Mention It All - Pub Crawling With Padma (Top Chef)

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Dylan is back for another Friday debrief, starting with more updates on the Vanderpump Rules reunion. Then, it’s back to London, where the Top Chef crew is tasked with reimagining iconic pub foods��to mixed results. Plus, there’s a double elimination, and Last Chance Kitchen starts to get heartbreaking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We're going to check me, though. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Mentioned All podcast. I'm Dylan Hafer, and it's Friday, which means it's time for me to spiral not only about Vanderpump Rules for Union seating charts, but also Yorkshire pudding. Get you a girl who can do both, or whatever. Yesterday, as you most likely know, if you're listening to this podcast, was the Vanderpump Rules reunion. I'm already nervous to watch it, but Bravo fed us a little bit by publishing two seating charts for the reunion because, of course, Raquel has a restraining order against Sheena right now, meaning that they filmed two separate segments of the reunion.

and the seating charts are mostly the same, you know, to the left of Andy. I just did the little like L with my thumb and my finger because I'm like, which side is the left? If you're, I guess it's actually Andy's right, but if you're looking at the Instagram post, it is on the left. I do know my left and right, contrary to maybe the belief that I have just made. So starting from Andy's right, we have Ariana, Katie, James Kennedy, and Lala, and then on the other side, for the first part, I guess, we have Lisa, Sandoval, Rakel, Rachel, and Schwartz. And Sandoval, Raquel, and Schwartz sandwich is one of the deepest nights. nightmares I can imagine. I guess I don't really know how else you would position them, but like, dear God, Lisa Vanderpump over on that side of the couch, it's going to be tough. Then for the other

part, it's switched up. So it is Lisa, Sandoval, Schwartz, and then Siena on the end. The thing about Lisa being next to Sandoval is like just numbers wise. It makes sense to keep it foreign. for because you really couldn't have any of the people on the other side next to Sandoval. But then I feel like Lisa is going to be in this default position of like kind of defending Sandoval. I don't, I just, I'm always nervous about Lisa kind of going to bat for the wrong people. And I feel like this seating chart is going to make it easier for her to sort of give Tom a pass. I don't know.

And then word is Tom and Ariana also filmed a separate sit down with Andy yesterday. lots going on. I can't wait to see what happens, but also I'm very nervous. We got some great paparazzi photos of Ariana showing up in a sweatshirt that said 1,800 Boys Lie, and then some more of Sandival and Raquel having a smoke break outside looking, you know, appropriately miserable together. This reunion really going to be really going to be interesting. But getting back to the reason for the season for me sitting down solo with the microphone today. And that is Top Chef World All-Stars. It's episode three. You know, we hear at the beginning, the Middle East has been kicking everyone's ass. Ali and Charbel have won the first two elimination challenges.

And things are getting real. We're down to 14 chefs. And this episode, we are getting a double elimination challenge. This just makes my stomach drop a little bit because I feel like, obviously, it's an All-Stars show, but aside from the U.S. contestants, I was not familiar with these people before. So I'm still getting to know everyone. I'm still figuring out who I like, who I think has the most potential, who annoys me the most and is going to give me the most content to rant about on this podcast. There's a lot of, there's a lot of variables still up in the air. So the fact that we're going to get rid of two of these people this episode. It stresses me out.

Because then all of a sudden it starts to feel like we're going from 14 down to 12, and then it's almost the top 10, and then people are going to keep going home, and then it's going to be the finale, and then who knows what's happening in Last Chance Kitchen, which, by the way, I know I said on an episode earlier this week, Last Chance Kitchen is on Peacock. Peacock finally got their act together today, and when I was finished with the Top Chef episode, it auto loaded up Last Chance Kitchen. I swear it didn't do that for me last week or else I wouldn't have gone on that whole rant.

But yeah, I had a seamless Last Chance Kitchen viewing experience this week. So props to the dev team at Peacock who no doubt heard my rant last week. And we're like, you know what? We should make it easier. We should make it easier to find. In fact, you shouldn't even have to find it. It should be served to you. Because who doesn't want to roll straight from 54 minutes?

of Top Chef into 16 minutes of Last Chance Kitchen. It's a great hour and 10 minutes of content. Yes, I just did math. Please clap. But anyway, back to the challenge at hand. There is no quick fire this week. Instead, just a pub crawl and an elimination challenge. Gail and Tom take the chefs to three different pubs where they are trying classic dishes, most of which are not things that I am particularly interested in eating, but we get fish and chips, which I do like fish and chips. Fisherman's pie sounds nasty. I don't know. Sunday roast, I'd eat that. Shepherds pie, which means lamb, toad in the hole, which means who the hell knows, a steak and ale pie, bangers and mash, a scotch egg, again, not for me. A jammy yolk is like my, my, my,

nightmare. But basically all of these British pub foods are a very, it's a very specific genre of dish. And for most of these chefs that are coming from around the world and more of a fine dining background, the idea of doing an elevated version of one of these dishes, which is the challenge, it's a really interesting proposition because when you look at something like Shepherds Pie or Fish and Chips, the dishes are simple. They're very, very, specific and, you know, they are, they're very down to earth. They, it's pub food for a reason. It feels like something that you can just have on a plate, get your fork in your knife, and have a beer with it, and that's all you really need. So some of these dishes, I think,

we see them struggling with kind of, how do you elevate fish and chips? How do you really take a Sunday roast with a Yorkshire pudding to the next level? aside from cooking these things well and making, you know, making a solid dish, it's not something that's obvious how you can really improve it or, you know, make it more lux or gourmet. And I think that's a tough part of this challenge. The other tough part of the challenge being that they are working in pairs that they do not get to choose. I love the little plot twist of like, hey, everyone, you're going to be working in pairs and see these coasters on the table, flip them over. That's who your partner is. Like, what a little like, oh yeah, see what we just did?

You're already in pairs and you didn't even know it. So they're in pairs and they, based on the numbers, on their coasters, that's the order they get to choose their dish in. First, we have Dale and May who are, I would say, it's fair to say that they fucking hate each other. They're not getting along at any point in this episode. And after much back and forth, they choose the scotch egg. Dale really wanted fish and chips, May really wanted the scotch egg, more to come foreshadowing there. Tom and Sarah choose the Shepherds' pie. They seem to be very on the same page. Charbel and Nicole, choose the Sunday roast because Nicole has practiced at home how to make a Yorkshire pudding. Good for her. That is smart. When I interviewed Dawn, I was asking if there's really any way to prepare for Top Chef other than just being

a good chef. And she was like, not really. But when you think about it, coming to London, it's not crazy that at some point there was going to be some kind of pub food, English food challenge. And so to hear that Nicole practiced how to make New Yorkshire pudding, that I think is really smart. And she puts it to good use this episode. Luciana and Buddha are working together. They're making a fish pie. Amar and Ali, choose fish and chips. Begonia and Gabri are little Spanish speaking duo. They choose bangers and mash. They are very cute together. I was loving their vibe. And Victoire and Sylvia choose the toad in the hole. Again, I don't know what that is. If you want food info, you've come to the wrong place. But, you know, Sylvia's excited because

there are potatoes in England and she finally gets to cook with something that she likes. Victoire, not so much. The guest judge is this guy, Brett Graham. He has a Michelin-starred pub. Good for him. I, again, I don't really understand what a Michelin Star pub would be because it's like, okay, is the fish and chips like covered in gold? Are the bangers and mash like, I don't know. I'm at a loss. I don't, this is not my, this is not my world. But we have Buddha right off the bat. He's making fish scales for his fish pie out of zucchini slices. I hate this guy so much. And by that, I mean, I love him a lot. Buddha is one of those people where his whole season on Top Chef in Houston,

he was just doing things that felt so of a different level than anybody else that was around. And not even that, like, the food was better, but just like the level of technique and the precision that he was putting into things was so just top tier. And obviously, this competition is leveled up. know, everybody here is one of the best in their respective region, but Buddha still, just like slam dunks, you know, getting it done. Like I said, I love Gabri and Begonia together. There's a moment where they're working through their recipes and they're trying to communicate about something. And suddenly they have this moment where they're like, oh, we both speak Spanish. Like, why are we doing this in English for the cameras? Like, this is stupid. This is

stupid. And it is funny to think about on this show, like so much of, so much of the talking that we hear is either you're talking to yourself or you're speaking to your partner. And for many of these people, English is not their first language. And so it is kind of funny all of a sudden when you're like, oh yeah, if the chef from Spain and the chef from Mexico are working in a team together, why are they speaking English to each other? That seems like a waste of time. And Personally, I would be fine reading subtitles. So Begonia and Gabri, please feel free to speak whatever language you like. I'm not going to be a Giselle on girls' trip policing Alexia and Marisol's use of Spanish at the table. Like I said, Dale and May can't stand each other.

Dale really wants to do just a simple, safe scotch egg. May is basically like, yeah, we need to do something interesting or creative or special or something because, everybody else is going to be blowing these dishes out of the water. And we're just like, here's a well, a well done scotch egg on the plate. It's tough. I mean, you don't want to go too far and then, like, give them something unrecognizable or too ambitious that doesn't compute. But it's like, yeah, you can't just do the dish that you tried at the pub, like, maybe made

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Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. getting to the serving. Sylvia and Victoire, Duke the Toad in the Hole. Victoire says your sauce is like an orgasm. Seems like the judges tend to agree. I was really impressed with the bangers and mash that Bagonia and Gabri made with pork belly, which first of all, pork belly is delicious. And then they made this crunchy onion cookie.

And it's like one of those things that's in a really pretty shape and like really intricate. I don't know how you do that or whatever, but it was beautiful. Buddha's fish pie looks delicious, or maybe not delicious, but beautiful. Beautiful is probably the better word. Sarah and Tom's Shepard's pie also looks good. It looks a little bit like a less fancy version of Buddha and Luciana's dish, but, you know, also good, I guess, for them. Both of the teams that do something fried,

struggle with it a little bit. Amar and Ali with the fish and chips and May and Dale with the scotcha egg, both of them, one of the biggest issues is that the batter is just not crispy enough. The fish and chips looks good. They like everything else, the vinegar with the fries, but the batter is just not crispy, and that is a main necessity of fish and chips. And same with May and Dale. The egg is perfectly cooked, but the batter around it is. is just not crispy enough. And, you know, you gotta be, you gotta be on the ball here.

You can't, you can't be dropping it. They are, of course, the bottom two for the episode. You know, both of these pairs kind of are apologizing to the judges that they didn't do more to sort of deconstruct the traditional dish. And the judges are like, no, no, no, no, no. That's not actually the issue. Like, the issue that we're pointing out to you is a technical error, where this element of the dish that is very important was not executed correctly.

And so I think that's important on Top Chef when they're giving this feedback that it's like a lot of the time the chef's ideas of what is wrong with their dish isn't actually the issue that the judges are focused on. And, you know, we saw that with somebody last week that it was like they weren't quite getting it. they weren't quite good. They were like, oh, well, you know, they're not going to like everything. And it's like, no, no, no, you made this specific error. It's not just like, oh, the sauce didn't taste to my liking. So these contestants, you know, you've got to listen, got to listen. Because if you want to make it far in the competition, you've got to take the feedback and incorporate it and not make those same mistakes again. It's very important. Meanwhile, I'm making, you know, grilled cheese for lunch. And that's about the extent of my skills. But I'm, but I'm, anyway, the top two pairs are at Buddha and Luciana and Gabri and Bagonia. I'm happy for both of them. It both seems like they did a really good job of kind of doing something interesting with

the dish, but still keeping all the flavors, giving it to you in a form that you haven't seen before, but then when you taste it, you know exactly what it is. And I think with a challenge like this, that is such the essence of it, that it's like you understood the assignment, plain and simple. Buddha and Luciana win. I'm very happy for them. Buddha has been a favorite of mine ever since he debuted on Top Chef, but I also really like Gabri and Begonia. And so the idea that maybe, you know, this is kind of like a top tier of the competition, I'm liking that. I'm liking where it's going. May and Dale do get sent home. And like I said, I watched Last Chance Kitchen where they are supposed to make an elevated version of another pub food, a Welsh rare bit,

which at first I thought was somebody having a little bit of trouble pronouncing rabbit, but that is not the case. I did, in fact, Google this one, the Welsh rare bit. I'm looking at the Wikipedia page right now. Again, it doesn't sound like something I particularly need to be eating, but I'm happy that Gail loves it so much. It's sort of a toast with a sauce, that is broiled on top of it. This is a tough one for me because everybody kind of goes in a different direction. And the direction that Dawn, sweet Dawn chooses to go, is pretty much doing the dish as is, but with kimchi.

And they like it. They like the kimchi. But unfortunately, it's just not enough. Dawn gets sent home. Dale wins the challenge. May also gets to stay, so now, you know, we're doing this three-person last-chance kitchen thing. I think, you know, at the end of the day, Don, she didn't have a creative enough take on it. She added an interesting element, but the other two really took it in a different direction.

And maybe John should have done the same. But, you know, there will always be next time. Maybe they'll do like a Last Chance Kitchen reshuffle halfway through. I think sometimes they do that. I don't, I don't know. They're always switching it up on us. But anyway, that is this week's episode. And until next time, thank you so much for listening.

Don't forget to rate, review, and follow the show wherever you listen. You can follow us on Instagram at Bravo by Betches. And until next time, be cool. Don't be all like uncool. Mention It All is produced by Dylan Hafer, Sean Kilby, Jorge Morales Pico, and Rebecca Sousmecate. Editing by Jorge Morales Pico, social media by Dylan Hafer, and Ali Friedlander. Be sure to follow at Brayloralice. Bravo by Betches on Instagram and Twitter.

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