Ashley Christensen vs Bobby Flay Party
Sunday night Ashley Christensen and 200 of her closest friends gathered to celebrate her Iron Chef appearance. The crowd was completely focused by the time the show started, cheering at every appearance of anything like the essence of North Carolina, Poole's or otherwise. Christensen's opponent, Bobby Flay, was spared no chance to be booed as the event was recounted play by play by announcer Alton Brown. The whole affair seemed to go just like you would want when rooting for your team. Christensen was the epitome of cool as she doled out instructions to sous chef Juan Esparza and Chef Matt Kelly of Vin Rouge. The team pumped through the secret ingredient 'chum salmon' to the bellowing cheers of a jubilant crowd. It seemed Christensen had it in the bag as she confidently turned out delicately presented dish after dish.
Across the room, Flay, flailed as his team burned reductions and became lost by ambiguous instructions. Flay's dishes were an ugly palette of brown on brown and his discourse with his team wasn't much prettier.
Surely the judges would see what the crowd knew- that Ashley's southern take on things, an honest reflection of ingredients native to her home, was the path to righteous cusine. And see it they did, complimenting the plating, balance and flavors of every dish. But earned confidence was met with scores that named Flay the 'winner' at the end of the night. It was the big leagues and the game was thrown by crooked umpires. We will never again trust the Iron Chef judging process. In the end, what a celebration of a favorite Raleigh citizen and an introduction to her cool demeanor and beautiful craftsmanship for those beyond Raleigh. Congrats to you Chef Christensen.
See photos from the event below:
See the Poole’s Downtown Diner page.
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Entertainment , Other posts by David.
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Ashley Christensen Pooles Beasley's Chicken and Honey
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natasha
07/25 12:16 PM
You obviously didn’t watch the same episode I did. Flay wiped the floor with Christensen. No matter how beautiful your presentation is, taste is always more important. And the judges were clearly disappointed in the flavors of several of Christensen’s dishes. There is no shame in this defeat. Flay is an amazing chef, and chum salmon proved to be a difficult challenge for both competitors. But don’t be a sore loser and blame the judges. Now that’s poor taste.
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Missing Poole's in San Francisco
07/25 01:11 PM
I’m sorry you both can’t understand the tongue-in-cheek humor of David.
Way to support our local celeb. Please do not waste space in her restaurants, allow for others to enjoy her cuisine. Cheers.
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andrew
07/25 02:20 PM
We can’t judge the food on taste, of course, but I thought she should have scored better than Flay on plating—her dishes were attractive and well presented; Flay’s looked thrown haphazardly on the plate—and originality. He always has at least one dish squirted with unappetizing brown and green sauces that he must make by the gallon. I have to wonder how many times can Steingarten eat that stuff without shouting, “Show me something new”?
This has been a biased internet opinion. I despise Flay and have told my wife of almost twenty years that Ashley is the one woman I would kick her to the curb for.
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franktown
07/25 02:51 PM
Twas a mighty competition, to be sure… but what is “reigous cusine?”
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Unbiased
07/25 03:15 PM
That’s the problem with people, if you agree that she was defeated by Bobby Flay, you’re not supporting Raleigh? Please. It was obvious she lost, get over it. Congrats on representing Raleigh. Don’t take the defeat like a chump. And don’t be jock-riders, it blinds you. She’s also very fortunate to have not picked Morimoto with that chum salmon.
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Jennifer
07/25 04:03 PM
I disagree that Bobby won on taste. He won because he apparently made the secret ingredient the highlight of every dish. With the exception of the sauteed salmon/gnocci/frog leg plate, I heard the judges consistently compliment AC’s dishes, but salmon was too far in the background(shrimp outshined on tartar, salmon not strong flavor on rellano, could have gone further with the friend skin in beignets). Flay’s dishes were dated and boring but he did succeed in making salmon the main flavor in all of them.
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DPK
07/25 05:56 PM
“Way to support our local celeb.”
So because I don’t think that she should have won in this specific event that means I am opposed to her? Don’t be one of those people that blindly agrees with everything. Everyone needs to be able to take criticism. It helps us grow. -
tc
07/25 08:28 PM
Dang, sorry Ashley. I was rooting for ya, and let me know when the chile relleno inspired dish and the tartar with shrimp is on the menu…looked delicious to me.
I was rooting for you to get Okra or Catfish as an ingredient…I mean, at least something a little southern, but chum salmon…lame
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prefer not to say
07/25 11:01 PM
I was kinda bummed about a fish challenge…I always hate those. I was hoping for yeah, something like okra…or honey…but chum salmon…ugh, whatever.
AC did great.
Loved the shoes…and the jeans.
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gspot
07/26 11:37 AM
NR should really step up its coverage of events at kings. a lot of stuff is slipping through the cracks.
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BIRD!
07/26 11:46 AM
She gave it a great effort and I liked her calmness throughout the event. It was certainly edited to make it seem like Flay was having problems - these shows always like drama. Regardless of who one - her food is great.
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Richard Slater
07/26 12:59 PM
Well done Ashley. We watched the show last night. Great to see a local chef getting national attention!
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