Bobby Flay Biography

American chef and television personality Bobby Flay was born in 1953 in New York City. Today, Bobby Flay is one of the most recognizable faces in the culinary world, but his road to stardom began with the simplest of requests; at the age of eight, young Bobby asked his parents for an easy bake oven. By the time he was seventeen, Flay had left high school to begin pursuit of a career as a chef.

Bobby’s first jobs in the food industry were in pizza parlors and local restaurants, but his passion for the culinary arts impressed his boss so much that he offered to pay his tuition at the French Culinary Institute. After graduating from the institution in 1984, Flay first went to work at the Brighton Grill in New York City, where he became the executive chef after only one week. He then moved on to a number of other restaurants, until he became partner of the Mesa Grill in the early 1990’s.

Around the same time, Bobby Flay began hosting The Main Ingredient with Bobby Flay for the Lifetime television network. The success of the show led to a number of shows with the Food Network, which was increasing in popularity and expanding its offerings for viewers. Today, Flay is among the network’s most reliable hosts, having appeared on nearly a dozen successful shows over the last two decades, including: 3 Days to Open with Bobby Flay; Boy Meets Grill; BBQ with Bobby Flay; Throwndown! with Bobby Flay; The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Brunch @ Bobby’s; Worst Cooks in America; and Beat Bobby Flay. Flay also served as a judge for the network’s shows The Next Food Network Star and The Next Iron Chef.

Today, Bobby Flay continues to appear on various television programs, but he also continues to oversee his restaurants around the globe, including: Mesa Grills in Las Vegas and the Bahamas; Bobby Flay Steak in Atlantic City; Bobby’s Burger Palace on Long Island, in New Jersey, in Philadelphia, and in Washington, DC. Flay has also authored a dozen cookbooks, the most of recent of which – Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction – was released in 2013.