Catherine and I have been watching the Next Iron Chef every Sunday night since it started. They started with a field of 8 Chefs, and have now whittled it down to two. I agree with everyone who says that the American Iron Chef is inferior than original Japanese one, but it’s still entertaining.

My only major complaint with the American Iron Chef is Bobby Flay. It’s not that Bobby isn’t a good chef, and that the food he cooks isn’t fantastic, but when Bobby Flay descends on Kitchen stadium, you know what you’re going to see. He will use Mango, he will use chili powder, and he will use some sort of ancho-chili sauce. I don’t think I could tolerate being a Iron Chef judge on more than a few Bobby Flay challenges, because it just looks like it would feel so repetitive.

This isn’t about Bobby Flay though, this is about the next Iron Chef that Food Network is looking for. It is now down to two, John Besh, and Michael Symon. I knew John Besh from a previous appearance on Iron Chef, and he’s been a favorite of mine throughout the entire competition. Michael Symon was unfamiliar to me, but over the course of the show, he’s really shown himself to be a great, innovative chef. The lobster hot dogs he did last night were interesting, and really well received by the French. John Besh’s stuff looked fantastic, but I’m not sure he’s as innovative as Symon.

But next week is the final competition, being presented only as a Iron Chef competition can be. A head-to-head winner-takes-all showdown in Kitchen Stadium. I still want Besh to win, but I know Symon is going to give him a run for his money. If you like watching fantastic chef’s showdown, The final episode of The Next Iron Chef is going to be hard to miss.