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Food

'Top Chef's' secret ingredient: its people

By PETER COUTURE
Published May 24, 2006

It didn't have the histrionics of Hell's Kitchen or the foodie fascination of Iron Chef America, but Bravo's Top Chef grew steadily in the ratings because it found the proper balance for a culinary reality series: characters first, cuisine second.

The show's finale airs at 10 tonight and pits the kitchen tyrant Tiffani and the no-nonsense Harold in one last culinary smackdown. Tiffani already has inspired the most memorable line of the just-renewed series, courtesy of drama-queen Chef Dave (we can't repeat it in a family publication, but it's already a T-shirt. Hint: Offensive word rhymes with witch.)

I am betting my Cuisinart that Harold will win because he has been the most consistent.

The other reasons this show from the producers of the Bravo hit Project Runway has "stayed out of the weeds," as chefs say when things go badly in the kitchen: a wisely chosen (i.e., not overused) location in America's other culinary capital, San Francisco; a credible head judge in New York, uber chef Tom Colicchio, who often appears to be holding back the bad thoughts he's thinking; and food challenges that noncooks can relate to (yes, we've all bought snacks from a gas station or had to microwave dinner for the kids).

And we should mention:

* The snooty Stephen, one of the best we-love-to-hate-him reality show contestants since Richard Hatch of Survivor.

* A steady diet of kitchen cattiness (fellow contestant Miguel to Tiffani: "You're a snake. Sssss").

* The somewhat creepy reminder that host Katie Lee Joel ("Please, pack your knives and go") is the 30-years-plus younger wife of Billy Joel, the Piano Man himself.

On the first season of Top Chef, the scenes were better than anything from an Italian restaurant.

TUNE IN

The Top Chef season finale airs at 10 tonight on Bravo.

[Last modified May 23, 2006, 11:36:20]