All I know about Flay is that he’s lost repeatedly to the Iron Chefs, but keeps on trying. From what I can tell from the latest Flay vs. Iron Chef (the one that just aired today, at any rate), he’s also egotistical and willing to make an ass out of himself.
That being said, I’m sure there’s more to him than that, though Food Network’s bio of him still doesn’t make him seem all that special (not worth multiple IC specials, anyway). So how good is he?
I guess then the real question is: who’s eaten at Mesa Grill or Bolo (his 2 restaurants) in New York City, and what did you think of it?
Food and television?
Be seeing you over at Cafe Society!
Actually Bobby Flay beat the Iron Chef (which one, I really don’t remember…The Asian guy 
) in his first re-match.
Yeah, he is cocky as hell. Jumping on top of counter tops, raising the roof…You gotta love the guy.
Boooobbbbyyy Flllllllllaaaayyyyyyyy!
Iron Chef fan checking in…though I’m only a moderate fan. The real diehards will correct my ignorance, I’m sure.
As far as I’m aware, Bobby Flay has been involved in two episodes of Iron Chef, both against Morimoto. The first competition was held in New York, where both Flay and Morimoto have restaurants, which Flay lost. He later claimed his equipment had been sabotaged. He travelled to Japan for the rematch, and defeated Morimoto by decision in Kitchen Stadium.
I remember being surprised by the outcome when I watched the show, and wondered whether the judges had thrown the match to Flay because he’d been whining about his first loss. That’s just a WAG on my part, since I don’t know anything the intricacies of Japanese etiquette, and have no idea whether the judges would even the score at one victory apiece for the sake of face-saving.
He did come off as something of an ass on the show, but I don’t know to what extent he’s actually like that, and to what extent he was just playing to the stereotype of Americans being loud and boorish. There was an American cheering section at the rematch that was quite boisterous–which is where I imagine that the producers of the Americanized version of the show hosted by William Shatner got the idea for their cheering, sign-waving audience. (As a slight hijack, was the American version of IC ever aired, or has it received a quiet burial?)
I’ve never eaten in Flay’s restaurants (I doubt I could afford them if I were to visit New York), so I can’t vouch for his skill as a cook. He apparently has had several specials on the Food Network, but I’m unsure whether he has a regular series or not.
Just to add my 2 cents:
Bobby Flay is 1 and 1 on the Iron Chef. Theological Ninja’s history of events is correct. As a couple of side comments: I agree that Flay acted pretty much like an ass on the show, but also agree that he was trying to play up the ugly-American thing. In addition, the commentators were going over the top trying to make everything he did into an ugly American thing, so alot of his behavior could have been in the way the show was edited.
I also agree that it was surprising that he won. From the evaluations of the dishes I was sure he was going to lose. If I remember the scoring, I also ahd the impression that they gave him the victory. He won by 1 point on each of the Japanese judge’s cards, and lost on the American judge’s card (the Hawaiian Sumo wrestler - Yamamoto?)
Also, he either got lucky or was favored by the show’s producers when they selected Japanese Lobster as the theme ingredient. Bobby’s eyes lit up when they unveiled it, because he’s used to cooking lobster.
Final thoughts on Bobby Flay: I’ve watched his Food Channel show a couple of times, and while he seems to have great knowledge of the food and techniques, and a tremendous ego, he is a poor host and interviewer - he really doesn’t have the personality to host a show well.
The IMDb lists two specials hosted by Baldy but nothing else for the US version.
Nah, he acts like that on all his shows. He’s a smarmy little punk who needs a boot to the ass. I’ve seen him stick his paws into chef’s cooking pots, make condescending “Boy! Out here in the sticks, who’dve thought we could find competent chefs!” comments, and the whole point of his current show is to make snidely disparaging comments about places that aren’t New York or LA. A friend of my parents went to Mesa Grill and said it was awful. Very faux-“fru-fru”-Mexican. Everything was doused in too many spices/sauces/“salsas” and blended in to an overspiced/oversauced goo.
To give you an idea of how much I dislike the twerp, I’d rather watch Emeril than Flay! (and for you long-timers, you know that’s going some for me!)
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Yeah, but IIRC, the part you’re forgetting is that he wouldn’t play unless he got to hand pick a judge or two. I believe the Sumo guy was one of his, but so was the American diplomat who gave a huge disparity of points to Flay.
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True: apparently he has some connections with someone at FoodTV as he’s had…um…four? shows fold under him and he keeps getting new ones.
On the other hand, his girlfriend is creepy AND skanky looking.
Fenris
What Fenris said.
Bah! Four out of five judges picked Flay over Morimoto after the Kitchen Stadium rematch in Japan.
The judges were:
Ryuta Mine:
Flay 17, Morimoto 18
Photographer Kano Tenmei:
Flay 18, Morimoto 17
Grand champion sumo wrestler Akebono:
Flay 20, Morimoto 19
U.S. minister to Japan Christopher J. Lafleur:
Flay 17, Morimoto 14
Food critic Kishi Asako:
Flay 17, Morimoto 15
Even if you remove the supposedly biased Lafleur and Akebono, Flay still wins. Lafleur and Akebono were on the panel at Flay’s request, but Kishi Asako also voted strongly for Flay, and Tenmei gave Fkay the edge as well. Only one judge gave Morimoto and edge, and that, only by one point.
I conceed about the voting, but he’s still a twerp.
Fenris
Pffft. Challenging Morimoto twice, how daring. What, was Chen sick that week?
He knows bettter than to mess with SAKAI~!
Over the past ten years I’ve lunched or dined at the Mesa Grill about a half-dozen times, and Bolo maybe ten. And though I’m racking my brains, I can’t remember a damn thing I’ve had at either one of them. And that’s odd, for me.
Unmemorable.
No, wait, I remember the six Bloody Marys I pounded back at Bolo that one time with the 80-year-old lady editor. THAT was fun. And the tight sweater the lady literary agent was wearing the one time at the Mesa Grill. But the food is a bit of a blur.
I mouched a dinner at the Mesa Grill. It was alright but if it wasn’t on someone else’s dime I’d have been ticked.
Bobby Flay took on Morimoto in their first matchup because that’s whom the producers chose. Chen wasn’t even part of the taping. They brought back one of the retired Japanese masters, the French chef (Sakai), and the young Italian chef (Kobe).
Morimoto vs. Flay was the logical choice since both are pretty outspoken chefs. At least Morimoto is by Japanese standards. And Morimoto works in the States, like Flay.
The creepy thing in those shows was the little boy who was a big Morimoto fan and wore a Morimoto-style uniform. That kid is headed for one big ass-kicking on the playground.
'Cause they didn’t want Mr. “Oohh Ouch I Got Shocked” to be too badly embarassed by the superiour cooking talents of Hiroyuki Sakai, no doubt.
That was Rokusaburo Michiba, the original Iron Chef Japanese.
That’s what I get for checking into the broadcast a few minutes into it (I thought it was a third face-off).
Anyway, IC question: If somebody is challenging, say, the Japanese IC (you know what I mean), aren’t they supposed to cook dishes that are at least slightly Japanese styled? In the NYC Flay-Morimoto IC, it seemed like he was going for his fru-fru tex mex. Even Mrs. Zagat commented, a few times, that his food was more “American.”
So he’s better on TV than in the kitchen, huh? No surprise there, I guess.
Say, has anybody eaten at Morimoto’s?