I was at the ‘Top Chef’ fish boil in South Milwaukee. Here’s a peek behind the scenes

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Top Chef" Season 21, Episode 10, which aired May 22, 2024.  

On Episode 10 of “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” the contestants were tasked with putting their own spins on the classic Door County fish boil. The six remaining chefs would serve their dishes to 100 guests dining at Grant Park Beach in South Milwaukee — and I was one of them.

A day at the beach spent dining on food from some of the country’s best chefs? It took all of three seconds to RSVP with an emphatic “yes."

I’d so enjoyed my experiences at Episode 3’s cheese festival and Episode 8’s Restaurant Wars, and by this time, I knew the drill: Show up on time, slap a privacy sticker on my phone’s camera and wait in the holding area until it’s time to make an entrance.

We were told to dress “beach casual,” but by that point, I knew “Top Chef” guests tended to dress up a little above the suggested attire. I knew it would be another long, hot day outside, so I shuffled through my closet and grabbed a beachy blue-and-white-striped linen dress and threw on some flat sandals, as we were told we’d be walking through sand all day.

And what a day it was! Although I was on set for nearly five hours, it all breezed by. And the food I ate was some of the best I’d tried in my three “Top Chef” tapings to date.

You can find my full recap of “Top Chef: Wisconsin” Episode 10 here, but for a taste of my experience at the fish boil, read on. 

The Door County fish boil ... did not take place in Door County

I totally understand that logistics would make it incredibly difficult to shuttle the equipment, crew and talent nearly three hours to Door County, but it was a bit of a bummer the fish boil tradition couldn’t be filmed in its natural habitat.

That said, kudos to the producers and location scouts for selecting South Milwaukee’s Grant Park Beach as the Door County stand-in. It’s one of my favorite beaches in the county, with a large, wide beach surrounded by lots of beautiful foliage. It may not be Door County, but it was a beautiful backdrop for the fish boil party that day.

There was real-life drama going on behind the scenes

After arriving at the beach parking lot at 11:45 a.m., the guests waited in the parking lot-adjacent holding area for what seemed like an hour. We kept being told we’d be walking over to the beach any minute, but our entrance kept being pushed back.

The crew kept things calm, but it was clear there was an issue on set that caused the delay.

We didn’t know the details until later, but as seen on the episode, Savannah had cut herself while prepping her dish. She was treated by an on-site medic and was able to finish cooking her dish, but it pushed the serving time back a bit.

After we were on set, I noticed one of the chef’s stations was empty. We were told about Savannah's injury, and that she had been taken to urgent care. She never returned to the beach. I felt so bad for her!

It was exciting to see who was still in the competition

It had been a couple weeks since I’d attended the Restaurant Wars taping, and even then, the only contestants I saw were Laura and Michelle. Knowing that this would be one of the final episodes of the season, I couldn’t wait to see who was still in the competition.

I practically jumped for joy when I clocked Milwaukee chef Dan Jacobs prepping food at his station. It was so hard keeping the secret that I knew Dan would at least make it to the 10th episode all these months later (but not that hard when I remembered that million-dollar fine mentioned on the NDA I’d signed before arriving to set).

I was happy to see other chefs I’d remembered from the cheese festival like Michelle and Manny, too.

But ... who on earth was Soo? He wasn’t one of the 13 chefs I saw at the cheese festival, and, because he was hidden in the kitchen, I wasn’t aware he was one of the chefs cooking the food I’d eaten two weeks prior at Restaurant Wars’ Dos by Deul pop-up. I was so confused as to why this new-to-me contestant was in the competition that day.

I remember being surprised that Rasika was no longer there (I loved her cheese festival dish) and was sad that Laura, who had been a spectacular host at Restaurant Wars, was out, too. But I was excited to try three of the dishes from the six chefs who were still in the competition.

I could only taste three of the six dishes

On the invitation to the taping, there was a warning that none of the dishes could be tweaked to accommodate food allergies. “All guests must dine at their own discretion,” the email read. “If you have fish or shellfish allergies, we strongly urge you to NOT attend.”

I’m food-allergy free, so everything was fair game for me ... although I wasn’t able to try everything.

Upon check-in that day, I received a card with three numbers on it. Those numbers would sync up with the chefs whose dishes we’d get to try.

The three chefs’ dishes I ate that day were Danny’s, Dan’s and Manny's.

Ooh, do I feel lucky I ate two of the top-three dishes!

Danny’s dish was fantastic, and I was a big fan of the vibrant salsa verde on his whitefish. But much like the judges said, his carrot slaw was the standout of the plate. My tablemates and I kept peeking back at Danny’s station to see if we could snag another serving (sadly, to no avail).

But my favorite dish of the day was Dan’s. Local bias? Maybe, but I couldn’t get enough of the red curry broth he served with his fish. Much like Dan, I’m not the biggest fan of the (somewhat bland) food of a traditional fish boil, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much flavor he imparted to his dish. Serve that curry broth at one of your restaurants, please, Dan!

I was seated at a picnic table with a couple women from out of state, with this being their first time experiencing a fish boil.

“How does this food compare to an actual fish boil?” they asked.

“It doesn’t,” I replied. It was a hundred times better.

I also tried Manny’s dish, and if this tells you anything, I remember very little about it. The judges said his Mexican-style fish boil with chips, guacamole and Mexican rice was “safe,” and judging by how few notes I took on it, it wasn’t very memorable, either. (I’m sorry, Manny. I still think you’re great!)

The boilover fireballs were gigantic — and hot

Every chef had their own fire pit and boil going in front of their stations, so instead of just one big boilover, we were treated to six blazing boilovers that day!

Just before each boilover, the guests were called to gather behind the judges, with instructions to clap and cheer as each massive fireball billowed toward the sky.

As you can see in the episode, it was incredibly windy that day, so I was more than a little nervous with each boilover that the fireballs would blow over and burn not only the chefs’ stations, but also the trees on the bluffs in the background. (Thankfully, the fires were contained to the beach.)

Before the first boilover, I recognized Jeremy “Torch” Klaubauf right away. He was repping Door County, and he has been the Master Boiler at The Old Post Office Restaurant in Ephraim, Wisconsin, for years — in fact, he was the boiler when I visited the restaurant over a decade ago.

I knew we’d be in good hands with Torch tending to the flames.

Grant Park Beach got rave reviews

We lucked out with beautiful weather for a mid-September day. The sky was perfectly blue, the beach was combed gorgeously, and the aqua-hued Lake Michigan water was sparkling.

Everyone I talked to couldn’t get over how beautiful the beach was. “You’d never guess this was Wisconsin!” I heard over and over again. Even host Kristen Kish, who grew up on the other side of Lake Michigan in Grand Rapids, Michigan, remarked on how nice the beach was.

Admittedly, it did get a glam makeover for the taping. There were fewer rocks in the sand than I’d ever seen, and any unsightly weeds had been stripped from the beach.

That being said, walking around the set on sand was difficult. I ditched my sandals after a bit, but I still moved slowly from the picnic table to the chefs’ stations, and I cringed a little imagining the cameras catching me wobbling around the beach that day like a baby deer. I can’t even imagine how the chefs could withstand cooking on that sand.

Where I spotted myself in the episode

Speaking of, this was my first “Top Chef” taping with a speaking role! And I was so happy it had to do with Dan’s dish.

A few minutes after I polished off my plate, a crew member pulled me and another diner to an empty table and asked us to casually chat about our thoughts on Dan’s dish (a totally staged conversation!).

And readers, as someone who writes about food for a living, the lack of eloquence in my description of his dish will haunt my dreams for some time.

“I loved how he upped the fish with the curry...” Beautiful, Rachel. Just beautiful.

You can also catch me standing to the right of Kish as we cheer for Dan’s boilover, and I’m seen nodding and chatting with Dan (silent, this time) as he served the guests.

I asked him how he was feeling, and he said it was one of the hardest challenges of the competition. I also asked what his fellow cheftestants thought about their time in Wisconsin.

“They all say, ‘Everyone is so nice!’” he said.

There’s that classic “Midwest nice” stereotype again!

How to watch 'Top Chef: Wisconsin': TV channel, streaming

Viewers can watch live on Bravo on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. or stream the next day on Peacock, BravoTV.com or the Bravo app.

Rachel Bernhard joined the Journal Sentinel as dining critic in June 2023. She’s been busy exploring the Milwaukee area food scene to share her favorite finds with readers along the way. Like all Journal Sentinel reporters, she buys all meals, accepts no gifts and is independent of all establishments she covers. 

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A peek behind the scenes at the 'Top Chef: Wisconsin' fish boil