Is it really almost over? Yep, only two episodes remain in “Top Chef” Season 21, and I don’t know about you, but this makes me a little weepy. Plus, this week’s Episode 12 is the last one filmed Wisconsin (again, weepy). Next week, the remaining cheftestants (only four) go on a Caribbean cruise. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We need to talk about what happened this week: who struggled, who rallied, who guest-judged and who, in the end, is still standing. And something else, something that is still bothering me – they show a chef scraping his tongue. And not just once, either. But don’t let that stop you from reading this! Here’s my rapid-fire recap:
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
1. It’s the five amigos. The cheftestants act like they’re friends, anyway. But there’s only going to be one Top Chef. They all want the title, bad. And the competitions are not getting any easier. “To help introduce your next Quickfire – and your last – we’ve invited a familiar face. Please welcome back local legend, chef, restaurateur Paul Barto-LOWTA,” Kish says. Told they must do a blind taste test, each cheftestant is blind-folded and given 26 different ingredients to taste and identify. The chef who guesses the most correctly wins a prize. They’re also asked to prepare a dish using only the ingredients they identified correctly. That’s not easy, as we soon see. The person who makes the best dish – per the judges – also gets a prize.
2. Manny actually wins a challenge. The cheftestant that I wouldn’t have guessed would be there this long has a really good palate. Manny guessed correctly for 23 of the 26 ingredients. Laura got 15 right, Danny had 13 correct, and Savannah and Dan tied for last place with 9. Manny is shown – not in the kitchen, thankfully – using a tongue-scraper. (It is truly hideous.) This habit he attributes to his having a remarkable palate. Dan really struggles – despite saying, pre-test, “I have an amazing palate.”
3. Who makes the best dish from what they guessed correctly in the silly test? Well, even with 23 ingredients, it’s not Manny. And it’s not Dan, who calls his own dish “trash.” Savannah makes a katsu pork chop, a faux Caesar with cheddar and a horseradish-kalamata olive sauce. The judges love it! She wins again! (She’s on a winning streak that started in the last few episodes.) The judges also like Laura’s mussels escabeche with umeboshi, anchovies and rosemary cracker. Judge Tom Colicchio praises the “watermelon A1 sauce” Danny serves with his grilled flank steak. On the bottom are Manny, with his salmon crudo with edamame-jalapeno puree; and Dan, and his steak and eggs with Hook’s cheddar and horseradish, red wine and sour cream. Paul Barto-LOWTA says of Dan’s dish, “There was a smell that came up that didn’t make me excited to eat it.” Not what you want to hear. “It’s probably the worst thing I’ve ever made,” Dan says, concluding a bad day.
4. Now the real test begins. This week’s Elimination Challenge is like a season retrospective. The cheftestants must make a dish that shows how they’ve grown through the season – a dish that tells a clear and compelling story. They’re sent to Whole Foods and Milwaukee Public Market to shop, and are to use the kitchen at the lakefront restaurant Harbor House to prep, cook and serve their meal to the usual crew – Kish, Colicchio and Gail Simmons – and a group of familiar and unfamiliar faces.
5. But first, it’s time to eat. Paul Bartolotta treats the chestestants, judges and host to a huge spread at his Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993. And Tom Colicchio pays the bill. They talk about growth and dishes that tell a story. Colicchio shares that it was a big evolution for him when he realized he could create something “simple.” Manny shares that he originally wanted to be a lawyer, but decided to go back to his roots and what makes him happy – cooking.
6. They work on their storytelling. Like she did with her unique dessert made with indigenous ingredients in an earlier episode, Savannah takes a risk using a few ingredients that came up in earlier episodes. Her dish is a labor-intensive potato pave with burnt onion and cherry jam, and chicken sauce reduction. Danny wants to cook cod and showcase subtlety. Manny wants to go “back to [his] roots” – which is a risk in itself because the judges are looking for growth over the course of the season. Laura makes Turkish dumplings called manti, filling them with lamb, and strives to show that she’s learned from her past mistakes of overcomplicating her cooking. And Dan says his dish – smoked walleye with potato dumplings, lemongrass, turmeric and brown butter emulsion – will highlight a sense of place and bring in international flavors.
7. They have a small crowd to please. The moment of truth for each chef is going to come in the dining room of Harbor House, and its names are Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons and Kristen Kish. But not just them. We have Dane Baldwin (chef/owner of the Diplomat), Kyle Knall (chef/owner of Birch), Paul Bartolotta, Elena Terry (chef and founder of Wild Bearies), Milunka Radicevic (co-owner of Three Brothers) and Tory Miller of Madison’s L’Etoile.
8. The pressure is on. As with the Quickfire, Dan struggles, over-smoking his fish. Savannah has a few touch and go moments with her potato pave but sees it through. Manny also struggles with his snapper a la Veracruzana. He suspects some of the filets are undercooked but he has to serve them anyway. In an effort to redeem himself from the mediocre result of a tea course he did in the “Restaurant Wars” episode, Danny incorporates tea into his soba cha mushroom broth with mushroom puree and cod. And Laura stays in her little world, bringing focus and precision to her dumplings.
9. Somebody is going down. And it looks like Dan… or Manny. But first, we have a winner: Savannah and her potato pave. The judges also like Laura’s lamb manti. The judges don’t love Danny’s dish – “You say it’s subtle. It’s not subtle,” says Colicchio – but he’s done well enough in the episode that he’s not going home. The issue for Dan isn’t just that the judges don’t particularly like this dish. He did exceptionally poorly in the Quickfire. But Manny ultimately gets the boot. Some of the fish he served wasn’t undercooked. It was raw – I wish I could capture Colicchio’s facial expression because he was one of the horrified diners served raw fish.
10. It’s the four amigos. And they’re leaving Wisconsin! At the end of the episode, the cheftestants are told to pack their bags because they’re going on a cruise – to Curacao – where they’re back to cooking and competing, while at sea.
