Chef Jose Garces was not new to the Iron Chef brand before he was cast as a contestant on Season 2 of “The Next Iron Chef” on Food Network. He had competed against Iron Chef Bobby Flay in an episode of “Iron Chef America” and had defeated Flay in Kitchen Stadium, something that may have spring-boarded him into his role as the newest Iron Chef after winning Season 2 last week. Garces defeated Jehangir Mehta of New York City in the battle of ribs and racks to win the crown, and he owns and operates several restaurants in both Philadelphia and Chicago.

We had the chance to ask Chef Garces a few questions after his big win last weekend….

Premium Hollywood: From the start of this season, you appeared to be a frontrunner….I remember everyone picking your dish as a favorite in the first episode. Did you feel you could win right from the start, or did the competition make you nervous?

Jose Garces: That was definitely a boost to my ego and my psyche in terms on winning the competition. Getting that first victory was huge and kind of springboarded me into the rest of the competition. But there were some solid competitors there, and they say that on any given day a chef can have a bad day…so there’s always that nervousness that played itself in as well.

PH: Last (Sunday night) judge Jeffrey Steingarten commented that he wouldn’t pay to eat your food. I’m not so sure I believe him, but what was your feeling when he said that?

JG: Well honestly, I am a little insulted by it. He seemed to be enjoying the food, and he had good comments while I was there in front of the judges. So it just seemed a little more biased and kind of reactionary that he said that.

PH: Looking back on this past season, what moment or what dish of yours made you most proud?

JG: Oh wow….well, I was actually very proud of the finale food we put together. My team and I worked very hard. And it may have seemed like a safe menu, but it was very difficult to get all of those cuts of meat tender and perfect for the finale, so I was really proud overall for that particular menu.

“Iron Chef America” airs on Sunday nights on The Food Network. Check your local listings or visit www.foodnetwork.com for more information.

Last night’s finale of “The Next Iron Chef” on Food Network featured a battle in Kitchen Stadium akin to the real Iron Chef show…and that’s really how it should have been. It was also very close between chefs Garces and Mehta…and while each has a distinct cooking style, the judges had the difficult choice of crowning one of them the season’s champ, one to join the ranks of Flay, Batali, Cora, Morimoto, and Symon on the popular show.

The chairman began as he does every Iron Chef show..by disclosing the secret ingredient–ribs and racks…both pork and beef. Their task was to use that ingredient to create five dishes that represented America as a melting pot of cultures. It was also a daunting task because of the time usually required to break down rib meat, as they would have just 60 minutes.

The judges were the regulars–Anya Fernald, Jeffrey Steingarten and Donatella Arpaia, with input from Iron Chefs Bobby Flay, Michael Symon and Masaharu Morimoto…as well as host Alton Brown and the chairman.

Mehta’s goal was to fuse different cultures, and his dishes were: smothered dumplings, which Steingarten especially loved….a pork burger with chipotle mayo, which drew criticism from the judges for not being cooked quite enough…..an Indian spare rib with saffron rice, showing his roots….a buffalo steak with chocolate wine sauce, and while the judges applauded the multitude of flavors going on, some of them thought it was a bit too sweet….and finally, chef Mehta finished with a buffalo tartare topped with avocado sorbet, a dish one of the judges referred to as “outstanding,” while another said that chef Mehta “nailed it.”

Chef Garces themed everything after Chicago, where he was born, while showing off the general melting pot theme: he started with a buffalo tartare with Kobe beef sirloin, and the judges thought it was very flavorful and showed Garces’ control of the secret ingredient….a carnitas taco, which unfortunately had some large pieces of cartilage, and which some judges (ahem, Flay) thought it lacked heat…..a pork loin crusted with mustard and herbs, which one judge called “succulent”……a beef short rib pizza with bacon marmalade, which was said to be bold but “perplexing” with its blend of flavors…..and Garces finished with baby back ribs and spicy barbecue sauce, something the judges liked with its nice balance. However, Donatella claimed that she thought this dish to be safe, while Michael Symon disagreed with her.

The judges agreed that many of the dishes were similar, but that the approaches were quite different. Chef Mehta generally tries harder to present his dishes well, while Chef Garces goes more for technique and flavor. The judging points would be taste, originality and presentation.
Well, we figured Garces would win in taste and Mehta in presentation, and originality was probably ultimately a draw.

So as Donatella alluded to, the final choice was going to be who they thought would be the best Iron Chef to carry on the franchise in future Kitchen Stadium battles. That person, as the chairman announced at the end of the episode, was…..Jose Garces! I personally was having trouble seeing Mehta as an Iron Chef, and I think in the end the judges thought the same thing.

Chef Garces believed he would win, and probably believed that since Day 1. But this was a heck of a battle, and Chef Mehta has nothing to be ashamed of.

Okay, so chef Garces will now take his place alongside the other five Iron Chefs and begin battles that aren’t as critical to anything but his own reputation. And I think he does the franchise proud. We’ll have a chance to talk to Chef Garces on a conference call later today and will share those with you soon. Thanks for reading this season!

I admit to not loving “The Next Iron Chef” on Food Network, but yesterday’s show excited me more and I’m looking forward to the final round next Sunday. Last night, the final three were still in Japan, and were asked to show their integrity and tell a story with a Kaiseki, or multi-course meal. They would be judged on taste, creativity and presentation, and the judges would be the regulars Anya Fernald, Jeffrey Steingarten and Donatella Arpaia, as well as Dr. Hattori, the commentator of the original Iron Chef series in Japan.

After having an hour to shop at the fresh market for fish and produce, chefs Garces and Mullen were laughing at chef Mehta, who bought a crazy amount of flowers in which to use as garnishes. Say what? I hope he remembered that presentation was only a third of the points.

During service, chef Mullen was slowed by arthritis in his leg and visibly in pain. But he pressed on like an Iron Chef hopeful should. And though all of the chefs struggled with the two-hour time limit, they all managed to plate their dishes.

Chef Mullen went first and made a salmon mousse; sea urchin with strawberries prawn and potato confit with aioli; salmon and prawns, tomato and oyster soup; a miso soup with rice; and a strawberry ice cream with caviar. They all loved the ice cream, but since chef Mullen decided to make rice with his miso soup and didn’t cook it to Japanese standards, all four judges were tough on him for that. Plus, Steingarten referred to the mousse as being hard as a golf ball. Yikes.

Chef Mehta used a ton of flowers to express his own happiness and love of life, but the judges all thought he overdid it. He made a clam salad; a lobster with zucchini blossom; green chile shrimp with pickled vegetables; seared scallop with ginger and chrysanthemum; and an ice cream with rose petals, crab tartate and mango. The judges also thought chef Mehta’s dishes were too sweet overall and Steingarten referred to his ice cream as tasting like soap. Also, chef Mehta may not have presented a traditional “kaiseke.”

Chef Garces wanted his presentation to be like a show with five acts. He started with a gazpacho with king crab; then a Peruvian ceviche; a grilled kampachi fish with vegetables; a hot pot with lobster and abalone; and a sea urchin custard with mango. The judges mostly loved chef Garces’ dishes and it was pretty clear he would be reaching the finals. The only real complaint was that the hot pot dish was a bit too salty.

So it would likely be between chefs Mullen and Mehta. Chef Mullen was commended for his pressing on through pain, but in the end the fact that he messed up the rice was serious enough to send him home.
Chef Mehta was told by host Alton Brown that his presentation was a high point as well as a low point, but he still delivered some excellent dishes and was ushered into the finals along with chef Garces.

These guys have been eyeing each other since Day 1, and now we know why….and after flying back to New York, they will face off in Kitchen Stadium to determine who will be the Next Iron Chef. I have to say Garces is the favorite, but Mehta is a fierce competitor and won’t go down without a fight. Who do you like? Let me know in the space below and see you next week for the finale results!

Last night on Food Network’s “The Next Iron Chef,” the final four chefs were whisked off to Japan, where they would compete in the birthplace of the Iron Chef series. For the initial challenge, Chefs Garces, Freitag, Mehta and Mullen had to first create small dishes with the UMAMI flavor profile (a savory soy-based flavor originated in Japan). Iron Chef Masumatu Morimoto would be the judge.

Each chef appeared to do a nice job with this challenge, but chef Mehta won it with his leeks with panko; soy clams; grilled beef; apples; and strawberries. Morimoto thought he did the best job of incorporating the UMAMI profile, and suddenly he is looking like a contender.

Then they brought in the commentator for the Iron Chef series in Japan, Dr. Hattori, who would announce the main challenge along with host Alton Brown. The challenge would be to create another set of small meals in a bento box with rice as the centerpiece, but using each of the five flavor profiles–salty, sweet, bitter, sour and UMAMI. They would have 90 minutes to create these dishes and chef Mehta would have the advantage of first choice of ingredients.

Chef Mehta made oyster sherbet (ewwww!!), shrimp UMAMI, salty pork and rice, bitter melon salad and a sweet berry dessert.

Chef Mullen went with bitter tempura, bibimbap (some sort of Japanese specialty) with Kobe beef, green olive/sardines with rice, sour sticky rice with octopus, and yuzu ice cream with rice crackers.

Chef Garces made bitter green salad, pickled sardines, octopus with rice cakes, UMAMI pork belly and a sweet rice pudding with raspberries.

Finally, Chef Freitag made a kuromutzu fish, an UMAMI Kobe beef teriyaki, salty rice balls with seaweed, bitter radicchio tempura, and a black sticky rice with fruit for the sweet dish.

The judges, which were Dr. Hattori along with the main judges for the season–Anya Fernald, Jeffrey Steingarten and Donatella Arpaia–liked something about each of the chefs’ creations. But the winner of the challenge and now current frontrunner was Chef Garces.

The next one sent to safety was Chef Mehta, so it was down to Mullen and Freitag. The judges liked Mullen’s ice cream a lot and also liked Freitag’s fish, but in the end they chose Chef Mullen to continue and sent Freitag home.

So now it’s down to Mullen, Mehta and Garces to compete for the title of the Next Iron Chef. All three appear like they can make noise in the next two weeks, so this thing is pretty much wide open. Who do you like? We’ll find out more next week…see you then!

The current season of “The Next Iron Chef” on Food Network is rolling right along, and last night they accelerated things again as two aspiring chefs were eliminated. Now we are in Final Four territory.

Last night’s episode began with the chairman introducing Indian chef Suvir Saran, who then asked the chefs to create their own impression of Indian food, in small bits and strictly vegetarian. Of course, this would appear to give chef Mehta an advantage because he was of Indian heritage. But he had also won the previous challenge, so he also had a tangible advantage….which wound up being having first choice of ingredients.

Mehta made an eggplant dish but used some sort of fabric to make a “plate,” and this confused Saran because he wasn’t sure if he could eat the plate or not, and he couldn’t. Each of the other chefs, for the most part, made some sort of bread and some sort of chutney to accent their dish. The favorite and winner of the challenge was chef Appleman, who made a cauliflower and potato curry dish.

Before the main challenge, the chefs were told that this would be a double elimination and that four of them would be getting on a plane and heading off to a far-away location to continue competing. Their task was to create a 5-course Indian meal in just two hours using the ingredients currently in the kitchen. Chef Appleman had his choice of ingredients since he won the previous challenge and he went with snapper and lamb. Then it was a mad dash as each chef was tugging and pulling on the remaining proteins like kids tugging at candy. Here is a brief cross-section of what each chef made:

Trevino–chicken tikka and beef curry

Garces–spinach and cheese paneer, prawns and dal soup

Appleman–Aloo gobi, eggplant stuffed with lamb, sag paneer, and roasted banana

Freitag–Naan bread with chicken mughlai (she served it, disgustingly, with the chicken’s head on the plate…ewwwwww!)

Mullen–goat vindaloo, spiced prawns and red lentil dal

Mehta–rice, dal, spicy okra, fritters and semolina dessert.

The judges liked most of the dishes, but a few of the negative comments were that Mullen’s dal was an “unpleasant interpretation,” and that Appleman’s banana smelled and tasted funky. If fact, I’m pretty sure judge Donatella Arpaia wanted to say it tasted like stinky feet.

The first one to safety and who was handed a ticket to the next destination was chef Freitag, but then host Alton Brown told chef Trevino that he was the first chef to be heading home. Garces was the next to safety, and Brown informed him that he had won this particular challenge and would have an advantage next week.

Mehta was the next in the final four, leaving chefs Mullen and Appleman, both of whom have shown that they could be frontrunners recently. And both were cocky, saying they didn’t expect to be eliminated. So the next one in the finals was….chef Mullen! Appleman and his cocky attitude were sent packing, and I have to admit I was surprised, because despite his attitude, he seems to be an excellent chef. Brown told him as much, and that he had a bad night and it cost him. Wow.

So your final four is Freitag, Garces, Mehta and Mullen…..and it appears to be a wide open competition. As to where they are headed? Tokyo, Japan….where the Iron Chef concept began and where Food Network star and original Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto will be on hand to help judge.

See you all next week!