TCFL 18 Portland // Episode 1 Recap

Happy Easter & Passover TCFL! I hope you got a chance to check out Episode 1 and start to think about your future team. Thanks to everyone who came to hang out in our TCFL GChat on Thursday. We'll be back in that chat later this season for Restaurant Wars and the Finale. Let's look at some Winners and Losers from Episode 1 before we talk Draft:

WINNER - Portland
Top Chef is back in the Pacific Northwest for the first time since Season 10 in Seattle. Portland (along with Atlanta) was always on the shortlist of "Best cities that haven't had Top Chef yet" and Bravo can finally tick it off the box. Obviously there were production challenges, but I have no doubt that Oregon will show out in a great way.

WINNER - Beer!
From the taps behind the Judges Table to the very familiar tasting room chalkboards, it looks like Top Chef is really leaning into the beer culture of the region. 

LOSER - Oregon State
In the never-ending battle between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, Top Chef is decidedly Eugene over Corvallis (so far). The kitchen is colored in Duck green and yellow and Padma already shouted them out during the Elimination Challenge brief. I guess there could be a beaver-centric challenge down the line to even things out.

LOSER - Sous Chefs
I love when Padma throws us stats, and this one is a doozy: no sous chefs this season! We'll be spared from sous chefs chips on shoulders, but I guess it'll be replaced with "I make tacos all day" and Tom Collichio name drops. Speaking of...

LOSER - Gabriel
AKA the "I worked for Tom Collichio" guy. His finish at the top of the Elimination Challenge aside, his constant Tom name dropping (there were at least 3-4 instances in the Episode) will get real old, real fast.

WINNER - All of us who weren't ready to move on from All-Stars
Anyone who wasn't ready to say goodbye to all the familiar faces of Season 17 will have this transitional format to soften the blow. Kudos to the production team for making a fun wrinkle out of having to have a "bubble". Having alumni around is always fun, and having a lot of them around at the same time is even better.

WINNER - The Hotel Monaco
The Top Chef bubble (contestants and the production team) took over The Hotel Monaco for the entirety of the show with no other guests allowed. Definitely a cool way for a hotel to stay in operation. Though to keep some semblance of separation, Padma, Tom, and Gail did stay in their own AirBNBs.

LOSER - Whole Foods
I love watching them go shopping in Whole Foods so this is a loss for me too. As an embracer of delivery and curbside pickup for everything (especially groceries), this scene rang a little too close to home for me. I guess the winners will be the meat and seafood counter guys who basically get assaulted whenever the Top Chef crew rolls in.

LOSER - Bravo Merchandising Team
No (real) trips to Whole Foods means less opportunities for us to see the infamous Top Chef Knife tote bag that inexplicably still doesn't exist in real life. But there's another missed opportunity to talk about: Top Chef masks! The masks they are wearing should be branded, and I should be able to buy one.

WINNER - Whoever makes Blais' hair product(s)
If there is a would-be lock for some product placement/integrated marketing this season (other than Terlato Wines, of course), it should be for whatever Blais is putting in that ridiculous mop of his.

WINNER - Blind Tastings

It's always felt like they should employ blind tastings more, and now -- possibly as a social distancing tactic -- they might. 

WINNER - Chukar

Who knew? Never heard of it, never tasted it, and never seen it (or partridge) on a menu.

LOSER - Jamie

::Pfft, err mehhh. Meep. Chkchk, grrr ahhhh.::

WINNER - Bryan Voltaggio

For getting some competition for the "Most Distinct (Annoying) Laugh" on Top Chef award. Naturally, we are talking about Shota, and that reminds me...

LOSER - Shota

How do you make a tissue dance? You put a little boogie in it...

LOSER - Olympians as Top Chef contestants

If you asked me to pick a Chef at the beginning of the Challenge to be the only person to not finish their dish and also be the first person to start crying, I would not have picked the world-class athlete that should have world class timing and discipline.

LOSER - Roscoe

I don't think I've heard Tom give a more damning evaluation of a dish this early in a season. "It's a bowlful of fear." is basically all you need to know. Remember that Roscoe is draft-eligible even though he's starting off in Last Chance Kitchen. Will anyone take a chance?

WINNER - Sara

Sara won the first Elimination Challenge by cooking a great dish then giving an absolute Stephanie-ian performance at Judges' Table. Her strong showing and likeable personality will make her a popular draft pick for sure, but should it? In 18 seasons, the winner of the first Elimination has gone on to win the whole thing six times. On the flip side, Chefs who have won an Elimination Challenge (at any point) have been eliminated the next week a whopping 23 times.

WINNER - Us!

Of course we're a winner! We get another season of Top Chef and TCFL. As always, thank you for being here, and if you think you know of anyone who wants to join us, send them my way. The DRAFT PAGE is officially live, and will be open until the 2nd Episode starts on Thursday, April 8th, at 7:59PM ET. Get drafting!