Yutaka Ishinabe facts for kids

Yutaka Ishinabe (石鍋 裕, Ishinabe Yutaka, born February 7, 1948 in Yokohama, Japan) is a famous Japanese chef. He is well-known for being the very first French chef on the popular Japanese cooking show Iron Chef. Chef Ishinabe first appeared on Iron Chef in 1993. He wore a green outfit and often held a bell pepper. People started calling him "The Artist" because he was so creative with his cooking. He had an amazing record on the show. He won 7 out of 8 battles, which is a very high winning percentage! He was also the only Iron Chef who never had a tie.

His only loss was to another French chef named Jacques Borie. This battle was special because it was the only one of Chef Ishinabe's fights shown in America. It aired when the Food Network showed the original Iron Chef series.

Why Chef Ishinabe Left Iron Chef

Chef Ishinabe decided to leave Iron Chef at the end of 1993. The show was very stressful for him. Cooking under a one-hour time limit was tough. Also, he was not happy with the judging of his last battle, which he lost to Jacques Borie.

Even after leaving, he stayed involved with the show. He even competed in one battle again when another Iron Chef, Rokusaburo Michiba, was recovering from an illness. He also helped Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai in a special episode called the "2000th Dish" Special. Sometimes, he would come back as a guest commentator or a judge. One notable time was when Dr. Yukio Hattori, a regular commentator, competed in a battle himself.

Life After Iron Chef

After his time on Iron Chef, Chef Ishinabe opened a group of restaurants. He named them "Queen Alice." Today, he lives in Paris, France.