When it comes to cooking competition shows, the two that consistently make the grade are Bravo's Top Chef and Fox's Hell's Kitchen. But while the two shows are ostensibly both about aspiring chefs competing for a prime position -- to beat the competition and emerge as number one -- there are really more things about the shows that separate them.

In terms of quality competition, food expertise and cooking skills, Top Chef is superior to Hell's Kitchen. They're both fun to watch, and I have followed every season of each of them. But the main thing they have in common is the kitchen. Read my five reasons and see if you don't agree with me that Top Chef has it all over Hell's Kitchen.

1. Point of the show
What the heck is the point of Hell's Kitchen? The show claims that the winner will get a one-year contract as the executive chef at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant -- this season it's the Borgata in Atlantic City. In order to win, the contestant has to survive the competition by pleasing Gordon. It's all about Ramsay. Doing it his way. Cooking his dishes. Bending to his will, proving his/her cooking chops only to Mr. Ramsay. He's the ultimate Michelin star. You also have endure his yelling at you like a drill sergeant. Nobody yells on Top Chef. The contestants are given numerous challenges involving all kinds of dishes. They have to be creative and intuitive. If you're on Hell's Kitchen, the main goal is to perfect the lobster spaghetti, the beef Wellington, the risotto. Occasionally, the grunts are asked to cook something, but that's usually just an excuse for Gordon to spit out the results. Top Chef rewards the winner with $100,000 to apply to their career, one that is by and large not connected to the show. Hell's Kitchen winners still have to work for Ramsay.

2. Gordon Ramsay vs. Tom Colicchio
I think Chef Gordon Ramsay is terrific. I've watched his BBC America shows, however, and he seems like a different person. He's still caustic and foul-mouthed, but he also really cooks and gets into the kitchen. In Hell's Kitchen, Gordon is like the warden in a prison. Top Chef also has a strong chef in a leadership role, Tom Colicchio. And like Ramsay, Chef Tom has a reputation built on successful restaurants from coast to coast. On TC, Tom is the main judge, but he's not the only one. There are guest chefs of the highest order -- like Eric Ripert and Wyle Dufresne -- plus Food & Wine Magazine's Gail Simmons, Toby Young, Ted Allen, et. al. On Hell's Kitchen, only Ramsay matters, and every dish is his recipe in his style. That makes the chefs basically drones. Occasionally, they get the chance to create -- like the abysmal bar mitzvah episode -- but as viewers, we never get into the food and how it was created. On TC, the food comes from the competitors, and we know how they came up with the dishes and why. The food is the star as much as the chefs.

3. Class structure
It's hard to believe the titles attached to some of the contestants on Hell's Kitchen, I mean seriously. Some of those participants boast titles like Executive Chef or the head mistress of a culinary school, but they can't figure out how to cook pasta. On the other hand, there have been line cooks and self-taught chefs on Top Chef, like Mike who was a Bennigans/Friday's cook, but they just don't seem as low rent as the Hell's Kitchen crews. It's like the HK recruits have to pass a Fox Reality Test, meaning they're ready to throwdown and rumble at the drop of a hat. They also have to act impressed by Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous rewards ("We're taking a helicopter to a spa!") or suffer humiliating punishments (going through the garbage after a dinner service to assess the level of wasted food). Top Chef doesn't punish the chefs. Of course, one funny truth is that while the perception of Hell's Kitchen is that they're blue collar and apt to explode into violence, it was on Top Chef that two contestants jumped Marcel in season two and tried to shave his head. They were drunk at the time, but still.

4. Cooking skills
Have you noticed that you never learn a single thing about cooking on Hell's Kitchen? Do you know how to make the tomato butter sauce or that mushroom risotto? They've been serving the latter every season and Gordon has yet to give a lesson in the art of making risotto. You know how the beef Wellingtons burn all the time? Why not teach viewers how to make one at home? Over on Top Chef, not only do you see the chefs actually making dishes, over on the website they break it down, show you how, and offer recipes. The goal of Hell's Kitchen is to get through the service, to complete the night by getting all the customers fed. The goal of Top Chef is dependent on each week's challenge. The TC contestants have to master more skills than just feeding a restaurant with the same dishes week in and week out.

5. Where would you want to eat?
Ultimately, ask yourself this question: would you rather eat the food created in Hell's Kitchen or would you rather try the Top Chef fare? For me the answer is simple. Top Chef. Whether it's Harold, Stephanie, Ilan, Hung or Hosea, I would welcome anything created by these Top Chef winners -- even the runner-ups, like Tiffani or Richard or Marcel. I can't say the same thing about the Hell's Kitchen winners. I can't even remember much about them because, essentially, they are not personalities. They are made in Ramsay's image and meant to be disposable once the show is over.