I'm Bobby Flay. Each week, one brave chef
will try to take me down in my house.
This is my show!
Today, it is. Tomorrow, who knows?
-Ooh. -Trash talking.
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.
It's do or die, Bobby.
[Bobby] Two people that know me well will decide
who's got the skills to beat me.
Yeah!
[Bobby] Round two, I go head to head with the winning contender.
Let's go!
[Bobby] It's their turn to surprise me with their signature dish.
-What? -[girl] Oh, no.
Don't try this at home.
You did it, Bobby!
-[Bobby] Bottomline... -You're gonna run out of time!
...everyone's out to beat me.
All right, everybody knows that in this game, I'm the target.
And here to make me their bulls-eye tonight
is Chef Brooke Williamson and actor and comedian Matt Walsh.
[grunts] Come on, who wants to beat Bobby Flay?
Nice job. What's up, guys?
-So glad to have you here. -I'm excited.
Veep is one of the funniest shows.
-And it just-- -Well, I didn't write it, so I don't get total credit.
I know. They told me today that you helped create the--
Upright Citizens Brigade, yeah.
-That is unbelievable. -[Matt] Yeah.
It's like running a restaurant.
-[Bobby] Improv... -Improv.
...is so incredibly difficult.
-Yeah, yeah. -That's so, so cool.
All right. Uh, Brooke, so this is Matt's first time here.
-[Brooke] Mm-hm. -Any strategy?
My record here is not terrible.
I know. Your record is actually very good.
-That's a lot of pressure. -[Bobby] Yeah, you say--
But I did get a little intel.
I know some of your weaknesses.
I did a lot of Googling of your life.
Well, funny you should say that
'cause I have a lot of weaknesses in the kitchen and plenty in life.
But also, we're gonna bring in two very competent chefs.
In fact, they have judged at this very table.
-Really? -[Brooke] Uh-huh.
[Bobby] Let's bring 'em out.
Our first contender, she's bringing her modern
Mexican flavors to try and take you down.
It's Chef Ariel Fox.
-Yes! -Whoo!
[Brooke] Yeah!
-All right. -Love her already.
Love her.
This Beat Bobby Flay judge has already handed you one loss.
Tonight, he's here to hand deliver you another one.
It's Chef Jae Lee.
-Oh, Jae. -Whoo!
Whoo!
Finger hearts. It's Korean, right?
-That's Korean, yeah. -[Bobby] Yes.
[Matt] Oh.
Ariel, Jae, nice to see you on this side of the kitchen.
So, uh, what's your goal tonight?
Any excuse to get away from the kids for a night.
-How about you, Jae? -You're going down.
Ooh! All right, here's the way it's gonna work.
I'm gonna put 20 minutes on the clock.
I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my choice.
And you must make that ingredient the star of your dish.
And that ingredient is...
Eggs.
[audience applauding]
-I love it. I eat eggs every day. -[Bobby] Okay.
-How you feeling about these? -I think I can make it work.
Could be way worse, trust me.
All right, chefs, get cracking.
[audience cheering, applauding]
Scrambled eggs, fried eggs, poached eggs, basted eggs.
How do you like to eat your eggs?
Go to would just be, like, a poached egg or a simple fried egg,
which wouldn't win me anything.
What the hell am I making?
I see eggs, and I'm thinking to myself, "How can I make this Korean?"
Oh, Korean omelet,
which is, basically, a rolled omelet.
While the bacon is rendering, I am chopping up zucchini and onion.
Jae, what are you making?
I'm making a Korean-style omelet and a gochujang vinaigrette
with some sort of salad.
Gochujang is that Korean red pepper paste
that is, like, one of the great ingredients in the world.
I was born in Seoul, South Korea,
and I grew up eating my mom's delicious Korean home cooking.
I moved to New York City when I was a kid.
I started working at a ramen shop.
I've had the privilege to work under Morimoto and Dale Talde.
But I quit my job to do pop-ups.
My Korean burgers were an immediate success.
So I opened Nowon in East Village,
where we serve Korean, American bar food.
So, I wanna win this competition
for my Korean, American culture.
Yo, Bobby, I didn't go easy on you at the judges' table,
and I'm not going easy on you today.
Ariel, what are you making?
A savory French toast
with a poached egg and a chorizo hollandaise.
-That feels like a lot to make in 16 minutes. -Yeah.
So, I really wanna infuse my butter with chorizo for this hollandaise.
So, I'm gonna make my savory French toast custard.
I'm adding my eggs, garlic and the onions,
and a heavy cream.
I feel like this dish totally represents me
because of my love for breakfast food.
I grew up in Santa Cruz, California,
and I started working at an organic farm during high school.
And then I was Italian and French trained,
but I really love leaning into Latin and Caribbean cuisine.
I worked my way through restaurants.
Then I competed on Hell's Kitchen, and I won.
And now, I'm the Vice President of Culinary
for Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse
and Del Frisco's Grille.
And so I feel like it's time to face off against Bobby.
I've been here as a judge enough times.
And you know what? I wanna see if I have what it takes.
Coming up on 15 minutes, guys.
Hey, Chef. You've never been on this side, huh?
I have not. It feels very different,
-but so far, I'm feeling okay. -[Brooke] Should feel very different.
Yeah.
So, I slice scallion, I add that into the pan
along with zucchini and onion.
-[Brooke] Well, good luck. -Thank you.
Hi, Ariel.
So much to do in such a short period of time.
-Such a short amount of time. -Yeah.
How does it feel over on this side?
-Little bit more intense. -Yeah.
Savory French toast hollandaise,
you're doing eggs on eggs.
There's no hiding the eggs here.
There is no hiding the eggs.
All right. Well, I'm gonna leave you alone
'cause I feel like you have a lot to do here.
Thirteen minutes.
Ariel, she's showcasing eggs in three different ways.
Jae is, kind of, going the opposite direction
by adding all of these other elements of flavor.
-A lot of pressure on the egg, perhaps. -Mm-hm.
One preparation.
[Ariel] So, I soak my French toast.
And then I just wanna get a nice, crispy sear on this.
Next, I blend some of this chorizo
into my egg yolks and my lime
and get my hollandaise going.
And then it's time for me to start poaching my egg.
[Jae] Next, I work on my tomato and kimchi salad.
To that, I'm adding basil, rice wine vinegar, the rendered bacon.
And I grab white kimchi.
Next up, dressing.
So now, I'm working on the gochujang vinaigrette.
I add gochujang, sugar, rice wine vinegar
so it's really just a umami bomb.
I crack eggs into a mixing bowl,
and I season the eggs with soya sauce, mirin and the vegetables.
And I start cooking.
[Matt] I'm gonna go check out the kitchen.
Eight minutes, Jae.
Ooh, you're using chopsticks.
Chopsticks is the oldest eating utensil.
And what do you think about your competition?
She's competitive. I'm not a--
That's what losers say, man.
-I'm bringing her down. -Thank you.
You are going so ambitious here.
So, you have a savory French toast.
-I'm team French toast all the way. -[Ariel] Okay.
And you're, uh, cooking up a little ham there?
-[Ariel] Little pancetta. -[Matt] Pancetta, all right.
You're gonna do it. Bring it home.
[Ariel] I'm taking my poached eggs out of the water,
and they all look really good.
[Jae] So, I'm cooking the omelet layer by layer.
As I'm folding it, I'm adding another layer of raw egg.
So, by the end of it, I end up with a fat rolled omelet.
Just under five minutes.
So, I'm plating.
I slice the egg omelet, and I lay that at the center of the plate.
Around it, the cherry tomato salad, the gochujang vinaigrette.
And I finish with white sesame seeds.
[Ariel] I slice my French toast in half,
and I'm putting my wedges onto my plate.
And then my pancetta and my poached eggs.
Ten, nine, eight...
[Ariel] I add hollandaise, cilantro,
but I also wanna add in some heat with chili oil.
Three, two, one.
-[bell dings] -[audience cheering]
Wow!
[Jae] My dish looks so flavorful,
while her dish looks a little dull.
[Ariel] Although Jae's dish is beautiful,
I feel pretty confident because egg is definitely the star of my plate.
[Brooke] So, chefs, tonight is very important.
I just rarely ever lose so...
Yeah. I got on a plane, abandoned my children
just to insult this man.
Chef Ariel, tell us what you made.
So, I have a savory French toast,
a chorizo hollandaise over a poached egg.
There's this perfectly poached egg,
and then there's so much flavor in that hollandaise.
I will say your French toast,
I want a little bit more flavor in there.
[Matt] I, too, felt the French toast could have benefited
from a little spice or something.
But you cooked the egg perfectly.
And I don't normally get into the hollandaise sauce world,
and you made me like hollandaise sauce.
-Thank you. -Chef Jae, tell us about your dish.
I made a Korean-style omelet
with tomato and kimchi salad and gochujang vinaigrette.
Wow. This is a really flavorful plate of food.
The tomatoes add freshness.
The omelet itself, slightly overcooked.
I love the salad complimenting the egg.
It all mixed together in a good way.
Is it always this hard to come out of this round with a definitive winner?
This is actually maybe as hard as I've seen this round get.
Yeah. We need a moment to discuss.
[Ariel] Jae came with a lot of flavor,
but I feel egg is definitely the star of my plate.
The chef moving forward tonight is...
Chef Jae.
It's a bummer that I didn't get to go through to the second round,
but, you know, he beat me in the flavor challenge.
When I'm having a really hard time deciding between two dishes,
I always say to myself, "Which dish is exciting to you?"
And that was your dish.
-Thank you. -[Matt] What do you guys think?
Can Jae take this thing tonight?
[audience cheering, applauding]
All right, Jae, I've eaten in your restaurant.
It's so delicious and fun.
What are we cooking tonight? What's your signature dish?
My signature dish is...
burger!
-Ah! -Oh, my God.
So, Jae, Bobby has been challenged to burgers seven times in this kitchen,
and he's only lost twice.
But he's about to take a third loss tonight, right, Jae?
That's right.
-Nothing? -Not saying a word.
-You're thinking about your burger... -Yeah.
-...and how you're gonna make it interesting? -Your demeanor looks like
-second-place mentality right now. -[Brooke] Yeah. Yeah.
Well, Jae, you know how it goes.
Tonight's winner will be determined in a blind taste test.
[Matt] Forty-five minutes on the clock,
and your time starts now!
Everybody makes a burger at some point in their lives...
-[Brooke] Uh-huh. -...so it seems like a simple challenge.
Yeah. No, but I think it's, like, how you put your own spin on it.
I think it's all about the sauces,
perfectly-cooked bread and a couple of condiments.
And the sides, too.
So, Jae, what made you decide
to make a burger against Bobby?
My restaurant, I believe that we serve the best New York City burger.
So I wanted to challenge Bobby himself
because he is the king of burger as well.
We're gonna do a Korean-style double smash burger with American cheese.
And, um, homemade tots coming.
-Oh, he's making tots! -I love it.
While my potatoes are boiling, I'm gonna get my pickling liquid ready.
Into a pot, I put vinegar, granulated sugar,
mustard seed, fresh red chili flakes.
And I start slicing cucumbers and onion.
When the pickling liquid boils,
I pour that directly into the bowl.
So, being a judge on Beat Bobby Flay,
I've learned that the winning dish must be flavorful.
I'm here today to show that Korean flavors will prevail.
Bobby, how are you gonna keep up with Jae's flavors?
I'm actually gonna do a burger inspired by Jae's burger.
-[Matt] Oh. -I love it.
-Oh, my God. Wow. -Tell us more.
[Bobby] So, I'm making a Korean-style burger with gochujang special sauce.
And then I have kimchi marinated onion rings.
I make a pickling liquid with some sugar,
white wine vinegar, ginger, garlic.
And I get to work on my kimchi onion rings.
So, I'm gonna take red chili kimchi,
mix it with buttermilk in the blender.
I'm slicing some onions into rings,
and then I'm marinating it in the buttermilk.
I'm gonna go in and see what Jae's doing first.
Thirty-six minutes.
[audience cheering]
-Jae, I'm so excited you're making a burger. -Yeah.
[Brooke] What's in this blender?
Gochugaru, garlic, ginger.
-That's gonna be the kimchi paste. -[Brooke] Okay.
[Jae] For the kimchi mayo.
-Good luck. -[Jae] Thank you.
So you're making virtually the same burger,
you're just not making a smash burger?
I'm not making a smash burger.
And I'm gonna make some soy, honey and, um...
-Gochugaru. -Gochugaru, uh, glazed bacon.
-[chuckling] Do you need a Korean verbiage lesson? -[Matt] Yes.
-Would you like to be my, my translator? -Gochugaru.
So this is the Korean chili flake that's used in kimchi.
-[Bobby] Yes. Thank you so much. -Yeah, you're welcome.
[Bobby] I put the pickling liquid over the napa cabbage,
some cucumber and some shallots.
I'm gonna make a glazed bacon.
I take thick-cut bacon, put it in the oven.
And I make a glaze out of soy, honey, uh, sesame oil.
So, next, I work on cooking the bacon.
Is Bobby baking his bacon and Jae's grilling it?
[Brooke] It's a different school of thought.
With bacon cookery, I actually prefer an oven-cooked bacon
-because it just cooks more evenly. -[Matt] Mm-hm.
[Bobby] And I'm gonna make a dry dredge
with all-purpose flour, some cornstarch.
Granulated garlic and granulated onion.
[Matt] Bobby, I spent some time Googling you.
Is it true that you spent some time on Wall Street working as a clerk
-before you got into food? -That's true.
Do you know who you said your dream dinner guest would be?
-Muhammad Ali. -[Matt] That's right.
And is it true for the last 20 years
on Halloween, you dress up as Guy Fieri?
[all laughing]
It's a good costume.
It's amazing what you can find on the Internet.
Twenty-nine minutes on the clock.
[Brooke] Conceptually, they're really going head to head
-with a bacon cheeseburger... -Mm-hm.
...with Korean flavors.
Comparing apples to apples.
[Jae] So now it's time to make honey butter for my tater tots.
I add butter, honey and brown sugar.
I take the potatoes, and I start grating them.
Are you gonna add some sort of binder to the potatoes?
-Some AP flour. -[Brooke] AP flour.
I'm just using my hand to get pretty uniform shapes.
Now, it's time to make kimchi mayo.
So, into a mixing bowl, I add the kimchi paste,
mayo, sesame oil and kimchi.
Okay, what am I doing?
I'm making a sauce to put on my burger.
This is the special sauce so it's mayonnaise, gochujang and lime.
So, this bacon is crispy, and I glaze it with my sauce.
[Matt] Coming up on 19 minutes.
[audience cheering]
[Matt] So, you saw us do improv at UCB?
Yes, I did.
Do you think you could hack it in the improv world?
No.
-Well, let's just try it anyway. -Okay. [chuckles]
[Matt] So there's a simple fundamental, yes, and.
So, if I give you an idea, you say yes.
-And then you add to it. You got it? -Got it.
-[Matt] Let's see how good you are. -All right.
I spend time once a year
teaching the Harlem Globetrotters improvisation.
Yes, you did, Matt.
And actually, uh, Curly Neal, I think, was your star student.
[Matt] Yes, Curly Neal was my star student,
and I toured with them to Tokyo.
You toured with them in Tokyo.
And, in fact, I was there at the same time
doing Iron Chef against Morimoto.
Yes, you did, uh, Iron Chef with Morimoto
and put your feet in the rice.
[Bobby] It wasn't actually rice.
It was actually the cutting board.
-I stood on top of the cutting board... -Yes.
And, yes, I was the ugly American.
That was good. I gotta give him a hand.
Wow.
So, after I ball out the beef, it's time to get smashing.
Can I ask what's in the meat?
Uh, this is just a 70-30, uh, beef blend.
And what's the trick to making a good smash?
[Jae] You gotta smash it, let it caramelize nicely and don't overcook it.
Okay. All right, I'm leaving the kitchen, Chef.
Coming up on 13 minutes.
So, my burger is 70% beef to 30% fat.
-See how he makes a divet? -[Matt] Uh-huh.
-When you cook a burger, like, it, kind of, tightens... -Oh, yeah, the center is--
-...and the center raises. -Yeah.
[Brooke] So he's actually cooking it more evenly.
Oh.
I let it sit on one side so it gets nice and crusty and then flip it over.
I start toasting my sesame-seeded bun.
So, I toast the buns, put them in the ... to get them crusty.
I love American cheese. It melts really well.
To me, it's the best cheese for a cheeseburger.
I'm gonna use white American on this.
It doesn't taste any different.
I add the cheese and get 'em in the oven.
[Matt] Bobby's using white American.
What kind of cheese are you using, Jae?
[Jae] Yellow American. It just looks a lot nicer.
[Matt] Okay.
[Jae] And I stack them up so they're double,
and I pop them into the oven.
I gotta get my onion rings in the fryer.
[Jae] And now, it's just frying the tots.
So, I like to season my tots with seaweed seasoning.
I crush 'em up into my hand.
I add sesame seed, sugar and salt.
-Tater tots. -[audience member] Whoo!
[Matt] I add the honey butter,
and I add the seaweed seasoning.
Four minutes to go.
The cheese has melted perfectly.
So I add the kimchi mayo, pickles,
I add the double beef patty and the bacon.
And then I skewer it.
I take my onion rings out. I hit 'em with some salt. Time to plate.
Ow!
I slather 'em with the sauce,
and I start to stack my burgers.
The burgers look good, they're very crusty on the outside, very juicy.
So then the bacon, cut in half.
Some of the pickles and then the burger top.
Ten, nine...
[Jae] So, I take the tots, I place them into the ramekins.
[Bobby] My onion rings with a little side of that extra sauce.
Three, two, one.
[audience cheering, applauding]
-[Bobby] My man. Great job. -Thank you, Chef.
-Beautiful. -Wow.
[Bobby] I think the burger's gonna taste good.
I don't know if it's gonna be better than Jae's,
but I think it's got a good flavor.
So Bobby's version of a Korean burger looks pretty good,
but I was able to showcase my flavors confidently.
This dish is definitely good enough to beat Bobby.
Jae and Bobby, congrats on finishing those burgers.
Now, we'd like you to meet the judges.
The chef-owner of Oxomoco, Justin Bazdarich.
Next, the chef-owner of Cajun, Jae Jung.
Chef and co-founder of Leaves and Loaves Goods,
David Santos.
Please start with the first burger in front of you.
I mean, this is a great burger.
The seasoning on the meat was fantastic,
the crispiness on the patty was great.
Although the onion rings were super crispy,
I think they lacked a little seasoning.
The burger was juicy.
I really liked the seasoning on the burger, too.
But the bacon flavor was a little bit overpowering.
The burger is cooked really well.
The texture is really soft.
To balance that out, you've got the crunchy cabbage in there,
which is really, really nice.
But the gochujang sauce overpowers the burger a little bit too much.
Okay, judges, please try the second burger.
I mean, this is a great burger.
A lot of nice spice in the kimchi mayo,
and I love the tots.
For a smash burger, I just wish it was a little thinner.
There's a little bit too much meat.
I don't know if I could get all the way through the whole thing.
You just open your mouth bigger.
It's a very beefy burger, and I appreciate it.
And then the gochujang sauce gives a really good kick to it.
But since it's a smash burger, the meat was a little bit dry.
I don't know how they made these pickles so fast,
but they're super flavorful and delicious.
The smash burger has a really nice texture.
There's a nice crisp on it.
It could be maybe a little bit thinner
to leave it a little more moist.
But both of them are really good
so this is gonna be a really tough decision.
[Brooke] Well, here are some scorecards.
You're gonna fill them out and let us know what you think.
Man, standing in front of the judges, being on the other side,
it's definitely a lot more nerve-wracking.
And tonight's winner is...
Chef Bobby Flay.
[audience applauding]
-[Bobby] Sorry, dude. -Congratulations.
Thanks.
[Jae] I'm feeling a little bummed out,
but what did I say? Korean flavors will prevail.
And guess what he cooked? A Korean burger!
Mission accomplished.
The final choice came down to balance
of textures and the flavors.
And that's why we went with Bobby's burger.
[Jae] Hey, Chef, congratulations.
-[Bobby] All right. Thank you. -Thank you.
-Thank you so much. -Thank you for being here. Appreciate it.
-You stole his burger. -Seriously.
You stole his burger.
That's what older chefs have to do.
They have to be like vampires
-and suck the youth out of the young. -[Brooke] I like it.
And it worked.
My burger patty was a total baddie.
[audience cheering]