Jonathan Waxman Photo: Fabrizio Ferri, courtesy of jonathanwaxman.com

Could you feel the love last night on Top Chef Masters? Sure, the season until now has been all about pro-chef bonding: sharing techniques; lending a hand in the crunch; reminiscing about experiences in the culinary world.

But Wednesday was something else entirely. The competing foursome went to a place somewhere beyond mere camaraderie -- a place even further than the conciliatory, bromantic half-hug shared by final-round losers Roy Yamaguchi (Roy's Hawaiian Kitchen) and Michael Cimarusti (of LA's acclaimed Providence). What we witnessed last night was an emotional journey, a blubbering, four-hanky love-in.

The warm fuzzies started with the introduction of this group's demigod, Jonathan Waxman. Not only was the Barbuto owner and New Yorker a literal mentor to Cimarusti years prior, but his clout with James Beard and Julia Child back in the day held Yamaguchi and Oprah's favorite Southern chef Art Smith (Table 52) in awe for most of the episode.

When it came time for each chef to pick the ingredients for each others' final cook-off, their selections the best seasonal goods Whole Foods had to offer, rather than sundry oddities meant to undermine the competition: kumquats, sunchokes, mangoes, beautiful bone-in pork chops. "The word 'sabotage' isn't in a professional chef's vocabulary," Waxman reminded us.

What a shocker, then, that the episode ended up not being a fight-to-the-finish between legend Waxman and, to use Smith's words, "young little chicken" Cimarusti.

Instead, the flamboyant, gregarious Smith not only got the best bon mots, he also got the last word: The down-home charm of his cooking won over none other than Gael Greene, who bestowed one of her rare five-star ratings on his "fried chicken two ways" (a delicately deep-fried leg and a thigh smothered in a succulent gravy).

To our eyes, it didn't seem better than Waxman's luscious, simple pork chop with shaved truffles and jus -- but never underestimate the narcotic power of the deep fryer.

Singing Smith's praises at the judges' table, Waxman proclaimed, "Look at him, he's a honey bear!"

"You guys are sweethearts!" Smith replied, visibly blushing ... along with the rest of us at home.