Kudos To Top Chef Contestants For Fixing My Biggest Restaurant Wars Peeve, But One Kitchen Issue Still Needs Addressing

Spoilers below for the latest episode of Top Chef, so be warned if you haven’t yet streamed it via Peacock subscription.

Hand to hot stovetop, among my very favorite hours (or so) of unscripted TV each year is Top Chef’s annual “Restaurant Wars” episodes. I could feasibly watch the exact same concepts used every year, just to see how each season’s contestants would run with them, but these producers and judge are too innovative for such mush-brain expectations. Season 23’s installment faced some pre-challenge difficulties due to Jen Lee Jackson exiting early for health reasons, with Sieger Bayer allowed back in following his questionable BBQ elimination.

Once the two teams were aligned and had their concepts sorted out — both sharing a queenly theme, amusingly enough — the REAL challenge began: me making it through to the end credits without calling the show or the contestants out for bizarrely repeating past mistakes. Thankfully (and shockingly), my biggest pet peeve was almost entirely fixed, even if another irksome issue has yet to be resolved.

This Season's Front-Of-House Chefs Actually Remembered To Be Good Hosts

Cooking competitions always come with specific no-nos that certain chefs like to buck against, such as the near-impossibility of cooking a good risotto or gumbo in less than an hour. Another makeshift rule that often slips through the cracks is "Taking front of house means being the face and voice of the restaurant." Even last season, I was echoing my wife's gripes about Shuai Wang's terrible turn as his team's host.

Lo and behold, chefs Duyen Ha and Oscar Diaz must have heard my calls reverberating across time, because they both took on the most personable "Restaurant Wars" position, and they both knocked it out of the park. Well, Duyen cleared the park's outer walls and then some, while Oscar reached the upper decks. (He did leave the judges sitting for 40 minutes without food while the team's borked ticket situation was sorted, but largely excelled outside of that.)

It was encouraging to see both of the chefs walking the floor as often as they were, while also holding down the fort behind the scenes. And that both spoke to the judges regularly, and could speak to their restaurants' meals well enough. But the biggest delight was hearing Tom Colicchio point it out not just during the meal, but again at the Judges' Table.

Guest judge and restaurateur Michael Mina followed that up by saying both Duyen and Oscar presented themselves as if the faux restaurants were actually theirs. It's very hard to get such a clean and positive comment during "Restaurant Wars," so kudos to both for that. And for not making me want to pull my hair out with frustration the whole time. Now about this other issue...

I Think Restaurant Wars Teams Should Always Have Separate Kitchen Spaces

Now, I could see how this issue could be blamed entirely on budgetary reasons or spacial concerns, and if that's the case, then I guess I don't feel quite as strongly about it. But until I know otherwise, I might as well get this out.

Even realizing that Top Chef wants to put contestants through the organizational wringer during "Restaurant Wars" — as further evidenced by the introduction of phoned-in takeout orders — I'd think the baseline level of goodwill should start with allowing each team to plan, prep, cook and expo in two completely different areas. Or, conversely, the same area is fine if the teams are working during two completely different times. It's not a novel idea for this show or anything.

One of the twins literally changed seats during planning because he was overhearing too much of the other team's conversation. And it makes my head hurt thinking about teammates yelling and trying to hear each other while the other team's chefs are trying to do the same. Not to mention while trying to correct newbie servers, figure out table platings, and just take new orders in general. Communication is key, but so is a focused kitchen.

To be fair, the episodes where teams share the same kitchen space don't always appear to be maddenly hectic, at least not for that specific reason. You never hear chefs complaining about missing orders because another team was talking too loud. But who's to say that stuff wouldn't just get edited out of the finished product?

I'd also have an issue with talking about my restaurant's goals and ideas so openly in front of another team that could very well be influenced by it. Can't wait for the first Top Chef season with only telekinetic culinary masters.

My biggest gripe of them all? That "Restaurant Wars" is over for a whole other year. Sigh. But I'm now more excited than ever to watch the rest of Season 23 play out across the 2026 TV schedule, with new episodes airing on Bravo on Monday nights at 9:30 p.m. ET.