LOS ANGELES — Kristen Kish is no longer among the leftovers on “Top Chef: Seattle."
The 28-year-old chef de cuisine at Boston restaurant Stir returned in Wednesday’s edition of the Bravo cooking competition after facing off against five previously eliminated contestants on “Last Chance Kitchen," the weekly companion web series that offers a booted chef the chance to come back.
In the penultimate installment, Kish and unstoppable finalist Brooke Williamson toppled Sheldon Simeon, the 30-year-old executive chef at Star Noodle in Lahaina, Hawaii. Kish and Williamson will go head to head in the finale Wednesday.
During the finale, Kish and Williamson will prepare a five-course meal on the fly as the show’s panel of judges and a crowd of diners spectate from the sidelines. For the first time in a “Top Chef" finale, the judges will declare winners as each course is served, meaning the competitors might not even make it to dessert if one of the women comes out ahead.
“It’s gonna be a great competition," said host Padma Lakshmi. “Whenever it’s one against another, it’s always more exciting. Both of these chefs are very equally matched, and yet their cooking styles are so different. When I think about all the food I’ve tasted from Brooke and Kristen, I don’t know who my money would be on. It’s really anybody’s game."
