Just came upon this article about Food Network freckle-face Bobby Flay and had to share.
I used to be one of the people who believed Flay was an overly confident, cocky dude (wow, what a stretch for a chef!) whose city slicker personality was like wasabi - too much to handle in large doses.
Every time I watched a Flay hosted program I thought: Do you smile at your mother with that smirk?
But then I started cooking some of his big-flavored recipes - his grill books really are awesome and I dig his use of molasses, honey, chipotles and other chiles - and visited his Atlantic City steakhouse, where I had a fabulous and expensive meal. (Thankfully I wasn't paying that night).
My opinion of Mr. Flay started changing for the better. Cocky, I can handle, especially since he had the goods to back it up. (Well, the opinion wavered a bit when I had a so-so meal at Mesa Grill in New York).
But then I met Flay and interviewed him during an "Iron Chef America" taping and found him to be funny, very sincere and actually kind of sweet. (Whoa. Back up, buster: Is this the same Mr. Snarky?) With not a smidge of smirk, he told me that sometimes he felt like popping a few of those Iron Chef judges who were overly critical of the gourmet-style dishes that he has only 1 hour to make. That kind of honesty left me, well, kind of, smitten.
While I'm not ready to worship at the Church of His Bobbyness, I'll stand up and be counted. I'm a Flay fan.
8 comments:
Ok, but you HAVE to hate the Throwdown show. He goes into someone's kitchen and tries to out-do their specialty and btw, he supplies the judges. Ok. We get it. You're GREAT. Why do you have to try to crush everyday people to prove it? And I think a lot of times he wins when he doesn't deserve it.
I'm a bit less of a Flay fan since I had an expensive but underwhelming meal at Mesa Grill in NYC.
I like the idea of Bobby more than what his restaurant produced on that night.
One more thing - I don't hate Throwdown, I actually like it. I don't see it as him trying to crush anyone, I think of it more as a friendly competition. It's Flay trying to push himself to try to do something as well as an established expert.
Personally, I think he sabotages himself by ignoring the fact that one of the judging criteria is based on how traditional the dish is, when he has to throw chiles into everything. He thinks outside the box when the judges are clearly sitting inside.
We have a running joke that Bobby almost never wins, for the above reasons, and it's an upset when he does.
I kind of like Throwdown. I don't really care who wins, but I like to see how Bobby changes traditional recipes. I was inspired after the "sticky bun episode" and plan to make sticky buns during my marathon baking session this weekend.
Personally I really enjoy Bobby Flay and most of his shows, including his new one Grill It. His restaurant at the Borgata is one of my favorites, his Southwestern Bone-In Ribeye is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. A little pricey? Yes, but sometimes you have to pay for quality food.
So, tm, you don't think he deserves it? Are you there to see it, smell it, taste it? What an ignorant comment.
LOL
Um...I kinda know what food tastes like and can tell by the way it's prepared what's good.
If being there in person to see, smell and taste it is required to prevent ignorance, then we should all stop watching cooking shows. And you might want to look up the word ignorant. And self-evaluate.
But thanks for trying.
I DONT HATE! I WAS WATCHING A COOKING CHANNEL AT NIGHT I HEARD BOBBY CALL A DEEP FRIED TORTTIA AN INDIAN FRY BREAD I HOPE HE DIDNT ASSUME IT TO BE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN FRY BREAD AS WE DONT MAKE FRY BREAD THAT WAY THATS MORE ALONG THE LINES OF A MEXICAN VERSION SO BOBBY GET YOUR FRY BREADS CORRECTED THANK YOU I WAS UPSET I LIKE TO WATCH THE SHOW BUT NOT BE INSULTED . A NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN
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