After “Iron Chef America” ruled the Food Network for more than a dozen seasons, the famous cooking contest is back on Netflix.
“Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend” is now airing an 8-episode first season, filmed in a new Los Angeles cooking stadium with familiar bases – the show’s elite Iron Chefs take on cooking challenges in timelines against rival chefs with meals involving a secret ingredient announced by The Chairman (with actor Mark Dacascos reprising the role).
But there are notable changes in “Iron Legend” that are “pretty big and pivotal,” says returning host Alton Brown. “But the show’s DNA remains intact. It’s an evolution, not a mutation.”
Here are the five main differences.
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Newcomer Kristen Kish brings her pedigree to competition
Season 10 “Top Chef” winner Kristen Kish joins Brown as co-host of “Iron Legend,” showcasing her competitive combat experience and interviewing the chefs on camera during the frenetic prep. “Kristen can get down on the floor and ask great questions and really get into people’s heads,” Brown said. “Then she comes back and we can talk about it.”
In another welcome twist, Brown and Kish join the show’s judges – Nilou Motamed, Andrew Zimmern and a celebrity – at the judges’ table. “There we can continue the conversation, maybe even direct it,” Brown says.
The hosts still don’t have competition votes.
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The Iron Chefs are international Avengers protecting the trophy
Iron Chef’s culinary caliber is high, filled with global stars, including Dominique Crenn, the first American female chef to earn three Michelin stars. The five-member team is also international with Mexican-born Gabriela Cámara (one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020), Ethiopian-born Marcus Samuelsson and “Top” franchise chef Curtis Stone. Chef” of Australian origin.
“East Meets West” star chef Ming Tsai is the only American-born Iron Chef.
“It represents a style and an all-encompassing approach,” says Brown. “It’s cool. I see stuff I’ve never seen. That means something.”
Iron Chefs are chosen to face difficult chefs in one-on-one competitions. But a new wrinkle brings the series’ most successful challenger into a battle royale against all five bosses – who join forces Avengers-style. If the combined Iron Chef team is defeated in the finals, the President gives the new gold trophy to the victorious challenger.
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“It’s the ultimate trophy. It’s something only a man of extreme wealth could create,” says Dacascos, who calls the Iron Chef team’s very first battle “monumental”.
“If only one challenger takes them down, shame, SHAME!” said Dacascos. “But if the challenger can pull it off, then respect it. Until a challenger chef wins the trophy, they’ll stay.”
Brown says the Iron Chefs team cooks up its own palpable tension.
“Even though they want to act like a team, they’re extremely competitive individuals,” Brown said. “It’s a big bowl of messy ego going on there.”
The Los Angeles Kitchen Stadium is huge
The move from New York’s old cramped neighborhoods to Los Angeles opened up the battle, now large enough to accommodate an audience. The size leaves room for new cameras, more angles and requires more space for the chefs in the Kitchen Stadium.
There’s also room for plenty more stacked food for the chefs to grab when the timer starts after the President introduces the secret ingredient – which now has its own secret chamber.
“We have a lot more ingredients on the altar which is now like the ingredient garage,” Brown explains. “It allows for larger themed events and we can bring in more food.”
No ads, no more ‘Iron Chef
Netflix streaming means there’s more “Iron Chef,” with no ads. The 46-minute shows are all cooking action and more talk.
“We don’t have to sign off, go to the commercial and then recap,” Brown explains. “We go without interruption.”
There’s even time to tell the story of the mysterious president, who bursts into tears over a spice in one episode. “The show is wider and deeper, just like the tree, with deeper roots,” says Dacascos.
The bald president made 11
Martial arts star President Dascascos originally started in the same stern and explosive vein as President Karga (Takeshi Kaga) of Japanese “Iron Chef” (which ran from 1993 to 2002).
“Before, Mark was very serious,” Brown says. “But he managed to bring some absolutely adorable madness to the president. And someone at Netflix told him to go 11 now.”
The eyes are wider, the martial arts move more, his cries are more eccentric. And the head is incredibly bald since Dascascos played Keanu Reeves’ assassin Zero in “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.”
“I shaved it off for ‘John Wick’ and didn’t brush it off to make ‘Iron Chef’ look like Yul Brenner or Telly Savalas,” says Dacascos. “He’s pushing back now. If we get another season, we’ll see what The Chairman is like.”