'Top Chef' finale: Casey dooms Carla, Stefan does dessert, Hosea wins title

Well, that was an unfortunate finale. Not because Hosea, who won the “Top Chef” title with just three challenge wins under his belt, bested who I thought to be the season’s front-runner, Stefan, and not because Carla made the bad decision of letting Casey call the shots in the kitchen, though that certainly didn’t help.

Did it sadden me to see Stefan prepare a dessert plate I’d expect to see at the kind of restaurant that shops its desserts around on a cart? Definitely. And it was beyond painful to watch Carla second guess herself out of the running, causing her to sob openly in front of the judges. 

But the main reason it all came up underwhelming was because, for the first time, the finale felt tired, uninspired in both the production of the episode and in the food itself.

As always for the final challenge, the finalists were asked simply to cook the best meal they could. Only, this time, none of them brought any special ingredients to work with. We didn’t see any fancy techniques or gadgets that make some chefs giddy. No one talked about the ideas they had coming into the final challenge or what winning would really mean to them. We heard a little bit about why Stefan prepared squab and cabbage, hearty Scandinavian soul food, as it were, but not a whole lot about the thought going into any one else’s dishes.

The dishes themselves, except for the squab, seemed unusually ordinary. Recall the menus: Hosea prepared sashimi, scallops and venison. Stefan also did a raw fish, squab and that unspeakable dessert plate. Carla made bouillabaisse, “meat and potatoes” and a cheese soufflé that never made it to the table.

When I think back on seasons past, I remember a lot more finesse and bigger ideas. I remember (with the aid of online archives) Hung’s sous-vide duck with mushroom ragout and truffle sauce, Ilan’s macadamia-nut gazpacho with pan-roasted moi, and Marcel’s hearts of palm and maitake mushrooms with kaffir lime sauce and sea beans. Even if he didn’t win, I also remember Richard’s banana scallop with bacon ice cream.

I don’t know if these past contestants just wanted to win more, but the level of creativity that’s been on display in previous seasons wasn’t there tonight -- perhaps a reflection of the contestants themselves and the fact that throughout the season none of them, not even Stefan, emerged with signature styles of their own. Last year, Stephanie did refined French cuisine with Asian flair, Richard was the experimental artist, and Lisa concentrated on Asian fusion. This year, Carla talked about putting “love” into her food, Hosea talked a lot about Stefan, and Stefan talked a lot about ... Stefan.

There were some bright spots, of course. The surprise request for a fourth dish, an appetizer, to be cooked with one of three proteins typical of New Orleans -- red fish, crab and alligator -- forced the contestants to put their thinking caps on and resulted in winning courses for all. The squab made me hungry. And the near brawl between Hosea and Stefan over the foie gras and caviar was startling -- were they sharing a brain for the final challenge? Was there little else in the kitchen to work with other than these gimme products?

In general, though, I was bored. Even Colicchio’s final words for the night’s two strongest contenders were unexcited and unexciting: “Hosea, you put together a nice meal. You were very steady across the board. Stefan, you had some amazing highs but you also had a few lows.”

I guess it’s only fair then that Hosea be crowned the winner for being the most “steady” of the three in this most banal of finales. Bring on "Top Chef Masters."

What do you think? Did you enjoy the finale more than I did? Do you think Hosea truly deserved to win?

Don’t forget to join in today’s live chat with host Toby Young at 11 a.m. PST, right here on the Showtracker blog.

-- Denise Martin

Related:
‘Top Chef’s’ Stefan: ‘People are just intimidated by me’
‘Top Chef’: Fabio Viviana goes Italian and exits laughing

Photo: NBC Universal

Comments

[Susie]

WHINY HOSEA DID NOT DESERVE TO WIN! Stefan is the better Chef.
Top Chef Judges were on Crack!I

[chris gulley]

poor carla. i started to cry when she said all she wanted was to compete with love. i know it sounds a little corny, but you could tell she meant it. i so badly wish she'd stood up for herself and rejected casey's ideas. i feel a little sorry for casey. you know she's got to be feeling like crap now. BOTH things she recommended - cooking meat in a bag and the cheese souffle wound up being giant disasters that took our lovely carla out of the competition. it WAS a tad satisfying to see the smug stefan lose to hosea, but unfortunately, hosea is kind of a giant tool himself, overly obsessed with his loathing for stefan all fricking season. hosea seemed very hypocritical to me, the way he immediately turned to and hugged stefan upon learning he had won. unappealing, bald headed, bad-teeth having crybaby. the author is right: "hosea, you put together a nice meal" is hardly what you want to hear about the winner of "top chef."

[scharabo]

Forget that Hosea won - or even had been Carla or Stefan. The real winner of this series was Fabio. The series was a tremendous career enhancement for him.

Personally I feel the judges in the first of the semi-finals went with Carla since they wanted a Carla/Hosea/Stefan finale, rather than a Hosea/Stefan/Fabio one.

Call me cynical, but I suspect about mid-series the judges decided who they wanted to be in the final four.

[Adam]

I was pulling for Carla--

I don't think she deserved to win based on last night's performance, but I do believe she was the most inspired chef coming into the finale, and had found the most personal voice despite a slow start. I wish they wouldn't have had sous chefs... :(

[Frank the Chef]

Seems like all the legit top chef candidates in the country have by now been featured. Time for this show to go away.

[Tammie]

I have to agree that this season finale did seem a little flat. I was so hurt when I saw Carla taking Casey's suggestions. She did the same thing in the beginning where she just kinda stood back and let the others show-off. When she started cooking for herself she started to win challenges.

I'm sure Casey feels awful that she contributed to Carla's losing.

[aly]

oh please. fabio's flavors were not spot on. carla's were. that's how she made it into the finale and how he got ousted. youre saying they gave her the WIN just to get fabs out? and.. as stefan quoted richard blais... the winner gets the 100k egg, the runner-up's, including fabio as you pointed out, lays eggs.

[Cal]

I absolutely agree as I believe most do. It was so painful to see Carla go out like that. I never liked Casey during her season and I was vindicated for that last night. Stefan was by far the better chef and if you're going to just judge someone on ONE dish then you may as well become Food Network's "Chopped".

[MikeyV]

I think Casey DID feel horrible. The one interview shot they had of her it looked as though her eyes were puffy.

[Mom]

TOP CHEF, you have lost 3 viewers. I think TC NY was the worst I've seen yet. I agree that about 1/2 way through the season, you already knew who was going to win. Carla took the ups and downs with grace and passion. She never rubbed anything in anyone's face, she was, to us, the TOP CHEF. How dare you take her out of the running because she chose not to plate the souffle! If she did, you would have done the same exact thing - over look her contributions as a chef.

I've seen brawls, hanky panky between 2 men, 2 women and now man and a woman. Are you showing us a cooking show or a hoe down show?

Stick to cooking and the Chef's.

[Annie]

Top Chef is very confusing. Since Carla didn't plate the cheese souffle she was bashed for that, yet if she had put the ruined souffle on the plate she would have been bashed for that too! I remember lots of times when the judges would say if they weren't confident with a dish to not even plate it. It's like a lose lose situation.

Carla should have won hands down. She never put anyone down, in fact she helped out a lot of people while trying to do her own dishes. She should have been the top chef.

[Carola Von Hoffmannstahl-Solomonoff]

When it comes to top chef material, is that all there is? Though several of the candidates were chef level, the majority were just decent cooks. (A few were barely suited for fast food.) To paraphrase Fabio, this is America's Next Top Chef, not America's Next Top Cook.

[Minita]

I think this season of Top Chef was most uninspiring and honestly after Jaime, Ariane and Radhika were let go while Leah still managed to stay on (I think only because Bravo wanted to milk the chemistry between Leah and Hosea) I just didn't care to watch it anymore. I did tune into see the finale and you're right - it seemed so tedious - like the judges didn't even care to be there. Like they just wanted to get it over with.

I saw the same tiredness in the last season of Project Runway. What is happening to Bravo?

[greg woulf]

Carla shouldn't have made it to the finals let alone won. She narrowly avoided being cut over and over again. She had two good meals, and so many excuses every week.

Stefan was clearly the star, as much as I disliked his personality. Jamie, Padma and Stefan should have been the three to go to the finale. Padma got caught out in Restaurant wars where you don't want to win the 'advantage,' and Jamie got caught in one bad meal trying to do something creative.

This season was all about punishing creativity and forcing the contestents to make the safe dishes.

[Eli]

Here's what happened:

Casey loses TOP CHEF again!
Richard Blas finally gets his win!

Carla-I'm heartbroken for you. Where did you go girl?

[TrickieDickie]

Overall, I was disappointed with this season, which is a shame, because TC is one of my favorite shows. I think the producers went too far with the out of kitchen shenanigans - the Leah/Hosea "romance" was the only thing that kept them in the show for so long. They both should have been kicked off in the early rounds, but the producers seemed more interested in ratings than the actual cooking competition (which was a feeling I had throughout this season and more so than in previous seasons).
Jamie should have made it through to the final, but she seemed to quit on herself.
Ultimately, the final disappointed because Stefan and Carla both lost, not because Hosea's steady, bland, boring, predictable food won. I too was surprised that the finalists didn't seem to have done any preparation - they know the format, so you'd think they'd at least have put some thought into their final menus. Stefan really should have won this by a mile, but his arrogance and complacency got the better of him. Carla could also have won, but she made the mistake of ignoring her own instincts.
It's funny that after 5 seasons, so many of the contestants keep making the same basic errors, particularly in the team challenges.

[David Lee]

Stefan was hands down the best of the season. Hosea was whiny & full of excuses every time he & quite often lost a challenge. Carla, my heart went out to her as she should have done what she wanted & not listened to Casey she could have very well won. Overall Fabio was far & away my favorite chef this season. The clip of him saying he would "chop my finger off & sear it on the flat-top" was the funniest thing ever.

I was fuming when Hosea just AFTER Carla cried her eyes out about not doing her own thing looked right at her & said that at least he had done his own thing & didn't compromise. Just awful! Stefan was genuinely trying to comfort Carla both at the judges table & in the stew-room while Hosea gloated.

I do hope they find some chefs for next season who are willing to take more chances & be more creative. This season was too safe for me & uninspired for me. The show needs more Hungs! In fact just bring Hung back & give him his own show!

[dixon]

I agree this season sucked. I wouldn't want to go to any of this season's chef's restaurants. They need to get better chefs to do this show. Also, it seems that Tom Colicchio was unimpressed the whole season, he kept reminding them to "don't disappoint us."

[Patrick]

Hosea got all the advantages. Carla got to pick the first knife but she drew 3 so big deal. Hosea got to pick Richard who clearly had a tremendous effect on Hosea's dishes. The extra and special touches all came from Richard. Richard even said he felt he was back in the competition. If this year's runners up had been brought back the finalists would have been less likely to be so influenced by them.

In the past finalists came to the new city for the finale with the full knowledge they would be serving their dream meal. They had time to think and bring special ingredients to use. This format did not give them the opportunity.

Also the chefs most likely to aim for something higher, Jamie and Jeff were already gone.

[James]

Based on the footage, the real 'superstar' chefs (Rocco, the Fleur de Lys guy, etc.) all appeared to prefer Stefan's menu and overall offerings. I want to know why their opinion mattered so little. I'd love to see the unedited film from that dinner.

I also found it somewhat disingenuous that the three princess judges claimed that Hosea had more 'thoughtfulness' in his cooking. Hosea served sashimi, a scallop with foie gras, and a piece of well-cooked vension. That's thoughtfulness?? Whereas Stefan beat out the high ticket (and overplayed) scallop/foie gras combo with squab and cabbage!