Flay Coming To Charleston For Food & Wine Festival

[Pluff Mudder]

TV chef Bobby Flay will host two events

By Teresa Taylor (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, August 27, 2008




AP Flay


One of the best-known faces on food television will be the headliner for the 2009 BB&T Charleston Food + Wine Festival.

Bobby Flay, a national restaurateur, cookbook author and star of multiple cooking shows, will host two events during the festival, which will be held March 5-8. One is a Southern-style charity luncheon that partially benefits the Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital. The other is an hourlong gourmet burger demonstration. Flay also will appear at a book signing.

Charleston, SC Latest Features: TV chef Bobby Flay will host two events

[Food Network Fan]

Are you going to go?

[Pluff Mudder]

No... too rich for my blood. Did you see the prices of those tickets?

[Food Network Fan]

Looks like the cheapest way is to gamble with a 25 dollar ticket for a chance to cook with him.

[Pluff Mudder]

That's just for the raffle ticket. To get in you still have to pay (don't know what's it going to be this year) the $55 - $65 admission fee to the Culinary Village.

[PicBuddy]

$25 a piece to see Bobby Flay? If it were local, I would consider it. $10 each would settle in a lot better though. Two people can eat lunch at Mesa Grill on 5th Ave. Uptown NYC for under $30 unless you order drinks, but I'd be a little shy about $50 a couple. I guess if would depend on if it included some food and wine as well. If it does, that's pretty decent, but there's probably no guarantee of it.

As many of Bobby's shows that I have watched, I don't really have a desire to meet him. When eating at Mesa Grill I wasn't surprised that he wasn't there, but even if he had been, what is there to say? I am sure a hundred thousand other people he doesn't know have already told him "I like your shows and watch them all the time" or the even dreaded and scarier "I'm your biggest fan". Heheh (If I were a celebrity that would always concern me... heheh ) And I am not the biggest fan of anyone. Hehe. I've been able to meet Presidents (Bush Sr. - 42 and Bill Clinton (very tall)), actors Brent Spiner of Star Trek and Gary Burghoff (Radar) of MASH, comedians Bill Cosby and the now late George Carlin, the late John DeLorean actually stayed at my home for a week, and I've met the band ZZ Top about 20 times. In every single situation you realize #1 that they are shorter than they look on TV or your imagination. And when talking to them you realize that you are looking into the eyes of someone that has probably seen and talked to way more other human beings than you will ever meet. And they are just normal people.

But I will tell you what, I wish we had known about the contest and entry method to get on an episode of Grill It! Because I am almost sure that with my wifes Japanese cuisine and background of working in Tokyo restaurants (including where Ice Cream Tempura was invented), and my background in the food industry that spanned 12 years, they would have at least read our entry and thought about it. Now see, that would be the best way to meet one of your favorite celebrity chefs, just to be on their show. That way you could see what they are really like as a person. Because to film a 30 minute (21 minutes without commercials) edit would probably take a few hours. Just enough time without it being a whole day, and everyone would be ready to go when it was over. And I wouldn't say that it would be any type of lifetime achievement or even overly-greatly enjoyable. But it would be interesting no doubt.

I'll bet Alton Brown is a pretty cool guy that almost anyone would like. Bobby, who knows?

If I ever got a chance to ask him (Bobby Flay) something, it would probably be "Was it just incredibly talented acting or did your Co-Host Jacqui Maloof on Hot off the Grill really have the hots for you big time dude?" Heheh

[Food Network Fan]

No the 25 dollars just gives you a chance in the raffle, and you might have to pay to be there when they do the raffle so it would add up quick.