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And then you throw in the bomb and and nothing else matters. It's just violent. It's just violent.
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0:14
Hey, what's going on everybody?
0:14
For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
0:17
It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
0:20
And today we're joined by Bobby Flay.
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He's an Emmy award-winning food TV pioneer and acclaimed restaurateur.
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Catch him Tuesdays on the Food Network with Bobby's Triple Threat and then again on Thursdays with Beat Bobby Flay.
0:30
He also has a cat food line called Made by Nacho and of course Bobby's Burgers with locations across the country.
0:33
Bobby Flay, welcome to the show. So glad to be here.
0:37
This I feel like I'm in an iconic seat right now.
0:41
Woah, coming from you that is such a compliment.
0:42
What's going through your head as you prepare to take on the gauntlet?
0:45
Uh, I'm definitely nervous, for sure.
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Because, you know, some people might think, oh, this is going to be easy for him, chili peppers is his game, he cooks for a living, etc.
0:54
, but um, this is going to be tough. I know it is.
0:58
I I I've seen some of the best take it right on the chin. Here. Okay. Buffalo hot sauce. Mhm. Okay. That's good flavor. It's hot.
1:39
I mean, I I I have to say for the for the first one, it's hotter than I thought it was going to be. I know. I I get that. I get that.
1:47
Cuz I've seen a lot of your guests and it's like, you know, the first couple you're like, all right, you know, like warming up.
1:51
Like this was the this is the honey and maple syrup, you know, part of the show.
1:55
But, um That one a little, yeah.
1:58
See, I See, you guys are after me. I I I know it. I know it.
1:59
My goal My goal is to not curse during the show.
2:04
All right, well, we'll see how that goes, all right?
2:05
I'll tell you know if I'm going to actually be able to get through it, cuz everybody seems to swear on this show at some point.
2:08
I don't think they know they're doing it. No.
2:12
But, I'm going to try not to.
2:14
So, it's rather remarkable to me how prolific you've been as a figure in food TV, around for almost 30 years, close to two dozen shows by my account.
2:20
As someone who's had a front row seat to the meteoric rise in food television, is there an era that you would describe as food TV's golden age?
2:31
I think the golden age is now, but Iron Chef.
2:34
I Iron Chef changed the game.
2:34
It um It brought Food Network into pop culture.
2:39
We went from being just like the chef or the cook behind the stove doing how to chop an onion to this insanity of competition shows, and I really believe that Iron Chef and then Iron Chef America um really changed the game.
3:00
Blistered shishito and garlic.
3:00
Now, you know what they say about shishitos, one in every 10 is really spicy and the The rest aren't, so It's a little roulette game that we're playing over here. going on in here? Very savory. I like that flavor. Very nice.
3:22
That one's less hot than the buffalo hot sauce.
3:25
All kinds of mind games going on over here, Bobby Flay.
3:27
You You thought you knew what you were getting yourself into over here, but yeah.
3:31
you think you're going down one road, but then you look at the sign, and it's like, that's not the road I thought I came down. Yeah, no. It's a wild ride.
3:36
Welcome aboard the crazy train, Bobby. All right, 20% done.
3:43
What, in your opinion, is the best restaurant movie of all time?
3:47
I like Big Night, one of my faves.
3:50
Um the last The very last scene of Big Night, watch it carefully the next time you watch it. There's no cut.
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And Stanley Tucci makes an omelet from scratch from basically from from cracking the eggs to scrambling them in a bowl, to put them putting them in the pan, to making the omelet and to serving his his brother in the movie.
4:06
There's no cut in the in the in the final scene.
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It's a It's a beautiful food scene.
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And then there's another movie that I really love.
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It's actually a German film called Mostly Martha.
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And I think that the food uh in that movie is spectacular.
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And there's something very romantic about the entire about the entire thing.
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I can taste the passion fruit right away. Mhm.
4:32
You know, it has that that sort of nice aromatic perfumy kind of flavor.
4:37
And it's definitely got heat.
4:39
It's got It's got some warmth on it.
4:41
How, if at all, do you think that your first Iron Chef New York battle against Morimoto, how do you think that changed you were going to bring this up.
4:48
How do you think that changed food television?
4:50
Um, I Well, I really think that that was that was the moment where we it it brought us into pop culture.
4:57
Um, it was a crazy event.
4:57
You know, I was so overly hyped in my head to kind of do a good job.
5:03
I almost cut my thumb off.
5:03
I got electrically shocked.
5:06
I mean, there was lots of my mother was like crying in the audience.
5:09
I mean, it was it was it was a brutal hour of cooking.
5:14
Um, but uh the president of the Food Network at the time, a woman named Judy Girard, who I'm still friendly with, said to me, "You took it on the chin for us, but I'll never forget it."
5:21
And it and she and she didn't.
5:24
And um that we then created Iron Chef America.
5:28
I mean, it was a very very big moment for us.
5:31
Am I allowed to touch the bottle? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
5:33
I don't know what the rules are.
5:33
I don't I don't want to get shot in the chair, the hot one chair.
5:37
We're fully We're fully in the abstract over here. Most calientes barbacoa. Okay, so like this idea.
5:44
So, this is probably going to have more of a like a red chili kind of barbecue-ish hot sauce flavor. 1 2 3 4. Smoky. Mhm.
6:02
Probably some chipotle in there. Mhm. One of my faves. Ooh, I like that.
6:10
Nice and smoky and fiery.
6:14
And we actually would call it like a grillin' and chillin' sauce.
6:15
Yeah, like a sauce of summer. Yeah, yeah. Delicious.
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It's really, really good.
6:19
Definitely got some heat.
6:22
And on the topic, is it true that you shot 42 episodes of Grillin' and Chillin' in just 6 days? 6 days.
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It was either 6 days or 7 days.
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I can't remember if we did 6 a day or 7 a day, but it was in that range.
6:34
And um this is before Food Network had money for editing. I'm not kidding. There was no editing.
6:39
Yeah, talk me through this. I'm fascinated by this.
6:41
had to learn how to do TV live to tape, as they call it.
6:43
So like Today I'm making uh I'm making uh Los Calientes chicken wings, and when we come back I'm going to grill a red snapper with coconut and red curry. Uh we'll be right back.
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You're watching Grillin' and Chillin'.
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And then they'd go to commercial, and then we'd come back and hey, welcome back to Grillin' and Chillin'.
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Today we're making this and that and the other thing.
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And then and then like you'd have to hit the you'd have to hit the brakes.
7:05
They they would they would put up a a cue card that would say like 2 minutes, a minute, 30 seconds.
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And then they'd count you down in 10 9, and then go to commercial.
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So it Taught me how to do television very quickly.
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And I and it really actually helped me in how I shoot TV today.
7:19
You know, we shoot Beat Bobby Flay, we shoot two primetime episodes basically by 5:00 in the afternoon, we're done.
7:28
And so I can do 50 episodes in 25 days. It's great.
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Okay, this is a very different looking hot sauce. I'm obsessed with it.
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I took a really big bite there. I don't know why. You're confident. Halfway mark. You're luring me Whoa. Mhm. Hi.
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This is a I will say this though. Mhm.
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This is a very delicious hot sauce. It is.
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I mean it is so it's like filling my mouth with flavor.
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Def It grows a little bit, you know, it grows.
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Definitely, definitely heat. But very herbaceous. It's savory as well.
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I feel like there's like onions, garlic, and maybe some shallots in there or something. I don't really know.
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But it's got a lot of flavor. This is delicious.
8:20
This is a really good sauce. It is. It smacks. And it's beautiful.
8:25
And it's gorgeous to look at.
8:26
You could just put it on a shelf and be mesmerized by it. Everybody still here?
8:34
So, I know no matter the heights of your culinary fame, it'll always be important to you to be a part of the everyday conversation of where to eat in New York.
8:41
If aliens came down from space and landed in Times Square, all right, and demanded to be fed a quintessential dish from New York, what immediately comes to mind in your opinion?
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I I always think of steak houses.
8:52
I think of like the classic steak houses, Peter Luger's, Wolfgang's, things like that, you know, a big giant porterhouse steak, those crispy potatoes, cream spinach, a big bottle of red wine.
9:01
I mean, to me that's the quintessential New York um New York meal.
9:07
I also think like you know, Southern Italian food uh is is also a very New York thing.
9:12
So, like when you like you you see people like, you know, begging to get into Carbone, you know, because they want to eat like that you know, the rigatoni with the spicy vodka sauce, and they want to eat the shrimp scampi, and again, not inexpensive, but it's it's an experience, and it and it's a very satisfying New York experience.
9:36
This looks like wine bottle. I always smell it first. Yeah. Yeah.
9:51
See, ghost peppers, they're they're murderers. I mean, they really are.
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They're so like I remember taking three um Uh three Wait, this is that moment where I can't speak.
10:09
I remember taking three uh co- What is what corn on the cob and taking the corn off and putting in a saute pan with a little butter and I I'm not kidding, Sean.
10:18
I I like ate like a whisperful of uh Whis- whisperful? I'm following. I'm following. A tiny tiny bit.
10:26
But, a ghost pepper on its own, it's like it's a weapon. It's crazy.
10:34
Who have you found to be more brutal in your experience, restaurant reviewers or TV critics?
10:39
I always feel like my my apron in my restaurant or at home even is my shield from the world.
10:44
And it's the place I'm the most comfortable.
10:46
It's It's what I want to be doing. I'm a cook at heart.
10:48
I love to cook for my friends and my family.
10:51
It's how I show my adoration to them.
10:55
And and so when a food critic takes a shot at me and my restaurants, I take it really personally.
11:01
And I should because it's my food and it's my restaurant. It's my creation.
11:07
Sometimes I feel like I can somehow justify like a shot from a from a TV critic because I'm like, "Oh, it's it's the production."
11:16
Or, you know, it's Or they didn't like the lighting.
11:18
Or they didn't like my outfit that night. Or whatever it is.
11:22
But, the restaurant the restaurant critique hits harder.
11:27
I'm always fascinated by these throwback stories of like a a York Times restaurant critic going in and like disguise or with a decoy so that they can have an anonymous dining experience.
11:37
When you think about the critic high jinks that you've seen up close and personal, is there a story that comes out?
11:42
Knowing every move of the of the current New York Times restaurant critic was part of our job.
11:47
I mean, there was pictures of them in the kitchen so that everybody in the restaurant knows what they look like when they come in.
11:53
We have as many of their aliases as as possible, as many of their phone numbers as possible, but the bottom line is knowing the New York Times restaurant critic is is make or break for your business.
12:06
Um, you know, and then there's this whole song and dance that goes on when the critic comes in and you make believe you don't see him and he makes believe that you don't know he's there and everybody knows that you're there and it's a whole thing, but that's just the way it's always been.
12:19
I mean, I've had more dreams and nightmares about New York Times restaurant critics than anything else in my life, for sure.
12:30
Oh, mango, lemongrass, star anise. Interesting. Mhm. That's a meat ball.
12:40
Why am I taking such big bites?
12:42
Because we're here, Bobby.
12:43
Just take a wings are good.
12:43
You guys have good chef here. This is good. Oh, it's um, yeah. That's for you. That's good.
12:51
So, I was fascinated to read somewhere that restaurants that operate within airports have to keep their chef knives tethered to a table for TSA guidelines and you've expanded your empire into so many unique places.
13:02
I just want to bounce a few off of them and I'm curious what comes to mind when you think about the unique or bizarre challenges of running a business in each, okay? Casinos.
13:12
Um, I have a a bunch of restaurants in casinos.
13:14
I actually love having restaurants in casinos because especially like in Las Vegas, there's an amazing culture for the hospitality industry.
13:22
A lot of people move to Las Vegas to be in it.
13:24
So, I have a lot of really great professionals who work for me there. Yankee Stadium. Yankee Stadium.
13:30
So, we have a a Bobby's Burgers there.
13:31
I've been a lifelong Yankee fan.
13:33
So, for me to have a place there is a is a huge thrill for me.
13:38
Um that said, um it's all about in between the innings.
13:40
I mean, it's a different kind of it's a different kind of rush than what we're used to, but it's it's challenging. A Caribbean resort.
13:50
The the staff in the in the Bahamas is very, very relaxed, and it's not what I'm used to.
13:54
So, like, you know, I'm a new I'm a New York time, but the one thing that the one thing that it teaches you is that not everything has to be in a rush.
14:02
It's like, but you definitely have to um sort of change your your stopwatch, so to speak.
14:07
And if dinner takes a little bit longer to get to the customer, actually no one cares.
14:11
And it's the one thing that I had to learn.
14:15
It was like, everybody's relaxed, even the customers. So, it's nice.
14:23
So, this is the one you just basically kill everybody with. Yeah, it's like a setup.
14:27
The photographer is shooting me eat this one.
14:29
This is the This is the This is like the moment, right?
14:33
Uh It's almost like you you know too much.
14:37
I I can see I can see them lurking in the in the shadows.
14:46
Even when you smell this one, it hurts. Mhm. Oh, Oh. Yeah. And this is crazy. I it No, I know.
15:02
I got to join you, actually.
15:06
What is the That one takes your breath takes your breath away.
15:13
I can't see cuz I'm crying, but what is the chili here? Smoky chipotle peppers.
15:17
Oh, it's it's it's a pepper extract. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know You know them.
15:21
That chili pepper extract is like so concentrated, man.
15:25
Just pure It's like multiplied, exaggerated.
15:31
This is a lot of hot sauce. That's this pony.
15:35
Like this is literally two lifetime supply Like who buys two of those, right?
15:38
In the over the course of their lives.
15:40
I'll take a six-pack of this.
15:40
It's like what are you going like Have it with every meal.
15:47
So naturally this show invites a lot of conversation.
15:50
How are you still talking?
15:52
It's so it's 10,000 hours, you know.
15:55
I can My tongue Half of my tongue has does not have any feeling anymore.
16:00
It's actually a rather poetic segue cuz you know this show it invites a lot of conversations about spice antidotes.
16:06
Notably ice cream, which I know holds a very special place in your heart.
16:08
For frozen treat dummies like myself, like what even is the difference between ice cream versus gelato versus sorbet?
16:19
Sorbet is is has no dairy in it.
16:24
So basically it's just like a very very smooth most of the time it's like a a fruity concoction. Sugar water.
16:32
Doesn't doesn't have you know cream so to speak or or or an anglaise.
16:37
Actually gelato has less butter fat in it than than regular ice cream.
16:40
And when you look at it and taste it you would never think that because of the denseness and the creaminess of it all.
16:47
But that's really the that's really the the the case.
16:49
When I'm in Italy I have a really hard time passing any gelato shop.
16:53
I hit like I feel like I hit every single one of them.
16:56
This is a very hot sauce.
17:00
This thing right here is hot.
17:02
See this is this is like everything else right here you're like oh yeah just yeah this one is nice and yellow. This one is orange. This is green. This is herbaceous.
17:09
And then you throw in the bomb and and nothing else matters. It's just violent. It's just violent. Ah. I'm in pain.
17:38
It's hard to taste this one after that one, but I'm tasting some smokiness there. Mhm. We're 90% done.
17:46
I want to tell you something. Yeah.
17:47
to let you in on a secret. Sure.
17:49
If you notice, I haven't had any water. Right.
17:52
I don't think water is a good idea. No, yeah, yeah.
17:54
I mean, it's it's it looks amazing, especially when you taste something like the bomb.
17:59
But it kind of swigs everything around. around.
18:01
And to me, the dairy is the key.
18:03
And you were like big and you're like, is this whole milk?
18:05
Is this whole milk before you know, we don't often have people double check that, but that's the that's the milk to go for in a situation.
18:10
Because when I'm in Los Angeles, I can't even get whole milk. OH MY GOD.
18:13
Every time As our guest become more and more famous, the milks become weirder and more exotic every time.
18:19
Like you go to a coffee shop in LA, they're like I'm I'm like whole milk. Oat milk? No, whole milk.
18:26
And they look at me like, are you sure?
18:29
Let me check in the back to see if we have it.
18:32
Cuz nobody drinks it anymore. We got to keep it alive. Keeping it alive today.
18:37
Can you tell me about the time that Drake brought you to cook for the cast of Saturday Night Live?
18:40
By all accounts, a big moment in the annals of SNL history.
18:46
Well, I don't know about that.
18:47
Definitely a big moment moment in my life.
18:49
I was in Toronto cooking at a friend of mine's restaurant, a chef named Susur Lee.
18:55
And Drake was one of the investors of the restaurant.
18:59
And there was a club downstairs that sort of like his own private bar that he had downstairs in the restaurant.
19:06
And it was an after-party there afterwards.
19:09
So, I got to talk to him a a while. Incredibly nice guy. We uh exchanged numbers.
19:15
And um uh about 3 days later um he texted me and he's like, "Do you have a second?
19:22
I want to ask you a question." And I said, "Sure."
19:24
So again on the phone with him, he's like, "Look, it's kind of quiet, but I'm going to be the host and the musical guest for SNL this week, and I want to do something really great for them. I'm like, "Great. So how can I help you?"
19:35
And he's like, "Will you cook for them?"
19:39
And I was like, "Oh, uh okay, sure. When?"
19:41
He's like, "Tomorrow night."
19:44
So I called Erica, she's here, who is the head of publicity for Food Network, and I was like, "I need the kitchen, I need staff, and I need trucks.
19:55
Because we're going to make a bunch of paellas and a bunch of all kinds of food and this and that, and um and we you know, we got it done.
20:00
We went there, and it was a surprise for the cast.
20:05
Um a couple of cast members who I known before saw me in the hallway, like, "What are you doing here?
20:08
Like, are you doing one of the bits?" I'm like, "Mm, no.
20:11
Just walking around with my apron on."
20:18
So this is the Last Dab experience.
20:21
You want to know how this came about? So Yeah.
20:23
Basically, there's this uh This is spicy. Yeah.
20:25
So the guy who grew the Carolina Reaper, which for many years was the hottest pepper in the world, right? Yeah. His name is Smokin' Ed.
20:33
And uh we actually enlisted his services to put together this one.
20:40
So this is a Carolina Reaper? No.
20:41
So he has another pepper in his war chest called the Pepper X.
20:45
So this one is like featuring the Pepper X, hence the experience, you know?
20:52
So this is worse than the the Carolina Reaper?
20:55
You know, to each their own.
20:55
I think like once you get to a certain altitude, it's just it's all scrambled.
21:00
When you put the dab on it, do you are you supposed to eat the dab, too?
21:04
You know, that's how it goes. Okay. But Right. That's hot.
21:13
That like sort of earthy fruity pepper situation.
21:19
But the good news is it's over. I'm still eating. I know. I know. Oof. I know.
21:28
But it's been a harrowing journey not only through the wings but also your career the highs, the lows, but one blind spot we'd be remiss not to mention burgers.
21:40
You know you're not only a massive fan but also a purveyor.
21:42
Is there a right or wrong answer to which kind of cheese is best on a burger? Yes, there is. American? All the way.
21:53
And every chef will tell you the same thing.
21:55
American cheese is just the right cheese.
21:58
And also I always say at Bobby's Burger Palace it was always a sign that said Bobby says melt the cheese completely because a lot of times you go to a restaurant and they don't melt the cheese completely, it doesn't taste the same.
22:11
There's something about that melted cheese kind of just dripping off the burger onto your bun etc.
22:14
that just makes it taste that much better.
22:19
Gun to head best fast food chain burger in your opinion? Ooh. Let's see. Fast food chain burger.
22:30
I guess I'm going to have to go with In-N-Out.
22:32
We'll set it in stone gospel according to Bobby Flay.
22:35
And look at you taking on the wings of death living to tell the tale.
22:40
And now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you.
22:43
This camera, this camera, this camera, let the people know what you have going on in your life. All right.
22:47
Uh make sure you watch uh Triple Threat.
22:50
It's actually called Bobby's Triple Threat.
22:51
But I don't like saying my own name when I'm talking about it so I'll just call it Triple Threat uh 9:00 Thursday nights.
22:57
I'm sorry, that's Tuesdays. That's all right.
23:02
30 years later still got two time slots on lock.
23:05
9:00 Tuesday nights on Food Network.
23:08
Uh, make sure you check it out and of course Beat Bobby Flay.
23:10
Uh, we're in season 9,000. We've done 500 episodes.
23:15
Uh, 10 years in Thursday nights. Uh, 9:00 p. m. on Food Network. I'll see you there. Hot sauce in hand. THANK YOU. WOW.
23:29
I I HAVE TO SAY LIKE I LIKED SO MANY OF the flavors of the hot sauces.
23:31
I mean they really And I And I think like that's that's one of the things I wanted to talk about a little bit just as a cook that you know, it's not just hot.
23:40
You know, it's it's there's there's lots of lots of balance and lots of flavors here.
23:45
Some of them are just they just blow your mouth away and then some of them are just beautiful symphonies of flavor. It's great. Symphonies of flavor. You hear that, Chris? That's the bull's-eye.
23:53
That's what he's going for. That's from Bobby Flay. This is delicious.
24:03
Hey, what's going on, Hot Ones fans?
24:04
This is Sean Evans with an announcement.
24:06
Truth or Dab the game now has a brand new refresh edition. That's right.
24:09
If you already had the original Truth or Dab game, you can now get even more hotter questions with the refresh edition. The game is simple.
24:18
Answer deeply personal and potentially awkward questions or face the wrath of the Last Dab. That's right.
24:24
Both editions of the game feature a mini bottle of the Last Dab hot sauce.
24:28
Check out the description below to see where you can pick up Hot Ones Truth or Dab the game or visit wildertoys. com.