The Cutting Board Is Sacred

And then there was the restaurateur who brought a young chef to compete against Morimoto because Morimoto was not true to Japanese cuisine (wink, wink: American). The young chef battled Morimoto and split the judges 2-2. When they went to overall scores, they were still tied, and the contest was thrown into a 30-minute overtime cook-off. Again the judges were deadlocked. They went to overall scores again, where Morimoto finally won . . . by a point.

After it was over, they interviewed the restaurateur, the young chef at his side. When they asked him what he thought of his chef's performance, the restaurateur didn't say how proud he was or how well the fellow had performed under pressure or how close he had come to winning. He said, "Next time, I'll bring a chef with more stamina!"

What's more, the young chef stood there next to the guy and took it as if he had it coming. Maybe he did. He lost.

The Iron Chef airs on the Food Network. Fri., 10 p.m.