'Top Chef: World All-Stars' Nicole Gomes Reveals Unseen Moments that Led to Her Restaurant Wars Downfall

Top Chef is back in the kitchen! Every week, Parade’s Mike Bloom interviews the latest global all-star chef told to pack their knives and leave London.

Nicole Gomes was one of the most unique chefs to appear on Top Chef: World All-Stars. She was the only cheftestant to compete on multiple seasons prior to coming to London, winning on her second try of Top Chef: Canada. Her background mixed her Chinese heritage with French training and Italian ingredients. She was partially competing in the hopes of getting additional funds for her impending adoption. And she perhaps had the biggest reputation coming in when it comes to working with others. Nicole acknowledged that her temperment in the kitchen had changed from her previous seasons. But perhaps the apple didn't fall too far from the peeler, as her assertiveness was definitely noticeable among her competition.

Coming into Restaurant Wars, Nicole was one of the most consistent chefs of the entire season. She had never finished in the bottom of an Elimination Challenge, and won a very meaningful picnic challenge that had secured money that she could use for her upcoming family expansion. But that momentum hit a wall with the seasonal Top Chef staple. Cooking in the newly-minted "Root" restaurant, Nicole decided to branch out, taking a risk to make tortellini. Unfortunately, having to redo most of her batch on the day of not only compromised the quality, but also served as the sole slowdown of service in her restaurant. "Root" was uprooted when they were told they were the losing team. And despite Tom Goetter's service strategy backfiring and Gabri Rodriguez and Victoire Gouloubi receiving critiques for their dishes, the judges ultimately decided that Nicole's first time in the bottom would be her last.

Read on to hear Nicole's thoughts on her time in the game, and check out Last Chance Kitchen to watch Charbel and other eliminated chefs fight for redemption and a chance to get back into the competition.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About Top Chef Season 20

What made you decide to return for Top Chef: World All-Stars?
After winning Top Chef Canada All-Stars, I never thought an opportunity like this would present itself. When Top Chef World All-Stars asked me to join this amazing experience, I immediately said yes! It is super flattering and an absolute honour to be part of a one-of-a-kind experience like this. Most of all, I find it fun and love to compete. The 250K prize was an obvious factor as it would help grow my business and assist in building a future for myself. Really, in your lifetime, when do you get a chance to cook amongst some of the best chefs in the world, learn, and experience something like this? Incredible. It opens so many other doors regardless if you win or not.

You come from a Top Chef that was most similar in format to the U.S. Even so, did you find any major differences between competing in the Canadian and American versions of the show?
The Quickfire and Elimination challenges in the U.S. version have way more last-minute twists and turns which makes it much more exciting and more difficult. I suppose, best to keep a chef on their toes.

You working with others in the kitchen was definitely a part of your story. We saw Sara say at one point, "I don't like that she expects everyone to stop for an answer." And this past week, we saw you and Gabri seem to raise voices talking about your need of the mixer. How do you react to that part of your edit?
It’s a high-pressure situation for sure. And at moments I used my “chef” voice versus. my “TV competitor” voice. It’s never easy to watch yourself from the outside looking in on edits of this nature. Essentially at the end of the day, we are human and have our own quirks and idiosyncrasies.

On that note, you said you were known to be aggressive in team challenges in the past. Given how many team challenges this season had, how did you feel overall about the way you composed yourself?
This season I was way less aggressive than in the past. This makes me laugh so much and this is another fine example of my foot-in-the-mouth moments. I think the more appropriate word here is assertive vs. aggressive. I personally feel that this season, I took a more backseat approach than I have in the past.

You said at one point, "I am asking myself every day why I'm doing this again." Was there a particular point in the competition where you started to feel like competing a third time was a mistake, and why?
There was no notion of it ever being a mistake to compete a third time. My statement is more for my own self-reflection. Anyone who really knows me understands that I am a hugely self-reflective person and also very vocal and open about my feelings! That’s what makes me a unique individual.

That being said, you say that in the same episode where you win the picnic challenge and $10K. How did feel to finally get feedback on a dish, and to win at that?
It’s amazing to win a challenge and I’m happy that my hard work was recognized. Up to this particular episode, in the Elimination Challenges, I had been coasting through the middle and not receiving any feedback about my dishes. It made it difficult for me to gauge what the judges thought of my cooking performance and where I could have improved.

Up until Restaurant Wars, you had not been in the bottom in an Elimination Challenge. How did that feel, especially given your competition?
It was a bad day of cooking and I made some bad calls on my dish, it happens. Unfortunately, it may not have been a consideration of the judges that I have never been in the bottom of an Elimination Challenge. At the end of the day, they picked one person to go home and that day, it was me.

Let's get into Restaurant Wars. You felt the initial concept was too restrictive, and the judges said they had a tough time getting a throughline on your menu without instruction. How do you look back on the idea of Root?
I feel we could have been a more cohesive team not only via discussion of concepts but also on service execution.

Your team had the only two people left who hadn't done Restaurant Wars in Tom and Victoire. Talk to me about how that influenced the way your group worked together.
Having half of our team never doing Restaurant Wars before was definitely not an advantage, that’s for sure! In this episode, I took a more back seat on leading the team as that organically seemed to be taken by Tom and Victoire’s desires. It's unusual for me not to take charge, and I felt on that day it was best to let them take the reins.

You decide to make tortellini, something you end up regretting the day of service when you have to remake nearly half your batch. How did that idea come about, especially with the risk of making pasta?
I LOVE making tortellini and fresh pasta. And, under normal situations, I have no problem knocking out that volume. I obviously made a bad call. There were many reasons why it did not turn out well. Shopping was a kerfuffle. I could have just sheeted the pasta and rolled the tortellini the day of service. This also didn’t make the edits and are big factors. Gabri and I were just over an hour late arriving from our shopping into the 5-hour cook. The pasta flour purchased by our teammates was not the same product I’m used to working with. We actually had an amuse course of a profiterole, which I cooked a batch of Choux dough while redoing my pasta the day of service, etc.

The edit tells us that your dish was the one to hold up service, and there was some debate at Judges' Table between you and Tom about whether it was from your slow plating or his strategy for service. Who do you think it ultimately falls on more?
Oh yes, for sure, my course did hold up a portion of the service. It was definitely an array of errors that factored into the entire flow of the service. Better communication amongst our team would have been a massive benefit. Essentially, I feel like our team did not find our groove of the service, and that affected a bad flow for the entire service.

Given how everything went down in Restaurant Wars, were you surprised you went home from your team?
Ultimately someone has to go home and that was the decision of the judges. Can’t win them all…

You were very clearly emotional in both the stew room and getting eliminated. Talk me through what was going on in your head in the moments leading up to being told to pack your knives.
Victoire started crying and it was waterfalls after that! I am emotional and sensitive and it was without a doubt hard to be sent home for something you put so much energy into and love doing. Funny looking back on it now, I’m my biggest critic and that’s probably why I was so weepy. At the time, I was disappointed in myself. Regardless of winning or not, I already feel like I won being on the show.

Lastly, you spoke beautifully and candidly about your situation at home with adoption. Can you give an update as to how things have been going since competing in London?
Thanks for asking! It’s a long process and I have been in it for almost 3 years. Most recent update, it is further delayed, which is frustrating but also teaches me an immense amount of patience! It was originally projected I would be in Vietnam to pick up the child now, but currently it may be fall of this year. Fingers crossed.

Next, check out our interview with Charbel Hayek, who was eliminated in Top Chef: World Al-Stars Episode 8.