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?
-Ooh! -[audience exclaiming]
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] 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.
-Go! -♪ Friendly competition ♪
Is that distracting?
This is gonna be the first one I don't finish.
-Flay's in trouble! -Whoo!
-[Bobby] Bottom line... -No!
...everyone's out to beat me.
All right. It's about to get loud in here. You guys ready to do this?
[all cheering]
Please welcome from Food Network...
-What's up, baby? -...Sunny Anderson and Geoffrey G.Z. Zakarian.
-[Bobby] How are you guys doing tonight? -Good.
What are you up to? Are you doing any holiday specials?
Wow. Here you go again picking on me with my...
-That's terrible. -...seasonal specials.
Did you see me in Times Square?
-I had a billboard in Times Square, Bobby. -You did?
-Yes. -I had a billboard in Times Square once.
-For what? -I did a special--
-Was it Tinder? -I-- No--
[all laughing]
You don't go on apps, how do you get your ladies, Bobby?
-I don't go on apps. -Is it word of mouth?
Or do they just line up at your penthouse?
Um... Usually I just pick from the audience.
Hey! [shouts]
-[Bobby laughing] -You get a Bobby. You get a Bobby.
Who wants some Bobby? I'll pay the taxes, it's not a lot.
You get a Bobby.
You don't want the Bobby?
I'll take the Bobby.
We just did another show, you realize that.
That's right. [laughing]
All right. Anyway. Let's bring out some chefs.
Let's bring 'em out.
Our first contender grew up in his parent's English pub.
And he's known for his British cuisine.
-Chef Paddy Coker. Yeah! -[all cheering]
[Sunny Anderson] Cheerio! Oh, wow.
He came out boxing.
Our next contender loves to put high-end twists one American classic dishes.
Executive chef, Greg Lutes.
[all cheering]
Yeah! [laughing]
Yeah!
Good evening, gents. Paddy, Greg, welcome. How're you guys doing tonight?
-Doing great, thanks. -Yeah?
-Feeling great, yeah. -[Bobby] All right, cool.
Here's the way it's gonna work.
I'm gonna put 20 minutes on the clock.
I'm gonna give you a single ingredient of my choice.
And you must make that ingredient the star of your dish.
-What are you hoping for? -A nice protein.
-Nice protein. -Uh, some beautiful produce.
Produce? Okay.
I think I'm gonna make you both happy in some ways.
English peas.
Ah!
Wow.
-So is this okay? -That works well for me.
Love it, yeah.
[Bobby] All right, guys. 20 minutes on the clock.
Cook your best dishes and make sure you appease the judges.
-[bell dings] -[all cheering]
This is actually, I think a difficult ingredient
because, okay, you blanch them. Then what do you do with them?
I mean, you could make a soup, you could make a sauce.
The mushy peas. They love the mushy peas over there in the UK.
-[Bobby] Paddy has feta. -[Sunny] Oh, I like that.
-I am gonna go in. -You're gonna go in there and check it out?
15 minutes and 55 seconds.
Paddy, what's up?
-Do you use a lot of these? -Oh, I love them.
-Can I help you a little bit? -Yeah, sure.
[Geoffrey] So what are you gonna do here?
I'm gonna make a lovely English pea salad with a baked feta.
-Feta, peas on toast? -Yeah.
-Like a bruschetta? -Kind of like a bruschetta. Yeah.
Wow.
[Paddy Coker] I'm very confident I can win.
This is definitely an ingredient that I like to work with.
Very much remind me of home.
Straight away I'm thinking the flavor of the feta's
gonna pair wonderfully with the peas
'cause it's gonna give it a nice saltiness to it.
And the peas are gonna be the top and the show star for the crostini.
I love it. Okay. So are you worried about this gentleman over here?
No, absolutely not. I'm in my comfort zone.
Mr. San Francisco. Look at him, debonair, sophisticated.
No, I'm in my comfort zone. I've got English ingredients. There...
You know, what more could I ask for?
[Geoffrey] That's exactly right.
[Paddy] I grew up in a small countryside town in Dorset, England.
My dad, he was a chef. So I decided to follow in his footsteps and become a chef.
Today I'm the senior sous-chef of Hawksmoor in New York City.
We specialize in cooking over live fire.
Specifically steak but anything that will take on a smoky flavor well.
Winning for me would be great.
I feel like British chefs are maybe underrated.
So, Bobby, the stakes are high. I hope you're ready.
-Let's give it up for Paddy. -Thank you very much.
[all cheering]
So what are you gonna do here?
The pea fritter with a poblano pea salsa.
-That's a good idea. -Yeah, it's a good conveyance for the peas.
[Greg Lutes] My strategy is that I wanna highlight these peas.
So I'm using them in two different ways.
I'm making a fritter with English peas and goat cheese
on top of a English pea poblano and tomato salad.
I'll tell you, peas have a great affinity for green chilies and mint.
Yeah. If you cook in the same color vein, sometimes it actually works.
-[Bobby] Yeah. -I took one out of your playbook, chef.
[all laughing]
I've been cooking as long, if not longer than Bobby.
I started when I was, like five.
I decided to go to culinary school.
And then I went on to work at a four-star French restaurant in Chicago.
After decades of working for some of the best restaurants in the country,
I opened up my first restaurant, 3rd Cousin.
I serve food that's seasonally ingredient driven around the Bay Area.
I have a son who's 12 and a daughter who's eight.
And they love watching Beat Bobby Flay on TV.
And I wanna be the one to take Bobby down today.
So, Mr. P over here from London...
-Paddy. Ah! -is doing bruschetta.
[Paddy] I get my peas into the salted water.
I spread the baked feta onto the baguette slices.
And then I make a dressing for my peas in malt vinegar, olive oil and mint.
He's using malt vinegar, which I love. He's bringing in the vinegar.
[Paddy] Malt vinegar is a classic British condiment.
And it will give the peas a nice burst of flavor.
Uh, then Greg has a fritter...
-[Sunny] Okay, Greg. -[Geoffrey] ...with peas inside.
[Greg] To make my fritter batter I mix together
buttermilk, egg, flour and goat cheese.
[Geoffrey] I think goat cheese is great,
but you've gotta be careful 'cause goat cheese is--
-Yeah, it'll take over. -It's a smack-in-the-face cheese. So...
[Sunny] I am goat cheese.
-You're a smack in the face? -I come through and smack everybody.
[Greg] I pull the poblano off the flame,
then I grab heirloom tomatoes.
The tomatoes and poblano add a different dimension to it.
-[Geoffrey] Nine minutes. -What's going on, y'all?
All right. Oh! Greg! Greg! Greg!
Let me pull my britches up and see what's going on over here.
I've got a pea salsa with poblano.
Okay. How long on your fritters? Maybe like a minute or two?
-Yeah, no. I need to get 'em in the fryer... -I think so, yeah.
-I was gonna, you know, hook it up for you. -Thank you.
[Sunny] Make sure it's nice and crunchy, crispy.
All right. Y'all make some noise for my man Greg right here.
Oh! Snap pea heaven!
Um, talk to me. When Bobby said, 'snap peas',
what's the first thing that came to mind for you?
Well, it was just like childhood memories, really.
Being really happy that there was some British ingredients,
something I'm familiar with.
That's my accent-shimmy. I like your accent.
Ooh, you've got dimples.
Okay. Um... Coming up on five minutes, chefs.
I'm realizing that the peas still don't quite have the texture that I want.
They're still a little al dente.
I decide to saute them hoping that I can take them just that little bit further.
But not overcook them.
If you overcook them, the texture becomes mushy
and the taste becomes a little bit more bland.
Two minutes to go.
[Greg] The fritters are frying up really well.
So I finish up my salad with a little sherry vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.
You guys have 40 seconds to go.
-[all cheering] -[Paddy] I top the crostini with the peas
and then I take the micro cilantro and I dress it in the malt vinegar.
First I plate my salad and then I top it with the fritters.
[all] Nine, eight, seven...
...six, five, four, three, two,
-one! -[bell dings]
Good job.
-Very beautiful. -[Paddy] I'm really happy with the color contrast,
as well as knowing that I made the peas the star of the show.
[Greg] I'm really happy with the way the fritters turned out.
I really feel like I can win this thing.
[Sunny] You know we really wanna beat Bobby.
We know one of you chefs is gonna help us.
It's all coming down to English pea. How peasy this dish is?
Chef Paddy, tell us what you made?
Yeah, I made a English pea and herb salad
on top of a baked feta crostini.
What I really love about what you presented here today is...
you've put the peas right up front, like, we're not searchin' for 'em.
I love the concept of baking the cheese with all those flavors in it,
just kind of be a really nice spackle, if you will.
I think the peas are well-cooked.
They're losing their color a little bit.
-Yes. -You went a little bit too hard on 'em
when you were sauteing maybe.
But overall, pretty successful.
Yeah. Maybe blanche 'em so they stay bright green and vibrant.
But again, they're very good. The vehicle, really good.
Greg, talk to us about what you've made.
Today I made a English pea and goat cheese fritter
on top of a marinated pea and heirloom tomato salad.
Beautiful dish. Obviously, you understand texture and lightness
and all that, which I love.
The poblanos, tomatoes and basil, all good.
But I opened this fritter up and I have... one pea in it.
The only thing I will say about the fritter is it's super dense.
It's not as airy as I would love it to be.
But I really love the poblano pepper,
and tomatoes, it's delightful.
All right, so. Give, uh, Sunny and I a minute and we're gonna make a decision.
[Paddy] At this point I'm really not sure what to think.
I know that I produced a good dish.
But having seen what Greg's also made,
I'm really not sure who's gonna win.
The chef moving forward is...
Chef Greg.
Even though this didn't go exactly to plan,
I'm still proud of myself for coming on and having a go.
I feel like I might have at least represented British cooks in a good light.
So, you won today from me, and for, I think for Sunny, technique.
So whatever you're bringing today, don't second guess yourself.
-At all. -That is disaster.
-That's all I got. -You can do this, Greg.
Watch out, Bobby. Ya going down tonight!
All right. Greg, congratulations. You got through round one.
How're you feeling about round two?
-I'm feeling really good. -All right, cool.
So what are we cooking tonight? What is your signature dish?
Bobby, my signature dish tonight is...
Steak Oscar.
-[all exclaiming] -[Geoffrey] Oh!
It's West Coast versus East Coast.
Yeah. The West Coast surf and turf.
[Bobby] This is a classic American cuisine.
Lots of time it's filet mignon with a bearnaise,
or a hollandaise in crab meat and asparagus.
Greg, you're ready for this?
I'm ready for whatever Bobby thinks he can throw at me.
[Geoffrey laughing]
[all] Oh!
Well, 45 minutes on the clock. And the time starts...
-Now! -Let's go.
Okay. All right.
[Geoffrey] This is a dish I love. It's a very classical dish.
-It's very simple. It's a surf and turf. -Pretty much.
It's crab, it's steak enveloped
-in some sort of bearnaise, some sort of hollandaise. -Yep.
Some emulsion of egg and butter with some tarragon.
It's really good. It's really rich.
-It's just draped over the steak. -Mm-hmm.
But crab's heavy, bearnaise is heavy.
-Yeah. Yeah. -Steak's heavy. You need acid.
-You do. -You need brightness, you need lemon.
That's why I think Greg is gonna murder this round in the best way.
He's gotta think California. He's gotta bring some Cali in there.
Bobby, you got everything you need over there?
I'm lookin'.
[Greg] I wanna beat Bobby with my steak Oscar
'cause it'll show my kids that he's not top dog.
I'm really confident because the last time I had steak Oscar on my menu,
we sold out of it.
The richness of the steak paired with Dungeness crab, uni and caviar.
It all comes together and screams luxury.
I'm excited. I see some fingerling potatoes over there with Greg.
[Geoffrey] Bobby's already doing his asparagus.
[Bobby] I actually like this dish.
When I go to a restaurant and they have this on their menu,
lots of times I'll order this.
So I'm gonna make filet mignon Oscar with bearnaise,
a potato pancake crab and then some pan seared asparagus.
I'm keeping this classic old school cuisine.
All right, y'all.
What's goin' on? How y'all doin'?
-Hey, Greggy baby. -Hey!
I saw some, uh, potatoes boiling over here. What's that all about?
The fingerlings are gonna be mixed in with a "hashy" style hash.
I serve my steak Oscar with a take on hash
that's made with fingerling potatoes, peas, fava beans and green garlic
just to bring a light springtime freshness to the dish.
[Sunny] Are you gonna make those potatoes crispy?
If I have time, I'll fry a few slices of potato for you.
-Greggy, baby, say what? -[Greg chuckles]
I'll fry some potatoes for my lady here.
Okay. Okay.
-Thank you, Greggy, baby. -You're welcome.
Y'all make some noise for Chef Greg.
Bobby, Bobby. What is goin' on over here?
[Bobby] I'm gonna make a Fresno hot sauce to kind of marble into my bearnaise.
This dish is very rich.
And it just could use a little, little heat.
-Really, Bobby? Chilis? -[audience laughing]
You tried to hide it. He tried to hide it.
Seriously, Bobby?
-Is there some crispy rice in there, too? -[audience laughing]
[grunting]
[grunting] Get rid of the chili peppers, Bobby.
Can you cook one day without them? [grunts]
[Geoffrey] 24 minutes.
♪ I got it near me I got it near me I gotta win, win ♪
[Sunny] I'm really excited.
Greg is gonna really do a great job.
But it's scary to come in to beat Bobby Flay and do a classic
because... Bobby does classic very well.
-[Geoffrey] Bobby knows how to make this dish. -[Sunny] He does.
But I don't think he knows how to make this dish soulfully.
What is he using? Chili? I mean, that's not an Oscar.
[Bobby] I roast the Fresno chilis, I put it in the blender.
I add some champagne vinegar, mustard, some honey and some olive oil.
But he's using filet mignon which I love.
-I see the twinkle in your eyes. -I love the--
No, filet mignon. Come on.
[Bobby] Lots of salt and pepper, a little paprika.
And I'm gonna seer it in a cast-iron pan.
-So I love they both close filet. Smart move. -Mm-hmm. Same.
[Greg] Tenderloin is the way to go because it's luxurious and it's super tender.
I'm cooking my steaks with garlic, thyme and butter.
[Geoffrey] 16 minutes.
[all cheering]
Favas? Are you outta your mind doing fava beans?
Yeah. I am, I'm outta my mind. Yes.
This makes, uh, English peas look easy. You're doing both.
-Yeah. I'm doing both. -Wow.
So I saute the fava beans, English peas and potatoes in some butter.
I love that. Those look great.
-Your potatoes are good. You're good. -I'm good.
-You're good. Just gotta pull it all together. -Yep.
-I'm gonna pull it all together. -Wow.
What are you making?
I'm gonna make, uh, French fries.
-You're making French fries with steak Oscar? -No.
Are you outta your mind? What're you making?
I'm gonna make some potato pancakes with crab on it.
I'm making like a classic latkes. So it's potatoes and onions,
there's a little bit of flour in there, some baking powder, eggs.
I'm gonna use it as a vehicle to my crab.
The crab meat is already cooked,
and so I'm gonna add a little bit of mayonnaise to it to give it some moisture
and a little bit of zing.
Five minutes, and they're both scramblin'.
[Greg] I pull my steaks off the heat and they're looking great.
But I haven't even started my bearnaise sauce yet.
I run to the pantry and grab eggs, and start separating 'em.
I add some white wine and I put 'em on a double boiler and whisk them.
As I'm whisking the sauce, I realized the eggs are starting to scramble.
Uh, our guy Greg's bearnaise is seizing up on him.
-We need boiling water. -I know I have to move fast.
I add a little bit of water because the water helps to keep it from scrambling.
I add in shallots, tarragon and vinegar, and it's looking good.
Thank God, because I mean, we can't have him mess up the mother sauce.
-Yes. This is a battle of the bearnaise. -Yeah. Exactly!
Bobby's workin' on his right now.
He's got the... black peppercorns in there, the tarragon...
[Geoffrey] So he's doing it on an open flame,
which is extraordinarily, extraordinarily chancy.
-Because you could curdle-- -He's going back and forth.
-It's called the slow method. -[Sunny] Yeah, I like that.
I like-- I like your technique, Bobby.
Ooh, yes, Bobby. Show America how you do it, Bobby.
-Comin' up on three minutes, chefs! -Let's go!
[all chanting] Greg, Greg. Greg, Greg.
-Greg, Greg. -G-R-E-G, Greg, Greg. G-R-E-G, Greg, Greg.
[Greg] I plate my hash first, then I plate my asparagus
and top it with my steak.
I'm adding the crab and the bearnaise sauce.
I add a little bit of uni and caviar.
[Bobby] I put the steak onto the plate, a potato pancake,
some crab, the bearnaise on top of the steak,
a little caviar on top of the crab.
So both chefs are fancifying it with caviar.
I kinda like that.
Anything that elevates that dish should be rich.
-Caviar, uni. -Yes. I'll take uni.
I love the mouth fill of uni.
[Bobby] I add a couple of asparagus, just sort of strewn about.
And then my Fresno chili hot sauce kind of running into the, uh, bearnaise sauce.
[all] Nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three,
two, one.
[all cheering]
-[Sunny] Greg almost didn't finish. -Nice job.
Beautiful.
-Wow. -Wow!
[Bobby] I feel pretty good about my dish. Greg is very confident.
I mean, he should be, it's his signature dish. So, let's see what he's got.
[Greg] I'm feeling pretty confident.
I've got the flavors and the creativity.
Bobby, I hope you're ready to lose.
Chefs, congratulations on breaking the Food Network budget tonight.
We'd like to introduce you guys to the judges.
[Geoffrey] Chef at Butter restaurant, the one and only, Michael Jenkins.
Culinary ambassador at Great Performances Catering, Georgette Farkas,
and the owner and operator of Fox & Falcon, David Massoni.
So, steak Oscar tonight.
Dig in. The first plate's there, let's go.
This dish is delicious. Steak was cooked perfectly.
I also appreciate the way that the asparagus was cooked very, very nicely.
It has a lot of flavor.
I think my one issue is that the crab gets a little bit lost.
But, um, overall very, very good.
Impeccably cooked piece of filet mignon.
But I felt the Fresno chili on top of the I bearnaise was too much for me.
I was confused. I didn't want both of the sauces.
That I found a little bit overwhelming.
Like both of the other judges said, the steak is perfectly cooked.
The bearnaise is perfect.
I guess my only negative is the pancake gets sogged-out by the crab.
Judges, thank you. Please switch your plates.
[Michael Jenkins] The steak was cooked nice and rare.
And I really appreciate the use of ingredients
that kind of fit together seasonally.
I would say that the asparagus itself, it's a little bland for me.
I really love the fact that the seafood was concentrated there on the beef.
It wasn't a little crab here, a little crab over there.
But I feel that on top of the beef, the crab,
and the caviar, and the sea urchin,
I think I'd leave out one component.
It is a beautiful plate. The bearnaise is perfect.
The flavors are balanced.
But texturally, you know I wish there was a little bit something more going on.
All right. Judges, one vote. Here you are.
[Greg] I know that going into this,
that I had a lot on my dish, but that's how I like to cook.
I'm hoping that judges appreciate the flavors
and the execution of my ingredients.
And the winner is...
Chef Bobby Flay.
[all cheering]
Good job.
Damn.
Two time losers. You and me, two times.
So disappointing.
[Michael] Chef Flay's hit all the right notes.
It had acid, it had heat, it had texture.
And the flavors combined in a way that... worked perfectly.
Thank you so much.
Greg, congratulations. This is a tough battle.
You gave Mr. Flay a great run for his money.
-Congratulations. -Yeah.
I may not have won,
but I definitely gave Bobby a run for his money.
I think my kids are gonna be really proud of me.
I'm going back home to California with my head held high.
0 for 2. This is... This is what you do, Bobby.
This is what you do. I quit.
I'm not coming back. This is it.
This is the last Beat Bobby Flay I'm ever doing.
No, no, no. Just keep on comin' back. And we're gonna beat him.
Well, he does pay me to be here, so... it's cool.
-Isn't that good? It's not bad. -Yeah, yeah. It's cool.
[clicks tongue] We'll be back.
And the Oscar goes to...
I'll let you take it from there.
[all cheering]