09-05-2025
'Top Chef' Season 22: Channelling their inner Tom Cruise, chefs take on 'Mission Impossible' inspired stunts
Top Chef meets Mission Impossible on this week's episode of Season 22. But it all started with a surprise announcement from Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, who told the seven remaining chefs that they'll be joining Kristen Kiss for the rest of the Quickfire Challenges, with all three judges considering both the Quickfire and Elimination Challenges to make their final cuts at each upcoming stage of the competition.
The judges were joined by Ilona Daniel, chef instructor with The Culinary Institute of Canada, for this week's Quickfire, giving the chefs a lesson on Canada's "food island," referencing Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), including famed P.E.I. mussels. For the challenge the chefs had to create a dish with P.E.I. mussels in just 20 minutes.
There was $10,000 up for grabs for the Quickfire winner, which went to Lana for mussel Italian toast with garlic mussel juice aioli, coppa, mustard, olives and capers.
Moving on to the Elimination Challenge, in honour of the upcoming Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning movie, actor Greg Tarzan Davis explained to the chefs that they had to present the judges with a dish that included a "stunt."
But as an added bonus, two advantages were up for grabs. First, the chefs were tasked with completing the CN Tower EdgeWalk, and secondly they had to do the lean forward and lean back stunt over the edge of the building.
There was also $10,000 up for grabs for the Elimination Challenge winner.
All the chefs completed the EdgeWalk, receiving an addition $75 to buy ingredients. But Lana and Massimo couldn't lean over the edge, leaving the rest of the chefs with 30 additional minutes of cook time.
The judges table this week included Binit Pandey, executive chef at Aera, Top Chef Houston and World All Stars winner Buddha Lo, chef and owner of Alo Food Group Patrick Kriss, Vinoteca Pompette chef and co-owner Martine Bauer, and actor Tarzan.
The dishes each chef presented, and judges feedback, were as follows:
Massimo — Pacific trout en croûte with sauce matelote, fondue de tomates Louis XIII, saffron emulsion — The stunt was the risk of cooking protein inside pastry in a short time — Buddha said it was fantastic and impressive that it was executed in two hours, Patrick echoed Buddha's comments saying that it was a big risk
Lana — "Fried fish basket" torchon of fish with cornmeal crumble, cocktail and hot sauce with tartar hollandaise — The stunt was "illusion" and eating all the components together should taste like the fried fish Lana's mom makes — Tarzan said it didn't "hit the mark," Gail said the "fried pile of cornmeal" tasted raw
Bailey — "Tiramisu fugazi" crepelle alla norcina — A savoury dish meant to resemble a tiramisu dessert — Patrick thought it was seasoned well and Gail said it was very satisfying, Tom liked the idea of a dish that loosed like dessert
César — Arctic char tartare, turmeric custard, fish tuile and romaine lettuce jam — The mission for the judges was to break through the tuile, and the sauce was the "secret weapon" — Buddha identified that the fish was handled nicely, but it needed acidity to cut through the sweetness
Vinny — Beef tartare with variations of beets, whipped foie gras and harissa — The judges were given a mission to extract the key through the smoke from under the "lasers" — The dry ice made the dish completely frozen, Tom was able to eat it before it froze and just said each component was "fine," but Buddha was impressed by the story
Shuai — Turducken with potatoes and leek, buttered peas and carrots, gravy — Martine said it had a "nice crispy texture," but wanted more vegetables for the portion of the meat on the plate, Patrick, Tarzan and other judges highlighted that they didn't know what the stunt was
Tristen — "Chicken impossible" king crab and sausage stuffed chicken wing with crab oil américaine — The judges had to pour the "antidote" on the chicken stuffed with a "virus," with 30 seconds to get the sauce out, otherwise it will be too cold — Patrick highlighted that the dish had a point of the view and the sauce was the best thing they ate all day, Tom highlighted that he couldn't pull off the trick with the sauce before it got too cold
The favourite dishes of the day were from Massimo, Bailey and Tristen, with Massimo being named the ultimate winner.
César, Lana and Vinny had the least favourite dishes, and César was ultimately eliminated, heading to Last Chance Kitchen.
