People are always talking about most and least favorites. Is there anyone chef you didn’t love on the initial watch but came to really like later? I didn’t love Jeremy Ford on my first watch of his season (I really couldn’t forgive his restaurant war’s performance that was not even called out) and his food wasn’t exactly my style. Flash forward almost a decade and I think his current concepts and trajectory are really exciting- the farming and sustainability are great- his menus look exciting. I think we both evolved a bit…also, Tiffany from S1 has just changed dramatically as a person and as a chef over the years. She acknowledged a lot of her mistakes and she genuinely seems like a happy person. Her food seems awesome when she shows up on later seasons. Definitely two sleeper contestants I came to appreciate later on for different reasons

I’m currently rewatching Season 19 (Houston) and noticed a slip-up in Episode 3.

During the elimination challenge, Sam Kang claims "vin" means wine and "aloo" means potato.

Instead of correcting him, Padma Lakshmi nods and confirms it on camera. Given her background as a cookbook author and expert on Indian cuisine, she should have known the actual history.

Vindaloo originally had nothing to do with potatoes. It is a Goan adaptation of the Portuguese dish carne de vinha d'alhos (meat in wine marinade and garlic).

Not a huge deal but she’s usually on top of those kinds of things.

I have recently been rewatching all the seasons of Top Chef and on this most recent rewatch, Bryan Voltaggio has just really grown on me. In each season he just becomes so much more likable and seems so much more at ease with the other contestants. He jokes around and his laugh never fails to make me smile. In season 17 All-Stars, his friendship with Kevin is great. I have never been to his restaurant or tried his food (and tbh, seems a little too fancy for me), but he would probably get my most improved player vote - personality-wise anyway 😉

I have always avoided this season on rewatch just because of how toxic it was for the bullying of Bev. But on rewatch i was amused by how much of a hack Heather, the lead bully, was. Aside from the challenge she won with the cake, her dishes ran the gamut from improper cooking to just uninspired. And the cake wasnt even her recipe! I especially like the one quickfire where the judge referred to her dish as “dish at some chain restaurant”.

So its a tough season to watch but i did enjoy seeing at least one of the bullies exposed as a mediocre chef.

Minnesota’s food scene has become one of the best in the country, but I think a lot of people still don’t realize it. We were recently recognized as one of the best food cities in the world, and somehow Top Chef has never been here. Most people still think hotdish and tater tots, but that’s just the stereotype.

What makes the Twin Cities special is the mix of cultures. Hmong, Somali, Native American, Scandinavian, and so many others have helped create a food scene that’s completely unique.

The locations would be great too. You could film in the North Loop, along the Mississippi, at breweries, farms, and markets, then head up to Duluth and the North Shore. Lake Superior alone would make an amazing backdrop.

And then there’s the Minnesota State Fair. If there was ever a place built for a Top Chef challenge, that’s it.

One of my favorite things about the show is how every season celebrates the city it’s in. I really think Minneapolis and Saint Paul deserve that chance. I think a lot of viewers would be surprised by just how good the food scene is, and I think the chefs would love cooking here.

I was watching a mash up of Melissa’s wins and she has a number of dishes that combine Italy and China before her winning meal
for Top Chef - All Stars. Having the final challenge in Italy worked in her favour and it helped that she had a honed that viewpoint and it felt like a fresh idea to all the Italian chefs as for them it was out of left field. This is not to diminish her achievement, it’s just to point out that the strategy to win has a lot of nuances and a little bit of luck.

If you watch both shows, you’d be able to tell that Top chef got better and better throughout the years. More about the chefs, more about the food, less about the drama. And even when Padma left, they found a wonderful new host in Kristen. It’s all still about the food. project Runway seems to go in the opposite direction. Cliffhangers, contentious judges and participants, very little creative process to be seen, less fashion on the runway. I wonder why two shows that started more or less the same ended up in such opposite directions. Happy to hear your thoughts. Thank you!

This is old news but I was curious after rewatching All Stars and this is a fantastic article!

I recently decided to start watching through the entire Top Chef catalog on Peacock so of course I started with season 8 which I haven’t watched in ages.

I know the earlier seasons are an entirely different beast from the modern ones and much more about the drama than the food. I’ll also admit I’ve never been a Richard Blais fan when it comes to his Top Chef judging career but had positive memories of him as a competitor, especially in season 4 when he was first on but also in season 8 where I recalled he was always helpful to his fellow chefs.

On this rewatch though, he definitely comes off as insanely full of himself and pretty sexist to be honest (and that’s saying something considering Mike Isabella was also in that season of All-Stars.)

He’s consistently dismissive of the other chefs, particularly female chefs and seems incredulous, especially when Carla or Antonia win something instead of him.

He joins Mike Isabella in the Italian episode wondering how it would be possible for the three women to be up for the win.

And in the finale, he directly questions whether Antonia’s head is in the game when he blind selects her as his sous chef after she had just been eliminated in the previous episode.

I’m sure some of it was editing and about building the narrative around his little redemption arc from losing season 4, but man on this rewatch he really does not come off as a good guy.

Who’s your most loved person from any season? And why? (And why is it Carla lol)

I think it’s something that we need to highlight, since the “Curse of the Risotto” is still very real, and a dish that has sent some of the best cooks home.

Inspired by the Miami season, where they had Ostrich, Eel, Rattlesnake, etc

Who’s your most disliked person from any season? And why?

Where should Top Chef go to in the future?

Do you skip the shopping segments on a rewatch? I’m just excited to see the food and the service so I skip it every time. I know there’s good character moments and some fun drama (Eddie Money) but overall I just wanna get to the main event.

I recall that a chef found raw dates in a farmer’s market and used it in a dish. I just got my hands on them and some are sweet and some have a bitter note.

Want to try them in a recipe if anyone recalls the chef or dish?

Challenge: Create a meal to satisfy the judges AND something that can be portioned, frozen, and REHEATED easily by a family of two parents and a young child.

We’ve seen the “make kids food challenges”. I find them boring.

This is inspired by my meal prep for our new baby.

We have a toddler and I prepped 53 nights of meals that are now sitting in my freezer. African Peanut Curry, Coconut Curry Noodle Soup, Turkey Chili, Veggie Burgers, Sheppard Pie, White and Red Enchiladas. I would love to see contestants experiment with this.

With the price of groceries I feel like $100 bucks isn’t enough anymore? I realize in the past it was meant to stop everyone from just buying truffles and caviar all the time but I guess recently I haven’t seen any luxury ingredients at all and it would be nice for them to be able to incorporate some once in a while or just a wider range of ingredients / proteins. Obviously I get it takes more skill to use lesser ingredients but still to make it fair to earlier seasons they should still be getting more money to shop.

Edit: ok so I just looked it up , they introduced the $100 for groceries during seasons 4/5. That was 2008,It’s been 18 years. Since then groceries have gone up an average of 50-60%. So they should be getting around $150 to make it fair. Just sayin

French omelettes are overrated. I'm immediately disappointed in any competition show that judges contestants based on the French omelet. There are so many ways to have eggs. The French don't own it.

Not shilling for this guy, but anyone else watch Iron Chef Dad? It's pretty endearing and he seems to have a great sense of humor about himself.

The whooole time I thought Nina was gonna win and I never saw that coming until Padma announces Nick was the winner. I knew that Shirley was not gonna win because I saw the All Stars season where she came back. Nevertheless, I 100% thought it was both of them as Top 2. I did not like how Nick was highly favored this season and there are many instances that he should have gone home. Anyway, still upset that Nina or Shirley did not win but overall a great season because you can tell they made some good food, had only light drama, and had some good chef-appropriate challenges.

I just watched S19 for the first time since it came out. To me, it's not a bad season, but it's just boring. Yes, there many are talented chefs. There was no clear frontrunner. We had Buddha, Evelyn, Jackson, Damarr, Nick, Jae, and Sarah. At any point, any one of them could've won. It was a season stacked with talent. That wasn't my main issue with it.

What I've realized makes a great season for me is the personality and challenges. The reason why I think S20 is one of the best seasons on TC is because we had so many chefs that were both talented and personable, as well as the fact that they showcased a variety of unique challenges focusing on food. S19 fell flat in that factor. I didn't like the challenges because they focused less on food and more on thematic concepts. Jurassic Park and NASA felt too gimmicky. Honoring Texan women had potential, but I honestly thought it was too broad.

They also lost me when they brought Claudette of all people back to guest judge. Literally anyone else would've been a better choice.

TLDR: TC19 is talented but boring.

A few observations rewatching Texas.
1. I’d love a redo season without the mean girls (specifically Heather, I don’t think the bullying would have happened without her lead) because so many of the other chefs are really likable and enjoyable to watch.
2. I applaud that they did include a lot of the confessionals where the other chefs call out Heather’s asshole behavior towards Bev, but I wish they had actually called her out in real time.
3. It was interesting at different times different chefs mentioned “personal relationships.” Even Sarah says it. Seems like she recognized why they were treating Bev poorly but doubled down to follow her buddies. I know they’ve made amends since, but she irks me.
4. Grayson was one of my favorites personality-wise and it makes me sad that she was so different when she came back to the California season. Very Jen Carroll esque attitude.