The Prestige TV Podcast - 'Top Chef: All-Stars L.A.'

Episode Date: May 8, 2020

'Top Chef' is unique in that its winners take home both money and newfound prestige. This episode contains spoilers for the May 7 episode of 'Top Chef: All-Stars L.A.' Hosts: Juliet Litman and Sean Fennessey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to TV concierge. The ringer's guide to the vast streaming landscape. I'm Juliet Litman. Today, I'm here at the co-host of the big picture, Sean Fennessey. Hi, Sean. Hi, Juliet. My knives are sharpened. I'm ready to talk with you. Knives out, a different kind of knives out. We're here to talk about Top Chef, the 21st Century phenomenon on Bravo. I believe it started in 2005. Way back when, when the two pillars of Bravo or Project Runway and Top Chef, both shows, still on. And it has remained

like one of the most important and best reality shows since it started. One of the only reality shows that gives you like legitimate career bump and cachet in the profession from which you came and which you returned to, unlike in The Bachelor where it's like you leave your desk job to become an influencer.

Sean, why do you think it's had so much staying power? You know, I don't quite know. I think that there are a couple of explanations for it. One is I think we've become a much more food literate culture in the 21st century. I think people have become much more interested in the mechanics behind not just cooking at home, but restaurant touring and what it means to be a gifted chef and the kind of idolatry that grows around certain chef cultures. So I think that's one reason in particular. But two, I think these competition shows with these great structures, they're very enduring. You know, we've spent a lot of time talking about Survivor at the Ringer this season.

There are a handful of shows, The Bachelor, obviously, you are the Doyen of the Bachelor. There are a couple of formats that are like Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune for our generation. They're just, I suspect they're going to be with us for 50 years. And it's, I think Top Chef is in that class. I agree with that. The show is able to be the brightest star, though Padma and Tom and Gail are really wonderful. But ultimately, it's like the competition itself. And it's one of the, it's that and Survivor,

the only two shows we're winning, like really means a lot. Like, if you win top chef, it does change your life. Not just for the money, but like it's, it's like, it's a career sort of super booth. It's almost like going into like a real life video game if you're a chef and coming out with like the power up or whatever. I don't know a lot about video games. So I'm not sure why I chose that metaphor. I think you nailed that. That's perfect. No, I think that's right. And I think because because I think so many aspiring chefs, their ultimate goal is to open their own restaurant or or series of restaurants and the kind of the cachet that the, wind brings, along with the money that the wind brings, is unique to that field.

Survivor, there's no professional survivoring other than returning to Survivor on other seasons. On The Bachelor, you talked about making the transition to influencers, but Top Chef is almost literally a springboard to the thing that most chefs aspire to. And that gives it some real world heft that some of these other shows don't have. So we're currently in the middle of an All-Star season. It's All-Stars, L.A. Everyone on it has not one. And so they all have something they want to prove. And there's some really impressive chefs, like really impressive.

So there's Brian Voltagio, who's probably like among the biggest but most understated stars of this franchise. Have you been to a Brian Vultagio restaurant? You know, I haven't. I've been to a restaurant by his brother Michael Voltagio, but never brought any of Brian's restaurants. Pre-Coronavirus, closed. Sad. I see Michael Altagio at SoulCycle pre-Coronavirus as well. He's a front row guy.

So there's Brian Valdaggio. There's Kevin Gillespie who has been just sort of like around for so long that last night, I realized they said it in last night's episode that he was on the same season as Brian, which was a long time ago. I think it was in 07. And I thought Kevin was like way more recent because he's got so much vivacity to him that I couldn't believe he's been around this long. He's still a baby face. Yeah, totally.

There's Gregory who is just like obviously incredibly accomplished. And then some real surprises, like Melissa King is having an incredible season. And Karen already came back from Last Chance Kitchen. There's some really, really talented chefs right now. But still, I don't think any of those people are nearly as famous as the concept or the show of Top Chef, which is like, I think ultimately why a season that's all stars is kind of like exciting at the beginning, but then quickly descends and just being like a right of their top chef episode season.

I think that's true. I was anticipating. this season a lot. I anticipate every season. I've watched every season of Top Chef. It's consistently one of my favorite shows. It almost never lets you down. There's a few reasons for that. But I was most interested in this season, not because the All-Star Conceit, which we've seen before on Top Chef and is well worn across the reality competition spectrum, but because it was set in LA. And it is, I think, an authentically good rendition of what the LA food scene looks like for better and worse. You know, we're seeing in the early episodes we saw a tribute to Jonathan Gold, there are

food trucks that you and I have eaten at. There are smaller restaurants. There is a depth of ethnic cooking that is spotlit on this show that is pretty meaningful. But also you get the kind of hoity-toity odium high class, the sort of, you know, the attempts at elegance that L.A. is always reaching for, but never quite getting on this show. And it always strikes me that it finds a way to balance what the food culture of a city is. And that isn't always a good thing. thing. And so it's been fun to kind of see both sides of LA through the lens of this competition show. That's a great point. And also kind of gets back again to the role of Top Chef and the cooking world, because we were talking about how it started in 2005, which is sort of right before the celebrity

chef became a thing. And I think there's a kind of a chicken or an egg with Top Chef is like, did the Celebrity Chef arise because of Top Chef and other TV chefs? Or did Top Chef become bigger as people cared more about who chefs were? And obviously, there's people like Anthony Mordine. and of course our Ringer podcast network colleague David Chang and Nancy Silverton who's been on this season and so many others. But I think there is a real question of like, did those people get famous because of Top Chef introduced the idea or is it vice versa? Or are they just like so intertwined that you can't even tell? I don't know the answer. I think they're harmonious.

I think it worked together very elegantly because there has always been the sort of the Jacques Pepin, the famous chef, you know, the well-known chef. You know, the well-known chef. But the well-known chef as media star is a relatively new phenomenon. And one of the things that Top Chef did is it created a kind of cultural literacy for who the icons of cooking are and were. And the show introduces guest judges frequently that are people, whether they're in their native city or state or just people from around the world. You know, you'll see like the Jeremiah High Towers of the world will show up on this show. And you'll get a... And they're so excited to see them.

They're like, yes, Jeremiah High. tower. Exactly. You know, it's like Quentin Tarantino comes to the ringer, you know, we're like, holy damn, but he's here. This is crazy. And it's a unique and smart way, I think, not just to excite the competition, but to teach people. I mean, people like me, I'm not a food historian. I'm not, I love going to restaurants, but I'm not incredibly sophisticated about that world. And so I like getting that kind of micro window into it. And it's not inauthentic to the competition. There's a reason for those people frequently to be there and to weigh in on the food. And it also, it kind of flattens things too because good food is good food. And the way that

the show is organized is so unique to other competition shows. Because even if someone like Kevin Gillespie, as you mentioned, appears on the show, we know he's one of the best chefs that's ever appeared on Top Chef. In this season, he has been pretty dominant and has emerged as really one of the great alumni of all time. And in the most recent episode, he really struggled. And even though there eight or nine people still left in the game, he got his head chopped off. Yeah. So let's talk about last night what happened. What reminded me of sort of like the trends of sort of the waves of did Top Chef

start the wave or is it riding the wave is last night restaurant wars was held at the row in DTLA, which Padma really tried to sell. And I would say the row is like just a retail failure. And I think it's probably even worse now than before. And so it was really funny to see Top Chef like immerse in that space. but it also is a perfect setting for restaurant wars. The row is basically converted warehouse space into a mall, the most L.A. thing possible.

And so they used a couple of the empty stores to be the two restaurants. One was helmed by Kevin and one by Gregory. Gregory's was called Khan, and it was his vision of Haitian food. And Kevin's was called the country captain, which was his take on his grandmother's southern cooking. They both the previous week had pitched them and won in the pitch process.

And you just knew that was going to be the kiss of death. It's like, do you even want to win this pitch process? Because typically in restaurant wars, where the chefs have anywhere from 48 to 72 hours to stand up an entire restaurant, someone either from the front of the house or the executive chef goes home and pretty much like never anything in between.

So right away, Kevin and Gregory, two of the best chefs, definitely top five of the season were in the firing line. And I thought Gregory, made a bold and at the time when he made it, I thought, foolish and ultimately proved to be incredibly strategic and insightful move in drafting his team. So restaurant wars, there are four phases. There is the executive chef. There are two chefs who are essentially running the line behind the scenes. And then there is front of house, someone who essentially greets and seats people

who are entering this makeshift restaurant. And Gregory had the second overall pick in this draft. and he selected longtime top chef alumni Brian Malarkey, who I think is certainly one of the weakest chefs on this season. And while being a character just seems a little bit out of his league throughout and is a very controversial person and I think many people think he's annoying. And frankly, it was a genius pick because Brian Malarkey absolutely crushed front of the house, even though things were very hectic and frantic as they always are at restaurant wars. He guided Gregory's restaurant into a little bit of grace in addition to Gregory just being

arguably the odds on favor to win this season. And so somehow, despite the fact that Kevin had Melissa and Brian, two chefs that you talked about on his team, and he seemed to have drafted the best team, we got a situation where the weak team far in a way defeated the stronger team. So, like, the show is so unpredictable in that way. You know, I think it's so different from a show like Survivor where there's sort of like betting odds frequently on who's going to win and who has great strategy. We're watching the show right now.

one of the best players ever is currently dominating the game on Top Chef, it kind of doesn't matter. There is such an incredible level of unpredictability to the show that makes it, I think, very renewable as an experience. And the funny thing about Brian Malarkey is that I heard Tom Cleek-U-Say on Watch Whatter Happens Live, like three or four weeks ago, he said the wealthiest person among all of them is Brian Malarkey. And that's because Brian Malarkey has opened and, like, franchised about 20 restaurants.

And so Brian Mularky is in the restaurant business, which is not the same as being top chef. And I think we're actually seeing that play out a lot this season right now because I've eaten Brian Valtagio's food. I'm like obsessed with him. And everyone, all the judges, like Brian Veltagio's food is amazing. But he's usually just like not doing the challenge. Like he's usually just like cooking what he wants, how he wants, when he wants. And he just sort of like does not listen to what the prompt is. It's kind of like if you were an editor and he was your writer and he like turned in like, you know, an incredible three. thousand word piece about like, you know, some really esoteric topic. But you're like, but I asked for 600 words on top chef. You'd be like really pissed. And I think that's what's happening with him. And we're seeing with all these chefs who are coming back who have had their own careers and various levels of success and experience. Some of them are like, I think, really hungry for the title of Top Chef and therefore playing the game really well. Like Melissa is definitely like that. I think someone like Karen is really like that as well. I, you know, even, even Gregory.

is like that too. But some of them, I think, are just like, fuck it. I'm doing me and, like, believe and, like, have believed in their own brand. And we're almost seeing, like, is it the person and their style or is it, like, where you are in your career and, like, how amenable you are to, like, playing the game of Top Chef. And it's a great point. I think Kevin, and so ultimately, spoiler, last night on restaurant wars, Kevin went home because his restaurant was really overly ambitious, but he was just like, I'm presenting my vision for this. And it really backfired. And, like, the judges didn't like it. But Kevin, I don't think I don't think any regrets, right? He was just like, this is what I do.

Yeah, he had a rare reality competition moment of accepting responsibility and ultimately, essentially just stepping down from the competition. I mean, he more or less put himself in the line of fire and the judges had an easy decision there, which you never see. And I, I thought it was actually kind of overstated his desire to sort of take the bullet for his team. But it was his fault and he deserved to go home. And that's the downside of winning that pitch and being the executive chef at restaurant wars. We've seen this 10, 12 times. The person who seems like they're in the driver's seat, who is leading the best team in restaurant wars, who has a great approach to food and a great concept, just screwing it up. It just seemed

like he made kind of mediocre food. And that's really all it takes. It's one time making mediocre food and you're off the show. Yeah, Project runway is the same way. One day you're in, the next day you're out. And for both of those shows, which have been around for a long time, they really, like, they thrive on talent. And Top Chef has gone to great lengths to be like, Tom decides on the food, like the producers don't decide, which is very comforting. Tom and Padma are such a strong guiding hand and like locus of familiarity on these shows that it's it's pretty amazing it's like they they don't have to be like the ryan sea crest or even like the kind of really over the top host but they just provide so much stability i absolutely love it this season

has just been really good for some for some reason it's all just really working and also hilarious of course to think to be pondering chef made food and restaurants while in quarantine well i mean my final thought about it is that the other reason that it has worked so well is it is a true replacement for sports. I mean, it really does have that. I have the same relationship to it that I have to like Thursday night football or to the Thursday night NBA game. It's like I have to tune in a 10. I want to know what happens. I don't want it spoiled. I need to know the outcome. Last night's episode was 75 minutes. It was a sporting event in many ways. And at this exact moment, that's something that I've been craving. So it takes on a great.

importance. You all should be watching Top Chef. It pairs really nicely with Survivor and the challenge. Three competitive sports in the middle of your week, all on just regular television. Check out Top Chef on Bravo. And of course, check out more TV concierge to figure out what you should be watching. Thanks so much for listening.