Bobby Flay was partying with (or, at least, near) Madonna in the 1980s!

The Food Network chef, 61, talked about brushing elbows with the pop icon, 67, at New York City clubs as a teenager while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, Aug. 5.

Flay shared what it was like growing up in New York City.

“It was really cool, we used to go to a lot of clubs, almost every single night,” he said.

He referenced one of the songs on Madonna’s latest album, Confessions II, called “Danceteria,” sharing that it was the name of a club they both used to frequent.

“I used to see her dancing,” Flay said.

“In fact, I looked at the lyrics of the song, and she name-checks everybody—I’m not in there,” he joked, adding that she references “old-school” New Yorkers from the time.

“Not 16-year old Bobby Flay?” Fallon joked.

“No, exactly,” Flay replied.

Fallon then asked whether Flay had ever danced with Madonna.

“Close by,” Flay replied. “I was in the circle.”

“Madonna was always, she was part of the downtown scene,” he added. “She was becoming famous. She was like ‘that girl’, you know what I’m saying, that everyone kind of knew, then all of a sudden, she was Madonna.”

“Then she was like, ‘I’m out of here,’” Flay joked.

Flay then told Fallon about his club attire, which he said is similar to what he wears now. He said he wore Capezio dance shoes, which he had in both “white and taupe,” along with “lots of velour shirts.”

“It was very hard for me to get into the club. They didn’t like my shoes,” he admitted.

Otherwise, Flay shared, he often spent his time growing up playing baseball, stickball and basketball. He shared that, because he was 9 years old when the Knicks last won the NBA Finals, their recent championship is something that he will be celebrating “for the rest of my life.”

Flay shared further details about his upbringing in New York City, laughing when Fallon asked whether he had a garden growing up.

“I’m from New York City,” he said. “We don’t have gardens.”

He added, “I have a garden now though, in my country house,” though he admitted that he is still not very good at growing plants.

“My girlfriend Brooke really takes care of the garden,” he said of his girlfriend and fellow Food Network star Brooke Williamson. “She’s from L.A., so she really loves the whole gardening scene, but I’m terrible at it. So she just picks everything, and I cook everything.”

Fallon then revealed that he is “super into gardening now.”

“I have a tomato plant in a pot,” he joked. “It’s a lot of work.”

He then pulled out three tomatoes for Flay to make Bloody Mary drinks with.

“Say goodbye to your tomato,” Flay said as Fallon shared that he named the tomato “Tomato Holland” and the other one “Vine Diesel.”

To a blender along with “Tomato Holland,” the chef added celery salt, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, lemon and honey, which he says “makes the tomato taste more like a tomato.” He then added vodka and took a swig from the bottle.

“That’s how you cook,” he said as the viewers cheered.

“This is the best Bloody Mary, right here,” Fallon said after trying the drink.

Flay then discussed the return of Bobby’s Triple Threat, shouting out that Williamson is a titan on the show, and teased his new Food Network show, Bobby Flay’s The Line, which pits Flay and his team of hand-selected chefs against professional lines in real restaurants for dinner services.

“I feel like I’ve been a line cook my whole life,” Flay told Fallon. “It’s really what it’s all about. It’s about getting the food out, working alongside people next to you, it’s hot and sweaty, but you’ve got a lot of food to put out.”