"Top Chef": A triumph of braised pistachios

A hearty bon appetite to Stephanie Izard, the first femme foodie to claim the mantle of "Top Chef."

It was the braised pistachios that seemed put her over the top among the final three. Lead judge Tom Colicchio, who's not easily impressed, commented at the close of Wednesday's finale on that nutty touch to one of her winning dishes, roasted lamb medallions with maitake mushrooms.

Izard, a 31-year-old Stamford, Conn., native and former owner of Scylla restaurant in Chicago, told the Top Chef blog that she's going to use her $100,000 prize to "pay off credit card bills" and get back into biz with a new eatery.

The fourth-season finale of Bravo's hit culinary competish came on the same day that the cabler announced plans for "Top Chef Junior," which puts a teen oriented spin on the format, as Variety's Stuart Levine reports.