Top Chef: The Wright Way

April 12, 2024 7:07 AM - Season 21, Episode 4

With no Quickfire this week, the chefs hit the road and take the Frank Lloyd Wright trail to Madison, touring a few of the Wisconsin native’s notable sites, including Burnham Block, Monona Terrace and Taliesin. For the elimination challenge, the chefs are tasked with creating dishes in teams of two that feature duality and celebrate Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy as “America’s Architect.” These dishes are more important than ever because this week is a double elimination. Kristen, Tom and Gail are joined by last season’s winner, Buddha Lo, and French chef Dominique Crenn at the judges’ table.
posted by Frayed Knot (8 comments total)

I really liked the no-nonsense judges’ table, and Kristen and Buddha visiting the chefs afterward.

Rasika feels close to unstoppable at this point. I also really hope Soo makes it back in.
posted by supercres at 7:37 AM on April 12

I feel sorry for Padma. The season right after she left, we get Rasika, hitting it out of the park with Indian food. I was surprised that we ended up with a clear winner, a bunch of meh, and a clear loser.
And then on LCK, Alisha tried redoing the dish that sent her packing, while the other two chefs were doing interesting stuff, which sent her packing again.
posted by Spike Glee at 8:56 AM on April 12

I learned to make some Tamil / South Indian food for a former long term partner. It’s a very different flavour profile and meal construction (even from North Indian food which I ate a lot growing up) but is hands-down the tastiest, homiest, most satisfying vegetarian food I’ve ever made or eaten.

Rasam in particular! Dakshin was my partner-approved* cookbook; this garlic rasam recipe is pretty much the same as I made from that book. (It’s adapted from Usha’s Rasam Digest, which is a follow-up to the wonderful, encyclopedic, lo-fi Usha’s Pickle Digest.) If you’re sick, or you’re caring for someone who wouldn’t eat chicken broth, you should try it!

*one caveat, even my born-spicy ex would cut the amounts of red and green chilis to about a quarter or even a sixth of the listed amounts in the book
posted by sixswitch at 9:21 AM on April 12 [2 favorites]

I was less in love with Kristen’s outfits this week; not bad but not as daaaaamn as the last few episodes.

The Dish With Kish’s opening bit seemed to highlight some wardrobe annoyance, and I don’t think that was a cookable outfit for Kristen, with gaping on the tank, a bad fit on the slacks, and horrible shoes. The product placement in DWK was kinda egregious this week; Buddha “brought a friend”, a fellow brand ambassador for the water sponsor. I didn’t really mind the big fat hero shot of Kristen’s Rolex-of-the-moment.

Great to see Buddha. I love the idea of such a plan-ahead guy dealing with twins. I think it’ll be good for him. I can’t believe we didn’t get a joke about how many molds he brought in his chef box.
posted by sixswitch at 9:29 AM on April 12

Also: this was a fabulous themed challenge! A great and varied sampling of Wright’s work, enough time to soak it in, and judging in the same environment. Definitely worth the whole episode.

I snorted at “our team name is Power Bottoms”!
posted by sixswitch at 9:32 AM on April 12 [1 favorite]

And since I usually mock Gail: her judging outfit was pretty great, with the one lapel skewed to an off-the-shoulder lewk.
posted by sixswitch at 9:33 AM on April 12

I wonder if we're seeing Rasika do so well in part because Padma left. I don't know how true this is, but there was a number of comments about how she judged Indian food way more harshly than other cuisines. That's not to say Rasika wouldn't have done well, but perhaps there wasn't a bar that would be high enough to hit for Padma, and means she doesn't have to stress out enough creating her food.

What a difference too these years make. Think back to them delivering the riot act in Seattle after the disastrous Pike's Place market challenge. That was a lot less kind.
posted by Carillon at 12:50 PM on April 12

It’s interesting that Rasika seems to always describe her dishes as Indian to the judges but Tamil in the interviews.

It’s funny to watch Soo chew through the bottom contenders in LCK. He would have been top-tier in regular competition and it will be fun the see what he happens when he gets called up.

Alisha constantly negging Soo while she was doing the dumbest thing imaginable was hilarious.

The Dish with Kish is a lot of fun, too. Breaking the frame constantly makes the hamfisted product placement a lot more palatable, unlike the BMW placement in the main show.
posted by jimw at 9:40 PM on April 12 [1 favorite]