"IronChef" news and stories

• There's a hot salsa competition in Trolley Square -- and they don't mean dancing.
• Wilmington's annual St. Hedwig's Polish Festival is all about the pierogi.
• Which restaurant got the highest Zagat rating this year?
• Iron Chef Jose Garces's fame has spread far beyond Philadelphia.

Wait, haven't we been here before? We got to know chef Dominique Crenn up close and personal last year when she tried out to be The Next Iron Chef, a distinction that ultimately went to Jose Garces.

If there's one thing we've learned, however, it's that you always get another chance to prove your Iron Chef-iness on the Food Network, and sure enough, Crenn was back this week to prove her unique Gallic mettle. And if anyone should be able to ace a competition where the secret ingredient is yogurt, it's a European chef, right?

Certainly, if Crenn approached the "coagulated milk protein" -- to use Alton Brown's over-explanation of it -- with a delicate touch, reigning Iron Chef Michael Symon practically bullied it onto the plate, baking, pressure cooking and custarding it until it was front and center.

His flavors and presentation were so bold, a dessert-course tuile threw judge Andrew Knowlton for a loop. "I didn't take you for a tuile kind of guy," he said. Symon's response: "I'm trying to show you my feminine side."

If ever it seemed like they stack the decks over at the "Iron Chef" kitchen stadium, last night would have been high on the list. With the capable and mostly humorless Bobby Flay as your defending champ, are you really going to throw him a softball like avocado as the secret ingredient? Mr. Mesa Grill himself, denizen of all things spicy and southwestern?

It'd be like giving Morimoto seaweed or Mario Batali basil. Luckily, while the ingredient the producers chose wasn't much of a threat, their opposing chef was something of a curve ball: Floppy haired, unshaven Canuck Michael Smith, seen in the intro hiking around a field in a sun hat, plucking fruits from the vine like some sort of former draft-dodging hippie who decided he liked Prince Edward Island too much to leave.

Smith's casual demeanor belies his Beard-award-winning skills. We knew we liked him from the start, when he cut through the usual overwrought "Iron Chef" choosing-ceremony b.s. by goofily bulging his eyes and gesturing in the direction of Flay like a madman. Finally, we have someone to combat the imported histrionics of The Chairman with a healthy dose of irony!

Sunday night means so much to us Americans. It's a time for family feasts -- a time for reflection. A last chance for calm before the work week. Meanwhile, over on the Food Network, it's just another opportunity for shrieking, back-flipping, strobe-lit, fog-machined insanity.

Yes, another Sunday means another Iron Chef defending his or her honor in the futuristic appliance showroom that is the "Kitchen Stadium." In this season, at least, we've about given up on there being any shocking upsets, any major ripples in the order of the Iron Chef universe as we know it.

Even this week's defender, Chef Morimoto -- who, if you believe Wikipedia, has one of the lowest win percentages of any of the current Iron Chefs -- has seemed fairly invincible as of late. So we were hopeful when yet another random chef was plucked from semi-obscurity -- or rather, Minneapolis -- to attempt to ascend to the throne.

In a welcome respite from subpar airport fare, "Iron Chef" Masaharu Morimoto is partnering with hospitality and food service company Delaware North to provide fast-casual eateries serving Japanese bar food in airports across the country.

The bistros, appropriately titled Skewers, will serve an assortment of yakitori -- skewered grilled or deep-fried meats and vegetables -- served with rice bowls for portable consumption, as well as soups and salads. The restaurants' settings would take the form of two different models -- a take-out counter and a traditional sit-down approach -- and both would feature open kitchens.

According to Vito Buscemi, director of Concept Portfolio for Delaware North, the line has "great menu variety and great presentation -- all the meats and vegetables are grilled right in front of you. It's very quick, convenient and healthy, and we think it's going to have mass appeal."