The New Top Chef Is…

The Top Chef finale was the best to date.  The only element I missed was having a showdown between Tre and Hung, but it was still a great challenge with a lot of fun surprises.

My favorite twist was probably the same for most viewers, when three of our nation’s top chefs showed-up to help as sous chefs on day 1.  I thought, along with the rest of the viewers and contestants, that they would pick the weaker links to come back and help.  It was a great twist to have such talented people do their grunt work.  I think that it also lent a different perspective at the tasting table.  They saw what kind of chefs they were and had a better understanding about what their thought process was and maybe what went wrong.  Rocco DiSpirito was the sous for Hung and he wrote about his little adventure:

I explained to Hung that I was there to serve him, and that he should boss me around, and give me all the grunt work. He had no problem with any of that, at all! When he explained his menu to me, my head started spinning because of the sheer amount of ingredients and elements he had planned for each dish. I thought to myself, “Uh-oh, he’s going to lose this by being overzealous.” As it turned out, nothing could have been further from the truth. He knew exactly what to do with each ingredient, when to use them and when to ditch them. He’s impressive.

In the end, it came down to who didn’t blow it in the finale.  Casey just had a very bad day.  Dale’s inconsistency blew it for him, but I must say that Dale re-discovered his culinary mojo during these weeks of challenges and he will be all the better for it.  Hung won and it was deserved.  I was really annoyed that the fans were still texting for Casey to win, even after her horrible showing in the finale.  She even knew that there was no chance.  I must say that I need to take back my snippy remark that the producers will hale Casey Queen of the kitchen.  They actually chose the best.  Congrats Hung!