Bobby Flay is one of the most popular celebrity chefs in America. So how did he go from playing
around with an Easy Bake Oven to Food Network stardom? Let's take a look back to see how
Bobby Flay's transformation has seriously turned heads.
It seems Bobby Flay was always destined to become a chef. When he was just 8 years old,
Flay asked his parents for an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas and they delivered. Although
he did become a world-famous chef, Flay did not ultimately follow a similar path to become
a baker. Yet, Flay still clearly sees the importance of such a gift and thinks it should
be made available to all kids without any stigma attached.
In 2012, along with a host of other famous chefs, he came out to publicly support a teenager's
online petition for Hasbro to make the Easy-Bake Oven gender-neutral. This proposed change
would include meaningful marketing moves like putting boys on the box and making the toy
in other colors besides pink and purple.
Most people are likely unaware that Bobby Flay is a high school dropout, but it's true
that he never officially finished school. After flunking out of several New York City
schools, the future chef said goodbye to formal education at the ripe old age of 17.
After dropping out, Flay's father forced him to get a job, so he began busing tables at
the famous Manhattan restaurant Joe Allen. The elder Flay had hoped the unglamorous gig
would make his son want to return to school. It had the opposite effect. Flay quickly moved
from busboy to kitchen helper to full-time chef, falling in love with all things cooking.
In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Flay had this recollection about his early days
at Joe Allen:
"I was working with my hands. I was creating things. And I could actually… I could actually
do it. I didn't have to open a book."
Two years later, Flay chose to further his culinary skills by attending The French Culinary
Institute. He had shown so much talent in the kitchen that his boss, Joe Allen himself,
paid his tuition. Flay graduated in 1984 and has never looked back.
Bobby Flay may have honed his skills at culinary school, but it took real-life experience for
him to develop what would prove to be his signature style. Following his graduation
from The French Culinary Institute, Flay went to work for chef and restaurateur Jonathan
Waxman at two of his establishments, Buds and Jams. As Flay told the Wall Street Journal,
getting the job was simply a matter of networking:
"I was at a cocktail party at the French Culinary Institute. This woman Gail Arnold met me - she
was the chef at Buds and I said, 'I would love to work there.' And she said 'OK.'"
It was under Waxman's tutelage that Flay became enamored of his mentor's use and mastery of
American Southwestern flavors. Flay was unfamiliar with the cuisine prior to that but was quickly
transfixed. As he said to the Wall Street Journal,
"That was the first time I had seen Southwestern ingredients, like blue cornmeal and chile
peppers. I fell in love with the flavors, the colors, the textures."
As it turns out, Flay's encounter with Southwestern flavors would be pretty fateful. It wouldn't
be long before Flay was overseeing his own Southwestern restaurant at a tender age.
In 1991, Bobby Flay ventured out on his own to open his first restaurant. Showcasing Flay's
mastery of Southwestern flavors, the debut of Mesa Grill proved to be the launching point
for the chef's meteoric rise. Just a year after opening its doors, New York magazine
awarded the Manhattan eatery the Best Restaurant title. One year later, in 1993, Flay was named
the prestigious James Beard Foundation's Rising Star Chef of the Year.
Flay's success with Mesa Grill afforded him the opportunity to quickly open a second restaurant.
Bolo, located in Manhattan's Flatiron district, debuted in 1993. It highlighted Spanish cuisine
while using ingredients familiar to American diners. Like Mesa Grill, Bolo proved to be
a popular and successful restaurant, even receiving a difficult-to-nab complimentary
review from The New York Times. While both Mesa Grill and Bolo have since closed, they
allowed Flay to showcase his skills and put him on the culinary map.
Bobby Flay's culinary empire really started to take hold once the calendar flipped to
the new century. In 2004, he opened a second Mesa Grill location, this one is located in
the Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas. Just three years later, he debuted a third Mesa
Grill in the Bahamas. In between, Flay kept busy by trying his hand at a new restaurant
concept. Bar Americain opened in New York in 2005, serving American classics in a bistro-style
setting.
"Bar Americain is really a celebration of lots of fantastic American ingredients and
American dishes, from all around the country."
The year 2008 saw Flay close the doors to Bolo in New York City. However, it also saw
him begin what would prove to be a very successful new restaurant chain when the first Bobby's
Burger Palace was opened on Long Island. Before the end of the year, Flay had already opened
a second location. According to Bobby's Burger Palace, there are currently 10 of Flay's burger
joints scattered around the United States.
"Look what the food business has been able to do for my life. It's opened up so many
doors… it's opened my eyes up to the world."
If you've turned on the Food Network more than once over the past 25-plus years, it's
likely you've seen Bobby Flay's face staring back at you. Flay first appeared on the channel
in 1994. Since then, he has hosted so many shows on the network that it's difficult to
keep count. His first, Grillin' & Chillin', debuted in 1996. Some of the highlights after
that include Boy Meets Grill and Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction, both of which won Flay
Daytime Emmy Awards.
Flay is also no stranger to competition shows. He hosted Throwdown! With Bobby Flay, which
pits him against an expert chef in a specific cuisine. More recently, he's appeared as the
title star in Beat Bobby Flay, where two up-and-coming chefs compete for the chance to cook against
Flay to determine a winner. As many contestants have learned, it's pretty darn hard to beat
Flay at his own game.
Flay has also appeared on Food Network's Iron Chef America, which he's since quit, and Worst
Cooks in America, just to name a few. While his skills in the kitchen made him a name
to know within the culinary world, it's easy to say his dominance over the airwaves has
made him a household name.
While Bobby Flay's professional life has seen plenty of success, his personal life hasn't
always enjoyed such smooth sailing. Most notably, his personal relationships have been a regular
source of controversy, seeing as the chef has been married three times and divorced
three times. Flay first got hitched to Debra Ponzek, a fellow chef, in 1991. He was 26
at the time and the marriage lasted just two years.
Flay tried his luck in love again in 1995, this time to Kate Connelly. The two met when
Flay appeared on Connelly's Food Network show, Robin Leach Talking Food. The marriage lasted
slightly longer than Flay's previous one, for a total of three years.
Flay's most recent, and most noteworthy, marriage was to actress Stephanie March. The two began
dating in 2000 and in the winter of 2003, Flay proposed to March while ice-skating at
Rockefeller Center. The pair were married for 10 years before going their separate ways
in 2015. But that's not where the story ends. As Page Six reported, Flay had reportedly
been having an affair with his assistant for years prior to the split with March. Attempts
at reconciliation between Flay and March failed and the chef finally filed for divorce in
2015.
If Bobby Flay's star status was still in doubt by 2015, he was awarded the opportunity to
truly cement it — pun intended. That year, the chef was honored with his own star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In doing so, Flay became the first chef to have his name engraved
into the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard.
Flay was joined at the ceremony by his mother and daughter, which likely only made the day's
sideshow rather uncomfortable. The Hollywood Walk of Fame event was Flay's first public
appearance since filing for divorce from his third wife, Stephanie March. Even more embarrassing
was the fact that someone had hired a plane to fly a banner with the all-caps word "CHEATER"
emblazoned on it overhead during the ceremony.
It is not uncommon for those who have spent as much time in the public eye as Bobby Flay
has to have a public slip up or two, but the chef has had more than his fair share of controversies.
After filing for divorce from March, Flay also reportedly canceled his ex's credit cards
without warning.
But there have been more issues with Flay than his messy personal life. In 2009, the
Daily News reported that employees at Flay's restaurant had sued the celebrity chef for
what they claimed were violations of employment law. In the lawsuit, employees from Mesa Grill,
Bolo, and Bar Americain stated management withheld tips, forced them to work unpaid
overtime hours, and failed to reimburse them for expenses. Flay and his business partners
settled the suit by agreeing to pay the employees a combined $800,000.
There have also been stories of bad behavior at his home away from home, the Food Network.
Once, while competing on Iron Chef Japan, Flay jumped on the counter and cutting board
in celebration, much to the chagrin of his opponent, chef Masaharu Morimoto, who subsequently
said that such behavior meant that Flay wasn't a true chef. To add insult to injury, Flay
didn't even win the competition.
Flay seems to have made about as many enemies as friends over the course of his career.
For instance, the late Anthony Bourdain had these unflattering words for his fellow TV
chef,
"Beat Bobby Flay sounds promising until you realize it's about cooking."
Even a relative ally like Giada De Laurentiis hasn't always been so friendly. In recalling
the time she met Flay on Iron Chef, De Laurentiis had this to say about her encounter,
"I thought, [Bobby Flay] you're a jerk [...] I never want to be around you again."
These are just a few of the not-so-complimentary things some fellow famous chefs have said
about Bobby Flay. It seems that more than a few people have found Flay's personality
to be an off-putting combination of rude, arrogant, and egocentric.
It's not just famous faces that have had issues with the chef. There have been accusations
of him treating his employees poorly and even Flay himself admitted that the Food Network
hasn't always been happy about his antics. And while the internet may not always be the
most trusted source, there are plenty of opinions on places like Quora to suggest that many
in the general public do not find him overly charming.
It's clear that Bobby Flay has been no stranger to failed marriages. However, the number of
times he's headed to the altar does not mean those relationships weren't fruitful. In fact,
his second marriage to Kate Connelly gave him his only child, Sophie Flay, who was born
in 1996.
Over the years, the youngest Flay has popped up on a few of her father's shows, including
Brunch at Bobby's and as a judge on Beat Bobby Flay. While Sophie did not develop her father's
devotion to the kitchen, she did inherit his affinity for the camera. After graduating
from the communications school at the University of Southern California, Sophie landed a job
as a community news reporter with ABC7 Los Angeles, where she can often be seen on camera
reporting on local events. Remarking on his daughter, the older Flay told People,
"I have an ongoing flow of pride watching Sophie do so well in her career. She has this
great work ethic. I'm watching her just rise to the challenges of being in her own career
[...] I'm like, 'That's amazing. This is my kid.'"
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