Iron Chef America

Todd has some opinions on America's celebrity chefs competing on Iron Chef:

Shame on me for thinking they'd make it a bout for the ages. Walking through the subway the other day, I noticed a series of large ads for Iron Chef America with Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck and Mario Batali prominantly featured. As you can see, each is armed with the blunt intrument of his choice (Flay's monster-sized meat tenderizer is hidden behind the logo).

Where I made my mistake was thinking that it'd be entirely American chefs competing against one another. I was already rubbing my hands in glee envisioning Emeril Lagasse hitting the mat from a body blow delivered by Batali or Tony Bourdain. Alas, it's not to be as Flay, Puck, and Batali will be pitted against the same old Iron Chefs that always do battle in Kitchen Stadium. After a preview I saw late on Friday night, the whole thing looks pretty tired and Bobby Flay looked impatient to pick up his paycheck as he took down Iron Chef French with some oversized lobster.

Oddly, the Web site lists Alton Brown under the "Bio" section. Could there be a surprise appearance by the Good Eats host? I'm skeptical how well he'd do. By the time Iron Chef Japanese was finishing off his menu, Alton would just be getting back from the hardware store with a collection of MacGuyver-ized cooking implements.