Iron Chef America: The Series

With all of the violence on TV and in the local news, it is refreshing to have a show that has no violence or adult language, yet is still entertaining. My children look forward to watching with us every week. Each of us have a favorite chef and favorite judges. We all enjoy Elton Brown. We enjoy learning about the background of the main ingredient, unique vegetables and seasonings. We play along at home to guess who the winner will be.

It is a great hour of entertainment, as well as informational. Best of all in our hussle, bussle life, it is an hour the family spends together.

Weak Bobby "Pineapple Salsa" Flay and Mario Batali bring this down.

Flay being the worst. Definitely a one trick pony, I think they could have gotten other American chefs to come to the table on this one as the Iron Chefs. The kind of dishes this duo come up with really...don't reflect on the creativity of the original Iron Chef Series. I don't think Batali even went to chef school, actually. There are a lot of great chefs in America, I just wonder why they don't appear on the Food Network.

It would also help to have more regional ingredients and perhaps co-hosts who can handle the pressure. I like Alton Brown, but he is a bit too flippant/funny for this role.

The real stars in this version is the food. I never cared much for Bobby Flay or Mario Batali. What is annoying is the mainstays seem to win most of the time! Are there other chefs who can participate other then Flay, Batali and Cat Cora? Are some of the judges for real?? I mean the challengers are top class chefs and they get beaten by Food Network celebrities?? Pathetic! It's a gross example of this thing called BIAS. However I do get a kick of finding out what the secret ingredients are and how and what will be the results. That is why I watch the show. It's the challenge of creating dishes the everyday people dream of eating in only one hour. As for the supporting characters are they OK but Mark Dacascos sometimes look like he's buttering up to the Iron Chefs with comments like "Iron Chef it is an honor seeing you work." This show could be better if other chefs not affiliated with the Food Network are given the chance of wearing the mantle of Iron Chef from time to time and the judges be more fair otherwise Iron Chef: America is nothing more than an ego contest of Food Network mainstays against everyone on the outside. What a pity it will stay that way.

I'm watching Iron Chef America tonight and the most masterful dishes gushed over by the judges were 100% prepared by the sous chefs. Not sure why the Iron Chef gets the credit....

"If memory serves me correct..." Iron Chef is a name that strikes a chord in almost any true foodies' heart, whether it is the distinct memory of seeing most of the world's greatest chefs battle Japan's finest, or just the simple fun of seeing such intensity with cooking food on your TV screen. For me, I joined the millions of Iron Chef fans around 2000, about the same time everyone else here did; I was stunned. I couldn't believe that people could put so much intensity into their work. I grew to appreciate food just as they did, and began to realize how wrong we really have it here in the U.S. With obesity on the rise, we continue to see food only in its worth and buy only what we can get for the cheapest price. In Iron Chef, this couldn't be more opposite. Seeing a $200 dish isn't rare, and only the finest of materials goes into a meal prepared by an Iron Chef or challenger. Now with Iron Chef America, one can again watch as the best do battle, nearly just as they did several years ago in the original Kitchen Stadium. The flare is all there as Alton Brown and Kevin Brauch entertain us as we watch our own American Iron Chefs do battle. With the magic of a new Kitchen Stadium in place, we are likely to see as many memorable events as the original. One great memory in my mind is seeing Iron Chef Sakai and his trout ice cream. I can only hope to see Batali, Flay, Cora or Morimoto attempt a similar daring, and somewhat yucky, dish; all in the name of Iron Chef. So in short, we have real food in America, and we have the chefs to make it. Now we get the honor and privilege of seeing them in action in our own legendary Kitchen Stadium. Allez cuisine!