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Toronto's Susur Lee vs Bobby Flay


mhkhung

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Thanks. I will know to avoid it. The new show has never held my attention for the entire show, local chefs or not. If Gordon Ramsay or Anthony Bourdain were the iron chefs that might change things. Love Bobby Flay and Mario Batali and love each of their places in NYC, especially recently at Babbo as I am salivating just thinking about the mint love letters and the beef cheek ravioli there. Oh well, each to his own.

officially left egullet....

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think Bobby Flay's dishes are safe and traditional with more interesting sauces. Susur's dishes are more creative with weird combinations and more Chinese but at the same time may not please every judge (hence riskier).

Overall I think Bobby Flay executes very well to tie the match :) (he has much more experience in that kitchen and format afterall). But I would go for the Susur iron chef dinner (if he has one) any evening..

- M

a tie.  better than losing to bobby flay but I  thought susur would have smashed him.

ns

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I think Bobby Flay's dishes are safe and traditional with more interesting sauces.  Susur's dishes are more creative with weird combinations and more Chinese but at the same time may not please every judge (hence riskier).

Overall I think Bobby Flay executes very well to tie the match :) (he has much more experience in that kitchen and format afterall). But I would go for the Susur iron chef dinner (if he has one) any evening..

- M

a tie.  better than losing to bobby flay but I  thought susur would have smashed him.

ns

I think you're right and it shows from the scoring since susur got more points for originality while Bobby Flay got more points on plating/presentation. Still wished Susur could've beat kicked Flay's ass though.

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I thought that Steingarten had it in for Susur. Susur's dishes were far more original than Flay's and the presentation of Flay's weren't that much better. Steingarten was very denegrating to Susur, but worshipped Flay's mere existence. Had he been replaced with another judge, I am sure Susur would have won. The comment about the stuffed and rolled scallops was ridiculous. And the rudeness regarding the Lion's Head dumpling being found only in Chinese establishments aimed at Americans in China was uncalled for. Too bad they keep bringing him back on the show.

Mark

Edited by Librarian_chef (log)
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I wish I'd never watched the show -- it only lends to the ratings and keeps things like that on the air. Susur ruled the show and to the third judge (name blocked in my brain) with the pink tie: "You're not funny... not even remotely."

Chantal

www.kawarthacuisine.ca

"Where there are vines, there is civilization"

from Mondovino

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I wish I'd never watched the show -- it only lends to the ratings and keeps things like that on the air......

So true....you will recall (or perhaps not) that Happy Days stayed on the air well after Fonzie jumped the shark....I avoided the show last night despite getting home and having people leave messages noting that I should watch the same. Watched the Jays eek out a win agains the Red Sox instead and called it a night after the Flames, sadly, went down in flames.

officially left egullet....

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Much of Susur's strong points are his intricate preparations and accountrements. Most of which fall by the wayside with a 1 hour (50 min) time limit. Having eaten at both of their restaurants - it's Susur by a mile

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I've honestly stopped caring who wins. It's all so subjective. I've never eaten the food of any of the Iron Chefs (past or present) and since I'm not there eating what the judges are, my comments are kinda pointless ....

HOWEVER

... if Flay makes another "riff on the classic American Bacon & Eggs" I think I'm gonna hunt him down and force feed him a dozen quail eggs. This was about the 4th one he's done. Original??

And WTF was with Rocca? I find him really quite funny on NPR. On ICA last night he just looked moronic. Go on ... make a Canadian crack about bacon, maple syrup and Celine. He missed fitting in hockey. Looser. Susur Lee sure didn't know what the hell he was going on about.

A.

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I thought that Steingarten had it in for Susur...Steingarten was very denegrating to Susur, but worshipped Flay's mere existence.  ...Too bad they keep bringing him back on the show.

Mark

So it was Steingarten who was the pompous jerk. I read about Susur and Flay in the Globe & Mail's tv column and the writer made a reference to comments being made to Susur by one of them and a withering glance being returned.

Have enjoyed Steingarten's books, "It Must Have Been Something I Ate" and "The Man Who Ate Everything".

I cannot stand the show [bobby Flay too] but had intended to watch it because of Lee's participation but got caught up in the Flames' "flame out"...go Oilers!

Was the special ingredient actually bacon?

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  • 2 months later...

The show is rigged and definitely favours The Iron Chefs. I have eaten a Bobbie's and Susar's and there is no comparison in presentation, originality, flavour, and ingredients. Susar wins hands down. Everything at Bolo tastes like Chipolte peppers to me. Steingarten worshiips at Flay's feet and was incredibly rude to Susar. I hope he doesn't try to get a reservation at Susar's, I am sure he is on the do not admit list. If they do let him in they should force feed him lions' head dumplings. :wink:

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I've lived in NYC for 2 years -- ate at Flay's restaurant several times, would prefer Jean-George Vongerichten's cuisine over Flay's anytime, simply on the sophistication of the prep as well as presentation. Have been fortunate to also be able to eat at Susur's in Toronto many times, at Blue Ginger (Ming Tsai) in Boston frequently and (once) at Tetsuya's in Sydney.

Give me Susur over Flay any day. Tsai beat Flay when Ming was on ICA, but it was because these judges vote for the "gladiatorial" showmanship (Ming used a high pressure air pump to inflate the skin away for a Peking duck) and what can be done in just over an hour ... most of Susur's ingredients are made in his kitchen and simply aren't available in ICA's pantry and his dishes can't be rushed.

What would Michelangelo do if someone handed him a chunk of marble, a jack hammer, and told him to finish in 60 minutes? Not produce David or the Pieta ... we know what Susur is capable of ... we don't need ICA judges to tell us.

Jason

JasonZ

Philadelphia, PA, USA and Sandwich, Kent, UK

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I ate at Lee's last night (first time). Have eaten at Susur's three or four times, but it's been a couple of years now.

Susur was in the house last night and I asked him about the Flay battle. He said he would go back for a rematch if they asked him. (Ties are unusual - you'd have thunk they would have asked him almost immediately, wouldn't you?) I also remarked that he seemed disappointed when the verdict was read out. (It was pretty obvious to me that he thought he kicked Flay's ...) He said for him, it was a loss. (Susur's words). He looked pretty angry about it still. I mentioned something along the lines of being in a strange kitchen and that the challengers rarely win, and he simply said he went there to win. (Pretty sure I have that accurate, but could be paraphrasing. Hey, I wasn't taking notes. In any event, I got the distinct impression that he'd like to go back and perhaps with different judges (Susur did not mention the judges - that's me echoing some of the above comments) have another go.)

Oh, the food at Lee's is excellent, although not what you'd get next door. But that is another thread.

Cheers (in brackets - what's with my bracket fixation?),

Geoff Ruby

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What would Michelangelo do if someone handed him a chunk of marble, a jack hammer, and told him to finish in 60 minutes? Not produce David or the Pieta ...  we know what Susur is capable of ... we don't need ICA judges to tell us.

I was going to say something along the same lines, but not as charitably as you put it. Something like "given that I once waited 1hr20 between one of the courses, I don't think a 60 minute battle is his forte".

I'll be dining there again later this month, so we'll see if that's improved.

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I did not see the recent repeat of this ICA episode, but I did see the original broadcast a couple of months ago. Although we don't have access to to the judges' individual voting records, the comments of Jeffery Steingarten were rude, ignorant, and indicated a bias against Susar Lee.

This came out in Lee's comments to the press and the CBC-1 morning show after the broadcast, but it was plain to see on the show. I wonder if Flay made any comments about the tie?

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