New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

The judges select as their winning dish the pickled shrimp and cucumber onion salad from Kwame and Wes. Tom says that everything about the dish was “just right,” and that every ingredient had a purpose. There can only be one winner, though, and given the flavors that he brought to the dish, it surprises no one to see Kwame declared tonight’s champion. It’s his second so far, and frankly, he’s the chef I could most easily imagine taking home the title.

On the bottom are the only two dishes that the judges disliked: Karen and Giselle’s asparagus dish, and Philip and Kwame’s steak and potatoes dish.

Kwame, whipsawed from elation to disappointment, comments to Philip, “just when I thought things were going good...”

“I think you’re safe,” Philip rightly notes.

Padma confirms his suspicions. “Kwame, we loved your tomato and eggplant relish and you won’t be going home,” she says, “but we want to find out exactly what happened.” Philip explains that no chef volunteered to do a main dish, so he decided to do a spin on steak and potatoes, with the potatoes done as a sauce and a veggie garnish provided by Kwame.

For the first time ever since Top Chef started allowing the other chefs to be present whilst the bottom dishes are debated, someone from the sidelines interrupts. “I don’t think that’s how the dish was described to the team,” Jason pipes up. “We all understand that the potatoes would eat like mashed potatoes. You didn’t mention a sauce.”

“The potatoes were exactly what I was looking for,” Philip protests.

“You said MASHED POTATOES,” Marjorie responds from the sidelines. “You described it as mashed potatoes.” This is incredible.

“What we didn’t care for,” Tom says on behalf of the judges, “were the potatoes. They were more cream than potato. Steak and cream.”

Meanwhile, Karen and Giselle explain that they wanted to cook asparagus and bring in black garlic. Tom has a number of specific questions for them. “Who cooked the asparagus?” Karen did. “Who finished the greens?” Karen did. “My problem was seasoning and cooking. The asparagus was undercooked, the farro bland, and the mushrooms soggy.”

Giselle says that the flavor profiles in the dish weren’t hers, and that she felt a little bit like a sous chef. Karen responds by saying that she found it hard to collaborate with Giselle, who kept saying “I don’t know, maybe, etc etc.”

Giselle mutters that she wasn’t going to step over Karen, but then starts a thought and can’t seem to muster the courage to finish it. “Speak your mind,” Padma encourages her.

“I think... I think it’s shocking that Phillip doesn’t recognize his flaws,” she finally says. “Karen and I understand that we could do much better, the things that could have made us stronger.”

Philip responds that even though Kwame had told him that his potatoes were gummy, “that’s what I was looking for, going for.”

“You were going for something we didn’t care for,” Tom summarizes.

Wow. This is the craziest episode since the drama-filled Season 2 of Top Chef. And back in the Stew Room, the drama continues. Philip declares that he’s made his peace if he’s sent home - at least he said all that he wanted to say.

“But don’t you think it should be accurate to what happened?” Jason asks. “If we hadn’t spoken up, the story you were painting was very different than what actually happened.”

“I don’t think so,” Philip responds, in his typically petulant little way.

Back at Judges Table, Gail notes that they all learned a lot not only about the bottom two dishes, but the dynamics with the cheftestants. Padma says that in spite of Philip’s excuses, she preferred his dish by virtue of the accoutrement provided by Kwame. Gail really had a problem with the potatoes, which simply didn’t make sense to her. Tom notes that they didn’t even have much potato flavor. Art comments that if Philip is allowed to continue, he’s just gonna get worse, making excuse after excuse.

As for veggie land, Tom faults Karen for underseasoning the farro, and underseasoning and undercooking that asparagus. “That’s a lot of strikes against her,” he says. Gail protests, though, that she has no idea what Giselle actually did and questions how the judges can allow her to skim by despite doing nothing meaningful on the dish. “It would just prove that you can skate through by blending in and not doing anything,” she says. Padma appreciates this point.

This is such a tough decision for the judges. I almost wish they would simply call the cheftestants out, tell them that Philip, Giselle, and Karen all made errors that could merit elimination, and subject them to an Elimination Quickfire to decide things.

Instead, though, the judges decide to send Giselle home. Giselle says that she had the opportunity on the show to demonstrate who she really is - a nice, honorable person who thrives from the love and support she receives from her friends and family. She didn’t, however, feel any of that from her fellow cheftestants. So while 25 same sex couples now get to go home with their new spouse, a lack of love and support for Giselle sends her home with naught but her packed-up knives.

Continued:       1       2       3       4