Hot Chef Kurt Ramborger Faces Off Against Las Vegas

Eater Austin editor Andrea Grimes here, friends. I want to turn the chair around for a minute and get real with y'all. There is an amazing thing that is happening with Kurt "The Irish Chef" Ramborger and his journey through Eater's Hottest Chef in America competition. Today, he's two steps away from winning the entire shebang, competing in the Western Conference championship against Olivier Dubreuil of the Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas. This competition is supposed to be a fluffy, silly kind of romp through shallowness, just all in good fun. And it is.

But there's also the fact that Ramborger is deaf, and his continued advancement in the competition is doing a lot for the visibility of deaf professionals and giving hope to a lot of deaf folks around the world who don't often get to see deaf people in the limelight. Today, Ramborger sends over this blog post from the mom of his kids and close friend, and it is so spot-on and heartfelt, I really want to share part of it.

This competition, as lighthearted as it may have started, has morphed into a unification project with Kurt representing for ALL the skilled hard deaf workers out there that keep butting up against age-old barriers.

· Hottest Chef Western Conference Championship [-EN-]
· Why Voting For Kurt The Irish Chef Really Matters [MissFlyOnTheWall]
· All Hot Chefs Coverage on Eater Austin [-EATX-]
· Viuda Bistro [Official]