TOC All-Star Christmas 2 episode 1: Who won the beginning battles?

Food Network’s gift of Tournament of Champions: All-Star Christmas is back for season two, and episode 1 felt even warmer than last year.

The Randomizer and stew rooms got Christmas glow-ups, with lots of additional decorations, while the chefs are in all-new teams—half of whom are new to this spin-off, and many of whom showed up in fun holiday attire that I hope they cook in.

Tiffani Faison and Justin Warner are in their usual roles, and so is human coal in a stocking Hunter Fieri. Hunter was not even in an elf costume, so I guess that’s double coal for me.

For this first episode of TOC: All-Star Christmas season 2, just two teams competed (compared to three last year):

• ICAG—that’s Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli—returned to TOC competition to see if she could help Jet Tila finally win, and they went up against two newbies, Molly Coen and Chayil Johnson.
• Curtis Stone and Rocco DiSpirito, on opposite teams with new-to-TOC pastry chefs Mitzi Reyes and Grace Pak

Those teams had 35 minutes to cook and/or bake. Judging their dishes were Antonia Lofaso; Marcus Samuelsson; and a new TOC judge, chocolatier Norman Love (who also showed up in a commercial for his chocolate brand, which I’ve never heard of because I like plebeian chocolate like M&Ms and Aldi brand peanut butter cups).

They scored each dish separately: 25 for taste, 20 for randomizer use, and 5 for presentation, so a maximum of 100 points for each team. Okay, let’s look at the first two rounds. Spoilers ahead!

Curtis Stone & Mitzi Reyes vs Grace Pak & Rocco DiSpirito

Festive family fun ►Just like a holiday gathering, two of my least-favorite TV chefs, Rocco and Curtis, brought with them people I’ve never met, and am glad to know even if they’re paired with chefs who grate on my nerves. Before competing, Curtis said, “I’m going to be a much fairer judge from here on out,” which I guess means he wasn’t fair before? Or he just meant that he graded harshly without consideration of how hard the challenge is, which I think is fine!

The Randomizer’s gifts ► ahi tuna (savory), milk chocolate (sweet), both crispy and using a hand-held grill basket. The wild card gift: gingerbread cookies

Holiday surprise ► Rocco put the gingerbread men into the blender to turn them into a powder, and nothing happened: they fought back! Mitzi learned from that and put hers in the grill basket, a tiny cage they couldn’t escape while being burned.

Judging ►

• 81: 40 for Rocco’s grilled tuna and sweet and sour onion rings with gingerbread dredge, and 41 for Grace’s grilled pears on a kataifi nest with chocolate ganache. The judges loved Rocco’s grilling and Grace’s kataifi, but thought both were missing the gingerbread flavor.
• 93: 39 for Curtis’ tuna ceviche with gingerbread powder and 44 for Mitzi’s gingerbread ice cream with chocolate cereal and milk chocolate caramel, which I wanted to eat immediately. Curtis grilled tomatoes disappointed the judges and lacked gingerbread flavor, while they raved about Mitzi’s ice cream.

Winners ► Curtis and Mitzi, thanks to Mitzi’s dessert. I loved watching both teams, and especially Grace and her microwave and Mitzi and her clever use of the randomizer. Grace declaring “I need to hug something” and grabbing the stuffed snowman in the viewing trailer was another nice little moment. I hope we see both of them back in regular ol’ TOC in the spring! And not Curtis or Rocco.

Jet Tila & Alex Guarnaschelli vs Molly Coen & Chayil Johnson

Festive family fun ► We know Jet and Alex, and know that Jet brought Alex to help him finally win this thing, because he said as much.

Molly and Chayil (pronounced “kyle”) met in culinary school, and now Chayil is executive chef at what sounds like an amazing restaurant/organization, and Molly just won Ultimate Baking Championship. Random: Is it just me or does Chayil’s voice sounds just like someone else on Food Network? And who is it?!

The Randomizer’s gifts ► turkey thigh (savory) and cranberries(sweet), using a box grater and making it pickled. The wild card gift: Jet swapped to the white box when Alex suggested, and they got mint jelly

Holiday surprises ► Alex said she makes cranberry sauce every year, “all through the holiday season,” so I imagined her making it nonstop for three months. “Cindy Lou Who versus the Grinch, if you know what I’m saying,” Justin said. Sorry, friend, I don’t! Alex and Jet are The Grinch?

Judging ►

• 82: 38 for Chyil’s blackened turkey and pickled cous cous and 44 for Molly’s cranberry compote and cinnamon donuts/beignets. Chyil undercooked his turkey and had to finish it in a pan, which panicked Tiffani Faison—but new judge Norman declared it “amazing,” so no worries, but while Antonia liked the seasoning, she said it was dry and Marcus didn’t love the proportion of cous cous to turkey. And Molly’s dessert was a huge hit—”she crushed it,” Jet and Alex both said from their trailer.
• 87: 45 for Jet’s turkey crispy rice larb with pickeled vegetables and 42 for Alex’s cranberry tart and lemon and cranberry sorbet, which also had mint jelly pickled pears and cranberries. Antonia danced while eating Alex’s dessert but Norman said it was overly candied. Marcus agreed about the sticky dessert, but he was “madly in love” with Jet’s rice.

Winners ► Jet and Alex, whose 87 is the highest first-round score so far, so their charity City Meals on Wheels is in the lead for the first bonus. (At least the episode gave attention to Curtis and Mitzi’s charity, City of Hope, which is helping Mitzi’s husband as he fights cancer.)

Surprisingly, it wasn’t Alex who helped Jet—she was two points behind Molly’s dessert. Alas, Chyil’s turkey did them in. But I’m glad Guy Fieri said they’ll both be back on TOC. I’m glad they’ll be back. That’s the kind of festive mood I’m in: bring everyone back! Except Hunter.

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