i've been meaning to look this up and finally did it.

In Top Chef: Las Vegas Michael V. won 2 Quickfires, and in Elimination Challenges he won 3, was selected in the top group in 6, was safe in 3 (using no immunity), and was in the bottom in 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Ch...stant_progress

In Top Chef All-Stars LA Melissa won 3 Quickfires, and in Elimination Challenges she won 6, was selected in the top group in 1, was safe in 3 (using immunity for one), and was in the bottom in 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Ch...stant_progress

worth noting Melissa's season had one fewer episode and three fewer Quickfires. she also competed against five previous runners-up (including both from Michael V's season), two 3rd place finishers, and four 4th place finishers.

Melissa was a deserving winner. Toughest part of the season for me was when the Italian chefs told Brian V. his cooking had no heart or soul. He looked like he wanted to cry. That's a pretty sh***y thing to say imo. It anything it showed a bias against modern style of cooking.

Melissa seems incredibly even keeled and cool, happy to see her win. She certainly made the right choice re-doing her tiramisu!

That’s domination. Thanks for doing that analysis

Melissa absolutely kicked ass this year, but an overall dominant performance was likely Paul Qui. The judges have said that they had to edit it down to make it look more competitive. He even had a strong cast around him with Lindsey Autry/Ed Lee/Sarah Grueneberg/Bev Kim.

Not trying to lessen Melissa’s season, but leaving Paul out of the convo is a mistake IMO

Yes, in past seasons, etc, Tom has alluded to how strong Paul was in his season. I guess because of his domestic issues, they don't really mention him anymore. It really wasn't close that season IIRC.

i have no clue how to factor in Melissa was competing against 'all star' competition, but obv. Paul was impressive:

In Top Chef: Texas Paul Qui won 2 Quickfires, and in Elimination Challenges he won 8, was selected in the top group in 0, was safe in 5 (using no immunity), and was in the bottom in 1. the number of episodes and Quickfires was similar to Melissa's season.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Ch...stant_progress

Paul won a James Beard, of course he's a badass. interesting there weren't any contestants from his season in LA All-Stars. he must have crushed their souls.

i should also go back and watch Top Chef: Seattle to remind myself why Kristen Kish was eliminated in Restaurant Wars. up until that point (9 episodes), she won 1 Quickfire, 4 Elimantion Challenges, finished in the top group 1 time, and was safe 4 times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Ch...stant_progress

in Last Chance Kitchen she beat CJ Jacobson, Josie Smith-Malave, Stefan Richter, Lizzie Binder, and Josh Valentine and Lizzie again in a three way finale. I remember her being very strong in that season as well.

The chefs I mentioned as well are all sick, legit. I’d imagine Ed Lee just doesn’t need to bother to do something like this again. I don’t know what Lindsey does in Miami (if she’s still there), but I do know that it would’ve been near impossible for Bev to do this past season. She opened a second restaurant last summer and is in house at her main one as often as she can be. I can’t speak for Sarah’s schedule, but she’s been in house each time I’ve been to her restaurant.

3 seasons and Brian has never heard Padma say "Pack your knives"... but no wins. Sick resume. Great season and deserving winner though.

haven't thought about it like that but wow...

Padma has bigtime lady wood for the voltaggios

i've never seen top chef masters. did anyone here see the season bryan was on?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Ch...ters_(season_5)

he was in the bottom multiple times, only won one challenge before the final, and half the chefs don't even have wiki pages. and padma doesn't host. i know, i know, 'masters', but was it that legit a show?

We rewatched the finale the other day. Once you know that Melissa is the winner it is clear the editors had to manufacture drama to make this competition seem closer than it was. All the conflict with Leanne ("She has an opinion") was very low stakes and Melissa was in total control the whole way. Leanne was getting dragged on Twitter throughout the finale, but she was the one that remade the Tiramisu under a time crunch and nailed it. It helped that both Bryan and Steph cooked really great food as well - Melissa wasn't going to win because the others made a mistake - but it really wasn't close.

And Tom and Padma were on the Andy Cohen show after the finale and they made it pretty clear Melissa was a dominant winner. When asked how Melissa ranks amongst all Top Chef winners, Tom said that he has always thought that Paul Qui was the most talented chef they'd ever had, but now he puts Melissa even with him.

Personal aside - I live a 3 minute walk from East Side King, which is Qui's brick & mortar of his original food truck. We've ordered a ton of takeout from there during the lockdown and it is always great.

Wow. 5 weeks into new season and first post. Some strange people this year, but Padma is smoking as always.

Yup, enjoying the season so far, as usual.

drive in ep was one of the best episodes ever i thought. great concept and just super enjoyable.

Padma in the "Action" trailer was just insanely hot.

Seems to be a good cast this year. I like the Portland setting also. Gabe, Byron, Sara, and Shota seem to be a notch above the others so far.

Just caught up. Enjoying the season so far.

Gabe and Sara are my horses.

Shota is good but I think he'll go out soonish. He's young.

Gabriel was cringe.

haven't watched the most recent episode, but i think your list is pretty spot on.

Tough one. Amazing work by Shota though.

Seems strange to me that with a chef's table, they didn't think to have some front of hourse/conversation with the judges.

They don't wear masks except when prepping food for "Frontline" workers?

I liked the Chef's Table approach to Restaurant Wars. I'm probably in the minority of the viewing public, but I'm not a big fan of Restaurant Wars. This was way more realistic and seemed to allow the ability for individuals to still shine during a team challenge.

my understanding is that the whole cast & judges & production team were in a nba-style bubble with frequent testing.

They said at some point in that ep that they had to abide by specific food handling guidelines

just caught up on this weeks episode and tried to search for last chance kitchen and it wasn't an option (for the first time this season). anyone know if it's still happening?
Sara was a tough out this week, but that's exactly what you can expect from restaurant wars due to the high variance. i like the chef's table aspect of it to allow the judges to actually see what's happening in the kitchen, i hope they keep that for future seasons.
Shota pretty much carried the winning team, nice work by him (with a solid acknowledgement to Maria's front of house work).