S21.E03: Take It Cheesy

[ProudMary]

Airdate: Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Synopsis:

The chefs must make a dish featuring Door County cherries and a mystery ingredient. For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs put on a Cheese Festival where each chef will be responsible for creating a dish featuring one of thirteen different cheeses.

[Bastet]

Rasika is on a roll – wins an EC, then a QF, and then, while she wasn’t in the top for this EC, the judges raved about her dish.

Michelle continues to look like a hella strong contender, too.  I thought her dish sounded terrific, the one I most wanted to try.  Of course, I can never have too much cheese, so I would have loved to be a diner at the EC festival (except for how many chefs chose to use potatoes, which I hate).

I cracked up at Kevin deciding to just use his accent to charm the diners when he knew his dish wasn’t going to do it, but, boy, did he blow his dish.  That it was an execution failure, not a bad concept and bad execution, saved him, I think.  I thought maybe Manny just tossing cheese curds on his plate would make him the one to go, but I guess that they liked his gravy had him staying over Kenny.

It’s interesting the judges and diners agreed on the bottom three, but they only said Michelle was everyone’s pick for the winner, so I think the judges had one or two different dishes in their top three.

I’m not a huge fan of cherries, but I wanted to taste quite a few of the QF dishes.  Savannah’s, not so much, so I was surprised hers was on the top!  (But I'm with her on one thing – bees know when you’re afraid of them.  They’ll come for me and ignore everyone else who wouldn’t care.)  I was also surprised Charly bungled such an easy combination; I think he tried too hard to do something challenging with it instead of just making a kick-ass cherry and chocolate dish.

I never watched Daria, but I do like Amanda’s laugh -- especially when her own laugh cracked her up.

[mlp]

Michelle and Dan have been my favorites right from the beginning so I'm glad they both did well.  I like Charly too but he doesn't seem to be doing as well.  Bees and 95 degrees are my idea of hell so I'm surprised anyone's food turned out as planned.

I couldn't believe that Tom had a long sleeved shirt on over another shirt.  Maybe he burns easily but he had to be roasting.  

[ProudMary]

While Kenny's dish didn't seem all that appealing anyway, how do you not put aside the specific components of your dish so that you have enough to serve to the judges? Mind boggling.

Kevin really seems to be a fish out of water on US Top Chef. 

I was SO happy for Michelle! She's rapidly becoming my favorite. I love collard greens, so I really wish I could have tasted here dish.

I liked the make-up of Dan's dish too. 

It surprised me that there wasn't some comment made about Kaleena using dried pasta.

[ALittleShelfish]

29 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

It surprised me that there wasn't some comment made about Kaleena using dried pasta.

Agree. - i thought they were setting us up for that.

[Jodithgrace]

Well, since Mac and cheese, in any variation, uses elbow macaroni, I don’t think anybody expected her to hand make that. It would be different if she were making a long pasta dish. 
 

I was sad that the Mexican chef and Kevin were on the bottom (Kevin again!) since I like them, but at least they were spared. I’m glad Dan did so well in spite of his limitations. And Michelle…pit master my ass..she is a terrific all around chef! 
 

It bugged me that so many chefs made croquettes. Really..is that the only dish that comes to mind? Seems weird to me, since I don’t remember the last time I had croquettes. 

[rlc]

Polenta. Gougeres. Fonduta. Bougie grilled cheese. So many things that immediately come to mind that aren’t croquettes.

[Quilt Fairy]

They should have brought Production in to clean that spill during the prep time.  That was a safety issue, full stop.  One chef almost fell, a second one did fall.  There's no excuse for that. 

Edited April 4 by Quilt Fairy

[Ancaster]

1 hour ago, Quilt Fairy said:

They should have brought Production in to clean that spill during the prep time.  That was a safety issue, full stop.  One chef almost fell, a second one did fall.  There's no excuse for that. 

That whole thing was weird.  It seemed like people were getting upset at each other for not cleaning up after themselves, but we've seen people slipping and sliding before without pointing fingers.  Who usually cleans up?

A lot of people's pet peeve is long hair not tied back/beards not covered - mine is people running in the kitchen and pushing and shoving.  It always makes me cringe.

[Ancaster]

I did like that they just went right into the elimination there and then and didn't do the whole go back to the studio, judges' table thing.

[Msample]

Man, I can’t imagine having to eat all those heavy cheese laden ( or mostly cheese laden, given the bottom 3 were called out for not featuring the cheese ) in that sweltering heat. 

[bosawks]

I have plowed through a tray of fried cheese curds in a billion degree heat at Summerfest in Milwaukee and it is surprisingly easy with a cold Leinie's.

Of course that was when I was in college and my stomach was only in its early 20's.....

[graybrown bird]

I really felt for the cheftestants working out there in the steamy heat of a cornfield, mostly unshaded.  The growing cornstalks give off an extra boost of humidity to an already humid (July?) day.  I noticed the judges had a shade umbrella over their table.

Edited April 4 by graybrown bird

[seltzer3]

So I was really shocked Kenny left over Kevin.  Reason, was they panned to several score cards.  I know it was a very few sample size, but Kevin was getting a lot of 1s (as in 1 out of 10) on the scorecard, Kenny was actually given an 8, Rasika getting a couple of 10s so surprised she wasn't on the top), Manny got a 4.  Not to mention the judges said Kenny had the worst croquette (which is pretty bad considering like 2/3 of the chefs did croquettes).  Also it seemed like a lot of the croquette people really fell flat on their face.

Which makes me wonder, that if Kenny had served first (and not last), if he may have gotten better feedback from the judges.

Kind of felt like Kevin and Manny had "more mileage" in potential, whereas the judges felt like Kenny was kind of at the end of the rope and cut him on cumulative performance.

I really love Michelle's idea of a collard green "paneer".

[Rammchick]

12 minutes ago, seltzer3 said:

Rasika getting a couple of 10s so surprised she wasn't on the top), Manny got a 4.  Not to mention the judges said Kenny had the worst croquette (which is pretty bad considering like 2/3 of the chefs did croquettes).  Also it seemed like a lot of the croquette people really fell flat on their face.

Considering what was said about Rasika's dish, I was also surprised she wasn't on top, but I thought it might've been because she had immunity.

As for the croquettes, they all seemed to think they could make them almost a la minute, so they'd be continuously fresh.  But in 95 degree heat, that also means standing over the fryer all day.  Yikes.

[dleighg]

Did anyone grasp how the scoring worked? It looked like the guests could circle a number (between 1 and 10 maybe) for each dish? So they weren't just choosing their favorite the way I recall seeing some other years.

Crab Rangoon notwithstanding, pairing seafood with cheese is a .... bold choice.

I wish Michelle would quit calling herself a pit master. She's a chef, clearly.

The bees would have freaked me out. I'm allergic. 

[rlc]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

I wish Michelle would quit calling herself a pit master. She's a chef, clearly.

Yup, I like her, but that whole spiel is getting very old, very quickly. 

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Considering what was said about Rasika's dish, I was also surprised she wasn't on top,

I get the sense she would have been in the judges' top three, just not the diners'.  Kristen said Michelle had the judges' favorite dish, too, and that the diners had all the same bottom three as the judges, but it was never said the entire top three was the same as the judges' top three, which I think would have been noted if it was.  So, while the judges would have picked Michelle to win just like the diners did, I think they would have had at least one different chef filling out the top three if they'd been the ones choosing.  My guess, based on their comments shown, would be Michelle, Kaleena, and Rasika, but who knows, since we only see a representative selection of what they say and in this one they didn't deliberate like usual since they weren't the ones choosing.

Edited April 4 by Bastet

[Thumper]

6 hours ago, graybrown bird said:

I really felt for the cheftestants working out there in the steamy heat of a cornfield, mostly unshaded.  The growing cornstalks give off an extra boost of humidity to an already humid (July?) day.  I noticed the judges had a shade umbrella over their table.

There were several guest tables with umbrellas.  I, too,  was concerned that the chefs didn’t have shades over their tables.

[PhoneCop]

This is not Top Croquette!

I'm also surprised Kaleena didn't get dinged for store-bought pasta, especially since she initially described it as more of an Alfredo. She must've really killed it on the flavors.

Feeling like the wheat is starting to separate from the (relative) chaff. I guess after bombing in both Quickfires and being B3 in two of three elimination challenges, Kenny didn't have a lot of road left in him anyway.

Edited April 4 by PhoneCop

[IdEatThat]

I was glad to see Kenny go.  He never seemed happy about anything.   
I’m lovin Kristin as the host. Particularly since she says “utensils down, hands up” Padma, whom I also liked, always said “hands up, utensils down” and every single time, for 19 seasons, I pictured the cheftestants dropping the utensils on their heads.

[seltzer3]

Also, I thought Carla did a fantastic job as a judge.

I'm a huge fan of her, but I know that she can tend to come off a little over the top (Food Network).  But she was a lot more laid back and had some really good critiques.  Same with the guest judge as well.

[Quilt Fairy]

7 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Considering what was said about Rasika's dish, I was also surprised she wasn't on top, but I thought it might've been because she had immunity.

Her immunity in this challenge protects her if she's at the bottom, but it doesn't prevent her from winning again. 

[caitmcg]

31 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

7 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Considering what was said about Rasika's dish, I was also surprised she wasn't on top, but I thought it might've been because she had immunity.

Her immunity in this challenge protects her if she's at the bottom, but it doesn't prevent her from winning again. 

Besides, the top three were selected based on the guest crowd's ratings of the dishes, and they had no idea who had immunity (or even, presumably, that the show changed up how immunity was awarded vs. previous seasons).

[Spicysweet]

19 hours ago, rlc said:

Polenta. Gougeres. Fonduta. Bougie grilled cheese. So many things that immediately come to mind that aren’t croquettes.

Bougie cheese pizza, mini quiches, some kind of crackers and cheese...all those croquettes, a word I haven't heard since the '60s, was weird. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I thought it was bizarre that so many do croquettes too.   When I think of cheese dishes, croquettes don't come to mind. 

[seltzer3]

41 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I thought it was bizarre that so many do croquettes too.   When I think of cheese dishes, croquettes don't come to mind. 

I'm kind of guessing that croquettes is viewed as an "upscale" and "sophisticated" cheese dish.  Where all the other things everyone here has suggested are more "pedestrian".  So all these contestants drifted to croquettes to try to be impressive to the judges.  

And ironically the quesadilla and the mac and cheese did better than all of the croquettes.

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, IdEatThat said:

I'm lovin Kristin as the host.

I especially loved how she swore in reaction to how much she loved Michelle's dish.  It's a free style that I don't recall Padma having and it will help define her. 

5 hours ago, Bastet said:

My guess, based on their comments shown, would be Michelle, Kaleena, and Rasika, but who knows, since we only see a representative selection of what they say and in this one they didn't deliberate like usual since they weren't the ones choosing.

I agree that it's possible, maybe even probable they would have chosen a different top 3 but I do remember them liking those dishes.  I do think the bottom 3 were their bottom 3 but it's also possible that the diners' least favorite dish wasn't Kenny's. 

If Manny were going to leave cheese curds unchanged, then he should have made something cold to take advantage of the squeak.

[gorgy]

Next to John Waters, Carla is probably my favorite human I've never met, so I was a little miffed the cheftestants didn't seem as in awe of her as I would have wanted. Nevertheless, I thought Carla did a great job. I could see her easily added as a rotating guest judge.

I have a hard time paying attention during quick fires since they got rid of immunity. I'm not sure if its the lack of stakes or the challenges themselves, but my mind goes elsewhere. Like, I really don't care if the winner gets $5,000. Maybe if they gained an advantage in the elimination as well, I'd be more into it.

Please don't throw tomatoes at me, but I'm not a fan of cheese. I don't even like the word cheese, so this was not a challenge I cared too much about. I'm glad Michelle won. She's been my pick since episode one, but I feel like I'm being setup for heartbreak (like Carla)

My personal challenge for next episode is to figure out who Savanah is

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

I especially loved how she swore in reaction to how much she loved Michelle's dish.

There was a funny segment in an episode of Fast Foodies, where Kristen explained to the camera that her mom had told her she needs to stop saying "fuck".  A clip of her calling something a "mess-up" instead was followed by a bleeped out montage of all the "fuck"s that followed.

[Irlandesa]

2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

There was a funny segment in an episode of Fast Foodies, where Kristen explained to the camera that her mom had told her she needs to stop saying "fuck".

I loved Fast Foodies. 

[Ancaster]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

There was a funny segment in an episode of Fast Foodies, where Kristen explained to the camera that her mom had told her she needs to stop saying "fuck".  A clip of her calling something a "mess-up" instead was followed by a bleeped out montage of all the "fuck"s that followed.

 

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

I loved Fast Foodies. 

Thank you for introducing me to this - I'm always on the lookout for new food related shows!

[snarktini]

Color me surprised that Michelle's dish was the crowd fav! I figured that collards, no matter how good they are, wouldn't have as much broad appeal as the other two.

FWIW, I see croquettes on menus quite often (I live outside of San Francisco) so that's not a "in the past" dish to me. I love them! Were we counting the arancini as one of the croquette crew? Different core ingredient but the same effect -- fried starch and cheese ball.

 

[Yeah No]

I was glad Kevin and Manny didn't go home, although I didn't dislike Kenny.  I think maybe the judges gave Kevin some slack for double breading because of the hot weather.

I love Carla Hall and also noticed she seemed more subdued here than on FN.  I like that but I do think she should have been featured a little more prominently here.  And I loved her outfit too!

We have a member on the board with the screen name @Door County Cherry.  I forget if they watch this show but thanks to them when I saw the cherries and the little doors I exclaimed "Door County Cherry" to my husband, LOL.

"Pit master my ass", LOL.  I thought the same exact thing about Michelle! LOL  🤣  She's one to watch! 

[bravofan27]

I loved that Kaleen got a challenge she really liked. They did sort of tease us with her pasta choice in the editing, like, "will she knocked for dry pasta?" but apparently. she knew what she was doing.  Maybe that was what the issue was with the croquettes-- it was something people could pull off "from scratch" given the timing and highlighting the cheese. Unfortunately, croquettes were a horrible choice given the batter needs to be cool before frying and they were in extreme heat. Oops. So using a product that was dry and didn't need cooling was a great choice for binding the cheese. 

I've had croquettes many times at fancier restaurants or places with trendy menus, they are "French" you know. LOL. So even though they are a cheffie thing to make, it was also surprising so many kept with the croquette choice after realizing so many others were going that route. Charly explained it well though-- people can make it to order, they have to serve 100 people, and they are good.

I feel for Dan, but he sort of insinuates that he is the only one of all the chefs with a disability and struggling. Others may also be struggling, not all disabilities are visible, and not everyone talks about it. 

Regarding the packing chef. Kevin tried REALLY hard to not go home. He knew his dish wasn't that great, and he really really worked it. Kenny didn't put in the same effort, and was just kind of shrugging that his dressing or whatever was gone by the time the judges swung through. Plus, his dish was a cold dish and I am not sure how he would keep it cold-- they said it was like mush and watery. It looked gross. Manny was trying to make a poutine, so he had an angle. Kenny tried the least hard to win and focused on what he could make quickly with cheese and serve 100 people. He got into caterer mode. 

[Bastet]

24 minutes ago, bravofan27 said:

Kenny didn't put in the same effort, and was just kind of shrugging that his dressing or whatever was gone by the time the judges swung through.

He said he'd set aside enough for the judges -- the diners were picking who was going to win (so he risked losing enough votes not to win if he gave too many people incomplete dishes), but the judges were picking the bottom three (so if he served them incomplete dishes, having used up all the accompaniment on the diners by the time the judges got to his station, the result could be much worse than not being a contender, it could make him a candidate for elimination) -- and we may even have seen a shot of that setting aside (I can't recall and am too lazy to check).  And the judges said he was shoveling something on as he served them, which made for a soggy mess.  So I think he did give them complete dishes, they just weren't good.

[Rai]

I had nothing against Kenny, but in his short time here, he basically said, "I hate this" about every single challenge. Sir, have you seen the show? Do you not understand what you're in for? Come on. Get in the game. Twerk it! (Best slip of the tongue ever.)

Very glad Manny survived because he's my favorite. I would normally say that a former Top Chef contestant would have some kind of advantage, but Top Chef France seems specifically counter to Top Chef Original Recipe in ways that work against Kevin, IMO. I recall the French contestant from last season noting that even their quickfires were 90 minutes minimum. So I think Kevin might continue to struggle in this format.

(Also, Claudette did Top Chef Mexico and had the privilege to be eliminated twice from her TC: Colorado season, so really, no guarantee of being better prepared, I think.)

I love Michelle and don't mind that she thinks of herself as a Pit Master. That's actually a pretty huge thing to be, especially for a woman. I think the difference between what she normally does and what she's doing here is passing the fine dining, refined dishes test, and I do see that as somewhat surprising for her, but also a huge validation of "cook your food."

Getting closer to remembering which young female chef is who, but still not 100 percent. Sorry, gals. I'm part of the problem!

[Ancaster]

I think in retrospect I was disappointed with a lot of what was put out because it just didn't seem imaginative or appropriate to the setting - outdoors in the heat.  It's like a bunch of these chefs just rolled up to the competition without too much serious prep (Buddha must be tearing his hair out).

Cheese does not have to be heavy.  What about quiche, or scones/biscuits, cheesy crackers, panzanella salad with a cheesy bread, a sandwich, fancy toast (thank you Carrie)?  (I don't remember the brief - did the cheese have to be cooked?)

I'm wondering whether either Kristin or Tom is going to give them a bit of a talking to next week and tell them to step it up.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I remember on last season's international edition, the chefs who were from other countries said that their version of Top Chef was very different, so I think it takes a while to get used to the way the U.S. competition is operated.   

[dleighg]

8 hours ago, gorgy said:

I have a hard time paying attention during quick fires since they got rid of immunity. I'm not sure if its the lack of stakes or the challenges themselves, but my mind goes elsewhere. Like, I really don't care if the winner gets $5,000. Maybe if they gained an advantage in the elimination as well, I'd be more into it.

Well how about Raiska's advantage from being the winner last week (I KNOW, she had immunity) was to pick her door first! Why even bother!

[Yeah No]

I just wanted to say that having them cook cheese outside in the extreme heat was not the best choice.  I get it that this is "Top Chef" so they should be able to handle obstacles like that, and that TPTB probably make these choices way in advance and can't predict the weather, but knowing it was a warm time of year and that the chefs had limited time to complete the challenge should have made them rethink that.  I did get the impression that the judges were aware of this and probably took that issue into consideration in their judging, though.  

[AAEBoiler]

I was really surprised that there was absolutely no shelter for the chefs during this event. That must've been brutal.

Two observations on Kristen. During Quickfire presentations, she seems to spin the dish immediately after it's plated in front of her. I dub it the Krispin ©️. Also, except for the cap-sleeve at the EC, I think she's been taking us to the "gun show" every week so far. We may need to start a GoFundMe to buy Kristen some sleeves for when the weather gets a bit colder.

[caitmcg]

9 hours ago, Bastet said:

He said he'd set aside enough for the judges -- the diners were picking who was going to win (so he risked losing enough votes not to win if he gave too many people incomplete dishes), but the judges were picking the bottom three (so if he served them incomplete dishes, having used up all the accompaniment on the diners by the time the judges got to his station, the result could be much worse than not being a contender, it could make him a candidate for elimination) -- and we may even have seen a shot of that setting aside (I can't recall and am too lazy to check).  And the judges said he was shoveling something on as he served them, which made for a soggy mess.  So I think he did give them complete dishes, they just weren't good.

But apparently he didn't. It was pretty far into the serving period when we saw Kenny say he realized he was running out of his relish and hadn't yet served the judges, so he was setting aside some of what was left. Yet, Tom specifically complained that instead of getting the cherries in the cherry relish, they got the vinegary liquid from the relish, which just made the dish wet, and said he should have known to set enough aside for the judges at the start.

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I just wanted to say that having them cook cheese outside in the extreme heat was not the best choice.  I get it that this is "Top Chef" so they should be able to handle obstacles like that, and that TPTB probably make these choices way in advance and can't predict the weather, but knowing it was a warm time of year and that the chefs had limited time to complete the challenge should have made them rethink that.  

Reminds me of how, on GBBO, the chocolate challenge, or anything involving ice cream, is invariably on the hottest day in the tent.

[Rammchick]

17 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Her immunity in this challenge protects her if she's at the bottom, but it doesn't prevent her from winning again. 

No, I realize that -- I should have been clearer.  I meant that perhaps the judges wanted to give the win to someone else, given that Rasika had immunity.

[caitmcg]

1 minute ago, Rammchick said:

No, I realize that -- I should have been clearer.  I meant that perhaps the judges wanted to give the win to someone else, given thhe at Rasika had immunity.

But the judges didn't choose the winner this time, only the loser. The win was determined by the crowd and went to the contestant who got the highest score from the diners, who wouldn't know anything about Rasika's immunity.

[Rammchick]

4 minutes ago, caitmcg said:

But the judges didn't choose the winner this time, only the loser. The win was determined by the crowd and went to the contestant who got the highest score from the diners, who wouldn't know anything about Rasika's immunity.

Ah yes, you're right.

[seltzer3]

Looked at all the dishes and they were not lying about this challenge being top croquette.

Charly, Kevin, Manny, Laura, Alisha-Croquettes

Danny-Cheese "Fritter", Amanda-Arancini

So more than half of the dishes are essentially just fried cheese balls, lol

I'm surprised that no one went with the chile relleno route, or did a dessert. Like maybe a fancy baked brie, or a savory cream puff.
 

[bravofan27]

I'm glad Kaleena is getting some camera and interview time, and super glad she likes cheese, because she was sort of bougie about some of the other challenges. Rasika is cool in general, but there is something about her big smile giggle and wide eyes that she does so often makes her seem a little TOO jolly, almost cartoonish. I also didn't understand her loud "OOOOHs" when they were describing the elimination challenge. It wasn't a magic show. 

Maybe I'm just a miserable person, but she is just a little too happy. 

Dan seems like he might be prone to pouting if he isn't getting his way.

 

[Heathrowe]

Hot cheese in the hot sun surrounded by angry bees. 
I have been wracking my brain for some kind of winning cold dish and coming up with nothing. One dish was paired with peaches-I thought that sounded good, but the judges did not like.  
I like Dan. Glad he did well, I hope he goes far. Manny also easy to root for, I was glad he made it through!

[bravofan27]

14 hours ago, Rai said:

 

Getting closer to remembering which young female chef is who, but still not 100 percent. Sorry, gals. I'm part of the problem!

There will be a test!