Here Are All the Boston-area Chefs Who Actually Managed to Beat Bobby Flay
We look back at the few mighty victors—and tell you where to find their competition-winning dishes today.
Chef Tom Berry, chief culinary officer for Boston restaurants such as Yvonne’s, triumphed on “Beat Bobby Flay” in February. / Photo courtesy of Food Network
Of all the food-TV competitions out there, Beat Bobby Flay might offer the toughest challenge of all. First of all, of course, that’s because Flay is a talented toque with a whole restaurant empire under his belt. Besides that, though, there’s the obvious issue that an entire Food Network show is predicated on how amazing he is—so it can’t exactly go and give the win to other chefs too often, can it?
In other words, you’ve got to be a pretty exceptional cook to fillet Flay on his home turf. Over the years, though, a handful of Boston-area chefs have managed to do exactly that. Most recently, the honor went to Tom Berry, the man behind the menus at Ruka, Mariel, and a number of other glitzy Hub hotspots: He just beat Bobby in an episode that aired earlier this month. It got us reminiscing about all the (very few) other locals who triumphed on the show—as well as its predecessor, Throwdown! with Bobby Flay—over the course of its (very many) episodes.
Here’s a look at the Boston folks who took on Bobby Flay and actually triumphed, plus where you can find them now—and, in most cases, still taste the same dishes that earned them the win.
Tom Berry on “Beat Bobby Flay” in February. / Photo courtesy of Food Network
Tom Berry
Beat Bobby Flay, Season 29 (2022)
Berry is chief culinary officer for the COJE group, where he guides everything edible for a large portfolio of Boston restaurants (including first-born Yvonne’s downtown) that puts nightlife-style sizzle into the city’s finer dining scene. That kind of swagger comes in handy in a food-TV competition, too, and it helped Berry best Bobby—well, that and his cook-off-winning merda de can. The French spinach dumplings recently joined the menu at COJE’s baby-faced latest restaurant, Coquette in the Seaport.
Where to find him:
Coquette, 450 Summer St., 617-419-8140, frenchcoquette.com, as well as additional COJE restaurants.
Stephen Coe. / Courtesy photo
Stephen Coe
Chopped: Beat Bobby Flay (2020)
It was a crossover event that had Food Network fans salivating: Bobby Flay came over to the set of Chopped, where 16 of that show’s former champions competed for the honor of taking him on. At the end of the five-episode run, and after making it through the gauntlet of preliminary showdowns, Coe (executive chef at Marshfield Country Club) came out victorious over the Final Boss himself. He used the surprise ingredients in all his Chopped-provided mystery baskets to craft tastier dishes than even Flay could, all on the fly.
Where to find him:
Marshfield Country Club, 515 Moraine St., Marshfield, 781-834-9358, marshfieldcc.com.
Ashley Gaboriaiult
Beat Bobby Flay, Season 19 (2019)
It’s highly appropriate that New England, home to the greatest feckin’ football team in history, kehd, also gave us the chef who was able to tackle Flay in a cook-off with a football-tailgate theme. In an episode aired just days before Super Bowl LIII, in which the Patriots conquered the Los Angeles Rams, Idle Hands chef Ashley Gaboriaiult scored a touchdown with al pastor chili cheese fries. It’s exactly the sort of suited-up comfort food Gaboriaiult cooks so very, very well at the Quincy restaurant.
Where to find her:
Idle Hour, 1464 Hancock St., Quincy, 617-845-5711, idlehourquincy.com.
Chris Henry. / Courtesy photo
Chris Henry
Beat Bobby Flay, Season 18 (2018)
Once upon a time, no less than legendary Boston chef Barbara Lynch named Henry to lead the catering arm of her fine dining empire. When he took to the battle ring on Beat Bobby Flay, though, Henry—whose Virginia roots give him an affinity for Southern fare—only needed to whip up a humble fried green tomato sandwich to outshine the star of the show. He’s that good, and now he and his wife, restaurant operations vet Meredith Henry, run their own gourmet catering company in Andover, Mass.
Where to find him:
Dinewiththehenrys.com.
Robert Sisca. / Courtesy photo
Robert Sisca
Beat Bobby Flay, Season 16 (2018)
Sisca knows seafood (see: The Banks Fish House, the latest Himmel Hospitality Group restaurant in which he’s a chef-partner). He also knows French food (see: Bistro du Midi, his venerable Provençale dining room facing the Public Garden). Put these two things together, and you get bouillabaisse, the French fish stew that clinched his win against Bobby Flay—and is available at Bistro du Midi, should you feel inclined to sample it yourself. (You should.)
Where to find him:
Bistro du Midi, 272 Boylston St., Boston, 617-279-8000, bistrodumidi.com; The Banks Fish House, 406 Stuart St., Boston, 617-399-0015, thebanksboston.com.
Tim Wiechmann
Beat Bobby Flay, Season 2 (2014)
Wiechmann’s German-inspired restaurant and biergarten, Bronwyn, had only been open about a year when he took on Bobby Flay. That was all the time he needed, apparently, to perfect his competition-crushing schnitzel, which is served at Bronwyn with a mushroom crème and potato salad with bacon.
Where to find him:
Bronwyn, 255 Washington St., Somerville, 617-776-9900, bronwynrestaurant.com.
Christine and Carla Pallotta. / Courtesy photo
Christine and Carla Pallotta
Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, Season 9 (2011)
The Pallotta sisters turn to their mother’s Italian recipes to inform every dish on the menu at Nebo Cucina & Enoteca. So shout-out to their madre—the unofficial third winner, if you will—for coming up with a zucchini lasagna that triumphed in the final season of Flay’s Throwdown! series. Ten years later, it’s still at their restaurant (except now there’s an option to add Bolognese to the veggie original).
Where to find them:
Nebo Cucina & Enoteca, 520 Atlantic Ave., Boston, 617-723-6326, neborestaurant.com.
Marilyn and Sheila Brass filming an episode of their show Food Flirts at downtown Boston restaurant Shōjo. / Courtesy photo
Marilyn and Sheila Brass, “The Brass Sisters”
Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, Season 8 (2010)
The Pallottas weren’t the first sister act to beat Bobby. That honor goes to the so-called “Brass Sisters.” Together, the pair of sweet Boston-area siblings in their 70s and 80s have starred in their own recent reality show, The Food Flirts, and authored several cookbooks, including the James Beard award-nominated Heirloom Cooking. That tome contains a recipe for the very same pineapple upside down cake that scored the Brass Sisters the gold on Throwdown!
Where to find them:
Thebrasssisters.com.
Joanne Chang / Photo by Kristin Teig
Joanne Chang
Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, Season 2 (2007)
I mean, come on. Was there any chance that nationally lauded chef Joanne Chang’s sticky buns wouldn’t win out over—well, just about anything else? This is, after all, the iconic pastry that helped launch her local chain of Flour bakeries into the stratosphere. Many, many years later, we still haven’t come down from the sugar high.
Where to find her:
Multiple locations of Flour Bakery + Cafe, flourbakery.com; as well as Myers + Chang, 1145 Washington St., Boston, 617-542-5200, myersandchang.com.
