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Next Iron Chef
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| Photo | HughE Dillon, phillychitchat.com |
For those of you who were fixated on Desperate Housewives and/or that chintzy Eagles W last night and missed the news, we're about to ruin it for you: Philly's Jose Garces is now an Iron Chef, joining the "veritable pantheon" of Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, Mario Batali, Cat Cora and Michael Symon atop those uber-dramatic raised platforms in Kitchen Stadium. Meal Ticket was in the place at Garces' Distrito last night for a viewing party that swept up the entire two-story restaurant in a tequila-fueled whirlwind of culinary revelry. Though we'd be lying if we said that the scale of the bash didn't serve as a giant tell of Garces' victory, there was still a hint of anticipation floating in the air as our dude's "ribs and racks"-centric battle against NYC pastry supervillain Jehangir Mehta began.
The chef and his family, joined by third-place contestant Seamus Mullen, watched the action unfold in Distrito's hidden karaoke room. As soon as the Iron Chef chairman dropped Garces' name, the place erupted, and it wasn't long before the champ materialized and began working his way through the crowd, high-fiving and hugging folks like he'd just won the World Cup on PKs. He eventually made his way upstairs, only to be pinned between the luchador wrestling mask wall and the bathrooms by a throng of photo snappers, hand shakers and shrieking well-wishers. Good on ya, Jose.
Food Network tells us that Garces' first battle on Iron Chef America will air on Jan. 17 � it'll be Philly versus Seattle this time, as our dude will take on chef Rachel Yang of that city's Joule.
There's a spirited opinion thread popping off on our Nov. 16 post on the show. Now that Garces has sealed the deal, what do you think? Let us know in the comments.
Thanks to HughE Dillon of Philly Chit Chat for the nice shot of Garces above (see HughE's recap here). After the jump, a few non-pro shots of Garces getting mobbed, and the crowd in general. (You can check out live updates from last night by peeping our Twitter or searching the "#ironchefgarces" hash tag.)
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| Photos | Drew Lazor |
En hora buena, Jose!Felicidades, y que realmente realizes tus suenos! Oh, by the way, put Philly on the map! Muchos abrazos, Sharon Gonzalez
Social comments and analytics for this post... This post was mentioned on Twitter by mealticket: Report/pics from last night's "Next Iron Chef" party at Distrito: http://tr.im/FA0c #ironchefgarces...
[...] Foie gras scrapple at Silk City • Burger Maestro opens tomorrow• NOW OPEN: Pho Saigon• Jose Garces is The Next Iron Chef• IN PRINT: Meal Ticket tackles Autumn 2009• Check out Meal Ticket's Felicia D in Grub [...]
[...] celebration a giant tell of Carroll’s victory on the show’s sixth season, a la the big-ass party Jose Garces threw at Distrito when he became an Iron Chef? It’s tempting to say yes � but first we gotta check on the [...]
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| Courtesy of Food Network | |
They have a great repertoire.The spices garnish the food very effectively.
Personally, I think they are both very talented chiefs. I'm rooting for Chef Mehta, however.
Viewing party... we know who won then Congrats Iron Chef Garces
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| Courtesy of Food Network |
Not to jinx our dude or anything, but if you caught last night's penultimate episode of The Next Iron Chef on Food Network, you'll agree with us that Jose Garces looks pretty good to win the title of Iron Chef over New York-based pastry supervillain chef Jehangir Mehta. (Sorry we haven't been following the series with the same vim as Top Chef � there are only so many two of us!) We have to admit that Garces, ever the master of downplaying himself, spoke with the slight lilt of a champion when we talked to him back in September, and now we've learned that he's throwing a restaurant-wide viewing party at Distrito for the finale airing this Sunday. Interesting.
More on the Garces/Mehta matchup soon.
ICA or NIC will never have blind judging because they watch the whole thing the whole time.. if u are talking abt a 'throwdown' style judging i doubt that too... the show is slanted to let its house contestants win.. i had a major problem with Melissa DArabian winning over Jeff Saad, but i remember one of the judges kept bringing up the virtue of capturing a demographic like home-moms... i think its fair to say the Latin demography is more important than the smaller indian demography.. thats not race, its just business... you cater to who brings in business.. i just find flay's silence during the judging awkward, it was clear that it was either a 4-2 or 3-3 vote with all 3 ICs voting Garces... what is not fair is that the ICs have equal voice like the judges without history of chefs' other dishes.. this is gonnab one bland show and i hv no respect for Symon... classless comment... good luck to Garces... but ICA has lost me
I find it funny that we have such strong opinions about the contestants and their food when NONE of us have even TASTED a single dish. Considering how many of us have come to such strong conclusions about who the winner should be, it would only be expected that the judges are influenced by factors other than the food. The comment about the judges tasting the dishes without knowing who prepared them was spot on.
@ Jessica: The reason people expected Chef Garces to win the Mexican challenge was because Chef Garces runs a Mexican restaurant! So it�s a shocker that he failed to top there! I concur with you about the fact that a chef�s personal background and his/her culinary inclinations are not co-related. That holds true in case of Chef Mehta too! Chef Mehta specializes in Eclectic cuisine and not in Indian cuisine alone. He has shown that he can tackle different cuisines with equal finesse. The ease with which he adapts to different ingredients shows his depth of knowledge and his experience in different cuisines. The advantage that Chef Mehta has over Chef Garces is his ability to be innovative and creative. A good chef serves good food but a great chef serves good experience. With Chef Mehta it is not only about the food but also about the experience he serves along with it. That is what makes him the best!
[...] a spirited opinion thread popping off on our Nov. 16 post on the show. Now that Garces has sealed the deal, what do you think? Let us know in the [...]
Garces DID beat Bobby in his ICA debut so he has demonstrated some legit chops. Also, let's no forget. This is television...it needs ratings. It's not a college football game or admissions test into Harvard. The Food Network can put whoever they want on the show and under whatever conditions they want to do that. Was Garces pre-selected to win? Who knows... He had to go earn it after however many episodes. Another woman besides Cat or Mehta would have given the Food Network as much demographic pull. I think it is interesting that in a very short time we live in a society that celebrates competition of art, design, food and fashion as much as pro team sports. That's a good thing right?
Wow.. good finish... the dishes all seemed ICA worthy... i did find it wierd that the iron chefs who hadnt experienced either chefs' food had equal say in the final vote... maybe only 2 judges of IC plus 3 regular judges... the Iron chefs were sold on the execution and not creativity and that sealed the deal... imagine if u are mehta, you are kicking yourself over some undone meat and raw fries... bummer.. but garces had his raw cartlidge too.. i do think Garces would be good in ICA.. not sure innovative but surely consistent
The reason all were bitching mehta is because he really is a villain. In some episodes he hide ingredients so other chef could not used. He sabotage other people dishes by taking all the ingredients before they could used it, and he did it to Iron Chef Jose with the grape leaves. Sometimes he used a pot for a long time, so others could not used it. Iron Chef Jose Garces is the Best suited to carry the title Iron Chef. He is not arrogant, he have confidence. He know how to cook, and cares for what is more important "FLAVOR". Not for firework, like Mehta. How could he just give a RAW burger. He is a Chef, he needs to be careful of this. When you cook, what is more important is the flavor and how you handle the ingredients. It was like Iron Chef Symon said before, "are you creative or a failure?"
Response to Jessica:
Whoa, let's not get too Calabrese. As a Latino who is not Mexican, I agree with the spine of your post; your specific conclusions, however, miss the mark. There are no guarantees in life; if one is to guess (and what more is there to being human than to guess), then its not terribly inhuman to guess that a Latino knows more about Mexican food than an Indian, or that a Korean knows more about Japanese food, or a Spaniard more about Portuguese food. It hardly seems necessary to ridicule nathan for making similar assumptions. Furthermore, it's the very nature of this show's producers to play upon those common assumptions, in order to create dramatic tension and surprise; shouldn't you first criticize the show itself for employing such crass social manipulations?Thanks Jessica, that was a classy post...
It has been obvious that Garces would be the next Iron Chef since before the show aired.Any one whom saw his performance and comentary on Iron Chef America would know this. His performance is not the reason why he is to be the next Iron Chef. Along with the Spanish language commercials on the Food Network, the network wants and needs more Latin/Spanish "stars". Obviously is pandering to the Latin population as is the rest of America, the show was decided long before its airing. This from a Cuban guy fed up with all this. Graias..Muchas Gracias
I am sad that Chef Mehtha lost and did not become the next iron chef. Ia still proud of this chef because he is very humble and rarely bitched about other chefs and thier cooking style throughout the competition.I watched the last 2 episodes where the other 2 chefs bitching about chef mehtha's colourful plating sytle for lack of creativity and judging him and those 2 judges sounded arrogant.
Response to Nathan: Are you serious, you just demonstrated to all of us how ignorant you are. Just because a person is hispanic/latino does not mean they are Mexican, Chef Garces is Ecuadorian!! And no, just because you are Latino does not mean you know more about Latino food, it's like saying that a Japanese person is likely to know more about Chinese food than a French person. You are a joke, think before you speak please.
It's a surprise for me why people consider Chef Jehangir Mehta a supervillain of cooking. He is very creative in his dishes. He was beaten by one of the Iron Chef(I think was Bobby) for only a point. Chef Garces looks an arrogant for me and looks ridiculous how he pronunces his name with a gringo accent when he is a first generation of Americans from Ecuadorean parents. Many children of immigrants are proud of their parents culture and language. Or prehaps his parents never teach him Spanish.
I don't know if anyone else noticed that this show was rigged from the beginning. It was so obvious that they were looking for a minority to add a bit of new flavor & coloring (pun) to the existing chefs. And with the growing Latin population, it was inevitable, or should I say so predictable. The others had no chance at all. Most of the Food Network competitions are prejudice. What I'd like to see is "blind-tasting" events, especially with the Iron Chef competitions, and Chopped. It's astonishing that the opponent never wins. So, take away the cameras within the kitchen area & allow the judges to taste the foods without the chefs personal presentations, and let the chips fall where they may. Who's with me, huh?
Well this episode was shot long back and Chef Garces is hosting a 2floor viewing party... they took the suspense out of it.. shudnt it be against the rules or something .. the whole 'suspense' is gone...
Chef Mehta has the Iron Chef potential. Chef Graces is ok and doesnt jump out as far as his food is concern. Graces just play it too safe with familiar food and presentation . Many chef are capable of whipping up dishes but few are able to move beyond to Innovate a dish. Not as a disrespect, the only true iron chef in the Iron chef America line up is Chef Morimoto and grossly underrated and Flay is grossly overrated . I don't remember most of his dishes but Morimoto's dishes and presentation lingers on me. Similarly Graces present existing food with his own flare..not innovating...very forgettable. The truth is Chef Metha create flavorful and dare to be different. Let's admit..who wants another boring flay like chef. ..bring on Morimoto like chef calibrate anytime for me. my vote is to Metha
I absolutly cannot stand Mehta's personality...not to mention his obsessed eyes, Garcia does nothing for me... in all honesty Amanda Freitag should have won..she competed well against Flay when she was on the show. She is an amazing chef.. they really got it wrong this year.. what iron chef needs is new judges and to fire THE MAN WHO EATS EVERYTHING.
Wow.. all this hate for Chef Mehta... hope most of you are aware the TVshows clipped versions of a marathon... anyway the fix is in, they need a latin flavor profile and Garces is the deault ... he has been saying that for weeks on the show and to boot he has a viewing party on the day of final episode... For those who cry abt Mehta getting an upperhand in the Indian challenge, didnt Garces get the upperhand in the Mexican challenge the previous week... and ironically Mehta wins Mexican week and Garces wins Indian week i still dont get the hate... i dont mind either one winning, its clear who has won though...
I think if Mehta wins, he has compromising photos of Alton Brown with a lobster crammed in his ass or something. There's no other way. I feel like Mehta is the Project Runway contestant on the show. His presentations are always over-the-top and quite fierce....but is that really an Iron Chef? He kept using the ice cream machine to prove a point. Marcel tried that ish on TC and look what it got him. 2nd place. Don't try to outsmart/snark the judges. They hate that. Sure Flay is an ass, and Batali is kind of a bag, but all of them are classyish folks that are serious about food. Mehta is not Iron in any way I've seen.
It has been interesting to see the difference between this series and the last. The first had good natured sparring that you see on ICA all the time, but moments where chefs would help each other out. In series 2, it is win at any cost. Lie, hide or steal ingredients / equipment (this is called "strategy"), bad mouth others work - It's all fair in the new world, far away from the Japanese honor code and the shows roots. Of the two remaining, both have become so arrogant that neither man would keep me watching an ICA episode. I have to agree with Pat (although for different reasons), Freitag possessed some honor, and humor, she could cook and I would have liked to see her win.
[...] down to two: New York’s Jehangir Mehta (chef-owner of Graffiti) and Philadelphia-based Jose Garces. We caught up with both finalists via conference call this afternoon; the chefs dished on ethics, [...]
I've been watching next Iron chef since the begin, I'm pleased to see a Latin chef in the final two. Jose Garces is definite Iron Chef material, PS he is cute too!!
Might never forgive you for no recaps of this. :( Okay, I will if Garces wins. Hold your breath.
I have no idea why Jehangir is still there. I was sure so many times he was going to be booted, for his ice cream messes that turned into puddings and shakes, for that vile combination of bizarre take out boxes, but he remains. His energy is so frenetic and scattered that I can't bear to watch him, and certainly will never watch him if by some bizarre twist of the planets, he wins. I like Garces and hope he wins, but I was really pulling for Amanda Freitag. She's been so consistently good. The episode where she was booted totally confused me. The judges had highly negative comments about Jehangir's giant oysters and the overall messiness of Garces' bento box, and Dr. Hattori himself said Freitag's bento box had the best umami. But then she's booted for not having enough umami? I think she was kicked off simply because women cannot stand to see other women succeed, and the two female judges have been especially vile to Freitag right from the beginning. If they'd had male judges, I think Freitag would have a shot at winning.
Could not agree more. Thanks for the heads up on the finale party, I've been dying to dine Garces while watching Garces...he's the MAN! We should be thankful as Philadelphians for his representation!
Mehta was appalling right from the start. Definitely not iron chef material. Garces on the other hand showed solid cooking skills. His victory was well deserved.
Watching on TV I really can't say how each chef's food tastes, we have to leave that to the judges discretion. But, what makes me lean towards Mehta is that atleast he does'nt drop is sweat in the food. I mean for God's sake whats wrong with Garcia..if you look back at the challenge, in every episode he is so sweaty with sweat dripping from his brow...eeew that makes me loose my apetite...
After the jump, chef Jose Garces touches base with Meal Ticket to talk about his upcoming appearance on The Next Iron Chef (debuting Oct. 4 on Food Network), food TV, his new restaurant project and more. Garces can't say too much about the show just yet � the Iron Chef America victor is competing to join Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, Mario Batali, Cat Cora and Michael Symon as a titan of Kitchen Stadium � but check out what we got him to share.
You just opened Village Whiskey. How's it unfolding so far? How many Whiskey King burgers are you selling?
It's been unfolding greatly for us. It's been really well-received, and we're excited about it. How could you not be excited about bourbon and burgers? And the Whiskey King, that's a pretty decadent, tasty morsel ... let's go on a per-night basis. For example, on Friday night [Sept. 4], we sold 140 burgers, and of those 140, 40 were Whiskey Kings and 100 were Village Burgers.
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| Courtesy of Food Network |
How did your appearance on The Next Iron Chef [TNIC] come about?
Well, as you know, I did compete against Bobby Flay. They had that piece of footage, and I cooked and did pretty well on the show, and I guess [they selected me] based on that. I did interviews for the first season of The Next Iron Chef, but I didn't make the cut for that one. So I'm glad I was able to come back for the second season. I think [the first season] was a pretty stacked lineup.
There's been speculation that you missed this year's James Beard Awards, where you won Best Chef Mid-Atlantic, because you were off filming TNIC. Any truth to that?
Yeah, the show was taped during the spring, and it happened to land during the James Beard Awards. It was a really tough decision to make, but I weighed both options. The James Beard Awards has been something I've been working toward most of my career, so I was somewhat disheartened not to be there, but I was well-represented by my wife and my brother and my director of operations.
Plenty of people have asked us if you were approached to do Top Chef Masters.
No, actually. I haven't been asked to do Top Chef Masters.
How many of the other TNIC competitors did you know personally prior to the competition?
I knew of some of the other competitors, but personally, I knew only Roberto Trevino, because we've done some events before in the past.
From the looks of the first episode, it seems that the competition is going to be pretty intense, as Iron Chef is a huge title. What were interactions like off-camera? Were you friendly, or was too much at stake to get really buddy-buddy?
I think that it definitely was really competitive, and especially during the first episode. During that time leading up to the first episode, it was a lot of feeling each other out, people getting to know each other. Obviously, with what was at stake, it was highly competitive, with that energy, that aura, that competitive nature in and around at all times. My focus going into it, my goal, was to go in and win, and be the next Iron Chef. It was good to meet people, but when it came down to it, that ultimate goal was what was in my sights.
You have an insane schedule as it is. If you were to win this competition, how would you fit filming Iron Chef episodes into your itinerary?
I'm a huge fan of the show, and I highly respect the chefs that are Iron Chefs, so I would take it very seriously. I would definitely set some time aside. I'm flexible enough right now in my career and in my company that I can do that. If I did become that person, I would definitely put a lot into it.
Is it difficult to keep a straight face when you hear some of the over-the-top things Iron Chef chairman [actor Mark Dacascos] says? The stuff he says is so campy. What is he like in real life? Is he really intense, or kinda zen?
I think you're pretty accurate on that ��the chairman's routine is pretty funny, but when you have such high stakes on the line, you can't help but take it very seriously. You definitely crack a smile and there is some humor to it, but the competitive nature [of the show] kept me pretty serious. Off-camera, he was very nice, very charming and I think he wanted to make all the competitors feel welcome and comfortable more than anything else. I could see myself having a beer with him.
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| Courtesy of Food Network |
On shows like this, there's often a lot of strategy and gamesmanship � sometimes, people in these types of culinary competitions get eliminated for reasons not exclusively dealing with their cooking. Do you think this devalues the art of cooking in general?
I feel like of all the cooking shows out there, I think Iron Chef definitely has the most credibility compared to the other shows. Starting from the first episode, it was apparent to me that it's definitely more about the cooking than a lot of the other shows, some of which can be kind of gimmicky [or] a little more whimsical. Even on Top Chef Masters, on the first episode, they had these great chefs cooking in a dormitory with toaster ovens. That takes away from who you are as a chef. I'm happy to say that on The Next Iron Chef, I definitely felt like it was about the cooking 100 percent � whose food was the best.
In the first episode you identify Seamus Mullen, of New York's Boqueria, as your heaviest competition on the show. Is that because he also does Spanish food?
I think that on the first episode, I felt that his confidence level was very high. Some of the food he did on the first episode was pretty solid, and of all the competitors I felt he had the most confidence.
Were there certain things � aspects of personality, maybe � that you gauged when sizing up your competitors that you also look for when hiring chefs for your kitchens?
It's a hard read, you know? I've seen people, although they're quiet or introverted, who can cook their tails off. I've also seen chefs who are really confident and talk a huge game about food and their expertise, but when they get into the kitchen, it's a whole different story. Then there's the end results, what happens during the battles, what happens during the presentations ... there's a lot of factors that are involved.
What can you tell us about your forthcoming Garces Trading Company at 1111 Locust Street?
The Trading Company is going great. We already started our commissary. The Trading Company has three functions. The commissary is one, so it's a producer of different products for all the restaurants � pastry and bread production, [our] charcuterie production and sausage making, the [meat] grinds for the burgers [at Village Whiskey] ... that's all being done out of that operation. Then we're going into construction in the next couple weeks to set up what will almost be like a market with a wine cellar. We have a partnership with the PLCB, so it'll be a wine, cheese and charcuterie shop, as well as a caf�. We'll launch our Garces Trading Company coffee there. [The caf�] will be eat in for lunch, and [for] dinner we'll convert it into a full-service restaurant. The experience should be you walking into a wine cellar, picking up one of these exclusive bottles of wine only available there � we'll have 200 selections � and then you can sit in our caf� and we'll give you some food that matches that wine. [It will open] around November 15.
Finally, we've heard a few rumors that your friend, chef Marc Vetri, recently filmed an episode of Iron Chef America. So?
I cannot confirm or deny that.
Just saw him battle Bobby Flay on Iron Chef on Saturday the 12th. I ain't watch it to the end but the secret ingredient was melon, and each dish must have one frozen element. There was some pretty interesting stuff. Still haven't tried Village whiskey yet though but hearing great things about it. Jayson werth was just spotted there :)
awesome interview, drew -- we went to village whiskey last week and it was incredible. most low-key, unpretentious of the garces bunch as far as i can tell (even with the big man himself hanging out at the end of the bar). i wasn't up for the whiskey king challenge, but the village burger with avocado and chevre kicked every other burger i've had in philly into submission. also, i could eat about seven orders of those cheese puffs. yums.
[...] INTERVIEW: Jose Garces talks The Next Iron Chef [Meal Ticket] Jose Garces Next Iron Chef Bio [Food Network] geopress_addEvent(window,"load", function() { geopress_makemap(113091,"Garces Trading Co.",39.9476589,-75.1599966,"google",Mapstraction.ROAD, { pan: true, zoom: 'small', overview: false, scale: false, map_type: false },15) }); [...] Anyone know if his partnership with PLCB requires him to keep his wine at 80 degrees and have idiots running the store?
[...] Season 2 contestant Jose Garces recently did an interview with The Philadelphia City Paper’s MealTicket Blog. Among other things, he talked about Mark’s role as The Chairman of TNIC, airing on Food [...]
[...] interview with Jose Garces at Meal Ticket – can’t wait until The Next Iron Chef starts. I also can’t wait to try the $24 [...]
[...] Jason Evenchik, who owns Vintage and Time with wife Delphine, just checked in to let Meal Ticket know that he and several other area restaurant owners, including George Anni (Valanni, Varga Bar), Fergus Carey (Fergie’s, Monk’s, etc.), Jon Myerow (Tria) and Olivier Desaintmartin (Caribou Café, Zinc), will be attending this evening’s Washington Square West Civic Association zoning meeting. The restaurateurs, who belong to PA Restaurants for Fair Competition, plan on speaking their minds directly to Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board CEO Joe Conti, who will be attending the meeting to discuss the PLCB’s partnership with chef Jose Garces for a rare/boutique wine “cellar” in his forthcoming Garces Trading Company (more on that project here). [...]
I am happy to see one of my high school chums go on to be successful. All of the Gordon Tech crew is behind Jose!
[...] next Tuesday, Feb. 16. (Garces shared some preliminary details on the project with Meal Ticket back in September ‘09 , and Jamie of Midtown Lunch recently poked her head in for some in-the-works photos.) The [...]
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| Courtesy of Food Network |
Meal Ticket landed a screener copy of the first episode of season two of Food Network's The Next Iron Chef, which debuts Oct. 4 (a month from today) and features none other than Philly's Jose Garces vying for a spot in Kitchen Stadium alongside Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, Mario Batali, Cat Cora and NIC Season 1 winner Michael Symon.
While we love to yuk it up about Top Chef around these parts, it's important to point out that this particular show is SERIOUS BUSINESS.� Yes, Top Chef Masters was too, but since everyone was competing for charity, there was some sense of camaraderie, as we noted � but judging by the take-no-prisoners approach of many of the NIC competitors (full rundown here) in Episode 1, there will be very little back-patting among this crew. (Look how mean they all look!) This probably has something to do with the extreme histrionics practiced by the mysterious Iron Chef Chairman, aka the guy from Double Dragon who is not Scott Wolf.
A few quickie details on upcoming episodes and our dude's official chef shot after the jump.
Each of NIC's eight episodes features a challenge themed around some sort of buzz word. There are two of these for Episode 1: "Memory" and "Fearlessness." The chefs are first asked to cook a dish "that has played a significant role in their lives"; then, they're tasked with cooking another dish using "exotic ingredients" (unlaid eggs are involved ... shudder). Of course, we would never spoil the ending of the show for you outright, but even if we wanted to, we couldn't � the screener cut off right before they announced who got eliminated. Well-played, Food Network.
We're not gonna ruin the rest of the episodes for you, with the exception of one � Episode 4, which airs on Oct. 24. Peep the description:
Host Alton Brown asks the remaining seven chefs endure a tough test of Adaptability. The chefs have 90 minutes to prepare a savory and sweet duo of Mexican-inspired dishes and a creative beverage that successfully utilizes a secret ingredient flown in from Mexico on American Airlines. At the iconic Grand Central Market, the chefs shop for additional indigenous ingredients to effectively capture the heart and soul of Mexican cooking. They are judged on how well they adapt the secret ingredient to their culinary creations.
Holy crap, that's the food competition show equivalent of a hanging curve straight to Garces. Hope he hits it out. Oh yeah, here's chef looking all SERIOUS BUSINESS:
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| Courtesy of Food Network |
[...] this page was mentioned by Drew Lazor (@drewlazor), SoPhilly Fashionista (@phashionista), avenueofthearts (@avenueofthearts) and others. [...]
[...] the jump, chef Jose Garces touches base with Meal Ticket to talk about his upcoming appearance on The Next Iron Chef (debuting Oct. 4 on Food Network), food TV, his new restaurant project and more. Garces can’t say too much about the show just [...]
Just wanted to submit some feedback on the Oct. 4 episode of NIC. The ingredient selection for the "fearlessness" segment of this show is reminiscent of Andrew Zimmern gross-out and gag style of programming. It was, at best, repulsive and disgusting. I believe Food Network owes its' audience an apology for the offensive style of programming. And Chef Greenspan, who was eliminated, they should invite him back and give him a fair chance to show his talents with more mainstream food. Cancel the shows that have already been filmed - start over - give everyone a fair chance. Food Network blew this one - A BIG LEAGUE SCREW UP. Someone should be fired for this offensive GARBAGE!!!!
Seriously, dude? You're offended by ingredients that aren't considered mainstream in the United States? I'm more offended by your jingoistic, racist crap. You are aware that the United States does not define fine cuisine for the entire world, right?
There was absolutely nothing racist about my comment. And the main market for Food Network programming is North America, particularly the US. So programming should appeal to the target audience. We'll just let the intelligence level of your comment and the name you signed your comment with speak for itself. Idiots should stay off public Internet forums.
Mike - Right on! My sentiments exactly. I found this show to be repulsive. They've crossed the line on this one. Let's hope they come to their senses in future programming.
This episode of Next Iron Chef was a little on the tasteless side. I found the ingredients hard to stomach and watch. I'll continue watching Food Network, but I certainly didn't enjoy watching this particular show.
Unborn eggs with fallopian tubes attached! Bugs! Duck tongue! Did you see those ingredients? Who came up with this S--T? Gag and puke!!!!!!!Food Network didn't consider their audience when they planned this.
Whether you liked the ingredients or not, the faces on the chefs and judges said it all. Did you see Chef Frietag when she lifted the cover on her eel? Did you watch the expressions on the judges faces when they were served up these culinary creations? I wouldn't have wanted to eat any of these. And it was obvious, neither did the judges. I wonder if the people that planned this show would have eaten those things.
Boring, boring boring! The chefs are boring. The judges are boring (Jeffrey being the exception). This season looks like a disaster waiting to happen.....
OH give me a break. Eel, as Alton said, was a cake-walk ingredient compared to the other choices put out there. Eel is hardly gross out food at all. Her cry when the lid was lifted was pathetic, she has played the "arrogant critic" on Chopped for far worse ingredient choices than simple eel. Personally I fail to see how she even qualified for the show. Working at a 2 star restaurant does not an iron chef make.
lol. unlaid eggs are a traditional component of italian cuisine, eel is a standard of almost all cuisine, etc. basically, your complaint is that you don't like these foods because they're strange to you but any potential iron chef should have been able to incorporate these ingredients (and easily). grasshopper was used at xochitl within the year, for example. cmon. also, they film those "reaction" shots multiple times to get whatever reaction they want out of the chefs. duck tongue? again, been served in philly restaurants recently and tongue is quite the common ingredient. your complaints are disappointingly cowardly in regards to your taste buds and the way you put it sounded extremely xenophobic. "mainstream" depends entirely on your context and i'd have been bored sick if the secret ingredient had been something like "beef!" "chicken!", etc.
Seriously guys, why complain so much about. The idea of Iron Chef is that they can adapt to their surroundings and make something amazing out of ANYTHING. Chef Greenspan made a pork dish with grasshoppers on top and the judges say that the pork was horrible. It wasn't even the secret ingredient and he screwed it up, so that is why he was eliminated. I admit, I thought it was gross and not very tasteful, but I wouldn't go as far as to say that it was a major screw up or that the show should be refilmed.
My wife is in culinary arts and I enjoy watching food network with her. We watched this one and while some of the ingredients had that 'WTF' moment, I wasn't disgusted. I wouldn't eat it, but that didn't stop me from watching how they were going to prepare it. It may have felt unfair, but it's not like everyone else had worked with those ingredients before either. It's not a crappy show, someone was going to get eliminated, no matter what. Your rants about it being disgusting and pulled from the air are very shortsided. Don't like it? Don't watch it.
Mike - So eating unlaid chicken
I grew up in India and unlaid eggs are not as uncommon as it is in the states. I've had them many times. If cooked correctly it can be a delicious dish.
So eating unlaid chicken�s eggs is gross but eating a whole chicken is proper? Face it, that pretty chicken leg on your plate has come from something that lives. If you can eat the chicken why waste the unlaid eggs? In some cultures, certain types of food became delicacies out of necessity. Did you know that cockroaches are considered to be a delicacy in Thailand because famines forced people to be ingenuous in order to survive? Experimentation is the fun part of cooking. Some of the chefs on NIC did really well considering their backgrounds. Chef Jehangir Mehta is a pastry chef yet he successfully convinced three hardened food connoisseurs that he can make duck tongue. That�s what I like about NIC. I doubt I�d watch a show where a bored looking chef slowly stirs common ingredients, in a proper way into ordinary bowls before baking them to perfection in front of a placid host and dull audience. I�m sure you wouldn�t either
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