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| Rick Bayless, Photo: Bravo |
So how climactic could last night's finale have possibly been? Three of the most established, entitled chefs in America duking it out for ... what, exactly?
Well, words like "honor," "pride" and "respect" were thrown around, as were references to the charity money at stake, of course. There were the requisite sound bites about "every one of us deserving to win" or "this will be the closest" of all the season's scores. Yes, the group-hug feel of the entire season culminated in a finale so steeped in admiration, they had to set it in a museum, Malibu's majestic Getty Villa.
All of this made Italian stallion Michael Chiarello's fighting spirit -- so cockily annoying in previous episodes (though this week he attributed this impression to Bravo's editing) -- a breath of fresh air, even if he did overdo the boxing metaphors: "It's like Rocky Marciano, Rocky Balboa and Rocky's trainer all in the ring at the same time," he quipped, leading one to wonder who the Burgess Meredith of this trio of celebrity chefs might be -- graying Frenchman Hubert Keller, perhaps?
The pugilist vibe seemed to indicate that the gloves were coming off, or "the truffles are coming out of the bag." Keller was so enamored of his, which were overnighted from his homeland (what happened to the usual dollar limit on ingredients?) that he did a little celebratory dance, shaking the velvety fungi-like maracas.
Alas, his tango of joy was premature, even as all three chefs pulled out every last stop. Keller juxtaposed his decadent truffle- and caviar-adorned courses with a hearty, "laundry day" Alastian lamb stew. Not to be outdone, Chiarello served up gnocchi adorned with truffle fonduta, and had the nerve to serve jars of creamy rabbit polenta atop charred copies of Saveur magazine -- a ironic challenge to judge James Oseland, Saveur editor and sometime Chiarello detractor.
If there was an underdog winner in this rarefied bunch, it was Bayless, and his wish to bring the "integrity to Mexican food that it really deserves" did not go unheeded by the panel, who've been singing his praises all season. Even a fourth-course misstep of slightly overcooked shellfish couldn't erase the memory of his 27-ingredient, Oaxacan black mole, which made Gael Greene "shiver" and Jay Rayner proclaim, "I lost my mole virginity to you!"
The sexy description may seem out of place for the hopelessly nerdy, newly crowned Top Chef Master -- but then again, nerds are in.
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