The Only Bobby Flay Restaurant With A Michelin Star

With multiple cookbooks, television shows, and product lines, Bobby Flay has a hand in nearly every corner of the culinary world. When he's not creating recipes or starring on the Food Network, he's running a podcast, a pet food line, and multiple dining concepts. Flay has opened several successful restaurants across the country over the years, but only one has earned a prestigious Michelin star: Mesa Grill Las Vegas. 

Flay first started gaining fame after the opening of Mesa Grill in New York City in 1991. In 2004, his team opened a second outpost in Las Vegas, which quickly gained widespread acclaim. Located inside Caesars Palace, the restaurant was known for its modern take on Southwestern-inspired dishes, like chipotle-glazed steaks and tiger shrimp tamales. With its bold flavors and excellent service, it didn't take long for the kitchen to pique the interest of Michelin's inspectors.

Mesa Grill Las Vegas was awarded one Michelin star in 2008. Michelin inspectors take five criteria into account when assessing a restaurant: consistency, ingredient quality, flavor harmony, technique, and personality. Flay and his team ticked all the boxes, but they only received the award that year.

Michelin stars are re-evaluated annually, and Mesa Grill failed to make the list in 2009. After that year, the Michelin Guide stopped reviewing restaurants in Las Vegas due to the economic climate at the time. There were plans to restart Michelin's Las Vegas restaurant guide, but as of this writing, there are no Las Vegas restaurants listed on the Michelin Guide website.

While Mesa Grill continued to thrive, Flay announced the closure of the restaurant in October 2020. In a press release, he said that the pandemic had inspired him to pursue his passion for Italian cooking and revealed plans for a new restaurant, Amalfi, which opened in the same location the following spring. 

Amalfi is still open at Caesars Palace today and Flay continues to operate a French restaurant, Brasserie B, elsewhere in the resort. He also runs an upscale burger chain in several U.S. cities and partners with Wonder to operate Bobby Flay Steak in New York. Mesa Grill remains the only of his ventures to earn the highest accolade in cooking, but you never know when an anonymous inspector might walk in.