No one ever asks Bobby Flay for his given name.

Probably because Robert William just doesn’t cut it in the celebrity cooking world of Emeril LaGasse, Martha Stewart and, Flay’s favorite, Wolfgang Puck.

With three cookbooks, three TV series and two New York restaurants, each with hard-to-come-by two-star ratings from the New York Times, Flay has become a culinary commodity.

Flay, unlike Stewart, isn’t yet an issue on the New York Stock Exchange, but he has been named food correspondent for The Early Show. That’s the CBS answer to Today and Good Morning America.

In January, he’ll introduce a line of 16 bottled sauces, spice mixes and rubs priced between $5 and $8.

“They don’t tell you how to be good on television when you go to cooking school,” says Flay, who was in Plantation on Oct. 24 for the Creative Cooking Expo at The Fashion Mall.

It doesn’t hurt that he is just 34 and blessed with Irish, baby-faced good looks. His chef-hunk status was surely part of the reason that many showed up to see Flay demonstrate his stuff.

“I’d like to fix him up with my daughter,” says Joyce Winston of Aventura who was there to watch him at the mall.

Alas, Flay was accompanied by Dana Tackney, 27, a physical therapist and his girlfriend of four months. The blond Tackney looks like a more attractive version of television and movie actress Sarah Jessica Parker.

Before Flay hit the mall’s stage for the first of three 40-minute demonstrations, he sat down for an interview and confirmed that he’s an easygoing, nice guy who’s cautiously enjoying the life that food has given him.

“If I ever feel there’s some commercialism coming into my career, I just reground myself, put myself back into the kitchen so that doesn’t happen,” he says.

Flay says he fell into being a chef after trying really hard to drop out of high school a couple of times. He’s the only child of Dorothy, a paralegal who lives in New Jersey, and Bill, an attorney turned business partner of restaurateur Joe Allen. That’s the Joe of Joe Allen, the Miami Beach bistro.

Bill Flay is now retired and living in Palm Beach Gardens. But it was during the early ’80s when he had partnered with Allen that Bobby Flay was offered a job in the kitchen of Allen’s eponymous New York restaurant.

Allen saw something in Flay, and since Flay had no plans for college, offered to pay his $6,800 tuition at the French Culinary Institute in New York. “He just took a shot,” says Flay, who now teaches at the institute part time. “That’s why Joe Allen is so successful. He doesn’t do things just because they benefit him.”

After culinary school, Flay cooked at several Manhattan restaurants, tried his hand as a stockbroker’s assistant and ended up in charge of the kitchen at a spot called Miracle Grill. His Southwest flavors drew crowds. One fan was Jerry Kretchmer, who became Flay’s business partner in Mesa Grill, which opened on Fifth Avenue in 1991. Just seven blocks from there is Bolo, his Spanish-flavored restaurant, open since 1993.

Weekdays, Flay says he works 14 to 15 hours; 10 hours on Saturdays. And he spends most of Sunday with his 3 1/2-year-old daughter, Sophie.

“She gets a lot of my weekend,” says Flay, who shares custody with his second wife, Kate Connelly, former co-host of the Food Network’s Robin Leach Talking Food.

“I’m not a workaholic,” says Flay, who claims he’d be a professional golfer if he weren’t a chef. (He has a 7 handicap.) His other hobby is eating at restaurants, where he finds much of the inspiration for his own changing menus.

While Flay is a celebrity, most of the people who came to see him say his cooking is the draw, not his good looks.

“I like Southwest cooking and his restaurants in New York,” says Alex Haines of Coral Springs. “He’s also easy to follow on TV.”

Winston, a longtime fan of cooking shows, says Flay’s grilling recipes are in keeping with her low-fat diet. “He represents a new, modern way of cooking. His grilling techniques are excellent and he makes it all look easy.”

Flay says he has modeled the business side of being a restaurant owner on Wolfgang Puck.

“I really idolize him,” Flay says. “Wolfgang Puck helped give someone like me a career. He got people to understand that great food could be whimsical. It could be great.”

But Flay is careful about his own celebrity and likes that he can turn out six months of his current Food Network show, Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay, in just 10 days, shooting four episodes per day.

Flay recently greeted some diners at his Mesa Grill, who said they absolutely loved their meal. “We’re a little surprised,” Flay remembers them saying. “We thought you were just on TV.”

“That scares me,” says Flay. “Am I on television too much?”

B. John Tanasychuk can be reached at or 954-356-4632.

SALAD

WARM POTATO AND SWEET ONION SALAD WITH BACON DRESSING

Kosher salt, to taste

Water

2 pounds new potatoes (about 16 to 20 small)

1 tablespoon olive oil

8 slices bacon, coarsely chopped

1 large Vidalia onion or other sweet onion, thinly sliced

2 small garlic cloves, minced

3/4 cup white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons fine-chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup coarse-chopped flat-leaf parsley

Fresh-ground black pepper, to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add potatoes and cook 10 to 15 minutes or until tender. Drain, cut into quarters and place in a large nonreactive bowl.

In a medium nonreactive skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil until almost smoking. Add bacon and cook about 5 minutes or until golden brown and crisp and the fat has been rendered. Remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and pour off all but 3 tablespoons fat from the pan. Add the onions to the skillet and sautM-i 4 to 5 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add the vinegar, drained bacon, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour the bacon mixture over the potatoes and mix gently. Season to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Per serving: 202 calories, 5 grams protein, 7 grams fat, 31 grams carbohydrates, 7 milligrams cholesterol, 112 milligrams sodium, 3 grams total fiber, 31 percent calories from fat.

Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay’s Boy Meets Grill (Hyperion, 1999) by Bobby Flay.

ENTREE

PORK CHOPS WITH HORSERADISH MAPLE GLAZE

Horseradish Maple Glaze:

1 1/2 cups maple syrup

1/4 cup grated fresh horseradish, or prepared horseradish, drained

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon ancho chile powder*

Grilled Pork Chops:

8 (6-ounce) pork chops, 1 inch thick

Olive oil, for brushing chops

Kosher salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste

To make glaze: In a medium bowl, combine maple syrup, horseradish, mustard and chile powder. May be refrigerated, covered for 1 day. Use at room temperature.

To make chops: Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium-high heat. Reserve cup glaze and use the remainder for brushing the chops during cooking. Brush the chops on both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill 3 to 4 minutes, brush with glaze and turn over. Grill another 3 to 4 minutes, brush and turn again, for medium-well doneness. Arrange the chops on a serving platter and brush with the reserved cup glaze. Makes 8 servings.

Per serving: 312 calories, 25 grams protein, 9 grams fat, 32 grams carbohydrates, 73 milligrams cholesterol, 101 milligrams sodium, .32 gram total fiber, 26 percent calories from fat.

*Available at Hispanic and gourmet markets.

Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay’s Boy Meets Grill (Hyperion, 1999) by Bobby Flay.

DESSERT

KEY LIME PUDDING CAKE

Pudding Cake:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 large eggs, separated

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon lime zest

1/3 cup fresh or bottled Key lime juice

Sweetened Whipped Cream:

1 cup very cold heavy cream

2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make cake: Preheat the oven to 345 degrees. Butter a 3-quart shallow or a 9-inch-square nonreactive baking dish and set aside. In a medium nonreactive bowl, combine sugar, flour and salt. In another medium nonreactive bowl, beat together the egg yolks, milk, lime zest and lime juice. Pour the egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir until blended.

Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whites into the lime mixture and pour into the prepared baking dish. Place the baking dish in a slightly larger roasting pan, set on the center rack of the oven, and pour enough hot tap water to reach halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until the surface of the pudding cake is lightly golden. Cake will set as it cools. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

To make whipped cream: Place heavy cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a medium bowl and beat with a mixer until soft peaks form. Serve the pudding cake warm with a dollop of whipped cream on top of each piece. Makes 8 servings.

Per serving: 358 calories, 10 grams protein, 13 grams fat, 50 grams carbohydrates, 268 milligrams cholesterol, 181 milligrams sodium, .31 gram total fiber, 34 percent calories from fat.

Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay’s Boy Meets Grill (Hyperion, 1999) by Bobby Flay.