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| Written By
Rick Ellis,
Saturday, April 21st, 2007 Guy Fieri, star of The Food Network show "Guy's Big Bite" has been logging a lot of miles for his new show, "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," which premieres at 10 p.m. April 23rd. I recently spoke with him by phone, and he was as fun to talk to you as you might imagine. Q: So how did you become involved in the show? A: The show was thought up by this great guy named David Page. He pitched it to the Food Network, and they liked the idea. But they said that wanted me to host it. Which I think made everyone at the production company a bit nervous. We still joke about that first meeting, because they were definitely looking at me, thinking "Hey, who is this guy? What did we get ourselves into?" But we shot the first special and it must have went well, because now it's a series. Q: So what defines a place as a diner or dive? Obviously, it has something to do with the décor, but it also seems like it’s also a state of mind. A: Definitely, it's a state of mind. It's a way of doing business. Diners, drive-ins and dives are where everything has happened. It's where engagements have happened; it'ss where birthdays have happened....it's where business deals have gone down. It’s really kind of the heart and soul of the restaurant business that we know in the United States. It's the place that has that great Chili bowl. It's the places that hand smoke their own meats and make sandwiches. Now it may not be the most picturesque place, but in its own way it has its own charm about it. And they're in all different towns, and all different shapes and sizes. Q: I would agree with you, although I think a lot of people are more comfortable with the big chain restaurant experience. A: Which is too bad, because I bet that all the chain restaurants you see started out their lives as either a diner, a drive-in or a dive. Q: Does the fact that you run your own restaurant give you some appreciation of what the owners of these small places go through every day? A: Oh yeah. Listen, I didn't start out with someone dropping a nice, shiny new restaurant in my lap. I know what it's like to work to get people through the door, to just pound away every day and hope people notice you. The places we profile.....these are my people. I came to Sonoma County with $5,000, a pregnant wife, two Rottweilers and a Hyundai with 135,000 miles on it. I know what's like to have a dream and make it happen. Q: Speaking of the places profiled.....how were the places chosen? Was it something you had some voice in deciding? A: Our team of producers come up with some of the most unique stories. And it helps that people are emailing us, contacting the Food Network and letting us know about their favorite local joint. And some of these places are so small you can barely find them even if you're looking for them. But they have this amazing food and amazing ambience. We spent a lot of time on phone asking questions. "What do you do? How do you do it?" But how do we find them? I don't know. I just have the great job of traveling around and tasting everything. Q: How does the average person find some of these places? What kind of advice do you give someone who’s just out driving around on vacation looking for a good diner. A: My best advice is just to slow down. Take a look at the town you're in. Ask the locals. Most people have some funky little place they go to when they're in the mood for the perfect omelet or the best burger they've ever had. But sometimes, you just run across them and it's just sheer luck. Q: You went to a lot of different places. Do you have any favorites? A: Oh, man....that's tough. There's places such as Mo Gridder's BBQ, a dive in the Bronx that can tune up a car in the auto-body shop while serving up ribs. Or The Frosted Mug in Alsip Ill.. It's this authentic drive-in with carhops and this amazing homemade root beer. I don't think I could pick my favorite twenty, to be honest. Q: Any places or foods that you just didn't like? A: Not really. There was one place that we filmed, and we ended up not using it. There wasn't anything wrong, it just didn't quite work on camera. But otherwise, every place was great. There was only one food that I just couldn't take. We were filming in this place in Kansas--Wichita, I think--and one of their specialties was liver and onions. Oh, man! I couldn't even stand to be in the same room when they were cooking it! ”Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives” premieres on the Food Network on Monday, April 23rd, 2007. |
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