Fans of celebrity chef Bobby Flay know him for his can't-miss Food Network shows, cookbooks, restaurants and guest appearances on various TV programs. They also know he has a close relationship with his daughter, Sophie Flay. Born on April 16, 1996 (an Aries!), Sophie was easy to parent, Bobby says, and they share many interests, including watching horse races, exploring new cuisines and finding great eateries. Sophie starred with her famous foodie dad on two Food Network series, Bobby and Sophie on the Coast (also on discovery+) and The Flay List. She's also appeared on Beat Bobby Flay, Brunch @ Bobby's and Beat Bobby Flay (Holiday Throwdown). The duo co-authored a cookbook, Sundays With Sophie: Flay Family Recipes for Any Day of the Week, and co-hosted a podcast, "Always Hungry," from 2021 to 2022.

“My dad and I have the best relationship,” Sophie remarked as she walked onstage to join her dad on a Father's Day episode of Beat Bobby Flay. “Father’s Day is really special to us, and I’m here to help him out.” She reached behind her back to reveal the secret ingredient that the chefs would have to feature in their dishes — her favorite food, lobster. Lobster, Bobby said, is “one ingredient in particular that I like to cook with my daughter.”

Chef Scott Conant and Hailey Duff, who hosted The Real Girl's Kitchen on the Cooking Channel from 2014-2015, stood by to judge the dishes. In the end, chef and restaurateur Sam Marvin won with his take on lobster hash.

Getting into the University of Southern California was just about the best day of his daughter’s life, Bobby said on "Sophie's Sunday Funday" on Brunch @ Bobby's. “Maybe mine, too, because I was so thrilled for her.” They liked watching the USC Trojans square off against rival football teams, but the real magic, Bobby said, was tailgating before the game. “You guys know how to throw parties for sure,” he told Sophie, “but there’s never any food.” He volunteered to make an Apple French Toast Casserole. “We used to go apple picking,” Sophie recalled. “I would eat the apples before we would leave.” He also offered to make a frittata and a parfait.

“How’s that sound?” he asked when they spoke by phone. Sophie was down with it. “One thing I love about her is her enthusiasm,” Bobby said. "I wanted to be part of that ‘tailgating’ experience with her. This has been totally fun, testing all these recipes for Sophie’s tailgate, and I know she’s going to love it."

When Sophie co-hosted a Season 13 episode of Beat Bobby Flay, she handpicked the competitors: chef Dean Fearing, known as the "Father of Southwestern Cuisine," and chef Jonathan Waxman, one of her dad’s culinary mentors and a pioneer of California cuisine. Their challenge was to turn a specific ingredient — tomatillos, in this case — into the star of a dish. As they prepped, Bobby asked Sophie about some pots and pans he’d noticed missing in his apartment, since he knew she wasn’t into cooking. “Are you starting to cook secretly behind the scenes?”

“It’s getting to the point where I’m embarrassed that I don’t know how to cook since you’re my dad,” Sophie admitted. “So, I’m trying to teach myself a little bit.”

Jonathan's grilled chicken thighs with tomatillo salsa bested Dean’s barbecue shrimp and warm tomatillo salsa, which left Jonathan to challenge Bobby in Round 2. “I cannot believe my dad beat us,” Sophie said when her dad won and went on to ask him if he’d still cook for her that night. “No,” he said with a laugh.

Once, while Sophie was still in college, she headed back to New York to have brunch on the day after Thanksgiving with her dad. Bobby called the holiday “an important part of our lives” and his favorite day of the year. He planned to make a pumpkin-chocolate swirl quick bread that he knew she'd love. “Usually, our Thanksgiving consists of me doing all the cooking,” he said.

Because Sophie also likes pies and cakes, she asked her dad to make a red velvet cake and a Boston cream pie for their post-Turkey Day feast. But she only lasted about 6 minutes, Bobby said, before she abandoned the kitchen. When she came back, she kidded her dad because his red velvet cake had turned out orange.

“I’m not a baker, all right?” Bobby protested. Although it took a while before Sophie really got interested in cooking, he said he loved that she was an enthusiastic eater: "She basically wakes up hungry." He thought it was cool when she started sending him pictures of dishes she had made on her own.

Sophie graduated from USC in 2018, took a job as a community reporter in Los Angeles and became what her dad calls "a social media maven." Since she stayed in LA after college, Bobby flew out to join her for their joint culinary adventure, Bobby and Sophie on the Coast. They traveled the coastline with stops at some of the eateries that were generating a buzz on social media and at some of Sophie’s lesser-known favorites. One big surprise: She took her cat-loving father to a cat café, Crumbs & Whiskers, where the customers can play with friendly rescue cats. Proceeds from sales go toward their adoption costs.

Bobby has loved cats since he was a boy. “I was raised by cats,” he said, while Sophie, surrounded by furry felines, wondered aloud if she could be a cat whisperer. Currently, Bobby has two cats and a line of cat food, Made by Nacho, inspired by his beloved late cat, Nacho.

When the celebrity chef and his daughter co-hosted The Flay List, a six-episode series for Food Network, they traveled around their native New York City to find the best places and foods to eat. Bobby introduced Sophie to classic dishes at his favorite eateries, while she shared her latest discoveries with him.

They made a stop at Ed's Lobster Bar. Ed McFarland, the owner, occasionally serves as a judge on Beat Bobby Flay, and his seafood restaurant was one of Bobby's picks on Season 1 of the show. Bobby and Sophie indulged in her favorite food, lobster, surrounded by the eatery's bright, Nantucket-style decor. They also sampled some of the other New England highlights on Ed’s menu, which includes oysters, lobster ravioli, lobster meatballs over linguine and a seafood medley over black squid linguine.

Next up: a visit to Sophie's seafood pick in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, Red Hook Lobster Pound, where they savored two different takes on lobster rolls. A Tuscan roll came with lobster cooked in New England beer with celery, carrots and onions, then tossed with homemade basil vinaigrette and served on a buttery bun.

"When you were a baby," Bobby said, "you'd literally go up to the lobster tank and go, ‘Yum, yum,’ like you wanted to eat the live lobsters. It was crazy!” They also dined on Connecticut rolls made with lobster claw and knuckle meat poached in butter and lemon and served warm with paprika and scallions. “Spending the day eating lobster with you is like the best day in the world,” Bobby said.

In New York City, Bobby introduced Sophie to one of his favorite foodie spots, Los Tacos No. 1. Located in busy Chelsea Market, this small shop serves almost 2,000 fresh, authentic tacos every day. Each tortilla is made from scratch using freshly ground corn and high-quality meats that have been marinated on a spit for 24 hours. They sampled the pollo asado, a grilled chicken taco and the adobada, a pork taco.

Next, it was time to hop between the boroughs, as Sophie said, so she took her dad to her favorite taco place, Oxomoco, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. When she told him it had recently earned a Michelin star, he asked if it was expensive. Sophie smiled, as if it was a little pricey, but said she could still afford it. “You mean with my credit card?” Bobby kidded.

After their taco adventures, Bobby led the way to L’Arte de Gelato, also in Chelsea Market, so he and Sophie could cool their palates with gelato, a traditional Italian frozen dessert. Bobby ordered a combination of three flavors — pumpkin, ginger and chocolate — while Sophie chose a small serving of pistachio and stracciatella (a flavor made with vanilla ice cream and strands of drizzled chocolate). Bobby loves gelato, especially when he visits Italy.

Sophie made the audience gasp when she confessed on Beat Bobby Flay that she liked using cookbooks written by another author and chef, Food Network's Ina Garten, who hosts Barefoot Contessa and Be My Guest With Ina Garten. When the viewers caught their collective breaths (from both laughter and shock), the show went on with Nicole Gomes, chef and co-owner of Canada's Cluck N Cleaver, and chef Liam Beardslee of Kismet's Dive Restaurant on New York's Fire Island. After the judges chose Nicole’s dish over Liam’s, she went head-to-head with Bobby to make chicken parm.

“My dad uses a lot of big, bold flavors, so play his game,” Sophie urged to help her win. Nicole topped Bobby with her recipe using tomato jam, tagliatelle, fennel and a caper lemon sauce. Nicole said she loved Bobby's first cookbook, Bobby Flay’s Bold American Food (1994), because he wore a sweater vest on the cover that she thought made him look like "he’d just left an *NSYNC concert.” Sophie joked that he probably had. "That was my boy band look," Bobby chimed in.

For Food Network's first episode of BBQ With Bobby Flay, Bobby shot a scene with Korean surfer Philip Ahn “Flip" Cuddy, but he seemed landlocked; viewers saw him on the beach but not in the water. When he and Sophie traveled to Malibu on Bobby and Sophie on the Coast to find the best seafood joints and food truck burgers, they met with a coach to pick up some surfing pointers — for Sophie, that is. She took to the waves, but fans were left wondering if Bobby was just splashing around instead of hanging ten. Did some of the shots use a body double? When an interviewer from Mashed.com asked about it, the chef seemed to put the topic to rest. “I definitely don’t surf," he replied. "I’m a city boy all the way."

Because Bobby loves cats so much, his green room is filled with their photos. “These are all my kids,” he explained to Food Network’s Eddie Jackson when Eddie joined Sophie to judge the episode "Who's Your Mac Daddy?" of Beat Bobby Flay Sophie whipped out her phone to show Eddie a picture of her dad’s green room. “That is like a wall of cats,” Eddie marveled. “But where am I?" Sophie asked. "There’s not a picture of me up there. We’re going to fix that." Eddie realized she was trying to help her dad's competitor, culinary consultant and Food Network guest chef Hari Cameron, win the round. “If you could throw him off his game,” Eddie said, “it’d be purr-fect.”

Sophie took a framed picture of herself and her dad to Bobby's cooking station and put it down in front of him. “Nice!” Bobby commented, momentarily distracted. “I like that picture.” But he wasn't shaken. Despite Sophie's and Eddie's efforts, Bobby was crowned the contest winner for his mac and cheese made with fontina, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gruyere and Monterey Jack cheeses.

In an episode of The Kitchen, hosted by Food Network chefs Jeff Mauro ("The Sandwich King"), Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee Biegel and Geoffrey Zakarian (Season 4 winner of The Next Iron Chef), fans got a sneak peak at Bobby's plans for an upcoming Beat Bobby Flay (Holiday Throwdown). Sophie joined her dad via Zoom to chat about his holiday parties and mentioned she'd like to throw a holiday cocktail party. Christmas is her favorite holiday, and she loves celebrating with peppermint martinis.

When Sophie has guests at Christmas, she serves cups of peppermint tea and coats the rims with melted chocolate dipped in crushed candy canes; she kicks up the flavor with peppermint schnapps. Her dad loves to host theme parties for Thanksgiving and Christmas, she said, and while he enjoys making Italian-inspired holiday meals, she always insists on having a honey-baked ham.