Chef Bobby Flay Reveals His Surprising and Hilarious First Joboriginally appeared onParade. OnBBQ Brawl, mentor/coachBobby Flayhas always had other chefs to compete against, trying to get someone from their teams to win the whole show. On the newest season, he has welcomed two newcomers —Antonia LofasoandManeet Chauhan, bothTournament of Championswinners. So there's always a friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) rivalry going on between the coaches, and it was because of this that Flay revealed the rather surprising and hilarious first job he had. When Lofaso was giving him grief for only deciding to cook Texas Longhorns steaks because that's what she chose, he basically admitted that that was true and then said in a talking-head interview that Lofaso didn't intimidate him. RELATED: Food Network Announces Star-Studded New Competition Series "I feel fine about going head to head with Antonia. She's got the big Texas-sized steaks as well, but she's gonna do sort of a surf-n-turf kind of thing with some prawns. It's very Benihana," said Flay. The producer interviewing him can be heard saying, "I love Benihana." "I do too," said Flay, as he mimed doing some fancy knife tricks and then catching a shrimp in his hat. "I used to work there. It was my first job." "Really?" said the surprised producer. So there you have it — more lore to add to Flay's impressive rise in the food world. He famously dropped out of high school to pursue his dreams of cooking for a living, eventually getting a job atJoe Allen Restaurant, where Flay's father was a partner. Allen was impressed enough by Flay's natural abilities that he paid for him to attend the French Culinary Institute. BBQ Brawlairs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 Chef Bobby Flay Reveals His Surprising and Hilarious First Jobfirst appeared on Parade on Jun 8, 2025 This story was originally reported byParadeon Jun 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
