'Top Chef' winner Michael Voltaggio overtakes brother (and Kevin)

"Top Chef: Las Vegas" had a very close finale, but in the end, Michael Voltaggio took the title, beating out his older brother Bryan Voltaggio and fellow contestant Kevin Gillespie.

The final three competitors stayed true to themselves with their final dishes, exemplifying their performance throughout the competition.

As usual, the chefs were "surprised" by the eliminated chef'testants, two of whom would play their sous chefs. Of note was that Kevin randomly landed two people -- Preeti and Ash -- not the most long-lived or memorable contestants, while Bryan scored Jen (fourth-place finisher) and Michael scored Eli (fifth-place finisher). What, no Robin?

Not usual:

1) The chefs' moms were on hand to say hello and eat their boys' food. Bravo totally got a 2-fer for the Voltaggios.
2) Dessert required!

Here's the breakdown of the courses:

1. Updated twist on one of mom's dishes
2. Dish made from mystery box of ingredients
3. Chef's choice
4. Dessert (mandatory!)

The dessert was an interesting twist since it's been the bane of many a Restaurant Wars challenge (although it did NOT spell doom for this season's Restaurant Wars episode).

Even more interesting? Michael botched his dessert, overcooking it when he forgot to note the time. Yet he still won. Gail Simmons seemed particularly partial to his dessert (a chocolate caramel coulant, kobucha, butternut squash ice cream and candied pumpkin seeds) despite its dryness because the flavor combination succeeded.

The highlights/lowlights of the offerings:

MICHAEL

Dehydrated "popcorn" broccoli? Pickled tomato = flavor bomb? Excellent matsutake mushroom sauce. Meyer lemons and squash pairing. Gimmicky mushroom puree made to look like a mushroom.

KEVIN

Fried chicken skin! Pork belly! Bacon with ... bananas? Ham jus! Tough matsutakes. Even though pork is his forte, he didn't deliver it very well.

BRYAN

Sardines over potatoes . Bland rock fish/kabocha curry. Flavorful venison saddle over puree of sunchoke. Delicate "dulce de leche" cheesecake and fig sorbet worthy of a pastry chef.

Watching Kevin and Bryan's tweets -- @TopchefKevin and @BryanVoltaggio, respectively (@MVoltaggio wasn't terribly active, but did post this pic) -- offered up other insights and a couple chuckles too.

During the judgment phase, Padma told Kevin that no, he was not Top Chef. What? They don't usually make it look like a runner-up situation, but tell the winner straight out. Right? Well, Kevin had to tweet about this:

"I'm apparently the first person in top chef history to actually come in third. oh well. no runner up for me."

Sour grapes perhaps, but he didn't begrudge the Voltaggios, both of whom he called "amazing chefs and amazing people" that he liked.

The most hilarious/obnoxious moment of the evening occurred, however, when the judges asked the chef'testants to make their case for why they should win the title of Top Chef. Michael pretty much flat-out said he needed to win so Bryan couldn't.

Bryan's Twitter response: "Seriously @mvoltaggio ... We're brothers so that's what we do but ..."

Wow.

Overall, not a very tense, drama-filled finale. What do you think about the results?

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Related:

'Top Chef: Las Vegas' finale: Zap2it's live chat replay
'Top Chef: Las Vegas': Best. Restaurant Wars. Ever.

Photos: Bravo