Iron Chef Gauntlet: Gladiators Ready!

[nitrofishblue]

I really like Cat Cora and Stephanie. However Alex just rubs me the wrong way. I don't enjoy watching her on Chopped. 

[Rickster]

On 5/10/2018 at 11:20 AM, Wings said:

Carla Hall, Ina Garten, Jamie Oliver and plenty more are TV chefs who don't own a restaurant.  For me that is not contingent on skill.   I think Alex has that in spades and worthy of praise.  

 

Carla Hall is just a TV personality these days (haven’t followed her since Top Chef) and I don’t think she would consider herself to be a great chef. Ina ran a successful catering business and her and Jamie’s TV roles are as teachers, which is a different set of skills from being a great chef. Iron Chefs are supposed to be great chefs. I don’t take Iron Chef too seriously, but it cheapens the show when they use middling quality chefs/restaurant owners to represent what is supposed to be the apex of American cuisine.

[dleighg]

Yeah, I think IC's should "blow our minds" rather than give consistently good advice (Ina for example). I'm happy to make anything that Ina demonstrates, and have never been disappointed. IC is a whole different thing (or should be). 

1 hour ago, nitrofishblue said:

I really like Cat Cora and Stephanie. However Alex just rubs me the wrong way. I don't enjoy watching her on Chopped. 

I get a whiff of "impostor syndrome" on Alex. I just don't think she's all that, and I feel like she knows it. JMHO.

[Wings]

40 minutes ago, Rickster said:

Carla Hall is just a TV personality these days (haven’t followed her since Top Chef) and I don’t think she would consider herself to be a great chef. Ina ran a successful catering business and her and Jamie’s TV roles are as teachers, which is a different set of skills from being a great chef. Iron Chefs are supposed to be great chefs. I don’t take Iron Chef too seriously, but it cheapens the show when they use middling quality chefs/restaurant owners to represent what is supposed to be the apex of American cuisine.

She is a chef and many peers praise her skill.  Tom Colicchio is one.  

https://www.foodnetwork.com/profiles/talent/carla-hall/bio

 

Quote

A native of Nashville, Carla Hall received a degree in accounting from Howard University, but traveling through Europe awakened her passion for food and inspired a new career path. Carla attended L’Academie de Cuisine in Maryland, where she completed her culinary training, going on to work as a sous chef at the Henley Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. She also served as executive chef at both The State Plaza Hotel and The Washington Club, and she has taught classes at CulinAerie and her alma mater L’Academie de Cuisine. Her approach to cooking blends together her classic French training and Southern upbringing for a twist on traditional favorites.

[Fukui San]

1 hour ago, Figster said:

I'm super glad David didn't become an Iron Chef.  Iron Chefs are supposed to cook food we've never seen before.  He was consistently serving up dishes done a million times before, so the right decision was made, scripted or not. 

Explain Bobby Flay, then!

[Skyfall]

2 hours ago, Fukui San said:

Explain Bobby Flay, then!

Food Network is too afraid to take Giada’s boytoy from her.

[TDT]

On 5/4/2018 at 11:49 AM, chessiegal said:

I read that the original Iron Chef America is coming back.

ETA: May 16th.

Is it being called IC America? or Iron Chef Showdown

On 5/4/2018 at 2:38 PM, Wings said:

So David will be up against one of the iron chefs and will win.  I know Bobby quit iron chef and Batali won't be back either.  There are probably more.  I am happy to hear they will be in kitchen stadium.  

Flay quit? didnt know this..

That show Iron Chef Eats thats being rerun on Cooking Channel..they edited out all the segments w/ Batali in them

[Fukui San]

Flay wore a shirt on camera that said "This is my last battle ever!" during an ICA taping. Then he backpedaled on that or maybe not. I'm not sure anyone knows for sure.

[jcbrown]

41 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

Flay wore a shirt on camera that said "This is my last battle ever!" during an ICA taping. Then he backpedaled on that or maybe not. I'm not sure anyone knows for sure.

Flay confirmed in February that he had quit. FN Gossip has the entire rundown here: https://www.foodnetworkgossip.com/2017/12/iron-chef-episode-where-bobby-flay.html

[chessiegal]

12 hours ago, TDT said:

Is it being called IC America? or Iron Chef Showdown

It's Iron Chef America, May 16th.

[Sew Sumi]

I don't see it on the Comcast guide.

[chessiegal]

My online Verizon Guide is showing Guy's Grocery Games at 9 pm on the 16th. However, on April 5th, FN made a press release saying Iron Chef America would return at 9 pm May 16th.

Quote

NEW YORK, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Iron Chef America is back with the franchise's classic fan-favorite format and a new ten-episode season beginning Wednesday, May 16th at 9pm ET/PT.  Overseen by host Alton Brown, each standalone episode pits an up-and-coming chef competitor against an elite Iron Chef in a stunning secret ingredient battle of over-the-top edible greatness.  Joining Alton and the Chairman (Marc Dacascos) this season is Chef Jet Tila, who will serve as floor reporter and, along with Alton, offer commentary on all the Kitchen Stadium action. Each week, two guest judges taste the extraordinary offerings and determine "whose cuisine reigns supreme," sending one chef into culinary infamy.

"Our audience wanted a return to classic Iron Chef America and we are thrilled to deliver just that," said Courtney White, Senior Vice President, Programming, Food Network, Cooking Channel and Travel Channel.  "These epic culinary battles are fought against the backdrop of legendary Kitchen Stadium and all have all the tradition, pomp and circumstance our viewers love."

In the season premiere, Chef Brittany Anderson, who is known as Richmond Virginia's schnitzel queen, hopes she doesn't leave Kitchen Stadium feeling blue after battling one of the Chairman's best: Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli.  Antonia Lofaso and Simon Majumdar serve as judges.

Viewers can head to Kitchen Stadium with Alton Brown and Jet Tila at FoodNetwork.com/IronChefAmerica. Jet demonstrates the essential skills every competitor should know before battle, while Alton puts viewer knowledge of secret ingredients to the test in a new quiz.  Tell us your favorite Iron Chefs and battles on social media using #IronChefAmerica.

Iron Chef America is based on the format Iron Chef owned by Fuji Television Network, Inc.

 

[buttersister]

Ha, IC lost me as a legit competition when a frequent judge was Bobby Flay’s former PR person. So I don’t get confused between, say, Top Chef and Food Network foodertainment.

David just opened up a new restaurant so he’s doing fine and now has all this publicity around him. As do all of the chefs who competed here. Not a bad consolation prize for missing the FN pay day. Not to be confused with not-the-only title that matters or “legendary” kitchen stadium. LOL.

Alton and Alex should have their own exclusive show—making it much easier to occasionally watch FN without stumbling over them.

As for the reboot, as a fan of Original Iron Chef, I’m up for Motimoto (if he’s back) and Izard.

[RealityCheck]

My cable TV guide lists a new episode (S13E01) for Iron Chef America Sunday, May 20, 2018 at 10PM, Alex Guarnacelli vs Brittany Anderson.

[chessiegal]

Sunday night makes so much more sense than a Wednesday. My cable guide has it Sunday at 10 after the final episode of Worst Cooks.

ETA: Thanks for the heads up on the day and time change. We're leaving on the 17th on the Queen Mary 2 for Hamburg. They have TVs in the cabins, but I don't remember FN being one of the available channels. I set the DVR to record them.

Edited May 13, 2018 by chessiegal

[Skyfall]

http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2018/04/24/revised-premiere-date-iron-chef-america-returns-to-food-network-with-classic-fan-favorite-format-746310/20180424food01/

 

Quote

Originally scheduled for Wednesday, May 16, the new season will now roll out on Sunday, May 20.

[Psychobunny]

I actually like Alex but as soon as Alton said he was judging her round I knew that the fix was in. She is obnoxious about the Iron Chef title but some of that may be from the producers. She at least has better credentials than Cat Cora did  and she is respected in New York food circles. I am not sure she is Iron Chef calibur but from what I see she does have skills. I liked David but again I don’t know if he was creative enough to win. I don’t like that he never had a chance because they clearly didn’t want a winner every year.

[rab01]

I really didn't care whether David won or not (though thinking of him being called "le flavor" into the future on TV makes me cringe) but I was really disappointed by the order of results.  I was weirdly bummed out that Stephanie lost by a lot and Alex won by a lot.  I was also annoyed by David's implicit disrespect of Stephanie by acting more worried about the other two ICs and by desperately avoiding their strengths.  It made the entire episode feel like the other two are real ICs and she's still an apprentice.

I also can't believe that a soup that looked like mud was served to judges on Iron Chef, let alone participated in a winning dish.

[Lura]

I felt sick when LeFevre lost.  He had worked so hard to get there, then put out a well received dish, and was denied the title.  It simply didn't wash with me.  I felt as if my time had been wasted.  If this show is fixed, and I have little doubts anymore, why wait until David gets all the way through and crush his hopes in the finale?  I'm certain that Grouch Brown had something to do with his loss.  Alton has always had a cruel streak which I've never understood.  I can't get excited about watching the next round if there is one.

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, Lura said:

If this show is fixed, and I have little doubts anymore, why wait until David gets all the way through and crush his hopes in the finale? 

Because that's the premise of the show that all these chefs signed on for.  They're supposed to beat all the other chefs to even get the opportunity to become an Iron Chef.  If everyone in the gauntlet beat the gauntlet, it'd defeat the purpose of the gauntlet.

[chessiegal]

3 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Because that's the premise of the show that all these chefs signed on for.  They're supposed to beat all the other chefs to even get the opportunity to become an Iron Chef.  If everyone in the gauntlet beat the gauntlet, it'd defeat the purpose of the gauntlet.

Exactly! Alton responded to a tweet that this is a competition - if you want fake, sorry, not happening here.