Starting during the pandemic summer of 2020, I rewatched seasons one through seventeen of Top Chef and tweeted reactions to all of them. I had so much fun that I’ve tweeted responses to each individual episode of the series which has aired since then. This is actually pretty much the only thing I use X for any more, and as such I can’t see myself paying for an account should they ever stop offering free ones, which seems likely. I therefore thought it might be prudent to migrate all of this content to ye olde blog while I still can, since I spent quite a few hours of my life creating this content and wouldn’t want to lose access to it. There’s quite a lot, so I’m going to break this up into three posts and put everything after a jump. I’ll also create one post each for season 18-21, and may or may not archive a few other things as well. But without further ado, I give you my tweets about seasons 1-6!
- Finished rewatching TOP CHEF Season 1 last night for the first time since it originally aired in 2006. Got completely sucked in even though I almost always knew who was about to get eliminated. Surprised in general by how many details I recalled. Also by (SPOILERS AHEAD):
- 1) How much the finale was a tale of Harold’s + Tiffani’s different leadership styles, 2) how many of the pre-Napa challenges were either totally gimmicky (so much junk food!) or completely impossible (those taste test ingredients!) w/ virtually no middle ground, and
- 3) how much it seemed like an upset when the judges picked Tiffani over Dave in the penultimate episode. I didn’t remember this even being close, but watching it now I don’t know how this result was possible unless they took her superior performance up this point into account.
- (Which they wouldn’t now, but they absolutely did seem break ties throughout the season in favor of the better chef.)
- Other thoughts: I was 24 when I watched this the first time, or younger than all but the two youngest chefs . . . WHO SEEM SO YOUNG! Yeesh. Speaking of which:
- I still love Season 1 Steven so much. He is such a punk! Can’t wait to watch him (and Tiffani, for that matter) on TOP CHEF: ALL-STARS again.
- Finally, I also still really want to eat Dave’s black truffle and cognac cream mac + cheese, black pepper (I, too, am a “pepper monkey”) and all. Most enticing dish of the season by far IMO.
- I’m (probably) going to take a few days off before diving into Season 2, but will no doubt have thoughts to share about it soon as well, and then Season 3-17 not long after. Stay tuned!
- Okay! Here’s what I thought of TOP CHEF Season 2. SPOILERS AHEAD:
- In contrast to Season 1, I’m surprised by how few details I remembered. I attribute this to the fact that pretty much NONE of the chefs (except maybe Josie?) emerge from this season seeming particularly likable.
- Ilan is clearly already very talented, especially for someone so young, and he earned his title (based on the judges’ comments, I don’t think that his finale menu would have beaten Harold’s from Season 1 head-to-head, but it would have been close) . . .
- . . . but in the end he comes off as super immature and kind of a jerk, as does pretty much EVERYBODY ELSE. In fact, knowing what the bad house dynamic is building toward actually makes much of the season genuinely unpleasant to watch, since no one seems worth rooting for.
- Also, the food wasn’t very exciting: after even just a day or so, nothing really sticks out in my mind as something I really wish I could try (although I am super intrigued by the deep-fried bay leaf Ilan made in the finale).
- In summary, meh. I’m very much hoping that this turns out to be my least favorite part of this rewatch. On to Season 3!
- TOP CHEF Season 3 = in the books! Once again, the food wasn’t especially memorable. Otherwise, though, this represents a step forward from Season 2 in nearly every respect:
- More talented cast, better house dynamic (judges table/stew room drama caused by Howie aside), challenges that actually test skills (prep relay 4 life!) associated with being a top chef.
- My biggest gripe: especially early on, the chefs were too often set up to fail by being given too little time (ONE HOUR to prep reinvented low-cholesterol comfort food classics?) or money (all the food budgets seemed small to me) to satisfy the ostensible goal of the challenge.
- Turning a night out on the town turn into a late night food truck challenge without even giving the chefs a chance to change first was pretty brutal, too.
- Most pleasant surprise: all the Great Moments in TOP CHEF History! Hung taking apart a whole chicken in seconds flat, CJ’s broccolini, and the surprise “soft opening” stage of Restaurant Wars were all great fun to revisit.
- I was already a TOP CHEF super fan by this point the first time these episodes aired, but rewatching them now this seems like a show right on the CUSP of being great.
- Right! We actually finished TOP CHEF Season 4 a couple of weeks ago, but I somehow never found time to talk about it before now. Apologies if these tweets end up being shorter and/or include less detail than the other entries in this series as a result!
- Long story short: Season 4 absolutely fulfills its promise. Richard and Stephanie are no doubt the two most talented chefs to appear on the series to this point, and at least three or four other cast members would rank among the favorites in any of the three previous seasons.
- The challenges are for the first time uniformly worthy of a competition which crows a “top chef” as its champion, and the interpersonal/psychological drama is for the most part (plot lines involving Dale + Lisa excepted) compelling without veering off into ridiculousness.
- Most importantly, the food is exciting and delicious looking: Richard’s and Mark’s pizzas in the first Quickfire, Dale + Richard’s “green perplexed tofu,” Stephanie’s lamb dish in the finale, and probably a few others all make my running Top 10 Dishes I Want to Try list.
- Mea culpa time: when I watched this the first time I thought Stephanie upset Richard in the finale and that both Lisa + Nikki stuck around a few episodes too long each. Nope. Stephanie is co-favorite at WORST, and this time none of the judges’ decisions seemed questionable to me.
- I think Lisa probably would have gone home instead of Dale after Restaurant Wars had she won their coin flip to be Executive Chef, but she didn’t. Otherwise, I fail to see where she SHOULD have been eliminated sooner. Ditto Nikki. I question 2008 Andy’s biases.
- All in all, this is going to be a hard one to top. I never thought of Season 4 as one of my favorites, but it’s darn near perfect. I know that not all of the ones that follow are, and now I wonder if I’ll think ANY of them are clearly better. We’ll see!
- Spoiler alert: we’re already three episodes into Season 5, and while there isn’t anything wrong with it so far, I can already tell you that it represents at least a half-step backward. That would still potentially put it ahead of the first three, though! Stay tuned!
- TOP CHEF Season 5 rewatch = in the books! I should probably state at the outset of these tweets that @anthonyfaino thoroughly prepared me to expect the worst: he claims that this season nearly made him abandon the show. I didn’t think it was that bad at all, though!
- To start w/ the problems: first, the food wasn’t special. It’s all already fading from my memory except the dishes from the Le Bernardin challenge (which: what the hell, Jamie? How could you be BORED by that meal?) and some of Hosea’s (red fish) + Stefan’s (squab) finale dishes.
- It’s all SOLID, though, and this pales in comparison as a problem to just how uncomfortable Hosea and Leah’s . . . flirtation made me feel.
- I’ve been meaning to mention that I think the biggest change in how I’m experiencing TOP CHEF this time around from my first pass is the amount of attention I pay to the chefs’ leadership styles and how they navigate the nebulous boundaries between “work” + “not work” spaces.
- The Top Chef kitchen, for instance, clearly falls into the former category, but the house doesn’t ALWAYS (ever?) qualify as the latter, and what about the stew room? Hosea and Leah definitely (IMHO) cross these lines, wherever you draw them–just ask Adrienne.
- This is hardly the ONLY bad behavior on display this season (cough. Stefan. cough.) or in any of the first five, but it ranks right up there with the hazing of Marcel for me as some of my least favorite moments in TOP CHEF history.
- On the positive side of the ledger, things I liked include: 1) Stefan’s smirk during the judging of LITERALLY EVERY Quickfire, all of which he clearly expected to win, 2) Carla and Fabio, full stop, and:
- 3) Another season of excellent challenges, most notably for me the aforementioned Le Bernardin one, the “12 Days of Christmas” one, the one at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and the “last supper” one. The latter also features the best production values seen to this point.
- My other note is that I think I would have considered Jamie to be the favorite from very early on to right up to the challenge that sent her home if I was watching this live now.
- Add it all up, and I think this is my third-favorite (after four and three) season of the first five, but it’s closer to second than fourth. Sorry, @anthonyfaino!
- We’re now going to take a brief break for THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW, politics, and a few movies (starting w/ A CHEF’S VOYAGE via @TheCinemapolis Virtual Cinema this weekend), and because we intend to savor Season 6, which I’ve always considered my favorite. Back soon, though!
- It took awhile, what with politics as a distraction at the beginning, GBBO in the middle, and holiday movies at the end, but @mepkat and I have finally finished our rewatch of TOP CHEF Season 6!
- Like many other people, I have always thought of this season as my favorite. So, first question: is it the best one so far? I was blown away by how good Season 4 was the second time around, and 6 isn’t CLEARLY better.
- The respective final fours are close in terms of talent, which is obvious in retrospect when you look at what they went on to achieve in their careers. It’s hard to evaluate who cooked better DURING THEIR TIME ON THE SHOW because we’d never seen so much of what Blais did before:
- He uses liquid nitrogen, for instance, and it blows Eric Ripert’s mind. The Voltaggios use it, and no one even says anything. In the end, I think it’s legit to give this one to Season 6. Season 4 has a better cast TOP TO BOTTOM, though.
- Season 4 also does a better job of engaging with its host cities through quickfires and challenges based on Chicago and Puerto Rico food traditions. I like the Napa Valley challenges in 6, but the Vegas stuff often crosses the line into the realm of gimmicky.
- Final analysis: I’m inclined to give a slight edge to Season 4 for reasons of Michael Voltaggio being more of a punk than I remembered, because it was more unpleasant to watch everyone gang up on Robin than to watch Dale + Lisa bicker, and since (let’s admit it) I’m a contrarian.
- Dishes I most wish I could try: the ones the Voltaggios cooked for episode two, the trout + deconstructed Béarnaise Bryan and Mike Isabella made in episode four, Kevin’s deconstructed mole in episode 6, and Michael Voltaggio’s “hot wings” in episode twelve.
- A couple of last thoughts: 1) Jennifer’s performance in episode three “Thunderbirds” where she keeps everyone on task is probably the single most impressive thing I’ve seen on the show to this point. I don’t know how they didn’t give her the win.
- 2) Watching the finale, it isn’t obvious how Michael beat Bryan. For anyone else thinking the same thing, I recommend Tom Colicchio’s blog entry from the season: https://bravotv.com/top-chef/season-6/blogs/tom-colicchio/bait-n-switch….
- In summary, Season 6 wasn’t any less great than I remembered! Season 4 is just a bit better in my opinion. We’re probably going to take a short break, but will be back in the new year with thoughts on Season 7!
Links to previous posts about Top Chef can be found here.
The Prodigal Cinephile 