Mention It All - The Last Supper (Top Chef Finale)

Episode Date: June 3, 2022

Dylan returns for one last Top Chef recap, but before that, he unpacks the latest updates in the saga of Rinna vs. Kathy Hilton’s alleged assistant. Back in Tucson, the final three chefs cook the meal of their lives, and one of Dylan’s nemeses returns as a sous chef. He’s blown away by the complex final dishes, and of course, there are tears when a winner is announced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Betch's 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. We'll go check me, both. Hey, everyone.

Welcome back to the Mention at All podcast. I'm Dylan Hafer, and my friends, we have made it to the very end of the Top Chef season. I feel very bittersweet about this. I'm excited. It was a great finale. Obviously, I'm excited to recap it. which I'll get to in a minute, but it's the end of the road. And, wow.

I have loved doing these Friday little mini episodes. Obviously, we won't be doing Top Chef recaps for a while, but there'll be, you know, some fun little bonus surprises. So stay tuned. Make sure you're subscribed. Stick around. I hope you've enjoyed these episodes. If you do, let me know in the reviews.

But as always, a pleasure to talk about Top Chef. First of all, we have a couple other items of business. to get to. First of all, what is happening with Lisa Rina? What is she doing? What's going on? Sarah Levine and I talked a little bit about the Lisa Rina Instagram social media drama with somebody who we thought was Kathy Hilton's assistant. Now he says he's a private marketing manager for some of the biggest celebrities in the world. There have been many updates. But basically, last night, Lisa posted this thing saying that she DM'd with this guy, Patrick Summers. Patrick Summers DM'd with this other Bravo account and he said that he was paid by Kathy to slander Lisa Rina essentially.

And then Patrick Summers, do we need to get him on a Bravo show? Is he a messy bitch who lives for drama? I kind of feel like he is. He posts this message saying, I'm Patrick Somers, private marketing manager. My latest assignment was executed against Lisa Rina as I never reveal a client's personal information per my NDA agreement. That's a funny way of saying my client is Kathy Hilton. My latest marketing campaign was to draw attention away from my client. He's the wrong form of two, but alas, that's exactly what I did.

All narratives associated with my latest campaign are false. I was compensated $27,527.72 for my work. All media outlets and tabloids were planted by me. There is no lawsuit, no new reality show, and frankly, I've never met Lisa Rina. I hope you can understand, as this is my line of work and simply nothing personal. Okay. Is this a real job? Is he out here being like the opposite of an Olivia Pope where he's like not fixing things, but like breaking them? Like, Kathy Hilton would pay somebody, allegedly, allegedly, allegedly, allegedly, Kathy Hilton, please don't sue me. Allegedly, Kathy Hilton would pay

this random man, 27,500,000. $5,000. $27 and $72 to make Lisa Rina look bad on Instagram because she didn't want people to talk about the fact that she maybe called somebody a faggot at the Aspen trip. What? This is not what we asked for for Pride Month. Come on. I don't know.

I don't know if I believe any of this. I don't know. The thing is it's like, I don't believe Lisa, but I also don't believe Patrick Summers, but I also don't have any reason to really think Kathy wouldn't do something like this. I don't know. I don't know.

So much is happening and none of it was on camera, which makes me just feel weird about the whole thing. Speaking of Beverly Hills, yesterday on our episode, Sarah and I talked about EMDR, which was the therapy that Derreet received on the episode. We did a very basic Google. There seems to be some controversy about this. I got some messages on both sides of the issue. Some people say that this is a wonderful therapy who has helped them or helped people they know. I believe it. That is amazing.

also heard from some medical professionals who don't necessarily buy it. Look, I don't have a strong opinion on EMDR. I'm not an expert. Do what you need to do. I hope it works for Doreet. I hope whatever you're doing works for you. Google is free. Okay.

Let's talk about this Top Chef finale. We are still in Tucson with our final three, Buddha, Sarah, Evelyn. I feel like this is a pretty evenly matched competition. I think I said this last week. I think Sarah is probably third place for me going in. But I feel like Evelyn and Buda have both had really strong results. And Sarah is just like a little hard to compare because she was stuck in Last Chance Kitchen for so much of it. They each get to choose one former competitor from the season as their sous chef.

I like that they have to like FaceTime them and ask them to fly back. Sarah chooses Robert, which feels very out of left field to me. Robert did not make it that far in the competition. Evelyn chooses Joe and Buddha. Dear God, Buddha, choosing Jackson, who as you'll know if you've listened to all of these recaps, was one of my three nemeses in the season. Just rough stuff. I didn't want to see him again, but luckily, he tells Padma, his taste buds are maturing nicely, coming back nicely. But their challenge for the final challenge is to make their best four-course progressive

meal of their lives. They have $1,500 to shop with their contactless master cards. They're going to lots of different markets. It's five hours to prep today, two and a half hours tomorrow. I, okay, first of all, five hours in a kitchen just sounds like hell to me. Like, I'll be looking up recipes and it's like, okay, I need 30 minutes or less. They're like, oh, it's 40 minute cook time. I'm like, no, but that's so long. Like, if I put on a show, I'm going to have to be coming back and forth between like my room and the kitchen and want to deal with.

And then the cleanup is going to be a lot. Five hours in the kitchen. and then afterward, they have to ride horses to go to this judge's dinner, which is lovely, but it's like, if I'm cooking for five hours after shopping for however long, and then you're telling me I have to get on a horse, no, no, no, no, no. This is why I couldn't ever do a reality competition show, because I would simply be too tired all the time. Every time they're like, this is a fun twist, I would be like, no, but I want a nap. it's just not something that I am built for, and that's fine.

But I love seeing what everyone's doing with their different concepts for these four-course progressive meals. Sarah is definitely going the most conceptual. She's doing, you know, sort of a message about food waste and this idea of being a hunter gatherer, which, you know, to me, a hunter-gatherer is like sticks and berries, but obviously this is fucking top chef, so she knows more what she's doing. but she's like using all parts of a rabbit, using like all the corn, she's taking like the buttermilk and making it into ice cream and, you know, a lot of different things. Buddha, of course, is in his like experimental food bag as usual, but he's doing a tribute to his family. There's a dish for his dad, for his mom, for his brother. And then the last, the dessert is like a tribute to America. Like, rah, yay. I think that has a different meaning to him than it does to me, but that is a okay. And then Evelyn, of course, is doing just a lot of her traditional stuff that she loves to go for,

inspired by Peruvian food a little bit. Obviously, her Mexican cuisine and Houston stuff. She's making a buniuelo again. She's doing a moly curry. There's a lot going on. All of these dishes are just so complex and intricate. And I feel like I say this every week, but throughout the season, just continually impressed by the amount of stuff that these people do. and make and put on a plate because it's like even one of these dishes is just so, so impressive.

Sarah, Sarah's making of venison tartar. She says, it wouldn't be me if I didn't cook organs. And I'm just, you know, that's not really my cup of tea. I would say out of all, out of all four of these, the food that I would want to eat the least is probably Sarah's, but that doesn't really reflect on her skills or her choices. It's just kind of like the least, the food that seems the least normal to me, if that's, if that's something I can say. I don't know. I don't know. But yeah, they're all losing their shit. The three-star Michelin chef Eric Repair is going to be one of the guest judges. We also have Stephanie Aisard coming back a former top chef champion. Really good guest judges for the finale. That's been a strong point all season. Evelyn tells Stephanie that

she's making goat neck and immediately Stephanie's like, oh my God, like at my restaurant, Like when it's goat neck day, it's our favorite part of the year. And I'm like, did we know that like goat neck was like a food? Is it a thing that I should have tried by now that I'm like missing out on? Like I don't really know. It's just everything is overwhelming for me. But this judge's dinner in between the days of cooking is really nice. The judge is all cooked for them, which is just like so beautiful.

And, you know, they're talking about how far they've come. competition and Buddha's talking about his dad again and of course I cried once again. I cannot make it through an episode of Top Chef without crying and of course the finale is no different. Gail tells them that like no matter what happens tomorrow we all really care about you and like love your to watch your careers and all this stuff and I'm just like oh my God that's a lot it's a lot. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom rack stores now and up to 60% off. up and save on the brands you love like Vince, Sam Edelman, Frame and Free People. Join the Nordy 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. The next day, we're in the kitchen. It's go time. First of all, I just love that there's really no drama this episode. Nobody is forgetting to put a component on the plate. nobody has one course that's coming out totally disastrous.

Of course, they're high and low points of the day, but it's nice to see a finale cook where everybody can really feel good about what they're doing. And there's nobody who really, you know, some dishes are better than others, but there's nobody who had like fumbled the bag in the finale. And I like to see that because everybody here is talented. Everybody here deserves to succeed. And, you know, maybe if Jackson or North Dakota Stephanie had made the finale, I It would feel differently.

But we're all here. Everybody's doing a good job. Evelyn starts with a scallop grudo. Buddha has a kingfish with caviar and Sarah's venison and beef heart tartar. Dear God, with the organs. It's so much. But Buddha is kind of the clear winner of the first dish. They say it's a three-star Michelin first course.

They really can't say enough good things about it. And Padma at Judge's table tells him that this is the kind of dish that really shows that he belongs with these Michelin. Star Chefs that he is inspired by and, you know, immediately the tears welling up for me, because that is that is where we're at. Evelyn and Sarah both have, you know, like little, little things with this dish. The second course, Evelyn's shrimp and corn crystal dumplings are so fucking pretty. They're like almost clear. They're so little and like so perfect.

I want to eat those. I want to eat those. Buddha makes this Penang Laksa, which is. inspired by his dad. And it's like very artful. Like there's a lot of things happening on the plate. They're all very specific. It reminds Eric Repair of the 80s and 90s kind of like gourmet cuisine, which is maybe it's like not a bad thing, but also like, maybe not a good thing. Sarah's second dish, it's squash dumpling with corn broth. There's just a lot, a lot happening on that plate. And that I feel like it's kind of Sarah's overarching thing is like sometimes there's just too much going on.

and obviously these dishes are supposed to be complex, and if it was too simple, that would be a bad thing. But it's like, she's missing the, like, editing piece a little bit. But then for the third course, this is Evelyn's curry moly goat neck, which I got to say, almost looks like a sloppy Joe meatloaf thing on the plate. It's very messy. Buddha does a Mongolian lamb with this eggplant thing, and he's doing all of these. shapes that are made out of vegetables. Like there's a butterfly and a bee, and I just don't understand how you even fucking do that.

And Sarah makes her rabbit ballotine with, like, rabbit organs stuffed in. They like the personality of Sarah's dish. The cooking on the rabbit is uneven, which at this point, it's like, you gotta cook it right. And Evelyn, the sauce wasn't really cooked with the lamb. Like, they just need, or the goat, they need it to be more, you know, together. Buddha kind of wins the third dish, too. And then the dessert, the dessert. Everybody fucking brought it for the dessert. Everyone came out swinging. Evlin does the buniuelo again.

And it just looks, I mean, incredible, delicious. And then the panacotta, which is a little firm, but you know, you know, you know, you know, Buddha does a pumpkin pie milfoil, which, oh my God, I love a pumpkin pie. And so this kind of like take on it and then these These little leaves that are on top, that are all different fall colors, it is a work of art. I don't understand. I don't know how you do all this stuff. And the fact that he's back there in this kitchen, just him and, I mean, I can't imagine Jackson is like really pulling that much weight because it's like it's Jackson. But, you know, just, just stunning.

Absolutely stunning. And then Sarah somehow still has their face. dessert, which is an acorn cake with buttermilk ice cream. They love it. They love the, the like caramel, miso, whatever. The thing about these dishes is that they're like so complex that I'm horrible at describing them because there's like 50 words to actually describe it. So I'm like pumpkin pie, but it's like pumpkin pie, milfoy with this thing and this thing and this thing and then the leaves. And it's like, Sarah, you know, it's cake and ice cream and they love it and they want more. Desert, very strong. For all of them, maybe Sarah kind of gets the edge a little bit,

but then we're back at judges' table. And I got to say, I feel like in the end, Buddha sort of seems like the clear winner to me. And I think everybody did really well, and this was a really strong top three. But Buddha winning, to me, he's the most impressive. And, I think he maybe has the most, like, pure talent. And when they announce that he wins, which they do, you know, he Buddha wins, if you, if you didn't cut that. Again, crying, of course. He calls his mom and his brother, and they're talking about how his father would be really

proud. That's, like, all that they want. I just love this show. You know, it's so great. It's so good. I'm sad this season is over, but we have season 20. to look forward to. It's going to be filmed entirely internationally for the first time. I don't know where they're going. I talked to Donald Adler from the Bravo social team earlier this

week. He would not tell me a thing, but he said that it is going to be very exciting. So therefore, I'm very excited. I hope you're very excited. I can't wait to be back for another season of Top Chef or Recaps in the future. But for now, I really hope you have enjoyed this season along with me. And thank you so much for listening. And don't forget to rate, review, and follow the show wherever you listen. And 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 Sousmacat. Editing by Jorge Morales Pico, social media by Dylan Hafer, guest booking by Dylan Hafer and Ali Friedlander. Be sure to to follow at Bravo by Betches on Instagram and Twitter. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination

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