Sunday, April 25, 2004 - Posts
Taken out today: 1554
# of referenced posts by category: Blogging: 2; Development: 4;
Other: 13; WILY: 2
Line of the day: So if you want to see a painful display of
america once again raping another culture and "americanizing" like that's a
good thing, then watch and be disgusted.
Post of the day:
Robert misses the point: MVP Sex
Oh man, that's a "shocking twist." Yawn.
Batali and Sakai look like the will work more smoothly together.
It is amazing to me that there just wasn't enough make up to cover the cold sore on Flay.
Man, Sakai capping an egg... tons of knife skill.
The Scallops looked great.
At the first break: Ok, if you didn't see this "switcharo" coming, you've not been paying attention. Since this show is all about the Chefs, its hardly surprising to see Morimoto and Flay together. I'm not surprised that its not Sakai and Puck to me. I can't see them working together. On the other hand, Mario seems to really appreciate Sakai's skills and French and Italian cusines are much more alike than different.
What an utterly clueless judging panel other than Steingarten.
Flay cutting himself... gee, theres a shocker.
Second break: Okay, I think I'm getting into the groove of this show now. But it really took two chefs working at the same time to get the same pacing that the original had. I'm calling this one early: Flay and Morimoto will win because a) its not Food Network, its Flay Network and b) they will present their dishes better to the judges. That said, I'm thinking Batali and Sakai are going to plate out better food.
Third break. No, this is NOT the most exciting IC team event of all time. That honor belongs to the 2000th plate special.
Oh man, Grilled Mochi. That is so good.
The cooking is done. If it were the true Iron Chef battle, I'd have no problems calling this for Batali and Sakai. Its so not way though. Sigh and double sigh.
If this is ICA, I have no need for the DVD. That's bad news because I doubt I'm alone in that. Since this is all about the money, that means I doubt we will see this as an on-going series.
Steingarten was simply being a dick about the Sage leaves. Strike that after the Abalone comment: he's just a complete dick. Insensitive egoistical American ass.
It's sauce Amer-i-KANE, not AMER-i-can.
Man, Flay really goes overboard with ingredients. I wouldn't be surprised if he called a Big Mac a "dual ground sirlon patties topped with chilled iceberg lettace, sliced Heirloom Tomatoes, a special sauce made from Mayonnaise, chili sauce, olive, green bell peper, onion and pimentos served on a seasme encrusted roll."
71 to 55? God damn I knew those judges were idoits, but that's f'n ridicious. Typical, predictable and Xenophobically American.
You know, there was no way that this series could have lived up to the hype or my hopes. But this was more disappointing than enjoyable. Taste: 5 out of 10; Plating: 4 out of 5; Originality: 3 out of five. Total: 12 points.
Battle Eggs? Come on Morimoto, make Tamago!
Hard to believe that Puck has been at it for 41 years.
Hack sawing an egg? Yep.
At the first break, I'm really impressed with Puck. The Porchino and Truffle pizza sounds awesome.
Another bad judging pannel. I guess there are no Kano Tenmai or Kishi Asako here in the states.
Oh man, Kobe Beef! Drool!
Funny that Puck's Pastry chef is getting more camera time than Puck himself.
Hard to tell who is putting together the better dishes at the second break. Puck has some interesting things going on, but so does Morimoto.
Do I see a Chawan Mushi in the making?. Nope, Chirashidon. Supersized. No, I would not need fries with that. (grin)
Here's an interesting battle thought: Chen vs. Flay, ingredient: Duck.
With the cooking done, this is Puck's battle to lose. Morimoto just didn't bring it, IMHO. The battle we really needed: Puck vs. Sakai.
Morimoto's Duck soup was essentially Chawan Mushi. You just have to have that in a Japanse Egg theme.
Vincent was a horrible judge. No culinary chops at all. Get him off the damn show.
Puck's appetizer looked excellent. The food crtics comment was right now. Puck did make eggs is his centerpiece. The Ravoli looked awesome. His plating was very good too. Puck was able to talk the judges into better scores, I think too. That was something that just didn't seem to happen on the orignal Iron Chef.
Puck should easily win... even more of a blow out than we've seen before.
Yeah, that's about right, considering the idiot judge Vincent.
Flay? Great Culinary mind? What? Gasp, cough, cough. Iron Chef Bobby Flay is completely WRONG.
I loved the look in Batali's eyes when he saw the lobsters. That's a Foodie if I've ever seen one.
Aren't we all always after a little tail?
You can pretty much guess anything going in a blender is going to be blended. DUH
One of the best dishes I ever (and I mean ever) had was Scallops done on hot rocks. Oh my god was as that good. I hope that's there Morimoto is headed. Speaking of excellent meals, I ate at that same restraunt tonight: Sushi Japan. Had yummy Spicy Crab makimono, Grilled Salmon Collar (Sake-Kama) and Zach made a bonus, katsu-bushi with white Miso. Oh so good.
Isn't it wierd that the Chairman, supposedly of Japanesse decent appears to be practicing Kung-Fu?
Oh my god what a horrible judging panel.
Uh, Bonito Flake is commonly available in bags these days.
Damn, is Alton hung up on Glutamic Acid or what?
The hair comment was totally uncalled for an seemed really un-Alton-like.
I'm giving Batali a ton of credit for busting out the Urchens. That's showing some chops.
It was so much fun to see Morimoto having a smile on his face and enjoying himself.
Oh man, Lobster Fritters. Nothing inventive, but that would have to be great. How do I join the union?
Well, hey, Alton, Osetra isn't going to come from a Beluga... and oh, by the way, Koalas eat Eucalyptus, not Bamboo.
Oh man, the rock steamed Lobster in Kombu would rule.
Thank you, Mario, for NOT throwing around or dancing on your cutting board.
So, the cooking is done. Frankly, Mario's dished looked better and more inventive. Neither of them had a really unique plating.
Morimoto's course looked great; Batali's Capachino Pea Soup was probably the most inventive thing I've seen. The Zeppelto would be to die for. No complaints here if Batali wins, actually, but it should be close either way.
Uh, don't agree with scoring: The taste scores should have been three or four points off at best. Otherwise, a much better installment of ICA.
A quiz I've not seen before. http://www.io.com/~janis/quiz/quiz1.html
I came out as Alexander Hamilton. There's a shocker.
You have very little faith in humanity (uh, sort of, I guess.) But you still care a great deal about the little dolts despite your bests not to (again, yeah, sort of.) You adhere to social convention when required, but have no patience with the machinations that it sometimes involves (very accurate.) Watch out for feelings of fatalism; they can get you in hot water (oh, wow, that strikes home.)