Stick a fork in it - Top Chef Finale

Yeahrighter Whitney caught up with the Top Chef finalists this afternoon.  Interviews after the break.

First of all, OMG Bryan has a sexy voice.  Watching him on tv, I was often bored by his monotone and lack of visible emotion, but giminy when all you're doing is listening to his voice on the phone - whew.  Moving on...

Bravo billed the finale of season 6 of Top Chef as the most competitive final ever and I think it certainly was!  All of the finalists obvi hold a great deal of esteem for one another.  All three had been the frontrunners from the beginning though you might not have initially guessed it from Kevin's disheveled appearance.  

Apparently, Kevin grew the beard on purpose for the show! "I intentionally wanted to show up looking like a hillbilly.  I thought it would be funny."

Now, there's even a Facebook page devoted to Kevin's beard and Kevin is stoked because he says it means he never has to shave again.  Bryan chimed in that he had recently become a fan of Kevin's beard as well - lol.  

Kevin was a popular contestant amongst viewers and he's been overwhelmed with their support, "Happy to be the people's champion in many regards.  I have this underdog thing going on visually if anything." 

But Kevin, did you feel like you brought your A-game to the final elimination challenge? 

 

"Unfortunately there was a lot going on in my life at the time, I don't know if I showed up 100% in the game.  That doesn't mean a lot but at the end of the day I was happy with what I produced...I was hard on myself. I'm my own harshest critic."

Kevin would love another chance at that mystery box again, but stood by his pork belly dish.  "What it boiled down was ignorance.  I didn't know how to handle the mushroom...The way the pork belly is prepared is something I do in my resteraunt every day.  I wanted to accentuate the textures.  For me, it offers a very engaging experience when eating it.  For me, the dish worked and I wouldn't change it at all.  What I'm concerned with is cooking things I believed in."

And then we discussed the controversy over Padma asking Kevin to leave the room.  

Kevin, "It was a little strange and upsetting.  One of the priveleges of being in the finals is that you dont get sent home.  To be cut and sent out, it hurt my pride.  I just need to get past it and move on."

Bryan chimed in. "I too believe that he should have stayed.  We all worked very hard to get to where we were.  We all deserved to be there.  Any one of us could have taken it.  Kevin put up some fantastic dishes and I wish he was there for that moment."

What's next for the K-man?  For now, Kevin is happy to focus on his current resteraunt.

I want people to get my food.  I don't want to go out there and have to convince people.  I want people to recognize things and take familiar flavors to a new place.

What's next for Bryan?  He'll be staying at his resteraunt Volt. in Frederick, MD.  As a result of the show, the brothers were pleasantly surprised to see thatthey could actually work together in the kitchen.  Bryan - "We're a little bit more mature now.  We've gained a great respect for each other so we launched a website last night www.VoltaggioBrothers.com"  

Both Bryan and Kevin were really friendly and positive about their experiences.  Despite being the runner's up, the sky is now the limit for them both.

The DCist posted a great interview with Bryan Voltaggio yesterday.  I'm dying to make it up to his resteraunt Volt in Frederick, MD.

Here's the Washington Post's interview with the Voltaggio brothers.  

(can you tell I dig the Voltaggio brothers?!)

Ok, so I didn't interview Michael.  I got distracted with (ahem) real work and missed the conference call - sorry peeps!  

Comments

[Allison]

Kevin pulled a Richard Blaise in the finale and that was very sad to see. I still maintain that he's better than the brothers!

Also, I really didn't like how they picked their assisstant chefs. In previous seasons everyone has gotten people who almost made the finals, top chef masters, or previous top chef finalists. To pick randomly from all the season 6 contestants had the potential to give someone an advantage or disadvantage. Kevin drew the short stick. His assistants were clearly not as good as the others. Part of that was a physical disadvantage and part was clearly a psychological disadvantage. I'm not saying it was such a disadvantage that it cost him the title, but it didn't strike me as fair.

I really liked the mystery box because it allowed for a direct comparison between the finalists. Everyone had the same materials.

[Whitney]

I concur. We chatted briefly about the sous chef selection, but Kevin said that in the end it didn't effect him very much. They played it up in editing, but yes I think it probably did give the brothers an edge.