Reading the William Grimes' NY Times feature on Iron Chef America on the Food Network (it premieres this Sunday) only made Gothamist, to borrow a phrase from another Food TV personality, kick our irrational hatred of Bobby Flay up a notch. BAM! Forever will the memory of Bobby Flay jumping up on the kitchen counter during the 2000 Iron Chef showdown between Flay and Masaharu Morimoto be burned in our brains. Grimes mentions the incident, chalking it up to emotions running high, but considering that Flay almost singed his eyebrows in the latest episode, we can only hope that he'll decide to retire from Iron Chefdom and stick to his crappy judging a crappy reality show gig. In the meantime, we'll be rooting against him - go Rick Bayless!
In spite of the Flay, there are many things about the show to be loved: Alton Brown as host, other iron chefs Mario Batali and Morimoto, and we are psyched that Jeffrey Steingarten is one of the judges. But what is Julie Chen Moonves doing there? She doesn't look like she eats! Here are some upcoming battles Gothamist is looking forward to:
January 30, Bobby Flay vs. Ming Tsai
February 27, Bobby Flay vs. Govind Armstrong (of Table 8 in LA)
March 6, Masaharu Morimoto vs. Roberto Donna
March 20, Mario Batali vs. Scott Campbell (of @SQC, home of the pudding-like hot chocolate)
Newsday on the new Iron Chef series and Iron Chef America is filming at Chelsea Market, which means we must try and find a way in to be part of the crowd.
