‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’ Episode 4 recap: Who had the 'Wright' stuff this week?

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Top Chef" Season 21, Episode 4, which aired April 10, 2024.

And just like that, we have a top 10.

After last week’s elimination, Kenny wasn’t the only chef who said goodbye to Milwaukee. In fact, this week, everyone left ... for now, at least. They hit the trail — the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail — for a stop in Spring Green, home to the Wisconsin-born architect’s former home and studio, Taliesin.

This week’s challenge was the season’s biggest test of the chefs’ creativity, planning and teamwork ... and it resulted in the pool of cheftestants getting double the chops this week. I’ll get to the surprising elimination in my recap below, but for now, here are the sites, people and highlights we saw from three settings across the state.

Wisconsin’s spotlight moments from “Top Chef,” Season 21, Episode 4

What in MKE did we see?: For an episode that didn’t technically take place in Milwaukee, a lot! The Coakley Brothers Water Tower, the Pfister Hotel, the Hoan Bridge, the Kanaloa Tiki Lounge pontoon, ASQ Center building in downtown Milwaukee, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block houses, Farwell Avenue on the east side, Zaffiro's Pizza, the Gallun House and more stately homes atop Lafayette Hill on the east side.

What in Madison/Spring Green did we see?: The State Capitol building, downtown Madison, Lake Monona, Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center, Madison Whole Foods Market, the Park Hotel, Taliesin.

Celebrity sightings: French chef Dominique Crenn of San Francisco’s Atelier Crenn, “Top Chef: Houston” and “Top Chef World All Stars” winner Buddha Lo

Where was the challenge set? Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s former home and studio in Spring Green

How did Dan do? He did ... fine. The judges appreciated the simple ingredients he used in his dish but it didn’t really stand out to them. He’s safe, however, and will move on to the fifth week of competition.

Back at the Cupola Barn, the site of last week’s grueling cheese festival, the remaining 12 contestants learned they’d soon be out of the heat — and the fire. There was no Quickfire Challenge this week, instead allotting that time for the chefs to pack their bags for a trip from Milwaukee to Spring Green, where their Elimination Challenge would take place at Taliesin, the former home to legendary Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

This week's challenge would be for the chefs to pair off and create two dishes that represent the theme of duality — a signature of Wright’s creations.

There was a little gym class-style awkwardness as the chefs chose partners, ending up with Danny and Rasika, Dan and Amanda, Laura and Savannah, Alisha and Kaleena, Manny and Kévin (who dubbed themselves the “power bottoms” after both falling in the bottom last week ... I’ll leave that one alone) and Michelle and Charly.

As the winner of the cheese festival, Michelle had immunity this week — and so would her partner Charly, host Kristen Kish announced to a massive celebration from the New Orleans chef, who’s been in the middle of the pack to this point and could use that security. But the good vibes didn’t last long before it was revealed that the double save meant a double elimination this week, with two chefs leaving the competition.

The dual dishes would be served at Taliesin to Kish, perennial judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, and two guest judges (with no Wisconsin ties, as far as I can tell): Buddha Lo, winner of “Top Chef All Stars,” and world-renowned chef Dominique Crenn, chef and co-owner of the Michelin three-star restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco.

The pressure was on.

A trip along the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail

Before heading to Wright’s home, the chefs started in Milwaukee, where his six Burnham Block homes, located on the corner of West Burnham Street and South Layton Boulevard, were designed as the earliest example of affordable housing in the U.S.

More: Frank Lloyd Wright houses you can visit in Wisconsin include Taliesin, Burnham Block

The chefs toured the homes, noting design elements, color schemes and materials used to help inspire their dishes. Then their road trip continued to Madison, home base for the next couple weeks, where they visited another Wisconsin Wright creation: the Monona Terrace.

Where the Burnham Block Houses feature Wright’s signature right angles and mixed materials, the Monona Terrace is an example of his blending of building and nature, as the circular structure juts out over Lake Monona. You could see the gears turning as the chefs studied all the structures, trying to fathom making food from the facades.

Finally, they stopped in Spring Green, where they toured Taliesin and conceptualized their dishes from Wright’s drafting studio.

Some of the pairs were on the same wavelength. Charly and Michelle were feeling their “chicken or the egg” theme while Manny and Kévin’s bromance sparked as they dreamt up their light and dark dishes. Dan and Amanda found “nerdy” kindred spirits easily (just call them “Danmanda,” they said) and to Danny and Rasika, their pairing “feels right.”

But there was trouble from the start with “team Chicago,” Kaleena and Alisha. Upon learning Frank Lloyd Wright, born on June 8, was a Gemini, Alisha said she’s always hated Geminis.

“I’m a Gemini,” Kaleena responded swiftly.

Cringe. I could feel the tension from the other side of the screen.

The judges deliberate the dual-themed dishes

It didn’t get much better from there. As the two cooked from the kitchen of Taliesin’s Riverview Terrace Cafe, Wright’s only restaurant design, the two couldn’t seem to click. Their timing was off, they snapped at each other as they cooked, and there was no sense of teamwork between them.

Their duality was land and sea, with Kaleena’s “land” represented by a mushroom cheesecake with cornmeal crust and Alisha’s “sea” coming from shrimp with aguachile and cucumber. After tasting the dishes, the judges couldn’t find the through line. “Everything’s clashing,” Kish said.

Moreover, the food was just bad. “It’s like a first-year culinary student trying to make a fancy dish,” Colicchio said of Alisha’s dish.

Even with immunity, Michelle felt uneasy right away. She said she’s never cooked this way (we’ve heard this before, with her dishes almost always rising above her inexperience), but her chicken-mushroom biscuit was inspired by a dish she grew up with, offering a sense of comfort. Charly leaned on a Haitian rice he was comfortable with, too. But the execution of both dishes failed to impress the judges. The biscuit was dry and crumbly, and Charly’s dish was more about the rice than his concept of egg.

Dan and Amanda landed on the theme of “poverty and wealth." Their teamwork was on display when Amanda hopped in to suggest using liquid nitrogen to help set Dan’s soft mousse, which worked like a dream. His dish represented poverty, inspired by the humble ingredients in Dan’s leek cannoli with potato mousse, potato tuile, pickle and kombu salad. Amanda’s pasta dish boasted scallop and caviar with kombu oil and seafood broth.

Amanda’s seafood was the standout of the two, with Colicchio saying Dan’s tuile was salty and leek undercooked. Not a bad showing, said the judges, but the team seemed to prioritize presentation over flavor.

Manny’s and Kévin’s dishes also had an uneven showing. The judges couldn’t find anything good to say about Manny’s pasta dish, but enjoyed Kévin’s praline chocolate mousse with Mexican vanilla ice cream. Crenn was a judge on the season of “Top Chef France” that Kévin won, so it had to be satisfying to impress the notoriously critical chef again.

Savannah and Laura’s dishes, both using wild pistachio spice, looked and tasted beautiful, but their comfortable/uncomfortable duality theme went over the judges’ heads without a detailed explanation of their concept.

The challenge seemed designed for Danny and Rasika, and the rest of the chefs felt it, too. They both worked previously at legendary California restaurant The French Laundry and have loads of technical experience with fine dining. Danny’s father is an architect, even, with an aesthetic in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright’s. The inspiration is in his lineage.

And what inspired dishes they served. Their theme, “seemingly similar but strikingly different,” was executed perfectly. The structural presentation was exactly the same for both, but Danny’s green dish with scallop mousse and zucchini played with mild flavors while Rasika’s red take with daal quenelle, pickled beets and rasma sauce — an homage to her Tamil heritage — carried balanced depth and spice.

The judges didn’t need long to deliberate.

“I think we can all agree that we have one clear winning team and one clear losing team,” Kish said.

Who won immunity on “Top Chef: Wisconsin” Episode 4?

After the brief discussion, Kish asked Danny and Rasika and Kaleena and Alisha to come back to the dining room for the judges’ decision.

Danny and Rasika were the clear winners.

“Some days are close between the multitude of dishes we eat, but today was not one of those days,” Simmons said. “You both truly shone today.”

They split the $10,000 prize (Rasika’s up to $20,000 in winnings so far — get it, girl), but only one of the chefs could win immunity for next week.

And it was Rasika. Her dish represented duality with “texture, surprise and beauty,” Crenn said.

Colicchio was impressed by the dish’s rasam sauce.

“Oh my gosh, that’s my grandmom’s,” Rasika said, adding that the win felt extra emotional this week. “It’s not every day that you see someone making traditional Tamil food in a competition or anywhere in the U.S., so the Tamil people will probably be proud.”

“Keep cooking like this, please,” Colicchio said.

Who was sent home on ‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’ Episode 4? 

Kaleena knew her fate before it was announced, teary-eyed and emotional as Kish, with a tremble in her voice, asked her and Alisha to pack their knives and go.

The cornmeal crust on her mushroom cheesecake was so hard it was essentially inedible, and Alisha’s uninspired dish severely lacked flavor — especially in the typically vibrant aguachile.

They would head to Last Chance Kitchen, where they’d both face off against surprise 16th contestant Soo Ahn, a Chicago chef who eliminated Kenny from the competition last week and Valentine the week prior. The winner of Last Chance Kitchen will join the competition later in the season. 

But the rest of the chefs didn’t get out without a warning. After the winners and losers were announced, Kish and Lo spoke to the chefs, noting that most of the food did not meet the level expected at this point in the competition.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Kish said. “Today was tough.”

The remaining chefs will have a chance to redeem themselves in Madison next week, where they’ll visit the famous Dane County Farmers Market to shop for ingredients, and later create supper club fare at The Harvey House, 644 W Washington Ave., Madison.

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: Wisconsin’ Episode 4 recap: Who had the 'Wright' stuff?