EPISODE #1: Chef's Test. 15 to Start.
HOST: New Host, Kristen Kish, Winner of S-10
PLACE: Wisconsin.
JUDGES: Tom Colicchio,
Gail Simmons.
PRIZE: An Appearance at Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,
$25,000
Title of Top Chef.
NEW RULES: No Immunitry for Quickfire Challenges, anymore but for the Elimination Challenges. Winners of Quickfire will be awarded money or prizes.
PLAYERS (15)
1. ALISHA ELENZ Private Chef Chicago, ILLINOIS
2. AMANDA TURNER Chef De Cuisine Austin, TEXAS
3. CHARLY PIERRE Head Chef New Orleans, LOUISANA
4. DAN JACOBS Chef Milwaukee, WISCONSIN
5. DANNY GARCIA Executive Chef Brooklyn, NEW YORK
6. DAVID MURPHY Chef & Owner San Francisco, CALIFORNIA
7. KALEENA BLISS Executive Chef Chicago, ILLINOIS
8. KENNY NGUYEN Head Chef & Owner Athens, GEORGIA
9. KEVIN D'ANDREW Chef & Owner Austin, TEXAS
10. LAURA OZYILMAZ Executive Chef & Owner San Francisco, CALIFORNIA
11. MANNY BARELLA Culinary Director Denver, COLORADO
12. MICHELLE WALLACE Chef & Owner Houston, TEXAS
13. RASIKA VENKATESA Chef de Cuisine New York City, NEW YORK
14. SAVANNAH MILLER Chef de Cuisine Durham, NORTH CAROLINA
15. VANTENTINE HOWELL, JR. Executive Chef Dorchester, MASS.
NO QUICKFIRE FOR THE FIRST TODAY BUT ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: Make a dish that the judges that you pick by the knife in 30 minutes & $200. to shop at Whole Food Markets and 2 hours to cook at Lupi & Iris Restaurant.
KRISTEN: Soup: Amanda, Dan, Manny, Charly, & Laura.
GAIL: Stuffed Pasta: Kevin, Alisha, Rasika, David, & Michelle.
TOM: Roasted Chicken: Danny, Valentine, Kaleena, Kenny, & Savannah.
JUDGES' TABLES
GUEST JUDGE: Paul Bartolotta & Adam Siegel, owner of the Restaurant.
PASTA: TOP: Michelle
BOTTOM: David.
SOUP: TOP: Manny
BOTTOM: Amanda - too Salty
CHICKEN: TOP: Danny
BOTTOM: Kenny.
TOP 3: Michelle, Manny & Danny
WINNER: Manny - won the Immunity.
BOTTOM 3: David, Amanda, & Kenny.
NO ELIMINATION YET, BUT A COOK-OUT: A Good Plate of Food in 20 minutes.
ELIMINATION: David.
EPISODE #2: Living the High Life. 14 Left.
QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: Guest Judge: Joe Flamm, Winner of S-15, Colorado.
PRIZE: $5,000 from Wells Forgo Active Cash.
- Hops, Create a dish incorporating hops in 30 minutes.
JUDGING:
BOTTOM 3: Kenny, Danny, & Valentine.
TOP #3: Laura, Michelle, & Kevin.
WINNER: Laura won the $5,000.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: Beer from Miller Brewing Co., the oldest brewer in the Midwest.
- Team Challenge - Create an elevated 7-course progressive meal featuring bar snacks: popcorn, pickles, pretzels, mixed nuts potato chips, olives, or toasted corn kernels.
YELLOW TEAM: Rasika, Michelle, Dan, Alisha, Kenny, Savannah, & Manny. (Yellow)
RED TEAM: Kevin, Danny, Valentine, Laura, Amanda, Kaleena, & Charly.
- 10 minutes to menu planning, & $500. to shop. Serve at the table of 10 inside the historic Miller Caves.
PRIZE: $10,000 & Immunity.
JUDGES' TABLE:
GUEST JUDGE: Joe Flamm.
TOP TEAM: Yellow Team & Top 3: Rasika, Manny, & Kenny.
WINNER: Rasika - won $10,000 & Immunity.
BOTTOM TEAM: Red & Bottom 3: Kevin, Charly, & Valentin.
ELIMINATED: Valentine - didn't use the featured ingredient, the roasted corn.
EPISODE #3: Take it Cheesy. 13 Left.
GUEST JUDGES: Carla Hall,
Cleo DeVall.
QUICKFALL CHALLENGE: Cherries.
- Create a dish pairing cherries with mystery ingredients in 30 minutes. PRIZE: $5,000
BOTTOM: Charly, Kenny, & Alisha.
TOP 3: Savannah, Rasika, & Kevin.
WINNER: Rasika won another $5,000.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: Karla stayed as a guest judge.
CHEESE.
- Create a dish with cheese & make the cheese the center of your dish to be served at the First Top Chef Cheese Festival serving 100 people.
JUDGING:
TOP 3: Kaleena, Michelle, & Dan.
WINNER: Michelle - won Immunity.
BOTTOM #3: Kenny, Manyy, & Kevin.
ELIMINATED: Kenny - didn't highlight the cheese.
EPISODE #4: The Wright Way. 12 Left.
No Quickfire Challenge this week cause they are taking a trip from Milwaukee to Madison, driving along the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: Create 2 dishes inspired by the creation of Frank Lloyd Wright that they will see & in the theme of duality, working in pairs.
Alisha/Kaleena Rasika/Danny Manny/Kevin
Savannah/Laura Amanda/Dan Michelle/Charly.
-Since Michelle has Immunity it will extend to Charly, too. WOW!
Served at: Riverview Terrace Restaurant at Taliesin.
GUEST JUDGES: Buddha Lo, Winner of World Top Chef,
Dominique Crenn.
PRIZE: $10,000
JUDGES' TABLE
TOP & BOTTOM PAIRS: Danny/Rasika and Kaleena/Alisha.
ELIMINATED: Kaleena & Alisha - didn't work together.
TOP: Danny & Rasika - won $10,000
WINNER OF IMMUNITY: Rasika.
EPISODE #5: Supper Club. 11 Left.
Start off in the chef's hotel room just talking until they get a video phone message from Kristen telling them to go to the Dane County Farmers Market, which is the producer-only farmers market in the US. They will have $100.00 & 20 minutes to shop. Then meet her on the rooftop of L'Etoile.
QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: Guest Judges: W. Kamau Bell, Comedian & Activist,
Tory Miller, Chef & Owner of L'Etoile.
- Create a dish featuring one of Chef Gulley's sauces & ingredients purchased at the farmers market in 30 minutes. Chef Gulley is the founder of the Supper Club.
PRIZE: $7,500
BOTTOM 3: Michelle, Amanda, & Kevin.
TOP 3: Charly, Laura, & Manny.
WINNER: Charly - won $7,500.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE:
GUEST JUDGE: Joe & Shaina Papach, Owner of Harvey House in Madison.
- Team Challenge, In teams of 5 create an elevated supper dish which must include: a relish tray, fish, chicken, beef dishes, & a dessert. Will have $1,000/per team & 30 minutes to shop, and 2 hrs to cook at the Harvey House.
GREEN TEAM: Amanda, Charly, Danny, Laura, & Manny.
PURPLE TEAM: Dan, Kevin, Michelle, Rasika, & Savannah.
JUDGES' TABLE
WINNING TEAM: Purple Team.
WINNER: Dan - won the Immunity.
BOTTOM TEAM: Green Team.
ELIMINATED: Charly.
EPISODE #6: Choas Cuisine. 9 Left.
BACK FROM LAST CHANCE KITCHEN: Kaleena & Soo Ahn.
11 Now Left.
GUEST JUDGE: Christina Tosi, founder of Milk Bar.
QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: Make a dairy forward dessert, favorite of Wisconsin, & win $7,500 in 45 minutes.
JUDGING:
BOTTOM 3: Manny, Dan & Danny.
TOP #3: Kaleena, Michelle, & Amanda.
WINNER: Michelle won $7.500.
GUEST JUDGE: Matty Matheson, Chef, Restaurantur & Actor.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: Create a dish that exemplies chaos cuisine. Will cook & serve at The Top Cook Kitchen.
JUDGES' TABLE
TOP 4: Soo, Danny, Dan, & Savannah.
WINNER: Danny - won the Immunity.
BOTTOM 2: Rasika & Michelle.
ELIMINATED: Rasika.
EPISODE #7: Sausage Race. 10 Left.
GUEST JUDGE: Byran Voltaggio, Chef & Owner ofThaatcher & Rye.
QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: Putting the pots & pans to a test.
- Create a dish featuring the flambe technique in 20 minutes & win $10,000
JUDGING
- the chefs did not light up the dishes in front of the judges.
ULTIMATE QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: The Top 3 chefs will cook again & win double $20,000.
TOP 3: Danny, Amanda, & Kevin.
- use fire to highlight a different technique & give them a perfect char in 20 minutes.
WINNER: Danny - won the $20,000.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: Baseball.
- Enter the kitchen Milwaukee Brewers Mascots.
GUEST JUDGE: Amar Santana, Chef & Owner of Vaca & Broadway
- Complete as a team to create dishes featuring 5 different sausages in head-to-head challenges, cook & serve at American Family Field Kitchen in 2 hours.
BLUE TEAM: Savannah, Kevin, Soo, Dan, & Manny.
YELLOW TEAM: Kalenna, Danny, Michelle, Laura, & Amanda.
GUEST JUDGES: Barkha Limbu Daily, Chef & Owner of The Cheel,
Aaron Bickham, Corp. Exe. Chef of The Bartolotto Rest.,
Omar Shaikh, Co-Owner of Carnevor & 3rd Street Market Hall,
Brittany Snow, Actress,
Ryan Braun,
former Milwaukee Brewers Players.
WINNING TEAM: Yellow
JUDGES' TABLE
WINNER: Michelle - won the MVP.
BOTTOM 3: Kevin, Savannah, & Dan.
ELIMINATED: Kevon - too much cheese & not enough sausages.
EPISODE #8: Restaurant Wars. 9 Left.
Headed to the Lake, which is near Discovery World., where Kristen & Tom are waiting for them.
RESTAURANT WARS
CHALLENGE: prepare a 3-course menu that will have 2 choices. Must assign an Executive Chef, a Floor Manager, & Line Cooks. Since there are uneven numbers of chefs, Michelle won the last challenge and will pick her team.
DOS BY DUEL: Kaleena, Laura, Manny & Soo.
CHANNEL: Amanda, Dan, Danny, Michelle, & Savannah.
GUEST JUDGES: Stephanie Izard, Owner & Chef of The Girl & the Goat,
Kwame Onwuachi, Owner of Tatiana by Kwame,
Andrew Kroegor, Chef & Co-Owner of Fairchild,
Erick Williams, Chef & Owner of Virtue Restaurant & Bar,
Itaru Nagano, Chef & Owner of Fairchild.
JUDGES'S TABLES
Channel concept wasn't cohesive & Michelle didn't touch the judge's table as much as she should have.
Dos by Duel - judges had to wait at least more than 30 minutes for the 1st course.
WINNER: Dan - they liked his Smoked Walleye.
ELIMINATED: Kaleena.
ESPIODE #9: The Good Land. 8 Left.
Start off: in the Stewroom discussing what happened at the Judge's Table.
NEXT DAY: Went to the Kitchen & Tom, Gail, & Kristen were there standing in a barrel of cranberries. No More Immunities for the Elimination Challenges and they will from now be at the Quickfires and it will count in the elimination challenges.
QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: Cranberries.
GUEST JUDGE: Rochelle Hoffman, Cranberry Farm.
- Make a dish featuring cranberries uniquely and win $10,000 in 30 minutes.
TOP 3: Dan, Danny, & Michelle.
WINNER: Danny won the $10,000
BOTTOM 3: Laura, Manny, & Amanda.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: Indigenous Flavors.
GUESTS: Elena Terry, Executive Chef & Founder of Wild Berries,
Sean Sherman, Founder & Owner of The Sioux Chef & Natifs. Also, won 3x the James Beard Award
- Create a modern dish using only indigenous ingredients. No dairy, wheat flour, cane sugar, pork, beef, or chicken. A pantry will be provided. 3 hrs to cook & prep at Il Cervo.
GUESTS: Bryce Stevenson, Chef & Owner of Mijim,
Jessica Walks First, Executive Chef of Ketapanen Kitchen.
JUDGES' TABLE
TOP 3: Savannah, Soo, & Dan.
WINNER: Savannah won an advantage.
BOTTOM 3: Michelle, Amanda, & Laura.
ELIMINATED: Laura - her taco was too soft and
Amanda - her sauce was heavy for her elk.
ESIPODE #10: Door County Fish Boil. 6 Left.
QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: All 2 Judges, Gail & Tom, and Kristen were there.
GUEST JUDGE: Art Smith, 2x James Beard Winner.
- Create a dish with cuts of meat such as Wagyu ribeye,
etc... in 30 minutes & win $10,000
JUDGING
TOP 2: Soo & Savannah.
WINNER: Savannah - won the $10,000
BOTTOM 4: Manny, Michelle, Danny, & Dan.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: headed to the back of the outdoor in the back.
- 6 All-Stars Top Chef Alums: Gregory, Shota, Mei, Sara Bradley, Justin, & Jeremy Ford.
GUEST MENTOR: Torch, Fish Boil Master.
- putting on your own fish boil with 2 sides at Grant Park Beach for 100 dinners along with the judges & Art Smith and the All-Stars in 2 1/2 hours
TWIST: The All-Stars will do ALL of their shopping and the chefs will not know until the cookout.
SAVANNAH'S ADVANTAGE: get to pick her All-Star for her shopping: Shota,
Gregory -Soo, Mei - Manny -
Sarah -Michelle Justin- Danny,
Jeremy- Dan.
- Savannah cut herself & had to go to the hospital.
JUDGE'S TABLE
TOP #3: Michelle, Danny, & Dan.
WINNER: Danny - won an advantage.
BOTTOM 3: Soo,, Savannah, & Manny.
ELIMINATED: Soo.
ESIPODE #11: Lay It All on the Table. 5 Left.
ARRIVED IN: In the Kitchen. Tom is cooking a dish, and then Kristen & Gail ate most of the dish.
Then the cooks arrived. Then the cook from Last Chance Kitchen arrived. It was Laura. 6 Left.
QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: Make the same dish Tom cooked without knowing what it was. They get asked 24 Yes or No questions about the dish. Win $10,000.
JUDGING
WINNER: Savannah - won the $10,000
BOTTOM: Laura, Manny, & Danny.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: plate on a great table instead of using plates.
GUEST JUDGE: Curtis Duffy, Owner of Ever Restaurant.
- Danny's Advantage: get an extra 320 minutes of cooking.
JUDGES' TABLE
TOP 3: Laura, Danny, & Dan.
WINNER: Laura - won an Advantage.
BOTTOM 2: Michelle & Manny.
ELIMINATED: Michelle - the last Black Chef.
ESIPODE #12: Good Bye Wisconsin. 5 Left.
IN THE KITCHEN: Only Kristen is there.
LAST QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: In Milwaukee.
GUEST JUDGE: Paul Bartolotta, Chef & Restaurateur in Milwaukee.
- The Blind Taste Test. 5 minutes to identify 26 ingredients, then create a dish with the ingredients you guessed correctly.
MOST GUESS CORRECT: Win $5,000
CREATE THE BEST DISH: win $10,000.
JUDGING
LAST: 9 out 26 Tie Dan & Savannah,
3rd place: 13 Danny
WINNER: 23 correct - Manny - Won $10,000
FINAL ELIMINATION CHALLENGE IN WISCONSIN: Walk Down Memory Lane.
- Create a dish that exemplifies culinary growth. $150.00 to shop at the Specialty Store, $200. to shop at Whole Foods. Tomorrow: prep/cook at Harbor House, Paul Rest.
- Laura gets an extra 30 minutes to cook.
JUDGES' TABLE
TOP #2: Savannah & Laura.
WINNER: Savannah - going to the Finals.
BOTTOM #3: Dan, Danny, & Manny.
ELIMINATED: Manny - served the judges raw fish.
FINALS: going to the Caribbean on a cruise - Curacao.
EPISODE #13: Set Sail. 4 Left.
FINAL 4: Don, Laura, Danny, & Savannah.
They arrived in Curacao after being off for 6 weeks.
FINAL QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE: on a pier in Curacao. Lionfish.
EXPERT: Helmi Smevlders, Chef & Cookbook Author on Lionfish.
- Create a dish featuring Lionfish & Gouda Cheese in 30 minutes and win $10,000
WINNER: Dan - won the last $10,000.
LAST ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: they will set sail aboard the Holland America Cruise Line's Eurodam.
- Creating an eight-course fresh fish tasting menu, collectively as a group. Each does 2-course and must feature a different preparation: Raw, Steamed, Mousse, Poached, Fried, Smoked, & Blackened in 2 1/2 hours served in Tamarind Restaurant.
Chef Morimoto was there to serve them a Welcome Aboard dinner.
JUDGES' TABLE
GUEST JUDGE: Ed Lee.
WINNER: Danny - won $10,000 & 10-day cruise anywhere Holland America
SAFE: Dan - going to the finale.
BOTTOM 2: Savannah & Laura.
ELIMINATED: Laura.
EPISODE #14: Cruising to a Win. The Final Three.
Still Aboard the Ship heading to Aruba.
ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: Make the best 4-course meal of your life.
- Getting help from previous players to act as your sous chef:
Dan gets the first pick - Amanda,
Danny - gets Manuel,
Savannah - Michelle, ( the fan favorite)
- 2 hours to shop in Aruba & 5 hours to prep/cook and the next day 2 1/2 hours to finish cooking.
JUDGING
GUEST JUDGES: David Zilber, Canada's Top Chef Judge,
Brica Lopez, Restauraner & Chef,
Justin Pichetrungsi, James Beard Winner,
Carrie Nahabedian " " "
SURPRISE GUEST JUDGE: Emeril Lagasse.
THE WINNER IS DANNY, first Puerto Rica Winner & Muslim.
