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 the Meat Packing District in New York City, as well as a restaurant in Mumbai, India, named Wasabi. He is also a partner 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.

Morimoto currently appears as an Iron Chef in Iron Chef America, a spin-off from the original Japanese "Iron Chef" series.

Chef Morimoto has developed a line of specialty beers with Rogue Ales of Newport, Oregon.

[edit] Iron Chef

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 bell pepper 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 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 in 1998.

Morimoto's official win/loss/tie record on Iron Chef is 16-7-1. On Iron Chef America he is erroneously credited with 66 victories due to a typographical error in the credits.

[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.

When Iron Chef America was greenlighted as a regular series, its location 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 dubbed for broadcast.

As of January 2007, Morimoto's win/loss/tie record on Iron Chef America is 5-6-1. This includes his two losses in Battle of the Masters.