Iron Chef Michael Symon

Now, I know that this name may not mean anything to most of you, but to a select few, it is the future...of Iron Chef America. last night was the conclusion of The Next Iron Chef on the Food Network. Nik and I have watched this show religiously from day one. Luckily, we have had some partners in crime, Lou and Ten were just as engrossed, so we had some one to talk to about it. We were addicted to this show. There have only been a few Food Network "reality" shows, The Next Food Network Star was the last one they did, and I have to say that the lady that won has a pretty good show. You go Amy!

The Next Iron Chef was a short series that started with eight chefs from various parts of the country that had been challengers on Iron Chef America before. I love ICA too, so nothing about NIC could disapoint. All the Chefs either had restaraunts of their own, or were sous chefs for high end restaraunts. The origional contestants were as follows: Traci Des Jardins (out too soon), Jill Davie, Chris Consetino (looks like JD) , Gavin Kaysen (whiner), Morou Ouattara, Aarón Sanchez (stuck up), John Besh, and Michael Symon. It was an intense 6 week battle involving such challenges as: creating airline food for the largest air bus in the world, cooking out doors with just a grill and some essentials (what they were given was chosen for them by a competator), presenting six, one bite of thier signature dish, making deserts from such quality ingrediants as cat fish, tripe, lamb, etc, and the final battle which was a real Iron Chef battle in Kitchen Stadium with secret ingrediant Sword Fish. Symon even survived the crappy judges...stupid long haired Bon Appetit critic.

Since day one Nik and I had been rooting for Chef John Besh. He was amazing on his first Iron Chef appearance, against Chef Batali (I think) and we were so excited to see him here. And he did really well! Won a couple challenges, and was never in the bottom 2. And at the final battle, it was Besh against Symon. I will admit, after a couple battles, I was hooked on Symon as well. So it was really hard to decide who I wanted to win. In my heart I still wanted Besh, but when Symon's picture was revealed, I was not disapointed. That night they also revealed that Symon's Iron Chef coat was designed by viewers and would be revealed at the begining of the new season of ICA. I am excited. That is one cool thing about ICA, all the Chefs wear the signature light blue with red/orange trim, but they are all a different design. This should be good (Trust me, I know what a big nerd I sound like here, but the Food Network is my guilty pleasure, and it could be worse, I could be telling you about One Tree Hill, or how the final season of Gilmore Girls comes out on Tuesday...hint hint, Christmas).

I hope that even if you did not see this series, you can relate to the excitement I am feeling right now. I can not wait for the new season of Iron Chef America and Chef Symon's debut.