If you missed last weeks episode of Top Chef, it was a super crazy week. Everyone’s favorite chef, Jim was eliminated in a sudden death quickfire. Still. Not. Over. It. And then, they finally made us all love the burnt veggies guy, Jaime. He seemed to have found his stride and won immunity for this week. Then in some sort of cockamamie plan his team for the elimination round, Tesar and Emily, decided to give Jaime all the weird ingredients they got stuck with so that even if he had the worst dish, he was safe. But in an unprecedented act of integrity, Jaime gave up his immunity and went home to save his team mates. So I need to pick some new favorites. I actually like everyone this season. I just went here to find out how many newbies we have left. It looks like there are only a couple. I know for sure Emily and Sheldon are still there. I think they are the only two.
Back at the house after the elimination, Katsuji is super mean to Emily who already feels bad enough that Jamie fell on his sword and saved her. Emily seems ready to give up. I hope she doesn’t. She’s the local chef and needs to rally.
Wow, it’s the guys from Eleven Madison Park, Chef Daniel Humm and Will Guidara. For some reason I read a lot of Best Restaurant in the World type lists, probably because I follow a lot of travel stuff and that restaurant is often the top ranking US restaurant on the list. These are some pretty impressive guys, even if they are yankees. 🙂
This season, instead of having the judges eat two dinners in a row at two different locations, both teams will be using the same location and will be serving on two different days. This sounds complicated already. Won’t one team have a lot longer to plan?
They draw knives and Katsuji and Shirley will be choosing their teams. Tesar and Emily, from the losing team last week are last picked, with Emily going to the last slot. Even as adults, people seem to really get their feelers hurt about being last picked for dodgeball. Katsuji wins the choice of which night to serve by coin toss. He chooses the second night.
Team Latitude
Shirley nominated herself to be executive chef and Brooke to be front of the house. Brooke has won on Restaurant wars previously. Sylva and Emily will be cooking. Their menu focus is on seafood. This is smart. Shirley is really micromanaging, especially with Emily who has two dishes one pasta and a desert. We got a sob story from Sylva, so he could be in danger.
The judges were at Latitude before I could even figure out what everyone is making.
The two first course options are Brooke’s cured King Salmon with pickled veggies and Emily’s squid ink pasta with calamari. I could swear that the NYC Chef said he was a raw vegan. How do you even cook like that. Were they kidding? They hate Emily’s dish and love Brooke’s. Chef got to eat the raw veggies. Next, Shirley’s snapper with bone broth goes up against Sylva’s halibut dish. They prefer Sylva’s. Finally, Emily has made a buttermilk cake with poppy seed with pistachios and black berries the other option is Shirley’s panna cotta that she is not happy with. They like Emily’s cake and hate Shirley’s panna cotta. Shirley better hope the other team screws up.
The judges were pleased overall, but seem to think the second team should be better even though they didn’t have any more time really, since they only let them prep for three hours per team.
Team Southern Belle
Despite Sheldon having already won in Restaurant Wars in his season, Tesar pretty much insists on being the Executive Chef. Casey is going to do front of the house. Sheldon suggests family style service. That is smart. Tesar says Low Country family style. This is a mistake. Why don’t they ever consider the judges?
Katsuji is doing three dishes. Again, Katsuji is doing three low country dishes in Charleston for two fancypants boys from New York City. NEW YORK CITY! There is no fresh crab or okra in the Whole Foods. Sheldon is doing an acorn squash stew. Casey is doing a strawberry sorbet and running the front of the house. Smart make ahead dish for the GM. We get sob stories from Casey and Katsuji as well. That’s interesting.
I am not sure what the menu for this place decided to focus on. Katsuji suggested “Low Country Mexican” but I was sure that idea was blown off. Yet he seems to be making three Mexican dishes and Tesar is making some sort of pimento crab loaf. Tesar also lied to the judges and said that Katsuji asked him to be the executive chef because he wanted to do three dishes. It looks like Katsuji also has to plate Casey’s sorbet. What the hell is Sheldon doing again? Katsuji and John fight with each other for their entire prep time.
While Brooke was great as the GM at Latitude, Casey is getting lost in the weeds at Southern Belle right from the start. The waiter at the judges table says that “the tastes are all over the place.” All of the waiters are bad. The kitchen has not even fired the judges table because everything is a mess. They got a few small plates, one was a tamale, the other was the crab concoction. Things are not being served family style, they are being served one random small plate here, another one there, kind of like tapas. I have no comprehension of what is going on here. They hated the crab and tamales. At least the judges that got to eat some. Katsuji’s beef tongue was great. Sheldon’s stew not that great. Casey sucked at GM but they liked her sorbet. I think Katsuji is the only one safe on this team. I think my guy Tesar will probably leave for being the executive chef.
In the end, Brooke won immunity for her great work as a GM and her great fish dish.
The judges are really weird with the losing chefs. Somehow they seemed pissed that Katsuji didn’t take the executive chef spot. They don’t seem to understand that Sheldon was actually the best choice. Also instead of mentioning that Tesar ramrodded his way into the top position, Katsuji is just rolling with the judges version that he someone gave up a job that should have been his. Then they talk about Tesar letting Katsuji do three dishes and how it is his job to make sure the workload is evenly distributed. Finally Katsuji explodes and tells the truth. Tesar did nothing. Did he even make a dish at all? Oh yes, the crab dish that was the worst thing served on either night. He expedited (called out the orders) and peeled some tomatoes. The expediter is the one who keep the kitchen running smoothly and it was a hot mess from the first order. Tesar needs to be fired. Tesar continues to lie and say that Katsuji asked John to take the lead. He did not. He is not correcting Tesar. He could be going home.
While the judges talk, Padma immediately takes Casey off the chopping block. Why? She was horrible. John was horrible. Sheldon made bad stew. Casey seems to think that Katsuji made Tesar take the lead. Maybe I was not paying attention? Did I misunderstand that scene?
Katsuji is fired. And I think that was unfair.
I still have not idea why katsuiji went home. My best guest is producer interception.
Only one, out of his four dishes, was good I believe, but from what the judges said, they based it on who on the team was most responsible for their failure and loss. They seemed to think Katsuji wanting to do half the menu to showcase himself, rather than work with his team or lead the team, was the biggest factor.
Now he definitely did that, and was being selfish and a dick, but I think it was more John’s complete inability to manage the kitchen, cook, or help that sunk them ultimately. The expediting was complete chaos. His dish sucked. Although, he did one sucky dish vs. Katsuji’s 3 sucky dishes, so I don’t know.
But like TT said, I saw no discussion of Katsuji wanting to be executive chef, I saw them saying Sheldon should and then John insisting he wanted to, which Casey was not happy about.
I imagine things would’ve ended much differently for them had Sheldon run the team.
I liked Katsuji, but he was stupid to lie to Tom. He knew he already told Tom the reason he wasn’t head chef was because he wanted to do 4 dishes and show his skills and win. Why lie when Tom asks you again at judges’ table? Do you think he’s going to forget what you said? He tried to make it like he demurred because John was the obvious/better choice lol Nonsense.
I went back and watched the decision about who should be EC on SB team again. Casey clearly wanted Sheldon to do it. The entire conversation was heavily altered. Sheldon said he is good being EC, Tesar overuled Sheldon and said he would “expedite.” At one point Katsuji said he could do two or three dishes. Based on editing it certainly looked like Tesar insisted on being the EC and in charge. Then when he got in the kitchen he peeled a few tomatoes for Katsuji and didn’t help him clean up behind himself. He then popped opened some tubs of processed crab and mixed in some pimentos and called it a day. When serviced started, Tesar was lost from the very first ticket. Then he muttered about the waiters no knowing where to go and he didn’t understand the tickets.
We must be missing A LOT but the editing just did not make any sense at all this week.
Tesar should have gone home. His pasturized pimento crab dip looked nasty and he had a shitty attitude to boot.
WTF is going on with Padma’ s wardrobe?
Seriously. I am not a chef but I could’ve told you making a crab and cheese dip with CANNED/processed crab was a horrific idea. Why risk it? Change your dish, make something fresh. He was only doing one thing, he could’ve easily adjusted.
Nothing wrong with canned crab meat. Unless you live somewhere you can get live crabs, which is extremely tedious and time consuming, chefs using canned crab for things like crab cakes is common.
That’s why you find canned crab meat in fish markets in the cases.
Seriously with Padma’s wardrobe… But I want to know where I can buy the blouse Shirley Chung is wearing in her interviews! The white sleeveless with black geometric shoulder details… Reminds me of origami 🙂
Two things: One, I totally thought Sheldon was a rookie! I know I missed a few seasons when I thought it got wonky with bad casting and just plain weird food/challenges, but they were talking about him being really good at restaurant wars his season. Hmm.
Two, I was troubled how the losing team right from the getgo said that Casey could be hostess because it’s nice to have a woman do that. What the actual fuck people?!?! Was it Katsuji who said “not to sound sexist or anything, but…” yeah, asshole, that’s INCREDIBLY sexist! She’s an equal to you on a cooking show, please treat her like it.
Sheldon was on same season as Brooke.
I also thought Tesar should pack his knives and go. He did next to nothing and what he did he screwed up. Crab pimento cheese made with pasturized crab. He should have gone to plan B when there was no fresh crab! Wait. Did he have a plan B?
Katsuji made bad choices, too. Three dishes…really? Sheldon truly seemed thrown off his game by John and Katsuji’s arguing.
My favorites of the remaining chefs are Sheldon and Shirley.
When Sheldon said, “you can not cook with hate in your heart” I nearly melted. Their restaurant was a shit show and they deserved to lose.
It’s true, your emotions show in your food. He was right. He kept trying to get them to stop fighting and calm down.
I am rooting for him, Brooke, or Shirley. I think they’re all stand up type people with great skills 🙂
Maybe I was watching a different show from everybody else but I totally agree with the way things turned out last night. Although it could be my complete and utter disdain for Katsuji that is clouding my judgement. Couldn’t stand him on his original season, can’t stand him now. Also, that coupled with the fact that they are sort of giving John a redemption edit this season makes it easier to swallow.
ADMIN EDIT
PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL LAST CHANCE KITCHEN!
Question: What is the definition of “low country” ?
The low country is a region in SC and part of GA. It’s the coastal area that is flat and below the part of the state that is more mountainous. The region has a different culture and cuisine than the rest of the south. It has a more African and Caribbean influence and there is also a distinct cultural group called the Geechee who are descendants of slaves and have their out language, Gullah, as well as cuisine, spiritual believes, etc.
On Top Chef they are referring to the traditional foods of Charleston and the rest of the low country. Most of these things they showed on the first episode. The most common dish in low country restaurants is a low country boil which has shrimp, corn, sausage… cooked in one big pot.
When Katsuji said he wanted to do “Low Country Mexican” what he meant was, he is going to cook Mexican food where people liked it or not. So I guess for that reason he should go home. I still think Tesar was worse this week and I like him more that Katsuji.
Muchas Gracias!
Low Country has also evolved from cooking what the slaves from the rice plantations ate; the leftover parts of the slaughter and all the rice and seafood they could eat. Things like Perloo or shrimp and grits are almost direct recipes from the slaves who incorporated their African heritage.
My Charleston great grandmother’s recipe for head cheese (you literally boil the entire head of the hog) is another example.
When the judges visited katsujis kitchen, I was mortified for the chef’s. What a mess. It would be hard to think, let alone cook, in that. John was a terrible EC. Totally lost control of the kitchen and service. I felt for Casey trying to do everything. Still heart Sheldon.
I was shocked to see the group visit H&L Asian Market. Probably could not get farther from Whole Foods if you tried. If I have a criticism of Charleston, it’s the lack of ethnic diversity, especially in restaurants. Yes, there are outliers, but most are off the beaten path. H&L is really the only Asian market and it’s not in Charleston.
For some reason, I have a soft spot for Emily. Even so, wish Jim could have stayed. TC usually has a fan favorite award and I expect he will win that. Either katsuji or John should have left. Actually, they both should have been eliminated.
Much as I love Sheldon – he made one dish and it was not good. Everyone else either made multiple dishes or took on an extra task. Seems off they didn’t even mention his name in the elimination deliberation.
John’s crabmeat pimento cheese looked disgusting. I just can’t with dairy and seafood.
I can’t figure out why he and Emily are still in this competition and good people like Sam and Jim are gone.
My understanding of the dish was that the crab was to replace the cheese. So essentially is was canned crab and pimento with ???? some sort of mayo type thing.
The whole concept was gross.
WHen he couldn’t find fresh crab..change to a ceviche or something else. When I saw the texture of dish…awful.