And the fan favorite is......
Casey!


I'm happy that Casey was the fan favorite, she was indeed one of my favorites (though I have to admit that I would have rather seen Dale win).

I always love these post-season reunions. It's great to see the people you've grown so attached to in a completely different setting. Sometimes they lighten up a whole lot, like Hung did, or they seem to tense up and become very quiet, like Dale and Howie both did. Either way, it's always very interesting to me.

My favorite quote of the show goes to Dale, "I've always wanted a montage."

This was a Top Chef finalé unlike any we've previously seen.

Hosted once again from Colorado, that in itself gave the chefs quite the challenge. Aspen is located at almost 8,000 feet above sea level. Unless you've cooked at this altitude, it's hard to understand the difficulties that arise from it. Living in Colorado Springs at an altitude of just over 6,000 feet above sea level, I understand all too well what these chefs had to deal with.

Unlike the typical finalé where the chefs have to choose from their previous competitors when picking a sous-chef, this year the final three were graced with Rocco DiSpirito (Hung), Michelle Bernstein (Casey), and Todd English(Dale) for their prep time, and also returning competitors CJ (Dale), Howie (Casey), and Sara (Hung) to help plate and prepare a last minute extra dish. The challenge was to create a "mind blowing" meal for the judges consisting of three courses they had planned before, and then a fourth course that they hadn't planned on making.

The menus for the finalé were:

Hung Course #1 Hamachi, Potato Chips, Tomato Vinaigrette & Olive Oil Powder Course #2 Prawns, Palm Sugar Coconut Glaze, Cucumber Radish Salad and Ocean Scented Rice Course #3 Duck with Truffle Scented Broth & Mushroom Ragout Course #4 Chocolate Cake with Raspberry and Nougoutine Tuile

Casey Course #1 Cinnamon Scented Scallop, Foie Gras with Green Apple and Celery Course #2 Sake Poached Prawn in Lobster Mushroom Yuzi Broth Course #3 Crispy Pork Belly, Ginger Pea Shoots, Roasted Peach Cardamom Creme Fraiche Course #4 Seared Colorado Sirloin, Chantrelle and Ruby Chard, Crispy Fingerlings, Red Wine and Parsley Puree

Dale Course #1 Foie Gras Mousse with Peaches and Ras El Hanout Course #2 Seared Scallop with Purslane and Marinated Grapes Course #3 French Style Gnocchi, Lobster, Bacon, Corn and Chantrelle Course #4 Colorado Rack of Lamb with Ratatouilee and Sauce Vert

While the judges felt that Hung and Dale did equally well, Hung won the 1st and 3rd course while Dale won the 2nd and 4th. Casey however seemed to simply be off of her game in this final challenge, which was disappointing to me since she had been doing so well, and it would be very nice to see a woman as the Top Chef. In the end it was Hung that came out on top.

I have to be honest, Hung was never one of my favorites in the competition. Dale and Casey have both been among my top picks from the very beginning. I agree that Casey seemed to have caved under the pressure, which is very unfortunate. However, I tend to think that Dale was robbed of his victory in this instance. It appeared to me at least that the judges originally found more at fault with Hung's dishes than with Dale's, so I'm not exactly sure what it was that pushed him to the forefront. I do want to say though that Hung is an excellent chef whose title is not undeserved. I would be honored to try any of his dishes. I believe part of me preferred Dale because of his story. The Top Chef competition really did help him find the chef inside him once again. I hope he continues to create incredible food.

(photos courtesy of Bravotv.com)

Busy week means I didn't get to Top Chef till Saturday night, we're down to the final four now. This episode took place in good ol' Colorado. Wish I could have made the drive to see them! Dale, Casey, Brian, and Hung. All good chefs, but I definitely have my favorites among them.

The Quickfire challenge was fun. Reminded me of quite a few camping trips I've been on. Though I'm pretty sure their fish tasted better than mine usually does. Casey once again came out on top. She's starting to edge out the others to be my favorite to win.

For the Elimination challenge the protein they were given was Elk. Definitely not a normal meat that everyone is used to working with. Ya know, I've lived in Colorado for almost 15 years, and I've never tried Elk. But then again, I'm not really a "cowboy" (bet you never would have guessed that!). All of the dishes looked good to me, but looks and taste don't always go together.

I have to give Dale props for being resourceful in this challenge and reworking his dish at the last moment. And the judges seemed to like it too. Casey seemed to slip a little bit. Maybe it would have been to her benefit to go ahead and use some of those ingredients that she brought along and won the right to use from the Quickfire. Hung was referred to as the "best technical chef" in the competition. But Chef Colicchio made sure to highlight the word "technicial". Brian just seemed to go a little bit over the top in his dish.

I really enjoyed hearing the chefs talk about why they should be included in the finalé. It's really interesting to hear what motivates someone to do what they do. I was particularly moved by Dale's statement. Hung was also surprisingly moving. Brian was by the far the least convincing with his statement.

I think Dale was the correct pick for winner. And his prize was fantastic. I wish I could go! And sadly, Brian was probably the right choice to go. Though I would love to see Hung go away, he is a very talented chef.

Can't wait till the finalé next week! I'll be sure to blog more then. Let me know what you guys think about the final 3.

Thankfully I got to watch this week's episode of Top Chef before I leave tomorrow for the Colorado Mountain Winefest. Look for updates from the Festival all weekend long!

This episode started out much better than some recent episodes. I absolutely loved the Breakfast Quick Fire. It was a fast, creative challenge that really made the contestants think. This is one of the few Quick Fires where I would really enjoy being a judge (and let me note that sometimes I have no idea how Padma only eats a couple bites from each plate!). I'm not sure from watching if I would have chosen Hung's dish, he's a talented chef but he's definitely not my favorite from this season. I think someone like Casey that went outside the box a little more would have been a better choice. There's definitely something to be said for being able to prepare a traditional dish extremely well. However I tend to prefer those dishes that are unique and creative.

While Dale constantly talked about how he wanted to do some "real cooking" on this episode, I really enjoy it when the chefs are presented with challenges that are out of the ordinary. I personally tend to be of the opinion that it's not nearly as hard to make a wonderful dish when you're given things like truffles and kobe beef to cook with. It's significantly different when you have limited ingredients to work with. I know quite well from being a starving college student that sometimes you have to figure out how to make a dinner with a package of ramen and a couple crackers (note to Top Chef producers, I would love to see a college food challenge).

The Elimination Challenge was another innovative one, and I enjoyed seeing the chefs out of their comfort zone a little bit. I'm not sure than any of them really came through with flying colors. All of them seemed to have a bit of trouble somewhere. The judges enjoyed Dale, Hung, and Casey's dishes the most. As I said before I agree with Bourdain's assessment of Casey as the most innovative chef, and I definitely agree with her as the winner of this challenge.

I do not, however, think that CJ was the right choice to send home. I think Sara should have been the one to go. CJ has performed better than she has overall in the competition, and in my opinion was a much stronger chef.

Let me know what your thoughts are. Should CJ have gone home? Or did the judges make the wrong decision?

This was an interesting week on Top Chef. Starting with the Quick Fire Challenge, I was surprised at the lack of imagination and skill that came out of this challenge. Does anyone remember the vending machine challenge from season 1? I think that was much more difficult than a whole grocery aisle, and the dishes the chefs came up with were much more creative. I think that speaks to the quality of the chefs in the season. I hate to say it, but I really feel like they've been progressively going downhill since season 1. I do give Brian credit for making a beautiful dish out of spam, definitely not the easiest thing to do. I'm not sure what Hung's dish was, it seemed like something a 7 year old might make. And I can't believe that Howie just gave up, that's really the kiss of death in a competition like this.

The Elimination Challenge for this episode was pretty standard. Cater an event on a small budget, something we've seen many times before. And I have to say.....the chefs really didn't do a good job. Hung's dish was completely unimaginative, Brian obviously wasn't asserting himself as much as he needed to as the team leader, and Howie seemed like he had just stopped trying.

I think that Howie was the completely right choice to send home, and obviously he did as well by attempting to remove himself from the competition. I think you have to be a certain type of person to do well on a show like this, and Howie is not that person. Teamwork is just not his thing.

Next week should be interesting with a change of location and the return of Anthony Bourdain as a guest judge.

Tre, possibly the most talented chef left on the show, left the competition this week. The contestants once again were put through Restaurant Wars, though this time they had a little help with their decor and wine selection. Stephen (the sommelier from season 1) returned to help out Dale's team with their wine selection. I personally felt that the scene where Dale told Stephen to tone it down a bit was one of the best things I've ever seen!

While I do think that Tre had the ability to win it all, I don't know what happened on this episode. He completely dropped the ball. Ted Allen isn't known for reacting that way to a dish for no reason. Tre couldn't control his kitchen, and obviously didn't taste the dishes being served. Obviously Tre hasn't watched enough of Hell's Kitchen.

Check out blogs, recipes and more on the Top Chef Website.

This week was the finalé of Hell's Kitchen, one of my favorite shows on television. It came down to Bonnie and Rock (and another "battle of the sexes"), but Rock came out as the winner.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I agree with that decision. Rock did pretty well at pulling himself together at the end, but there were some really rough patches along the way where I'm not really sure how he stayed in the competition. I was overall most impressed by Bonnie. She started off seeming like a typical ditzy blonde, and turned out to be a truly excellent chef. Her palate was by far the best out of all the competitors this season.

When it came to the final dinner service, I'm not sure who came out on top. Both seemed to have a lot of problems. Bonnie couldn't get her team to fully stand behind her, and I think she went a little far with her new found "attitude". I didn't like the way she yelled at Jenn, especially considering Jenn was her biggest supporter. Rock on the other hand needed to take a firmer grasp of his team. Josh was screwing up left and right, and it took a while for Rock to get a hold of things.

If I was going to hire one of them, I still think I'd go with Bonnie.

Meanwhile, Top Chef is still going strong. Let me know who you think it going to be in the finalé.