Recapping ‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’ Episode 1

BY ARCHER PARQUETTE & ANN CHRISTENSON

Last night marked the premiere of “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” and the pilot episode was chock full of Milwaukee love – from the chefs hanging out at The Pfister, to high-octane cooking at Lupi & Iris, to cheftestant Dan Jacobs repping the 414. 

Here’s the lowdown on what happened, sliced and chopped into some crucial categories for you, including thoughts and analysis from our dining critic, Ann Christenson.

Be warned, spoilers abound. And check back in the weeks ahead – we’ll be recapping every episode. 

Episode 1 Recap

• This first episode introduced us to the 15 chefs competing this season, including Dan Jacobs, the co-owner of Milwaukee’s DanDan and EsterEv. 
• This season also reintroduces Kristen Kish, a Michigan native and former “Top Chef” winner who’s now taking over as host after the departure of longtime host Padma Lakshmi. She took on the new gig with easy charm and humor that we’re looking forward to watching every week.  
• This is a Milwaukee episode, taking us from Whole Foods to The Pfister to Lupi & Iris, where the chefs were faced with the week’s challenge.
• The elimination challenge was deceptively simple. The chefs were split into three groups, each tasked with cooking a different meal: soup, stuffed pasta and roasted chicken. 
• The winner this week was Manny Barella, a Colorado chef whose green pozole with chicken and charred salsa verde impressed all the judges. He has immunity next week, which means he can’t be eliminated. It also means he could serve, like, a tennis shoe if he wanted, which would be hilarious. 
• The bottom three chefs, whose dishes disappointed, were David Murphy, Kenny Nguyen and Amanda Turner, who were tasked with an immediate cookoff to decide who would get the boot. The directions were simple, but far from easy – use whatever’s left in the kitchen to make a delicious dish. The resulting poached shrimp (David), cabbage salad (Kenny) and snapper crudo (Amanda) were all kind of a mess. 
• David got the axe at the end of the episode, the flashy, tattooed, big-hatted Californian chef leaving painfully early. 

Wisconsin Highlights

• Adam Siegel and Paul Bartolotta! This week, the guest judges were Bartolotta, the co-owner and founder of The Bartolotta Restaurants, and Adam Siegel, former executive chef for the group and currently the owner and head chef at Lupi & Iris. Paul’s no stranger to “Top Chef” judging – he first appeared on the show in 2009, judging an episode in Las Vegas. We enjoyed watching James Beard winner Siegel slip into the judging mindset. 
• You have to love a scenic hangout at The Pfister. When the chefs had their first chance to get to know each other, free from the prying eyes of the judges, they headed to Blu, the cocktail lounge with a 23rd-story view. No better place to show off Milwaukee’s skyline. 
• The chefs did their first rapid-fire shopping trip at the Whole Foods on Prospect Avenue, where many a Milwaukeean has purchased leafy greens and various proteins. They had $200 and 30 minutes to buy everything they needed. Gotta say, this was probably the first time this many grown men and women frantically ran through that place.  
• Lots and lots of skyline shots. The art museum, city hall, the public market, Pere Marquette Park, etc. It was hard not to jump up every few shots, pointing like a child and exclaiming, “I know that place.”
• Hoan Bridge hero shot, baby! 
• Ok so this isn’t a particularly positive one, but it has to be said – the river looked gross in some of those drone shots. Swampy as heck. Ew. But that’s ok! Because the rest of the city looked beautiful.
• Early in the episode, Charly Pierre, one of the cheftestants, asked the others, “How’d y’all feel when y’all were told we were going to Milwaukee?” The resulting pause – and grim expressions – before anyone answered hurt our souls a little bit. But here’s hoping we surprised some folks with our awesomeness. 

Checking in on Dan Jacobs, Wisconsin’s Cheftestant

• When it comes to which contestant we’re following most closely, the answer is obvious – the only Wisconsin chef, Milwaukee’s own Dan Jacobs. And the first episode had him off to a strong start! His tomato and fennel broth with seafood killed it with the judges and saved him from the final cook-off. Tom Colicchio, talking to Dan and the other two chefs with him, said, “If you keep cooking like this, you’re going to go far.” 
• Gotta love Dan saying, “That ‘Midwest Nice’ sh-t is 100% legit,” and then getting annoyed at a bad driver on the highway. That’s peak Milwaukee right there. 
• Dan clearly loves shouting out his hometown. When the judges mentioned Paul Bartolotta and Adam Siegel, he immediately dropped the, “I know them.” 
• Pro move for Dan to make his soup Mediterranean-themed, in homage to Lupi & Iris, where they were cooking.
• The A.V. Club included this line in their episode recap and we feel obligated to reprint it here: “We could take a shot every time Dan mentions “Milwaukee,” but we’d all quickly die.” 
• Let’s not forget the other Dan! Great to see Dan Jacob’s partner-in-crime Dan Van Rite get a shot in the episode. 

Ann Christenson’s Expert Take

• It’s awesome to see the city’s biggest food movers and shakers repped here (Paul Bartolotta and Adam Siegel of Lupi & Iris). But I hope we see smaller, diverse restaurants represented – and foodways that aren’t stereotypical Wisconsin – as the season goes on.
• I give Dan Jacobs props for staying focused in the kitchen, not caving to the pressure. We got a taste of it with Hat Man (David Murphy of Shuggie’s Trash Pie in San Francisco – with a restaurant name like that, they should have kept him around). Nobody wants to be the first to go and that had to be stressful with the judges and guests staring at you the whole time you’re busting ass in the kitchen.
• I would love to try the dishes Dan created in the competitions. I wonder if they’ll make their way to one of his restaurant menus – the EsterEv brick-and-mortar coming to Bay View?
• The camaraderie/relationship building is really nice to see. I hope it continues.
• One of the challenges involved chicken, with Colicchio saying that one of the tests of a good chef is to make them cook chicken. That proved to be an interesting exercise in that first episode.