Pack Your Knives

With her sharp analysis, Mina Kimes can break down any NFL pass coverages or team-building strategy — and Top Chef field. She joins Tom and Kevin to discuss how Season 21 stands up to previous Top Chef seasons, to grouse about Soo’s controversial elimination at the fish boil, and to size up the remaining six contestants in the competition. 👇Hear the full episode right now on the Pack Your Knives Substack👇Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No chef has built confidence and momentum in recent weeks like Savannah Miller. She bagged a Quickfire win with canned corn beef (!), only to slice her hand open while filleting her fish for the Fish Boil.Though it looked like she prepared the worst of the six plates, she was spared elimination.Kevin was on hand in Milwaukee for the Fish Boil, and tasted three of the six fish boil dishes. He shares his impressions of the production, Soo’s beurre blanc, and Miguel’s winning boil.Tom argues that, even with the new “Quickfire factor” at the chopping block, the judges didn’t make the right call.Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For weeks, the judges have been threatening to send home not one — but two chefs — if circumstances demand it.This week, they did just that when they sent a quarter of the remaining field packing in a challenge that highlights the indigenous cuisine of the Northern Plains.Tom and Kevin note that Kristen is bored stiff by Manny’s generally successful (but tiresome) formula in the kitchen, and celebrate Savannah and Dan for a master class on how to endear yourself to the judges by “embracing the challenge.”Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few chefs have demonstrated the talent to execute risk in the Top Chef kitchen like Rasika Venkatesa.Her pretzel-barley cake with honey mustard sabayon and her daal quenelle have been highlights of the season, during which she emerged as a fan favorite.Rasika stops by Pack Your Knives to talk about her desire to reinvent cooking from Tamil Nadu, which she recently visited on a months-long food tour.She recounts her trip, which included convincing village fishermen to take her back to their homes to cook snapper with their families.She also shares her experiences on Top Chef with little formal training, despite rising from station cook to Chef de Cuisine in three years. 👇Hear the full episode right now on the Pack Your Knives Substack👇Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Wimbledon is to the pro tennis calendar, and the Masters is to the PGA, Restaurant Wars is to Top Chef.It’s the signature event of the season, after which things start to get really serious as the field of chefs is whittled down on the last stretch to the finale.Tom and Kevin react to this season’s 5-on-4 imbalance (boo!) and the new twist with two judges tables so that both restaurants have to shine early and late (yay!).They also dive into the controversy that erupted over Danny’s winning scallop chou farci from a few weeks back. Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The great thing about chatting with Top Chef finalist Amar Santana is that you get a completely unvarnished take on everything. He stops by Pack Your Knives to tell Tom and Kevin who really had the best dish of the last week’s elimination challenge, why toilet paper should replace napkins at your next reservation, and the saltiest confrontation he’s ever had with a customer at one of his restaurants. 👇Hear the full episode right now on the Pack Your Knives Substack👇Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maybe you’ve seen the Arrested Development episode in which Tobias tells Lindsay that people who entertain open relationships are delusional to believe that the arrangement could work …. “But it might work for us.” This is the theory of mind of any Top Chef contestant who believes that even though seven cheftestants have been eliminated after preparing risotto, somehow he’ll be the one who will impress the judges and be named the winner of the challenge. Enter this week’s delusional chef … Exit this week’s delusional chef. Tom and Kevin break down how Amanda is building momentum in the kitchen, how Danny is the kind of technical chef who has an inside track to Top Chef, and how ketchup has no place on a hot dog. Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Top Chef superfans are likely familiar with the brilliant work of Vince Mancini.For the better part of the last decade, the always-funny Top Chef Power Rankings have been a staple of the culinary competition’s coverage. On this episode, Mancini of The #Content Report, By Vince Mancini Substack joins Tom Haberstroh to digest all things Season 21: Wisconsin.We take stock in the competition so far; evaluate the stylings of Kristen Kish vs. Padma Lakshmi; the stunning elimination of Episode 5; the literary process of assembling his Power Rankings; Fresno, CA.,’s food scene; the revelation that is Soo Ahn; Danny vs. Dan atop his leaderboard and so much more.👇Hear the full episode right now on the Pack Your Knives Substack👇Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After weeks of more restrictive team challenges and hyper-specific assignments, the chefs get a chance to stretch their legs in an open-ended elimination challenge whose directive was … Chaos! fter all the chaos settled, two of the leading chefs found themselves on the chopping block with the threat that both might be sent packing. Laura has emerged as a passive villain, while Savannah continues to build confidence, and Manny underwhelms after his strong start of the season, which seems like eons ago.Tom and Kevin also size up Soo’s Top Chef potential during his rookie outing in the main kitchen, then debate the virtues of dark chocolate. Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom and Kevin discuss how much team competition is too much team competition on Top Chef, as the chefs again split up into two teams to come up with a progressive, 5-course meal befitting of a vintage supper club.The producers inject an edgy dose of conflict into the show when the the teams are restricted to just over $20 per diner, and chefs jockey over assignments.One chef emerges as an unwitting villain on the Green Team, while the Purple Team endures the Great Pineapple Shortage of Season 21.At the judges’ table, the chef with the worst dish of the night is spared, though there are no shortages of clunkers. Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices