Hey, I thought tonights show was pretty good. Still waiting to see who "won".

Not a bad start. Brown was professional and informative. The thing that was interesting was that on the Japanese version, they never dubbed the chatter between the chefs and their assistants. On this one, I found it revealing to hear Flay instructing the sous chefs on what to do next, and hearing his annoyance when the mango chutney failed.

Yeah, it's not the original, but I thought it was a good translation. (No pun intended.) And I wonder what the Japanese fans will think of Morimoto's place in this. Traitor?

mmmm. raw trout ice cream. sign me up!

I was surprised that Flay won. They way the judges were talking, I thought Flay was going to loose the "1st battle".

I to liked hearing the chef's witht he assistants. I think it added a lot. I really liked watching and listening to the difference between Flay and Bayless (Flay even commented how relaxed Bayless was and it was interesting how Bayless while focused took the time to correct how to say some of the spanish Mexican dishes).

I do wish they would relax a little at the beginning. The "soap opra" stare downs and "deadly" seriousness, works for the Japanese version, but comes across a little silly for the American version. I do like that "the chairman" picks the who battles.

I'll watch again.

I liked it!

I enjoyed the original as more of a spectacle of the ridiculous, with dishes I would never consider eating, bad dubbing, and the chairman. The food they would make was so removed from what I would ever even encounter that I didn't even consider it as a cooking competition. The Iron Chef America special last year came closer to "my world" with chefs I'd heard of...and English. However, showing respect to the orginial Japanese chefs, it was still rooted in exotic food.

Anyway, I enjoyed last nights show (and hopefully the series) as a genuine cooking competition. As soon as they revealed the big slab of meat, I kind felt like this was something I'd probably relate to more on a food level.

The fact that I did like it has to speak to the shows quality somewhat because this episode features my two most hated chefs in the world, Bobby Flay and Rick Bayless.

I thought it was one of the few times where I actually wouldn't mind sampling some of the dishes. For the most part, they looked appealing. Or at least a lot closer than most everything on the Japanese version.

And did you see the size of that "boat motor" that Flay was using? I think you really could use it on a boat!

CNN has an article about Iron Chef Flay... and there's a disturbing pice of news...

SHE'S MARRYING HIM !?!?

Really good battle tonight between Flay and Ming Tsai. Very happy with the result.

Not sure I like the chairman choosing the opponent for the challenger. And Morimoto doesn't have a battle until 2/20.

The food looked awesome tonight. I do wish there was an audience there, though.

cooking with an air compressor. pretty cool.

man, that duck looked delicious...

i like ted allen as a judge. he really gets his opions across, and is clear about what he is saying. he deserves that spot at the head of the table.

the other guy, the food critic, is worthless, in my opinion... and he has HORRIBLE table manners... strange, as he basically eats at nice restaurants for a living...

Now I would definitely watch this if they would only get Vic Romano and Kenny Blankenship to do the play by play.

So I'm watching this week's episode of Iron Chef America (battle peanuts), and I did a spit take when at one point I could have sworn Alton Brown said the challenger was adding "eel farts" to her dish. I had to turn on CC and what he actually said was "veal parts." I thought next thing you know she'll be making Shark Head Pizza Bagels, which she'd claim "gets all the chicks" back home.