The Food Network's top Guy comes to WNY
He's burning up the Food Network with his over-the-top style. Now Guy Fieri, the network's new marquee chef, is in town for a cooking demonstration and a few days of shooting for his "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" show. He's only 41 and his cooking-as-rock'n'-roll is paying off.
So it’s no coincidence his second cooking show, with a live audience, is called “Guy Off the Hook.” There’s also “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” where Fieri hops out of his classic car at a place the locals eat, and heads into the kitchen to try his hand at the house specialty.
Fieri’s coming to Western New York for a few days of shooting, ready to add local favorites like Grover’s in Amherst, the University District’s Lake Effect Diner, and Earl’s Drive-In in Chaffee. He’s doing a cooking demonstration today at the Seneca Niagara Casino.
That’s Fieri in the television ads for TGIFriday’s, with recipes from “Ultimate Recipe Showdown,” for which Fieri served as master of ceremonies. He has a clothing line, nearly 12,000 Twitter followers, and he’s also tackling magazine work, he said in a News interview. Last year, he spent about 200 days traveling for the Food Network, he said.
“It’s about as diversified as it can be,” Fieri said. “Besides me shooting lunch for 10,000 out of a cannon off the Empire State Building, I don’t know what else they’re going to have me do.”
The exuberant over-the-top vocabulary and surfer look is not an act, Fieri hastens to say. After he won, “One of the first things I was asked was, ‘Did you do that hairstyle, the tattoos, the jewelry –did the wild side of Guy come out for television, or was that ahead of time?’ I’ve been this way all my life.”
You seem like a pretty busy guy.
I’m the one who’s going to invent 25/8.
What does it take to do that? How many days a month are you away from home?
Last year I did about 200 on the road. This year I think we’ll pare that down to a buck fifty.
Was making the step from restaurant owner to television celebrity difficult?
I went on to “Next Food Network Star,” not out of a dare, but out of a little bit of a challenge from my buddies: “This is the last crazy thing you can do.” I’ve ridden bulls, driven demolition derby, drag-raced, you name all those other crazy activities, I’ve done ’em. This was one a little outside my comfort zone. I decided to do it, and I won.
Is it amazing? Is it a lot to handle? Without question.
How often do you get recognized in airports?
Guy Fieri was anointed by Emeril Lagasse the day in 2006 he won the Food Network’s “The Next Food Network Star,” leading to his first show. Lagasse read his name in the final episode, while Fieri, sporting his trademark spiky bleached-blond hair, goatee and surfer bling, flirted with tears. ¶ Fast-forward three years, and Fieri has replaced Emeril as the network’s marquee chef. The 41-year-old’s brand of cooking-as-rock-’n’-roll is scoring well among the Food Network’s male audience. ¶ In “Guy’s Big Bite,” Fieri offers up big flavors in colorful packages, like “Mojito Chicken” and “No Can Beato This Taquito,” plus fruity cocktails like “Baja Pineapple Grenade” and “Thump Yer Melon.” ¶ The cooking is seasoned with Fieri’s enthusiastic commentary, and watchers know he’s satisfied when he tastes a dish and pronounces it “money” or “off the hook.”
I have one of the most recognizable looks that there is. That works good and bad for you. I try to wear a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses to take my son to the ball-game, to have one-on-one time with him.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I have a little bit of a distinctive voice. People say, are you that guy?
Your show “Diners, Drive- Ins and Dives”has presented more than 300 places, with you tasting the food. Don’t you ever run out of ways to say, “That’s tasty”?
You know what? I quit worrying about it a long time ago. I say whatever comes to mind.
People walk up to me all the time and say, “Dude, this is money.” I’ll get a little phobic that I’ll say the same word too many times. But it really doesn’t –to me, I’m being me. Whenever the me being me doesn’t work? Maybe it’s not going to work any more.
I’m not selling a bag of beans. I’m not trying to make a story or a presentation. I’m not putting on a show.
I’m just being how I’d be, if I was standing in my kitchen and you made an enchilada and put it in front of me and it was this mack daddy enchilada, I’d say, “Dude. This is the mack daddy enchilada.” That’s just what I’d say.
How do you eat all that lovely fried diner food without getting huge?
I run between each location. No, honestly, I have to be judicious about what I eat, how I eat it, and when I eat.
Before the show I try to have a banana and an Americano [coffee]. Get some fruit and vegetables in there at the start.
Then I’ll eat one or two bites. I never spit food out, that’s not my style. If you see three bites of one item, those might be the only bites I do.
Sometimes I have to give the food to my producer and say, “Take this or I’ll eat the whole thing.” Which I can’t do.
One, filling yourself up slows you down. Two, I have to stay some degree of healthy. Three, I have lot of other food to eat, and I want to keep my palate fresh and ready to go.
You mentioned that for a professional eater, you burn your mouth a lot.How does that happen?
I burned my mouth the other day. People always say, “Gosh, can’t you wait for it to cool down?”
I’ve just spent the last 40 minutes cooking this thing with this person. I’m hungry, and now I’m intrigued. Now they serve it up and give it to me, It’s sizzling hot, and I know it. And the camera’s on me. We’ve got a timeline.
There’s all of these compounding factors going on. I’m like anybody else. I should have slowed down, but I thought I could handle it.
Why do you talk about cooking as rock ’n’ roll?
Food is way more than just an eating experience. It’s a social experience. It’s a culinary experience. It’s an environmental experience. There’s so many facets to it.
It’s kind of like when rock ’n’ roll came to the scene, and people started saying, “This isn’t just music, this is a lifestyle.”
The Food Network is one of the biggest cable channels there is right now. They’re blowing it up, and there are other cable channels that are trying to piggyback. And this is all happening based off of what? Pork chops and applesauce? No, this is based off the whole reality that surrounds food and its lifestyle and its mentality.
So you’re saying the individual recipes aren’t as important as cooking the food you want, no matter what anyone says.
That’s why I use the analogy of rock ’n’ roll and food. When rock ’n’ roll first came out, people said, “Oh my gosh, here is something so different.” We have all these other components of music, and now here is this wild side, combining all the musics together and making something that was so powerful to so many people.
Food is a common denominator of all people. You don’t have to be a rock ’n’ roll star to enjoy great music, and you don’t have to be a chef to enjoy great food.
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