Top Chef: Did The Right Voltaggio Win?
December 12, 2009 by Nicole C.
Filed under Television
After watching the finale of Top Chef season six, I’m left with a feeling of, “what just happened here?” Don’t get me wrong, it was suspenseful at the very end with our final three chefs all hitting some great points but also some not so great ones that the judges had plenty to say about. Alas there can be only one and Michael Voltaggio takes the title.
It caught me by surprise as I had been debating in my head whether Bryan or Kevin was going to win. It seemed that while Michael was incredibly creative with his food, he had been the least consistent with execution amongst the three. I thought surely that would be the reason why he wouldn’t win. I guess the judges don’t quite agree with me.
The episode begins with the other season six contestants appearing again as Michael, Bryan, and Kevin are told they will be picking knives to receive two sous chefs that will be helping them out with the final challenge. Kevin picks first and gets Preeti and Ash. Bryan ends up getting Jen and Ashley and Michael has Eli and Jesse. What I liked about this set up is that the former contestants fulfilled their roles of simply just helping the chefs prep their dishes instead of actually cooking most of a dish as we’ve seen in previous seasons. For the challenge itself, our final three were to create four dishes: first course to be inspired by their childhood, second course was to use everything found in a mystery box (perhaps the idea was ripped off Food Network show Chopped?), third course was their choice and lastly was a mandatory dessert to end with.
Finally! Nothing finishes a meal like dessert! It’s really about time that the show included this task. Doesn’t it make sense for a great chef to be able to cook every course of a meal? My favorite had to be Bryan’s “Dulce de Leche” cheesecake with fig sorbet, poached pear and basil. Kevin, who proclaimed that desserts were not his forte, made roasted banana, toasted peanut with chocolate bacon mousse and bacon brittle. Lastly Michael created a chocolate caramel coulant, butternut squash brûlée and butternut ice cream. The judges praised our season six winner with his pumpkin seeds as a nice seasonal touch, but ultimately he over-baked the chocolate coulant. Kevin’s dessert was too simple and would have worked better with the banana cooked in another way as well and Bryan’s was ultimately good and well executed but perhaps too safe.
The judges’ favorites throughout the meal I believe were Kevin’s southern fried chicken skin with squash casserole and tomato as for the first course; Michael’s dashi-glazed rockfish, sweet and sour crab salad with squash and meyer lemon for the second course; and Bryan’s venison saddle with purée of sunchokes and orange juniper sauce for the third course. Since each chef had at least one dish that the judges really liked, it was hard to predict who would eventually win the whole competition.
Speaking of judges, the show brought in the chefs’ moms as well as a group of well-known restaurateurs, along with Toby Young, Gail Simmons, Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi. The moms were there for the first round and it was easy to see how proud they were of their sons. I loved Kevin’s mom! She sweetly said that there was never anything that Kevin fed her that she didn’t like. We also got to see old family pictures of the chefs and even as kids you could see the difference between the brothers’ personalities. Who knew as well that our southern chef Kevin got into MIT!
The episode overall didn’t carry the same kind of intensity that I believe past season finales had, but the outcome was definitely unexpected. “I just don’t want Bryan to win,” was Michael’s first response when asked why he should be crowed top chef, which was both amusing but probably true too. Do you think the right Voltaggio brother won? This viewer isn’t so sure.
For another take on this episode, check out “I Just Don’t Want Bryan To Be Top Chef” by Jaimie Campos.
Season 6, Episode 14: Napa Finale, Part 2 (original air date December 9, 2009)
For more on Top Chef, click here.
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Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal and Virginia Sherwood
BRYAN should have won. Your comments are spot-on re Michael’s inconsistency in .
Gail and Tom C. seem so impressed w/ sweet and sour — any Chinese cook in Chinatown can do that, and better. But not any American cook on Main St. can do venison saddle the way Bryan did, I bet. Even Michael’s one elimination win – slab of bacon on a lettuce leaf w/ peanuts on top — very Asian, but crudely Asian. While Bryan’s guacamole encased in a meringue– now that is creative, and muy elegante.