Top Chef: All-Stars L.A. | Season 17, Episode 11 Recap: "Michael's Santa Monica," with Brooke Williamson

This week, the hosts welcome Top Chef champion Brooke Williamson (@ChefBrookeW) back to the podcast to talk about her insight into the competition, including her direct experience with episode 11 of Top Chef All-Stars, and a whole lot more.

Episode Transcript

(00:15):
Unpack your knives and stay, yes, stay, Welcome everybody to the RAJP
Top Chef Judge's Rehound table here onthe RJP network. As you may have
heard, Um, I'm Haley Strong. I'm here with just a full house
of great people today. Kurt Clark, Hey, Hey, Hey, how
you doing? Do we have?Do we have smoothie? Haley? Is

(00:36):
that the Haley that we have thismorning? No? You have. I
had lunch at eleven thirty and nowI'm having a fresh Coca Cola Haley.
Haley. We can do that.I can. I can work with that.
I like. I like cola,Haley. You like cola Haley?
Yeah? Good, good, goodgood. Not everybody does, um,
you know next to Kurt Clark.Not in person because like Quarantine's still hawking

(00:59):
everything, but like on my screen, Mike Balloon, Hey, I like
I like Coca Cola, Haley.I like any beverage, Hailey. I
like parched Hailey as well. Doyou prefer PEPSI or a coke? Michael?
Oh? Coke? Yeah, farI grew up a pep. I
mean I was not a soda personuntil probably college because the bubbles hurt my
tongue too much. Oh I waslike, that is obviously the reason why.

(01:22):
So then I but spoiler, wewere talking before we can record about
like sparkly water. I didn't wantto speak up about how it wasn't a
fit of sparkly water because the bubbleshurt you for two decades of my life.
But so suffice to say, onceI got into the sodas, yeah,
Pepsi just has like a little bitlike I was more drawn in by
Pepsi commercials as a kid, mainlybecause of that little girl in the diner.

(01:45):
But I Coke won me out ontaste, over marketability, malarkability at
the end of the day. Youknow what they always said that about you,
Michael, that you love a littlegirl in a diner. Hey,
that's a that's a good one tofollow up on. Let me take a
swig of my topa Chico. I'malmost here. Oh I can feel it
on my tongue, just secondhand.So Mike up, Mike, you grew

(02:07):
up eating buttered noodles the water thatit was like, that's that's that was
the diet. Hello here you onlyokay, we've lost Mike, Mike,
Mike, because just too much.It was like saying candy Man. Yeah.

(02:27):
Have you ever booted Mike from thechat this early? Josh? No,
No, I may have to anyway. How is everyone today? Great?
Awesome? I'm Josh. How areyou? What's up? Josh?
Hey, I'm doing great. I'mhaving the best time, laughing very hard
about the bubble tongue and then followingthat up with Mike Bloom's sudden departure and
re emergence into the I mean,that's what I wanted to just drop in

(02:51):
a deep, dark, dirty secretand then peace out and then shows not
to come back. I thought,this is this is where I just depart
my body and a sense of theearth. Yeah, I make him a
part of it. Yeah. Andwe also have a special guest during US
today, winner of Tournament of Champions, winner of the Top Charleston, and
most importantly, winner of Our Hearts, Brook Williamson. Hello, Bro,

(03:16):
I love you, Hailey. Ohhi guys, it's so great to be
back. Thank you for having meagain. I'm so glad I didn't screw
up so much last time that youdidn't have back. So it's a pleasure
to be here. Hazzan and hooray. Yeah, we are we are,
we are thrilled to have you here, Brook, lots of even overjoyed a

(03:37):
lot of lots of joy on ourend to have you joining our stupid little
Saturday appointment. Yeah, Brook,Guys, something you may not know about
this podcast is that we have justdescended into insanity this season. So I're
okay with that. Irtually think thatsome people have joined some of us who
were already down there in the descentto insanity. I mean, I think

(04:01):
if you're anything but insane right now, then then there's something wrong with you.
Yeah, and I gain, Ijust have to apologize for my I
didn't realize there was gonna be avideo on this podcast, so I apologize
for laying in bed right now,um, while you guys all look fully
dressed and um and sitting at tablesor furniture other than a bed, so

(04:24):
we'll see. I didn't sleep sweather last night. Yeah, the videos
changed your hair. I did toshow like so that nobody could see how
greasy my hair is. And thevideo is only The videos only for the
fifty thousand dollars subscribers, so amonth patrons get to get the video.

(04:47):
Cool, it's just us, Yeah, it's chickens. In here, otherwise
it's theater of the mind for everybodyelse. But one of the reasons why
we're so happy to have you onBrooke for a myriad of reasons, not
just because you're an awesome person,but because you are someone who sat at
the table not once but twice thisseason as recently as this past episode.
Was this a weird experience for yougoing back and like, you know,

(05:11):
going back to a time earlier inyour career, to the point where they
were actually making a dish that youand made. Like it sort of feels
to me like when a famous actorgoes back to like their high school drama
department and is like, this iswhere I started up, and like,
look how far I've come. Whatwas that experience like for you to go
back to or not go back to, But I guess celebrate like where you
were earlier in your career with MichaelSanta Monica. Well, I've been a

(05:32):
part of a couple of events atMichael's in recent years. Actually most recently
Michael had a fortieth anniversary party andI did like a little station for the
party, and I've remained close witha lot of those people that were on
the episode so it's kind of likea little reunion. I'm you know,

(05:53):
saying, and I still keep intouch, and Jonathan I see everywhere,
and Michael I see at the farmer'smarket, and he's the first one to
sort of stop in the middle ofhis tracks and hold up my arm and
say, do you guys all knowBrooks? She came from Michaels. He's
like a really proud dad. AndI love everybody there, So it wasn't

(06:13):
so weird. That part of itwasn't so weird. Sitting at that table
with those people was really lovely,and I actually felt very at home.
Having someone try to recreate a dishthat I made in the nineties was a
little bit different. That felt morelike like someone took my prom dress and
was trying to modernize it for agala. And it really sent me back

(06:42):
to a place of like, oh, yeah, I was nineteen when I
made this dish, and now somereally accomplished chefs are potentially making fun of
it. But you know what,I was nineteen and it was the nineties,
and it was a really progressive dishat the time. I was not
doing that at nineteen. Let metell him that was the first special I
ever ran, and it actually wasreceived very well. I love I love

(07:13):
a pink dish, big fan.I don't know if you can tell it
was real pink. It was verypink, and that was part of what
I loved about it. Um waswas the color profile, which I guess
I really cared about at the ageof nineteen. So what what was the
process like then, like when theyreached out to you to obviously, you

(07:33):
know, sit on the sit atthe table for the challenge where they like
and also by the way they're makingover your monkfish dish or did you like
find out about it as you Iguess that specific dish particularly um so that
so that situation was they actually askedall of the judges or previous chefs from
Michael's to send in a dish thatthey were responsible for when they worked at

(07:59):
Michael's. And I wasn't the chefat Michael's. I was a su chef,
um so, so I didn't reallyhave a whole lot of influence on
the stationary menu, UM, onthe static menu and trying to think of
that static menu, right, that'dbe the right word um and and so
I kind of had to think ofsomething that I that I ran. I

(08:22):
ran specials from time to time,but I really had to think very deep
into my brain about what I ran. And the only thing that really stuck
out for me was that dish becauseit was the first special I ever ran,
and it kind of held a littleplace in my brain because it was
like the first time I was givencreative sort of rights to to do something

(08:43):
on that menu. So that's thedish that I sent over, and they
loved the idea, maybe because itwas a challenge. Um and and so
that's how that dish kind of cameabout. That was a thousand years ago
in the nineteen nineties. We havewe have to like really dig back into
the memory banks. Yeah, whatdo you what do you remember about coming

(09:05):
up with that idea in the firstplace for the pursuit to wrap mounkfish.
I don't, No, I don'tremember anything about it other than the dish.
I remember at Michael's I was responsibleas the sus chef. I was

(09:26):
responsible for placing all the orders atthe end of the night, and um,
the specials were kind of my myability to and at the time,
orders weren't placed electronically, which ishow they're done a lot now that you
would kind of talk to the fishcompany and and say, hey, what
do you have that's on special?What you know, price wise or um,

(09:50):
something that's that's a little bit unusual. And I loved monkfish. That
was a fish that I really kindof fell in love with very young and
I just kind of assembled the dishin my brain after the fish company was
like, we have some monkfish.Do you want to do you want me
to send you some monkfish? Andthe next day I kind of put that

(10:11):
dish together. Just was stuff thatwas in house. We always had brousetto
in house, we always had beatsin house, so it was it was
just stuff we had. Yeah,and did this come before or after the
worst night of your culinary life withthe lamb all over the place? That's
funny that they added that story in. There were a lot of stories that

(10:35):
I don't know. I don't know. I mean, that does legitimately sound
like a horror story, even ifsomeone was like not involved in the culinary
industry. I can just cannon evenimagine try and keep track of all that
in your head when every single personhas ordered the same dish, but with
one different detail for each one.Yeah, I mean it was a tasting
menu on Valentine's Day. And Sayingwas the chef at the time, and

(10:56):
he decided rack of lamb was whathe wanted to do as the entree.
And I worked grill at the time, and it was grilled rack of lamb,
and I was taking racks that theyweren't like par cooked, they weren't
suvie, they were they were notready to go in any way, shape
or form. The order came inthe lamb would go on the grill,
you would cook it too, rare, medium, rare medium, whatever these

(11:18):
people ordered. And then suddenly I'dturned around and I look, and I
have like two hundred racks of lambresting at different temperatures that are all needing
to be fired at different times.And I couldn't keep track of it anymore,
Like my brain couldn't keep track ofit anymore. And I had no
idea how many rays, how manymediums there needed to be, and I
just I didn't like fall apart.But Saying Saying looked at me and he

(11:43):
was like, are you okay?And I had zero emotional sort of ability
to understand what was going on withinme at the moment, and I just
realized that there were tears streaming downthe side face and it was just because
I felt so responsible for the kitchengoing down in flames at that moment,

(12:05):
and it never went down in flames, like I was fine. Um,
nobody ever noticed that I felt likeI was falling apart, but I for
sure did with those tears. Andthat was the only time I ever cried
in a kitchen, and I wasreally ashamed of it. There was another
story about me talking back to Sayingand getting sent home in the middle of

(12:26):
the shift on a Saturday, Um, and one thing, and then Saying
had to work the girl and hadlike several dishes sent back and it was
like the best I had ever said. They didn't add that story, and
that great. Um. We obviouslywe want to like just talk to you

(12:50):
both about the episode and broadly aboutthe season of Top Chef, but like
we're getting into like a lot ofthe history that's involved in this episode.
But I do you think people wantto know how you're doing, how everything
is going in your neck of thewoods right now, given everything that we're
all going through and what the restaurantindustry is going through any updates that you
have about what's going on in yourworld. Brook, I'm doing okay,

(13:13):
but it's only like nine twenty eightam. When does the ship really hit
the bag? There's no telling whenyou wish that like thing comes floating in
through your window and says, okay, you can go back to sleeve.
I'll take care of it. Ido spend a lot of time at work,
so we currently have fire provisions openfor takeout and delivery. We got

(13:37):
greenlit yesterday by the City of LosAngeles to open our doors same day,
which we're not prepared to do.Um. There's a lot of regulations that
need to be met in order toopen your doors. And kudos to all
those people who can do that overnight. I'm not one of them. UM.
So, you know, we've gonefrom four concepts down to one concept,

(13:58):
and we're trying to figure out whichones will make it back and which
ones won't. UM. Trying tosalvage what little sort of functionality we are
capable of right now and figure itout. You know, some days I'm
feel like I'm on top of mygame and I've got it all handled,

(14:22):
but those those moments are brief.Um, and and then the rest of
the days, I find myself myselfyelling at my twelve year old son for
absolutely no reason whatsoever. Um.So yeah, I mean i'd say,
I'm it's going great. I'm alittle bit bipolar, but I think but
you know who isn't um Yeah,And so yeah, we're just kind of

(14:46):
figuring it out day by day.I mean that can be forgiven, I'm
sure, and especially you know,given the state of the industry and you
know, obviously uncertain ends like youwere talking about, steps are being taken
to sort of reopen things whatever capacitythat may be. But you know,
this season in particular has been superinteresting to watch back, especially this episode,
because like when you're looking at thisseason is sort of like, I

(15:07):
don't know, we always look atTop Chef season is like an ode to
the place that they're in, andLa is far this is far from the
first time they've been in LA ButI thought it was so interesting how like
they basically started the season with theJonathan Gold Challenge, which was, you
know, embracing the restaurant scene,and then we finished our time in La
by embracing Michael Saint Monica, whichis many people said was like the pioneer
of California cuisine. So I'm gladthat the show was able to find like

(15:30):
new ways to highlight LA culture.I'm sure you can can speak to that
as well, Brook as an LAchef, maybe in ways that they didn't
previously knowing that this is what,like the third or fourth time they're going
back to this city. Yeah,I mean, Los Angeles has so much
culture, and I think that ithas not been difficult to sort of find
new ways to highlight different aspects ofit. I've really found this season to

(15:54):
be a wonderful representation of the culinaryscene in this city and what it's developed
into. Rather than just being aboutlandmarks and UM and fancy restaurants, They've
really sort of honed in on whatwhat makes Los Angeles so special and UM

(16:15):
and the history of it and andthere is a lot of history here.
There is not a ton of culinaryhistory in Los Angeles. UM. So
when you go back to like totry and to highlight the roots of California
cuisine, there's really only a coupleof people that you can go to who
are still around and still still doingit and UM and you know, thirty

(16:41):
forty years ago, Los Angeles wasnot a culinary food mecca, and I
really feel like it has turned intothat. And and the sort of ethnic
cuisine episode was really lovely because Ithink that that's something one that Jonathan Gold
really spent his entire career trying toeducate people on these little areas that that's

(17:04):
sort of really authentic ethnic food.But then the you know, the sort
of California cuisine aspect of this pastepisode, I mean that that really is
what shaped my entire culinary career.That's what sort of developed my quote unquote

(17:26):
style of cooking. That's who Iam. And it's not even to me,
a style of cooking. It's noteven a cuisine to me, it's
it's really just sort of cooking withyour with your surrounding ingredients and paying respect
to them. And I think thatthey did a really really great job of
showcasing that. Yeah, I mean, I feel like we these final like

(17:47):
pre final challenges stopped up as aweird way of saying finals, right,
because finals to me always means likeone more episode and there's really like three
more. But sometimes it's usually likelike I think for Charleston Brook, for
you, it was like cook somethingthat resembles your experience in Charleston is so
I'm happy we didn't necessarily go withthat, especially with like you can you
can talk about this as well.Well, Like especially with returning players,
I feel like they're less likely thannewbies to really grasp that idea. So

(18:11):
I amn't think it made sense forlike two three time chefs to be like,
Okay, we're not really gonna dothat. More so, like here's
the quintessential landmarks of California cuisine.Make it your own, or advance it
or copy it, or in BrianMalarkey's case, try to throw some calf
brains and you know stuff onto aplate and see if it'll pair well or

(18:33):
not. But I thought it wasit was a better way to sort of
like have these returning chefs approach thisthan you know, maybe approaching it from
a nubie angle, which is andmore so like taking things at face value.
Yeah, I would have loved thischallenge instead of that last Charleston challenge.
This challenge would have been right upmy alley literally and replicated the moment

(19:00):
I could have modernized that month,no problem. But telling me to like
tell a story of my entire experiencein Charleston, Like what does what does
that even mean? Um? Soyeah, I know I would have been
really appreciative of this challenge. Whathave you What have you thought about this

(19:21):
season overall? Historically within Top Chef, it's our it's our second time doing
full blown All Stars, where we'rereaching the end of the line. We
are looking down the barrel of thefinals, both as as a as a
spectator of the show, but alsogetting the chance to be, you know,
to have boots on the ground fora couple of these challenges. What's
your experience been like outside looking inwith your experience on Top chet It's been

(19:45):
really fun. I feel like thishas been a really wonderful season in terms
of guaranteed talented chefs. Um,you know, people whose food that I
can relate to, not only becausebecause it's real food made by you know,
provenly talented people, but also becauseI know all of these people.
I literally knew every single person onthis season, and so it's really been

(20:10):
fun to watch and see how justkind of my friends, you know,
what their approach has been and whatthe scenarios that they were put into.
So it's hard for me to gaugehow other people are viewing this season,
people who don't know these chefs personally. But for me it's been it's been

(20:30):
really fun too. And actually everyonewho has spoken to about this season has
said that they've found it to bereally, really interesting and fun to watch
just because of the level of talent. Yeah, I mean I have personally
been really loving it. I'll floatsomething out and I'll see if it's a
hot take from the panel here.No offense to the present parties, but

(20:52):
this might be one of my favoritefinal fives, like group of final five
chefs in the history of the show. Yeah, I would have to agree
with that. And when we werewatching the episode, Um, when the
final five was revealed to us,Ethan I said to each other, like,
this is like a perfect final fivefor us, even in this season.
Um, you know, I thinkwe would have loved to see Eric

(21:14):
in there in some capacity. Um, but god, I am not willing
to lose Stephanie for that. Iam so thrilled that's to go to Italy.
Yeah. First, I called thisum from the from the beginning,
I probably could have called this thisfive. Really, I mean, I

(21:36):
don't I don't know, I feellike, well, at least from the
challenge UM that I in Big Bearthat I judged, I feel like I
knew who would make it. Idid not know that, um, that
Kevin was even there. UM.I was actually surprised to see him at
Michael's, as I didn't even knowhe was competing. Interesting are you when

(22:00):
you see people come back from LastChance Kitchen like you saw Kevin come back.
Is there like something as a fellowElsie krattorney that like makes you connect
with him, like want to rootfor him on that level? Or is
it more so like there's only somuch room in the winner circle for people
who have come back on the show. I mean, I would be a
total hypocrite to not root for someonecoming back from elci Kum. You know

(22:25):
it's funny because one I didn't knowKevin. I'm friends with Kevin, and
I didn't know he was even competing. And then when I saw him at
Michael's that was the last episode beforeItaly, and I knew that they got
like a week break before Italy,and I knew he'd get his phone back,
and so I texted him and Iwas like, I was like,

(22:45):
great job, I didn't even knowyou were there. That was such a
crazy shock. And he was actuallyhitting me up for he might have texted
me first. He was hitting meup for tickets to Brabacon for his wife,
Vander hump Rolls fan. Oh mygod, huge. Okay, Okay,
can you give me her number soI can have her on this podcast

(23:06):
because whenever I talk about gand PumpRules, the rest of the panel look
like I'm speaking. I've never watchedan episode of Just You. It's Just
You foot scene a long run walkingthrough Bravo kun. I was so confused
because the like there were so manypeople there and the whole crowd would go

(23:27):
insane when when one of the housewiveswould walk by and I'd be like,
who is that? We were wewere just talking last week about Top Chef.
Is kind of an anomaly in thebravolebrity lineup of shows, Like it's
probably the only show where nobody hasflipped a table. Uh, you've turned

(23:47):
tables in terms of getting people on, but like there's been no like literally
did desert thank you? Um?But it's yeah, it's it's it's this
anomaly. Um, It's just it'sthis lovely welcome and homily on on on
Bravo. So we're glad top chefsthere, but yeah, it's it's no
below deck. No. We wereactually like we were concerned, um,

(24:08):
because there's a new Bravo show aboutan adult summer camp. So when the
summer camp episode was coming up,I was like, this is gonna be
a cross Like Luckily it wasn't.It was a bunch of hot moms,
but like could have been and theywere a hot something. Um. Oh,

(24:34):
as a Canadian, we probably havealways pronounced it correctly. I have
never heard the word cleft foote beforethat episode. I looked at that dish.
I looked at that dish when shewas making it. When I did
the kitchen walk through it, Ilaid it out exactly how they played it
out, exactly how it happened.I looked at that I was like,

(24:55):
oh, that looks like a cleftfootie and um and Tom was like cleft
foote and I was like, sorry, m but that's what I was.
I like recognized it immediately. Anyway, To bring it back to Kevin,
he asked you for Bravo con ticketsand then you asked him for a first
class plane tickets and I was likegreat. He's like, you come in

(25:18):
Italy and I was like, well, I haven't been asked you yet,
but hopefully anyway, So he hetexted me or he called me and asked
if I could get him tickets andI was like, no, sorry,
nobody on the planet can get ticketsto this thing, um and uh and
I said, a really good jobgetting in And I was like, obviously

(25:41):
I hadn't seen anything that or heardof anything that had happened on elc K
and I said, I didn't evenknow you were there. And he was
like, Brook, you have noidea what I had to do to get
back on this show. He waslike, they they put me in a
scenario where I had to compete againstchefs who were still in the competition.
And I was like, that's crazy, that's insane. You're joking, right,

(26:02):
And he was like, no,I had to beat everyone um,
which was a bit of an exaggerationapparently, but I mean he was so
like blown away by what they madehim do to get back on the show,
as was I. But I wasreally excited for him. I was
really excited that that he was ableto get through all that, And I
was like I said to him.I was like, so you realize you've

(26:26):
already beat all these people, soyou know that you're capable of beating all
these people again because you've already doneit. And he said, well,
that's interesting. I hadn't looked atit that way. Yeah, well,
I remember. One of the reasonswhy he said, you know you can
get you first class sickest Daaly isbecause he's that airline diva, right could
he's still cash in on his who'shis grandfather? His dad worked for American

(26:48):
Airlines and so he apparently has beenflying business class for life. According to
the quick Fire, Yeah it soundsgreat, Brook. What's your favorite airplane
meal of all time? Um?I I had a really great cheese sandwich

(27:11):
on my way to Germany one time. Uh and and on a long haul
flight to China, they served acup of noodles, which is exactly what
I wanted seven hours into a fourteenhour flight. I was like, yes,
I would like a cup of noodles, thank you. Oh. I
actually know exactly what my favorite mealwas. It was on the way to
Japan. It was Japan Airlines.Um. And I'm not saying that because
I did a commercial for them,but it was really um. Literally the

(27:36):
show this podcast sponsored by it wasgreat UM. But they served like a
three course or four course meal,finishing up with like a green tea custard.
It was really good. UM.But then after um, after the

(27:59):
meal was over, there's like atwenty four hour menu, like a late
night menu because both plays really longand UM. We discovered that the udon
was like the best oudon we hadever experienced. My son, we went
to my husband and I went tobed. My son went to bed and
he slept for about an hour.I slept for about two and I woke

(28:21):
up while he was eating a secondserving of udon. Like he woke up
and called the flight attendant and waslike, can I get another oudon?
And of course it came right overand he ate the whole thing. And
I looked at him and I waslike, dude, you've had so much
to eat, and I'm not goingto tell you. The rest of the
flight was lovely. Actually ended upbeing my biggest nightmare of a flight experience

(28:47):
toward the end, but before thatit was phenomenal. Across the world,
I think every airplane needs Champagne Padmaon it I just wanted to ape Champagne
padma is. I was keeping tabson on what the level of drink was
and her it was spectacular thing I'veseen. And then she added ice,

(29:11):
oh, oh, beautiful work.I thought before Stephanie so so perfectly called
her champagne padma I looked at myhusband and I was like, hadn't this
drunk? How how early did theytypically film those quick fire challenges, because
I can imagine like it's like she'sprobably like, you know, not a

(29:34):
lot of sleep, got pretty latebecause this was This was also I think
right after they did them the threeor I guess the four for Kevin four
way uh lc K challenge, becauseI think it Elsie K ended with Tom
being like, Okay, your quickfire starts now. So it seemed like
it was an early necessarily mean thatit started now, but they they could

(29:56):
have potentially had a day off beforethis. It could have started later if
they didn't have a lot to dothat day, because I know that they
they did their shop on a Wednesday, really really early morning because of the
farmers Market. They had to shopbefore the Farmer's Market opened to the public,
or at least before it got busyenough to have to explain what was

(30:18):
going on. So that and theWednesday Farmer's market is a really busy one,
so they would have had to startreally early, so they would have
had to do their shop the nextday, So that was probably the quick
fire was probably an entire, entirelike first part of the day, and
then I would assume the second partof the day they went to Michael's and

(30:38):
ate, but all they had todo was eat, So I don't know
that it had ton't necessarily be superearly, but I will say that Champagne
Padma really was a pleasant surprise.I was so confused because when I why,
I don't know. Maybe it's becauseI am spoiler not used to hoyty
toyty flights. When I walked inand I saw her and Johnson Waxman,
I thought they were in like cheersfrom the voice. I'm like, why

(31:00):
did they bring these things in?Why are they sitting down? This feels
very unorthodox. You know, thereare there's are business class seats us pleaves
wouldn't know. I don't know.I only know those from walking by them.
Yeah, those are highly nice businessclass seats. Yeah. Yeah,

(31:23):
that was like a jet blue seator maybe no. I guess the American
Airlines sponsored the episode, so theyprobably sent that on the seat, But
well, I think it was Itwas good that she was like really like
method acting the part right, likebecause like if you're going to emulate the
the big like you know, cookus like a luxurious airplane meal challenge and

(31:47):
you really want to get in characteron what would you be like on that
flight? And what you would belike on that flight is a few flute
like at least essentially after a XANXyeah, oh, a couple drops that
CBD yeah, and even a littlethe little kind of flight attendant cart next
to pad where she's taking the nutsoff of it and kind of nuts Jonathan

(32:15):
shirt nuts. I will say,I'm like a lot of fun on a
flight until I'm asleep. Yeah,it's like Bridesmaids. Yeah, oh my
god. I've like watched that recentlyand I was like, oh my yeah,
this is such My son was watchingit with me, and my son
was what is wrong with her?And I was like, yeah, absolutely

(32:39):
nothing of what is wrong with her? And I was like, you know
those pills that I take on theairplane, well if you mix them with
a lot of alcohol. This iswhat happened. Stick a fork in it.
We'll be right back after these messagesand take that fork right out because
we're back. Do we know didMelissa like get her dish? Like,

(33:00):
did you get a partnership of theAmerican airline? Did that dish get on
any flight? Whatsoever? Was this? More so just like, hey,
in this mythical scenario, cook someairline food that doesn't go above the plate?
Yeah, I don't. I don'tthink. I think if she got
something from that episode, they wouldhave been very clear about it. Yeah.
But like Gregory said in one ofhis confessionals, he was like,
well, this dish could be eatenby like millions of people. So I

(33:21):
was like, oh, was ita sponsor? Maybe it was or something.
It's about very possible. That's thethat's the creative behind the challenges.
And also, yeah, I thinkthat the flight situation right now is very
different than it than it was.What an excellent point for us. That's
why you grow on top of theolymponsored by this airline that's going to take

(33:43):
you to the Trolls World career.Yeah, how about to the Olympics in
Tokyo to the Olympics and on yourway to the Olympics in Tokyo. Yeah,
do you think Kevin should have beenbanned from this challenge for his meatballs
being too tall? No, justkept the bottom of his pork chop on

(34:07):
that. Yeah, I guess youjust made a really squishy pork chop that
could have just been squashed down likehis meat balls. I think that there
is a touch of influence that yourconfessionals have from what happened in the episode,
and I think that the narrative probablycame from the results in this case.

(34:28):
Makes sense. That makes sense.So if Kevin didn't do as well,
he wouldn't have talked about being anexpert in first class food. He
might have done that. Well,what's your opinion, Joe, Because you're
someone who has experienced with like comingback to the show for a second time
and obviously like knowing the lay theland at least better than the first time,

(34:52):
Like have you did you get thatsort of impression from the current crop
of contestas, especially someone like BrianBotajo who has like come back, you
know, with much different environments andit sort of figured out what the top
chef game is. Even if histrack record this season is not indicative of
that. I'm sorry, what's thequestion. Basically, do you like Brian

(35:12):
Voltaggio? Do you prefer or Michael? Because you people, because you faced
off against Michael in the Tournament ofChampions, right I did. You wouldn't
know it from his social media,but from my seem like his scene Tournament

(35:34):
of Champions is my guy far insocial media? That's what I said.
Yeah, you wouldn't know that heeven competed on the show if you looked
at his social me um uh No, I like posted a picture hoping that
he'd like reposted or something very tightlist about the whole competition anyway. No,

(35:55):
I love Michael. He's very competitiveand and as as competitive as I
think Brian is. He approaches hiscompetitive his competitiveness or even competition in a
very different way than Michael. They'revery different people. I love them.
But have you met their pastry cooksister? I have not. No,

(36:16):
have you is Voltagio Italy where theygrow them? I didn't. I didn't
know there was a Voltago I donot fly in business class. I do
not know about provinces of Italy,so I was very surprising. Exactly like
so when Brian's talking with his fellowrobot inside the BMW, it was like,
show me voltageio Italy. I waslike, is that that's not a

(36:37):
place, is it? But Iguess apparently Brooke, can you ask her?
Can you ask your Tournament of Championstruck with the weather? Yeah,
so as I get it, I'lllet you know. Actually, actually there

(36:59):
there is some light at the atthe end of the headlights tunnel, some
headlights at the end of the tunnel. I did get confirmation that they have
located a truck for me, um, and that I should be getting it
soon. Um. I mentally feellike the truck like drove off on its
own and went rogue and they finallylocated it. It's like the Harry Potter

(37:22):
forward angle. I mean for thisend of time. Well, I'm still
waiting for them to deliver the belttoo, because I'm hoping that I can
take a picture of myself wearing thebelt with the truck at some point.
Oh yeah, not not on set, like but in real life. Um,
I think it Michael to you know, regram it or at least be

(37:47):
in the picture or like double tapit like minimum tumble tap. So well,
speaking of Brian, because I feellike, I mean, I'll show
a bit at like our hands here, so in going into Charleston, I
don't know, I feel like alot of us felt like you were like
one of the top chalk picks goinginto win just based on your previous track
record. I think a lot ofus felt the same thing about Brian Boltaggio.

(38:10):
And not to say that he hasn'tlike outward like bift it entirely,
but I've been a little surprised atleast as to like how much, namely
Kevin Gregory and Melissa have been sortof outpacing him in particular when it comes
to successes. I mean, youwere there to give him his first win
in this season, but like,did that surprise you at all? Considering

(38:30):
it's sort of the reputation he builtup. Yeah, I mean when I
so, I was in DC doingsome some Capitol Hill lobbying with him for
No Kid Hungry Um a couple ofmonths before they started shooting, and he
was kind of tossing the idea aroundof going back, and he was like,

(38:52):
Michael thinks I should go back,And I was like, you know,
what do you what do you haveto lose. It could be it
could be great. I was like, honestly, Brian, I think you've
got one hundred percent win this thing, and I think that that you should
just do it because you can't.It's not it's not gonna be the same
scenario that it was the first timefor you. You're not competing against your
brother, like, and we weretalking about it sort of in depth,

(39:15):
and I when I found out thathe actually decided to do it, I
was a little bit surprised because hesaid to me, absolutely, I'm probably
not going to do it. Butthen that Big Bear Challenge when he won,
it didn't surprise me that he wonthe challenge obviously. What did surprise

(39:36):
me was that Tom looked over atme and said that was his first win,
and I was like, what,yeah, are you crazy? Seriously,
that was his first win. Sothat was a little bit surprising to
me. That he had sort oflaid so low so early. It feels
like he's kind of been comfortably treadingwater. He's never been like on dry
land and like in the clear,but he's also never been so close to

(39:59):
drowning per se. But he's he'sbut he's always kind of been trying to
keep a float, it seems thisseason. Yeah, and I think that
he's still looking. I mean thatthat dish that he made, it Michael's
was which one was it? Letus look at up he made but Brian,
Brian absolutely made the roasted lamb withcavcases. But they Yeah, it's

(40:27):
interesting and I won't get into thatyet, but I will say, just
in the spirit of what we're discussingright now, it was a really strong
dish, but it wasn't the bestm HM in general, because we've heard
a lot this season in particular,like I know we heard every season of
like best round ever, best roundever, but just seemed like this was
a really strong group of chefs.Did that reflect in this particular one or

(40:49):
was it clear too that there werelike two tops, two middles, two
bottoms. It was it was prettyclear that Melissa's quail was was the hop
um like kind of in Actually,I feel like I don't know who it
was. Maybe it was Roy Yamaguchihad a different opinion, so I actually

(41:12):
I will say that I was reallylike Melissa's dish blew me away. But
Stephanie's dish was phenomenal. Um shehad a really hard sear on her scalop,
which half the table really appreciated andenjoyed, and half the table felt
like it was too aggressive. Um. So there there was some there was
a touch of negativity about about Stephanie'sdish. So therefore it was But Stephanie's

(41:39):
dish was phenomenal um and and feltvery much like a Stephanie dish. Um.
But it was pretty clear who thebottom was. It was a little
a little bit more difficult for meto figure that out because I didn't actually
get the dish. That's true,when when you get you mean like pretty

(42:00):
queer that it was Malarkey, notlike Malarkey and Gregory, but it was
pretty queer that it was Malarkey wasdead last, I mean, honestly,
um Gregory's dish. It was sofrustrating to me that he was on the
bottom because that was my dish.But his dish literally just lacked a bit
of seasoning and some moisture in thefish. And had he just done the

(42:24):
fish the way that I had doneit one hundred and fifty years ago,
it would have been, uh,it would have been a perfectly executed dish.
Um. So and then and Malarkey'sdish was was kind of all over
the place. Yeah, it's never, it's never. I think we've seen

(42:45):
we've seen this in past seasons alsowhere and I'm surprised that it happened on
this season, an All Star seasonwhere I think we have viewers know that
you don't plate the dish with theassumption that the the your diners are going
to eat it in a particular way. And I think Gail put it well,
which he said, moment hits thetable, you can't control like what's
going to go on on the platein terms of how they eat it.

(43:06):
Like a short of getting some sortof a special plating where there's separate sections
and it's very clearly a divide betweenthose two different portions or a separate plate,
you're you have you have no control. And I'm surprised to hear him
kind of fall back from out hehad so many components on the on the
plate. If he had just focusedon one dish and made one dish great.

(43:29):
It was like he made two completelyseparate dishes. And it wasn't even
that they like didn't that they clashedwith each other. That was the issue
for me. It was just thatthey didn't like there wasn't the need for
two completely different dishes on the sameplate. And that's Malarkey though, right,
Like, I think that's it's sointeresting how going into this challenge,
like some people were like, Okay, you know, respect for the ingredients,

(43:52):
let me like focus on a fewcouple of key components. And then
Brian Malarkey's like, I know Ishould be editing, but like I got
this far being who I am,and so in him embracing that brand,
that ends up being the thing thatsends him out, because it really did
seem like you're saying, like evenjust looking at the list of ingredients that
he put on there, like itwas almost double the number of ingredients,

(44:12):
And I will say that that's theantithesis of what Michael's restaurant is all about.
And I think that that was thethat was the biggest issue, was
that it was so not reflective ofMichael's dish and the sort of theory that
Michaels created in California cuisine was tolet a great ingredients speak for itself,

(44:37):
ingredients speak for itself, you know. It was like just the polar opposite.
It was literally the opposite of adish of the winning dish, and
I think that, I mean,what was sort of like the mood in
the room with all that plate losingstuff. Because Malarkey told me a bit
of a tease from my exit interviewwith him. He said that eventually,
like he got a chance to recookthe dishes for you guys. I don't

(44:58):
know, I don't know if youwere there for that, but I guess
he had the chance to like redistributeit. Like did you get a sense
as to what happened? And likehow thrown off was he really by what
was going on he I mean whenhe came to the date, so they
they had servers bringing the food out. I don't think it was not his
fault that the food went to thewrong table. It was unfortunate that he

(45:22):
had plaited these dishes for the judgesand they went to other people. I
think maybe other people had different experiencesthan we did. I mean, the
dish was what it was, butI and he was not judged on that
element at all. He was literallyjudged on his on his plate of food.
It was not that really didn't playit. It created some drama and

(45:46):
a lot of frustration I think forhim, because he didn't even know that
that had happened until he came tothe table, and production didn't even realize
that we didn't have our plates.Um, So you know, I would
say two thirds of the table gothis dish, and then a couple of
us had to share, And becausea couple of us had to share,

(46:06):
we didn't get to taste everything,and he did. I think I remember
them saying that he could recook thedish and bring more out, but I
don't remember getting it a second time. I don't know. I'm not going
that like exacerbates what the central issuewith it was anyway, Right, Like
if a third of you were havingto like share the plate already and there's

(46:28):
two dishes on the plate, likeall of that stuff by the design,
if that is going to have tolike mix and mingle with each other,
so it just like a you know, like a perfect calamity of errors for
Malarkey's side of things. Yeah,it was. It was just it made
for a very sort of frustrating,frustrating a couple of moments for him.
Him, I think it's the lastthing that you want to deal with.

(46:49):
Yeah, And also in your interview, he mentioned that like he feels like
he should get a chance to explainhow people eat the dish when Yeah,
I don't know if I totally agreewith that unless it's like a very specific
experience in which, like the chefis coming out with every course and talking
about the dish and how you're supposedto eat it. Like I kind of
agree that in a normal restaurant setting, if the dish is going out to

(47:12):
you, the person eating it eatsit how they think they should, which
isn't necessarily like one and then two, I feel it might and maybe Mike,
you're kind of the historian brain here, Like I feel like I previous
seasons, we've seen chefs do thatwhen they serve their dish, explain their
intent behind it. Like again,whether or not the diners follow that or

(47:34):
not as kind of, you know, at their discretion. But I feel
like there's been examples before where somethinghas been served and the chef testint has
kind of, you know, giventheir take on the intentions you're supposed to
like, you know, add thisor do it this way. We've seen
that in the past, haven't wewe have? I mean, I think
it varies. I also wonder ifhe was so thrown off, like I
wonder if he had miss throwing inan explanation of like hey eat like this.

(47:57):
I mean, to Brooks point,it seemed like it was going to
work either way. I mean,there's a reason why duos on Top Chef
are usually like like the risotto,like usually use something you avoid doing,
like the moment that Brian Malarkey sayslike I thought, you know, I
didn't want to just tell one story, so I did too. That just
shows like the lack of focus thatI think even the other five, like
Gregory ended up with an ingredient notmaking its way out, but he still

(48:20):
had focus on the dish. AndI think I agree with I can see
what Brooks coming from were like,and I think he saw it too,
which is the reason why he hadthat very self defeatist attitude at Judge's table
of like that, well, iknow I'm pretty much going home, so
like good ride, everybody, Ihad a good time. He wasn't wasn't
quitting. He was just like Iknow I'm going so let me like take
this. That felt a bit likehe wanted it to be on his terms

(48:43):
a little bit. You didn't fireme I quit. Yeah, yeah,
And and honestly, like, justto reiterate, I don't think that the
dishes not being eaten in the properorder really played into the decision that was
made at the end of the day. I honestly like, had he stood
there and said, you need toeat this first and this is how you

(49:04):
should eat the dish, I don'tthink that it would have played out any
differently. Yeah, what are weWhat are your thoughts on Gregory Brooksie a
fellow, you know, former runnerup. But it's been so interesting.
You know, we talked a lotthese past few weeks about like trajectory or
like gathering momentum, and it seemslike while Stephanie has sort of been on
the rise, this is Gregory's,i think, second time in a row

(49:28):
in the bottom. And it seemslike he's making like little mistakes right Like
last week he didn't salt things enoughbecause he was concerned about the kaiseki at
all. This time he misses theprociudo. Like as a Top Chef contestant,
does it matter whether or not youpeek at the right time? Like,
is Gregory gonna be okay? Youthink once we get to Italy?

(49:49):
Such a such a loaded question.I mean, I know whether or not
he is gonna be okay. Ithink, um, just from your experience
with with Gregory as a chef,Like, one of the things that I've
that's really struck out to me overthe past few weeks isn't like the word

(50:12):
keeps escaping me. There's like thereis a level of like self awareness that
Gregory seems to possess. Like heseems to know when a thing went wrong,
exactly why it went wrong and likestates it on equivocally. Um,
there's like sort of like a likea confidence there. I Like, again,
the words is like keeps eluding me, Like is there a word that
you would use to describe Gregory asa chef. There just seems to be

(50:36):
like kind of this way about himthat's really really admirable to me. Yeah.
No, Gregory is very composed,and he's very talented and um and
I know his food. I've beento his restaurant. Um, I know
how talented he is. I youknow, I think that that the little
mistakes that he's made have been veryUm, he's been very very self aware

(50:59):
of what has on wrong and um, and he knows how to season food.
He knows how to cook food,like I think he's Um, I
don't think his performance in the pastaffects your I don't think anyone's performance in
the in the past affects their performancein the future unless they've gotten into their

(51:21):
head to the point where they're like, you know, being sort of self
defeatist. And I don't think thatthat's what's going on here. Um.
I don't think that he's crumbling orfalling apart or losing inspiration. I think
he's made a couple of like timingor judgment errors, which which happens.
Um. So, No, Idon't think there's like some deeper, deeper

(51:45):
thing evolving. How about Stephanie,because like it's been sort of an opposite
story, Like Stephanie really struggled throughoutthe early going of the season, and
like she's she's in way right now. She even says too, where she's
like, I'm not going to letmyself get into my own head about this.

(52:05):
I'm just going to cook really well. And I think that. I
mean, I love Stephanie. Iknow Stephanie well as as well. UM,
I know she's incredibly talented. Shemight be a personal chef now who's
not working in a in a kitchen, like a restaurant kitchen. Um,
which I guess we all are atthis point. Um. But um,

(52:29):
but but she has I mean sheshe came from Barbara Lynch with with Christ
and Kiss she. Um, youknow, she definitely has some really strong
culinary chops and UM, you know, I think that there are certain challenges
that are tailored to two things thatyou might excel at, and there are

(52:49):
certain challenges that throw you off youand you blake. And I think that,
um, this challenge really fell intoher fine dining wheelhouse, which she
had, and she has a verystrong, you know, upscale restaurant experience
background. Um, that brunch challengefor everyone seems like a total shit show.

(53:13):
So um, you know, itwas funny when they when I was
hoping they would show on that brunchchallenge in Big Bear, they didn't with
Stephanie. When you know, theycalled the three top people out and they
called the three bottom people out,and she was just kind of like left
to the side. Um, shewas like standing there. She's like,

(53:35):
what do you guys want me todo? And PA's like you can just
you can just stay there, andand she was like, Okay, so
I don't I don't have to standin front of you guys at all,
Like I'm just I'm just over here, and and she was like, yes,
you're in the middle, and therewas only one middle person, and
she she started crying and Pablo waslike, what are you crying about?

(54:00):
And she was like, I'm justso excited to not have to stand in
front of you guys, be inthe middle. She was so excited to
be in not to like explain herself. I mean, Stephanie, I really
do feel like it is the mostlike she's the most relatable AF contestant on
this and if not on this season, then like at least in the past

(54:22):
couple of seasons. Just I lovelike because she, like you said,
bro, like she sort of comesin like being like in admiration and awe
of the people around her. Ialso wonder if it's a thing, and
I don't want to like get intotoo much like psychoanalyzing Stephanie, but I
wonder if it's a thing of likeif you really have this like imposter syndrome
of like I don't belong here.As more of the big people fall alongside,
You're like, Okay, Yeah,like I outlasted Karen. I outlasted

(54:45):
Kevin even though he came back,like I have the capacity to be able
to do this, which is Ithink is really shown because she does seem
to have a bit of a morepositive take, I think in these last
couple of rounds than maybe in thebeginning, when, like you said,
she felt a little like what's goingon here? She's also just a really
like sarcastic, kind of dry senseof humor girl. And speaking as speaking

(55:08):
from someone who has that same sortof sense of humor, she you know,
she is can come off sort ofnegative, but I think that she's
just kind of like being funny,and I think that a lot of people
don't don't get that. Her confessionalgame has been tremendous especially she's incredible.

(55:31):
Yeah, big fan, Yeah youyou got to see uh with the Big
Bear challenge. You got to havelike the salad from Melissa, Yeah,
breakfast salad, No the time aboutMelisa salad, the salad, the infamous
salad. And then and then herein this episode, like you said,

(55:53):
you were blown away by by thegrilled quail. Um, what's like,
what's the scouting report on Melissa fromwell. I also I will say that,
um, with Melissa at the brunchchallenge, she not she might have
been on the bottom because of thatsalad, because the salad was like a

(56:14):
throwaway. Um. But she also, in my opinion, made the best
dish of the day with the kanji. Wow. Um. So I wasn't
surprised that that she won this orperformed as well as she did. Um,
because I know that she's capable.Um. Her her need to make
a second dish, I think justjust threw her off there. Yeah.

(56:37):
Um. And just as as achef, what are what are your impressions
of Melissa? And as a asa competitor in this because she I think
she's been somebody who's really excited uson the podcast. Yeah, she she
won't bold challenges this episode. That'sawesome. Yeah, I would have that
was such a great idea. Imean, I know Melissa very well.
She's a good friend. Um.We were actually supposed to be doing a

(57:00):
dinner at Coachella together a couple ofweeks ago. Um. Um, so
we've met, we've written manies together, we've done demos together. I've known
I mean, I know Melissa's capabilitiesand so this isn't me watching her on
a TV show. This is meknowing who she is and seeing seeing what
you know, what she does witha scenario. Is it weird to judge

(57:22):
your friends? It's very weird andit feels I feel really guilty doing it.
It makes me feel bad. Um. As much fun as it is
to be at judges table and bethe person that like people look at as
someone who can judge them, um, I also know that the tables could

(57:44):
be turned easily. Um no punintended, although they wouldn't be because I'm
never going to put myself in thatposition again. But um, but no,
that was a Top Chef Winner championsstill, so you's something less than

(58:07):
the tank Pete on that ship.Apparently I have to defend the belt.
Whatever you're saying. If there's ifthere's a Top Chef Winners at war,
you're not gonna come back with withKristen and Joe Flam and all those people.
Who knows people? People keep askingfor that. I don't know that

(58:27):
I would leave home for two monthsever again um, and it would obviously
have to be a very different typeof Top Chef um. But they have
done that in the best and theyjust haven't done it recently. Um And
I know that there are a lotof people who were saying, like I
wish that we could see all thetop chef winners compete against each other.

(58:47):
And I think that that would bea lot of fun. And I think
that honestly, as much as weall say we can't stand the competition,
we all really thrive in these environments. UM. So I wouldn't rule anything
out. It's just there's nothing,there's nothing currently in the works. Yeah,
it's probably hard to wrap your mindaround even thinking about that right now
in terms of just like the conditionof where everything is that in the world

(59:10):
in terms yeah, no, yeah, I can hardly wrap my brain around
putting on a bra, so Iknow I have not one. I don't
see brought recovery, all right,the yoga onesie is the way to go.
I'm wearing a sack right now.I have to be way too much

(59:35):
to wear onesies, like it's justlike na for me. I actually found
that to be really irritating. YesterdayI was wearing the yoga onesie and a
sweatshirt because it was like kind ofcold, so you have to like,
sorry, we're this is totally differentcovers. This is exactly, well,
Patron, Yeah, this one forfree. Yeah, exactly, this is

(59:58):
a free should We should we gizeBrian Malarkey because I feel like, love
him or hate him, he waslike the biggest character of the season.
I feel like this is the rightspot for him to go. Like I
I as much as he made television, I can't imagine him sincerely making it
to Italy and like being in thesame heat as those top five people.

(01:00:19):
Brian Malarkey is such an incredible showmanand businessman and um, he's really got
a solid head on his shoulders.Um So, I feel like, as
much as you're right, Mike,this was the proper timing for him to
make an exit. I also feellike he agreed, and not not even
because he didn't perform well, butI think he would probably not argue with

(01:00:45):
that statement anyway. Um. Buthe he's got so much going for him
in his life and in his career, and you know, Top Chef competition
is so so minuscule of a portionof who he is that I think he's
appreciative of the experience and you know, left with his head held very high.

(01:01:10):
Definitely. Yeah, I mean wegot we got that personal content earlier
in the episode, right of likehim talking to his family. So even
if you didn't think like there's achance, like we always look to those
as either they're going to do reallywell or really bad when they like face
time their family in that episode,usually one way or the other. I

(01:01:30):
mean, maybe maybe I've never kindof looked into that. I'm sure you
guys have looked into that way morethan I. Well, the tough tiff,
it is always like weird to dissect. But that's one of the trademarks
that we found is like if youget personal content, like if you get
a phone call home or if youget like a file photo of you in
the past, that either means thatyou're going to do really well in the
challenge or you're going to do reallypoorly in the challenge and we're just getting

(01:01:52):
to know you so that like weknow who you are. When you leave,
we either understand now what this wehave more context around what this wind
means to you, or we havea little bit more of that personal story
before you walk out the visibility spike. Yeah, so you guys got a
couple of file photos of me inthose past episodes, worried one thing that
I would go home after a coupleof the did you send those in?

(01:02:19):
Or were you like? How didthey get that out of me? That
is not okay. So if youfollow me on Instagram, which I know
you do, Haley, Um,of course I do. Don't you like
me? Still, I'm worried that. I was always worried that, even
like why is this crazy girl?Always? And I actually see Brooke like
some of the things Haley said onyour feed, and then I'm always liked.
Man, really cool if that happenedto me. But I know I

(01:02:45):
will say that, Um hold,I'm sorry, my husband's just texting me
if I'm still on the phone.Yes, Um, so I will say
that picture of me with the gentlemanwhose head was cut off. You probably
saw that picture as I was diggingup photos from They requested like a bunch

(01:03:06):
of photos and I sent a tonin. Um I sent that photo.
It was me and Pierce Brosnano RemingtonSteel. Apparently they couldn't get his signature
on a piece of paper, JamesBond, which would be incredible. Well,

(01:03:30):
listen, it's it's the old jamesonSo I think that's okay. Anyway,
So I yes, I fully approvedthat one. I am not so
sure that I sent the other picturewith me with the really round face and
the dark hair and um and andMary Sue Milliken. Did do you remember
seeing that photo that was me andMary Sue? Um? And I don't

(01:03:53):
remember sending them that photo. Umthat potentially came from someone on the Michael's
team that had that photo. Yeah, Like, does Michael's have like a
whole scrap book of everyone who's comeinto their restaurant and like workfare? I
mean probably not like on property,but but there are a lot of people

(01:04:14):
that you can reach out to andfind a lot of old photos of m
So I don't think I sent thatone in, but I did send Pierce
Brosnan see on my Instagram. Hetalked for a second about Michael McCarty because
again, like as someone who isnot a Westerner, I know that I
definitely did not really like recognize thename behind Michael Santa Monica, But it

(01:04:36):
does seem like he's not only suchlike a big presence in the community,
but like a big presence of aperson like he just seemed very warm and
friendly, even from what we wereable to glean from him on this episode.
Yeah, there are. He actuallyre released a cookbook not too long
ago. I think it has there'sa background page with all of the the

(01:05:00):
chefs that worked there. My nameis on there, which I was very
excited about. But in addition tothat, there is an entire page of
what they call Michael isms. Andhe's got I mean, he's the biggest
personality you could ever imagine. Andhe would he would just come walking through
the kitchen. I mean, firstof all, he would shop for his
house in the walk in, andhe would come in and he would come

(01:05:21):
in with like a grocery bag,and he'd go into the walk in and
he'd grab like lobsters or New Yorkskany and you're not I mean, I'll
do that from time to time,but but he that was like a regular
move. Um. And but thenhe'd come in, I mean he'd come

(01:05:43):
into the kitchen and just randomly shotlike clams casino or like, how's it
going you disco kids, Haley.That's definitely a new Hey all you care
cats and kittens? Like I wantto put that praise into the zeke you

(01:06:04):
disco kids. It was Hey,you Disco kids, and the people who
worked there a long time ago,where when he would just like come wal
wal saying through the kitchen and that'show he would say hello. Was hey
you disco kids. We all saythat to each other's being save to five
hourages, my scrap bucks. Yeah, yeah, he's he's such a big

(01:06:28):
personality and it's it's it's lovely stillhaving a piece of him in my life
and the fact that he will likecall across the farmer's market to me just
to say hi, it's lovely.He's a wonderful person. I should also
say something because something else that thatMalarkey brought up and you brought up as
well before Brooks. So we sawthem shop at Whole Foods for the last
time, but they did get theopportunity to go to the Santa Monica farmers

(01:06:53):
Market as well, and apparently,according to Malarkey, that's when he got
inspired to make the duo. Soif any thing, I guess we have
to blame this location that we neversaw them go to. Yeah. I
think his his definition of inspiration wasalmost the opposite of what actually happened.
I think that he was over inspiredand I think that he was unable to

(01:07:14):
to focus in on one really greatingredient because he saw so many. M
sure, how do we talk discokids? I think what happened on Last
Chance Kitchen this week? I watched, yeah, watch it. I only

(01:07:42):
watched. I watched two episodes wherethe people came back. Have you enjoyed
what would Tom do? Brook?Oh? Yeah, I've seen little clips
of that on Is that just onInstagram? We don't really know. I
think on YouTube. I haven't beenable to find it in Canada. I
think it's on the I think theBravo Top Chef Instagram will post it once

(01:08:03):
in a while. Noah, butthey'll post on their YouTube. But guess
who cannot access the Bravo YouTube channelthe Canadian Um. Yeah, No,
that does have been fun and actuallyit's it's really wonderful to be able to
see how Tom's brain works, youknow, and and I think it shows

(01:08:28):
a lot of people that he maybe you know, he may have been
around for a long time, buthe still has um this sort of bank
of knowledge and creativity that that hecan easily access. And I think that
I saw one What did he make? I can't remember what he made?
Um on this last one? ThatI saw that was really impressive. Was

(01:08:51):
it a brunch, I don't know, whatever, I don't remember what it
was, but I was really blownaway by where his head the challenge.
UM. So that's when that thatthe one, the one that I've seen
was really cool. What does thattransition like to go from like, you
know, being on the other sideof the table to sitting alongside them,

(01:09:12):
Like, how does your opinions ofPadma, Tom and Gail change once you
sort of like change your working relationshipwith them? UM, I don't know
that. I mean, I guessmy relationship with Tom and Padman Gail changed
years ago, UM from but Isort of became friends with Tom and and

(01:09:35):
Gail very very quickly. Padma's alittle bit more of a mystery. I'm
not quite as we are definitely friendlyand um can can hold a wonderful conversation
and she's a lot of fun towork with. But UM, I would
say that I've I would legitimately callmyself like personal friends. Who I mean,

(01:09:58):
when with with I'll finish one sentencebefore I start another with UM,
with Gail and Tom and to thepoint where like Gail and I text frequently
and UM, I mean the momentthat that the sort of restaurant lockdown happened.
Tom texted me within a day ortwo and said, how how are
you doing? How are you goingto you know what? What's your plan?

(01:10:19):
How are you holding up? Justchecking on me? Um? I
mean when they when they were shootinghere in la Um, Tom and Gail
both came over to my house fordinner. UM. So I would actually,
I would say that that my relationshipwith them is has transformed into a

(01:10:40):
lovely friendship. Um. And andit's nice to be able to call them
friends. And they're wonderful people.That's awesome. And it's gonna be really
fun when you get your friends Tomand Gail to join you on the next
appearance here on the podcast. Yeah. Great. Tom's a little busy talking
to the President of the United Statesright now. But but but Gail,

(01:11:00):
I would feel like he might rathertalk to us than Yeah. Yeah,
I was gonna say, we're alot more fun, but we'll take well,
we'll take Gail, We'll take Tom. We love Gail I can talk
to I talked to Dale Gail muchabout how I don't like bubbles on my
tongue and toast after that Tom wouldhave to come in his truffle hunting regalia.

(01:11:26):
I was just I was like sodeeply attracted to him in that moment,
Like I cannot even explain. Youwere just imagining being a truffle that
he found, Yes, exactly.Oh god, the hat and the scarf.
Oh it's just magical. Tom justgot a puppy, you too,
and so he Um he was textingme about about his puppy and he was

(01:11:48):
like we both got puppies. Didapparently there was a deal that his had
to go to puppy training. Um, that was the deal with his wife,
that the dog had to go topuppy training. So I think the
puppy just got back a week ortwo ago and they've been reunited. So
your puppy like feels more like acat to me, Like he keeps they

(01:12:12):
keep doing all this cat things,like sitting on the table like hey,
I'm here, like my cat dothat all the time. Oh yeah,
I don't. I have I havethree dogs. That what kind of crazy
person has three dogs? That's whatpeople do? Hey, even we put
our like Ethan I looked at eachother like one cat's fine for appairly I

(01:12:33):
have no limits. Um yeah,and this puppy yesterday, I think it
was yesterday I figured out how toget up onto the dining room table and
no, wait, just wait untilit starts hopping up on the fridge.
How did that happen? Yeah,I don't What a great question, Joshua.

(01:12:56):
I don't know. I don't thinkdogs do that. Dogs don't do
that. We'll find out can't dothat. Didn't think my cat can make
it to the top of the fridgeyet. I Cats are far the more
dextrous species than dogs. Yeah.Yeah, well then why do they have
dog jumping competitions and no cat jumpingcompetitions? Michael, Now, yeah that's

(01:13:18):
true. Cats can't be bothered.Yeah, they have to be in the
mood. Yeah. Um yeah,yeah, I think I think this is
the turning point. Should we talkabout what we've been making this week?
Yeah, Michael, you start,Okay, So here's the thing we tried.

(01:13:39):
I love I love the concept andthe dish of fried chicken and waffles.
Yeah, it's whem like my goto diner foods and my lovely,
fantastic perfect life. Angela was like, I'm gonna make this for you this
week. The results were mixed,and we're trying to figure out how we
can possibly improve it. So wetribe air fryer, and it really didn't

(01:14:00):
work. So we're trying to figureout, like, is there a way
to do it, either using theair frier or using a method that is
not outright, like using a deepfrier. But that's sort of like our
next little culinary goal that we're tryingto cross the line on. So I
didn't the name was mixed results.Like the chicken itself. You can check
her instagram, Like there was someflour and still in some parts some parts

(01:14:23):
were blackened, but like the insidewas not too bad, So I can't
complain about bad waffles. Waffles weregreat. Where we've got waffles on Locke,
we've got the waffle Mayer, likewe've had that as a wedding present
for going on five years now.So like, waffles were great. That
was a fantastic constant in the equation. The variable, by far was the
fried chicken. We're gonna we're gonnakeep working on it and try to figure

(01:14:43):
out well how we can do We'realso like relatively new air frier users as
well, so I think that'll alsochange with like, however, much more
time we dedicate to that particular appliance. You've been married for five years now,
that's a five years next month.Wow, my, I will say
that. Um, the waffle ironand the air fire are two appliances that

(01:15:05):
I am missing from from my inventoryof appliances. M. I don't love
either. Yeah, I could,Well, you you always make the egg
and a hole. You don't reallyneed to put the egg in a waffle.
I guess, well, that's itwould be good. Sounds great.
I think that could work. Ithink that. Gosh, sometimes I just

(01:15:26):
few pure bullshit and it comes outnot that bad. Anyway. I had
a wonderful day yesterday of um ofdeliveries. Um. Stephanie Izard sent me
a care package from Girl in theGoat of a bunch of ingredients. UM.
I didn't use them in the waythat she intended them to be used.
UM, but I did use allthe ingredients, and I made her

(01:15:49):
pork shanks were incredible. And thenI made um some pad tie some shrimp
pad tied to go with them.UM. I over I overcooked the noodles,
but it pretty good. UM.And then or actually, Joe Sasto
asked me for my address and said, hey, can I come by in
thirteen minutes and um, suddenly hewas standing in front of my house and

(01:16:15):
he had his uh, he hada loaf of focaccia for me, which
was unbelievable. It was so itwas like the most stunning pacama. Yeah,
I'm looking at these pictures now.It was like, look at this.
It was so good. It wasso good. Um. And then
today's project, my son has afinal Spanish project where he has to make

(01:16:40):
a dish, a traditional Cuban dish. Um. So he's decided he wants
to make empanadas. So I have, um, I have some ground beef
and I have some leftover lobster.So we're going to do a duo of
god two and a half pound lobsterin my bridge that's just sitting there,
and my husband's alerted to lot.So we're going to make both so that

(01:17:01):
my husband can have ground beef empanadasand then husband who is obsessed with lobster,
can have lobster imas. So thoselobster roles you made, like I
was taken up back almost by theirbeauty, Like I was considering getting a
print of them so I can hangthem in my office. Well, yeah,
funny you say that those lobster roleswill be Um, I'm looking into

(01:17:25):
doing them on gold Belly because they'llbe featured on Diners, drive ins,
and dives in July, and theywant to make it so that the entire
country I guess maybe outside of thecountry too, can order can order those
lobster roles. So it's a kitbasically that you'd be able to make them

(01:17:45):
at home and you have all theingredients and they're super super easy to make,
and we make the lobster butter forthem and everything and we'll shift them
out. So I'm hoping that wecan get those going on gold Belly in
the next couple of weeks. Thoseare not available for pick up and delivery
from Plaia. They will be startingMonday. Wait, you're just there's no

(01:18:08):
traffic either. So there you gogoing back to and to go margharita one
of those passion fruit margaritas or thespicy margaries. Brok, you're killing me
with those. I want one sobad. Can those going gold Filly,
I don't think those would be ableto cross the border. I'm intrigued about
this project. Wait, so becauseUsually it's like you cook something and you
bring in for the class to doit, Like does Hutson just have to

(01:18:30):
like take a picture of it andsend it as his final project. We
have to do a video of himof like the ingredients and then the process
and then the final dish, andhe needs to be explaining it all in
his video. UM probably span it. I don't think. I don't think
any of us are capable of that. But maybe Alexa will be talking to

(01:18:51):
the to the phone. Kurt wouldbe mas gotten take out of this.
Yeah, this has been a takeoutweek, not a cooking week. Um.
Uh went to I got some localLazy Dog brewery. I picked up
a great blue cheeseburger, some justthey have signs of candied bacon, so

(01:19:14):
I was like yes please, andsome some Brussels sprouts the Brussels sprout side.
Went to another local place, gota short rib grilled cheese sandwich and
a Brussels sprout side. Um.Then the Cogi Barbecue food truck. Again
that was my Friday. Uh coogee, sorry, thank you. Um I

(01:19:36):
got their short or their spicy corprito. But yeah, this coming week,
UM be making a actually scallop risotto. Um. And at the one time
I've made this before, it actuallywent really really well, So I'm looking
forward to that. Hi, beats, do you have beats for that risotto?
I have no beats for the risotto. UM. I could pick them

(01:19:57):
up. I can. I cango off venue, off off recipe in
and try that nice and nice pink? Are you do some some red food
coloring? I'll be call it good. I was gonna say, before I
know that, you said the lambwas for a Valentine's dayting. You're just
sure of seeing like a Valentine's Daytheme just from like the pink risotto,
right, sort of like how onSaint Patrick's Day you die stuffed green in
favoring of the holiday. I couldsee that happening with Valentine's Day. Yeah,

(01:20:19):
just rub it in, rub itin, Joshua, EMILYTT, what's
been going on in your kitchen thisweek? We made some shrimp scampy earlier
and that was so good, Andthen I had some stewing beef that neither
needed to be frozen or stewed tosome capacity, and I was like,

(01:20:39):
it's hot out. The last thingI want to do is eat a stew
so I just did like a lowand slow hook of it, and we
shredded it and made it into tacoslast night. I was just gonna say,
stew it and then turn it intothe TACCOs. Great. Actually,
yeah, I had a bunch ofhomemade beef broth stock that I put together

(01:20:59):
early You're the week because we hadbones. Yes, So it came out
really really good considering, and itwas so good through everything. It was
like sweet potato in there. Yeah. I feel like we could take Josh's
audio from this portion of the podcastevery week and just like replay because it's
just a lot of Josh. Gosh. It was so good. I know,

(01:21:19):
I'm very lucky in Quarantine. ThenI'm you know, I lived with
the very talented. Actually I'm not. You're gonna at this point you're going
to crane the at if you're you'veyou've embraced the quarantine fifteen. Oh yeah,
I didn't have a choice. Brookembraced me like a warm hug.

(01:21:41):
Yeah hot, it's hot, toohot? Oh god? What about you
ate strong? Yeah? Um?What did I make? I made some
roast beef in my skillet, mycast iron skillet recently, which turned out
like, really, well, Ijust hard seared it on all sides and
this stuck the whole thing in theoven. Turned out beautifully. Um.

(01:22:03):
I also made these chocolate chip cookiecheesecake bars. I've had like an eight
ounce pack of cream cheese and myfreezer for months, and I just it's
not enough to make a cheesecake with. UM. And I came across this
recipe from What's Goobby Cooking, andI was like, I have all of
these things. So I made themand they were really delicious and they have

(01:22:26):
skyrocketed into the top of Ethan's favoritedesserts I've made. UM, So that
is a recipe I will keep around. Oh no, no, it's a
it's it's a bake. Well,I don't know. I feel like bars
are usually like the no bakes forthe ones you just like popping in the
freezer for a little bit, right, No, I baked it. Hayley,
could you send me that recipe?That sounds great? I would love

(01:22:46):
nothing more Brook. It looks sogood. Is there an egg in it?
There's definitely negg in it. Ohyou're allergic? Right, yeah,
yeah, there might be three.There's definitely three. One you can like
Honestly, I feel like all youwould need to do if you had,

(01:23:08):
like a favorite cookie recipe that didn'tinclude an egg, and a favorite cheesecake
recipe that didn't include an egg,what I did was just put put half
the cookie dough on the bottom,flatten it. I was just gonna say,
it looks like a sandwich. Yeah, that looks amazing. Yeah,
and we thought we I thought after, I was like, I bet I
could make ice cream sandwiches with these. So if you have a, like,
if you have no egg recipe forboth cookies and cheesecake, I feel

(01:23:31):
like you could just do that andjust kind of follow the prep of it.
That looks really good. Yeah,I'm so hungry now sorry, I'm
just staring at this picture of yournow. Yeah. Yeah, so that's
yeah, that's what I mean.Um, Brooke, where can people find

(01:23:55):
you and or get take out fromyou? Um? Well, if you
don't follow me on Instagram, thenthen who are you? Um um at
chef Brook w b r o Ok e w um. That's that's kind

(01:24:15):
of my my only line of actualcommunication because I don't I don't open Facebook
ever, so don't ever send memessages on Facebook. I won't read them.
Um. I sometimes read my dmson Instagram. Sometimes I repost the
ones that I don't reply to.UM funny as I love it's sassy.

(01:24:41):
Recently, I don't even remember whatthey're talking about. But you're just like,
Okay, somebody asked me send mea DM. Did you say that?
The other dase that we sent mea DM asking if they could translate
all of my lyrics from my songinto into Korean words and create Korean lyrics
And I was like, oh mygod, I'm a pop a k pop

(01:25:02):
band. Were you able to accommodatethat request? Said yes? Which songs
were their favorite? I mean whoknew? Um? Anyway? Um?
So yes at Chef brook w onInstagram and UM, I post lots of

(01:25:27):
pictures of my my new puppy andsome food and my life and um,
if you want to come in andtry some food. Play of Provisions is
currently offering takeout and delivery. Wewill hopefully be open for in in house
dining starting next week. Um ifwe can get our ship together, So
please uh please check out what's goingon again? I post everything on Instagram,

(01:25:51):
so if you want to know currentlywhat's going on and what to look
forward to. You can follow methere and check that brook are there are
there ways that people from a distancecan support what you're doing in apply provisions
or even just any anything that youwould shout out in terms of what are
some of the ways that you wouldrecommend people to if they if they really
feel strongly they want to they wantto support just the restaurant industries, just

(01:26:14):
the food scene in general. Rightnow, where would you where would you
kick people? Um? You know? So a couple of months ago I
started, I helped I helped startan organization called Help Feed the front Lines
Los Angeles, and it was wewere raising funds to help support restaurants to
provide meals to frontline medical workers.Our funding has kind of run out on

(01:26:41):
that, UM, but the funding, uh, we were doing it in
partnership with World Central Kitchen. UM. But I will say that World Central
Kitchen is UM is sort of theleader in in what's going on in terms
of supporting people and the staurant industry. So UM, check them out.

(01:27:01):
No kid hungry, I'm I'm abig UM. They're a big partner as
well, and what they're doing tofeed children who aren't getting their school meals
right now has been really incredible,UM in terms of just supporting my restaurant,
I mean from a distance. Youknow, we're not prepared at this

(01:27:23):
moment to ship stuff across the country, but hopefully if we, if we
do get our act together on goldBelly, we will be offering that that
seafood role on gold Belly, whichwould be wonderful, UM, A wonderful
way to support and also get yourlobster fixed in UM. We do offer
gift certificates. If you don't feelcomfortable comfortable designing now, then we are

(01:27:45):
happy to give you a gift certificatethat you can use in the future when
you do feel comfortable. UM.Otherwise, just you know, the restaurant
community has been has been really supportiveof each other. And I think that
that any support of any restaurant inyour in your immediate area that is not

(01:28:06):
a massive chain restaurant, you know, those small businesses who are really hurting
right now, UM, go outand get some take out. Every every
mill makes a difference. Yeah,yeah, sorry, sorry to bring you
down. Guys. Oh this isa just say hey disco kids again and

(01:28:27):
we'll be good. Yeah kids.Oh, I feel that beat coming in
Brook. Thank you so much forcoming on by the way, I know
we have other place to get tolike. You're always such an awesome guest
and this time is no different.This is amazing. Thank you, Thank
you guys, Thank you for havingme. This is this is always a
lot of fun. Sorry, I'ma little congested. I'm allergic to my
three dogs. So and now it'sten forty three and apparently I have to

(01:28:55):
get out of bed and get dressed. Um, but thank you guys for
having me and allowing me to stayin my pajamas and not put on abroas.
So UM, you guys have beenamazing and UM, and I really
appreciate that that that our relationship withinyou guys, starting this podcast from from
a place of me having never spokento you, to all of you,

(01:29:15):
but listened to you many times,has evolved into um, a place where
I've been able to meet several ofyou and have some personal conversations. So
I really appreciate your guys, Um, your guys friendship as well. Awesome.
Thanks. I will cry. We'vebeen moved to tears a few times

(01:29:36):
in recent weeks. This is sothese would be good tears. This time
Josh, Yeah, I know,Mike. When where can people read your
interview with the Malarkster. Oh that'sa new nick name. Parade dot com
is where I have my interview withBrian Malarkey. So, if I had
to say, he goes into alot of detail not only about this challenge,

(01:29:57):
but his general approach coming in.He has a very unique perspective in
that someone who not only had experienceoutside the show with restaurant tour business,
but also from a television side,so he very much had a different approach
to this season. So he hasa lot of stuff. I'll also say
from a Malurkey perspective, he isdoing much like Naani did as we shattered
out a few weeks ago. He'salso doing virtual cooking classes, So if

(01:30:17):
you are at all interested in checkingout his stuff, you go to Brian
Malarkey dot com. I'm looking atsome of this stuff right now. It
seems like some really awesome stuff.A Sunday seafood supper on June seventh,
Backgard barbecue on June twenty third.So if you're just sitting having us some
Brian Malarkey in your screen, I'msure it will be nothing but entertaining.

(01:30:38):
I started that podcasting with Josh aboutsome stuff talking some Survivor sporadically. Got
a lot of Survivor articles coming outon Parade in lieu of the twentieth anniversary.
So yeah, check it all outand we'll be back doing the same
old, same well next week inItalia. I'm out there. I'm just
here. We all wish what weall wish, But thanks for having me

(01:31:02):
at Michael, Kurt, Kurt,Kurt, Kurt, you talked about your
new favorite show, Game on.God. Yeah, I podcasted about Game
on. With the fact that Robhas said this is the worst show he
has ever seen in the history oftelevision should give you some clue as to
steer clear. But the podcast wasfun. The show was pretty horrible,

(01:31:24):
wow, and I believe so.But yeah, check that out. I
don't think that Clark Curse needs todo anything here. It'll take care of
itself. And then I believe I'mgoing to be appearing in a guest role
on Robin Akiva need a podcast thisweekend, um, so stay tuned for
that in your feeds as well.Otherwise, you can find Kurt Clark on
Twitter, Instagram, untapped, Twitch, pretty much everywhere, Joshua, Hi,

(01:31:51):
I'm at Round Howard wherever you canfind me. Definitely the cool new
thing launching on Monday. Yeah,if you're a post show recap span,
we'll go into the next level.So if you're a post show recap Span,
stay tuned. Monday is going tobe a big day June first.
Very excited about what we're launching onMonday, and I'll say no more other

(01:32:14):
than it's a Patreon and I'm atemilet like an omelet but with an E.
So check you out on Instagram andTwitter. And in lieu of The
Bachelorette not being on currently, I'velost my mind and have started podcasting about
Fox's new hit reality TV show Laborof Love. Yeah, a woman tries

(01:32:36):
to find her future baby daddy.I am not making this up. This
is all real. We are livingin a vortex. This week, Angela
Bloom will be joining me, soI'm very excited about that. Other than
that, you can follow me onTwitter and Instagram at eight Strong Underscore,
and you can check out my blogStrong Takes dot Ci Broke. God,

(01:32:57):
this is such a joy. I'mso glad you're here. I was so
excited and uh now I'm continued tobe excited because I talked about great Um,
and you know, from all ofus, we say goodbye and aacronizing
thank you, Thank you disco kids. M.