John Katsilometes on the spicy ‘Top Chef’ competition and two Las Vegas chefs who are bracing for the finale

Sunday, Jan. 21, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.

With the battle for "Top Chef" burning as hot as the pan of bacon Ilan Hall scorched in a recent episode, last week we caught up with the two Las Vegas contestants still standing in the Bravo competition series - Marcel Vigneron and Elia Aboumrad.

To recap, in last week's hair-razing episode Vigneron was (again) singled out for group derision in a stunt that more resembled a fraternity hazing prank than anything related to a culinary contest. It all started during a night of revelry when Aboumrad disclosed that she'd always wanted to shave her head. She and Hall wound up doing just that, but contestant Cliff Crooks (with goading from Hall and Sam Talbot and a shrug of the shoulders from Aboumrad) took the frivolity beyond bounds by pinning down Vigneron and trying to shave away his wildly wavy locks.

Crooks was dismissed, but if head judge Tom Colicchio (whose culinary empire includes Craftsteak at MGM Grand) had his way all four accomplices would have been sent packing and Vigneron would already be the Season 2 "Top Chef" champ. However, as Colicchio wrote in his blog on the show's official Web site, "For the first time all season, the producers stepped in with a veto."

Thus, the only chef to break the show's written rules was Crooks, for manhandling Vigneron, so he needed to go. So the final four competing in Wednesday's two-hour finale from Hawaii (set to air at 10 p.m.) are Vigneron, Aboumrad, Hall and Talbot.

Strangely, during a phone interview Friday morning Vigneron says he still gets phone calls from Hall. "He has been calling me every day. He wished me a merry Christmas and says he's just checking in. (But) I haven't returned any, because he was such a (jerk) on the show." Vigneron, a master cook at Joel Robuchon at the Mansion at MGM Grand, says he has no idea why the cast (which numbered 15 at the start of the series) seemed to turn on him early and irrevocably. "I consider myself pretty decent, likable and social. What happened? Why was I an outcast? I don't know. There was no incident that caused this." Vigneron, 26, says he has received uniformly positive response from fans, aside from an incident at a nightclub (he doesn't want to say which nightclub) when a female fan recognized him and smashed him in the face with a bottle. The resulting wound over his left eye required 30 stitches.

As for the 23-year-old Aboumrad, an assistant room chef at The Hotel at Mandalay Place (and who once helped train Vigneron at Robuchon's L'Atelier at the MGM Grand), she said during an interview Thursday afternoon that the competition has taught her to be "more patient and tolerant after spending 24 hours a day with these people."

But aside from making a key mistake in the preparation of her dessert in last week's challenge (those chocolate hearts she promised simply fell apart) Aboumrad said she is pleased with her performance on the show. "Cooking is my passion," she said. "In Las Vegas, it is trendy for people to be able to cook, but I have the passion."

NoteMart

Poise! The 52 Miss America Pageant contestants have arrived in Las Vegas. Fifty-one took part in the pageant's first official function Friday afternoon at the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood (Miss Virgin Islands Stacy Smith was absent as her flight arrived late). On Saturday the contestants walked the runway at the Fashion Show mall (better there than at McCarran). During Friday's appearance Miss America President and Chief Executive Art McMaster said pageant officials are pleased to be back in Las Vegas, but could not promise the city would be the home of next year's contest or the show's permanent home. "It feels great to be back, and (Aladdin/Planet Hollywood President and Chief Executive) Mike Mecca and his team have treated us very well. But we are in partnership with a cable network (CMT) and a lot depends on the ratings." The ratings for last year's pageant, also held at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, set an all-time high for the network. ...

During Friday's event, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman presented each of the 51 contestants on hand a rose stamped with the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood logo. Afterward he noted recent reports of missing his weekly news conferences by saying, "Where would you rather be - here or at a press conference at City Hall?" ...

Ventriloquist Ronn Lucas has written a book titled "Better Living Through Ventriloquism: How to Say What You Shouldn't and Get What You Want" due for release by the end of the month. Lucas, soon to be a headliner at Steve Wyrick's theater project at the Desert Passage mall at the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood, wrote the book with comedy writer/stand-up comic Chris Cobbler. The book comes with a beginner's puppet (just a pair of eyes you can hook to your fingers) and teaches how to use ventriloquism to get a raise, meet women and even buy a new car. During an interview last week, Lucas said, "You can go off with your puppet and have a conference, just like the guy selling the car goes away to talk to someone. You can say, 'I really like you, and I like this car, but give us a moment to talk this over,' and go off with your puppet to discuss it." ...

We're looking for a little help from a driver here. A reader ... and friend ... and local DJ ... and musician - OK, it's Ginger Bruner - reports spotting SNATRA on an old blue Nevada plate. Who might the owner be?