Rick Bayless, Photo: Bravo

If you've been faithfully watching the first season of "Top Chef Masters," you know it's not about the drama. It's not about the high-stakes tension. And it certainly isn't about the fashion about one of its namesake Top Chefs. (Mexican-chef extraordinaire Rick Bayless' specs invoke memories of a junior-high chemistry teacher, circa 1996.)

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.

Are you ready for the final episode of Top Chef, Season Five? Ready or not, it's coming tonight and Carla, Hosea and Stephan are the final three chef'testants. The challenge they're being given is to cook the best three course tasting menu that they've ever made and serve it to a table of 12 (judges and guests). There will be twists (one of the preview clips hints at an alligator) and we don't know who will be assisting as sous chefs for the finalists (there was much gasping when the chef'testants saw them, but the producers carefully kept their identities hidden).

Who's your pick to win tonight? Do you think that that Stephan will take the day or will Carla, with her crafty ways, steal his thunder. What about Hosea? Does he have a chance?

Spoilers!

It's been a long 14 episodes, and last night we finally learned who has been crowned the new Top Chef. Lisa, Richard and Stephanie duked it out for the title in Puerto Rico, creating what was supposed to be the "the most important meal of their lives." I don't know what caused me to salivate more -- the food or the drama. Read on!

The end of the season for a show like Bravo's Top Chef is always bittersweet. Like a good chocolate, you want to finish it off, but you also sort of wish that it could go on. Come to think of it, this season might be more like the "finishing off" chocolate, since there has been so much drama that it will almost be a relief to see it end. Almost.

Last night was the first part of the show's season finale and it started off by giving viewers a sneak peek into what the chefs have been doing for the past few months during the break between the main taping and the filming of the finale. Marcel and Sam spent the time practicing their technique, with Marcel trying to learn as much as possible about new ingredients and presentations and Sam learning about pastry, which he felt was a weak spot in his training. Elia and Ilan each spent time learning about Hawaiian food, but neither actively tried to learn as much new information as their competitors.

After weeks of challenges that forced chefs to do things like use microwaves and shop in convenience stores, the cooking got serious in the second half of the Top Chef finale and the two finalists, Harold and Tiffani, were finally asked to show the judges their full range of culinary abilities - sans gimmicks. Working separate kitchens at the MGM Grand, Harold and Tiffani had to create 5-course tasting menus to feed eight prestigious judges.

There was only one twist to the episode. Since both chefs needed help to prepare their meals, Dave, Stephen, LeeAnne and Miguel were brought back in to help out. Instead of assigning them to one of the chefs, they were asked to pick whose team they would prefer to be on. Dave, LeeAnne and Miguel all said they wanted to cook for Harold, while Stephen picked Tiffani. Judging from his comment of "Let's keep things interesting" when he said Tiffani's name, it was clear that he would rather have worked with Harold, but recognized that someone would have to be on Tiff's team. Harold, forced to choose between Dave and Miguel, had them draw knives to see what team they would join and Dave ended up with Stephen and Tiffani.

Tonight is the last night of the first season of Top Chef. While I'm already anxiously awaiting season two already, I still can't wait to see who walks away with the title of Top Chef in tonight's finale.

As you recall, the last two chefs standing are Harold and Tiffani. Harold has a lot going in his favor, since he is a good cook and calm under pressure. He has high standards for his dishes, but he will try to put the customers' interests first, as he demonstrated last week during the poker challenge. His dishes have consistently won praise from tasters and judges. Tiffani needs some attitude adjustment, but is still a skilled cook. She is not as experienced as Harold, but is perhaps even more aggressive in pursuit of her goal. Her biggest problem is that she has repeatedly cooked what she thinks people should be eating and not what they actually want to eat, losing her points with the judges. 

Personally, I'm pulling for Harold.

Who do you think will win tonight?

Now is your last chance to catch up on anything you missed this season. Read the recaps here:
Episode 1 recap
Episode 2 recap
Episode 3 recap
Episode 4 recap
Episode 5 recap
Episode 6 recap
Episode 7 recap
Episode 8 recap
Episode 9 recap
Reunion show recap
Finale part 1 recap