At 17, Rhoda Magbitang arrived in California from her native Philippines. A quarter-century later after countless hours logged in some of the nation’s finest commercial kitchens, she has truly arrived — as an embodiment of the American dream.

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At 17, Rhoda Magbitang arrived in California from her native Philippines. A quarter-century later after countless hours logged in some of the nation’s finest commercial kitchens, she has truly arrived — as an embodiment of the American dream.

“You know, coming here with basically nothing, if you just apply yourself and just work really hard — I mean, that’s such an oversimplification, it’s almost criminal to say it like that. But it’s true,” Magbitang, 42, told the Tribune-Herald on Thursday.

Currently the executive chef at CanoeHouse at Mauna Lani resort, Magbitang claimed the title of “Top Chef” in the 23rd season of the popular Bravo TV cooking competition, which took place in the Carolinas. Despite her success, she remains grounded and seemed genuinely surprised at the interest garnered by her winning the show’s finale, which aired Monday.

“I thought it was a big deal. I didn’t know that everybody else would think so, as well,” she said.

Magbitang doesn’t usually serve Filipino food at CanoeHouse, a posh oceanfront eatery on Kohala’s Gold Coast. For the finale of “Top Chef,” however, she returned to her roots, serving a four-course meal featuring Filipino cuisine for a judges’ table of culinary heavyweights.

“For me, I knew what I wanted to do, and I just had to follow my heart — and everything else, I just had to trust would fall into place,” she said. “Maybe not everything was as perfect as I intended as far as the flavors, but I do believe it was the right menu to serve.”

Cooking against the other two finalists, chefs Sherry Cardoso and Laurence Louie, Magbitang served lugaw, a Filipino rice porridge, torta, which is a fried eggplant omelet, and kaldereta, a stew with braised short rib she pressure-cooked to perfection. While her entire meal was well-received, it was her appetizer of roasted sweet potatoes with miso butter, topped with fresh uni and charred sweet potato leaves, that wowed the judges.

Chef Tom Colicchio, the show’s chief judge who’s won eight James Beard awards, said during the finale he had never experienced anything like that dish — and the other diners agreed. Magbitang said the dish was an homage to her California culinary roots, a concept she developed while she was executive chef at The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos, Calif.

“I became really good friends with this sea urchin diver. Her name is Stephanie,” Magbitang said. “And she would bring me the most beautiful uni. And I created this experience for the guests; it’s called ‘the uni experience’ — where I teach them how to open up an uni and clean it. And then, we’d do a wine pairing with three different snacks with uni in them. And one of those snacks is a sweet potato with uni and black garlic and yuzu aioli. It’s a very different combination than what I served in the ‘Top Chef’ finale, but the sweet potato and uni are both present.

“I know those flavors work, and I thoroughly enjoy it. So, I decided to honor California by serving uni with a little nod to North Carolina with the sweet potato.”

More than 300,000 Filipinos and Filipino-Americans call Hawaii home, and Magbitang said reaction among Filipinos — including the majority of her kitchen crew — has been “heartwarming and cool.”

“They see you through a different lens, with so much admiration and respect — and just pride,” she said. “I mean, being able to be represented on such a huge stage and making the dishes that I made in the finale and led me to a win, and them knowing exactly what those flavors are that they grew up eating, now they have confirmation that it can compete on a national stage.”

The finalists were surprised by family members visiting for a last dinner and staying for host Kristen Kish’s pronouncement of the winner. For Magbitang, the oldest of six siblings, it was her sister Katrina, who’s a year-and-a-half younger.

“We came to this country together, and it just seemed appropriate that she’s right there in that moment with me,” Magbitang said. “I believe in kismet. I believe in just the whole destiny of it all. I felt like she was supposed to be there.”

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Shooting wrapped about six months before the final episode aired, and cheftestants are contractually sworn to keep show results secret. Magbitang said it was “not that difficult, actually.”

“Obviously, my sister knew because she was there with me. And we have a group chat with all the other chefs in the season,” she said. “So, anytime we want to talk about anything that has to do with ‘Top Chef,’ we just talk about it together.

“You know, we’ve gotten very close, and we all kind of just lean into each other. It’s also very easy to just bury yourself in work and all the other fun stuff that you get to do.”

One ‘Top Chef” contestant Magbitang leans into is Duyen Ha, a Michelin-trained Vietnamese-American chef Magbitang referred to as “a great friend.”

“I’m actually going to Chicago with her this weekend to go the James Beard Awards, and she’s going to be doing a pop-up with me here at Mauna Lani in September,” she said.

Chefs who do well on “Top Chef” — winners or not — are usually presented a multitude of opportunities, many of which involve travel.

“I’m thinking about just pitching a tent at the Kona airport and just sleeping in the parking lot,” Magbitang quipped. “There’s a lot coming up. But, you know, this is what I signed up for.

“I’m completely and utterly grateful for what’s coming. I know there’s work attached to a lot of it, but I’m looking forward to the fun things.”

And, having pocketed $250,000 as “Top Chef” and another $40,000 in “quickfire cash,” Magbitang can travel wherever she wants without a sponsor obligation awaiting her arrival.

“My mom’s dream has always been to go to Switzerland, so I’m probably going to take her there,” she said. “But beyond that, eventually, at some point, I have maybe some more serious travel plans that involves a lot of restaurants and food and just a lot of discovery in general.”

Despite her success on “Top Chef” and all the opportunities winning the show creates, Magbitang said she isn’t planning to open her own restaurant.

“The Mauna Lani and Auberge have been extremely instrumental to my success at this point in my career,” she said. “And I’d like to give back, not just to the company, but the people I work with — my prep cooks, my line cooks, my dishwashers, my servers. I feel like my success is their success, and I’d like to share it with them. And I want to keep honoring where I live, the Big Island.

“The support has been just overwhelming. And I love it here. What’s not to love?”

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Email John Burnett at [email protected].