ICA: Symon vs. Okuwa
An amazing match-up for this 4th of July. This week’s challenger is Chef Makoto Okuwa who ventures into the unfriendly confines of Kitchen Stadium to take on Iron Chef Michael Symon. Now generally Kitchen Stadium is a place of intimidation for a challenger but not for Okuwa-San, he ran the sushi bar at Morimoto, New York having spent years as a sous chef of Iron Chef Morimoto including 13 battles with the dean of Iron Chefs.
Chef Makoto began his career in Japan at the age of 15. After years of perfecting his art he immigrated to the US where he worked at the famed Washington DC sushi bar, Sushi Taro. It was while working in the nation’s capital that he first caught the eye of Iron Chef Morimoto who soon recruited the young chef to join him at the Morimoto flagship in Philadelphia. When his mentor opened his second restaurant in New York’s Meatpacking District he tapped Okuwa to oversee the sushi menu.
Today Makoto-San balances the traditions of Japanese cuisine with the sophistication and flash demanded from American diners at his own restaurant Sashi in Manhattan Beach, California. It is at Sashi where the apprentice has become master and asserted his independence by asking himself each morning, “What’s possible?” This Independence Day he collides head first with the bold new American flavors of Iron Chef Michael Symon. This battle has all the trappings of a culinary Rube Goldberg Machine. The episode airs tonight at 10pm/9c.
The judges for Battle: Uni (sea urchin) are Nina Griscom, Sam Haskell and Tia Carrere.
Click HERE for the outcome.
ICA: Symon vs. Okuwa – Outcome
SPOILER ALERT: The following information is the outcome of Symon vs. Okuwa. If you want information on the combatants click HERE. If you are only interested in the outcome read on.
Judges for Battle: Uni (sea urchin) were Nina Griscom, Sam Haskell and Tia Carrere.
Symon Okuwa
Taste: 30 Taste: 19
Plating: 13 Plating: 12
Originality: 13 Originality: 12
Total: 56 Total: 43
If you haven’t yet, check out my exclusive interview with Iron Chef Michael Symon.
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ICA: Symon vs. Trabocchi
The judges for Battle: Basil are all highly accomplished food writers: the angelic Kim Sunée (Trail of Crumbs), the curmudgeonly Jeffrey Steingarten (The Man Who Ate Everything) and the hippy-ish Andrew Knowlton (Bon Appetit Magazine). With a panel like that the challenger, Fabio Trabocchi, had better bring his lunch because Iron Chef Michael Symon is waiting.
According to Fabio Trabocchi’s web site bio:
Fabio Trabocchi is meticulous about his cooking – from the sourcing of ingredients to the butchering of meat to the Italian traditions that are the foundation of his dishes. This attention to detail is, in turn, evident in his extensive knowledge of Italy’s culinary heritage, skillful techniques and creative imagination. Fabio’s passion for cooking grew organically beside his father and grandparents growing up in Italy’s Le Marche region.
By the age of 8, he was very comfortable in the kitchen, which explains his decision to pursue culinary school in his early teens and his progression of apprenticeships in kitchens throughout the region. By age 16, he was working in the kitchen of a three-star Michelin restaurant, Gualtiero Marchesi, and at 18, he was responsible for the entire kitchen staff at the Michelin one-star Navalge Moena.
Fast forward to the present and Chef Trabocchi is a James Beard Award winner, a published author (Cucina of Le Marche), has run his own multi-star kitchens and is now a challenger on Iron Chef: America. Unfortunately for the Italian-born chef Michael Symon joins him in Kitchen Stadium.
SPOILER ALERT: Click HERE for the outcome.