San Francisco's Incanto Iron Chef in March ?

[NoeMan]

Just a heads up. I checked the February schedule on the web and Battle Offal between Chris Cosentino & Mario Batali did not make it on this month as originally rumored. New ones are airing this month, so I'd watch for it in March if you don't have Tivo

[Morton the Mousse]

I can't wait for this one. Do we know for sure that offal is the secret ingredient? They usually don't release that information in advance.

[DezzerSF]

The secret ingredient is garlic. <gasp>

[Robert Lauriston]

I was talking with Chris Cosentino the other night, he said they told him it will air sometime in the second quarter, i.e. in April, May, or June.

If the secret ingredent is not either offal or a whole pig, somebody should be fired.

[farmersdaughter]

Do you know if it was filmed back in December when the battle was announced in the Chronicle, or more recently?

[Robert Lauriston]

It was taped on October 6 in New York.

http://www.offalgood.com/?p=57

[gingersweetiepie]

Shouldn't matter if it's offal or not, he's obviously going to be working low cuts into his repertoire. I'm extremely excited for this challenge. Cosentino deserves more than local acclaim so it's nice to see him get more press. IMHO Incanto is the only restaurant in SF doing anything truly interesting right now.

[Robert Lauriston]

Here's a current topic on the SF board debating that:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/369138

[Morton the Mousse]

Costentino's battle will air on April 22nd. I can't wait!

[Robert Lauriston]

http://www.offalgood.com/?p=89#more-89

[Robert Lauriston]

This airs Sunday at 9pm EST (6pm Pacific on my satellite).

Chronicle reports his team will be Jack Falstaff's Jonnatan Leiva and Boulevard's Ravi Kapur.

Competent set of judges, no non-food celebrities:

Ted Allen
Donatella Arpaia
Jeffrey Steingarten

The Food Network promos may include a spoiler about the secret ingredient.

Rerun schedule:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_...

[NoeMan]

Congrats to Chris. I think the plating score was ridiculously low and he'd have won if it was more appropriate for what he put out.

[Robert Lauriston]

We couldn't make sense of that. Batali's plates didn't look that great. Some looked downright bad.

Seemed to me like maybe a New York bias on the panel. When Steingarten complained about the strong raw garlic taste on his bruschetta, we were all shouting, "Welcome to California, bitch!"

Fun battle anyway.

[susancinsf]

What is Californian about a strong raw garlic taste, especially for the first dish of the evening?

I don't know. Robert could be said to have a pro-Incanto bias, but then I could be said to have a slight anti-Incanto bias (didn't care that much, but was somewhat rooting for Batali), and actually, I thought that neither set of plates looked that great. Costentino's scallops did appeal, until he poured the last minute additional sauce or oil or whatever it was over them (didn't catch what it was). Whatever it was, it looked oily and I thought took away from the presentation. Hopefully it helped the taste, but if the scallops are very fresh more oil is not necessarily a good thing. Does anyone know exactly what it was?

I was really interested in how the squabs would turn out, since the one truly poorly executed dish I ever had at Incanto was squab (very rubbery skin). It certainly looked good last night, but I thought the garlic in the talon was just cutesy, not innovative or appetizing.

Since all the judges really seemed to love the pasta, I guess the mistake in putting it in the wrong broth didn't hurt taste or texture. Could have been a real problem though.

In truth, I didn't think it was one of the more interesting battles, but I think for me that had to do with the ingredient. I'd have preferred to see a less common ingredient more out of the comfort zone of both chefs, and in general, the food didn't appeal (from either chef) nearly as much as some of the other battles I've seen.

For that matter, the judges seemed to be a bit off their game too. Usually, Ted Allen and Steingarten have more of substance to say...could it be they were a little bored also?

[Robert Lauriston]

I definitely have a pro-Incanto bias in the sense that it's my favorite restaurant. And Batali's dishes generally seem a bit overcomplicated and Frenchified to me, I prefer Cosentino's more rustic and purely Italian style. Regardless, Batali got only one point more for taste, and won by only two points, thanks to the judges preference for his plating.

It's possible that the sous chef didn't rub the garlic into Steingarten's toast while it was still hot enough. That's one of those times where it isn't clear from what's on screen whether the judge doesn't share my taste or the dish wasn't cooked right. Seemed like the other judges liked it better, so maybe his was rawer.

Cosentino poured heated single-varietal extra-virgin olive oil over the scallops.

I've had delicious squab feet at Bodega Bistro. I don't think the judges would have given Cosentino such high marks for originality if the results hadn't been tasty. The twice-cooked tripe was apparently fabulous.

The pasta didn't spend much time in the pork broth. Funny thing, that mistake was the dish the crowd at my house most wanted to taste. We skipped back and freeze-framed to get a good look at it.

[ajs228]

Yes, he said the heated olive oil was "to give the scallops a bit of a sear", though I don't know if it was hot enough to do that.

[susancinsf]

it wasn't the fact that he left the squab feet on, it was that he was using them for a presentation that wasn't that appetizing. as I say, it just seemed cutesy, and to me, distracting in that if he had intended the feet to be eaten (though I don't think that was in fact his intent: his energy was focused on trying to get them to eat the brains), his using them for 'decoration' distracted from that thought, IMO....it encourages one to think: 'oh how cute (or not) he left the talon on so it could grasp a piece of garlic for decoration'.

The tripe did look good.

I figured it was olive oil on the scallops, (missed the description), but as the poster above notes, it wasn't clear if it was hot enough if the purpose was to give them a sear. If it didn't, then to me it just added oil, and for a delicate dish like scallops I'd prefer without that much.

[Robert Lauriston]

I doubt the oil was supposed to cook them, heating top-quality olive oil to that high a temperature would damage its flavor. I presume he heated it just to make it more aromatic.

[Porthos]

"And Batali's dishes generally seem a bit overcomplicated and Frenchified to me, I prefer Cosentino's more rustic and purely Italian style."

That's funny because Mario likes to bash french technique. Batali's strength is that he can do rustic as well as anyone (see his restaurant Lupa and Babbo) but he can also add flair when it suits his audience (see Del Posto) or even add a Californian touch (see Mozza).

Having been to both Consentino's and Batali's restaurants, I like Batali's dishes more by that 1-2 points you speak of. Consentino is good, but Batali's tripe dishes, fried pigs foot, gnocchi alla romana, grilled whole porcini wrapped in pancetta, and wild boar ragus are as rustic and delicicious (if not more at times) as anything I've had at Incanto. The dishes at Babbo also have an additional dimension that keeps each bite interesting. Whether it be the different types of paired cheeses with each pasta dish or that hint of limon zest or mint with roasted meats or that extra drizzle of top grade olive oil...Batali's food is very good. I hope you get to finally try it one day if not just to give Batali a fair shake when you criticize his style.

It can even be argued that Batali first popularized that rustic style of italian cooking in the states...the house cured salumi, the tripe, the lightly dressed al dente pastas...he was preaching these points 9-10 years ago.

Finally, just so you know there's mutual respect between Batali and Consentino, there was a picture of the two standing in front of Incanto soon after the taping of the Iron Chef episode. The picture was on the Incanto website for a while before it was taken down.

[Robert Lauriston]

From Bill Buford's descriptions in "Heat," Batali's always sneaking a little Frenchy sauce under the meat or whatever.

That's an old picture, it was on the front door of incanto.biz for several years.

[Porthos]

I don't know how accurate "Heat" is. Not much french sauce found in the fried pig's feet, roasted porcini, or gnocchi alla romana. But even if it were true, one doesn't fault Incanto for adding a Cal touch to Italian food...why would Batali be faulted for a French touch to Italian food? Northern italian cooking is full of french influence. As long as it tastes good.

[Robert Lauriston]

Just a matter of personal taste. Like they say in Rome, north of Florence it's all Germans.

[Porthos]

Really? The Romans say that about Emilia-Romagna and Bologna; about prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano?

[Robert Lauriston]

The border's adjusted to fit the context.

[Morton the Mousse]

Garlic is a bizarre ingredient choice. I understand what the producers were thinking, two Italian chefs battling with one of the cornerstones of Italian cuisine. The problem is, if you use too much garlic, it overwhelms the dish, if you don't use enough, the judges complain that there's no garlic flavor, and when you use just the right amount of garlic, the dish shouldn't taste like GARLIC . I think battle pig would have been a lot more interesting.

Seemed like Cosentino didn't quite get the plates to the point he wanted. The team was working on overdrive for the last five minutes, and he looked a bit upset when the buzzer rang. Maybe shooting for 6 dishes was a bad call, especially as the bruschetta was such a flop (might of even lost him a point or two on taste).

I'm not surprised Cosentino lost, because the Iron Chef almost always wins. He certainly made a respectable showing. The only times I've seen the Iron Chef lose was when the challenger utilized molecular gastronomy, and dazzled the judges into giving them high scores on plating and originality. I think a big part of the reason Cosentino lost on plating is because rustic Italian food doesn't have the flash and dazzle of more modern cuisines. It's about a delicious meal, not a pretty plate.

I also had to wonder about where they were getting green garlic in New York in October. That strikes me every time I see a California chef on IFA. It must be maddening to go from being able to utilize the best produce available, to being forced to work with whatever produce kitchen stadium provides you.

[Robert Lauriston]

I thought the same thing: fresh garlic in OCTOBER? I guess it could have come from the southern hemisphere--we've got green garlic here right now, and that's six months off. I wonder how high the quality was.

Which team used the lily bulbs? That was interesting.

[Euonymous]

Batali's team used the lily bulbs, thinly sliced and presented with the soups, if I remember correctly.

[DezzerSF]

Traci Des Jardins beat Batali a while back. I was hoping for another SF win. Nice showing by Cosentino anyway.

[Euonymous]

I love the fact that he was able to persuade the judges to suck out the squab brains and they all loved it.

[Robert Lauriston]

Cosentino's got diver scallop crudo and roast squab on the tentative menu for the May 8 Marco Pierre White book dinner:

http://incanto.biz/mpw_menu.html

[DezzerSF]

I also see that the Cosentino's Iron Chef menu will be served on Fridays & Saturdays from May 18 - June 30. $95/person.

[Robert Lauriston]

http://incanto.biz/ica_menu.html

Special dinner overload!

http://incanto.biz/special_dinners.html

[DezzerSF]

You should ask the chef to cook the pasta in pork broth!

[Grubbjunkie]

Finally saw this battle over the weekend. Pretty tough call. I thought the snails with garlic pasta was an inspired dish, and the squab seemed like a great dish too, but Batali's soups, shrimp, and lamb were classic garlic pairings reconstructed. I do think Batali should have lost points for not taking on the challenge of dessert, whereas they should have given Cosentino more points for his. In the end, I guess the tie goes to the Iron Chef.

[Robert Lauriston]

The dessert surely contributed to Cosentino's high score for originality in use of the theme ingredient:

Taste: 25-24
Plating: 13-7
Originality: 8-13
Total: 46-44

[Paul H]

I think the judges downgraded the plating score to punish Consentino for the gross-out factor in the squab. He pushed too far.

[Paul H]

Also, my review of a reprise of the dinner at Incanto is here...

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/405716