We jumped up and bally-hooed when Michael Symon took The Next Iron Chef title this past Sunday Night.  I’ve become a huge fan of this guy over the past month.  Watching the series and reading The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman, how could I not?  His cooking is solid and his personality is just what the Iron Chef’s need.  I try to catch of Iron Chef America as much as possible, and Next Iron Chef has been a much discussed weekly event.  Judge Michael Rulhman always seemed like a straight dick on the show, but his book was actually really good.  It spent several chapters exploring the life of Chef Symon and his restaurant Lola.   Good reading.  I guess if you co-write The French Laundry cookbook, you’ve got a right to be a dickhead judge on Iron Chef.   All the judges were really objective actually, and deciding between Symon and John Besh was no easy task.  I really thought Besh had it there for awhile.  It was a good thing they had Morimoto and the other Chefs to help ‘em sort it all out.