liver. She must be kicking herself. If she'd kept shopping, like Buddha and Gabri, she would it is reasonably likely in a city like Paris have found her sweatbreads, also.  But she was all, nah, on the slicing of the liver earlier that Amar suggested quite earnestly - even after having gone out on undercooked meat prior - so that relaxed manner bit her in the end.

Liver, aside. Everything else might have tasted amazing, but having not eaten meat in decades, her menu was seriously revolting to me. That relish as she described the parts of the small creatures stuffed inside the other parts... I almost fainted! Serving raw liver was an error from which there was no return, even with the pea cake.

 

[RoseAllDay]

4 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

This reminds me of my former husband's brother's wedding dinner. They had stations set up self serve style (which was great because no one has to wait to be served and no one had to serve). Know what station ran out of food? The "kids" station that had chicken nuggets, mini corn dogs and mini pizzas. The kids weren't getting a chance to have any of it because the grownups were hogging all of the food that was intended for the kids. 

if Buddha will either be ineligible to compete in any further seasons or if he'll be able to participate if they ever do a Top Chef Masters season again. He's just so far ahead of everyone else it's almost not even fair. But he seems to crave competing. Maybe an appearance on Iron Chef if that still exists. 

I can see him appearing as a guest QF judge, an elimination judge, or a diner. I can’t see him coming back as a contestant on TC. What more is there for him to win? I know it would kill any interest I’d have in watching. He is a GOAT. Let him go.

Another commenter above said the judges seemed bored with Buddha’s dishes. Not bored — they just knew what to expect after 10 shows. As did we all.
 

 

[Leeds]

9 hours ago, Yeah No said:

 

As far as liver and onions go, I realize it's a dish Sara's mother made, but I didn't think it was a particularly Jewish dish.  Having part Jewish ancestry and growing up in a very Jewish area I am not aware of liver and onions specifically as part of Jewish cuisine.  Online sources claim it's closest association is with German food, so perhaps that's the connection because most Ashkenazi Jewish food originated in Germany or Eastern Europe.

 

I wondered about this, since often liver plus onions fried in tons of chicken schmaltz (fat) in a Jewish contact would be chopped liver, ie, a smooth pâté including hard-boiled eggs, not separately presented liver and onions, which to me is generally food for someone on a budget, common during WWII Europe for example.

[LennieBriscoe]

Liver and onions (always calf liver when my mother made it):

https://mobile-cuisine.com/did-you-know/liver-and-onion-fun-facts/

 

 

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, Leeds said:

I wondered about this, since often liver plus onions fried in tons of chicken schmaltz (fat) in a Jewish contact would be chopped liver, ie, a smooth pâté including hard-boiled eggs, not separately presented liver and onions, which to me is generally food for someone on a budget, common during WWII Europe for example.

If you google on "liver and onions" recipe, pretty much every recipe calls for beef or calves liver.   Google on "Jewish chopped liver recipe" and pretty much every recipe calls for chicken liver.  I've actually been to a couple of delis that made it with calves liver but they were the exceptions.

[HappyDancex2]

Sara had time to cut into 2 liver pieces.  I would have flung that puppy across the room into a fryer at that point!!!  Pretty much something would have been better than nothing…there was no time for the salamander.  I still want to try that cake!

[Norma Desmond]

I didn't let out a scream (of joy) when Buddha was announced as the winner. Nope, not me.

I was thinking Gabri would win, based on the comments of his meal being audacious (Buddha's got few compliments except for praising his technical skills). I thought Buddha's seemed tame and almost boring in contrast (based on the comments, but that was the editors trying to to fool us, I guess). Buddha is so freaking great. He truly is. Maybe Sara would have a chance if not for the raw liver.

 

Loved the season, loved the winner. Buddha is a force to be reckoned with, and I think he's going to achieve many great things. He is in a league of his own.

[HappyDancex2]

Buddha’s food looks a lot like Eric Ripert (clutches pearls)….that whole fussy genre doesn’t make it for me anymore.  I’ve kicked Fancy Fussy Pants cuisine and modernist multi course upside down balloons lets eat nitro ice cream smashed right on the table cuisine to the back burner.  I guess I got tired of leaving the restaurant a whole lot lighter in cash but still craving a slice of pizza that might feel like a mouthful of food 😂

I did catch Tom C’s little comment to Buddha on the kitchen walkthrough that he probably wouldn’t be doing a third TC.  Not sure how we were supposed to take that but I took it as Buddha was already too good for this format.  Unless he truly took a whizz in the soup it was his to lose.  His sheer amount in his technique bag is pretty impressive.

I think the only thing that stood out wonky to me about Buddha is the way he stands.  He seems like he already has a lot of back problems and his feet are almost super ducked out.  I noticed in the stand lines he’s often standing askew like his feet were screwed in too tight.  I think working on a line has messed with his neck alignment.  Egoscue could really help.  He’s too young.

[Steph Sometimes]

8 hours ago, nokat said:

More like RNF - Resting Nothing Face.  Or poker face. 

Except when someone else gets complimented. Maybe it was editing, but he did not look too happy when they were praising Sara's dessert.

Was Sara's dessert made with pea puree? Anyone remember the pea puree scandal from years ago? Good times.

Not the biggest fan of Buddha. I think there's this know-it-all quality where a judge or someone will mention a restaurant or famous chef or obscure ingredient, and he has to get a word in about it. That being said, I admire his talent, and it was clear his food was overall the best of the night, so he definitely deserved it.

It is interesting to think about the disadvantages the non-American contestants faced, whether it was language barriers or unfamiliar challenges (RW) that didn't make the playing field completely even. 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Steph Sometimes

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, Leeds said:

I wondered about this, since often liver plus onions fried in tons of chicken schmaltz (fat) in a Jewish contact would be chopped liver, ie, a smooth pâté including hard-boiled eggs, not separately presented liver and onions, which to me is generally food for someone on a budget, common during WWII Europe for example.

Was going to say same. That’s how I make chopped liver. With a lot of onions. And it’s chicken liver. 

Edited June 10, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

I only tuned in to this because @Bastet had discussed the grasshoppers on another thread. I enjoyed it, though. I had stopped watching this show years ago because I lost patience with the competition routine. I love Padma too.  Sorry to see her go. 
So the grasshoppers. I guess I’d actually have tried them because he disguised them as grasshopper dust. As they say, lobsters and insects are all related, and I love lobsters. 
Since I hadn’t been watching all along I wasn’t as familiar with Buddha, and I’d love to try his food, but I was rooting for Sara. They really loved her burgoo and the dessert but she couldn’t surmount the liver disaster. 

Edited June 10, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

I think it would be a great prize in some kind of contest to sit at that judges’ table. I think what finally made me stop watching these shows was that I couldn’t taste the food. I got tired of just watching food. This finale reminded me that I should finally check out Marcus Samuelson’s Harlem restaurant. Years ago I once tried his Acquavit. 

Edited June 10, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I guess I’d actually have tried them because he disguised them as grasshopper dust. As they say, lobsters and insects are all related, and I love lobsters. 

years ago I had fried crickets in a taco-like thing in Puerto Vallarta. They were basically crunchy-salty, which is what these grasshoppers looked like. But I think in addition to the pulverized grasshoppers, there were visible ones on the tostada or whatever it was.

[violet and green]

4 hours ago, Steph Sometimes said:

Except when someone else gets complimented. Maybe it was editing, but he did not look too happy when they were praising Sara's dessert.

She returned the compliment by looking extremely sour when Buddha's courses won praise.

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

years ago I had fried crickets in a taco-like thing in Puerto Vallarta. They were basically crunchy-salty, which is what these grasshoppers looked like. But I think in addition to the pulverized grasshoppers, there were visible ones on the tostada or whatever it was.

I kept trying to figure that out!!  They never focused long enough, and I was too lazy to go back and pause.