Masaharu Morimoto
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Interior of Morimoto Restaurant in Philadelphia, 2003 |
Masaharu Morimoto (森本正治
Morimoto Masaharu; born
May 26,
1955 in
Hiroshima,
Japan) is a well-known Japanese chef, best-known as the third (and last) Iron Chef Japanese on the TV cooking show
Iron Chef, and an Iron Chef on its spinoff,
Iron Chef America. Morimoto's costume on
Iron Chef is silver with red trim and a picture on the back of Japanese and American flags tied together in a sheaf, while on
Iron Chef America he dons the standard blue Iron Chef outfit with white trim. In his professional life, to distinguish himself from his on-screen persona, Morimoto wears (purely aesthetic)
glasses.
Morimoto received practical training in
sushi and traditional
Kaiseki cuisine in Hiroshima, and opened his own restaurant in that city in
1980. Influenced by western cooking styles, he decided to sell his restaurant in
1985 in order to travel around the
United States and his travels further influenced his fusion style of cuisine. He established himself in
Manhattan,
New York City, and worked in some of that city's more prestigious restaurants, including the dining area for
Sony Corporation's executive staff and visiting V.I.Ps., the
Sony Club, where he was executive chef, and the exclusive Japanese restaurant
Nobu, where he was head chef.
It was during his time at
Nobu where he got his start on the
Iron Chef television show. Several months after the weekly run of
Iron Chef ended in
1999, he left
Nobu, eventually opening his own
Morimoto restaurant in
Philadelphia in
2001. He now has a
Morimoto restaurant in Chelsea Market in New York City, as well as a restaurant in
Mumbai,
India, named
Wasabi.
Morimoto currently appears as an Iron Chef in
Iron Chef America, a spin-off from the original Japanese "Iron Chef" series.
Unlike his predecessor,
Koumei Nakamura, Morimoto's introduction as an Iron Chef came with little fanfare, debuting the week following Nakamura's retirement battle against
Yukio Hattori. He was chosen based on his style of cooking, which seemed to border on
fusion cuisine, as well as his international experience.
Morimoto was initially reluctant to accept the title of Iron Chef, but did accept for fear of the show hiring someone else. Originally, he had planned to incorporate some of the dishes that he had routinely prepared in New York for
Iron Chef, but had discovered that previous challengers and Iron Chefs had already made similar dishes. Ironically, he would be known as the Iron Chef whose dishes always seemed to come out of left field - a famous example is his Bell Pepper Sushi in a
bell pepper battle in
1999. He would usually have a bottle of
Coca-Cola to drink while cooking on the show.
Morimoto was 16-7-1 on
Iron Chef and 2-3 on
Iron Chef America - the latter of which he was credited with 66 victories due to a typo. Surprisingly, Morimoto is 2-5 overall against other Iron Chefs, with both victories at the expense of chef
Bobby Flay - the first battle saw Flay as a challenger on the well-publicized
New York Special, and the second in a tag battle in
Battle of the Masters where Flay was his partner.
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Chef Morimoto (Morimoto's official site)*
Official site for Morimoto, the restaurant
