the chefs interact verbally with Alton a lot more then they did with the guy who did that on the original.

Batali's banter with Alton is priceless, in my quite humble opinion.

Holy fuck, Lee! That's a lot of iguanas.

Congratulations, family Wolfram!

And, the bacon subthread reminded me of this cobb salad recipe I saw yesterday on The Barefoot Contessa. The cook mixed together cherry tomatoes, lobster meat, bacon, and avocados. Oh, and she also threw in a handful of arugula, but I think that was a bow toward the traditional concept of salad as much as an attempt to add it as an actual ingredient. She mixed the whole thing up with a mustard vinagrette. It looked incredibly yummy, and I'm thinking of trying to make something similar this weekend, if my stomach is happy with me again by then.

ETA: recipe [link]

It's a good show, but it's not a clone of the original. It's got its own personality.

Way less campy, among other things. I do wish, since the role is so diminished, that they had done away with the whole pretense of the chairman, because it doesn't really add anything to what makes ICA work. It doesn't hurt, but it feels like a weird affectation. Granted, it basically was with the original, but they really ran with it and here it feels like an afterthought.

I do really miss (whether it was true or not) any element of surprise on who is going to be picked from the Iron Chefs, and that a challenger might choose someone unexpected to compete against.

[NOTE MY EXTREME RESTRAINT IN NOT USING THE WORD "FLAVOR."]

Very admirable.

Batali's banter with Alton is priceless, in my quite humble opinion.

This especially. You get the feeling they might go out for a few beers after taping. Or before.

I had no idea there was a baby Wolfram in the offing, so for me? Even more miraculous. Congratulations. Hec, you have e. Eventually. And...something else that I don't remember. Dag.

I do really miss (whether it was true or not) any element of surprise on who is going to be picked from the Iron Chefs, and that a challenger might choose someone unexpected to compete against.

Me too, but OTOH, I usually like the matchups they come up with.

I think ICA's main weakness is their selection of the secret ingredients. They're far too likely to choose ingredients that are easy to make the focus of a dish (fish, fowl, various cuts of meat, etc). I'd love to see something equivalent to the original IC's Milk Battle.

I also miss the (fake or not) crazy vendettas from the original Iron Chef.

They should set up some faction devoted to the purity of southwestern cuisine. With a bitter eminence grise who dispatches his proteges one after the other to challenge Bobby Flay.

Another thing about ICA I love is the groan of dread that comes forth whenever somebody starts working with the ice cream maker. That was a highlight of the behind-the-scenes show they did.

They should set up some faction devoted to the purity of southwestern cuisine. With a bitter eminence grise who dispatches his proteges one after the other to challenge Bobby Flay.

Heh, Rick Bayliss could have filled the bill in terms of his cuisine, but I don't think he has the personality for it. Plus, I think he won that battle.