Oddly enough, all three finalists on Top Chef Masters boast Bay Area restaurants and the one from the winner, Rick Bayless (oh, spoiler) is a fast food joint in the Macy's basement.
Anyway, the warm, fuzzy and tame season ended with the Bay Area's charming, silver-haired duo of Michael Chiarello and Hubert Keller eventually falling short to Chicago's Zippity-Do-Dah Bayless, who earned cash for his charity. Chiarello is the chef at Napa Valley's Bottega and Keller is the chef and co-owner at Fleur de Lys in San Francisco.
Memorable moments from the finale included Padma moaning that Chiarello ran away with her heart, Keller's technical wizardry, childhood photos of the starry trio (esp. DJ Hubert's robust black beard!), and childhood gnocchi-making memories reminiscent of "The Godfather Part III."
Also, Gail Simmons made Jay Rayner squirm when she talked about bathing, then a creepy Rayner tried to flirt ... but instead made Gail squirm, albeit in a completely different way.
But now, with the hopes that a) back-to-back Top Chef episodes won't ever happen again and b) Kelly Choi will continue her Twitter shitshow, let's turn to the main event.
