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S21.E04: The Wright Way

ProudMary

By ProudMary
in Top Chef

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Bastet

Bastet

(edited)

Alisha and Kaleena seemed a disaster waiting to happen from their strategy session, and their vibe during the joint interview was so hilariously harsh I knew right away it had in fact happened.  By the time the judges ate their food, there was zero suspense as to who was going home, even though there were several teams still to serve.  I like that Tom decided there wasn’t even any point of naming another bottom team and putting them through faux deliberation.

Alisha, in talking after the fact, seemed exclusively focused on failing to work as a team, without ever acknowledging – as Kaleena freely did – that her dish failed.  If that was editing, they did her dirty, but if that’s indeed how she reacted, she needs to take a look at herself.  (Edited to say in LCK - don't worry, I'm not going to spoil who won, who made what, or anything important - they show a longer clip of that interview and she does say they lost for several reasons, including that her vision for her dish didn't come to light on the plate and within LCK itself she acknowledges the flaws of both her aguachile and shrimp.)

“Seemingly similar but strikingly different” was a great title for duality.  (Wasn’t that a challenge in another season, to make two dishes that looked the same but tasted different?)  Rasika and Danny were as clear winners as Alisha and Kaleena were clear losers, as I don't think the judges had a single critique of their dishes.  The only suspense was which of the two would win immunity, but Rasika is on such a roll, my money was on her.  I love that she won with not just Tamil food, but her grandma’s sauce.

My second favorite duality was poverty and wealth, so I wish Amanda and Dan’s dishes had been better received.  They seem to have come in second, but a distant one.

I love Kristen telling them all to basically forget things like “make a dish inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright”, just find their own inspiration and make it fit the challenge.  That’s some cheftestant to cheftestant talk.  (And I’m with Michelle – I would want immunity for any of these “create a dish inspired by someone else’s art” challenges.)

Edited by Bastet
  • Like 20
Irlandesa

Irlandesa

(edited)
2 hours ago, Bastet said:

“Seemingly similar but strikingly different” was a great title for duality.  (Wasn’t that a challenge in another season, to make two dishes that looked the same but tasted different?)

Yes.  That was a challenge in an earlier season.  They had to make dishes that looked exactly alike but tasted different. These dishes didn't have to look exactly alike.  In some ways, that was harder because they really had to think about what food could be prepared in similar ways.  But in some ways I think it was easier because I felt this challenge's directions were almost too abstract. I didn't always get why some dishes met the challenge and others didn't in the judges' opinions. 

I was as frustrated as Kish was in this ep but for different reasons.  The only thing I understood is the selection for winning and losing teams.

One thing I love about the filming of this season is how green everything is. 

And I feel kind of silly. I went to college in Madison and I had no idea the Monona Terrace was designed by Wright. 

Edited by Irlandesa
  • Like 6
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marybennet

marybennet

  • Unpopular opinion, perhaps, but I like the challenges in which the chefs (or, for that matter, the designers on Project Runway) have to engage with someone else's art, to take inspiration from another medium.  I still remember Stephanie Cmar's tortellini inspired by the bellies of women in (Botticelli?) paintings and Melissa's incredibly beautiful beautiful beautiful dish--wonton and something that was beautifully green--inspired by the luxury of the rococco at the Getty; Gregory's was beautiful, too, in that season, and Mei's dish in the Boston season inspired by Thoreau.  So I was happy to see the Wright work and to see people grapple with it.  Yay for Rasika and Danny!
  • Like 13
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bravofan27

bravofan27

They brought out the fancy snobby guest judges for this architecture Wright challenge. They got Joe Schmo for the champagne beer challenge with everything made with Miller High Lite. LOL. 

I was really surprised how no one knew how/who to pair up with for the elimination challenge, and how pissed off Kaleena seemed to be with Alisha. Alisha asked her to pair up, and Kaleena said yes, but was scanning hard core the scene to see who was pairing up with who. Not surprised it was a disaster. Alisha was kiss ass up to very end. It's like when you try really hard to get the popular kid to like you and you get in, and then end up in detention and grounded. 

  • LOL 7
HappyDancex2

HappyDancex2

I actually love these artsy interpretive challenges and while I love a good backstory I think they just need to focus on yummy tasting food, not dots and pyramids and shapes.  So many of the dishes this season seem so….creatively unappetizing.

I’m not sure if the descriptor for pistachio powder as “reminds me of my grandma who smoked a lot” sounds all that appetizing either.  Mmmmm cigarette ash?

mannys pasta flowers looked thick and dense as he was forming them.  Like flower pierogis LOL

  • Like 7
violet and green

violet and green

I was hoping, the way Alisha and Kaleena were front and centre of the edit so early on, that they were taking their time and going to come up with a really cohesive and creative interpretation of the challenge. And then it boiled down to Land and Sea - even after Kaleena pointed out it was a lake, not the sea...

That was so disappointing. The only thing in that episode that gave a bit of the architecture they'd visited were the batons of the winning chefs.

It was great to see all those sites and learn a little of the history.

  • Like 6
Daisychain

Daisychain

Wow that was so un-fun to watch!  You get my 2 Chicago chefs, Kaleena and Alisha, going down in a blaze of disgruntled non-glory.  Dysfunction or unplanned planning on one side and intolerance and short-tempered on the other.  I was so thankful that the judges and producers didn't choose to beat up again on the middle contestants.  It's either this version of the website or the precursor that coined this the "recrap."  No one needs the recrap, we already feel bad for them.

Yes, @violet and green, my daughter, SIL, and brand new baby granddaughter live outside of Madison, We've been there many times.  It was so fun to see the Frank Lloyd Wright, the state house, the hotels, the city square, and previews of the Dane County Farmer's Market, which takes place on the 4 sides of the State Capitol.  I can tell you all 4 sides are long and that is going to be a sprint.  I'm not young anymore so glad I don't need to sprint.

  • Like 5
Seelouis

Seelouis

3 hours ago, violet and green said:

And then it boiled down to Land and Sea - even after Kaleena pointed out it was a lake, not the sea..

I thought Kaleena was insisting on “sea” and Alisha wanted “water.”  Either way they essentially came up with “surf and turf” and were doomed from the start. Also if Alisha wanted to get in good with Kaleena “I hate geminis” was not a good start. And who hates an entire category of people based on the random date they were born???

  • Like 18
  • Applause 4
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snarts

snarts

(edited)

I like FLW and have been to both Taliesin and Taliesin West but 30 minutes in and they'd not yet stepped foot into the kitchen. It's like they lost of the plot.

I watch Top Chef for the food porn and it's challenging enough that we can't taste anything. To then throw a contrived challenge (come to Wisconsin!) which inevitably ends up being more about the stupid interpretation/visual than the actual food is disappointing.

The fact that Kristin came in after the judging to remind the remaining contestants (and herself) that they should be focused on the food tells you everything.

Oh, and adding my most hated contestant EVER to the mix was just icing the cake for me... 

Edited by snarts
  • Like 7
Rammchick

Rammchick

(edited)

What was especially impressive about Rasika and Danny's dish is that they presented first, and nothing that came after it was better.  I loved how they flipped the color scheme of the two offerings and utilized the FLW architectural elements.  It was a very clever dish and must've tasted phenomenal.

Edited by Rammchick
  • Like 15
rhofmovalley

rhofmovalley

When I was in school (a thousand years ago), if nearly everyone failed a test the blame was on the instructor, not the students. So I have to believe this challenge was either poorly explained or it was just too out there for most of the contestants. I thought it was a fairly easy concept (I thought of hard/crispy vs soft), but it seems it went over the heads of nearly all of them. Or they understood but their execution was way off.

The abbreviated judges table did amuse me. No long explanation of why the dishes sucked, just straight to "Y'all are leaving, you can leave now, bye."

  • Like 15
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HappyDancex2

HappyDancex2

2 hours ago, violet and green said:

You're right. Alisha said "land and sea" so many times, I missed the bit where it was Kaleena who veto'd "land and water"... 

They were both so in their heads parsing the details of the potential dish to death that I became annoyed and said “who cares let’s just move on” and yet the editors didn’t LOL.  It was like “it’s land and water but not sea but a lake but then your circle has to be bigger but not bigger like a lake but more like the sea but with aquachile which is more like using bottled water except it’s tap water kind of like lake water which is not like the sea….”

and then they didn’t want to talk about their concepts at the house that night.  Thank goodness!!

In the end Tom said her dish was so bad it was like a culinary student pretending to make a fancy dish and it was aquachile with shrimp which is a huge insult IMO.  There just isn’t a lot to mess up there.  And kaleena’s edit of her self announcing all of her bad decisions along the way was also painful.  It’s as though she swallowed a delusional pill and we got to hear her thoughts.

  • Like 3
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rlc

rlc

This episode left me cold. I liked that they only called out the obvious winning and losing team, but that was essentially all I liked about the episode. While it was interesting to see all of the FLW architecture, I tuned in to watch a cooking competition.

I'm fine with the people who were sent home. Last episode, I could not believe that Kaleena was in the top for using store bought pasta, and she seemed to be a terrible communicator.

Is Michelle going to start every challenge by declaring that she's not familiar with xy and z, and she's not sure what she'll do?

I'm hoping that Manny will start cooking the way he did in the first episode.

Overall, I'm underwhelmed by this group.

  • Like 16
  • Applause 5
sugarbaker design

sugarbaker design

All that time to think of a concept and the best they could do was 'surf and turf'?  WTF?

2 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

When I was in school (a thousand years ago), if nearly everyone failed a test the blame was on the instructor, not the students. So I have to believe this challenge was either poorly explained or it was just too out there for most of the contestants. I thought it was a fairly easy concept (I thought of hard/crispy vs soft), but it seems it went over the heads of nearly all of them. Or they understood but their execution was way off.

Is it the instructor's fault if it goes over the head of the contestants?  This was a test of the imagination.  Two people failed because they had no imagination.

I really felt KK's emotion when she told the two to pack their knives and go.

  • Like 10
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bravofan27

bravofan27

(edited)
4 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

 I thought it was a fairly easy concept (I thought of hard/crispy vs soft), but it seems it went over the heads of nearly all of them. Or they understood but their execution was way off.

Michaelin judge tried to give Kaleena credit for her hard and soft pie-thing-shit-show and Tom reminded her right away that THAT was an accident. LOL. 

It was a very hard challenge. They needed to make something "fancy" and precise and beautiful yet simple (Michaelin star chef at the table with Buddha!) and also that would taste great, and they needed to work well together and have dishes that made sense to pair, both flavor, taste, texture, and keeping with the theme. It was very very hard IMO.

IMO, from being the nerdy girl trying to fit in with the cool girl in middle school, the Kaleena and Alisha relationship was painful. From the get go, Kaleena kept her back turned to Alisha as much as possible, made very little eye contact, and tried to always be keeping a distance and seemed to be embarrassed about working with her. Alisha sensed that distance and dislike, and tried to compensate by being very complimentary, agreeing with everything she said, being extra supportive, always patting her back, and was pretty much her shadow, which just pissed off Kaleena more. In the interview, when Alisha said, "Sorry, I touched your foot" jokingly, Kaleena's aggressive and frankly mean comment, was very telling of how she really wanted her space and wanted to establish social dominance and dislike to everyone.

I just think Kaleena is such a mean girl, and I don't really like her "I'm too good" attitude. But even if they got along great and made a good dish, they were the weakest people there without immunity. Sort of far second is the Kevin and Manny pairing, who I thought did a great job getting along. Also Laura and Savannah will likely be the next two to head out. 

Edited by bravofan27
  • Like 9
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dleighg

dleighg

6 hours ago, snarts said:

I like FLW and have been to both Taliesin and Taliesin West but 30 minutes in and they'd not yet stepped foot into the kitchen. It's like they lost of the plot.

I think that must have been one of the conditions that Wisconsin put on to get tourists to come. But I agree- way too much FLW (and I like his work!)

It was funny watching Michelle get left behind for a long time while they were pairing up-- no one wanted to pair with someone with immunity, duh! Charly got the last laugh.

I noticed that Gail was sunburned at the beginning when they were still at the cheese fest explaining the next challenge.

Man they telegraphed Alisha and Kaleena going home right from the get go didn't they.

I'm half face blind but I can't tell Manny and Kevin apart.

I assume that Burnham Block is a tourist site/museum-- that is, no one lives there? Kind of ironic given the housing shortage.

Not sorry to see Kaleena go. Such a sourpuss.

  • Like 6
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caitmcg

caitmcg

18 hours ago, Bastet said:

The only suspense was which of the two would win immunity, but Rasika is on such a roll, my money was on her

I didn't think there was any suspense there; just as it was obvious which pair would win, I thought it was obvious Rasika would come out on top. While the judges complimented the pair and their concept and didn't really have any criticism, it was Rasika's dish they couldn't stop talking about.

  • Like 8
barshi50

barshi50

Quote

“Seemingly similar but strikingly different” was a great title for duality.  (Wasn’t that a challenge in another season, to make two dishes that looked the same but tasted different?)

Quote

Yes.  That was a challenge in an earlier season.  They had to make dishes that looked exactly alike but tasted different. These dishes didn't have to look exactly alike.  In some ways, that was harder because they really had to think about what food could be prepared in similar ways.  

That challenge was in Season 19 "Doppelgangers", which was won by Jackson and Buddha. So I guess Buddha was a good choice for guest judge for this challenge.

Check out "The Dish with Kish" where Buddha makes a FLW inspired Guggenheim Neopolitan.

 

jaybird2

jaybird2

9 hours ago, rlc said:

This episode left me cold. I liked that they only called out the obvious winning and losing team, but that was essentially all I liked about the episode. While it was interesting to see all of the FLW architecture, I tuned in to watch a cooking competition.

I'm fine with the people who were sent home. Last episode, I could not believe that Kaleena was in the top for using store bought pasta, and she seemed to be a terrible communicator.

Is Michelle going to start every challenge by declaring that she's not familiar with xy and z, and she's not sure what she'll do?

I'm hoping that Manny will start cooking the way he did in the first episode.

Overall, I'm underwhelmed by this group.

 

But I love Kevin and Manny and hope they start to bring it.

 

  • Like 4
carrps

carrps

10 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

The abbreviated judges table did amuse me. No long explanation of why the dishes sucked, just straight to "Y'all are leaving, you can leave now, bye."

I knew the results ahead of time, because my sister watched this episode before me, so I was amused by Rasika's panic when she and Danny were called in to the judges with Kaleen and Alicia. "What did I do wrong?" I don't know if Tom thought of that when he said to only bring out the best and worst teams!

 

  • Like 5
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SemiCharmedLife

SemiCharmedLife

19 hours ago, Seelouis said:

I thought Kaleena was insisting on “sea” and Alisha wanted “water.”  Either way they essentially came up with “surf and turf” and were doomed from the start. Also if Alisha wanted to get in good with Kaleena “I hate geminis” was not a good start. And who hates an entire category of people based on the random date they were born???

As a Gemini, her comment did not land well with me.  But, on the other hand, I was fine with it.  😂

  • Wink 2
  • LOL 21
Yeah No

Yeah No

17 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

The abbreviated judges table did amuse me. No long explanation of why the dishes sucked, just straight to "Y'all are leaving, you can leave now, bye."

Yeah, I thought that was weird and I didn't like it.  But was it me or did Kristin's voice quiver when she said PYKAG?  If so that was sweet and she's more emotional than I thought!
 

12 hours ago, bravofan27 said:

Michaelin judge tried to give Kaleena credit for her hard and soft pie-thing-shit-show and Tom reminded her right away that THAT was an accident. LOL. 

I think Dominique was just trying to find something positive to say about it to be nice, LOL, and I loved Tom's response!
 

Quote

It was a very hard challenge. They needed to make something "fancy" and precise and beautiful yet simple (Michaelin star chef at the table with Buddha!) and also that would taste great, and they needed to work well together and have dishes that made sense to pair, both flavor, taste, texture, and keeping with the theme. It was very very hard IMO.

It was hard but I didn't think it was any more difficult than similar challenges in seasons past.  I'm no Buddha or even close, but what I imagined doing if I were in this challenge was most similar to what the winning team did, so maybe the rest of these people are just not up to par with previous seasons.  But on the other hand, sometimes there are situational factors we may not be aware of that threw a lot of them off on this particular challenge.  I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. 
 

7 hours ago, jaybird2 said:

But I love Kevin and Manny and hope they start to bring it.

Me too, and they're even more fun together, LOL.
 

6 hours ago, Bastet said:

I love that when someone accurately guessed those four being summoned to Judges' Table meant they were bringing in the best and the worst, several of the others dismissed it, saying they wouldn't do that.

LOL, I wonder if these people have ever watched the show!
 

17 hours ago, rlc said:

While it was interesting to see all of the FLW architecture, I tuned in to watch a cooking competition.

I personally loved seeing two of my interests combined together in some way.  I love FLW and appreciated learning something new about him and his work.

  • Like 12
Heathrowe

Heathrowe

It is hard to measure up after the level of cooking last season - but so far I’m not impressed and don’t want to eat any of these dishes. 

Wisconsin - I’m sorry, I’ve visited & it’s a very pretty state & Madison is lovely but…zzzzzz. I’m bored.

Also, Buddha. Blech. I’m sure he’s lovely in real life but he just strikes me as horribly boring and condescending.

Also I like Manny quite a bit, I hope he steps it up next episode.

 

  • Like 5
SemiCharmedLife

SemiCharmedLife

7 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Yeah, I thought that was weird and I didn't like it.  But was it me or did Kristin's voice quiver when she said PYKAG?  If so that was sweet and she's more emotional than I thought!
 

Yes, she was very emotional while asking them to pack their knives.  The only saving grace of this double elimination was that both chefs had a failure in their dish.  I hate it when one chef loses the challenge and they both have to go.  

Watching Kaleena and  Alisha bicker was super cringe.  Also, I'm surprised Kaleena presented a crust that she didn't know well- she said she thought she had it right.  Oops!

  • Like 7
NowVoyager

NowVoyager

(edited)

Aw, I loved the Frank Lloyd Wright field trip. So much beauty. I'll never forget learning the concept of compression & release as you move through a space. And he designed low-income homes!? Say what now!?

The winning & losing teams were telegraphed early on. Tom made me giggle during Judging Table when he was ready to wrap things up.

The winning dishes looked so beautiful; they visually showed the architectural inspiration. Interesting that both chefs previously worked at French Laundry. That moment when another chef, being nosy, came to take a peek at their work & gasped.

The losing team did not like each other. Damn. What had happen? They still didn't like each other at Last Chance Kitchen. That moment the day before when the chefs were all talking through their dishes & the young lady didn't want to talk anymore--- I could sense their impending downfall. Aguachile with not enough chile & cheesecake with a brick crust; how dreadful.

Edited by NowVoyager
  • Like 12
gorgy

gorgy

(edited)

I love architecture, and I've taken several people on architectural tours of a Frank Lloyd Wright studio in Oak Park outside of Chicago, so kudos to the Wisconsin Tourist Board for making me want to take a trip up to the Milwaukee/Madison area. That being said, the challenge parameters were too open to interpretation, and had little to with Frank Lloyd Wright or architecture , but I really don't care all that much. The show thought up a team challenge and need it to fit somewhere.

For me, Frank Lloyd Wright was more about organic harmony between opposing forces, which I don't believe was successfully interpreted in really any of the dishes. The cheftestants were kinda just told to make opposite dishes and hope for the best, I guess. Like, did the chicken and egg dishes really speak to each other or the dark dessert and light pasta have anything to do with each other outside or some artistic leeway? Not really. I have nothing against open interpretation challenges, but it's been said great art comes from limitations, so maybe the dishes would have been better with clearer parameters. 

I definitely can see why the winning dishes won, and obviously, even though the magic of editing, that the losing team were oil and water. 

I think I finally figured out who Savanah is, so that's something.

 

Spoiler

Oh my god, the Last Chance Kitchen only being single elimination *eye roll* If Tom is gonna make it that easy for the super special 16th cheftestant to make it back into the kitchen, just let him in now and get it over with

 

Edited by gorgy
  • Like 10
avecsans

avecsans

I was not surprised when Kristin and Buddha came in to have the come to Jesus moment with the chefs. I think with the exception of Rasika, everyone has been underwhelming this season. I don’t think I wanted to eat any of that food. Mr. sans commented during the prep that Manny’s pasta looked dry, and it was.  And mushroom cheesecake? Revolting.  I hope they step up their games soon.

 

 

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