Eek, I'm late! But it's Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie all the way! Her dishes are routinely delicious and creative (looking, at least), and with the gap between the regular season in Chicago and the finale in Puerto Rico the judges were able to watch the episodes along with us and develop an appreciate for the full measure of Steph's steely determination and kitchen decency and full calf tattoo. Okay, I may have a little bit of a crush...

Okay, so after watching last night's episode I'm ready to make some rash predictions about how this season will turn out.

First, let's start with the drama-within-the-drama of Jennifer and Zoi, a.k.a. the couple in the kitchen. I'm going out on a limb here to predict that it's actually Jennifer, the more accomplished cook, who gets booted first. Besides the fact that Zoi has shown some real tenacity when she finds herself in the post-challenge losing groups, both Tom Colicchio and Padma seem to particularly appreciate her restrained style of cooking.

Now let's turn to finalists. There's no doubt that Richard is a serious contender. He obviously has, as the kids say, mad skillz. But I think his "you pull back the plastic and steam comes out!" routine is going to get real old, real quick. Molecular gastronomy might be all the rage in the culinary world. But Chef Tom seems like more of straightforward, ingredients-focused kinda guy who appears to be, at most, mildly amused by tricks like making tapioca that looks like caviar.

And so I'm declaring right here and now that the final three are: Dale, Stephanie, and, my dark horse pick, Ryan.

Ryan might look the doofus. But beneath that look of near constant befuddlement seems to lay a heck of a good cook. I mean, riffing off of "A Christmas Story" to do an amazing looking Asian duck dish? A stroke of near genius. Dale and Stephanie seem evenly matched when it comes to technique; both seem to pull inventive plates of food off with little effort. But Top Chef seems to come down to killer instinct. For the glint of steely reserve in her eyes, I'm picking Stephanie to go all the way. (Photo thx nickweeleroz.)