I like the guy. His cookbooks are great and he knows his craft. I don’t know how often he “wins” against professional chefs making their “signature dish” in limited time, but it seems more often than not. The cookbook inspired by this admittedly cheesy show is very good.
A quick search suggests some Dopers, twenty years ago, found this upstart overconfident. I watch the show once in a while. They tend to show a whole bunch in a row, but one is enough for me.
Any other fans or foes of Flay? The show is no Iron Chef. Flay does not go into deep details about technique.
I enjoy watching BBF once in a while for what it is… light culinary entertainment. I don’t know how real it is, but Bobby doesn’t always win. It’s not intended to be like Iron Chef, which is a show I enjoy because it seems more like a real competition between chefs, whether it is real or not I can’t say. I also like all of Alton Brown’s work, including Good Eats, so there’s that. I did once watch the Japanese (original) version of Iron Chef on PBS and found it boring. Perhaps it was the language barrier and having to read all those subtitles.
Bobby Flay used to be an insufferable twit. I think he was trying to be Food Network’s resident Simon Cowell type designated antagonist. Once he ditched that personae as unlikable and hitting his popularity, he became the affable, fun chef with great food. I have his burger cookbook and regularly cook those recipes and use it for inspiration for my own creations.
That was pretty much my take on him as well, from back when I watched Food Network more often (before it devolved into “Food Competition TV”). I have no idea if his off-screen personality is anything like that old TV persona, but I certainly found him insufferable in those older shows.
They used to show the original Japanese Iron Chef on Food Network, and they had it dubbed (except for the “Chairman,” whose lines were subtitled). I found it to be extremely entertaining, in part because all of the Iron Chefs had very affable personalities.
It’s not the best source, but I have heard competitors claim the show is legit. Flay does not know the dish he is going to prepare. The challenger has the ingredients there and prepped. He seems to win as often as he does due to genuine skill and a good understanding of what works.
Although I think Flay might own the production company that is used, so who knows? He is often going against people who own restaurants cooking dishes they sell there which they gave been making for years. That can’t be that easy.
But, yeah, all cooking shows are fairly fluffy.
I enjoy watching Bobby Flay’s show. He’s reported (per Wikipedia) to have won 62% of the competitions there, through 374 episodes, which I think says something for his skill level. I like his current persona, he was more obnoxious when I first saw him on Iron Chef Japan.
His current stuff is, to me, decent entertainment that makes me hungry and encourages me to get more adventurous in my cooking, too.
I also like his show BBQ Brawl, where he coaches a team of BBQ cooks against other teams of cooks. They just started Season 3. He seems funny and a good teacher. He was also very successful on Worst Cooks in America, I think he’s the only person who repeatedly beats Anne Burrell on that show. (Again, as a mentor, not a chef.)
I’m still disappointed he didn’t name his daughter Sue.
I’ll show myself out.
His daughter’s name is Sophie, but he does have a cat named Nacho.
Don’t know if that was a joke, but he has a daughter…from one of his many marriages.
I wasn’t a fan of Flay, but my wife loves the show and binges on it all the time. He’s more tolerable than he used to be.
I watch occasionally. Someone has to know in advance what the challenger’s dish will be; it’d be lame if they named something and realized they didn’t have the main ingredient ("Bananas Foster. Yes, we have no bananas. Pick something else). I have suspicions that Flay probably knows, too; his reaction hardly ever varies and seems forced.
However, I’m sure that, even if he knows, he isn’t given a chance to practice.
I do remember one episode Flay won which I thought was a bit unfair. The challenger was known for his clam chowder and I guess Flay interpreted that loosely as chowder becuase he used lobster. It just struck me as a bit unfair to the guy using clams.
Looks like your joke fell flat? Could happen to anyone. 
Obviously some people must know the dishes they are planning to make. And they get chosen for the show somehow.
Interpretations are loose on these shows. That might be unfair. But I don’t take these shows seriously enough to be much upset. Not like you can taste the food yourself.
I think Bobby genuinely uses the pressure as a source of inspiration. The book has some good looking recipes, but just acquired it and have not yet tried them.
How many times the guy get married?
i think 3 there for a while everyone thought Giada de larentes was going to be number 4 …
Flay and Giada did that series recently, with the two of them together in Italy. It certainly was made to look like the two of them were very “couple-ish.”
also if you remember the “throwdown” show where he lost something like 2 or 3 out 5 …I look at this as a throwdown 2.0 except he doesn’t have to travel …half the fun is watching all his friends talk smack to him sometimes some of it is over the top tho … his kid can get mean too …
one line they cut from a show where she was picking his opponent was he responded to something she said " that’s it no college money for you " and she smiled and said " well I see moms lawyers will be in court again " and he just smirked and shook his head because apparently in one of divorce settlement he had to pony up a certain amount for her college
Plainly, he’s always come off as a jackass to me. Can’t stand the guy. Maybe he’s gotten better. Don’t really care.
Creepy hair? Try creepy eyebrows. (And they’re clearly fake.)
That is not a doctored photo. And they didn’t always look that way.
(My theory is that he lost the real ones in a kitchen accident.)
Unless they fall flat. Or just are underdone.