I'm Bobby Flay.
Each week, one brave chef
will try to take me down in my house. This is my show.
Today it is, tomorrow, who knows?
-Ooh. -Trash talking.
This culinary battle is gonna shake down in two rounds.
Round one to get to me, two contenders have to go
through each other using an ingredient of my choice.
It's do or die, Bobby.
[Bobby] Two people that know me well
will decide who's got the skills to beat me.
Yeah.
[Bobby] Round two, I go head-to-head
with a winning contender.
Let's go.
[Bobby] It's their turn to surprise me with their signature dish.
What?
-[woman] Oh, no. -Don't try this at home.
I know you did it, Bobby.
[Bobby] Bottom line...
You're gonna run out of time!
Everyone is out to beat me.
-[rock music playing] -[cheering and applause]
Crowd is hyped!
All right, everybody.
It's about to get loud in here.
Put your hands together
for two first time co-hosts,
Chef Antonia Lofaso
and comedian Leslie Jones, everybody.
-[rock music playing] -[cheers and applause]
You're going down.
Let's go. Let's go.
-You're going down. -You're going down, Bobby.
Yeah.
It's about to be over.
Whoa. This is a powerhouse couple right here, man.
-Yeah. -Leslie, do you remember when I cooked for you at SNL?
Absolutely. I do remember.
And I think we have the... A different memory.
-I think you think you did good that time. -[laughter]
So, I need to come on this show and judge myself.
Okay. Well, I've been waiting for you for a long time.
-Okay. -So I'm glad you're here. And you too, Antonia.
I know. I've spent some time with you
out in the streets, right? So we just did a whole thing
for, like, the NFL.
And so he shows up at the tailgate, right?
They wouldn't let him in.
They didn't even know who you were.
[crowd laughing]
So my thing is, like, "I kind of feel bad."
This is the only thing that is good for you.
Me, on the other hand, I don't care.
[laughter]
All right. Well, why don't we bring out, uh,
some chefs and get this thing going.
-[Antonia] All right. -[Leslie] Okay.
[Antonia] Our first contender
is making waves with his fusion of flavor,
from Coral Gables, Florida, Chef Josh Elliott.
[cheering and applause]
Ooh. Ooh, look at that shirt.
I like your shirt, son.
-Thank you. -[Leslie] All right.
Bobby, this next contestant is so dope,
the mayor named a day after her.
Is there Bobby Flay Day?
Uh, no.
-Why would there be? -[laughter]
Why would there be a Bobby Flay Day?
[laughter]
From Sunrise, Florida.
Come on out, Vicky Colas.
[cheering and applause]
[Leslie] Okay!
Let's go.
Josh, Vicky, welcome. How you guys doing tonight?
-We're doing great. -Feeling great, chef.
Here's the way it's gonna work.
I'm gonna put 20 minutes on the clock,
I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my choice,
and you must make that ingredient
the star of your dish.
And that ingredient is peanuts.
-[woman] Oh. -[applause]
What you gonna make out of peanut?
-What you gonna make? -[chuckles]
All right, guys. Make sure you kick some butt
-with these peanuts. -[bell rings]
[Leslie] What would you make?
I mean, the only thing I can think of is satay.
But that's actually a good thing,
a peanut sauce or a peanut barbecue sauce.
[Antonia] I always think of, like, an African ground nut stew,
which is like one of my favorite things.
-[Leslie] Love it. -[Vicky] Let me start with this first.
-Vicky, what do you got there? -I'm gonna make my version
of creole cashew chicken, but I'm gonna switch the cashew for peanuts.
-Ooh. -That's an island thing.
Food is my love language.
I cook with my heart.
In 2012, I was called to be an ambassador
for Team Haiti in the Culinary Olympics,
and I got Caribbean Chef of the Year.
From there, I built a commissary kitchen,
so that culinary companies could grow sustainable businesses.
My mayor recognizes me
on January 28th as Chef Vicky Day.
So now I'm just looking forward
to beating Bobby Flay. [laughs]
[Leslie] What is he cook... He cook... He cooking bread.
He's making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Is he making peanut butter and jelly?
[Josh] Sort of a toasted peanut
and strawberry, like a gremolata type of thing
over some ricotta and toasted bread.
Okay. A sophisticated peanut butter and jelly.
I'm gonna try.
Right out of culinary school, I got really fortunate.
I was able to cut my teeth working in some great kitchens.
And in 2018, I was named a rising star
for StarChefs for my take on Barcelona style tapas.
My family and I now own and operate QP Tapas.
We've had a great response and it's food
that is just really craveable.
Having a chance to go up against Bobby Flay,
someone that I admire, would be such a dream come true.
And I hope I get a chance to do that tonight.
Okay. So she's grilling the thighs.
[Vicky] I seasoned them with paprika,
garlic and some crushed pepper.
She's grilling them, for 20 minutes?
[Bobby] I don't know, that's gonna be tough.
Give 'em a round of applause, guys.
Chef Josh, what are you making?
You said, strawberry gremolata?
So, yeah. I was gonna kinda toast these peanuts here
a little bit and toss in some strawberry at the end.
Kinda, like, a PB and J a little bit
-but not quite so sweet, hopefully. -Upscale PB and J.
-[Josh] A little bit. -Ricotta, strawberries,
balsamic basil,
very, very, very different than what Chef Vicky is doing.
I'm in the island, he is in, uh, I don't know, Italy?
-Just a little bit. -[Antonia] All right. And Chef Vicky,
-you're toasting the peanuts. -[Vicky] Yes.
Worried about chicken getting... Are you gonna just see
-do the whole thing on the plancha? -[Vicky] Correct.
-[Antonia] Okay. -I'm worried about her chicken being cooked.
I'm worried about the chicken being cooked too.
-Yeah. -All right. Get it.
[cheering and applause]
Chef Vicky, she's using peanuts,
green bell peppers, red bell peppers,
-tomato paste. -[Bobby] It's like a peanut stew
that Vicky is making.
In Josh land, he is gonna make like a crostini.
Is he gonna make peanut butter?
I don't think he's making peanut butter.
One of my favorite things to do
is go to Whole Foods,
and use the peanut butter machine.
-[Antonia] Totally. -[Bobby] You put... [laughs]
Have you seen... You haven't seen this before?
See, that's white people stuff right there.
-[laughing] -That's white people...
That is the whitest thing I've ever heard in my life.
You go to Whole Foods and make peanut butter?
-[Antonia] Make your own-- -[Bobby] Yes. [laughs]
Cook for me, baby.
I'm looking at my chicken thigh on the grill,
I look over on the clock, I'm like, "Nope."
-[Bobby] Oh, she's frying 'em. -[Antonia] Very smart.
[Josh] I've got the strawberries,
the peanuts and the balsamic,
the basil and the mint together.
We're starting to see the gremolata come to life.
I think he put strawberries in there.
-[Antonia] Yeah, he did. -I wouldn't have done that.
[Antonia] Now, it's gonna make 'em wet.
I wanna see what's going on.
-[laughing] -[cheering and applause]
If Leslie walked into my kitchen while I was competing,
-I would be, like, freaking out. -Yeah, yeah.
Ooh, that smell good. Island flavors. Hmm.
Okay. If you beat him, do you think you could beat Flay?
-Of course. -[Leslie] Oh, okay. Okay.
That's right. World domination, girl.
-[laughing] -[Leslie] I feel you.
Okay. So what's this?
-What's this right here? Because I love it. -[Josh] This is like a...
This is like a peanut strawberry gremolata situation.
-"Gremola"? -Gremolata kind of thing.
Gremolata, I can't... I don't eat nothing I can't spell.
-[laughter] -It sound like cheesecake.
-[laughs] -It does though. She's right.
Bobby, you are in trouble.
[crowd laughing]
[Bobby] Vicky, what's making it yellow?
-Is that curry? -She not going to tell you her secret, Bobby.
She got a whole day named after her.
[laughter]
[Antonia] No, no. She blended all the peppers and the peanut,
so that's, essentially, the color it comes out.
[Vicky] I grabbed my chicken out of the fryer.
[Leslie] But I know she cooking that chicken.
-That looks really good. -[Leslie] That really do.
That's gonna be tasty right there.
[Bobby] I want her to keep cooking that, though.
As I'm cutting my chicken,
I realized the chicken was raw.
-[Leslie] Oh. -[Bobby] Yeah.
-It's raw. -[Leslie] Girl.
-[Antonia] Six minutes to go. -Is the chicken gonna be done?
-[Leslie] Damn. -[Antonia] Don't panic.
-Nobody panic. Nobody panic. -Undercooked chicken. Don't move.
[Vicky] My plan is to remove the bone.
Any piece of meat with bone in, it's gonna take
longer to cook and I just don't have that kind of time.
[Josh] Very quickly. I combine ricotta and heavy cream.
I'm just like in tornado mode at this point.
[Vicky] I grab tortilla, fry it
so that we can have a little bit of crunch.
[Josh] I'm spooning gremolata. I'm feeling good about this.
[Leslie] His looks kind of like...
[laughter]
[Vicky] I am breathing at this point.
Whew. Chicken is done.
Ten, nine, eight, seven...
[Vicky] I'm garnishing my dish with chopped peanuts and cilantro.
Four, three, two, one.
[bell rings]
[cheering and applause]
All right. Chef Vicky, what did you make?
This is a peanut stewed chicken with crushed peanuts,
and the tortilla is there if you want a crunchy bite.
Chef, the chicken is cooked beautifully,
but I do think the time got a little away from you
because the development of the flavor in the sauce
needed to be a little bit longer.
I feel like if you had 10 more minutes,
you'd have been able to simmer it
and make it more flavorful.
But I liked it.
All right. Chef Josh, what did you make for us?
I made a crostini of ricotta
with, uh, toasted peanut and strawberry gremolata.
Okay. I'm...
How is this gonna taste?
[upbeat music playing]
[crowd laughing]
Oh, my God.
This don't taste like I thought it was gonna taste.
-This tastes like a pizza. -[laughter]
I was like, "This gonna be boring
'cause it's just toast and peanuts,
and this is strawberries," but this is elevated.
-[crowd laughing] -Elevated.
-Thank you. -[Antonia] The gremolata on top
is beautifully seasoned.
I love the sourness of the strawberries
and the crunchiness from the peanuts.
So there's like the textural difference, you know.
Is it featuring peanuts? I don't know.
All right, chefs. I need a moment
with Leslie to discuss.
[Josh] When Chef Antonia mentions that it's maybe not
peanut forward, I do start to feel
my nerves tick up just a little bit.
And the chef that is moving forward
to beat Bobby Flay is...
Chef Josh.
[cheering and applause]
You haven't seen the last of me. I'm not gonna quit.
This is just the beginning.
Josh, I thought it was gonna taste nasty. I'm gonna be honest.
I really... I was like, "It's gonna be nasty,"
and it was delicious.
You did good with peanuts.
-You did good. -[laughs]
[tense music playing]
[Bobby] All right, Josh. Congratulations, you got through round one.
-How do you feel? -I'm excited,
I'm looking forward to going
against somebody that I looked up to
for years, so I'm looking forward to it.
All right. Well, what are we cooking tonight?
What's your, uh, signature dish?
My signature dish is...
[intense music playing]
-...jerk chicken. -Oh.
[applause]
[Bobby] Great dish. I love jerk chicken. All right.
Yeah. But do you love it enough to make it good?
-Yes. -[Antonia] All right.
We have three experts standing by
to do a blind taste test.
Don't be scared. Don't let him scare you.
Hey, Josh, don't be scared. What you scared of?
If you need me to go punch him in the face...
-[laughter] -You know what I'm saying?
I would just pow, pow, you know,
right up in the back of the head.
Let's put 45 minutes on the clock.
Your time starts...
-[Antonia] Now! -...now, Bobby!
[cheers and applause]
[Antonia] Jerk chicken, if you've traveled anywhere through Jamaica,
like, these barrels that it's kind of smoked
on the side of the road,
usually spiced with scallion,
thyme, cinnamon, clove, all spice.
[Leslie] Is all jerk chicken spicy?
There's levels to it. But yes, jerk chicken
should be spicy. Usually, with like a Scotch bonnet pepper.
[Bobby] I love the flavors of jerk chicken.
You know me, I like... I like big flavors,
and jerk chicken is a great example of that.
So I'm making jerk rub chicken
with an avocado mango relish and a little hot sauce.
You know, you gotta bring the flavor.
-Joshy. -Yeah?
Jerk chicken. Tell me the story. Where did that come from?
You know, I've lived down in Miami now for half my life,
I guess, and it kind of... It got into me.
The island spices got into him.
I got so much confidence in Josh.
[Josh] My signature dish is jerk chicken
with sweet plantains and quick pikliz.
A pikliz is a Haitian pretty quick pickle.
[Bobby] I start working on my rub, garlic, paprika,
coriander, cinnamon, allspice,
some habanero powder, and some orange juice.
Once my rub is together, I marinate my bone in
chicken thighs.
Jerk is something that needs
to sit in those chicken thighs
to really penetrate to the center
so that it's flavorful all around.
[Josh] I grab granulated onion,
granulated garlic, allspice,
ground ginger, dried thyme.
Now, I'm gonna get into building the wet components of my marinade.
Soy sauce, scallions, habanero peppers,
Fresno chilies, black garlic.
-[Leslie] What is that? -A black garlic.
What's... They got black garlic?
[laughs]
Black garlic is not traditional,
but it's a nice blast of umami that's incredible.
-Salty, a lot of umami. That's what Josh-- -That's right.
Black garlic is salty.
[Josh] I'm mixing everything together.
My goal is to get marinade
on the bottom, on the top
because I really want it
to become one with the chicken.
[Leslie] Bobby, what you doing with those mangos?
I'm gonna make a, uh, a Fresno chili and mango hot sauce.
[Antonia] There's his honey.
-He's got his honey. -[Leslie] Wait a minute. What is the honey?
What is that, a secret or something?
-[Antonia] He loves honey. -Does he think he invented honey?
-Yes. -You know bees invented honey, right?
-[laughter] -[Leslie] Not Bobby Flay.
The one thing that I learned about Bobby Flay,
and this is, like, when I was still in culinary school,
-the man, like, does wonders with mango. -[Leslie] Ooh.
[Josh] I gotta just stay true to what I'm doing here,
don't let Bobby get in my head.
He's like a dangerous person with mango in his hand.
I hate him.
[laughter]
Chefs, 34:30. Gotta go.
-[cheers and applause] -It smells incredible in here.
Joshy, you're smoking it first?
Yeah, just for a second.
What kind of wood chips do you have in there?
-[Josh] I did some hickory. -[Antonia] Really smart.
I'm gonna say "We love" and you guys say "Joshy".
-We love. -[audience] Joshy!
-[Antonia] We love! -[audience] Joshy!
-Yes! -Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Bobby, are you nervous?
-A little bit. -Are you scared?
-Yeah. -[laughter]
-What are you making? -[Bobby] Jerk chicken...
-Uh-huh. -...avocado mango relish,
and the, uh, Fresno chili mango hot sauce.
-Delicious. Okay. Bye. -[Bobby] Bye.
-Joshy, good job. -Thank you.
-Thank you, chef. -[cheers and applause]
[Antonia] Josh is smoking the chicken first.
It helps it marinate quicker.
Now I feel like it's a good time to get it over
to the grill to develop that char.
Ooh.
[Bobby] So, I'm grilling my chicken, you know,
leave it on the grill for a while.
The char is really key to this dish.
You want that crustiness
on the outside of the chicken.
[Josh] I'm cutting these plantains into obliques,
which is just kind of a back and forth triangle cut.
-[Leslie] Look how he's cutting 'em. -[Antonia] Yeah. I know.
That is a man who has touched a banana before.
That is a man who has touched a plantain before.
-[cheers and applause] -[laughs]
When a sweet plantain is cooked,
it is golden brown and sweet, it's incredible.
[Bobby] So, I'm making an avocado mango relish
with some mint, cilantro,
lime juice, and Fresno chili.
What are you doing with that cabbage, Joshy?
We're gonna make, like, island pickles with cabbage,
uh, just, uh, some carrot and cucumber.
That is a classic combination with jerk.
-It's like he really is embracing the dish. -Correct.
[Bobby] So I take vinegar, add a little honey to it
so it's kind of like sweet and sour.
I'm gonna brush it on the chicken just
to kind of mellow it out.
[Leslie] Bobby's making it look so damn easy.
Bobby, you're annoying me right now.
Oh, my God.
[Antonia] Whoa!
All right, Bobby. I'm about to take you down.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. What's up?
-[laughter] -[Leslie] Yeah.
I feel like Josh is making like a island jerk chicken...
-[Bobby] Yeah. -...and you're just a jerk making chicken.
-[laughing] -[cheers and applause]
[laughter]
-You like mangoes? -Yeah.
Let me tell you what's gonna happen to you if you win.
[laughs] Really?
-[laughter] -So, what you got over here? You got plantain?
I got plantains? Yeah, those are sweet plantains.
Yeah.
-Ooh! -[laughs]
That's good, though. I don't know.
I don't know who's gonna win this.
That plantain is good, son.
Fourteen minutes. Let's go.
[Bobby] I take the skin off the thigh,
I'm gonna use it, uh, and fry it, and make it nice and crispy.
-[Leslie] What is that he frying? What is that? -Oh, chicken skin.
[cheers and applause]
Jerk chicken doesn't ever really have
crispy chicken skin, and I miss that about it,
so it is smart.
And then you have Josh, I mean, literally,
that chicken, it is, like, seasoned to its core.
[Josh] I'm going to finish my chicken in the oven.
-[gasps] -[Leslie] Josh, are you trying
-to give us a heart attack? -[laughter]
[Bobby] I put the jerk chicken on the plate
and I add the Fresno chili and mango hot sauce,
some of the avocado mango relish, pickled shallots,
and the crispy skin.
[Leslie] Ooh, damn.
-Are you making one for us? -[Bobby] Yeah.
He... Look at him right now.
Two and half minutes and he's giving us forks.
-Josh, don't look at us. -[Leslie] Josh, don't look at him, Josh.
Josh, don't look at us.
-Josh, don't look at us. -Don't look at us.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
I don't think we should eat this.
[both] Oh!
-[Antonia] Joshy, no, it's terrible. -[Leslie] Josh, it's awful.
Oh, my... [groans]
-You're such a jerk! -[laughs]
[grunting]
I choose Bobby Flay!
[Antonia] One minute.
Oh, my God.
It's so spicy, but it's so good!
[Josh] There's no doubt that Chef Bobby,
he's put together something everybody's gonna enjoy.
[Leslie] Josh! You gotta beat this dude.
[cheers and applause]
But I feel great about my dish,
I got my plantains down, a little bit of pikliz
right next to that, my jerk chicken.
[audience] Nine, eight...
[Josh] I'm feeling confident,
there's a level of familiarity
and comfort on the plate.
[all] Three, two, one.
[cheers and applause]
-Great job, man. -Thank you, sir.
Great job.
I bet you Josh's good too, though.
Congratulations to both of you,
both of those plates looks phenomenal.
And now, we're gonna introduce you
to the judges. First up,
TV host and restaurant reporter, Lauren Scala.
Chef and restaurateur, Wesly Jean Simon.
And the owner of Jasmine's Caribbean Cuisine,
Jasmine Gerald.
[cheers and applause]
Go ahead and try the first plate
of jerk chicken in front of you.
Okay. Lauren, what do you think?
The chicken is cooked to perfection,
the skin, the temperature, everything.
The mango was really sweet and bright.
I love to see plantains on a plate
when I have jerk chicken. It's just such a traditional thing,
so I would have liked to see some of that there, too.
Well, the chicken was cooked to perfection.
I love the skin, love the crispiness.
Traditionally, marination is very important.
When you cut inside the chicken,
I'm not getting any more jerk.
Love the crispy skin, though.
The mango avocado relish, I really, really love.
The chicken? I felt that the jerk seasoning
should have been marinated more inside of the chicken.
But overall, it was delicious.
Judges, please try the second jerk chicken.
[intense music playing]
Okay. Lauren, what did you think?
This jerk chicken is incredible.
It's so juicy and so flavorful.
And I'm so happy to see that there are plantains on the dish.
I love sweet plantains, I feel like they just go
hand in hand with jerk chicken.
[Wesly] As soon as I taste this, I feel like
I'm in the streets, under the big sun,
and just having jerk chicken, because you get your marinade
to get your spice inside, to get the smokiness.
But I could use some more heat
because you gotta go hot, hot, hot.
It remind me of authentic jerk chicken
because you can taste the seasoning inside of the chicken.
The pikliz, it could have been marinated,
just a little bit softer in texture,
but I love this dish.
Judges, please go ahead and vote.
[Josh] To cook my food against Bobby Flay,
someone I've looked up to throughout my career
and beat him would be incredible.
[dramatic music playing]
Well, the judges have made a decision.
The winner is...
-Chef Josh! -[cheers and applause]
-[laughs] That's so good. -Congratulations.
Oh, thank you, chef. Thank you.
So happy for you.
-[laughing] -[Bobby] You cook great.
They think they won.
He beat Bobby Flay!
This dish, you get Island flavor.
-This is beautiful. -Thank you so much.
-It was awesome. -So good.
-Congratulations. Good job. -[Leslie] Look at Bobby Flay!
[Antonia] I feel bad.
I don't feel bad.
-Because he's-- -I love making White men cry.
[laughter]
My name's Josh Elliott, and I just beat Bobby Flay.
[cheers and applause]