Tyson Cole of Uchi Brings the Battle into Kitchen Stadium on the Iron Chef

It isn’t often that a local Austin chef gets to journey to New York to do battle with the big boys on the Food Network’s Iron Chef program.. The last one to do it was the former chef at the Driskill Grill, David Bull. And he lost to Bobby Flay.

Chef Tyson Cole

Tyson Cole, the uber-chef of Uchi on South Lamar was the next Austin chef to get the call. Last September, he went to New York with his team of Paul Qui and Phillip Speer to take on the almost mythic chef Masaharu Morimoto. The featured ingredient was ginger. Cole was under a strict gag order to not reveal the outcome until the show aired.

On Sunday evening, March 23rd, a packed house of media and Tyson’s best friends and customers watched at Uchi as the event finally aired on the Food Network. We got to sample the same menu Tyson prepared in his battle with Morimoto. And it was fabulous food. From the Japanese black snapper sashimi to the Skewered and grilled salmon belly with ginger compressed watermelon; to the Pan-seared black bass with gingered lemon puree and the Ginger-cured smoked baby yellow tail (hamachi) served with ginger dusted yucca chips (my favorite) and finally to the Brown butter sorbet with ginger consommé it was enough, in my opinion to send Morimoto crumbling into the dust.

Alas, the judges, an odd lot if there was ever one assembled, did not agree. Morimoto got the victory but Tyson acquitted himself very well. Had the Food Network actually invited a few additional judges whose culinary chopsticks had a few more notches in them, it might have been different. But the evening was a gas.

The good news is that this exact same menu will be available to the public for the next four Sunday’s for $65 per person with wine and sake pairings available for an additional $31.

Call (512) 916-4808 for reservations.