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| ‘Iron Chef’ Title Slips from Jehangir Mehta’s Grasp | | By LISA TSERING | | | indiawest.com | November 30, 2009 02:08:00 PM |
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Chef Jehangir Mehta has regularly astonished the judges of the Food Network’s “The Next Iron Chef” over the past eight episodes with his unique flavor combinations, such as pairing fish with fresh edible flowers or topping bison tartare with a scoop of avocado ice cream.
But when it came down to the wire Nov. 22 on the show’s finale, Mehta lost out to chef Jose Garces. “Technique trumps creativity!” trumpeted the Los Angeles Times.
 Working with ingredients that were meant to represent “America’s melting pot” — ribs and racks of buffalo, pork and beef — Mehta created a pork-bacon burger with chipotle mayonnaise and fries; smothered shrimp dumpling with shredded braised buffalo rib on top; buffalo steak with chocolate sauce; and Indian-style pork spare ribs with yogurt sauce.
But Garces’s play-it-safe decision to prepare buffalo tartare/kobe sirloin; a German pork loin with mustard; baby back ribs with barbecue sauce, and pizza with beef ribs and horseradish swayed the judges.
“I knew that my team and myself had put in our best, and we saw there was a torn decision,” Mehta told India-West by phone Nov. 23. “It was a decision about one person’s palate vs. another. If it was one more person favoring me, I could have come in first. It wasn’t a landslide victory, so in that way it was very fulfilling.”
Mehta is always quick to credit his sous-chefs, Andres Vasquez and Mai Khanh Le, who toiled with him week after week as Mehta was given unusual ingredients and just 60 minutes to set off culinary fireworks in the hopes of impressing judges Michael Symon, Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto (all former Iron Chefs) and restaurant critic Jeffrey Steingarten, sustainable food expert Anya Fernald and restaurateur Donatella Arpaia.
Sparks flew between the judges, and the show was often edited to show Mehta in an unflattering light.
Here’s the Slashfood blog on Mehta’s personality: “Through tricky editing, Mehta has achieved villain status … With his sleek profile, meted tone of voice and laser-like gaze, he suggests nothing so much as a sentient killer robot.”
Mehta laughed when India-West asked him about the way reality TV spotlights personalities to the extent of even sometimes upstaging the food.
“I think there’s a balance between both. I’m sure it’s TV, and it’s reality and they have to retain a certain image and create drama, through music or the right action; it all creates hype. With the right words that Alton Brown uses to showcase us, it’s very dramatic,” Mehta told India-West.
“Some things each one of us might not have liked, but it’s what makes TV and you have to live with it. Overall I had a very, very good experience and I’m very grateful to the Food Network to give me this opportunity to showcase what I can do. To get an opportunity is one thing and to make the best of it is completely on you. I made the most out of it!”
Mehta says the high point of the entire “Iron Chef” experience was at Kitchen Stadium in Japan, making Yuzu Soy Clams with Sesame Seeds. “I think I excelled and people said the clam dish was the best dish that they’d ever eaten in the whole contest,” he said.
His most challenging moment came when tamarind was the ingredient of the day. Although Mehta has worked a lot with the tangy seedpod in Indian food and in his dishes at his Graffiti restaurant in New York City, the rules required him to use tamarind in both sweet and savory Mexican dishes. “Winning that challenge gave me a big boost,” he said. And in an ironic twist, Mehta actually lost one week’s Indian cooking challenge to Garces, who is a Mexican American.
“I’m not traditionally trained as an Indian chef but I use a lot of Indian spices and herbs,” the Mumbai-born Mehta told India-West. “Today, if you tell me to make a traditional Indian dish, it won’t turn out exactly that way. I can create what I know as Indian and interpret things in my Indian style. That’s what I like about this show — they want you to be you.”
It’s no surprise that since Mehta’s appearance on “The Next Iron Chef,” it’s been nearly impossible for anyone to get a reservation at Graffiti. But Mehta’s focusing more these days on helping his wife raise their nine-and-a-half-month-old twins.
“Business has been very good and I’m very happy about that,” Mehta told India-West. “But I did it for my children and I’m extremely happy about that.” |
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| | “To each tongue its own Umami”. I love this mantra of Chef Mehta which he has posted on his website. It aptly indicated his feelings about the judges’ opinions on his culinary skills. I was extremely disheartened when he lost the title of the ‘Next Iron Chef’. He was my favorite bet since he won some of the toughest rounds in the season. His preparations were eccentric -- who would dare to cook dishes with flowers? Of course, his dishes have been appreciated by the judges many times. But what I admire the most about him is his spirit to innovate and his ‘never say die’ attitude’. I have read many reviews that showed him in an unflattering light. There were articles that said how editing tricks were done on purpose to show Chef Mehta in an unfavorable light – all to add drama to the reality show. I was shocked! He really deserved to win! But one thing I am happy about is that at least now people are aware of his amazing restaurant and his superior culinary skills. Graffiti, without doubt, is a great restaurant that will always continue to surprise a connoisseur’s palate with amazing menu. What’s more it is owned by a chef, whose humility speaks volumes for his expertise, for whom his customers’ tastes for food, matter more than the opinion of reality shows.
| | Andy On Dec 4 2009 12:18AM |  |
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