This Is the Best Thing Gail Simmons Ever Ate on Top Chef

There are many reasons why we're sad this season of Top Chef is almost over, and one of the biggest things we'll miss is our regular dose of the always-upbeat Gail Simmons. With her glossy brown hair, impeccable smile, and razor-sharp food critiques, she's a judge we're always glad to see at the table.

She's been a regular in all 14 seasons of Top Chef, so it's fair to say she's tasted quite a few dishes — amazing and not-so-amazing — in her day. So what's been her all-time favorite dish on the show? In a recent interview with Uproxx, Gail revealed that it was a "simple soup" made by Paul Qui on Top Chef Season 9 in Texas.

"When it came to the table it looked like nothing. Like, I almost laughed. Like, really Paul? This is what you’re going to serve for the like second-to-last episode of the show? It was raw vegetables, very thinly sliced in the bowl, and he poured a dashi and like sunchoke broth, into it, like soup. It wasn’t a broth, it was a puree, thicker than a broth. It was like the best thing I’ve ever eaten," Gail said in the interview

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Gail also revealed fellow judges Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi's food favorites and peeves. It's common knowledge that Tom hates okra (though a couple chefs this season in Charleston may have changed his mind). But he loves mushrooms, peas, eggplant, and rabbit, as long as it's cooked well. Surprisingly, "Tom doesn't like really spicy food," Gail added.

A former vegetarian, Padma isn't a fan of rare meat, but she loves spice and "a lot of like really simple food and she’s attracted to like, great, raw ingredients," Gail said.

What's the one food trend Gail wishes would just end already? Sorry, freakshakes: "I’m sort of over the sugar bomb crazy sundae with cotton candy on top and then layered with whipped cream and, you know, the like, mega food-porn desserts. They don’t make me very excited to eat them. They’re like a little bit, just overkill for the point of the visual."

I guess we shouldn't tell her about the cheeseburger chunk ice cream