Recap of Top Chef Season 9 Episode 1 – “Everything’s Bigger in Texas”

Top Chef started in a different way this year, with 29 contestants competing to get into the 16 chef coats/spots available. Did they change the formula because they sensed the contestants were boring? I don’t know, but overall, the contestants don’t seem that exciting that year despite their list of impressive accolades. None of them struck me as the type to fit well in Texas either. That’s ok, though. I wouldn’t, either.

To complete the first episode, the chefs were divided into two groups. When the first group cooked, Emeril Lagasse was introduced as the new judge. Bam! At least that is an interesting addition.

With one hour to prep and cook, group one started by having to butcher and cook their own piece of pig.

It was fun to watch the guy with a vegan restaurant trying to cut ribs. As he said, it his worst nightmare. And Tyler, the 22-year-old “personal chef to celebrities,” is a young, cocky kid got sent home before he even had the chance to cook. He apparently thought the word “butcher” related more to a serial killer than to an expert at cutting meat.

In the process of slicing his own pork chops, he hacked through the tenderloin that another contestant needed. In a move I’ve never seen before, head judge Tom Colicchio told him to leave the show right then because he knew the meat wasn’t going to be done in time or pass through this first round. Wow! Well, at least if the contestants are unskilled, they’ll get the boot quickly. That may be enough drama to keep me watching.

If you thought it was just him on the hot seat, Tom goes over and asks her why Grayson would trust someone else to cut up her meat. She said it’s because she thought it would free up some time, and Tom points out that that was her first mistake.

I tend to root for the underdog, so I dug the guy with no formal training.

This show also marked the first time when I’ve known of two contestants coming from the same restaurant, especially one being the other’s boss. While they’re on each others’ side for now, I imagine that will change if and when one of them starts to overtake the competition.

Another one bit the dust quickly as his soup ended up all over the plates instead of in the dishes. And here we learned how the judging would work. If the judges agreed that the contestant deserved a chef jacket, the person would move on. If the judges were on the fence, the contestant may be put “on the bubble” and have to compete in another round. And then of course, there were the people who just flat out didn’t make the cut at all and were asked to pack their knives and go home.

In the first group, some people made it, some were on the bubble, and the guy with no training got the boot. The guy with a salty palate gets in, which makes me happy since I could live off of a salt lick and be happy. It seems like the year of the Chi-town as four Chicago chefs make it in immediately.

From the second group of the tryouts, Gail Simmons is in the mix as a judge. Another set of high accolades flooded out of the contestants’ mouths.

In this round, they also had to select just one ingredient, but this time it’s rabbit. And there’s a guy that looks like Mr. T. who was in jail at one point and straightened out his life. So, I now have another underdog to root for.

Last minute, one contestant soaked his rabbit in fish sauce. I thought that was a strange choice, but it apparently worked as he made it through. One contestant didn’t even get her rabbit on the plate, so of course it’s game over for her.

I hope the majority of the contestants become more interesting over the season or this may be the last regular season of Top Chef that I watch. I think I have a favorite already, but I’m going to wait to see how she does over the next couple of weeks before I make any predictions. I wonder if others are slightly less than impressed with this season?


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