Top Chef All Stars LA Weekly Recap: It’s a Family Affair

Thursday’s Top Chef All Stars LA was a family affair, as the cheftestants were not only surprised by the arrival of loved ones, but also by the news that these friends and family members would be playing a part in the competition.

For us, episode 5 of Top Chef All Stars LA represented everything that continues to make the show the gold standard for cooking competition programming. Like Kentucky Fried Chicken’s secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices, Top Chef’s magic elixir remains elusive to others.

QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE

In a fun, interesting twist, the chefs entered Top Chef kitchen for the Quickfire Challenge only to find nothing more than cell phones awaiting them. On the other end of those phones were loved ones, whose responsibility it would be to describe in great detail the dishes they were eating at Guest Judge Nancy Silverton’s Osteria Mozza. With only those verbal cues to work with, the chefs set out to recreate what their friends and family were eating.

Cooking for both immunity and a $10,000 prize, the chefs played culinary telephone by attempting to replicate one of three dishes:

PORK DISH: Pork chop with prosciutto braised beans, charred radicchio & fennel fronds

FISH DISH: Yellowtail collars with fingerling potatoes, Calabrian chili sauce & cilantro salsa verde

STEAK DISH: Hanger steak marinated in balsamic vinegar with arugula salad, parmigiano reggiano

Upon finishing their respective dishes, each chef’s loved one texted a photo of what they were served at Osteria Mozza, leaving us pretty impressed at the results. Actually, blown away is more like it, as most everyone rocked the challenge.

Not only was this one of the more enjoyable QC’s we’ve seen on Top Chef, but adding unexpected layers through the contributions of loved ones was a nice bonus. Whether it was Jen’s sister Jessica including “one fork and one wine glass” to the description of her dish or Lee Anne’s mom going radio silent for a bit because she was too busy polishing off hers, there was no shortage of fun throughout the challenge.

OUTCOME: As impressed as Nancy Silverton was with the chefs, she identified Melissa, Lee Anne, and Kevin as being her favorite renditions before awarding immunity and $10,000 to Kevin. And despite cooking the wrong protein altogether, Bryan also earned praise from the guest judge.

ELIMINATION CHALLENGE

LOCALE: Westfield Century City

CHALLENGE: Create a signature specialty product & build a dish to highlight it

GUEST JUDGE: Nancy Silverton

Assisted by their loved ones, the chefs had to create and package a specialty product, then make it the focus of a dish. Diners would be buying their creations, with the chef who sold the most units joining Kevin in having immunity.

• Mel’s Kimchi-Peach Vinaigrette (Melissa)
  • Korean fried chicken wing
• Mama Wong’s Mapo Sauce (Lee Anne)
  • Shrimp tofu shiitake dumplings
  • “Hotlanta” Hot Salt (Kevin)
    • Chicken ‘n waffles with fried peanuts in butter
    • Mighty Calypso Pepper Sauce (Eric)
      • “Doubles” topped with fried chickpeas & pancetta
      • GG’s Party Pikliz: The Spicy Haitian Pickle (Gregory)
        • Haitian creole chicken marinated in black pepper, thyme & clove
        • Nini’s Roasted Nuoc Mam Glaze (Nini)
          • Braised pork rib
          • “E+O” Romesco (Karen)
            • Pork belly, almonds, cinnamon romesco & crispy potatoes
            • “S’Miles” Fennel, Tomato, Chili & Citrus Relish (Brian)
              • Pacific swordfish with charred lemon & radicchio slaw
              • “S+D’s” Vegetarian Chili Base (Stephanie)
                • Two-bean chili with homemade cracker, beet & lime pickled onion, cilantro & scallion
                • Voltaggio’s Own Calamari Bolognese (Bryan)
                  • Kale & nori spaghetti
                  • Sunny Lemon-Ginger “Love” (Jen)
                    • “Sunny style” skirt steak, yogurt & grilled kale

                    JUDGES’ TABLE: In a challenge that featured a wide variety of cultures, the judges’ three favorite dishes represented West African, Vietnamese, and Haitian flavors. Despite sharing the spotlight with Eric and Nini, Gregory’s creole chicken marinated in his Pikliz won the day. In addition, Melissa earned immunity by selling 31 bottles of her vinaigrette, leaving six chefs exposed for possible elimination.

                    Tonight on @BravoTopChef!!! Our day starts with mysterious calls from our loved ones and the rest is high pressure, high love and high drama! This is an emotional one guys. See you tonight!!! And yeah, that’s my mom. #topchef ❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/r3KJRmKowW

                    — Gregory Gourdet (@GG30000) April 17, 2020

                    LAST CHANCE KITCHEN QUALIFIER: Unlike in episode 4, the judges had three dishes that were clearly their least favorite, While Stephanie’s actual creation was fine, her chili base fell flat with the judges, as did Brian’s relish, which Silverton said “seemed just a little bit muddy”, and Jen’s “Love” that suffered from the inclusion of yogurt and her failure to strain the condiment. In the end, in yet another decision that was foreshadowed throughout the whole show, Jen was sent packing.

                    CHEF DISH: Can we talk about how much we love Mama Wong?! And we clearly aren’t alone, as Gail greeted her with an enthusiastic “Hi Mama Wong!” before getting a giddy “I’ve been watching you guys for years!” in response! Speaking of Mama Wong, we’d be remiss if we didn’t give props to Stephanie for sending her husband David over to help Lee Anne when her mom had to leave the kitchen after nearly fainting and Melissa for quickly lending a hand as well. Class acts, especially in the heat of competition.

                    I’m not crying. You’re crying. No, wait... I’m crying. #MamaWong is a champ! SO MUCH LOVE for my fellow chefs and their family members for kitchen support @StephanieCmar @ChefMelissaKing @BryanVoltaggio @KAkunowicz @chefnininguyen @ChefJenCarroll @BravoTopChef #mamawong #family

                    — Lee Anne Wong (@leeannewong) April 17, 2020

                    MALARKEY SMARM-O-METER: Oh geez, where do we start? First of all, when your own wife cringes at your comments, you’re obviously an equal opportunity offender. But in spite of our lofty and clearly unrealistic desire to dial down the rating on our Smarm-O-Meter this week, Brian shattered those hopes into a million pieces by sharing his detailed process of keeping a journal ranking other chefs. Perhaps a little self-fulfilling prophecy when concluding the analysis of his competitors with “don’t think I’m an asshole, my friends!”? Only because we now firmly believe that there are still new heights of smarminess for Malarkey to surpass, we’ll assign him a 9.5 this week. Trust us, 10 is well within reach, very likely sooner rather than later.

                    SNARK ATTACK: Yup, it’s him again. Upon learning that he’d wound up in the bottom three, Brian muttered “oh my god!”, then saying “no way! not being a d–k, just telling the truth”. Enough said.

                    HEAT INDEX

                    EN FUEGO: Since winning the Elimination Challenge pretty earns a chef En Fuego status, Gregory heads into next week riding a huge wave of momentum. Better yet, we got to enjoy the great relationship he has with his mom Yanick, who rocked her role as his sous chef.

                    ROLLING BOIL: Even with Gregory’s EC win, Eric’s “doubles”, a fried dough dish enhanced by his pepper sauce creation, prompted Nancy Silverton to proclaim that “every bite was delicious”.

                    BRING TO A SIMMER: As much as we hate to invoke his name one more time, it seemed like Brian was perilously close to packing his knives and leaving. Spared only by Jen’s “Love”, Malarkey lives to cook another day…unfortunately.

                    Did the Top Chef judges get it right or should someone else have packed their knives and left?