By Liz Borod Wright, ZAGAT.com Staff Editor

Zagat Buzz talks to Top Chef winner Hung Huynh to find out how he'll spend his $100,000 prize money.

Hung Huynh

photo: Virginia Sherwood, Bravo

Last night, Hung Huynh won the title of Top Chef on the popular Bravo TV series, blowing the judges away with his sous vide duck dish. Out-cooking 14 cheftestants throughout 14 episodes, he consistently wowed the judges with his top-notch technical skills but combated criticism that he didn’t cook with soul. ZAGAT.com talked to Huynh about his future plans and how he’ll spend his $100,000 prize money.

Zagat Buzz: So what are your plans now that you're Top Chef?

Hung Huynh: I have of a lot of options so I’m just going to weigh them all and not rush into anything. But, I’m thinking about New York or Las Vegas at this moment.

ZB: Are you thinking about collaborating with Rocco DiSpirito? You were joking about that last night. Or were you being serious?

HH: I think we’re joking at this point [laughs]. But we’ll see.

ZB: Or how about with your friend Marcel Vigneron, who competed in season 2?

HH: No, we have very different styles. But you never know in the future. Anything could happen. Anything.

ZB: Would your dream now be to open your own restaurant?

HH: Open my own restaurant with my own money? Not so soon because I really don’t have that much money to do what I really want.

ZB: So $100,000 prize money isn’t enough?

HH: That’s probably not even enough for my stove.

ZB: So what are you going to do with the money?

HH: I’m going to travel with it. I’m going to go to Spain to work at El Bulli or Arzak for free for a while, learn more techniques and more flavor profiles. I’m also going to travel to Asia. I plan to donate some of the money to Buddhist temples in Vietnam.

ZB: Rocco said he thought that you just gave him busy work – is that true? Were you trying to hide your secrets from Rocco?

HH: No, definitely not. He helped me so much, I guess he didn’t get to see everything put together. I had new components for every dish. He thought I was leaving him out of the big picture but I wasn’t.

ZB: Were you surprised how well Dale did and how poorly Casey did in the final challenge? Most people were expecting the opposite to happen.

HH: I didn’t think Casey did that bad because I was in the back the whole time, paying attention to myself. And then when we watched the whole show last night, wow, I was really surprised. I expected so much more from Casey. So I was really surprised that she did so poorly.

ZB: Throughout the competition, the judges have criticized your food for lacking soul. How do you think you finally showed them your soul? What did you do differently this time?

HH: Well, I was able to use my Asian background to cook really good food. Using Asian ingredients is what I love to do with my food, and I got to showcase that. And, I guess that’s where my inspiration came from, and I was able to cook the food that I really wanted to eat myself, food that I wanted to cook, and there really was no limit. I really put my heart and soul into it, whereas in the other challenges we were so limited.

ZB: What did your family think about you entering this competition?

HH: At first they didn’t know what to think, but now they understand why I sacrificed so much time away from them and why I am the way I am. My mom always knew I was hardcore but now she sees me in action in a professional environment – she understands my work now.

ZB: What’s your favorite restaurant?

HH: Where?

ZB: Anywhere.

HH: My favorite restaurants in New York City would definitely be Park Avenue Autumn and Quality Meats. They’re both good restaurants.