This story contains spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the latest episode of “Top Chef” but still plan to, you might want to come back later.
The second episode of “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” dubbed “Living the High Life,” which aired Wednesday night on Bravo, featured the Wisconsin-y challenges of hops and bar snacks.
Milwaukee gets another close-up
Just like in the first episode, opening shots let Milwaukee shine with shots of the Downtown, the Milwaukee River and the photogenic Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum, known as “the Calatrava.”
Who knew you could cook with hops?
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“Top Chef” Colorado winner Joe Flamm joined host Kristen Kish for the quickfire challenge, where the chefs had to create a dish featuring hops.
Flamm, born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, leads Chicago restaurants Rose Mary and BLVD Steakhouse. He won Top Chef season 15. Kish was the “Top Chef: Seattle” season 10 winner.
In announcing the quickfire challenge, Kish and Flamm did a little hop. Once the chefs started working with the hops, one of them said off camera, “It smells like weed.”
As the chefs raced around the kitchen, they explained their dishes. One of them called out, “How you feeling?” and another answered, “Sweaty, very sweaty.”
Dan Jacobs, the chef/co-owner of Milwaukee’s DanDan and EsterEv restaurants, the first contestant to represent Wisconsin in the show’s 21 seasons, made a charred-cabbage salad with hops, citrus, herbs, Alpine cheddar cheese and red onion.
All the dishes were elegant and complicated, with Laura Ozyilmaz, executive chef and owner of Dalida in San Francisco, winning for rice pudding with hops. “You got the hops, you got the texture, everything really came together,” Kish said. Ozyilmaz won $5,000.
Props for the ‘Champagne of Beers’
In the second half, for the elimination challenge, the group of cheftestants visited the historic Miller Caves. There, they broke into two teams to make and serve a seven-course progressive meal featuring elevated bar snacks.
In introducing the challenge, Kish explained that the Miller Brewing Co. was founded in 1855 and is the oldest large-scale brewery operating in the Midwest.
“And it all started right here in Milwaukee,” she said. “Their flagship beer, Miller High Life, also known as the Champagne of Beers, is a crowd favorite.”
Flamm called himself a big High Life fan. “I always have been. Whether you’re sitting in a Michelin-star restaurant or just have a bowl of popcorn.”
The challenge was to take the salty snacks found in a bar and feature them in an elevated fine dining dish. Each team member chose one of the snacks to cook with: popcorn, pickles, pretzels, mixed nuts, potato chips, olives or toasted corn kernels.
Milwaukee contestant shares a secret
Jacobs talked about how he felt twice as much pressure because seven years ago he was diagnosed with Kennedy’s disease, a rare neuromuscular disease.
“I’m slowly losing some basic motor functions,” he said, adding that he didn’t want anybody to think of him differently.
Jacobs said it took him about six months to come to terms with his diagnosis. “I got angry and then sad and then I realized that I needed to do something. I feel like my time is now. I’m here for a reason. The reason is to be the next Top Chef.”
As they were were running around cooking, Jacob’s yellow team chanted ‘Win-sconsin!’”
Jacobs made popcorn mousse and put popcorn kernels on top with tweezers.
Viewers introduced to more local judges
The judges were filmed walking in slow motion into the cave, where they sat at a table and toasted with Miller High Life in champagne glasses. One of the Wisconsin judges was Charlie Berens, famous for his “Manitowoc Minute, a minute(ish)-long news show.” The title under his name described him as “The champagne of comedians.”
Among the other local judges is Jamie Hoang, who now goes by Jamie Brown-Soukaseume and co-owns the Madison restaurant Ahan. Luke Zahm, owner of the Driftless Café in Viroqua and host of “Wisconsin Foodie” on PBS Wisconsin since 2019, was also a judge.
Jacobs’ yellow team won the team challenge.
Chef Rasika Venkatesa of New York won a $10,000 prize for a dessert made with mustard and pretzels, prompting longtime star judge Gail Simmons to say that mustard is her favorite condiment.
Chef Valentine Howell Jr., from Dorchester, Massachusetts, was eliminated for preparing a beer and corn-kernel soup that judge Tom Colicchio said was more of a sauce.
Can you get too much cheese?
A preview of next week’s program showed a cheese challenge on a farm. Kish said, “It’s just too much cheese,” to which Colicchio replied, “Get out of Wisconsin.”