Matt Abdo will fight fire with fire. Literally. The Pig Beach BBQ co-owner and pitmaster will barbecue-battle on a special themed episode of \u201cBeat Bobby Flay\u201d set to air at 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29.
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\nThe Food Network cooking competition has two chefs face off against each other in a first round, preparing a dish with a specific ingredient in just 20 minutes. Two guest hosts then determine which contestant proceeds to a 45-minute kitchen-off against celebrity chef Bobby Flay himself. The winner of the second round is chosen by three guest judges in a blind taste-test.<\/p>\n
Abdoo will be going grill-to-grill against Chicago\u2019s Dominique Leach, who has appeared on \u201cFire Masters,\u201d \u201cBBQ Brawl\u201d and \u201cChopped.\u201d But Abdoo ain\u2019t no slouch when it comes to TV either. The chef \u2014 who lives in Palm Beach Gardens with his wife and two children \u2014 is a regular on NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d show and has appeared on other Food Network shows such as \u201cThe Kitchen,\u201d \u201cBattle of the Brothers,\u201d \u201cWorst Cooks in America,\u201d \u201cThrowdown With Michael Symon\u201d and \u201cKitchen Crash.\u201d He was a judge on \u201cBeat Bobby Flay\u201d six times.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate,\u201d Abdoo says. \u201cI became very good friends with the \u2018Today\u2019 show people when I did my first segment in 2014 and they did have me on quite regularly ever since, which is like a dream come true.\u201d That extensive television experience allows him to be relaxed on the air. \u201cSince I\u2019ve been on camera a bunch of times before, I wasn\u2019t as nervous with the filming aspect of things, but your blood pressure\u2019s high, you\u2019re sweating,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
Pig Beach BBQ has locations in West Palm Beach, Boston and Queens, New York, in a business partnership between Abdoo, Rob Shawger and Shane McBride. All three restaurants will host watch parties on Thursday for the special episode, titled \u201cThe Thrill of the Grill,\u201d which was actually taped back in January 2024.<\/p>\n
Here is more about Abdoo and the special \u201cBeat Bobby Flay\u201d episode from an interview that\u2019s been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n
Q: Since you\u2019ve been on \u201cBeat Bobby Flay\u201d before as a judge, what do you really want us to know about the competition?
\nA: The show\u2019s legit. Like being a judge \u2026 you have absolutely no idea whose dish is whose. You can sometimes try to guess and, every time you try to guess, you\u2019re usually wrong. At least that\u2019s been my take on it. And the show\u2019s legit in the sense that when that bell rings for 20 minutes, you have exactly 20 minutes in round one. And that bell rings in round two \u2026 boom, you have 45 minutes. There\u2019s no cutting, there\u2019s no stopping, there\u2019s no repositioning, it\u2019s all live feed. Any edits they do are edits in post-production like cutting between cameras back and forth. So it\u2019s pretty spectacular how they film the whole thing.<\/p>\n
Q: Without any spoilers, what \u201cBeat Bobby Flay\u201d insider info can you share with loyal viewers?
\nA: What\u2019s also really cool is that you don\u2019t really get to see how detailed the kitchen is on camera. I mean sometimes you get little snippets when the chefs are running to the pantry or to the refrigerators, but it\u2019s awesome. \u2026 They have everything you could possibly think of. It\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s the perfect dry storage for any restaurant wanting to do any cuisine ever. It\u2019s amazing what they have.<\/p>\n
Q: You\u2019ve judged \u201cBeat Bobby Flay\u201d before, but this was your first time competing. Did you have a plan in place for this \u201cThe Thrill of the Grill\u201d episode?
\nA: On my plane trip up and in the hotel room the night before, I binge-watched probably 20 episodes just to kind of get my strategy together, to see what wins. The takeaway was: The more complicated you get in round one, the more often you lose, because people get bogged down with timing, trying to do things that were too complicated or too time-consuming. So I went into it with the strategy of just keep it simple, trust in my training, do the things that I know work well.<\/p>\n
The \u201cBeat Bobby Flay\u201d episode titled \u201cThe Thrill of the Grill\u201d will air at 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, on the Food Network. Visit foodnetwork.com\/shows\/beat-bobby-flay. The South Florida location of Pig Beach BBQ is at 2400 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach. Visit pigbeachnyc.com or call 561-803-0333.<\/p>\n
Q: When will the episode air?
\nA: The episode will air at 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29.
\nQ: Where can I watch the episode?
\nA: The episode will air on the Food Network.
\nQ: Can I attend a watch party?
\nA: Yes, all three Pig Beach BBQ locations will host watch parties on Thursday.
\nQ: What dish will be served at the watch party?
\nA: A dish that was part of the show will be served, but the specific dish is not disclosed.
\nQ: How can I get more information about Pig Beach BBQ?
\nA: You can visit pigbeachnyc.com or call 561-803-0333 for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WPB Pitmaster to Battle on ‘Beat Bobby Flay’ Introduction to the Competition Matt Abdo will fight fire with fire. Literally. The Pig Beach BBQ co-owner and pitmaster will barbecue-battle on a special themed episode of \u201cBeat Bobby Flay\u201d set to air at 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. The Food Network cooking competition has two chefs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":24703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dining"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TFL-L-Beat-Bobby-Flay-competitor-Matt-Abdo.jpg?w=1400px&strip=all&w=1920&resize=1920,0&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24704,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24701\/revisions\/24704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}