On the menu: Top Chef season 21 spoilers!
On the Wednesday, June 19, season finale of the long-running Bravo reality competition, following 14 episodes and just as many Quick Fire and Elimination Challenges, one chef emerged triumphant above 15 other contestants: Danny Garcia.
The classically-trained Executive Chef with the Saga Hospitality Group defeated fellow finalists Dan Jacobs of Wisconsin and Savannah Miller of North Carolina in an emotional final challenge — chefs were tasked with prepping “the best four-course meal of your life” — that took place aboard a Holland America Eurodam cruise ship docked in the Caribbean.
As the New Yorker did throughout the season, Garcia impressed judges Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons and brand-new host Kristen Kish with an elegant, inventive quartet of dishes that included a sublime breadfruit tuile, smoked mussels, lobster and more “significant food memories” as he put it. Garcia won the show’s grand prize of $250,000 plus an additional $53,000 scored in weekly challenges — the most any Top Chef contestant has won in the history of the show.
Us Weekly spoke with Garcia about that giant cash prize, his future plans, how the cast unwound off set and more.
Us: Congratulations! Have you spent your prize money yet? If not, what’ll you do with it?
Danny Garcia: I definitely haven’t spent it. I don’t spend my money until I get my money [laughs]. But my wife and I are looking to find our first home, plant our roots more than we already have here in New York, and start the next journey of our lives. We’re gonna stay in Brooklyn, that’s home for us.
Us: Brownstone or fancy modern high-rise? What’s the vibe?
Garcia: We’re more brownstone, there’s more character to them. All these high-rise buildings, they’re all the same. It’s all about a building with a little bit of character, history and uniqueness to it.
Us: You noted that you are the first Puerto Rican-Dominican Muslim Top Chef winner. Tell me more about what that means to you.
Garcia: There’s a lot of people that look like me in this industry, that are just as good as me, if not better, and cook amazing food. And they don’t get the recognition, you know? It’s just about representation and being able to be someone that people can look at and think, ‘Wow I can see myself in that guy,’ or ‘If that guy can do it, then I can do it.’ And it’s about being a light for someone else, and to let the next generation, the young kid who’s aspiring to be something — let them know that the sky’s the limit.
Us: You said in the finale that you have a restaurant opening soon. What’s the update on that?
Garcia: Time and Time is the name of the restaurant. We’re opening in the fall. It’s going to be seafood-focused. The idea is I don’t wanna take myself too seriously with food. We’re looking at it through a lens of what does a steakhouse look like as a seafood restaurant? There’s gonna be a lot of large format things and fun embellishments on the sides, if you will. When you’re at the beach, it’s all seafood. It’s all shellfish.
It’s really about the preparations being simple, pairing the food back, letting the seafood be the star of the show, breaking it down properly, cooking it properly, not putting so much s–t on a plate. A lot of chefs get lost in the idea of ‘my vegetables have to be from the farmer’s market and this and that.’ And then they buy farm-raised fish that are nasty. You don’t have enough chefs that give that same honor and homage to proteins as they do as their vegetables. I want my fish to be sustainably caught.
Us: Were you a Top Chef superfan before you went on the show? Tell me about your audition.
Garcia: I grew up watching Top Chef. It’s been around, like, 21 seasons. As a kid, I definitely remember watching it. I remember my mom rooting for Carla Hall and loving her. I knew the show. To be honest, my wife really pushed me to do the show. She was like, ‘I see you being on this show. I see you doing really well on this show. You have to apply.’
Not that I was against it, but when you’re in a restaurant, it’s busy. You never have time to eat and sleep, let alone step out and go to a competition. So it was never something that I thought was even tangible. I just never really gave it mind. And as we were in this lull of the restaurant opening and not having too many things to do at the moment, the invitation came to audition. And I figured, ‘Let’s entertain it,, see where it goes, ride the lightning and see where it takes us.’
Us: What would surprise Top Chef fans about what we don’t see on camera?
Garcia: People watch the show and have their interpretation of what a chef is and what a chef does. They live and breathe food, which they do. But on the show, when we weren’t cooking, we wanted nothing to do with food! In the sense of, we wanted cheeseburgers and french fries, and we wanted to play Monopoly Go and shoot the s–t and learn about each other’s families and learn about, like, the likes and dislikes of each other. When we were off, we were off. I wanted to relax. I wanted to keep my feet up and shoot the breeze with Dan and Savannah and everyone around and have as much downtime as we could.
Us: Who do you still keep in touch with from the show?
Garcia: Everybody! We have a pretty active group chat that doesn’t stop all day. And then there’s a couple of subgroup chats. Dan, Manny, Kevin and I are alway going back and forth on some ridiculous nonsense. Everyone has a really good rapport. Everyone is always communicating and talking. A couple weeks ago, my cousin gave birth in Austin. And Michelle made them food, made them a gift basket, brought it over to them, and she ended up hanging out with them for two hours and shooting the breeze. She’s never met them ever in her life, but it’s like an extended family we’ve created.
Us: This was former Top Chef contestant Kristen Kish’s first season as the host replacing Padma Lakshmi— big shoes to fill. How did you think she did as a host?
Garcia: She did a great job. I think she was honest. She was able to look at it through a different lens than the other judges. She was able to give a different perspective. She was able to relate to us and to communicate with us better for having experienced the show firsthand.
Us: Your fellow finalist Dan was incredibly honest and open about his struggle with Kennedy’s Disease, a rare, degenerative neuromuscular disorder. How is he doing?
Garcia: Dan’s doing great. He’s strong. People look at him and have pity on him. But he’s the strongest motherf—er out there. He doesn’t let it debilitate him. Sure, he struggles and it very much affects his life. But he perseveres, he pushes through it. He doesn’t let that dictate and control his life, which I have an incredible amount of respect for. He’s the biggest advocate for his disease. He and I are doing a dinner together in August, a collab dinner. He’s been doing a ton of collab dinners; homie’s keeping busy! He’s not slowing down.
Us: Even though you ultimately won, is there a challenge that you wish you could redo?
Garcia: The 11th one, the one that got us to the finale. I don’t think I would’ve redone my dish. I think I would’ve done everything the same. I think the dish was delicious. But I would’ve told a different story — the food is just as important as the story on Top Chef. Being able to come up with a thruline story on the fly is challenging. I’m someone that likes to take my time and think through things, process things, and have a full understanding. You’re given two hours to cook a dish, and while you’re doing that, you’re trying to think of this story, this thruline in these moments. And it’s challenging — I would’ve gone back and rethought and retooled how I spoke about the dish.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
