Eater's Hottest Chef in America: SF's David Bazirgan!

Ladies and gents, we have a winner! After tabulating all the votes in our hottest chef competition that pitted the city winners against each other — and eliminating all the fraudulent votes — we can officially crown Eater's First Annual Hottest Chef in America! The winner: San Francisco's David Bazirgan.

David Bazirgan, aka "The Baz," is the 37-year-old Executive Chef of Fifth Floor Restaurant in San Francisco. According to Eater SF editor Carloyn Alburger, "His new menu at Fifth Floor is on people's definite to-do list." He was last at SF's Chez Papa Resto for three years, which was recently demoted .5 stars by Chronicle critic Michael Bauer.

Bazirgan, originally from Newbury, MA, attended the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts and early in his career worked at Todd English's Olives Restaurant in Charlestown and Number 9 in Boston. In 2005, he received the SF Chronicle's Rising Star Chef Award and StarChefs' Rising Star award while at the SF restaurant Baraka.

And hate to break it to interested parties, but he's happily married. A newlywed, in fact. Reached by phone, Barzigan told Eater, "No way. That's crazy. Awesome." He is, of course, also on Twitter.

Here are the final results:

The Official Results

1. San Francisco: David Bazirgan
2. Miami: Ana Quincoces
3. New York: Vikas Khanna
4. Los Angeles: Jen Green
5. Chicago: Merlin Verrier
6. Portland: Wes Hannah
7. Austin: Taff Mayberry

· Fifth Floor Restaurant [Official Site]
· All David Bazirgan Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Sexytime Coverage on Eater [-E-]