by Michael J. Lamp

Well, someone has to get second place. In Top Chef: All-Stars, that dubious honor goes to Mike Isabella. Mike caught up with RealityWanted and other reporters to talk about inspiration, his new restaurant and coming oh so close to the ever-elusive Top Chef title.

Q. Michael, RealityWanted: I gotta hear more about this pepperoni sauce. Was that something you'd been holding in your back pocket for a time like the finale or was it a new idea?

A. Mike: Ya know, I wasn't holding it in my back pocket. I like to change textures and flavors around. When you close your eyes, I want you to remember certain things. I saw a pepperoni, took it and kind oof gambled and made a sauce out of it. Turned out to be the hit of the night. It will be on the menu at Graffiato.

Q. Michael, RealityWanted: Did you have a favorite challenge?

A. Mike: The fishing challenge, the farmer's market. The one where I won a car, obviously. I won a car. (Laughs.).

Q. You said coming in second was being the first loser. Is that really how you feel?
A. Mike: For me, I won. I was probably one of the biggest winners in the entire season. Richard won the money, but people expected him to win from the beginning. No one expected me to do what I did this season. I put up a phenomenal meal last night.

Q. Can you talk a little about the controversy when you took one of Richard's recipes during an early Quickfire Challenge?

A. Mike: Chefs inspire me more than anything else in the world. I go out to eat every time I go to new cities. I take ideas and make them into my own.  It's a dish that had been done before. I won because it was my dish. We all inspire each other. Everything's been done before. It's about making it your own. It was all bullshit at the end of the day.

Q. Which was more indicative of how you feel? What you said at the end of the show about second place being the first loser or how you acted during the after show?

A. Mike: Without question, [it's what I said to] Andy Cohen. Richard deserves to win of anyone on the season. He was winning from the beginning. I wanted to compete against him, and I felt like I gave him a run for his money.

Q. What's next with Graffiato?

A. Mike: I just got off the phone with [one of my] partners. [The] store front's knocked out. Pizza's oven [is] in. We're getting there. We're opening, without question, in May.

Q. What else will be on the menu at Graffiato from your time on Top Chef?
A. Mike: You'll probably see the gnocchi dish, the pepperoni sauce with different applications. Pancetta bread crumbs, so on and so forth. Not a lot of the food, but inspirations of it.

Q. When you came back from the break and beat Voltaggio, that seemed like a big moment for you. What happened during the break that helped you?
A. Mike: I went back to basics and changed my life for those couple of months. I started seeing a personal trainer. I was eating right. I was working with chefs and questioning them. It kind of opened my eyes. I was ready to shock the world.

Q. It seemed like, of all the All-Stars, you made the biggest jump from your first season to now. Can you talk about where this leap came from?
A. Mike: When I originally went on Top Chef, I didn't watch too many episodes. I didn't do what I thought I was gonna do. When I went back this season, I was a different chef. When I came back for the Top 5, I knew I had a shot to win it all, without question.

Q. With your new restaurant opening soon, could you have timed this positive press any better?
A. Mike: No. I'm very lucky and fortunate.

Q. You have a bit of a bad boy reputation. You are known for saying what you think. Why was that your approach?
A. Mike: My mouth has definitely gotten me into trouble my whole life. I'm a New Jersey Italian. I come from a broken family, and I had to fight my whole life to get where I am. I don't mean to be disrespectful. I just speak the truth.

Top Chef: All-Stars airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

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