Dueling chefs settle chile beef

SAN ANTONIO, N.M. (KRQE) - A burger challenge brought a national television show to dusty San Antonio, a New Mexico community already known locally for its magical ways with beef and green chile.

For many New Mexicans it’s no surprise that the Buckhorn Tavern can serve up a mean burger. The mystery is how Food Network’s Bobby Flay caught wind of its famous burger.

Either way he heard, and he showed up.

It was a challenge between two men; one a well-known TV chef, the other who learned his trade by watching his dad cook on a grill that can only hold 10 burger patties at a time.

On Wednesday night all Bobby Olguin learned from his father and on his own was displayed on national television as " Throwdown with Bobby Flay " aired on television screens across America.

Olguin, a New Mexico native, is a third-generation owner of the Buckhorn known for its famous Buckhorn Burger. As Olguin tossed on some of his secret ingredients onto the mouth-watering burger, he talked to KRQE News 13 about the big secret during the taping.

Well, it was a secret to him. Olguin had no idea that Flay, who's know for surprising other chefs while cameras roll, was going to challenge his craft. And show executives gave him no advance warning.

"They called us and said they wanted to put us on the Food Network,” Olguin said adding he was told he would be on a show called “Burger Nation.”

It was the second day of taping as Olguin entertained a hungry audience that the challenge emerged.

Olguin said he was "giving a demonstration on my cooking and stuff to 100 people that were there at the show” when out of the corner of his eye he saw Flay approaching ready to cook up a mean burger.

"I said, 'This looks like a throwdown," Olguin said. “He just looked at me and said, 'Are you ready for a throwdown?'”

It was a duel between the Bobbys. At least Olguin has the right name, but did he have the right ingredients?

“His burger was very awesome," Olguin said. "It had two different types of chilies; it had melted cheese; it had pickled purple onions.

"One of the judges described it as a gourmet burger.”

Olguin threw on a New Mexico secret, some green chile, but was the homegrown flavor enough to win? The results were revealed on the Food Network Wednesday night

"I beat the Iron Chef, burgermeister of the Food Network," Olguin said. "Yes, we won."

The judges loved Olguin's Buckhorn green chile cheeseburger.

Olguin said Flay congratulated him after the competition and complimented the green chile he uses.

Just down the road from the Buckhorn the Owl Cafe also has been luring locals and travelers in for decades with its green-chile burgers.