# Iron Chef America: Flay vs. Sakai (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752 "2004-04-24T03:20:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752/21 "2004-04-26T16:07:33Z")
How the fcuk did the Morimoto/Flay duo win the tag-team match? Flay burned **at least** two items (not to mention Morimoto’s tribute to Flay catching fire as well- I wondered is that was a purposeful dig?) and the deep-fried thingamabob looked overcooked, he was simultaneously all over the place and yet doing nothing, and as time expired knocked over at least one of the three sauces. I smell a fix. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752/22 "2004-04-26T16:31:42Z")
> [@jeevmon](#): > > Iron Chef Japan always had that old food critic lady on the panel, who probably was more into plating and presentation. The panels on the American version seemed stacked more towards TV celebrities plus hippy chef, and hippy chef doesn’t strike me as one who cares that much about plating. How much importance the judging panel gives to plating shouldn’t matter, though. Each judge was **required** to assign 0-5 points **solely** on the dishes’ plating and presentation. ---
**Author:** ![jeevmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@jeevmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeevmon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752/23 "2004-04-26T16:46:21Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > How much importance the judging panel gives to plating shouldn’t matter, though. Each judge was **required** to assign 0-5 points **solely** on the dishes’ plating and presentation. Yes, but if plating is not particularly important to the judge, they may assign 5 points to both for plating on the grounds that the food is on a plate. In other words, Flay’s bad or inferior plating wouldn’t have cost him in the eyes of the judge, when perhaps it should have. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752/24 "2004-04-26T16:46:53Z")
I couldn’t believe Flay outscored Sakai on the plating and presentation points. Flay’s dishes looked like something I would get at a $15 southwestern style restaurant. Sakai’s were more art - something I would expect at a classy establishment that can afford to spend time on making my food look pretty as well as taste good. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752/25 "2004-04-26T18:41:58Z")
So, between: Flay vs. Sakai Batali vs. Morimoto Puck vs. Morimoto The Japanese won _ **none** _ of these matches? That’s not just favoritism, that’s sticking it to the Japanese just for spite. Either that, or those Japanese Iron Chefs aren’t what they are cracked up to be. But somehow I doubt it. And I’m with **Mojo** on the Flay/Morimoto vs. Batali/Sakai battle. This whole thing seems little more than a “look how good our Food Network star chefs are!” All they needed was “Iron Chef Creole” Emeril Lagasse and I’d know it was a self-promotional ratings grab. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752/26 "2004-04-26T19:34:46Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > I couldn’t believe Flay outscored Sakai on the plating and presentation points. Flay’s dishes looked like something I would get at a $15 southwestern style restaurant. Sakai’s were more art - something I would expect at a classy establishment that can afford to spend time on making my food look pretty as well as taste good. Agreed…I can go to Dennys for a 3plop in a skillet fergoshsakes. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752/27 "2004-04-26T20:59:59Z")
Mmmmm, 3plop. :-9 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752/28 "2004-04-26T21:08:46Z")
I posted to the other thread about my distaste for Flay, and I can’t believe he won but I won’t dwell on it. > **[Iron Chef America (using spoiler boxes)](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=252706)** > > Overall, pretty good. They captured the flavor (heh) of the original show and made a change that I prefer (In the original, the IC’s stuff is tasted last.) Alton Brown brought just the right mix of humor and seriousness to the table, the new... Battali-Morimoto could have gone either way, but it should have been closer. Puck on the other hand wiped the floor with Morimoto. In my opinion he is head and shoulders above anybody else on the program, American or Japanese. Morimoto’s dishes were just standard dishes with egg thrown in(as many of the Japanese Iron chefs did with harder ingrediants). Egg is a complicated thing to make the center of a every dish in a whole meal, and I didn’t expect much from anybody, but Puck amazed me. He made a very creative and pefect looking set of dishes with egg as the center of all of them. I was very impressed, he really is a master chef.(of course it didn’t hurt that his ‘assistant’ chefs are probably world class experts in their own right(particularly the chick who is a pastry and desert master)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-chef-america-flay-vs-sakai-spoilers/241752.md?page=1)