Jump to content

Bobby Flay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Larkworb (talk | contribs) at 20:57, 3 July 2007 (→Awards). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Bobby Flay
BornOctober 9, 1964
Manhattan, New York, New York
EducationFrench Culinary Institute
Culinary career
Cooking styleSpanish, Mexican, and Southwest
Current restaurant(s)
Television show(s)
  • Grillin' & Chillin
    Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay
    FoodNation
    Boy Meets Grill
    BBQ with Bobby Flay
    Iron Chef America
    Throwdown with Bobby Flay

Robert William Flay is a fourth generation Irish-American celebrity chef and restaurateur. He is the owner and executive chef of six restaurants: Mesa Grill, Bolo Bar & Restaurant, and Bar Americain in New York City, Mesa Grill Las Vegas (Caesars Palace), Mesa Grill Bahamas (Atlantis Paradise Island, Nassau), and Bobby Flay Steak (Atlantic City, New Jersey). Flay has hosted four Food Network television programs, and has appeared regularly on a fifth.

Personal life

Bobby Flay was born on October 9, 1964 to Bill and Dorothy Flay. He married Debra Ponzek in 1991 and they were divorced in 1993. He later married Kate Connelly on October 1, 1995, who he subsequently divorced. They had one daughter, Sophie, who was born in 1996.

Bobby was set up with actress Stephanie March on a blind date. They began dating and Bobby proposed on December 19, 2003 while ice skating at Rockefeller Center. They have been married since February 20, 2005.

Flay hates lentils. "An early draft of Bar Americain's menu had a beet and goat cheese salad with lentils, but Mr. Flay rejected it before the restaurant opened. 'When I go on vacation, they run specials on lentils,' he said."[1]

Professional Life

Bobby Flay later dropped out of high school at age 16. After a short time working on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, Bobby took a job working as a cook in the kitchen at Joe Allen Restaurant in the Theatre District of New York City, where his father was a partner. Joe Allen was impressed by Bobby's natural ability and decided to pay his tuition at the French Culinary Institute.

Bobby was a member of the first graduating class of the French Culinary Institute in 1984 where he received a degree in Culinary Arts. After culinary school, he worked with restaurateur Jonathan Waxman at Bud and Jams. Waxman introduced Flay to southwestern cuisine, which defined his culinary career. Flay's first job as executive chef was at Miracle Grill in East Village, Manhattan. This caught the attention of restaurateur Jerome Kretchmer, who ate at the restaurant a number of times. Impressed by Flay's food, Kretchmer offered him the position of executive chef at Mesa Grill which opened on January 15, 1991. Shortly after, Flay became a partner.

Flay then partnered with Laurence Kretchmer to open Bolo Bar & Restaurant in November of 1993 in the Flatiron District, just a few blocks away from Mesa Grill.

Bobby Flay opened a second Mesa Grill in Las Vegas, Nevada, in Caesars Palace in 2004. In the spring of 2005, Bar Americain, an American Brasserie, opened in Midtown Manhattan. He continued to expand his restaurants by opening Bobby Flay Steak in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was followed by a third Mesa Grill in The Bahamas, located in The Cove at Atlantis Paradise Island, which opened on March 28, 2007.

In addition to his restaurants and television shows, he is also a Master Instructor at the French Culinary Institute.

Television and Movies

Flay has hosted six cooking shows on Food Network, of which four continue to run:

He has also served as a judge on The Next Food Network Star and cooked with Emeril Lagasse on his show Emeril Live. Approximately twice a month, on Thursday mornings, he hosts a cooking segment on The Early Show airing on CBS.

In 1996, he hosted a show on Lifetime Television, The Main Ingredient with Bobby Flay. Flay also cameoed in the Disney Channel original movie Eddie's Million Dollar Cook-Off. He also played Leo Ashford in the NBC series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode Design, which originally aired on September 22, 2005.

Iron Chef

Flay is also an Iron Chef on the show Iron Chef America.

In 2000, when the original Iron Chef show traveled to New York for a special battle, he challenged Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto for Battle Rock Crab. After the hour battle ended, Flay stood on top of his cutting board and made the "raise the roof" gesture with the cheering audience. Not realizing that all cooking instruments are sacred in Japan, he offended Iron Chef Morimoto who criticized his professionalism, saying that Flay was "not a chef." Flay went on to lose the battle.

Flay challenged Morimoto to a rematch in Morimoto's native Japan. In this battle, at the end of the hour, Flay threw his cutting board across the room and stood on the counter yet again to raise the roof with the audience. This time, Flay won. Though they share a heated past, Flay and Morimoto, who are both Iron Chefs on Iron Chef America, are now friends. [2] They even teamed--and won--against fellow Iron Chefs Mario Batali and Hiroyuki Sakai in the Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters "Tag Team" battle.

On a November 2006 episode of Iron Chef America, Flay and Giada De Laurentiis faced off against, and were defeated by, Rachael Ray and Mario Batali.

Flay uses mango in almost every episode of Iron Chef America and he regularly refers to honey as his secret ingredient.

Books

He authored several cookbooks, including:

  • Bobby Flay's Bold American Food (1994)
  • From My Kitchen to Your Table (1998)
  • Boy Meets Grill (1999)
  • Bobby Flay Cooks American (2001)
  • Boy Gets Grill (2004)
  • Grilling For Life (2005)
  • Mesa Grill Cookbook (October 16, 2007)

Flay was also mentioned as the celebrity chef at Victor Ward's club opening in the novel Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis.

Awards

References

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bobby_Flay&oldid=142316992"