I'm Bobby Flay.
Each week, one brave chef will try to take me down in my house.
-I'm not worried about Bobby. -What?
-[crowd gasping] -Ooh.
This culinary battle is gonna shake down in two rounds.
Round one. To get to me,
two contenders have to go through each other,
using an ingredient of my choice.
Let's do it!
[Bobby Flay] Two people that know me well will decide
who's got the skills to beat me.
Round two, I go head to head with the winning contender.
It's their turn to surprise me with their signature dish.
[singing] Friendly competition.
Is that distracting?
[Bobby] This is gonna be the first one I don't finish.
-He's in trouble! -Whoo!
-[Bobby] Bottom line... -No!
...everyone's out to beat me.
All right, I'm ready to kick it into high gear.
-Who's ready to watch? -[crowd cheering]
Please welcome two people who are here to trip me up.
You know her from The Office,
actress Kate Flannery,
and wise guy Chef Christian Petroni.
-[crowd cheering] -[Christian Petroni] All right! Bobby!
-Bobby! -Yes!
Welcome to Beat Bobby Flay. This is so great to have you.
I'm really excited to be had.
And also, this guy is a huge, huge, huge Office fan.
-[Bobby] Everybody knows that about Christian. -He told me.
Yeah, I mean, the past eight years, every night,
going to sleep to the show, so,
this is a dream come true, Bobby.
So, um, your family had Flannery's for a long time.
Right, Flannery's Tavern in Philadelphia.
-[Bobby] You were waiting tables, right? -I waited tables for years,
up until the first season of The Office,
so I've been yelled at by more chefs than
-any other guest you've ever had here. -[all laughing]
Speaking of intensity,
-are you ready to meet these chefs? -Let's go.
Our first contender used to skip school to watch reruns of Iron Chef.
From Vancouver and British Columbia,
it's Josh Gale!
-Whoa! -[crowd cheering]
Yo!
Our next contender has worked in many of New York City's best kitchens.
Give it up for Chef Christian Ortiz!
[crowd cheering]
[Bobby] What's up, guys? I'm gonna put 20 minutes on these clocks,
I'm gonna give you a single ingredient of my choice.
And tonight, the ingredient is...
-...rack of venison. -[crowd] Ooh.
[Petroni] Oh! Yes.
[Christian Ortiz] Rack of venison comes from deer.
It's kind of like the side part of the animal,
the line between the spine and the rib.
It can be a bit of a tough protein,
especially if you overcook it.
Yeah, that works for me, that's beautiful.
Okay, guys, 20 minutes on the clock.
-[Bobby] Ready? Go. -[bell dinging]
[crowd cheering]
Whoo! Let's go, baby! Let's go!
-Very healthy meat, there's almost zero fat in it. -[Kate Flannery] Right?
[Bobby] Classically, you know, it gets paired with
stone fruits like apricots or plums.
I would do a spice rub, grill it.
-Me, I would do venison and fries. -Venison frites.
-I love it. -I'd order that.
[Josh Gale] I'm definitely gonna go Italian,
and I really wanna emphasize that kind of gamey, woodsy feel to venison.
So I'm making spice-crusted rack of venison,
with roasted maitake mushrooms.
This is a lean meat, it doesn't have a lot of fat.
It needs a lot of help building those layers of flavor.
So I wanna bring the heat with some pink and black peppercorns
for the crust, some fennel seeds.
Cook it low and slow until it hits that perfect medium mid-rare.
-[Ortiz] Go. Let's go! -[Josh] Let's go! I'm behind.
[Ortiz] I'm gonna keep it simple,
so everything really has to be executed perfectly.
I'm gonna make a roasted rack of venison
with apples and a champagne mustard vinaigrette,
and a herb-infused demiglace.
It's a super concentrated sauce, it's got red wine,
veal stock, bay leaf, garlic, and thyme.
The acidity really does pair well
with the gaminess of the protein.
Two Christians in one place, I don't know about this.
Where do you get these sweaters from? You must have a source.
Oh, dude, I have a plug. We'll talk. Sweater plug. I got you.
-[all laughing] -[Petroni] Christiano!
[Ortiz] Hello, Christian.
[Petroni] So you're gonna be serving it as a chop?
Yes, exactly right.
I'm gonna take the outer layer off of it
to hopefully cook it in time.
You have the ability to take down Uncle Bobby over there.
You know, he's had a great run, but...
-[Petroni laughs] -...his concrete jungle needs a new king.
[Ortiz] In 2021 I opened up Yuco,
a fine dining regional Mexican restaurant.
We won Best Restaurant from Time Out New York.
And I really just wanna showcase Latin accents in Hispanic cuisine.
I'm in the process of opening up a new restaurant,
so, great exposure, and it's time for our cuisine to shine.
[Petroni] Josh. What'd you coat that with?
[Josh] I got a little spice crust.
I got, uh, fennel, pink peppercorn, black peppercorn, little salt.
You gonna take out cousin Christian over there
-and take out Bobby? -[exhales] He's gotta go.
[Josh] Bobby Flay is an icon.
When I was a kid, I used to fake sick days at school
so I can sit at home and watch him destroy on Iron Chef America.
He is one of the main reasons why I decided to get into a kitchen.
I came to New York to work at Cafe Boulud under Gavin Kaysen.
And in Vancouver I worked at Fable,
Juniper, Wildebeest, Nicli's, I've done it all.
The one thing still left on my checklist?
Beat Bobby Flay.
All right, guys, listen, coming up on 13 minutes, gang, let's get it done.
[crowd cheering]
[Ortiz] Showtime.
I sear the venison heavy on one side.
I like my venison to be around medium,
-you can touch on medium rare. -Right.
Christian got his in the pan really late.
Rare venison, for me,
it just ain't my thing, man.
But he cut it a little thinner,
so maybe he's got a fighting chance.
Only nine minutes!
Yeah, come on in, come on over. How are you today?
-[Kate] I'm fantastic. You smell fantastic. -[Ortiz] Yeah?
-Thank you. -And by you, I mean your food.
[Ortiz] I'm basting my rack of venison
in butter and some aromatics,
because I wanna add a little bit of fat and depth of flavor.
While my venison's in the oven,
I start working on the champagne mustard vinaigrette.
It's Dijon mustard champagne vinaigrette.
Avocado oil helps kinda wash out some of that
gaminess from the protein.
All right, go get them. Great job.
[in sing-song voice] Oh, Josh.
[in normal voice] Wow, you got a lot going on.
[Josh] So I've got my maitakes roasting in the pan,
I'm grabbing this beautiful anise liqueur
to deglaze the mushrooms with.
Oh, my gosh.
-[crowd cheering] -Are you burning perfectly good booze?
[crowd laughs]
[Josh] It's got that really nice licorice flavor
that goes so, so well with venison.
-It just you, or is it kinda hot in here? -Yeah, oh, it's hot.
-[Petroni] Just under five minutes, boss, let's go. -[Ortiz] I've heard.
[Josh] I grab the venison out of the oven,
feels like it's just coming up to a mid-rare.
This is exactly what i was looking for.
Whoo! Let's go, baby!
I've got a lot of big flavors going on,
so I wanna add something to the plate
that's gonna really be bright and refreshing.
It's golden tomatoes, Calabrian chili, a little bit of olive oil
and a little bit of finishing salt, that's it.
[Petroni] Two minutes left.
[Ortiz] I get my mustard greens, my vinaigrette,
and my apples, and I start tossing them.
I grab my venison chops.
I'm nervous that they're a little bit underdone.
But I really need to get everything on the plate.
[Josh] So, got my yellow tomato sauce down,
my roasted maitake mushrooms on top.
I add the venison chops.
[Ortiz] Put the salad on the plate.
-Finish strong, guys, get it all in. -Come on, guys.
-Ten, nine, eight, -[Kate] Hustle on, there.
seven, six, five,
-four, three, two, -[Ortiz] Drizzle sauce over it.
-one! -[bell dings]
[crowd cheering]
-Ah! [laughs] -Intense, right?
[Josh] I feel like I've got a winner, just with all the flavor.
[Ortiz] But I'm a little bit worried that some of my venison
is still slightly undercooked.
-[Josh] You got this, man. -Let's go.
-Whoo! -[Ortiz] Whoo.
[Kate] Bobby, are you intimidated
standing between two chefs that can take you down?
They made beautiful dishes.
You're in trouble, big boy.
Chef Christian, what did you make?
I made a roasted rack of venison
with apples and a mustard champagne vinaigrette.
This is a meat that I don't normally eat,
but it's an exciting meat.
-Sorry. -[all laughing]
[Kate] Anyway. I love the sauce, it's simple,
and flavorful.
Yeah, great depth of flavor in your sauce.
You got the bitterness coming through, I mean, this is delicious.
But it's a little too close to rare
for my personal liking.
Chef Josh, tell us about your dish.
[Josh] A spice crusted venison with roasted maitake mushroom,
and that's sitting on top of a tomato and Calabrian chili sauce.
I mean, it's like a party on a plate, there's so many flavors
and it's delicious, every bite is interesting.
The venison is delicious.
It's a perfect medium.
And it's this light yellow tomato sauce that's got just the right amount of kick.
Yeah, these are both really good dishes,
so I'm gonna have a really hard time deciding.
I'm so, so close to getting to cook against one of my absolute idols.
I need to move on to round two.
And the chef moving forward to beat Bobby tonight is...
Chef Josh.
[crowd cheering]
[Ortiz] To lose in the first round
because of the protein being undercooked
is not the way I wanted to go out.
But you know what? I've had an absolute blast
and I got to meet Bobby Flay.
Josh, you put together a beautifully composed dish, bro.
I know if I gotta beat this guy,
I gotta bring the flavor, so that's what I'm here to do.
[Bobby] How are you feeling about round two?
[Josh] I'm feeling really good, man.
Feel like I'm bringing the big flavors,
which is exactly what I gotta do to beat you, so.
[Bobby] All right, I love it. So, um,
what's your signature dish?
My signature dish is...
...cappellacci.
-Cappellacci. -[crowd] Ooh.
-Oh, cappellacci. -[crowd clapping]
-Didn't see that coming. -Me neither.
-It's the little stuffed pasta. -Yeah.
We have three experts standing by to do a blind taste test.
45 minutes on the clock,
and your time starts now.
[crowd cheering]
The name cappellacci...
-Cappellacci. -...means little hat.
-Little hat. -It's stuffed pasta
that resembles pope's hats or nun's hat,
obviously made with fresh pasta.
-Stuffed with ricotta, uh, -Right.
a little bit of nutmeg.
[Petroni] There's a traditional sort of brown butter sauce.
I can talk about your brown butter sauce all day, buddy, bring it on.
[crowd cheering and clapping]
Josh, how are you saucing your cappellacci?
In a really big flavor lobster sauce.
Lobster sauce? Ooh.
-Very untraditional. -Yeah.
[Josh] I didn't come here today to play it safe,
so I'm doing something totally out of the box.
It's burrata-stuffed cappellacci
with butter-poached lobster in a lobster sauce.
The first thing I need to do is get started on my lobster sauce.
Fennel, carrots, onions, and tomato paste.
Josh, why did you pick this as your signature dish?
Because it's my favorite dish, I've cooked it a hundred times
and, uh, really, I just wanted to see if Bobby could make,
uh, good Italian food, which... we'll see.
-[laughs] -You know, Bobby just opened
a new Italian restaurant in Vegas.
Uh, do you think Bobby's on line making pasta every day to Amalfi? I doubt it.
You been spending time on the line, Bobby?
Definitely.
All right, well.
Bobby, I think he might've gotten his Italian passport
- honorarily at this point. -[Kate laughs]
[Petroni] He's been spending a lot of time out there.
[Bobby] I like going to Italy, I've been there a bunch of times.
Whenever I go there, I always get inspired by the food.
So I'm making cappellacci filled with porcini mushrooms,
squash, ricotta, and I'm serving it
with a brown butter sauce with sage. It's pretty classic.
I start by making the pasta dough.
How did that happen so fast?
[Bobby] Eggs and flour,
put it in the refrigerator, let it rest.
While the dough is in the refrigerator,
I'm rehydrating my porcini mushrooms.
This is gonna be where a lot of the flavor for the dish comes from.
Oh, let's go, baby.
I wanna make sure that my pasta dough is super rich,
but still has this really nice, toothsome bite.
Hello, there.
-What's up, dog? -What do you got going? What do you got?
[Josh] Uh, I got my lobsters, gonna cook them in a couple minutes.
So you're gonna use the lobster meat,
and you're gonna fortify your sauce with the shells,
-is what you're saying? -[Josh] You know it, boss.
[Petroni] Very beautiful, bro.
You're building depth of flavor,
so I'm really excited to try this version.
I'm not here to bang out classics,
I'm here to put myself on a plate,
that's the only way I'm gonna win.
-Sounds pretty good to me. -Thanks, Chef.
-Hello, Roberto. -Hello.
So I start making the filling,
it's puree of squash, nutmeg,
some ricotta cheese, and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Hello, hello. Listen, I got... I've been meaning to talk to you.
I got this idea, right?
It's a restaurant where you serve everything in Frisbees.
-[all laughing] -[Petroni] Upside down, right?
Like, guacamole, it's in a Frisbee.
You get the chips, and then at the end,
you get to keep the Frisbee, so it's nice.
-[crowd laughs] -Any available locations
over in Vegas, next to the restaurant?
Absolutely, I think there's one right next door.
[Petroni] All right, yeah, I need an investor.
And then there's a TV show
-that I wanna talk to you about, right? -[chuckles]
-I got this cousin, bro, he's hilarious. -Oh.
-You're gonna love him. -[crowd laughs]
-Oh, we'll talk later. -[Bobby] Can't wait.
[Petroni] All right, guys, 31 minutes left.
[crowd cheering]
I need to start rolling out my pasta dough.
So I grab some semolina flour to start dusting my station,
but then I looked down...
Ah, [bleep], lobster got me.
I do not have any time for this right now.
There is just no room for error with this dish.
[producer speaking]
If I lose to Bobby because of this stupid little cut,
I will never live this down.
I gots to go.
[Petroni] 26 minutes on the clock.
I gots to go.
I need to just get this bandaged up,
sanitized, and in a glove as quickly as possible, and get to work.
Whoo, this is gonna be tight.
I'm gonna put the tails in the ice bath
to stop the cooking, and add the lobster stock to my lobster sauce,
and then I wanna use the tomatoes to thicken my sauce
and also just bring that sweetness and a little bit of acidity.
I still need to make my cappellacci.
I'm using burrata in the filling instead of ricotta
because it's just richer, and I'm amping up the flavor
with a whole bunch of acidity and really nice lemon flavor.
I've got the lobster tail meat,
now I'm gonna get them cooked in all of that beautiful butter and herbs.
Hey, Bobby, what went in that ricotta mixture? Was that pumpkin?
-[Bobby] Yeah. Yeah, yeah. -[Petroni] Hey!
He took some pumpkin puree and mixed it with the ricotta and the nutmeg.
-[Bobby] Porcini. -[Petroni] Oh.
-[Kate] Porcini? Oh, nice. -[Petroni] Yeah.
-[Petroni] Brown butter porcini. -That's right.
-A pumpkin... oof. -Those, like, wonderful autumnal flavors.
[Bobby] Gonna make sheets of pasta, so that I can
cut them into squares
and then start to fold the cappellacci.
[Petroni] So sweet, Josh.
He's using burrata,
-which is a creamy mozzarella cheese. -Cheese.
-Of course. -And some lemon, which I love.
He's really counting on the sauce to bring out the flavor.
[Josh] So the technique with folding the perfect cappellacci
is to fold them over lengthwise, then seal off the two edges,
and then take the two edges, fold them together
so they meet in the middle, and then pinch them off.
All right, guys, we're coming in for Josh.
[crowd cheering]
-Yo, what's up, babe? -[Josh] 'Sup, homie?
-Oh, my gosh, look at this. -[Kate] Oh, yeah. Oh, wow.
[Kate] You're gonna taste... [gasps]
[Josh] What do you guys think?
[gasps] You guys! [laughs]
-[Kate] That is amazing. -[Petroni] Oh, yeah.
Great depth of flavor there.
Thanks so much, guys.
Hey, Bobby, you ever see those things
when you lay on the couch, and then...
-Get the hell out of here. -...and, like, it snuggles you?
And it covers... it's like a blanket,
but you can put your head through it.
Why don't you give this guy a restaurant, and then he'll get out of your hair about it?
[Petroni] Yeah, give me a restaurant.
-I'll give you as many restaurants as you want. -[crowd laughs]
Okay, what about Flay's and Flannery's? Why don't we have a...
-[Petroni] Ooh. -Flay's and Flannery's?
-[Kate] Right. -[Bobby] That's the move.
[Petroni] That's a pub I would go to.
-Yeah, imagine if the three of us started a company. -[Bobby] Christian.
-Hey! -[Petroni] Yeah?
-How much time is left? -Oh, I'm sorry, uh,
-ten minutes! [laughs] -[crowd clapping]
-[Petroni] Under ten minutes, guys, let's see it! -[Kate] Yeah!
[crowd cheering]
Yo, let's go!
Cappellacci goes into the water to start poaching,
I need to strain out my sauce and make sure that my butter poached lobster is done.
So the pasta's cooking, now I start the brown butter.
Cook the sage and the butter a little bit,
and I'm gonna drop the cappellacci
into the brown butter sauce to finish cooking it.
[crowd cheering]
Let's go, guys, four minutes remaining, let's go!
[Josh] I need to work on my chili breadcrumbs,
so I'm grabbing panko breadcrumbs,
olive oil, Calabrian chili, and fresh grated Parm.
It's just gonna add perfect texture to this dish.
-Kate, they're both moving really fast, -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-I think they're both a little behind, so. -Yeah.
[Josh] Rule number one of making pasta,
is you always finish the noodles directly in the sauce.
[Petroni] Two minutes left, guys, two minutes left!
[Kate] They're both plating. This is good, right?
Josh's sauce is going down right now.
I have never had something like what Josh is making right now.
I had the butter poached lobster, I'm definitely feeling good.
-Ten, nine... -[crowd counting]
[Bobby] Toasted pine nuts and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Six, five...
[Josh] Finish with my Parm breadcrumbs.
Three, two, one!
[crowd cheering]
Ho, ho, ho!
Hardcore. I need a nap.
-[Josh] Hi. -Old school.
-[Bobby] Old school. -[Josh] That looks good, dog. Let's go.
[Josh] This was a really challenging dish to pull off in 45 minutes.
I just hope that the judges love it.
-Oh, my gosh. -Did he slay Flay? That's the question.
All right, guys, we'd like to introduce you
to your judges.
The co-founder of Leaves and Loaves Goods,
David Santos.
Co-host of Good Day New York,
and co-owner of legendary Fresco by Scotto,
Rosanna Scotto.
[Kate] Chef and restaurateur,
Cesare Casella.
Judges, please go ahead and try the first plate that's in front of you.
The pasta has that nice, buttery shine to it.
The sage really adds that nice pop of herbaceousness.
And the brown butter, I think it's adding a little bit of bitterness to it,
'cause it went a little bit too far.
It's very delicious, but I feel like the butter
overpowered everything.
Hey, listen, I like butter.
But maybe a little too much on this dish.
[Cesare Casella] The pasta is made great,
and then the inside, the dry porcini,
for me, it was better if it was ground
or chopped more fine.
Thank you, judges. Go ahead and switch your plates.
The pasta is cooked perfectly,
the lobster is cooked perfectly.
I would've loved to see maybe some lemon thyme
to add a little bit more freshness.
And the panko for me, it just kinda gets soft in the sauce.
I love the panko, actually.
It added a little crunch to the dish,
the flavor of the sauce was beautiful.
It was light, and yet, you tasted the lobster.
But the, uh, mozzarella inside the pasta,
I would've loved it to be a little bit more melted.
I like the different level, the crunchiness from the panko,
and then I like the acidity.
It sounds like it's gonna be a pretty close one tonight, guys,
so why don't we just go ahead and take a vote?
[Josh] This is the moment I've been dreaming about.
I think I might have a real chance here.
And the winner is...
...Chef Josh.
-Yeah! -[crowd cheering]
-[Josh] Oh, my... -Way to go. Congratulations, dude.
This feels so surreal right now, it's like I'm in a dream.
Whoo, let's go baby, let's go!
[laughs]
[Josh] When I was young, watching Bobby as a chef
was literally what made me decide to start cooking,
and I cannot believe that I just beat him in his house.
Josh, fantastic, it just felt fresh,
it felt light, I wanted to eat the whole thing.
Congratulations.
Are we still gonna start our restaurant together?
-Absolutely. -Yes, yes, yes!
[crowd cheering]
[Kate] I just wanna formally announce
that Bobby Flay and I are starting Flay and Flannery.
He gets top billing, it's... I'm fine with that. I could live with it.
[Petroni] Yeah, and what's great is they're actually investing
in my Frisbee restaurant.
-You'll love it. -Put your meal in it.
I'm Josh Gale, and I just beat Bobby Flay!
-Yes! -[crowd cheering]