ICA: Cora vs. Carter

Chef Robert Carter enters Kitchen Stadium from his hometown of Charleston, SC, the “best-mannered city” in the US. Will he walk away from his battle with Iron Chef Cat Cora a gracious winner or a sore loser?

Southern by the grace of God, Chef Robert Carter started his culinary voyage in Charleston, SC back in the late 80’s when he attended Johnson & Wales University.  That’s the same campus that gave us Emeril Legasse and Tyler Florence.  Chef Robert funded his matriculation by working as a private chef for one of those old school aristocratic Southern families.  So popular was his cooking that he parlayed that into a one-man catering company he called Rent-a-Chef.

After graduation, Carter apprenticed under certified master chef Victor Gielisse of Dallas.  Before long he was on everyone’s short list including one of the most revered restaurants in the country The Inn at Blackberry Farm in the Smokie Mountains of East Tennessee where he would serve as executive chef.  That is until leaving for Key West’s Café Marquessa.

Deep down inside he wanted to go back home to Charleston and as Bear Bryant once said, “When mama calls. . . .”  In 1997 he opened The Peninsula Grill with Hank Holliday which Esquire promptly named one of the Best New Restaurants of the Year.  The accolades have flowed in ever since.

Waiting for Chef Carter is Kitchen Stadium’s resident Southern Belle, Cat Cora.  Two questions loom over this battle – who’s cuisine reigns supreme and is this Cora’s last battle as an Iron Chef?

The judges for Battle: Okra were Anya Fernald, Lee Jones and Karine Bakhoum.

Check below for the outcome.

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Cora                  Carter
Taste: 23                Taste: 21
Plating: 13              Plating: 10
Originality: 13        Originality: 13
Total: 51                 Total: 44