Masaharu Morimoto

Masaharu Morimoto in 2004.
Born	(1955-05-26) May 26, 1955 (age 57) Hiroshima, Japan
Cooking style	Japanese Fusion
Education	Tamagawa University
Current restaurant(s) Morimoto, Wasabi, Morimoto XEX. Morimoto at Camino Real Hotel in Polanco, Mexico City
Television show(s) Iron Chef, Iron Chef America, The Next Iron Chef, Hawaii Five-0, Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef

Masaharu Morimoto (森本 正治, Morimoto Masaharu^?, born May 26, 1955 in Hiroshima, Japan) is a well-known Japanese chef, best known as an Iron Chef on the Japanese TV cooking show Iron Chef and its spinoff, Iron Chef America. He is also known for his unique style of presenting food.

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 New York City and worked in some of Manhattan's prestigious restaurants, including the dining area for Sony Corporation's executive staff and visiting VIPs, the Sony Club, where he was executive chef, and the exclusive Japanese restaurant Nobu, where he was head chef.^[1]

While 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 Chelsea in New York City, as well as restaurants in Mumbai & New Delhi, named Wasabi and another Morimoto in Boca Raton, Florida.^[1] 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 has since closed.^[2] 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.^[3]

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 in collaboration with Rogue Ales of Newport, Oregon, consisting of the Imperial Pilsner, Soba Ale, and Black Obi Soba Ale.^[4]

In 2010, Masaharu Morimoto opened two additional Morimoto restaurants. In July 2010, he opened a Napa Valley location. In October 2010, a Waikiki, Hawaii location.^[5]

On April 11, 2011, Morimoto made his acting debut on the Hawaii Five-0 episode titled "Ma Ke Kahakai" as himself.^[6][7]

In April 2011, Morimoto sang at the Thousand Hearts Benefit for Japanese earthquake relief in California.^[8]

[edit] Iron Chef

Morimoto's official win/loss/tie record on Iron Chef is 16-7-1. ^[9]

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 having flags from their respective countries on their sleeves). In his professional life, to distinguish himself from his on-screen persona, Morimoto wears (purely aesthetic)^{[citation needed]} 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. Morimoto 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 accepted fearing the show would hire someone else. Originally, he had planned to incorporate some of the dishes that he had routinely prepared in New York for Iron Chef, but 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 it with natto to fashion a dessert dish.^[10][11]

Morimoto competed in the first sushi battle in Kitchen Stadium on June 18, 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 defeated Nakazawa.^[12]

Morimoto is also memorable for being the target of Tadamichi Ohta, a vice-chairman of the Japanese Culinary Association and head of the notorious "Ohta Faction" of Japanese chefs, themselves noted for targeting all the Japanese Iron Chefs starting with Michiba. 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 was "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, the results of which Flay contested believing he was "given inferior cooking space and equipment" and because he had cut himself in addition to suffering several electric shocks during the battle.^[13] This led to the two chefs competing once again in Japan during the 21st Century Battles. Morimoto lost to Flay in the re-match with Japanese lobster as the theme ingredient.^[14] Nevertheless, Flay would become an Iron Chef along with Morimoto in the American spin-off, Iron Chef America. The two would face off a third time with Morimoto defeating Flay during the Holiday Ice Battle (November 2009, Iron Chef America).^[15][16][17] A fourth battle between the two would take place in an episode which aired on January 1, 2012, with Flay and Marcela Valladolid defeating Morimoto and teammate Andrew Zimmern in a sea whistle salmon battle by a narrow 51-50 margin.

[edit] 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.^[18]

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. His voice is usually dubbed (by American voiceover personality Joe Cipriano^{[citation needed]}) 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.^[19] In Morimoto's third year at Iron Chef America (2007), he published his first cookbook, "Morimoto: The Art of New Japanese Cooking."^[20]

As of January 2012, Morimoto's win/loss/tie record on Iron Chef America is 22-12-1, and his total combined record among both Iron Chef series is 38-19-2.

Morimoto opened a restaurant in the Boca Raton Resort & Club^[21] in late 2008. He has spent time there ensuring a successful launch of the restaurant.

In The Next Iron Chef, Iron Chef Morimoto has made several appearances as a guest judge.^[22]

[edit] Other Appearances