There are many great chefs in Colorado, but there's only one Top Chef, Hosea Rosenberg.

At 9 p.m. Wednesday, an ear- splitting cheer went up from the hundred or so friends and fans crammed into the rooftop patio at Boulder's West End Tavern as Rosenberg was declared the winner of Bravo network's Top Chef: New York series.

Rosenberg, executive chef at Boulder's Jax Fish House, smiled at his smiling face on the two TV screens across the room and hugged his fellow Top Chef competitor, Melissa Harrison, of the nearby Happy Noodle House.

"This is a surreal moment, totally surreal," he said, looking at his iPhone, which was being overwhelmed with well-wishers.

Besides the cachet of the title, he receives $100,000 to help him open a restaurant. He will also be featured in Food & Wine magazine and showcased at June's Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

Standing on a bench as camera flashes went off, Rosenberg told the crowd, "Thank you for believing in me. I'm proud to be cooking here in Boulder."

The finale meal took place at New Orleans' legendary Commander's Palace restaurant. Among the diners were chefs Rocco Dispirito and Hubert Keller and jazz musician Branford Marsalis. Rosenberg had beaten the two remaining chefs, Stefan Richter and Carla Hall, by cooking a three-course meal that included sashimi, scallops with foie gras and apple and venison.

The show had been spiced with an ongoing verbal battle between Rosenberg and the ever-cranky Stefan who was roundly jeered every time he appeared onscreen. "Television makes it seem worse than it was. He's a good guy. We had a nice competitive thing going," Rosenberg said.

The hardest part, according to Rosenberg, was keeping the secret for so many months. Thirty minutes before the show aired, Rosenberg said he had a good reason to maintain his poker face.

According to the contract he signed, "It would cost me $1 million for each bit of information I let out," he said. As he spoke a Bravo network public relations person sat at his side listening carefully to everything he said.

"I'm glad the show is done, and I can talk about it," he said.

Rosenberg leaves for New York today to do a round of press interviews. He and Harrison had been in New York last week to film a reunion of the 17 chefs that started the season that will air next Wednesday on Bravo.

"After I get back I'm going up to Crestone to see my Dad. He has cancer. My mom isn't doing so well, either. I need some good family time," he said.

For now, Rosenberg will be staying at Jax. "I do plan on staying in Boulder and opening my own place here," he said. "I'm also working with a local group to market some organic food products."

It had been unprecedented for cable TV's top-rated food series to feature two chefs from one city and from the same restaurant group. Dave Query's Big Red F owns Denver's Lola and Jax Fish House, as well as Centro Latin Kitchen, Jax Fish House, the West End Tavern, Happy Noodle House and Zolo Grill in Boulder.