Dearborn native Mei Lin, whose parents operate a Chinese restaurant on Michigan Avenue, won Bravo's "Top Chef" title on Wednesday night -- beating out a chef from Portland.
Mei Linn
The Schoolcraft College graduate who grew up cooking alongside her father at the family restaurant won the prize that comes with a $125,000 check, Sylvia Rector of the Free Press reports..
Her four-course finale menu blended her Chinese heritage with flavors from Mexico, the Freep reports, but it was her contemporary dessert of strawberry-lime curd with toasted yogurt, milk crumble with bee pollen and yogurt-lime ice that likely won her the title. (See that recipe here.)
"It's the best dessert I've ever had on Top Chef, period," says judge Tom Colicchio, according to the Freep.
After graduating college, she worked on the opening staff at Michael Symon's Roast restaurant at the Westin Book-Cadillac in Detroit. She went on to other restaurants and is currently doing pop-up dinners around the country, the Freep reports.