Top Chef 6

After being nominated four years in a row, last night, Top Chef finally won the Emmy for Best Reality Series. The sixth season of the show that was filmed in Las Vegas and featured the charismatic Voltaggio brothers was one of my favorite seasons, and I'm happy to see it awarded.

Along with the Magical Elves, the production company behind the series, hostess Padma Lakshmi and judges Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio were on hand to receive their Emmy. The win was unexpected by the cast and crew; Simmons tweeted, "still tongue-tied 4 hours later!" while Lakshmi chimed in, "wow! It still hasn't sunk in. Very thrilling to win along with Al Pacino!" What do you think of the win?

For me, one of the highlights of the Food & Wine Classic was a special lunch created by Top Chef winner Michael Voltaggio and his brother Bryan. The luncheon was hosted by Williams-Sonoma in the sleek Aspen eatery N9NE Steakhouse. While it was sunny and hot outside, the cool interior of the underground restaurant was the perfect backdrop to the Voltaggio brothers' modern menu. Using products from a new line that's to be released by Williams-Sonoma this Fall, the brothers demonstrated molecular gastronomy techniques that involved sous vide machines, smoking guns, and liquid nitrogen.

Before the interested eyes of a group of select journalists, Michael turned frozen cubes of cream cheese into a melt-in-your-mouth snow and Bryan cut slices of perfectly cooked harissa lamb, fresh out of vacuum-packed plastic baggies.

To take a closer look at the amazing three-course meal, check out all of my photos after the break.

• Gail Simmons's guide to packing. — Travel + Leisure
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• Does it really matter if you forget an ingredient? — The Epi-Log
• Catch up with some of Top Chef 6's cheftestants. — Grub Street NY
• 10 new things to put in your drink. — Endless Simmer
• Taste test: vegan burgers. — Serious Eats
• Michael Pollan and Oprah discuss seal blubber and cow's blood. — Eater

Just before the winner of Top Chef Las Vegas was crowned, Bryan and Michael Voltaggio teamed up to launch a new website, VoltaggioBrothers.com. By Christmas, they'd announced plans for a new video series with media company EQAL. Wrote Bryan: "Being forced to cook something in 20 minutes with bizarre ingredients is fun, but not what we normally do in our restaurants. These videos will give you a better sense about our culinary point of view and our passion for cooking."

Their first webisode, titled "Deconstructing the Voltaggio Brothers," debuted yesterday. While we didn't see any demos, we did learn, in between snippets of the brothers making brioches and pop rock lollipops, that Michael excels at poetry, and Bryan would've been a landscaper in another life. Take a look when you read more

As part of our annual end of the year coverage, we asked you who your favorite Top Chef contestant was. Over the course of 2009, we were lucky enough to watch two exciting seasons of Top Chef.

The first, Top Chef season five, was shot in New York City and featured the infamous relationships of Leah and Hosea — and Stefan and Fabio. The following season, which just ended and was filmed in Las Vegas, was the first time we saw brothers compete.

The voting was across the board with fan favorite Kevin Gillespie taking the majority at 37 percent. We agree with you readers: Kevin is a lovable inspiration, and I'm dying to eat one of his pork masterpieces. We look forward to seeing what's next for Kevin!

Photo courtesy of Bravo

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• Eight observations from the Top Chef Vegas reunion show. — Eater