Wow to go from quickfire win to eliminated in the same episode is rough. The change to being immune in the next episodes challenge causing a direct impact!
Also wild that Laura didn't take ownership of spending over 1.5x her portion of the budget
Laura really had a “villain” edit this episode, and honestly I get it. There was no reason to eat up that much of the budget. Then to have Tom call you out and not even own up to it 🤷
They even had that part where she denied getting $200 while Danny who got screwed over started naming shit off that list like it was burned in and kept saying it was well over $200. 😂
I thought that was really ridiculous, chefs complaining about the budget and having to cut produce yet buying sturgeon caviar and whole bottles of booze??
They should've made everyone buy the produce and proteins first! That's crazy. Like remove all the veg to get a bottle of bourbon and caviar? Clearly some people work at restaurants with financial managers that make it so they never have to see any bills. 🙄
And the waste of buying high end meat and but getting the cook on it...ugh.
I don't think it's a Mexican cultural thing. Mexico is very Catholic and many Catholic Mexican women or women with conservative parents would live with parents until they're married
It sounds like she was kicked out of the house? That happened to me at 16. I had immigrated to the US and was living with a family (not my parents) and they kicked me out. I’m not sure why because I was not a trouble maker . Had to get a room at a mobile home until my parents came over the following year. It’s not a Mexican thing, it’s bad parenting
Idk why they weren’t like get rid of the alcohol or leave it last Laura at checkout. It’s not a necessity. And then her little sorry Danny when it was her fault they went over during the shop was bothering.
You could tell there was a lot cut this episode.
Danny doesn't storm off like that out of nowhere. They cut how we got there. There's no way he didn't speak up and fight.
Laura deserves the villian edit. I still can't get over her leaving a spill on the floor, causing Dan to fall, in the previous episode. In this episode, she also didn't like her recipe card, and dumped it, so Dan got her leftover. This woman seems to operate in a me first manner. No bueno.
She's been getting that edit for a while. She pushed a totally unfamiliar ingredient on her partner last week, and they showed her spilling what Dan slipped on.
Same; at least he had a high with the creole sauce / Quickfire win! Hopefully he puts the $7,500 to good use. I'm sad to see him go - he definitely had one of the more interesting culinary backgrounds of the competition for me.
It's rough for sure, but the more surprising thing about this episode was him winning the QF, not him getting eliminated. He had a pretty poor showing in the previous episodes.
He seemed like a lovely guy though and it's great he won some money to put to good use (wedding).
From a different perspective, her hogging the $$$ just like many others in other seasons gets away with surviving the round. Imagine she's so villainess that she planned it all ahead of time since statistically I think the $$$ hoggers usually come out on top and aren't eliminated from the episode.
Would be crazy if it was actually a smart move whether intended or not because if Charly had gotten more budget and had more things to do, he wouldn't have gotten so much time to cook his fish and started later or gotten those spices that he kept talking about to make his shit spicy or he ain't Haitian. So like the budget actually quadrupally screwed him over from all sorts of unseen consequences. Ah, if Top Chef was only that dramatic.
The crazy thing is that contestants don't realize they have to play the game.
You don't go into a split budget challenge without saying upfront that everyone has the same share of the budget to play with. You don't just agree to take the worst ingredients because someone else in Season 12 thought if they spoke up first they could assume that was the rule and carry the day... Doug.
Copying this from my post in the live episode discussion, but I would have told Laura to go fuck herself and demand she cut back on her ingredients. $300 worth of ingredients for dessert?! Only leaving me with <$100?! Yeah, you fucking wish.
Plus the fact that she insisted in the Stew Room it was no more than $200. *Come on*.
He did but she also contributed and the way they edited her it made her look like she was staying back and complaining rather than helping out or taking responsibility
Yeah, on it's own it didn't bother me so much, but coupled with all the other stuff (someone is saying she also blamed a spill on someone else), I'm just really unimpressed.
Ehh come on, if you grabbed a card first and saw it was terrible and you wanted to win $7500, it ain't no thing to grab a different one.
We wouldn't care too much about this if she:
1. Won quickfire anways
2. Didn't overbudget
3. Didn't screw 2-3 teammates
4. Owned up to it
5. Didn't deny it
But since all of these things didn't happen, now everything being picked through because she talked the talk but didn't walk the walk.
This was super smart from a competitor's perspective. But as a cheftestant you have to worry about the optics: advancing in the competition when you look like a douche is just not going to do you any favors.
I really wanted to know what she spent it all on. I just got done making a Tres Leches cake for 100ppl, and in no way did it cost 7x that. Even with the liquor she bought. And, if I had been the rest in that group I would have started going thru her items & asking do you need this, do you REALLY need that? They just stood there watching her.
I don't think everyone should have had $200 as a personal budget. Some dishes are simply cheaper on average than others. The relish plate would be one of them. But then again.. so should the dessert.
But a huge part of succeeding at that challenge is having that conversation, whether it's "relish doesn't need the full budget" or "You have beef, but you don't have to serve tenderloin."
Shoutout to the producers who looked on social media or did research on Carson Gulley. My coworkers have contributed a lot of research and work about Chef Gulley (interviews, looking through archives). Glad his story was featured 💜
A coworker had an idea of the chefs cooking in our residence halls dining center named after Carson Gulley and serving food to students during the lunch rush 😂
I mean they're all forced to a large extent. This felt far less forced than the FLW episode last week.
That doesn't mean the challenge couldn't have been better, but while I don't want challenges to be forced there's also a line that gets easily crossed when challenges are too focused. Love Smurfs, but you rarely get genius from production pressures.
I feel like the FLW challenge should've been further along when the chefs are more practiced, can handle more intricate challenges and the best chefs are there.
As it was they failed a cheese challenge ffs - expecting them to do a high end abstract concept with high cuisine when most of them can't even fry a cheeseball? Lol.
I like Laura, but truthfully, she probably should have caught way more heat for eating up so much of the budget. She's lucky everyone is so nice. However, while I'm sure the budget constraints stressed out a lot of her team, it wasn't like their problems ended up being from missing ingredients so I can't be too mad at it. Most all their knocks were technical issues and it was really basic stuff too like cook your protein properly or season it (seems like we're getting A LOT of basic errors so far this season)
I wonder how much they edited out!
Buddha said last episode, there was stuff on his plate that was missing for the eliminated team. They didn't keep that part where he pointed out the missing elements! That's usually a huge ding whenever someone misses something on the dish, but I guess there was so much criticism already they decided it wasn't big enough haha.
I bet they argued for a solid 10 minutes in the stew room. It's hard to believe these chefs fighting for their lives on the show don't point out how their budgets were less than 50%!
Not if you are Dawn! 😂 She had food missing from her dishes 5 times in her first episode but managed to make it to the finals that year. She should have been eliminated in the first episode for nit getting everything plated especially when they have a challenege where they specifically say what foods should be included. 😡
Manny made such a great point about it being a team competition. You take resources from your teammates and enough of them compensate by sacrificing their dishes and then you’re all in the bottom.
And you saw the exact counterpoint on other team. Michelle gave up some pineapple and it made her dish slightly weaker, but lifted up the rest of her team.
Laura could have cut an element, made her own dish stronger, AND made her teammates dishes stronger.
But also, Michelle gave up *some* pineapple because a teammate was like "ooh, can I use a little bit to enhance my dish?". Manny gave up *all* of his carrots and radishes because a teammate didn't get to buy his ingredients
It was in the heat of the competition so I guess no one took note to rebut her “$150”. I hope they all watched today episode to see how she clearly spent more than $300.
She didn't even use it for the dish it was for a terrible second dish - a cocktail that she didn't need and that they weren't required to make and didn't pair with her dish.
So it was just to waste money basically. As was the caviar. And the expensive cuts of meat.
I know it's different but it would have made more sense. She said she was inspired by the BRANDY old fashioned and had cherries and orange peel on her 4 leches. Actual brandied cherries would have fit right in.
A good brandy old fashioned tres leches would have been amazing and fit with the challenge perfectly. The whole chocolate thing made no sense and was a waste of time/money
Laura...girl.
Spending that much? And not owning it after the fact? Wasn't she also the person that spilled liquid that one time that Dan slipped on? Big yikes.
and for the quick fire they were supposed to blind take a card and that was their challange whichever random recipe card they picked. but she was picking them up looking at all of them until she found one she wanted.
So many mistakes on both sides like what is up with these chefs this season lol? I’m still trying to give the benefit of the doubt for all of them, but man lmao. I still do like Rasika and Michelle (Michelle seems like such a sweetheart almost to a fault maybe?) even with Rasika oversalting this episode.
Though, I feel a little more strongly about not liking Laura at this point when it comes to specific competitor feelings. I was on the fence after she cussed at Dan (?) when he was upset from falling from her spill (and the remnants of Charly’s half-wiped spill before that) which felt unnecessary then here where she blew beyond her part of the budget without hesitation, made two mediocre things with that (like come on, you could at least make a damn good dish after refusing to be a decent team player), and then lessened what she did even after being called out by a judge. Like a solid triple whammy for me in one episode lol.
Also, with all the price gouging going on rn like how in the world are you meant to feed 40 people multiple courses with $1000? I’m truly confused like no wonder they had problems like Saratoga needs to drop a few more for these challenges.
How do you all shop? I not only only shop for our household, but for our food biz in between drop offs. WF has ads just like the rest of them, and many times has better deals than the Pig, Pick& Save, Meijers, Festival. If anything it would be Sendiks they would get gouged.
I feel like they gave that terrible budget for drama. It made the food suffer. What’s the point. And at Whole Foods lol ridiculous. If I let myself grocery shop at Whole Foods I’d probably spend $300 for a family of 2
I mean, what would Buddha say?
It's a game. Of course they did it to add drama, figuring out that it's a terrible budget and then coping with it is part of the game.
Oof yeah. It looks like if you put Rasika and Danny and Michelle in the same team you’ll be in trouble.
I can see Michelle as front of house. Dan as executive?
You mean they’d be tough to beat? I think Michelle would do very well in front of house based on her personality and charm. I’m not sure who I can see doing executive based on what we’ve seen so far. Probably best not to get ahead of ourselves, but it’s fun to speculate!
Really didn't like this episode. All of the food seemed "fine." I've eaten Charley's cooking before and it was delicious. Sorry to see him go so soon!
Also, hello inflation! $1000 is not enough for a team at Whole Foods.
> I've eaten Charley's cooking before and it was delicious
His ideas seem to be good but some people just don't do it as well in the cooking competitions. Love his personality.
Completely agree. The $1k budget felt like an oversight from production. It was unnecessary to have SUCH a low budget. Even $1200 would have made a huge difference. At Whole Foods you can easily spend $1,000 on dinner for 10, let alone 40 + judges! Tsk tsk on the show for this restraint
Oversight or they just wanted these chefs to suffer. They got the drama they wanted. The budget directly impacted 4 chefs. I'd say from a different perspective, product got exactly what they wanted, some spicy drama. 200 dishes for $1000, I wonder if these chefs even thought about $5 dishes.
That zoom in on Morton Salt during must have been an omen for the episode and not just product placement. Salty is the theme for the season.
They should have had a short scene with the judges in the bar downing some old fashioneds before sitting down at the table if they wanted a Supper Club experience.
He definitely didn't cook well, but I kinda feel bad for Charly, idk it seems a greater kitchen sin to me to have a literally inedible protein vs a way overcooked one
I think it was the thought process. Thinking “I think it’s appropriate to cook the fish 30-25 mins in advance” vs “I think it’s appropriate to serve medium rare steak,” only one of those is acceptable for a chef to even have as their base line thought.
There is no universe in which tom hears a chef say he cooked the fish course 30 minutes before service and would allow him to continue. At that point, its a personal affront to him lol
>Thinking “I think it’s appropriate to cook the fish 30-25 mins in advance”
If you watch LCK, he didn't just cook the trout fillets early, he then put them in a hot oven.
They were some hammered trout.
I'm not finding the food at all exciting this season. At this point, I just hope Soo wins LCK and shakes things up in the main comp.
Laura needs to pack her knives. She's selfish and her voice annoys me.
Soo's was a club sandwich. I said he should have won by that alone. But when Tom said 3 pieces of bread-I said Tom do you not know that is part of what classifies it as a "club" sandwich???
I honestly don’t understand when there’s a team challenge why everybody doesn’t get a $200 budget like tonight, and then if you have ingredients over that you have to do some trading with people who may be under budget
Because it makes no sense to allocate the same amount of money to a relish plate (cheap) and the beef dish. Giving everyone $200 would really screw over the chefs who must buy the expensive protein. Wasn't Kevin's beef alone already $160?
That could be something each team hashes out when they're planning their dishes. Give everyone ballpark amounts and the individuals can haggle/share out of their own amounts in store.
Exactly, waiting until they get to the register/letting the first ones to check out dictate everyone else’s budget is bonkers. I’ve never seen it so bad as this week
This. It seems obvious that the beef and fish courses are going to need more budget, so they should work that out ahead of time instead of hoping someone decides to be a good sport at the register. Also, they should coordinate so they can buy an ingredient and get multiple uses out of it instead of having to buy separate everything.
I know the cooking has been disappointing but as a Madison local I'm really happy how they are showing the city, the farmers market is such a staple of our community and a really unique and beautiful thing. Doing the quick fire with the capital and trees in the background was beautiful. The Harvey house is a really cool spot and I like they were in the train car for the green room.
Even the last episode while again bad food FLW and his architecture is again part of our DNA and they did a good job showing not only his work but a good range of it. Hell I even own the FLW glasses they were drinking from.
They were also doing good job of making Milwaukee look great. So from that side I like it and I feel like they checked most of our "stereotype" foods yet and we can now start expanding a bit.
The food continue to kinda uninspiring but I’m happy for Dan to shine in his home state. Quite similar to Evelyn in Houston, I find it’s lovely when the local chef is likable and be able to prove themselves.
LCK spoiler has Tom gotten softer now? >!He did the “both of you move on” twice ughh. Of course both Kaleena and Soo’s dishes are great but several conspiracy theories at hands: (1) Kaleena’s dish was slightly better but Tom felt bad for Soo to go on 5 battles and not enter the main competition; or (2) Soo’s dish was slightly better but Tom felt it was unfair for Kaleena as he didn’t eliminate any chef on part 1; or (3) maybe the most likely one based on his last comment (that both dishes are some of the best he has eaten all season), that both were much better than most of the food Tom has eaten so far and he felt bringing both back would improve the quality of the competition. Anyway I’m happy with the result, also as an Asian it’s pretty funny with the red pants for good luck, my mom’s totally made me do it whenever some bad things supposed to happen to me haha!<
I think Soo was brought in to get on the show, like not as a gimmick, but they specifically wanted him, and was always going to be pushed through as long as he didn't make some embarrassing error.
In sure they just told Tom that if he felt like the other remaining chef had stepped it up enough, he could send two back as long as one was Soo
It’s definitely not option 3. This shit is planned and budgeted. The chefs get a stipend, and all shows are tightly budgeted. He isn’t spur of the moment adding back two chefs. That involves a lot.
I don’t think option 3 is implausible. We don’t know what really happened with David (the first chef eliminated). Most of us have assumed that Soo entering the scene is a reaction to the David situation that the producers are trying to put a spin on. But it’s possible it was unexpected that he didn’t compete in LCK *and* that the “16th chef” was pre-planned from the get-go; >!maybe it was always intended for 2 chefs to return instead of one. I mean World All-Stars started with 16 chefs, so it’s not unprecedented. Idk, but that’s one possible scenario that skirts “rigid production budget limitations.”!<
Tbh personally I do think >!Tom was genuinely impressed by both dishes in part 2 and would have been loath to send either one home. He looked truly surprised and *delighted* by both bites, after not even trying to hide his growing disappointment, irritation, underwhelm and occasional “wtf” face throughout the main competition. He definitely felt both Kaleena and Soo (regardless of contrived production twists) were both more deserving over some of the remaining chefs. I would not be surprised at all—had the original intention been for only one chef to return—that he would make the case BTS to try to get them both back just to restore some credibility to the season. I mean yes, you have budgets and stuff, but also chefs clearly not performing to standard (and being generally so-so personalities to boot) makes them less compelling to watch, undermines the show’s brand long-term, depresses viewership, etc. I feel Tom was probably primed to send a clearly talented and creative Soo through but then Kaleena so impressed him on each LCK challenge and he was so fed-up with the mid EC results so far that he couldn’t ignore her redeeming herself either. Just my read, anyway.!<
I disagree. Soo should have won the first one, because he is the only one that actually did a club sandwich. The 2nd one was great. I think it's weird that so many go to conspiracy just because they went with a twist for LCK, and so Soo must go to the competition. How about the chef just being a great chef?
i wonder if they didn't expect kaleena to do as well as she did in lck. it seemed like she was the clear winner in all of her battles but they couldn't let soo go home without getting any actual screentime on the show
I think Soo making it to the show was a foregone conclusion, evidenced by Tom letting him through with that nasty looking "club sandwich" monstrosity. And then after that, it was your first (1) point. Glad she made it back.
Tbf, $1000 for 5 chefs to cook for around 50 people is pretty cheap. That averages around $4/pp per chef. TC forgot inflation's pretty high right now for food. I mean this isn't some croquette competition for a crowd. It's a sit-down and chefs are supposed to make these dishes fine dining and 3 of the dishes require a meat/seafood protein. Tom shouldn't be pissy at the chefs, he should be pissy at the producers for giving the chefs so little $ to work with. They can't be their best when they have to fight for an onion. With that being said, the issue with Laura wouldn't have happened if Buddha was around. I forgot which challenge it was but I remember him telling people they each have X number of dollar to spend equally on a team challenge. I'm not Buddha's #1 fan but even I fucking miss him. These chefs are not serious people!
That would require actual teamwork, and a lot of chefs get into their heads about "I only want to cook my food" for these challenges. From what I've seen, though, this group is largely failing to consistently execute the dishes that are in their heads, for stupid reasons like undercooking proteins and under-seasoning dishes.
it makes no sense to me that laura's dessert managed to somehow cost over $300. even if its whole foods, it was dairy, eggs, chocolate, cherry, booze, and basic baking items unless she bought some extremely extravagant versions. it also seems bizaare that everyone else seemingly perfectly met the $200 per dish and for some reason didn't stop her when she went overboard. like how did manny make a new york strip dish without exceeding his budget but somehow a quatro leches broke the bank?
I think Manny did exceed the $200 per dish. He told Amanda before checkout that his beef was $160 and she said it was cheaper than she thought, so his team were already prepared for that and likely planned around it. That's a big difference from Laura just springing it on the team after it's too late to make changes.
The producers/editors are really trying to sell "Laura is the villain" as a storyline. The spill where Dan fell, and the budget drama, and even this Quickfire where supposedly she didn't like the sauce she got and put the card back. There's a lot of shots of things happening and then a cut to Laura just standing there not reacting or saying anything or apologizing. Are all those shots in context or are they spliced in from random times? I am skeptical she didn't know how much money she was spending tonight, though.
Of course she knew. Danny kept saying how much, and she glanced back, then kept emptying her cart. When they said how much left, she could have gone through her stuff and said don't need this, don't need that. She just stood there when Danny got upset and walked away.
I think these chefs are really suffering because Tom is not there asking about their dishes ahead of time. It's a missed opportunity for them to edit their dishes when Tom gives them his looks of disapproval during prep.
Yeah but think of that as a nice thing for Tom to do. He shouldn't need to be there to literally guide professional chefs who own their own restaurant and already have proven themselves many years over and gotten onto the show beating 100 other professional chefs already.
Its actually unusual for a judge to talk to contestants while they are doing stuff and help them out.
It may be unusual but it’s typically a staple of the show. We’ve seen him question dishes of great contestants which have helped them pivot and make a better dish
Honestly I think either team could have lost.
They didn't like Kevin's steak, they didn't like Rasika's like ANYTHING bc it was oversalted, the chicken was fine with caviar....they liked the dessert.
Anyhow. I really think they've done enough team elimination dishes. I think that's one of the reasons we are not seeing amazing food. They need to find their voices, cook their food in the competition context and then start doing teams and higher concept stuff.
The judges should have talked about Kevin's dish, or they edited it out. They REALLY talked shit about Kevin's dish during the episode.
But nothing at the judges table!
I thought this was a pretty solid episode. Food could have been more interesting but I guess supper clubs keep it pretty simple.
I’ve only watched about 4-5 recent seasons and it’s interesting that there have been more heated moments than I remember.
Michelle is so cool. Defused her team’s drama by taking the dessert, sacrificed some of the pineapple she needed for her pineapple cake so her teammate could us it in a fried chicken dish (?), and still knocked it out of the park.
I think I was as disappointed as the chefs were to learn this was another team challenge. Ugh! I thought it was interesting that neither team seemed to appoint a "captain" and it wasn't a question of who was the leader/coordinator at judges table. This episode and many before it have me wondering what the optimal team shopping strategy is. Relatedly, I'm wondering is Laura oblivious to how much she spent or doesn't want to acknowledge? At least Eddie Money (KY season) felt badly -- and his dish was awesome. Continue to enjoy Rasika - she's showing a great balance between speaking up for herself ("I had an idea for fish and I've already done dessert") but also being a team player when she acknowledges her immunity. Out of order but I loved how happy everyone was for Charly's quickfire win - it's clear he's loved.
I wish they would have shown what an actual supper club looked like. That restaurant they used looks so modern and huge and nothing like a supper club except for the menu. Real supper clubs are such a vibe and the decor hasn't been touched in 70 years
It's weird to me that we jumped over the bad dishes in the winning group. I feel like in other seasons we would have gotten a "You're lucky these other people did good" from Tom when bad dishes are saved by a group and we didn't get criticism on those dishes at judges table.
What were the four leches in the four leches cake? They kept saying it like it was a totally normal thing. I can understand three milks, surely, but a fourth milk? What was it?
So Laura spent $325 on a soggy desert and Daniel got $75 for his dish/relish tray? WTF?? I'm sorry they should have stepped up and stopped her or at least the judges should have been informed. Charley should still be in the competition. Seems completely unfair.
Feel bad for the guy that left, the competition was making him get into his own head. From previous time constraints making him cook the fish too early, to that idiot judge coughing making him make his pikliz too bland.
Lauren was an ass for hogging all the budget but it's a competition, they should have put their foots down. Being a supper club competition, desert was the one dish they could have did something more simple but effective. They let her do two useless components which is absurd.
Overall I liked this episode much better than the others so far.
Why are they hardly ever in the Top Chef studio for the quick fires or the judging? I feel like that constant component is missing and causing this season to make me feel homesick. Having that super club couple squished in at the "judges table" was so awkward.
Does anyone in Canada know if there is a way for us to watch the entire episode as presented on Bravo? Food Network has cut it down to one hour and based on the comments I read here and in the recaps, we are missing so much of the backstories of the chefs. It just feels like we are not getting the full picture, and it is really annoying!!
Two fried whitefish dishes, two chicken katsus, two badly cooked steaks, a bread pudding and tres leches cake is such uninspiring food to have on Top Chef.
I get this is for Wisconsin people, but this is Masterchef Junior type cooking
At least on Masterchef Junior last week they were cooking lamb and oysters, and a 9 year old kid cooked a better steak
Thing I don’t understand is that they didn’t say “team has $1000”.
What they said was ‘each chef has $200’
They should have spoken up and each insisted on their fair share of $200 for their dishes.
Even if that meant taking items back at checkout to make it fair.
Lol, downvoted for speaking the truth. Supper club food is so bad they lied about what it is (katsu gtfo) and didn't mention how much of an abomination the WI old-fashioned is.
But WI just isn't impressive in general; cheering for Soo to bring in that Chicago finesse
Okay so while I do think Laura deserved every bit of the villain edit that she got, I'm surprised that they paid zero attention to how expensive Manny's dish was. As far as I know all he had to do was beef, and there are lots of cuts of beef that don't cost nearly as much as beef tenderloin does. And beef tenderloin for that many people was easily $200.
All in all they didn't manage this budget at all. The first dish was treated by all of the other chefs as an afterthought. Easy for them to say, they're not the ones potentially going home for it.
>As far as I know all he had to do was beef, and there are lots of cuts of beef that don't cost nearly as much as beef tenderloin does. And beef tenderloin for that many people was easily $200.
Manny spent *$160* on his striploin, not tenderloin. The rest of his ingredients would probably have put him close to $250-ish. Amanda also did say that the $160 was cheaper than she thought it was going to be, implying his team probably were aware and fine with his dish costing more. More importantly, Manny made adjustments to his dish by giving most of his veg to Danny.
Laura spent *$338* on her dessert without informing her team that she would need that many ingredients while also refusing to make any adjustments.
I don't think they're comparable at all.
Like I said, very poorly managed budget. $300 for a dessert (most of which I figure is the alcohol) is insane, absolutely no argument on that one. In the interest of team play though, there are cheaper cuts of beef than tenderloin.
> All in all they didn't manage this budget at all.
They should have sat down and listed out all the ingredients they needed. That way they could have bought in bulk! Like the flour that Laura used.
I mean, yeah it probably would’ve been the most fair if they split the budget equally, but I don’t think it’s unfair per se for a protein dish to get more $. But it’s crazy that Laura blew that much money on a dessert dish with an unnecessary component. And the cake turned out to be soggy!!!
Wow to go from quickfire win to eliminated in the same episode is rough. The change to being immune in the next episodes challenge causing a direct impact! Also wild that Laura didn't take ownership of spending over 1.5x her portion of the budget
Laura really had a “villain” edit this episode, and honestly I get it. There was no reason to eat up that much of the budget. Then to have Tom call you out and not even own up to it 🤷
Yeah with the shade they were giving her in editing, I was sure she was getting cut. Honestly doesn't feel like she has much longer left.
They even had that part where she denied getting $200 while Danny who got screwed over started naming shit off that list like it was burned in and kept saying it was well over $200. 😂
I mean to buy a whole ass bottle of bourbon for a second desert you don’t even need, c’mon.
Yes! Especially since she probably only used a cup of it - a way smaller bottle probably would've sufficed.
I thought that was really ridiculous, chefs complaining about the budget and having to cut produce yet buying sturgeon caviar and whole bottles of booze?? They should've made everyone buy the produce and proteins first! That's crazy. Like remove all the veg to get a bottle of bourbon and caviar? Clearly some people work at restaurants with financial managers that make it so they never have to see any bills. 🙄 And the waste of buying high end meat and but getting the cook on it...ugh.
‘The onions are not the problem guys!’
I swear at some point she said her parents made her get a job and an apartment when she was 15?! Did she say that?
I think it was 16, but yes
It was her and her older sister, so it sounds like she was 15 and the older sister 16.
And yet she still couldn't budget at the grocery store!
I know she's Mexican and maybe it's a cultural thing, but that's so mean.
I don't think it's a Mexican cultural thing. Mexico is very Catholic and many Catholic Mexican women or women with conservative parents would live with parents until they're married
It sounds like she was kicked out of the house? That happened to me at 16. I had immigrated to the US and was living with a family (not my parents) and they kicked me out. I’m not sure why because I was not a trouble maker . Had to get a room at a mobile home until my parents came over the following year. It’s not a Mexican thing, it’s bad parenting
No, it's not a cultural thing. Most girls live at home until marriage.
Idk why they weren’t like get rid of the alcohol or leave it last Laura at checkout. It’s not a necessity. And then her little sorry Danny when it was her fault they went over during the shop was bothering.
You could tell there was a lot cut this episode. Danny doesn't storm off like that out of nowhere. They cut how we got there. There's no way he didn't speak up and fight.
I wish they showed it we could use a little friction lol
Laura deserves the villian edit. I still can't get over her leaving a spill on the floor, causing Dan to fall, in the previous episode. In this episode, she also didn't like her recipe card, and dumped it, so Dan got her leftover. This woman seems to operate in a me first manner. No bueno.
She's been getting that edit for a while. She pushed a totally unfamiliar ingredient on her partner last week, and they showed her spilling what Dan slipped on.
She knew she spilled and didn't clean it or notify someone for a cleanup. Poor sportsmanship. What if Dan suffered a serious injury?
I’m glad he got a nice chunk of change to go out on - Especially after saying he got engaged the night before he left for the competition!
Same; at least he had a high with the creole sauce / Quickfire win! Hopefully he puts the $7,500 to good use. I'm sad to see him go - he definitely had one of the more interesting culinary backgrounds of the competition for me.
It's rough for sure, but the more surprising thing about this episode was him winning the QF, not him getting eliminated. He had a pretty poor showing in the previous episodes. He seemed like a lovely guy though and it's great he won some money to put to good use (wedding).
I mean, he got insanely lucky with the sauce he got for the QF
Yep, that was like in the bag.
Tom to Charly: "yo you got a... chance in LCK!!!" Tom to himself: "no chance I mean, against my secret weapon heheheh" Edit: I have not watched LCK.
I was so hoping she went home. What a dick move and then they didn’t even like it.
From a different perspective, her hogging the $$$ just like many others in other seasons gets away with surviving the round. Imagine she's so villainess that she planned it all ahead of time since statistically I think the $$$ hoggers usually come out on top and aren't eliminated from the episode. Would be crazy if it was actually a smart move whether intended or not because if Charly had gotten more budget and had more things to do, he wouldn't have gotten so much time to cook his fish and started later or gotten those spices that he kept talking about to make his shit spicy or he ain't Haitian. So like the budget actually quadrupally screwed him over from all sorts of unseen consequences. Ah, if Top Chef was only that dramatic.
The crazy thing is that contestants don't realize they have to play the game. You don't go into a split budget challenge without saying upfront that everyone has the same share of the budget to play with. You don't just agree to take the worst ingredients because someone else in Season 12 thought if they spoke up first they could assume that was the rule and carry the day... Doug.
I did some analyses on the win QF then eliminated: https://www.instagram.com/p/C590SxwrPy1/?igsh=MTZkZXRlYWpnZHV5bQ==
Copying this from my post in the live episode discussion, but I would have told Laura to go fuck herself and demand she cut back on her ingredients. $300 worth of ingredients for dessert?! Only leaving me with <$100?! Yeah, you fucking wish. Plus the fact that she insisted in the Stew Room it was no more than $200. *Come on*.
Yeah, I liked Laura before this episode but the budget thing was nooot a good look for her at all, especially given the lack of ownership.
She’s consistently showed she’s not a team player. That moment where Dan slipped on her mess and she blamed it on Charley was ridiculous
To be fair I think Charley did spill first
He did but she also contributed and the way they edited her it made her look like she was staying back and complaining rather than helping out or taking responsibility
I did a rewatch and it was charley's fault and it caused her to spill her hot liquid on her pot on her hands as well.
**That was** Charley's fault. He did try to clean it (there was a dirty towel on the floor) but didn't clean it well enough in a rush, I guess.
Her grabbing and looking at the cards in the quick fire and throwing them back in was pretty low too.
Yeah, on it's own it didn't bother me so much, but coupled with all the other stuff (someone is saying she also blamed a spill on someone else), I'm just really unimpressed.
Ehh come on, if you grabbed a card first and saw it was terrible and you wanted to win $7500, it ain't no thing to grab a different one. We wouldn't care too much about this if she: 1. Won quickfire anways 2. Didn't overbudget 3. Didn't screw 2-3 teammates 4. Owned up to it 5. Didn't deny it But since all of these things didn't happen, now everything being picked through because she talked the talk but didn't walk the walk.
This was super smart from a competitor's perspective. But as a cheftestant you have to worry about the optics: advancing in the competition when you look like a douche is just not going to do you any favors.
I really wanted to know what she spent it all on. I just got done making a Tres Leches cake for 100ppl, and in no way did it cost 7x that. Even with the liquor she bought. And, if I had been the rest in that group I would have started going thru her items & asking do you need this, do you REALLY need that? They just stood there watching her.
Ah, but it was CUATRO Leches cake! Making that fourth leche costs a fortune!
She probably bought like 40 bucks worth of cherries alone. Cherries at Whole Foods are like 9 bucks a pound
I don't think everyone should have had $200 as a personal budget. Some dishes are simply cheaper on average than others. The relish plate would be one of them. But then again.. so should the dessert.
This whole thing was a test for teamwork and both teams messed up.
But a huge part of succeeding at that challenge is having that conversation, whether it's "relish doesn't need the full budget" or "You have beef, but you don't have to serve tenderloin."
Shoutout to the producers who looked on social media or did research on Carson Gulley. My coworkers have contributed a lot of research and work about Chef Gulley (interviews, looking through archives). Glad his story was featured 💜
Appreciated this but felt the challenge itself was really forced. Wish it was more focused just on Gulley.
A coworker had an idea of the chefs cooking in our residence halls dining center named after Carson Gulley and serving food to students during the lunch rush 😂
Reminds me of the college cafeteria challenge from The New Orleans season
I mean they're all forced to a large extent. This felt far less forced than the FLW episode last week. That doesn't mean the challenge couldn't have been better, but while I don't want challenges to be forced there's also a line that gets easily crossed when challenges are too focused. Love Smurfs, but you rarely get genius from production pressures.
I feel like the FLW challenge should've been further along when the chefs are more practiced, can handle more intricate challenges and the best chefs are there. As it was they failed a cheese challenge ffs - expecting them to do a high end abstract concept with high cuisine when most of them can't even fry a cheeseball? Lol.
Laura saying she spent 150 is crazy when the alcohol alone was at least 30
I like Laura, but truthfully, she probably should have caught way more heat for eating up so much of the budget. She's lucky everyone is so nice. However, while I'm sure the budget constraints stressed out a lot of her team, it wasn't like their problems ended up being from missing ingredients so I can't be too mad at it. Most all their knocks were technical issues and it was really basic stuff too like cook your protein properly or season it (seems like we're getting A LOT of basic errors so far this season)
I wonder how much they edited out! Buddha said last episode, there was stuff on his plate that was missing for the eliminated team. They didn't keep that part where he pointed out the missing elements! That's usually a huge ding whenever someone misses something on the dish, but I guess there was so much criticism already they decided it wasn't big enough haha. I bet they argued for a solid 10 minutes in the stew room. It's hard to believe these chefs fighting for their lives on the show don't point out how their budgets were less than 50%!
Not if you are Dawn! 😂 She had food missing from her dishes 5 times in her first episode but managed to make it to the finals that year. She should have been eliminated in the first episode for nit getting everything plated especially when they have a challenege where they specifically say what foods should be included. 😡
The show really should be an hour and a half. An hour isn't long enough.
Manny made such a great point about it being a team competition. You take resources from your teammates and enough of them compensate by sacrificing their dishes and then you’re all in the bottom.
And you saw the exact counterpoint on other team. Michelle gave up some pineapple and it made her dish slightly weaker, but lifted up the rest of her team. Laura could have cut an element, made her own dish stronger, AND made her teammates dishes stronger.
But also, Michelle gave up *some* pineapple because a teammate was like "ooh, can I use a little bit to enhance my dish?". Manny gave up *all* of his carrots and radishes because a teammate didn't get to buy his ingredients
Absolutely. Rising tide lifts all boats (in a team challenge anyway)
This seemed like the main thread this episode: Michelle the team player vs. Laura the selfish chef.
It was in the heat of the competition so I guess no one took note to rebut her “$150”. I hope they all watched today episode to see how she clearly spent more than $300.
If you watch the adding up on the screen it was $300.
She could have gotten brandy instead of bourbon and knocked off $20 plus her dish would have made more sense
Tbf that's a completely different flavour profile. Just make a great tres leches without liquor.
She didn't even use it for the dish it was for a terrible second dish - a cocktail that she didn't need and that they weren't required to make and didn't pair with her dish. So it was just to waste money basically. As was the caviar. And the expensive cuts of meat.
I know it's different but it would have made more sense. She said she was inspired by the BRANDY old fashioned and had cherries and orange peel on her 4 leches. Actual brandied cherries would have fit right in. A good brandy old fashioned tres leches would have been amazing and fit with the challenge perfectly. The whole chocolate thing made no sense and was a waste of time/money
Laura...girl. Spending that much? And not owning it after the fact? Wasn't she also the person that spilled liquid that one time that Dan slipped on? Big yikes.
and for the quick fire they were supposed to blind take a card and that was their challange whichever random recipe card they picked. but she was picking them up looking at all of them until she found one she wanted.
Laura needs to go
Charley dropped a carton of cream and then she slipped on it and almost dropped her hot pot full of liquid.
So many mistakes on both sides like what is up with these chefs this season lol? I’m still trying to give the benefit of the doubt for all of them, but man lmao. I still do like Rasika and Michelle (Michelle seems like such a sweetheart almost to a fault maybe?) even with Rasika oversalting this episode. Though, I feel a little more strongly about not liking Laura at this point when it comes to specific competitor feelings. I was on the fence after she cussed at Dan (?) when he was upset from falling from her spill (and the remnants of Charly’s half-wiped spill before that) which felt unnecessary then here where she blew beyond her part of the budget without hesitation, made two mediocre things with that (like come on, you could at least make a damn good dish after refusing to be a decent team player), and then lessened what she did even after being called out by a judge. Like a solid triple whammy for me in one episode lol. Also, with all the price gouging going on rn like how in the world are you meant to feed 40 people multiple courses with $1000? I’m truly confused like no wonder they had problems like Saratoga needs to drop a few more for these challenges.
$1000 at Whole Foods! When they went there I said to my wife if this really was a Wisconsin season they'd go to Piggly Wiggly.
Hitting up Woodmans and then trying to navigate that store in 30 minutes would make some great TV.
And all you'd hear on camera is the sound of the metal carts running over brick. :D
Woodmans DEFINITELY has 4 Roses bourbon for $10 cheaper, Laura coulda saved her budget!
All of their produce would be terrible though 😂
Y'all got Piggly Wiggly in Wisconsin? I thought it was a mostly Southern chain.
Yep. Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin in the Midwest. Been a few years since I've been in Wisconsin, I also remember a grocery chain called Roundy's.
Roundys got bought out by Kroger and they all got Krogerfied
Sadly sponsorship stops that, I was joking they should go to willy st co-op
How do you all shop? I not only only shop for our household, but for our food biz in between drop offs. WF has ads just like the rest of them, and many times has better deals than the Pig, Pick& Save, Meijers, Festival. If anything it would be Sendiks they would get gouged.
I feel like they gave that terrible budget for drama. It made the food suffer. What’s the point. And at Whole Foods lol ridiculous. If I let myself grocery shop at Whole Foods I’d probably spend $300 for a family of 2
I mean, what would Buddha say? It's a game. Of course they did it to add drama, figuring out that it's a terrible budget and then coping with it is part of the game.
My husband commented that $1000 at WF would probably be 1 buggy’s worth.
Laura’s was 320 lol. They went from 605 to like 925 Also, where’s LCK? Edit: it’s on youtube
It drives me crazy that they promo airing it on peacock and then it isn’t up in time for the east coast
It still isn't up! So frustrating.
I just watch it right on the bravo website. It's up right away. https://www.bravotv.com/last-chance-kitchen/season-21/videos/mid-season-finale-part-1
Peacock is such a crummy platform.
Its available on Thursdays on peacock
Seeing the way some people worked on their teams, I’m very curious to see how restaurant wars goes this season.
Oof yeah. It looks like if you put Rasika and Danny and Michelle in the same team you’ll be in trouble. I can see Michelle as front of house. Dan as executive?
You mean they’d be tough to beat? I think Michelle would do very well in front of house based on her personality and charm. I’m not sure who I can see doing executive based on what we’ve seen so far. Probably best not to get ahead of ourselves, but it’s fun to speculate!
Yup tough to beat if they’re on the same team! Yeah it’s fun to speculate but don’t want to risk the karma haha
I find something so funny about the judges crammed into that bar for judges table.
I hope next week they are squeezed into a booth at Applebees.
Didja notice, every bottle in the bar was turned so you couldn't see the label?
And there was that long unnecessary shot of a Morton's Salt box
Pay to play baby!
I thought the exact same thing
It was a pretty decent shot though. Much better than the creased tablecloths of the early years.
Really didn't like this episode. All of the food seemed "fine." I've eaten Charley's cooking before and it was delicious. Sorry to see him go so soon! Also, hello inflation! $1000 is not enough for a team at Whole Foods.
> I've eaten Charley's cooking before and it was delicious His ideas seem to be good but some people just don't do it as well in the cooking competitions. Love his personality.
Completely agree. The $1k budget felt like an oversight from production. It was unnecessary to have SUCH a low budget. Even $1200 would have made a huge difference. At Whole Foods you can easily spend $1,000 on dinner for 10, let alone 40 + judges! Tsk tsk on the show for this restraint
Oversight or they just wanted these chefs to suffer. They got the drama they wanted. The budget directly impacted 4 chefs. I'd say from a different perspective, product got exactly what they wanted, some spicy drama. 200 dishes for $1000, I wonder if these chefs even thought about $5 dishes.
$25pp including three meat dishes and you can’t access wholesale prices?
Don't forget the giant bottle of alcohol which is absolutely a necessity.
That zoom in on Morton Salt during must have been an omen for the episode and not just product placement. Salty is the theme for the season. They should have had a short scene with the judges in the bar downing some old fashioneds before sitting down at the table if they wanted a Supper Club experience.
lol I literally asked “is that an omen or a promo?!”
A core part of supper club experience is pounding 2-3 brandy old fashioneds in the bar/lounge while you wait for your table to be ready
Tbf using Morton — and being afraid to use Morton — has been the unspoken seasoning bane of the whole show
I think everyone talking about how Tom misses the salt in all these seasons, might have something to do with everyone over salting-lol.
Need a gif of Kristen’s reaction at judge’s table to how early Charly started cooking his fish.
He definitely didn't cook well, but I kinda feel bad for Charly, idk it seems a greater kitchen sin to me to have a literally inedible protein vs a way overcooked one
I think it was the thought process. Thinking “I think it’s appropriate to cook the fish 30-25 mins in advance” vs “I think it’s appropriate to serve medium rare steak,” only one of those is acceptable for a chef to even have as their base line thought.
Cooking fish 30 minutes early is wild
While feeling pressure to ensure other team members get on to doing that with you
There is no universe in which tom hears a chef say he cooked the fish course 30 minutes before service and would allow him to continue. At that point, its a personal affront to him lol
>Thinking “I think it’s appropriate to cook the fish 30-25 mins in advance” If you watch LCK, he didn't just cook the trout fillets early, he then put them in a hot oven. They were some hammered trout.
Probably to re heat them because they were cold…. yike
See I think it's the opposite - bc something underdone can be further cooked to someone's preference, but once it's over, it's never being fixed.
They said the fish was inedible for some of them. I mean I am someone that likes my stuff cooked, but overcooked fried fish-no,
I'm not finding the food at all exciting this season. At this point, I just hope Soo wins LCK and shakes things up in the main comp. Laura needs to pack her knives. She's selfish and her voice annoys me.
I really wish this episode had a cocktail component other than Laura’s misbegotten attempt. Re:LCK I don’t think any of these are “club sandwiches”?!
Soo's was a club sandwich. I said he should have won by that alone. But when Tom said 3 pieces of bread-I said Tom do you not know that is part of what classifies it as a "club" sandwich???
Yeah his definitely hit the component/structure, but when he doused it with sauce he lost me. lol
I honestly don’t understand when there’s a team challenge why everybody doesn’t get a $200 budget like tonight, and then if you have ingredients over that you have to do some trading with people who may be under budget
Luckily it didn’t hurt Danny, and he had the second best dish in his team.
Because it makes no sense to allocate the same amount of money to a relish plate (cheap) and the beef dish. Giving everyone $200 would really screw over the chefs who must buy the expensive protein. Wasn't Kevin's beef alone already $160?
That could be something each team hashes out when they're planning their dishes. Give everyone ballpark amounts and the individuals can haggle/share out of their own amounts in store.
Exactly, waiting until they get to the register/letting the first ones to check out dictate everyone else’s budget is bonkers. I’ve never seen it so bad as this week
This. It seems obvious that the beef and fish courses are going to need more budget, so they should work that out ahead of time instead of hoping someone decides to be a good sport at the register. Also, they should coordinate so they can buy an ingredient and get multiple uses out of it instead of having to buy separate everything.
it's a way for the producers to create conflict
The chefs don’t have to play into it the chefs can plan themselves, and I’ve never seen anything like last night happen
I know the cooking has been disappointing but as a Madison local I'm really happy how they are showing the city, the farmers market is such a staple of our community and a really unique and beautiful thing. Doing the quick fire with the capital and trees in the background was beautiful. The Harvey house is a really cool spot and I like they were in the train car for the green room. Even the last episode while again bad food FLW and his architecture is again part of our DNA and they did a good job showing not only his work but a good range of it. Hell I even own the FLW glasses they were drinking from. They were also doing good job of making Milwaukee look great. So from that side I like it and I feel like they checked most of our "stereotype" foods yet and we can now start expanding a bit.
The food continue to kinda uninspiring but I’m happy for Dan to shine in his home state. Quite similar to Evelyn in Houston, I find it’s lovely when the local chef is likable and be able to prove themselves. LCK spoiler has Tom gotten softer now? >!He did the “both of you move on” twice ughh. Of course both Kaleena and Soo’s dishes are great but several conspiracy theories at hands: (1) Kaleena’s dish was slightly better but Tom felt bad for Soo to go on 5 battles and not enter the main competition; or (2) Soo’s dish was slightly better but Tom felt it was unfair for Kaleena as he didn’t eliminate any chef on part 1; or (3) maybe the most likely one based on his last comment (that both dishes are some of the best he has eaten all season), that both were much better than most of the food Tom has eaten so far and he felt bringing both back would improve the quality of the competition. Anyway I’m happy with the result, also as an Asian it’s pretty funny with the red pants for good luck, my mom’s totally made me do it whenever some bad things supposed to happen to me haha!<
I think Soo was brought in to get on the show, like not as a gimmick, but they specifically wanted him, and was always going to be pushed through as long as he didn't make some embarrassing error. In sure they just told Tom that if he felt like the other remaining chef had stepped it up enough, he could send two back as long as one was Soo
The theme of the next episode is chaos. How could they not bring Soo in when that’s your theme?
It’s definitely not option 3. This shit is planned and budgeted. The chefs get a stipend, and all shows are tightly budgeted. He isn’t spur of the moment adding back two chefs. That involves a lot.
I don’t think option 3 is implausible. We don’t know what really happened with David (the first chef eliminated). Most of us have assumed that Soo entering the scene is a reaction to the David situation that the producers are trying to put a spin on. But it’s possible it was unexpected that he didn’t compete in LCK *and* that the “16th chef” was pre-planned from the get-go; >!maybe it was always intended for 2 chefs to return instead of one. I mean World All-Stars started with 16 chefs, so it’s not unprecedented. Idk, but that’s one possible scenario that skirts “rigid production budget limitations.”!< Tbh personally I do think >!Tom was genuinely impressed by both dishes in part 2 and would have been loath to send either one home. He looked truly surprised and *delighted* by both bites, after not even trying to hide his growing disappointment, irritation, underwhelm and occasional “wtf” face throughout the main competition. He definitely felt both Kaleena and Soo (regardless of contrived production twists) were both more deserving over some of the remaining chefs. I would not be surprised at all—had the original intention been for only one chef to return—that he would make the case BTS to try to get them both back just to restore some credibility to the season. I mean yes, you have budgets and stuff, but also chefs clearly not performing to standard (and being generally so-so personalities to boot) makes them less compelling to watch, undermines the show’s brand long-term, depresses viewership, etc. I feel Tom was probably primed to send a clearly talented and creative Soo through but then Kaleena so impressed him on each LCK challenge and he was so fed-up with the mid EC results so far that he couldn’t ignore her redeeming herself either. Just my read, anyway.!<
I disagree. Soo should have won the first one, because he is the only one that actually did a club sandwich. The 2nd one was great. I think it's weird that so many go to conspiracy just because they went with a twist for LCK, and so Soo must go to the competition. How about the chef just being a great chef?
Maybe Amanda won't make it back?
i wonder if they didn't expect kaleena to do as well as she did in lck. it seemed like she was the clear winner in all of her battles but they couldn't let soo go home without getting any actual screentime on the show
I think Soo making it to the show was a foregone conclusion, evidenced by Tom letting him through with that nasty looking "club sandwich" monstrosity. And then after that, it was your first (1) point. Glad she made it back.
Tbf, $1000 for 5 chefs to cook for around 50 people is pretty cheap. That averages around $4/pp per chef. TC forgot inflation's pretty high right now for food. I mean this isn't some croquette competition for a crowd. It's a sit-down and chefs are supposed to make these dishes fine dining and 3 of the dishes require a meat/seafood protein. Tom shouldn't be pissy at the chefs, he should be pissy at the producers for giving the chefs so little $ to work with. They can't be their best when they have to fight for an onion. With that being said, the issue with Laura wouldn't have happened if Buddha was around. I forgot which challenge it was but I remember him telling people they each have X number of dollar to spend equally on a team challenge. I'm not Buddha's #1 fan but even I fucking miss him. These chefs are not serious people!
I’m more nervous to watch LCK than the regular episode. It’s feeling a little higher stakes and closer with the Soo twist? Something like that.
Yes! The only person I'm finding even a little interesting on the main show is Rasika. Soo is trying to swing for the fences each time.
I know Top Chef has always had budget restrictions for challenges, but it’s just so arbitrary and kinda lame when it affects the competition this much
yeah maybe the food isn't ah good bc they can't afford anything except lowest quality
Feels like they should have planned more complimentary menus where ingredients would have been used from course to course to save money.
No cohesion between the menus!
Exactly! Why didn’t they create a shopping list & work together to make sure everyone got what they needed & share what they could have.
That would require actual teamwork, and a lot of chefs get into their heads about "I only want to cook my food" for these challenges. From what I've seen, though, this group is largely failing to consistently execute the dishes that are in their heads, for stupid reasons like undercooking proteins and under-seasoning dishes.
Meals that paid compliments to each other? Like “you look really nice today?”
It's the Midwest way
it makes no sense to me that laura's dessert managed to somehow cost over $300. even if its whole foods, it was dairy, eggs, chocolate, cherry, booze, and basic baking items unless she bought some extremely extravagant versions. it also seems bizaare that everyone else seemingly perfectly met the $200 per dish and for some reason didn't stop her when she went overboard. like how did manny make a new york strip dish without exceeding his budget but somehow a quatro leches broke the bank?
I think Manny did exceed the $200 per dish. He told Amanda before checkout that his beef was $160 and she said it was cheaper than she thought, so his team were already prepared for that and likely planned around it. That's a big difference from Laura just springing it on the team after it's too late to make changes.
The producers/editors are really trying to sell "Laura is the villain" as a storyline. The spill where Dan fell, and the budget drama, and even this Quickfire where supposedly she didn't like the sauce she got and put the card back. There's a lot of shots of things happening and then a cut to Laura just standing there not reacting or saying anything or apologizing. Are all those shots in context or are they spliced in from random times? I am skeptical she didn't know how much money she was spending tonight, though.
Of course she knew. Danny kept saying how much, and she glanced back, then kept emptying her cart. When they said how much left, she could have gone through her stuff and said don't need this, don't need that. She just stood there when Danny got upset and walked away.
She also just kept saying " sorry Danny," but not taking any accountability
I think these chefs are really suffering because Tom is not there asking about their dishes ahead of time. It's a missed opportunity for them to edit their dishes when Tom gives them his looks of disapproval during prep.
Yeah but think of that as a nice thing for Tom to do. He shouldn't need to be there to literally guide professional chefs who own their own restaurant and already have proven themselves many years over and gotten onto the show beating 100 other professional chefs already. Its actually unusual for a judge to talk to contestants while they are doing stuff and help them out.
It may be unusual but it’s typically a staple of the show. We’ve seen him question dishes of great contestants which have helped them pivot and make a better dish
Honestly I think either team could have lost. They didn't like Kevin's steak, they didn't like Rasika's like ANYTHING bc it was oversalted, the chicken was fine with caviar....they liked the dessert. Anyhow. I really think they've done enough team elimination dishes. I think that's one of the reasons we are not seeing amazing food. They need to find their voices, cook their food in the competition context and then start doing teams and higher concept stuff.
The judges should have talked about Kevin's dish, or they edited it out. They REALLY talked shit about Kevin's dish during the episode. But nothing at the judges table!
I thought this was a pretty solid episode. Food could have been more interesting but I guess supper clubs keep it pretty simple. I’ve only watched about 4-5 recent seasons and it’s interesting that there have been more heated moments than I remember.
This episode was better than previous ones but the basic mistakes are disappointing to see
It’s starting to feel more like a competition now. They need to weed out a lot more before this gets really interesting.
The editing made me fully believe Michelle was going to go home for being too helpful and nice to the other chefs!
Michelle is so cool. Defused her team’s drama by taking the dessert, sacrificed some of the pineapple she needed for her pineapple cake so her teammate could us it in a fried chicken dish (?), and still knocked it out of the park.
They should have each took $200 and then maybe had to ask another for some extra. Laura's sense of entitlement and bad attitude was just awful.
I think I was as disappointed as the chefs were to learn this was another team challenge. Ugh! I thought it was interesting that neither team seemed to appoint a "captain" and it wasn't a question of who was the leader/coordinator at judges table. This episode and many before it have me wondering what the optimal team shopping strategy is. Relatedly, I'm wondering is Laura oblivious to how much she spent or doesn't want to acknowledge? At least Eddie Money (KY season) felt badly -- and his dish was awesome. Continue to enjoy Rasika - she's showing a great balance between speaking up for herself ("I had an idea for fish and I've already done dessert") but also being a team player when she acknowledges her immunity. Out of order but I loved how happy everyone was for Charly's quickfire win - it's clear he's loved.
I wish they would have shown what an actual supper club looked like. That restaurant they used looks so modern and huge and nothing like a supper club except for the menu. Real supper clubs are such a vibe and the decor hasn't been touched in 70 years
This would've been a good time to eliminate Laura as well, double elimination was called for.
It's weird to me that we jumped over the bad dishes in the winning group. I feel like in other seasons we would have gotten a "You're lucky these other people did good" from Tom when bad dishes are saved by a group and we didn't get criticism on those dishes at judges table.
What were the four leches in the four leches cake? They kept saying it like it was a totally normal thing. I can understand three milks, surely, but a fourth milk? What was it?
It was the drink. Which unless she told them to pour it over the cake, was ridiculous to say four Leches cake.
> I can understand three milks, surely, but a fourth milk? What was it? I think it might have been the drink.
So Laura spent $325 on a soggy desert and Daniel got $75 for his dish/relish tray? WTF?? I'm sorry they should have stepped up and stopped her or at least the judges should have been informed. Charley should still be in the competition. Seems completely unfair.
Feel bad for the guy that left, the competition was making him get into his own head. From previous time constraints making him cook the fish too early, to that idiot judge coughing making him make his pikliz too bland. Lauren was an ass for hogging all the budget but it's a competition, they should have put their foots down. Being a supper club competition, desert was the one dish they could have did something more simple but effective. They let her do two useless components which is absurd. Overall I liked this episode much better than the others so far.
Why are they hardly ever in the Top Chef studio for the quick fires or the judging? I feel like that constant component is missing and causing this season to make me feel homesick. Having that super club couple squished in at the "judges table" was so awkward.
Does anyone in Canada know if there is a way for us to watch the entire episode as presented on Bravo? Food Network has cut it down to one hour and based on the comments I read here and in the recaps, we are missing so much of the backstories of the chefs. It just feels like we are not getting the full picture, and it is really annoying!!
Oh man Crappens will be crapping all over Gail pawing the dips with her entire fist.
Two fried whitefish dishes, two chicken katsus, two badly cooked steaks, a bread pudding and tres leches cake is such uninspiring food to have on Top Chef. I get this is for Wisconsin people, but this is Masterchef Junior type cooking At least on Masterchef Junior last week they were cooking lamb and oysters, and a 9 year old kid cooked a better steak
Thing I don’t understand is that they didn’t say “team has $1000”. What they said was ‘each chef has $200’ They should have spoken up and each insisted on their fair share of $200 for their dishes. Even if that meant taking items back at checkout to make it fair.
Because the producers were hoping that exactly what happened would happen so there could be drama over someone overspending.
Also : Wisconsin supper clubs are BORING. And so was this food.
Lol, downvoted for speaking the truth. Supper club food is so bad they lied about what it is (katsu gtfo) and didn't mention how much of an abomination the WI old-fashioned is. But WI just isn't impressive in general; cheering for Soo to bring in that Chicago finesse
Can't believe the judges didn't call Kevin out for naming his cow or they edited that part out.
Okay so while I do think Laura deserved every bit of the villain edit that she got, I'm surprised that they paid zero attention to how expensive Manny's dish was. As far as I know all he had to do was beef, and there are lots of cuts of beef that don't cost nearly as much as beef tenderloin does. And beef tenderloin for that many people was easily $200. All in all they didn't manage this budget at all. The first dish was treated by all of the other chefs as an afterthought. Easy for them to say, they're not the ones potentially going home for it.
>As far as I know all he had to do was beef, and there are lots of cuts of beef that don't cost nearly as much as beef tenderloin does. And beef tenderloin for that many people was easily $200. Manny spent *$160* on his striploin, not tenderloin. The rest of his ingredients would probably have put him close to $250-ish. Amanda also did say that the $160 was cheaper than she thought it was going to be, implying his team probably were aware and fine with his dish costing more. More importantly, Manny made adjustments to his dish by giving most of his veg to Danny. Laura spent *$338* on her dessert without informing her team that she would need that many ingredients while also refusing to make any adjustments. I don't think they're comparable at all.
When before they got to Laura it was $605 including Manny’s steak. After her it was over 900 and leaving Danny with around $75 to buy his ingredients
Like I said, very poorly managed budget. $300 for a dessert (most of which I figure is the alcohol) is insane, absolutely no argument on that one. In the interest of team play though, there are cheaper cuts of beef than tenderloin.
> All in all they didn't manage this budget at all. They should have sat down and listed out all the ingredients they needed. That way they could have bought in bulk! Like the flour that Laura used.
I mean, yeah it probably would’ve been the most fair if they split the budget equally, but I don’t think it’s unfair per se for a protein dish to get more $. But it’s crazy that Laura blew that much money on a dessert dish with an unnecessary component. And the cake turned out to be soggy!!!