Who do you love?...Top Chef Masters

Ok, I am a foodie (god, I hate that word) but I am loving Top Chef Masters as it is all about real and classy chefs working for charity. There is drama but it comes from without and not from Spike being a jackass or Leah cheating and scheming or Dale being a retarded hothea...oh wait, strike that one about Dale.
How can I not want Hubert Keller to win? He is so freaking suave and ...French. Yeah, baby, I know you are lookin' at me! But seriously, have you looked at all that he has cooked? From day one, I knew he was the one who should win. That Vietnamese gazpacho this week looked beautiful-- I plan on trying it out next week. He has it all ---remember that girl scout cookie dessert he made a the beginning? He definitely should win, but I can remember a potential spoiler about who really does win...hopefully, it was not true...but...

If anyone else should win, it should be Rick Bayless. I know I think he exhausts Mexican cuisine but I love his PBS show. Once I tried one of his pork, black bean stew thingys and the whole family went crazy for it. He knows his stuff. I love his whole mannerisms and cute little joking snarks he tries out. Seriously though, I don't imagine I would have liked that weird guacamole ice cream no matter what the judges were saying. I loved how he did his take on an Italian Chiarello dish the other week and it looked glorious, even re-done with a little spicier twist. So if Rick wins, that is very cool too. ....but Hubert is still the man!

And thank god the guy swinging the club is Chiarello! I have to admit from his goofy FoodTV show, I never dreamed he was some macho controlling dude, but hey, it's a fun surprize. I have a newfound respect for him. I had taken a cooking class given by two nutty older cougars who spent most of the time bragging about who they worked with in Hollywood and at FoodNetwork. ( p.s. they were the damn prep people but they bragged like they were chef de cuisine) and they kept idolizing Chiarello---saying he really knew his stuff and was all that. I tended to discount them as they idolized Rachael Ray (mostly, it seemed, because she swore like a sailor and liked her liquor--not exactly an unexpected revelation to me), talked about Tyler Florence like he was a hunk of meat (hey ok, before he beefed up? I'll give them that one) and then (horrors!) they dissed my beautiful Giada! Said her knife skills sucked and snickered at her cooking...then I sat back and realized: jealous cougars! bad cougars!!

So I didn't take much to their Keey-ah- rello line until I've seen him here. I like how he is (or is portrayed to be so by Bravo) as the hard ass, nasty dude. I love that he was down on that self-absorbed Zooey for her ridiculous diet demands and then won the damn challenge with something I'd even consider making. Well, I don't think he'll win but hell, go Michael! Love that you shot down that little shit Dale.

But who do you love? Well to quote the man himself:" I am hotter than a mountain goat at the beach. "For god sake, give Fabio his own show already!