Top Chef
Plate Expectations
Season 23
Episode 13
Editor’s Rating
A high-stakes game of 20 questions leads to a chef gaining the momentum needed to head into the finale.
Photo: Paul Cheney/Bravo
The morning after Sieger’s exit from the competition in a fashion spicier than any of his dishes, the final four are feeling as at peace as can be expected. “It feels calm,” Sherry says, a sentence so ripe for dramatic irony that you can practically taste the editors’ glee.
Cut to Tom Colicchio already hard at work in the Top Chef kitchen, which is always a welcome sight for me personally, if not for the wary cheftestants. Before they arrive, however, Tom serves up his aromatic fish dish to Kristen and Gail, who dutifully scarf it down, leaving only the scarcest of traces behind. That’s because for their last Quickfire Challenge, the chefs will play a round of “Tom’s 20 Questions.” In 30 minutes, they must do their best to both figure out what the dish was and recreate it — plating and all. Each chef gets to ask five questions; Tom can only answer “yes” or “no.” This season abandoned the attempts of the last couple of seasons to make the Quickfire count more toward the elimination, which is fine by me (and also, I’m guessing, the guest judges, who never had that info while deliberating). But the pressure’s still on because the winner of this high-stakes game of 20 questions will fittingly receive a cool $20,000 instead of the usual $10,000.
Though the chefs get a chance to sniff the remnants of Tom’s dish, using the questions wisely is of the utmost importance. They each get to ask one before the clock starts, and Jonathan immediately annoys everyone (Rhoda) by asking if the mystery dish is “a side dish” because of … the size of the plate? (Tom, laughing: “No.”) Sherry gets them back on track by confirming that the main protein is fish, and Rhoda uses her time to ask if Tom used a more “classic” preparation (“… Yes”).
The rest of the questions fly fast and furious as the chefs scurry about the kitchen, hoarding as many cuts of fish as possible, until someone gets the right answer:
“White wine–based sauce?” (Yes.)
“Seared?” (No.)
“Tomato?” (No.)
“Spinach?” (No.)
“Does it include shellfish?” (Yes.)
“Finished in butter?” (Yes.)
“Fresh pepper?” (Yes.)
“Was the fish poached?” (Yes.)
In a moment of redemption, Jonathan scores by correctly guessing that Tom’s fish was cod. Unfortunately, he comes close to straight-up disgusting Tom by asking if he used Tuscan kale (“No”).
Laurence, who reminded us last week that he didn’t go to culinary school, is feeling the pressure of never getting the training in “classic” (read: “French”) techniques that most of his competitors did. Sherry, unlike in her last couple of Quickfires, seems completely calm. She thinks she knows exactly what this dish is, and to be fair, everything she says in her confessionals is pretty bang on … That is until she throws in spinach, an ingredient Rhoda already confirmed was nowhere in Tom’s dish.
Once time is up, Tom reveals that his dish was a poached cod with mussels steeped in a sauce of white wine and plenty of butter. Key ingredients included saffron, chorizo, chervil, and a single ají dulce pepper (lightly roasted). Sherry’s version looks and tastes great, even with the incorrect additions of lemon and spinach. Rhoda also came pretty close, and her choice to add smoked paprika at the end of her cook gets her closer to Tom’s chorizo flavor than anyone else. Jonathan, who spent most of the challenge amusing himself with his mostly terrible questions, knows he’s not walking away $20,000 richer, even before the judges ask him why he randomly added asparagus. Laurence is on the same page, having bet big on clams instead of mussels.
So it comes down to Sherry and Rhoda, and I’ll admit that Sherry’s presentation had me ready to celebrate her winning twice the money she lost on her stolen tostada, but Rhoda’s lack of spinach and close-enough flavor wins her the gold. That’s officially three wins in a row — exactly the kind of momentum you want going into a final-four Elimination cook. Then again, it’s also exactly the kind of front-runner pressure that already sent Rhoda to Last Chance Kitchen. Her reaction this time will determine whether she makes the finale.
For the semifinal Elimination Challenge, Tom asks his exhausted chefs a riddle: “What do pieces of wood, a bisected wine bottle, and a flower pot have in common?” Jonathan, who’s become a much better sport since his hypercompetitive brother got bounced, does his best to answer. “You can … turn the wine bottle into a flower pot?” he gamely guesses, to Kristen’s great amusement. The actual answer is: “Some of the most annoying restaurants in the world have used them as plates” (I may be paraphrasing here). More to the point, Tom explains, “plating is an art form” that they each need to prove they can master. So to get to the finale, the chefs will have to “think outside the plate” by meaningfully integrating their dishes with particularly unusual vessels.
At this point, the judges summon a cart containing a dozen or so yard-sale rejects (e.g., a mini bathtub, a clothesline, an empty lantern??). Rhoda’s previous Elimination win means she gets to choose her vessel first, but frankly, it doesn’t seem like a huge advantage, given the overall absurdity of the options. Still, she takes the piece of driftwood, which may — may — be the most elegant option. Jonathan goes for a ceramic basket before switching to a ceramic candleholder. Sherry, to my immediate horror, grabs the clothesline. Laurence, who serves everything in his restaurant on a steel tray, seems more intimidated by this challenge, yet another rooted in the fine-dining experience he doesn’t have. He takes a tray that looks like a cluster of lily pads, which Kristen points out will necessitate a family-style eating experience versus individual plates. But Laurence might be more comfortable doing that than going full fine dining, so this choice may be as strategic as it is ambitious.
I never love a semifinal that can err toward the gimmicky. As Laurence points out, losing at this point of the season would hurt more than ever, and it always sucks to see someone go home because of an overwrought challenge. Still, this is no “turn your dish into a magic trick” challenge (justice for Isaac Toups!). There’s still room for the chefs to find grounded ways into the challenge, and for the most part, they do.
Jonathan decides to make bread instead of highlighting a luxury protein like the rest of the chefs, which he acknowledges is risky. As he himself points out, bread requires “a controlled environment and time — two things you don’t have on Top Chef.” Rhoda thinks he’s nuts, telling us in a confessional that “that better be the best fucking bread [he’s] ever made.” To his credit, though, Jonathan is confident to the point of giddiness, practically skipping around the kitchen with the pure joy of doing something a little weirder than usual. He points out that while their dishes have to taste good, they also have to be fun for the guests. And so he presents his “pumpkin on a pedestal,” which is basically a jack-o’-lantern with a door leading to his dinner roll and compound butter — which, to be clear, is not a butter he made from scratch, but a butter he supplemented. Everyone likes it, and it certainly sets the tone. But as Kristen says, “Is that enough?”
Rhoda’s next, presenting a grilled rib eye with beet “soil,” baby turnips, baby carrots, a burnt leek puree, and pickled seaweed. After painstakingly placing every element on her driftwood “plates” with tweezers, she’s created a dish that really does look like something Shrek would’ve picked up off his swamp floor (complimentary). Tom’s immediately pleased, barely letting Rhoda walk away before calling her dish “fantastic.” Kristen loves the pickled seaweed. Everyone is excited by the look and feel of it, remarking that she did a great job marrying the food with its over-the-top presentation. Simply put: It’s a home run, baby.
Laurence, serving up his dish(es) in three-dozen family-style lily pads plating, has a similarly intense plating experience. He manages to get everything on without too much drama, and the overall effect is undeniably impressive. He calls it “Cheung Fun Fun Time,” and y’know what? It really does seem like a fun time! There’s Chinese sausage rice rolls, lobster with black bean and garlic relish, braised short rib with daikon, and sides of Carolina gold rice. He even threw in a sweet-potato dessert roll! He essentially made the judges a whole dim sum experience, which rules. The judges are impressed. The only real note they’ve got is that his rice paper came out a little too thick. Looking at his four-course meal, though, it’s hard not to remember Jonathan’s dinner rolls — as good as they were! — with a little bit of pity.
As if to drive this point home, Sherry then brings out her “dish,” which I put in quotes only because half of it is hanging from damn clothespins! She describes her gochujang-braised short rib, surrounded by veg and homemade relishes and pear kimchi, as banchan meets Korean barbecue. She arguably picked the toughest contraption to make work, and she nailed it. Everyone loves it. Tom, marveling at the kimchi she concocted in less than 24 hours, looks happier than he’s been all season. He confirms as much when he greets the chefs at Judges’ Table with a simple “You crushed this.”
Jonathan, as is his way, takes the opening for a joke, pretending to walk out with a “Great, thank you!” that does make everyone laugh. But these are the semifinals, and someone’s got to go.
Kristen asks the chefs for any last words before the judges decide who will move on to the finale. Sherry talks about the importance of representing Latina chefs, whom she’s tried to uplift throughout her career as a tribute to her own beginnings. Rhoda wisecracks that she “just wants to beat Laurence” before offering up her own sincere gratitude for being able to represent Hawaii and Filipino chefs alike. Jonathan, who really does seem gobsmacked to have outlasted his twin this far, wants even more bragging rights. (I’ve found Jonathan much more fun than Brandon, whose smack talk was intolerable, but c’mon, dude! This was the moment to be your own person!) Finally, Laurence gets choked up as he imagines telling his wife that the sacrifices they made to get him here were worth it. When he and the others head back into the Stew Room, Kristen and Gail are wiping away tears too.
The judges agree that Sherry and Rhoda are in contention for the win, leaving Laurence and Jonathan vulnerable to elimination. In the end, Sherry’s short ribs snap Rhoda’s winning streak, giving her a crucial shot of confidence right when it matters most. Rhoda doesn’t seem to mind too much; she’s so elated at making it to the finale that she bows to the judges and immediately bursts out laughing. “I never bow?!” she says, bowing again before scampering back to the Stew as everyone giggles right with her.
As for the elimination, the episode doesn’t work too hard to infuse tension where there doesn’t seem to have been much. While the judges insist everyone did well — and as much as Laurence’s tearful calls home had me feeling nervous earlier in the episode — it is indeed Jonathan who ends up packing his knives and going. Jonathan’s brioche roll might’ve been good, but I just cannot imagine it was that hard a decision when Laurence made an entire dim sum dinner that was almost perfect. That’s the kind of ambition and depth the Top Chef judges respect most, and all three of the chefs moving forward have it. So many recent seasons have had blowout winners, but Sherry, Rhoda, and Laurence may be our tightest final three in years.
• Jonathan followed up his graciousness during Sieger’s crashout by accepting his elimination as the culmination of a completely satisfying experience. I know some lumped the twins together, but he seems as graceful a loser as his brother was a sore one.
• Bonus points to Laurence for quickly pivoting once he couldn’t figure out the industrial steamer. That stovetop fix was very impressive!
• I don’t know how I’m going to incorporate Tom’s “cloche it” into my daily vernacular, but that won’t stop me from trying.
• Always a pleasure to check in on my beloved Top Chef! But fear not: Your regular recapper Roxana should be back to close out the season with next week’s season finale. Cloche it!
