Top Chef Recap: Technical Foul

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After watching Top Chef for some time, you’ll become accustomed to its occasional eccentricities. You’ll come to ignore the promotional content, finding it effortless to brush off the brand logos, airline sponsorships, and introductory phrases like “brought to you by our friends at Glad Trash Bags.” Sometimes, you might even develop a liking for the challenges created around famous personalities, popular films, or local ingredients that could grow tiresome after tasting 13 dishes centered on them. However, amidst all this, you’ll find numerous professionals with a tangible love for food and their work, and if you have any affection for food too, learning from them will always be enjoyable.

As a cinema enthusiast, I must say, this season has truly captured my heart! After Padma’s departure, there’s been an unexpected yet comfortable shift, making Kristen’s hosting role feel even more natural, and the show itself seems to be gracefully evolving. Even challenges as whimsical as the hockey idiom one kept my excitement high. However, with the penultimate episode filled with endless Olympic promotions and a tournament-style elimination determining the final three contestants, I must admit, I’ve started to feel a tad cranky.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

Two weeks following their farewell with Massimo in Calgary, our remaining four team members touch down in Milan. As Tristen put it, his “break” didn’t provide the relaxation it may have offered for Bailey, César, and Shuai. Instead, Tristen had to lay his stepfather to rest, whose impact on his life is undeniably significant. It’s heartening to learn he was able to say a final goodbye, but it’s also deeply unfortunate that he must travel to Milan burdened by such heavy responsibilities.

In keeping with past finale customs, they found themselves immediately plunged into the Quickfire challenge. The task was straightforward yet nerve-wracking: Prepare a risotto. Seems simple enough, but as every follower of Top Chef can attest, creating an excellent risotto is no easy feat, even for top-tier chefs worldwide. With Milan, a city renowned and fiercely proud of its risottos, being the destination, one might assume they were well aware of this challenge and had prepared accordingly, right?

Incorrect! As Bailey performs a joyful jig, the gentlemen seem tense behind their facades. “I believed I could conjure up [risotto] from this culinary challenge,” Tristen laments. Shuai, dear man, candidly confesses he didn’t rehearse making risotto at all. “It’s a dish that has tripped up numerous chefs on Top Chef before me,” he admits. You know what, Shuai? I must concur with your sentiments there. The fact that many chefs have struggled with risotto is precisely why they’ll make you prepare it, sweetie!

As a cinephile who appreciates a good twist, let me rephrase it this way: In an unexpected move, two out of the four culinary artists decide to skip making risotto entirely. This decision, I suspect, stems from César’s unconventional belief that risotto is a methodology rather than a dish. As someone who once excelled at finding imaginative reasons to avoid writing college essays, this seems like a misguided loophole attempt. The outcome is a celery-root “risotto” that leaves Tom with a face contorted like he’s just tasted a Warhead. In silent sympathy, Massimo’s wine glass miraculously shatters in his hand.

To give César some leeway, he was under pressure to start cooking right away due to Tom’s urgency for the risotto to be served immediately. The others started later, with delays of 5, 10, and 15 minutes respectively. In this context, Shuai, who began last, has no valid reason for standing there contemplating a wall of rice options for 15 minutes before choosing to cook cubed butternut squash in rice stock instead. Tom expressed his displeasure at both César’s and his own workaround solutions. “Risotto,” he exclaimed, “literally means ‘of rice,'” implying that they should have known better than to stray from the main ingredient. Neither Tom nor I could fathom how half of the top four contestants abandoned the primary duty of this challenge so easily.

In a bid to improve her underwhelming risotto from the initial round, Bailey opts for a traditional northern Italian recipe featuring red wine and hazelnut gremolata. While this dish appears satisfactory, it leans towards the predictable, potentially overshadowing Tristen’s innovative and mouthwatering entry that won him the Quickfire challenge ($15,000). His motto, “bringing melanin to Milan,” materializes as a jollof-rice-inspired risotto adorned with charred butter greens, leaving me craving for a taste before I expire. Despite sharing apprehensions about preparing risotto with Shuai, Tristen yet again showcased his skill by crafting another stunning version. Initially, I had hoped to see Shuai compete for the grand title, but this round solidified my belief that Tristen deserves the title of Top Chef.

Previously, it was necessary for the semifinals to be reduced to the final round of three teams, but that’s when things start getting chaotic or unpredictable instead.

Instead of complaining about the risotto challenge where some chefs didn’t make risotto being my main issue this week, it was actually learning that the final test before the finale would be a three-course head-to-head competition with nine judges voting to eliminate one chef in each round until only one remains. This format could potentially work for a contest like Top Chef: Portland‘s tofu tournament, which narrowed six chefs down to five. However, making chefs compete for a finale spot by cooking dishes they may never serve on their menu seems ludicrous.

Furthermore, linking this contest to Milan’s forthcoming Winter Olympics seems awkward and even disruptive. Despite the excitement of meeting the athletes, I doubt the chefs were thrilled about essentially babysitting their own personal Olympians during such a critical shopping trip to the supermarket. The chaos that ensued would have been much better managed with a personal Italian assistant instead. (Massimo’s ghost must be fuming; I’m truly sorry, old friend!) What’s more, when the athlete friends joined the judges’ table, they all avoided judging in the first round by simply voting for the chef they shopped with. This wouldn’t bother me so much if it were an early-round challenge, but given that this is for a spot in the finale, such paddle votes are perplexing. Why are we resorting to paddle votes now?

To get straight to the point, let’s discuss the dishes themselves, whether they were eventually presented or not. With a three-course menu featuring polenta, beets, and gorgonzola as local ingredients, there was much at play and on the line. Through the course of the episode, it became evident that most chefs put the greatest thought into crafting a powerful first polenta dish (hoping to win and wrap up the competition quickly), followed closely by their final gorgonzola creation (to ensure they wouldn’t be in trouble if it came down to that). The beet dish, intended for the second serving, seemed to be given the least consideration.

Bailey opts for more secure decisions in her initial rounds, choosing between a classic parmesan polenta and roasted beets with a ricotta spread. In contrast, César consistently takes risks. He attempts a polenta cake with black walnut ice cream and a beet tostada, hurriedly crafting homemade tortillas just moments before the deadline. Their contrasting strategies – one simple, the other daring – are mirrored in the judges’ evaluations. Regrettably, neither contestant earns enough support from the nine-judge panel, consisting of Tom, Kristen, Gail, athletes, Michelin chef Andrea Aprea, and my Top Chef: World All-Stars spouse Ali Ghzawi, to avoid elimination by the feared Gorgonzola.

After three consecutive victories in the Elimination Challenges, Shuai triumphs again by skillfully combining tender polenta with succulent barbecued duck in round one. If Tom didn’t have a keen eye for a single dish amidst the pressure of an Elimination Challenge, Shuai would have been out due to his undercooked butternut squash cubes alone. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to sample his planned beet dumplings with smoked fish, but he seems fortunate it wasn’t necessary as his proposed butternut squash and Gorgonzola dish sounded less than inspiring. Shuai is both astonished and relieved to have wrapped up the day, though the tension of watching others compete proves too stressful for enjoyment.

In the second round, Tristen emerged victorious. His strong vocal performance in the first round almost overpowered the judges’ senses, but his dish of smoked beets with pikliz and pork belly earned him a nearly unanimous decision. I was disappointed not to witness his proposed Gorgonzola sherbet creation, but I shared Tristen’s joy as he advanced to the finals with relative ease.

It’s worth noting that Bailey’s situation is different from others. Under noticeable stress, she chose to take on an additional task: winning over the judges with a bruléed Gorgonzola dish, which they had shown dislike for just a few weeks prior. I initially thought this was her farewell moment, but I was wrong. Bailey’s second attempt at brulée was successful, causing César and his casserole (which worked well with squash but not Gorgonzola) to be eliminated instead. Throughout the season, Bailey has presented many innovative and challenging dishes. It’s unfortunate to see César leave, especially since he didn’t create the recipe for the dish that led to his elimination, but his beloved sous chef did. Despite being less expressive than some of the other chefs, I would have enjoyed hearing more from César during his final episode as a competitor. Unfortunately, the TV network required a segment dedicated to 15 minutes of Olympians shopping for puff pastry in Italian grocery stores instead.

As a movie enthusiast, let me tell you, this episode was nothing short of perplexing. I’ve watched it twice over, yet the puzzle pieces remain scattered. All I can wish for is a straightforward plotline in the finale – something as clear as a recipe like “cook your best dish” or risk falling flat – and may the winner emerge, deserving of a prestigious Delta Diamond Medallion Status.™

Leftovers

• My roommate’s fashion opinion catches my attention again; she labeled Kristen Kish’s striped cream Quickfire suit as “dad chic” but in a cool, Petra-inspired way. To top it off, her black and white Elimination Challenge suit? Kristen is definitely impressing us with her style. I rate her 8.5 out of 10.

This week, I don’t have much more to say, but I want to express my loyalty to #TeamTristen for the victory. While it’s been great getting to know everyone this season, no one else has matched his reliability and imagination quite like him. I’m eagerly anticipating what he’ll create when there are no limitations.

How about this instead: Alright, let’s talk about your preferences. Which contestant do you think deserves the awards for Most Improved, Best Confessionals, and Best Sportsmanship? Let’s dish out some accolades before the final episode arrives!

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2025-06-06 05:55