Bobby Flay’s love life has always been sort of messy. It cooled down a bit during his 10-year marriage to Stephanie March, although there were always lingering rumors that Flay never could keep it in his pants during that marriage (his third). Once March and Flay split up and were going through their divorce, all of the dirt came pouring out, the stories about his affairs, stories about how March had a lot of dirt on him and she was prepared to use it, even if it meant sending “CHEATER” planes overheard of Flay’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Anyway, long story short, March got her money and Flay got his divorce and what seems like a tight confidentiality agreement. And now Flay is back on the market, and since messy people attract other messy people, he was set up on a date with Chelsea Handler.

Is Bobby Flay getting Chelsea Handler all hot and bothered? The newly divorced chef and the outspoken comedian were spotted having a cozy dinner for two at Blue Plate Oysterette in Santa Monica, Calif., on Wednesday night.

“It looked like a date,” a witness told Page Six. Although our spy didn’t observe any funny business, the pair sat at a back corner table and did look “flirty.” They pulled up to the restaurant in the same car.

During an interview which taped last Wednesday, Handler said she would be going on a first date with someone famous that night. Though she didn’t name names, Handler revealed that he’s in “an extension of this business” when Ellen DeGeneres asked if he works in show business.

“A friend set us up,” Handler said. “I’ve never met him but I know of him … You’d know him.”

In July, Flay, 51, finalized his contentious divorce from actress Stephanie March — a blond, blue-eyed beauty like Handler — after a decade of marriage. Handler, 40, famously dated hotelier André Balazs but has never been married. Reps for Flay and Handler did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

[From Page Six]

I was going to say something about how Handler is too indiscreet for Flay, but that’s not true – Handler really didn’t say that much about Andre Balazs during their on-and-off thing, nor has she ever said much about her relationship with the then-married executive who gave her the E! show. She is capable of being discreet, about some things and some people. I do think Handler would probably like to see herself as a maneater, capable of dating high-profile men then chewing them up and spitting them out. But is that who she really is? Eh. Anyway, if Flay and Chelsea do become a real couple, they both deserve whatever they can do to each other. In some ways, they’re actually evenly matched.

Photos courtesy of WENN.