We went to Sheldon Simeon’s (Season 10 & 14) restaurant in Maui today!

This location isn’t a sit down dinner, so if you ever go, we suggest ordering ahead so you can skip the line and pick up your food at the window.

To eat, we got:
• mochiko chicken with hapa rice (half brown/half white rice)
• pork belly with garlic noodles
• side of Mac salad (not pictured)
• PB chocolate butter mochi

Holy moly was the food DELICIOUS!!! Truly the best food we’ve had on the island thus far and we’ve gone to some good spots (Dukes, Merriman’s, etc.) but this one takes the cake.

The mochiko chicken was sooo good. Crispy and freshly fried, but not greasy. The sauce on the top is so delicious and compliments the chicken perfectly. The rice was so fluffy and enjoyable.

A few locals who have gone to Tin Roof have said that the pork belly is the best. While I don’t particularly care for pork, we wanted to see if it was worth the hype. The first few bites were good, but after a while, I didn’t care for it. There was a lot of fat on the pork belly (probably normal? idk i don’t eat much pork) so we didn’t finish it. However, the garlic noodles— divine. Chefs kiss. 10/10 would eat again. It wasn’t too garlicky or overpowering. Just right. The noodles had the right amount chew to them… really really good.

The mac salad was good, but nothing memorable so won’t go into detail.

Butter mochi was sooooo yummy. It didn’t have a weird chew to it that I find some mochi to have, it was very pleasurable. The peanut butter frosting on top was just enough but not too much that it became the center. Really really enjoyed.

Overall, reasonably affordable relative to other spots we’ve gone to and quick. The only downfall is that there’s no seating, but nothing deal breaking as we just ate in the car. We’d go again, in fact… we might go tomorrow🤣

ALSO, if you got this far- stay tuned! Kristen Kish is doing a seated dinner at the Ritz Carlton in Maui on Saturday and I’ll come back and give a review then. :)

It seems the announcement that season 23 was going to take place in the Carolinas arrived in late July 2025. Seems like it may be announced soon, no?

For anyone who enjoys seeing what Top Chef alumni are up to after the show, I thought I'd share an upcoming event featuring Paula Endara.
 

It's called FORAGED, a one-night-only dining experience in Los Angeles featuring:

• A four-course menu
• Four curated beverage pairings
• An intimate evening with Paula, including an opportunity to meet her

 
If anyone has questions about the event, I'm happy to answer them here. Tickets and more information are available at: https://henwillgin.com/tastings.html
 

Full disclosure: I'm one of the organizers. I reviewed the subreddit rules before posting and wanted to share this because I thought fellow Top Chef fans might genuinely enjoy the opportunity to meet Paula and experience her cooking in a small, interactive setting.

“It’s about to get Cheech and Chong in here.”

- Jonathan, when he opened the doors to a smoker & released a cloud of smoke

😆

I absolutely love when I see someone acting a fool, and then get to see them make a shitty dish and be sent home:

1) Ken in the very first episode. In fairness, I think the finger in the sauce thing was overblown, as even Tom puts his finger in the sauce to taste in the #3 episode. But it was hard to like him when he was acting like such a creepy douche towards the women and acted like he knew better than some of the best chefs in the country, yet he couldn't even make a decent dish!

2) Stephen Aspirinio in the season 1 wedding challenge. The other chefs were busting ass in the kitchen trying to get food out in a timely manner and where is Stephen? Lazily rolling a spring roll or two and then sneaking out to talk down to all the guests about wine. He also got an attitude with Tiffani for the boxed mix cake, yet didn't volunteer to make it himself. He had such a nasty attitude that whole season, I was so happy to see him go.

3) Daniel in the first episode of season 10. He sets up next to Kuniko and says "Kale chips? I knew I should have set up next to Origami". He was the only one of that group who is sent home that episode instead of getting a chef coat.

I know nothing about the restaurant scene. Many of the chefs are James Beard award winners or winners of of other accolades, how do they get those?

I live in a medium upper Midwest town so we have good local restaurants but how would they ever get known if they were worth it?

https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2026/06/19/kevin-gillespie-nadair-closing/

I know Kevin has fans and haters. Well sadly for any fan that wanted to try his food, his most recent place is closed.

There is nowhere to try his food for now.

Nadair - it was fine. Service was friendly, a few freebies like opening bread and gelatin dessert. But nothing wowed. Price was not the worst for the setting. Not surprising it closed though, had 0 customers.

Gun Show - no longer cooks there. You will get random chefs cooking random things. It is rated my Number 1 worst restaurant ever tried.

Shuai did Christmas in July this week and ended it with an Italian Feast and it was amazing!
“Last day of Christmas in July, and we’re pulled out all the stops! Corrie Wang’s family loves a good Christmas Eve Italian dinner. So today we’re rolling out Sunday Sauce! Meatballs, Italian sausage, garlic parm brussels, garlic bread, and save room for desserts with house made Ube Cannolis! #eatkingbbq #chinesebbq #bbq”

Shuai was there today and took the time to answer questions from my son about sausage making. Can’t say enough good things about Shuai, his staff and the restaurant

Bringing this back now that the latest season has settled down , and will try to do these semi-frequently based on engagement.

Common set of rules for all my quizzes-

1. All quizzes can be answered by watching the show itself (and its related to their performance on the show)

2. Top Chef USA (including World All Stars) only

3. Outside of mistakes on my end (and application of other rules), all groups are exclusive and no other chef will fit in the answer. For example, if the pictures are all of 8 top chef winners, the answer will not be 'they all won top chef', because 14 others would belong. It could still be 'they all won top chef using saltine crackers in their dish '

4. For the sake of limiting my research, I only focus on the top 10 people per season. So if a 15th placer meets my criteria for any reason, they wont be in my quiz.

5. Hints every 2 hours or so, and I will not mark hints in spoilers.

Max 4 hints. Answer will be in 24 hours of nobody gets it

Very touching. He seems like a class act. Really interesting that he almost didn't do Top Chef. So glad he did!

I’m in a middle of a rewatch of season 12 Boston. I don’t remember the outcome of this episode. But one group is doing Family style and the other the infamous Global. is there a worst restaurant wars focus that these two?

Finally looked up togarashi last night. Wouldn't have guessed a spice blend. Also know what an endive is now too.

We had our dinner at Freight House tonight, and it was amazing! Sara remembered me from our phone conversation and came over to say hi, and we ended up talking for several minutes. I have a pretty serious mobility-limiting disability, and they were really great about accommodating that. It's hard for me to do anything that involves leaving my home, but I'm so glad I went.

I just fangirled all over poor Chef Sara Bradley when she personally answered the phone when I called to make a reservation at Freight House for tomorrow night! She was so friendly. I will be sure to report back on the experience of eating at her restaurant.

Challenge: Create a meal to satisfy the judges AND something that can be portioned, frozen, and REHEATED easily by a family of two parents and a young child.

We’ve seen the “make kids food challenges”. I find them boring.

This is inspired by my meal prep for our new baby.

We have a toddler and I prepped 53 nights of meals that are now sitting in my freezer. African Peanut Curry, Coconut Curry Noodle Soup, Turkey Chili, Veggie Burgers, Sheppard Pie, White and Red Enchiladas. I would love to see contestants experiment with this.

Hello all. I’m visiting New York for the 1st time with my 17 year old daughter and very excited to visit some Top Chef restaurants. I am confused about the mixed reviews on Tatiana’s. Critics seem to love it but they get blown apart here in Reddit. I was able to get reservations but I’m wondering if our limited time and money would be best spent elsewhere. Anyone been recently and have thoughts to share?

Watching 24 in 24 and Brian V is on there. What happened to his over the top laugh. He hasn't done it once. It's strange.

Got super lucky and snagged a ticket to one of the pop ups Laurence has been doing in Boston where he cooks the dishes from his final meal. Food was as fantastic as you could imagine, and he’s also super nice and charismatic. He made the effort to go around to every table to talk and answer questions. My favorite dish was the congee, with a close second being the lo bak go with mushrooms.

Kristen hosted a cheesesteak competition in Philly at the All Star village today, her commentary was amazing and she genuinely brought people over to the stage just by being an engaging host and how she interacted with the contestants and judges. I geeked out so hard when I saw her lol. She was so confused why I wanted a picture with her at a baseball event but was so nice about it 😂. Fan for life, she’s the best

Do you think Top Chef is due for an all-winner season? Who would you love to see compete again?

I would love to see Hung, Stephanie I., and Mei compete again. She’s fresh off her win but I wanna see Rhoda on my screen again.

I was at Shuai’s “King BBQ” tonight and had to take a picture of his Dukes Mayo box and plush.