‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’ Episode 2 recap: Who’s living the high life this week?

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Top Chef" Season 21, Episode 2, which aired March 27, 2024.

It’s another week in Milwaukee for “Top Chef,” and the cheftestants, after saying goodbye to David when he was eliminated in last week’s challenge, were ready for a taste of the high life ... literally. This week, in the Quickfire Challenge and the Elimination Challenge, they were steeped in two of Milwaukee's most beloved traditions: beer and bar culture. From the funky, bitter flower that goes into our brews to the snacks you find across tap rooms and corner bars, the chefs turned Brew City standbys into fine-dining fare.

I recap the entire episode below, but before we get into the nitty-gritty, here’s a sip at the sites, celebs and soundbites that put Wisconsin in the spotlight.

Milwaukee’s spotlight moments from 'Top Chef,' Season 21, Episode 2:

What in MKE did we see?: Inside the Historic Caves at the Miller Brewing Co. complex (now known as Molson Coors), lots of drone footage of downtown Milwaukee, kayakers on the Milwaukee River, Wisconsin Avenue near the Riverside Theater, the Wisconsin Avenue Bridge, the BMO Pavilion at Summerfest, the Milwaukee Art Museum, a Historic Third Ward sign, the Hop Garden Farm (in Belleville), the Sixth Street viaduct near the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, Whole Foods.

Celebrity sightings: It was a star-studded judges’ table tonight: comedian Charlie Berens; Joe Flamm, “Top Chef” Season 15 winner and owner of Chicago’s Rose Mary and BLVD Steakhouse; Jamie Brown-Soukaseume of Madison’s Ahan restaurant, Kyle Knall of Birch, Omar Shaikh of 3rd St. Market Hall and Carnevor; Luke Zahm, “Wisconsin Foodie” host and chef/owner of Viroqua’s Driftless Cafe; and Molson Coors Associate R&D Packaging Engineer Carol Walker appeared on-screen.

Where was the challenge set? The Historic Caves at the Miller Brewing Co. complex in Milwaukee

How did Dan do? Dan's team won the Elimination Challenge, so he’s safe for another week! His popcorn dish impressed the judges, but moreover, he took a risk by opening up to his fellow cheftestants about having Kennedy’s Disease, being vulnerable enough to lean on support when he needs it in the competition.

Best Wisconsin-related quote: “When I say ‘win,’ you say ‘consin.’ Win! Consin! Win! Consin!” — Savannah

The episode began with Manny and Michelle walking along Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee, riding high from their top performances in last week’s Elimination Challenge. Manny was last week's winner, his pozole soup scoring him immunity from being eliminated this week, and Michelle surprised even herself, the professional pitmaster serving the top-rated stuffed pasta dish in her group.

But it was a new week, a new set of ingredients and a new challenge, meaning anyone (well, except for Manny) could be headed for the chopping block.

The first Quickfire Challenge: 'Hop to it!'

The chefs were greeted in the Top Chef Kitchen by host Kristen Kish and Joe Flamm, winner of “Top Chef” Season 15 and owner of Rose Mary and BLVD Steakhouse in Chicago.

Flamm knew both Dan and Alisha from his work with them in Chicago, where he was the sous chef at the first restaurant where Alisha staged (interned).

But he couldn’t biased, and the other contestants couldn't be bitter ... because all the bitterness lay in the star ingredient for the season’s first Quickfire Challenge.

“Beer is what has made Milwaukee famous. It’s called Brew City for a reason,” said Kish, standing in front of a pile of hops provided by the Hop Garden Farm in Belleville, south of Madison. It’s one of the main ingredients used in brewing beer, but its soapy, bitter flavor isn’t exactly the most cook-friendly ingredient. Still, the chefs would need to turn them into a delicious dish in just 30 minutes.

The chefs used hops in infused oils, chimichurri, corn puree, honey and pudding, from savory to sweet. After sharing their dishes with Kish and Flamm, there was a top three and a bottom three.

On the low end were Kenny’s undercooked farro with hops and kombu broth, Danny’s grilled rack of lamb with lambic hops au poivre (“that black pepper was wild,” Flamm said), and Valentine’s hop-smoked duck breast, which Kish said it needed a bit more fat.

The favorites were Laura’s hop-infused rice pudding, Michelle’s grilled flank steak with strawberry and hops vinaigrette and Kévin’s roasted berries with fleur de sel crumble and hops-infused oil.

But only one chef won the $5,000 Quickfire Cash: Laura, who makes rice pudding at her Mediterranean restaurant, Dalida, in San Francisco. Laura said she planned to use the money on a nice dinner ... perhaps at her own restaurant, which she opened just five weeks before leaving to tape “Top Chef.”

Now, Flamm said, Laura would have to buy the rest of the chefs a beer. It’s a Midwestern rite of passage.

Beer and bar snacks: The Elimination Challenge taps into Wisconsin bar culture

Speaking of beer, it would be at the heart of this week’s Elimination Challenge, set in the Historic Miller Caves at the Miller Brewing Co. complex, home to the oldest large-scale brewing company in the Midwest.

It's where they make Miller High Life, of which Flamm is a fan. "Whether you’re sitting in a Michelin-starred restaurant or just having a bowl of popcorn, you can’t go wrong,” he said. Looks like he’s in the right place.

High Life comes in handy when you need something to wash down those salty snacks ubiquitous at bars across the state, and they were the ingredients at the forefront of this week’s Elimination Challenge.

The chefs would divide into two teams to turn turn seven salty bar snacks into an elevated, seven-course progressive menu. The bar snacks in question? Popcorn, pickles, pretzels, mixed nuts, potato chips, olives and toasted corn kernels.

I don’t see Milwaukee’s Bay View Packing pickled eggs in that list, but I’ll let that one slide for now.

The chefs drew knives and were split into the Yellow Team (Rasika, Michelle, Dan, Alisha, Kenny, Savannah and Manny) and the Red Team (Kévin, Danny, Valentine, Laura, Amanda, Kaleena and Charly). 

The groups had 10 minutes to plan, deliberating about which course they’d prepare and which snack they’d highlight. On the Yellow Team, Dan and Rasika both jumped at the chance to make dessert, but when Rasika shared her dish plan, Dan quickly conceded and handed dessert duties to Rasika. How's that for “Midwest Nice?”

Dan Jacobs shares his Kennedy’s Disease diagnosis

Dan has been a team player from the start, and the night before the Elimination Challenge, he chatted with Charly, Kenny and Valentine about being happy to be working on teams.

His teammates didn’t know he would need their support in more ways than one. In a talking head interview, he shared for the first time with viewers that he has Kennedy’s Disease, the neuromuscular condition that causes muscle atrophy and slowly deteriorates the ability to swallow, speak, walk and use one's hands for everyday tasks.

Dan initially kept it from the other contestants, fearing they'd treat him differently, but he knew he’d eventually have to share his news.

He said it took six months to come to terms with the disease, but he learned he needed to do something with it. “My time is now. I’m here for a reason, and that reason is to be the next Top Chef,” he said.

You’ve got the entire state behind you, Dan!

Inside 'Top Chef': Dan Jacobs dishes on how he prepped for the show and what makes Milwaukee special

'Living the High Life' in the Miller Caves  

The next day, the Elimination Challenge started with an immediate party foul: In a rush, Alisha accidentally dropped a bottle of Miller High Life from the cooler. But it didn't break!

“Wow, tasty and durable!” she said. Miller’s gotta love that off-the-cuff plug.

There was a lot of chaos in the tented, makeshift kitchen outside the Historic Miller Caves — and a lot of teamwork, too.

Savannah started a chant that I'll probably adopt into my lexicon: “When I say ‘win,’ you say ‘consin,’” she shouts to her teammates. “Win!” “Consin!” “Win!” “Consin!”

She was working on the first course for the Yellow Team, a cucumber melon salad with dill vinaigrette that was meant to show off her bar snack, pickles.

Other Yellow Team dishes included Manny’s chicken breast and mole made with mixed nuts, Kenny’s potato-chip pavé with French onion dip and short rib gravy, Dan’s popcorn mousse with clams, and Rasika’s pretzel barley cake with honey mustard sabayon.

Rasika confessed her love for pretzels earlier in the episode, and she planned to use it making a pretzel flour, a pretzel cake and pretzel granita. But one ingredient had her teammate Alisha scratching her head. “I’ve never heard of mustard in a dessert,” she said. “It sounds crazy.”

Over on the Red Team, Kévin went to work on the first course, a trio of canapes using olives. Some of his teammates’ dishes included Valentine’s corn soup representing toasted corn kernels, Amanda’s beer and pretzel “pre-dessert” palate cleanser and Charly’s potato chip-crusted Spanish mackerel.

Charly planned to put extra finesse behind his dish, breaking his potato chips into tiny pieces to lay on top of the mackerel to resemble scales. “This is the most technical thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.

As the chefs wrapped up their dishes, the judges filed into the Miller Caves. Aside from mainstays of Kish, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, the chefs would be serving seven guests: main guest judge Joe Flamm, Berens, Brown-Soukaseume, Knall, Shaikh, Zahm, and Walker (representing Miller High Life).

They opened their menus as their elegant coup glasses were filled with crisp, delicious Miller High Life.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had beer out of champagne glasses,” Colicchio said. It’s called “The Champagne of Beers,” Tom! Welcome to Milwaukee!

Berens, a Wisconsin native, offered a critique of his High Life as he sipped. “You can taste that in the back of the palate ... or the top of the palate ... sigh,” he said. Berens was labeled “The Champagne of Comedians” on the chyron — he's not exactly known for his astute food criticism, but he got a big laugh.

Back in the kitchen, Savannah was feeling a little inferior when scoping out the Red Team’s technical dishes, like Kévin’s stunning olive canapes, which were brought to the judges first next to her cucumber-melon salad.

Dan offered her a hug and some encouragement before she left to serve the judges.

Shaikh said he liked the balance of Savannah’s vinaigrette with the dish’s cream cheese, but Kish had other thoughts.

“I personally don’t like starting with dairy as your first course," she said.

“You can’t say that in Wisconsin,” Flamm snapped, playfully. “How dare you!”

Between swigs of High Life, the judges remarked that Kévin’s canapes were overly salty.

The frustration continued through most of the courses, with the judges complaining that many chefs missed the mark.

Charly’s potato chip-crusted Spanish mackerel was straight-up bland, they said, and Knall’s mackerel was raw in the middle. Valentine’s soup got harsh critiques, too, the judges commenting that it was extremely thick, and the toasted corn kernels got lost in the mix with the fresh corn.

But there were some highlights. Manny’s chicken and mole stood out to Kish. “I’ve been waiting for a dish that felt composed" she said. And Rasika, despite just squeaking out a frozen granita at the last minute, showed a risky dish in her pretzel dessert with honey mustard, but it paid off.

Kenny’s potato-chip pavé with French onion dip and short rib gravy was a favorite, as well, with Berens giving it the highest-possible compliment in the state of Wisconsin: “Man, I tell ya, if Kenny’s bringing that sucker to the potluck, it’s not lasting very long and he will get an invite back.”

Dan got high marks, too, despite the judges being thrown by his mix of ingredients: popcorn mousse, clams, roasted corn, basil and spicy popcorn.

Shaikh said he was surprised he pulled that combination off, and Flamm said, “It was weird, but it works!”

That had to be a relief for Dan, whose hands were shaking while plating his food. “This is what happens when you’re old,” he told his teammates.

But to the camera, he said that shakiness was "30% the competition, 70% the Kennedy’s Disease.”

After the challenge, the teammates debriefed before heading to the judges' table in Top Chef Kitchen. Dan thanked his teammates for their support that day, then opened up about his Kennedy’s Disease diagnosis and the setbacks it would cause him.

“If you see me going slow, it’s not just because I’m old,” he said.

His teammates were surprised and in awe of what he'd pulled off to that point. “This is already hard,” Michelle said. “He’s amazing to be able to push through this competition, to be as creative as he is, and he does it with a smile.”

We’re all in awe of you, Dan.

Who won 'Top Chef: Wisconsin' Episode 2?

Back in Top Chef Kitchen, the contestants joined Kish, Colicchio and Simmons to learn that the Yellow Team won the challenge. They impressed with clever dishes that delivered deliciousness, especially the top three: Manny, Kenny and Rasika.

But one chef stood above the rest: Rasika, who won the challenge, has immunity for next week’s challenge and is going home $10,000 richer thanks to a bonus cash prize from Miller High Life.

“It makes me feel humbled by the fact that I’m right for choosing this creative path, and this is what I’m meant to do,” Rasika said.

But the fun couldn’t last for long. It was the Red Team’s time to step forward.

The least-favorite dishes were Kévin’s salty olive canape trio, Charly’s "so bland” and undercooked potato chip-topped mackerel and Valentine’s too-thick corn soup.

While critiques can feel harsh, “Top Chef” is ultimately a show about encouragement, and Flamm offered it before delivering the final verdict. “There’s no bad chefs in this room,” he said. “There’s bad days and bad dishes, but there’s no bad chefs standing around here.”

Who got sent home on ‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’ Episode 2?

That rang true for Valentine, who had a bad day with his corn soup showing, and the judges just couldn’t get past its thick, starchy consistency. Kish asked the benevolent Boston dad to pack his knives and go.

But before he left, Colicchio extended a glimmer of hope: “I'll see you in Last Chance Kitchen,” he said, before motioning to Kish and Flamm. “Both of these chefs actually came through Last Chance Kitchen and won it. You’ve got a shot.”

Valentine won't be joining the other cheftestants next week, who will turn to Wisconsin's most famous food export: cheese. They're battling it out at a cheese festival and, speaking from experience (I was in attendance that day), they have a hot and heavy challenge ahead of them.

How to watch 'Top Chef: Wisconsin': TV channel, streaming

Viewers can watch live on Bravo on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. or stream the next day on Peacock, BravoTV.com or the Bravo app.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'Top Chef' recap: Miller Caves, bar snacks and Charlie Berens