Pack Your Knives Count The Dings

The great thing about chatting with Top Chef finalist Amar Santana is that you get a completely unvarnished take on everything. He stops by Pack Your Knives to tell Tom and Kevin who really had the best dish of the last week’s elimination challenge, why toilet paper should replace napkins at your next reservation, and the saltiest confrontation he’s ever had with a customer at one of his restaurants. 
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Maybe you’ve seen the Arrested Development episode in which Tobias tells Lindsay that people who entertain open relationships are delusional to believe that the arrangement could work …. “But it might work for us.” This is the theory of mind of any Top Chef contestant who believes that even though seven cheftestants have been eliminated after preparing risotto, somehow he’ll be the one who will impress the judges and be named the winner of the challenge. 
Enter this week’s delusional chef … Exit this week’s delusional chef. 
Tom and Kevin break down how Amanda is building momentum in the kitchen, how Danny is the kind of technical chef who has an inside track to Top Chef, and how ketchup has no place on a hot dog. 
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Top Chef superfans are likely familiar with the brilliant work of Vince Mancini.
For the better part of the last decade, the always-funny Top Chef Power Rankings have been a staple of the culinary competition’s coverage.
On this episode, Mancini of The #Content Report, By Vince Mancini Substack joins Tom Haberstroh to digest all things Season 21: Wisconsin.
We take stock in the competition so far; evaluate the stylings of Kristen Kish vs. Padma Lakshmi; the stunning elimination of Episode 5; the literary process of assembling his Power Rankings; Fresno, CA.,’s food scene; the revelation that is Soo Ahn; Danny vs. Dan atop his leaderboard and so much more.
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After weeks of more restrictive team challenges and hyper-specific assignments, the chefs get a chance to stretch their legs in an open-ended elimination challenge whose directive was … Chaos!
fter all the chaos settled, two of the leading chefs found themselves on the chopping block with the threat that both might be sent packing. 
Laura has emerged as a passive villain, while Savannah continues to build confidence, and Manny underwhelms after his strong start of the season, which seems like eons ago.
Tom and Kevin also size up Soo’s Top Chef potential during his rookie outing in the main kitchen, then debate the virtues of dark chocolate. 
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Tom and Kevin discuss how much team competition is too much team competition on Top Chef, as the chefs again split up into two teams to come up with a progressive, 5-course meal befitting of a vintage supper club.
The producers inject an edgy dose of conflict into the show when the the teams are restricted to just over $20 per diner, and chefs jockey over assignments.
One chef emerges as an unwitting villain on the Green Team, while the Purple Team endures the Great Pineapple Shortage of Season 21.
At the judges’ table, the chef with the worst dish of the night is spared, though there are no shortages of clunkers. 
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Buddha dropped by to dish with Tom and Kevin about his time on set, who actually served the best dish of the week, getting to watch Kristen Kish at work in her rookie season, and whom he’d name White House chef should he ever occupy the Oval Office.
👇Hear the full episode right now on the Pack Your Knives Substack👇
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