Gastronomic Apocalypse Averted on Top Chef!!!
Girl-next-door Stephanie narrowly beat out angry-lesbian Lisa for the title of Top Chef, even as probably-better-than-either-of-them Richard "choked" by his own admission in the finale.
In defense of Richard: Stephanie's food looked great most of the season. But come on... Richard made an apparently delicious (according to some of the world's best chefs) bacon ice cream as his final dish. And this was an example of him choking. Stephanie may be Top Chef, but I think I'd make a reservation at Richard's restaurant over hers. Which is not to say the very next weekend's reservation wouldn't be at Stephanie's, because she's pretty consistently turned out amazing food as well.
That said, Stephanie was a pretty solid second choice for me among the other chefs for most of the season. And her first and third courses tonight had me salivating at my television screen. The wife and I were in solid agreement all week (actually for the past two) that either Richard or Stephanie winning would be totally acceptable. But it better not be Lisa. And yikes, did Lisa seem to come close.
Mind you I don't think any of these chefs is actually bad. They put them under ridiculous artificial pressures to simulate VERY less than ideal conditions almost every week. That's what the show is about: can you beat the pressure. I'll bet if I ate Lisa's food at a real restaurant I'd love it. But then I wouldn't be a very responsible reality show commentator, would I? We need our villains, and Lisa became that this season.
Anyway, good for Stephanie. And good for the Top Chef viewing public that we don't have to listen to them drone on another season about how a woman has never won Top Chef. Stephanie is woman! Hear her roar!
Maybe this will encourage women to charge back into the kitchen sending Gloria Steinem into an amusing fit. Probably not though.
On a side note, Hell's Kitchen looks destined for a female winner as well this year. My money is on Corey, but keep an eye on Christina.
In defense of Richard: Stephanie's food looked great most of the season. But come on... Richard made an apparently delicious (according to some of the world's best chefs) bacon ice cream as his final dish. And this was an example of him choking. Stephanie may be Top Chef, but I think I'd make a reservation at Richard's restaurant over hers. Which is not to say the very next weekend's reservation wouldn't be at Stephanie's, because she's pretty consistently turned out amazing food as well.
That said, Stephanie was a pretty solid second choice for me among the other chefs for most of the season. And her first and third courses tonight had me salivating at my television screen. The wife and I were in solid agreement all week (actually for the past two) that either Richard or Stephanie winning would be totally acceptable. But it better not be Lisa. And yikes, did Lisa seem to come close.
Mind you I don't think any of these chefs is actually bad. They put them under ridiculous artificial pressures to simulate VERY less than ideal conditions almost every week. That's what the show is about: can you beat the pressure. I'll bet if I ate Lisa's food at a real restaurant I'd love it. But then I wouldn't be a very responsible reality show commentator, would I? We need our villains, and Lisa became that this season.
Anyway, good for Stephanie. And good for the Top Chef viewing public that we don't have to listen to them drone on another season about how a woman has never won Top Chef. Stephanie is woman! Hear her roar!
Maybe this will encourage women to charge back into the kitchen sending Gloria Steinem into an amusing fit. Probably not though.
On a side note, Hell's Kitchen looks destined for a female winner as well this year. My money is on Corey, but keep an eye on Christina.
Posted by Doug Williams on
Wednesday June 11, 2008 at 9:20pm
Richard and Stephanie were both first class, though. I would certainly eat at Richard's restaurant -- with Stephanie as my date.