TOP CHEF -- Season:15 -- Pictured: (l-r) Gail Simmons, Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi, Graham Elliot -- (Photo by: Tommy Garcia/Bravo)

Top Chef Season 20 Episode 8 Recap: Street Food Fight

The previous episode of Top Chef brought us the joy of getting to know guest judge Gaggan Anand. Gaggan is known as a food rebel in the culinary world and all of the cheftestants were eager to please him. However, the one chef who did not please Gaggan was Dale MacKay. Dale and his flabby chicken mole were banished back to Last Chance Kitchen.

After Dale’s elimination, the chefs were chilling in the stew room when Gaggan surprised everyone and popped in to say hello. While everyone geeked out, Gaggan grabbed a free beer, gave a few high fives, and was on his merry way. The man is a legend. I vote for Gaggan to come back next season as a permanent judge on the show.

Taking It To The Streets

The chefs were still basking in the glow of Gaggan’s positive vibes as they awaited their quickfire challenge. Guest judge Judy Joo stood alongside Padma Lakshmi and they informed the chefs they will be creating various street food dishes from around the world. Padma and Judy dodged out of the way as the chefs hurled towards them to grab a passport of the country they wanted. 

Victoire Gouloubi was last to the board again, but unlike the emoji challenge, she was happy with her choice of Jamaica and jerk chicken. Charbel Hayek loves Japan but has never heard of takoyaki before. Sara Bradley informed him it’s just fried balls of octopus and a little light went off in Charbel’s head to make a fritter. Tom Goetter picked India and made bhel puri. At this point, I think Tom likes to self-sabotage because it’s almost a sure bet you are in the bottom if you cook Indian food for Padma.

However, it was Sara, Charbel, and Nicole Gomes at the bottom of the challenge. Nicole’s bubble waffle was too heavy, and Charbel’s takoyaki dish was nothing like the original. Sara’s empanadas didn’t have enough filling and Padma thought her dough had too much butter. Sara is from Kentucky and butter reigns supreme in the South, so I think Sara should have gotten a pass. At the top were Buddha Lo for his Vietnamese crepe, Gabriel Rodriguez with his chicken and parsnip poutine, and Tom with a fresh and balanced bhel puri. Buddha won the challenge, but Tom is really the winner in my book for breaking the curse. 

Fast And Furious Mise En Place

Next up, the chefs were tasked with their elimination challenge. Via a video message, actor Vin Diesel gave a sneak peak of the new Fast X film. Victoire proudly announced she’d seen all the movies. Same, Victoire, same. Padma told the chefs they will be competing in a mise en place race, and they will have to cook dishes made from their mise ingredients. The chefs were freaked out but it could have been so much worse. They could have had to chop vegetables and break down a whole chicken in the back of a pickup truck as it hurled out of an airplane and into a fiery volcano. Now that would have been a Fast and Furious inspired challenge. 

The group was broken up into various teams to compete against one another. The red team had Nicole, Buddha, and Victoire. And the yellow team had Ali Ghzawi, Tom, and Gabriel. Tom was happy with the team as they are known as the fast ones. We all know Gabriel can zoom his way around a kitchen. Wrapping it up was the green team with Sara, Amar Santana, and Charbel. Padma gave the good news that the winners will go to the premiere of Fast X. Buddha noted they needed to win for Victoire. Now that is a good teammate!

On Your Marks, Get Set, Brunoise!

Padma, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Top Chef Canada judge David Zilber were on stand-by to monitor the race. I would have preferred Jason Statham as a judge. In round one the chefs had to fan avocados, supreme oranges, and filet a hamachi. In round two they had to dice cactus pears, clean and devein shrimp, and shell peas. For the third round they pitted dates, brunoised red bell peppers, and frenched racks of lamb. The red team won the first two rounds and picked the proteins as their ingredients. This caused the yellow team to end up with all vegetables, and the green team with lamb and two fruits.

The second part of the challenge was for each team to cook dishes with their chosen ingredients in thirty minutes. Is this Top Chef or Chopped? Gabriel decided to make the avocado the star of his dish, and Tom roasted red peppers. Buddha made a cake with dates and was happy to take the risk of cooking a cake in thirty minutes as he had immunity. Nicole was worried her sweet potatoes wouldn’t roast in time for her shrimp dish. Everyone on the green team used lamb but then enhanced their dishes with fruits. 

RELATED: Top Chef Host Padma Lakshmi Dishes About One Of The Season 20 Chefs Having A Michelin Star

Thirty Minutes Or Less

The teams completed their thirty-minute challenge and served their dishes to the judges. The yellow team went first. Tom served a roasted red pepper with smoked bell pepper, hazelnut puree, chorizo gremolata, feta, and pickled veggies. Ali made smashed peas with basil, mint, and spiced potatoes. Gabriel made charred avocado with red pepper and bacon. Despite having limited proteins, their veggie-forward dishes looked delicious. The judges seemed to agree as well.

The red team went next. Nicole served tempura prawns and Thai coconut curry with roasted sweet potato. Victoire made hamachi tartare with colatura di alici dressing, lemon and dates. Buddha served a date cake with miso caramel, whipped cream, and pecan praline. David noted those were three solid dishes as well. The green team had a hard act to follow. Sara served a dukkah-crusted lamb with honey and tahini, burnt orange yogurt, and orange gremolata. Charbel made lamb with carrot dijonnaise puree and roasted carrots, and Amar made harissa grilled lamb, orange and sweet potato with jalapeño, and prickly pear gastrique.  

From The Botton To The Top

Those gorgeous veggie dishes stole the show and the yellow team was the winner of the challenge. Tom, Ali, and Gabriel all won tickets to the Fast X premiere. Sorry, Victoire. The overall winner though was…Tom! Tom was on the bottom last episode for his broken mousse, but now he’s back on top where he belongs. 

Unsurprisingly, the green team was at the bottom. The judges liked Sara’s dish because she featured the orange as well as the lamb. But Amar and Charbel only focused on the lamb, so one of them had to go home. And that someone was Charbel. Once David said those carrots were stuck in his teeth I had a feeling Charbel would be out. The next episode brings the infamous restaurant wars, so grab your popcorn and get ready!

TELL US – DO YOU THINK TOM SHOULD HAVE WON THE QUICKFIRE INSTEAD OF BUDDHA? DID YOU ENJOY THE FAST AND FURIOUS-THEMED MISE EN PLACE RACE? DO YOU THINK AMAR SHOULD HAVE GONE HOME OVER CHARBEL?

[Photo by: Tommy Garcia/Bravo]

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