Chef Appreciation Week – Bobby Flay

Chef Appreciation Week – Bobby Flay originally published on Food and Fond Memories on August 16, 2016 by sandyaxelrod 0 Comments (Edit)

Chef Appreciation Week – Bobby Flay

The third week of August is Chef Appreciation Week. For me the Chef that I appreciate, respect and admire most is Bobby Flay. Many years ago I started watching his shows on Food Network and became inspired to master the art of grilling. In addition to teaching me how to grill he also taught me to use chiles to add bold impact to my recipes. I think he is just an incredible chef and probably the hardest working chef on television. But I find him to be an interesting multifaceted man!

No doubt he is easy on the eyes. But that is just the surface. I have done extensive research on Bobby Flay to learn more about what makes him tick. Okay some would even say I am obsessed but I don’t mind that at all. In fact if you know me, you know that some of my friends call me Sandy Flay! And a few years ago I wrote a post about that very fact titled They Call Me Sandy Flay. In doing my research I learned so many things about him and I am going to share some of them with you now.

Rumor has it Bobby Flay is considering a run for Mayor of New York.  Does Bobby Flay want to eventually be the mayor of New York? On Bloomberg’s Titans at the Table, Betty Liu asked the celebrity chef flat-out, in the company of fellow TV hosts Rachael Ray, Mario Batali, and Tom Colicchio, who each talked about their careers. “That’s a rumor,” the Mesa Grill, Bolo and Bobby’s Burger Palace owner is quick to respond. “That’s a rumor. I’m proud to be a native New Yorker, and I love New York so much. It’s been a wonderful place for me to live and a wonderful stage to be on.”
Any chance you’d like to run for office one day?
Definitely.
Really?
Absolutely.
Which office?
I don’t know. I’m a huge supporter of New York. If anyone loves New York more than me then it’s a tie. New York is the greatest city in the world. New York has always been so good to me, and I feel like when I have the opportunity I want to give back to the city.
Like as the mayor?
Maybe.
So, is that a yes? “I’m really passionate about New York,” Flay continues, adding that others have suggested a mayoral run, but he’s not so sure just yet. “I don’t know what position that would be.” Is it too early to start producing Flay 2017 stickers?

Quoted by Bobby: My last meal on Earth would definitely be a cheeseburger “crunchified” with potato chips for salt and flavor, double American cheese, and just really simple as long as there was a contrast of texture. I like to use chipotle ketchup, plus maybe a couple of picked jalapeños for heat. But I could either have those or not if they’re in front of me, I would put them on the burger. I would finish with an ice cream sundae. Ice cream is my single biggest weakness, pistachio by the way. When I eat ice cream, I go for the gold. I have to have chocolate sauce or caramel sauce and a cherry; whipped cream I could do with or without. Calories would play an important part of my last supper.
You know, I’m a guy who always enjoys a party. I love to dance, and I love music you can dance to. I don’t mean the tango; I mean, I grew up in New York City, and I spent a lot of time hanging out on the street corner with my friends. Urban-style dancing music is what I’m into. I love Jay-Z; he’s an amazing lyricist and great performer, and when his music comes on the radio, it gets me going. I wouldn’t want him there to perform – he’s too big and I don’t want him to steal the thunder of my last meal. We’d just have him send a disc.
The one thing about my last supper is, I’m cooking it. I like cooking even more than I like eating. There are plenty of times that I’ll cook some big meal and I’ll taste the food as I go along, and I forget to eat sometimes. Not because I don’t like to eat – I love to eat but also to watch things come to life on top of the stove. The very first time I actually remember cooking was a My T Fine chocolate pudding on top of the stove when I was five. I couldn’t believe all I had to do was scald some milk and add some powder and it thickened up.
Bobby has been seen in TV dramas Entourage, Law and Order SVU and sitcom Younger in addition to his many shows on the Food Network.
One of Bobby Flay’s horses, More Than Real, won a high-stakes race at the Breeder’s Cup. And WinStar Farm and Bobby Flay’s Creator needed every step of the 1 1/2 miles over Big Sandy to win the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets June 11. Bobby owns many race horses in addition to these two.
Bobby Flay runs marathons.
He gave President Obama grilling lessons at a White House barbecue. Chef Bobby Flay advises the President not to take a peek before flipping his steak at the White House Young Mens Barbeque on June 19, 2009
Bobby Flay’s awards: • James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year (1993) • French Culinary Institute Outstanding Graduate Award (1993) • International Association of Culinary Professionals Award for Design – Bobby Flay’s Bold American Food (1995) • Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Service Show – Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay (2000) • Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Service Show Host – Boy Meets Grill (2004) • Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Service Show Host – Boy Meets Grill (2005) • James Beard Foundation’s National Television Food Show Award – Bobby Flay Chef Mentor (2005) • James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America (2007) • Bon Appétit magazine’s Best Cooking Teacher Award (2008) • Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Culinary Program – Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction (2012)
Bobby Flay was voted the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year in 1993. This award honors the country’s most accomplished chef under the age of 30. In the same year, the French Culinary Institute honored him with its first-ever Outstanding Graduate Award.
Bobby Flay has been a Master Instructor and Visiting Chef at the French Culinary Institute, where he personally selects the recipient of the annual scholarship that he established for a New York City high school student to attend the French Culinary Institute.
Bobby Flay: (when asked what he misses the most after becoming so famous) 
I miss being a line cook. I cooked on a line as a cook for seven or eight years and I loved the camaraderie of it. I loved the energy. I loved being in the heat of being busy. I felt like I was part of a team. I was always an athlete growing up and into my early adulthood. I love being able to high-five someone next to me because we accomplished something. Now I’m the head coach. It’s a little bit lonelier being the head coach.

Bobby Flay is the first chef to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. No other food-focused television personality or Hollywood restaurateur has landed the honor, not Julia Child or the Galloping Gourmet Graham Kerr, Dave Chasen or the Brown Derby’s Robert Cobb and Herbert Somborn. His star was unveiled at a ceremony on June 2, 2015 and it was also the first one for the Scripps Networks’ Food Network in its 23-year history. “Bobby was one of the first personalities to see the benefit of the unproven entity that was Food TV back at the very beginning of Food Network,” says Brooke Johnson, president, Food Category, Scripps Networks, where she oversees the Food Network and the Cooking Channel and associated websites. “Additionally, Bobby’s ability to also wear a producer hat, be it his own shows or when working with other talent, sets him apart. I would say Bobby Flay has become a go-to resource for a generation of television watchers as well as TV personalities.”

Flay, now 51, started making guest appearances within a year of the channel going on the air in 1993. In 1996, he landed his first show on the cabler, “Grillin’ & Chillin’”; it would last two seasons and establish him as the network’s master of the barbecue grill. With Southwestern cuisine as his calling card, Flay’s shows reflected the food served at his two New York restaurants at the time, Bolo and Mesa Grill. “They weren’t flying in chefs from Los Angeles or Italy,” Flay says of the network’s early days. “If you could get there on the subway, you could be on. At the time, a lot of chefs were averse to it, but I saw it as a way to broaden my base in terms of customers. It was a simple idea. If a family from Minneapolis is coming to New York for the weekend and they’ve seen me on TV, maybe they’ll consider eating at my restaurant.” The strategy, two decades later, continues to pay dividends. A four-time Daytime Emmy Award winner, Flay has starred in a dozen series for the network — two or three are currently on-air — and multiple specials; he owns two restaurants in New York – Bar Americain and Gato, a hamburger chain Bobby’s Burger Palace, several restaurants at resorts, several in Las Vegas and a production company, Rock Shrimp Productions, that produces most of his shows.

And my last fun fact is that he has a gorgeous red headed Maine Coon cat named Nacho Flay that he refers to as his son. He also has a beautiful daughter Sophie who is in college.

Now you can see why for Chef Appreciation Week – Bobby Flay is my top pick!