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.
-[bell dings] -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!
-[bell dings] -[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? -Ah!
Don't try this at home.
[Sunny] I know you did it, Bobby!
[Bobby] Bottom line?
You're gonna run out of time!
Everyone's out to beat me.
[fingers snap]
[bell dings]
[audience cheering]
Go, do it.
All right, tonight we have some Italian royalty in the house.
Hoping to say arrivederci to my winning streak,
it's Chef Christian Petroni and the Pasta Queen herself,
Nadia Caterina Munno. -[audience cheering]
-Nice. -[audience cheering]
[Bobby] So the Pasta Queen is a social media sensation.
She's all over Instagram, TikTok, etcetera.
Authentic, classic ingredients.
[in Italian accent] Ingredients!
-[normally] Hi, Nadia. -Hi, Bobby.
This is your first time here. I'm so, so glad you're here.
So you have a show now called "The Pasta Queen."
In Italy, I went to all the region where I grew up.
I love Italian food. I love Italian food.
-I heard. -I love Italian culture.
-Yes, I do. -Italian women?
-Yes. -[audience laughing]
My biggest love are Italian-Americans.
-Well, there's one right there. -I know.
-That's why I agreed to do this. -[Bobby] All right.
So, Christian, what's the strategy tonight?
Nadia is obviously the queen of pasta.
We thought, what would be better than finding a couple chefs
that will beat you doing what we love?
[Nadia] The truth is this,
people that don't eat pasta are most likely serial killers.
[all laughing]
And on that note, are you ready to meet our chefs?
Yes, let's go, bring 'em out.
[Christian] Bobby, you once worked with our first contender
at the Super Bowl.
It's Chef Kelsey Murphy.
[audience] Whoo!
[audience] Oh!
[cheering]
-All right. -Our next contender
is known for his modern takes
on iconic pasta plates. -Nice.
Tonight, he's going to knead you like a dough ball.
It's Chef Michael Reed!
-[audience cheering] -Yeah, Chef!
-[Nadia] Yeah! -Ohh!
[audience cheering]
Kelsey, Michael, welcome. What's your goal tonight?
Break you like I just broke that pasta.
-Oh, break me? -[all] Oh.
I like that. How about yourself, sir?
Let's see, I've already taken down two Iron Chefs.
-Who have you taken down? -Stephanie Izard
and Alex Guarnaschelli.
-Ooh. -OK, pretty good.
All right, here's the way it's gonna work.
I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my choice,
and you must make that ingredient the star
of the dish. And that ingredient is...
provolone.
Ooh.
[audience clapping]
I love provolone.
Worked with it a little bit, but not a lot.
-OK. -[Kelsey] I like cheese.
Cheese is good.
[Bobby] All right, guys, 20 minutes on the clock
to get in the zone for this provolone.
[bell dings]
[audience cheering]
[Christian] I love provolone, man.
It's one of my favorite cheeses.
Fantastic cow's milk cheese from the south of Italy.
[Nadia] This is multi-versatile.
You can cut it, shred it, slice it, fry it.
The longer it ages,
the more spicy it becomes, like me.
Kelsey, what are you making?
Um, like mozzarella sticks, but in the style a la provolone.
-OK. -Way to my heart.
[all laughing]
[Kelsey] Gotta give us the most massive wheel of provolone.
I'm not classically trained, so a lot of my cooking style is
just home cooking turned into a cheffed-up version.
Michael, what are you making?
-Like, a warm cheese dip with potato chips. -OK.
Potato chips, a cheese dip, classic combinations.
-[Christian] This does feel like Italian bar food, right? -[Bobby] Yeah.
Let me go see what they're doing, I'll go check it out.
-Yeah, OK, you go find out. -All right.
[Christian] Fifteen minutes, gang.
Yo, big Mike. What do you got going, babe?
[Michael] So cream, provolone, garlic powder, onion powder.
Beautiful. So you got your family here?
Are you excited to see Daddy cooking, sweetheart?
-Yeah. -[Christian] Yeah.
-Love it. -Aw!
[Michael] It's my time to shine right now.
Now that Mackenzie is almost seven years old,
this is the first time that she actually sees me
in a cooking competition live.
Don't worry, sweetie, I'll take her down.
I'm classically trained, highly motivated,
super competitive.
It's something I carry into my culinary career.
So today, my wife and I run our two concepts.
Poppy & Rose is known to be one of the best brunch
restaurants in Los Angeles.
And then Poppy & Seed, where we do a lot of fresh pastas.
It's just my playground where I get to have fun.
So I've already taken down Iron Chefs Alex Guarnaschelli
and Stephanie Izard. -[Guy] Michael Reed!
Now I'm gonna add one more to that list
and take down Bobby Flay.
Chef Kelsey.
-[Kelsey] Hi! -You know, the easiest way to my heart is via mozzarella
sticks in some sort of form, right? -Right, I mean.
Should be the way to everybody's heart.
-Yep. -Absolutely beautiful. What do you think about Chef?
-Are you gonna take him out? -Oh, yeah.
I came here to cook against Bobby.
Becoming a chef was never in the cards.
I got my doctorate in physical therapy,
and I was a physical therapist for ten years.
I went on "MasterChef."
I ended up winning, and it's just been building from there.
In just three years, I have built Inspo
and we make elevated game-day food
inside the Indianapolis Colts Stadium,
and I've cooked at the Super Bowl with Bobby Flay.
So I am the rookie here, but if I'm able to beat Bobby Flay,
there is proof that I belong in this industry.
So good.
There's nothing better than chips with a dipping sauce.
So good.
So for this relish, I have these beautiful green onions
that are charred down, parsley,
some Calabrian chilies.
[Kelsey] I ideally would be freezing these provolone sticks
because there's is a risk the middle can get too hot,
and it starts to burst,
but we're gonna have to roll with it.
-Hi. -Ciao bella.
-Hello. -This smells good.
Oh, yeah. Little Calabrian chili,
and then I have a cheese sauce in here that I whipped together.
-Cheese sauce? -Little nutmeg.
-Oh, yeah, this is good. -Yeah, it's good.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
Yeah, it's good, it's good.
-Yeah, it's good. -OK, I'm gonna leave.
All right, cool, bye.
So a gremolata is very simple.
It's just fresh parsley, garlic, lemon zest, olive oil,
and a little bit of lemon juice to finish it out.
[Michael] So the cheese got too hot. It's starting to break.
I need to cool it down, but still give it
viscosity and texture.
Otherwise, it's just gonna be a provolone soup.
So this is just whipped cream.
We're gonna fold in this stuff.
-[Nadia] So cheese. -[Michael] Cheese, onion powder,
garlic powder. -Bravo.
[Michael] Hopefully, that will bind it back together and give me
the right texture I'm looking for.
Michael, it seems like you're a little stressed.
Well, this cheese sauce is not doing exactly
what I want it to. -Ohh!
Oh, man. Michael's sauce just broke.
Once that fat from the provolone starts to leach,
and it ain't gonna fly.
[Nadia] Ah, Michael, are you redoing the sauce?
[Michael] I am trying to redo this sauce.
Michael is very stressed. I'm gonna have to leave.
Michael, I'm leaving, OK?
Coming up on two minutes.
-It smells like fear. -Fear.
[Christian] Oof.
[Michael] Time is counting down so fast.
I gotta figure out something quick.
[tense music plays]
There's a lot of stress in the air.
[Christian] Well, you know, so Michael's sauce broke, but he took what
he had and put it in an iSi to make a foam.
It's all or nothing right now.
Whatever comes out is gonna be on this plate.
[Christian] Oh, no, it looks like Kelsey's provolone sticks
are exploding in the fryer.
We're gonna make it work, guys.
I have zero choice but to just put what I have on the plate.
[audience] Ten, nine, eight...
[Kelsey] And grate some fresh provolone over top.
[audience and judges] ...five, four, three, two, one.
-[bell dings] -[audience] Whoo!
[Nadia & Christian speaking Italian]
-[Kelsey] It's yours, at best. -I don't know about that, girl.
And I have to say, both plates look delicious.
Chef Kelsey, what did you make?
A provolone crisp over a provolone cheese sauce,
a marinara, and gremolata over top.
The breading is fantastic. The gremolata, very smart.
-The only issue, it exploded. -Yep.
I wish I was just getting that quintessential cheese pull.
[Nadia] I love the tomato sauce.
To make a good tomato sauce, right, Bobby is Italian,
so he knows, it's very hard.
Chef Michael, what did you make?
A whipped provolone cheese dip, a charred onion relish,
and crispy potato chips.
That last-minute move that you made to salvage this dish,
I think worked out for you.
With that being said, I need more provolone.
But maybe, yes, grated a little bit.
If I, you know, 21 minutes,
would have been there microplaning, right? -You know.
But this was really fresh, and it also tastes really good.
Give us a moment to discuss.
This round did not go my way, but Michael's dish is lacking
in provolone -- there's hope here.
The chef moving forward is...
[tense music plays]
...Chef Michael!
[audience cheering]
I am crushed.
[muffled chatter]
I gotta be humbled a little bit
so I can come back even stronger.
[Christian] Michael, we wanted more cheese,
but it's just absolutely tasty. -Thank you.
How do you feel? You're about to go against
Bobby "Provolone" Flay?
[all laughing]
-Now he's in my playground. -[Nadia] Ooh.
[audience cheering]
♪ Yeah, we are rockstars, yeah, we are all-stars ♪
♪ Yeah, we gonna go far, we got them scars ♪
Congratulations, a little rough, but you,
listen, you called an audible. -Talking smack already.
We all saw it, but good job.
What is your signature dish this evening?
So my signature dish tonight is going to be...
[tense music builds]
...cavatelli. -Oh!
-Cavatelli, OK. -One of my favorites.
So whatever I wanna do with cavatelli,
is that what you're saying? -Be my guest.
-All right, great. -You rolled it recently?
-Uh-huh. -[audience] Ooh!
-Excuse me. -[all laughing]
All right, well, there's 45 minutes on the clock.
[Nadia speaking Italian]
Cavatelli is probably my hands-down favorite fresh pasta shape.
-They look like almost like mini hot dog buns. -Si, si.
It's got a little cavity to hold some sauce, right?
Yep, that's why they're called cavatelli, little cavity.
-Mind blown! -Yeah.
[Nadia] And, you know, if you don't eat eggs,
that's the perfect fresh pasta for you. -Right.
Because it's only semolina flour and water.
[Michael] So I'm here today to beat Bobby Flay,
and to be able to put another notch on my belt
of taking down an Iron Chef.
My signature dish is a spinach cavatelli with a pork sausage
with braised Swiss chard.
So the first thing I need to do is take some semolina flour,
slowly adding in spinach water.
-[Nadia] Chef Michael. -Yes?
Why did you use cavatelli to beat Bobby?
I've been making this for 20 years now.
We make our own pork sausage.
We take spinach to dye the pasta green.
Is this version based on a specific region
of Italy or something? -As much pasta as I make,
I have never been to Italy yet. -Wow!
So if someone wants to invite me to Italy...
-Invite us to Italy. -[all laughing]
-[Kwini] Us to Italy. -Us, yes.
[Bobby] So I'm making hand-rolled cavatelli with a tomato
and broccoli rabe sauce. I'm gonna get my sauce going.
I purée some tomatoes.
I chop up some shallots, crush up some garlic.
-Bobby. -Yeah?
[Nadia] What's your take on the cavatelli,
and how are you gonna beat Michael?
I'm just gonna make a good tasting pasta.
-That's it. -Wow.
Is it inspired by any restaurants in Italy?
This is a dish important to Puglia, you know?
So I'm gonna use some tomato, maybe some rapini.
You know, I'm gonna bring some flavor to the game.
Cavatelli is a shape, but it can be made with lots
of different sauces.
All right, gang, we got 34 minutes.
[audience cheering and clapping]
-[Christian] So, no pork. -[Bobby] No pork.
I like that.
[Christian] Outside of that, how you been?
-You been good? -What's that?
[Christian] Everything's been good with you though, right?
Do you think that in 33 minutes, you still have to hand-roll
all that cavatelli? You feeling OK?
Is your pasta resting right now?
-Pasta's resting. -[Christian] Have you been to Italy lately?
-It's right here. -[Christian] Oh, the pasta's resting.
Done, let me see.
Not bad, darn it, not bad.
[Michael] So for my cavatelli dish,
I'm going much more like a ragu style than a light sauce.
So we got our Swiss chard over here.
-You're cooking that down... -Swiss chard.
...and sort of just melt it into your pasta dish?
Yeah, it's gonna help form that sauce.
[Christian] Smart move.
Hey, sweetie, how's Daddy doing?
-You so proud of Daddy? -Very proud.
-Very proud.
[all] Aww!
[Michael] So my daughter, Mackenzie,
is my smallest sous chef and my biggest cheerleader.
Let's make a lot of noise for Mackenzie right now!
[audience cheering]
[Michael] So, if I lose tonight, she's never gonna let me live it down.
She's always gonna be like, why didn't I beat Bobby Flay?
[tense music plays]
Coming up on 27 minutes.
[audience clapping]
So I'm making hand-rolled cavatelli, I check on my dough
and I cut it into strips, and then I roll it into, like,
these little snakes, and then I cut them with the pastry cutter.
Then I start rolling them on a cavatelli board.
They pick up that beautiful ridge texture on the outside
of it, which helps the sauce cling to it.
-[Nadia] Bobby! -Hi, Pasta Queen.
[Nadia] Wow, these are really cute.
Don't be nice to him.
Whose team are you on?
[Michael] He's going hand-rolled cavatelli pasta.
I commend him for that.
I'm gonna bust out the cavatelli machine,
but I also have a trick up my sleeve.
Today, I brought my power tools.
[drill whirring]
-[Nadia] What is he doing? -I don't know.
Does he have a drill?
Show 'em how it's done, Mike! Show 'em how it's done, Mike!
[audience cheering]
They look like bugs.
I'm gonna go check on Michael, huh?
OK, but I have to say, he's making them by hand.
You've got the machine.
That's why they look so perfect.
-We're in the 21st century. -[audience cheering]
Good luck, Bobby. 20 minutes to go.
-[Christian] You're the Pasta Queen. -[Nadia] Yeah.
Who's got prettier shapes of pasta?
Michael's one are cuter. But I like things made by hand.
-They have more character. They're rough. -I know.
They are imperfect, just like us.
-You know? -[audience laughing]
[Bobby] So after the sauce has been cooking for a while,
I add some crème fraîche, some Calabrian chilies.
[Michael] Now that the pork is cooked, we're gonna start adding
the Aleppo, fennel pollen, chicken stock, tomato paste.
So now I just gotta chop this Swiss chard and fold this
into the pan sauce, and then it's time to get
this pasta in the water. -Let's go and see Bobby.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -[Nadia] Guys.
[Christian] Coming up on nine minutes, nine minutes, chefs!
-[audience cheering] -[Nadia] OK, wow.
Hey, Bob, did you remember to salt your pasta water?
There we go, that's my guy.
We're here for a quick taste test, Bob.
Are there two different sauces here?
-[Bobby] No. -What did you do?
I put a little, uh...
crème fraîche in there... -I saw the --
...and some Calabrian chilies.
Crème fraîche, what part of Italy is the crème fraîche usually used?
-It's from the crema ver, uh, region. -[Christian] Of fraîche.
-I don't know about this. -[Christian] A little flat.
[Nadia] Underwhelmed.
[all laughing]
-Let's go over to Michael's. -[Bobby] Get out of here.
-[Christian] Chef Michael. -This is the pan sauce.
[Nadia] Can we taste this?
So this is the -- the -- the
you made the sausage. -Wow!
-So good! -We got our Swiss chard.
-It is amazing. -[all laughing]
She almost took your eye out, Bobby.
[audience] Whoo!
Whoo!
[Bobby] She throws a lot of spoons.
[bass music plays]
[Bobby] And then I let the sauce and the pasta become friends.
I chop up the broccoli rabe and I add it to my sauce.
And then I'm gonna finish it with some butter
and some Parmigiano.
-[kiss smacks] -[audience] Whoo!
[Christian] Only two minutes remain.
It's time to plate, we take the cavatelli pasta.
We're gonna garnish that with a brown butter panko
and grated Parmesan cheese.
[Bobby] I'm just gonna put some pasta in the bowl.
I'm gonna add some more Parmigiano on top,
anchovy breadcrumbs.
So last but not least, I'm gonna give
a bowl to the family.
[audience & judges] Eight, seven, six...
[Bobby] Some stracciatella at the end.
[audience & judges] ...three, two, one!
Whoo!
Nice job, beautiful job.
Michael's dish has a lot of ingredients in it,
and it looks really good.
Uh, it's very earthy.
I see what you did there. Very beautiful.
I look over at Bobby's plate.
They look completely different than mine.
Super light.
But, you know, I am confident in my dish.
It's flavor bomb on top of flavor bomb.
-Are you hungry? -[all laughing]
[Christian] Chef Michael, Bobby,
congratulations on finishing your cavatelli dishes.
And now, meet the judges.
The chef owner of Barano and Bluebird Kitchen,
Albert Di Meglio. -[all clapping]
Next up, the owner of Bar Volpe, Karen Akunowicz.
Author and restaurateur of Tucci and Delmonico's,
Max Tucci.
All right, judges, we'd like you to start
with the first cavatelli.
[soft tense music plays]
I think it's a great dish of pasta.
The sauce, it's a little spicy for me, but I like it.
And the cavatelli itself, cooked perfectly.
The cavatelli are so well done.
They look like they've been hand-rolled on a board.
I love how light the tomato sauce is.
I could eat a bowl of this and I could still go
dancing afterwards. -Yes.
For me, it could have a little bit more salt.
For me, it's like going to Italy in my mouth.
I love it, it's light.
It's fresh. Fantastico, eh?
Maybe just a little bit less of the breadcrumb.
OK, please try the second cavatelli.
♪♪
I like the spinach cavatelli. It has a good bite.
It's a great texture.
And I really wanna keep eating this...
-Yeah. -...which, I might.
I love the flavor of this dish.
The sausage for me is delicious, it's really well seasoned.
For me, this has maybe a little more sauce than I would prefer.
That sausage with the fennel dances in the mouth,
heavy on the sauce, and I don't feel like
I could eat it as much as you could.
But it's good.
Judges, thank you so much for your expert opinion,
and you gotta vote, so please.
♪♪
Bobby Flay always knows how to pull off amazing flavors,
so I'm a little bit worried that I went a little bit too heavy.
Well, this is not a unanimous decision.
And the winner is...
[tense music builds]
...Chef Bobby Flay.
[audience clapping]
-[Bobby] Thank you. -Boo!
[Michael] It wasn't a sweep, and honestly,
I needed to have that third Iron Chef taken down.
We loved both of these dishes.
For me, this was so light, it was delicious.
This was the winner of the cavatelli challenge.
[audience clapping]
Very nervous in front of the Pasta Queen.
Same.
I am like, a very simple girl from the South of Italy.
Yes, that's how we think of you, very simple.
-I'm humble. -[audience laughing]
The only good part, I got to hang out with the Pasta Queen.
Why do people even show up to compete with him?
I only showed up because you were here.
The secret to my pasta, I'll never Cavatelli.
-Whoo! -[audience clapping]
[audience cheering]