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Jose Garces' victory as The Next Iron Chef may have been announced last night, but it was taped months ago.

That gave the Food Network time to work with its new star.

We'll see his debut as an Iron Chef at 9 p.m. Jan. 17.

His opponent will be chef Rachel Yang of the Seattle restaurant Joule, where she blends Korean, French, and American cuisine.

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So... Jose Garces. You just won "The Next Iron Chef." What's next for you?

Not Disney World.

And not New York, either. He'd been making noise that he's going to open an Amada in Manhattan, but he said that's not on the table.

Besides TV duels in the Food Network's Kitchen Stadium, he's looking at his prepared-foods cafe at 1111 Locust St. called Garces Trading Company, planned to open in January.

Garces also is talking about a small beer-and-brats house at 13th and Chancellor Streets and a larger restaurant specializing in the farm-to-table concept at the Cira Centre, next to 30th Street Station.

After that, "we'll take a breather," Garces said.

Chef Jose Garces watching The Next Iron Chef with his wife, Beatriz, at Distrito.

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Jose Garces, Philadelphia's "it" chef-restaurateur, was announced Sunday as the newest member of the Food Network's Iron Chef America team -- not only earning him bragging rights, but also directing an international spotlight on his fast-growing empire run out of Old City.

On The Next Iron Chef, Garces, 37, won a cooking duel against New York chef Jehangir Mehta, capping a season that began Oct. 4 with 10 contestants.

Garces hosted a viewing party last night at his West Philadelphia Mexican restaurant, Distrito, that attracted hundreds of fans and members of his close-knit staff. Chef Seamus Mullen, who was eliminated on last week's show, came down from New York to see Garces and Mehta create a multicourse meal out of various ribs.

The show, hosted by Alton Brown and "The Chairman" (played to a campy hilt by actor Mark Dacascos), was taped last spring, around the time that Garces was a no-show at a James Beard Awards ceremony at which he won best chef in the Mid-Atlantic region. Whispers began that Garces could not attend because he was working on something substantial.

As an Iron Chef, Garces joins the roster of Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, and relative newcomer Michael Symon, who won the first season of The Next Iron Chef in 2007.

The free holiday show on the video wall in the Comcast Center lobby will have an eye-popping aspect this year.

Comcast has re-created the 18-minute video in 3-D, and ordered 100,000 pairs of special glasses for the public, according to a spokesman.

Comcast head Brian Roberts will sneak-preview it at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday (11/24).

It’ll run on the hour from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s Day; there’s no showing at 5 p.m. weekdays. It's at 17th and JFK.

Restaurateur Stephen Starr retains not one but two outside companies to anonymously inspect his restaurants — and each company keeps tabs on the other, as Starr told interviewer Larry Kane on this Sunday's edition of the show Voice of Reason (9:30 p.m., the Comcast Network).

Kane grilled Starr, Audrey Taichman (who owns Audrey Claire and Twenty Manning), and me on the state of the restaurant industry.
 

South Philly's Sam Murray after correctly answering his question on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

South Philadelphia bartender Sam Murray, who's collecting unemployment after his summer job at the club Octo on the riverfront dried up, won the Million Dollar Tournament of Ten on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

He's the 13th millionaire in the history of the "Millionaire" franchise, the third since Meredith Vieira began hosting the syndicated version.

Murray, a West Virginian who partied with his friends during today's telecast, beat out nine other players in the tournament, which featured the top 10 contestants of the season.

Murray was seeded eighth and correctly answered his $1 million question on the third day of the tournament.. He had to sweat through seven more episodes as each higher-seeded person looked at their own $1 million question. Each  had the chance to take the million bucks away if they correctly answered their question. Each player ultimately decided to not risk losing his or her previous winnings and walked away with the money that they had won on their original episode.

The finale episode came down to Murray and top seed Jehan Shamsid-Deen of Concord, N.C.

Her $1 million question:

»  See the question

Starr Restaurant Organization is hunting for a new chef for Parc, the brasserie on Rittenhouse Square.

Chef Arthur Cavaliere, who took over earlier this year after a turn at El Vez, says he and his girlfriend are bound for D.C., where he's got a new job that he can't talk about.

He'll remain through Christmas.

(h/t GrubStreet, which noticed the job search on Craigslist.)

Zot, the Belgian tavern at 122 Lombard St. in Society Hill for three years, is out of business -- evicted, says the landlord, Madame Saito.

Madame Saito, who owns Le Champignon de Tokio next door, told me that she will take over.

Concept is to be announced. It's possible that the signature mussels will remain.

Zot's Bernard Dehaene could not be reached for comment.

Chestnut Street has gradually been seeing a rise in nightlife, as evidenced by Capital Grille, the Lucky Strike bowling alley, and Fogo de Chao.

Now there's a plan to bring New York's celeb-heavy Amsterdam Billiards to the empty Horace Trumbauer-designed building at 1200 Chestnut St., once a Beneficial bank.

Of the flagship location on Union Square, New York mag says the exterior "fairly glows with burger-hop-style signage and the interior has enough pressed tin, plush carpet, and oak paneling to inspire you to break out the ole suspenders and light up a cigar. Whether the space attracts Seinfeld, Philbin, and a Baldwin or two like its progenitor remains to be seen, but the Amsterdam transplants and Asian NYU student seem to have settled in quite comfortably at the gussied-up digs. What’s not to like? Twenty-six amply spaced tables and an equal number of plasma-screen TVs; a railed-off VIP section of tables in the center of the room; a curvy zinc bar (that shares a designer with Balthazar) where you can order anything from a Long Island iced tea to a bottle of Veuve Clicquot."

David Brenner, the Philly-born comedian, is a founder of the New York venture.

Real estate sources say a lease has not been executed. David Schultz of DAS Architects, retained to work on the project, told me: "We're looking at the building for possible renovation. It's a glorious space."

Among DAS's other projects is Play2, the new high-tech sports bar attached to the Chickie's & Pete's in South Philly.