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Iron Chef America: White House Episode
Published on: January 4, 2010 – 12:56 am by Jillian Madison 
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Food Network spent the past several months promoting tonight’s 2-hour episode of Iron Chef. They billed it as an “epic superbattle” and promised the “secret ingredient would be of national importance.” I’ll admit, I bought into the hype, and even jumped through hoops to make sure my new satellite television service was installed in time for the big show.
So how was it?
(Warning: spoilers ahead)
Upon arriving at the White House, Alton Brown, Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali, and Bobby Flay were met by Michelle Obama. She welcomed them, and, with little fanfare and even less enthusiasm, told them the secret ingredient was going to be “things from the White House garden.” And then, she left.
Well color me confused. The episode promos talked about the White House and Michelle Obama so much, one might have thought she’d actually be COOKING (or at least JUDGING) in the episode. Not so. She was on camera for about two minutes, which was just enough time for her to mention she liked sweet potatoes through clenched teeth, and to horrify me with that orange pleated dress.
On a positive note, it was nice to see Mario Batali respected the White House enough to get dressed up.
Did anyone else notice they kept showing the same shot of that one dangling eggplant? Seriously, every time I looked up, that thing was staring at me in all of its high-definition glory. I thought it was the White House garden, not the Garden Of Eden.
Once they returned to Kitchen Stadium, Alton Brown announced the teams would be Bobby Flay and White House Chef Comerford, versus Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse. The Chairman couldn’t be there for the competition. But, he did send a video message, telling the chefs to make the judges say:
Sadly, despite all the culinary talent in the room, the cooking portion of the show was insanely boring. There were far too many commercials, and every time the show returned, we had to endure a boring recap of stuff that already happened 15 minutes ago. This episode was an exercise in how to stretch a 60 minute show into a 2-hour timeslot, folks. And when they weren’t overusing the phrase “CULINARY SUPERBATTLE,” they were quickly switching camera angles so we wouldn’t notice Emeril was profusely sweating into his saute pan. (Does this taste salty to you?)
I’m a Nigella fan, so I was glad to see her sitting at the judges’ table. But who else did the producers choose to critique an epic superbattle of such culinary importance? Why, actress JANE SEYMOUR and swimmer NATALIE COUGHLIN, of course! It’s okay, though. Jane Seymour revealed she has an “insane” organic garden, and Natalie Coughlin was introduced as an “accomplished” home cook. So yeah, it’s cool. They’re totally qualified.
In the end, Bobby Flay and White House Chef Comerford won the battle. Was anyone surprised? The Food Network has virtually severed all ties with Batali and Lagasse. And besides, did you really think they’d drag a chef from the WHITE HOUSE there – and let her lose?
And more importantly, would any review of this show be complete without a photo of Kevin Brauch’s disgusting chin pubes? WTF?
Other posts on Food Network Humor:
---White House Iron Chef Episode Was A Fraud!---Celebrity Chef Look-Alikes
---Alton Brown’s Iron Chef Wii Character Haunts My Dreams
---Dear Alton Brown, The Internet Is Worried About You
---Worst Cooks In America: Episode 1
3 Trackback(s)
- Jan 6, 2010: GastroNomalies » Blog Archive » The “Special Guest” That Wasn’t
- Jan 12, 2010: White House Iron Chef Episode Was A Fraud! « Food Network Humor
- Jan 12, 2010: Iron Chef = Fraud : insignificant thoughts
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Hmmm…this is just ended here, so it’s on my DVR. After reading this, especially that Bobby Butthole Flay wins…maybe I’ll just delete it to make room for the two episodes of Chef Academy tomorrow.
I’m glad I fell asleep.
Me too.
It was boring and over-rated! I was disappointd that Michelle Obama was only on for such a short time. They hyped the whole episode up and it really fell flat for me.
What in the hell was Anne Burrell wearing? A yellow skirt with cowboys and horses on it?
And they totally failed picking those judges. At one point Natalie Coughlin actually said something like “Oh, I, like, totally love tomatoes.” Um, okay?
The unqualified judges seem to be a recurring theme on all their shows…especially chopped.
unqualified ?
what ? they don’t have taste buds ?
you’re an idiot
ANYBODY is qualified to say whether or not something tastes good
oh my god !
she actually said that ! ?
that she totally loves tomatoes ! ?
you’re an idiot
I wondered why the Chairman could not be there for such an “epic superchef battle” as they kept calling it. It must have been filmed during dancing with the stars.
I was totally disappointed by this episode too. It was cool that they were pushing healthy eating, but were they really? Every other dish the chefs cooked was fried. Sort of a dichotomy there.
Yep Dan, posted earlier in forums that the chairman was doing DWTS! Kinda crappy uh!
And FN isn’t on the ‘ FIT ‘ channel, so grease it is!
LMAO! For the record, I noticed that eggplant too and even mentioned it to my husband. They showed it so many times I was starting to wonder if it was some sort of subliminal messaging or something.
I enjoyed the episode, as hokey as it was (Alton being scurried away in a BMW? Come on). I knew who was going to win, too. Come on Food Network, add a little suspense will ya?
Hey, like nobody knows BMW stands for ‘ Bring Money Witcha! ‘
Or ‘Break My Window’
Yea, that sublimal message coming from the White House Garden eggplant….”this prez is scewing over the country”
Disclaimer: not intended for political purposes, no actual eggplants were harmed during this show.
Well, to be fair, it’s not like the judges on Iron Chef Japan were any better.
[insert inane giggling from Japanese starlet here]
In fact, compared to the original show, Nigella Lawson, Jane, Seymour and Natalie Coughlin are a freakin’ dream team!
“Well, to be fair, it’s not like the judges on Iron Chef Japan were any better.”
OH! The food… tastes so good… in my mouth…
HEHEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHEE
Dam Jillian, that dress!!! I’d rather someone f*ck me running!
I agree completely. Another thing-what’s up with Brauch’s soul patch/ear piercing? How long has that been there?
He can’t help it…he’s Canadian
Haha awesome. My thoughts exactly.
I tortured myself and watched this show twice, because I couldn’t believe the Flay Comeford twosome won.
When I watched it first, Lagasse and Batali lost on plating and originality, not on taste, which they tied.
I thought Emeril and Mario won on those two categories after watching it again.
By the way, why did they have two British chicks and an Olympic medalist judging this battle?
The US has 300 million people and on all these crazy reality shows they always have British assholes judging us.
Didn’t we win the Revolutionary War to get rid of the lymies?
It would have been pure entertainment to have Jeffrey Weingarten, Michael Ruhlman and Anthony Bourdain all growling and sarcastic than having to watch these three boring chicks.
I happily would watch Nigella silently read a book for two hours.
That’s sad… =P
Nigella’s not an a**hole.
I completely agree with you on the scoring. The crap that Bobby Flay plated was thrown on the plate. And that different take on clam chowder with broccoli? Yuck. I love broccoli but not with clams.
I wasted 2 hours of my life watching this.
I do love how you took the words out of my mouth though. This sums it up perfectly.
Was I the only one who couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at the way Alton said “Allez Cuisine”?
DVR. FF. Love it!
Also I think Kevin needs to stay away from Sharpies before battles. He obviously got some on his chin and nobody told him to wash it off.
…Iron Chef Japan had the best judges.
Actresses and psychics would round out the panel.
Favorite phrase heard on Iron Chef Japan by some Geisha-looking size -2 actress….while chef was rolling out fishballs…”Oh, he handles his balls with care.”
at which point, I rolled out of bed dying with laughter and almost busted a gut.
I follow Alex Guaranschelli on Twitter (never know what she might say) and she actually said she loved the judges on this show because “the ladies represented :=)” I asked her how they picked the judges, if they flipped a coin because SHE would have been more qualified or if they were in homage to Iron Chef Japan, in which case they should have had a simpering starlet on–though it wouldn’t have changed much.
Funny thing–although she’s usually prompt about answering me back, I haven’t heard a word.
Jillian, you encapsulated most of the things that struck me about this show: way overhyped and boring, many things that made no sense (e.g., the choice of judges, why the Chairman wasn’t there, Michelle Obama’s dress–we could go on and on). I’m sorry you went through so many hoops with your cable just so you could watch the schlock that was on tonight!
And yeah, this DEFINITELY did not need to be a two-hour show, and it was clear from the beginning who would win: As you noted, both Batali and Lagasse have been booted off FN, not to mention the fact that White House Chef Comerford clearly knows the garden there better than anyone else.
I expected Mario to announce his retirement. I wonder if Garces will just replace him with no fanfare.
Is Mario being forced off ICA and out of FN or is it of hos own accord?
I’m just happy that Nigella brought her two friends to dinner, and I don’t mean Jane Seymour and Natalie Coughlin. But yeah, with all the hype, it was going to disappoint unless it was the second coming of Christ, who was bringing a nice covered dish to the White House dinner battle too.
Boring and uhh, over rated! (I love the photo by the way). I knew as soon as this great culinary battle was announced who would win. And you’d think that Mrs. Obama would have at least sat in at the judges table or something. You know, Jeffrey Weingarten, Anthony Bourdain, Mrs. Obama, and maybe Cookie Monster just for fun would have been a great judgement panel.
LOL I’d love to see those judges all together some day. Cookie Monster would be brilliant!
New drinking game: take a shot every time they say the word “garden.” To prevent alcohol poisoning, let’s restrict it to the judging only…christ…
I waited all day for this. Once it started I was asleep in 10 minutes.
BOY AM I HAPPY THE SHOW WAS AWFUL..WE OUT HERE HAVE BEEN BANISHED FROM WATCHING FOOD NETWORK..WE HAVE HAD WITHDRAWAL FOR DAYS..BUT NOW THAT THAT HYPE AND ITS CRITIQUE ARE OVER…MAYBE I CAN LIVE WITHOUT GOOOOOD EATS..AD NAUSEUM….EVERY NITE AT 11..AT LEAST YOU COULD SEE IT..
Good old “CAPS-LOCK CRUISE CONTROL”
LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! ALL MY LETTERS ARE BIG! LOVE ME! LOVE MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
What made me laugh even more was the fact that Mario and Emeril had a third chef working with them; or she Ann considers herself a chef. So with 3 chef’s they could not come up with anything to impress this cooky panel. What a joke. I came to this site to find out who won, as I fell a sleep before the ending. What a bore. Too much hype, and much too much sweat. I for one would not eat anything Emeril cooked..Too much of his own salt in it. Pretty disgusting.
“Mario and Emeril had a third chef working with them”
idiot
both sides always have extra experienced chefs working with them
what do you think their assistants are ? busboys and dishwashers ?
Does anyone know why Mario does so few Iron Chefs anymore? he was always my favorite.
Molto Mario was cancelled, so Batali severed ties with FN entirely.
I didn’t know this – why was he on last night? Someone else mentioned that he is retiring?
At the same time, he has been doing some other shows at PBS. I know he was involved with Mark Bittman’s show and he did the Spain road show with Gyneth Paltrow.
I think he felt he needed to distance himself from the Kabuki Turd Circus ( Food Network).
As for him retiring, maybe you haven’t heard that he operates several successful restaurants with Joe Bastianich.
Thanks, Kevin. I did notice Molto Mario wasn’t on, but just thought he was too busy to bother with it anymore. Can’t believe they cancelled Mario’s show considering some of the other stuff they have on.
That’s their M.O. Any time they get somebody on that has a shred of talent, they run them out the door in favor of annoying, unskilled douchenozzles.
Nigella was the only thing good about that episode. Totally over rated!!!!!!!!! I changed channel before the ending.
Yeah, Nigella is great.
I’ve never been into the Iron Chef shows anyway. It, along with Next Food Network Star (a show that has no relevance anyway, seeing as though the winners rarely stay on TFN for long) and the challenges are boring as hell.
Mario is no longer an Iron Chef – in name only, but it’s been about a year or so since he and Foodnetwork said bye-bye – they just haven’t cut him off the credits, yet.
Yep – even my love for AB didn’t help that episode…totally too long, no need for Mrs. Obama to even be in it, AB kept trying to make it on theme, but it wasn’t happening from the chefs. The thing that also got me is that if they were trying to make local/organic/sustainable gardening accessible to the masses (America’s Garden, etc.), the dishes they cooked were completely out of range of home cooks, much less everyday folk who don’t really cook much. It just was wrong on so many levels.
To me, ICA is trying to be a step up from ICJapan – being moderately more serious about cooking in general, so they should step it up when it comes to judges, especially on a show like this.
And yeah – Kevin’s ‘landing strip’ was umm…ick.
Well Mario was on a show that was taped in 2009…..?
I never even occurred to me that this show would be good. After all it’s on FN.
I just wrote the same exact thing on my blog then I came to check if you had written anything on your site regarding the lame eposide last night.
I watched for five minutes:
Nigela = Luscious.
Natilie = had no fucking business being there.
Flay = made bbq and a tamale. ZOMG! THAT”S SO UNEXPECTED!
Batalia = So full of arrogance he HAS to wear those stupid fucking sandals to avoid the leakage
2 hours?
Five minutes was enough….
American Iron Chef continues to be a joke compared to the Japanese version.
I knew the fix was in as soon as Comerford was announced as the challenger. Because, obviously, FN wants to show weakness in the White House by having the executive chef lose a dog and pony show on the network.
Then I started wondering if FN was trying to get all subliminal on us. You had Comerford and Flay, in pretty decent shape, competing against Batali and Lagasse, rather obese. The secret ingredient – fresh produce from the White House garden – was of national importance – healthy eating to combat the obesity crisis. For FN, it was pretty subtle. Then again, subtle to FN is having Debbie say she’s Korean every episode of TNFNS.
Other possible obvious combinations? Batali and the surviving Fat Lady of the Two Fat Ladies, Batali and Ina, Batali and Paula Deen, Batali and Reggie, Batali and Debbie, Batali and Garfield the Cat. If they really wanted to drive home the win for Cumerford being of national importance: Batali and Snidely Whiplash, Boris and Natasha, Batali and Venom
I was thinking that a bit too, about how the fat guys lost and the somewhat in shape people won. I think the whole thing was a set up. A very long, boring, and overrated set up.
Maybe Mrs. Obama is a fan of Mario Batali’s and chose orange in honor of him. As for the style of her dress, when I was in High School I made the exact same dress, in a different color, and was considered quite stylish, IN THE LATE FIFTIES!!!!!
And that sweater! Hell, I was expecting her to yell for ‘the Beaver’ when she walked out! All it lacked was pearls! She has always dressed so nice, what happened?
She always wears those ridiculous tiny cardigan sweaters, even when she’s meeting the Queen of England, and regardless of whether they match anything else. Oh my gosh, what a look. At least she left out the hideous big wide boob-cinching belt, for once.
Sure looks like she derives her fashion direction from the costume department at Mad Men.
What’s up with her constant facial bulldog embouchure ? I’m sorry but I don’t buy into Mrs. Obama being some beauty queen.
She looks like she needs to take a dump most of the time.
Are they trying to make her look like a meager 50’s housewife on purpose?
She ought to fire her wardrobe coordinator. I saw her wearing the exact same dress (in another color) boarding a plane. This style does nothing for her.
Still trying (unsuccessfully) to show her as a dutiful housewife, complete in her housewife costume. Who is believing it? Who really cares what Michele Obama’s doing, planting a garden, hiring social secretaries…..? The whole premise of this show was stupid!
I find Michelle Obama incredibly distasteful.
Oh, you mean the White House garden that’s contaminated by sludge? The supposed organic garden with the high lead levels that booted it from the realm of the organic? THAT garden?!?
Hey folks, it’s just another in a long line of White House FAILs. :P
LOL… Now they’re low… it wasn’t that bad to begin with.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/garden/13lead.html
Your the only person that picked up the white house garden being contaminated with sludge! I could not BELIEVE the source of food was this contaminated garden. I bet FDA wouldn’t approve the food as editible. WHAT A JOKE!
Hey, as Rahm Emanuel said, “Never let a crisis go to waste!”.
Actually, I’m glad the WH did this. Because when they’re actually trying to work, it’s even more of a disaster.
At least Mario has lost some weight.
M & E were being so sleezy in the garden! Wasting perfectly good food by taking all of those veggies they didn’t need so that Bobby wouldn’t have them. Not like they wouldn’t have been picked by Flay-boy anyways.
If it is such a huge event why couldn’t the ‘chairman’ be there in person?
Probably doing another episode of Stargate…
Prob. pays better then these yahoos…
I’m embarrassed to say I forgot to put the photo of Kevin Brauch’s disgusting chin pubes in my original review. I just put it in at the bottom of the post, for those of you who missed the show. Yikes.
2 Words:
Iron Pornstar
2 more:
Um… EWWWWW…….
One more…Canadian ;)
I watched it and was really disappointed by it. The cooking was very interesting, I’ll admit, but fuck did they go to too many of the commercials. And 40 minutes to pure tasting and judgement?! Honestly, that’s something that should only be done in one second.
And that’s BS that Flay and White House Lady won over Lagasse and Batali. I suspected since the fatter team wanted to screw with Flay, that they would be depicted as “The Bad Guys” and lose. But man, if you look at their recipes, they were much more creative. And everyone was going “OMG, THAT GOAT CHEESE/SWEET POTATO RAVIOLI!”
The judges were a problem too. And as a battle at the White House, it wasn’t that special from a normal iron chef battle. Tons of ingredients and clips of a garden that will always be 1000 times better than yours! That’s basically all they said. And they didn’t even have any one person FROM the White House to judge this.
Very lame all around.
better yet why not people from America judge it?
Ditto to everything said. What a tease, especially the fact that the First Lady was going to be a special guest. I have to admit, when I saw the promo for it, I went to the FN site, and only saw a picture of her at the White House, so I knew something was up, but, I thought she would be on more than 2 minutes. And, how could the chairmain not be there for such an “epic battle”? Could FN not have scheduled that battle when the Chairman could be present? I was a little baffled by that. Oh well, they got me with this one, but they won’t get me again.
Wow! Instead of FoodNetwork “HUMOR”, the title of this page should be FoodNetwork Grip&Complainfest. Not even clever sarcasm, just plain negative spewing. What a turn off. Sorry I stumbled onto this page.
…which is ironically what you just did. How ironic. Bye bye, now!
And if you did take ‘ole Gracie’s suggestion for a new moniker, I know you wouldn’t misspell “gripe”.
Grace:
Exactly what you’re lacking.
You stumbled but then commented. Love it.
I know. And as a writer, it thrills me to no end when people read one article… about a truly awful show… and then sum up my 1-year old blog as a whole. God bless America!
Perhaps if you wouldn’t have “stumbled onto this page” if you were sober more often….go sleep it off and move on…
Well well Mr. Axelrod, so nice of your join us. Mad we’re criticizing your WH Iron Chef total flop concept? You and Tuschman can congratulate yourselves for total hype with no delivery. Yah for you!
Axelrod, LOL!
GOD CANDUS GO THE EFF HOME ALREADY
+1
“Sorry I stumbled onto this page.”
So are we.
What I want to know is what makes Emeril a “Super Chef”. Can he leap tall buildings in a single bound? I’ve never heard him referred to as such before this. Did they just arbitrarily decide that since everybody else had a title to to go in front of “Chef”, he needed one too, and picked “Super”? How Marvel Comic! Is his superpower demonstrated when he says “Bam!”?
Notice that Big E was referred to as a “Super Chef,” but his coat said “Iron Chef.” WTF?
BTW, AB, eat something.
His chef’s coat irritated me, too.
I liked watching Em and Mario work together. They are entertaining.
Here’s what makes Emeril a super chef.
I can watch his show (Which only airs once in the morning btw, I don’t even think very often) and not wretch and actually learn something from it.
You guys are incredibly naive. The First Lady does not appear on TV shows other than for her own purposes — so to think she would judge or actually cook — are you nuts? She only agreed to her brief appearance to push her pet project, which is getting people (especially the underprivileged) to eat healthier (of which the White House garden is the focal point). BTW, I thought the orange dress was gorgeous. I watched 45 minutes of this before being bored to tears. Could not have cared less at that point who won.
that would be any First Lady (not just this one)
Jillian, you never cease to crack me up!…..Garden of Eden! Good one!
Food Network is declining rapidly across the board, IMO. How I long for Gordon Elliott to come back with “Door Knock Dinners…”
On another note, Jane Seymour……..I think that at age nearly 59, even you are getting a little long in the tooth for that Crystal Gayle-like hair….. Just a thought.
To be fair, not every aging woman wants Bea Arthur hair….. Just a thought.
There aren’t only two choices: Bea Arthur hair or Crystal Gayle hair. I met her not long ago, and believe me, though she has the good fortune of great dna, she does look too old for the hair. Just my opinion, which I fully realize is like an asshole. That doesn’t make me one for having one! :-)
Bea Arthur passed away last year, so maybe she shouldn’t be used as the example for hairstyles of older women. Jane Seymour has probably always had long hair because she trained to be a ballet dancer and had to wear her hair pulled back in a bun. I’m a year older than Ms. Seymour but am very pleased to hear people tell me that I look much younger. BTW, my hair is slightly grey and fairly short.
She’s fifty-nine? Seriously? Okay, now I’m depressed. I’m 41 and don’t look half that good. And yeah, if I looked like her, i’d probably wear the hair. Why the hell not?
Jane Seymour’s DOB is 2/15/51.
It’s called plastic surgery, she openly admits having had lots of it.
Mario won me over with that sweet potato and goat cheese ravioli………to die for.
Agree with everything you said. This was the most boring, dull episode of Iron Chef I have ever seen in my life.
It just seemed like a giant Food Network SploogeFest over itself. Ridiculous.
My favorite is how Emeril was talking to himself. “Take a little of this, and do this. Then put some of this into this.” You’re not on an instructional cooking show right now, dude. Chill out. I full on expected him to start BAMming up the place at any second.
I wonder if he always does that in his head whenever he cooks.
Take a turkey, burn it in the fryer, try to save it by throwing it in a pan with broth, BAM.
Maybe being back on FN pushed him over the edge.
Based on the ridiculously annoying commercials leading up to the show, I thought for sure that the secret ingredient of “national importance” would be bald eagle. The White House garden was kind of a let down.
You’re cracking me up Briana, hilarious comment!
Lol, seriously. I thought the secret ingredient would be oil!
Thank God for my DVR.
Started the show with great anticipation. Ya know, all the hype on FN…what was I thinking? Watched about the first ten minutes, saw the garden and the Obama woman (dressed in the color of her fave veggie – the sweet ‘tater) and then the chef from the White House and knew Bob Doucheman had done it again. Yep, the fix was in. Just who would ask the White House Chef on a challenge and not make sure she is the winner. POLEEZE!
Hit the fast forward and moved along and saw Emeril dripping sweat…fast forward to the judging; judging by a cook, an actress and a swimmer. A what? A swimmer?? Every time the swimmer chicky spoke, all I could think of was “just shut up and eat it and stop attempting to sound like you’ve spent your whole life in the kitchen.”
The worse part was the winner was hooked to Booby Flay. UGH.
And then Bobby Flay says at the end I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted to win this one…… OMG….p-l-e-a-s-e!!
and then…Flay running around the kitchen like a chicken without a head asking repeatedly….What TIME IS IT! WHAT TIME IS IT!….
If this was, indeed, an epic superbattle, why wasn’t the chairman there in the flesh?
What a major stinker that was – esp. after all the hype.
Heh, Jillian, that rear photo of the chefs made me think of The Pythons – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-ssRppY2b4
Actually, a few choruses of Sit on My Face might have made the show worth watching.
Much Ado About Nothing!
I had no idea that this was going to be 2-hours, and probably the most over-hyped, boring episode EVER!
If Emeril gets any fatter, he’s gonna pop.
And his face was red and sweaty. I saw him do an entire face rub with a towel. Disgusting.
I was not the least bit surprised at the ending. How could they let the White House Chef lose? Although, after watching Emeril wipe his whole sweaty face, I was disgusted enough that I’m glad he lost. The ONLY qualified judge was Nigella. What happened to her shows on FN? Mrs. Obama, honey, please? Who talked you into that orange pleated dress with the little light-blue sweater?
It did NOTHING for your fantastic figure.
the chairman needs a laxative
the chairman needs to find another gig.
How could they let Bobby lose you mean. He is FN. At least they think he is and he and Giada lost to Mario and Rachael. It was his turn.
I watched the whole thing and now I can’t really tell you if the secret ingredient was stuff from that-garden-the-likes-of-which-I’ll-never-enjoy, or Welch’s grapes. Every 2 minutes the freaking commercial. WHY?
Did anyone else notice that Emeril’s jacket said “Iron Chef”, when in fact he isn’t an Iron Chef??
I found a link to this in the comments section of an Entertainment Weekly blog. This article was so funny and on-point. I thought the show was a gagfest. Thanks!
What a Snoozefest! The hype on FN NEVER lives up to it’s promise.
AWESOME review. Not surprised.
I was thinking about the eggplant all weekend “long” LOL
Back reading these tender vittles after a hiatus ( job related). As usual, the summary and commentary on this blog WAY better than the actual program. My two cents contribution:
-for all the locavore pratlling on and on ad nauseum… The really were generous with the caviar and the white truffles…although those ravoli looked ravishing!!!
- did anybody else see that Emeril started to chop the green onions and not bother to see if the blue rubber band was off? Wonder if any of those superfund white house veggies were washed/ inspected!!!
I actually liked it. I mean, sure, it was overdramatic and drawn out… I fast forwarded through the judges and commercials, but thought it was awesome watching Batali and Legasse.
I’d like to know what they did with that 6 foot strip of pasta that Anne B. rolled out for 4 little raviolis! But they sure looked yummy! Chef Comerford’s makeup artist needs to soften the points on her upper lip. Although Laura Bush hired her, she always looked as if she were channeling Michelle O’s pursed lip stare. That got on my nerves more than anything. I can’t believe no one has mentioned that electric green “clam chowder”….have you thought about what that actually tasted like??? Broccoli juice with clams???GAG.
I can’t believe Flay won. Ugh.
I also can’t believe that Michelle Obama was on there for a couple minutes and that was it. I thought she was going to judge or something. I can’t stand her anyway so I really didn’t care; but I felt LIED to (lol).
All in all, BORING.
Michelle Obama didn’t want to be around the “little people” for too long. Hell, she couldn’t even address them except through clenched teeth. What a classless pig.
I agree. I too noticed that they described Ms. Coughlin as an “accomplished home chef” to which I questioned their definition of “accomplished” and my husband wondered how they defined her as a “chef” when all she does is cook at home.
Did anyone notice that on the last two or three seasons of Emeril Live that Emeril participated in a bunch of “Iron Chef” mystery ingredient challenges. Wonder if it was preparation for this disaster.
I liked the way all the food looked at the end, but other than that, I am in agreement. The show itself was lame.
I was so looking forward to this. My disappointment knows no bounds. I admire the First Lady and respect her decision to wear clothes by new, young designers but that dress? I hope the boys from Project Rungay give her hell for it! As for the show itself, I thought they were supposed to be cooking to encourage healthful eating. I’m sure they thought that was what they were doing. But with the restaurant-gourmet style dishes prepared on the show, I feel more intimidated than encouraged. And I’m a pretty good cook…
Project Rungay….I needed that LOL this morning. Too funny!
Let me just say that 2 minutes of the First Lady of Anger was quite enough thankyouverymuch. Can this woman crack a sincere smile once in a blue? Cripe. And that dress with the mini seater–w00f! This ‘epic’ episode was a total letdown from start to finish (aside from Batali’s cooking and Nigella’s girls…) as I was hoping for more historical White House food background and Washington area culinary tidbits. Wouldn’t that have made for better story and viewing?
The only clam in that green chowder was Chef Comerford. And, true-to-form Booby ended up using all of his go-to ingredients because he hasn’t a new or creative bone in his chef body. Mango, chilies and tomatillos::::::yawn Did anyone see Nigella’s foodgasm when she ate Batali’s ravioli? Suffering through the 2 hours was worth seeing that. Overall, a mostly total dud.
This episode was better than Sominex. After food started burning on the over qualified side I lost interest. I do have one question, how come the veggies from the Secret Squirrel Garden had rubber bands on them???
I don’t even get that guy’s (Kevin) job. What is the point to him being there?
If for no other reason, Jane Seymours dress qualified her to be on the show.
While practically the same color as the first Lady’s frock, it does a much better job of pleasing my eyes.
As for the poor little eggplant in the White House garden, have you seen the weather in DC lately? Even my Florida garden is struggling with the cold. The “little eggplant that could” is probably the only thing alive there.
All in all, it was just another (sadly) boring Iron Chef episode in a different setting.
Did anyone notice the grocery store bands on the “White House garden” items after they got it back to kitchen stadium?? Check the broccoli and the onions.
Yes, I did see that. Another reason this show was a joke.
Perhaps the White House has uhh, White House bands?
Really?
I doubt it.
I like how they go on and on about fresh grown produce from the garden…..in the middle of winter during a nation wide blizzard.
Um…because they did the show in late September, maybe? The best weather in DC/MD/VA is in September and October.
It’s funny, my DVR somehow KNEW not to record this… Thank heavens! I am thankful to you for the recap though, my friend! Thank you for sacrificing your two hours so I won’t have to! ;)
Nigella – fap fap fap.
Holy Boring Crap, Batman! Are you serious?! MObama just showed up to say “hi” and left?? I was under the impression that she’d be a guest judge! I mean, yeah, it’s cool that the Food TV gang got to go on a field trip and stuff, but that whole show sounds like lamesauce. Skipping it!
[...] such luck. Instead we got Nigella Lawson, Jane Seymour, and Natalie Coughlin. Really? They couldn’t even get Bo Obama to lick some crumbs up off the floor? Insanely [...]
Poor choice of judges except for Nigella.”The man who ate everything” definitely should have been there.
Batali is a maestro and Emeril is top-notch-it was a blatant “give” to the White House chef.
I watched most of this show last night after reading your review, Jill. Everything you said was so true..so over rated…is it just me, or did the Olympic chick drive everyone crazy..I wanted to stuff her big cloth napkin in her mouth and tape it shut…And why 2 Brits judging the food of American Chefs with “White House Garden” produce..etc?
Didn’t get it, despite the fact I am a big Nigella fan.
Thank GOD Jeffrey Steingarten was not there. He would have indeed been more entertaining but would also have ruined the show with his rude, mindless, and degrading remarks about the chef’s skills. I wonder if this overeducated boring moron has ever cooked anything for himself. Sorry for rambling. Still, I would not have watched this show if he had been there. I also knew that Emeril would not do well unless it was in front of a staged & controlled audience. He’s not an Iron Chef.
[...] last week’s overly-hyped Iron Chef episode that featured dishes supposedly made with fresh ingredients from the White House garden? As it [...]
[...] last week’s overly-hyped Iron Chef episode that featured dishes supposedly made with fresh ingredients from the White House garden? As it [...]
I was very disappointed in this. It was such an obvious setup. Another lame pandering attempt to support the Obama whitehouse.
Cooking with food NOT FROM THE WHITEHOUSE GARDEN as advertised.
When was the last time you saw Mario burn anything and serve it?
I must say if this type of programing continues, you will loose me as a viewer. There are other channels that are airing cooking shows and good one’s too.
“And besides, did you really think they’d drag a chef from the WHITE HOUSE there – and let her lose?”
Hmmm…I wish her BOSS would have lost in November of ‘08, but that’s another blog. LOL! Bwaaah-ha-ha!
I met Kevin once… He is actually quite funny. But I thought he stopped appearing on TV..?