Top Chef Recap

Dallas bad boy chef John Tesar emerges as reason to watch Top Chef this season

John Tesar was the best part of Top Chef's season 14 premiere.

Photo courtesy of Bravo

Dallas reality show fans and chef groupies have a new reason to live with the December 1 debut of Top Chef, the cooking competition series from Bravo channel. Two words: John Tesar.

That's not provincialism. In the premiere episode of season 14, which takes place in Charleston, South Carolina, the colorful Dallas chef emerges as the best reason to watch, with oodles of quotable quotes.

Tesar is back as part of a crew of returning chefs who make up half the cast. It's this season's kooky plot twist, which pits eight new chefs against eight retreads who appeared on prior seasons.

The twist adds drama to an otherwise dull premiere. The newbies sullenly resent the hoggy selfishness of the returning chefs, while the returning chefs sagely sermonize about the pitfalls of reality TV.

"I'm not really interested in getting to know the veterans," whines new chef Emily Hahn. "I feel like they've had their time; now it should be ours."

New chef Jamie Lynch, the tattooed guy, makes tattooed guys everywhere proud, saying to the returning chefs, "I'm not gonna lie. My butthole puckered when I saw you guys walk in."

For returning and former Dallas chef Casey Thompson, the situation presents a canny opportunity to capitalize on the new chefs' inexperience by stealing a bed from a newbie.

The show makes a big deal out of staking out a bed. "As veterans, we all know we want to pick our room," says returning chef Katsuji Tanabe.

"My room is awesome," Casey says, after stealing said bed. "They had the room but, rookie move, they didn't put anything on their bed. So when they left to check out the rest of the house, I went right in. Veterans 1, rookies 0."

The rest of the show plods through the getting-to-know-you phase. In one painful segment with the new chefs, Padma asks in a stilted conversational manner, "Aren't you the such-and-such chef who won such-and-such award?"

Returning chef Shirley Chung refers to herself in the third person, when she talks about the questionable wisdom of returning for another season. "Seriously, Shirley Chung?" she asks.

Tesar also tosses out a third-person John Tesar, tucked between lots of first-person introspection.

"People either find me refreshing or they find me the biggest dick in the world, but I'm a kinder, gentler chef these days," he says. "At 58 years old, I'm kind of a dying breed, because a lot of people my age have either burned out or faded away or, let's face it, they're either Emeril or Bobby Flay. For me, winning Top Chef, I wouldn't call it redemption. I just think it's validation."

Tesar is one of two chefs who come in at the bottom. The climax consists of a cookoff between him and Florida chef Gerald Sombright.

"I have this dual apprehension," Tesar says. "Should I game play, or should I just beat him? People are asking, 'Where's that John Tesar I saw in season 10?' No way, brother. That guy's gone."

The cookoff theme is oysters. Tesar does oysters poached in cream. You get to see him open a bottle of cream with his bare teeth. Suddenly, he pulls out a truffle from his bag. It sparks a roar from the watching chefs.

"What — did you bring truffles?" asks one chef, agog. "WHAT?" asks another, aghast.

"Do you think I want to go home on on episode one, folks?" Tesar asks. "On Top Chef, we're allowed to bring a few ingredients. And I have some really nice truffles. And I'm going to take out that truffle and use it."

The show ramps up the sympathy for Sombright, splicing in a segment where he reveals he split from his wife and is maybe possibly living in his car. But his roasted oysters with a Thai mignonette do not have truffles.

"How can you compare a a mignonette with a creamed oyster," Padma stage-whispers to the other judges in horror. "I wish there had been more smoke," sighs disappointed judge Gail Simmons. For judge Tom Colicchio, it's just not Thai enough. "If you're going to do a Thai dish, we want a little more heat."

Sombright packs his knives, and Tesar wins.

"On day one, to be the loser of the quickfire and the winner of the cookoff, it gives you that full circle of energy," he says, tracing a circle in the air with his finger.

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Top Chef airs Thursdays at 9 pm CST on Bravo.

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Dallas Cowboys News

Metal roof piece at Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington falls on field

AT&T Stadium Facebook

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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A piece of the roof at the home of the Dallas Cowboys fell to the field while the retractable portion of it was being opened at least three hours before a 34-10 loss to Houston on Monday night, officials said.

AT&T Stadium was mostly empty when the incident occurred, and team officials said nobody was injured. The roof was closed without incident about an hour later.

Officials said winds gusting to 30 mph during the day contributed to the incident, which was being reviewed to ensure the roof can be opened safely at some point in the future. The roof hasn’t been opened for a Cowboys game in their $1.2 billion stadium since the 2022 season.

“I know we opened it long before any fans or anybody is in there,” owner Jerry Jones said after the game. “The reason they do that is to make sure everything is working to avoid those kinds of risks if there’s any fans or anybody in here.”

Jones said there wasn’t any risk in going on with the game, which meant a delay or postponement wasn’t a consideration.

“They wouldn’t have done this game, or started this game, had there been any risk at all,” Jones said. “Not only the NFL wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t if there was any risk at all. And there was no risk at all when we started the game.”

The arches that support the roof are nearly 300 feet above the field at their highest point. The 80,000-seat venue opened in 2009.The falling debris came a little more than a week after Dallas receiver CeeDee Lamb said the sun was in his eyes on a throw he didn’t react to in the end zone in a 34-6 loss to Philadelphia.

AT&T Stadium has an unusual east-west alignment from end zone to end zone, as opposed to most venues being north-south. On clear days, the sun shines through the large glass windows on the west side during the first half of games that kick off in the afternoon.

There is usually a call for curtains on the west side of the stadium when the sun becomes an issue, but Jones says he won’t put up curtains. He says both teams have to deal with the sun.

When AT&T Stadium hosted the Super Bowl in 2011, six workers were injured when ice and snow fell from the roof. The event was plagued by a historic ice storm that gripped the Dallas area for days.

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