and the winner is...

I am glad Stephanie won the show. She was great all season and really deserved the win. Its really surprising that she doesn't make sweets, as her wedding cake is exactly what I would want, if I renewed my vows. The cake looked perfect.

She let the pressure get to her in the sweets. I really think she should make them more often. Her cooking skills were just amazing and was glad she had her choice at the start of the show by drawing the right knife. It was funny her telling him how to do it. He is a world wide well known skilled chef. That was a priceless scene!

Who do you think is the fan favorite? I think its a toss up for me, so am having trouble selecting just one person.

Richard did those banana scallops about as much as Andrew did his faux tapioca caviar! I know, it was getting old. I'm shocked he didn't do better. And I have to say, if Lisa had won I would have thought better about watching it again. She was not better than the last 4 chefs that got eliminated before her. I mean she didn't even use polish sausage in the improv challenge, and yet she still stayed. I was so happy Stephanie won. She deserved it. She won the very first elimination challenge, and I guess that served her well to win the big one as well. She and Richard racked up a lot of wins together. I think Stephanie might go farther in the culinary world than either of the three previous winners.

I decided Stephanie was my favorite chef on the show after the first episode. She's so honest and doesn't talk bad about people, which seems to be the tend in winning Top Chef. I like the change and hope it continues next year.

I was happy with either Richard or Stephanie winning - they are both such talented chefs and seemingly genuinely nice people. I was actually hoping Richard would win because I had a bet going on, but am still nonetheless happy that a woman finally won the title of Top Chef! And I'm glad that woman was not Lisa. I really did not understand why she was even around in the top 3, except for that the producers must've wanted to create some drama. Otherwise, there would've been no edge-of-your-seat excitement because either Richard or Stephanie were equally deserving. Lisa was driving me mad with her negative vibes, her sourpuss face and her agressive cross-her-arms-in-your-face stance. I love this show and I can't wait to watch the reunion episode to see who gets voted fan favorite. My vote goes to Richard. I feel bad because I think he really did choke in the finale and he owned up to it, which must've took a lot out of him. He seems to have pretty high standards for himself, rightfully so, but it was still sad to see it happen. What happened to those liquid nitrogen frozen tabasco drops on oysters he was demonstrating? I thought he totally should've gone with something like that and it was nothing the show, or even that French chef, had ever seen before.

I was thrilled that Stephanie won. Like you, I was a little worried that Lisa would win. The judges almost sounded like they were going to choose her. I just could not stand the way she'd always stand in front of the judges with her arms crossed, eyes rolling, chin jutted out in defiance. I thought the same thing about Richard's banana scallops.

I love to go their site! They have great recipes. I was going to make the braised chicken with the couscous but it only received one star. The banana scallops was puzzling. Why would anyone want to eat that?