Last night marked the end of an epic season of Top Chef, with a satisfying face-off between longtime favorite Richard Blais and goofy underdog Mike Isabella. Who took home the win? Read on for our thoughts on the episode as well as a reveal of the Top Chef All-Star!
A glimpse into the future: Tom and Padma give the two competitors their simple challenge: serve a four-course tasting menu from the restaurant of their dreams. Each chef will pick three sous chefs from the roster of eliminated chefs, but instead of making their picks straight out — which would be largely based on personality — they must do blind tasting of amuse-bouche prepared by the contenders and pick based on their three favorite dishes. Interesting! Both have favorites and oh-please-not-him picks (ahem, Marcel), but they both end up with teams they're generally happy with. Richard picks Spike, Angelo and Antonia, while Mike ends up with Tiffani, Jamie and Carla.
"Chef" means "boss": The chefs have just five hours to make their meals, and what strikes us is how mostly calm and in control both Mike and Richard seem. While Mike doesn't want a lot of input from his sous chefs on the components of his menu, he is confident in the kitchen, giving instructions without seeming tyrannical. Richard complains about his decision to put several proteins on each plate, but he too keeps things moving smoothly in the kitchen. We like that they both have a respect for each other, which restricts the drama to the plate and keeps the competition about the cooking.
Dessert, always a downfall: Richard scraps his original plan to make a Momofuku-esque Cap'n Crunch ice cream and decides to make foie gras ice cream instead. Big mistake. The ice cream maker spits out sad little beige chunks that look too much like cat food to be very appetizing. Mike's rosemary caramel custard fares a little better, though Tom thinks it is improperly cooked. If you were on the Top Chef finale, wouldn't you make sure you could make one really fantastic dessert perfectly? Dessert doesn't have to be a disaster!
Tongue & Cheek vs. Restaurant Iz: We're a little confused by the name of Richard's restaurant and wonder if he doesn't know the phrase is "tongue in cheek." Mike's name, however, makes total sense. We can almost see it emblazoned on an Ed Hardy t-shirt. But we digress — onto the meal! Both sets of judges seem equally pleased with the dishes at both restaurants and at Judges' Table Tom pronounces it the best food they've had in any finale. The stand-out dishes included Richard's raw hamachi with fried sweetbreads, his pork belly with black cod, Mike's halibut with kumquat marmalade and pork shoulder with pepperoni sauce. "Pepperoni sauce..." Gail keeps saying, stopping just short of a Homer Simpson drool.
Minutes away from an absolute emotional breakdown: After service, Mike is all smiles, while Richard is his usual anxious self. When their family members appear in the stew room, Richard barely gives his uncle a hug. At Judges' Table, both chefs are commended for their meals, minus the desserts, and guest judge Hubert Keller says it is going to be a difficult decision. When the announcement finally comes, in front of a small crowd of eliminated chefs and smiling family members, Richard can finally breathe a sigh of relief. He's the winner!
Richard has undoubtedly been one of the most talented, innovative contestants on Top Chef and though he wasn't our number-one pick for the season, we're happy he finally brought home the title.
What do you think? Do you think the win was deserved or were you rooting for Mikey Isabella?
Related: Top Chef All-Stars: The (Second to) Last Supper
(Images: Bravo)
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Team Richard all the way!!!!
Hey, just so you know for next time, I live in Canada and we get the episodes two weeks behind. While I appreciate that you didn't announce the winner before the break, the picture gave away the final two, kind of spoiling the next two episodes for me.
I was so, so happy with this outcome. They both did fantastic jobs, but I was always on Team Blais. I was happy when Stephanie won in his season, but have always thought he was maybe the most talented chef to ever compete on the show--of any season. Turns out, I was right!
@stephaniee - since you have internet access, you can always download the episodes and only be 12 hours behind, instead of two weeks.
yay blais!
I'm glad Richard won because I think he was the more talented and innovative of the 2 remaining chefs, but I really grew to be sick of him this season, (which I'm sure was probably mostly in editing decisions by the production staff.) I got tired of episode after episode of "Everything I cook is horrible, it's a failure, I'm going home." stew room whingeing and then that look of "how dare you not give me the win" in the post winner announcement closeups when he comes in second place for the challenge. When he and Mike started off the episide arguing about who was the biggest underdog I almost switched to Team Iz.
Also Foie gras ice cream sounds like about the most disgusting thing you could serve as a dessert ever.
I never watched Richard's TC season, so he was a stranger to me from the beginning. Having said that, he grew on me and I identified with the "self-deprecating genius artist." I felt like he deserved it more than other people because of his experience on both shows. Like he said, "always the bridesmaid, never the bride." And he was such a team player--I admired him a lot for that. I mean, I really felt like he was a true chef artist.
Mike was always annoying to me. I did watch his TC season (rooted for Jen the whole way!) and I always thought that he wasn't much of a great chef. He was outcooked many times and got lucky to not get eliminated or hardly ever be on the bottom. His mannerisms also make it hard to take him serious. He comes off as insensitive, I-can-do-anything-better-than-you, out-for-himself, thinks-everything-is-a-laughing-matter, insincere and BSer-type.
But, I was very surprised how a lot about Mike changed towards the end. Very surprised. It was like he came out of nowhere. He started whipping up clean, savory and very creative dishes (minus the one that he stole from Richard). Not to mention his restaurant Iz, it was superb, at the same level as Richard's IMO.
The interesting thing was to see how both chefs dealt with the frustrating, insecurity and stress of winning the title. Richard's insecurity and self-deprecation got old. Seriously. You made it to the end. You either win TC or not. Get over it! So that got in my way of rooting for Richard. Because even though he beat out EVERYONE to the end and just had to compete with one more person for the title, he was still insecure, overly self-cricital, blah blah blah. And while it's hard to take Mike serious, like I mentioned before, I think that's just his personality. Did I ever think that he was insecure? Not really. Worried? Nope. But that doesn't mean he wasn't. He cried at the end. That said a lot.
So I dunno. I don't think I was too happy that Richard won. I think I wanted Mike to win. Crazy, huh?
Congrats to Richard, but did he really deserve to win? Mike didn't just deserve to be there, he killed it. http://foodiegossip.blogspot.com/2011/03/richard-blais-may-be-top-chef-all-star.html
Mike could have outcooked Tom Colicchio himself and I still don't think they would have awarded him the title.
Richard won it, both throughout the season and in the finale, and given Mike's slow start and occasional big misses I was genuinely surprised to hear he'd worked for José Andrés. Andrés has high standards, and he's not a tyrant or a jerk, he and Mike seem like they would be a very odd couple in the kitchen.
Great episode, but did anyone else get sea sick watching Mike at Judge's Table? He nervously shifts his weight in such a consistent way... I was serioulsly wondering if I was moving or if it was him!
Glad Blais won. I like Mike, but Blais has more finesse.
"We're a little confused by the name of Richard's restaurant and wonder if he doesn't know the phrase is "tongue in cheek.""
Uh, pretty sure he knew, and that's why he named it with the "and."
So on Team Richard and excited he won. Have loved this post show commentary Anjali! Gail's Homer Simpson drool for Pepperoni Sauce! Mickey Iz on an Ed Hardy Shirt! Brilliant
Team Blais! I feel like I should know him given HOW EXCITED I was that he won. I always felt he was the most skilled on the show, but I was a bit nervous about Mike's newfound winning streak in the Bahamas--the judges seemed to be mezmerized by him for some reason. Either way, i'm so happy with the outcome. Blais deserves it! :)
Blais calling his meat-centric restaurant Tongue & Cheek IS tongue in cheek. Clever, and way better than Restaurant Iz. Seeing a restaurant name emblazoned on an Ed Hardy t-shirt would only ensure that I would never set foot in there.
What Tab Myers said. Seriously, how could you not get that? I got it and English isn't my first language.
Agree with the above comments. He wanted to use two types of protein, ie. Tongue & Cheek, which also agree with Tab is quite tongue in cheek.
I'm so happy for Richard! He truly seems to have more expertise and creativity than Mike, even though Mike turned out to be a better chef than I gave him credit for during his season. But out of the two, I would probably rather eat at a restaurant by Richard, since it would be an amazing experience and a very unique one! Yay!