We all know Bobby Flay as the king of the outdoor grill, but does he know his way around a giant propane-fueled paella pan? More importantly, does he have the chops to throwdown against the Bay Area’s own Prince of Paella, Gerard Nebesky of Gerard’s Paella? You’ll find out soon, when this caliente episode of Food Network’s Throwdown airs

sometime in May.

We got an exclusive preview of the event (Sorry, we’re not allowed to tell who won!), which was filmed live yesterday at San Francisco’s Del Monte Square Cannery. Beside our attempts at getting on TV by cheering obnoxiously loudly, we were also there to support our Parties That Cook Chef de Cuisine, Tanya Rogow, who was moonlighting as part of the Flay culinary team.

Gerard the Prince of Paella cooked up a vibrant, artfully layered paella masterpiece of Ecuadorian shrimp, chicken, clam, octopus, red bell peppers, whole garlic bulbs, onions, garbanzo beans, green beens, seasoned with his signature spice mixture of cumin, saffron and exotic smoked pepper, and decorated with concentric circles of sliced lemon. Throughout the heated challenge, Gerard was his friendly and unflappable self, answering questions from the crowd, offering Flay a tequila shot and even teasing him about adding his rice too early!

Flay, who seemed serious throughout the day, pulled out all the fancy ingredient stops for his paella, which brimmed out of the pan with chorizo, chicken, fresh peas, and almost every creature of the ocean: shrimp, squid, lobster, squid, mussels, clams, and fish. Oh and let’s not forget a healthy garnishing of garlic aioli squeezed over the bubbling mixture!

Judges included paella aficionados B44’s Executive Chef Daniel Olivella and Andy Booth of The Spanish Table (we love this Spanish specialty store!).

Since our vote doesn’t count anyway, we will only say that Flay’s paella was fantastically fiery with chorizo, calmed with the rich garlic aioli, but overall a bit on the mushy side, due to over cooked rice. Gerard’s had the perfect texture with those heavenly crunchy chunks of rice from the bottom of the pan, a smooth smoky flavor, but swimming in more olive oil than suits our palate. Who did the judges decide won? You’ll just have to wait and see.