Ha was thinking of masferchef. This one doesn't work that way.

First ep was meh

Episode 2 was much better.

I assume the producers forced them to stick with the lamb after it was cut at the butchery but let them put other things back for drama. They were cutting back 1-2 oranges and bananas when a rack of lamb would have covered everything easily.

I kind of suspected that too. I feel like the budget never comes into play and have heard that they have access to products that aren't typically at Whole Foods. So it was weird to suddenly see a whole ep framed around the budget and who can afford what stuff etc.

I liked Natalie but dunno how much of her dish being bad was the lamb snafu vs. just not adjusting for the heat, making the crust, etc.

Yeah I don't think her dish had much to do with the budget in terms of elimination. The others would have had better dishes as well and it seemed the heat messed up her execution.

she probably could've pulled off the acidity if she wasn't giving away all of her lemons. But, she also probably would've still gone home for the technical mistake of not adjusting for the heat

What's with the shifting from the Derby in May to Christmas?

Yeah definitely, but the other dishes also suffered and it seemed her execution due to the heat was the main factor.

It really does suck how the producers obviously fixed the rules in a way that didn't allow returning the lamb since most of the things they were missing (herbs, lemons, oranges, corn, etc ) are dirt cheap in comparison to a single rack/pound of lamb.

Because the episode airs the week before Christmas they do this theme even though they are filming in summer. It's stupid and contrived, but pretty standard for US TV. They'll be back in normal mode next week with absolutely no mention of New Years.

There's definitely no Paul Qui / Voltaggio / Blais this season

David is close, despite his embarrassing Blais fan-boy behavior. He's shown to be creative with the ability to deliver amazing flavor profiles, as well as adjust well under pressure.

Judge,

I’m kinda underwhelmed with the lineup so far, but it’s still v early.

My top 3 are apparently exactly the same as here:
https://uproxx.com/life/top-chef-power-rankings-16-3/3/

David, Nini, and Eric in some order

Rest of the cast seems pretty weak.

Edit: Natalie probably better than most of the remaining cast.

Spider,

Yeah pretty much agree with that top 3, though I think Kelsey could be the dark horse. And the show seems to want you to think Brandon is really good.

Agree that Natalie seemed to be one of the stronger ones, and definitely the cutest.

"That's a ranch waffle. In Iowa that's like gold!"

Confirmed: Brooke still smokin'.

+1

Seeing Brooke and Richard is just a reminder that this group ain't no Brooke or Richard.

However, I am still enjoying the season. I liked the yankee swap twist.

Ugh. Cheap cliffhanger. I don’t have a good feeling about this. Third Coast and Thistlelook like they’re in trouble.

Restaurant wars is fun but being front of house is so thankless. They are chefs not hosts/hostesses. Makes for good TV to watch them scramble but seems unfair to make one person cook PLUS run the entire restaurant/wait staff.

I'd prefer there were more challenges where time wasn't such an issue. It seems that the teams were set up for disaster here.

Give them another whole day. Let them test recipes, train staff, and get systems in place. Then we can see who can really design a restaurant. This would be a much truer test of restaurant design imo.

But not great TV

I understand the masses would not appreciate it. I'd love it, though. I'd find it quite interesting to see how a dish evolved from initial conception to the final product.

TheCanoe:

Will we see you in the next ep? What should we look for?

service was so poor at the restaurant we dined at (third coast) that I managed to stack three empty beer cans on top of each other so I guess look for that. I don’t imagine we’ll end up on tv but we did dine right next to the judges so hearing them critique the place in real time was cool. Also it was hot af in there. Tom was a sweaty mess. Padma still looked good though

Just caught up on the new episodes. I think this season actually looks very strong. David looks like the truth and Nini very creative and talented. I think it's going to make for good tv watching them duke it out for top honors at judges table. Eric has chops, I'm not sure there's a really bad cook in the cast this year either which usually isn't a thought. It's still early too so someone who hasn't had much screentime or needed time to acclimate may start working their way up the power rankings as well.

That said, doing Restaurant Wars with 12 left was always going to cause a complete ****show so that's what they must have been going for this time. Just hope Nini doesn't get chopped for front of house mistakes. Idk how anybody ever volunteers for front of house in Restaurant Wars without a ton of experience. History has shown that it gets ugly out there time after time and front of house ends up sauteeing at judges' table.