Top Chef: Las Vegas, Part 2 of the Finale – A Family-Style Finale

By now, you should know the deal. We’ve got three chefs left to compete for the title of Top Chef and all the goodies that go with it: Bryan (“The Good Boy Brother”), who combines stoic sophistication with a knack for putting together very complex dishes, Michael (“The Bad Boy Brother”) who‘s willing to go out on a limb with flavor profiles and blow the judges away with creativity, and Kevin (“The Loveable Dark Horse”) who likes to keep things simple with food we all know and love executed flawlessly. We’re in Napa Valley to decide this thing once and for all … so let’s get to it!

It’s morning and the cheftestants prepare for their final tests. Kevin receives a mug and wonders why his is always bigger than everyone else’s (double entendre apparent). He notes that he has the best record going into the final, having won five elimination challenges, but knows Bryan is formidable competition with his technique, while Michael is one of the most creative people Kevin has ever met. Meanwhile, all the boys can do is wonder about the goings-on of their last fallen comrade, Jennifer, who made it to Napa Valley but lost in last week’s episode. Michael notes that it sucks that Bryan didn’t go home instead – right in front of his face. Behave, boys!

Michael notes that Bryan has won a ton of challenges, but hasn’t done so well in the Quickfires, so big bro still has something left to prove. Bryan, meanwhile, intends to just have fun in this last challenge. He wants to see which Voltaggio brother is really the best chef.

We’re milking the beautiful Napa vineyards for all they’re worth, so that’s where our terrific trio meet judges Tom and Padma to receive their final set of instructions. They’ll be cooking a three-course meal, but Tom notes things will be changed up a bit. For the first course, each will receive a box filled with identical ingredients. They must use each ingredient in the box to create their first course. This highlights one’s creativity. Ironically, it’s Mr. Creativity himself, Michael, who complains that no one enjoys having someone else tell them what to cook. Oh, get over it.

Second course is free and open – cook anything they wish with anything they can find in the kitchen. Third course is that bane of all cheftestants: dessert. They have to do one. Kevin, unsurprisingly, is not looking forward to it. They’ll be cooking at Cyrus, a two-star Michelin restaurant, for some huge restaurateurs.

Of course, the chefs will be getting a little help, and here come some of their former competitors. Aside from the time they brought in some truly big names to be sous chefs, this is par for the course, so I’m not sure why Kevin is wondering who will be coming around the corner. This rogue’s gallery includes Mike I., (oh darn, now I have to specify Michael V. again), Jessie, Hector, Jen, Robin … actually, it’s everybody. Interesting. Usually just a handful are brought back in. Kevin is especially happy to see tough cookie Jen back. However, there’s a lot of people here who “could set you up better or worse.” Whattya wanna bet no one picks Robin if given a choice?

Each active cheftestant gets two of their old pals as sous chefs – one to cook with them tonight, the other tomorrow. It’s going to be chosen at random, too – the good old knife block. Michael V. knows there are some people whose names he does not want to see on the side of a knife. “I’d probably just slit my throat with it,” he quips.

Kevin draws … Preeti. Oooh. Remember her? She wasn’t so hot in this competition, and Kevin puts it delicately by saying he’s not sure that her skill set is very strong. Bryan lucks out – he gets Jen. That’s as good as winning an advantage in a Quickire. Michael gets Jessie. Again, not the most ideal draw. Michael compliments her though, saying that she’s a “workhorse,” which is true – she just could never rise to the occasion when it counted.

Kevin’s next knife is for Ash. I don’t know that I like Kevin’s team, which is too bad, since I want him to win. Bryan again scores by pulling Ashley’s name, another talented chef. Michael gets Eli, which can help him a lot if Eli stays focused and really wants to help (then again, I can see potential clashes in the making). Kevin, naturally, is jealous of his two competitors. The two people he’s most familiar with out of everyone – Jen and Eli – each went to a Voltaggio. Look at it this way, Kev – if you win, it will just be that much more impressive for having your degree of difficulty raised so high.

The chefs are excused and head to Cyrus to plan out their meal. They open their first-course mystery boxes to find Pacific rockfish, Dungeness crab, kabocha squash, and Meyer lemon. Also, matsutake mushrooms and anise hyssop (a minty herb). Bryan notes that the ingredients seem a bit obscure to try to meld together into a dish.

The chefs get three hours of prep tonight and three hours tomorrow. Bryan is impressed with Ashley’s effort and her sense of technique. Michael says the mystery box is throwing everyone off, and his head is still swimming with ideas. Kevin just has Preeti cutting vegetables … and she’s even having a hard time doing that. Come on. That’s like the “playing right field” of Top Chef. Our teddy bear Kevin is starting to get a bit mad, he admits. He’s doing a lot more than he thought he’d be doing – 18 out of 20 items on his prep list.

Michael notes that Bryan is more conservative, while he has a tendency to just do what he wants (yes, we know). He admits that it’s gotten him in a bit of trouble throughout the season (yes, we know), “but that’s me cooking my food.” Bryan disagrees that he plays things safe – he’s playing them smart. Meanwhile, poor Kevin is getting down because he doesn’t know how much he can rely on his sous chefs, so he’s busy trying to figure out what he can make and try to knock it out of the park tomorrow. I should note that Jessie, Michael’s current sous chef, has stark blonde hair now. When a dye job is too obvious, you’ve made a bad hair decision, dear.