Guide Note

Masaharu Morimoto is a restaurant owner and celebrity chef on the Food Network's television cooking competitions Iron Chef and Iron Chef America.

Fast Facts

1. Born: May 26, 1955
2. Birthplace: Hiroshima, Japan
3. Opened first restaurant in the U.S., Morimoto in 2001
4. Created line of specialty beers with Rogue Ales
5. Cast member of Iron Chef in Japan and America

In high school Morimoto has the dream of becoming a baseball player and was well on his way until a devastating shoulder injury occurred. He then changes his life plan and attended a culinary school in his hometown of Hiroshima. At the age of 25, he opened his first restaurant, then sold it five years later with a plan to explore the cuisine of the United States. He ended up in Manhattan, New York where he combined traditional European and western cooking techniques he learned with the methods he learned in his homeland, creating what he calls "Japanese Fusion."