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His character is Kaga's nephew, as Giovanna said.

All of the battles begin with "I say unto you, in the words of my uncle: Allez Cuisine!"

Feh.

Does anyone else feel a little gypped that ICA uses such downscale ingredients? I'm a little torn about it because I think they are trying to make the food more accessible to the home chef, but really, why? IC has never been about ANYONE replicating what the Iron Chefs do outside of Kitchen Stadium. They are supposed to be superheoes of cooking!

Also, no one I know is going to be making chocolate-dipped pea popsicles anytime soon.

Yeah, but just as Chairman Kaga is a fictional character, so too is the nephew. He's a martial arts expert and actor named Marc Dacascos.

Maybe they think they're playing to a less sophisticated audience. When I saw Sara Moulton speak at Culinary Historians not long ago, she made the statement that shows about foods you can cook using canned soup are doing vastly better than French cuisine on the Food channel these days.

The question is whether they're adjusting to their canned soup audience or creating a canned soup audience by driving off the French cuisine crowd with Sandra Lee et. al. Of course, there's no way of knowing without seeing their numbers.

Did anyone see the episode of Semi Homemade where she put giant citronella candles on a cake?? I only watch that show for the laughs.

NO. But I wish I had. I thought nothing would top her Kwanzaa cake but that sounds like it does.

Man, Cat Cora is such a pathetic iron chef. She's got a whopping 2 wins, 4 losses now.

Lord.

I just watched the most recent episode last night. The pre-battle graphic said she was 3-2 before the show.

Best,
Michael

Time to check with the Elias Sports Bureau.

A

Oops! I swapped the stats I saw on wikipedia. Damn.

So now she's 3-3, which actually I think gives her a better record than Morimoto (4-5-1 according to the always 100% correct wikipedia)

That said, some of Morimoto's losses are from the battle of champions, and he lost to Mario Batali and Wolfgang Puck. So against real challengers he's 4-3-1.

I just caught this show for the first time last night. Bobby challenged a guy in the marines to a steak throwdown.

I saw this thread before watching the show, and Cindy's mom is exactly right. First, the marine is stationed in Death Valley, preparing to be shipped abroad. Death Valley! He looks like a great guy, fun personality. You cannot help but get a little choaked up about this guy having so much fun cooking for his men, knowing he is going to shipped off very soon.

Anyways, the guy cooks with military rations. Not the highest quality stuff. Bobby shows up with 1.5 inch bone-in rib chops and porterhouses. These look like they are direct from Lobels or something -- I'm sure they aren't, but they look great compared to the cuts of chuck the Marine is using. It looks like everyone is having a great time, but you hope the Marine really is. He is definitely being put on the spot, during what he thought is his "moment of glory" (they told him they wanted to do a profile of him for the Food Network).

Then they fly in this food writer from SF to be the judge. Whatever this guy really thinks, I couldn't help hoping that he'd just give the award to the Marine just so we have a happy ending, the guy gets his day in front of his men, etc. In the end, the Marine won.

But I can't help but wonder, what's the point of this show? If I'm at a friends house, and he's making the one dish he feels he does well, what kind of person would I be if I challenged him that I could make it better?

My thoughts exactly while watching this show!
I mean - what kind of a pompous, sadistic jerk do you have to be to participate in a show like this?
Additionally, I don't see any outcome that would paint Bobby Flay in a favorable light. If he wins, he'll just look like an arrogant ass. If he loses (as he did in that episode), it becomes kind of anti-climatic.

I flipped on and off parts of the chowder one sometime last week. It did come across as pathetic, Flay desperately seeking validation as a chef pathetic. I wonder if any of the people challenged have asked him to take his pots and pans elsewhere. That I'd like to see.

Because it seemed as though Bobby Flay was messing with her livelihood. I mean, this lady (the cake was incredible), was at this event to promote her business. It is unfair of foodnetwork to charge in there and try to upstage her. It is not like LaFlay needs more publicity. If she had lost, it could have really affected her business. Although, I must say these contests HAVE to be rigged right? I always root against Bobby - the entire premise of the show is just too obnoxious to root for him.

Although I agree that the show is very much of a joke, at the end of the day the guest chefs are probably drumming up some pretty good business by appearing on the show. It's not like they're being criticized . . . rather, they're being touted for their skills, win or lose.

Anyway, be careful what you wish for in asking for this show to be cancelled. Would you rather watch Rocco and Mama making meatballs?????

LTH,

Last nights Throwdown with Flay featured Marc Malnati of Lou Malnati's Pizza in Battle Deep Dish. It was fun to watch, Bobby Flay made broccoli rabe and sausage Malnati went with classic sausage. No surprise, Malnati kicked Flay's NYC flat pizza loving a**.

What was a surprise was one of the judges was none other than Pasquale Bruno who "writes a monthly column for Pizza Today" It seems Pasquale is none other than Pat Bruno of Sun Times fame. The other judge, energetic and funny former Chicago Bear, Glen Kozlowski.

Not that Throwdown is the final episode of Mash, but it's not exactly Ant Farm Today on Utah Public Television, the idea of anonymity for Pat Bruno seems moot.

Enjoy,
Gary

I "watched" that episode as well. Also, I'm a fan of Malnati's pizza, tho' NY-style reigns in my heart. I write "watched," because Malnati's rah-rah Chicago-isms forced me to change the channel or gag ten minutes in. Who needs it? Sigh. Whatever, Food Network.

Pat Bruno also wrote The Great Chicago-Style Pizza Cookbook, which is actually pretty good.

I watched the episode with Malnatis on it, and I had to fight the urge to change the channel with all the "deep dish pizza is the best in the world" & "this is the type of pizza Chicagoan's eat" blathering.

Have you also noticed that he can't pronounce the word "chipotle" correctly? Drives me NUTS when he says “chipot-a-le”.

I come to Chicago about one every three months to visit my son. After watching this program I must say I want to go and try Lou Malnati's pizza. Since I am from St. Louis the home of the "cracker" crust pizza I can't wait to use a knife and fork and dig into Malnati's sausage pizza. I would have never heard of this place without the show. I am sure there are more of us out there that will want to try his pizza. One question which of his 38 pizza places should I go visit? I stay in the downtown area.

The one close to you. No real need to trek further, the downtown one is fine and you'll enjoy it heartily, I'm sure. When you're in a mood to trek further, go to Burt's.

Thank you so much for the post. When I get close to going to Chicago I always read this message board. It has served me well.

Mr. Paul,

Likewise if you have tips on dining in St. Louis, they would be appreciated here.

Thank you!

Regards,

Well, I admit I've thought Bobby Flay was arrogant ever since he used to cut down his co-host, Jacqui Malouf, on his earlier grilling show, with all those snide remarks,

BUT,

I must say I have never enjoyed an episode of "Throwdown" as much as I enjoyed the deep-dish pizza one with Mark Malnati. I laughed out loud several times. The trash talk was great. I loved it when Mark went over to Bobby's side to help him with his dough. Bobby Flay can probably do everything, but Malnati's does just one thing, and they do it very, very well. I thought it was a very entertaining show.

yeah, i agree. i enjoy it.

contrary to what most have said in this thread, it seems to me that flay approaches the whole thing from the perspective of giving some local little guys some exposure. he appears to be hoping to lose.

and, win or lose, it's great exposure for the folks he "throws down" against.

i do agree that flay is arrogant, in general, but i actually enjoy him in this show.

I met the lady who did the turkey throw down. She was completely unaware of her participating in this show until she arrived to do a roast turkey demonstration. If indeed there was the desire for the little guys to win, wouldn't a bit of advanced warning be in order? I never saw this episode, I believe she told me she lost.

Iron Chef at least gives their contestant chefs three ingredients, which one will eventually be selected as the theme for the day. It gives them time to think through a battle plan for each ingredient.

Regards,

You can see a table of all of the throwdown results at Wikipedia. Bobby's win average is about .314, so in general the little guy fares pretty well. They do balance Bobby's preparation with the very anti-bobby audience, and usually at least one judge seems to be biased in favor of the guest chef.

I think he's a jackass, but I think he genuinely feels a little bad when he wins.

but the throwdown folks always know what they're going to cook. and it's something they've been cooking forever and gotten famous for. how much preparation can they need?