Masaharu Morimoto Biography:
Masaharu Morimoto was born on May 26, 1955 in Hiroshima, Japan. It is also in Hiroshima where Morimoto was trained in making sushi and traditional Kaiseki cuisine. In 1980, he opened his very own restaurant, but five years later sold it in order to further study more Western cooking styles. His interest in Western cuisine led him to Manhattan, New York. The city opened doors for Morimoto and he was able work in several prestigious restaurants, including Nobu, an exclusive Japanese restaurant, wherein Morimoto was made head chef. Simultaneously, he was placed in the cast of the well-known culinary competition Iron Chef. Morimoto’s popularity grew and in 2001 he opened a restaurant in Philadelphia, appropriately called Morimoto.
Morimoto is now back on television, this time appearing on the American version of Iron Chef simply entitled Iron Chef America: The Series. The show sometimes gets Joe Cipriano, a radio celebrity, to dub over Morimoto as the iron chef not only speaks with a heavy accent but also sometimes speaks in Japanese when he is talking about his dishes. Morimoto is assisted by Ariki Omae, Takao Iinuma, and Troy Thompson and is the specialist for Japanese cuisine.