TCFL 16 // Restaurant Wars Recap

Veterans of TCFL know: I LOVE Restaurant Wars. And I HATE when they mess with it in any way. I really do think that it's the perfect Elimination Challenge. So going into this season knowing that they were doing Restaurant Wars early, I was skeptical to say the least.

Turns out the skepticism was (mostly) unfounded. For me, having three teams did not take away from the challenge. However, it did result in needing to stretch the challenge into two episodes. This on paper is a good thing. But that also meant having to have some "filler" in Part 1. What was some of that filler? Emphasizing the individual restaurant designs. I can't stress how little I care about this every time they do it. I don't care about these bougie design firms trying to articulate their visions. I don't care that they were able to procure some random centerpiece that they can showcase in the center of the restaurant (that will subsequently be torn down eight hours later). And it's obvious that the judges don't care either. Other than Padma (usually) mentioning something while they are eating, it never comes up again.

You know the kind of stuff I do love seeing? Scenes like the jacuzzi flex which was fantastic and oh-so-poetic in hindsight. On the flip side of that is Brian's service manual which to my knowledge, hasn't been done on Restaurant Wars before. That thing was fantastic and something I'd totally do and obsess over. (Side note: From here on out, if you know that you are going to be on Top Chef, why wouldn't you just write one of those beforehand and smuggle it in with you?)

Speaking of staff... where does Bravo keep finding these super inexperienced service staffs? The conversation Nini needs to have with a server about not needing a fork to eat soup is priceless. At least it was clear that each staff for the three restaurants was pretty equal. The difference was the Front of House chef. Brian had his service manual. Sara had her hands-on, lovey (albeit very holier-than-thou) approach, and Nini had... nothing. It's why even though she's my pick to win it all, I couldn't argue with her elimination.

Stray Thoughts:

• Most of the house being afraid of Kelsey is one of my favorite running sub-plots of the season.
• I felt bad that I didn't have much of an opinion on Karen (Season 13) and remember her more from an episode of Beat Bobby Flay. Then I looked and saw that she finished 7th in her season, right between super annoying Phillip and super disappointing Kwame.
• Had I known that David worked at Osteria Morini, I probably would have chosen him for my team. If you are in NYC or DC, check out their Morini Mondays for awesome pasta for cheap.
• I don't know why I noticed this, but Eric is a lefty. It looks so weird seeing chefs cutting with their left.
• Bourbon consumed during Restaurant Wars: NONE. Taking a break from brown liquor for a bit. Had plenty in Louisville.
• It's usually really funny to see the front of house chefs in their "fancy" clothes, but I gotta say that usually awkward Brian carries a suit well.
• Was this the first Terlato Wine sighting of the season? Seems a little later than usual.
• I really turned around on Brandon in these episodes. He was a great soldier throughout.
• My favorite Restaurant Wars trope: Padma telling a host(ess) that they have reservations and that host(ess) not knowing who she is. They upped the ante this season by having a server not have any idea who Padma is.
• Padma's statement glasses > Graham's statement glasses
• It wasn't explicitly stated (or maybe I didn't hear it), but I'm glad that one chef from each losing team was eliminated. You could have made an argument for Justin over Pablo, but having two chefs eliminated from one team seems like a bit much.
• The surprise $10K at the end was so great for the winners but doubly a kick in the balls for the losers.
• According to Top Chef Stats, the old adage that only Executive Chefs or Front of House win (or lose) isn't totally accurate. It's just about even across the board along all three categories.

• If you haven't been watching Last Chance Kitchen, I'd recommend catching up. The last episode of LCK featured Nini vs. Brother in a mini-Restaurant Wars competition, using all the chefs that are still in the main competition as their line cooks. The winner will be moving back up into the main competition and I assume we'll be finding out who that is tonight in lieu of a Quickfire.
• Scoring update: Anyone who has Brian on their team moved up this week, led by new leader Amilcar. Pablo leaves the competition with a very disappointing -11. As always, scoring can be found here.