Bravo Media’s Emmy and James Beard Award-winning “Top Chef” crowned Joe Flamm, a member of FSR’s Rising Stars, the winner of season 15 in an epic showdown at The Little Nell in Aspen. Flamm was awarded the coveted title of “Top Chef” and will receive $125,000 furnished by S.Pellegrino, a feature in FOOD & WINE magazine and a showcase at the annual FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen.

Chef Flamm celebrated the season finale at Spiaggia with his friends, family and fellow Top Chef teammates as they toasted his win with a Miller High Life, his favorite beer.

The high stakes Colorado season ended with a battle between two Southside Chicago natives Adrienne Cheatham and Joe Flamm as they cooked the four course meal of their lives for host Padma Lakshmi and the judges Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons and Graham Elliot, as well as, culinary superstars Nancy Silverton, Jonathan Waxman and Curtis Duffy.  In the end, Flamm charmed the judges with his four course Italian-inspired meal to earn the highly lauded title of “Top Chef.”

During the season Flamm won various Quickfires including the “Mis en Place” and Rocky Mountain Oyster challenges. He also wowed the judges with his dishes and successful performance as front of house at Top Chef’s signature “Restaurant Wars” episode earning him his first elimination challenge win. Unfortunately, the tide quickly turned and in the next episode Flamm found himself on the bottom and had to pack his knives for his risotto dish in a Sudden Death Quickfire.  Nonetheless, he persevered and clawed his way back into the competition by winning “Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen.” He proved his place in Telluride and also garnered a crucial win at the penultimate elimination challenge cooking a vegetarian dish on a Cowboy Cauldron at the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen.

Joseph Flamm serves as the Executive Chef at Chicago’s Michelin-starred Spiaggia and Café Spiaggia in Chicago. Working with and for the inimitable Tony Mantuano, Chef Joe has learned fine dining with precision and confidence. Growing up in a large Italian family, Joe fell in love with cooking while spending time in the kitchen with his Grandma Mary making homemade pasta. He formalized his culinary skills at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago and continued to sharpen his skills in Chicago’s finest kitchens including Art Smith’s Table 52, Stephanie Izard’s Girl and the Goat, and Bill Kim’s Belly Q. He has cooked for presidents, celebrities, the James Beard Foundation and still, Joe’s favorite person to cook for is his brilliant wife, Hillary, who he lives with on Chicago’s Westside where they mostly laugh at each other and eat pretty well.

This season the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series followed 15 diverse chefs from across the country as they battled it out for the coveted title amid the breathtaking landscapes and thriving culinary scenes in Denver, Boulder, Telluride and Aspen.