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.
