“How about those Yankees?”
Food Network personality and New York native Bobby Flay cracked a knowing smile at the resounding boos that erupted from the Red Sox partisan audience. This past Saturday, celebrity chef Bobby Flay did battle in the 4th annual “Iron Cook” competition, a benefit event held at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton. Flay was pitted against 3 local chefs: Tony Bishop of Mulino’s, Jake Perkins of Eastside Grill and Michael Babb of Judie’s. The money raised from the event went to “Friends of Children,” a child advocacy organization that organized this mockup of Food Network’s hit show “Iron Chef” for four years running.
It looked like the event would be a fundraising success from the start. Two of the four judging seats were up for auction this year, and the bids were fast and wild, eventually selling for a whopping $1,500. (All tax deductible, of course.) The expected net from this year’s event was $30,000, outstripping all the prior benefits. The two ladies who won the seats joined their fellow judges, Northampton mayor Claire Higgins and former local Iron Cook and owner of Spoleto’s restaurant, Claudio Guerra, on stage and were eager to taste the offerings of the both opponents.
Flay literally burst onto the stage, slashing his way through a paper screen mimicking the entrance he has on the show “Iron Chef America.” The gong was ceremonially struck when the “secret ingredient” of cheese was revealed, and the one-hour competition was underway. Flay was composed and bantering with the crowd from the start, obviously at home in front of audiences and cameras. Keeping with the benefit’s recent tradition, Flay challenged all three competitors to a group battle, just as previous celebrity chefs Martin Yan and Rachael Ray had done.
Throughout the show, auctions were held for the benefit, with a few tongue-in-cheek pokes at Bobby’s more famed exploits on TV, including a signed cutting board with footprints on them, a cue to Flay’s infamous jumping up and down on one during his appearance on the Japanese version of Iron Chef. “Are those really my feet on there?” Flay asked, to which the organizers jokingly said they stole Flay’s shoes from his hotel room.
The show was good-humored throughout. The camp and goofy nature of the original Japanese version of Iron Chef was reproduced onstage, with camera crew running about, live commentary and two fully equipped and top-notch kitchens. Both sides kept up a frenetic pace, each plating delectable-looking and nasal teasing dishes, with the aromas wafting all the way to the back row.
Flay’s dishes were typical of his “style”: grilling and southwestern foods, featuring such courses as a Spiced Goat Cheese Enchilada with fresh made Chili Verde. No slouch for showmanship, Flay busted out a blowtorch to create a crust on his “Twenty-Seven” Cheese and Mac. The Iron Cooks countered with innovation of their own, making a “Mozzarella Napoleon” out of cheese curds made fresh on stage. They even brought out a cheese dessert, creating Flash Fried Chocolate and Cheddar Ravioli on top of Mascarpone Cheese Ice Cream. While the Iron Cooks worked to the last second of the hour, Flay calmly finished minutes prior, eliciting the crowd’s laughter by replying to an audience member’s cheer with a very New Yorker “Thanks, guy.”
Obviously, the judges were not swayed by Flay’s Yankees allegiance, as City Councilor Bill Dwight announced Flay as the winner. The crowd didn’t seem to mind either, bursting out in cheer for the celebrity cook, who graciously did not jump on top of his cutting board this time. Albeit on a smaller scale, fans of Iron Chef and Bobby Flay got a firsthand taste of what its like to be in “Kitchen Stadium,” and everyone came out winners for a good cause.
