Last night saw the departure of Nikki Cascone from Top Chef 4. The third time was not the charm for her fresh pasta as her tortellini with brown butter and sage was not strong enough to save the day for her in the competition. So while the judges had problems with other dishes served from the groom's side on Wedding Wars, they took greatest issue with what they perceived to be Nikki's lack of leadership in an Italian-focused challenge and sent her home.

Nikki took some time to speak with us at BuddyTV about her time on Top Chef 4. Read on for the highlights and the full mp3 of the interview.

Nikki explains that while teammate Dale Talde made a lot of noise about how much work he did, she said that actually if we had looked at prep lists as he had suggested, we would have seen that actually he really didn't do the lion's share. She thinks it's because of his focus on the protein – which is the centerpiece of most dishes – that made him feel like he was contributing the most, but she, Lisa Fernandes and Spike Mendelsohn had plenty to do on their team. She notes that Dale seems to be the kind of guy who likes to take on too much and then complain about it.

She has big plans for the future after Top Chef, including a new venture that she will be announcing in the near term. She's also going to be starting a service clothing line, with wear for both the front and back of the house.

New York area Top Chef fans should keep an eye out for her new place, and chefs, hosts and servers across the country watch for her new clothes line over coming weeks and months.

- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of Bravo)