Last year, we here at The A.V. Club took on the task of placing odds on which Top Chef all-star would win season 17 of the Bravo reality culinary competition. We accurately predicted that one of the runner-ups (Bryan Voltaggio) would be successful, but weren’t as prophetic when it came to winner Melissa King (we placed her directly in the middle of the pack). For season 18, Top Chef: Portland, we’re taking another stab at the prediction game—this time ranking the chefs from least likely to most likely to win the title of Top Chef.
For what host and judge Padma Lakshmi believes is the first time, there are no sous chefs among the crop of 15 cheftestants. That means all the chefs are the leaders in their respective kitchens, so past experience isn’t much help in narrowing the field. Instead, we only have the season 18 premiere, which aired March 31, to guide our thoughts. It may mean we’re eating our under-cooked gnocchi by the end of the second episode, but here are our best guesses of who won’t be asked to pack their knives and go.
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I mean, the first elimination challenge did involve putting a bird on things (plates…they’re called plates). Plus, we already know from the previews that Fred and Carrie will appear during the season.Shota is my early rooting interest, though I don’t really know enough about any of the chefs after one episode to commit to a winner.
Will any other them be serving a chicken called Colin?
So excited for this season—I live in Portland so it will be really cool to see the city represented, see the cityscape on TV. I have never lived in a Top Chef city while the competition was being held in that city, so this will be must watch TV for the wife and I.
I was just glad to see Melissa again, she is by far my fave chef in the kitchen so far. So breezy and cool.The first chef they sent home seemed like they would have made great television.
I don’t have a good gauge on who the winner will be because I didn’t really get a feel for many of the chefs in the first episode other than the fact that the guy that worked for Tom is super annoying.Also, while he deserved it, I’m disappointed Roscoe got sent packing first. His dry sense of humor was pretty entertaining.
Shota and Gabe seem the early favorites. Maria and I’m guessing Chris seem the most likely to climb from the middle tier to top tier. Sara seems to have the talent, but her lack of confidence will be her undoing, and I doubt she finishes in the top 5. Avishar has “I have no idea why I’m even here” written all over him, and Jamie’s annoying sound effects were enough to make me root against her even if she were a good cook (relative to the rest of the chefs), which she isn’t. They’ll be out soon, along with Byron. Sasha (lack of execution) and Dawn (lack of time management skills) seemed thoroughly middle of the pack to me, but whatever. As the show has demonstrated ad nauseum, being a successful chef/restaurateur is not the same as being a successful Top Chef contestant, so I really couldn’t care less about James Beard awards or prior accolades. And please, don’t encourage them with this “cheftestant” bullshit. Dumb portmanteaus are dumb.
Feeling pretty vindicated, not gonna lie. Too bad it turned out Gabe is such a scumbag, though.
There’s more than one Portland. In fact, there’s one that was here first and stuff. And that has a thriving foodie scene. Just puttin’ that out there.
Signed,
Grumpy Old Mainerhttps://www.pressherald.com/2020/05/04/five-maine-chefs-named-finalists-for-a-james-beard-foundation-award/
Meh. Fore Street has been trendy since I lived there 20 years ago, but was never that good. Falmouth Sea Grill was better, and for breakfast Marcy’s was the best.
Shota I recognize from the first Iron Chef Gauntlet (the one Stephanie Izard won) and he held his own against more experienced chefs. I expect that he’ll be a tough out on this season, unless he gets a bad draw in Restaurant Wars.Does anyone get a Michael Bolton vibe (no, the other one) from Avishar?
I’ve eaten at Maria’s restaurant many, many times in Tucson, and she’s a great chef who I imagine (and hope) will go far. She’s definitely tough, which most of the time an asset, though I could see her potentially having some issues in team challenges if she butts heads with someone.
Phew, does this mean tv club is covering this season? I’m only slightly ashamed to admit that I’ve been waiting to see the first episode discussed here. 🙁
And the most adorable cutie pie award goes to Shota wow 🥺
My top three would be Gabriel (cocky as he is, he showed really well and has worked for Tom), Sara, and Shota. I don’t think the lack of confidence is a big deal personally, we just watched a season where the chef with the least confidence early on won. The food is what matters and she won the food competition.Not a fan of Dawn being as high as two. Time management is something that can easily sink you in a cooking competition and I wouldn’t be betting on a chef who had that issue in week one.
But that lack of confidence could hurt the chef when it comes to a team challenge. I’d like Sara to advance to the top 4, but I’m nervous she’ll be out on the back half of episodes, from either second guessing something she’s not familiar with or getting bowled over by another headstrong chef.
You could be right but IMO it’s hard to judge confidence based on one episode. This is a new situation for everyone on the show and some people need time to build confidence when put in a position they’re not comfortable with. I don’t claim to be good at predicting who will win Top Chef or anything, but my personal picks would be the chefs who immediately make an impression with their food and / or know how to play the game. The chefs who are in the middle / bottom already and the chefs who are surviving despite mistakes like clock management or not incorporating the parameters of the challenge are the ones I’d worry about.
Shota gives off the air of favorite out of the gate. And being a semi-finalist for a James Beard award does not mean being a nominee for a James Beard award. That is a finalist. A semi-finalist is one step below that. So he wasn’t being coy. These people know who each other are. There is no use pretending.I also think the low visibility first episode edit means Nelson is actually going to be around for a bit and they’ll get to showing him to us more later.
Does either AV Club or The Takeout intend on reviewing this season at all?
Well this didn’t age well.
In fairness, he did say she could go to Last Chance Kitchen and still win it. She only has to run the entire gauntlet…