Round up the Top Chef runner ups from the past seasons and what do you get? One intense show. I’ve been looking forward to this since I heard about it a few months ago!!! Let’s go Top Chef All Stars! Woohoo!
If you haven’t seen this episode of Top Chef All Stars, read no further as this post contains spoilers.
So the show started off with Padma doing the usual opening spiel with a few significant changes: instead of $100,000, the prize is $200,000. WOW! And I liked how she said “and the title that eluded them all… Top Chef.” At first I thought she said “deluded!”
So who are our cheftestants?
Spike. He’s the cap-wearing arrogant and cocky cheftestant from Season 4. Sent home for a bad dish featuring frozen scallops.
Antonia. Season 4 runner-up who made a lot of hearty food during her season. She was one of my favorites.
Jamie. Team Rainbow from Season 5. Stefan’s romantic interest. Hey wait!! Where’s STEFAN come to think of it?!?!
Elia. Looking very glam here! The lady chef who shaved her head in Season 2.
Stephen. “This is Top Chef, not Top Sommelier.” That was a line that was said again and again about him during his season. He made a perfect omelet ONE-HANDED during an All-Stars reunion though and won that challenge.
Tre. One of the strongest contestants in Season 3 but was sent home during Restaurant Wars.
Tiffani. Uh-oh. She was a big b*tch in Season 1 but it looks like she’s mellowed out. I think.
Dale. Sent home for butterscotch scallops, a guy who cursed a lot, the chef who made the world know about halo-halo! Filipino represent!
Tiffany. From the most recent season, she was also known to make comfort food.
Richard. DEFINITELY MY FAVORITE THIS SEASON, and of all seasons. Forward-thinking, super talented and all kinds of awesome, I hope he doesn’t choke this time.
Marcel. One of the brightest and youngest but also one of the most arrogant chefs in the whole of Top Chef history. Truth though? I think he’s more talented than the chef who won during his season.
Fabio. The Italian dog, as he calls himself. He looks a bit disheveled this season, which works for him. No more clean-cut Italian chef.
Angelo. He got sick during his finale and that might have cost him the title. I think he was the strongest cheftestant of his season.
Jennifer. Jen was a really tough cookie during her season. I can’t wait to see her perform!
Casey. Wow so gorgeous!!! Looks like she could be Jennifer Aniston’s sister, don’t you think? She was the fan favorite during her season. I think she was sent home because of a pork belly dish.
Dale L. One of my favorites from Season 3. He made a killer lamb dish during the finale if I remember correctly.
Jersey Mike. Definitely an entertaining cheftestant. Quite polarizing. Sent home because of leeks.
Carla. Hootie hoo! Hers was a disappointing finale, as it seemed like she didn’t cook the food that made her strong during her season. Interesting that her then-sous chef from the finale is a fellow contestant here.
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. Our contestants. This season’s Top Chef is being held in New York. The contestants file into their new pad, throw their arms around each other in a warm (?) welcome. I liked Fabio’s expression when his elevator doors opened to Marcel. It was like he was going, “Holy crap.” Said in an Italian accent of course.
QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE
The chefs are asked to team up by season. The task: Create a dish that represents your season’s city. As Tom said, this challenge is one way to prove their season is better than everyone else’s. I’m rooting for Season 4 (Richard Blaise, Dale, Spike, Antonia) and Season 3 (Tre, Casey, Dale L.). My FAVORITE seasons. Winners get bragging rights and more importantly, immunity. What do the chefs create? Let’s see:
They all look really great, especially Season 6’s mobster pasta dish. But who wins? SEASON 4!!!!!!!!!!!
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE
The Elimination challenge starts right away with a bunch of waiters carrying silver platters. Dinner, Fabio asks? Uh uh. The silver platters reveal the ingredients of the dishes that sent each chef home. I LOVE THIS CHALLENGE. The task: Turn the dish that sent you home into a success. The chefs don’t look too happy.
Aaaaaaaand go! Simmer, boil, chop and run. Let’s cut to the next day. The chefs are divided into two groups – while one set is cooking, the other will be dining with the judges. Ah, they get to taste their competitors’ dishes!
Time’s up for the first set and guess who’s still touching his plate? Tsk tsk.
The timer was going off already, Chef Blaise. I hope this doesn’t bite you in the butt.
So the judges and some of the chefs are at the dining table. It’s great to see Gail again. And yes, ANTHONY BOURDAIN!!! Woohoo! What are the chefs serving? But wait, before we get to that, there’s a TV in the kitchen.
The chefs can observe what the diners are saying. This could get dirty!
All praises for Richard’s.
Very tasty, good flavors, Bourdain liked it a lot.
Bourdain said Dale “unf*cked” his dish. LOL. Loved the expression.
Tiffany O’s got lukewarm reactions.
Jen said the almond toast overpowered Tre’s salmon dish.
Lukewarm reactions around the table.
Stephen’s was described as swampy, muddled… He did not solve this problem, says Bourdain.
Fabio’s peasant pasta… Bourdain hated it with such vehemence! The paper… Tom says maybe it’s to be rolled up then smoked. LOL. Aw, poor Fabio. They are making fun of his dish.
Elia’s- “It feels like a dish that someone gave up on.” – Dale L. Ouch!
Round 2! The chefs who dined first realize when they arrive at the kitchen that they were being observed earlier. Uh oh! Payback time!
Antonia gets good words from Richard and Spike, though Tiffany O says it was a little incomplete. Was it because Antonia said her dish lacked sugar? Hmmm. Nah I don’t think so.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, is this the craftiest motherfucker who’s ever been on this show?” Bourdain asks. Lots of great feedback around the table.
Jamie got great words from Tom about her recreated Eric Ripert dish.
Mike’s leek dish showed “a lot of finesse and elegance.”
Dale got a stumbling on his dumpling 
Carla got good feedback from the chefs.
Casey redeemed herself, says Gail Simmons.
Marcel’s: Fabio said you need balls to pull this dish. I personally do’t like how it looks. It looks like an abandoned swamp.
Jen got very disappointing words around the table especially from Bourdain.
Let’s go to Judges’ Table. Padma calls in the Top 4: Richard, Jamie, Angelo, Spike. Nice! Then Tom says that Richard made a great dish but he went over his allotted 2 hour cook time. Uh oh. Tom said he saw the tapes at the end of the cooking, and he said Richard was seen plating still. This means he is not eligible for the win. Rules are rules. Richard is pissed but oh well.
Let’s see who Tom says is the winner. “The dish that we all agree was the best dish was close enough to the original but was also new, fresh, exciting, most importantly delicious…”
ANGELO. He’s like “Me?!” He wins $10,000 furnished by Biutoni. WOW!
Bottom 3 are Fabio, Elia and Stephen. A little tiff between Angelo and Bourdain happens, with Fabio feeling Bourdain made fun of his dish. You know, Fabio seems to have become bitter since last season. I dunno. Maybe it’s just me. I miss the happy fun Fabio from Season 5.
The judges huddle.
Aaaaaaaand who gets eliminated? Elia. In the stew room she says she should’ve tasted some of the dishes. Oh well. Should’ve would’ve could’ves. There was definitely one chef going home this round and it just happened to be her.
Elia. Please pack your knives and your raw, scaley fish and go.
So that’s the first episode. I think it’s a great beginning. Richard’s disqualification was really disappointing but it’s really admirable that Top Chef is a stickler for rules. I’m looking forward to what Chef Blaise will bring during the next episodes.
The dish I would have loved to taste:
Quotable Quotes:
“Interesting. That’s the kiss of death.” – Carla, after Padma called their team’s dish “interesting” during the Quickfire challenge
“He unfucked this dish.” — Bourdain, on Dale’s revamped butterscotch scallops dish
Hi! I'm Toni Tiu,
and I've been blogging at
at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.