ICA: Morimoto vs. Bogle
Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto faces off against Challenger Justin Bogle, Executive Chef at Gilt in New York City. Judges are Donatella Arpaia Stewart, Ben Sargent and Karine Bakhoum. With Morimoto in the kitchen and Ben Sargent on the judges table it is safe to assume this will be a seafood battle.
Chef Justin Bogle continues to make his mark at GILT as their Executive Chef. Rooted in the classics, Bogle’s unique approach makes the most of the best ingredients, creating completely new ideas and innovative presentations while still utilizing comforting, familiar 
flavors. His primary goal is creating something delicious that people will want to eat, always using the highest-quality, sustainable ingredients. Before moving to New York Chef Bogle worked at the Striped Bass where he worked side by side with Chef Christopher Lee in developing one of the most successful restaurants in Philadelphia.
A graduate of The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia PA, Bogle is the youngest chef in New York City to receive Two Stars from the MICHELIN Guide, which he has received for the third year in a row with the recent announcement for the 2012 Guide. (GILT has earned the coveted award for the fourth consecutive year.) In August 2010, Bogle was named a “Rising Star Chef” by Restaurant Hospitality, followed by Zagat honoring him as one of New York City’s “30 Under 30″ Up-and-Coming Chefs to watch in 2011. He also recently appeared on the Martha Stewart Show, showcasing his celebrated “dirt salad.”
So a challenger with a background in seafood is taking on Chef Morimoto (the king of fish battles) with the host of Cooking Channel’s Hook, Line and Dinner sitting on the judges’ table has got to mean a fish battle right? You got it; Battle: Paiche.
Check below for the outcome.
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Morimoto Bogle
Taste: 30 Taste: 21
Plating: 15 Plating: 12
Originality: 15 Originality: 10
Total: 60 Total: 43
ICA: Garces vs. Casella
Iron Chef Jose Garces takes on master Italian Chef Cesare Casella in a seafood duel.
Chef Cesare Casella is one of the leading masters of Italian cuisine in the New World. After a stellar career in some of the world’s best restaurants Casella is today the Dean of Italian Studies at The Italian Culinary Academy (sister school to The French Culinary Institute).
Casella was 14 when he enrolled in culinary school, Culinary Institute Ferdinando Martini in Montecatini, Italy. After finishing school the chef turned his family’s restaurant (Vipore) in Lucca into and international 
destination. His extensive use of herbs helped him lead Vipore from being just a quint local eatery to a Michelin starred restaurant attracting celebrities from Hollywood and power brokers like Henry Kissinger. Casella’s devotion to fresh herbs has manifested itself in his signature move of stuffing a handful into the pen pocket of his chef coat.
In 1993 Casella brought his skills to the Big Apple where he was named executive chef at Coco Pazzo. The American pension for entrepreneurship soon enveloped the chef as he opened first his own restaurant, Beppe and then a company dedicated to importing Italian heirloom beans, grains and spices called Republic of Beans. In 2005 he opened his masterpiece, Maremma in the West Village.
Maremma earned the chef more accolades like Top 5 “Best New Restaurants” and “Best Mac-n-Cheese” from New York Magazine. He was featured on TV in an episode of After Hours with Daniel Boulud (the best food show of all time) and Dan Rather Reports. All of this lead to Maremma earning three stars from Forbes Magazine.
It is usually the challenger who comes into Kitchen Stadium as the underdog but I don’t believe that to be case this time. I certainly would not call the Iron Chef an underdog but it certainly seems to be an even match-up at the very least. I know with the gravitas the challenger has in Italian cuisine it would have been nice to see Mario Batali dust off the orange Crocs for this one.
The judges for Battle: Hawaiian Snapper were Ben Sargent, Donatella Arpaia and Yefim Bronfman.
Check below for the outcome.
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Garces Casella
Taste: 30 Taste: 28
Plating: 15 Plating: 13
Originality: 15 Originality: 13
Total: 60 Total: 54
ICA: Flay vs. Christensen
After nearly two months off it is good to see the king of TV cooking shows back. Raleigh-based Chef Ashley Christensen jumps into the pressure cooker of Kitchen Stadium to battle Iron Chef Bobby Flay. Will she rise to the occasion or explode under the pressure?
Ashley Christensen, the chef-owner of Raleigh’s Poole’s Diner is in town tonight and she brings with her the traditions of Carolina cooking. She makes just the third chef from the Triangle area to battle on Iron Chef. Chef Ashley is considered one of the top chefs in the Raleigh area. Last September she was included in Bon Apatit’s article “Women Chefs: The Next Generation,” where she was thrown into good company along side Kelly Liken, Naomi Pomeroy and Allison Vines-Rushing.
The questions is whether Chef Ashley is ready for the heat of Kitchen Stadium where Iron Chef Bobby Flay awaits along with his sexy sous Rene Forsberg and Christine Sanchez. Also waiting is the secret ingredient Chum Salmon and the judges Ben Sargent, Cady Huffman and Jeffrey Steingarten.
Check below for the outcome.
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Flay Christensen
Taste: 20 Taste: 14
Plating: 12 Plating: 11
Originality: 13 Originality: 10
Total: 45 Total: 35
