Hale Kilinahe: Pith of Pop: Iron Chef America, Batali v. Trevino

I had never heard of him. But he's very talented. His specialty is Latin/Puerto Rican cuisine. The theme ingredient is catfish. CATFISH? Heh? Mario audibly snorts at the announcement of the ingredient.

Roberto is very quiet. He's very busy but says very little. In fact, I think I hear his sous-chefs talking more. That's another thing about this American version--the lackeys get the spotlight, too, which is wonderful, since they do the lion's share of the work.

Blahblahblahbattle cakes. Not the most exciting episode. I like Mario. He's got the soul of an Italian nanna but the heart of a Seattle slacker dude.

They introduce the judges. One of them is Jeffrey Steingarten. He's the food critic for Vogue. Man, is he an asshole. Does he talk to all the challengers like that? Jerk. Hey, pal, you write for a fashion magazine. Your job is about as important as that of a person who writes Braille editions of Playboy. Get over yourself.

I still haven't managed to catch this one yet, but I did catch one last night where Mario was battling Michael Laiskonis a fairly reknown pastry chef. There was a twist in that there was 2 ingredients this time, chocolate and coconut. The other requirement was that they needed to make 3 savory dishes, and 2 desserts. It was pretty interesting to see what Mario came up with since it was quite different than what I'm used to seeing him cook. In the end, Mario won, and I think he rightfully deserved to do so. I was quite impressed by Mario's expertise. Alton makes a great host too.
Posted by LeV at February 14, 2005 2:44 PM