"Guts prevail!"
So stated San Francisco Chef Chris Cosentino upon winning Bravo's Top Chef Masters on Wednesday night.
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Cosentino has become recognized in San Francisco as a leader in whole animal butchery by popularizing offal cuisine, a sustainable style of cooking that utilizes spare and often unused parts of animals. And on Wednesday, he took offal to the national stage--and won.
"I didn't cook anything different than what I cook every single day at my restaurant," Cosentino told The Huffington Post. "I cook sustainably and, win or lose, I would never change what I do for anything. But this time sustainability won on the main stage."
At his San Francisco restaurant Incanto, Cosentino serves dishes like lamb's tongue, pig's feet and lardo to a full reservation list.
"[Winning Top Chef Masters] was a pretty cool experience," he told HuffPost. "Especially because I got to do it on my own terms."
Cosentino also celebrated another win on Wednesday night: $141,000 raised for his charity of choice, the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
"This win was really about the fight against Parkinson's disease," he told HuffPost.
The charity was a personal one for Cosentino, whose uncle died from the disease two years ago.
"[My uncle] participated in clinical research during his life because he believed strongly that it was one of the best ways he could help others with the disease," Cosentino told the Michael J. Fox Foundation in an interview. "I wanted to follow through with that legacy of selfishness. For me, appearing on Top Chef was a great way to honor his memory and keep him close. I felt like he was there with me during the competition."
According to his Twitter feed, Cosentino's $141,000 was doubled by the Brin Wojcicki Challenge grant, resulting in $282,000 raised for the foundation. Actor Michael J. Fox reportedly called Cosentino himself to thank him.
Watch Cosentino win Top Chef Masters in the clip below: