The best dish we tried was the scrumptious beef taquitos.

Angelo Sosa--the season seven Top Chef contestant who ended up in second place--opened Anejo Tequileria in Hell's Kitchen as chef and partner this past January, focusing on aged tequilas and similar Mexican fermented products. Fork in the Road recently declared the margarita there best in the city, but what's Sosa's food like, you wonder.

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Jeremy Johnson

Even though it's not as seasonally cold as expected, it's still cold enough for spooning up bowls of warm liquid. Whether it's one of Robert Sietsema's ramen picks, takeout egg drop soup, or Luzzo's Zuppe Bollito, Fork in the Road has pretty much solidified that January equals Soup Month. So, why not add another bowl to your list.

Chef Angelo Sosa first showed us his hand with Asian flavors at Xie Xie -- this is the pre-Top Chef days -- before solidifying his mastery at Midtown restaurant Social Eatz. Now, he's showing us he has other cards in his deck. With the opening of Hell's Kitchen's Anejo, the toque's first public foray into Mexican cuisine (668 Tenth Avenue at 47th Street, 212-920-4770).

In honor of his opening, Chef Sosa has shared his Corn Dumpling Stew recipe. The tomato-based sauce is spiked with chorizo. The masa-like balls make this hearty enough for a winter night's meal.

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Bravo

Half of these people secretly want to kill each other.

Sweet freaks and couch potatoes, rejoice: Top Chef Just Desserts is returning on August 24 at 10 p.m.

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stephenasprinio.com

A man and his tie

To the list of Top Chef alums who are opening restaurants in New York -- Harold Dieterle, Leah Cohen, Nikki Cascone, Angelo Sosa, Camille Beccera, Dale Talde, Sam Talbot, and Hung Huynh -- we can add Stephen Asprinio.

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Mike Isabella and Richard Blaise: Top Chef finalists, and men.

Another dude has won another season of Top Chef, and that's provided another opportunity to ask why there aren't more female chefs not only in the winners' circle, but also in the upper echelons of the kitchen hierarchy.

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And finally, we have come to the end. If last night's finale felt like a rote stampede toward the final outcome of what has been a very, very long season, it did at least deliver on its slightly beleaguered promise of emotional catharsis.

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Yet another week in the Bahamas, and still, that light at the end of the tunnel is maddeningly faint. What can Top Chef's producers give us that we haven't seen before on a cooking show, aside from a virgin sacrifice? A Quickfire Challenge that's "different than anything you've experienced in the past," Padma tells us, Wolfgang Puck by her side. Oh. Yep, that's all we get.

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Evolving.

Are we there yet? Alas, no, we are not. There's still one last hurrah for this season of Top Chef, but now that we've suffered through the sight of Mike Isabella diving topless for conch, it should be all downhill from here.

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Now that Top Chef: All-Stars is finally drawing to a close, the folks at The Feast are determined to make us think about the next season. They attended contestant casting calls in four cities, including New York, and shone the spotlight on 10 attention-craving lunatics hopefuls whom we may or may not see on our screens next season. Among them are the executive pastry chef at New York's Grand Central and Grand Hyatt (who's also a Breslin vet) and an employee of Perelandra, a natural foods store in Brooklyn Heights. Excessive facial hair, piercings, and neck tattoos abound, but does talent?

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The sun comes up on the Bahamas, where our intrepid final five have gathered for one very long Top Chef goodbye. Antonia reflects on the "fiery season" as Richard appears wearing fewer styling products and a wispy ginger schmeard. He's afraid he'll both lose and miss the birth of his child, but which he fears more, he doesn't say. And then Mike and Tiffany show up looking well-rested, and everyone troops off to a fort.

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