Unanimous decision. Three judges. Three votes for the Dallas chef in the corner that nobody on the East Coast had heard of.
Kevin Ashade told the Dallas Observer afterward that personality matters as much as skill, which is the kind of line you can only deliver after you've gone 3-0 against Bobby Flay. He chose coq au vin — the Burgundian braise that exists on the spectrum between peasant food and Escoffier, depending on who is cooking. The dish has nowhere to hide. Either the wine has reduced into the sauce or it sits on top like a stain.
Ashade's reduced. Bobby's, by the broadcast's reading, did not. Pangea is closed now; GourmEATS Catering carries the work forward.