'Top Chef' Winner Harold Dieterle Says in Food & Wine Magazine's July Issue: ``I Usually Say What's on My Mind'' in Regards to Being the Low-Key Chef.

NEW YORK -- Dieterle reveals how he plans to spend his $100,000 prize, what he learned from Bravo's reality show, and how he started cooking to meet girls

"I usually say what's on my mind, but some people on this show were so outspoken that I couldn't. I just ended up sitting back and taking it all in," admits 'Top Chef' winner Harold Dieterle, insisting that his courtliness on the Bravo's contest reality show was a departure for him.

In Food & Wine magazine's July issue, Dieterle dishes about his experience on 'Top Chef,' saying flexibility is his biggest lesson.

"This is the food service industry," Dieterle shares, "I don't care how a menu reads. If you come in and want something to eat, I'm going to do everything I can to make it for you."

Now, he is focusing on opening his lower Manhattan restaurant, which will likely be seasonal new American with Southeast Asian accents.

On his $100,000 winnings, he divulges a few of ideas on how he'll spend the prize money:

--Ebony-handled, mirror-finished, Honyaki Yanagi Knife ($1,150): "The greatest knife-making company in the world," says Dieterle.

--Get the Beastie Boys to Play his Restaurant Opening Night ($15,000): Dieterle is hoping they will cut a fellow New Yorker a deal. They usually charge $1 million.

--Smuggling an Asian Kaffir Lime Tree Into NYC ($750): "I'm obsessed with the leaves and fruit," he admits.

--Stainless Steel Rolex Submariner ($4,500): "Chefs are always against the clock," Dieterle says.

--Tabletops ($30,000): He wants to hire a craftsman to make 22 of them, from 200-year-old oak trees, for his new restaurant.

Dieterle confesses that he started cooking as a way to meet girls in his West Babylon, New York, high school's home economics class.

Of Harold, regular judge Gail Simmons of Food & Wine says, "The point (of 'Top Chef') is learning to think outside the box, to be creative. And by the end Harold was able to get over that what-the-hell-is-this reaction and do something inventive with the different tasks."

Food & Wine published two recipes from the Top Chef: Mortadella Sandwiches with Grapes, Mushrooms and Tapenade, which will be served at Tom Colicchio's new 'wichcraft in San Francisco, and Crab Salad with Avocado and Mango.

Dieterle's days of challenges are not behind him yet. The 29-year-old New York City chef will be competing at the 24th annual Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen (June 16-18).

For more, visit www.foodandwine.com. This issue will be on newsstands June 15.

Food & Wine is the modern, stylish, trend-spotting, talent-seeking epicurean magazine. Owned by American Express Publishing, the leader in luxury lifestyle magazines, Food & Wine has a circulation of nearly 1 million.