'Top Chef' Season 22, Episode 2 recap: 'Schitt's Creek' star Sarah Levy joins for poutine, maple challenges

Yahoo

21-03-2025

Top Chef Season 22 continues in Toronto with more Canadian-inspired challenges for the remaining 14 chefs to tackle. Host Kristen Kish, head judge Tom Colicchio, and Canadian judge Gail Simmons, were joined by Schitt's Creek star Sarah Levy (daughter of Eugene Levy, sister to Dan Levy), and iconic chef and restauranteur Daniel Boulud, to judge this week's dishes.
A reminder from last week, Vincenzo "Vinny" has immunity in the elimination challenge, after his big win. While the rest of the contestants cook to the best of their abilities to stay in the competition.
Levy appeared a special guest for the Quickfire Challenge this week. With all but one chef based in the U.S., the competitors were tasked with putting their spin on poutine.
"Making a poutine that's better than the real thing, I don't think it's possible," Massimo, the Montreal-based chef in the competition, said on the show.
From plantain to yucca, paneer to cheddar cheese, there were a lot of different variations for the judges to taste. But of course, some interpretations of poutine were better than others.
Sarah told Bailey that the fries in her Korean shrimp arrabiata poutine, with potatoes and mozzarella, got lost with all the other components of the dish. For Henry's scallion yucca pancake with gruyere cheese sauce and chili oil, Gail said the sauce was great, but found the pancake "spongey."
And Paula's seco poutine with plantains, sofrito and cotija cheese had good flavour, but Kristen found the seco "too wet" for the french fry.
Massimo's potato roulade, sauce mornay and beef reduction was among the favourites, with Sarah saying it had the beloved flavours of poutine in a "very beautiful package." Kat's poutine was the most traditional and Gail praised the mushroom sauce over the crispy potato, smoked soy and cheese curds.
But Shuai was the ultimate winner, who made a perfect soy sauce fondant potato, according to Kristen's feedback, with a three cheese sauce. He won $5,000 in Quickfire quick cash.
Moving along to the elimination challenge, legendary chef Boulud arrived.
Inspired by Canadian sugar shack meals, the contestants were separated into two teams of seven. Each team was tasked with creating a brunch menu, with each team member responsible for one dish, and every dish needed a maple component.
Boulud also gave a little hint about his personal preferences, saying that he loves a soufflé dish for brunch.
The teams had two hours at Café Boulud to cook, with one chef from the winning team being named the ultimate winner of the challenge, and one chef from the losing team would be eliminated.
While the teams were each given $2,500 to shop, Kristen surprised the chefs by giving them an extra $50 per team to purchase additional ingredients at the St. Lawrence Market. But there was a catch, each team was shopping for ingredients for the other team. Kristen also revealed the winning team would receive $35,000.
That's when ingredients like candy, cooked pizza and lasagna came into the equation for the chefs to work with and integrate into their brunch plans.
The menus for each team and the feedback from the judges went as follows:
Lana — Maple cured salmon, maple vinaigrette, meyer lemon, everything bagel spice — Tom was a fan of the integration of maple in a way that wasn't too pronounced
Shuai — Toad in a hole with maple togarashi-cured yolk, béchamel, miso maple butter and pizza — Daniel enjoyed the togarashi on the bread and Gail said the pizza "wasn't bad" in the dish
César — Pouched lobster, curry biscuit, maple hollandaise — Tom said the lobster was beautifully cooked, but the biscuit was "dense"
Zubair — Tandoori maple fried chicken, scallion corn cake, spicy maple butter, sweet maple yogurt — All the judges agreed that the chicken was delicious, and Tom added that the maple and spices worked well together
Corwin — Rum maple tamarind glazed pork belly, chawanmushi with sesame seeds and scallions — While Gail's chawanmushi was set nicely, that wasn't the case for Daniel, and Kristen said her mouth went "numb" with so much clove
Tristen — Maple jerk strip loin, dukkah and maple jus, rice grits — Tom and Kristen were in agreement that the meat was "beautifully" cooked, and Kristen highlighted that the seasoning helped the maple in the dish
Paula — Maple peach french toast, candy corn crème anglaise and peach gummy Italian meringue — Daniel thought the dish was "very, very sweet," but "satisfying," and Tom and Gail loved how the candies were incorporated
Kat — Congee with maple bacon chili crisp and soy maple jammy egg — Sarah said the dish was delicious, and Tom highlighted that the heat played off the sweetness well
Katiana — Maple cured salmon tartare with whipped silken tofu, housemade furikake and daikon maple leaves — Gail wanted more maple in the dish, Tom added that it was "subtle" compared to everything else they were served
Anya — Syrniki with macerated strawberries, whipped maple syrup and Siberian pine cone jam — Tom said it tasted like cheese cake and he liked the lemon in the background
Henry — Fried chicken, polenta, chicken gravy, maple chili ginger honey — Daniel wished his chicken was more moist, but liked the gravy, and Kristen found the chicken coating particularly dry as well, while Tom was looking for more maple flavour, and Gail didn't get enough gravy
Massimo — Steak and eggs with wild spinach and maple lasagna bordelaise — Gail said the egg was cooked beautifully and the dish was "delicate" for steak and eggs, but Tom thought it lacked maple
Vinny — Maple and cheddar soufflé with truffle oil — Daniel said it wasn't too eggy and the truffle oil wasn't a problem, and Gail highlighted that she could taste all components in a balanced way
Bailey — Maple tart with shipped yogurt, pine nuts and maple brown butter pineapple — Sarah and Tom said the maple wasn't coming through, and Kristen highlighted that the tart was underbaked
Overall, the judges were impressed with how everyone did, but the Brown team won the $35,000. Kristen said the win came to them because that team used maple the best. And the individual winner of the challenge was Zubair, who has immunity in the next elimination challenge.
While Henry and Bailey were identified as the chefs with the worst dishes on the Green team, the ultimate decision was that Bailey was eliminated from the competition, heading to Last Chance Kitchen for a shot at redemption.
Chef prep came up in this week's episode, with Shuai revealing that he practiced making a dish similar to poutine, assuming it would be part of the Destination Canada season of Top Chef.
So how much prep can the contestants actually do before heading on Top Chef? Less than you may think.
"When they come, ... they don't have access to their phones and computers, because they could look up recipes," showrunner Doneen Arquines told Yahoo Canada during a set visit in Toronto last year. "So when they hand that stuff over, we give them a blank notebook, and then anything they've memorized to that point they can write down, but they have no opportunity to research."