Stephanie Izard is the favorite to win Top Chef, at least in some quarters. Today, the Chicago Sun-Times salutes its hometown heroine with ten reasons why Stephanie will win. Most of these, predictably, involve Chicagoland virtues (“You gotta love a chef who knows how to pair food with beer and throw a tailgate party”) or her not being Gorgon Lisa (“She has the best personality of the remaining contestants”). More wishful thinking appeared on Eater yesterday, when a tipster wrote in to note that Stephanie was eating with Daniel Boulud at Florent late Friday night. “Could this mean Stephanie might have won Top Chef?” the tipster asked. Let's not jump to conclusions, gang. We actually stumbled upon Stephanie and her boyfriend hanging around in front of the Spotted Pig that night; they weren't planning on socializing at Florent, but after a little persuasion, they were up for some spontaneous hobnobbing. So while she did nab a seat at the periphery of Boulud’s Last Supper, she's not waltzing around with a golden ticket to the inner circles of celebrity chef–dom, either. At least, not yet.

Our Top Chef [Chicago Sun-Times]
TC Sightings [Eater]