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Photo: Allen Salkin
Juliesue and Matthew Goldwasser may be the biggest fans of the Mesa Grill ever. The Boston couple spent $722 to buy their way into a sold-out dinner prepared by Bobby Flay at the Las Vegas outpost of his restaurant as part of the 2010 Vegas Uncork'd food festival.
They spent that money because the tickets, face value $190 a person, were sold out. It was Matthew's birthday and they had failed to get tickets to the event the year before.
"All I want for my birthday," Juliesue recalled her husband saying a few months ago, "is to attend that Bobby Flay dinner in Las Vegas."
The couple, whose first Mesa meal was at the Las Vegas location four years ago, now plan vacations around trips to the Bobby Flay-helmed restaurants in New York, the Bahamas and Las Vegas.
It's all about the size of the shrimp in the garlic corn tamale.
"Here you get four large shrimp and they are perfectly cooked," she said. "In New York they are small."
They found the tickets at a charity auction on a website. Matthew, who owns an insurance company, can afford it. But for a moment they wavered because Juliesue was having some issues with her pregnancy. Their hunger for the Vegas Mesa won out over those concerns.
The Goldwasser's enjoyed the special dinner, especially having a chance to get their photo taken with Flay. But they were disappointed that the tamales came with lobster for the occasion, not shrimp.
After they left, Flay said the food at all three Mesas is at on par although the design at the Vegas location is more glitzy. "This is newer and flashier," he said.
Well, what about the shrimp? Are they bigger in Vegas?
"Bigger is not better," he said. Then he looked toward the entrance of his restaurant, which opens towards a casino filled with bleating slot machines and a sports betting area with video screens bigger than some studio apartments on Bleecker Street. "Except maybe in Vegas."
By the way, Juliesue's pregnancy, now at four months, is going well.
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5-09-2010 @10:12AM multiple streams of income said... wow! He is part of my bucket list.... I'm hoping to meet him and eat in his restaurant someday.
multiplestreamsofincome
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5-09-2010 @10:29AM Anne said... Call Bobby Flay conceited if you like, newsy 1, but he does a lot of good for the poor, innercity kids who wish to attend culinary school but can't afford it, and he genuinely cares about those kids. I would love to eat a meal prepared by Bobby. I'd even settle for an appetizer! I imagine he might be the only chef who could make me like the cuisine of the Southwest. I like Bobby, and one of the biggest reasons I do is because he's able to laugh at himself. He's worked hard to get where he is, so more power to him.
5-10-2010 @4:01PM Al said... Check reviews by users, not professional restaurant critics. Many of his restaurants got bel9ow average reviews, they are waaaayyyy overpriced for what you get.
5-10-2010 @3:03PM joy said... WOW! Thats what i call scarey obsession over shrimp? So what if she miscarries, gotta have that shrimp!!
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5-10-2010 @3:55PM vinny said... Why?He cooks food,not performs brain surgery.
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5-10-2010 @5:10PM vinny said... For $722 i should have an orgasam with every bite.
5-10-2010 @4:59PM Cooker said... I like Bobby Fly. From what I have seen, he looks like a great chef. But, his dinners ain't worth 700 clams (no pun intended).
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5-10-2010 @5:32PM mikemaj82 said... who cares? Obviously if they're traveling to all these places they have plenty of money.
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5-10-2010 @5:13PM Bob said... They spent $723 too much to see the egotistical idiot
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5-10-2010 @5:20PM Bernadette said... I have both met him and eaten at many of his restaurants. I met him at The Borgata at a book signing, he was gracious, possed for pictures, and spoke with us. I always liked him and he did come off on tv a little arrogant, but honestly, in person, he was very sweet.
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5-10-2010 @5:39PM Jim Oshust said... Which merely goes to prove the point that the fewof us with common sense and a rational view of what is important are surrounded by a plethora of dummies and genetic flaws in the human nature. That money could keep hundreds of children from no going to bed hungry as do thousands every night. Narcisism, ego inflation and the stupidity of his fans is what keeps the kitchen help sdo famous.
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5-10-2010 @7:57PM Rose said... I ate at one of Bobby Flays restaurants in Manhattan and I was very disappointed. I watch his cooking shows all the time but the food was not what I was expecting. I wouldn't have paid $722 to eat one of his meals ! I love vegas an rather spend $722 on gambling then eating his uneatable food.
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5-10-2010 @6:59PM MATTHIAS said... he is a joke that guy ,in my eyes he can not cook ,he is just a wanna be chef with the right connection.
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5-10-2010 @7:36PM Hattie Crabtree said... You must have missed the shows where he beat others in Iron Chef and Throwdown with Bobby Flay.
5-10-2010 @7:02PM ev said... One of my fantasies is to have Bobby Flay cook me dinner!! lol not kiddin', here. He's a New York boy, they all have that arrogance a bit, you know? But what he can do in a kitchen or on a grill? MAN.. I'd love to have a taste of it.
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5-10-2010 @7:13PM Aspiring Chef said... OMG! Please, I'm a culinary student and one day will be called Chef.....BUT if anyone EVER spends that kind of money to eat ANYTHING I prepare, I will be happy to call them a moron myself!! And Flay...nah, not even $7.22 to see him.
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5-12-2010 @10:48PM robert said... some our savings account and a trip to disneyland for bobby flay
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5-11-2010 @9:53AM Hattie Crabtree said... Why don't you save us the time and post what you don't like about Bobby Flay?I went back to that stupid link and saw nothing on Bobby,even with older articles.
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5-12-2010 @10:07AM shulaaliza said... The $722 was a donation to a Vegas food pantry so it did buy a lot of good for people in need.
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