The next Next Iron Chef 2009

[gfweb]

Mehta is cast as the vampirish villain; a role he is well-suited to and probably in some way reflective of reality. With the editing we really don't know whether the judges were completely impressed or not with his meal.

So the last show is down to Garces vs Mehta. Good vs. evil.

What drama.

[plattetude]

Chef Mehta had cooked the most delectable Indian feast and the judges were totally impressed with his efforts. They went on to declare that it was delicious and had all the right flavors. They criticized Chef Garces’ food majorly because it lacked any Indian taste to it. He had served Dal with zucchini! I agree that he had innovated but the outcome of innovation should be balanced flavors. I don’t know how they thought a touch of Zucchini could balance anything in a Dal. So there is no bias towards anyone but an attempt to increase the entertainment value. Now there is nothing wrong in editing a reality show to increase the entertainment value but they need to stop misleading people!

All this criticizing of the judges is wayyyy misplaced. You're not seeing/hearing all their comments; you're seeing how the producers have had the comments *edited*, very likely in some cases deliberately overstating strengths and weaknesses of the contestants' efforts to make it seem like more of a horse race, or to make the results more of a "gotcha." Same thing with Top Chef. Like gfweb said, drama.

Christohper

[Pierogi]

Any SHRED of respect for Mehta I had evaporated last night, along with any desire to see him as an Iron Chef when Chef Mullin asked him if he had any sugar and Mehta said no, even though the camera clearly showed him with a hotel pan full of I'd say about 5 pounds of it, of which Mehta was using maybe the top 1/2 inch. OK, I'll give him the top inch.

I could understand this attitude if Chef Mullin had said, "hey, can I have some of that truffle/cavier/uni" or some other exotic, hard to source ingredient.

BUT SUGAR????

What a pr*ck.

Pure and simple, cut and dried. An asshat. Total.

I will not watch ICA if he wins.

And I liked him in the first couple of rounds. He may be talented (although I also thought his presentation in last night's episode was an affront to the theme of "integrity") but he's a total jerk.

Again, as has been stated up-thread, compare his behavior to that shown on "Top Chef Master". No class, whatsoever.

[KatieLoeb]

Ghef Garces is hosting a viewing party at Distrito this coming Sunday for the final episode. No one throws a party if they know they're the loser. Go Team Garces!!!!

Jose Garces is the next Iron Chef. Take it to the bank. Hell, my stock just went up too. Jose is one of my references on my resume.

[gfweb]

Katie, around these parts Jose benefits from his association with you!

[KristiB50]

Any SHRED of respect for Mehta I had evaporated last night, along with any desire to see him as an Iron Chef when Chef Mullin asked him if he had any sugar and Mehta said no, even though the camera clearly showed him with a hotel pan full of I'd say about 5 pounds of it, of which Mehta was using maybe the top 1/2 inch. OK, I'll give him the top inch.

I could understand this attitude if Chef Mullin had said, "hey, can I have some of that truffle/cavier/uni" or some other exotic, hard to source ingredient.

BUT SUGAR????

What a pr*ck.

Pure and simple, cut and dried. An asshat. Total.

I will not watch ICA if he wins.

And I liked him in the first couple of rounds. He may be talented (although I also thought his presentation in last night's episode was an affront to the theme of "integrity") but he's a total jerk.

Again, as has been stated up-thread, compare his behavior to that shown on "Top Chef Master". No class, whatsoever.

Ditto.

He's an awful person.

[Reignking]

I felt like the "sugar incident" was pure editing. You never saw Mullen run over and grab it from him, or even complain about it. Or Mehta even say "This is a competition. I want to sabotage them. Muhahahahaha."

[GwennP]

Any SHRED of respect for Mehta I had evaporated last night, along with any desire to see him as an Iron Chef when Chef Mullin asked him if he had any sugar and Mehta said no, even though the camera clearly showed him with a hotel pan full of I'd say about 5 pounds of it, of which Mehta was using maybe the top 1/2 inch. OK, I'll give him the top inch.

I could understand this attitude if Chef Mullin had said, "hey, can I have some of that truffle/cavier/uni" or some other exotic, hard to source ingredient.

BUT SUGAR????

What a pr*ck.

Pure and simple, cut and dried. An asshat. Total.

I will not watch ICA if he wins.

And I liked him in the first couple of rounds. He may be talented (although I also thought his presentation in last night's episode was an affront to the theme of "integrity") but he's a total jerk.

Again, as has been stated up-thread, compare his behavior to that shown on "Top Chef Master". No class, whatsoever.

Ditto.

He's an awful person.

And what about the way he left the ice cream machine - knowing Chef Mullen needed it. I felt bad to see him go. It should have been him!

[gfweb]

His PR machine would be better used if it taught him a bit of graceful behavior.

[KatieLoeb]

You're much too kind. I am just so excited for him. I just know he's going to win and that he's going to be a great addition to the Iron Chef lineup. Jose will always remain one of my favorite ex-bosses. He's every bit as nice a guy as he seems to be. And I learned a lot from him. I'm very proud to have worked for him and been able to help him open his first restaurant in Philly. Now that there's a small burgeoning empire it seems like a million years ago, but he's always been very gracious to me and expressed his gratitude for my help at the beginning. He's a class act and deserving of all the success he's having.

[Pierogi]

I felt like the "sugar incident" was pure editing. You never saw Mullen run over and grab it from him, or even complain about it. Or Mehta even say "This is a competition. I want to sabotage them. Muhahahahaha."

Absolutely no doubt it was edited to make it look worse. But as someone else also said up thread, you can't edit in intent, and Mehta's intent was to screw Mullen. Just like when he took all the grape leaves when he knew Garces (?) needed them for his dolmas.

His PR machine would be better used if it taught him a bit of graceful behavior.

Word !

[Danika]

Actually Chef Mehta did explain his actions regarding the ice – cream machine but maybe you missed that part. During the previous challenge when Chef Mullen had used the ice – cream machine he had left it unclean in spite of knowing that Chef Mehta was going to use it after him. Chef Mehta just gave him the taste of his own medicine so I don't know why anyone should feel bad for Chef Mullen.

[Danika]

His graceful behavior is evident from the fact that he has never bad mouthed anybody nor has he looked down upon anybody’s preparations. He lets his food do the talking. Another thing that I like about him is that he has never played a victim just to get some audience sympathy. He has had numerous occasions where he could have complained as other contestants often do. Take for example the time when Chef Mullen wrestled the leg of lamb leg out of his hand or when Chef Mullen blocked the ice cream machine and left it unclean. I completely appreciate Chef Mehta’s spirit of taking everything in his stride. That is proof of his graceful behavior and proof of the confidence he has in his own abilities. This chef is unquestionably talented and humble.

[gfweb]

How about the grape leaves? Ask your boss how graceful that was.

[Dignan]

His graceful behavior is evident from the fact that he has never bad mouthed anybody nor has he looked down upon anybody’s preparations. He lets his food do the talking. Another thing that I like about him is that he has never played a victim just to get some audience sympathy. He has had numerous occasions where he could have complained as other contestants often do. Take for example the time when Chef Mullen wrestled the leg of lamb leg out of his hand or when Chef Mullen blocked the ice cream machine and left it unclean. I completely appreciate Chef Mehta’s spirit of taking everything in his stride. That is proof of his graceful behavior and proof of the confidence he has in his own abilities. This chef is unquestionably talented and humble.

[Jane Die]

Chef Mullen screwed himself, actually. He seems to be a damn fine chef and his last presentation was simply beautiful but how does a chef f**K up rice? That's fundamental. *Rice*

I do think Chef Mehta hit the wall with the over-abundance of flora but his food must be pretty special. I also think Chef Mehta has been edited to look the villain, and while he's no saint or second coming of anything (but maybe the Next IC), I don't think he's Satan/Nosferatu/EvilGeniusBaldGuy or... whatever thing he's being called. The only thing evil going on is a bit of editing shenanigans to provide the unsuspecting viewers with a culinary luchadores, minus the mask.

I'm still rooting for Chef Mehta because I really want to see Indian cuisine represented on ICA and I think Chef Mehta is a very knowledgeable, creative and highly skilled chef.

On the other hand, Chef Garces is AMAZING, his food looks AMAZING and I'd enjoy watching him, too. He is really very impressive. And humble, too. I like him a lot.

Regardless of which of these chefs win, I think they'll bring something original to ICA. It's all good.

edited for spelling

Edited November 19, 2009 by Jane Die (log)

[gfweb]

Yippee

[Jacquester]

Well for those who didn't catch it Chef Garces is the next Iron Chef.

[KatieLoeb]

[jpropaganda]

I'm still in shock it's not Appleman

[velveeta]

Congrats to Garces!

We were surprised at the ribs ingredient. It is hard to even imagine that they are dealing with ribs in an hour.

I'd still like more info on that clam salad that Mehta made last time.

[KensethFan]

I was really glad to see that Garces won. He might not be as good at presentation as Mehta, but his food was perfectly cooked. I really lost a lot of respect for Mehta when he - in earlier episodes - was taking entire ingredients from his competitors to try and gain an advantage. Either he would need some of the ingredient and take it all so the others could not get it, or he would flat out take it all even if he did not need it. To me, that was totally unprofessional and - quite frankly - cowardly. If you can't beat your competitors in a fair competition, then you don't belong in competition. It's too bad too, because he is a very creative individual. The only problem is his inconsistency. I could see his creativeness flourish as an Iron Chef, but because of his inconsistency, he would lose too many battles. I think the judges ended up choosing Garces because he is consistent. The other Iron Chefs can work with him on creativity and presentation, helping him along to be a great Iron Chef. He has a lot of potential. Plus, Garces is very warm and personable. What I found interesting (and I'm sure this was all editing) was that the judges seemed to be dead against Garces and the Iron Chefs seemed to be all for him. Looks like in the end, the Iron Chefs prevailed and they must have convinced at least some of the judges that Garces was the best man for the job.

Good luck to Mr. Garces!!!! I hope that Mr. Mehta has learned a bit from this experience. I hope he has learned that integrity does count for something. I can't help but wonder if integrity also played a role in Mehta's demise in addition to his inconsistency.

[Holly Moore]

Great that Philadelphia has an Iron Chef. I have been rooting for Chef Garces not just because he is local. Any chef who combines short ribs, duck fat fried potatoes and cheddar cheese sauce is a culinary god in my book.

Having said that (I also watched "Curb Your Enthusiasm" finale), the judging was disappointing. Came off as picking the least worst rather than the best.

The Iron Chefs were right in respecting technique. They also seemed to want one of their own to win over a pastry chef.

Steingarden made it to the top five of people I don't want to sit next to at a dinner party. His comment, "I would not pay for that food ..." was superfluous and stupid. He complains about lack of creativity and then comes up with the gem of triteness, "If you believe that I have a bridge going to Brooklyn I would like to sell you."

Curiously, they did not show the scorecard averages last night.

I do think that Chef Mehta would do a much more dramatic crossing arms, turning and staring at the camera than Chef Garces.

[Jane Die]

Steingarden was cranky, wasn't he? I'd still like to have dinner with him because I truly enjoy watching him bitch about food. That's bloody entertainment.

But ribs? Seriously? Ribs is slow food, not fast food.

I too was dismayed by the lack of score card at the end. What's that about? What was the score, exactly, and why was it not revealed?

Congratulations to Chef Garces. I'll enjoy watching him prepare wonderful food.

[KristiB50]

That breeze you felt was America heaving a sigh of relief Mehta didn't win.

But i agree with Holly's statement:

I do think that Chef Mehta would do a much more dramatic crossing arms, turning and staring at the camera than Chef Garces.