TCFL 16 // Episode 12 Recap

Culinary comrades... here we are at the end of our time in Kentucky. I gotta be honest -- when it was announced that Season 16 would be in Kentucky, I had the same short-sighted and discriminatory reaction as a lot of people: "Wow, they must be running out of ideas and/or places to go." I've been very pleasantly proven wrong, and based on the feedback I've gotten from TCFL-ers, many of you feel the same way. Of course, a lot of it has to do with the cast, and for me, this cast is a drastic improvement from Colorado. I've also been swayed by our own personal trip to Louisville, which I almost feel bad always linking back to, but we really did have a great time there.

(Other than the week spent in Nashville,) I never forgot that we were in Kentucky, but the Bravo producers never hit us over the head with it. If you're wondering what my example is for the opposite approach, it's Season 9 (Texas) when the chefs had to Pee Wee Herman bike at and around the Alamo. Thankfully there hasn't been any sort of nonsense like that this season and hopefully the season finishes strong in Macau. On to Random Thoughts:

• I'm very familiar with the concept/idiom "pour one out for my homie", which is what Justin did for Eddie at the start of the episode. But I've never seen anyone actually pour out a full beer/drink before.
• Took care of two very important Top Chef tropes in this episode. The first is being woken up for a challenge, usually the Quickfire. There wasn't enough alarm/grogginess for my liking this time.
• It was weird not having Padma for a Quickfire. I can't remember the last time that has happened.
• Chekov's Garden! I called this all the way back in the Episode 2 Recap. But man, when we saw the fully grown gardens, I thought there were some nefarious stunt tomatoes planted so that the chefs would have something to cook with. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.
• Second Top Chef trope of the episode: the mentor (or family member) challenge. I would have preferred this challenge (especially as it was the last before Macau) to not have any "twists", in this case the auction.
• Speaking of the auction, I have many thoughts and questions:
• Most importantly, they missed a big chance not doing this earlier in the season. It would have been way more fun with more people. More people is more chaos and more actual bidding against one another.
• Did the chefs not bid against each other for the proteins because they're all buds?
• Why did they have random vegetables? Couldn't they have just turned around and bought asparagus at Whole Foods?
• Alternatively, was this just a roundabout way to get things like caviar, iberico, foie, etc. into the challenge?
• GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIILLLLL!!!
• Speaking of Gail, here's the Mom-iest comment of the season, from Mrs. Commish: "Do you think she pumped right before this?"
• I have no thoughts on Bryan Voltaggio's appearance because he was very on-brand. By "on-brand", I mean "boring".
• Bravo really, really, really needed to get that last shot of San Pellegrino in...

• The current Fan Favorite voting, in order:
• 8. Nini -- Very respectable considering she's been gone for a while.
• 7. David -- You say "endearing", I say "thirsty".
• 6. Michelle -- In the words of TCFL vet Dave: "Bores me to tears".
• 5. Sara -- This, plus the Elimination Challenge win. Have I been off-base on Sara this whole time?
• 4. Justin -- Must be based on longevity.
• 3. Eddie -- This is obviously two spots too low.
• 2. Eric -- The only chef to both win their season and win Fan Favorite? Stephanie Izard. Can Eric be next?
• 1. Kelsey -- How many times did Rich Park vote?
• I'm gonna allow myself to quote... myself: ...The other times, he gets weirdly flustered...
  As soon as I heard the words "heat lamp", it was obvious that Justin was going home.
• As always, scoring can be found here.

Finally, we were lucky to be visited this weekend by some friends who also happen to be veteran TCFL members. Shout out to Dave, Lisa, Justin, and Season 15 Champ Eric for coming down to DC. We had a great tapas dinner at Estadio then hung out at my favorite bar in the city, ChurchKey.

Clockwise from top-left: Yours truly (22nd after Episode 12), Dave (20th), Lisa (28th), 

Season 15 Champion Eric (7th), Justin (4th), Mrs. Commish (27th)

Most importantly, this was Eric's chance (as a past Champion) to sign the back of the cutting board/trophy. Yes, the TCFL trophy is now just like and just as important as the Stanley Cup.