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Top Chef<\/a><\/p>\n Down the Rabbit Hole<\/p>\n \n Season 23<\/p>\n Episode 11\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 2 stars<\/p>\n **\n <\/p>\n \n Peaches and rabbit are the central ingredients in the chefs\u2019 last pair of challenges in the Carolinas. This was not a good episode of Top Chef. I thought a lot about giving it one star, actually, because it included basically every gripe I\u2019ve had with this season of this show. So much fan acknowledgment and integration that the challenge didn\u2019t work as a result. One of the final decisions being taken out of the judges\u2019 hands, and very little transparency in the decision-making that determined who won this episode. A chef who very clearly did poorly, but there was no real discussion of that at the Judges\u2019 Table. Some really irritating \u201cI want to be the main character\u201d behavior from one of the contestants. Ugh, ugh, ugh.<\/p>\n I went with two stars because I want to leave a one-star rating open for something truly wild \u2014 like, if Tom Sandoval is a guest judge in a truly heinous bit of Bravo synergy, or something \u2014 but for me, this was a really lackluster episode of Top Chef. Look, I\u2019m not saying that America\u2019s Culinary Cup<\/a> is the better show overall, because this first season was structurally inconsistent. (The finale aired May 13; you can binge it all now on Paramount+). But every time Padma and her co-judges explained to a chef why they got the score they did, down to the number of points awarded? I long for that kind of straightforwardness on Top Chef. And I long for guest judges as pedigreed as Eric Ripert; the last time he was on Top Chef was 2022, but there he was, on the ACC finale. Why am I suffering through learning who the Try Guys are? What\u2019s their connection to the Carolinas? None? Okay. Great.<\/p>\n We\u2019re getting to the point in the competition where contestants start realizing, \u201cHey, I could get to the finals, what do I have to do to make it there?\u201d, and Sherry, after a season of bragging about her Michelin credentials and how elite her work experience has been, and increasing frustration with her resume and her dishes not impressing the judges, loses it a little bit. I\u2019m not sure how else to describe the emotional rollercoaster she goes through in this episode \u2014 and I think it was weird that the chefs were okay with her trash-talking their dishes, but suddenly got all up in arms when Jonathan defended his own dish at Judges\u2019 Table \u2014 but we\u2019ll get there. For now, let me just say I liked Sherry a little less at the end of \u201cDown the Rabbit Hole,\u201d although I will admit she was completely right about the Quickfire win being stolen from her. That was some bullshit. Here\u2019s what happened: The chefs show up at Unity Park for their last Quickfire challenge in the Carolinas. Kristen says some really awkwardly written copy about how this season has been them \u201ctrying things you otherwise might not have tried before,\u201d which is an introduction to Try Guys personalities Keith Habersberger and Rachel Cole. I don\u2019t know anything else about these people, and I will not be learning anything more; this is me maintaining my \u201cno YouTube personalities\u201d approach to life.<\/p>\n Keith and Rachel are the guest judges for this challenge, the three parts of which Top Chef fans voted on in social media polls. What the chefs learn first is that they\u2019ll be cooking with peaches, which the fans selected over boiled nuts and pawpaw. The chefs then have to shop at Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery, and they nearly all take the free loaf of stecca bread<\/a> offered there, and they all gravitate toward similar ingredients because they don\u2019t know what the other twists will be, so they all are playing it a little safe. There are a lot of heirloom tomatoes, herbs, and soft cheeses going around, and this, in my opinion, is the sign of poor challenge design. If you give the chefs one ingredient and then strike fear in them by saying two more twists are coming, they\u2019re all going to shift into survival mode and decide to do something easy. Easy is bread. And that\u2019s how the challenge becomes boring, instead of the thrilling idea the Top Chef producers wrongly believed they had.<\/p>\n Now, Sherry \u2014 who insults the other chefs choosing to serve bread \u2014 is, essentially, serving bread. She\u2019s making a tostada covered with burrata and peaches, served with a fresh corn salsa and chipotle aioli. It seems like she\u2019ll have no time finishing it in 30 minutes. (The second reveal is that fans voted to give the chefs 30 minutes, instead of either 15 or 20.) The third reveal, though, pisses nearly everyone off, and Sherry the most: With 15 minutes to go, the chefs all have to shift to the workstation to their right. The fans voted for this over the chefs making their dish into a sandwich or adding a foam. This means that Sieger gets Laurence\u2019s ingredients, Laurence gets Anthony\u2019s, Anthony gets Rhoda\u2019s, Rhoda gets Sherry\u2019s, Sherry gets Jonathan\u2019s, and Jonathan gets Sieger\u2019s.<\/p>\n Kristen clarifies that the chefs can either continue with the planned dish already being made at their new station or use those ingredients to make something else, but no one really does that, and I don\u2019t get why. Sherry complains about Jonathan\u2019s \u201cbitter-ass\u201d pesto, but plates it anyway. Sieger gripes about doing a crostini when he hadn\u2019t wanted to, but he serves the bread. Again: This is not interesting to watch. This situation has happened previously on Top Chef \u2014 and other versions of it, like when chefs have to cook a dish together, relay-style, but can\u2019t communicate with each other about the vision they had in mind \u2014 and I think it\u2019s fucked up every time. You basically are stealing another person\u2019s dish, and that kind of gameplay is not why I watch this show. Here are their dishes:<\/p>\n Laurence: Crostini with peach and raisin relish, pickled peaches, arugula, and yogurt sauce. The least-favorite dishes are Jonathan\u2019s (the sardines were too overpowering), Anthony\u2019s (the bread and peaches were cut too thick), and Sherry\u2019s (the ingredients were too big and the sauce was too bitter). The favorites were Laurence (specifically the vinegar mostarda that Anthony was so proud of), Sieger\u2019s (they praise his addition of dill, which Laurence hadn\u2019t originally planned), and Rhoda\u2019s, which was Sherry\u2019s planned dish with no alterations at all. Sherry even told Rhoda what the final elements of the dish were supposed to be when they changed stations. Of course, Rhoda wins, and Sherry is immediately (and I agree with her on this) furious, congratulating Rhoda on \u201cplating it\u201d for the win. I really hope that Rhoda actually gave her some of the $10,000 prize because, yeah, that was Sherry\u2019s money that Rhoda took out of her pocket<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you thought the Quickfire was too convoluted, get ready for the Elimination challenge! Let me try to understand how Kristen linked these ideas together: The Swamp Rabbit Trail they are on is a top destination for cyclists, and also, Michelin North America is based in Greenville. So the chefs have to cook rabbit, but they also have to pay homage to the Michelin standard, and also, they have to feed 24 diners in addition to the judges, and also, five of those diners will be mystery diners like those used by Michelin, and those mystery diners get to decide who wins. The judges, meanwhile, decide who goes home, including guest judges chefs Niki Nakayama<\/a> and Adam Cooke<\/a> and retired Olympic cyclist Brent Bookwalter. This is the exact same format as \u201cDesserts Fit for a Queen,\u201d<\/a> and I disliked it then, and I dislike it now. Are the mystery diners actual Michelin employees? Why don\u2019t we learn the outcome of all their votes? Are the chefs supposed to serve dishes that could win a Michelin star, or are they just being judged on the quality of their rabbit? Should plating matter? Does a haute-cuisine approach matter? There are just so many vagaries when Eliminations are judged like this, and I think ceding this much power to people who are the series\u2019s actual judges is a mistake.<\/p>\n Anyway. The chefs have to butcher fresh rabbit, create a dish featuring it, and serve 24 diners consistently cooked plates, which is difficult because rabbit is such a finicky protein. Everyone is pretty chill, except for Sherry, who slides into \u201cI\u2019m going to be the focus of this episode\u201d mode by saying things like, \u201cI\u2019m gonna come out for blood,\u201d and Laurence, who didn\u2019t go to culinary school and has never butchered a rabbit before. In fact, most of the chefs haven\u2019t cooked rabbit since their training days, which adds a level of difficulty here. Rhoda and Sherry both decide to go homey, the former with a stew and the latter with mofongo. Anthony and Jonathan are both doing two preparations of rabbit. (Uh oh, we know how Top Chef judges feel about duo plates.) Sieger is making the very smart move of wrapping the lean rabbit in fat, in this case bacon. And Laurence is doing a siu mai dumpling with velveted rabbit; we see him double-chopping the meat to tenderize it and coat it with cornstarch before packing it into his prebought wrappers. Everyone\u2019s version of what \u201cMichelin\u201d means seems to differ: Anthony, who is pairing rabbit and carrot together in an homage to Bugs Bunny (this goddamn millennial, lol), is applying it to his techniques and his artistic plating. Sherry\u2019s using the chip on her shoulder from the Quickfire to make a statement about how Brazilian and Latin flavors aren\u2019t prioritized by Michelin. (There are many<\/a> Brazilian restaurants serving Brazilian food that have been recognized by Michelin, but sure.) And again, I think part of the problem here is that the challenge terms are unclear: Are you making the best rabbit dish, or the best Michelin dish? Here\u2019s what the chefs made:<\/p>\n Sieger: Rabbit roulade with rabbit and offal farce, braised endive, hazelnut, and cauliflower puree. God, the mystery diners. Whenever Top Chef cut to someone in the dining room whose face was partially blocked, or paired someone\u2019s comments with disjointed shots of people\u2019s hands cutting up food, I simply had to laugh. This was presented so seriously, and I just found it really corny, especially because the mystery diners\u2019 critiques often felt so simplistic. Sieger and Sherry served first, and the judges liked their dishes the best. When Tom calls Sieger\u2019s \u201cMichelin-style cooking\u201d and a mystery diner says they don\u2019t like Sieger\u2019s dish because it\u2019s been \u201cdone before,\u201d yeah, I\u2019m going to take Tom\u2019s comments as more legitimate. Everyone else is on a \u201cfine\u201d to \u201cdisappointing\u201d scale. Rhoda\u2019s stew tastes good, but Tom calls it \u201cpretty rustic,\u201d and Kristen criticizes it \u2014 like she criticized Sherry\u2019s curry last week \u2014 as having too many elements. Laurence\u2019s wrappers dry out and don\u2019t stick to his filling, meaning that he serves some of the siu mai upside down, which the mystery diners notice. But Jonathan and Anthony fare the worst and are discussed at the Judges\u2019 Table, and I\u2019m sorry, I think the judges have lost the plot. Jonathan\u2019s braising liquid was salty, sure. But Gail was obsessive about how large his croquette was. The number of times she mentioned it! Are we being serious? It was cooked well, so what does it matter? And why so much enmity for Anthony\u2019s dish? If the meat was dry, it was dry. But Gail calling it \u201cprecious\u201d and \u201cdisjointed,\u201d and Tom saying it was a dish fit for a rabbit \u2026 there was a little smirking contempt from both of them that I really did not like. Mix the four items around and take a bite! How hard is that?<\/p>\n Oh yeah, and then during judging, Jonathan says at least his croquette was entree-sized, not an hors d\u2019oeuvres, and everyone gasps and acts like Jonathan was attacking Anthony and the smallness of his bites. Yeah, he probably was. But Anthony did serve them half an eggroll! If you can\u2019t defend yourself at the Judges\u2019 Table, where else can you? And the real person who should have been up there getting critiqued is Laurence, because one dry, poorly wrapped siu mai is not a full meal, and there was no consistency to how it was served! Gail kept bringing up how Jonathan\u2019s saltiness was a technical error, but Laurence\u2019s poor preparation of the siu mai was a technical error, too. Nothing Jonathan said was worse than Sherry\u2019s complaints and insults all episode about everyone else\u2019s techniques and preparation; that little look Anthony gave Sherry when she kept making barbs that clearly applied to him was a very nice way to treat her clear elitism in this episode. I\u2019m not sure I could have been that nice in his position. Sherry gets the win because the mystery diners preferred her dish. And the judges sent Anthony home, because although his sauces were more complex than Jonathan\u2019s, the eggroll had no rabbit flavor, and the other rabbit piece was just as dry. Tom and Kristen would rather eat Jonathan\u2019s croquette than anything on Anthony\u2019s plate, and I\u2019m really sad to see him go. I know I am more pro-Jonathan than the people reading these recaps, but I didn\u2019t want Anthony to go home this early, either. His Goku run has come to an end.<\/p>\n \u2022 The dishes I most wanted to eat this episode: I refuse to even hypothetically eat any of the Quickfire dishes out of principle, and I had my own moment of contempt when the Try Guys judges were so impressed by Sherry\u2019s pairing of chipotle and peach. That\u2019s a very popular flavor profile, come on now. I\u2019m not a rabbit person, but I\u2019d probably eat Sherry\u2019s braised jerk rabbit and Jonathan\u2019s croquette.<\/p>\n
\n Photo: Paul Cheney\/Bravo\n <\/p>\n
\n Rhoda: Peach and burrata tostada, chipotle aioli, and corn relish.
\n Sherry: Crostini with gochujang peaches, heirloom tomatoes, and fresh basil pesto.
\n Jonathan: Peaches with heirloom tomatoes, sardines, and green harissa.
\n Sieger: Crostini with roasted peaches, feta, aillade (a French garlic, herb, and nut sauce), sunflower seeds, and dill.
\n Anthony: Crostini with arugula, roasted and pickled peaches, whipped feta.<\/p>\n
\n Sherry: Jerk-braised rabbit with mofongo made with yucca and plantains, avocado crema.
\n Laurence: Rabbit siu mai with velveted loin and pork fat.
\n Jonathan: Rabbit croquette, and rabbit tenderloin with roasted mushroom and leek saute.
\n Rhoda: Roasted rabbit loin with rabbit sausage and pea stew (she leaves off the gigante beans that she had originally proposed because they weren\u2019t cooked in time).
\n Anthony: Braised rabbit hind legs in a cigar, rabbit loin, carrot top salsa verde, rabbit jus, and carrot.<\/p>\n