Mention It All - Crying In The Kitchen (Top Chef)

Episode Date: April 8, 2022

Dylan is back with another solo episode, and he starts with some quick thoughts on the RHONJ reunion looks and the trailer for RHOBH season 12. Then, he breaks down the two-part Last Chance Kitchen, before diving into Top Chef. It’s an emotional episode (for the contestants and for Dylan), and he has strong thoughts about who gets sent home, and who’s emerging as a frontrunner. And finally, he goes on a little bit of a rant about why you shouldn’t serve organ meat to a group of strangers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Betches Media presents. Ha ha, laugh, funny. Mention It All. A Bravo by Betcha's podcast. We don't say that, but now we said it. With Dylan Hafer. Oh, don't check me, bro. And Barry Rosenfeld.

I need to start drinking alcohol. Now go to sleep, we. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Mention at All podcast. I am Dylan Hafer. And as always on Fridays, I am just here talking to myself. We are going to get into Top Chef. We have a two-part last chance kitchen to recap.

And then a great. episode with a challenge that may or may not have made me cry upwards of three times. I don't really, I don't really want to get into my emotional state right now. But let's just say, I'm recording this Thursday afternoon. And it has been a doozy of a day. We started off with Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion looks. Overall, a pretty solid bunch. Everybody's in gold.

I would, to me, honestly, I'm sorry if you think I'm a Teresa hater. she was the biggest miss of the group. The mirror ball jumpsuit look was just not, it didn't feel, it thought one could say cheap. You know, just not quite my cup of tea. But for the most part, not a bad bunch. Definitely better than Salt Lake.

But I think we've established that it can't really be worse than Salt Lake this season. And then not two hours later, Bravo drops the trailer and promo looks for Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 12, which premieres on May 11th. The trailer looks great to me. I'm very excited. I would say the busiest moment that people have been talking about is this scene between Kyle, Kathy, and Lisa Rina. Who looks pretty thrilled that Kyle and Kathy are not getting along.

I'm potentially excited to see our evil villain messy, you know, mirth-filled Lisa Rina back again. It's been a while since we've seen, I think, her true potential on Housewives, and I'm hoping that this season might be a return to form. But, you know, I'm very excited either way. So let's talk about Top Chef before, because we honestly, it's a lot to get to you. It was a supersized episode and a double Last Chance Kitchen. How long do they think I'm going to sit here and talk to myself? Let's find out. So in Last Chance Kitchen, we have Ashley joining Sarah and Leah.

Leah, who's been in Last Chance Kitchen now for like five weeks, that is always wild to me because I just, I feel like if I got sent to Last Chance Kitchen, I would have a mental breakdown the first day and be like, actually, you know, I might just go home. I'm tired. I am kind of like annoyed that I got sent home from the main competition. I'm just going to let whoever else, you know, I don't think I have that competitive spirit to really, to really make it through Last Chance Kitchen. But in this challenge, they can make whatever they want, but they only have three minutes to shop for ingredients. So that is stressful because, I mean, if I had three minutes to shop for ingredients, I literally would pick up like an onion and that would be it. Leah forgets salt and pepper.

That's kind of like the biggest boo-boo you could say out of this three-minute shopping trip. But they're allowed to make whatever they want. Sadly, Leah forgetting salt and pepper ends up being her downfall. And Sarah and Ashley advanced to round two where they find out that they have to trade. stations with each other. So not only, when Tom first said that they would have to use each other's ingredients, I was like, okay, so they'll get a fresh basket that's the same as what that person got in their three minutes.

No, no, no, they're literally just stepping over to the other table. So Ashley has to spend the first like five minutes just tidying up Sarah's mess that she left because she's like, I can't work at a messy space. But I actually thought this was kind of cool because you saw two kind of random sets. of ingredients and then they had to flip them and obviously they didn't just want to make the same thing that the other person had just made. So Ashley had grabbed Okra before and she had done a really cool thing with the seeds that Tom had liked even though he doesn't really like Okra. And then all of a sudden Sarah has to cook with Okra, which she's never done before.

And she's like, okay, Ashley, could I cook it this way? Could I cook it this way? And Ashley's like, no, no, it's going to be slimy bitch. Everybody, I feel like they both end up doing a pretty good job. Ashley has like some salmon and some yogurt. Overall, Ashley ends up winning. This was not really surprising. It seemed like the switching ingredients more had worked in her favor a little more. Ashley had just had not left a lot of ingredients for Sarah and also we had established that Tom does not like okra. So that seemed like kind of a no-brainer. But Sarah does get to stay in Last Chance Kitchen. I like the way they have been doing Last Chance Kitchen where it kind of resets halfway. through this season. I don't know if they'll let the other chefs, the other eliminated chefs

kind of get another shot. But I like that we don't have to wait 12 weeks for one person to get back in the competition. It kind of feels like it keeps it a little bit spicier. And Ashley is immediately back in the competition. She just went home last week. And they arrive for the Quickfire. And it is furnished by Talente gilado, which I love to eat. They have a new collection of dual flavor pairings. And so inspired by that in this quick fire, they each have to choose either a sweet or a salty jar of ingredients and then work in pairs. So we have some interesting assortments of ingredients happening.

We have like pistachio and pear. We have honey and miso. I feel like this is actually a pretty fun quick fire because it feels, I mean, I don't want to say it's low stakes, but it's kind of like, yeah, like we'll find something cool. And everybody does a great job. It's not like, it's not one of those quickfires. You know what? On Top Chef, like some quickfires feel like people are fighting for their lives. And some quickfires feel just kind of more like, yeah, we have 30 minutes to make a fun dish.

And this one, I kind of like that it was in the latter category. Nick and Ashley are the winning pair. They did a great job using pork rinds in their dessert, which, you know, I would not know how to do. But it looked good. And apparently now Talente is going to have to make a flavor inspired by that. I don't know if pork rind gelato will do that well in the grocery store. But I'm glad they were able to make it work for this challenge. And they get double immunity in the elimination challenge.

That is actually pretty crazy. And, you know, Ashley was just coming back in the competition. So, she automatically gets to go a whole other week. So good. So good. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom Rack stores now and up to 60% off. Stock up and save on the brands you love like Vince, Sam Edelman, Frame, and Free People. Join the Norty Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more.

Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. So we get to the elimination challenge. And, oh, my God. So the whole thing this week is that. that they are saluting and honoring five Texas Trailblazer women, who are Governor Ann Richards,

who I believe was the second woman governor of Texas and did a lot of great stuff. Babe Diedrickson Zaharias, who was a basketball player, Barbara Jordan, who was the first black woman elected to Congress in the state of Texas. Bessie Coleman, who was the first black woman, Native American woman pilot, and Selena. It basically, it's a really cool eclectic group. There's some politicians and athlete, a singer, a lot of different stuff going on. And the challenge is that they have to choose the knives and they each have to honor one of the

women through their dishes. And I think, I think dishes like this, challenges like this are part of what makes top chef cool because they're allowed to cook whatever they want. There's no parameters in this challenge. It's not like you have to cook with a certain type of protein or, you know, like a lot of them have more specific categories. But I really like, I really like this is purely creativity. And it lets them kind of take their own inspiration and apply it to what they like to cook or, you know, you can really go anywhere with it. And I think in a way, you could say that makes it

easier on the chefs because they can make whatever they want. But also, it's hard because you have to, you have to, I mean, there's no like excuse. There's no, like, excuse. There's no excuse of like, oh, I've never cooked with this thing before. So that's why I was kind of, you know, it was tough. Like you, you can make whatever the fuck you want. So it better be good, but also it better fit the challenge. So we, everybody does their research. They're deciding how they want to, you know, do these things. And, you know, some people are doing, people have different strategies here. Like some people I feel like are like, well, like this person was, this person was cool. So I'm going to do something cool, but that, you know, like some people, the inspiration they're taking very directly

and some are a little more abstract. But overall, overall, I really enjoy them kind of going through this process. I don't know how I feel about Demar trying to make tortillas for the first time to honor Selena and his dish. I feel like that is a risky move. And even Tom is like, you didn't buy a store-bought tortilla just like to use as a backup. I don't know. That every time, I feel like every episode on Top Chef, somebody is saying that they're making something for the first time. And that is always wild to me because, first of all, I feel like these people have cooked everything, even though I know that's not physically possible. But also, it's like, if I, I don't, again, the reason number 12,000 why I could never be on Top Chef, if they told, if I was supposed to make

something that I had never made before, I'd be like, I don't know, I think I'm just going to make, like, a grilled cheese. Like, I would be, I would, I would just be like, no, I'm gonna, I'll pick something else. It's okay. I'll pick something else. Don't worry. No, it's fine. So the fact that Damar has chosen fully on his own accord to make tortillas for the first time, I guess, hats off to him. We get to the judging panel, which is made up of a whole group of impressive Texas women. Love to see it. Gail is wearing her planned parenthood pin. Cecil Richards, who it turns out is the daughter of Texas Governor Anne Richards. never knew that. She's a badass. Selina's sister Suzette is there. Cheryl Swoops, the basketball player is there. This is a cool-ass

judging panel, and I love that they each get an equal vote to decide the winner. The dishes come out, and honestly, this is another, this is not like news that the dishes looked good, but the dishes, the dishes looked good. Evelyn for Selena does a Como LaFlor inspired Ceviche. Demar does a green, Posole. Posole is one of my low-key favorite foods. It's so good. If you've never had it, you know, find some. The Babe Diedrichson dishes are a little bit rougher. Jay does a gumbo with kimchi, but the judges point out that it really feels like she was more paying homage to her mentor, Leah Chase, beloved New Orleans chef than it was to Babe Diedrichson, which that's what I'm saying is it's

kind of treacherous in a challenge like this, because if you just cook what you want to cook and the if the connection to the person you're honoring isn't strong enough, then having a delicious dish isn't going to be enough. And then on top of that, let's be, let's be real. I don't think they thought Jay's dish was that delicious. So that was kind of like, I was, I was kind of surprised she wasn't in the bottom three. Um, but Ashley's candied pork with potatoes just doesn't quite, doesn't quite hit either. Um, I, Buddha is quickly becoming a favorite for me this season for Bessie Coleman, he makes a chicken, a roast chicken type of dish, but it has to do with Bessie Coleman's famous figure eight flying trick. It's just like very impressive stuff, impressive stuff going on.

But Luke does like a cured salmon with chicken fudge. He explains what the chicken fudge is, but I, my brain can't wrap around that. It sounds disgusting to me. And the judges either don't like it or don't get enough of it for it to, you know, really work in the dish. I don't know. It's a, it's a whole mess. But for Anne Richards, Nick does a snapper with a potato that's cut in the shape of a mushroom, which that is very cool. That is something to me where I'm like, I would never in a million years put the effort in to do that. But if it was on my plate, I would be like, oh, that's so fun. Love it. And then for Barbara Jordan, Monique, Monique, Monique, Monique, Monique, Monique, Monique, my two nemesies that are still in the competition are assigned to Barbara Jordan, which I got. to say that that's a rough one for me because I feel like she deserves better. But Monique does a fried oyster with a bean type of thing and okra and a sauce. And there are a few issues here. First of all, she fries the oysters and then decides that they're too big to be like one bite, I guess. I don't know. I feel like they could just cut them. So she decides to cut the oysters in half before plating.

And then she puts this broth over the oysters, but she's like it could get soggy. I don't know. I don't no, I'll just put not very much broth. And then it turns out that half the judges have no fucking broth on their plate. And then they're also like, why did you cut the oyster? That's weird. Just give me the whole oyster. Like, I don't understand the judges have forks and knives. Like, if I get a piece of something that's too big to put in my mouth, I will cut it in half.

Like, I'm not a baby. I have tools at my disposal to fix that problem. So I feel like Monique really created a problem that. didn't exist and then made her dish worse as a way of, you know, troubleshooting that. And it's like, girl, just put the oyster on the plate. And then the fact that the broth was supposed to tie together the whole dish. And Gail is like, yeah, I didn't really get any of that. That's just, I mean, it just, it sucks for Monique because I feel like she made her own dish worse. But it also is like, yeah, like you made poor choices. And that's what happened.

You have to live with the consequences of your actions. That is what it is. I don't know why I'm going so hard on my week right now because Jackson, no, Jackson didn't fuck up. You know, he was in the top. I have to give him that. He made a pasta with a ragu that had this, something with like organs. And I would just, I don't understand people on this show.

You are cooking for strangers and you're going to give them organ meat. Give me a fucking chicken. Like, give me a, like, literally anything else. If somebody that I had never met before and I had never spoken to about what I like to eat cooked something for me, they could make anything in the world. You could make anything. I just talked about how this challenge had no specifications for what you could cook. And you make me pasta with organ meat?

He's like, oh, she had so much heart. She had so much guts. And it's like, yeah, I don't want to eat. that. I want to eat like a beautiful piece of meat, not stomach. I don't, like, I don't even know what it is. Like, that is nasty. And poor Selena's sister is like, oh, it was delicious. What did I just eat? And they're like, it's organ meat. And she's like, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Like, oh, my God. I know they liked Jackson's dish. Good for him being in the top again. But, sir, don't get a grip. You know, don't cook organ meat for strangers. That just feels rude.

But the tops of the week are Evelyn, Jackson, and Buddha. You know how I feel about Jackson, but I would say that Evelyn and Buddha are probably my personal faves at this point. I also really like Joe, but she had, has been a little more up and down recently. Evelyn wins her second challenge in a row, which is very exciting for her. And both of them have been like personal personal connections, personal triumphs, love seeing that for her. Meanwhile, in the bottom, we have Monique, Ashley, and Luke.

Ashley, of course, is safe from elimination because she won the Quickfire, but she's really pretty emotional about it. I know because she went home last week, she feels like she's kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel right now, but Padma reminds her that she won the Quickfire. So I think, I think Ashley, I think she still has potential.

I think she's kind of, you know, struggling a little bit right now, but I don't feel like it's one of those things where she's actually the worst one there. But also, who is the worst one there? I don't know. I guess it was Monique because she gets sent home. Gail, my favorite critique of the night, Gail says, I'm not clear on what Monique was trying to do tonight.

And I certainly know she wasn't successful at it. I mean, what more can I say? That's what more can I say? I'm going to stop talking. That's where I'm going to leave you. Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow the show wherever you listen. And you can follow me on Instagram at Bravo by Betches.

And until next time, be cool. Don't be all like uncool. Mention It All is produced by Sean Kilby and Jorge Morales Pico. Editing by Sean Kilby. Social media by Dylan Hafer. Guest Booking by Nicole Pellegrino. Be sure to follow at Bravo by Betches on Instagram and Twitter. All.

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