Iron Chef America: Battle Melon
This week, Chef Jose Garces (who specialized in Latin/Spanish cuisine) of Amada restaurant took on Iron Chef Bobby Flay. The secret ingredient was melon. The judges were many of the usual suspects – Queer Eye Ted Allen, author Jeffrey Steingarten, and “The Insider” correspondent Victoria Recano.
Chef Garces prepared five dishes: breakfast with espresso granite (which Victoria and Jeffrey both said was very good), watermelon ceviche with toro tuna, melon con jamon (which featured shaved frozen cantaloupe), Thai-style melon and beef pouches, and melon mosaic soup. Iron Chef Flay also presented five dishes: white gazpacho, melon and serrano ham salad (Ted thought the vinaigrette was delicious), melon and scallop ceviche (Victoria thought the pickling of the melon was nice), cantaloupe sorbet in a profiterole, and frozen watermelon parfait with beignets.
I thought it would be very close and it was. Chef Garces defeated Iron Chef Flay by one point. He scored 24 to Flay’s 22 in taste, but lost a point in originality to win by a score of 50 to 49.
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