First woman "Top Chef" gives men culinary schooling

By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Stephanie Izard, who this week became the first woman to win the hit reality show "Top Chef," on Thursday said she felt she was "representing" her gender in a profession long considered to be dominated by men.

Throughout the entire fourth season, which ended Wednesday night, Izard, 31, was one of the show's top cooks known for keeping a cool head when kitchen temperatures soared.

"It wasn't like I was going on a reality show to be some crazy reality show star. I was just there to do some cooking. My focus was my advantage," said Izard, who time and again simmered up unlikely combinations that surprised and delighted the show's judges.

The Chicago-based chef pulled one last zinger out of her recipe book during Wednesday's finale when she served a dish of roasted lamb medallions with maitake mushrooms, braised pistachios, blackberry and green olives.

Initially, the judges seemed ready to hate the dish, but after their tasting, Izard won a unanimous thumbs up from the panel that included chef Tom Colicchio, Food & Wine magazine's Gail Simmons, host and cookbook writer Padma Lakshmi and Ted Allen, best known for being the food and wine guy on the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" TV series.

"What made me really happy was that it was representative of my style. A lot of people look at my menu and think I'm crazy," said Izard, who plans to use her $100,000 grand prize to open a new restaurant in Chicago by next spring.

"There will be a lot of seafood and a lot of pork products because I love them," Izard said about her own establishment.

She said the high point of the show -- aside from her win -- came when she debuted and served a tiered bridal cake in the "Wedding Wars" episode.

During a six-month break in taping between the naming of the semi-finalists and a cooking marathon that ended with Izard's victory, the "Top Chef" said she ate, drank and scuba dived her way through Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Being underwater helped ease the stress of waiting such a long time before the final cook-off -- except, that is, for one factor: "I just want to eat all the fish," she said.

Izard trained at Arizona's Scottsdale Culinary Institute, and said she is inspired by chefs with whom she has worked.

In particular, she loves Mario Batale's style of cooking -- simplicity and great flavors.

Izard also said she would have loved to have met Julia Child, the iconic female chef who in the 1960s used public TV to bring French cooking into American living rooms and who until her death in 2004 was a die-hard butter advocate.

"She was pretty fricking amazing," Izard said.

"Top Chef" and "Queer Eye" air on NBC Universal's Bravo cable network. NBC Universal is 80-percent controlled by General Electric Co.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)