Pack Your Knives

It’s a Pack Your Knives’ tradition like no other: The annual Top Chef fantasy draft. Team Tom has deployed its scouting and data analytics departments to scour the field of cheftestants for the sure bets and hidden gems.Since Kevin got a glimpse of the field of remaining chefs at a mid-season challenge, Pack Your Knives’ Chef’s Table founding members aggregated their draft boards and chose on Team Kevin’s behalf.As always, producer Anthony Mayes is at the podium for the proceedings. Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brew City wastes no time throwing its first beer-focused challenge at the Season 21 field.Nobody seems excited about cooking with hops in the Quickfire challenge, but the chefs who go sweet win favor with guest judge, Top Chef champion, and Friend of PYK, Joe Flamm.The chefs then split into teams to prepare a progressive dinner in the historic Miller Caves of dishes inspired by salty bar snacks — which Tom and Kevin rank.The team with more fine-dining, tweezer-head chefs struggles against their opponents, whose sensibilities are more rustic.Tom takes issue with the judges’ final verdict, while Kevin celebrates the winning chef’s bold risk. Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknivesCOUNT THE DINGS MERCH STORE - Check it out here: https://bit.ly/CTDMERCH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Kristen Kish Era of Top Chef has arrived! Top Chef Season 21 is here, and Tom and Kevin like the new look.This 'inverted' premiere episode has immunity up for grabs in the Elimination Challenge at the beginning, while a Quickfire cook-off has the loser packing their knives.Tom digs the 5-chef divisional battles, each with their own judges' table. Kevin believes that soup is a 'high-floor, low-ceiling' challenge, while a stuffed pasta challenge is designed to kick a chef's ass.Tom and Kevin agree that Michelle Wallace has serious potential as both Top Chef and fan favorite, winning an 'away game' with her lobster ravioli. Subscribe to the new PYK Substack! https://www.packyourknives.com/Rate PYK 5 Stars on Apple or SpotifyFollow PYK on Twitter: @packknives & Instagram: @packyourknives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pack Your Knives is back. And better than ever.On the Season 21 preview, we discuss the new host, new rules and bring in PYK’s Wisconsin correspondent and Milwaukee-native C.J. Krawczyk to give the scouting report on the host city.Tom and Kevin also offer their 3 cheftestants to watch as we launch a new chapter in PYK. Subscribe to the new PYK Substack: https://www.packyourknives.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exciting changes in Top Chef season 21 with Padme de Laxmi stepping out and Kristin Kish taking over. Introduction of exclusive content and benefits for paid subscribers with a new substack. Founding members create a chef's table to select a fantasy Top Chef team based on exclusive knowledge with subscriber discount and upcoming season content teased.

Padma, Buddha and the f'ing liver. In a jam-packed episode of Pack Your Knives, Tom and Kevin recap the contentious Season 20 finale, bid farewell to Padma Lakshmi and launch a campaign for her replacement. Also joining the show are Buddha Lo and Sara Bradley taking us behind the scenes on the finale and this World All-Stars season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our love for this season continues to grow like mushrooms on cow dung. Tom and Kevin recap the infamous Wall Challenge and the mushroom elimination challenge ahead of next week's finale.While reeling from a cheftestant's elimination, Tom shocks the world with a blockbuster trade offer ahead of the final episode. Will Kevin accept? It could swing the entire fantasy season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Breaking news: Tom and Kevin went to a Top Chef dinner in Los Angeles at Craft this week!The Pack Your Knives crew not only got to meet Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, but also the Restaurant Wars winning team and taste their five-course meal.We recap both the night, the Last Chance Kitchen finale and another banger of an episode of Top Chef as the contestants head off to Paris. Tom H also goes through the archives and researches whether any cheftestant has won four challenges in a row. The answer may surprise you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ESPN's Mina Kimes drops by Pack Your Knives for a recap of the Beef Wellington episode. Kevin, Mina and Tom wrap themselves up in the drama, investigate the mystical origins of the Beef Wellington and discuss the double-elimination choices by the judges. Plus, we gawk at a particular chef during a "candid" moment while Kevin offers a scouting report on the Kimpton hotels across the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Restaurant Wars in the rearview mirror, Tom and Kevin digest the smoked fish and thali challenges of this week's episode and interview Top Chef producer Thi Nguyen. As one of the brains behind the show, Nguyen shares what it's like to work on Top Chef over the years and why they call her the "police" of the competition. She debunks some myths and pulls back the curtain on the impact of Queen Elizabeth's passing on the production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices