Many foodies and culinary fans know who Bobby Flay is, and you may even know a bit about his family as well. But with the acclaimed chef’s latest show, “The Flay List” you will get to see a side of Flay that you wouldn’t normally. Chef Flay teamed up with his daughter Sophie, and the food-friendly family duo is showcasing some of New York City’s best restaurants every week with their new project. Sophie Flay sat down with Metro to give the scoop on working with her dad and how she hand-picked some of the eateries on “The Flay List”.
Sophie Flay talks ‘The Flay List’ and working with her dad
Where did the idea for ‘The Flay List’ come from?
I do have to give credit to my dad, the idea for this show was definitely his. But we’ve always kind of thought about trying to do something [together]. I’ve appeared as a guest on some of his shows, but we’ve never really worked on a project side by side. I’ve never really wanted to be in food or be a chef, but I think he was hoping that one day I would want to do something surrounding food because it is such a big part of our lives together. So about a year ago, he came up with this idea to showcase some of the great restaurants in New York City, and luckily I was included in that idea.
How did you pick the eateries that you showcase in the show?
Well, I’m always doing research but these are spots that I had already loved, and it helped once we narrowed down the dish that we were going to focus on for each episode. I wanted to show something very different than what my dad shows because his takes are classic New York restaurants that I’ve been going to my whole life, so when I would hear the words tacos or fried chicken, I would immediately think of these childhood spots where I remember him bringing me too. So I really made sure to put in work to choose places that obviously have amazing flavors and were places that I loved, but definitely had a different vibe from the places I knew he was going to choose.
Was it hard narrowing down these spots?
It definitely varied, because of course there are so many amazing places to eat in New York City, it took a little time. I mean fried chicken means so many different things now— you have Nashville fried chicken or Korean fried chicken—- there are so many different choices so it was definitely hard but I’m happy with what I chose.
Are there any episodes that stick out to you as memorable?
The burger episode at J.G Melons really sticks out to me because I had grown up going there my whole life and we have a lot of family ties with the owners. I go there all of the time no matter what, but being back there brought back all of these memories. It was special and it took me by surprise. That [episode] definitely stuck out to me in that regard.
What would you say was the best part about working on this project with your dad?
We’ve never done anything this big together, and to not only have created these memories but to have them for life is special. We will always have a copy of these episodes and we’ll be able to look back on them. We sort of have a log showcasing all of our favorite spots in New York City now. So it’s incredibly special.
Would you ever want to do a show like this again?
You know, I’m a local news reporter in LA for ABC 7, so I am very much on an early career path to be a reporter—that’s what I want to do. But it’s really fun to have this opportunity with my dad, it’s so unique. If people wanted us to do another season it would absolutely be a ton of fun, but for now, I’m definitely going to stick to my journalism career.
Overall what would you tell audiences to expect from “The Flay List?”
I think my dad described it perfectly, it’s really his kind of love story to New York and we are able to showcase some of these amazing places that have been here for decades with a young twist. Anyone who’s close with a parent or has a close father-daughter relationship can relate to this. My dad is so well-known for doing all of these shows and being an incredible chef, but he’s also an incredible dad. I think that this is a side that not everyone has seen of him because we’ve never really done that much together. So you can definitely expect some very classic and playful scenes of my dad and I and see parts of our relationship that makes it really special.
Catch ‘The Flay List’ Thursdays at 10:30 ET on Food Network
