is a well-known Japanese chef, best-known as the third Iron Chef Japanese on the TV cooking show Iron Chef, and an Iron Chef on its spinoff, Iron Chef America.
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 to travel around the United States
. 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.P.s, the Sony Club, where he was executive chef, and the
exclusive Japanese restaurant Nobu,
where he was head chef.
Interior of Morimoto Restaurant in
Philadelphia, 2003
When he was at
Nobu 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 the Meat Packing District in New York City, as well
as a restaurant in Mumbai
, India
, named
Wasabi and another Morimoto in Boca Raton,
Florida
. He also partnered with businessmen Paul
Ardaji Jr. and Paul Ardaji Sr. in an Asian bistro venture called
Pauli Moto's; the initial branch opened in Tyson's Corner, Virginia
but is now closed. Morimoto also owns Morimoto XEX in Tokyo that
has a Teppanyaki and a Sushi floor. Morimoto XEX received a
Michelin Star in the recent Tokyo Michelin guide.
Morimoto currently appears as an Iron Chef in
Iron Chef America, a spin-off from
the original Japanese "Iron Chef" series.
Chef
Morimoto has also developed a line of specialty beers with Rogue Ales of Newport, Oregon
.
Iron Chef
Morimoto's official win/loss/tie record on
Iron Chef is
16-7-1. On
Iron Chef America he is incorrectly credited
with 66 victories due to a typographical error in the
credits.
Morimoto's costume on
Iron Chef was silver with red trim
and a picture on the back of Japanese and American flags tied
together in a sheaf. On
Iron Chef America, he donned the
standard blue Iron Chef outfit with white trim and a patch of the
Japanese flag on his sleeve (the other Iron Chefs America have
flags from their respective countries on their sleeves). In his
professional life, to distinguish himself from his on-screen
persona, Morimoto wears (purely
aesthetic)
glasses.
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. He would become 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
sushi battle in
1999. He would usually have a bottle of
Coca-Cola to drink while cooking on the show; on
one occasion he combined cola with
natto to
fashion a dessert dish.
Morimoto competed in the first
sushi battle in
Kitchen Stadium on June 18th, 1999 against challenger Keiji
Nakazawa. There were five theme ingredients for the battle, tuna,
eggs, Kohada (Japanese Gizzard Shad),
Anago,
and
Kanpyō. Both chefs were given time
before the battle to properly prepare the sushi rice (sushi-meshi).
Morimoto would defeat Nakazawa.
Morimoto is also memorable for being the target of
Tadamichi Ohta, a vice-chairman of the
Japanese Culinary Association who headed the notorious "Ohta
Faction" of Japanese chefs. The Ohta faction lost three battles
with Chef Morimoto before finally winning one when challenger
Seiya Masahara defeated Morimoto in
the
anglerfish battle. The Ohta faction
wasn't happy with just one win, however, and they sent in
challenger
Yusuke Yamashita, a
sake specialist, to battle with Morimoto. At
that time, Morimoto had lost two straight battles and no Iron Chef
had ever lost three in a row. The theme ingredient for that battle
was
cod roe and the battle ended in a tie.
The overtime theme ingredient was
scallions and Morimoto was able to defeat
Yamashita in a 3-1 decision.
In his first battle with
Bobby Flay in
New York, battle rock crab, Morimoto famously declared that Flay is
"not a chef" because Flay stood up on his chopping board after
completing his dishes. Morimoto went on to defeat Flay in the New
York Battle. However, Flay protested the battle. He believed he was
"given inferior cooking space and equipment" plus he was shocked
(electric) during the battle. This lead to the two chefs competing
once again in Japan during the 21st Century Battles. Morimoto lost
to Flay in the re-match using lobster as the theme
ingredient.
Iron Chef America
Morimoto and Hiroyuki Sakai were the only two original Iron Chefs
to appear on
Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters. On
this Food Network special series, he lost two battles with American
Iron Chefs Mario Batali and Wolfgang Puck but won a tag team battle
along with partner Bobby Flay against Batali and Sakai.
When
Iron Chef America was greenlighted as a regular
series, it moved from Los Angeles to New York. When Puck was
unavailable, Morimoto came on board to replace him. Since his
English is heavily accented and usually soft-spoken, his voice is
usually dubbed for broadcast during the judgment phase of the show;
during the battle, his use of English is not dubbed, but
conversations with his sous-chefs in Japanese are subtitled.
As of February 2009, Morimoto's win/loss/tie record on
Iron
Chef America is 9-7-1.
Morimoto opened a restaurant in the Boca Raton Resort & Spa in
late 2008. He has spent time there ensuring a successful launch of
the restaurant.
External links