Omnivore - 'Top Chef' All-Stars, the finale: The restaurant of our dreams
Blais and Isabella get to actually just cook, thank the lord.
- Courtesy Bravo TV
The restaurant of your dreams!!! From the get go, putting aside my...ahem...lackadaisical (?) attitude towards the season, there's been something personal about this dumb show for me. Why? Because despite everything, I still think Richard Blais should have won Top Chef. Since the beginning.
Maybe it's my Atlanta bias. After all, I think Kevin Gillespie should have won his season as well. But it's more than that. Richard Blais, despite his tenure in this town long before I ever arrived, is the chef I've had the most interaction with, and I don't mean personal (I kinda met him, once. It was odd and awkward). I reviewed Element right before he left to do Top Chef the first time around. I watched that season with a rabid fervor. As a critic, this dude is exactly what you hope for. He's brilliant, and imperfect, and frustrating, and his food has a style and tension that makes for good subject matter. Right now, in the midst of the worst dry spell (of things to write about) in my restaurant reviewing career, I would kill for a character with the talent and drama of Richard Blais.