Catching Up With Top Chef: Just Desserts' Yigit Pura

Top Chef: Just Desserts was the first series in the beloved Bravo reality cooking competition's franchise to focus solely on what many chefs consider the most difficult course on the menu: dessert. And it certainly showed: The series ended up being one of the most dramatic and catty of any of the Top Chefs thus far.

In the end, Yigit Pura walked away the first openly gay Top Chef champion and received $100,000 for his troubles (including putting up with competitor Morgan Wilson who may or may not have been a big ol' homophobe).

The 29-year-old Turkish American began his official culinary training at the age of 20 in San Francisco before heading to New York City, where he landed a position at Le Cirque 2000 and then moved on to The Four Seasons Hotel. Soon after Yigit was blessed with what he calls his "golden step," the opportunity to become the Pastry Sous Chef at Daniel, under Chef Daniel Boulud, where after working for two and a half years, he was promoted to Executive Pastry for Daniel Boulud in Las Vegas. He has since returned to San Francisco and works for Taste Catering and Event Planning.

Yigit stopped by the Out studio when he was visiting New York City at the end of January to chat about winning Top Chef: Just Desserts, his personal approach to sweets, and being a role model for the queer community:

For more on Top Chef: Just Desserts, visit the show's official website. For more on Yigit, follow him on Twitter. To vote for Yigit in Out's 100 Most Eligible Bachelors Poll, click here.

-- NOAH MICHELSON

Previously > Need To Know: Young Galaxy