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.

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For all Tom and Kevin know, Wisconsin native Frank Lloyd Wright’s career might have been fueled by Pop-Tarts and Spaghetti O’s.

But some of the architectural luminary’s best work can be found just a couple of blocks from where the Top Chef 21 chefs scavenge the aisle of the Whole Foods for their ingredients.

This week, those chefs were asked to pay homage to Wright in a team challenge that stumped more than a few of them.

The upside is some heightened tension in the kitchen and some incisive analysis at the judges’ table, where Kristen Kish continues to shine in her first season hosting Top Chef.

After four weeks, one contestant in the field continues to dominate — and it ain’t a Top 3 pick. 

A heads up that we will be hosting a LIVE chat during next week’s episode at 9 pm ET on April 17 on Substack.

All Substack subscribers can join — free or paid. We will send out a notice in the coming days. Join us!

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This week's PYK Premium guest is Carly Levitz, the delightful queen of Top Chef data science.

Carly joins the show to talk about her (recent) obsession with Top Chef and how she watches every episode through the lens of a data nerd (we say this with utmost affection).

Kevin and Tom ask her some burning questions about the value of immunity, the Top Chef GOAT debate and regional evolution in Top Chef history. 

The Seattleite shares her all-time favorite cooking hacks from Top Chef and gives us her assessment of Season 21 Wisconsin as we enter the fourth episode.

Follow her work at carly.sue.bear on Instagram, @carlylevitz on X and her viz page on Tableau Public.

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Tom & Kevin aren’t huge fans of hidden doors or cheese croquettes, but they love getting to the bottom of a good mystery -- like who’s to blame over the slippery floor this week in the Top Chef kitchen.

This week’s Cheese Elimination Challenge didn’t produce any instant classics. One nice “nice fried ball” — as Gail Simmons artfully called the procession of croquettes — after another.

Though the episode didn’t produce any or memorable dishes, it did what an early episode is supposed to do: Begin the separation of the contenders from the long-shots.

Michelle, Rasika, and Dan are beginning to form an elite at the front of the pack. 

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In the annals of Top Chef lore, Joe Flamm is a legend. He clawed his way back through Last Chance Kitchen to win Season 15 with his combination of rustic Adriatic fare and technical savvy.

If you find yourself anywhere in the vicinity of Chicago, treat yourself to the Croatian goodness that is Rose Mary in Fulton Market.

Joe joins Tom and Kevin to chat about his experience sitting at the judges’ table in Episode 2.

How good was Laura’s hops-infused rice pudding and Rasika’s pretzel-barley cake? Was Valentine’s soup bad enough to warrant elimination ?

Has Tom Colicchio, after 21 years, entered the give-no-fucks stage of his Top Chef tenure, to the delight of all of us? 

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