The premiere of this season seemed to have a lot of you hooked. Then it seemed like everyone had lots of Christmas stuff to to do during the second episode. That left even fewer of you around for the third one, last week. So click on the links and get caught up, because it is a really good season. Kentucky is beautiful. The chefs’ accommodations are top-notch. The chefs were cast well! It’s a great season. A guy even went home last week giving us a short reprieve in the customary vagicide courtesy of Tom Colicchio.
The two front-runners going into this episode are David with two quickfire wins and Nini with two elimination wins. David won his first one with Ribeye with Corn Chermoula & Harissa Red Wine Reduction and his second with Leek Carbonara with Pancetta & Morels. Nini won her first elimination with Spoonbread with Shrimp Étouffée Sauce and her second with Blackberry & Lemon Vacherin.
Tonight is RESTAURANT WARS! For the first time ever there will be three restaurants. I can’t wait to see how this works out.
But first we need to give someone immunity in the quickfire round. It’s an amuse bouche competition and there are three choices of vessels for service, a small Chinese spoon, a square ramekin and a small plate. I would definitely choose the spoon right up until she called it Chinese. Does that mean they are expecting a Chinese amuse bouche? Is there even such a thing. Also there are only four of each option to insure that some people don’t get the one they want.
My girl Kelsey is getting a bitchy edit. This does not bode well for her. Meanwhile, David still beams as if he is in hog heaven not matter what happens. He’s living his Top Chef dream. David is making ravioli. Michelle is doing a compressed watermelon bite with halibut. For some reason she had to ask Brian for half of his watermelon. IDGI. Or her dish but she will probably win because that is a great storyline, “Bitch won with my watermelon!” Also Brian had to change his dish because he was doing compressed watermelon and he just assisted Michelle in going head to head with him. Kelsey is doing a hushpuppy dish. Eric, our favorite guy with a beard, is making some sort of curry corn pancetta dish that sounds delicious. Adrienne is doing lamb tartar and I am a bit queasy and sneezy tonight and that just sounds disgusting. Brandon is making a fish soup in 30 minutes. Nope. David is having trouble with his ravioli. Adrienne is struggling with the dish that shall not me mentioned again.
Adrienne, David and Kelsey were in the bottom.
Brandon (!) Eric and Michelle were in the top. Michelle won, because storyline. Bitch stole Brian’s watermelon! Who plans a compressed watermelon bite with no watermelon. That would be the first thing to grab! So transparent, Top Chef!
Ah! The vessels they chose for quickfire determine their teams. Sneaky.
North East
Adrienne, Brian, Eddie and Eric are on the Orange Team. Eric pushes for David to be Executive Chef even though he just was in the bottom on the quickfire. Brian wants Adrienne to be executive chef. I kind of feel like Eric just doesn’t want the pressure and doesn’t care who it is as long as it isn’t him because losing EC usually goes home. Brian offers to be FOH.
Brian is insistent about a dish that Eric doesn’t thing is reasonable since he will be slammed as FOH.
This group tells the interior designers their menu is reflective of fine dining in the North Eastern states during fall. Sophisticated and warm were two words thrown out. Adrienne suggests a city skyline.
When the waitstaff arrive, Brian is still working on his Ballotine just like Eric said he would be and Adrienne has to go out and sort out the waitstaff. She basically hands them the service manual and says “read this.”
The guest chef foreshadows Brian’s poor FOH performance. Eric has one dish and is asking everyone for help. The Dream Team’s dreams are going up in smoke.
First Course: Brian’s Chicken Ballotine and Eddie’s Striped Bass Crudo. (Because it’s not Top Chef without a Crudo)
Second Course: Eddie’s NY Strip with Cabbage and Cauliflower And Eric’ Scallop and Pork dish with couscous and cauliflower.
Third Course: Adrienne’s Madeira Poached Peaches and Adrienne’s Harbison Cheese with Fennel and Blackberry
The night before Eric wants Adrienne to do an appetizer. Dude, we have already shopped for this! Eric has ONE DISH! Brian wrote a very extensive service manual to use in training the servers. That seems a bit much but okay. He was up all night doing it so, he will probably be exhausted.
Third Coast
David, Justin, Kelsey and Nini are the Blue Team. Wow that’s some heavy hitters. Kelsey’s attitude sucks this week. I am losing my support for her. She’s given the “I’m about to lose this challenge for the whole team and go home” edit. For the most part these guys are happy to be together and want a southern menu. Nini volunteers for front of the house and at first I think this is a mistake. Then I remember that Kelsey seems to be PMSing and decide her cool demeanor is probably for the best. She also has pop up shop experience.
When they meet with the designers, I’m not really sure what their theme is but I think it is seafood. They want a design with white walls and brass and dark woods like “Forrest Gump’s mom’s house.” Okeedokee then. They seem to all agree on this so that is a good thing.
The four pop champagne and all get in the jacuzzi together the night before the challenge. Kelsey wonders if they can get some of the lesser chefs to come rub their feet. Girl bye. At some point in the evening Nini mentions she has to do things with her cocoa nibs as soon as they get in and will then spin it closer to service. I think she’s making a dessert with ice cream.
Nini is late greeting the waitstaff so Kelsey steps in to get them started and realizes that none of them are experienced. Nini has not put together the table numbers or the sections or really even spoken to them at all. Justin is pissed about this.
First Course: All four contribute to Chargrilled Oyster, Justin does a Crawfish Bisque
Second Course: David’s Creole Spiced Duck and Cabbage and Justin and David’s Red Snapper Pontchartrain
Third Course: Kelsey’s Blackberry Buttermilk Biscuit with Panna Cotta and Nene is doing “Chocolate”
Thistle
Brandon, Michelle, Sara and Pablo are the Grey Team. When Padma asks if everyone is happy with their teams, Sara says shew would have taken “one of the Pastry girls.” Then she starts taking the lead immediately on her team and no one is receptive to that. She wants a vegetable forward menu. What is wrong with this Kentucky girl? Michelle says she wants to name the restaurant first and pick and executive chef and a front of the house person. You don’t name the restaurant until you agree on a menu! Sara volunteers to do front of house. Great. Now shut your mouth about the menu plan and let the executive chef. Sara names the restaurant Thistle and the rest just go with it. Michelle asks to do the hot appetizer she points out that she if if she is the EC she has immunity so she can take the pressure off the rest of them.
Pablo is a bit obstinate about his dishes. At the meeting with the interior designers, Sara does all the talking including asking them if they know what a thistle is and pointing out it is green. Hopefully the also know that thistle blooms are purple and the thistles have prickles to keep from being eaten by herbivores so it’s sort of an odd name for this organic “vegetable forward” restaurant. Sara is super bossy. As soon as I hit play, Sara is in a confessional insisting that she is not bossy. The design them wants to go with a Greenhouse theme. Again, this doesn’t go with the name Thistle.
Pablo and Sara both seem to be fighting for the leadership role when Michelle is the EC. Sara is terrible with the waitstaff as FOH and doesn’t seem to know what she is doing.
Tom and the guest chef check in on Michelle who lets them know she volunteered for EC.
First Course: Vegetarian Cold Soup, followed by Michelle’s hot pasta appetizer.
Second Course: I have no clue.
Third Course: I have no clue. Either I missed it, or there is some reason for this?
Because this is a two episode challenge, Tom announces just before service that two people are going home. Only two? I can think of several who need to go.
What order do you think the three restaurants will place?
If I remember correctly you hate halibut. l’ve never done a NY strip with cabbage and cauliflower. It looks like Nini is the one to watch this season.
I can’t think of any fish I hate, as long as it’s cooked. No raw oysters or sushi for me.
This was a fast paced episode and I was only half watching it. Your attention to detail is remarkable and I thank you for the recap. I probably wont rewatch this because it was fast paced and my mind doesnt go fast these days. Thanks for the quick recap. No ass kissing here, but Tamara, you are the bees knees.
I agree with every word that Daintyfeets said. I was only half watching and yes, your attention to detail is impeccable and I rely on it on nights like tonight. Happy New Year, Tamara!
Loved the show tonight. I’m really rooting for Third Coast and then North East with Thistle bringing up the end. I still love Kelsey. I think it’s bad editing like you said. That Kentucky girl is about to drive me nuts. According to her she can do anything and cooks the best food. I hate we have to wait a week for the second half. Thanks for the recap TT. As usual you are right on.
Lamb tartar???????? Tamara, I’m not sneezy or queasy and it makes me want to hurl…..
Great recap! So much detail info. Don’t know how you do it. Do you take pages of notes or a good memory???
I pause every few minutes and type. It took me over two hours to watch.
I am worried about Nini.
She is by far my favorite so far this season.
But she seemed to be spacing out with the servers.
I think Third Coast meant Gulf Coast to them.
I didn’t realize this was a two parter, so I panicked when the recording abruptly halted.
I haven’t missed an episode, but was called by a cold for awhile, which sidelined me for two of our eight singing gigs.
Really great recap!!!
Yeah, Third Coast was called South Coast at first. There was discussion about how everyone talks about there being two coasts in the US but there are really three.
I think Third coast has the most cohesive concept. Their name represents their food. Their food is all from the same region of the country, one that has a plethora of great dishes to choose from. I think they chose their dishes well.
I expect them to win and if they do, it will come down to Justin’s crawfish bisque or David’s Creole duck IMO. The guys all had their hands in three dishes and the girls just did a dessert. Kelsey seems to think biscuits are her signature dish but she hasn’t wowed anyone with them yet, and much was made about her making them in the house in the off hours so that could mean she either wins or loses with them. I’m not optimistic. Nini is known for her desserts and is basically making a chocolate sorbet. They didn’t even bother to stick a cookie on top and give it some sort of faux French/creole/Southern name.
This is their competition to lose, they have the right idea but FOH does not seem more than an after thought and their HUGE EGOS are already starting to trip them up.
I missed quite a bit because my dog had to go out. Thank you for the recap!
I’m liking Nini more and more. Sara less and less. Still like Kelsey. Had high Hope’s for Pablo but he’s going by the wayside now.
Restaurant wars are usually interesting. We get to see who can keep their composure and who cannot.
All the teams seemed to be a shit show for some reason or another. The design staff seemed to be putting foh behind, as none of the concepts were complete enough to get a floorplan going early. Someone needed to put a hard stop on that chicken dish, it has epic failure written all over it, which means it will probably be judges’ favorite.
I wasn’t paying close attention during shopping trip, was cabbage on sale bc multiple teams have cabbage on the menu!
I bought red cabbage yesterday. I like it but have no idea what I am going to do with a whole head. I was trying to buy veggies to see if that would help me with the creeping crud I’ve got. The thing is I don’t feel like cooking.
Check Smitten Kitchen and do a search for cabbage. Some good ones. You could make Rumbledethumps (sounds like an LVP dog name) or Colcannon — delicious Irish dish NancyIntgeSmokies! — but I don’t know about the color…
What is compressed watermelon?
Googled it. Requires 2 hours under compression in freezer. Not suited to a quick fire.
I googled it too and it showed someone doing it in one of those industrial thingies in a one minute video.
The entire quickfire seemed ridiculous, though. And they don’t usually have them on Restaurant War episodes, but they also don’t usually do them over two episodes. Part of me does wonder if the judges wanted a way to save one of their favorites from the randomness of Restaurant Wars. But I’m not sure they would save a female chef in such a way.
Compressed watermelon just requires a vacuum chamber sealer. You stick it in the bag and put it in the machine and 40 seconds later….voila. It’s the machine you see the chefs using when they are preparing foods to go into a sous vide bath. Liquids boil at room temp in a vacuum so you also get massive flavor.
Damn you Top Chef!! I do enjoy the show occasionally but not a regular viewer. Yesterday was SO sick in bed with a violent stomach flu and naturally had the channel on Bravo. So every time I would wake up to be sick I would hear about garlic, sweet and savory, lemon-ugh!! Finally put White Christmas on. I’m just not a very good cook, was raised Irish Catholic which is verrry boring cuisine. Everochance I got I would eat over my Italian or polish friends house. I had a good friend that was Greek. With Irish it is very bland
Now that we have the internet, you can find LOTS of good Irish recipes. (Remembering that some of us grew up with POOR PEOPLE Irish food, mostly potatoes. If those jerks on Below Decks thought chicken was for poor people, they should go back to 1840s Ireland.) Maybe you will change your mind — after you are back in good health.
Plenty of rich people eat chicken. They eat very expensive organic free range chickens blessed by Tibetan monks from D’Artagan. They are at least $20 a chicken.
LOL!!!
If. production gave half a shit, the waitstaff would have basic training and a lead waitperson who could liaise with the FOH person and finish training the waitstaff so that the FOH person could go back to the kitchen.
I would have chosen the ramekin, so I would be on the gray team; I would boot Sara and do FOH, which I would ROCK! Oh, then there is the chef part, so .. never mind… I watched parts over and over and do not know what they are making for the last courses, so Tamara and I either spaced at the same time, or it will be a big fat surprise. Not likely a good one.
Sara knows EVERYTHING, but I wonder if she named it Thistle for sunchokes, which like artichokes, are in the sunflower family. Artichokes look like giant thistles (the purple comes after they should be harvested) but the sunchoke plant looks like a small sunflower. The plants would be more closely associated with wildflowers than greenhouses.
It surprises me not at all that Brian has a drug past. Perfectionism and overachieving are two traits that a certain type of drug addict have, not that I would know … His guide looked excellent from what I saw; the diagram of the table settings can get the waitstaff started.
It’s too soon for me to predict which team will tank. Restaurant Wars has historic patterns, but so new in the season I don’t have as much info on the teamwork and cool-under-pressure aspects as we do when it happens later in the season. There are PEOPLE I would like to see go more than others, but I have a strong feeling that could change after seeing how they all perform in RW.
I think one of Thistle’s problems is it looks like perhaps Pablo has BOTH ENTREES, one of them is shortribs and he was having problems with them not cooking consistently. All the while having another one to do.
Brandon seems to have BOTH desserts and I’m still not sure what either one is. Unless you have a great dessert chef totally focused on desserts AKA NOT FOH this seems like a disaster in the making.
All signs point to a Thistle loss but it could just be misdirection.
My thoughts exactly about Thistle. Especially with Sara getting the bossy edit. Oh, that is just how she.IS.
To be fair, 98% of chefs are pompous assholes. It just looks so much worse on a woman.
Brain’s notebook looked amazing!!! It is worrisome that a lot of the wait staff is inexperienced, that’s just one more huge (drama) hurdle for these chefs to overcome in such a short amount of time. I expect tempers to really flair next week. I hope it doesn’t become more about the bitchiest and less about the FOOD and dining experience, fingers and toes crossed over here.
Thanks for the recap! Eesh lamb tartare? My oldest said she’d try it, but if I knew it was lamb tartare, I wouldn’t, plus I’m not a huge fan of raw peppers…the whole last group during the quickfire (plates?) All looked and sounded amazing, no clue which restaurant they are opening, lol.
Maybe it’s the warehouse setting that has me a bit thrown off as far as restaurant decor? I’m curious to see how they look finished and set up.
Someone said it, the hour went so fast I thought my DVR messed up, can’t wait for next week.
My favorites are Nini and Kelsey. Bummer about Kentucky girl, was rooting for her. Brandon is still most annoying in my book, and other Elvis hair guy is pretty full of himself too.
I totally forgot that Brandon was the annoying one this week. Either he calmed down a bit and decided to let Sara and Pablo make targets of themselves while he eases under the radar this week, or he just got a better edit.
I haven’t forgotten, ha..ha… ! But like you said, to be fair most chefs are pompous assholes and agree Kentucky isn’t really any different than the rest of ’em, she just rubbed me the wrong way this week.
Oh me too. She can be bossy when it is her restaurant. But the whole point of restaurant wars is to work together and have input from all of the other pompous assholes. They probably know a lot to have made the cut to get on the show. Basically she just has to be the best chef in Kentucky that applied. There is always a hometown chef.
Set up to fail: On next week’s previews, I saw they don’t even have a place to put their tickets. Either a wheel or a bar — something to maintain order and to keep them dry and from blowing away.
I notice that on these shows none of the seating charts follow the old convention: The table numbers were assigned two digits, the first for the row, the second the seat. So the first seat is Table #11. When that row ends, even at #14, the first on the next row is #21, etc. There is a convention for seat numbers too. It is based on being able to take over another person’s table if they get stuck on the floor when their food is up. There is a call order for drinks too — based on popularity of what is in the guns. You call blended first, then go down the line in the rack/guns, then top shelf. I guess they don’t do that anymore. I CRINGE when I see the SURvers carrying out cocktails with bare hands and not on a tray. TACKY!
Even on a Below Deck, they do not serve from the left, remove from the right. Hands and arms crossing in front of diners on every show. Downtown Abbey observes ALL OF THE HISTORICAL table settings and order of service, etc. There is a guy in charge of just that.
This is my pet peeves. Serving from the wrong side and removing from the wrong side.
And fingers on glasses should never be near the rim of the glass…ughh.
My parents taught me this as a child..it was reinforced by Ms. Logan’s class for young ladies…
Ewwww. What about when they clear a table and stick their fingers into the glasses? Or WORSE, when they are setting up a table and carry the “clean” empty glasses by sticking their fingers into the glasses? One would think this was basic common sense for basic hygiene. If you want to do it in your home, fine. But not at a restaurant.
I find that Blond Pompadour (Brandon) and Brunette Pompadour (Brian) don’t bug me as much, so I learned their names. Some of the others are taking the dubious honor of most obnoxious and after a Restaurant Wars, it almost always changes.
I wonder if the double elimination will be the worst chef from each losing team. Michelle is a lucky luckout to have immunity this week.
I’m glad they are showing this over two episodes this early .
I haven’t become attached to any of the chefs since it’s so early in the season. In the past, I was rooting for certain chefs. My favorite chef would usually get kicked off during restaurant wars and .
I would be ticked.
It makes it more interesting with the three teams and I don’t know there cooking well enough.
I do know they are all pompous and think more of themselves than they should.
Not sure yet who I want to stay …
*their
NO one on Top Chef can top Fabio at front of the house. I loved when he was on the show.
I was lucky enough to got to his Café Firenze restaurant. He wasn’t there, but Top Chef episodes were on the tv. I had the butternut squash ravioli with a sage sauce. OMG! They serves his homemade bread with a tomato dipping sauce. It was hard to find the place using the GPS, because it is at the end of a strip mall. Anyway, we found it and inside was a jewel. All along one wall are those tall wide windows that curve at the top like a fancy old hall. Huge gorgeous chandeliers that sparkled throughout. It was a real treat for this hick from Michigan. I miss my Fabio. The chemistry between Fabio & Stephan was golden tv.
I forgot the best line of Fabio’s, when he came out in his suit, ready for FOH.
“We can serve monkey ass in empty clam shell. We’re gonna win this one!”
Makes me smile just thinking about it. A chef with personality plus! So cute.
He was great, I enjoyed his personality.
The chefs on now seem to be full of themselves. Prior seasons,there would be 2 or 3 pompous chefs.. this season I feel like they are all very impressed with themselves..Nina may be the
exception
I love this Top Chef SO much!! I never miss an episode, I was watching on Christmas Eve.
The Third Coast is my favorite name and team… and it does have my favorite chefs, but unfortunately the foreshadowing looks pretty dismal for them.
Sarah is definitely a bossy pants but to be fair she isn’t being a bitch! Funny how we never refer to a male chef as “bossy” when he shares strong opinions….food for thought (no pun intended).
I hate “To Be Continued” cliff hangers!!!
Giving your opinion is one thing, making decisions on behalf of a group without actually including or consulting the group is bossy.
Since it’s a woman, I agree with the term bossy. If a man, like Pablo, did the same thing, I would use bossy.. Maybe a**hole or jerk if Brandon did it.
I thought I saw Sarah consulting the group? They all seemed to nod or not offer any opinion at all…? Then they complained about her in the talking head interview.
I liked that Eddie, aka guilty lamb guy, was shopping for an affordable dish. Also loved how he almost passed out when praised for his dessert previously.
Adrienne was kinda meh, but she looks like a good expeditor. I would try lamb tartare, but that thick pepper wrap was unfortunate. A slim strip of it might work.