Whatever Happened To Bobby Flay's Steakhouse?

If you were craving a filet mignon at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City around the 2010s, you probably ended up at Bobby Flay Steak. The celebrity chef opened a classic wood-paneled dining room with seductively dim lighting inside the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in 2006, where it occupied real estate alongside other restaurants affiliated with celebrity chefs like Wolfgang Puck. It stuck around for 15 years, but was one of countless pandemic-era restaurant closures — although it has been sort-of reincarnated (more on that in a moment).

When Bobby Flay Steak was still in business, it had a reputation for being a flashy, relatively expensive steakhouse that mixed a classic steakhouse menu with Flay's reputation for smoky, bold, often southwestern spices and chiles. In line with Bobby Flay's flavor-maximalist approach, some go-to items included Filet Mignon Louisiana served with Cajun-style crawfish and buttery, herby béarnaise sauce, or a cheesesteak-inspired strip steak with provolone sauce and caramelized onions. Beyond the steak, there were options like lamb chops with mint pesto or a rich bourbon toffee profiterole dessert.

Considering its 15-year run, you certainly couldn't label Bobby Flay Steak a failure: In April 2021, Flay's hospitality group Bold Food announced (in tandem with Borgata) that both sides agreed to close the steakhouse. The official reason was "evolving business strategies" for both businesses, with the casino denying that COVID-19 had any influence, although the Borgata had been bleeding money due to the pandemic.

Two years after closing at the Borgata, Bobby Flay Steak was reincarnated, although in a totally different form. It joined premium delivery company Wonder, founded by a former Walmart executive. Wonder licenses the names of prominent chefs (including José Andrés and Marcus Samuelsson), earning the right to sell their dishes. The degree to which these chefs are involved is hazy, but it seems that at ground level, these restaurants are run by Wonder, not Flay, Andrés, or other big names.

The big difference is that you can't sit down to eat at Wonder: It's a ghost kitchen, where food is made entirely for delivery purposes, and the selling point is that you can order steak from Flay and garlic shrimp from Andrés all at once. The company later bought GrubHub, giving it access to a big pre-existing audience of delivery customers. It runs kitchens in several cities around the northeast, from Boston to Washington.

Flay was reportedly given a taste-test before signing up for Wonder, and was impressed enough to become an investor. Flay's offerings on Wonder seem simpler than at the Borgata, with saucy steaks as the focus and more elaborate dishes like the aforementioned Louisiana or cheesesteaks absent. If you want a Flay-style steak in a dine-in setting, you could head to another of Bobby's restaurants in Las Vegas: French-style steakhouse Brasserie B, which serves up steak-frites and rich sauces based around cognac or truffles.