‘Top Chef: California’ episode 2 review: Blame it on the vegan food?
The world has to be rather rough for Renee on “Top Chef: California.” One moment you’re proclaiming yourself as the “sassy chef” to the disdain of pretty much everyone (note: Never give yourself an adjective ever), and then the next moment you’re being sent out the door in a vegan challenge.
We liked the structure of the main elimination challenge in this episode, mostly because there were so many unique components. The chefs were divided up and sent off to different parts of Los Angeles, where they met with a chef at a prominent eating establishment. There were four categories: Persian, Mexican, vegan, and Korean. All had different flavor profiles, and we don’t think any of them really had a huge advantage over the other. You could use the chef at the establishment to get a better understanding of the cuisine.
Here’s where perhaps being a part of the Mexican restaurant team is a disadvantage: You have to cook food that you’re probably more accustomed to, and therefore your ego inflates out of control. Sure, Chad, Jeremy, Kwame, and Wesley all lived to see another week, but other than Kwame their food was mostly panned and their chef expert was treated almost like a mascot more so than an asset.
The Persian team of Amar, Angelina, Isaac, and Marjorie were the winners (understandably so, given that their food looked incredible), and after the Korean food team was safe this left us with the vegan group of Frances, Grayson, Phillip, and Renee in danger. We’re not sure what happened here other than that in Grayson’s mind, vegan food is kind of boring. We’re right with her in that we enjoy meet (also, Grayson is tremendous entertainment), but unfortunately they can’t challenge what the challenge is. Renee had the biggest failure on a plat, but we’re convinced that Phillip is on another planet probably buying his time before leaving the show. He seems like that guy who says that he knows everything and is insanely good, but instead goes in a million different directions. We still have hope for Frances to turn things around.
In the end, we’re two episodes in, and “Top Chef: California” is already starting to get good. We’ve enjoyed every season since “Texas,” so with that in mind this season has its work cut out for it. Grade: B+.
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