| The Iron Chef Special Report Section |
| Please note that I don�t merely go into a blow-by-blow account of what happened during these special events, but just tell you the basics. I go by chronological production. I had to mix �normal� episodes including unusual elements such as holiday subjects and tag team matches with true specials like the 21st Century Battle. I have yet to fix up this page and include the types of dishes created, so please bear with me. However, any extra info is welcome. The Legend of Sakai and Kenichi If memory serves me right, first televised in autumn 2001, this is merely a set of future highlights involving Sakai, who created �Oriental/French Cuisine,� and Kenichi, �#1 in number of battles fought.� The first highlight is Sakai�s Cod Battle, with Shigeo Yuasa of Okuyama International Hotel. One bizarre part of this battle includes sticks on fire! Second, we had Fuyuko Kondo trying (too hard) to outsmart the Godfather of Iron Chefs. Third, Chen is spotlighted with Takashi Saitoh (his mother sat in the audience!) and another guy whose name I didn�t jot down. Takeshi Kaga (b. 1951), who in his heyday appeared in Les Miserables (1987-2000) and the Japanese Jesus Christ Superstar (1976?), looked ridiculously sexy in black on the Prawn Battle. These battles are credited with production in the mid �90s, even though they didn�t air on Food Network until way after this one...I�m talking fall 2002 and early 2003. Whoomp...There It Isn�t! (7/22/1994) If memory serves me right, in 2001, Food Network televised this �Tag Team Match� wherein Iron Chefs Rokusaburo Michiba and Chen Kenichi (that crybaby!) teamed up against Jo�l Bruant and Masafumi Furutaka, who both head Jo�l�s in Tokyo or wherever, with sea bass as the main ingredient. This episode was produced in July 1994. Never seen anything like this before, and this is not really a special. The most interesting dish, in my opinion, was the challengers� �Sea Bass with Mousse� or whatever it�s called. Kaga, who looked seductive in white linen with gold trimmings along his navel, p***ed off Michiba and Kenichi when they heard that Bruant and Furutaka p-whipped them. Bruant and Furutaka were really a gruesome twosome. But they both lived happily ever after. The end. (Actually, that�s not true. In 1996 Bruant returned to KS only to have to surrender to Sakai.) Chairman and Chefs in China? A source tells me Fuji Television Network produced a 3-hour-long Beijing (China!) battle of IC when Michiba was in control. Three hours long. Now that�s density in itself. Details, if any, to follow... The Autumn Equinox Special If memory serves me right, Kaga looked fatally sexy in this otherwise �normal� Iron Chef episode (he wore black!). Sakai, the Steven Spielberg of Iron Chefs, challenged this guy named Fujii. Ingredient: horrid-tasting yam. Details at 11 (bad joke). Merry Christmas, Kaga This is something to see: the actor and vocalist Kaga celebrating Christmas. Stunning cinematography paved the way for Hattori Nutrition College Director Masayo Waki�s battle with...you�ve guessed it...Sakai. Pity that Sakai gave Masayo a Christmas present she didn�t deserve, but both created gorgeous dishes. Kaga looked remarkable as well, especially when he did that seductive raise-up-his-left-arm pose and that cute moment where he held up a strawberry, the battle�s theme. Kaga�s First Love Addiction Only one in every 50 or so of the more than 400 challengers on Iron Chef is female, and if memory serves me right, this is the first Iron Chef special (broadcast for the first time on 2/13/2003) ever to have one. This is the one wherein New York native Kondo (b. 1957) did battle with Sakai, and gorgeous Kaga (who threw on white and gold decorations) brought together two excruciatingly romantic ingredients: apple and chocolate. Kondo doesn�t look 37 in that 1994-produced episode. She looks more like 47. The two had to create dishes that matched the St. Valentine�s Day theme. How romantic! Sakai won this one. This was the second battle involving a female challenger I�ve ever seen. The first one I saw was Kyoko Kagata, who surrendered to Chen Kenichi in their Porcini Mushroom (?) Battle. The second to make her way into Kitchen Stadium was Katsuo Kobayashi, an NHK TV personality who kicked Chen�s (expletive deleted). But I didn�t see that until May 2003, when it was rebroadcast per Food Network�s �Iron Chef Viewer Vote Thursday� section, which vanished in July 2003. (Another Kobayashi let Morimoto have his way in 1998.) Someone told me that Chen isn�t very aggressive when it comes to doing battle with female challengers, because he lost to two of them. But he beat Kagata. Go figure. (It should be noted that before IC closes up for good, Chen develops a sort of Yuyu Hakusho-type invincibility.) Parlez Vous Allez Cuisine? The title of this special (France Battles) gave it away: the Voltaire of Iron Chefs had to participate in it. If memory serves me right, the Chairman and his Iron Chefs went to France when former Iron Chef Japanese Komei Nakamura was in power. This Iron Chef special (another two-hour!) started with Kaga riding a train. He wore this remarkably sexy black suit with big white flowers on it. He visited this castle (I forgot what it was...gotta watch it again to find out!), and outdoors threw on a dangerously seductive red robe, biting into his bell pepper as cooks made an �X� outside of the castle. (Is it just me, or is that really the Eiffel Tower his Iron Guys fronted?) Pt. 1: The Battle for...? The inside of the castle looked magnificent. So did Kaga, who entered looking blood red hot with that red cape. The last few times I saw him wearing red, that�s what I�ve said. I generally mean, �red makes him look so seductive that he makes my blood temperature rise.� The black wardrobe underneath supported this even more. He welcomed the first of two very talented French cooks: Bernard LaPrince. I saw the camera get an extreme close-up on his butt. What rudeness! His competitor was none other than Nakamura. Kaga unveiled the ingredient for this first French battle: salmon. This is very famous in the wine-loving country. Despite Nakamura�s appeal, he was no match for Bernie. (Joel Robuchon was here...) Pt. 2: The Battle for...? The second and last French battle was a 27-hour one between Sakai and Pierre Gagnaire. They had to travel to different sections of France within that time limit before their last match to collect Homard Lobster (!). And when they came back, Kaga, dressed like a real duke, gave the orders to fight. Gagnaire had so much passion in his body and soul that guess what? He upset Sakai in the run for victory in this battle, too! This, like the 21st Century Battle after it, would make another fine entry in Food Network�s Iron Chef Ultimate Upsets Marathon, which aired from 12:00pm all the way to sign-off time on New Year�s Day 2003. What �Ultimate Upsets� means in this case is that each Iron Chef episode has the challenger(s) launching victory over the Iron Chefs. Kaga Stuffs Himself Silly (Just Kidding) (1998) If memory serves me right, Kaga had another Christmas war (this time involving turkey) in 1998, when Iron Chef was in its second official season on the air. The challenger was Jiro Ogue, and the chosen Iron Chef was none other than then Iron Chef Japanese Masaharu Morimoto. Ogy�s idea of turkey steamed in what looked more like pig bladder was kind of disgusting, whereas Mori�s Turkey Spring Rolls looked more appealing to me. Mori, in fact, iced Jiro by one. Kaga looked fabulous in black amidst candles and lush cinematography. The Passion Comes Pouring Out...Again (2/12/1999) If memory serves me right, my beautiful baby growldog Chairman Takeshi Kaga donned black velvet with dark red coloring for this special based on St. Valentine�s Day. Multi-award winner Hironobu Tsujiguchi and Iron Chef Italian Masahiko Kobe were put together to create dessert dishes using chocolate and banana. How romantic! I love the two ingredients, anyway. Hiro�s dishes included �Melted Chocolate Dessert.� Kobe�s included �Chocolate Dip Three Flavors.� Kobe should have done better with all the intimacy he had, but his skills weren�t enough to outsmart Hiro, who floored him. (Note: I�m only calling Kobe �intimate� because his type of cuisine is Italian, and Italy is definitely passionate!) In Memory of 2000 Plates (1999) If memory serves me right, Chairman Kaga ought to have been proud of himself for showcasing men with such extraordinary talent (and winning so much fame!) that to celebrate this, televised as part of The Ultimate Iron Chef Showdown between June 1 and 3, 2001, he staged this special two-team battle. This battle celebrated 2000 dishes created by his Iron Chefs. (His body is an hourglass, so I don�t know how he don�t gain any weight eating over 14,000 dishes.) He looked blood red hot in that dangerously seductive mixture of red robe and black outfit. In it, Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi, Yuki Wakiya, and (???) did battle with Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai (!), Honorary Iron Chef Yutaka Ishinabe, and Etsuo Joh (whom Sakai beat up in the Caviar Battle). The theme ingredient was actually a set of three ingredients: pork, soft-shelled turtle, and bananas, all of Chairman Kaga�s favorite ingredients. (I thought he loved bell pepper, too!) The All Chinese named their set of dishes �New Style Royal Chinese Dinner.� The All French named theirs �A Gift from the Three Musketeers.� Needless to say, I liked the All French�s ideas better clearly because some of these had to do with dessert. Frenchmen love pastries! And, as a bonus, the All French defeated the All Chinese on points even though both teams tied. Sakai is da best...that�s why. :) A Night in Indonesia (Before KOICT) Oops...someone tells me the Indonesia visit isn�t really a battle at all. Kaga�s Last Mission (Prior to 9/24/1999) If memory serves me right, at the end of the episode prior to this (The Last Challenger), Chairman Kaga announced the �King of Iron Chefs Tournament,� which would almost conclude the Kitchen Stadium�s existence. The entire set was broadcast (or was that re-broadcast?) on Food Network over a series of five Saturday nights between April 5 and May 3, 2003. I saw Kaga-I�m dead serious!-break two cups with his bare hands. (Don�t ask me why.) Blood spewed out of his hand, and yet he didn�t cry, scream, flinch, or anything. He must be some great culinary martial artist; he�s so cute. This tourney was to bring home the four lead Iron Chefs into battles to determine which would go on to face the greatest chef in the history of the world. After that, on September 24, 1999, Kaga would shut down the Kitchen Stadium forever. Semifinal 1: Tokyo X The first installment of KOICT put Iron Chef Kenichi against Iron Chef Italian Masahiko Kobe with Tokyo X Pig as its ingredient. It amazes me to have seen that Kenichi whipped Kobe�s butt because he�s got a cute face. Semifinal 2: Bell Pepper The second entry in KOICT put Iron Chef Sakai against (former) Iron Chef Japanese Masaharu Morimoto. Bell pepper was the theme ingredient. It has been used several more times on Iron Chef itself, including the first episode of it ever to feature a German challenger, Artur J. R�tter, who defeated Michiba. Kaga looked sexy as he picked up a bell pepper on that episode and bit into it, with his seductive black velvet sparkling like diamonds. Pity, Mori (that�s my nickname for Morimoto) could have maintained his fame if he�d pushed harder on that sushi, but instead the publicly favored Sakai emerged as victor, with a perfect score of 100! That�s hard to reach, 100, but you gotta push greatly at it to get there. Kaga was cruel, saying that �for the loser (Morimoto), it will be the end of his Iron Chef career.� Well, geez, Kaga, why did you let Mori take part in the Millennium Cup, the NYC confrontation, and the 21st Century Battle when in fact you dismissed him? Liar, liar, robes on fire! (Sushi, schmushi! Mori wasn�t making no sushi!) Final Battle: Homard Lobster The third stage in KOICT is broken into a two-parter, with Sakai vs. Kenichi and Homard (!) Lobster as the ingredient. At the beginning of this section, Kaga, who looked blood red hot with his red king-like cape, mentioned that he gave birth to his Kitchen Stadium (I mean, opened it) �on October 10, 1993.� This was to bid a fond farewell to six years, 304 challengers, and 14,113 dishes created up through September 24, 1999, on which this battle was held. In other words, this was the battle to end all Iron Chef battles...NOT!! My baby Chairman then welcomed all his Iron Chefs into the Kitchen Stadium for the absolutely final time for the rest of the 20th century. Before I continue, here they are: French Hiroyuki Sakai Yutaka Ishinabe Japanese Komei Nakamura Masaharu Morimoto Rokusaburo Michiba Chinese Chen Kenichi Italian Masahiko Kobe This fabulous assemblage of powerful men all stood with blood red hot Chairman Kaga as he bit into his bell pepper, and started in an awesome cinematographic shot a la the 21st Century Battle (!) at the legion of cooks who flooded the arena. This battle had Homard Lobster as the ingredient, with about 50 coming from Brittany, France. This was used in the previous France Battle. The rest of Part 1 and most of Part 2 was an extremely long inside look at Sakai busting his chops as an act of revenge on Kenichi, to whom he lost in 1995�s Chicken Battle. When it all boiled down, it became apparent that Sakai would have his wish granted to make Chen surrender to him...and he did. He broke down severely, which caused his fans to do the same thing. Kaga, that sexy monster, crowned him the King of Iron Chefs, but the battle was far from over, because KOICT was now preceding into its fifth and final stage. The Best vs. the Best: And They�re Both French!! �The end� was still only light minutes away, and as his reward for defeating Kenichi, Sakai got to do battle with the greatest chef in the world: France�s Alain Passard, who participated in 1997�s Iron Chef World Cup in Kyoto. (Didn�t Nakamura kick his butt or is it just me?) In either case, here he was again, ready for the ultimate showdown. The ingredient this time around was Long-Gang Chicken direct from China. One can imagine the honor of having the greatest chef in the world put against the greatest chef in the Gourmet Academy. The ultimate verdict was a happy one: Passard passed his crown over to Sakai, which meant that Sakai is now the greatest cook in the world!! I prefer to call him the Godfather of Iron Chefs. No visualization of the Kitchen Stadium�s shut down was given at the end of this, but one thing is for certain: this was the next to last ever to be seen of battles there. Chairman and Chefs Rock the City That, Well, Almost Never Sleeps (March 2000) If memory serves me right, in March 2000, Kaga and four of his Iron Chefs went to the city that, well, almost never sleeps (it slept on 9/11/2001), for a very special battle in Times Square involving a couple of very special guests...the most important of which is another famous TV personality: Bobby Flay. This was the new millennium�s first taste of Iron Chef. Pt. 1: Meet the Zagats The first half of this two-parter was excruciatingly boring: the Iron Chefs visited the Zagats, then went to this culinary institute and strutted their stuff. The only good part was the end, in which Iron Chefs Sakai, Morimoto (who was born there!), Michiba, and Kobe stood underneath the then existent Warner Bros. Studio Store, on top of which the ball drops on New Year�s Eve every year (Dick Clark is always here!). It should be noted that Bobby Flay still works in NYC at his Mesa Grill. 5th Ave., a luxurious, Times Square-like tourist attraction, is the whereabouts of it. (I only say this was �boring� �cause there ain�t a whole lot of action. Besides, there just isn�t enough of Kaga.) Pt. 2: The �Final Battle?� This is where the fun officially started. If memory serves me right, Webster Hall (42nd Street and 3rd Avenue?) set the stage for this match between Mori and Flay. Gordon Elliott welcomed the packed crowd. Then, Chairman Kaga came in with his blood red hot (again!) king-like cape. He spoke his first English words (!) in front of the audience: �If memory serves me right, this is New York City!!� I froze over at this. Besides, he looked hotter than July. The theme ingredient, rock crab (Kaga said its English title!), came down in a magnificent disco ball. The duel that went under way had been dubbed on its promo poster as the �Final Battle.� Anyway, the two stunts heated up the joint with their exotic creations. Next, ex-Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani�s lady, the Zagats, and John Williams (chosen at random from the audience) tasted the dishes. The winner for this battle was Mori, which satisfied his young fan, Tommy Mothershead (who looks like a girl), and his fans, whether they caught him on TV or traveled all the way here to NYC to see him hard at work. Flay went home thinking all was said and done. (He really did, too, because he thought IC was �fixed.�) But was it? What Goes Around Comes Around (6/3/2001) No! I don�t think so. Therefore, if memory serves me right, in the following year (2001!), Kaga reopened his Kitchen Stadium (high time he did, too!) and reunited Iron Chefs Sakai and Morimoto with former (and famous) challengers, both of who did lose to them. These challengers would have their second and last chance to beat them. The changes in dish creation for the 21st century were to be unraveled here for the first time. The new millennium�s arrival, in other words, was really a culinary revolution in the Gourmet Academy. To everyone reading this without having seen this special yet, I�d like to say: the revolution was televised. This is my favorite of all the Iron Chef episodes, next to the France Battle, because not only has it visually made up for some boring instances in the first half of NYC battle, but it also officially turned me into an Iron Chef junkie clearly because this is one of the very first episodes of it I saw. This 2-hour extravaganza started with sexy Chairman Kaga, sexy Chairman Kaga (chanted in conga line style) dressed in some of the loveliest clothing I�ve ever seen him wear, standing outside underneath a clear blue sky and biting into his bell pepper, the object of his affection. The Kitchen Stadium looked probably its best ever. Trumpets announced the Chairman�s arrival. He came in riding a horse and wearing this simply sensational gold and white robe with a boa around his neck. In other words, he looked like an angel. What shocked me most was the part wherein, as in the third part of KOICT, he bit into his bell pepper and, with all seven of his Iron Chefs (!), faced the swarm of cooks in a stellar cinematographic pan from him to the center of the room. (I hesitate to call Kaga a �Chairman,� because really he doesn�t cook. He�s just an actor and a vocalist whom Fuji Television Network chose to play the GA stunt.) Pt. 1: The Revenge of Kandagawa The first challenger up was Toshiro Kandagawa, whom his rival, Sakai, defeated in 1995�s Lotus Root Battle. He appeared on two episodes way before this. The ingredient for this first 21st Century Battle was Red Snapper (type of fish). Kandagawa, having shaved his head on New Year�s Day that same year (2001), seemed and was ready to rumble. Things seemed to bode well for Kandagawa. Too well. He launched victory over Sakai at the end of this battle. I saw him cry when he grabbed the medal. Pt. 2: The �Unsettled Duel� The �Unsettled Duel� was about to begin then and there. Having lost to Mori in the previous year�s Rock Crab Battle in NYC, now was Bobby Flay�s time for revenge, too. He entered the arena in smoke and a flash of light. Swarms of Americans were in the Stadium on his side (of course!). The theme ingredient was Japanese Lobster. Mori was like, �Sheesh! Now I gotta do this?� before all this Bobby Flay rematch stuff was brought up. You can imagine the pressure Morimoto and Flay gave themselves to see who would reign supreme. The verdict at the end of this shocked Morimoto�s fans (especially Tommy, the boy who dressed up like him because he liked him that much) but pleased the American crowd: Mori had to surrender. The American audience roared with enthusiasm that made the whole thing seem more like the New York Knicks had won their first NBA championship since 1969. Even I trembled once having seen Flay claim the title of champ. His girlfriend stormed down into his arms as he grabbed the beautiful 21st Century medal. (Love that close-up on Kaga during the end credits!) Unfortunately, Mori walked out, leaving Kaga no choice but to call it quits for production of the show. (He said he was gonna evacuate the battlefield, anyway, in 1999, with KOICT.) Vengeful triumph was the whole theme of this Iron Chef special. This is the very last we�ll ever see from the Rurouni Kenshins of culinary skills. What Next? The show put a halt on its production in 2001. Maybe we�ll get a remix of an Italy battle if one was ever produced? Stay tuned... P.S. I don�t put it past myself to stop with this insane obsession with Takeshi Kaga even after finding out he is married, as someone told me on the Iron Chef Message Board. At my best I love him in the sense that I�m one of his most recent junkies, but never did I say I wanted to marry him. The man is too old for me to go around saying I�m in love with him. |