Season 21: Last Chance Kitchen

[dleighg]

Tom had a pretty liberal definition of "sandwich." I would have thought it should be something you could pick up? Fried banana as the "bread"? I definitely thought Kaleena's looked the tastiest. I thought Soo's sandwich was just weird. But I guess it tasted good.

As for the bites, I liked Kaleena's best there as well. Once again, Soo's looked odd. But I guess his risks pay off.

[Rammchick]

29 minutes ago, dleighg said:

Tom had a pretty liberal definition of "sandwich." I would have thought it should be something you could pick up? Fried banana as the "bread"?

It's a "thing".  It's like that sandwich KFC makes where the "buns" are fried chicken cutlets.

[Ancaster]

11 hours ago, dleighg said:

Does anyone remember a cooking competition show called "The Taste" where everything had to be presented on a spoon for blind judging? I think Nigella Lawson was one of the judges, and maybe Brian Malarky. It didn't last long LOL.

I think these should have been presented on a spoon, myself.

Ludo Lefebre was a judge too, and Anthony Bourdain.  Lefrebre can be a dick, but he has an accent to die for!

9 hours ago, Bastet said:

Since I loathe egg yolk, I didn't want to eat anything in the first round, but just looking at the rest of the dishes and imagining not finding that one component vile, I thought I'd have liked Kaleena's and Charly's (until Tom said Charly made a mistake with the meat), but dismissed Soo's for having too much bread. 

 

I like eggs, but one of the eggs in the "beauty shot" was snottily and disgustingly under-cooked.

Edited April 19, 2024 by Ancaster

[mlp]

Soo seems to be one of the best chefs in the whole competition so I'm glad he made it - even if it was pre-ordained.  I like him.  I do not like Kaleena so I hope she gets booted again in the very near future.  Having said that, her "sandwich" in the first round did look good.

 

[CatWarmer]

I read a little of Soo's biography and now I understand both why he's such a good competitor (former pro golfer) and good chef (Michelin starred in Chicago).  No way was he not going back into the competition.  It was disappointing that all three moved to the second round of LCK, but I'll bet they planned all along to have Soo and one returnee win.

[caitmcg]

46 minutes ago, CatWarmer said:

It was disappointing that all three moved to the second round of LCK, but I'll bet they planned all along to have Soo and one returnee win.

At the very least, it was obviously set up that two would return, regardless of how Tom worked to make it seem spontaneous.

[buttersister]

Two Chicago chefs back in, so yay? 

Kaleena got a lot of press when she arrived (fairly recently).  Tasty food. Not great camera presence.

But reading this  about Soo makes me glad he’s in, ringer or not. (Bet it was a last minute decision to play.) And his restaurant is walking distance with outdoor seating! Wonder if I can make a reservation a couple months in advance, because odds of getting one when this is over? LOL!

ETA: Wonder how the Dir. of Marketing at Whole Foods liked the whole paycheck shout out? 😳

Edited April 19, 2024 by buttersister

[Ancaster]

14 hours ago, buttersister said:

 

But reading this  about Soo makes me glad he’s in, ringer or not. (Bet it was a last minute decision to play.) And his restaurant is walking distance with outdoor seating! Wonder if I can make a reservation a couple months in advance, because odds of getting one when this is over? LOL!

 

I know that Kann, Gregory Gourdet's Portland restaurant, takes reservations one month out for the next month (so February 1st opens up March reservations).

I just checked the website and, amazingly, I can get a spot at The Chef's Counter for Saturday night at 8pm.  I may have to treat myself!

Edited April 19, 2024 by Ancaster

[Ancaster]

What the hell - just made the reservation at Kann!

Good luck with Soo's restaurant, @buttersister

[dleighg]

6 hours ago, buttersister said:

But reading this  about Soo

Nice article-- funny I saw a reference to horseradish goat cheese.

Didn't someone do that in the QF on Wednesday as a riff on the sauce they got? Maybe it's the next avocado toast....

[Ancaster]

OMG - I just spend about 90 minutes in the presence of a God.  Well, kind of!

I just got back from Kann, where I was seated at the Chef's counter, which is literally a long bar facing the open kitchen.  When I made the reservation mentioned above, I had no idea of course whether Gregory Gourdet would be there, but I was hopeful he might be, since it was for a Saturday night.

Well, there he was, literally 6 feet away from me, though with his back to the bar and therefore me.   He wasn't cooking (I assume he rarely does, since I expect he's away quite a lot and they need to have someone doing the same thing regularly).  He was basically the final check on every dish that went out, making sure plates were clean and looking good.  I did see him make a couple of adjustments, give an extra swipe to clean a dish, and once or twice send something back.  I didn't speak to him, though he passed me a couple of times and smiled at me (swoon) and I could probably have engaged him, but I'm not the type.

Anyway, the food was great.  I had a beetroot and greens salad in an exceptional dressing with cashew brittle bits and coconut crumbles, which was somehow like a soft goat cheese, and roast eggplant in an excellent sauce with a good but not amazing spicy tomato-based topping.  And of course, pikliz, which was SPICY!

The service was fabulous from beginning to end, but it was incredibly loud - I can't imagine going on a first date there because you'd be yelling at each other!

Thanks for indulging me and my "review"!

[Bastet]

@Ancaster I'm not tech savvy enough to be sure all the ways people view content, but I know some don't see the TC forum in its entirety, just follow certain threads.  There's a thread for relating experiences of dining in the cheftestants' (and judges') restaurants (which, until I went searching for the link, I'd completely forgotten I created years ago!), so it would be great if you could post your experience there so those who don't read this thread but are interested in such reviews and thus read that thread can see yours.

[Yeah No]

On 4/18/2024 at 7:18 PM, CatWarmer said:

I read a little of Soo's biography and now I understand both why he's such a good competitor (former pro golfer) and good chef (Michelin starred in Chicago).  No way was he not going back into the competition.  It was disappointing that all three moved to the second round of LCK, but I'll bet they planned all along to have Soo and one returnee win.

I've been watching reality competitions for a loooong time and there's no way this wasn't strategically arranged so that Soo would go back into the competition.  They saved the best chef for LCK so he already has a better chance of making it through competing against the earliest eliminated and then even when he's a little lacking they saved him by saving two chefs instead of one (and of course he's one of them).  It's so obvious it's making me angry because this show is supposed to be above that sort of thing.  They can say it was all legit but stacking the deck in any competition is playing games with fairness.  Nothing against Soo because it's not his fault and he probably should be there anyway, but this is juvenile reality TV shit and I'm not loving it.

Edited April 21, 2024 by Yeah No

[Ancaster]

9 hours ago, Bastet said:

@Ancaster I'm not tech savvy enough to be sure all the ways people view content, but I know some don't see the TC forum in its entirety, just follow certain threads.  There's a thread for relating experiences of dining in the cheftestants' (and judges') restaurants (which, until I went searching for the link, I'd completely forgotten I created years ago!), so it would be great if you could post your experience there so those who don't read this thread but are interested in such reviews and thus read that thread can see yours.

Thanks @Bastet.  I cross-posted I think, though it posted the whole URL (?) rather than a handy little "There's a thread" type phrase to click on like you had - I'm not tech savvy either!

[caitmcg]

2 hours ago, Ancaster said:

Thanks @Bastet.  I cross-posted I think, though it posted the whole URL (?) rather than a handy little "There's a thread" type phrase to click on like you had - I'm not tech savvy either!

You can use the little chain link icon in the top row (next to the quote mark) in the top row to create a link with text in your post if you want, rather than paste the UR: into your post.

[Rai]

Is Soo competing in LCK before he's been in the competition really any less fair than when they've had former contestants come back from other seasons to compete? Lee Anne and Brother Luck both got into the competition again (and didn't last long, so Soo may also have a short reign), and Jen Carroll, Marcel, Kwame, and Carrie Baird have all gotten a chance to get into the show -- heavy hitters all around. I just don't understand why Soo being favored to enter the show is bad. Instead of vets trying to re-enter, it's a new chef trying to enter, but there's not a lot of difference otherwise to me.

[dleighg]

I think it's more that some of us think that Tom *might* have a thumb on the scale for Soo because of the DRAMA that would result from him entering-- SURPRISE!  Soo has certainly shown he's worthy, so I think that concern has melted away to a large degree.

[Fukui San]

It just occurred to me how funny it would have been if only Kalina had won LCK and came back into the contest alone.

"Guys, there was this whole other guy named Soo and he was really awesome and he was a pro golfer, he wore red pants and he had beaten everyone and he almost got into the competition but I won in the end and stopped him."

"Uh huh. Sure, Kalina."

"No, really! I did! Ask Tom! He was there! Tom, tell everybody about Soo!"

"Who?"

[Yeah No]

9 hours ago, Rai said:

Is Soo competing in LCK before he's been in the competition really any less fair than when they've had former contestants come back from other seasons to compete? Lee Anne and Brother Luck both got into the competition again (and didn't last long, so Soo may also have a short reign), and Jen Carroll, Marcel, Kwame, and Carrie Baird have all gotten a chance to get into the show -- heavy hitters all around. I just don't understand why Soo being favored to enter the show is bad. Instead of vets trying to re-enter, it's a new chef trying to enter, but there's not a lot of difference otherwise to me.

I don't like it elsewhere either, but I expect deception and behind-the-scenes rigging in the name of entertainment from shows that don't present themselves as a fair competition.  Not from this show.  I wouldn't have minded if they just put him on the lineup from day one but doing it this way a) Insults the audience's intelligence and b) is just plain dishonest.  It also makes me wonder where else they've done similar things to ensure the outcome they want that haven't been as obvious.

Also, in those other cases mentioned I don't remember anything being "gerrymandered" to increase the odds that any of those other former contestants you named got into the main competition or that the deck was stacked to make their re-entry a sure thing.  As far as I remember they got back into it fair and square.  They were already on the show so we knew them and their relative skill level so it wasn't something the show could hide from us.  This guy seems above the level of most of these chefs.  It makes me think they're going for another "wow" win by someone that "fought their way into the competition" because it's supposedly more "entertaining".

[Rai]

He's certainly been better than the first chefs eliminated so far because they were the chefs not cut out for this competition. I think that does naturally favor him. We'll see how he performs! But I admit even if he wins, it won't bother me unless I become really attached to someone else by the finale. So far, no danger of me getting very invested in anyone, alas.

[buttersister]

Soo could take his whole thing. But introducing him through the back door? I wonder if executive producer Padma would have had something to say about that? As in, how disrespectful. Otoh, it’s possible that with his schedule, Soo couldn’t commit until after the cheftestants we’re announced. 

[BlackberryJam]

Doesn't Soo have a Michelin star? It may be rigged for him to get in, but damn if he isn't a ringer. At this point, Michelle and Soo are my favorites. I like the Power Bottoms, but their cooking hasn't risen to the level of their cuteness. I also think Rasika is making good food, but I'm not excited about what she makes. 

[caitmcg]

On 4/22/2024 at 9:33 AM, buttersister said:

Soo could take his whole thing. But introducing him through the back door? I wonder if executive producer Padma would have had something to say about that? As in, how disrespectful.

Isn't Tom also an executive producer, though? And since he is the LCK judge, presumably he has an opinion, whether or not he has any real say,

[buttersister]

I’m sure Tom does. As a restauranteur, he can appreciate keeping things fresh. Since we weren’t flies on the walls of the planning meeting, my sense was that Padma might have had concerns.

[Talented Tenth]

Charlie's sandwich was better than Soo's, so to ensure that Soo gets into the competition along with Kalina, he makes all three compete again and gets rid of Charlie.  🙄

[BlackberryJam]

Wow, I’m surprised at Rasika. She didn’t make great food or strategize properly.

[Bastet]

LOL at all this baseball stuff being wasted on two cheftestants who don't watch baseball.

I expected Rasika to do better here, but she picked too many things that needed longer to cook than they had available.

Edited May 2, 2024 by Bastet

[Salacious Kitty]

Bummer. Rasika said she got to cook "her food," but there were just too many mistakes, based on Tom's comments and scores. 

Not that Kevin did much better, just enough to win. 

Kind of a sloppy round, altogether.

[tv echo]

Can The Chefs Hit A Home Run In This Baseball-Inspired Trial? | Last Chance Kitchen (S21 E6) | Bravo
Bravo   May 1, 2024

[Rammchick]

Thanks for posting that.  Last night, Peacock had the incorrect episode up as Ep 7.

[Salacious Kitty]

2 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Thanks for posting that.  Last night, Peacock had the incorrect episode up as Ep 7.

You can always watch on bravotv.com. They're good about getting the episodes up soon after the main channel ends. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Bravo didn't LCK up on time last night, don't know if they posted it later, but I didn't want to wait.  It was up this morning.  I was surprised that Kevin beat Rasika.  I really thought she was a contender for finalist.  

[mlp]

56 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Bravo didn't LCK up on time last night

I watched it on Bravo just a few minutes after the main show.  

[Salacious Kitty]

7 minutes ago, mlp said:

I watched it on Bravo just a few minutes after the main show.  

So did I  No hiccups. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I must have looked for it too fast.   The episode and LCK ran fine this morning.  

[Straycat80]

I’ve been watching LCK the next day on You Tube. 
That challenge was nuts! Cook all that food in 45 minutes. Congrats Kevin. Rasika did a good job trying. 

[caitmcg]

Rasika started out so strong on TC, but she lost her mojo and her last two episodes on the main show, cooking middling-to-bad dishes, and it seems she couldn't get her head back in the game here, either. 

Tom may have been scoring "runs" in this challenge, but as fast-moving as it was with a given time on the clock, it played more like basketball.

[carrps]

I found it amusing that the two cheftestants in this particular LCK competition had no familiarity with baseball. It was just points.

Kevin won, but I almost felt like his last dish should have had a zero score. It was such a nothing. Then, he would have only won by a point. But, yeah, Rasika's strategy undid her.

 

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, carrps said:

Kevin won, but I almost felt like his last dish should have had a zero score. It was such a nothing.

really. It was barely more than open a package of smoked salmon and put it on a plate. Even people who can't boil water can do that. 

[Fukui San]

I thought it was a terrible challenge, but Rasika did worse, so, oh well.

Thought experiment: In retrospect, if you were to reset the season and put a different chef in the position that Soo was in as LCK spoiler in waiting, aka "the 16th chef", who would you choose? I would have liked it more if Soo was in the main competition. To replace him, I actually would have chosen Kevin. His being a finalist in Top Chef France would have given him mystique. Either him or Dan, who being a local would have given him a reason to be feared coming into the competition. He's here to defend his town.

[Souris]

Dang, Rasika. From obvious finalist to out after one round on LCK. Quite the reversal of fortune.

Very underwhelming LCK episode.

It's still not up on Hulu. I had to watch it on Peacock.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I wasn't a fan of the way they did this LCK either.   Sorry to see Raskia go, but I suspect Kevin will be gone soon too.   He ended up in the bottom too often on the main show to lead me to think he'll wind enough on LCK to come back. 

[carrps]

17 hours ago, Souris said:

It's still not up on Hulu. I had to watch it on Peacock.

Our On Demand showed this episode on the list, but when you watched it, it was a duplicate of the previous LCK episode. We watched it on bravotv.com.

 

[NowVoyager]

Well this was surprising!

Also, I usually end up watching LCK on YouTube through Bravo's channel. It pops up as a suggestion for me.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

This was an interesting episode for several reasons.   I'm sure Tom was told about the switch, because he certainly didn't look surprised.   

Poor Rasika, eliminated from the show, eliminated twice from LCK.    I'm still surprised Kevin seems to have found his niche with LCK.       

[ProudMary]

When Kaleena walked into the kitchen and announced that she would not be competing, I wondered if contractually she was able to do so. When she raised her mental health as an issue, I assumed that must be one of the "outs" in the contract. If so, that was smart of her to realize the option. It certainly can't be good for one's mental health to lose not just once, but twice in the main competition and then potentially (probably?) lose twice in LCK. By this point, she must have felt that Tom wasn't a big fan of her cooking.

I was somewhat surprised that Tom didn't give the win to Rasika, but I don't think it would have been a good look for the show to reinstate someone (had she won the potential second LCK challenge) who'd already been removed from LCK under the regular rules. Any further victories by Rasika would appear tainted. That's just my opinion. I certainly would have felt that way and when you combine it with the whole Soo situation, the entire season already has some credibility issues. 

I'm glad that Tom awarded the win to Kevin.

[Fukui San]

It’s funny now to note that Kevin and Rasika have now made 6 dishes head to head in a row in LCK.  

Inning 1: Kevin

Inning 2: tie

Inning 3: Rasika

Inning 4: tie

Kevin made  5th inning dish  Rasika did not   
 

this challenge: One Kevin win and one tie/unknown   

Overall: Kevin 2 wins, 1 Rasika win, three ties, 1 Kevin no contest  

 

[Bastet]

Kaleena opting not to compete any more in deference to her mental health was interesting; I learned via her appearance on an episode of Beat Bobby Flay she has a wicked case of anxiety, so I assume that's what was at play.

I have nothing against Kevin, but really like Rasika, so this was a bit of a bummer.

[dleighg]

I'm just trying to figure out the logistics. Usually they do this right before the final-- I did notice that her hair was a lot longer. But they flew her back in only for her to say she wasn't doing it?

[Kindred Spirit]

I was very surprised by Kaleena's declining to participate in another round of LCK, but quite impressed by her saying it was for her mental health. Her final talking head on the big show did establish that she was in a far different and much more content place, emotionally, after this elimination. She did seem much less unhappy with being told to pack her knives and go, this time. That she knows herself well enough to feel like she could step away from the competition and not have regrets truly impressed me. I'm glad that the world has come far enough that a contestant could choose to leave something like Top Chef and I would respect her more for doing so. I hope it doesn't have a negative impact on her career.

On a cooking note, I was sorry Rasika's two dishes didn't get her back in the competition, though I'm happy for Kevin that his vision and execution of authentic French bistro fare was good enough for the win.