Lisa was really getting the winner’s edit- I was terrified that she was going to take it all, especially with all of the talk at judges’ table about basing the decision on “this meal”. I’m glad Stephanie won instead of Lisa, but my heat is breaking for poor Richard- I was really pulling for him, and he just blew it.
And I want to have Eric Ripert’s babies. Lots of 'em.
I had a feeling it was going to be Stephanie because the show hadn’t had a female winner yet, so I figured the producers would tap her for the win unless she really blew it. She appeared to do well enough on merit that she deserved it, though. I think it was really close between her and Richard, and on a slightly better day, she was the winner.
I actually kind of liked Richard just admitting to the judges he thjought he’d choked. Oddly, in the first couple of episodes of the season, I thought Richard seemed kind of conceited, but by the end, I thought he seemed like one of the most grounded and non-egoistic contestants on the show.
Congratulations to Stephanie, though. She wasn’t an exciting personality, but she was always consistently good and very cool and calm in the middle of chaos. I think her best moment may have been last week when Dale left her pork belly out all night. She had to scrap a major dish and come up with something new with only a few hours of notice, but she didn’t freak out or go off on Dale (who already seemed so guilt-stricken that it would have been pointless). She got herself together and with a a great suggestion from Dale, managed to put something together that ended up being a judges’ favorite. That kind of calm and presence of mind was always there for her, but never more clearly than in that moment.
Yay Stephanie! 
She was my pick since the beginning.
I felt bad for Richard. He looked like a lost puppy in the last confessional. But he did choke.
I still hate Lisa, although she wasn’t as bad this episode. Until her comment to Steph about who won which courses. :rolleyes:
I got the feeling it took the judges so long to come to a conclusion because Gail wanted Lisa and everyone else was voting for Stephanie. Gail seemed to have a hard-on for Lisa.
They all seemed to like that coconut soup.
How often was Lisa in the bottom three? It seems to me like she lived down there; she escaped elimination over and over again just because somebody else sucked even worse that day. I was going to be so pissed if she won; just because you don’t suck quite as badly as someone else doesn’t make you a winner. And what’s with her Asian obsession? Surely you can’t consider yourself a well-rounded chef if your only area of expertise is one type of ethnic food.
I wanted Richard to win, though; it was sad to see the way he just kinda fell apart.
I’m happy for Stephanie, though; I liked her, and I found her “I’m about to vomit with fear at every elimination” expression kind of endearing. Not like some others, who were just oozing arrogance and couldn’t accept any kind of criticism.
Nice to see a female win, too, although again I was rooting for Richard just because I found his food the most intriguing.
Richard did choke but to be fair, when the show was being taped he had a new baby on the way. He did seem stressed in a few episodes more than others.
I have no doubt that Richard is a fantastic Chef, He just had a bad day.
Lisa for sure got the editors love in the first 1/3 of the show. At judges table I was fairly confident that Stephanie was going to win. And in my opinion the dessert course should count less since they are not pastry Chefs.
Yay Stephanie!
You have never worked in a kitchen have you? Stephanie is an atypical chef, unless her camera face was not her true kitchen face. It seems like that disposition is a virtue, but in a working kitchen… not so much. Weeds.
I’m glad she won, though. She’s a great chef.
I also had picked Stephanie from the very beginning and I was glad to see someone I was rooting for finally win. Dio said she wasn’t an exciting personality, the reason for that is she wasn’t always being shown trash talking everyone else or acting full of herself. She was classy, kind and nice and look what happened! You can be the nice guy and win! I am so happy for her. But I was starting to get an upset stomach by the end of the episode over the “winner’s edit” Lisa was getting.
Gail sure did seem to have a hard-on for Lisa, hugging her afterwards and standing next to her. Then when they were discussing desserts she said Stephanie’s dessert sucked. No one else said it sucked, they said it was just nice but nothing special, which IMO does not equal “sucked”. If we went on appearances alone, Lisa looked like she went outside and pulled some dirt and twigs and other stuff out of the garden.
I would have liked to see Richard do better, I think he is a good chef, he’s been much more consistent than others coughLisacough and he was probably the second nicest person on the show. It was actually good to see at least two really nice deserving people in the finals.
After tonight’s episode, I actually feel sorry for Lisa. Those editors really did a job on her. I didn’t even know she was an Asian Chef until tonight.
Gail’s comment seemed over the top for sure. Unless those crafty bastards wanted to create some drama. 
Actually, I have worked in many kitchens. I’m an old line cook from back in the day. Being able to stay calm under pressure is one of the best qualities a head chef (or even a line cook) can have. I don’t know why you’d say otherwise.
I would agree that it’s atypical to be quiet and unemotional, but that’s not so much what I was commenting on as her ability not to get rattled and to adapt to catastrophe.
Chef Tom and the others have been quite explicit in their blogs in saying the producers always let the judges make the decision on who stays or goes. You really think they’re lying?
Well, too be fair, as Anthony Bourdain said, “Asia is big.”
Oh yea, she stays calm and clear headed. She’s adaptable, I agree. But she would crumble under anything over 140 covers.
Her Bravo Bio says she used to own this restaurant in Chicago. It’s hard to get an idea of how big it is from the website, but I get the sense that it’s probably pretty small – maybe 20-30 tables. I’d guess that she was maybe only pulling 50-100 covers a night, so you may be right. It’s possible that she’s never been that stressed out and if she owned the joint, she probably didn’t have to work the line every night anyway, so you may be right that she wouldn’t be able to handle a really heavy service. I do get the feeling she’d be the type who wouldn’t tell anyone when she was in the weeds, which of course, generates more problems than just admitting it and asking for help.
I knew she was and Spike also was because it was brought up plenty during the season, however the only one who was given a hard time for always doing Asian was the Asian guy (who, by the way, didn’t always do Asian). I was actually rather nervous about this because I knew that in the finale she would finally be able to do what she is comfortable with since there isn’t a theme they have to follow.
Even though I don’t think she is a Top Chef, she had to at least be decent in her genre to be able to get on the show and I didn’t want her winning the whole thing because she’s been lucky enough to be second worse for seven or so episodes and then finally be able to do some decent food and win it all.
I had the pleasure of eating there 3 times. They probably did 200 or so covers on a busy Saturday. It wasn’t a big room but it was busy and the food was always good in my experience.
And of course, living in Chicago, being in the business and knowing several people who worked with her and never had a bad thing to say about her, I was pulling for her from the beginning. That and the fact I had a great meal each time I was there. Yay Stephanie!!!
I was pretty convinced by the edit that Stephanie would win, because she seemed unsure of herself. The editors were trying to throw out a red herring. Lisa really lost it when she didn’t prepare her Kobe correctly. Having a great entree and a meh dessert is much better than having a poor entree and a good dessert. I liked the comments of the guest chefs about how it felt to be a sous chef again.
Richard didn’t win, but he got a lot of exposure plus a new car. I’m sure he’ll go far. Hopefully he’ll learn that the faux hawk is dead.
StG
Richard definitely choked. He was too desperate to show off his molecular gastronomy. He brings a huge honkin’ thermos full of liquid nitrogen to the finals so he can make a few dabs of ice cream?
Lisa did step up in the final and claimed a bit of retribution. She did what she does best and did it well.
I have no problems at all with Stephanie winning. I think Richard is marginally the better chef, but as he said, he choked.
Are they going to have a reunion episode?
I am probably one of the few people who doesn’t like the “Blank check” challenges. I hate the finale because it doesn’t really seem to prove best chef to me.
I do like the arbirtrary challenges and restrictions of the earlier rounds because it shows more about their real palette, and cooking knowledge, and gut food instinct. Who can think on their feet. Anybody with any cooking ability can take a month and prepare and perfect 4 knock-out dishes with a few variations to serve to ten people. Richard shot himself in the foot because he tried to invent and create in the meal, while the other two focused on dishes they “knew”, and practice makes perfect.