BOBBY FLAY IS A BUSY GUY. Seriously, crazily, only-in-New York (and everywhere else he has to be) busy. There’s the new steak house in Atlantic City. The requisite Las Vegas outpost. The midtown hot spot — Bar Americain — that he opened in 2005. His 22nd Street stalwart, the Spanish-inspired Bolo. The cookbooks. The TV shows. A new eatery in the Bahamas coming early next year. Phew.
But that doesn’t mean Flay has forgotten about the restaurant that launched his ever-expanding empire. Drawing crowds since 1991, Mesa Grill (102 5th Ave., 212.807.7400) still has diners drooling over Flay’s intensely flavorful Southwestern cuisine: dishes like a blue corn pancake with barbecued duck and habanero sauce; ancho chili–honey glazed salmon with spicy black bean sauce and roasted jalapeño crema; and a dessert of a carrot cream cheese ice cream sandwich with spicy pineapple sauce. “I hire talented chefs who are able to execute my recipes perfectly and consistently,” Flay says. “And I plan my schedule very carefully — I’m never away from my New York restaurants for more than a week at a time.”
So why does this native New Yorker cook Southwestern-style food? Flay answers the question simply: “I worked with Jonathan Waxman in the 1980s — he was the first person to bring California cuisine to the East Coast — and he used ingredients like fresh and dried chilis and blue corn tortillas. Today those are commonplace, but back then no one had them. I fell in love with the ingredients, and to learn more about them I spent a summer cooking in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. It just became part of my style.”
A Flay favorite: New Mexican spice-rubbed pork
tenderloin with bourbon–ancho chili sauce
Still, there’s no place Flay would rather be than the Big Apple. “I love everything about the New York restaurant scene — the chefs, their creativity, and the fact that they are serving the toughest critics anywhere,” he says emphatically. “New Yorkers are food savvy, and they expect a lot.”
A lot is exactly what Flay gives them. A lot of flavor, a lot of pizzazz, a lot of sizzle. And soon, a lot more to take home from Mesa Grill. Flay’s next book, The Mesa Grill Cookbook, is currently in the works. And it gives a lot of props to the place that started it all.
— Christie Matheson
»1. Babbo
Mario Batali, another New York über-chef, isn’t afraid to use ingredients like beef cheeks, pigs’ feet, and lambs’ brains. 110 Waverly Place, 212.777.0303
»2. Jean-Georges
The eponymous restaurant of Jean-Georges Vongerichten continues to deliver outstanding French-inspired cuisine. 1 Central Park West, 212.299.3900
»3. Country
Geoffrey Zakarian’s newest restaurant is a grand, ingredient-driven dining experience. 90 Madison Ave., 212.889.7100
»4. Nobu
Bobby Flay calls chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s flagship — a celebration of contemporary Japanese cuisine — his favorite restaurant in town. 105 Hudson St., 212.219.0500
»5. Pure Food & Wine
Raw food executed deliciously is the celebrity here. 54 Irving Place, 212.477.1010
— C.M.
