Omnivore - ‘Top Chef’ Las Vegas, the Finale: It’s a crap shoot

The final episode of the season had plenty of flavor.

Kevin had one thing right last night: it’s a crap shoot.

In a season with some of the best contestants in “Top Chef” history and in a finale that certainly had the season’s best chefs, finding a winner really was a crap shoot. On any given night with any given challenge, any of last night’s “Top Chef” finalists could have walked away with the prize. Sadly, last night’s final challenge went to angry brother Michael Voltaggio who took home a cool $125,000 and the Top Chef title. Michael’s meal was interesting and true to his creative, if a little gimmicky nature (ahem, faux mushrooms), but I won’t pretend I didn’t yell a little (okay, a lot) at my television.

“Top Chef” has a history of choosing two types of characters for the win. Save for maybe season four’s Stephanie whose soft spoken personality and consistent cooking were endearing, the winners have all fallen into two categories: boring (ie, Hosea) or villain (ie, Hung). While I don’t think that personality has much to do with the final decision – I’ll give “Top Chef” a little more credit than that – it is frustrating to see Michael and his surly personality win over two equally talented chefs whose egos are a little less overbearing.