I was trying to take the night off and then discovered Top Chef on my DVR. I really have to see how this all works out and as long as I am watching and might as well slap up a recap. My last recap was really good if I do say so myself, but I need you to lower your expectations for this one.
North East
We start seating guests right away and our first restaurant is North East. Brian seems uneasy in the front of the house. (FOH). Adrienne is having problems expediting. Things are off to a very rocky start. The judges start first here. The chefs don’t see food coming out of the kitchen. Adrienne is becoming unhinged very early.
First Course: Brian’s Chicken Ballotine and Eddie’s Striped Bass Crudo. (Because it’s not Top Chef without a Crudo)
Brian’s overzealous chicken Ballotine looks more like an amuse bouche than an appetizer. It’s small. I do not understand why these “top chefs” so adore sending out raw crudos. It’s a cooking competition. Cook the food! Tom loves the ballotine. They are not as impressed with the crudo.
Second Course: Eddie’s NY Strip with Cabbage and Cauliflower And Eric’ Scallop and Pork dish with couscous and cauliflower.
Adrienne doesn’t have time to taste Eddie’s plate. The pork is really salty. They love Eddie’s strip steak. The scallop and pork dish not so much.
Third Course: Adrienne’s Madeira Poached Peaches and Adrienne’s Harbison Cheese with Fennel and Blackberry.
I wish I had the cheese course. The judges rave about it. They also love the peach dish.
Thistle
At Thistle Michelle struggles to find her voice as executive chef. Sara talks entirely to much to the judges table. It’s like they asked what time it is and she is giving a history of the making of a grandfather clock. And I still do not know what is on the menu.
First Course: Sara’s Vegetarian Cold Soup is Green Tomato Gazpacho, followed by Michelle’s hot pasta appetizer a sweet pea agnolotti.
They like the soup but hate the grated ginger in the dish. It doesn’t go with the other flavors at all. The LOVE Michelle’s agnolotti.
Second Course: Short Ribs and also seared scallops sunchokes and apple puree both were done by Pablo.
Pablo is worried about his short ribs. Michelle sends them to the judges table without tasting them. Michelle, That is like your only job. PADMA SPIT OUT A THISTLE FROM AN ARTICHOKE! Oh, this team is so going to lose. There is no recovering from a judge spitting something out. It gets worse. They HATE both dishes. Hate them. The scallops themselves were good but everything else was a complete disaster.
Third Course: Brandon did a soy milk custard with some almond streusel. Brandon also did a goat cheese roulade. I’m honestly not sure what that even means. I like cheese though so I would give it a whirl. I thought a roulade was like meat roll up thingy. But hey, what do I know? It does looked rolled up at least. But for the love of God I cannot explain the blueberries and candy corn. ON. CHEESE. WTF? Thank you! Nina said the same thing. This team TOTALLY LOST. I hope Sara goes.
Third Coast
This team did not shuck all of the oysters in advance and is quickly headed for the weeds. The servers are fucking up all of the table numbers. It’s a disaster here. Nini is working FOH and no one can get her ice cream to set. Disaster is afoot. Kelsey just seems to be sending out just whatever for Nini’s dessert. Nini is pissed.
This is the last stop on the judges tour and Third Coast has guests who have been waiting for over 90 minutes! The kitchen is totally in the weeds. The waitstaff has no clue how to serve. This place is a hot mess. Nini is really screwing up HOH. They are all shucking oysters on demand for the chefs and they are going out after the bisque.
First Course: All four contribute to Chargrilled Oyster, Justin does a Crawfish Bisque
The chefs are unimpressed with the bisque. The chargrilled oysters has too much acid.
Second Course: David’s Creole Spiced Duck and Cabbage and Justin and David’s Red Snapper Pontchartrain
They love the red snapper. One of the random judges doesn’t seem to think the menu is cohesive. Are you kidding me? It’s all gulf coast! This is by far the best menu! My beard guy is furious with Nini. Her ass is probably going home.
Third Course: Kelsey’s Blackberry Buttermilk Biscuit with Panna Cotta and Nini is doing “Chocolate”
They LOVE Kelsey’s panna cotta. They hate Nini’s chocolate crap. Padma says there is no clear winner. I disagree. It looks to me like North East should win. Their favorite dish was the damn ballontine! Their least favorites were the bisque (NO THAT IS MY BOY!) and the oysters. I also think Brian did the best job with FOH and he should win the whole thing.
Send home Nini and Sara.
North East Wins! They rave over Brian’s ballontine. And his whole team tried to keep him from doing it. It was the best dish of the night! They love all the desserts. They have tons of compliments for this team. Brian wins! I was right! I mean they were right. They each get $10K!
First to the slaughter is Team Thistle. Michelle fesses up to not tasting the dishes, but she has a much-needed immunity. They loved Michelle’s agnolotti. They loved Brandon’s panna cotta.
Then the judges critic Third Coast, the team that somehow managed to lose despite being stack to the gills for the win. Nini tries to defend herself. It’s going to be Justin or Nini at this point and I need Justin to stay. Sorry Nini. Kelsey sticks up for Nini. They did like the guys entrees and Kelsey’s dessert. Kelsey actually tries to take some of the blame for Nini’s dessert. Padma’s shoulder pads mesmerize me. I do not want Justin to go!
Pablo and Nini are sent home. I will miss Pablo. Nini is bitter toward Justin. It looks like one of the last four chefs is coming back to the competition next week!
Thanks for reading and commenting and apologies for the crappy recap. I’m a bit under the weather today. We haven’t had three sunny days in the past two months. I can’t take muck more of this. I may have to put Banjo in the car and drive south until we see sun. Not kidding.
Though three groups in last chance kitchen was thoroughly entertaining, it reminds me of when Survivor breaks up the teams too quickly; it is hard to root for people you dont know very well yet. I have never heard of Harbison cheese, but right now I want it very badly. Overall, except for Third Coast, it didnt seem like the total shit show that was teased in the previews. Great recap, so detailed!
TT, I was getting worried about you. Thanks for pushing through with the recap.
Did you start taking the SAME? I told my cousin about it after reading your comments on it. She is feeling better, finds it very helpful for her mood. Thank you for sharing yourself with us. You are more than blogger or “ recapper’.
Was it me or was Nini trying to throw Justin (beard) under the bus?
She started defending herself by talking about lack of communication with the kitchen. She was very reluctant to admit she didn’t prepare the waitstaff.
I was glad Justin spoke up about the lack of training fo the servers. I was worried he would stew in silence at the judging table. In prior seasons, we’ve seen chefs not stick up for themselves and keep quiet about problems caused by the other contestants —- then get kicked off, undeservedly.
Service was bad from the beginning for Nini’s team. It caused most of the problems in the kitchen.Can you imagine trying to stay on top of the service when 30-50% of plates are being returned ?
Nini didn’t train the staff and had no idea what she was doing as FOH. And her dessert was not good, in taste or appearance, according to the judges when they were eating it.
What about Kelsey defending Nini? That was strange when Kelsey interjected as if nothing was wrong with service and tried to take the blame for the bad dessert .
Maybe Kelsey wanted someone other than Nini to go home?.
I’m happy for Brian. I was nervous last week when he was writing the manual but it turned out well and they liked his food.
I have a feeling Nini will be back via Last chance kitchen. She won a few challenges, I can’t see them letting her go home for good, this early.
My opinion was meh when it came to Sara but after her watching her with the wait staff I’m starting to like her
A 3 team restaurant war was too chaotic and confusing. And since i still dont know everyone’s name yet, I couldnt remember who made what and what team they were on.
Padma’s glasses were distracting and not in a good way.
Those glasses and her shoulder pads! Yikes, what’s up with that? Also didn’t think her hairstyle worked on her–she’s beautiful but that slicked over hair wasn’t doing it tonight.
Agree.
Maybe Jax picked up those glasses for her as a gift
I didn’t want Nini to go, but she cooked herself by volunteering for FOH.
Cooked? Autocorrectese for doomed.
Bran (the chef formerly known as Brunette Pompadour) has redeemed himself in my eyes. As a former server, I appreciate his treatment of the staff and his guidebook. His dish was the judges favorite. He was the clear winner.
It is beyond annoying how inexperienced the waitstaff was. It isn’t fair to give the chefs people who don’t know the basics — put the table number, guest number and your initials on a ticket. That is DAY ONE shit. Front of house should only need to explain what is specific to their restaurant.
Decor: i loved the giant stylized compass arrow pointing northeast and the North East text and degree symbol. But the logotype and logomark should have been closer together to create a stronger logo. I think having a large screened back (light gray) compass arrow on the menu to create that graphic resonance would have been a no-brained. The other restaurant branding … meh. But for such a short time, impressive.
I like Sara more than before after seeing her attitude toward the servers; poor Nini was out of her element and her wait team was awful. All three restaurants need a ticket holder; EVERY restaurant kitchen I’ve ever seen has one. I do not think Nini should have gone home IF her dessert had been good. I hope she wins restaurant wars.
I’m looking forward to watching this episode. The recap has whet my appitite!
That is an interesting look for Padma. She is a beauty no matter how she is styled. Her look for this episode reminds me of someone but I can’t put my finger on who. I think Sally Jessie Rafeal would like her glasses back though.
I like a unique glasses look, all my glasses frames are a bit out there. The shoulder pads are fun to me too…I know I’m probably the only one who thinks this, that’s ok.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Padma is just flat out yummy, delish and heart palpitations beautiful.
I actually liked the glasses. She looked like a sexy librarian.
I liked Sara after I saw how she treated the waitstaff. Kelsey could learn a lesson in how to treat people. The way she told the servers to be quiet was beyond obnoxious.
Justin beard is hot. He could totally get it.
There’s no question that Padma is a beautiful woman but she seems like a bitch. The way she was feigning drowsiness while Sara was speaking was rude & unprofessional. Terrible conduct for a judge.
Nini & Pablo deserved to go.
The fake drowsiness reminded me of Vickie G. I cannot remember the context but I remember my reaction — that she was rude and obnoxious.
Vicki & Don did it to Alexis while she was telling a story at a dinner party.
Great recap. I was very surprised by how Adrianne kept her head in the game for team North East. She was right, the only time that there was any issue was between Brian and her, and even then it was respectful, right down to the end of the service and she was semi freaking out/but still very good at communicating the problem that occurred to Brian about a table missing dessert. He calmly said “no problem, I’ll take care of it”. If there could have been two winners, it would have definitely been them. Had he not made that Ballotine(paired with his service), she would have been the clear winner.
Team Thistle did shine on service – like others said – I’ve been a bit meh on Sara, but the way that she treated the staff and tried to keep it light helped ease the stress of this tough competition. If this is how she treats her staff, I’m sure it’s a pleasure whichever restaruant she’s in. FYI, I like Eric more than Justin – as a chef I believe he brings more, and I love each time they show pictures of him and his wife (all I think each time is – wow, they are a beautiful couple, imagine the babies).
Poor Third Coast, such great chefs, but not much communication. Justin strikes me as the type of leader that would be great when things are going well, but just looses it when it’s complicated/going downhill (I’m most probably like that too). Yes, Nini did loose – could she have used some better direction from Justin? Sure, but she said she had so much experience, but clearly showed poor planning. Her dessert was not thought through – and the ice cream though not spun right before service (as she had said she should have, Justin made her do so earlier) was not not why the dish failed. Seems that the decorators did not set up the restaurant with chairs and what not like the other spots. As we only saw her and her waitstaff putting everything in place (which would attribute to the lack of training) since she was running around setting up instead. Once she saw early on that they were messing up the tables she should have jumped in with each one and corrected the issue. Instead she said that she just handled the problems herself. Then how is the waitstaff and the back of the house suppose to know that a problem is occurring? I love Nini, but she needs to own up to her lack of leadership with the staff and not just assume that Jusitn threw her under the bus, he indicated what happened, he did not make anything up.
If they ever do a Top Chef in my city, I want to volunteer to be a server. I think it’s so UNFAIR to give them FOH staff that is completely untrained. Perhaps that is supposed to be part of the challenge, but come ON! FOH staff is super important to running a successful restaurant and we have to assume that these chefs would have hired NONE OF THESE servers that didn’t even know how to write a ticket or which side of the guest to serve food on.
Anyway, I think they pick the right winners and losers but I hope Nini kicks ass in LCK because it was too soon of one of the best lady chefs to go home.
Have you noticed that on Hell’s Kitchen the opposite happens from Restaurant Wars? I have NEVER seen a server fuck up on HK, the kitchens aften are a shitshow but the service is not. (Except SOME don’t serve from the left, remove from the right.) I am guessing that an agency provides them and perhaps JP or Marino refines their training before production begins. Whatever, Ramsey has GREAT supporting “actors” unlike Top Chef. And it’s not funny. Production should be ashamed; these chefs put a lot on the line to go down by some inexperienced waitstaff.
Good comments. If the inept servers were a production move for drama, shame on them. I thought Adrienne shined in how she handled the chaos, firm and forceful, but not emotional. Either Justin or Nini should have taken control of that sh*t show and neither did.
Kelsey surprised me- in a good way. I figured she’d throw Nini under the bus, but she took responsibility for her plating. While it seemed obnoxious, I understand her telling the servers not to talk at the line- the chefs were confused and probably trying to communicate to work things out. As I was watching, I kept asking myself who was the executive chef was for Third Coast, so Justin definitely didn’t shine in that role.
Nini seemed meek and timid; Sara was a bit too casual and familiar; Brian was superb. I agree with the judges on the winner and losers, although I do like Nini she underperformed in this challenge.
As far as the servers go, in most restaurants servers take the order at the table but then input them into a computer that prints out the ticket for the expediter. So it’s not surprising the servers would need to be trained on how to write the ticket. A chef who has worked in a professional kitchen should anticipate that as an area for training in a computerless system. Table numbers are also critical. Takes me back to being in the weeds …
I agree so much w/your comment Kay. Disclaimer, I have never worked in a restaurant, not fast food, not a bar, not ever. But I eat in everyone one of above and am close(ish) with a chef, more so with his ex and daughter and have attended soft opens and frequent fine dining establishments whenever the budget allows…there is sooo much that goes into opening a restaurant. I even sold some pottery dishes I’d made to said chef, special order. We dined there shortly after the open, I inquired why my dish wasn’t served in one of my “pots”I was informed they were gone, customers had stolen them!!! Can’t imagine the stress these folks deal with above and beyond the food!
I felt really bad for Nini, she was not prepared for this hard of a challenge in the time allotted. She seems very sweet, soft spoken and maybe too trusting. I hope her cooking gets her back in the game with 2nd chance kitchen.
Sara also suprised me! I really loved her this episode, even though she was crazy overcompensating w/her dish details? I really like her, again! She seems like a really nice person. Go Kentucky!
Thank you TT. I barely had 2 days off, back to work again tomorrow, (short staffed again…) I’m so glad you recapped this, I’ve gained a few pounds this holiday season and am on a yummy food binge, this show only secures my belief in food as soul nourishing pleasure, it brings back comfort memories and makes new experiences for future memories.
Servers still need to enter the table number and number of guests on the computer systems. Their server name usually comes up on the ticket because you swipe a “key” or enter a number. I worked in places with and without an expeditor. I didn’t see anyone acting as one in Third Coast. Justin (or someone) should have put the ticket with the plates that were clustered together and called out the table number as he put up the plates. That is learned at culinary school or on the job — BASIC.
It was never clear to me who was supposed to be the Executive Chef running the kitchen, expediting, and tasting the food going out on Third Coast.
TT great recap. I hope you get some sunshine and get to feeling better. Watched last chance kitchen and it says to watch TopChef next week to see who comes back. I like Nini, but I’d love to see Brother come back again. We shall see. Hope you have a great weekend.
Hard to see Nini go, but she definitely should not have been FOH. I bet she crushes it in LCK…(haven’t watched the 2 new episodes yet).
Nini was so strong n the early episodes. Her food was ranked very high. Shd’d still be here if she didn’t take front of the house. Perhaps she’ll win LCK.