Anyone watching LIVE! with Regis and Kelly this morning might have noticed a familiar face on their TV screen.

Ty Rowe, owner of Bootleggers Old Town Tavern & Grill, is one of five nominees in the show’s “Ultimate Hometown Grill Off.”

All summer long, viewers vote weekly between a handful of chefs, and the winner then travels to New York City to appear on the show and demonstrate his or her recipe.

This week’s category is steak, and Rowe is putting his Korean Style Skirt Steak up against the creations of other chefs.

The skirt steak has been a permanent fixture on the Bootleggers menu. Rowe was nice enough to show me how to make the steak back in the summer of 2006 for an installment of my “Sous Chef” series. If you haven’t tried it, head down to 210 Washington St. and order the steak, stat — it’s fantastic.

It’s up to viewers to pick their favorite chef. Voting opened at 7 a.m. today, local time, and closes at 7 a.m. Sunday, July 26, local time.

The weekly winner will be announced on Monday’s show, and if Rowe beats out the other four chefs, he’ll appear on “LIVE!” Friday, July 31.

At the end of summer, one dish will be named the “Ultimate Hometown” winner, and that chef will have the chance to appear in an issue of “Better Homes and Gardens” magazine, along with their winning recipe.

The Journal newsroom has already taken a couple calls from local fans who wanted to make sure we knew about Rowe’s “LIVE!” connection, and who also wanted to know how to vote.

View Rowe’s home video, and vote, here.