After 21 years on Food Network, Bobby Flay's practically become family: You know, that uncle who sees you grilling and butts in with suggestions to step up your burger game -- or straight-up challenges you to a throwdown. But, even after starring in more than a dozen shows, releasing 13 cookbooks and opening 20-plus restaurants, the celebrity chef proves he's got more layers than an onion.
1. Before his Food Network fame, Flay traded the restaurant business for Wall Street.
He worked as a clerk for the American Stock Exchange and quit after six months. "It was all about the dollar," he told Inc. "I went back to the kitchen."
2. He knows how to bust a move.
Flay broke it down during Sunday's Puerto Rican Day Parade:
Though, to be fair, this isn't the first time he's gotten his groove on in public.
3. He respects the best meal of the day so much that he's devoting his next cookbook to it.
Brunch at Bobby's takes his Cooking Channel (and Sunday Fundays everywhere) to the next level, with recipes for carrot cake pancakes with a maple-cream cheese drizzle and wild mushroom-yukon gold potato hash. The book comes out this September.
4. The most memorable burger he's ever had isn't one of his own.
It's the green chile cheeseburger at La Casa Sena in New Mexico. He tried it while filming Food Nation years ago, and it inspired both the Santa Fe burger at Bobby's Burger Palace and a similar dish at Mesa Grill.
5. He's so into horse racing that he's on the Breeders' Cup Board of Directors and reportedly gave estranged wife Stephanie March a horse as a gift for their fourth wedding anniversary.
March says the horse, named Dad's Crazy, earned Flay $130,000 in winnings and another $60,000 when it was auctioned off, and she never saw any money from it, according to TMZ. Flay and his third wife are in the midst of a divorce.
Horse Racing Nation lists Flay as the owner (or partial owner) of several other racehorses, namely America, Dame Dorothy, Julie's Love, Paris Bikini and Auld Alliance.
(Note: The horse in the Instagram shot is not Dad's Crazy.)
6. One of his biggest rules for his 19-year-old daughter, Sophie, is to never ride a motorcycle.
"I would say you're a pretty strict parent, but I still have some freedom," she told Papa Flay when the two were on the Rachael Ray Show in 2013.
6. At age 8, he asked for an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas.
His parents got it for him, along with a G.I. Joe, to "balance things out," according to Good Housekeeping.
7. He's won 34 out of 103 Throwdowns.
One of which was a tie (when he challenged Cindy Reed Wilkins of Houston, Texas, to a chili cook-off in season one).
8. If he could have dinner with anyone, it'd be Muhammad Ali.
On the menu? Bourbon-glazed pork chops, cheesy grits and buttermilk biscuits, in honor of the boxing legend's hometown. He's thought it out.
9. You can do yoga with Bobby Flay.
Or just watch him get his triangle pose on, in his web series, Bobby Flay Fit. (He's also an avid runner and Soulcycler.)
10. He has a pet cat named Taco.
And Taco, a Maine Coon, has its own Instagram account (@TheRealTacoCat).
11. He's played sous chef to the POTUS.
Flay and President Barack Obama grilled corn and rib-eye steaks together in 2009.
12. He's the first chef to have gotten a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Flay's star was the 2,553rd one on the Walk of Fame, which was unveiled on June 2nd, alongside stars for Julianna Margulies, Sofia Vergara and Kelly Ripa.
13. Flay has to bust out reading glasses when he's at restaurants.
Hey, those menus have fine print.
14. He was once parodied on the Nickelodeon series, iCarly.
The character's name was Ricky Flame, the show was called Food Fight, and he challenged the stars of the show to a Spaghetti Taco throwdown. (Flay himself wasn't part of the episode, sadly, though he did play himself in an episode of Entourage.)
