‘The Taste’ recap: L.A. girl Khristianne Uy wins!

L.A. girl Khristianne Uy was announced the winner of the first season of ABC’s “The Taste” on Tuesday night’s finale. Uy, who is also Charlie Sheen’s personal chef, stood out the entire competition and definitely deserved the win.

Here’s a look at last night’s finale.

Jose Andres acted as guest judge, then mentor. Each of the four finalists, Khristianne Uy, Sarah Schiear, Diane “Cruella” DiMeo and Gregg Drusinsky prepared three spoons of tapas using mozzerella, Iberico ham and spot prawns. The chef who prepared the spoons Andres liked the least was sent home before the final challenge.

DiMeo went for refined flavors on the suggestion of her mentor Bourdain, Schiear played it safe, Drusinsky pulled inspiration from his time cooking in Barcelona, and Uy went with bold flavors.

In Lefebvre’s kitchen, he gave all his attention to Schiear thinking she needed the help and Drusinsky didn’t. Lefebvre was wrong and Andres ended up sending Drusinsky home.

For the final challenge, the remaining ladies prepared three courses with wine pairings. DiMeo prepared all seafood courses while Schiear -- surprise, surprise -- kept things safe with Arctic char and potatoes, seared duck breast with red wine sauce and beef tenderloin with creamy shallot confit. Uy impressed with her mix of Portugese and Filipino flavors. She did a Peking duck with chive pancake, seafood bouillabaisse and a braised short rib.

Thank god the judging was completely blind -- something the judges should have done the entire season. Schiear came in third, DiMeo second and the judges chose Uy as the winner. About a million pounds of confetti dropped from the ceiling and she was awarded The Taste trophy, $100,000 and a Ford hybrid. Not too shabby.

Best, worst moments:

Can’t believe I’m going to say this but I felt sorry for Drusinsky being eliminated. Lefebvre admitted he thought Drusinsky got himself into the finale and didn’t need help, then he flips out at the last five minutes and tells Dursinsky his food is not enough to get him through. Not cool. You needed to mentor both of them, not just the pretty blond one.

The show starting with odd shots of the mentors arriving at the studio. No reason for that nonsense. We saw Nigella Lawson getting out of the back of a car with her hair rollers, Anthony Bourdain getting his hair towel dried, Brian Malarkey getting his makeup done and Ludo Lefebvre driving in on a motorcycle. Great shot of Lefebvre taking off his helmet, looking hot, but the other ones?

Malarkey rubbing it in everyone’s face that his girl Uy won. Yes, she deserved it, but you screaming and going nuts was just plain unattractive.

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‘The Taste’ recap: L.A.’s Khristianne Uy kicks off-cut butt

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