Top Chef Colorado Recap

Now That's a Lot of Schnitzel

By Kim Hollis and David Mumpower

January 17, 2018

Wait until you see his dad's nickname.

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The fests do get to have an awesome feast featuring stuff like strudel, wurst and pork shanks. A lot of them will really be stepping outside of their comfort zone here.

Okay, so the chefs are going to the store, but the most important thing that we learn is that Brother Love’s parents were exotic dancers who travelled around Asia. His father was Mandingo: King of the Topless Go-Go Boys. No, really! That means that Brother shall henceforth be known as Son of Mandingo: King of the Topless Go-Go Boys!

Tanya is confident about cooking European cuisine, as she spent a lot of her younger years in Europe (especially France) learning about the food culture there.

Chris, meanwhile, has gone to a dark place after the radler request. He’s buying premade rolls and pretzels even as he knows it’s a terrible idea. He’s just thankful he has immunity today, because he is not at all in the right headspace.

During the cooking process, Mustache Joe realizes that he has taken on WAY too much with this dish. He struggles to get all the prep completed in a way that makes sense.

We visit Lee Anne in the hospital as she chats with her fiancé. Basically, she is suffering from dehydration and altitude sickness. Great job, Top Chef! She’s on an IV and has some medication to help get rid of the headache. Even though she wants very much to compete and win, she simply cannot put her body and her baby at risk. She will be withdrawing from the competition. All for a stupid outdoor camping challenge.




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We actually know that Lee Ann’s baby is healthy and happy post-show. So, that’s good news.

As the chefs are setting up, a storm blows in, adding an extra element of challenge since they’re outdoors for this festival.

With regards to significant comments during the actual tasting process, Padma really doesn’t like Brother’s radler (with chai) and Keegan says that the egg roll just isn’t German. Tom agrees.

Good news comes for Chris as both Keegan and Padma enjoy his radler, which means that his fellow chefs did him a solid by helping him out with flavors since he can’t taste his own drink.

Fatima redeems herself with Padma with her delicious-looking dessert. Padma compliments her and tells her the chai flavors and spices go really well with the sweetness.

Mustache Joe’s radler is too sweet, and Keegan can’t taste the beer in it. Also, he described his sauce as a cheesy beer flavor, but Keegan thinks it is also on the sweet side and not as advertised. The German chef is confused by the dish, which is always a bad sign. (It’s a worse sign if Tom is confused by the dish.) The non-judge diners do seem to enjoy Mustache Joe’s concoctions, though.

It’s time for Judges’ Table, and Keegan is pleased with the German creations that he tasted. Today’s favorites were Claudette, Bruce and Tanya. The judges were impressed by Tanya’s pairing of her dish and her radler, while Claudette’s dish had great heat from Serrano and habanero ash. Bruce’s spaetzle was nicely cooked and truly demonstrated his signature style. The winner elevated a good foundation of German cuisine while combining it beautifully with a radler. Tanya is that chef, and she is utterly thrilled. She’s a quiet threat. She is getting a three-night trip to the BMW performance center/and thermal spa in Palm Springs.

Now, we have to deal with the bottom three. The judges call out Adrienne, Mustache Joe, and Brother Love. Mustache Joe admits that his day was difficult and that he tried to do too much. Keegan tells him he must be disciplined. Brother was happy with his roll, but the chefs didn’t believe his dish felt German at all, and the radler didn’t pair well. Adrienne admits that she needed more salt, which was the exact comment Tom made while tasting it (although they were generally quite complimentary of the dish).

We don’t believe Adrienne is at risk here. One of the boys is going home.

And in fact, it is Brother Love, aka Son of Mandingo, King of the Topless Go-Go Boys. The judges just really didn’t think he adhered to the rules of the challenge (although elements of his dish were tasty). He’ll be formidable in Last Chance Kitchen, and I don’t give Tu any chance in this first round against him.

Next episode will feature the “Top Chef Games,” and it looks like there will be some significant conflict. We’ll see what happens!


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