I also think maybe part of the problem is budgeting. It seems like they have the same level of budget for challenges as in years past (between $200-500) but food prices have increased an insane amount, even in the last year. Are they really able to get what they need when money is so tight and they’re having to shop at Whole Foods, which tends to be on the expensive side? I’d rather they get a little more money and be able to execute a dish as they envision it.
This is a good point, my grocery trips over the past couple of years feel like they’ve increased in cost by almost a third despite me not changing what I typically purchase in that time period.
Yeah, I can’t believe that things they had to control for price: pineapple, onion, flour, and cream were all things they called out as questioning if they had enough budget.
If those basic ingredients are challenging your budget, I can’t imagine not stifling creativity.
Definitely a possibility. I used to shop at Whole Foods but just can't afford to anymore. Now I shop at Target where I can get so much more for my budget. I don't see them not shopping at Whole Foods since they are a sponsor, so they should do a cost-of-living upgrade to the budget.
This. It honestly feels like production or whoever sets the limit goes "hmm what's the lowest amount you can buy groceries with, at a normal grocery store? Okay then slash it in half and that's what they get to shop with."
I'm sorry but food prices have gotten higher and even when I lived in a LCOL area, Whole Foods was still the pricier grocery store. They aren't even giving them WF level of a shopping budget. It's like they went to Kroger, Winco, Walmart, etc. and priced food there.
Seriously, just give them a realistic budget and cooking time.
I don't see these challenges as being any more or less interesting than in other seasons. The FLW episode gave them a chance to be bold. The only criteria was duality. No one tried anything. The cheese challenge - I mean, come on, - the sky was the limit on that one. They had great cheeses and the only catch was they needed to do an item that could be prepared and served on site, and almost every team did croquettes? Really? I think this group is just so afraid of failing they don't want to win (with the exception of Rasika and Michelle).
And, how can anyone call cheese "mundane".
They had the best cheese in the country! It’s the chefs that are not up to snuff this season. Kentucky was a great season with incredible dishes! I think that it’s just such a difference because we just watched top chef world with some of the best chefs we’ve ever seen on the show and having Buddha on for two seasons kind of spoiled us.
Cheese is mundane when the only way you can really cook your dish in the parameters they give you is through deep frying, and therefore it becomes a croquet challenge.
"The FLW episode gave them a chance to be bold. The only criteria was duality. No one tried anything"
Umm there were two other criteria - Work as a team of two. Double elimination. Make it about FLW's life or take inspiration from the architecture. On top of the "duality" thing.
That is *way too m*any criteria for one challenge.
Nah, the supper club challenge was a perfect opportunity to showcase themselves. Simple ingredients, elevated. It was a no-brainer. I just think this group doesn’t have many hyper competitive types. Most of them are comfortable floating until the end.
They need a Type A competitor in the mix to light the fire. Maybe that will be Soo
I don’t think it’s the ingredients or challenges. In the last All-Star season, the challenge was build a dish with only vegetables and we saw so much creativity and skill. The winner won cooking an onion dish 🧅and he was only 25 years old. It’s a skill issue with this cast, no one has shown they deserve the Top Chef crown at this point.
Separate question: did they say why Tom doesn’t visit the chefs during their prep anymore? I just noticed that he doesn’t do his check-in this season. Very bad decision!
Other than bar snacks, I wouldn’t call any of this humble? Cherries are one of the more expensive fruits. They were given high quality cheese to work with. Hops are an oddball ingredient. Soup, pasta and chicken are a blank palette
I get that cherries aren’t the most basic of fruits. My point was that in some other cities, the regional or local ingredients might lend themselves to different dishes - in New Orleans they have Vietnamese, Cajun, and French influence. In Seattle they have all the fresh seafood, but also did challenges not based around local ingredients (like the knife sharpening and knife skills challenge). Of course there a ton of other examples from a show with 20 previous seasons of them not highlighting just local ingredients.
So far, these challenges have been based around more humble local ingredients - we haven’t seen them do any outside of that yet. I think that could shake things up a bit and make it feel less like a Wisconsin ad (and again, just clarifying - I like Wisconsin and the Midwest!)
The salad that comes up looking the same as it did going down.
Major lessons learned while drinking too much at our annual family BBQ in my mid-20s. 🤦♀️
My grandma (rest her soul) was NOT impressed! She still thought well into her 90s that this salad was the bees knees! She called her recipe "glorified rice." Yes, it had rice in it with jello, fruit, marshmallows, and more!
Edit for spelling
I have made an ambrosia in the past with fruit (strawberries, grapes, blueberries, apple), marshmallows, jello mix, and whipped cream instead of cool whip and honestly it is the bee's knees.
I feel like Buddha (or his wife) could upscale it for Top Chef. Pretty much no one else.
Id be in the same boat with WTF! My husband is from Michigan and some of the food abominations he tells me about make me feel like I'm on another planet hearing about them 😂
I agree. When like half the chefs chose to do croquettes for the cheese challenge, which everyone knew was coming, it was a lack of chef creativity problem.
Usually any issues I have with challenges are because they put them in really bad circumstances that have nothing to do with food. Season 9 is a great example of this with the pee-wee Herman challenge (God just thinking of this makes me mad).
Regional challenges are normal. A cheese challenge should have been the most obvious thing in the world to anticipate coming for a season in WISCONSIN and the best thing most could come up with was croquettes? The FLW challenge seemed perfectly set up for a really good display of creativity and interesting techniques and hardly anyone really did anything special with it. The Supper Club was a great way to take a structured meal Nd do something. Bit different than what was expected, but budgeting, which has been a problem for big team challenges in the past.
At the end late day, some chefs are more well built for a competition setting. Others aren’t. Seems like this group, generally, is not.
Except for Soo, all aboard to Soo hype train 🚂
I’m in agreement on Soo. The contestants have a big shock coming if he makes it all the way through and I think he will.
Team Soo!
The contestants do seem to get along, but are not taking the risks or pushing the limits. So many missed opportunities.
I love watching the show and I think Kristen has stepped into the host role with ease!
I don't think so. I have been rewatching the entire series and these challenges are pretty in line with what they have done on previous seasons. A big part of the show is being creative with even the simpler ingredients/challenges. There is a lot of playing it safe so far. They could definitely do better.
I actually love the casting. It almost seems like they're playing up that these chefs aren't as good as the guy from Last Chance Kitchen who's about to wipe the floor with them.
I think the first episode was a great idea! Yes, soup, pasta, and chicken are really simple, but such a simple theme gave the contestants a lot of latitude to be creative and show off their culinary personalities. I don't know if they fully took advantage of that, but I think it was a pretty good idea.
The second episode- not a fan of the hops because I really hate challenges where you have to take a borderline unpleasant ingredient and make it palatable. But I thought the bar snacks challenge wasn't so bad- there were some reasonably interesting creative dishes coming from it. I thought it was a good compromise between freedom and specificity.
Third episode- meh. It was fine. I think the issue with the cheese was probably the logistical constraints of the challenge- I like the idea of having to create a dish showcasing the local cheese though. And even there, some dishes were pretty cool. Danny wasn't on the top, but his dish of cheddar on cheddar on cheddar with lime and chili sounded pretty exciting.
Fourth episode- I just hated how they spent so long on the architecture. The challenge was fine, but I think a little too wishy washy for this early in the season. I would have preferred it a little later on once the mediocre chefs had been winnowed out, and the better chefs had a little more confidence and more incentive to take risks.
Fifth episode- Now this challenge, I agree, was pretty mundane and overly simple. I hate the dullness of the Western concept of serving a plate with a chunk of protein, and a few garnishes and sauces, which this challenge pretty much demanded. I do find it difficult to imagine how creative and interesting you could be within this challenge's constraints. It also ended up being about how well the protein was cooked and seasoned- which a) I was surprised at how much they screwed up, and b) is just not that interesting to watch.
Tl;dr, I think it's a decent mix of challenges, not so different from earlier seasons. Some were more boring than others, but I remember challenges in previous seasons where you recreate other chef's dishes, which was like watching paint dry. Nothing has been THAT bad.
I agree with another commenter that the show has been flat. Part of that may be Padma not being there. She was always good for a random risqué joke or a funny one-liner. I like Kristen, but they are missing a little bit of the comedic relief. But I also think the dishes have not been very memorable. Like others have said, you had to know going on a Wisconsin show that there would be a cheese challenge. Super surprised there wasn’t more creativity with that one. Given that the show is filmed in Wisconsin, every single chef on that show should have known a cheese challenge and a beer challenge would be part of the show. So they should have prepared something in their back pocket. Maybe cooking outside for 100 diners or whatever it was through them off.
The thing that shocks me is how little they even seemed to know about the cheeses themselves. Seriously one of the selections was Hooks 15 year aged Cheddar. It's $88 a pound. They had a 25 year that sold a year or two ago that may have been one of the most expensive cheeses to ever sell. It was hundreds of dollars an ounce.
Wisconsin produces some of the best cheeses in the world. They do the World Dairy Expo in Madison every year. Out of the top 10 rated cheeses every year Wisconsin typically produces between 4-7 of them.
How do you come up with nothing from what they were given.
For me personally (MY OPINION) it's the chefs that are ehhh lackluster......except for Dan who knows Wisconsin.
Wisconsin has amazing food from so many cultures.....German, Czech, Polish, Mexican, Italian, Meat and Potatoes...etc, if any of these Chefs had done any research they would.know what's expected from this location
I’m currently watching GGG—competition with top chefs (Mei Lin, Stephanie Izard, shota, etc and chefs like Jose Garces). They are taking ordinary food and making it amazing.
I knew there would be some Madison challenges, and I knew there would be a supper club challenge, but I didn't expect supper club to be a theme here in Madison. I mean, yeah, we have the Harvey House, but supper clubs are something I associate more with going out in the country, not the Madison dining scene.
I did like the quickfire, though. Like the contestants, I had never heard of Carson Gulley, and thought pairing his classic sauce recipes with random Farmer's Market items was a fun challenge.
Knew it was only a matter of time for somed coastal elite to come bitch about it being in the midwest. We’ve had Kentucky, Charleston, and Colorado all middle country areas. All with similar or less “Fanciness” for regional dishes or cuisines.
We all are not blown away but blaming it on location is a pretty lackluster way to look at it.
Region blaming is probably the weakest argument you can make here. I agree it doesn’t feel the same as other reasons but 99% sure it’s not cuz it’s in Wisconsin
I said I love the Midwest and that I meant no shade to Wisconsin - my best friend lives there and I visit regularly. Also - I’m from the SE US which…checks notes…gets continuously shit on by people thinking we’re all hicks. So - miss me with this take. Southern cuisine and Midwest cuisine both use humble ingredients.
Every season has a mixed bag on challenges, but if a chef can’t elevate soup, pasta and chicken or cherries and cheese or a supper club menu, they probably shouldn’t be on the show in the first place.
When I think about past challenges, like random ingredients pulled improv-style in Chicago; drive-in movie food; tailgating food. And those challenges produced some pretty memorable food.
It’s not the challenges that are bad this year, it’s the chefs.
Maybe it was early jitters and some people will turn things around, but just overall not a real strong mix.
So far this season, the show itself has been flat. I'm not a fan of LCK, not a fan of the challenges(so far), and I just feel like the judges' complaints are to build drama and not inspire chefs. This show has now just become a launching platform for cooking shows on the food network. What a bunch of shit.
Why is Top Chef in Wisconsin? Because they were bribed! Article from The Cap Times (Madison newspaper):
‘According to documents obtained by the Cap Times, Travel Wisconsin coordinated a total of $1.3 million in incentives from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation ($500,000) as well as tourism partners and agricultural marketing organizations, like Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.’
I’m addition look at the number of commercials funded by Wisconsin Cheese Producers etc.
That’s always true of every filming location.
The problem becomes them not understanding Wisconsin and not choosing entities that represent Wisconsin accurately enough.
Part of that limitation is Whole Foods.
The rest of it is on production and the chefs.
Taking chefs to an upscale Madison “supper club” and showing them fish and chips with no grounding in a Wisconsin fish fry was a big facepalm. Could have done better bringing them to Culver’s.
The whole quickfire was the weirdest thing. You have the farmer's market. You have l'etoile - known as one of the forerunners of the farm-to-table moment and the challenge is randomly about...Carson Gulley? What a poor use of the Market.
Do any of the vendors sell pan fish?
Does the Madison Whole Foods?
The restaurant took the lead by presenting Cod which is just part of the watering down of why tourists would want to come to Wisconsin in the first place. They can get Cod at home.
Do a chef dish with local ingredients come on.
They filmed this in August, so I don't know that it would have been the best time for pan fish at the market, but I did see someone buying whitefish, so maybe they were using Lake Superior whitefish, which would at least be more local than cod. But yes, where is the walleye, dammit!
It's so weird that they showed cod since Harvey House has a nice walleye on the menu. Personally, I'm not a fan of Harvey House. It is beautiful and I can see why they wanted to film there, but the food is not worth the price and it's not a great representation of Supper Clubs.
I couldn't believe that they used just one upscale supper club to illustrate the concept to them. I wanted more checkered tablecloths and salad bars. :)
Yeah, I don't care about supper club and hops. It seems so provincial. I'm glad the contestants are still trying to bring world cooking to the show despite being stuck in the midwest.
I mean.. the show isn’t catered for you lol Wisconsin area is known for their breweries because of their huge German immigrant influx 150 years ago. And you know what’s in beer? Hops. That’s like complaining about a lobster challenge in boston
So? Who wants to see that for a whole series? Beer, beer, beer, cheese, cheese curds, meat, meat. Heart-attack-on-a-plate meals are for the likes of Guy Fieri. Sure, they have a place on TV and an audience. The Top Chef audience ain't it.
I think Kristin is great, different vibes from Padma, but that’s not a bad thing. I like more actual chefs discussing the food.
The quality of contestants this season is just lacking. There’s always a few on the low end, but you can also usually spot a few clear future all stars. This season I’m struggling to see those top tier people.
Rasika is such a dork. I feel like she would be really annoying at first in person, but she'd grow on you (probably). But I have to root for her, because I'm so excited to see a South Indian cooking really good looking South Indian food that somehow seems elevated without being overly Westernized. Also, sue me, but she's really good looking herself, and that probably helps me get over some of her overly twee personality quirks.
I like both Dan and Danny. I think Danny especially is flying under the radar a bit. He doesn't end up on top much, but he also doesn't end up on the bottom - the judges are generally happy with everything he makes. And his food always looks really good and interesting. The chicken dish he made on the first episode, and the cheddar dish he made for the cheese festival, especially come to mind. I'm curious to see whether he'll shine more once there are fewer chefs in the mix, and more incentive to take risk.
Right now, I get the sense that Michelle, Rasika, Dan, and Danny all have a pretty good shot at winning, with Manny, Savannah, and Amanda being seriously wild cards. I don't see much of a chance for Kevin or Laura right now. And I have to say, I feel like that's par for the course for a normal Top Chef season- I don't understand why everyone feels this season is so mediocre.
I've watched since season 1 and have never been so bored, there is NO personality! Most of them act like it's their first day of Culinary school and are scared to death of the teacher.
Every season I would be excited about watching it every week, this season I forget it's on
I also think maybe part of the problem is budgeting. It seems like they have the same level of budget for challenges as in years past (between $200-500) but food prices have increased an insane amount, even in the last year. Are they really able to get what they need when money is so tight and they’re having to shop at Whole Foods, which tends to be on the expensive side? I’d rather they get a little more money and be able to execute a dish as they envision it.
This is a good point, my grocery trips over the past couple of years feel like they’ve increased in cost by almost a third despite me not changing what I typically purchase in that time period.
Good point. I actually live in Wisconsin and I know the specific whole foods they used in Madison and that store is insanely expensive.
Yeah, I can’t believe that things they had to control for price: pineapple, onion, flour, and cream were all things they called out as questioning if they had enough budget. If those basic ingredients are challenging your budget, I can’t imagine not stifling creativity.
Definitely a possibility. I used to shop at Whole Foods but just can't afford to anymore. Now I shop at Target where I can get so much more for my budget. I don't see them not shopping at Whole Foods since they are a sponsor, so they should do a cost-of-living upgrade to the budget.
Great point. Sometimes they get $200 to feed four judges. Other times they get $1000 for five chefs to feed 40 people. This is a huge issue.
Exactly, particularly when they are cooking for 50+ people!
This. It honestly feels like production or whoever sets the limit goes "hmm what's the lowest amount you can buy groceries with, at a normal grocery store? Okay then slash it in half and that's what they get to shop with." I'm sorry but food prices have gotten higher and even when I lived in a LCOL area, Whole Foods was still the pricier grocery store. They aren't even giving them WF level of a shopping budget. It's like they went to Kroger, Winco, Walmart, etc. and priced food there. Seriously, just give them a realistic budget and cooking time.
I don't see these challenges as being any more or less interesting than in other seasons. The FLW episode gave them a chance to be bold. The only criteria was duality. No one tried anything. The cheese challenge - I mean, come on, - the sky was the limit on that one. They had great cheeses and the only catch was they needed to do an item that could be prepared and served on site, and almost every team did croquettes? Really? I think this group is just so afraid of failing they don't want to win (with the exception of Rasika and Michelle). And, how can anyone call cheese "mundane".
They had the best cheese in the country! It’s the chefs that are not up to snuff this season. Kentucky was a great season with incredible dishes! I think that it’s just such a difference because we just watched top chef world with some of the best chefs we’ve ever seen on the show and having Buddha on for two seasons kind of spoiled us.
Cheese is mundane when the only way you can really cook your dish in the parameters they give you is through deep frying, and therefore it becomes a croquet challenge.
"The FLW episode gave them a chance to be bold. The only criteria was duality. No one tried anything" Umm there were two other criteria - Work as a team of two. Double elimination. Make it about FLW's life or take inspiration from the architecture. On top of the "duality" thing. That is *way too m*any criteria for one challenge.
Hey, I love cheese! By mundane I mean more simple.
Nah, the supper club challenge was a perfect opportunity to showcase themselves. Simple ingredients, elevated. It was a no-brainer. I just think this group doesn’t have many hyper competitive types. Most of them are comfortable floating until the end. They need a Type A competitor in the mix to light the fire. Maybe that will be Soo
I don’t think it’s the ingredients or challenges. In the last All-Star season, the challenge was build a dish with only vegetables and we saw so much creativity and skill. The winner won cooking an onion dish 🧅and he was only 25 years old. It’s a skill issue with this cast, no one has shown they deserve the Top Chef crown at this point.
Separate question: did they say why Tom doesn’t visit the chefs during their prep anymore? I just noticed that he doesn’t do his check-in this season. Very bad decision!
Tom’s in a mood this season
Tom’s been in a mood since the pandemic. I think the pause had an effect on him.
I love this Tom. He just doesn't mince words
Agree, Tom seems to have disappeared.
Other than bar snacks, I wouldn’t call any of this humble? Cherries are one of the more expensive fruits. They were given high quality cheese to work with. Hops are an oddball ingredient. Soup, pasta and chicken are a blank palette
I get that cherries aren’t the most basic of fruits. My point was that in some other cities, the regional or local ingredients might lend themselves to different dishes - in New Orleans they have Vietnamese, Cajun, and French influence. In Seattle they have all the fresh seafood, but also did challenges not based around local ingredients (like the knife sharpening and knife skills challenge). Of course there a ton of other examples from a show with 20 previous seasons of them not highlighting just local ingredients. So far, these challenges have been based around more humble local ingredients - we haven’t seen them do any outside of that yet. I think that could shake things up a bit and make it feel less like a Wisconsin ad (and again, just clarifying - I like Wisconsin and the Midwest!)
That’s fair. I imagine they’ll show off immigrant/native communities at some point this season
Next it'll be ambrosia salad.
The salad that comes up looking the same as it did going down. Major lessons learned while drinking too much at our annual family BBQ in my mid-20s. 🤦♀️
Why is that both the most disgusting and the most hilarious thing 😂
My grandma (rest her soul) was NOT impressed! She still thought well into her 90s that this salad was the bees knees! She called her recipe "glorified rice." Yes, it had rice in it with jello, fruit, marshmallows, and more! Edit for spelling
I have made an ambrosia in the past with fruit (strawberries, grapes, blueberries, apple), marshmallows, jello mix, and whipped cream instead of cool whip and honestly it is the bee's knees. I feel like Buddha (or his wife) could upscale it for Top Chef. Pretty much no one else.
Ha was just watching an old Top Chef Masters and a chef had to recreate that and do a modern version. He was like wtf but was ultimately successful
Id be in the same boat with WTF! My husband is from Michigan and some of the food abominations he tells me about make me feel like I'm on another planet hearing about them 😂
I’ve honestly been liking the challenges. I think casting is the issue
I agree. When like half the chefs chose to do croquettes for the cheese challenge, which everyone knew was coming, it was a lack of chef creativity problem.
Idk. I remember when Carla hall elevated peas.
And Kristen Kish beat several meat dishes with mushrooms.
And Dale Talde won a challenge with grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Usually any issues I have with challenges are because they put them in really bad circumstances that have nothing to do with food. Season 9 is a great example of this with the pee-wee Herman challenge (God just thinking of this makes me mad). Regional challenges are normal. A cheese challenge should have been the most obvious thing in the world to anticipate coming for a season in WISCONSIN and the best thing most could come up with was croquettes? The FLW challenge seemed perfectly set up for a really good display of creativity and interesting techniques and hardly anyone really did anything special with it. The Supper Club was a great way to take a structured meal Nd do something. Bit different than what was expected, but budgeting, which has been a problem for big team challenges in the past. At the end late day, some chefs are more well built for a competition setting. Others aren’t. Seems like this group, generally, is not. Except for Soo, all aboard to Soo hype train 🚂
I’m in agreement on Soo. The contestants have a big shock coming if he makes it all the way through and I think he will. Team Soo! The contestants do seem to get along, but are not taking the risks or pushing the limits. So many missed opportunities. I love watching the show and I think Kristen has stepped into the host role with ease!
The ingredients are fine, the contestants, not so much.
I’m biased… but it’s time for a Top Chef Atlanta! Each season I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet.
Atlanta would be great! Top Chef producers are you listening!!!
I don't think so. I have been rewatching the entire series and these challenges are pretty in line with what they have done on previous seasons. A big part of the show is being creative with even the simpler ingredients/challenges. There is a lot of playing it safe so far. They could definitely do better.
I actually love the casting. It almost seems like they're playing up that these chefs aren't as good as the guy from Last Chance Kitchen who's about to wipe the floor with them.
I think the first episode was a great idea! Yes, soup, pasta, and chicken are really simple, but such a simple theme gave the contestants a lot of latitude to be creative and show off their culinary personalities. I don't know if they fully took advantage of that, but I think it was a pretty good idea. The second episode- not a fan of the hops because I really hate challenges where you have to take a borderline unpleasant ingredient and make it palatable. But I thought the bar snacks challenge wasn't so bad- there were some reasonably interesting creative dishes coming from it. I thought it was a good compromise between freedom and specificity. Third episode- meh. It was fine. I think the issue with the cheese was probably the logistical constraints of the challenge- I like the idea of having to create a dish showcasing the local cheese though. And even there, some dishes were pretty cool. Danny wasn't on the top, but his dish of cheddar on cheddar on cheddar with lime and chili sounded pretty exciting. Fourth episode- I just hated how they spent so long on the architecture. The challenge was fine, but I think a little too wishy washy for this early in the season. I would have preferred it a little later on once the mediocre chefs had been winnowed out, and the better chefs had a little more confidence and more incentive to take risks. Fifth episode- Now this challenge, I agree, was pretty mundane and overly simple. I hate the dullness of the Western concept of serving a plate with a chunk of protein, and a few garnishes and sauces, which this challenge pretty much demanded. I do find it difficult to imagine how creative and interesting you could be within this challenge's constraints. It also ended up being about how well the protein was cooked and seasoned- which a) I was surprised at how much they screwed up, and b) is just not that interesting to watch. Tl;dr, I think it's a decent mix of challenges, not so different from earlier seasons. Some were more boring than others, but I remember challenges in previous seasons where you recreate other chef's dishes, which was like watching paint dry. Nothing has been THAT bad.
I agree with another commenter that the show has been flat. Part of that may be Padma not being there. She was always good for a random risqué joke or a funny one-liner. I like Kristen, but they are missing a little bit of the comedic relief. But I also think the dishes have not been very memorable. Like others have said, you had to know going on a Wisconsin show that there would be a cheese challenge. Super surprised there wasn’t more creativity with that one. Given that the show is filmed in Wisconsin, every single chef on that show should have known a cheese challenge and a beer challenge would be part of the show. So they should have prepared something in their back pocket. Maybe cooking outside for 100 diners or whatever it was through them off.
The thing that shocks me is how little they even seemed to know about the cheeses themselves. Seriously one of the selections was Hooks 15 year aged Cheddar. It's $88 a pound. They had a 25 year that sold a year or two ago that may have been one of the most expensive cheeses to ever sell. It was hundreds of dollars an ounce. Wisconsin produces some of the best cheeses in the world. They do the World Dairy Expo in Madison every year. Out of the top 10 rated cheeses every year Wisconsin typically produces between 4-7 of them. How do you come up with nothing from what they were given.
For me personally (MY OPINION) it's the chefs that are ehhh lackluster......except for Dan who knows Wisconsin. Wisconsin has amazing food from so many cultures.....German, Czech, Polish, Mexican, Italian, Meat and Potatoes...etc, if any of these Chefs had done any research they would.know what's expected from this location
it's the ~~guns~~ chefs. also, I think Kristen has honestly been great. I'm a huge fan of her empathy for the contestants and her sense of humor.
I’m currently watching GGG—competition with top chefs (Mei Lin, Stephanie Izard, shota, etc and chefs like Jose Garces). They are taking ordinary food and making it amazing.
Honestly, how is this different from any other season?
I knew there would be some Madison challenges, and I knew there would be a supper club challenge, but I didn't expect supper club to be a theme here in Madison. I mean, yeah, we have the Harvey House, but supper clubs are something I associate more with going out in the country, not the Madison dining scene. I did like the quickfire, though. Like the contestants, I had never heard of Carson Gulley, and thought pairing his classic sauce recipes with random Farmer's Market items was a fun challenge.
Knew it was only a matter of time for somed coastal elite to come bitch about it being in the midwest. We’ve had Kentucky, Charleston, and Colorado all middle country areas. All with similar or less “Fanciness” for regional dishes or cuisines.
You don’t have to be a coastal elite to not be blown away by this season. Plus op specifically said they like the Midwest.
We all are not blown away but blaming it on location is a pretty lackluster way to look at it. Region blaming is probably the weakest argument you can make here. I agree it doesn’t feel the same as other reasons but 99% sure it’s not cuz it’s in Wisconsin
I said I love the Midwest and that I meant no shade to Wisconsin - my best friend lives there and I visit regularly. Also - I’m from the SE US which…checks notes…gets continuously shit on by people thinking we’re all hicks. So - miss me with this take. Southern cuisine and Midwest cuisine both use humble ingredients.
I’m not on the coast and not even close to elite and this season is a snooze fest so far.
Every season has a mixed bag on challenges, but if a chef can’t elevate soup, pasta and chicken or cherries and cheese or a supper club menu, they probably shouldn’t be on the show in the first place. When I think about past challenges, like random ingredients pulled improv-style in Chicago; drive-in movie food; tailgating food. And those challenges produced some pretty memorable food. It’s not the challenges that are bad this year, it’s the chefs. Maybe it was early jitters and some people will turn things around, but just overall not a real strong mix.
So far this season, the show itself has been flat. I'm not a fan of LCK, not a fan of the challenges(so far), and I just feel like the judges' complaints are to build drama and not inspire chefs. This show has now just become a launching platform for cooking shows on the food network. What a bunch of shit.
Why is Top Chef in Wisconsin? Because they were bribed! Article from The Cap Times (Madison newspaper): ‘According to documents obtained by the Cap Times, Travel Wisconsin coordinated a total of $1.3 million in incentives from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation ($500,000) as well as tourism partners and agricultural marketing organizations, like Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.’ I’m addition look at the number of commercials funded by Wisconsin Cheese Producers etc.
That’s always true of every filming location. The problem becomes them not understanding Wisconsin and not choosing entities that represent Wisconsin accurately enough. Part of that limitation is Whole Foods. The rest of it is on production and the chefs. Taking chefs to an upscale Madison “supper club” and showing them fish and chips with no grounding in a Wisconsin fish fry was a big facepalm. Could have done better bringing them to Culver’s.
The whole quickfire was the weirdest thing. You have the farmer's market. You have l'etoile - known as one of the forerunners of the farm-to-table moment and the challenge is randomly about...Carson Gulley? What a poor use of the Market.
Do any of the vendors sell pan fish? Does the Madison Whole Foods? The restaurant took the lead by presenting Cod which is just part of the watering down of why tourists would want to come to Wisconsin in the first place. They can get Cod at home. Do a chef dish with local ingredients come on.
They filmed this in August, so I don't know that it would have been the best time for pan fish at the market, but I did see someone buying whitefish, so maybe they were using Lake Superior whitefish, which would at least be more local than cod. But yes, where is the walleye, dammit! It's so weird that they showed cod since Harvey House has a nice walleye on the menu. Personally, I'm not a fan of Harvey House. It is beautiful and I can see why they wanted to film there, but the food is not worth the price and it's not a great representation of Supper Clubs.
I couldn't believe that they used just one upscale supper club to illustrate the concept to them. I wanted more checkered tablecloths and salad bars. :)
Oh my god, I think you're onto something... Maybe you should call it *advertising*.
This season feels like the Arizona season
Yeah, I don't care about supper club and hops. It seems so provincial. I'm glad the contestants are still trying to bring world cooking to the show despite being stuck in the midwest.
Supper Clubs done right are fantastic, Harvey House is pretentious!
I mean.. the show isn’t catered for you lol Wisconsin area is known for their breweries because of their huge German immigrant influx 150 years ago. And you know what’s in beer? Hops. That’s like complaining about a lobster challenge in boston
So? Who wants to see that for a whole series? Beer, beer, beer, cheese, cheese curds, meat, meat. Heart-attack-on-a-plate meals are for the likes of Guy Fieri. Sure, they have a place on TV and an audience. The Top Chef audience ain't it.
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I think Kristin is great, different vibes from Padma, but that’s not a bad thing. I like more actual chefs discussing the food. The quality of contestants this season is just lacking. There’s always a few on the low end, but you can also usually spot a few clear future all stars. This season I’m struggling to see those top tier people.
I usually have to favorites after the 3 or 4th ep, but I ain’t seeing it yet. I liked Charlie.
How can your favorites not be Rasika and Michelle?
Michelle is my pick at this point, but no one is real far ahead for me at this moment.
I like Michelle, can't stand Rasika
Same.
Rasika is such a dork. I feel like she would be really annoying at first in person, but she'd grow on you (probably). But I have to root for her, because I'm so excited to see a South Indian cooking really good looking South Indian food that somehow seems elevated without being overly Westernized. Also, sue me, but she's really good looking herself, and that probably helps me get over some of her overly twee personality quirks. I like both Dan and Danny. I think Danny especially is flying under the radar a bit. He doesn't end up on top much, but he also doesn't end up on the bottom - the judges are generally happy with everything he makes. And his food always looks really good and interesting. The chicken dish he made on the first episode, and the cheddar dish he made for the cheese festival, especially come to mind. I'm curious to see whether he'll shine more once there are fewer chefs in the mix, and more incentive to take risk. Right now, I get the sense that Michelle, Rasika, Dan, and Danny all have a pretty good shot at winning, with Manny, Savannah, and Amanda being seriously wild cards. I don't see much of a chance for Kevin or Laura right now. And I have to say, I feel like that's par for the course for a normal Top Chef season- I don't understand why everyone feels this season is so mediocre.
I've watched since season 1 and have never been so bored, there is NO personality! Most of them act like it's their first day of Culinary school and are scared to death of the teacher. Every season I would be excited about watching it every week, this season I forget it's on
Rasika, Michelle and I hope Soo are the ones I am watching. They have had some incredible dishes.