Bobby Flay's flair with food began at age 8 when he received an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas. The 46-year-old French Culinary Institute graduate is now the owner and executive chef of 12 restaurants from New York to Las Vegas to the Bahamas, has hosted seven Food Network programs and has even had his own category on Jeopardy. Flay's new book, Bobby Flay's Bar Americain Cookbook, is already a hit. He'll demonstrate three of the new recipes — spicy tuna tartare; breaded chicken cutlet with country ham, triple cream cheese and baby arugula; and pumpkin bread pudding with spicy caramel applesauce — when he makes his second Fabulous Food Show appearance at the I-X Center Nov. 11-13.
CM: Your new cookbook celebrates America's regional flavors and dishes. When you think of Cleveland, what foods come to mind?
BF I always think of Eastern European ingredients, especially in the Greater Cleveland area. Like Sokolowski's. I love that place. They have the greatest comfort food in America. It's an area that has terrific pork and great beef.
CM: You are good friends with another Iron Chef, Michael Symon. Who's the better chef?
BF Michael's the only chef who can make a one-pot dish with 12 pots. We are constantly debating who is the messier cook. He's always trying to make me eat pierogies and pot roasts. But we really are great fiends. Michael and his wife and my wife and I went to Sicily last year, and since he is Greek, the next place we plan to go is Greece.
CM: You are known for your flavorful Mexican and Southwest cooking. What's your favorite thing to eat?
BF I'm a cheeseburger guy. That's what I crave more than anything. At our Bobby's Burger Palaces, we have 10 different burgers, and each one of them creates a little story about someplace in America.
