In the kitchen at the Marriott Hollywood Beach, executive chef Ron Duprat is deftly garnishing plates, coaxing a laugh from his staff and showing off dishes from his new menu.

At home amid room service carts, restaurant patrons, conference goers and a small army of cooks, Duprat is far from his grandmother's kitchen in Mare Rouge in rural northwest Haiti. But his journey to South Florida allowed him to turn those moments with his grandmother into an unexpected career -- and an even more unexpected spot on Bravo's Top Chef.

``I grew up in a poor family in Haiti,'' says Duprat, one of 10 children whose parents grew food crops and raised chickens. ``We stretched everything.''

When he arrived here at 16 after 27 days aboard a raft, he connected with a friend from Haiti who helped him get a job as a dishwasher at an Italian restaurant in Naples.

``From there, life began,'' says Duprat, now 40.

The restaurant owner saw his potential and paid Duprat's way to culinary school, Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in Burgundy, France. He worked at the Noble House and Pelican Bay in Naples and the Montauk Yacht Club in New York before taking over the kitchen at Hollywood Beach 18 months ago.

Duprat says he had not seen Top Chef before being contacted by Bravo, which found him through its network of foodies. Casting director Nick Gilhool says the popular culinary reality show looks for ``chef-testants'' with a unique approach and real cooking chops.

``He definitely had that,'' Gilhool says. ``We also just look for something that we don't know until we see it. We were very taken with his story.''

On the season's first episode in August (the show airs at 10 p.m. Wednesdays), the 17 contestants were each asked to create a dish inspired by a personal vice.

Duprat chose that fateful voyage from Haiti as his muse. Although it wasn't exactly a vice, the judges liked the resulting dish, poached halibut with ratatouille and parsley coulis.

``We could not help but appreciate his use of bright island flavors, ever symbolic of hope and a fresh start,'' wrote judge Gail Simmons of Food & Wine magazine.

Gilhool says Duprat's gregarious personality was key to making him castworthy.

During an episode on a ranch in which the chefs had to sleep in tents the night before cooking a feast for cowboys, Duprat scouted for a machete to the mild horror of other contestants. He says he just wanted the right tool for cracking the coconuts he planned to use as cups for drinks to go with his meal.

On the same episode, he surrounded his tent with branches, a move some viewers may have misinterpreted, he says.

``I'm a snake-o-phobic,'' he says. ``I'm not voodoo.''

Duprat was eliminated in episode six after a challenge in which the chefs were supposed to deconstruct their dishes -- essentially present them in their component parts. The judges were bewildered by his seemingly intact paella.

``He showed a stunning failure of imagination in his approach to the challenge,'' head judge and New York chef-restaurateur Tom Colicchio wrote on his blog. ``Off the top of my head, I can think of countless ways to deconstruct paella. How about making a risotto cake with a ragout of all the shellfish alongside it?''

The not-so-demure chef exited the show graciously but disagrees with the judges.

``I will do it again the same way.''

Duprat describes his cooking style as a fusion of classic French and Haitian flavors. Earlier this month, he unveiled the first Marriott menu to bear his distinct stamp. There's a shrimp and goat cheese pizza, a lobster crab cake sandwich and the Latitudes salmon, named for the hotel restaurant, which pairs the fish with spiced tomato broth, Napa cabbage and saffron rice.

Though he works long hours, he finds time to volunteer with FLIPANY, Florida Introduces Physical Activity and Nutrition to Youth, which teaches low-income children meal preparation, nutrition, food safety, menu planning, food budgeting and healthy snacking. (After taking some ribbing about his own size following his appearance on the show, Duprat says he's trying to get in shape.)

Duprat says his Marriott bosses worried that he would leave for other opportunities after Top Chef, but the married father of three seems content as he looks out at the turquoise and teal waves from his hotel restaurant.

``I think I'm the luckiest chef in the world,'' he says.

The Top Chef title -- to be awarded on the season finale Dec. 9 -- may be out of his grasp, but Duprat still has a shot at the $10,000 fan-favorite prize. (Voting instructions -- along with his halibut recipe -- are at www.bravotv.com/top-chef.)

That's far less than the $100,000 the big winner gets to open his or her own place, but Duprat says that isn't his ultimate goal.

``My main thing is not to open a restaurant but to open a culinary institute in Haiti,'' he said. ``My grandmother always said it's better to teach someone how to fish than to give them a fish.''