Kentwood native wins 'Top Chef'

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Kentwood native Kristen Kish was named winner of "Top Chef:Seattle" Wednesday night.

Kish, 28, now lives in Boston and is the chef de cuisine at Stir.

She was crowned champion of the Bravo TV cooking competition after facing off against Brooke Williamson, the 34-year-old co-executive chef of Los Angeles restaurants Hudson House and The Tripel.

As the winner of the reality show, Kish won a $125,000 paycheck and a feature in Food and Wine magazine.

Kish becomes only the second woman to win on the show.

"I remember hearing my name and turning my back to the judges for what felt like five minutes but what I'm sure was just five seconds to compose myself and take it all in," Kish said after winning.

She had been eliminated from the competition but won her spot on the 10th season finale after besting five previously eliminated contestants on the companion web series "Last Chance Kitchen."

In the finale, Kish and Williamson prepared a five-course meal on the fly as the show's judges and a crowd of diners watched.

The winning menu consisted of chicken liver mousse with frisee, mustard, prune, hazelnuts and pumpernickel; citrus and lavender cured scallop with bitter orange, Meyer lemon and apple; bone marrow with celery root puree, mushrooms, bitter greens and radishes; and red snapper with leeks, Little Gem lettuce, tarragon, uni and shellfish nage.

"At the end of the day, my cooking is not super complicated," Kish said. "My goal for this menu was just to do simple, good, elegant food with precision and excellence, taking simple things like chicken liver moose, bone marrow or a piece of fish and executing them well."