Top Chef recap

Hung won. Are you surprised?

I think the guy rightly deserved the 100 Gs. Yeah, he was pretty arrogant all season, but that is often, from my experience, a top chef trait, like it or not. From the very beginning, Hung was in it to win and that earned my grudging admiration. I don't mind someone tooting their own horn, as long as they have the food to back it up. His sous vide duck sounded outstanding.

Great twist having celebrity chefs Todd English, Michelle Bernstein and Rocco DiSpirito serve as sous chefs for the contestants.

I found this pretty interesting in light of Frank Bruni's article yesterday in The New York Times about celebrity chefs getting further and further away from the kitchen.

Thought it was funny - and telling - that all the celeb chefs thought the competitors were using too many ingredients and too many components in their dishes.

That said, wouldn't you think some of those thoughts - and concerns - would cloud their judgment when it came to tasting? If you've already seen and participated in what goes on "backstage," isn't it a little more difficult to surrender yourself to the magic of a meal? Just saying....

You knew the contestants were going to be thrown a slider - so no shocker when they were asked to make a fourth dish in the final hour of cooking. (Hung, machine that he is, already had a recipe in his back pocket. Too bad it was a molten chocolate cake. Man, that early 1990s dessert is as tired as creme brulee. I saw those cakes and immediately thought he was going to get nailed for it. Hung can defend this dessert all he wants, but I gotta go with Todd English and say it certainly isn't a dessert that will blow away a table of discerning and jaded palates.)

Was Casey suffering from altitude sickness? (Ugh, something I've had before and it's no fun at all.) She certainly didn't look on her game.

Dale aka "Mr. Soundbite" had all the great lines this week:

Cracked up when he said wanted to "punch" chef Tom in the face after being told about the fourth dish.

And calling chef English his "prep bitch"? Hoo-ha! Priceless. (Though notice he didn't say it to his face? I'm pretty sure he would have gotten a Boston beatdown from the Beantown restaurateur. Though, Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes guy on the Food Network, told me he once worked for English and said he was cool guy.)

Now, it's over and Wednesday nights just aren't going to be the same. I tried to watch Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares but can't muster any enthusiasm. It doesn't hold a candle to "Top Chef."

Looking forward to next season.