Garces Vs. Symon - Iron Chef America Tournament Of Champions Winner

Photo - Food Network

The final battle of Iron Chef America: Tournament of Champions had Iron Chef Michael Symon and his hat going up against Iron Chef Jose Garces, where the secret ingredient was pretzels.  Jose Garces defeated Marc Forgione and then Masahuru Morimoto to get here, while Michael Symon had a bye, and then defeated Geoffrey Zakarian.

With the new format of Iron Chef America, Iron Chef Symon was ahead by 5 after the first dish for receiving a 14, while Chef Garces received a 9.  The culinary curveball was then announced, in which the chefs had to incorporate blow torches into at least one of their dishes.


After the judges scored all of the dishes, Michael Symon received a total of 79 points (first dish, taste, culinary curveball, originality, plating), while Jose Garces received 74 points.  The first dish happened to be the difference in this battle.

This meant that Michael Symon was the winner of battle pretzels, and was crowned the winner of the first ever Iron Chef America Tournament of Champions competition.  Michael Symon still has the best winning percentage among all Iron Chef's past and present, and he proved why during this series with two easy wins.

What were your thoughts on the series?  If they do it again, maybe Bobby Flay will compete rather than just judge.