‘Top Chef: California’ premiere review: Hollywood hopes

Let’s face it: “Top Chef” premieres are never at the top of the list for outstanding entertainment. The vast majority of the time, there are just way too many chefs competing in way too short a period of time. This happened yet again with the season 13 (subtitled “California”) premiere, which placed the contestants into Los Angeles in hopes of trying to determine how many of them were ready for this season.

Since this is an entertainment show first and foremost, let’s start by discussing what matters here: There were many good personalities that we met over the course of the episode. Wesley already has a reputation as the human kitchen wrecking ball, while we find Frances and Isaac particularly interesting and entertaining. They are part of the all-walks-of-life nature of the culinary world that makes the show fascinating to watch.

Now, let’s talk Grayson. It shouldn’t be a requirement that a season has a returning chef, and it seems like bringing her back from “Top Chef: Texas” is coming out of nowhere. She did make it pretty far that season, and was eliminated on the “Last Chance Kitchen” finale. Here, she was almost eliminated in the first episode! We’re glad that this didn’t happen given that she is rather lippy, and we appreciate any contestant on a reality show who does not strictly kiss up to the judges at any given point possible.

The eliminated chef instead this was was Garret, a guy who in comparison to Garret, is not that memorable. We do like how the first Elimination Challenge was handled, largely because it gave a chance to let every individual chef showcase what they can do versus throwing them into some team and hoping for the best. There’s nobody that Garret can blame but himself, but he’ll get a chance to compete in “Last Chance Kitchen” soon enough.

Jeremy won the challenge this time, and through one episode we’re getting almost Nina Compton vibes from him as someone destined to stick around for a long time. Here’s to hoping this happens. Premiere Grade: B-.

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