Top Chef: Cruising to a Win
June 20, 2024 10:48 AM - Season 21, Episode 14 - Subscribe
For the season’s final challenge, the three remaining chefs must create the best four-course progressive meal of their careers. For their last “Top Chef” service, the chefs will present their dishes to a lineup of culinary greats, including chefs David Zilber, Bricia Lopez, Carries Nahabedian, Justin Pichetrungsi and guest judge Emeril Lagasse, who will join Kristen, Tom and Gail to determine which cheftestant will walk away with the $250,000 grand prize and the title of Top Chef.
Kristin definitely the MVP of the season.
I think the editing was slightly too much of a misdirect. Seems like this happens sometimes when the filmable parts of a cook or eating or judging all lean in one contestant’s favor but the decision is in another’s favor. In retrospect, I think that happened here— Dan better executed a much safer meal. Danny was clearly more ambitious. The vibe of finale meal/judging tends to be that they’re not going to include the panel given overarching critiques like, “yeah he cooked well, but it was boring.” They were overall more positive about Dan and Danny because they had already been negative about Savannah’s execution; if they had gotten negative about Dan’s overall meal the outcome would have been too obvious.
Real bummer about Savannah, though. They contrasted her looser attitude pretty heavy-handedly with Danny’s tight control of the menu. Wild to me that she gave her pasta recipe in cups and eggs instead of a ratio.
I thought the season was fine. I’d have liked to see what chefs like Rasika, Soo, or Laura could have done in the finale to get slightly different cuisine than the norm.
posted by supercres at 3:28 PM on June 20
I think the editing was slightly too much of a misdirect. Seems like this happens sometimes when the filmable parts of a cook or eating or judging all lean in one contestant’s favor but the decision is in another’s favor. In retrospect, I think that happened here— Dan better executed a much safer meal. Danny was clearly more ambitious. The vibe of finale meal/judging tends to be that they’re not going to include the panel given overarching critiques like, “yeah he cooked well, but it was boring.” They were overall more positive about Dan and Danny because they had already been negative about Savannah’s execution; if they had gotten negative about Dan’s overall meal the outcome would have been too obvious.
Real bummer about Savannah, though. They contrasted her looser attitude pretty heavy-handedly with Danny’s tight control of the menu. Wild to me that she gave her pasta recipe in cups and eggs instead of a ratio.
I thought the season was fine. I’d have liked to see what chefs like Rasika, Soo, or Laura could have done in the finale to get slightly different cuisine than the norm.
posted by supercres at 3:28 PM on June 20
I enjoyed this season. I liked all three of the final contestants and that's all I ask for.
Kristen really did great. This show is absolutely hers now, feels like it was hers all along except for every single episode when she reminds us "back when I was a contestant..." The show was so much Padma's before I really didn't think they could transition to a new host. I don't think this new season was different in any important way, so I guess the show has a gestalt independent of the host.
posted by Nelson at 6:28 AM on June 22
Kristen really did great. This show is absolutely hers now, feels like it was hers all along except for every single episode when she reminds us "back when I was a contestant..." The show was so much Padma's before I really didn't think they could transition to a new host. I don't think this new season was different in any important way, so I guess the show has a gestalt independent of the host.
posted by Nelson at 6:28 AM on June 22
I was expecting Dan to win after the judging because his error on the first dish didn’t seem to be as egregious as the errors made by Danny and Savannah. They almost made it seem like Manny had blown it for Danny.
Watching The Dish with Kish where they made Danny’s dessert made me appreciate even more how creative and impressively technical his cooking was.
Didn’t Michelle put out some great pasta dishes during the season? Maybe Savannah should have leaned on her more for that pasta dish.
posted by jimw at 10:01 AM on June 26
Watching The Dish with Kish where they made Danny’s dessert made me appreciate even more how creative and impressively technical his cooking was.
Didn’t Michelle put out some great pasta dishes during the season? Maybe Savannah should have leaned on her more for that pasta dish.
posted by jimw at 10:01 AM on June 26
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In the end, this has got to go down as one of the most mediocre set of finalists in a long, long time. All three of them had major flaws tonight, topping off show after show after show of what sure seems like 'meh' food when compared to more recent seasons. Overall this was just not a great back of Cheftestant. I dunno what happened, exactly, but I sure hope the Magic Elves can course correct next year.
On the other hand, Kristin as host was an inspired choice. She is simply fantastic, bringing a real authenticity and (of course) a deep knowledge of and love for the show. And she's a great match for Tom and Gail. A completely worth successor to Padma.
posted by Frayed Knot at 10:55 AM on June 20