After seeing the title of this episode, I’m less excited than usual about tonight’s Top Chef Recap. Tofu? Really? Is that still even a thing? Dawn, Jamie and Maria are excited to be part of the final six. Three women of color! For the quickfire, the teams are working in pairs to make a dish from fresh fruits and vegetables. Maria and Shota are apparently Team Padma. Gabe and Jaime are Team Gail. Byron and Dawn are Team Tom. Not really sure I understand the whole team thing just yet. Oh, they are cooking for their judge who will decide which dish is better. Then, Richard Blais will select the winning dish of the top three.
To make matters more interesting, the judges tell the chefs what sort of dish they want. Tom wants something tangy and crunchy, Gail would like something smoky and charred and Padma wants something spicy and tart. This is Maria’s challenge to lose and that’s making Shota nervous. Dawn seems off to a good start. I’d love to see the three girls in the top three. Maria’s tortilla actually loses to Shota. She’s pissed. Byron and Dawn both made pork dishes. Tom prefers Dawn’s recipe. Jaime’s skirt steak loses to Gabe’s pork loin. Now it is up to Richard to choose the winner. He chose Dawn. She seems shocked. She won $10,000.
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We move very quickly on to the Tofu tournament. This episode is going very quickly. What else is going to happen tonight? The six chefs will go head to head tournament style. The first two matched up are Maria and Shota. This is Shota’s challenge to lose. He’s the tofu guy. So, this time, Maria is the nervous one. Oh they are going to a tofu store. That is going to be the time filler. Also they will be serving their food in a Japanese garden.
FU TOFU!
The chefs all have to plan for three rounds of cooking because they don’t know who will win each round. Gabe seems to share my sentiment about tofu. He’s not into this challenge at all. Dawn has a lot of experience with tofu. The last round is dessert tofu and everyone is hoping they don’t have to do that. Maria is trying to make a tofu tamale, but she is not happy with how things are going. The tournament is going down at the Portland Japanese Gardens. It’s a really beautiful location.
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Maria and Shota are the first to face off in round one. Shota is making tofu six different ways! Because of course he is. Maria’s tamales are not cooking fast enough. She’s in trouble. Gabe is making? Beans? Something Mexican? Dawn’s “cyro-vaccing” her tofu in a braising liquid didn’t work properly. She could be in trouble. Jaime is doing a Vietnamese dish. I’m not sure what Byron is doing just yet. Shota and Maria are up first. Somehow, even with undercooked tamales, Shota and Maria TIED. Why do they have an even number of judges? Shota wins and she is safe.
Very Close Decisions
Up next we have Gabe’s braised tofu and soy bean against Dawn’s West Indian brown stew with braised tofu. Once again the judges tie. They finally settle on Gabe for the win. Byron is doing tofu three ways, but he is really worried about Jaime’s dish. Jaime wins the third round. Maria, Dawn and Byron must go head to head in a fried tofu round.
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Dawn is making Nashville Hot Tofu which is a play on Nashville Hot Chicken. Maria is making some sort of tofu mole. Byron is making some kind of “bar food” with what looks like shrimp. Dawn sliced her hand and needed a medic at the very end. She bleed into her pickles that were supposed to be her garnish and also to replate. The other chefs came to help her. But she was still a plate short. Maria’s fried tofu with mole sauce gets good feedback. The judges are only allowed to choose either Maria or Byron for the win since Dawn didn’t get up ten plates. One of the judges wanted to vote for her anyway. Aw. Maria got nine out of ten votes!
It’s Dawn and Byron in the dessert challenge. The loser goes home. Dawn has no real plans for her dish and seems defeated. Both dishes are very similar. The judges have to get together to talk. It’s really a struggle for them to decide. I love how much these chefs love each other. It’s so nice to see. Byron is eliminated. It’s so sad when any of them go. I don’t even know who to vote for for fan favorite. I love them all. I’m off to watch Last Chance Kitchen. See you in comments!
This group of chefs are a class act. Even in confessionals I haven’t heard anyone say anything negative about the others. Some kidding around which is funny not nasty.
I am loving this season so far (probably because its in my home state). Usually by this time I’ve made up my mind who should win but at this point, dont care. I like all the chefs. They all seem extremely talented and worthy of becoming Top Chef.
Padma’s onesie with the red boots was distracting.
I thought the same thing…that they all really liked each other. They are all such nice people except that Gabriel who was voted “Best Chef-Oregon”? Isn’t he the one who worked for Tom?
Great group of chefs this season & enjoying all the challenges this year. I think TC has handled the pandemic best of all.
I’m pulling for Dawn. But here’s the rub: if a chef hurts themselves and requires medical treatment, why can’t the clock be stopped so that it can be taken care of? It seems unfair they the injured chef is penalized. They could have stopped the clock for 2 minutes, let Dawn be treated & then carried on. I think it’s pretty clear she would have won that 2nd challenge.
It’s unfortunate when a chef injures themselves but the contest is to do something within x amount of time. It’s cooking and if you have to stop the clock for 2 minutes, things can overcook or dry out. It affects the rhythm and thought process of the chefs. Dawn is super talented and it was good to see her advance
It was interesting to see what they came up with that never work with tofu and Shota beat Maria! The fact that Byron consistently had low votes, I knew it would be tough. Maybe everyone is supportive because all were leveled by covid. It was a nice change compared to the usually a**hole that is still in it tormenting the group, enjoy it now, I’m sure we’ll be back to egos next season. Should be a fun final group when they finish LCK.
It’s hard to pick the fan favorite this year. So many good souls in the kitchen. It’s only getting harder seeing people go home. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Last Chance kitchen as well
MHP who won between Sara and Byron ? I really liked Sara and would like her to come back.
neither won in the end. it’s now down to the last 5. i’ve been rooting for sara too.
I wasn’t happy when Sara left, but she has kind of been annoying me in LC Kitchen. I think I am over her “look at me I am quirky” routine I like how humble Byron was and how he helped Dawn. I think I have jumped ship and am rooting for him.
Is there no more last chance kitchen ?
There was a double episode this week. The first one is about twelve minutes and the next one is about 30. They are both worth a watch. And they said that was it for LCK but I’m not sure I believe them.
me too! this season (&LCK) felt different to me, and I enjoy the camaraderie , joking. etc. amongst each other.
I haven’t watched this season yet, as this is a show I love to marathon watch, but I can’t wait to see this challenge. Tofu is the most versatile food to cook with in the world. It takes on any flavor you cook it in and can also easily be made into dips and desserts.
I finally watched this episode. I was happy to see Maria and Dawn still safe. I got annoyed with Tom yet again with his criticisms. I can tell the judges are having difficulty in picking winners as they say all of the dishes are yummy.
First, who was the Tofu Tournament Champion and why wasn’t that a focus of the episode? Second, the episode was focused at finding the loser (eliminated chef), then sending him or her off to Last Chance Kitchen to conceptualize 4 more dishes.
Byron lost the Tofu tournament and he also got the RAW deal with Last Chance Kitchen. He was the winner of Last Chance, yet he wasn’t back in with all the other chefs. Jamie just had to win and she was back in. Bryon had to win 2 out 3 competitions to get fully in – why? How is that fair for Byron but not Jaime? It would of been more equitable if the winner of Last Chance Kitchen competed against those other Chefs with the chance of elimination for everyone. I hope Tom, Padma and Gail see the error in Tofu Tournament and Last Chance Kitchen Championship. Somehow, Top Chef needs to make it up to Byron….My two cents…
that was a great episode. I loved the change in routine, though having an even number of judges makes me wonder if someone canceled.
Byron probably did make the better dessert but Dawn made the best food that day. She would have one the second round if not for all of the blood, (I dont say that every day) .
I love all of them, and am not upset that Sara is not coming back. I didnt think she would make it all the way from seeing her the first week. She did not have the finesse that people need towards the end, and frankly, the vocal fry was super annoying. I really hope Dawn wins; she sort of moved up quietly and even though she had a tough day later on, she is still making food people notice.