As I was watching the New Year’s Day Iron Chef America marathon this week something struck me: I haven’t seen Mario Batali cook for a very long time. It’s true that he and the Food Network had a bit of a breakup back in 2007, but at the time the Food Network said that he would still be appearing on Iron Chef America.
The only catch is, I haven’t actually seen Mario compete on ICA for quite some time. A quick jaunt over to wikipedia to check the episode guide for ICA tells the story. Mario hasn’t competed at all this season and only competed twice last season. The only appearance by the ginger haired gourmet this season has been to check out his new, Marc Ecko designed battle attire.
I’m hoping that I am jumping the gun here because Mario may very well be the best of the Iron Chefs. He’s one of the best chefs in America, and his loss to ICA would be huge. I would be thrilled if Mario would make a triumphant return to Kitchen Stadium soon.
I know that Molto Mario is no longer on the Food Network schedule, but I was never a huge fan of the show. I think Mario is at his best on ICA, where it is all about the cooking. My feeling was that Mario always came off as a little bit of a know-it-all on Molto Mario. I love watching him in Kitchen Stadium though, where he has become a master of the ICA format. He is always cool, calm, and collected in the heat of the moment, not to mention creative and enormously skilled. Just look at his winning percentage (over 80%) compared to the other Iron Chefs (all under 70%).
Come back to Kitchen Stadium Mario, we miss you (well, I do at least)!
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jan 03, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
“My feeling was that Mario always came off as a little bit of a know-it-all on Molto Mario.”
I thought he always came off that was on Iron Chef too.
MARIO IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO IRON CHEF. PLEASE BRING HIM BACK ON.
BRING BACK MARIO