America's Most Successful Chefs Slideshow

“Are you ready for a throwdown?” You'd better be if you’re going to mess with the finances of this Iron Chef. He has six TV shows (at last count), five sit-down restaurants across the U.S. and one in the Bahamas, five burger joints, and nine cookbooks. With all the TV appearances, it’s sometimes easy to forget that Flay built everything on his reputation for good cooking. The king of the Food Network was the James Beard Foundation's Rising Star Chef of the Year in 1993, just two years after opening his first restaurant, Mesa Grill on New York City's Fifth Avenue. 

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