Richard Blais Wins 'Top Chef All-Stars' Over Mike Isabella (PHOTOS)

Top Chef season 4 near-winner Richard Blais won the first Top Chef All-Stars Wednesday night over season six's Mike Isabella. Taped in the Bahamas, the finale competition pitted each chefs' version of their "dream" restaurant against the other's. The liquid nitrogen-toting Richard Blais showcased playful surf & turf-oriented pairings in a restaurant he called "Tongue & Cheek," while Mike Isabella's dishes evoked the mozzarella- and pancetta-tinged flavors of the Italian home-cooking from his childhood at restaurant "Iz."

Michelle Weber exclaimed on the HuffPost Food finale liveblog, "THANK GOD. Legions of fans won't have to give up on Top Chef now!"

Below are their menus; photos of the completed dishes can be found here.

"Tongue & Cheek": Richard Blais

Amuse Bouche: Raw Oyster with Lemon Horseradish Ice Cream and Salsa Verde
Raw Hamachi with Fried Veal Sweetbreads, Asian Pear, Pickled Radish, and Garlic Mayonnaisebr> Pork Belly with a Black Cod Cutlet, Bone Marrow, Beets, Brussels Sprouts, and Kumquatbr> Beef Short Rib with Mushrooms, Red Cabbage Marmalade, and Celery Root Horseradish Pureebr> Cornbread with Foie Gras Ice Cream and Whipped Mango

"Iz": Mike Isabella

Spiced beets with Mozzarella, Chocolate, and Truffle Vinaigrette
Halibut with Kumquats Marmalade, Cauliflower Puree, and Pancetta Crumbs
Braised Pork Shoulder with Pepperoni Sauce, Rosted Cabbage, and Turnips
Rosemary Caramel Custard with Pine Nuts, Citrus, Cherry and Apple

This was the first season of Top Chef All-Stars and the eighth season of Top Chef overall.

Comments

[NonPrawf]

05:14 AM on 04/02/2011

Blais, ftw.

He was my number 2 after Angelo to win the whole thing.

[FlaviaDeLuce]

12:40 PM on 04/01/2011

Richard deserved it over Mike who was lucky half the time.. his annoying little HI HI HI laugh and Michael Myers bloated face along with the smug arrogance were nauseating

[playsindirt]

12:27 PM on 04/01/2011

Has anyone commented on the fact that Richard did an amuse-bouche and Mike didn't? Supposedly the judges only considered the required four courses but you kind of have to wonder since Richard's oyster/creme fraiche contraption was dynamite.

[WebSloth]

10:06 AM on 04/01/2011

jumped the shark --
when the Italian was sent off for not making the perfect hamburger for a hack late night guy
the Jersey Italian was not sent off for not being able to cook pasta
when a souther girl was not sent off for booting gumbo
when Padma go ugly -- well she is still gorgeous but her personal life tinges all that.

[bleubunny]

09:56 AM on 04/01/2011

They are all winners in my book. I think they should give them some parting gifts when they get taken out of the contest, like they used to do on game shows.

[New Yorker in Tampa]

10:58 PM on 03/31/2011

More of Chef Jen & Gail! 2 smoking hot women!!

[playsindirt]

12:26 PM on 04/01/2011

Did you see that nasty weave on Chef Jen at the finale show? Gross. And her ego is now too big to cook well in my opinion. You have to be able to taste your food and recognize mistakes.

[FlaviaDeLuce]

12:36 PM on 04/01/2011

She shocked me with that insane violent outburst, total lack of class.. she could have at least pretended on tv that she's not a loony.. and Yeah she looks like a tacky lion, nothing hot about her

[schudge1]

05:42 PM on 03/31/2011

Richard was written in to win from the beginning of the season. It looked like Issabella knocked it out of the park.

[canchita]

02:48 PM on 03/31/2011

I don't know why I watch this. Firstly, I have a very unsophisticated palate and would probably not like anything anyone prepared. Way too many ingredients for me. . Secondly and even more important, we root for winners who cook food that we can neither taste nor smell. At least on Project Runway we can base a judgement on something, but this?

[Chad Wheeler]

11:12 AM on 04/01/2011

Well, in all fairness, a lot of us watching this show CAN imagine or speculate on what things might taste like. I can relate more to food than couture clothing on gazelle like models. Additionally, this show inspired me to learn how to cook and be more adventurous.

[FlaviaDeLuce]

12:37 PM on 04/01/2011

so i guess Food Network shouldn't exist then? lol

[canchita]

12:51 PM on 04/01/2011

Of course it should exist, but the difference is most of their other shows teach cooking. I just find it odd that sit in judgment of dishes we can neither taste nor smell. Whether or not we can fit into the clothing on Project Runway (half of me could), at least we have something to base our judgement on (dangling infinitive) . Here we can't tell if a dish has too much salt, or coriander, or if all the drizzled things add to the dish. On top of that, each of the panelists have different critiques and we certainly don't know whether to agree or disagree because we just don't know.

[TankGirlz]

02:36 PM on 03/31/2011

Glad Carla won fan fav....

[mikeg0477]

03:23 PM on 03/31/2011

Me too.

[drjay79]

11:28 AM on 04/01/2011

Me too, she is so cool and so fun.

[Laura N Hubbard]

12:31 PM on 04/01/2011

Best part of the whole competition.

[markdf]

01:27 PM on 03/31/2011

Gee, thanks for ruining the outcome for those of who dvr and tivo by putting the winner in the title of the article. Good job, huffpo.

[booond]

08:15 PM on 03/31/2011

Please tell them when the coast is clear. Spoiled much.

[seawillow]

11:54 AM on 03/31/2011

It was obvious through the entire show. There were so many vignettes of weepy, worried Richard describing his hopes, fears, angst, worry, and self-doubts that it had to be him. The other guy was portrayed as confident. Americans need a happy ending and the producers gave em what they crave.

[Deb Ogden Skruch]

11:16 AM on 03/31/2011

Richard Blais was not my favorite when this season started, but boy did he win me over BIG TIME. He cooked his heart out and worried himself to death second guessing. I was truley impressed with his attitude adjustment, was some definite maturity that happened since his last appearance. I can say the same for Mike Isabella, to a degree, but Mike sure was his own biggest fan. He was a much better chef this time around also, but I think Richard deserved to be named TOP CHEF!!!

[1000daysoframen]

12:02 PM on 03/31/2011

i wonder if he will share his winnings with izabella. he offered while they were waiting for the final decision...

[Spartan Ideal]

01:44 PM on 03/31/2011

Honestly, I had the opposite take-I HATED Mike on his season of TC, and was glad to see him go, whereas I always dug Richard. Coming in to this season, Mike still needed a dose of reality, but he seemed to bring genuine talent to the table (and was amongst many other primadonnas who all held too lofty opinions of themselves, especially Dale >_>).

I thought Richard seemed genuinely humble, but then became irritated by his constant worrisome nature (the episode where he disqualified himself made me want to smack some sense into him). When a few weeks back, when he freaked out for Mike having 'stolen' his idea, I just felt like the competition was getting to him, and he was being extremely petty.

Still, I'm not unhappy to see him win, I just felt he slipped a bit leading up to this.

[playsindirt]

12:28 PM on 04/01/2011

Richard is a little neurotic but I was always a fan and I was sad that he choked the first time around. And you're right about Mike. I didn't like him at first but he has really evolved as a chef. I mean, he didn't even make the final 5 in his season.

[TheFoodieGossip]

11:09 AM on 03/31/2011

Congrats to Richard, but did he really deserve to win? Mike didn't just deserve to be there, he killed it. http://foodiegossip.blogspot.com/2011/03/richard-blais-may-be-top-chef-all-star.html
Mike could have outcooked Tom Colicchio himself and I still don't think they would have awarded him the title.

[redbud9]

10:54 AM on 03/31/2011

I love Richard! Soooooo glad he won. Mike may have done well this season but he's a complete turn-off personality wise. If Mike had won I wouldn't watch anymore.

[Chad Wheeler]

11:16 AM on 04/01/2011

I could not agree more. Mike was a misogynist, seemed like an unethical "the ends justify the means" person, and did not show any empathy towards anyone. I was thrilled he did not win.

[cyoohoos]

10:46 AM on 03/31/2011

I sort of thought Richard cheated. He basically had someone spying on the judges and changed his dishes based on this ill-gotten evidence. Based on that alone, I don't think he deserved to win.

[kramereng]

11:37 AM on 03/31/2011

The only cheating done this season was when Mike ripped off Blaise's recipe (which won him the quickfire and got him immunity, which arguably saved his butt where he would have been eliminated). All the chefs said that was a major no-no, stealing recipes.

[Joann Vallo]

12:36 PM on 03/31/2011

Mike said the recipe was a public one he had seen before in a book. Don't know if he was just covering his butt. I hated how he sabotaged Antonia over and over. Nice cousin.

[petben]

11:48 AM on 03/31/2011

It's not cheating to pay attention to your customers. It's called good service.