Worst Iron Chef Judges
apym
opinion when they obviously have no culinary knowledge. Rock star,sport
figures, actors etc. How can a chef take any of these criticisms seriously
from someone who can barely articulate their feelings. Even some of the
supposed professionals come off as pretentious and petulant. Like the one
woman who thinks everything is "too oily". Or the behemoth who has probably
eaten a live buffalo who declares that the meal was "too rich for my
tastes". Anyway, it would be interesting to see a list of everyone's least
favorite judges.
apym
Kyle
My least favorite ICA judge, by a mile, is Karine Bakhoum. I find her
whiny, immature, and unintelligent. Also the way she shows approval
of a dish by shuddering is a bit over the top.
I don't like Andrew Knowlton (sp), the slackerish guy with the long
hair. I know he works for food magazines and so forth, but he seems
to work too hard to appear cool. He seems phony.
I'm disappointed when they have jocks on to judge, although there was
something of a precedent for this on the original Iron Chef.
The woman who regularly deems dishes "too oily" is Akiko Katayama. I
kind of like her. She's articulate and seems to work very hard to
assess each dish; she just has a hyperactive sensitivity to oil -- so
much so that, when Martin Yan was her co-judge, he once remarked,
"Finally! A dish that you don't consider too oily!" She's often on
the panel when Morimoto battles, presumably to balance the ratings
with her appreciation of Japanese food. However, Katayama's presence
doesn't seem to help Morimoto much (I guess his food is "too
oily"!).
Don Chavis
"Kyle" <kyle...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ad53f8b9-65a0-4172...@g1g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
Iron Chef America: Judge Karine Bakhoum
By JULIETTE ROSSANT
How do we judge Karine Bakhoum?
Remember Quiz Show, the film starring Ralph Fiennes as contestant
Charles Van Doren on the game show Twenty-One? He succumbs to the urgings of
the show's producers (and his own greed and vanity) and cheats?
This time around, it isn't the contestant who has come into question,
but one of the show's judges.
The show is Iron Chef America.
When Graham Elliot Bowles lost to Iron Chef Bobby Flay, the judges
included Karine Bakhoum. She voted heavily in favor of Bobby Flay, while the
other two judges, journalist Jeffrey Steingarten and author cum Queer Eye
star Ted Allen, voted in favor of Graham.
Karine commented to The Chicago Tribune:
My favorite dish of the whole competition was Chef Bowles' bison,
because it was the most intriguing, the most original, it was flavorful and
for me it was the most satisfying dish.
So started the affair.
The Tribune noted:
For what it's worth, that one person, Bakhoum, owns a
public-relations company, KB Network News, that lists Flay as a former
client; she has represented one of his restaurants, his catering company and
three of his cookbooks. She currently represents an Atlantic City hotel and
casino that houses another Flay restaurant. But she said Flay has his own
publicist, and she has not received money from him in ages.
( -- So, you know, maybe she was hoping, like, Bobby would pay off,
like, an old, outstanding bill or something? -- Bada-boom, bada bing, you
know? It ain't personal: it's business -- Ching!)
The Food Network said:
Bruce Seidel said via e-mail that Bakhoum's history was "not an
issue. Almost all the judges know of, have heard of or eaten the Iron Chefs'
food outside of Kitchen Stadium. It's unavoidable, and we feel she is an
impartial judge."
There is a difference between eating at a chef's restaurant, and
having (or trying to regain) a client service agreement.
Graham has not commented -- yet.
Super Chef believes that Karine faces a serious conflict of interest
as a judge: how could she have offered to serve as judge of a former client?
While this scandal takes off in Print, the Blogosphere has been
tracking another business scandal involving Karine Bakhoum.
Karine is married to Pascal Riffaud, owner of PrimeTimeTables, a
concierge service that receives fees to customers get tables at exclusive
restaurants.
Last month, Eater.com lowered the charge of scalping against
PrimeTimeTables and has suggested that Karine's restaurant relationship have
been helping PrimeTimeTables unfairly. Gothamist has furthe spread the word.
Even The New York Times has reported on the story, quoting other publicists,
like Jennifer Baum of Bullfrog & Baum, who weighs in against using accepting
money for a reservation.
"There's always that level of who you know," said Jennifer Baum, one
of the city's most prominent restaurant publicists. "I get calls all the
time - can you squeeze me in, can you get me a table? I try to accommodate,
but sometimes I just can't. But I would never take money for a reservation.
It's about a level of integrity."
Super Chef asks, Why is a publicist serving as a judge on Iron Chef
America in the first place?
Forget the past relationship with Bobby Flay: any publicist who serves
chefs as clients cannot possibly serve impartially as a judge: every chef is
a potential client.
Should audiences urge The Food Network to judge judges more
judiciously?
What do you think? Do you agree with Super Chef?