ICA: Zakarian vs. Gallante
Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian faces off against challenger Shea Gallante, who is the executive chef at Ciano in New York. The judges for Battle: Pasta are Michael Ruhlman, Candice Kumai and Martin Yan.
Gallante has been wearing a chefs apron from the early age of 14 where he jump started his career and fascination for Italian cooking at a local pizza shop in Upstate New York. It wasn’t long before his hunger for the restaurant world had him enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America, after which he knew his quest would to one day own his own restaurant in New York City. His first job after the CIA was with Pino Luongo at Coco Opera near Lincoln Center. After two years training under him, Gallante began working with the famed Lidia Bastianich at Felidia and was quickly promoted to sous-chef after demonstrating to her his passion for the type of cooking that earned Felidia three stars. After this, Gallante was recruited by David Bouley, whom he credits as the person who has had the most profound effect on his career to date, to work at his eponymous restaurant Bouley. Gallante spent four years working with Bouley before moving on to Cru, where during his time as executive chef the restaurant received three stars in the New York Times by then reviewer Frank Bruni, a Michelin Star, three stars in New York Magazine by Adam Platt and Gallante was also named one of the Best New Chefs in 2005 by Food & Wine.
Chef Shea Gallante has landed back in the New York City dining scene, this time to open a place he can call his own. Having partnered with Philippe Chow principle Stratis Morfogen, Gallante has now signed on as Executive Chef/Co-Owner of Ciano (45 East 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010), a new, seasonal ingredient driven casual and atmospheric Italian restaurant in the former Beppe space in the Flatiron District.
Chef Gallante has a very impressive resume but so does Iron Chef Zakarian.
Check below for the outcome.
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| Zakarian | Gallante | |
| Taste | 25 | 26 |
| Originality | 11 | 14 |
| Plating | 14 | 13 |
| Total | 50 | 53 |
ICA: Garces vs. Raij
Iron Chef Jose Garces, paired with mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim, faces off against Chef Alexandra Raij, paired with mixologist Charlotte Voisey. Chef Raij owns two New York City tapas restaurants, Txikito and El Quinto Pino. Judges are Michael Ruhlman, Dina Manzo and Adam Richman.
Tony Abou-Ganim was featured on the Iron Chef America competition with Mario Batali, “Battle Mango.” He parlayed that into demonstrating the art of cocktail preparation on the Fine Living Network (now the Cooking Channel) program “Raising the Bar: America’s Best Bar Chefs,” grew up in the bar business, learning the craft from his cousin Helen David at the Brass Rail Bar in Port Huron, Michigan.
Alexandra Raij along with Eder Montero are the chefs and owners of Txikito, the acclaimed Basque restaurant in Chelsea. Txikito is a love letter to a region whose cuisine is distinguished by simplicity and excellence in both ingredients and techniques. It is an unencumbered cuisine, one where humble ingredients like beans and peppers share the same value at the table as aged farmhouse cheeses, pristine fish and seafood, and unique breeds of lamb and cattle. Check out this interview with Chef Raij from GlutonForLife.com.
Charlotte Voisey has run bars in Barcelona, Buenos Aires and London. In 2002, with the Gorgeous Group, Charlotte opened classic cocktail bar Apartment 195 in London and soon after was named UK Bartender of the Year. In 2005 Charlotte was invited to guest bartend at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic and consequently fell in love with the US cocktail community, one year later Charlotte officially made the move stateside to represent her favorite spirit, Hendrick’s Gin.
The battle was Tequila and Tortillas. Check below for the outcome.
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Garces Raij
Taste: 44 Taste: 39
Plating: 20 Plating: 13
Originality: 19 Originality: 14
Total: 83 Total: 66
2011 WTVC Food Blog Awards
Welcome to the very first Wannabe TV Chef (WTVC) Food Blog Awards. These awards are my way of recognizing some of the best foodie sites on the Online.
Some of the people awarded I have had the pleasure to meet in person and others probably don’t know me from Adam. Now sit back and meet the winners of the 2011 WTVC Food Blog Awards:
Best Site by a Professional Chef: Big Jones Blog by Chef Paul Fehribach
Best Site by a Home Chef: Average Betty by Sara O’Donnell
Best Lifestyle Site: Jolene’s Trailer Park by Jolene Sugarbaker
Best Health & Fitness Site: The Bikini Chef by Susan Irby
Best Instructional Site: Food Wishes by Chef John Mitzewich
Best Outdoor Cooking Site: Deep South Cooking Outfitters by Gene Fox
Best Food Writing Site: Ruhlman.com by Michael Ruhlman
Best Celebrity Chef Site: Alton Brown (just a lowly cook) by Alton Brown
Best Niche Site: Happy Little Bento by Sheri Chen
Best Dessert Site: Bake and Destroy by Natalie Slater
Best Site With a Cause: Bloggers Without Borders – A Fund for Jennie
Best Branded Site: Bitchin’ Kitchen by Nadia G
ICA: Symon vs. Johnson
Challenging Chef Wayne Johnson traded in an accounting career for a life in the kitchen. Can he count on a win against Iron Chef Michael Symon, or will his record be in the red?
Wayne Johnson comes to the Emerald City (Seattle) from the Bluegrass State (Kentucky) with a stop over in Spain (Spain). The Appalachian chef laid the 
foundation for his Andalusian cuisine first by studying at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. After matriculating in Napa Vally he was off for a year in Spain honing those skills.
Today he is the executive chef at Andaluca in Seattle’s Mayflower Hotel. Prior to that Chef Johnson served the same position at San Francisco’s Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel. Under Johnson Andaluca has flourished receiving countless honors and features in monthlies like Seattle Magazine, Esquire Magazine and of course Zagat’s.
Waiting for Johnson is Iron Chef Michael Symon, who has passed Mario Batali for the third most battles of any American Iron Chef. Symon still sports in astonishing 82% winning percentage. Day-yum!
The judges for Battle: Cucumber were Alison Sweeney, Michael Ruhlman and Cady Huffman.
Check below for the outcome.
Symon Johnson
Taste: 25 Taste: 20
Plating: 10 Plating: 10
Originality: 10 Originality: 8
Total: 45 Total: 38
