Sad news for Houstonians who enjoy watching Top Chef. It’ll be at least another season before the city has its first winner.
Michelle Wallace, the only Houston contestant on the show's current, Wisconsin-based season, was eliminated at the end of episode 11, which aired on Wednesday, May 29.
Prior to last night’s elimination, Wallace had been flying high. The chef, who worked as the executive chef at Gatlin’s BBQ for six years before leaving in 2023 to start her B’Tween Sandwich Co. pop-up, displayed an outgoing personality and candor in front of both the judges and the camera that marked her as one of this season’s shining stars. She had done well, too, winning two elimination challenges, regularly appearing among the top group on others, and earning $17,500 in prize money.
Unfortunately, episode 11’s elimination challenge threw the chef off her game. The competitors were tasked with plating a meal on an entire table. While most of her competitors embraced the challenge — winning chef Laura Ozyilmaz created an elaborate dessert spread of baklava, ice cream, and sauces — Wallace settled on a brunch board that simply didn’t come together.
Chef Laura Ozyilmaz plates her winning table.Photo by David Moir/Bravo
Top Chef editors do a good job of illustrating Wallace’s struggles. At the grocery store, viewers watch the chef buy extra ingredients because she hasn’t fully conceived of what she’s going to make. During the cooking segment, Wallace’s biscuits, a signature item that has helped her in other challenges — and powers her B’Tween Sandwich Co. pop-ups — come out underbaked. When it’s time to lay out her table, Wallace hardly uses any of the space, compressing her cured salmon, beet biscuits, capers, fig-and-bacon jam, potato chips, and caviar into a compact sliver of the table.
Wallace barely used the table.Photo by David Moir/Bravo
“Michelle, why did you choose not to use the whole table,” judge Gail Simmons asks.
“Another issue is, this doesn’t taste right collectively. There’s a lot of things clashing here,” head judge Tom Colicchio comments. “This looks like a dish that’s supposed to be eaten together. You eat this together, and it’s not successful.”
“This doesn’t feel like her at all,” host Kristen Kish adds.
At judges’ table, Wallace and Manny Barella are on the bottom. Clearly, the judges could have sent Barella home for the Top Chef sin of making risotto and overcooking his seafood. Sadly, Wallace failed in both the conception and the execution of her dish, which allows Barella to skate by for another week.
“I just couldn’t pull it together,” Wallace says while sitting in the stew room as the judges debate who to eliminate.
After she’s told to pack her knives, Wallace has an upbeat attitude about her time on the show. “You guys are welcome to Houston anytime,” she tells the judges.
“I’m feeling okay, surprisingly. This whole thing has been challenging for me, personally and career-wise. I hadn’t cooked in this manner in a very long time and to be able to hang in there top top six, I’m a badass,” Wallace says in her post-elimination interview.
“I’ve loved every moment of laughter, every moment of frustration, and all of it has made me a better person, a better chef. I’ll see y’all in Houston.”
Wallace joins a select group of Houston chefs who have competed on the show. During season 18 in Portland, chef Dawn Burrell reached the finals, while chef Sasha Grumman went out early but did well on Last Chance Kitchen. Chef Evelyn Garcia reached the finale of season 19, which was filmed in Houston, before ultimately losing to Buddha Lo. Still, Garcia’s run on the show drove interest in Jūn, the restaurant she opened in 2023 in partnership with co-chef Henry Lu.
Whether Wallace will follow a similar path remains to be seen. For now, she continues to pop-up with B’Tween Sandwich Co. Perhaps one day it will lead to a brick and mortar restaurant. Like they say on TV, stay tuned to find out what happens.
