Garlic!

	Dominic Armato

Five days from now, I will be dead tired, hopefully victorious, and without a doubt very, very stinky.

The Iron Chef Chicago ingredient selection committee has seen fit to name a theme ingredient that is at or near the top of my personal wish list, and I couldn't be more thrilled. If I can't break my losing streak, it won't be for lack of a forgiving ingredient. This one is squarely in my wheelhouse. I understand, amusingly enough, that its selection was perhaps partially spurred by negative attack ads sent out by garlic's supporters:

What have cherries done to protect you from vampires? Nothing. Those who don't vote for garlic hate all life and can't wait for the undead to rule the night. Paid for by Concerned Citizens for Garlic.

Our menu is pretty much set. I've dreamed about a garlic Iron Chef before and I already had a few ideas stored up, so this is now the second consecutive IC for which I'm in the unusual position of being able to work on refining my ideas from the get go rather than spending most of the first few days brainstorming and narrowing selections. Sadly, much as I'd love to post the menu, it'll have to wait until after the event... don't want to ruin the judges' wow factor or provide intelligence to the challenger :-)

More to come...