Only an Iron Chef tangent, but Richard Blaise was on an episode of Iron Chef America that aired yesterday evening. One of his sous chefs was Eli. I only caught the last minute or so of the actual cooking, so I only got a quick glimpse of Blaise’s team, but they called Eli by name. I’m pretty sure it’s the same Eli that’s currently on Top Chef.
So how’d Blaise do?
I quit watching after the dishes were served, but before the verdict. He was up against Mario Batali, the judges comments led me to believe that the last dish to be served was Blaise’s ass on a platter.
Looking through the Past Episodes, looks like this happened in 2006/2007.
The secret ingredient was chickpeas.
Blaise lost by (IIRC) 5 points - mostly taste points. It was a good episode! Lots of nitro and gelatin noodles and sou vide and just cool techniques.
At one point, Alton asked Mario, “Would you ever cook with lecithin?” Mario said, “I might, if I knew what it was.” 
And then said he’d put it on the menu if Blaise won, IIRC 
Assuming he had a choice in the matter, Blais should have picked Cat Cora. That’s a guaranteed win right there. Plus, then you don’t have to look at Batali’s disgusting crocs.
I don’t understand why Cat Cora is an Iron Chef. I’m sure she has chops, but why doesn’t she have her own show like the others? Except Morimoto. And Batali doesn’t have his show anymore either. Hmm. But she never had a show on Food Network, did she?
Oh yeah - is anyone watching The Next Iron Chef?
Because most of the women who have their own shows on FN aren’t chefs and never were, but they wanted a woman Iron Chef.
Michael Symon won the last season of The Next Iron Chef and didn’t have his own show. Well, he did fill in on Dinner Impossible for a while, but that was until Robert Irvine was brought back as the host.
I’m reading through the Wiki article on Iron Chef America and don’t see anything about how she came to be one of them. Oh wait, I do see a reference to a short-lived FN show, Kitchen Accomplished.