Ep. 455: Carson Kressley Mini-Series Pt. 3 - Bobby Flay

How to Decorate

Caroline McDonald

Arts, Business, Design

4.4 • 838 Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We are back for Part 3 of the Carson Kressley mini-series! This time, we are trading the design studio for the kitchen, recording live from the set of Beat Bobby Flay in New York City. Carson sits down with his good friend, the Iron Chef himself, Mr. Bobby Flay. Bobby turns the tables and lets Carson do the baking (featuring his famous Amish-adjacent Pennsylvania Dutch custard pies!), while the two discuss the undeniable link between hospitality, food, and interior design. Bobby breaks down the psychological trick of the "Orange Glow" in his restaurants, how he works with his interior designer Olivia Jane, and the layout secrets of his personal home kitchens in New York, the Hamptons, and London. Quick Decorating Takeaways: Flatter Your Guests with Lighting: Bobby insists that lighting is the unsung hero of a successful restaurant or dinner party. He aims to create an "Orange Glow" in his spaces to ensure that everybody feels like they look good while dining—if they feel good about how they look, they’ll have a better time. Design for You, Not for Resale: Bobby strongly advises against designing your home based on what a hypothetical future buyer might want. Instead of living in a safe, generic space for "resale value," you should design your home for the way you want to live in it right now. The Best Way to Serve a Crowd: When entertaining at home, Bobby rarely does plated dinners. He prefers a "family style" approach because it feels comforting and allows guests to take exactly what they want. His top entertaining essential? A collection of really cool trays to easily carry food and drinks around the room. What You’ll Hear on This Episode: 00:00 Welcome to Week 3 of the Carson Kressley Takeover! 01:00 Live from the set: Carson bakes for an Iron Chef 03:00 Why interior design is just as important as the menu 04:30 The secret to the "Orange Glow" lighting 07:00 Bobby’s partnership with his interior designer, Olivia Jane 09:00 Why Bobby loves shopping for vintage furniture on 1stDibs 16:30 How a chef designs his own kitchens: 18-foot islands & Hamptons bistro tables 19:30 Why you shouldn't design a house just for "resale value" 20:40 Entertaining tips: Trays and family-style meals 22:00 Designing his 1920s Tudor house in Saratoga and his London apartment 27:00 Bobby & Carson’s London restaurant and hotel recommendations 29:20 The pie reveal: Strawberry and Raspberry custard 32:00 Sneak peek at next week’s guest: Pat Altschul Also Mentioned: Bobby's Podcast: Bobby on the Beat London Spots: Berenjak, Scott's, Brat, The Broadwick Soho hotel Bobby's Restaurants: Amalfi, Brasserie B, Bobby's Burgers Vintage Shopping: 1stDibs Shop the Carson Kressley Collection at Ballard Designs Please send in your questions so we can answer them on our next episode! And of course, subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. You can always check back here to see new episodes, but if you subscribe, it’ll automatically download to your phone. Happy Decorating! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	My name is Sherlock Holmes.
0:02.0	It's an unusual name.
0:03.0	Introducing Young Sherlock, a new Guy Ritchie series.
0:07.0	What game are we playing today?
0:09.0	Discover the origins.
0:10.0	It's cleaving. Those days are surely behind me.
0:12.0	Of crime's most iconic mind.
0:14.0	There has been a break-in.
0:17.0	Astoned. You should be a detective.
0:19.0	Starring Hero finds Tiffin, Donald Finn and Colin Firth.
0:22.5	If you start wearing a hat like that, I will no longer be friends with you.
0:25.9	Young Sherlock, new original series.
0:28.0	Watch now only on Prime Video.
0:31.7	Welcome to How to Decorate from Ballard Designs, a weekly podcast all about the trials and triumphs of decorating and redecorating your home. I'm Caroline. I'm on the marketing team. And I'm Taryn and I'm a product designer. I'm Liz. I head up the creative team. We're your host. Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks, and tales from interior designers, stylists, and other talents in the design world. Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each episode. We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email us
0:58.3	at podcast at ballarddesigns.net. Now on with the show. Okay, we're back for week three of the
1:05.6	Carson Cressley mini series. Of course, if you have not already listened to episodes one and two with Tom Felicia and the John Gypsies, and you got to go back and listen to those because you don't want to miss them. But before we get into the show, Carson, why don't you tell us about the delightful guests that you brought to chat with us? Oh, well, thank you so much. I would love to. Yeah, I feel i feel like we've you know done city chic with
1:29.1	tom felicia and then we did texas boho with the junk gypsies and now we're going back to new york
1:34.7	city live from the set of beat bobby flay uh i had a little chat with my friend the iron chef
1:41.8	himself mr bobby flay and uh here's a little twist. On his podcast,
1:47.4	he always cooks for his guest. He made me a pork chop and it was delicious. It looks good.
1:53.3	It was like beyond. Everything he makes is like just flavor explosion. But I actually dared to cook for Bobby in this episode. I actually
2:04.3	baked. I'm more of a baker. If you know me, you know I'm Amish adjacent. So I'm very good at the baking
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Caroline McDonald, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Caroline McDonald and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.