A local chef and restaurant owner is helping put the Valley on the map.

Chef Larry Delgado, representing the RGV, was featured on Beat Bobby Flay, a popular cooking show on the Food Network.

Delgado says his passion for food started when he was only six years old.

The days spent in the kitchen cooking with his mother marked his life forever.

At 16, Delgado took a job flipping burgers in Edinburg. He says the adrenaline rush from cooking for so many people excited him.

After graduating high school, he went to work as a farmworker in Indiana, where he fell in love with food all over again.

"Learning that vine ripe tomatoes are so different than what you were often being fed or bought at the grocery store," Delgado said. "it started really intriguing me. Just the idea that I didn't really know anything about food."

After succeeding in the restaurant business in Austin, he and his wife decided to move back to the Valley to open up something of their own. Now, they're the proud owners of McAllen's House Wine & Bistro, Salt - New American Table, and Salome on Main.

Life was moving along as usual until Delgado got a call from a Producer from the Beat Bobby Flay show.

He says he never imagined his love for cooking would take him this far. That's why he wants other aspiring chefs to remember to be true to their own flavors, culture, and style.