Melon... yuck!

So I haven't posted in a month or so, and we got a request for a blog about the Garces v. Flay Iron Chef America episode where Philadelphia chef Jose Garces of Amada fame beat out Bobby Flay in Battle Melon Brainfreeze. So here we go.

1. I wonder why Garces didn't choose Iron Chef Morimoto as his competitor and have a Philadelphia battle.

2. I don't like melon, so as exciting as it was to have Garces on Iron Chef, I didn't enjoy it as much as other battles.

3. That said, Steve and I are going to Amada, Garces' award-winning tapas restaurant in September, and I am very excited for that (even though it is Restaurant Week, so the menu will be restricted).

4. Brainfreeze? Wierd. Its already pretty hard to create a 5-course meal out of melon, but adding the requirement that every dish must have a frozen element really increased the difficulty. Not sure how the chefs did it, and although I've often wanted to be a judge on the show, I'm glad I wasn't asked to judge this time. I wonder if Garces thought "last week the secret ingredient was bass (or something like that), how did I get frozen and melon? This sucks."

5. Bobby Flay is pretty good. Especially at grilling. So why did judge Jeffrey Steingarten feel the need to tell him that he shouldn't use the phrase "throw it on the grill," because grilling is an art. I think Flay knows that. By the way, Flay's Mesa Grill cookbook is pretty good - we used in in our cookbook book club last month and made some pretty good truffled quesadillas.

6. Wow! I was on Iron Chef America's website and found this:

How Do You Iron Chef? Food Network is asking Iron Chef America fans: How do you Iron Chef? From videos of you in Japanese costumes to your latest home-hosted cooking competitions – we want to see it all!
Upload your videos and tell us why nobody Iron Chefs like you do! If your video is picked, you could appear on Food Network in all your Iron Chef glory.

Now's the time I wish Jess Sum hadn't moved away!