529438 Sun Jun 15 20:39:19 -0700 2008 4 33 Food Media and News 0 3783288 Not every day you see an Iron Chef defeated. This one was more interesting that last weeks I thought. Strange to me that the Kalamata Olive was not one of the five. I enjoy using them in my kitchen. In fact it's usually the green Spanish and the Kalamata. Of course they did have the Nicoise which are rather close. Good to see two martinis, one from each side. Rather surprising no one did a tapenade. Irony of the night to me ... Last week regarding battle corn I said no one did popcorn, so tonight Symon makes popcorn for battle olive. Why of course! Sun Jun 15 20:39:20 -0700 2008 183904 HarryK 1 3783341 i confess to being biased having spent time in cleveland but... i thought both chefs' food looked fabulous. and was well reviewed - although i thought it was weird to have the next iron chef judges again straight across the board. Sun Jun 15 21:25:19 -0700 2008 3783288 99136 AMFM 2 3783599 I thought it was an excellent Iron Chef - really enjoyed it, and based on what I saw, wasn't surprised to see the challenger win. Also found the judges VERY entertaining this time! Mon Jun 16 04:29:46 -0700 2008 3783341 10985 MMRuth 3 3783673 I agree. As soon as I saw who the judges were and that Symon was the Iron Chef, I knew that barring a disaster on the challenger's part that she would win. I did watch the Next Iron Chef series when it came down to Besh versus Symon, and Knowlton and Donatella clearly favored Besh, while Ruhlman supported Symon (and Ruhlman and Symon being both from Cleveland a factor at all?). It was decidedly interesting to watch the camera footage of the judges as they nitpicked their way through the criticism. Certainly gave off the impression that Knowlton and Donatella were harboring a few grudges against Symon, and Ruhlman is partisan when it comes to supporting Symon. Mon Jun 16 05:42:52 -0700 2008 3783599 81926 Roland Parker 4 3783703 i actually thought that ruhlman was going to have to NOT judge for symon too. but not saying april didn't deserve it. i thought her dishes looked great. she scored perfect for taste. ms for originality. they both had super high scores. nice episode. Mon Jun 16 05:59:16 -0700 2008 3783673 99136 AMFM