Original subtitles

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?

Oh, 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.

Two people that know me well will decide

who's got the skills to beat me.

Yeah! Round two, I go head-to-head with

the winning contender.

Let's go! It's their turn to surprise me

with their signature dish.

What? Don't try this at home.

I know you did it, Bobby!

Bottom line... You're gonna run it in

two! Everyone's out to beat me.

Mr. Bobby Flay!

All right, everybody.

There's one person who always brings the

noise to this kitchen.

Get back there.

And tonight, she brought a friend.

From Food Network, it's Sonny Anderson

and TV host and fashion designer, Nina

Parker. Hey,

Bobby. I love the outfits tonight, man.

You guys are great.

Well, it's Nina Parker Collection.

Thank you very much.

This is Nina Parker Collection.

Thank you very much.

But not this part.

Underneath. Underneath. This is just a

little thing I put on top, because you

can't handle my curves, Bobby.

Just like Ken.

Oh! No, you can't.

I can leave.

This relationship's just been going on

for decades. This is my first time on the

Food Network ever.

Is it really?

Yeah. Do you cook at all?

I taste. You taste?

My dad is the cook.

Okay. And by the way, you're biggest fan.

Really? Tony Parker loves you.

Oh, I love that.

Okay. I know daddy likes Bobby, but we

don't like him.

Okay, got it.

We're trying to take him down tonight,

and then we'll get him done.

Well, Bobby, Tony's not here.

Okay. Yeah. Bobby, are you ready to lose

tonight? Yeah, I'm ready.

Let's bring him out.

Bring him out.

Bring him out.

Our first contender is all about Cali

comfort food. From Los Angeles, it's Chef

John Cleveland.

All right. Okay.

Our next contender is known for his

upscale Italian cuisine.

Also from Los Angeles, it's Chef Michael

Fierelli. Come on.

Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. I thought he was going to rip

it off. Oh, my gosh.

Good evening, chefs.

John, Michael, how you guys doing?

Doing good. I thought you were going to

rip that open.

That's after I beat you.

Oh, okay. Oh.

How about you?

Yeah, I'm here for the win, baby.

You're here for the win.

Okay, cool. Here's the way it's going to

work. I'm going to give you an ingredient

of my choice, and you must make that

ingredient the star of your dish.

And that ingredient is Japanese sweet

potatoes. Okay.

Interesting. You happy about this or not?

Absolutely. Love it.

All right, guys, 20 minutes to show us

what you know with the Japanese sweet

potato. They're off.

So the Japanese sweet potato, very

versatile. You can...

I'm going to be honest.

I got this accidentally once.

I was trying to make a sweet potato pie.

I bought these instead.

I still made the pie, though, with the

arch. They're actually still good.

They're very sweet.

Yeah, actually... It was a southern

Japanese sweet potato pie.

There you go.

I came up with a concoction.

Fusion. Fusion.

You can't bake these in 20 minutes

because they take over an hour.

I would hash it out.

So a little runny egg over the top and

just call it a day.

A Japanese sweet potato doesn't have the

same kind of texture as a regular sweet

potato. Brian's probably my best option

to soften up before we get it crispy.

Guys, I want to see what's happening up

close. Show off your wardrobe.

Come on. Let's see.

I hope that Nina Parker collection

girl... 14 minutes.

What's going on, bro?

What's up, bro?

What's up, sis?

How you doing?

What are you making with the Japanese

potato? I'm gonna make a Japanese sweet

potato hash. I was saying a hash would be

nice. And then you're gonna chorizo it

up. This is gonna be bomb.

And chorizo has tons of flavor.

Yeah. Are you gonna put an egg on it?

If I got enough time.

Or something saucy, right?

Something saucy. Okay, okay.

So, John, I've actually been to his

restaurant. Oh, really?

A lot of people go there.

It's a huge brunch spot.

It's a vibe.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I was excited to see the hits here.

I was born ready.

Growing up, we always ate comfort food.

My dad was the ultimate backyard

barbequeer. It was one of his dreams to

have a family restaurant.

In 2019, me and my wife, we bought Post

-Imbiim. We served Southern traditions,

blended with local ingredients.

We've been in LA Times, top 100

restaurants. We also won the Jonathan

Gold Award. It's definitely been a joint

effort. Me and my wife, we're a total

team. A win for me is a win for her.

So let's do this.

Okay, chef. What's up, Sonny?

What are you doing?

You making a pesto?

I'm not exactly right.

I'm gonna roast these.

So it's gonna be potato fall.

Nice, hard roast.

You're gonna put them right on the top.

Ooh, that's pratties.

Oh, not only that.

Look at your color.

I'm gonna roast them, and then I'm gonna

make some chips.

I think it's important to use the

Japanese sweet potato in two applications

so we can really showcase the ingredient.

If you win, I'm gonna need you to rip

your shirt off.

You're already... Am I right?

Yeah! That was just super mad.

That's already winning in my heart.

Yeah. I grew up on Long Island in a

traditional Italian-American family.

So Italian cooking is literally in my

blood. Throughout high school, I was

working in local restaurants.

I did an apprenticeship, and I worked at

some of the best restaurants all over the

country. Greenbrier Resort impacted my

career the most.

Working in a three-michelin-star kitchen,

they expect perfection.

It's really a learning experience, like

no other. Today, I'm the chef and owner

of Fiorelli Wood-Fired Pizza.

I love using local vegetables to make

Italian-inspired food.

I'm confident that I'm the best at what I

do, but as they say, to be the best, you

have to be the best, and Bobby's the

best. I'm not going home a loser.

Are you going to rip your shirt off

those, sir? Hey, look, you got to ask my

wife about that.

Yeah! Yeah!

I feel it!

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Guys, 11 minutes on the clock!

I'm dicing up celery, onions, red

peppers. I'm going for a rustic dice.

I like my hash smaller.

You want it?

I was going to say, you like it almost

like little cubes almost.

Dice. Boom. Okay.

It's a little big.

Okay, I'll see the thyme over there,

Michael. Yeah, thyme, garlic, butter.

The potatoes are going to soak up some of

that flavor. And it's too simple?

I think it's very simple, but I think

simple wins, right?

And you have a thousand elements.

It's a chance for a thousand of them to

be wrong. All right, guys, seven minutes

and 30 seconds.

APPLAUSE So, John, tell me what you have

left to do.

I got to start putting it together.

Okay. You're taking out these potatoes.

I think I'll let them in there for a

little too long, but I think I can still

pull it off.

Hey, wifey! How are you?

What did you make for you at home?

What's your favorite thing?

I'd say the hash.

Really? Give the people what they want.

LAUGHTER This is looking good.

I'm going to check in with Michael, but

it smells amazing.

I'm excited to try.

That's good. That's good.

Time to get started on my pesto.

I'm with arugula basil, toasted marcona

almonds, parmesan cheese, garlic, and

olive oil. All right, chef Michael, do

you have somebody here with you today?

I have my two boys, my childhood best

friend, Sean and Chris.

Oh, hey, guys!

APPLAUSE How much do you love his

cooking? It's phenomenal.

It's phenomenal. Okay.

It kills it.

You think you could be John?

Who? Oh!

The shade! John, the shade!

I better ask about me.

LAUGHTER All right, guys, five minutes.

I'll make the dish.

I think I have enough time to put

together some eggs.

I'm tasting and tasting my pesto.

It's overly salted, so I've got to dump

it out and start all over again.

Oh, my God!

I'm thinking a few things.

Do I have time for this?

Am I going to be able to get this done?

220 to go, guys.

30 seconds to go.

Get on the plate, y'all.

They're not stressing me out.

I get the second pesto in there.

I'm tasting it.

Finally, I get it to the point where it's

perfect. So I'm jumping this hash onto

the plate. Top it off with this egg.

15 seconds. Sweet potatoes to get on the

plate. Put those crispy chips on there

and garnish with a little fresh arugula.

Five, four, three, two...

One! Wow!

Good job. You were...

I'm nervous. She's a completely different

plate. I think one of you, the way this

smells, can definitely be Bobby tonight.

But it's going to come down to what you

did with this Japanese sweet potato.

So, Chef John, what'd you make?

I prepared a Japanese sweet potato hash

with spicy chorizo and a little scrambled

egg. A little breakfast for you.

I love a hash because it's a good base.

You've got the celery and the onion.

The chorizo, very smart because it's good

fat, you know.

I would love to see more rendered fat

because I'm missing a sauce.

It feels a little dry to me, and I do

think that the potatoes are a little too

big. It's kind of heavy on your fork.

That being said, it's very good.

I would bust it down.

Chef Michael, what'd you make?

Today, I prepared for you a roasted

Japanese sweet potato with arugula pesto

and crispy sweet potato chips.

It's a nice crunch to it.

You heard that, right?

Yes. Look at you, which are potatoes two

ways. Great flavor here.

And the sweet potatoes are the star.

The pan roasted beautifully.

I don't taste the thyme so much, but

overall, successful. Thank you.

I will say, though, like, I want, like, a

meat dish with this.

Or fish, like, some fish.

A beautiful baked fish on the side.

This feels like almost like a side dish

that I would have with something else,

but it's still really flavorful.

You know, Nina and I, we have a very

difficult choice to make.

Yes, we won't talk about this.

What's making me the most nervous at this

point is that my dish is so simple that

maybe they'll think it's too simple.

It's important for me to get through this

first round and get to Bobby because

that's why I'm here today.

I want to go head-to-head with one of the

best. Trust me, this was not easy by any

means, but the chef moving forward to

beat Bobby tonight is...

Chef Michael. Hey!

Hey, hey, hey.

Right there. It did work out the way I

wanted it to, but hey, man, it's not a

failure. I learned a lot, and hopefully I

get to come back and try again.

Michael, you gave us something that's

straightforward. You understood texture.

It's visibly beautiful.

So I am convinced we have found the

person to take down Bobby.

Well, come on, now!

Come on, Dave!

You guys proud of him?

Let's go, Chris.

Let's go!

All right, Michael, good job.

Made it to round two.

What are we cooking tonight?

What's your signature dish?

My signature dish is...

Brick chicken. Whoa!

Oh, no. What?

Michael, Bobby can make a mean chicken.

He doesn't have anything to worry about

because I'm looking at a winner.

I know I'm a winner, so welcome to the

Winner Circle, Michael.

I'm ready to go.

On that note, 45 minutes on the clock.

Let's do this!

And they're gonna do it!

Brick chicken is a bold move.

Is it? So much can go wrong.

Literally, you use a brick, right?

You wrap it with aluminum foil, and it's

all about flattening things.

You put the skin side down.

You drop that brick over the top of

what's gonna happen is the skin is gonna

render that fat.

It's gonna give you really crispy skin.

Obviously, you have to give some flavor

to the chicken.

There's no time for them to brine.

Flavor is the key.

Flavor is gonna have to come not within

the chicken, but outside the chicken.

Outside the chicken?

Yeah. This is a dish not only that I grew

up eating, but a dish that I've been

cooking for most of my career.

I'm making a brick roasted chicken with

torn croutons and a panjoo.

I'm going in a very simple and elevated

direction. What makes my chicken so great

and different is I'm gonna take the bones

out, but I'm not gonna cut up the meat at

all. I have never seen this process.

This is really cool.

I'll tell you why he's doing that.

You've only got 45 minutes for that

chicken to get cooked.

And when you have the bones in meat, it

takes a lot longer to cook.

I mean, he knows how to cut that chicken,

baby. It's tricky because we know Bobby

has skills. Yeah.

And Bobby has flavor.

So now this is the actual great equal

pairing. Bobby, he's going to his happy

place with the Fresno chilies.

Bobby, seriously? Fresno chilies?

Really? Are you gonna start some crispy

rice on the side and you'll brick chicken

too, Bobby? Nope.

Okay, good, because I was gonna have a

problem with that.

Oh. You know what I'm saying?

So I'm making chicken with pickled

chilies, salsa verde, and some potatoes

with Parmigiano and rosemary.

I put the spice you up below of my

chicken, mustard powder, coriander,

cumin, smoked paprika.

I choose my two favorite parts of the

chicken, the thigh and the breast bone

in, which is gonna bring tons of flavor.

Oh, wait, hold on.

Hold on. Chef Michael is breaking his

chicken down. Okay, Bobby's late already.

Broken down chicken.

Excuse me? Bobby?

Bobby? Bobby? Bobby, go get you a whole

chicken and break it down.

He can ask for whatever he wants.

I don't know where you buy your chicken,

but where I buy mine, it doesn't come

broken down. Hey!

Yes. Yes. Hey, listen.

Okay. Let's go, Mikey.

You ain't come to play.

27 minutes to go.

I get it going.

No time for slowing.

I'm gonna season just with salt and

pepper because I want my chicken to taste

like chicken. And then I can get those

bricks on there immediately to make sure

that skin is flat against the pan.

Chef Michael. Sonny.

With the cherry squad.

Yeah! What's going on with your bone

yard over there?

So I'm gonna take the bones.

I'm gonna deflase them.

We're gonna make a chicken jus with

chicken stock. We're gonna add some

garlic and herbs.

And then at the very end, we're gonna hit

it with some green olives and some

Calabrian chili. So it's got a little

briny, spicy, citrusy kind of components.

Let me go see what he's doing over here.

Y'all make some noise for a man, Chef

Michael! Yeah!

Now I'm starting my crispy potatoes.

I'm gonna put them in 300 degree oil so

that they blash in the oil.

Ooh, that's not looking good, Bobby.

Show the camera.

Show the camera, Bobby.

It's not looking good.

Beautiful. That's not, that's not, that's

not something chicken, a mother would

only love. What are you talking about?

You think that's beautiful, Bobby?

Come on. Yeah, it's beautiful.

21 minutes and 30 seconds.

For the jus, I'm gonna take the bones

out, kayak, olives and chilies.

He's gonna render that down to get some

flavor and the fat.

It's just, that's getting fat.

Girl, if somebody does that in a gravy,

it's the best.

Oh, look, yeah.

And Bobby, I think that his chicken went

a little bit too long on the color.

Bobby, how's that chicken looking over

there? Getting there, I rented the fat

off the skin.

So now I want the chicken to cook through

in the oven.

All right, Chef Michael, I'm coming over

to assist you.

I think all the help I can get.

Because you know, I think the best way to

be Bobby Flay is to shave Bobby Flay.

Throw some shade?

What should I say?

Like, the last time Bobby picked up a

brick, he was probably on his way to the

bank. Oh!

Shade! Shade! Bobby!

That was very good, man.

You're right.

Next, I'm gonna get started on my

boutons. I want them to be rustic, super

nice and toasty on the outside.

Nina, I want to teach you something.

Complete! This is a good sauce for you to

make. Okay. Lots of fresh herbs.

Okay. Tarragon, parsley, capers.

Okay. Some anchovies.

I love anchovies.

And some chilies.

I'm gonna put this on the chicken.

Speaking of meat, Bobby, why don't you

show her how to break down a chicken?

Do you like to just say my name?

I do, Bobby.

I heard that you make snacks sometimes

for people. You want a little snack?

You want a little snack?

You know I love charcuterie, so anything

that's like a little nibble.

Okay, you got it.

All right.

Seven minutes to go.

I'm taking my potatoes, and I put them

back in the fryer to crisp them up.

So I'm grabbing a little basil and

parsley. I'm gonna fry them so we get a

nice crispy texture.

What is Bobby getting?

What is this?

What do you grab?

That looks like Gruyere and Fontina.

Oh, I think this is my snack!

Is he hooking you up with a charcuterie

board? Woo!

I thought you forgot about me!

Thank you! I can't shave you!

Bobby, you could have toasted this bread.

I knew you were gonna say that.

I absolutely knew you were gonna say

that. Only three minutes left.

And no rest for the wicked.

The chicken is exactly where it needs to

be. I'm gonna start with those croutons

and get them on the plate, so everything

I put on top of them is gonna get soaked

up by that bread.

Ooh, look at that sauce!

I take the chicken breast, the chicken

thigh, crispy potatoes, put down some

salsa veride. 20 seconds!

Fresno and chili is on top.

I'm gonna finish it with fried basil and

parsley. Five, four, three, two, one!

Good job. Amazing job!

Nice work. Beautiful.

I know it's a winner because every

component is perfectly executed.

This is exactly what a brick chicken is

supposed to be.

I'm feeling really good right now.

I think this is gonna be a tough one for

me to win.

I think Michael did a great job on his

chicken skin. Frankly, like, when it gets

right down to it, that's what this is

about. Bobby, did you want to flip your

peppermill again for Cameron?

Get it right this time?

Chef Michael, congratulations.

Thank you. Interesting challenge.

Now it's time to meet your judges.

First up, the chef and owner of Arthur &

Son, Joe Isidore.

Chef, restaurateur, and the queen of soul

food, Melva Wilson.

And the executive chef and partner of

Fish Cheeks, Dustin Everett.

Judges, please start with the first brick

chicken in front of you.

Okay. He's picking it up.

Don't be shy.

I'm not. Yeah, we're family.

Yeah, we're family.

It's all good.

Well, right off the bat, I'm a thigh guy.

Once I saw that thigh, I was excited.

I liked the spice rub on the outside, and

the salsa verde is no joke.

The skin could have been a little

crispier, but the spice rub really helped

it out. Overall, a nice, punchy brick

chicken. I would have loved to have had a

mashed potato, something a little more

simplified, so that I can really get the

salsa verde and incorporate it into that.

However, it was very, very flavor

-forward. I like a punch-in-the-face kind

of flavor profile.

I really got that from this dish.

I love rosemary, parmesan potatoes, who

doesn't, but I would have liked to see it

a little more with the dish.

To me, it was just a side dish.

Judges, please try the second brick

chicken. The

skin is perfect.

Absolutely crispy. It's cooked perfectly.

I mean, it's a plus.

So croutons probably would have preferred

another starch. I love the ajou.

I could just soak in it.

The brick chicken, I think, kind of used

a little more flavor, a little more

seasoning. I think the chicken was cooked

perfectly. I agreed with them on the

skin. Super crispy.

The olives, I thought I'd brought a nice

little saltyness to the dish.

Overall, I just want a little more

seasoning. That was probably my only

complaint on the dish.

Thank you, judges.

Please take a vote.

It's clear that they prefer my chicken

skin to Bobby's.

What's making me the most nervous is it

seems that judges like the spice

component of Bobby's dish much better.

Now I'm thinking maybe my seasoning is a

little bit too simple.

And the winner is...

Chef Bobby Fleck.

Ah! Sorry, dude.

Sorry, man.

Bobby, the spice on that chicken fit like

a brick. Great job.

Thank you. You tried.

Michael, it was delicious.

So good. The jus, the bread.

I love the bread.

The crispy skin.

Thank you.

It's never fun to lose, but it was a hard

fought battle. It still showed the world

that I am a great cook, and I'm able to

hang with the best.

Why's that? Don't even blow me a kiss.

I need a rematch.

You have not seen the last of us.

This ain't over, Bobby.

Don't think you made me a snack.

I'm not coming for you.

Yeah. Like with any good dish, I built

that one brick by brick.