Sorry I’ve shirked my culinary critique duties, but here’s my take on the final two shows of this season.
     First of all, congrats to Stephanie! Although I predicted Richard would win, I had a feeling at the start that she was a strong contender, being a Chicagah girl and all. It’s great to finally have a woman win the Top Chef title.

SEMIFINALS: The final four — Richard, Stephanie, Antonia and Lisa — regrouped after some time off in Puerto Rico. Lisa was sporting a new, tough-love haircut to accentuate that she was ready to rumble and had the tostones to do so. Wait, that was the Quickfire Challenge. They four had to come up with a fresh take on the fried smashed plantain treat. Stephanie, who’d never made a tostone, won the challenge.
     The Elimination Challenge was to celebrate Puerco Rican cuisine, pun intended, by butchering a whole pig and making three dishes to serve to a cocktail party that included the First Lady. Each chef got to pick one of the previously dismissed chefs, and Stephanie had first choice. She chose Dale, and together they worked on a pork satay on a sugar cane skewer, coconut braised pork, plantain blini and what looked like a promising side of pork rubbed with intriguing spices. Problem was, Dale forgot to put it in the fridge before they left for the night. Stephanie refused to serve it and they had to improvise on the spot. Dale came to her rescue by suggesting a salad using chiccarones on top.
     Richard and Spike served up fresh ham with local beans, pressured cooked pork belly, and pork ribs glazed with malta (a beverage) and coffee and cinnamon. Antonia and Nikki made a rustic meal of pigeon peas with pork sausage, pork belly fruit salad and cured pork with pumpkin and yucca. Former archenemies Lisa and Andrew went whole hog for Puerto Rican cuisine creating a citrus braised pork belly tostone, braised pork belly and rellenos with pork. 
     Antonia made the fatal mistake of undercooking her pigeon peas. (Hey, it’s a major offense with this crowd.) The judges deemed her meal “least sophisticated.” Richard won for his great flavors that blended his home traditions with the environment he was in. And to sweeten the deal, he won a new car.

FINALS: The final three had to make a four-course meal for nine guests (black tie), including some top chefs in their own right and their three sous chefs for the start of the challenge: April Bloomfield, Dan Barber and Eric Ripert. The meal had to include a fish, poultry and red meat entree as well as dessert.
     Of course there was a twist. After having the great sous chefs for the first day, they were taken away and the contestants were on their own. The result was a less inspired finale than I’ve seen on other seasons. There was no hands-down winner. Each chef had moments of brilliance (unfortunately too few for Richard, who fell on his Santoku and choked, even though they loved his vanilla bacon ice cream — shades of Marcel’s avocado bacon recipe). It was then a debate among the judges whether they’d prefer Lisa’s fiery (just like her) meal or Stephanie’s simpler, cleaner tastes. Lisa looked like she might pull off a huge upset, her food appeared to be the strongest, but perhaps because she had a much better record of wins, Stephanie took the crown.
     Until next season, last one out of the kitchen please turn the lights off…