2-9-24 After Hours with Amy Lawrence Podcast : Hour 4

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Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. It's a place where friendships are forged, football is revered, and food is enjoyed. Solo Stove, the perfect flame for the big game. John is in Las Vegas. We can't wait to get there. John, what do you think? Let me tell you something, Amy. You want to have fun in Vegas?

I'm your guy. You think you're gonna want to go to the mob museum? Yes. I am the greeter at the mob. Stop it! Stop it! You're a greeter? I am Chicago Johnny.

That's money. I will definitely be there to give you a personal tour. I got a nice electric chair that you can sit in. You sit in it, you pull the lever, and it's electric. It's so much fun.

Thank you so much for listening. I feel like this is going to be a personalized experience now. Jackpot! They make their own moonshine. Real moonshine. It's not 84.

It's 84. Should we be drinking moonshine at noon? I promise you, I'm not going to let you down. You're going to love it. After Hours takes on Las Vegas for the first time.

Brought to you by Southern Recipe. I cannot wait to meet Chicago Johnny. We are eight hours away from our Chicago Johnny experience. We've talked to multiple people, whether it be cab drivers, Lyft drivers, even friends of mine who reside in Las Vegas who are on Radio Row. They all say the mob museum is worth it. It's one of the coolest spots in Vegas and we are going to have a personalized tour.

And then Producer J has picked what locale for your early breakfast. Thanks for all the hard work in Las Vegas brunch. We will be at the Bellagio.

Oh, I feel so fufu. We're going to the Bellagio. My goodness, should we dress up for the Bellagio? Well, then we'll be dressing up for the mob museum.

Yeah, see, I can't do that. I've got to wear sneakers because we're going to be walking a lot. Just dress like gangsters.

How does one dress like a gangster? I mean, you could find a store on the way. They're sure a store for everything.

We've seen the Las Vegas sock store, so we can certainly find that one. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. We are down to our final hour. We've got awesome new videos, including DeMar Hamlin dazzled by a magic trick on Radio Row. It was pretty impressive. So check that out.

Also, Lemon Lime. I know, I know. Just go look at them.

They're kooky. And a couple of the, I'll call them pieces of memorabilia, we brought back from the Cigars with the Stars party. We've managed to thaw out again, but there is a photo from the red carpet.

Producer Jay and I stood on the red carpet. So again, on our Facebook page, on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, my Twitter, A Law Radio. So yeah, with one hour to go, two great conversations left from our time here in Las Vegas. Once again, our thanks to 98.5 HD2 The Bet for hosting us and our shows each night and day. And the engineer who just gave us a card, gave us a run of the place. We, we've really enjoyed the experience because it's our first time in Vegas.

Well, Jay as an adult, but also because it's the first time on Radio Row at Super Bowl week since 2020. And it meant a lot to me to get back here and we're grateful for your support. Trey Wingo and I worked together for years that our previous network had not crossed paths in over a decade. And so to be able to see him in person, give him a big hug and then sit down and talk to him about his latest venture. Yeah, awesome.

And he's actually gone through a bit of a metamorphosis in his career as well. So I asked him what it was like to get back here. You did it so long as part of the rat race as an NFL host.

Is it calmer this way? The fun part about this for me is I see so many people like yourself that I've worked with over the years and I, you know, haven't been able to stay in touch with, and that's the fun part. Um, the rest of it is, you know, it's a, it's a lot. It's funny. I flew in last night and, you know, obviously Vegas is sin city and watching all the puns, you know, Pepsi, the spot, the soda sponsor, it's sip city, you know, and then there's aviation gin.

It's gin city, you know? So, Hey, all that stuff is wonderful. I'm just here for the game and to talk about the fun stuff and you know, all the other stuff doesn't matter. It's just seeing people that you love and that you respected and have worked with all those years and then, and then just talking about football. You're going to not believe this because I keep getting the same reaction.

It's my first time in Vegas. Really? See what I mean? Wow. And to see it like this is pretty incredible.

Yeah. I mean, this is the city that's probably more equipped to do this than any other city on the planet. Uh, so it's nice that the NFL has finally decided thanks to the Supreme Court, uh, to embrace sports betting. Uh, you know, I'm old enough to remember when Tony Romo was told by the NFL, he couldn't have a fantasy football convention in a Las Vegas hotel because it had a casino. Well, the Raiders are here now.

We're here now. The draft was here. Eventually all four major sports in this country are going to be in Vegas because it just makes sense. There's always this line about the NFL rigging things, which I think is ridiculous because it never follows any kind of plan or prototype.

Well, this one, the crazy conspiracy theory was the color of a logo of the Superbowl. Oh, right. Exactly. Well, the Ravens aren't here. So it was, it was pre-scripted and they let the cat out of the bag. But at the same time though, the idea that the NFL is partnering like many other leagues with gambling sites or different ventures, does that change the perception?

Do you think with fans? If it does, I think it's a flawed flawed argument. And the reason I would explain it is, you know, nothing has changed in terms of how the NFL tells the players what they can and can't do. Like you still can't gamble. You still can't do that. You still can't do all these other things. And they've amended it slightly, but the rules have been in there since way before they were in with Las Vegas.

So all these things haven't changed. It's just that they're seeing, you know, companies and sports books buy into the NFL and the NFL is like, we will happily take your money because that's how you become a 22 billion dollar a year industry. And is it Roger Goodell stated gold, 25 billion dollars a year.

Oh, he's almost there. Yeah. And let's be honest. The other thing about commissioners, we all think of them as some sort of benevolent grandfather of the sport. No commissioners work for the owners.

They do. That's his job. His job is to work for the owners and he does an incredible job of representing the owners very well. Do you think he's a good commissioner?

I do for a couple of reasons. I think there have been three pivotal commissioners in the history of the NFL. Pete Roselle sold the league when, you know, the first Super Bowl wasn't called the Super Bowl. It was the AFL-NFL World Championship game. It was on two networks and they couldn't sell out the L.A.

Coliseum. My dad worked that first Super Bowl for Life magazine and he said it was the biggest nothing burger. They didn't even file a story. He went to cover it and they didn't put it in Life magazine.

Didn't even put it in. So Pete Roselle sold the league, right? And then Paul Tagliabue came along and a lot of people thought Jim Finks who was a former GM of the Saints was going to be the next GM. But Paul was a litigator and he knew that there were going to be some labor issues. Paul was a really good lawyer. Paul stabilized the league legally. Roger's a politician. He's a salesman and that's what he's done. So you had the salesman in Pete Roselle sell the league. You had the lawyer stabilize the league legally and then you have Roger to be the PR front for when things go bad this is how we're going to fix it and that's why we have the totality of the NFL sort of involving us all the time in everything that they do. Oh everything. It never goes away.

No. Super Bowls ends and then the next thing we're talking about is free agency. March Madness used to be college basketball. It's now signings in the NFL. That's true. That voice it's Trey Wingo.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio or on Radio Row. I feel like it's been probably 15 years since we've seen each other. Probably. But as you're talking about it's fun to have those reunions. Did you see Mike Golick because he was here too. Saw Golick, saw Stugatz, saw Merrill Hodge, saw Mark Slaereth. Just a million people.

You know just a million people and that's the fun part about this because we all go our separate ways and we all convene wherever the Super Bowl is and you just get to see old friends again and that's fun. You're still talking. Yeah.

No stop. You got a brand new show and and you're part of kind of this branch out where it's not just terrestrial anymore. It's not just network TV. Your show is Amazon. Yeah.

Amazon and Wondery podcast called Alternate Routes. The whole premise of the show is we take one moment in sports. A flashpoint if you will.

A pivotal thing that happens and flip it the other way. Like we're at the Super Bowl right. What happens in Super Bowl 49 between the Seahawks and the Patriots. Oh no.

Second in line right. What happens if you give the ball to Marshawn Lynch instead of throwing it inside your fourth best receiver in Ricardo Lockett right. I'm going to say the Seahawks win that game because he's going to score and then suddenly Pete Carroll becomes the first coach in the history of football. In the history of football with multiple championships in college and multiple Super Bowl wins. No one else can make that claim.

No one. That changes his legacy forever. What does that do to Tom Brady? It would have been 11 years since his last Super Bowl win after winning his first three. He and Belichick would have lost their last three.

Does he get kicked out for Jimmy Garoppolo who was drafted that year to replace Tom Brady and has Bill Belichick ever achieved GOAT status by winning all these other Super Bowls. It changes everything dramatically. Fascinating. And we have all these points.

One of them it's one of my favorites and I probably shouldn't say this but I'm going to anyway. 1979 NBA draft the Lakers and the Bulls had to flip a coin to see who would get the first pick in the draft which was Magic Johnson. Lakers won the coin toss they draft Magic Johnson.

What happens if the Bulls win that coin toss? Magic goes to Chicago where you have artist Gilmore whose numbers were almost identical to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's at that time. Does artist Gilmore go on to become the greatest center in the highest score in the history of the NBA? Does Magic Johnson run Showtime in Chicago? Does Pat Riley even exist as an entity in the NBA because his claim to fame was taken over by Paul Westhead after he was fired and making the Lakers the Showtime Lakers. And in fact in a really weird scenario we played it out so far that if that had happened Charles Barkley not Barack Obama would have been the first African-American president. It all makes sense if you listen to the podcast because things go crazily the other way. As a massive history buff that is incredible. It sounds like so much fun. How do you do it?

Do you chart it? Well yeah one of the things that the theory goes the Bulls would not have been able to draft Michael because they would have been winning with Magic Johnson. So he goes somewhere else. Charles Barkley goes somewhere else. In this situation we have him going to the then Washington Bullets now the Washington Wizards where one of his teammates would have been Tom McMillan. Tom McMillan after becoming a great NBA player went on to be a congressman.

Charles Barkley's interest in politics would have gotten lit a little faster probably becomes governor of Alabama then runs for president becomes the first president of the United States as an African-American. Are you going to do the what if Travis Kelce never gave Taylor Swift the friendship bracelet. Correct.

And never talked about it on his podcast. Correct. How things would look different for the Chiefs.

Correct. What what what call me crazy what if the Bears had decided to move up and draft Patrick Mahomes instead of Mitch Dribisky. Or here's another crazy one what if the Bills had said no we're not going to make that trade and they would draft Patrick Mahomes instead of Josh Allen. Even though Josh Allen has been remarkable there's so many things that play out in the Bills maybe finally win a Super Bowl and all this angst in western New York is resolved there's a million different ways you can do what if Bartman didn't catch that ball. Oh stop.

In 2003. Oh my gosh. There's a million of them.

Well what about if David Tyree didn't catch the ball in his helmet. Thank you very much thank you very much all of these things and you take out the tentacles it's like a sliding doors thing butterfly effect in sports and we just we see how far we can take it. So how many episodes have you plotted out or at least you've thought of at this point.

I think we have 30 or 40 already that we've already sort of going but the whole point is to do this forever and ever world without end amen. So uh it's it's really fun it drops the first episode drops March 5th on Wondery Plus and then uh worldwide reference you ever get your podcast on March 12th. It's Kevin Frazier and I who I worked with again I used to work with at ESPN we're doing it together it's just going to be a lot of fun. Alternate routes. Alternate routes and in Canada probably alternate routes but that's a separation of time. Kevin is the host of the NFL honors.

Yep. Yet another way that the NFL has turned into this prime time spectacle because it never used to be that way and now they've got it on a made for TV event like the draft is now two weeks long instead of just being four days. Where else can they possibly expand? Well think about it I mean they've already they just announced that there's going to be a Friday night opening night game in Brazil. You know and that gives them a little chance whoever takes that train to come back and get going. The other Roger Goodell stated goal has been I want to have a team in London as soon as possible.

Now I think that's practically impossible but I think if you put a whole league there and then teams went over and played three games you know because the old like a rotation yeah the old world league of American football had like four teams in Germany and the numbers in Germany for all the games that have been amazing put one in London put three teams in Germany have your own international division they come over the states play four weeks in a row and then people go back vice versa that makes more sense to me than having just a one-off in London. Do you think that will affect player choice and free agency whether or not they want to go don't want to go because that's quite a feat. I would agree there's a lot of logistics that go in with that and you know people say when a guy's traded well why isn't he playing as well as he did his old team because his life has been uprooted if he has a family if he has kids they got to sell the house they've got to find a new place they got to put kids in new schools. We look at these players and this was the way I sort of approached it with the draft we look at players as inanimate objects as widgets if you will oh we need a tight end pull this here plug this in here well no it's a person and a person is not something that you can sort of manipulate that easily there's a lot of other things that come along with humanity that factor into how you perform so I always tried to make that sort of my philosophy with the draft is these are players but they're also people and that's a big part of it in free agency all that has to be factored in with how you're going to do this. Trey Wingo love the voice being able to be in person again here on Radio Row Tom Brady yeah damned if he does damned if he doesn't when he gets into the broadcast booth which blows me away because he is the most popular quarterback of all time you've done broadcasting a long time what council wisdom would you give him if he says hey Trey I'm a little nervous about this. A he wouldn't be and B he wouldn't call me and C I would say is just do your homework right like I feel bad for Greg Olsen. Greg Olsen is wonderful at this he's amazing he's very good I think he's as good as anybody else in the business and I understand the splash hire with Fox and I understand that but there's a lot of reasons ex-players don't want to go into coaching because it's a grind it's a grind if you're going to do this prepare you know prepare and I'm not saying he won't but just don't take it lightly I mean it's a real opportunity to connect with people on a real way and that's what I love about what Peyton did I think one of the reasons Peyton and Eli are doing the thing they're doing is that they realized if they wanted to really analyze games as a as a color guy in a booth you know Peyton is all football all the time he wouldn't be able to get through half the play before the next play is started right and on the Manning cast he doesn't have to worry about that they they sort of go through whatever and then they react to the next play as it happens well you can't do that in a traditional booth so all I would say is you know you made quarterbacking a craft treat the broadcast booth the same way that's what I would say. Did you ever think there would be so many athletes not just getting into broadcasting because you mentioned Mark you mentioned Merrill I mean Ron Jaworski we could go on and on yeah but the podcast realm where it's almost direct to consumer trade they don't have to go through another outlet it's this is me and this is my property yeah our phones are international broadcasting centers that's what they are you know and and people I mean there's a reason ESPN TNT and Fox just combined together to stream everything Jim Gaffigan by the comedian who played offensive line in college at Georgetown had a great line he said all these streaming services they should put them together and call it cable which is essentially what we're doing now it's essentially what what we're doing because there's so many different outlets out there so yeah I mean you have to be more nimble and you have to find a way to go where the people are. What did Rogers say about the streaming Peacock game he said we fish where the fish are and that's where the viewership is and he said the demographic of the people that stream that Chief Stolfins game on Peacock was 10 years younger than the average man that watches on free tv right I mean they are ahead of the curve that's for sure okay so before I let you go yeah one thing well two things you and I have in common our previous network right our career but I will die on this hill yeah wins are not a quarterback stat it drives me berserk and I know for a long time that was in your bio on okay on twitter it drives me crazy yeah it's unbelievable he's only on the field half the time and that's in a good game yeah the easiest way I can give it to you one of the greatest playoff games of all time two years ago the divisional round between the Bills and the Chiefs right with 13 seconds to go Josh Allen puts his team in front Sean McDermott makes an egregious mistake and kicks it out of the back of the end zone just saving time on the clock for Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce in two plays set up a 47-yard field goal yet that game goes down as a loss for Josh Allen what the hell did he do wrong what the hell did he do wrong there was a game I want to say it was 2013 or 2014 Steelers Ravens week 17 whoever won the game won the division Joe Flacco led the Ravens down in Pittsburgh the end of the game go ahead touchdown with like a minute 40 to play did his job Steelers go down and score with almost no time left that was the uh you know they had the immaculate reception with Franco Harris that was the immaculate extension yes it was with Antonio Brown Joe Flacco gets credited for a loss why what did he do look I'm not saying you need you don't need a quarterback to win of course you do but you know David Tyree has to make the helmet catch San Antonio Holmes has to catch the corner route from Ben Roethlisberger otherwise it's an incomplete play teams win games teams win championships thank you but you better have a dude you better have a dude playing quarterback well so now you've got me thinking about your new show yeah what if that's a great question it's like a Paul Harvey the rest of the story what if it's not the Chiefs who win that game with the 13 seconds to go they go into overtime it's the Bills are we not talking about Chiefs dynasty Josh Allen the Bills finally have a Super Bowl he's the one maybe well he's I think he's getting married right but he's the one who's dating Taylor Swift I don't know all these various ways that things could change exactly I mean like okay here's a crazy one like in the Chiefs first ever AFC Championship game of the five they hosted in a row after the 2018 season yep they picked off Tom Brady with a minute 12 to play in that game game ending play oh I know what you're talking about Ford lined up yes he did so in that case we're talking about a team that's going to sixth rate Super Bowls which has never happened I mean like there are this is so great take one thing flip it a little bit and see how crazy yes no that is a podcast or a show that could go on forever that's the whole point forever okay so I know I follow you on Twitter yes but now without the blue check marks it's ridiculous so remind people where they can get you at Wingos w-i-n-g-o-z uh tray dot wingo on instagram and I'm also on threads which I enjoy it's it's a it's a more civil place as social media goes yes and when does the show start show starts March 5th on Wondery Plus and then we go worldwide on March 12th wherever you get your podcasts oh it's so good to catch up with you again this is a lot of fun thanks so much anytime that voice is one you know it's been associated with the NFL for a long time but it was great to see Trey Wingo again and as a history buff as someone who's big into fiction and also the question of what if is so alluring that podcast alternate routes sounds tremendous I can't wait to check it out and he's a great storyteller too so hope that you'll find it when you have the opportunity it debuts very soon on Twitter a law radio on our Facebook page too it's after hours with Amy Lawrence of another 40 minutes or so from Las Vegas and 98.5 HD to the bet our local affiliate and coming up we've got a bit of a story uh about what do we well we have a bit of a story about Radio Row and a couple of the crazier things that we saw but if you would like to check out the stuffed animals that were wandering around Radio Row you can see that on both Twitter and Facebook as Jay has put up some reels and also Bobby Fillet still to come plus the AFC North with some major validation on Thursday at the NFL honors when the whole family comes together to watch the game nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store with instacart you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour less time shopping means more game time let's go visit instacart.com to get free delivery on your first three orders offer valid for a limited time $10 minimum per order additional terms apply the sultan of sizzle the titan of toastiness the kingpin of kindling these are the admired ones those who've created the prime place together they don't just have a backyard they have the backyard because they know a solo stove fire pit is more than just the ultimate smokeless fire pit it's a place where friendships are forged football is revered and food is enjoyed solo stove the perfect flame for the big game okay picture this it's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you i can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever or i can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road with available h-track all-wheel drive and three-row seating my whole family can head deep into the wild conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe visit hundayusa.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details Hyundai there's joy in every journey 2024 Santa Fe available early 2024 get ahead of postage rate increases this year with stamps.com it's like your own personal post office sign up with promo code program for a four-week trial plus free postage and a free digital scale no long-term commitments or contracts that's stamps.com code program that's Lamar Jackson a two-time NFL MVP and the youngest to ever win the award twice i believe the NFL honors were a great validation of the AFC North as the best division in football now he was one vote shy of unanimous the other vote went to Josh Allen so one first place vote for Josh Allen but ultimately Josh finished fifth in the voting Lamar ran away with the award Dak Prescott Christian McCaffrey Brock Purdy got no first place votes there were a handful in there for Miles Garrett of the Browns oh but that's not the award he ultimately ended up with nope that was defensive player of the year another Brown Joe Flacco wins comeback player of the year after two and a half months on the couch the guy steps in for five games and helps to spark Cleveland to the playoffs Kevin Stefanski also of the Browns coach of the year and assistant coach of the year Jim Schwartz the defensive coordinator with Cleveland so that's five awards coming out of the AFC North and then wait there's more and I want to hear from him because not only is he one of my favorites in the NFL but he's a longtime Steelers defensive lineman also from the AFC North who claims the NFL's Walter Payton man of the year honors this award is great and I appreciate it but I understand I got more work to do I gotta I gotta make sure I represent this man every day going forward and so I asked you guys my brothers keep doing the work keep being the positive role models you are I know it's not always pretty I know a lot of people like to talk about the other stuff but you guys are the change you guys are making a difference and I'm just thankful for that and last thing if you are a young child or you knew a part of the youth just know whether you're struggling you're hurting and you're just looking for somebody to have your back I got you so thank you so much god bless good night we actually saw the former NFL man of the year so last year's honoree Andrew Whitworth he was at the Cigars with Stars party and he was walking in as we were walking out so he'd attended NFL honors and then made it over to the M Resort Spa Casino uh Cam Hayward works with kiddos primarily feeding children who do not have enough to eat and are hungry but also working with kiddos who need a hand up when it comes to reading admire him a whole lot if you miss the photo of him interviewing his former teammate James Connor I actually took it and put it up on both twitter a law radio and facebook he was doing an interview for his podcast meaning cam and we were standing right there so as the two of them are going back and forth we're laughing they're just a couple of people there and he was laughing at us laughing at his conversation so a lot of athletes these days have their own podcast I call it direct to consumer all access skip the middleman skip the radio skip the tv not of course that we are becoming irrelevant because that is not true there are photos and videos all over the darn place so again check out twitter a law radio one photo Jay took of me and puka nakua you're gonna have to figure it out go go look on twitter because it was the portion of the week where we get completely delirious and we're goofy the world's upside down also damar hamlin dazzled by a magic trick and a bunch of other photos of our guests including bobby fillet he's our last interview but our first on thursday radio row it was so cool as someone who claims food as my love language this might be the pinnacle of my career celebrity chef and i got him to laugh you'll hear that next true to form we save the best for last i didn't know if any of our guests from las vegas could top the thunderbird pilots who will be leading the flyover on sunday so don't miss it the commander of the left wing we talked to them and if you missed that conversation in fact any conversation from radio row all of them on our podcast and we have the link up every weekday morning all you got to do is google it and find out how to grab us after hours amy lawrence podcast wherever you get your podcast but because we wanted to save the best for last we give you one more celebrity from radio row that yes rivals the thunderbirds bobby flay celebrity chef on the food network since the 90s he's an emmy winner he's got dozens of restaurants he's got dozens of cookbooks he's got a star on the hollywood walk of fame and he sat down with a wide-ranging conversation with me on radio row because let's face it we're foodies and i said that to him we love food as much as we cover football and sports we might talk about food more than anything else true story bobby how much do you love football i love football i mean i've been a fan my entire life since i can remember of course and uh yeah i mean listen i'm a giants fan so are you so is my producer yeah he feels like he's long suffering well yeah i mean we've had to listen we've won some super bowls i mean not every team can say that right but yeah i don't think they're playing sunday no definitely not okay no where's my team the denver bronco so we're in the same boat how do you like the marriage of super bowl in vegas my first time here so i'm asking you your first time in my first time in vegas well this is insane this is quite a week for you to be coming for your first time listen uh i've been in vegas doing business here for 20 years i have restaurants in caesar's palace and it's a great city and it just gets better and honestly like i don't think there's a better place to have the super bowl because super bowl the game is like almost the afterthought when you get to sunday it's all the things that lead up to it and all the logistics i mean i've been to plenty of super bowl like cities during the super bowl week and a lot of times it's hard to get rooms they're far away everything is spread out this place there's rooms up and down the strip you know at every level there's great food in every building there's great entertainment i mean you go see adele and then come to one of my restaurants like on a thursday like before the game i mean there's tons of things to do here i just think it makes perfect sense you opened a new restaurant in caesar's palace in las vegas i know you've got restaurants all over the place right but what's special about vegas when you marry it with food well i mean look the bottom line is for a chef this is a place that you can really kind of unwind all your culinary fantasies because people are here to spend money right they when people come when people land at the airport in las vegas they're not trying to figure out how not to spend money they're here to spend money they know they're gonna gamble it or they're gonna buy a cool bag in one of the cool shops or they're going to go to entertainment or they're going to go to like a fancy restaurant and they're going to try things that they probably maybe wouldn't try in their hometown and so for somebody like me it just it just it gives me like like license to kind of to to be really creative and live out the things that i want to be able to do here yeah well bucket list items Cirque du Soleil which i'll be seeing on friday i'm really excited about which one are you going to i'm going to see misterre okay yeah because i've heard it's iconic well they're all iconic when you see the talent of these people you're like this is the talent in this town across the board forget about the food i mean yes we think we have great chefs here but the bottom line is like the entertainment here is it's world world it's like it's like it's it's so amazing you're going to be you're going to be blown away i can't wait yeah can't wait yeah bobby flay here on radio row it's after hours on cbs sports radio i gotta ask this question because i don't actually know you're a tv host you've released so many cookbooks i've heard that maybe there's another one coming out soon you travel you've got restaurants all over the place how much do you actually cook i cook more than you can i cook more than most people in the world i can promise you that i cook all the time when you say i'm a tv host like most of the things i do on tv i'm cooking so i just finished 32 episodes of be bobby flay i mean i i'm cooking every single day and i cook in my restaurants and i cook at home all the time yes that was my follow up how much do you enjoy cooking in your free time i love it it's one of the things that i get asked a lot about well you know the media asked me all the time like okay we know you can cook for a living but what do you do for fun and basically it's the same answer but it's a very different pace you know i show my adoration and my love for my friends and family by cooking for them i mean that's that's what i do it's my love language i dropped out of high school when i was 16 and i went to work in a restaurant and i like literally saved my life so it's like i love cooking so much i can do it every single day what are some of your favorite dishes to cook if you're home not in a restaurant but on your free time well i'll tell you one of one of the things that i love to cook this is a really funny story it's a great question because i like to cook lots of different things it depends on the season depends where i am whatever but there's a dish so i'm a native new yorker i was walking on the streets of new york one day and this construction worker like this big sort of big brawny guy you know like you would never think would be like into food like said to me hey bobby like saw me walking down the street if you had to cook one dish to feed the world what would it be and i was like paella and paella is a wonderful dish because it can feed lots of people it's made the base of it is with rice and you can put anything on it and rice is one of those ingredients that every place in the world has a rice dish and so i love making paella for my friends because it makes me think about kind of feeding as many people as i possibly can but obviously in a delicious way cool now i was reading some of your posts on social about your daughter does she inherit your love of food and is she as into it as you are well i mean she doesn't make a living doing it be but a lot of people a lot of people actually ask her you know are you gonna do you want to be a chef she's you know she's 27 she's actually a journalist in la is she here she's coming tonight good but she's not working okay so that just means i have to feed her and her friends that's totally fine yeah but does she enjoy it oh yeah different oh no no no she is like a look like her thing is like anything shellfish from the raw bar lobsters crabs there's a dish that i named after a scallop dish that i named after her on the brasserie b menu and she's like just make sure that like her name is sophie so she's like just make sure that the dish you pick for me has alliteration so with scallops and sophie so it's it's base scallop sophie so she's happy well as a journalist who's worked in the business 25 years mostly radio i love alliteration it's my favorite literary tool so you tell her that's fun it stands out yes it does alliteration absolutely what's your comfort food you mentioned the paella to cook for people but what do you like to eat when you just need a break i'm a burger guy and i mean i have i have burger restaurants called bobby's burgers actually in caesars and harris and paris here so you can't get away from me in las vegas if you're gonna eat i'm gonna feed you whether you like it or not but but burgers i'm a burger guy like and i will tell you that most chefs like we're not looking for caviar and foie gras at the end of her meal we want like comfort food things but i've always run up being a cheeseburger guy so i have a lot of opinions about burgers what's the ultimate compliment when someone eats at your restaurant just that they like the food like honestly you know because i'm on tv people want to take pictures and this and that i don't care about any of that i want to know if you like the food if you like the food i'm like i'm thrilled because to me being in my chef whites in my kitchens that to me is the place i want to be more than any place else way more than television hmm bobby flay with us here on radio row i've read you've got french background an italian restaurant right yeah uh here in las vegas american food you talk about the burgers yeah so what would you say is your signature style well it's evolved over time i mean i've been cooking professionally for close to 40 years now if you can believe that it's crazy and so for a long time i had a restaurant called mesa grill which was an american southwestern food you know lots of chili peppers etc and those ingredients still are part of my cuisine but in different places i've become obsessed with italy it's the place that i want to spend my free time as much as i can so my first italian restaurant we opened here two and a half years ago at caesars called the malfi but you'll see bits and pieces of like chilies from calabria and things like that you so when you go there it might it might look and feel italian but you know it's a bobby flay restaurant yeah so i love to bake people ask me all the time what's something you either can't bake or you've screwed up have you ever had i'm sure you have what's a dish that either you don't enjoy making or you're maybe not as good at i'm not a good baker so anything you want any cookies no when people come on beat bobby flay like they're like i'm going to challenge him to something that he has to bake because i'm like i literally i don't know what it is it's like you know and i explain this to some people all the time being a chef and being a pastry chef is like two different professions it's like being a plumber and an electrician no seriously it's like we wear the same uniforms and we can kind of get by doing one or the other but we're way better than one and then the other pastry is a completely different ball game when i have to break out like the butter flour sugar and eggs i like freak out i'm like oh my god i can't believe it you know what it is you know what it is because you have usually it's some sort of batter or some kind of cake and you put it in the oven and i lose control it's a lot it's a lot i'm like wait what so if i'm cooking something on top of the stove i can always adjust add some more olive oil season it this and that once you put it in the oven you just have to pray i don't like it you said you dropped out of school and started working when you were a teenager yeah what was your first job in food i was working in a restaurant like uh i started washing dishes and then i was like doing some prep and you know taught me how to use a knife i was 16 and i dropped out of high school and i was just like i need a job i was not interested in like picking up a textbook and learning right i didn't have it i didn't have it in me i needed i needed vocational education and i think we need more vocational education in this country because once i started working with my hands the light bulb went off and i was like wow i love this awesome it was like the first time as a teenager i was excited about anything you know so i just got lucky but listen i mean i found what i love to do and i've been doing it every day since about 30 years ago when i decided i wanted to be a radio host and i wanted to work in sports women weren't doing that people said to me you better have a backup plan because that doesn't usually work they were being kind but at the time there was no one who was doing what i wanted to do right celebrity chefs were not a thing 40 years ago even 30 years ago how did your family and friends react when you decided that this is what you wanted to do for a living the cooking part oh the cook well yeah i mean it was really thought of as a blue-collar profession at the time but my father and my mom they were just happy i got that i got a job i mean because my father was like look you're not just gonna hang out with your friends in the street corner you know like you need to like you need to go earn a living you know and so i went and got a job and they were just happy that i found something that i liked even even though it wasn't a very fashionable thing at the moment and listen i was in the right place at the right time food became important this country the food network was born i've been there since the beginning i mean so yeah i mean i've been very blessed to have a to be in the right place at the right time timing's everything a chef has a star on the hollywood walk of fame that's incredible i'm the first chef to have a star yeah it was an amazing moment it really was and my daughter literally lives in la little block and a half from oh wow my star i'm like do you go by and say hello to me she's like it for you yeah she's like that i don't even think about it anymore i just walk over it super bowl parties i mean they're huge all over the country right we're talking about a third of our nation that will be watching the game in some capacity if you're hosting or you're given a recommendation what would you say super bowl snack gotta have it okay here's the deal like and i've been answering this question like all week i think you have to give the people what they want the bottom line is on super bowl sunday people crave certain things they crave nachos they crave sliders they crave chicken wings wings yes but here's the deal make them good right because there's bad versions of all three of those things and i'm not into chili on super bowl sunday i just don't want it i like i don't know it's just i'm chili hating today but i i think like you know when you have nachos it's not not just a bunch of tortilla chips and melted cheese like make a beautiful cheese sauce pick out some beautiful tortillas get some you know great avocados gorgeous tomatoes make a great sauce and make everything individually and it's the way you layer it because you want crispiness but also you want it to be dressed right and then also to me it's also about timing in terms of like you know when you put out food for the for the game oh yeah you need things for when people get there okay because people are gonna be drinking let's face it but like put out one thing at a time and then put something out at half time and then maybe after half time you can kind of like relax and watch the rest of the game at the host but timing and the way that you put these things together but give the people what you want they want they want super bowl food awesome well it's great to meet you my husband's coming in today we'll try one of your restaurants so that we can say we did here in vegas i'll be there thank you for a couple of minutes enjoy the weekend my pleasure thanks right as someone who shares food as a love language with bobby flay that was fire it rocked oh my gosh i'm pretty sure my heart was pounding because i was smiling so big and actually i think i might have sore cheeks like i'm gonna have sore muscles i'm doing it right now my cheeks from grinning everything from cigars with the stars in which we were huddled around heaters because the wind chills outside of the m resort were in the 20s there were lifeguards the poor lifeguards were surrounding the pool wrapped up in blankets and towels because they were frigid anyway that was really me and our thanks again profusely to our friends at southern recipe poor crimes for making this week possible for producer j and i to be here on radio row three days hit it hard take lots of photos tons of videos j's done an incredible job production still more to come he'll have a montage on a youtube channel at some point but you know we've got a date to keep so he might not have to work the next few hours he's got to get some z's before we head to our date with chicago johnny at the mob museum and now just seven hours but yes thank you to southern recipe pork rinds the rudolph family met mr rudolph just a few hours ago and mark singleton is the vp of rudolph foods the hall of famer steve largent kellen winslow again any of the conversations that you've missed from radio row they're podcasted just google it after hours amy lawrence podcast vegas uh find me on twitter alaw radio with the photos including a red carpet shot oh yeah producer j finally out from behind the camera uh and in a few pieces of memorabilia we got goofy we got crazy we will have stories i'm sure from the mob museum and the bellagio and then Cirque du Soleil on friday night so make sure you tune in sunday for the after hours super bowl post game show have a great weekend it's after hours with amy lawrence from vegas here on cbs sports radio we've 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