Food: To Be the Real Top Chef

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Kaysen has also attracted impressive mentors, including Daniel Boulud, the award-winning French chef who owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas and Palm Beach, Fla., and Charlie Trotter, the famed Chicago chef who has been a Bocuse judge. Both have high hopes for their protégé. "Gavin has the passion for French cuisine, a very good palate, and he's a master of technique and timing," says Boulud. "And he's very meticulous and detail oriented, which is crucial." Trotter, who has been following Kaysen's career since the younger chef applied for an internship in his kitchen two years ago, thinks this is the first time the U.S. has a chance to make it into the top three. But like politics, he notes, nothing is certain. "I liken Gavin to the Barack Obama of gastronomic figures," he observes. "He's not fully tested, yet he clearly impresses people." Lyons--and that chicken, halibut and crab--awaits.