EXCELLENT BLOG. Your comments have been very interesting. Glad to see Kevin win. Not thrilled that Angelo is on All-Stars. I am very tired of him.

I do not think that Ed was lucky in his draw of a sous chef. When Ed had to remind him that he was the sous chef, I figured there were problems. Also, why did Ed not come prepared with a dessert? He had a couple months to practice one. With that much money riding on it - I sure would have practiced a terrific dessert.
OliveAnne
FloridaFan

Eli, I beg to disagree about thechef's using the same ingredient's.
It put an "Iron Chef" spin to it!
If you are a "Top Chef", you should be able to cook with whatever is given to you. They were supplied with the protein, everything else was of the chef's choosing. I hope to see you on another "Top Chef" show.
I wish you much prosperity in your career. I thought you were great!

I was glad that they showed the doctor and had him say, "now you are cleared to cook." I can't imagine how improper it would be to have people cooking who are desperately ill. How can you justify that exposure to illness and possible damage to others no matter how much money is on the line?!!

I'm grateful that Angelo followed doctor's orders and I'm sure that the drive and intensity we saw all season from him was what go him out there. A terrible stomach virus with vomiting is NOT what we want to see in the kitchen. I hope you reconsider your opinion of Angelo's decision to follow doctor's orders.

I get it about toughing it out...but do you really want your food prepared by someone that sick. Mixing the dressing or cutting duck, excuse me while I vomit and cough and cover my mouth with my hands. then I'll go back ot stuffing the duck!
No thanks, I hope the doctor kept him from cooking to prevent an outbreak.

Your comment on Angelo is uncalled for and just a hit below the belt because it seemed that the show had a doctor giving him clearance on cooking. The guy had a severe headache and who knows whether it could have been extremely serious. Should you be accusing him of being lame when you don't have all the facts. I am quite amazed he seemed to have something infectious but was allowed to come in the next day and spread it to all the judges. Why as a chef would you want to spread some sort of influenza to your patrons. Is this something you should be encouraging. Seems pretty lmuch like there is no concern for the people actually eating the food. I get it, 125K. whatever.

"I find it difficult to believe that most people, chef or not, wouldn’t be able to get up and cook for three hours with $125k on the line, unless you were stricken to a hospital...."

You're a very lucky person then...you don't get the type of migraines I get...I actually feel too sick to make it to the hospital, like the trip itself would kill me. I 100% agree with everything else you wrote! I'd love to see your season hopefully in repeats.

I disagree. I thought having them all use the same ingredients really leveled the playing field. A Top Chef should be at ease with any protein. I really enjoyed seeing the different interpretations each chef took to the same ingredients... how they incorporated all the required elements into each meal in such different ways.

Eli,
I have really enjoyed your perspective on this season. I hope Bravo allows you to keep it up going forward. I also agree with your feelings about the final challenge. While you can have some basic guidelines (vegetable, fish, main dessert for example) I think the show does do the chefs a disservice by picking their protiens for them, and not allow them to fully give their own persepctives in the finale and it could give an advantage to certain chefs depending on the protein.

That's a good one ... Eli calling Kevin humble. They both need anger management training. Please -- don't subject us to Eli's blogging any more. His boorish behavior during last season disqualified him from having anything I'd want to read.

I thought that Angelo was not allowed to cook to not contaminate everyone else with a stomach bug. You noticed he wore gloves in the kitchen the whole time. That's a concern about contamination. That not influenza. It's gastroenteritis which is highly contagious. Think Norwalk virus on cruise ships where 100 people get sick.

In Asia, it's pretty common since your gut is upside down from the new water, etc. That's why you don't send a sick chef to the kitchen. No one else wants to barf or the other.

Eli.

I agree that the "best meal of your life" should be what I would call "free style"...your dream meal may not include some of the required ingredients to me it restrained the chefs, previousdly except for a last minute challenge the chefs have had a variety of protiens to choose from. I was also perturbed that there was only enough of the fois gras for one chef, or was just HH being a bogart?

Even though I was "Team Ed" Kevin deserved the win for his incredible meal. Ed should have known better than to serve such a lackluster dessert at a Top Chef Finale, I knew he was finis when it came out of the oven. As soon as they started service I knew Kevin was the clear winner all his dishes were were gorgeous; that Singapore Sling was beautiful and I want one! As to Angleo, if I had 125K on the line I would have had to be twice dead to not get up and cook for the finale, I honestly believe he was trying to get the sympathy vote from the judges!

I hope Ed wathces TC Just Desserts in case he ends up on an episode of the TC Masters...I know I will, it's fabulous!!

I totally agree with you, Eli, about Angelo but not about the challenge itself. I think giving the 3 contestants an equal playing field (as in all the same ingredients) really shows who is the better chef. I've been as sick and sicker than Angelo appeared to be and nothing would have kept me in that bed during any part of the challenge.

I totally agree with you Eli. The finalists struck gold when they got the winners of previous top chef seasons. When it came to Kevin, he got an extra blessing when getting michael voltaggio, who he knew and had worked with before. The best of luck to Kevin, Ed, Angelo, Kelly and Tiffany.

Ed got too cocky and killed himself by not making a real dessert. He talked a big game but in the end let himself down. It's baffling how a cheftestant dosen't incorporate a good dessert in his arsenal for the final.
Angelo overall was too winey. It's unbelievable that in the last competition with the title, recognition, and 125 thousand dollars on the line, he could not pull himself from bed. His only excuse should be if he was hospitalized. What a wimp. He also talked a big game.
It seemed to me that neither Ed or Angelo even considered Kevin as a threat to them. All they talked about was winning against each other, beating each other.
I am glad Kevin won, and most convincingly too. He showed the most skill, and exercution to out cook both Angelo and Ed, by a wide margin.
Good for him, congratulation Kevin.

I also think that the contestants should have been told to give m,e your best dish ever and not subject to the same ingredeints.

Hi Eli,
You said your comments about Angelo's sickness were in no way to disparage Angelo, but they really were.....I'm glad for you that you've never experienced a horrific 24-48 influenza. I did a couple of years ago, and even after seeing a doctor I was in such total body pain that I cried in pain. Then 2 days later- voila- almost better! So, these things do happen.