6 takeaways from second-to-last 'Top Chef: Wisconsin' episode (2024)

This story contains spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the latest episode of “Top Chef” but plan to watch it, you might want to read the story later.

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“Set Sail,” the 13th of 14 episodes of “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” aired Wednesday night on Bravo. It also can be found on the streaming service Peaco*ck.

This was the second-to-last episode of Season 21, with the remaining four contestants having left Wisconsin and completing the contest on a Caribbean cruise to Curaçao.

‘Isn’t Milwaukee anymore’

“This definitely isn’t Milwaukee anymore,” said Wisconsin contestant Dan Jacobs, chef/co-owner of the Milwaukee restaurant DanDan. “This is it: The finals of Top Chef,” he said as he was shown walking down a colorful street in Curaçao.

“Winning ‘Top Chef’ changes everybody’s life,” he said. “Beyond what it is going to do for my business, I think about what it could do for the state of Wisconsin, the city of Milwaukee. My food’s gotta be really good and I know that, and I just have to be me and do me, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Mixing fish and cheese

For the quickfire challenge, the chefs had 30 minutes to use lionfish and Gouda cheese in a dish. Cheftestant Danny Garcia said that cheese and fish together were not his thing and called it sacrilegious. Gouda is a big, bold flavor, he said, and lionfish is a delicate, mild fish. Not having the Gouda flavor overwhelm the fish was going to be key, he added.

Jacobs, in his first quickfire win of the season, got $10,000 for a lionfish tartar with herbs and orange, what he called an aguachile, a Mexican raw seafood dish prepared like ceviche with citrus juice, cilantro and chilies. Jacobs said he tossed his fish in mayo to add fat.

Eight courses, all fish

The elimination challenge had the chefs collectively preparing an eight-course tasting menu of exclusively fish dishes. Each chef was responsible for two courses. The fish were Atlantic salmon, black bass, black grouper, dorade, monkfish, rainbow trout, red snapper, sea bream and striped bass.

They needed to be prepared raw, steamed, mousse, poached, fried, roasted, smoked and blackened.

The cheftestants got 2½ hours to prep and cook with items provided in a pantry on the ship. They also got $100 to shop at a local market.

‘Highlight of my life’

Before the challenge, the chefs were thrilled to sit down for a meal prepared by the famed, award-winning chef Masaharu Morimoto. Chef Savannah Miller, who got engaged during the break before the cruise ship episodes, said, “This is the highlight of my life right now.”

During the final challenge the judges found a lot to criticize. Tom Colicchio said Miller’s sauce was grainy and chef Laura Ozyilmaz’s banana leaf wasn’t cleaned properly. Colicchio said about Garcia’s mousse, “something went wrong.”

About Jacobs’ dorade, which is similar to red snapper, Colicchio said, “Dan said he hasn’t cooked dorade since 2005; he still hasn’t cooked it.” Other judges loved it.

Chefs ‘cooking scared’

Host Kristen Kish commented that the contestants have all cooked so much better. Colicchio said it was like they were cooking scared.

Garcia wound up winning for his smoked rainbow trout. “I liked being surprised by the lemon and the hazelnuts,” Kish said. “That dish for me was nearly perfect.”

He won $10,000 and a 10-day cruise anywhere in the world. Ozyilmaz got sent packing after undercooking her fish.

Moment to remember

In addressing the remaining three contestants, Kish, a former “Top Chef” winner, got choked up and said, “It’s a fantastic moment that you are going to remember forever, so have fun with it.”