Mention It All - Why Is PUMP Really Closing? (Top Chef)

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

Dylan kicks off this Friday episode with some bittersweet news: Lisa Vanderpump’s WeHo empire is shrinking. He also spills the tea on Bravo’s new show Dancing Queens, and whether it’s worth watching. Then, he recaps the Restaurant Wars episode of Top Chef, where the teams adopt different strategies and have very different results. Check out our latest promo codes here: https://betches.com/promo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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See Store Online for details. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Mention at All podcast. I'm Dylan Hafer. It's Friday. And it's a little bit of a sad day in Bravo Land because just yesterday we got the confirmation that Pump will be closing. Lisa Vanderpump's establishment in West Hollywood. It will have its final day in July. This had been rumored for a while. Lisa Vanderpump said that the lease was coming up and they were trying to raise the rent a lot. And so it wasn't worth it for them to sign another 10-year lease. The owners of the property have actually said that that's a lie and that they're not trying to raise the rent at all. And Lisa and can have been in default and they, you know, waived their rent during COVID for part of it. So there's there's something brewing there. I feel like we're going to get some clarity on this in the coming days, weeks, months. I don't know why Lisa Vanderpump would straight up lie about this situation. But then I also don't know why the owners would straight up lie about the situation

either, except for, you know, I don't trust landlords. I feel like there's no, there's nothing in it for me to believe a landlord. Like, does a rent increase on a 10-year lease in one of the most desirable spots in West Hollywood seem like something that they would do? Yeah, landlords suck. I mean, not to paint with too broad a brush, but I'm not out here rooting for landlords. But anyway, pump, closing in July, if you want to go have one of the worst cocktails of your life, you only have a couple months left to do it. I also wanted to talk briefly today before I get into Top Chef about this new show, Dancing Queens, that's premiering on Bravo next week.

Whenever there's a new show on Bravo, obviously people are, you know, wanting to know how it is, maybe a little bit skeptical, maybe a little bit intrigued. I don't know. I first saw the teaser for Dancing Queens. To be honest, I didn't think much of it. Obviously, I watch a lot of Bravo. I watch all the housewives. I watch all the, you know, the big spinoffs, whatever, you listen to the podcast. You know how much stuff I watch. But Dancing Queens is definitely in that category of Bravo show where I'm like, I don't know that I need to really keep up with this. But I got invited to the Dancing Queens premiere sneak peek, whatever preview event on Wednesday of this week. So I was at 30 Rock. We got a sneak peek screening of the premiere episode. The cast was there. They did a little Q&A with a friend

of the podcast, Gibson Johns, moderating. There was a cute little reception. It was a fun night. The show, it's good. It's cute. It is, if you are unaware, if you've missed the promos, if you, you know, have not watched the trailer, it is set in the world of pro. Am Latin ballroom dance competition. So pro am, this was new to me. It stands for professional amateur. So the six women that make up the cast are amateur ballroom dancers, meaning they don't compete for money, they don't get paid, but they partner with professional dancers. And this arrangement that happens, the amateur dancer pays for all of the expenses. of the professional dancer. They pay them for their time. They pay for travel and lodging at these

competitions. They pay for all the, you know, outfits, whatever. So some of these women on the show say that they have spent upwards of $100,000 a year on their dance hobby, their dance passion. I mean, they are very dedicated. They're good dancers. So that's the thing. When you say amateur, Amateur doesn't mean bad. It just means like not getting paid, like not professional. So there are six of these women. Only four of them are really in the premiere episode, but we follow a little bit of their day-to-day lives as they're training, getting ready for competition. They all live in different areas. There's one from Toronto, one from Arizona, a couple from the New York area. And we kind of follow them as they're preparing. There's some drama with their

partners, they have, you know, other things going on in their lives. And then we follow them to these various competitions. And I think that's going to be kind of the format of the show. It's a good cast. There are a couple of women in this cast that I feel like are genuine reality TV gold personalities. There's some drama brewing. It definitely looks in the season teaser like there's going to be some more drama. The dancing is fun. It's something new to learn about. I do wonder, this is the kind of Bravo show where I'm not super positive who it's for, who's going to watch it. You know, we all keep busy with Housewives.

We've got Vayner Pump to talk about every week. It's going to be on Tuesdays right after Jersey. So, you know, maybe a little doubleheader. We'll see. We'll see how it does. I would encourage you if you've seen the trailer or if you're listening to me talk about it and you're on the fence, I definitely would say, check it out. Give it a watch.

I had a fun time watching the premiere. I would say, give it a shot. Maybe we'll reconvene, talk about it in a few weeks. But yeah, that's Dancing Queens. But for now, we have more pressing things to attend to. And that is, of course, Top Chef, because this week is Restaurant Wars. One of the most exciting challenges on Top Chef. And this season, it is a little bit of a twist because instead of going into some, you know, empty-ass warehouse or, you know, rental property that has no infrastructure, they are going to be cooking in an existing three Michelin Star restaurant. That's crazy. Three Michelin Stars is the most Michelin Stars. That's not like some, you know, whatever. This, I mean, getting one Michelin Star is

pretty top tier achievement. So three is next level. It is the restaurant of guest judge Claire Smith, who Buddha worked with in the past at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant. I feel like Buddha just knows everyone. Like maybe that is kind of a spoiler alert for how well he does in these competitions, that it's like, if you're of the caliber where you are, have worked with some of these like top chefs in the world, you might be hard to beat on top chef. Just an observation. But so they're using the existing restaurant facilities and they're also getting a professional restaurant director who's going to handle the front of house, the seating, the serving, the service. I love this twist, actually, because I think in normal restaurant wars, usually one person on each team basically sits out cooking and instead is running the restaurant experience. And yeah, that's interesting. It's something different. But at the end of the day, the people on Top Chef are there to cook. They're there because of their kitchen skills. And so I think it almost feels more fair to let everyone do their shit in the kitchen. and let somebody else whose actual job it is to be like a matri-D or, you know, whatever,

handle that. The judges are doing a chef's table moment. We also are getting a secret judge who's a restaurant food critic, who's going to be out in the main dining room. I think that is another excellent touch. They really are just fine-tuning some of these challenge concepts. Like last week or whenever we had the Misen Plus race, this week. we have restaurant wars, but with some little tweaks that I think are kind of taking them to the next level. And I'm going to be curious to see where they go from here.

Because if we go back to a regular Top Chef season, it might kind of feel like we're missing something. It's like a little bit of a risk to take to level up so far this season. And then next season, are we going to go back to, you know, the first few people that got eliminated, kind of don't seem like they belong there in the first place. I don't know. Again, I know nothing about cooking, so I have no room to judge or to talk. But getting into this challenge, we're on two teams of four. Victoire and Buddha choose knives and get to be the team captains, at least for picking. So Victoire chooses Tom, Nicole and Gabri, and Buddha chooses Ali, Amar, and Sarah. I love that Ali and Amar are a package deal at this point. They are calling themselves

Poppy and HobbyB, that is my favorite thing that's ever happened. They're in the confessional together. The producers of this show are really leaning into Ali and Amar kind of as a package duo. I feel like they need to open a restaurant together or something, like a pop-up, maybe like a Vegas moment. Can they come to BravoCon? Like I, Ali and Amar, some of my favorites this season. But as I've discussed, pretty much everyone is one of my favorites this season. So who even knows? knows what's going to happen. They are tasked with creating a tasting menu with at least four courses for 50 diners. Like I said, the judges will be at a chef's table. Immediately they go for their concepts. Buddha comes up with this United Kitchen concept. So basically it's going to be

UK British foods with obviously elevated twists, whatever, all the top chef shit that they do. Buddha's doing a full English breakfast. We're going to have cold and hot. Hot fish. Buddha also volunteers to do the dessert, which, I mean, volunteering to do two courses at the restaurant wars, it's risky, it's risky. We'll see if it pays off. Spoiler, spoiler, spoiler. If you're listening to this, I'm assuming you know how the episode ends, but I will withhold that information for now. On the other team, Tom comes up with this idea to do just roots, but it's like roots of where they're from or where they learned to cook. And, you know, Tom Colicchio points out later, they're not really doing like root vegetables or any tie in

with that, which is what you would think. Their theme is definitely a little bit more loose, which is fine, but then there still has to be kind of like a cohesive nature. I don't know. We'll get to that. I thought it was interesting, too, how these teams kind of have different approaches to the service. Victoire's team is doing a staggered service where basically they have, you know, small waves of diners coming in. So they're starting with just like six or eight people and then kind of like working through the service, whereas Buddha's team is doing mainly just two seedings.

So they're starting with 20 people and then they're essentially doing one whole service, flipping, having the rest of the people come in. It's a very different strategy. You know, they have to make 50 plates for all four courses. I don't know enough about running a restaurant to know what would work well for me. I think what would work well for me is absolutely none of this because I would be crying in the back. But it is interesting to see these people with a lot of restaurant experience have very different philosophies of how they do it. Also because Buddha's group has a little bit more of a structure in the kitchen where Buddha is in this pastry station,

Ali and Sarah are on the main cooking stations. Amar is in the front. They're kind of, they kind of each have their responsibilities, whereas Victoire's team is a little bit more loosey-goosey. With the theme, with the kitchen strategy, it kind of seems like every man for himself in a way that if every dish was stunning, maybe that would pay off, but there's not really anything to fall back on. And I think, you know, at the end of the day, it's no great surprise. They end up losing the challenge. And a lot of it comes down to this concept. I mean, the secret food critic who didn't have the contestants, you know,

telling him about their food, he had no idea there even was a theme. And if that's not something that you can at least sort of pick up on a little bit over the course of the meal, that's tough. Because it's like that is supposed to be something that's integral to the meal. Whereas with Buddha and Amar and Ali and Sarah's group, it's like, yeah, it's this British food. Like anybody who's eating at this restaurant in London who's getting these takes on British dishes, the strawberries and cream, the English breakfast, the, you know, the cold fish. It's like they're going to at least they can tell that. Like people aren't dumb.

They know what they're eating. It's a little chaotic during both services. You know, Victoire's team, they're going a little slow at the beginning with Tom's dish. So then all of a sudden, Nicole has to do 18 of these pastas at once. The tortellini, sweet mama Nicole, it wasn't a great idea. She kind of fucked up the prep. It got messed up when they were taking it from the kitchen to the restaurant. I get it.

Shit happens. I think she should have done something different. Gabri's fish dish just has too much of the sauce on the plate. you know, Victoire's Tiramisu is a little bit safe. They wanted her to incorporate more of her kind of roots flavors into it. Again, it's like, okay, if you're doing this roots thing,

like, let's do it. So good, 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 Nordi Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first and more.

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Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of show. shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. Meanwhile, Buddha's doing a deconstructed full English with tomato tea. That sounds fucking nasty to me, but I mean, I believe that it's good. It just is not something that I need to eat. Um, Um, Amar does a scallop tartar with a warm sauce that, um, the, um, the cold and warm. That, um, they're like cold and warm. That seems interesting.

Sarah makes something called a Cullen skink, which I gather is a type of fish. Again, these words, they're made up. They're fully made up. Like, Cullen is a twilight thing. Skink. I thought a skink was like a lizard. Am I making that up? It's like cod wrapped with leeks and potato and I don't know.

It looks better than it sounds, I think. Ali does this Cornish pasty, which they aren't happy about. It's kind of missing a Zhu. Tom does a walkthrough in the kitchen, which was weird. But overall, overall, Buddha's group, definitely the stronger one. Without even tasting the food, I could tell that they have their shit more together. Everything seemed smoother. The concept was more complete.

And so it's no surprise that they win. Everybody gets good marks, you know. I think Buddha wins the challenge partially just because he had a little bit more of a team leader vibe. Also because two of the courses were pretty much fully him, it's hard to kind of deny that. Victoire's team, that means they end up on the bottom. And really, I think Tom is the only person in this group that kind of was not on the chopping block. because Nicole's dish, they didn't like the texture of the pasta, and they said it was a little too old-fashioned. Gabri had the issue with the sauce, too much of it, and not enough different texture with his fish. And Victoire's dish just didn't push the envelope. It was a taramisu with some plantain, and it sounded like it was really tasty, but not kind of what they look for in a challenge of this caliber.

Ultimately, I called it, Nicole gets sent home. This was not sure. shocking to me. It did seem like she had the weakest dish. And also, I mean, not to play favorites, but if Gabri had been sent home, I would have been really devastated. Victoire is devastated. She's crying. I hate to see Victoire upset. Like, it just is, it's tough, but we're getting down to the wire here. Seven people left. Nicole heads to Last Chance Kitchen to face off against Charbel. And she has, they have to make a pasta dish with root vegetables. I love that these last chance kitchens are just directly related to why the person got sent home. You know, they both do their own thing.

Charbel ends up winning essentially on a technicality because Nicole just puts too much salt on the leaks. She fucks it up. She pours the salt directly from the container. She knows she made a mistake right off the bat. And it is what it is. Nicole gets sent home, unfortunately. Charbel lives to fight another day.

I think Charbel obviously depends who goes home in the next couple weeks. but Charbel gives off a vibe of he could win like five last chances in a row. So I don't know. It's going to be tough. It's going to be interesting. I can't wait to see what happens. Wow. I love this show.

And I love you all for listening. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow the show wherever you listen. You can follow us on Instagram at Bravo by Betches. You can follow me at Dylan Hafer. And until next time, be cool. Don't be all like Uncool.

Mentioned It All is produced by Dylan Hafer, Sean Kilby, Jorge Morales Pico, and Rebecca Sousmaqat. Editing by Jorge Morales Pico, social media by Dylan Hafer, guest booking by Dylan Hafer and Ali Friedlander. Be sure to follow at Bravo by Betches on Instagram and Twitter. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th. The powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th. and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamava Theater.com,

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