Allez Cuisine!!

Tonight was the premier of Iron Chef America on the Food Network...Wait...

Before you continue reading, let me remind you that I did warn you in my profile that I am a nerd. I just wanted to make sure that we were all clear on that before I went any further. Ok? Let's resume.

Tonight was the premier of Iron Chef America on the Food Network. I am a huge fan of the original so I was both excited and apprehensive about this new series. After seeing the first episode, I'm still somewhat conflicted about the whole thing. I'm not going to go point by point to break this down, but I will talk about a few things I like better and a few things I like less as well as share some of my thoughts on this specific episode.

I really don't get the new "chairman." Originally we had Takeshi Kaga (apparently a fairly accomplished Japanese stage actor) who played the eccentric rich guy perfectly: over the top, but only because it fit with the character. Now we have his supposed nephew whose major roles before this included the hero's Iroquois sidekick who was remarkably adept at martial arts in the highly overrated Le Pact de Loups (or The Brotherhood of the Wolf in the US) or playing one of the main roles in Double Dragon, which, for any of you who are IMDB fiends like me, is in the bottom 100 of all time according to that site. If his acting skills are always like they are on ICA, I wouldn't be surprised to see more of his movies in that not so distinguished list.

One of the changes that I really didn't like was the format. The original included most, if not all, of the background material at the beginning of the show. The remainder of the show consisted of the battle itself, which was shown as if it were a live sporting event. Commentary was given on what was happening at that moment and there was a sense of urgency to everything. Iron Chef America jumps almost immediately into the battle and is constantly interrupting the flow with background information and recaps. The sense of urgency is gone, and so is what made it feel unique.

It's very tempting to complain about the floor reporter who seemed to mispronounce everything, but I can't really compare since Ota was always dubbed into English and the person doing the voiceover certainly had plenty of time to get it right. Again going back to that lack of urgency, I really missed Ota breaking in with a "Fukui-San" a dozen or so times throughout the battle.

On the commentator(s), I wasn't sure what to think. In the original IC, we had a baseball announcer doing most of the commentary with Doc Hattori as the expert filling us in on all the details. On ICA, we have Alton Brown filling both of these roles. I actually really like Alton Brown (more on that another day, another blog), and I felt that he did a good job...but I still think he needed someone else to interact with a little more.

The biggest difference that I felt was for the better was the increased interaction with the chefs themselves. We got to hear them talking to their assistants, each other and the host. This rarely happened on the original IC.

Specifics on the episode from tonight: I have to admit that I was looking forward to this episode specifically for a couple of reasons. I spent a large portion of my formative years in the Southwestern US and both Southwestern and authentic Mexican cuisines hold a special place in my heart (or is it stomach).

I also happen to be a big fan of Rick Bayless. He has an absolutely wonderful show on PBS called "Mexico One Plate at a Time." If you haven't seen this yet, please check it out. He does a great job of not only showing recipes and techniques to make great dishes, but he also brings in the culture of Mexico that underlies all that wonderful food.

I have a couple of his cookbooks, and you would be hard pressed to find a better guacamole recipe than the Guacamole Clasico in his "Mexico One Plate at a Time" cookbook. I look forward to that everytime the tomatoes and avocados are good in the produce department.

Between Christmas and New Year, we met some of MK's family in Chicago and one of the places we ate during the trip was Frontera Grill, owned by Rick Bayless and his wife. I had enchiladas with a wonderful traditional Oaxacan mole and would gladly go back anytime.

I enjoyed seeing the two somewhat similar, yet very different chefs battle tonight, but I really wanted to see Bobby Flay stick with the neo-Southwestern style for which he is known. I guess I was expecting an all-out chile competition, rather than Flay's surprisingly eclectic collection of dishes.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, but it still can't compete with the original. And, yes, I lied. I did end up going point by point to compare. What else did you expect from me?

Until later...