Top Chef: Where It All Started

March 3, 2016 7:13 PM - Season 13, Episode 13

Artisanal toast, a quickfire elimination, and a stint in the Fleur De Lys kitchen! Familiar faces from past seasons of Top Chef (and Top Chef Masters) abound.
posted by duffell (5 comments total)

• Last week, a startup culture challenge; this week, artisanal toast. I am insulted on behalf of San Francisco.
• Did you see Marjorie's face when Jeremy got super intense during his quickfire win? SHE WAS NOT THERE FOR IT.
• Amar!! What?! Holy shit, that was a shock. I feel like Amar is going to tear up the competition on Last Chance Kitchen, though.
• Padma: "Did you feel you had enough time?" Carl: "Obviously I'd do it differently in the restaurant." CARL. YOU ARE IN THE RESTAURANT.
• Marjorie is so goooood. It was so hard to watch her beat herself up at judges' table.
• I know I've said it before, but there is such amazing camaraderie in this group, and it's wonderful to see professionals competing at the top of their game & building each other up instead of tearing each other down.
• I'm kind of surprised, but impressed, that Isaac has stayed in it this long. Really, I'm glad. His food consistently looks way tastier than, say, Jeremy's, and he's just so much fun to watch.

posted by duffell at 7:16 PM on March 3, 2016 [3 favorites]

Wow, that was a shocker, seeing Amar leave like that. He'd have nailed it in the Elimination Challenge - out of all the chefs he was the most accomplished at classical French cuisine. I think he's a strong contender to come back in LCK (I have to hunt online to find that in the UK, so no spoilers please).

I adore Isaac. I love his enthusiasm and his food always looks tasty. I'd love him to win, but I think it'll be Marjorie. Please, not Jeremy. No way is he the best chef amongst them.

And damn, Harold Dieterle got fat. He was hot as hell in Season 1.
posted by essexjan at 8:39 AM on March 4, 2016

I have trouble believing that Isaac will ever win it. I say that as a very opinionated cajun cook. Watching my brethren on TV shows over the years, we always eventually get the comment, "Well, but can you do anything else?". Or it comes down to a head-to-head and given the choice between fine dining Asian-fusion and rustic Cajun that's equally well done, the judges will always pick fine dining Asian-fusion.

Like Tom said last episode (paraphrasing), "It's great... for gumbo."
posted by tofu_crouton at 9:32 AM on March 4, 2016

Well, that was quite the episode. I'm so sorry we lost Amar; it didn't feel like his time. (Conspiracy Corner: Do we think that guest judge, Tracy, was really that jazzed by Carl's crudo? Or did she happen to catch Amar's smirk when she was explaining the importance toast and enact her revenge? Just putting that out there.)

Jeremy's bro-ness increases and he wins. I can handle one or the other, but not both.

Elimination Challenge: Congrats to Jeremy on a beautiful dish. I am, however, concerned that he could have served something mediocre and still come away with the win. Marjorie, Carl, and Isaac all seemed to trip at the first hurdle (dish conception) and then continue to run with their mistakes. I hope the non-Jeremy cheftestants get this out of their system, otherwise they're in serious danger of handing their bald-headed bro a Hosea-like victory.

By the way Padma, were you trying to kill Marjorie with that long pause before announcing her place in the final? Well don't worry about it, Marjorie wasn't going to do anything special with 5 years of her life she lost in that brief silence.

Finally, we're at the finale and the cheftestants have retained their awesome camaraderie and professionalism. Please note, Top Chef producers: this makes really good television. I'm excited to follow this season to the end, even though Las Vegas challenges tend to be kind of lame.

If you still miss Kwame, here's a great profile on him from the Washington Post. He has such an interesting story.
posted by CatastropheWaitress at 10:24 AM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

Ugh, Brosea.
posted by tocts at 6:36 AM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]