March 8, 2005
Roberto Donna Smackdown on Iron Chef
Clicking on our television, we channel surfed our way over to the Food Network, where local chef Roberto Donna, proprietor of D.C. high-end Italian restaurant Galileo, would be taking up the Iron Chef America challenge against Masaharu Morimoto. Though we would have been psyched for an Iron Chef Mario Batali-Donna-all-Italian throwdown, we settled in for an evening of what we assumed would be a well-matched competition. Galileo is, after all, apparently one of the top 25 Italian restaurants in the world!
We should have known Donna was in trouble the moment scallops were announced as the secret ingredient -- he had professed a dislike for them before (though DCist suspects the bio was written after the taping). Donna didn't appear concerned -- in fact, throughout the entire show, he and his staff hardly seemed hurried at all, despite looking out of place, disjointed, and taking too long on elaborate processes. Even in the last three minutes, when one of his pasta dishes had yet to hit the boiling water, we could hardly believe that Donna wouldn't finish and pose a serious challenge to Morimoto.
Alas, we were wrong. So, so terribly wrong. Donna only plated two of the required five dishes, essentially disqualifying him and making him, as far as we know, the first chef in the show's history unable to finish more than two dishes. The shame!
But there's a silver lining in all of this D.C. representation disappointment: according to a commenter on eGullet who attended a screening of Iron Chef at Galileo, Donna will be replicating his five Iron Chef courses in the more relaxed environs of the Laboratorio. The menu will only be offered March 30, and it'll cost you $110. If you want a preview of the dishes that will be featured, the episode replays tonight Wednesday at 11 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m.
UPDATE: Please note the correction. The replay is Wednesday at 11; DCist only noticed after flipping channels and being disappointed last night.
>> DCist preview on the Iron Chef challenge.
>> DCist on Morimoto's planned restaurant in Tyson's.
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where was it listed that galileo is one of the best italian restaurants in the world? thanks!
hi ken - it was mentioned (by alton brown, maybe?) that the president of italy declared galileo in the top 25. sorry - it's not very official!
ill have to say it was pretty gross seeing his sweat drip into his dishes.
I agree. That alone was enough to keep me from ever going back to Galileo, unless someone here can prove to me that Rob's kitchen has been outfitted with sweat guards.
Have you ever seen Simply Irresistable with Sarah Michelle Gellar? A magic crab gives her the power to transfer her emotions through her food to those who eat it. So when she cries, and her tears fall into what she is cooking, those eating her food are flooded with emotion. It makes her and her previously failing restaurant a big hit. So this makes me wonder, what emotion is translated through Roberto Donna's sweat? Anxiety? Did any of the judges get all worked up after sampling his food?
thanks! anything alton brown says, to me, is official. the man knows everything.
I saids it before and I'll sez it again- when they announce "1 minute to go", you DO NOT start cracking eggs. What were you thinking, Donna?
Wow, they totally stole the book movie Like Water for Chocolate as the premise for that Sarah Michelle Gellar movie.
Also, sweat in food=gross. I kind of feel it is worse that hair, cause hair you can see and remove or choose to stop eating. Sweat...you never know. Bleh!
A little history here people: before 365 day a year HVAC tempature control, they didn't used to salt bread dough because the sweat from the baker kneading it provided the required salinity. I know we all like to think of our food being prepared in clean-room conditions like computer chips, that's just not reality, and you've managed not to die from what you've eaten yet.