Top Chef recap: Who’s got the Wright stuff?

The surprises came quick on Wednesday night’s edition of Top Chef: Wisconsin. Firstly, Kristen Kish announced, there would be no Quickfire this week because, secondly, our dozen remaining chef-testants would be packing their bags—better that than their knives—and heading off in a suite of shiny BMWs down the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail to Madison. Along the way, they would tour several notable sites from the famed Wisconsin-born architect, which would serve as inspiration for their dishes in the Elimination Challenge. However, that’s seemingly where the element of surprise ended this week, with an episode edit that made it all too clear which two chefs were going to be chopped.

Yes, we said two—this was a team challenge, so before taking off in those German luxury vehicles, the cooks had to pair up to create high-end dishes that would explore the element of duality in Wright’s various works. Together, they could tackle the “compress and release” philosophy often found in Wright’s designs or come up with something else entirely: light and dark, large and small, yada yada. “This challenge leaves a lot up for interpretation. It is a little outside my realm of cooking,” said Michelle, who was very happy to have that immunity this week. And she’s not the only one: her Elimination immunity was extended to her chosen partner, Charly.

Repeat winner Rasika and Danny, whose father is an architect, made an early formidable duo with their French Laundry-trained fine-dining backgrounds. Amanda and Dan bonded over being total goofballs (see: that excellent insert of Dan dressed as Bob Ross and Amanda asking about Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday to figure out his star sign), while Kévin and Manny connected over, uh, their muscles, their many tattoos, and the fact that they were in the bottom last week. (Said Manny: “We have a team name: the Power Bottoms!” Cannot wait for Twitter to have a field day with that one.) Seemingly less excited about their pairing was Alisha and Kaleena, who haven’t even worked next to each other in the kitchen, let alone with each other. “This is a whole other level of relying on each other,” Alisha worried.

And the chefs had the right to be worried: Along with cooking for Kristen, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons, the guest judges this week were last season’s Top Chef All-Stars winner Buddha Lo and French pioneer Dominique Crenn, the first female chef in America to attain three Michelin stars for her stunning San Francisco dining room Atelier Crenn. The competitors would have three hours to whip up their dishes at Riverview Terrace Restaurant, the only restaurant Wright ever designed. And along with that coveted immunity for one of the winners, both teammates would take home ten grand.

A tour of Burnham Block, a set of prairie-style affordable homes designed by Wright, inspired Amanda and Dan’s poverty-versus-wealth idea, as well as Charly and Michelle’s chicken-or-the-egg concept. The waterfront Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center got Alisha and Kaleena thinking of a land-and-sea duality, while Savannah and Laura went more abstract with their idea, which played on feelings of comfort and discomfort. And Rasika and Danny tapped into the dueling greens and reds of Taliesin, the personal estate of America’s Architect.

The usual kitchen kerfuffles added extra tension to the already difficult challenge. Dan’s scallop mousse wouldn’t set so he had to whip out the old liquid nitrogen; Savannah was spicing her tempura batter with wild pistachio, an ingredient Laura had brought from home but Sav had never even tasted; and Charly’s food whipper ran out of battery while he was trying to delicately pipe egg mouse into the shells. But those issues were nowhere near as drastic as the disaster building up between Kaleena and Alisha, who were dealing with real foundational issues in their partnership. “I’m starting to feel like we’re really not working as a team,” Alisha lamented, shortly before unleashing her frustration and some choice curse words over Kaleena’s poorly sliced mushroom cheesecake.

And it was painfully obvious not only to the viewers but also to the judges that the mistakes made by that twosome were far worse than the undercooked leek from Dan or the lack of finesse in Manny’s chicken and mushroom fiori. Watching Dominique Crenn trying to stab through the too-tough cornmeal crust of Kaleena’s savory cheesecake was like something out of an Ari Aster film, followed closely by Tom saying Alisha’s aguachile with poached shrimp was akin to “a first-year culinary student trying to make a fancy dish.” Nightmare.

It was so bad that the powers that be entirely decided to do away with their usual trotting out of a bottom “three” and instead just called Alisha and Kaleena in to give them the news. Similarly, they didn’t beat around the bush when it came to their favorite dishes of the week. That would, unsurprisingly, be Rasika and Danny’s “seemingly similar but strikingly different” dual spread: a dal quenelle with carrot purée and rasam (“like an Indian consommé”), followed by a scallop mousse with zucchini and green chartreuse, respectively. That flavorful rasam cinched Rasika yet another win and immunity in the next Elimination. “Keep cooking like this, please,” Tom pleaded with her.

Now that we’re five down, we’ve officially entered the top 10 of the season. Who, if anyone, do you think can catch up to Rasika in this race?

Stray observations

• As I’ve said before, the firsthand experience of Kristen Kish, along with this week’s addition of fellow former contestant Buddha Lo as a judge, really is a benefit this season. Kish got visibly emotional telling Kaleena and Alisha to pack their knives, and both Top Chef alums came out to offer up some much-needed advice to the remaining contestants after this week’s hard Elimination. “We’re not gonna sugar coat it: The food just did not come to the level that it needed to come,” Kristen said, giving them tough love. But Buddha soothed it with some aspiration: “This is the opportunity to be pushed to a limit and come out even better.”
• Of course Buddha Lo loves a double elimination challenge. “You’re just a masochist!” Gail correctly yelled at him.
• Next week’s episode already looks like a doozy: The chefs have to shop for their ingredients before hearing what the challenge even is. Eek.