Iron Chef America

[Atreides]

I read on Wiki that they're into their 3rd season on the Food Network - how's it? I only caught the opening battles between Sakai/Morimoto with Puck/Flay/Battali which were superb.

 

How's the series? How's it compare to the Japanese ones?

[taks]

better and worse...

 

it's sort of cliched the way they attempt to mimic the original version, however, the original is so campy that it's sickening sometimes. given that ICA is in english, it's a bit easier to follow. it also helps that the chefs are household names, well close to that, such as bobby flay and mario batali. oh, and marimoto from the original is pretty good, too but he doesn't have his own show otherwise. they've got a chick in there now, too, kat cora, whom my wife seems to like. chick power and all.

 

so, overall, i'd say it is better. i'm a HUGE fan of alton brown, and he narrates with a lot of detail on the history and science behind the foods the cooks are using.

 

taks

[Enoch]

I enjoy it from time to time. It's interesting to note that they've been making an effort to make the theme ingredients things that everyday cooks can and would get their hands on. Sometimes this works pretty well (andouille sausage is a good example), but other times it's so super-generic that it feels like they just told the contestants to make whatever the heck they want (ground beef, onions, cheese).

 

Although I was as amused as any over the ridiculous pageantry of the original, I certainly didn't miss the 15 minutes of stock footage that they used to run before the actual cooking starts.

[Atreides]

The background info's cool, as was the Chairman's soliloquy as an intro but I agree - 15 min's too long. I liked some of Kaga's outfits though.