Philly's Jose Garces Takes Home Next Iron Chef Title

As you can probably guess from the pictured knife pose, Philadelphia hotshot chef Jose Garces became Food Network's sixth Iron Chef last night. The victory was slightly anticipated by his suspicious "viewing party" in Philly that was announced a week or two ago, but yesterday, Garces officially won the second season of The Next Iron Chef. Last night's finale pitted Garces against New York chef Jehangir Mehta in Kitchen Stadium, and even though Mehta had some of the best dishes of the night, he also had some flops, allowing Garces to take home the title based on technique and consistency. Garces joins the esteemed Iron Chefs ranks of Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, and season one winner/cackling man Michael Symon.

AND he's got at least three new restaurants in the works! >>