SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't watch the season finale of "Top Chef Masters," don't read on! Don't read that headline either--oops!
Viva Rick Bayless! Chicago chef wins 'Top Chef Masters'
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Chicago, meet the master: Rick Bayless.
The owner/chef of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo spiced up the first season finale of "Top Chef Masters" on Wednesday night, coming away with the title and $100,000 for the Frontera Farmer Foundation. (RedEye's Scott Kleinberg attended Bayless' party at Frontera Grill.)
Rick Bayless
Bayless wowed the judges with his Ahi tuna smothered with Oaxacan black mole sauce.
"Mmmm," is what the judges had to say--all together--about the mole sauce, just before they called the chefs back to announce the winner.
"I don't believe this," said Bayless, who came out on top of the 24 chefs who competed this summer. "I am just totally elated ... Viva Mexico!"
Past "Top Chef" winners, including Chicago's Stephanie Izard, and "Top Chef" judges Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons helped judge the dishes.
Below are descriptions each of the four courses were supposed to be, and what Bayless created for each:
- Create a menu of your first food memories: Bayless made barbecued quail smoked with hickory house sauce that his parents made, plus sour slaw and watermelon salad.
- The experience that made you decide to become a chef: Here's where the mole sauce came in, smothering ahi tuna and served with plantain tamale and grilled nopales.
- The opening of your first restaurant: His Achiote-Marinated Cochinita Pibil (suckling pig) with Sunchoke Puree and Crispy Pig's Feet scored with the judges.
- Where you'll be heading in the future: The judges didn't enjoy Bayless' final course, a seafood dish called Arroz A La Tumbada with tomato-jalapeno broth and chorizo "air."
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13 Comments
Scott Kleinberg said:
What an amazing night ... Rick invited my wife and I to his private viewing party. Nice to chat with him, take in that amazing atmosphere and eat awesome food (oh and drink margaritas!). He was so happy and humble. Truly a master chef.
Curt Wagner said:
So jealous of you right now. I want to taste the black mole sauce more than the margaritas!
Scott Kleinberg said:
He didn't serve the mole, unfortunately, but I'm sure it's wonderful. I've had mole at Frontera before and it's to die for. Nice post, by the way.
Curt Wagner said:
And what did you pack up in the doggie bag to bring to work tomorrow?
Alexis said:
Grrrrrr please do not leave spoilers like that in the title, my rss feed totally ruined the finale for me this morning grrrrrrrrrrr.
Curt Wagner said:
Sorry Alexis. I can't not write about a newsworthy event. That's the danger of TiVo. Sorry again. Curt
Shari Weiss said:
You can write about a newsworthy event but without putting the spoiler itself in the headline.
Curt Wagner said:
Sorry, it's not going to happen. If it's newsworthy, the headline needs to say the news. I certainly wouldn't click on a link that just said "Top Chef Masters picks winner, but I'm not going to spoil it." I'm sorry folks, you won't convince me on this. If seeing the episode and not having it be spoiled is so important to you, then watch the show LIVE. I stand firm in this belief. The only spoilers I worry about are BEFORE a show airs, anything after is fair game. I, too, like to be surprised. Therefore I watch it live or put blinders on until I watch the recorded version. Sorry. Curt
Shari Weiss said:
This particular one makes no difference to me. Just playing devil's advocate.
I think I would've done/have done for other things for Breaking Tweets Entertainment: "Spoiler Alert! Top Chef Picks Winner!" or "Spoiler Alert! Click in to Find Out Who Won Top Chef!"
The headline can say the news but you keep the most revealing part in the body of the post, particularly after the jump.
It can be important for you to not be spoiled but circumstances beyond your control can prevent you from watching it life.
With your stance on it (putting "blinders on", you're essentially asking readers to avoid for your blog until they watch key episodes. That's a surefire way to lose your audience.
Curt Wagner said:
Hi Shari. Feel free to do that type of headline on your blog. It doesn't however, say the news. It says part of the news, but not the most important part.
Would you expect a sports reporter, blogger or newscaster, if covering a sporting event, do this kind of headline: "Spoiler alert! Someone wins game between Bears-Giants"? A competitive reality show is just like a sporting event in my opinion. You wouldn't ask any journalist not to immediately say the Bears beat the Giants, so why should I do it? I still feel that if it is so important for a viewers not to have the results spoiled, they should watch the event live.
As for spoiling other TV shows that are not news/competitive events, I don't. As you can see on my "True Blood" recap from this morning, I have all spoiler alerts and proper headlines in place.
Thanks for playing devil's advocate. Curt
Scott Kleinberg said:
LOL - Curt - nothing from last night although we got gift bags with chips and salsa. I could have brought that in. Oops.
I'm with you on the spoiler alerts, Curt. It's newsworthy. You can't not write about it just because someone might not have seen it. And while I see where you are coming from Shari, nope - the headline makes or breaks the story. When I don't want to know what's going on with something I hide myself from it. It's hard and I know that, but I understand there are risks. Information is everywhere, but having someone write a less than compelling headline to shield someone who may have not seen it makes no sense to me.
http://twitter.com/Yesterdayi8 said:
That's why Rick Bayless is considered the expert on Mexican food NATIONALLY, Teresa Puente.
Curt Wagner said:
OK, not sure what the ALL CAPS is for, but thanks for letting us know. I don't think anyone was disrespecting the guy. Far from it. Curt
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