Sunday morning in the basement of the St. Regis, newly minted “Top Chef” Host, Kristen Kish, is pumping up a crowd of hundreds.
After the cheers die down, Kish explains the parameters of the “quickfire” cooking competition, which lasts roughly 30 minutes, and kicks off the start of most Top Chef episodes.
Winning a featured spot at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen is a right typically reserved for the sole winner of the global reality cooking show “Top Chef.”
However, this year, “Top Chef” executives invited all three final contestants, Savannah Miller, Dan Jacobs, and Danny Garcia, since the finale is set to air on June 19, a few days after the Food & Wine Classic ended, and they have to keep the winner a secret until then.
Once the quickfire at the St. Regis began, the finalists were cooking while they answered questions from the crowd, which didn’t phase Chef Jacobs.
“I’m not shy,” Jacobs said. “I'm pretty outgoing and I like being in front of a crowd.”
Jacobs answered almost every question and started to fall behind while the clock was running low, and audience members had to tell him to ignore their questions.
Miller wasn’t paying as much attention as she focused on cooking.
At 27 years old, she said it took her a while to get comfortable in the competition.
“I kind of came in having those underdog feelings, and then realizing kind of halfway through that if I wanted to make it as far as I can, then I needed to start cooking like I wasn't afraid,” Miller said.
Missing from the kitchen Sunday was the third contestant, Danny Garcia, who got news over the weekend that his longtime friend and cooking mentor Jamal James Kent, died unexpectedly in New York.
Over the season, Garcia made an impressive showing, winning more elimination challenges than any other chef with a meticulous style that repeatedly wowed the judges.
Longtime “Top Chef” judge Tom Colicchio, who was in town for part of the classic, remembers one of Danny’s creations.
“I don't remember a lot of the dishes,” Colicchio said. “I do remember Danny's scallop mousse in the cabbage. That was exceptional. … I think of all the chefs, he tends to work in restaurants that operate at a much higher level.”
Chef Jacobs said attending the festival with Miller and Garcia made their connection to each other even stronger, and he was hurting for his friend.
“I'm close with Danny,” Jacobs said. “And it was so sudden, and I just feel for him, his family, the whole team. … And I know what Danny is going through, because he's basically James' number two. So he's going to have to go home and he's going to have to be that rock for everybody.”
This camaraderie is common on the show.
The competition is fierce on “Top Chef,” so much so that Chef Miller cut herself in one of the final episodes and waited to go to the hospital until after she plated her dishes. However, it’s also wholesome, and chefs lend a hand to their competitors when they’ve finished in the kitchen.
When the timer ran out at the St. Regis, a member of the audience was pulled from the crowd to judge Miller’s and Jacobs’ dishes, along with previous “Top Chef” contestant Shota Nakajima, and she selected Miller’s red snapper as the winner.
Even though “Top Chef” is predominantly a cooking competition, the judges feel it plays a much larger role.
“It is a story of real people,” Kish said. “Real chefs with real stories to tell, and they leave their mark on this industry in such impactful ways.”
The show has a bit of a social conscience, bringing in a diverse set of chefs.
Colicchio says this exposure improves a chef’s opportunity to open their own restaurants.
“The big barrier to entry in being a chef or owning a restaurant is funding,” Colicchio said. “It's always been really, really difficult to get funding if you're a minority, if you're a woman. … And when you're on ‘Top Chef’, [and] you go pretty far along, it's easier to get funding.”
Many of the finalists have causes they’re passionate about.
For Miller, it’s making fresh foods more accessible, and Jacobs is a vocal supporter of organizations fighting food insecurity like No Kid Hungry.
Colicchio says the show can raise awareness about issues like food waste and insecurity, but ultimately, making a lasting impact comes down to changing legislation.
Jacobs, Miller, and Garcia have already battled it out for the title of Top Chef, but the world is still waiting to hear who took gold.
The final episode airs on June 19, where one of these recent Aspen visitors will be crowned.
