Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters

In this four-episode series tribute to "Ryori no tetsujin", Food Network put countless hours of time and effort into returning to the glory that is "Iron Chef". They almost succeeded.

One element that absolutely captures and vexes the audience of "Ryori no tetsujin" (the original Iron Chef series) is the flamboyancy and commanding nature of the wizened "Chairman Kaga". Here, replaced by his "nephew", (Mark Dacascos, whom I highly doubt has any true blood relation to Kaga) the mantle of "Chairman" is lacking.

Our new Chairman is stone-faced, and definitely does not dress the part. He attempts to harness Kaga's former command by shrieking "Allez Cuisine!" at the top of his lungs like an insane Samurai, rather than bellowing it with joy as Kaga would.

With the judges, I found them to be good selections all around-- but a bit biased. I felt strongly that the true "fairness" on this competition would be more even if two of the judges selected were American, and two were Japanese. (I realize that NONE of the judges in "Ryori no tetsujin" were ever American, either-- but this episode wrenches our Iron Chefs French and Japanese from their environments, and they now are faced with the challenge of suiting strictly American palates... which our Iron Chefs America have had the lifelong luxury of doing. Hey, some Americans don't LIKE eating horse fat!) The even balance of two Japanese judges and two American Judges would have given us all the real "thrill of the battle". It would have been like watching the SuperBowl.

As for bright spots in these shows, it was all taken quite seriously. Alton Brown, as usual, does a spectacular job. He is as charismatic here as he is famous for his own Food Network show, "Good Eats". Alton conveys a true feeling of anticipation and excitement as the competition rages, and his nervousness and passion is easily detectable in his voice. If we could not have had Kenji Fukui (dubbed, obviously, by Bill Bickard), then Alton is an excellent replacement. However, Kenji and Alton would have made a superb commentating team, accompanied by translators for each other's benefit, of course. I also missed Ota running around and getting all of the information he could present to us.

Another thought is, why three Iron Chefs America, and only two original Iron Chefs? It was my original hope that Bobby Flay would face Hiroyuki Sakai (which he did), Mario Batali would face Masahiko Kobe (Iron Chef Italian - a natural archenemy for Batali), and Wolfgang Puck would challenge Masaharu Morimoto (which he did). Perhaps in a future jaunt? One can only hope.

In conclusion, Chairman Kaga is sorely missed. The judging needs to be more even and fair, and more of the original Iron Chef elements should be returned to the new Kitchen Stadium. Food Network should pay Takeshi Kaga whatever he wants for his return. He is worth it, and so are the ratings.

Take another stab at this, FoodTV. You've almost got it.

Sorry guys, but it sucks. Here's the straight dope: The Chefs are not as versatile or as good as the truly awesome Japanese Iron Chefs (Bobby Flay most especially is a not an Iron Chef. He really isn't good enough). The critics aren't that critical. They all seem happy just to be getting free food and being on TV. The chairman knows nothing about what he is doing or food. The special ingredients are more often than not, not that special. The narration is kind of annoying. The narrators comments aren't that great and often really corny.

Some board of executives over at Food Network obviously recognized the potential of the original Iron Chef, but the idea was then passed down to a team and the end result is a poor, washed out version of a truly great show, being the original Japanese Iron Chef. Iron Chef Japan was the "Iron Chef". Iron Chef America is kind of like fast food.

I'm a fan of the original Japanese Iron Chef show, and all I can say is that this show makes professional chefs everywhere, especially the original Japanese Iron Chefs, look ridiculous. The show features incredibly low-skill-required "secret ingredients" like hamburger and cheddar cheese, which, being an amateur cook myself, is very easy to use. While the original Iron Chef show maintained a high standard of culinary arts skill, Iron Chef America puts this good reputation to shame with bad commentary, biased judging/judges, and lack of skill & finesse. I highly recommend not watching this show at all simply because the recipes are not practical for home use and displays little to no skill in its creation.

I watched a segment of the "Iron Chef" where Bobbie Flay, Iron Chef stands on a Cutting board with his shoes.What kind of crap is this from a Chef let alone an Iron Chef? I have never seen anything remotely disgusting than this. He should have been instantly disqualified for ever from the Show and TV-but no we have to see his mediocrity but see him win the contest-thanks for the unbiassed sponsors and the Judges! This Flay guy comes up with an excuse that it was his way of showing elation-pure crap.Then there is the segment with Flay vs Sakai-the same veritable Mr.Flay picks up a trout from the floor and lo and behold puts right into the cooking pot-obviously Flay believes in little flavor from the floor. Among the three judges only one is a Chef who looks more like a Rockstar than a Chef but fits right in with the caliber of Chefs like Flay. One is a female who seems obviously hooked on to Flay's looks than his culinary skills no wonder the verdict is for Flay. Flay needs a course on hygiene before he ventures into his kitchen or any kitchen. There should be three judges watching and three who do not watch but taste the final product. There should be one Judge each from the Chef's Country and four other from a different Country. There should be Studio audience, there should be two commentators. The show is a typical Reality TV with no Artistry (the only one American Chef who rightfully belongs there is, Puck.) The show is about-who can make a mess of a secret ingredient within the shortest time. This show sucks full time and Flay's contribution is significant.

FoodTV, after seeing the popularity of Ryouri no Tetsujin, got the rights to make its own Iron Chef show. New Kitchen Stadium, new Chairman (Mark Dacascos) and new Iron Chefs. Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and Wolfgang Puck are the new three to take on two of the original Japanese Iron Chefs: Masaharu Morimoto and Hiroyuki Sakai.

In this mini-series, we saw four battles: Sakai v. Flay, Morimoto v. Batali, Morimoto v. Puck, and then a special twist battle (which I won't divulge.)

The show was well done. Alton Brown has jumped in as the commentator, taking the spot of Kenji Fukui, and he did a great job. His commentary was just as interesting as his show. The battles were almost as good as the original, as was the judging. (They even had the standard giggly chick saying stupid things.) And the new Kitchen Stadium is very pretty.

But overall, it just didn't have the same feeling to it that the originals did. "Ryouri no Tetsujin" just had a style to it - slightly ridiculous, fast-paced, fun, and a good time overall. These shows had some of that, but there was something missing. Even still, it's worth a watching if you're an Iron Chef fan.