Bobby Flay Says TV Is A Career Boost

Today in utterly unsurprising news: Winning big on a TV cooking show results in way more than 15 minutes of fame and can skyrocket the careers of even veteran chefs and restaurateurs, though some of them say a big victory leaves them with more to prove.

"When I got off the show the most important thing to me was to get a restaurant open and to show the world I'm a chef," said Stephanie Izard, winner of Top Chef season four, at a panel discussion on reality show winners at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Now she has one restaurant, Chicago gastropub Girl & the Goat, with another on the way.

Izard is also planning on getting back into television, reports The Boston Globe, and Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian even said that if he had to choose between working only on TV or only in a restaurant, he'd pick TV.

"TV is the giant tide that lifts all boats," Zakarian said.

These days everyone seems to want to be on TV, even if it means not being in the kitchen, but Bobby Flay said that when he got started on TV, other chefs thought he was making a big mistake.

"All those people have now sent in their tapes to the networks because now everybody understands it's OK to be a successful chef, run your business, and to also be able to talk to the viewer and really get your name out there," he said. "And it's obviously worked out."