'Top Chef: Wisconsin' crowns winner of season 21 (2024)

This story contains spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the final episode of “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” but plan to, you might want to read this later.

Danny Garcia was crowned Top Chef on Wednesday night.

He took the title and the $250,000 grand prize, beating the last two competitors, Savannah Miller and Milwaukee chef Dan Jacobs, who was the first chef working in Wisconsin to compete on “Top Chef.”

Garcia lives in Brooklyn and is executive chef at Saga Hospitality Group. He is leading the kitchen at a new restaurant that will open this year, according to Bravo.

His victory ended a season that was based largely in Milwaukee and Madison and showed off Wisconsin’s food culture, from cheese to cranberries to fish boils. State and local tourism officials said the show has brought visitors and a great deal of interest to the Wisconsin food scene.

The final episode aired Wednesday night on Bravo and can also be found on the streaming service Peaco*ck.

The challenge for the finale was for the three finalists to make the best four-course meal of their lives. Host Kristen Kish said the progressive meal was an opportunity to cook whatever they wanted.

Celebrity judge Tom Colicchio gave one word of advice: “Shine,” he said, adding, “blow us away.”

Colicchio called it a “great season” with lots of talented chefs. All three finalists were praised for their final meal, but in the end, Kish announced that Garcia was the Top Chef.

Garcia said being the first Puerto Rican/Dominican chef to win is an honor.

“We’re here. That’s it. We did it,” he said. An emotional Garcia broke down at the end of the episode.

“I just put a lot of pressure on myself all the time. It just feels good to like, put up the food that I want to put up. I’m just proud of myself,” he said.

Wisconsin’s Jacobs impressed the judges with each dish, starting with a tuna tartare with ruby red grapefruit, garlic chips and black garlic labneh, something Jacobs described as a bold dish while he was preparing it.

Guest judge Carrie Nahabedian, known for her work at the Michelin-starred NAHA in Chicago, said she kept going back to Jacobs’ dish while testing all three, adding that there was something addictive about it.

But other judges questioned the texture of the dish.

Jacobs explained the concept of his menu by telling the judges that when award-winning chef Masaharu Morimoto cooked for the contestants on the previous episode, he gave them a proverb: “Live in the moment.”

“And I think my menu is about being in this moment,” Jacobs said.

Jacob’s second dish was grilled snapper with ginger and scallions on top, braised pumpkin, and dashi made from smoked snapper bones. His third course was an oxtail ragu with dumplings, cabbage, carrots and scallions.

His final course was a yogurt mousse with coriander, olive oil and salted phyllo crisps that were cooked in lemon oil. It was accompanied by grilled pineapple.

“I wanted to end the meal with something light and refreshing, especially after that oxtail course,” Jacobs said in introducing the dessert. One judge called it clever.

But in the end, the judges decided that Garcia cooked a better meal.

“I’m happy. I really am. Danny just cooked a better meal than me today. He killed it,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs, the chef/co-owner of Milwaukee’s DanDan and EsterEv restaurants, has been nominated for multiple James Beard Awards. He said he tried out for “Top Chef” 11 times.

One of his goals was to bring attention to Kennedy’s disease, a rare neuromuscular disease that slows him down. He’s used a cane on the show and discussed his illness a few times.

On the finale, he explained that there’s no treatment and no cure. “I love cooking, but I also love the advocacy part of it.” He said he came to the show to inspire people no matter what limitations they have, and he accomplished that.