Fusion Cuisine
One of the hot trends in food and cooking is fusion. Mixing eastern cuisine with western cuisine. I'm sure you've heard or seen something about it. In Massachusetts (Wellesley, to be exact) there's a restaurant called Blue Ginger which is run by the chef Ming Tsai. (My parents love the place, but I have never been there. Alas.) Ming Tsai is famous for the food network show "East Meets West" (along with "Simply Ming") and this Sunday at 9pm, Ming will be the challenger on Iron Chef America.
Iron Chef America has actually done a fairly good job at knocking off the Japanese version. You don't get the ditzy-sounding Japanese Actresses, or the cultural idiosyncrasies of Japan, or the strange dubbing by Canadians (no joke, "pasta" is pronounced differently), but for the most part, it's well done. Alton Brown, Flay, Morimoto and Batali know their stuff and I'm big fans of all four of them. And having Morimoto around provides just enough of a Japanese touch (trout-flavored ice cream, with eyeball?) that original Iron Chef fans won't get homesick.
And it's much better than the Iron Chef USA they tried to make a few years back. It was based in Las Vegas. (Strike One.) It was produced by UPN. (Strike Two.) And it had William Shatner as the chairman. (Strikes 3-28.) Who rode in on a white horse. (We've gone way past just counting strikes.) You see what happens when you let me go on EBay unsupervised? I'm the guy who bought an authentic Scottish Tartan Tam from some guy in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for my roommate. Screw parental controls, EBay needs some sort of stupidity blocker.
But back to fusion cuisine. Some people have taken this a wee bit too far. Ooohh... it's a hip a tropical flavored treat! And for your next cocktail party... kebobs!
Speaking of bad ideas.
Iron Chef America has actually done a fairly good job at knocking off the Japanese version. You don't get the ditzy-sounding Japanese Actresses, or the cultural idiosyncrasies of Japan, or the strange dubbing by Canadians (no joke, "pasta" is pronounced differently), but for the most part, it's well done. Alton Brown, Flay, Morimoto and Batali know their stuff and I'm big fans of all four of them. And having Morimoto around provides just enough of a Japanese touch (trout-flavored ice cream, with eyeball?) that original Iron Chef fans won't get homesick.
And it's much better than the Iron Chef USA they tried to make a few years back. It was based in Las Vegas. (Strike One.) It was produced by UPN. (Strike Two.) And it had William Shatner as the chairman. (Strikes 3-28.) Who rode in on a white horse. (We've gone way past just counting strikes.) You see what happens when you let me go on EBay unsupervised? I'm the guy who bought an authentic Scottish Tartan Tam from some guy in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for my roommate. Screw parental controls, EBay needs some sort of stupidity blocker.
But back to fusion cuisine. Some people have taken this a wee bit too far. Ooohh... it's a hip a tropical flavored treat! And for your next cocktail party... kebobs!
Speaking of bad ideas.
posted by Jeff at 11:14 AM
2 Comments:
ate at blue ginger a few years ago. it was very good, but not... dunno, not an overwhelming culinary experience, you know? if you're going to drop lots of dough somewhere, there are better places, I feel. besides, you don't have to go to wellesley to eat at them.
speaking of the suburbs and paying for meals... have you gotten out to Noir in Newton?
taz
earthlikesky.com
sorry, as a followup...
william shatner is underrated. have you watched boston legal? the man makes me laugh so hard i cry.
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