Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Battle Of The Brothers’ On Discovery+, Where The Voltaggio Brothers Lead Teams In A Cooking Competition

Anyone who watched Top Chef season 6 know that Michael and Bryan Voltaggio are extraordinarily talented chefs who live to compete with each other, despite their close relationship. They competed that season, with Bryan losing out to his younger brother in one of the most entertaining finales the venerable series has ever had. Now they’re competing with each other again, this time fronting teams of chefs whom they’ll mentor and help.

BATTLE OF THE BROTHERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Eight chef contestants enter the kitchen set and meet Bryan and Michael Voltaggio.

The Gist: In the first episode, the brothers challenge the eight hopefuls to create a dish that reflects one of the four seasons, chosen by picking spoons. Then they get a protein to use. While they observe the chefs, all of whom have extensive experience in top kitchens around the U.S., they start to pick teams by handing each of their picks a team apron (Black for Michael, grey for Bryan… quite the range of colors).

The idea is that at the end of initial competition, which involves all the contestants, a guest judge (in this episode, it’s Eric Adjepong) decides who had the best dish, and that chef gets immunity from elimination that week.

The teams decide who had the weakest dish, then the brothers will join that selected team member for another cooking challenge. This time, it’s to use blue crabs and other ingredients to make dishes invoking either west coast or east coast flavors and concepts. The contestant who loses the challenge is eliminated.

The eventual winner of the competition will get a fully-funded guest chef residency at one of the brothers’ restaurants.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Top Chef, except that it looks like the entire show will take place within a kitchen soundstage.

Our Take: Until we started streaming Battle Of The Brothers, we had forgotten how intense and entertaining the friendly rivalry between Bryan and Michael Voltaggio was, and how different their personalities are. Bryan is the more contained and controlled brother, while Michael is more emotional and expressive. They both crack wise but in their different ways. And Michael’s playful obnoxiousness comes out when he says things like “it’s the second best thing I’ve tasted all day” when he tastes something Bryan and his team member made.

It’s that competition, and the fact that the two of them jump in and more or less lead their respective team members that are up for elimination, is what will drive the show. That second cooking competition is where the show comes alive, because the brothers are in there showing their talent and giving each other the business.

Another thing we’re looking forward to are the bevy of guest judges, especially in the second round, when a panel of 3 guests do the judging. In the first episode, for instance, Leah Cohen, who was so memorable on Top Chef Season 5, was one of the guests. It’s always great to see former contestants being mentors to a new generation as they do their judging stints years later.

So far, the contestants aren’t really distinguishing themselves, at least as far as their personalities are concerned. That tends to happen early on. There’s one chef, Shelby, who seems to revel in working with steak during the initial challenge, despite being a vegan (“I’m a bad vegan; I wear leather and eat honey,” she says). We expect to get to know them better as the episodes go along, but for now there isn’t one that’s jumped out yet.

Parting Shot: After the first contestant is eliminated, the remaining ones leave the kitchen and the brothers give each other a pat on the back.

Sleeper Star: Cloyce Martin, for no other reason than the fact that his first name is “Cloyce”.

Most Pilot-y Line: We get why it has to be done, but the commentary from the judges’ table while the cooking is going on starts to sound monotonous after awhile.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Voltaggios make The Battle Of The Brothers fun, but we hope some of the cheftestants distinguish themselves and become people to root for going forward.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Battle Of The Brothers On Discovery+