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This weekend, if you find yourself tired of partying and you just want to kick back, why not invite some friends over and watch Iron Chef America, where American chefs Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, and Mario Batali go head-to-head with Iron Chefs Masaharu Morimoto and Hiroyuki Sakai? It's is wall-to-wall Iron Chef action, with episodes shown Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, which has the Tag Team Finale that, in finale tradition, has an unexpected twist.
The Post talks to Bobby Flay, who Gothamist has hated with even more of a passion (we had a distinctly awful Mesa Grill experience in 1997, one that will never be erased from our memories) since his disrespectful behavior at the first Iron Chef challenge in 2000, when he stood on his cutting board at the makeshift Kitchen Stadium at Webster Hall to rally the crowd. The Iron Chefs were horrified. Flay lost that battle, but later won during a rematch in Tokyo - sympathy vote, we say.
Check out the unofficial fan sites, Iron Chef Compendium and Iron Fans. (For the record, Gothamist's favorite Iron Chef fan is the little kid from Arizona who flew to NY to see the Iron Chef Battle in 2000; he dressed up in a homemade Iron Chef Morimoto outfit. Chef Morimoto (of Nobu fame) has his own great website.) Seattle Times' writer Kay McFadden calls Iron Chef "food porn" and loves it.
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Relieved to know I'm not the only person who detests Bobby Flay. Watch his cooking show - he's always sticking his fingers in everything he cooks, licks them, then sticks them back in again. Revolting.
"sympathy vote, we say"
that's what I saw. Of course, morimoto's dishes may not have been up to snuff that night, but Flay did nothing interesting with the ingredients... and he cooked the same kind of stuff he always does.
I don't mind pulling ideas from his other shows though, he knows what he's doing.
Anyone ever been to Morimoto in Philly? It looks like it'd be worth a trip down there.
When ever they have him travel to meat,(hehe) local cooks, he is always so disrespectful and condescending. The point of the show is to highlight the guest's talents, but Bobby can't stand that. Almost everyone I know that watches the Food Network can't stand him, time to can his ass. (Pun intended.)
Oh yeah, and on the subject of the Food Network, has anyone else noticed that on the "$40 a day" show, the lady leaves about .50 cents to $1 for a tip? What is up with that? So unrealistic.
"an unexpected twist"...is that like a "law and order twist"?
and morimoto doesn't look so scary sans hat.
Bobby Flay? Wolfgang Puck? Battle of the Masters??!! More like Hackfest '04.
Flay's Food Network show is a joke. He doesn't visit local chefs. He visits local pubs. "This is how they make Buffalo wings in Cleveland. This is how they make Buffalo wings in Atlanta." Pathetic.
Bobby Flay is a loathsome creep. He graduated cooking school with a 68! He is detested everywhere he goes and leaves a trail of unhappy people around him. He lives in my neighborhood and occasionally also acts the big phony with his grade d-level tv star girlfriend in public. Ucchhhh. When I went to cooking school(FCI) all we heard was how great Bobby Flay was and Bobby Flay went here and Bobby Flay did this and that and we had to cook a few of his Fred Flinstone level of expertise recipes. A big nothing. The very same people who touted this creep are the nastiest misanthropes alive - trust me on this- so take it from there. A good friend, who also graduated from the same school, owns a business that services The Gramercy area and deals with Mario Batali, Rocco Dispirito personally/professionally and also has had to deal with Bobby Flay absolutely hates him as the rudest, most stuck up bastard/shithead he ever met, while Batali and Dispirito are considered gems.
A good Philly trip would be to visit their Greenmarket (much more sophisticated than Union Square), go to the Barnes Foundation and to eat at Morimoto! I've never been to any other those things, but they rank high on my Philly list.
Don't like Flay? You're not alone! Read "The Staggering Dicketry of Bobby Flay" at http://www.flakmag.com/tv/flay.html
Here's a taste: "And then there's Bobby Flay. Host of the long-running programs "Hot off the Grill with Bobby Flay" and "FoodNation," Flay is the successful chef-owner of Manhattan hotspots Bolo and Mesa Grill, and a core member of the Food Network's stable of talent.
He is also a total dick.
Bobby Flay is arrogant and unpleasant, cocky and dismissive. He isn't just the biggest dick on the Food Network, he is the only dick on the Food Network, and the absence of others makes his offenses seem all the more egregious."
I'm happy to join the chorus and pleased to discover a point on which Gothamist and I agree...
I feel that Flay's bombastic demeanor and steamrolling ego outweigh any value I might derive from observing his technique.
As far as Food Network personalities go, my votes go to Anthony Bourdain for conveying the adventure of exploring different cuisines, Emeril for making cooking seem accessible and fun, the Southern Fried Lady (Paula Dean) for resisting the Atkins Mafia and Tyler Florence for unpretentious professionalism.
"As far as Food Network personalities go, my votes go to Anthony Bourdain for conveying the adventure of exploring different cuisines"
Bourdain also looks and acts like the typical no-nonsense down to earth New York chef he is. He definitely is of a type, and that type is well seasoned, disciplined and responsible for a lot of the good food in this city.
I bought pot from Bourdain way back in the 1970s when he was a student at the Culinary Insitute of America. It was not very good pot. As we used to say at CIA "You don't smoke this stuff - you season lamb with it."
zaelic, Gothamist wants some Bourdain stories!
Another great thing about Bourdain is that he doesn't take anyone's shit. He calls Emeril an Ewok, but also admits succumbing to flattery and the like. Love Tony B.
What? No props for Alton Brown? Of all the Food Network personalities he gets my vote. Although at times I'd consider him more of a food science geek than a chief but Good Eats is definitely one of more creative and entertaining shows on the Food Network.
Plus Alton Brown has his own blog! He rules!
As for Bobby Flay, what I want to say about him has been said in the comments above, his arrogance just makes cooking not fun.
what's up with the bobby flay bash-fest? damn, so much negativity.
Yes, ziegfeld: Paula Deen!!! I'd rather watch her show than eat when I'm hawngry.
The $40 a day chick is Rachael Ray, spawn of the devil. If she says "E.V.O.O." one more time, I may die. Look her up on Friendster...hilarious. I believe she mentions a hankering for Tom Clancy novels.
And I agree. Bobby needs a Flaying.
How about some positivity for a change? Who else loves Chin Kenichi?
Morimoto's in philly is so best. Went a couple of weeks ago- drove to philly - met my bro who lives there-- all to go to Mori's. They key is to order the Omakase (che's tasting menu) basically its all a surprise- you don't know how many courses you get, or what's coming next. Eveything was so effing amazing- esp. the kobe beef w/ fois gras mmmmmm arteries clogging.
Plus you feel like you're underwater as the dining room is laid out really well- and the walls look like waves-- plus the colors of your booths keep changing-- but not in a sea sick I'm gonna ralph way.
Ate at mesa grill and I wouldn't wipe my ass w/ bobby flap's resume-- boy can't cook- needs to pack it in and move to square state.
if bobby flay jumps up on the counter again, i'm personally travelling to NYC to kick his ass. that is, if morimoto doesn't fillet him first.
oh yeah: same goes if he tries to pull a kovalev and suck about how the blender electocuted him or cut him, or whatever.
he doesn't know much about food, but he knows a lot about whine.
Leslita - I hate the E.V.O.O. ALSO. When Jake mentioned he liked her, I almost retched on his IM window. We're so simpatico, it's scary.
How come no one has mentioned Jamie Oliver? The Naked Chef/Jamie's Kitchen are my favorites to watch on the Food Network.
the inventor of Dick Krispies?
Will Chairman Kaga be there? Has anyone met him? And how did he get that eye-patch?
Bobby Flay is such an obvious insincere d---head. I don't exactly know how he got to where he is, except maybe by introducing New Yorkers to half-decent mexican food (which is f---ing impossible to find in that city). He wouldn't have lasted a day in San Francisco with that crap.
Anthony B. is the shizznit, and anybody who says otherwise is an idiot. Unlike Flay, who hides behind a polite facade, I get the sense that Bourdain's arrogance is actually an affectation necessary to deal with the self-important bastards in the NYC restaurant scene.
I'll be rooting for Batali, a homeboy from Seattle. And Chen Kenichi hardly gets any respect in Japan, who heap all their praise on that ringmold-and-truffle-sauce-addict Sakai. I'd take a chili stir-fry from Chen over foie grois from Sakai any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Chen rocks! I'll never understand why they don't bring him to the international battles.
5 minutes into the first episode, and I'm not encouraged so far.
Buying pot from Bourdain was the extent of my acquaintance with him - he wasn't very popular, and as he admits in "Kitchen Confidential" he was an arrogant bastid at that point in his life. But CIA was a lot of fun in the late 70s. A lot had to do with fact that the drinking age was 18, and my, my, chefs do like to drink. The Chinese chef/instructor was exactly as Bourdain describes him. He used to teach about "German Chinese" food as it is served in Europe. Basically, lots of corn starch, MSG, brown sauce, came out of the kitchen in a solid lump. And that is what we had to eat that day for lunch. Yuck.
I wasn't even a student there, but I was playing in a band with three CIA students, my brother was a student there as well, so I was on their campus a lot. I remember howling in laughter one day while looking at the ornamental "butter bunnies" made from chilled butter by a class of twenty student chefs completely bombed out of their minds on LSD. Things looked more like "butter aliens."
Bourdain posts a lot on E-gullet http://egullet.com/
and presently there is an interesting series by one of Bourdain's colleagues, Chef Sam, who spent several years in prison. http://egullet.com/?pg=ARTICLE-chefsamwholetruth
If you are ever in Budapest and need a philly steak sandwich after midnight, I am the only chef in town that makes them...
Alick, while we're on the subject of "$40 a Day," ever notice that wherever Rachael Ray travels to, one of the meals is always mexican? She could be in Rome, the south of France, Tokyo, and she'll still find a freaking burrito or quesadilla. What's the point of shooting the show in different locales when all she needs is Burritoville on 9th Avenue?
Zaelic, I love you. What a great post!
I'll take you up in your philly steak sandwich offering.
did anyone else notice that bobby flay's sous chef was Patricia Yeo??
she's so damn cool... was the chef/owner at AZ (which isn't open to the public anymore alas), but i hear she bought the old barrio space on stanton street, the restaurant i miss the most in all the les
i hope she opens the new space soon!!!!
mario batali is so cute :)
Gahhh! You People Are Seriously Retarted! Bobby Flay Is a Very good Chef ! All Of YOu Over React This!!You all Need to Realize Food Network Would not have Picked Bobby Flay if is wasn't good! so Take That !
I pretty much only watch food network for Bobby Flay and Mario Batali. I used to like Jamie Oliver, but they put him on in the middle of the night.
I truly don't understand the vitriol over Bobby Flay. I've watched him plenty and just don't see the same thing as you folks. Of course, you probably all voted for George Bush, too.
I've made a bunch of Bobby Flay stuff and I liked it okay. I've been cooking for forty years and have tried everything. Currently I am working my way through James Peterson's french food cookbook.
You waste a lot of energy being negative about a chef. There are a lot worse people in this world, doing lots worse things than offending you by being themselves on a cooking show. What a weird culture we have.