"Top" Reasons for Stephanie to win "Top Chef"

I don't know who Misha Davenport is, but I like him. (Unless it's a her in which case I apologize). Here's Davenport's rundown in the Chicago Sun-Times of why Stephanie Izard should be walking away with $100,000 tonight.

A couple of reasons that stood out:

"7. Quickfire challenges are for chumps; winners excel in the elimination challenges. Yes, Izard has won just one quickfire challenge, preferring to show her stuff when it really counts: during the elimination rounds. She has won the elimination challenge five times, placed highly another five times and been in the bottom only three times.

6. She's no Gordon ("Hell's Kitchen") Ramsay. Izard always shows grace under pressure. After her sous chef Dale Talde accidentally left a whole tray of pork belly out all night in last week's show, she calmly swapped the pork belly dish for a salad topped with chicharron (the Latin American version of pork rinds)."

Amen.

Newsflash: Apparently the Bronze-Medal-She-Devil-Who-Can't-Make-Rice doesn't care what America thinks.

In a Q & A with The New York Daily News, Lisa Fernandes (yes, I used her name, so somewhere a small child and/or kitten has died) says "Oh no, I don't read the blogs – you couldn't pay me to read the blogs. I don't want to know what people who can't even afford to eat in my restaurant, let alone know how to cook have to say about me, and the few comments I did read on Eater.com a few weeks back because my job asked me to read 'em. The best they could come up with was that I was ugly."

I'm torn between tears and laughter because it's classic Lisa: defensive, shrill and just dumb.

I'd respond, but the Best Week Ever Blog already has stolen my best material to ridicule the founding member of the National Association of Crappy Doo-rags (NACDr).

Compare Lisa's diatribe with Stephanie's recent ChicagoTribune.com interview, in which the Windy City chef comes across as humble, confident, and -- how shall I say -- sane. It goes to show that even in a contest of class, Steph still comes out on top.

The "Top Chef" finale airs tonight on Bravo at 9 p.m.

-- Malavika Jagannathan, mjaganna@greenbaypressgazette.com