'Top Chef' finale: Hung's Jury

What a week to be a “Top Chef” fan in Chicago! Between chef sightings on Michigan Avenue, reports of film crews at the Green City Market and the Boystown Whole Foods, and tonight’s big live reveal, we were in reality TV heaven.

Sadly, though, this was also the week we had to bid farewell to our hometown hero. Yes, Dale finally had to pack his knives and go. But first, we got to see 75 minutes of really good TV.

The final challenge was the season’s least contrived but most demanding: The chefs were asked to cook the best meal they’ve ever cooked in their lives. There were time constraints, celeb sous chefs (Rocco DiSpirito, Michelle Bernstein and Todd English), altitude issues and a surprise last-minute addition of
a fourth course.

When all was said and done, it was a nail-biter. In past seasons, we thought we had a pretty good idea who was going to win before the big announcement. But going into the live portion of tonight’s judge’s table, we weren’t sure who would come out on top. We only knew who wasn’t going to win: Casey. Though she’s been our favorite to win it all for weeks, her dishes tonight seemed uncharacteristically scattered—and she seemed tired and out of sorts.

It came down to Hung and Dale. Hung’s early dishes were criticized for lack of acid and timid flavors, but his duck course was the biggest hit of the night. Dale’s food was hit or miss; he started with a foie gras mousse most found too heavy, but followed it with a scallop course Tom called a “triumph.” His confusing third course was drowning in curry jus, and Tom declared it “terrible.” Everyone raved about his final course of Colorado lamb.

As much as we love watching “Top Chef,” nights like tonight are frustrating. For all its drama and slick editing, the show has one major limitation: We’ll never be able to taste the chefs’ dishes and declare a winner ourselves. We just have to trust Tom and the gang to do the heavy lifting for us. Here’s how they broke it down:

First course: Hung

Second course: Dale

Third course: Hung

Fourth course: Dale

It could have gone either way, but tonight was Hung’s night. It seemed a bit anticlimactic, maybe because we never really fell for Hung the same way we did for Dale and Casey. Or maybe we just didn’t feel the same tension this season as in past seasons, where there were villainous characters like Marcel to make the
winners seem all the more heroic.

Speaking of heroes, what will become of our Dale now? Last we checked in with him, his plans to open his own place in 2008 were on track. We’ll keep you in the loop as things progress.

If, like us, you’re feeling a little empty now that the season is over, don’t worry: You can still read wrap-up and reactions at The Stew. And, of course, you can count on us to keep stalking the Bravo crews as they film Season 4 here in Chicago in the coming weeks. We’ll report any sightings here—be sure to drop
us a line if you see anything!