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The fourth course is dessert. There is barely even a debate here. Nina did herself a disservice by providing a pointless chocolate bite rather than a fully formed dessert. Once Travis identified to her that there was no ice cream maker, she should have improvised in a more functional manner. Of course, that is Monday morning quarterbacking. In reality, Nina should have been provided a stupid ice cream maker. They’re $80, for God’s sake. Top Chef truly needs to work out a system where emergency equipment can be provided during special events challenges. This sort of issue is cropping up far too frequently.

Gail states the obvious. Each chef has won two courses out of four. Ostensibly, they are tied. In reality, an argument could be made for either chef. Three of the judges believe that Nina has bested Nick. Unfortunately, none of them is named Tom Colicchio.

The judges butt heads regarding the final results. Hugh posits that they should now vote based upon which chef’s restaurant would be the one that merits a return visit. Padma loves this idea, because she can vote for Nina this way. She has an epiphany about another angle of attack. She notes that in the event of a tie, service should be considered. Hugh, clearly uncomfortable with the politics of the situation, notes that Nick was “lashing out at waitstaff." He acknowledges that such behavior plays into his decision, and Padma quickly chimes in that it should. She believes that she has discovered the angle of attack that will force Tom to admit he is outnumbered 3-2.

Tom initially champions Nick by discussing the overall consistency of the courses. Obviously, if three judges want to frequent Nina’s restaurant tomorrow, she would win under that criteria. Undeterred, he maintains that Nina’s crafting two extra dishes damages her credentials. Padma, really fed up with Tom by this point, all but screams at him. “But she did make those extra courses. AND THEY WERE AMAZING!” Gail agrees with Tom on the point, acknowledging that a better, tighter meal with a focused dessert would have given Nina the win.

With the debaters growing more intransigent, Tom tries a different tactic. He tries to build consensus by getting the judges to agree that Nina served the worst dish of the evening. A timer tells us that we are 90 minutes into the debate now, so he is desperate to find resolution. Hugh states that it is the zeppole, but Emeril counters by noting that he could not finish his duck. Once again, no agreement is reached. Hugh tries to adjust by asking what the best meal of the night is considered to be. Tom shuts that argument down, perhaps recognizing that Nina’s goat is already the people’s choice in a democratic vote.

That brings us to the argument for Nick. If we look at the judges’ cards, Nick’s claim is based upon total scoring. The first and fourth courses were both unanimous verdicts. The third course was later stated to be 4-1 although in reality, it certainly appeared to be 3-2 at the time. In terms of margin of victory, the closest round was the second course, one that Nina claimed. There was a 3-2 schism during that vote. One of the minority opinion holders believed it to be the best dish of the season. What we can conclude mathematically is that the two chefs were tied 5-5 between the first and fourth courses. The other two rounds were stated to be 6-4 in favor of Nick. What I believe to be true is that they were 5-5 with the final verdict being determined by the head judge, Tom Colicchio.

Whatever the truth may be, the reality is simple. After a heated debate wherein most of the judges do not get their way, Nick Elmi is named the winner of Top Chef New Orleans. In the process of roughly three days, he bested the winner of Last Chance Kitchen (Louis), the best player this season (Shirley), and the perceived strongest chef (Nina). Independent of what you think about Nick as a person – and I clearly take issues with several of his character traits – he did exactly what he needed to do. He came back focused and won every single challenge in Hawaii, a stunning accomplishment.

For her part, Nina was undone by a desire to complete a much better meal presentation than the rules required. And she was also set by illogical rules that prevented her from adjusting once notified that one of her dishes was a physical impossibility. In short, I speak for the 85% of Bravo TV voters who chimed in during the telecast indicating that they believe Nina to be the rightful champion of Top Chef. Alas, none of our votes matter nor do the votes of the judges who are not named Tom Colicchio. He got his way and because of that, Nick will be remembered as the winner of Top Chef. A great season does not end the right way.

The good news for Nick is that he now has the capital to start his own restaurant. I would offer one suggestion to potential employees in the greater Philadelphia area. This is not the boss you want to have. There are a bunch of Hawaiians who will back me up on this.

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