{"id":22452,"date":"2025-06-12T23:29:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T04:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/?p=22452"},"modified":"2025-06-12T23:29:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T04:29:58","slug":"virginia-chef-wins-but-chicago-delivers-culinary-showmanship-in-top-chef-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/2025\/06\/12\/virginia-chef-wins-but-chicago-delivers-culinary-showmanship-in-top-chef-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia chef wins, but Chicago delivers culinary showmanship in \u2018Top Chef\u2019 finale"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Introduction to Top Chef Season 22 Finale<\/h2>\n<p>Chicago came out as a winner of Bravo\u2019s Top Chef Season 22, just not the way you might think. Tristen Epps, chef and owner at Epps &amp; Flows Culinary in Virginia, was ultimately crowned the night\u2019s winner with Chef Zubair Mohajir \u2014 a Chicagoan \u2014 by his side as his sous chef. Among Epps\u2019 two other competitors during the finale were Bailey Sullivan, the executive chef of Chicago\u2019s Monteverde, and Shuai Wang, chef and owner at Jackrabbit Filly &amp; King BBQ in South Carolina.<\/p>\n<h2>Chicago&#8217;s Strong Representation<\/h2>\n<p>With three local chefs competing in the latest season of Top Chef, Chicago had the most contestants on the show. Mohajir, founder and executive chef of Lilac Tiger, Coach House, and Mirra; C\u00e9sar Murillo, executive chef at North Pond, and Sullivan all stepped into the televised food arena before Sullivan ultimately edged them out due to her unique, creative pairings, and became the last Chicagoan standing.<\/p>\n<h3>Unique Pairings and Creative Flavor Profiles<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cA lot of the things she tries shouldn\u2019t work, but they do,\u201d commented Gail Simmons in reference to a dish in which Sullivan paired charred octopus with creamy mozzarella\u2014a combo most chefs tend to avoid due to conflicting textures and flavor profiles. Sullivan shared that the dish was inspired by her desire to marry different parts of her life into one, even if on the surface, they don\u2019t seem to work.<\/p>\n<h3>Final Meal Preparation<\/h3>\n<p>Mohajir joined his fellow Chicagoan when he was brought back to serve as Epps\u2019 sous chef after being eliminated in the fourth episode. For the final meal, finalists were instructed to \u201cmake the best four course progressive meal of [their] life.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"8ZHRMAbgl_I\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SNEAK PEEK: The Final Three Cheftestants Are Ready To Test Their Limits | Top Chef (S22 E14) | Bravo\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8ZHRMAbgl_I?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>Culinary Showmanship and Judges&#8217; Feedback<\/h2>\n<p>Sullivan shined when she leaned into contrasting flavors. An alpini anolini pasta dish in broth with porcini mushroom, robiola soft-cheese and pecans earned her high marks. She stumbled in her second course \u2014 an homage to her boss at Monteverde, Chef Sarah Grueneberg (who also came in second on Top Chef during her 2012 finale). The red fish dish was inspired by Grueneberg\u2019s childhood activity of fishing with her grandfather. The judges felt \u201cit didn\u2019t have the brightness\u201d they had come to associate with Sullivan. When she tried to be anything other than herself, it didn\u2019t always work.<\/p>\n<h3>Regaining Footing with Dessert<\/h3>\n<p>She regained her footing with a dessert inspired by frittelle di zucca, a pasta dish. Chef and Judge Tom Colicchio described the pizzelle cookie, mascarpone cream, espresso and stracciatella gelato cake as a \u201cpumpkin spice tiramisu that worked.\u201d The juxtaposition of ideas and flavors are her signature.<\/p>\n<h2>Camaraderie Among Chefs<\/h2>\n<p>Learning to \u201ctrust all the weird stuff in her head,\u201d is what Sullivan told the judges has gotten her so far. Mohajir wasn\u2019t the only Chicago surprise of the night. Genie Kwon and Tim Flores of Kasama, a Michelin starred and James Beard Foundation Award winner, joined the judges for the final sitdown meal.<\/p>\n<h3>High-Stakes Competition with No Backstabbing<\/h3>\n<p>In a high-stakes competition show, camaraderie shined. There was no backstabbing or angry outbursts. Before the three chefs learned their fate, they overlooked a piazza in Milan, Italy, and exchanged compliments, \u201cI love yous\u201d and a few tears.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>With Epps\u2019 win, he became the first Top Chef to focus on African Caribbean cuisine. The finale showcased not only the culinary expertise of the contestants but also the spirit of camaraderie and respect among them, making for a compelling and heartwarming conclusion to the season.<\/p>\n<h2>FAQs<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Q: Who won Top Chef Season 22?<br \/>\nA: Tristen Epps, chef and owner at Epps &amp; Flows Culinary in Virginia, won Top Chef Season 22.<\/li>\n<li>Q: How many chefs from Chicago were in the competition?<br \/>\nA: Three local chefs from Chicago competed in the latest season of Top Chef.<\/li>\n<li>Q: What inspired Bailey Sullivan\u2019s dishes?<br \/>\nA: Sullivan\u2019s dishes were inspired by her life, including her desire to marry different parts of her life into one, and her boss at Monteverde, Chef Sarah Grueneberg.<\/li>\n<li>Q: What was unique about Tristen Epps\u2019 win?<br \/>\nA: With Epps\u2019 win, he became the first Top Chef to focus on African Caribbean cuisine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction to Top Chef Season 22 Finale Chicago came out as a winner of Bravo\u2019s Top Chef Season 22, just not the way you might think. Tristen Epps, chef and owner at Epps &amp; Flows Culinary in Virginia, was ultimately crowned the night\u2019s winner with Chef Zubair Mohajir \u2014 a Chicagoan \u2014 by his side [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dining"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/6c9f4f6\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x1713+0+144\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fc3%2F49%2F6bba199044199c118a80117e6a4c%2Fbolognese-09xx23-15.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22455,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22452\/revisions\/22455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}