And the winner is!

Not Kevin!

On last night episode of “Top Chef” the younger of the Voltaggio brothers, Michael, was crowned Top Chef. It was an intense and exciting finial show and can’t say that Kevin was robbed. All three of the finalists are excellent chefs and all three could have easily been named the winner. They each seemed to win a round in the multi course meal. While viewing the show, the scorecard breaks down like this: Kevin clearly won the first course with his homage to his mother’s favorite fried chicken and fixins. Michael was able to pull out the best second course that had to be created from the ingredients in the mystery box and brother Bryan created the best third course with his venison dish. So it would have seemed to come down to the fourth course to decide the winner. If this is truly how it happened, then they got the wrong brother. From the judge’s comments, Bryan and Kevin had better desserts since Michael over cooked the cake and it was extremely dry. Both Bryan and Kevin’s desserts were creative and sounded delicious so you would think that either of those dishes would have won it for either of those guys. But in reading Head Judge, Tom Colicchio’s blog, this is not how the judges scored the night. They had Kevin winning round 1, Michael winning rounds 2 & 3, and Bryan winning the 4th round. Therefore Michael ends up winning it all. Even thought I was pulling for Kevin, it was clear that he didn’t have his best night.

Young Voltaggio wins $225,000 in cash and merchandise, a spread in Food & Wine magazine and a showcase at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado. Volgattio is currently the chef de cuisine at the Dining Room at the Langham in Pasadena, California. I predict that there will soon be a Voltaggio Brothers restaurant, there is already a website!

Overall, I think this was a great season of “Top Chef” and I feel like the three chefs from Atlanta did the city proud. In the end, any of the finalists could have won and it came down to the last day and who performed the best. I feel that all three of the finalists will go on to be top culinary stars, as will several others from this season. It was fun to watch and I feel that Season 6 has been the best season so far. I look forward to Season 7, but they will have some big chef coats to fill!

Thanks Chefs!