Ya’ll. I need help. I found the site for this jacket to order for Christmas back on the day the episode aired. I’ve been saving and saving to buy it for a Christmas gift for my brother who has had a really hard year and he has landed a new job and I now I can’t find the place that designed/sells it. Please help!

On rewatch of TC I had a thread idea, but I lets take it to a more positive direction. Among the seasons, who are some Chefs that you think could or should have been in the final cook but missed out somehow.

My picks

Season 3 - Tre Wilcox. I do think he had more chops than many of his competitors that season and would love to see him get his finale chance.

Season 14 - Sylva Senat. F you Elves, wasted sham of a season.

Season 16 - Eric Adjepong. I think most fans were pretty sad when they decided to eliminate him on the same episode of the finals. His finale cook would have been very unique to see.

I think there are a ton of other great contestants I would be curious to see. Portland Sara Hauman would have been very interesting to see in a final. But I think the three above are some I would like to have seen more of.

Some expected mentions

• Season 8 - I think many people would put Antonia Lofaso here. Ignoring the person, I thought Mike put out an interesting final. But Antonia was doing very well too, sad they sometimes change the rules of the game.

• Season 10/14 - Sheldon Simeon. I am not a Sheldon fan, so I was ok with him not being in either final. But I can definitely agree with anyone saying he could have been in the final in most other seasons, sadly has just been on very strong seasons. His finale cook could be interesting.

Was just watching the Top Chef episode with the biscuit challenge on Hulu. And one of my favorite scenes was when Sheldon was copying Brooke because he didn't know how to make a biscuit. I was surprised to see that they have now edited out most of that interaction, which was actually pretty funny. It makes me wonder how much they re-edit these shows.

I’ve decided Carrie won Colorado and I will not be taking questions or comments at this time.

Look I know there’s already a few posts about this episode and a lot has been said about the guy, but I just need to get off my chest:

His attitude during it was SO annoying to me, and the reason is that it is so chef-y to spin a straight up mistake and sell it as “boundary pushing” or “intentional”. How many times have you heard a chef present a “crispy” salmon (completely burnt) or “soft” panna cotta (not set). God that shit drives me nuts. And TC is normally better than most at contestants being honest about mess ups, but Sam’s approach was so aggressively… arrogant, it just pissed me off. I’m glad they didn’t let it slide.

Anyways, thanks. Needed to vent that. Otherwise enjoying this season so far!

They both should’ve gone home. Because they’re both full of it. John asked to be the EC, after Sheldon said he would do it. And Katsugi took on too much. It should’ve been a double elimination.

I just finished S13 and was really into binge mode so I was eagerly anticipating the next season.

Only to be punched in the gut by seeing first Brooke and then Sam.

Ughhhhh

I happen to know Brooke ends up winning and I honestly don't think I can bear it.

All throughout her original season I was up and down about my feelings for her but by the end I decided I definitely didn't like her.

Between that and Sam, I'm not sure it's worth watching for me.

EDIT TO UPDATE:

I just finished episode four.

Sam wasn't so bad. He seemed way more arrogant than he was before, but he was nice.

Brooke is way worse I think! She is so full of herself its unbearable.

I honestly don't understand all the love.

When her food is criticized she looks likes she's fuming inside.

In episode 4 she was paired with a rookie. (Sorry I don't remember her name) She was talking shit about how the dish was all her idea..bla bla. Then the dish sucked and the other girl was so kind and said it was a collaboration. Brooke never once admitted it was all her idea.

Then when some other rookie was sent home, she hugged the guy but broke into a smirk right after.

Ugh is all I can day. Thumbs down 👎

My parents are big Top Chef fans and I’m looking for a good Christmas gift. Anyone know of any Top Chef contestants that still do virtual cooking classes?

I love Sheldon’s technique for the biscuit challenge

Tacos were delicious, salsas were awesome too. Highly recommended if anyone is in the Tucson area. Also happened to get a pic with her as she thanked us for stopping by.

Just wondering!!! Curious about cost, experience, etc.!

Mine:

Ilan Hall

Kevin Sbraga

And for the third I can't decide between Hosea Rosenberg or Kelsey Barnard Clark

I found that freevee has old seasons of Top Chef that cycle through continuously. Although freevee and prime are connected, I wasn’t able to access the channel via prime, had to go to the freevee app.

I found the early seasons being shown on Plutotv free streaming service.

The rules of a sudden death Quickfire are:

- You need to pick one chef you think you can beat

- If you beat that chef you both stay in the competition

- But if you lose, you go home

So when the competitor is picked, if they lose on purpose, nothing bad will happen to them, both chefs get to say, and the presumably weak competitor (up for sudden death) remains in the competition to soak up another loss.

So unless the competitor has a personal beef with the sudden death chef and wants to send them home, what is the actual motivation for them to win other than it's a competition so hey, you might as well try to win, when there is no strategic disadvantage to losing, and there may even be a strategic advantage?

Re-watching the All-Star season and I don’t know how I’ve missed on all my other rewatches, Melissa‘s reaction to Bryan Voltaggio saying “Gracias” instead of “Grazie” to the Italian servers. She had even commented in the previous episode, how he might have an Italian last name, but he definitely needs to work on his Italian. I can feel her pain and the cringe she feels.

Personally, I've always had a soft spot for Season 13 because it was the first season that watched when it first came out in 2015 (I was 10 btw, in case you are wondering how old I was when it came out) and always felt attached to this season. Plus Isaac is awesome.

According to the banner on Netflix, new seasons are going to be added soon

I’m rewatching top chef season one, and the kids lunch challenge…..they bring out a monkfish to rile the kids up. It feels as close to an episode of Maury as this show gets. Can you think of another time the producers tried to set up an inherently adversarial relationship between the client and, bare minimum, the infredient?

https://preview.redd.it/3dxhw73k5h1e1.jpg?width=1097&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a014552a96cbd03b0f8e79533968ae58f4c3c0e9

2 that instantly come to mind are restaurant wars from seasons 8 and 12. Another that I loved is the music challenge from Kentucky.

Least would be the bbq one from Texas,

Top Chef is my fave cooking competition show… I’ve watched the whole entire series multiple times all the way through. But I need something new while we wait for the next season!

Any suggestions?

Ps I loved MasterChef Australia (the US version doesn’t really do it for me).

I’m rewatching Texas, one of my least watched seasons for obvious reasons, but they took away 1-7 and I’m at a loss.

Thoughts: I knew Heather was a bitch, but no she’s really a full blown bitch. The season overall shows the worst stereotypes about women and it’s extremely disappointing as a woman. I want to see them champion each other. With the exception of Beverly and Grayson, there’s not a lot of women who make it past restaurant wars worth championing.

Ed Lee is super fun and I’m glad he’s a redeeming part of the season.

Still hard seeing Nyesha get taken out so early, double eliminations like that suck. It would have been a different season if she had been able to stick around.

I hope Heather is sad about Beverly’s success every.single.day.

Okay I am pregnant and my hormones may have played a part is my saltiness about the season, but it’s just a bummer.

My wife and I just returned from our first trip to NoLa and I wanted to share our experience with this group since the majority of our restaurants were cheftestants or judges.  We had such an amazing trip, we wanted to share as we ate and drank our way across a far too small slice of the city.

After exploring the house and Treme neighborhood, we took an Uber to our first New Orleans restaurant.  As big Top Chef fans, many of our planned meals were at restaurants linked to the show. Up first was August, of John Besh fame.  We arrived a bit early and spent time walking around Tchoupitoulas street (anyone want to help me with the pronunciation?).  Once seated in the high ceilinged dining room, we could see a neat wine area in the next room accessible with a ladder. I was a little sad we were not seated further back, mostly due to the large boisterous (drunk) party of 8 celebrating a few feet away.  Settling in for our meal, we spoke with the staff who were helpful explaining the menu. The amuse, and by far the biggest hit of the night, was a delicious bite of pumpkin mousse, whipped goat cheese and a salty coffee streusel served in an egg shell. As an Abu el Banat, I am only too aware that we are in Pumpkin Latte season so did not take a bite with huge expectations. The pumpkin was very subtle as was the airy goat cheese but the bite was brought to unexpected heights by the streusel. Not overpowering with coffee but adding a slight bitterness, the flavored salt crunch made it a bite to remember.  While that was the true highlight, the other dishes were mostly good as well.  The house bread was a choice of Parker House roll or the chef’s grandmothers’ cornbread and we both ‘chose’ to take both!  The roll was sublime especially with the soft, flavored and heavily salted butter, but the cornbread was less successful being a little too dense.  Our appetizer was the Gnocchi “Black and Blue” with truffles and crab.  We assume the name comes from the dark color of shaved truffles and blue crab but overall we felt the dish was not successful. While the Gnocchi was soft and well seasoned, the crab was overwhelmed by the sauce and the lack of any texture really hurt the last bites.  A lighter sauce and pancetta crisps would have made this more memorable.  As one to always consider the road less traveled, I would love to go back and try the Coal-roasted Iberico pork, but on to the entrees we go.Wanting to dive into the New Orleans flavor right away, I ordered the Red Snapper Pontchartrain served with shrimp, crab, wild mushrooms and bearnaise sauce and loved every bite. The shrimp was perhaps the only imperfect bite as they had sliced them in half which seemed an odd cost saving measure. Fish was very well cooked, perhaps slightly under seasoned but the bits with the sauce were divine.  My wife was torn between the duck breast and tripletale (??tripletale? Not grouper?) and like me decided to dive into New Orleans flavors. It has the makings of a good dish but needs some editing. The fish was well cooked but unfortunately paired with cold and under seasoned rock lobster.  The cold lobster next to the hot fish was not a good choice as it either makes any bite an odd mix of temperatures or a Duo not meant to be eaten together.  The service as our meal came to a close began to slip (although our reservation time of 8:30 meant it was getting towards close) as the staff neglected to ask if we wanted a second drink which we both may have accepted.  Complimentary chocolate truffles with the bill were a nice addition but could not push this first entry in New Orleans above a solid enjoyable meal.

At this point in our trip, my wife and I began to discuss what may already be obvious to you reader….that we are Picky Little Bitches when it comes to food and drink. In fact, we are coining the term (at least with regard to the food scene) and will shortly come out with a button you can wear with pride as you enter a new restaurant and strike fear and awe into the maitre d.  In reality, what we really enjoy is tasting new food, especially local food in a new region or area and discussing with the air of one who has watched far too many Judges' Tables to do any less.

As our meal comes to an end, the night takes us naturally to Bourbon Street. Like a moth to a flame or a Top Chef to crudo, it is almost unavoidable to not experience this place and equally unavoidable (at least for my wife and I who enjoy the quiet table in the back) to ever want to go back.  We walked up Canal hearing the cacophony well before we turned the corner and witnessed the Vegas strip compressed into a 24 foot wide, 2 story madhouse.  Swept along past the cutest, oddest, sometimes disturbing but genuine and irresistible plethora of bars, chicken joints and dance clubs, we first stopped in at the Old Absinthe House. Having the feel of a old-school bar, I had my first Sazerac and found it overly sweet but with some interesting flavors that left me eager for more. Leaving there, we continued down Bourbon Street eventually spotting a band warming up at the aptly named Bourbon bar. The music here was very good and we also appreciated that they played in one corner near the bar and we could sit in a far corner on comfy couches and enjoy the music, cocktails and vibe.  Nearing the end of our energy, we started walking home which took us past Lafite Blacksmith which looked like an amazing spot we could only note down for another night.

More to come in our weekend when we visit Cochon Butcher (no Top Chef affiliation that I am aware but a wonderful meal) and then restaurants from Justin Devillier , Nina Compton and Isaac Toups

Hi everyone - I got to listen to an interview with Ed Lee just now on Zoom. It was hosted by the Los Angeles County Library. When they advertised it a month ago I immediately RSVP’d. Anyway, Ed has a new cookbook out, an homage to bourbon. He talked about that, about growing up around so many wonderful cultures in New York, his move to Kentucky 20 years ago, which was supposed to be temporary, and a little bit about Top Chef. In response to a question from the audience, he said yes, the competition is real, it is not rigged. He said when they’re told they have 30 minutes to come up with a dish & make it it’s true, with the exception of a couple extra minutes when they’re changing the cameras. He said in those couple minutes they can think about what they’re going to do. He said he gets asked all the time if the show is rigged, that people say it must be. He said he says do you know how many hundreds of people on and off set who are affiliated with the show? He said with that many people if the show was fake it would leak. He also said he’s not young & doesn’t do competition shows anymore. (Bummer) Overall, it was a fun interview & Ed was a delight.

Season 13 might be the worst season structurally. From the beefsteak episode to the elimination quick fires to the way they did restaurant wars.

Production just made a lot of choices that just don’t work. And there really is a sense on a lot of challenges that the chefs didn’t get the best info.

And I know it’s not the chefs because there are a lot of awesome chefs on that season - with a few too many episodes where no one got it.