This was definitely a missed opportunity to raise awareness of food allergies. Something every chef should be aware of.
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It might have been the language barrier. I think she had recently learned English. She might have not known the English word for walnuts.
Also nut allergies are weird. My daughter had a past boyfriend with a peanut allergy, and he was very vigilant. It was challenging going out to eat, we would have to talk to the chef.
Her fiancé is allergic to walnuts but he just avoids them and is not super allergic. Won’t eat them but cross contamination isn’t an issue for him like the peanut allergy.
My nephew is allergic to pistachios and cashews. Easier to avoid but he landed in the emergency department when he didn’t realize that vegan cheesecake is made with cashews.
New to English or not, she knows a nut when she sees one! I also would have thought she would disclose her allergies when on her last season. I bet she isn’t the first on Top Chef with a food allergy.
I like Dawn, but in her season (Portland?) I felt like the judges kept cutting her slack. Like they liked her cooking, knew she was a good chef, but she kept not finishing the challenges. I was afraid they were going to do the same this time.
I was glad Dawn went early. There’s only so many times you can watch someone make the same mistakes. She has time management issues. Her food sounds good though and Tom seemed like he was a big champion for her.
Sara seems like she watched her season and took notes on how she was coming off. I did not like her during her season. But now I do! I can’t even remember why I didn’t like her, but generally I don’t like the chefs who complain a lot. She seems pretty positive now and also like she knows what she wants to cook - strong point of view!
The German chef (Tom?) seems really good. Really, they all do! I like that they are all starting out at this high level - even the losing dishes have sounded/looked delicious.
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We didn’t discuss last week? Wow, no matter what the end result of that bottom three was going to be a heartbreaker. I adore Budda (I think I spell his name different every time…) but maybe he deserved to go as much as she did? Did those American judges give him a break?
Begonia (sp?) was a class act and I was sorry to see her go. And had Tom not had immunity he may have been out the door.
Gonna be a tough season - I feel like they are nearly all “favorites”!!
Tom would have definitely been gone had he not had immunity!
Buddha was so perplexed that he was in the bottom. Not a place he is familiar with 
A few Michelin star chefs, the competition is fierce!
Watch last chance kitchen. Could be a spoiler in there
is LCK on Bravo too? I never watch
I watched on the bravo app
Although Begona is a great chef, I do think her dish was an odd choice to serve. But, yes, Tom would have gone home for sure! I am glad my home town guy Amar won this round! It did look like a very satisfying dish!
I don’t think Tom would have volunteered to make dessert if he didn’t have immunity.
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Agreed- he was a good team player to take on dessert. I always wonder, though, why these chefs don’t have some good desserts ready to prepare when the need arises.
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I completely agree. I think he actually said something to the effect that he’d take dessert because he had immunity. That’s so different from what some many other chef’s would do.
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I have been following both Sara and her restaurant on FB for years, as well as her mom. Now following her chefsarabradley account on IG and she is posting videos after the episodes with some interesting comments. She commented last week on the difficulty in forming teams and then finding out it was possible that a team member would leave. Similar comments on sending a friend home after the VRBO experience. Also has commented on how supportive Bravo was of her shipping milk home.
Although she won the first crossfire, she has been in the safe middle for all the remaining challenges and I’m hoping she can continue to stay there or do better.
I have not been watching LCK and would not object to someone who has been giving us a summary.
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Said it before, say it again…Sara is much more likeable this season! Also a champ for going the extra mile with the breastmilk. Certainly could understand someone not having the time/energy to do that!
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Many interesting battles and very good looking food. Remaining 2 finalists battle off this week to get back in. Don’t want to spoil things, and LCK is free to view on Bravo.com. They are easy to watch 10-15 min segments. https://www.bravotv.com/top-chef
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Agree that all of them so far are favorites! The episode tomorrow will bring back one from LCK. I don’t usually watch, but have been this season because they are all so good. One chef will be back tomorrow.
As noted, Tom agreed to doing dessert because he had immunity. At some point it seemed like he gave up oven space/time to other chefs. He would not have done what he did if he did not have immunity.
Interesting, though, that the judges (only the other chefs) did not indicate that he would have gone home if he did not have immunity.
I don’t think they gave Budha special treatment. At this point, it is very minor issues that are sending chefs off. I think Begona had some issues with timing due to trying to share the fryer and her dish wasn’t exactly what she wanted it to be.
It’s so nice to watch a season where everyone really is a GREAT chef. All of the food, even in the quickfires, looks/sounds delicious. There have been some seasons where it’s apparent early that 4-6 of the chefs just aren’t that good. This season they are all really at the top of their field and it shows.
I do wonder if Begóna had a hard time with the challenge due to language. It is no small thing to go to a job speaking a second language - much less a competition - or a televised competition. A small difference in her interpretation of the challenge could have thrown her off.
I thought the other thing with Buddha’s dish was it really didn’t seem to have much connection to the challenge. He said something like “I ate this once with my family and liked it.” I thought the judges would call him out for not putting more soul into the dish. 
Tom the German chef is really handsome and also seems very nice. I’m not sure what was up with his refusal to make a crispy cookie/biscuit the week prior? That was odd. But generally - great chef, nice personality, and I can see him going to the end.
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Just watched the April 13 episode. Did anyone else find it odd they voted on a winner when Begonia didn’t finish her dish? Wouldn’t that automatically make Dale the winner? I don’t see how anyone who didn’t complete the challenge could even be in the running to win.
They didn’t show the usual “this dish lacked X, that dish was Y” conversation between Padma, Tom, and Gail…maybe that is why?
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I also figured that it was a walkover with the missing plate of food, but I guess they still needed to fill time and if Dale’s food was horrible it could have turned out differently. I was happy to see Dale back.
Was pleased to hear Sara give our hometown a shoutout as “Quilt City, USA” and thrilled Nicolle won the $10,000 for her adoption fund. Sara’s IG tipped off the result of LCK ending if you scrolled past the spoiler alert, so I knew who was eliminated and was sad about that. Personality wise, I prefer the one who had to pack their knives.