‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’ Episode 7 recap: The Racing Sausages star at an American Family Field cook-off

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Top Chef" Season 21, Episode 7, which aired May 1, 2024.

We've reached the seventh-inning stretch. It was much needed after last week’s confounding, chaotic challenge that had everyone’s heads spinning and sent home one of this season's strongest competitors.

That’s the name of the game on "Top Chef," but there's another name for this week’s game: baseball ... or baseball’s favorite stuffed-link mascots, more accurately. The remaining 10 chefs took their talents to American Family Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers and the always-lovable Famous Racing Sausages, who were at the forefront of the challenge this week.

There was plenty to cheer for, from a live sausage race to a crew of local chefs and stars seated at the judges table. Here’s who we saw, plus the Milwaukee sites shown throughout the episode and more.

Milwaukee’s spotlight moments from “Top Chef,” Season 21, Episode 7

What in MKE did we see?: The Sixth Street viaduct, Wisconsin Avenue on Marquette University’s campus, Colectivo Coffee on the Lake, Lincoln Memorial Parkway on the east side, the Bradley Symphony Center, Whole Foods Market, the Milwaukee City Hall bell tower, American Family Field

Celebrity sightings: Chef and three-time “Top Chef” contestant Bryan Voltaggio, chef and former “Top Chef” contestant Amar Santana, actress Brittany Snow, former Milwaukee Brewer Ryan Braun, Milwaukee chef Gregory León of Amilinda, Milwaukee chef Karen Bell of Bavette La Boucherie, Milwaukee chef Barkha Limbo Daily of The Cheel, Milwaukee chef Aaron Bickham of the Bartolotta Restaurants, Milwaukee restauranter Omar Shaikh of Carnevor and 3rd St. Market Hall, American Family Field Executive Chef Loren Rue, Milwaukee’s Zócalo and Mazorca Tacos co-owner Jesus Gonzalez, president of Glorious Malone’s Fine Sausage Daphne Jones, the Famous Racing Sausages: Brat, Chorizo, Hot Dog, Italian, Polish

Where was the challenge set? American Family Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team

How did Dan do? That’s not an easy answer. Dan was on the losing team this week and his bratwurst-focused dish landed him in the bottom three, but all the judges said his dish wasn’t bad — it was just an exceptional week for everyone else. Breathe easy, though: he just squeaked by and is safe for another week.

Following Rasika’s elimination, the chefs seemed to be shaken — especially Michelle, who was in the bottom two with Rasika and told Amanda and Laura the next morning that she felt she would be the one going home.

Soo was shaken for a different reason. He was in the top three last week, but his first real week in the full competition was overwhelming, which he talked through with Dan as the two practiced golf putting in their hotel room (prior to becoming a chef, Soo was a professional golfer).

“It’s bizarre that you get used to it,” Dan told him before giving him a little pep talk.

The Quickfire Challenge: Up in flames

When the chefs entered the Top Chef kitchen for the Quickfire Challenge, they were met by host Kristen Kish and Maryland chef and three-time “Top Chef” contestant Bryan Voltaggio, who were there to reveal the Quickfire Challenge: The chefs would have to make a flambé dish in 20 minutes ... cue everyone in the room letting out an exasperated sigh.

“That’s just mean, but I love it,” Voltaggio said.

Dan agreed. “I suck at Quickfires. I might as well just pack my knives and sit this one out,” he said, just before Kish announced the prize money would be $10,000 this week, up from its typical $5,000.

“Well, you know what, I might as well just stick around and see what I can throw together,” Dan said on second thought.

Things heated up in the kitchen quickly, with the chefs grabbing armfuls of ingredients and bottles of liquor to help set their dishes aflame.

There were classic dishes like Savannah’s cheesy saganaki, sweet treats like Soo’s flambéed bourbon with brioche and br?léed bananas, and unexpected twists like Dan’s grilled radicchio and cucumber salad.

But it was Amanda’s play on tropical baked Hawaii, Danny’s smoky spin on aguachile and Kévin’s grilled shrimp flambé au pastis that landed in the top.

But ... they couldn’t celebrate just yet. The chefs had to keep their fires roaring as Kish announced that this “ultimate Quickfire challenge” meant the top three would have to cook again to declare the winner. And double the challenge meant double the prize — the winning chef would now receive $20,000 for the Quickfire win.

Their second challenge? To make a dish with the perfect char in 20 minutes.

After another frenzied cook, Kévin served a charred squab breast with green curry yogurt sauce, Amanda presented a glazed veal chop with grilled and charred corn relish, and Danny fired up a charred branzino with charred poblano puree and avocado.

That was enough to land Danny at the top, winning the $20,000 cash prize, which he said he’d put toward his “brownstone fund” for buying a house.

The Elimination Challenge reveal: A ‘Top Chef’ sausage race

After things cooled down, Kish announced this week’s Elimination Challenge would revolve around America’s pastime.

“But you won’t be doing alone,” she said, as two-time “Top Chef” contestant Amar Santana, decked out in a Milwaukee Brewers jersey, ran in the room ... slightly overshadowed by the Brewers’ Famous Racing Sausages adorably ducking under the doorway for a trot around the room.

“Have you never seen the seventh inning?” Dan asked his follow cheftestants. “It’s so ridiculous.” (Technically the sausage race takes place before the bottom of the sixth, but we’ll let that one slide for our hometown chef.)

He was smiling hard — and so was everyone else. Especially Manny, who had googly eyes for Chorizo from the start.

If you’re not familiar with the Famous Racing Sausages, Brat, Chorizo, Hot Dog, Italian and Polish are giant sausage mascots that race one another down the warning track from the third base line to first base during each home Brewers game. It’s a fan-favorite event, and the sausages are beloved in Milwaukee. The live-action race celebrated its 30th year in 2023 as "Top Chef" was taping late last summer, and the Elimination Challenge would be the ultimate party.

The challenge would feature five head-to-head innings featuring a different sausage. One chef from each team would present their dish to the judges at the same time, and whoever got the most votes would score one run. Whichever team had the most runs at the end of five innings would win.

For the team challenge, the chefs drew knives, with Savannah, Kévin, Soo, Dan and Manny on the blue team and Kaleena, Danny, Michelle, Laura and Amanda on the yellow team.

There’d be one MVP named, but for the rest of the competition, immunity would be off the table. It was all bragging rights from then on.

Play ball!

The Elimination Challenge: How the sausage gets made

After a refreshingly chill trip to Whole Foods (both teams fell well under their $1,000 grocery budget), the chefs headed to American Family Field, where’d they’d have two hours to cook in the ballpark’s commercial kitchen.

But they couldn't cook without witnessing a proper sausage race first, which would determine the order in which the chefs would serve.

The sausages stretched in the outfield as the chefs lined up along the third base line. They were absolutely loving it, cheering like crazy while the sausages strutted along the warning track — shown in glorious slow motion, giving the race the majesty it deserves. Hot Dog high-stepped through the finish-line ribbon first, followed by Polish, Italian, Chorizo and Brat.

Things seemed to run pretty smoothly in the kitchen as the chefs prepped, but I felt for them as they had to run their prepped ingredients all the way from the kitchen out to their cooking stations by each dugout on the field just before serving — that's a long run!

And they’d have a lot to serve. There were 15 guest judges on the field that day — an interesting mix of local chefs, sausage experts, our standard judges, former Milwaukee Brewer Ryan Braun (“The only one qualified to be on this field,” said Kish) and ... Brittany Snow from the movie “Pitch Perfect.” Why not!

The format of this challenge was a ton of fun. The chefs went head-to-head with the panel of judges raising a blue or yellow flag during each inning to indicate their favorite of the two dishes. While there was still immense pressure, the vibe seemed laid-back and fun — just as it should be at a ballpark. Plus, there was so much teamwork on the sidelines at each cooking station — all the chefs rolled up their sleeves to help plate every dish for their teammates and cheered on the chefs as they served. Such sportsmanship!

In the first inning (hot dog), Soo served a take on Korean corn dogs, using french fries in his batter and served with wasabi and jalapeno mayo. Danny served a bacon-wrapped hot dog with braised cabbage and beet relish. Soo won his inning nine votes to six, with Kish saying she loved the french fry batter’s texture and proportion to the hot dog.

In the second inning (Polish sausage), Savannah served a sausage-stuffed pierogi with fennel and apple salad, while Michelle made étouffée with creamy grits with collard greens. Michelle won by a landslide, with Braun saying her dish’s explosion of flavors made it “far superior to most ballpark food.” The only issue with Savannah’s well-made pierogi was its lack of sausage filling, the judges said.

For the third inning (Italian sausage), Kévin made risotto (always a tricky dish on this show) with roasted Parmesan emulsion and fennel, and Kaleena served potato gnocchi with Italian sausage and Calabrian chili ragù. Kaleena’s dish was favored by a wide margin, with the judges raving about her spicy-but-balanced ragù. According to Simmons, Kévin’s risotto was “probably one of the better risottos we’ve ever had in 20 seasons on the show,” but way too cheesy.

During the fourth inning (chorizo), Manny turned his favorite sausage into a chorizo and cheese tetela with roasted salsa and avocado crema, while Laura made a chorizo kebab taco with yogurt sauce. Both chefs impressed the judges, who hemmed and hawed over their favorite before eventually choosing Manny’s dish in a narrow win. (“We wanted to make sure our, uh, pitch was perfect,” he said, smiling in Snow’s direction.) Simmons called it a “perfect plate of food,” and Kish said the balanced spiciness was the contributing factor that made his dish stand out over Laura’s.

It was all tied up (2-2) going into the final inning...

In the fifth inning (bratwurst), besties Dan and Amanda (“Damanda” as they dubbed themselves in Episode 4) would go head-to-head to decide the winning team. They both leaned heavily into the German theme, Dan serving potato pancakes with charred cabbage and sauerkraut, while Amanda made rye and caraway spaetzle with caramelized onion with beer mustard sauce. Amanda knocked it out of the park with 12 votes to Dan’s three (In front of a hometown crowd? The nerve!).

Leave it to Milwaukee chef Gregory León to deliver the news softly. “Dan, I loved the cabbage in yours. The brightness and the citrus were just amazing,” he said. “I just feel like Amanda’s was just a little bit more cohesive and the caraway in it was just outstanding.”

Dan took the constructive criticism in stride, but you could tell he was nervous he’d be making the short trip home that day.

Who won “Top Chef: Wisconsin” Episode 7? 

All the contestants were met with praise from the judges.

“Overall, it was fantastic,” said Kish, with Colicchio saying that, collectively, it was the best the chefs had cooked all season.

But no matter how well the game’s played, every competition has a winner and a loser, and “Top Chef” is no different.

With the yellow team winning the challenge, Kaleena, Amanda and Michelle were named the top chefs of the week, but the overall MVP went to Michelle (who revealed she played college softball at Texas Southern University — how fitting!). Simmons said she loved how Michelle took Polish sausage and gave it her authentic Southern spin.

What a swing for Michelle! After being in the bottom two last week, she racked up her second Elimination Challenge win of the season.

“To win it knowing that everyone put up phenomenal dishes is such a boost of confidence for me,” she said.

But remember: The win is nice, but with immunity off the table, the pressure’s still on next week.

Who was sent home on ‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’ Episode 7?

On the blue team, Kévin, Savannah and Dan all lost their innings, which meant they were automatically the bottom three of the week.

It was a tough choice for the judges. None of the dishes were bad, they said, but Kévin’s risotto was overshadowed by cheese, Savannah didn’t showcase enough sausage and Dan’s dish was a little conventional.

“Unfortunately, someone will be going home for making a good dish tonight,” Colicchio said.

That someone was Kévin, who returned to the dugout to a lot of sad hugs from the rest of the chefs — especially his fellow “power bottom” buddy, Manny. (Oh, how I’m going to miss their fun friendship!)

“Good thing with American ‘Top Chef’ you have LCK,” he said. “I’m still going to go to Last Chance Kitchen and gonna fight over there to take back my spot on ‘Top Chef.’”

The funny Frenchman will be missed, but he’s headed to the second round of Last Chance Kitchen to face Rasika, who’s been waiting to compete since she was eliminated from regular competition last week.

Neither will participate in next week’s challenge, which is one of the most high-pressure and highly anticipated challenges of every season: Restaurant Wars. It takes place at Discovery World, and you’ll be reading a lot more about it from me — I was lucky enough to be a diner there. I’ll share some behind-the-scenes fun from my time at Restaurant Wars plus another full episode recap next week.

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’ Episode 7 recap: Racing Sausages star at ballpark cook-off