"sam" news and stories

There are only four chefs left in this season's Top Chef competition and all will be participating in the Hawaii finale. The decision of the judges as to who will win the title of Top Chef will be decided based on their performance throughout the competition and on their dishes in the finale. As viewers, we have seen a little more of their personalities and interactions, but let's take a look at the backgrounds of the final four, as well:

Marcel Vigneron - Marcel, 26, lives in Las Vegas, NV where he is a Master Cook at Joel Robuchon at the Mansion. He attended the Culinary Institute of America, where his strongest subjects with butchery and, of course, molecular gastronomy. He prides himself on his creativity and skill in the kitchen and, as those are what landed him his job at Joel Robuchon, he is certainly right to do so.

Sam Talbot - Sam, 28, is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina and currently works as executive chef of Punch Restaurant in New York City. He attended Johnson and Wales University, but has been involved in food since his first job as a production chef at Dean & Deluca in NC when he was just 16 years old.

This season of Bravo's Top Chef is close to an end. This episode was the last one of the regular competition and, as we could tell from the promos that ran during the week, it would determine which chefs would make it to the finale in Hawaii. The real question going in to the show was how many chefs would be competing for the title in that last competition, since there were still five chefs left on the show when this episode began.

After a few minutes of footage that illustrated everyone's determination to win, the chefs headed into the kitchen for the quickfire challenge. Everyone was surprised to see that the guest chef was Eric Ripert, who is the chef at Le Bernardin in New York and one of the most well known and well respected chefs in the country. Needless to say, his presence added to the pressure. The challenge was to use chocolate to create something sensual. The dish could be sweet or savory and the chefs had 90 minutes to work.