This isn't a new article (May 07), but I just ran across it and found it an interesting, illuminating read. I've seen/read behind the scenes before... but this is more no-holds-barred from a challenger.
By now the word is out: Rockland restaurateur Peter Xavier Kelly not only appeared on Iron Chef America, but, in an episode due to air May 27, he beat the world-famous Bobby Flay. Just nine months ago, though, Kelly had never seen a full episode of the show. Sure, he knew the basics: Two chefs go head-to-head in an hour-long cooking battle, each preparing five dishes using one “secret ingredient,” with the winner determined by a panel of three celebrity judges. But he never imagined that they’d pick him, a small-market chef, to do battle.
That might seem surprising given Kelly’s reputation. After all, he’s the mastermind behind Restaurant X in Congers, the brand-new X20 in Yonkers (opening June 12), and Xaviars and Freelance Café in Piermont, with the last two regularly earning rare 29s in Zagat. He’s also a self-made chef who taught himself to cook and opened his first restaurant at age 23. But as he put it, “Being the top restaurateur in Rockland is like being the tallest dwarf. It’s up to me to keep raising the bar (and meeting it).” When Iron Chef phoned, he says, he was in the mood for a personal challenge.
Here, in a series of interviews with Rockland Magazine, Kelly shares what it took to prepare for and, ultimately, take down Bobby Flay. For those who know the soft-spoken, easygoing Kelly, you’ll get a rare glimpse of the man at his most competitive—and creative—in what he would later refer to as “the hardest cooking test of my entire life.”
And a little smack...
My strategy all along has been to start out subtle and build to bigger, bolder flavors—same concept we use every day with restaurant tasting menus. Was that the right move? As soon as I start second-guessing, Flay is up.
His dishes aren’t exactly terrible, but I’m not impressed. One is an “Ode to the Philadelphia Cheesesteak,” with a slab of meat slathered in an aged-provolone cheese sauce. Another is a Southwestern rib eye with an egg on top. Come on, steak and eggs? Are you kidding me?
As Flay presents, though, the judges are lapping it up. I keep waiting for them to drop the hammer, but it never falls. Bakhoum says the cheesesteak dish is “really satisfying.” Mizrahi says, “You know, this is why I go to your restaurants all the time. There’s a mastery of just enough, and not too much.” He even calls the steak-and-egg dish “genius.” I’m stunned.
Suddenly, the whole thing feels rigged. Allen is obviously a fan of Flay, it’s rumored that Bakhoum has done PR for him, and now this comment from Mizrahi? I storm out of the studio. Why did I get the battle of the friggin’ grill?! Kathy and James follow me out. Both still think we’ve won, but I know better.
And when we get back to the studio, minutes later, Flay seems awfully confident. As we await the scoring, he starts giving me know-it-all pointers. “Next time, you really need to keep it simple,” he says. “Don’t get too fancy.” I can hardly stand it. There’s more steam coming out my ears than ever came off those infrared grills.