Page 7 - Pop History: Guy Fieri

Episode Date: April 21, 2020

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Roombe! That's the sound of car makes. Welcome to Flavortown, everybody. How do you get to Flavortown? I don't know, man. Sometimes you just fucking close your eyes and you wish and you hope and you wake up in Flavortown.

Hopefully all your clothes are on. We don't know what to expect. You're definitely covered in donkey sauce. Either way, it's scary, but man, open up your mouth and let the flavor take hold. Guys, it's... That's scary.

I don't like it. I have flavor sauce on my knees. I have flavor sauce on my upper I'm covered in cheese. Donkey sauce rather. Yeah, I'm covered in donkey sauce. Oh, yeah. In Flavored town.

Am I doing this right? Yeah, of course you are. This is so foreign to me. This is, this topic was definitely, like, one, I was weirdly, really excited to do. And, however, I am not, like, a person who watches Food Network. I'm not a person who, but he's always been there. So you've never submitted to the fietisance. You, like, that has never been a part of your life.

I mean, I haven't either. Neither one of you guys. Yeah, but for some reason I was compelled. I was like, in fact, so much so that I was like, let's do Guy Fieri, Fieri sooner. Let's do Guy Fieri sooner. I will, I will jacksplain y'all. You know the fact it's Fietti.

We're calling him Fieti. I will call him Fieri. Thank you. Well, actually, I'll call him Guy Ramsey Ferry. That is his actual. Uh-huh, yeah. No, I, once I was initiated into this family, I, of course, started watching Guy Fieri because it is not an option in the Zabowski family.

But I used to hate him, hate him. But you know what? I realized now from this research, I was being judgmental about him looking like early 90s or early 2000s, I guess. I hated frosted tips in like high school. I get it. I was like, why are these people doing this? This is so dumb. I can tell right now even that this is as dumb as pogs.

You know what I mean? Like, this is not. I'm not to slammer your ass. I just sort of like, I just cornered him into like the kid rock. The kid rockery of the world. And now I love kid rock. You're naming a bunch of things that I too. Bullseye that judged, hated on.

And later in life, I'm like, smash mouse, fine. Like, who gives the shit? After what he said about Taylor Swift. Oh my God. You are a kid rock fan. Wow. I just like, I don't really like his music, but I would go on the kid rock cruise because he seems like a lot of fun. That's the thing.

We just like the kid rock cruise. Dude, though. But that is the opposite of what Guy Fietti is because Guy Fietti is good times in one big old man. And this is why I love him. He is everything that he says that he is. And as someone that, I mean, I'm a huge food network fan. So I'm kind of the opposite of all, y'all, but I love watching it. And since the beginning of Gutiherty, I have been completely obsessed with him.

I understand why people hate him. I get it. I think that he is a very divisive creature. Yes. But over the years, it is undeniable. His philanthropic ways and the way that he loves him. family. I love that he loves his family. I love that how much he loves his kids. He loves being a dad and he's so fucking obnoxious. And you know what? I'd rather someone be in my face obnoxious than like behind the scenes an asshole. Well he's yeah. I mean he's actually the most divisive is his outfits. Oh yes. He's actually like not very controversial as far as dudes on TV go I guess. I mean he does say a lot of you know he does use the words like

like bomb.com very often. He does use the phrase righteous a lot. I mean, you are jumping ahead a lot. He does have, what is it? He's come up with over 63 ways to say delicious. These include, that's a hot frisbee of fun. Love it.

That puts the Shama Lama in ding-dong. I love it. That's winner winner hot dog dinner. It's got whiz bang, wow in there. The flavor jets are turned on. And while holding a sandwich to his ear like a telephone, he said, Hello, Flavortown, yeah, my pig meter is going on. You know he says this when he's fucking his way.

Of course he does. I was desperately trying to get Jeff to do the same thing just the other day. And he will not give in to my Guy Fiatty cosplay. He won't wear some flame shirts for you. No, he won't do any of it. And I guess I understand. Jackie, you should be the guy Fieri then. Oh, I love that.

I'll just show up just with the goatee. And I'll get, oh, you know how they have those visors with the Fietti hair that's already built into it? Why don't? I have one of those yet. I'm sure we've already made this joke, but you could be Gal Fietti. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm Gal Fiati, a thousand percent. I have my favorite ones peppered throughout my notes.

So every time I get to them, I'll say it. I do. I'm very curious to learn about what happened to him in 2001 because obviously something stunted his ability to move beyond that year fashion-wise. He loves it. Was there a trauma? Well, we are going to get to why he is the way that he is. I really, it's just he just seems like a very genuine person.

And for those of you that are aware of some of the maybe off-color things that he may have said in the past, I just don't think with the amount of people that came out in droves to say that that's not true, I just don't think I believe it. Maybe I'm just choosing not to believe it because I love him so much. And I'm okay with that. I can't wait to go to the chicken guy, which is only in Florida right now. I was so excited because Henry and Natalie went on their. mini moon to Disney World

and it was the same month that Guy Fieri was opening up the chicken guy which I believe has 32 different sauces but it's just chicken so Natalie couldn't eat there and Andrew's like I can't wait in the line if my wife You can't eat at any of his restaurant None of the restaurants we'll be talking about today

none of the food items will be is anything that Natalie could ever to million years eat. We'll never be able to eat them I went to the guy's burger restaurant that is in the Burbank Airport Ed and I were on our way to the KB show in New York. So we were very sad and we were both very stoned. And we sat and we ordered, oh my God, half the menu of the Guy Fieri.

And I will say, man, did I have a time in that airport bathroom? Not the time. You should eat. I will give you a hot tip. Eat at Guy Fieri's airport restaurants when you're on your way out of your airport. Getting on a plane after that. But man, those trash can nachos. Wait, did you eat? When she comes over and she's got the thing.

So in the trash can nachos, they're in some sort of pillar. And they have to like, bam, up the pillar so that it stands up on its own, like a tower of nachos. And it stood up. What? Yeah. Wait, the nachos alone? Trash can nachos, yeah. They stand up, like, in a pillar, like in a, like in a building.

What is the cement? To cheese? Cheese, baby. Cheese, baby. Wow, yeah, mama. Now you're talking my fucking language. Isn't that the exact sign of something you shouldn't eat is that it can stand on its own? I love it.

I think it being referred to as trash can. I think it's the part. Before you even order it is that you say I should not eat this. This will give me the dirtiest squirtiest poofoos. And I also understand. At the airport bathroom. People that are not as into Guy Fietti, reminder, I grew up half in Queens, half in Florida. If I didn't love Guy Fieri, like, I mean,

Who am I as a human? Who are you? Who would love them if not for you? I know. I am well aware that I'm pretty trashy human being. So please just go along with us on this ride today and just hopefully we might convince you if you don't love Guy Fietti to love him by the end of this.

You know what, Guy, if you're listening to this, as a vegetarian, I also love trash food. Make something for me. I'll eat trash. I'm a trash can person. We'll take some pig off of it. And we'll, oh, let me just slide the pig off of it, which is what I imagine the waitress would say to you. So this all, this all started with a boy, a pretzel cart, and a dream.

Born Guy Ramsey Ferry in Columbus, Ohio in 1968, he grew up in Humboldt County, California, and he always loved food as a child, and at an early age started planning out his path to becoming an acclaimed restaurateur. This is the fun part of this is that he goes into he loves his family. I don't have to see this whole episode. This man has loved food forever. What I find very interesting is that you assume that maybe he was raised in a trash eating family. That's actually not the case. He says he was even eating things like sushi as a young kid because both of his parents were health food eating hippies who owned a leather and candle store as well as a Western gear shop.

Wow. He said, white bread or baloney. I was brought up with steamed fish and brown rice and bulgar, which I think is part of the reason why he went out and what's cool is that I read many instances of how he would talk about he would be eating something like dad, this is great, but can I show you what I can really do like starting at the age of like 10? He has been wanting to be Guy Fietti the version of Guy Fietti that he is from the second he came out of his mother. His early plans for a

and Kool-Aid stand were dashed, however. His parents caught him red-handed, or rather purple-armed, as he was stirring spoon broke, so we tried mixing the drinks with his bare arm. He's got dedication. His father, who he calls his biggest hero, because his dad's dad passed away at an early age, and he was a very self-made man,

supported his wish to be a restaurateur at this young age, even going as far as to help him construct a special cart, so he could sell pretzels when he was just 10 years old. I do want to say aside, before we go down the awesome pretzels route. The cart was called awesome pretzels, yes indeed. He talks a time again, time again, which again, great name, great name. Sure, they're a fucking awesome.

His dad is a huge part of who he is, and that his dad instilled in him a lot of the loyal family values that he still holds. He says, my dad is my Obi-Wan Kenobi. and he told me something as a little kid about keeping your mind open. If you continue to do the same thing you've been doing and expect different results, that's crazy cuckoo time. Be open. Think, listen.

If you ever get closed-minded, it's the same thing I tell people about their palate. Don't ever let somebody put something in front of you and say, I don't like that. How do you know? Obi-Wan Kenobi. But awesome pretzel cart. Awesome pretzel cart. Guy was inspired to do, to start his, his own pretzel cart business after a trip to Lake Tahoe and his very first soft pretzel

that he got off of a vendor that worked at the ski lodge at which him and his family were staying. And Guy remembers this fondly saying, this pretzel guy steams it and he dips it in a little bit of salt and he put mustard on it and I always loved flavors like that when I was a kid. I ate one and the doughiness and the chewiness, I'd never seen anything like that. However, when he went back to the vendor to find out where he was. got his pretzels from, the man refused to tell him because he didn't want the competition. So Guy had to wait until after he left for the day and went through his trash to find a pretzel box with the address of the vendor on it. He had to get a little sneaky. He wouldn't

tell a 10-year-old boy. Because he couldn't handle the competition. It's absurd. It's absurd. They're on vacation, too. He wouldn't have even been competition. I'm going to say this could be a story that maybe Guy has expanded on. I can't imagine a pretzel man being like, get out of here, kid, this is my scene. I think that his dedication shines through to show his craftiness at a young age. While in school, he did dishes to raise up money

so he could go to Chantilly, France, in a foreign exchange student program, and enrolled in a one-year culinary course. This experience would become life-changing for Fiati. It's very interesting, too, because it seems like his parents kept a fairly open house. house. And the reason why he chose France is because there was a French wine cork cellar that was going through Northern California. And a friend of their parents were like, oh, if you need a

good meal and a place to stay, you can crash up at the ferry residence. So he was having dinner with the family and he was talking about France, which is what got Guy Fietti to want to go to France specifically. And that was the same dude that he ended up calling up was like, hey, could you hook me up with a, like, help me find a family that would host a foreign exchange student? This is a weird, this almost feels like this could have happened in 1915. I know. I know, right. I was a boy, and I just sold my pretzels.

I had my pretzel cart, and that's how I fed my family. And then a wine cork man came through town. I mean, except for the fact that I think that he comes from a fairly well-off family. But other than that, yes. but they did make him pay for his own way to go to France. Yeah, this is what Fieri had to say about it. When I was a sophomore in high school, I made a deal with my parents. If I went to junior college in our town and took French and got a B or better,

they would let me go to France and live in a boarding house and go to school. So I took French in junior college during my lunch break while I was in high school. My mom would drive me. I was only 15. Then at 16 and a half years old, I got on a plane, flew to Paris, had a friend of the family pick me up and drive me to a little. little town called Chantilly. I lived in a boarding house, not even a boarding house. It was a family that rented me a room.

They spoke no English. The only French I could speak was out of the little hand dictionary I bought at the airport. Even though I passed the class, I didn't know anything. Of course. It's only like what was like French one or French two. There's always so much. And he got to be. Yeah.

Everyone that we are covering, I've discovered, had their entire plan laid out by the time and they were a teenager. Yeah. How does this happen? They knew what they wanted, you know? I was such a scumbag at that age. Yeah, I was completely out. I was just like, whatever.

I'll figure it out later. Yeah, absolutely. But at the same time, you've got to think, Gwanda Sykes didn't start doing comedy until she was 29 years old. So there's a back and forth, you know? There's a back and forth. That's right.

Fiati found the food in France to be fantastic and so different. He said, if you told me when I left for France that I was going to eat snails, I would tell you, you got snails coming out of your ears. I came to love escargo and came to love all the simplicity of food. And while there, Fieri, he travels to Sweden, Norway,

Germany, and Switzerland, and was shocked to find how diverse the queen cuisine was. What really flipped on his switch, apparently, was steak freets, which I think is very funny because it is, I'm not saying that it's not the perfect over there. I love steak frets, of course. But it is that it was steak and French fries. That is what got...

That's what got him to say that he said, I wrote home to my parents saying, I had steak and potatoes yesterday, and it was like I'd never had them in my life. My parents were really good cooks, and we ate really well, but I'd never had anything like the food there. I knew exactly then what I wanted to do. And he also admits that the woman that ran the,

the boarding house that he was staying at was a horrible cook. And at 16 years old, essentially, he learned everything that he found out about French food and the cuisine by going over to his friends that he made their houses to, and then also cooking with their parents. And they even had the phone locked up at the boarding house. He didn't go over there to be taken care of at all. He kind of just went there and fucked around,

eat a lot of food and I'm going to go ahead and assume drank a lot and partied a lot. Well, that definitely, yeah, I would say probably that is accurate to his current portrayal of himself. I'm wondering, he's very worldly. Is he doing like a Larry the cable guy bit where he's pretending that he's... I don't think so.

What I think it is, is really honestly what it is is that he traveled the world and is still obsessed with America. And I think that that is even almost scarier than just being like, I'll never go to any of those places. But to see the entire world and still be like, yeah, I am white trash. And you know, lean it into it. So at least he did experience it as opposed to someone that is just like nothing exists outside of America. Absolutely. I'm with you.

I'm with you. Well, and I think this whole process, too, just gave him a penchant and a love for travel, which we'll see with Triple D in the future. And also, I think what's interesting is that his time in France is really. what made him want to work as we'll talk about as like a flambay chef was because of the theatrical flame heavy cooking that happens in France as well it's where oh it's where it starts maybe because we're soon going to be getting into how he chose what his aesthetic is did he also learn how to drive with one arm outside the window oh my god oh I can't wait there's a great there's a great quote that I have about talking at triple D with the car that he travels in the Camaro we'll talk about that

But he did learn how to drive when he was age 13 while washing his family's car, which is a 1968 Ford camper special. Because he said, my deal with my dad was, when I wash the truck, if I could drive it out in the field, it would help it dry off. So if I'd wash the truck, then I'd drive it down the road to the field and drive it around in circles till to get all the water off of it. Wouldn't that just make it dirty? You'd think that, but maybe not. Okay. So after he returned to France, he gets a job. at an inn in Eureka, California, up until he went off to the University of Nevada in Las Vegas

to get a Bachelor of Science degree in hotel management, which he graduated with in 1990. So this is a big part of why a lot of the food, like at the beginning of his career, people were against Ghi Fiati because he doesn't have, he didn't go to culinary school. He has a hotel management degree. But he trained in Europe. He did. He's like, and so this entire time, he's been cooking his entire life. That doesn't, just because you don't go to culinary school, doesn't mean you have no skills.

God damn. Coastal elitists again. Right? Striking. He then works a bunch of different restaurant jobs, which led to him getting a managerial position at a restaurant in Long Beach, California, which led to him being appointed district manager of Louise's Trataria, which put him in charge of six restaurants for six years. And that's actually where he will meet his wife. Yes, Lori.

while he's running Louise's Trateria, and he said that he had swooped in to do damage control when he realized he'd met his match. He says, her friend had just been let go from the restaurant, and they weren't supposed to be there. I was talking to her friend and saying, hey, listen, wait a few weeks before you come in, and standing behind her is this blue-eyed blonde girl giving me this mean mug. Even while Lori was glaring at him, he knew there was something different about her. He had to get to know her. I know as soon as I saw her, he said, I just knew.

But at this point in time, he did not look like the current Guy Fieti that we know and love. He had a little bit of a different look. In 1992, Lori Fieti says, when I first met him, he had no goatee. He had dark hair. He wore a suit to work every day. Now I look at him and I'm like, where's that man I married with the whole clean look? Oh, no, she's not into it? He's not into it.

And I've read multiple interviews of her. And she's just like, hey, you know, I mean, she's given in. But I don't think she's exactly into it. But also at this point in time is where I wrote, You're like a black jack dealer at a Flavortown Casino. Oh, God. This is also, when he marries his wife, this is around when he changes his name to Fiatty to honor his original family name,

which his grandfather had changed when he left Italy. And with all of this experience in tow, he and his business partner, Steve Gruber, starts opening restaurants. First opening, Johnny Garlix, which was a California pasta grill in Santa Rosa, California, which led to two more locations in Windsor and Petaluma, California by the year 2000. The Petaluma location, however, closes down. And that's just the restaurant business, honestly. If you're going to start opening locations, some are probably going to close. However, but they opened a fourth location in Roseville. and diversified into sushi and barbecue fair with Texu wasabi.

I will say that Tex wasabi, so Fieri, Fieri referred to it as gringo sushi. The look on Natalie's face is so good. Texasabi, I'm going to throw it out there. It looks like quite the hybrid of sushi and barbecue. And I think that everyone, even looking at the menu, I could feel my collage. Straw levels.

Even higher. Is this the spot where he becomes this character? So this is around this time that he gets. No, this is around the time he becomes text wasabi.

Text wasabi. Very different person. And very problematic. So we're not going to spend too much time on it. It was a lot. I think maybe you had some trouble with that one.

He said he would not pinpoint exactly the time of when this happened. But this was around the time that Fietti was getting his hair done. by an old hairdresser friend of his, Christina Jones. He says, I was just kind of having one of those moods one day and said,

just do whatever you want. She goes, whatever I want. And he says, whatever you want? I get done and I'm like, you're going to wash that out, that shampoo? She goes, no, no, no, that's your hair color. I'm like, my what? It was Friday night at like 6 o'clock. I had to be at the restaurant.

I'm like, no. She's like, yeah. So I put on a ball cap on and walked to the restaurant. Apparently his son Hunter was about four years old at the time, and his one reaction was, What happened to you, Daddy? Wait, okay, what year is this? This is the early 2000s. I just love, what happened to you, Daddy?

And it was just some lady just did it to him. He didn't even try it. He didn't want to do that. Right. But this is around the time that he had said. sent in his audition tape for the next Food Network star. So he had this look in the audition tape. And so when people keep asking multiple times of like, why, like, why don't you just

change your hair back if you don't want it to be like that? And he's like, I don't do anything that I have to do. I don't really buy into that. I know we're doing a photo shoot today. And I didn't bleach my hair, so I won't have roots. I don't really give a shit. I didn't do the look to be on TV. And I don't keep the look because I'm on TV.

It's just the way that I like to look. It's just how I like to flow. See, yes, in June of 2005, a show called Food Network star debuted on the Food Network. It was a reality show competition in which the winner would actually get to host their own Food Network show. And so Guy submits an audition tape. Mary, could you actually please play the audition tape for our listeners now? Hi, I'm Guy Fiatty and welcome to Sonoma County, California, home of true wine country cuisine. Today I'm going to prepare a dish for you, not in fusion, but in confusion.

I'm going to do a Gorgonzole. of tofu, sausage terrain that we served over a mildly poached ostrich egg. Now since we're in the wine country, I'll be serving that on grape nuts and done with a delicious pickled herring moose right on top and, oh, I know, delicious.

It sends shivers up my spine. No, seriously, folks, real food for real people. That's the idea. See, it's all getting messed up. People are trying to take everything off the shelf and jam it onto a plate, and that's not what it has to be. I learned how to cook out of survival. My parents are going through this macrobiopiote. at cooking in the late 70s and I had enough

Bulger and steamed fish to kill a kid. So the idea in our family was whoever made the dinner got to decide what it was going to be and being of Italian descent pasta was always one of the keys. He actually is really good. He's genuinely good at what he does. He's very good at what he does. He has a knack for

just talking in front of the camera which is not actually it's a very difficult thing to do. It's the same kind of thing when people are like oh it's just talking. You can, anybody can talk. It's very difficult to talk as someone that I've made a couple of different things of like, I could do a cooking show because I cook all the time. It's really difficult to talk and do it at the same time

and do it in a way that you can explain what you're doing that actually comes across. And be interesting and me engaging. Yeah. And he had sent in this audition videotape. And he got a phone call that it invited him to New York for three weeks at December to compete as a semi-finalist. And this is in the interview of his wife.

Lori, and she remembers that Guy telling her that he wasn't going to go. They had had a nine-year-old, and she was pregnant, and Christmas was coming, and Guy knew he shouldn't be gone that long from his and his partner, Steve Gruber's restaurants, Johnny Garlix, Tex Wasabi, and Russell Ramsey's Chop House. And really, what was the chance the food network contest would come to anything anyway? Lori recalls looking him in the eye, I said, listen, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. If you don't try, you'll never know. You need to go. She's really saying, if I have to stare at this haircut for the next 40 years. I need a break from you. You better get some money, bitch. Because can you imagine being around him all the time? Can you imagine that you

didn't marry him before he turned into this? He was morphing like the fly after they got married. Yes. I will say, too, that he, when you listen to that audition tape, he does something. something that Food Network, I think, really needed at that time. He does like blue collar. He does that thing that you need where it's just like, hey guys, I'm not going to be all fancy schmancy. I'm not going to be, you know, I'm not going to be this nitsy thing. I'm a real dude, just like you. Come hang out with me. We'll chill in my backyard and I'll show you how to make a burger. You know what I mean? I get explosive diary after eight nachos too, man. I'm after

So I'm about to talk about when he meets Sammy Hagar for the first time because I will say he and Sammy Hagar are best friends Of course they are This way of describing him Because Sammy Hagar was just as excited to meet Guy Fietti as Guy Fiatty wanted to meet Sammy Hagar

And he had said about him Guy's disarming He's not one of them uppity stuck up stars That you're afraid to go near He ain't like that man He's the guy that walks in and says Hey dude let's go have a drink man Let's go do a shot

Let's go smoke a joint. That's what people expect from Guy, and 90% of it, he'd probably do it if he had the time. And another thing of how many people that were like, I read this one interview of this restaurant owner that was nervous about being on Triple D, nervous about doing the show, and he's like, hey, hey, hey, let's do a couple shots of tequila. And he sits with them and like just drinks tequila with him for like an hour. He's like, you feel good, man? You feel ready to go?

And then they shot the episode. Nice. You got it. You got it's a fine balance. You get a little too deep into that, and then you're recording the show just like, yeah. Yeah, well, dude, come on, man. Flavor town. Flav.

Suck it up. Put it on a flip-flop. I also do like that Sammy Hagar quote because it does also confirm that Guy Tokes. Oh, yeah. I mean, he grew up in Humboldt County. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Oh, man, that's right. So, of course, Guy Fierry ends up getting on the second season.

Please say it properly. Guy Fiatty. gets on the second season and wins on Food Network Star and this leads to his first show for the Food Network Guys Big Bide. Here's the show description from the website that is terrible, by the way. Guy Fieri's bleach blonde hair,

Gai Fiatis, bleach blonde hair, goatee, and skateboarder shorts make a strong statement. You are what you eat. Whether it's his mohito chicken, pepperoni lasagna, or jambalaya sandwich. One thing is certain. Guy Fiati's food is as fun.

fearless and fundamental as is larger than life personality. We hope you're hungry because this guy's imagination at knows no limits. Open wide for Guy's big bite. Very, very threatening. And I don't know if I really want jambalaya on a sandwich. And this is around the time. So Guy Fannie, this is when he meets Sammy Hagar. He goes backstage of one of Van Halen's concerts.

And so as we know, Sammy Hagar, which there was a great episode of Page 7, when I didn't know that Sammy Hagar is the one that owned Cabo Wabo. So Cabo Wabo is a series. It's a multiple restaurants. It's a tequila brand. So not only is he the singer of 80s music, but also he owns a bunch of restaurants and owns his own booze, which is why he's a huge inspiration to Guy Fieri.

So Hagar recalls that Fieri let him know that he was a super fan, but the friendship quickly blossomed. And then he started getting to be damn. successful it was ridiculous this is uh Sammy Hagar next thing I know he's just winning really hitting him out of the park as the friendship blossomed Fieti looked to Hagar as a mentor for expanding his brand he always used to ask me dude how am I gonna make money out of this because in the beginning you don't really make any money I told him man you got to brand yourself you got to endorse

products or invent your own write books take advantage of your TV time he did I'm not saying it wasn't for me He would, I'm not saying if it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have known what to do, but he had these conversations with me again and again. And next thing I know, he's doing it. So yes, Sammy Hagar is taking complete responsibility for Guy FInty. Rock and rode. Meow, meow, meow.

And I love their friendship as well as his friendship with the lead singer of Smash Mouth. And the three of them are such a cliche. Friends. Also, if you look on the show page for Guy's Big Bite, you can find their most popular recipes in the past, such as strawberry panzanella, beat salad with goat cheese, code red, which is a vodka drink with peach schnops,

Amoreto, Cranberry, and Orange Juice. Buttermilkho cakes, a sort of pancake made from scratch with hot molasses butter, and lamb and fetus sliders. I mean, I'd get up in that. That sounds fucking great. See, that's the problem, is it so many of the, so much of Guy Fiatty's menus are just on the borderline of I want to puke. And that's fucking awesome, man.

You know, like people always use the term food porn. If we're using that metaphor, it's like Guy Fiatty's food is this sort of my, like kind of heavy S&M. It's like scat porn. Yeah, where it's like you're just like it's not always going in for fun, you're challenging yourself. And you might weep and you might be in pain, but then you come out and you like did it. And then you say things like, I don't know if it's fair to call their Russian dressing, Russian dressing. It should be called something sexy like Liquid Moscow. It's like a haunted house for food sampling is kind of what it is.

Yeah. I guess Liquid Moscow is sexy to somebody. Sure. I'm down. I definitely, I would like to. If someone said you want some Liquid Moscow, I mean, in my head. head about 20 pictures go through of it and nothing is edible. No.

But I would say yes. I would imagine a drug that makes all your teeth fall out really quickly. Ooh, that's kind of fun. See, I was more thinking of like someone that looked like young Stalin. See, that's liquid Moscow in my head. Like sexy? Yeah. So the show has run for 13 seasons.

In the second season, his set became more personalized with his guy fridge that sports racing stripes and in-house bar and bumper pool table all to make you feel like you're just hanging with guy at his house. This was pushed further in season 10 with Guy working in his own backyard and having guests over to join him at his home, including, and this is where we'll actually address his garlic mafia, posse. It's just, I can't with the garlic mafia. It consists of folks with names like Gorilla, Cletus, and Dirty Pee. I will go ahead and say everyone hates. the garlic mafia. Anything I read about the garlic

mafia, fucking, they are. Wait, so that's like his entourage? His entourage is called the garlic mafia. And they, I think it's also why it's bad, though, Kaffieri. You have to have good people around you or else it looks poorly on you. If his posse was not obnoxious,

I wouldn't feel like he was the real deal. Honestly. Yeah. I wouldn't feel like he was the real deal. But like they're all older. I'm sorry, no mean to say this but they are all like men that are a little past their prime

that want to like live the rock and roll lifestyle. Yeah, dude! And it's like, dude, y'all are married with kids like, stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop. What do they do? Where do they go? They just hang out. They just hang out. They play loud music. They rev their cars. They hang with guys. They eat guys food. They make a lot of food.

I'm sure they smoke cigarettes. I'm sure that's a big It's like Leo's pussy posse. Yes. But they don't do, the pussy's all clamp down. It's just more like, it's more annoying than everything. Yeah, I think I'd rather hang out with the garlic mafia than Leah's posse. Yes. Well, yeah, I mean, probably.

Well, that's more our speed because we're not looking to like, like, do lines and, like, grab on hose. Yeah, I'm looking to drink bruise and make, make, like, a grocery store clerk cry. Yeah, I would know. I want a few shots and then, like, ride a quad around a bunch of property and maybe, like, I don't know. Like, high five menacingly. Like, you know, you high five and you look at somebody else, but you do make the high five. Right. Right.

By the way, Fiati's manager considers himself the, quote, consiglieri, which I know Natalie is now accustomed to because she recently saw Godfather for the first time. I did. Hell yeah. Congratulations. Welcome. And Fiati, of course, the mob boss, the godfather of the garlic model. Of course he is. And I'd love to, apparently, his word on the street is, his telephone ring is,

I can't drive 55. Oh, my God. And he answers it and he asks. I think my husband's going to turn into Guy Fiat. He is already on his way to Flavor Town. Daddy, what happened? So what happened to you, brother? Oh, I was in the same thing.

Wait, when he answers it, what? What does he say? Oh, no, he makes people call him Guido over the phone. Of course. Of course. Oh, Guy Fieri, what do you do it, baby? Of course. I think he always wanted to be on the Jersey Shore.

And that is like he was just too old to be on the Jersey Shore. Right. And he's not near the Jersey Shore. No, no, no. But I guess the Jersey Shore is a state of mind more than a place. True. Well, it's taken far too long talking about this man's life. up to now to finally get to triple D.

Triple D. Nominated for six Emmys, Triple D. Diners, drive-ins and dives, of course, is the show we're talking about. Guy refers to it as triple D, and we shall as well. Trip D, baby, because we are taking you on a road rocking trip down to Flavortown

where the gravitational force of bacon warps the laws of space and time. Do, do, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. Ooh, the breeze is running through your hair right now as you sit back in a, in a, in a, in a 1968 Red Chevy Camaro S, S, which is rolling down the road straight to the biggest, baddest, fattest burger joint

you've ever seen in your stupid, meaningless life. I hope when I take a bite that that grease is just streaming down my arms, baby. Oh, there's a grease monster sitting next to you in the car, it turns to you, it says, Hello! I'm ready for some more cheesy fries. Of course you are.

Will you be my boyfriend? Absolutely. Thank you. Now let me do some things to you while you drive. Yeah. It's like a David Lynch movie. And you come like a rocket ship. Of course, baby.

Covering in Greece. We did it. We finally scared Natalie off. I think she's scared forever. I don't know what to say. Just because the grease monster is fingering you in a red corvette while you go to a burger place. Yeah, why is it bad? Bill's Barnyard Burger Bastrop.

Okay, guys, come on. Let's get serious. I can't. Let's get serious now. Seriously talk. Okay, yeah, I'm serious. I'm serious about it. Guys, next show would see him traveling all over America to interview local cafes.

It first aired in 2007. It's still ongoing. And it started out as just a single special. in 2006, which had such strong ratings that it got picked up for a series produced by Page Productions based out of Plymouth, Minnesota, run by David Page. Now, so originally David Page had the idea for this show. David Page is a former ABC and NBC news producer, so he was pitching a bunch of show ideas to the Food Network.

And as Alan Salkin notes in the book from scratch, Page was on the phone with a network executive named Cristiana Reinhardt one day. when he got asked if he had any pitches about diners. Bluffing, the producer said he had an idea for a program called Diners Drive is and his dives, a name Paige reportedly made up on the spot. Reinhard was intrigued by the idea, and after reading a brief summary that Page put together the next day, decided to greenlight the pilot and put Fietti in the hosting role.

So Guy, when he first starts off the show, he admits he didn't know what he was doing. But what helped him get into the groove of the show, so that's his making this pilot, he said he was just relying on his many years of working in restaurants. So here's his account of the first day of shooting the pilot. I meet the producer and he's given me this whole list of things and I'm like, what's going on? He goes, do you have a shirt?

And I said, yeah, I got this work shirt, this Dickie's work shirt with a big panel on it. That's where the bowling shirts and all that come from. And I'm in shorts and flip-flops and he says, go ask these questions. I said, okay. So I walk in on the line and the place is jamming. It's a diner. It's open. It's working.

and the people are talking and there's a camera guy over my shoulder, a lady's sitting there, she doesn't have any coffee. So I'm filling a little coffee. So I'm moving and jiving and the hash browns are starting to burn. So he's in the kitchen trying to ask the person questions. So I flip him. And we're talking and we're going back and forth and I asked all my questions. And the producer yells, what is this?

Come outside. He goes, what was that? And I said, listen, as a chef, I can't be on the line shutting down the owner's world. And he said, can you do that again? and I said, can I do that? What I did right there? Yeah, we're in the groove, baby. And he threw his clipboard down and said, we've got a hit.

All right. Would I love to see more than anything in a kitchen is men's toes. Men's toes in a kitchen, hair uncovered, touching the food. That is actually really not, yeah, that is not. That is one of the first things they tell you the rest of their business is wear clothes-toed shoes, but we'll just move right up past that. I just hope that the gel slipped off of his hair into the hash browns. That's Flavored town.

It completed some sort of spell. I believe in that account to the T. No exaggerations. Usually if you get one of these hit shows, it is that sort of kismet situation. The same with like Chip and Joanna Gaines. They got their show because they accidentally caught them doing, having a huge disaster when he just like showed up with a boat that he didn't tell her about. Yeah.

So it's, you know, you do, you guys got to take risks. You got to take risks? I mean, honestly, yeah. Each episode generally has a theme such as burgers, ribs, or seafood, with Fiati visiting several restaurants in a given city to taste food that adheres to that particular theme. Fiati said, we put blood, sweat, and tears into making these shows happen and finding the best places.

We'll go into a town and shoot six locations in the course of the week. But before we do that, we spend two to three months evaluating the city and looking at the food scene. What did we do last time we were here? What's going on in the scene right now? Where are they with this? Where are they with that? What is emerging? What is revitalized? What is old school? What's new school? What are people talking about? Also, guys said, we're in the middle of the food revolution. People have such a better educated palette now, and I think Food Network plays a major part in that. We brought people to understand food, and now they're making better choices, but we have to, because we really got off the path for a while there with processed

crap and we've still got way too much. Wait a second. He's saying this show is a return to wholesome food. Yes. Yes. I thought it was mostly gunk. Why? What do you think the show does? I think they look at gunk.

No. And then they eat it. You know what I like about Diner's Drives and Dives is that he does go to a lot of places that make their own of whatever there's people. And that's what he's trying to bring to the people is that you can still eat trash food, but eat trash food that is home fucking me. No, I fully support that.

I'm very into that. What I love, though, is reading people recount when they're watching hours and hours of Guy Fiatty. And now, what's the tell? How do we know if Guy really loves it? So if he really likes a dish, there are two stages of Guy Nirvana. The first is an extra bite. If Guy only takes one bite, there's a good chance he didn't like the dish. If he takes two, you can guarantee it's a winner.

Guys. will suddenly start talking about how good he feels while eating the dish. If Guy takes it a step further, he gives that look. Maybe asking the chef to hold and cuddle him. That's an award-winning dish. Guy will often openly proclaim

that he wished he came up with the dish or he will say he's stealing it. Those are the places you simply must try because that's the top of the Triple D Mountain. If only my own wife would look at me the way Guy... I know. That's the thing. Looks at a hamburger.

That's the thing about it that makes it a little uncomfortable to watch, but also I think was made him successful, is that a lot of those reactions are vaguely sexual, and it's weird to see him be so, I guess, seductive. Is that the word? Is that the word? You're trying desperately not to use

because you're worried that your husband might lean into the guy, be any lifestyle. She is seduced. It's like a very intimate moment. It almost looks like you're looking in on him in a sexual moment with the food. You mean like any time any woman mentions

the word cream? Because this is a problem that the producers keep saying. He says you have to protect Guy from all of his poop jokes. And also anytime any woman mentions the word cream, Guy went into a sexual riff when cutting the show. You had to tell the editors to watch guys eye line because it's always on press.

Oh my God. Maybe that's what he's looking at, you know? There is a very child like quality to him. When you say he looks at breast, he's not like, he's not like, he's not like cornering women, right? No, no, no, not at all. In fact, you can actually see it in episodes where it's just that like, I mean, I honestly, I do the same thing.

Oh, no, I look at breasts all the time. to not look at the press. And so you, you, like, accidentally do, and then you, like, look up in a way. So there are times when he's talking to a person, and he's just, like, looking, like, obviously past them because he's an adult child. Yeah, he's a man boy.

And so am I. I get it. No, I get it. He also feels that mom and pop restaurants are, quote, one of the toughest businesses in the world, and we give them a chance to be highlighted, recognized, spotlighted, put on a pedestal, whatever terminology, what it does for them.

Whatever terminology you guys would use. Whatever it is. Whatever it's slap it on there. What it does for them in most situations is life changing. It's life changing financially. It's life changing image-wise. It's a life-changing experience. It's all these things.

But it's true. If you get your restaurant on your show, you can see an increase of your sales at upwards of 500% which seems to stay steady because they show the reruns so much too in syndication. And also they're in all the, books. I definitely have, I've looked at the, there's lots of places online that they etch out like road trips for you to hit different spots. I've wanted to do it myself. Totally. I mean, that would be fun for, for, I think anybody who likes to travel around. But I also think that

that can spell disaster for the restaurants if they're not prepared for that. Like, they're not a little bit. Yeah, Tim, I mean, it's amazing. And yes, it's at one point somebody even says, We were begging for mercy at one point because like they just, their, you know, their flow of people just was so crazy. But what I will say is that they choose restaurants and they tell them about two months in advance. They work with the restaurants beforehand

so that the restaurants are aware of what's about to happen. They can build it. They can prepare for it. So it's something that, like, as someone, I think that is part of why I love watching his shows is that as a restaurant owner himself, he is aware of what these restaurants need and how to help them properly

and to ease them into their sales skyrocketing in a way that just a normal chef probably wouldn't be able to do. Yeah. Tim McKee, co-owner of Smalley's Caribbean Barbecue in Stillwater, Minnesota said, at the time, we were really struggling. We wondered if we were going to have to close.

Diners Drive in and Dives saved the business. Charlie Johnson, owner of a barbecue joint called Cuth fanatic in Champlain, Minnesota said, you get an explosion, instant notoriety. Barbecue has a passionate national following, and suddenly we're on the barbecue trail. You can't buy the impact you get. We've seen diners from 30 countries. There is something in my parking lot from Canada almost every day. We are a destination. Sarah Simington of the Blue Moon Cafe in Baltimore on the profound effect. Oh, that place is the shit. It took me from living on a couch and upstairs at the

restaurant and sharing a car to being able to actually now have my own house. My mom's been able to retire. Blue Moon Cafe is fun as shit. Hell yeah. Well, he fucking blew them up, man, in the best way possible. Casper, owner of Nooks, said, it seems like they've re-aired the thing a million times their episode. We were begging for mercy. That was the making for mercy one. Filming takes, by the way, somewhere around 12 hours, according to Ted Casper, who also said, I think we cooked every item on the menu three times with Guy. But that is, I mean, we're talking over 200 episodes. That's over 800 restaurants.

And for them to all receive like a huge bump like that is pretty amazing. Apparently it airs as many as 38 times per week. Wow. Triple D. That's crazy. Yeah. So, Guy starts each day of shooting with a workout usually and a big vegetable and fruit juice via a juicer that they bring with them on the road. Fiatty said, I make everybody drink it because I know the immunity and what the body needs when everybody's on the road and working crazy hours.

And eating like garbage. Yeah, yeah. He also makes it a point not to do much small talk with his restaurant tours. He wants to sit down with them and meet them on camera. He wants it to be. It's very unscripted. He does not like anything. He doesn't want anything to feel conceived.

That's why we don't speak to each other unless we're recording it. Otherwise, we're not even friends. Natalie, don't look me in the eyes. Yeah, I'm sorry. It has to be fresh. It has to be right here. When he began filming diners, drive, as and dives, he was already a restaurant tour with four establishments, right?

So he's just exploding even more. People ask him, did you ever imagine this for yourself? And I said, no, I never watched TV. I'm just a regular guy. Having four restaurants, I was on top of the world. I mean, come on. I had a hot rod and a boat. I was done.

I was 35 years old, and I thought, this is fucking great. So he was already successful at this point in time. So the things that he was doing, so if you look at what he is choosing to do at this point, he can make any choices he wants, which is why I think he goes on to have his fingers in so many pies, if you will.

Oh man, he does stick his fingers and everything to you on that show. Again, very sexual. This is also around the time that he had his big falling out with David Page, who again was the executive producer of Triple D up until season 11. They sue each other back and forth, and David Page comes out and says a lot of stuff about Guy Fiatty that many people came out and said were not true.

Diner Drama, America. There is definitely diner drama. He claims that Fieri also stopped taking his calls, and he didn't show up for voiceover recording. He just sort of like stopped returning calls, which is such a fun. That's more of like a millennial response. I think he's like a gen Xer.

He ghosted him. He ghosted him. And it's difficult to ghost the executive producer of your show. And so he sued. So David Page sues Food Network and Fiatty. Food Network countersues him. The Food Network claims said Paige was such a jerk that working with him became intolerable.

But Paige basically said it was all guys' fault because he didn't show up to do his job, which is obviously not true. they have how many fucking seasons of triple D and it usually happens in the situations the two sides settled and the show went on without Page but it did do a little bit of damage to Guy Fiatty's

brand he just you can tell and the way that the backlash came out afterwards of what David Page had said about him and the amount of people that came to Guy Fiatty's defense I really I honestly just don't

think it was true I mean it definitely if anything it was definitely done for vindictive reasons. Yes. You're a way to hurt his brain. Yeah. And there hasn't been a lot of other accounts of him acting in that way. So it... No, because he says that he was anti-Semitic because David Page is Jewish and he said something at him. And he also, and the claim was also that he was homophobic.

And nobody ever said that other than this guy. It's just this dude. So I mean, I don't know. Again, take it or leave it. I am choosing that if things are being set in the middle of a mud slinging type of a situation, you can't always fucking believe what you hear. So here we go. This is going to just, I'm going to not linger on any of these too long. Although there's some of them I might linger on a little bit. Yeah, go for it.

Please, please. Because I was going to ask you, Jackie. Which ones are my favorite? And Natalie, too, which ones you would maybe recommend people check out. So there were three seasons of Ultimate Recipe Showdown. I love Guy Fieri. Hello, get me on me. From 2008 to 2010, co-hosted with Mark Summers of Doubledair, who I was told I

look like back in college. Whoa. Oh, I can see that. I can see it. And, yeah, that was just for the first season. This was a competition show, kind of like the Great British Baking Show in which contestants would be. Exactly like it.

Is it the same? Is it very much the same? No, not at all. No, it's not. No, it's not. It seemed to me like it was. So they're making dishes. The winner gets $25,000.

and their recipe featured on the menu of TGI Friday. That's what I've always dreamed of. Now, Mark Summers does move into a bit of an inspirational part for Guy Fieri at this point in time, as you can see, because he is now taking on many different hosting hats, if you will. And he does say about Mark Summers, Mark was the first one to hand his number to me and say, if you need any help with this new venture in life, tell me. So Mark's been huge.

When I got this, this is when he's talking about Minute to Win it. Mark and I talk two or three times a week about what was going on. Mark Summers. Hey, guys, I got to throw this out here because I still don't get a lot of people who remember it. And I've said this before. Does anybody remember when Mark Summers hosted a Halloween special on Nickelodeon that was at the Magic Castle? Because it happened and no one will fucking believe me. No, I don't believe you.

I don't remember it. I mean, I'm down to look up. It's not that I don't believe you. It's that I don't remember it. But also, maybe you're a liar. Going back to Minut to Win It, this was an NBC show that actually existed, Natalie, that Guy hosted. It is a game show where contestants take part in a series of 60-second challenges. They use items generally found around the house, which could lead to a million-dollar prize.

I think it's very cute on Minut to Win It. So this is also, you've got to think, first network network thing. That's not cable. and this is also his first time not being in a food situation. And I really did kind of enjoy Minut to Win it because you could tell he's bursting in wanting to help them so badly because he really, he was asked whether or not that if he thought that working on Minute to Win It was a big difference

in working on Triple D. And he says, I just love to be the dude that gets to kick it there and kind of like participate, you know, Be the coach, be the encourager, be the whatever you want to call it is awesome. So to me, it has a very similar feel. Why is he always have to say that? It's like, I'm the encourager. I'm the manager.

Whatever you want to say, guys. Whatever, here's a bunch of options. It's always under the guys of him, he wants to be saying that from a hammock. Yes. That's what he wants for the entire land. Yes. He is a walking thesaurus. I never drink beer.

And yesterday, I had a beer literally in a hammock. Because I was doing this, I feel like that is what guy wants. It's what he wants. That is what Guy would want. Because he says, I'm just being Guy. They're just being them. And they're having a great experience. I emphasize, this is for you and your brother,

you cannot become parrot heads because I cannot be a part of it. But I do like Pena Coladas and getting caught in the rain. Can't do it. So Guy's going to get a little off the chain with Guy off the hook, which was a cooking show filmed in front of a live studio audience, which he would often engage. I love it. I love it. Did you watch Rachel versus Guy, celebrity cookoff?

I, um, this is, this is like my thing, my problem. Um, I'm not a huge Rachel Ray fan. Ah, so you were pushed away from this cooking competition between Rachel Ray and Guy. He's starting a food? Is this a feud? Well, I mean, a lot of people, I've definitely, I think all of my SNL auditions, I have done different monologues as Rachel Ray, because I kind of have to as another husky-voiced brunette. It's kind of my job is to do.

that and I've watched so much Rachel Ray and I just, I think she's a liar. I'm saying it here. I think she's, I think that I just don't trust her. You know what it is it's with Guy Fieri, I can see the sparkle in his eye. I can see the magic

that comes from him. And I don't get it with Rachel Ray. I'm just, I'm not saying she doesn't have it, I'm just saying, but I personally don't get it. I'm just saying we don't need another page 7 feud and I really don't think he is. You're against Madonna. It's like every episode lately. I know. We're starting fused.

Yeah, man. I'm ready. I'm ready to turn the world on top of its hit. Well, I don't like, what's her name? I don't like Murphy Brown. Whoa. The character? Yeah, the character.

I think she's a cheat. Whoa. I'm sure at least 17% of the page seven listeners will know who Murphy Brown is. I will sentence you to watch all of Murphy Brown before the reboot happens, which it is. I thought it already happened in Wisconsin. Did it already, was it already happening? I'm pretty sure. I don't even get me started on designing women.

Whoa. How dare you Delta Burke as a god? Wait a second. They steal all of them. Wow. Designing women? That is not a, you don't want to go up that photo. No man.

No man. Rachel versus Guy, by the way, that was the competition between Rachel Ray and Guy, where they were the team captain of a team of celebrities. Many celebrities appeared on the show of varying degrees. I love this list. of celebrities. Aaron Carter, Cheech Marin, Julio, and the winner of the first season,

Lou Diamond Phillips. I mean, all of those, but Aaron Carter is a train racquet of human being. Other celebs from the second and third season include Gilbert Gottfried, Carney Wilson, Chris Catan, and Vanilla Ice. All across the board. All across the board. I love Gilbert, Godfrey. Varying degrees of success.

Yes, I mean, I'm hearing degrees of success. Love Gilbert. Guys, gross. Regim's another game show. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, D triple G. I'm a triple G bitch over here. Describe the show for us, Jackie. Oh, I love everything about triple G. Essentially, triple G is where they have, um, they've got a panel of judges and they bring in three chefs from there. So it's another way to also get the word out about mom and pop places. They bring in chefs from all over the country, either at home chefs or people that have their own restaurants or, or, or,

Or like they've got a lot of special edition episodes where like they'll have like a USO show. They have like they have old, like, or they have like grandma chefs and stuff like that. And it's actually a fairly rigorous process to get on the show. And inside of it, it is, they come, they have like different food challenges that are made up of ridiculous games that they have to play.

Whereas sometimes it's like, so it's the games portion of the show. So they're inside of a huge supermarket. That's the coolest part to me is that they're on a set that's a big grocery store, which reminds me of like 90s game shows. Yes. And it's actually the same dude that designed supermarket suite is the one that designed the grocery store. And so the first season, it was an actual grocery store that they were doing inside of. But they honestly just needed more room. And what's cool is that the entire grocery store is filled with actual groceries that they donate to shelters and donate to charities.

They donate to, because it is, Guy's Grocery Games is shot near Fiatis ranch in Santa Rosa. Oh, that's nice. He says the beauty of it, the silver lining is we donate about $250,000 in food a year to the food bank, the Redwood Gospel Mission, the neatest people in the world. Fiati's TV productions boosts the local economy, not only by employing local people, but by bringing guest chefs and contestants who spend money at local businesses. He says, I'm really proud of my community.

It's awesome how well we're supported in what we're. we do and that we get to give back. But what's awesome about the shows that I kind of sometimes, all right, confession, sometimes I like to play the game with myself and I choose a game from Guy's Grocery games to play with myself of like, okay, today I want to make a meal that everything has to start with the letter G. And I do that kind of thing myself.

And I never talk to that. Do you race around your house? I should. I should start to all get my own. You should time it. You should force your roommates to compete with you. I'm sure they'll love to do that. And so they have to have.

Yeah, they love it. They have to. They compete with each other. And sometimes, like, the chefs have to swap bags after they've done their shopping. Sometimes they have, like, full aisles that they can't go down. Oh, you should compete with the cats. Oh, I will compete with the cats. And then they're just, like, keep trying to get it.

And it's like, no, it's not tuna. But I have to only keep opening cans to get them excited, though. Yeah, well. So maybe I make a can. and only meal. Yeah. Guys grocery games is, I think, no, I'm sorry, it is my favorite food network show. Oh, wow.

Wow. Please watch guys grocery games. There's so many seasons on Hulu right now. It is just a romp, and they could do so much. And to round out the list is guys. His seafood is so fresh little flat-knaps. I want to be released from it. I need to be released from this episode.

To round up the list, guys, family. road trip season taking his family with him for some triple D action. And yes, I wrote that specifically like that because it sounds so gross. He loves his family. Something that he talks about. Is that like D.P.? How dare you? He claims that he had pushed kids cooking shows before they were a thing because he incorporates

his kids into all of the cooking that he does in the house. And he says one of the biggest things is to see kids involved in cooking. so much. When I got on Food Network 12 years ago, the first thing I said was, I want a kids cooking show. And they told me, come on now. And I said, I'm not kidding. I have kids. I said, I'm telling you, kids love to cook. I run into these people's fans of Triple D, and no one was really embracing that. Now look at major networks are doing it. I'm going to say hot take. I think those kids cooking shows are disturbing. I see, I really love them. I love it. They're like little tiny adults. Why are they so good

cooking. Why are they so proper? It makes me feel weird. Believe in them, Natalie. Oh, do you think they're better than me because their parents support their fucking dreams? Oh, wow. All right. Now I want to talk about the horrendous New York Times review because it is hilarious to me. It is pretty funny. Guy Fiery opens up a Guy's American kitchen and bar, which is a 500-seat restaurant in Times Square. And the New York Times, ask Guy a lot of very interesting questions in their review. I don't think there's an actual sentence that is not a question in this

entire review. So I pulled some choice. It was funny that you had done this after I had already pulled a couple like for my own because it was like, how do we not read part of this? It's so funny. Guy Fieri, have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square? Guy Fiatty. Thank you. Have you? But the New York Times restaurant person definitely would not pronounce it. You're right because they are a bastard. Guy Fieri. Have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square? Did panic grip your soul as you stared into the whirling hypno wheel of the menu, where adjectives and nouns spin in a crazy vortex? When you saw the burger described as guys Pat Lafrida,

custom blend, all natural creakestone farm burger, eggas beef patty, L top, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle, SMC, super-meltie cheese, and a slathering of donkey sauce on garlic buttered brioche. Did your mind touch the void for a minute? Did you notice that the menu was an unreliable predictor of what actually came to the table? Were the bourbon butter crunch chips missing from your almond joy cocktail too? Was your deep-fried boulder of ice cream the size of a standard scoop? What exactly about a small salad with four or five miniature croutons makes guys famous Big Bite Caesar?

A, big, B, famous, or C, guys? in any meaningful sense. Fuck you. Hey, wow. Did you try that blue drink? The one that glows like nuclear waste? The watermelon margarita. Any idea why it tastes like some combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde?

How did Louisiana's blackened, Cajun-Spice treatment turn into the ghostly nubs of unblack and unspiced white meat and your Cajun chicken Alfredo? Is this how you roll in Flavored down? I just, it's so, you know, What, I went to Guy's American Kitchen and Bar. And I, again, will tell you, it wasn't the best place I've ever eaten. Well, the most interesting part about that review is the guy I gave the restaurant five stars. You know, interesting how that works.

New York Times can kiss my butt. Yeah, they gave Peter Lugar's a one-star review recently, by the way. You know, it's just, what do you want? What do you want to parade New York Times? Apparently. Get out of, Guy Fiatty. You know, it's not for you. I love the idea.

They're only going to give four or five stars or whatever if the restaurant provides a parade for them. See, I would understand that. Because they're all got their heads up their butts. I'm sorry, New York Times, but I'm not sorry. Fiati's response was as such. I thought it was ridiculous. I mean, I've read reviews. There's good and there's bad in the restaurant business.

But that, to me, went so overboard. It really seemed like there was another agenda. The tone, the sarcasm, the question style. I mean, we're trying as hard. as we can to make it right and do it right. Is it perfect right now? No. Let's see where we are in six months.

The restaurant closes at the end of 2017. Yeah, and I also, it's like even Emerald-Lagosso before he had opened up a place. So you have to remember, this is in New York. Not only isn't in New York. It's like in Times Square. Times Square is a nuclear waste dump. It's a nightmare. It is an absolute nightmare where food is way overpriced.

And you know what, nothing almost not saying nothing. Most places in Times Square are. are not very good. I actually think this Times Review actually makes it seem like it fits exactly into Times Square because it is, you are going there for an over-stimulation. Like it is, it's like you're inside of a 365-degree theater that's just playing like techno music and lights or light shows are happening. That is the quintessential Times Square.

I want my weird martini drink to look like it is nuclear waste. Exactly. Like I do. Yeah. I'm going to order the weirdest, grossest, like, dessert martini. Yeah, there's nothing organic in Times Square. No, and that's why I definitely, like, my stomach hurt after I left Guy's American Kitchen and Bar. But you know what?

I was drunk. That's why you go in, right? Yeah. Yes. I was drunk and I was very full and I had spent too much money and I was going, all right, well, we did that. We did that. Here's another quote from Fiatty on haters. If someone has a concern with what I eat or how I dress,

brother, take all that energy and go focus on something for yourself. I'm not going to make everybody happy, and anybody who wants to hate is going to hate. You have to be confident in who you are and what you're doing. Anybody who pays attention to the hate really is wasting their time. I don't subscribe. I don't buy in. If you're just some loser that sits there and hammers away on some blog form or whatever,

I don't have time for that. Why even worry about it? Hell yeah, man. Who's got the time? He's got Fiati. God damn it. Before I get to my final bit of the day, which ends on a touching note,

I will mention just very briefly that his 1968 Red Chevy Camaro SS does make an appearance in almost every episode of Triple D except for the Hawaii episode because he didn't want to ship it. It is apparently worth for around $100,000 and obviously he's a big car guy and loves his car. You know that Camero was not,

the original one was not his. It was the producers. Oh. Until that, until they separated weights. is that the red Camaro was originally David, what's his name? David Page's. David Page's car.

And then when Dave's parted waste, he had to get his own red Camaro, but it's a different year. Interesting. And that's why I love. When asked if the car was a Mustang, he said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He says quickly, I'm only a Chevy guy.

Very clearly understood. There's no Ford going on, okay? And this is the line that I was thinking of earlier. For fans who wonder, yes, Fieti does actually drive the show's convertible on nice days between shoots. And they shoot two weeks each month to bring viewers to those out of the way dives. He says, the longest drive I've taken from Seattle down to Portland took that drive in. It was awesome.

The gas is expensive, but the tan is free. Yep. Oh, yeah. I got to be released from this. I have to be. Why are you saying like that? Why do you say it like that? Because he always gives back because this is about the he is a philanthropist.

Almost every single, I know that we're going to get into your sexual of it, but almost every single one of his shows gives towards a charity. This all really comes from the story of Guy Fiatty and his sister. God, I hate it. I hate how to. Why? So this also starts too. So his sister, who is very close to, had cancer at the age of four. And part of what he had really wanted to bring into his life and what he always kept with him.

So she recovers. And though he was just eight years old at the time, he says the way his community and even total strangers supported his family left a lasting impact on him, particularly when local football players stopped by the hospital to visit. He says nothing takes away the pain of being there, but it eclipsed it a little bit when you get to divert your attention to something else. As a parent, you don't want to think of your child being sick. And those moments when your kid is happy, when he or she's smiling, means so much. So even starting with the awesome pretzel cart Back in the day It lives on as part of cooking with kids

A non-profit organization that Fieri is involved with Which helps kids learn about cooking and running a business So that is just one of the many things That he has done to give back to the community So Morgan was a vegetarian and a massage therapist She also founded Guy's foundation The Guy Fieri Foundation of Inspiration Which created to inspire kids

and launched the pretzel cart project as well, Jackie, which put non-profit mentors with children to sell pretzels to the community to learn essentially how to have like an early job, you know, and give to the community too. And she would say namaste to Guy every day according to Guy. She said, a guy said, which means the God in me. The God in me recognizes the God and you. Oh, okay, yes.

She was such a teacher of our family. She would tell us about organics and about recycling. and I'd be like, come on! And she would always be in my ear about it again and again. Tragically, she passes away from cancer at the age of 38. Yes, her cancer comes back in this time in the form of metastic melanoma. And her battle has made Fiati want to do everything he can to help other families affected by cancer, inviting Make a Wish Foundation families to all of his Food Network show tapings.

He insists on bringing the entire family, not just the child battling cancer, so they don't feel singled out. He has done so much work with the Make a Wish Foundation. Foundation that he's earned the Chris Gricious Award, named after the seven-year-old battling leukemia who inspired the creation of the foundation. It's the greatest award I've ever received, Fiat,

he says. It's hanging right in my dining room at my ranch. Oh. Yeah, it's, it's, and he, he dedicated his next cookbook to her. He got Namaste tattooed on his arm for her. And after the loss, he was gearing up to actually go

to his South Beach Wine and Food Festival that he puts on. Instead, he chose to attend the gay marriage ceremony that joined together 101 gay couples because that is what would have made Morgan happy. She was lesbian. And since then, Guy has invited a Make a Wish family to the taping of all 363 episodes of Triple D saying, I know what the family is going through to some degree. I know that heartache, that heartache, and I see that.

And if there's something I can do to help enlighten or empower those kids, I want to do it. And he also does this for his other shows as well. He invites the full family. Yes, and he does the same thing with, he invites, they get free tickets. All veterans get free tickets to both guys' grocery games and diners, drive-ins and dives. Nice. He also, he does things like there's a festival called Burger Bash, and he and his son ran a burger stand. He got to release it.

And they work with Best Buddies International, which is an organization for adults with mental disabilities. No, I've got more things to say about how great he is. Part of Fiatis' activism. So this is another thing that really makes me a little. love him so much is that he was inspired by chef Jose Andres, who served 3.5 million meals to people in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Irma devastated the country. So he says about it, he did what they said you couldn't do. You can't go to Puerto Rico and feed people. It's a disaster. He said, fuck that, I can't go there. I'm fucking going there. There's not enough food. There's no electricity.

You want to tell that to people that are starving? That attitude makes me even more head trippy. so he also goes down to Puerto Rico to help. And he and Jose Andres decided to partner with Operation Barbecue Relief, and they started working on a prototype. So this is what he now brings to all disaster areas that he can get to. A 48-foot trailer that houses a full commercial kitchen, flat tops, six burners, smoker, ice machines, mixers, it'll be stocked with recipes.

And in times of need, he'll draw on his connections over the years to send the truck to local chefs, so they have a full kitchen to use to prepare meals, for people in need. He already has two 26 foot cooking trailers, and this is going to be the huge one. So he's now creating an organization to make as many of these as he can

to start bringing them out. Because, like, all of the fires in California, you will always see that Guy Fiati is on the front lines out there making food for as many people as he can. He heads, he's making 5,000 meals a day for all of the firefighters and the volunteers that go out to help. And he's trying desperately,

and even in the time that we are going through right now is also raising millions of dollars towards not only helping people that are affected in the restaurant industry, from chefs all the way down to, you know, like every single person involved in the restaurant industry. A lot of bus people. Yes, and is also trying to feed any people that are hungry

and he's created a whole organization dedicated to that as well. And one last thing that I needed to definitely say as a crossover from our Enya episode. Guy Fieti loves Enya. He says I could get down to some Enya. Which surprises people, but I have an easygoing side and a high energy side. I cannot picture him just relaxing to Enya.

He loves Enia. And he also now has opened up a hunt and ride winery, which is based on, it's named after his two sons. And he is heavily involved. in the winery. He bought the five acre Pino-Noir Vineyard and he said, this isn't just juice

that somebody else made that we put in a bottle and put my name on it, which is what a lot of people do. He's actually there and is installing organic farming. He's drinking that wine every day. Oh, he's drinking that wine.

Oh, he is. And that's Guy Fiatty. All right. Well, this has inspired me to order food from a restaurant called Sloppers. I'm excited about that. Oh, hold in. Holden.

What? it's the middle of your beard. It's turning blonde. Oh my God. It's getting shorter. How does a beard get shorter? The judge is what a mention has me gone. Your glasses are becoming wrap around.

So scary. Thank you so much for joining us on our episode on Guy Fiati. I really enjoyed this one. I thought I just, I want to do more, I guess, like, silly ones like these, if that's the right word. I don't know, because it just, what a fascinating person. He seems to be actually like a genuinely pretty decent. dude and what a fun romp down his story.

I've turned over a new leaf with him. A new burger patty. Yeah, he doesn't use any leaves, that's for sure. But he's, just because he looks like asshole white trash doesn't mean you can't be a good person. And all his social outreach is amazing and that's all I need to like somebody.

So I love you, my daddy. And I'm so proud of your marriage. but if it ever falls apart, give me a call. Wow. Don't do it out there. I am putting it out there. I would. I would do it.

And that's difficult. That's scary thought. But I said it and I'm sticking by it. Thank you so much, everybody, for joining us today. If you'd like to support us further, check out our Patreon. Patreon.com forward slash page seven podcast. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm sorry, on Twitch, rather.

I do streams with Jackie every Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Twitch.com. forward slash Holdenaders Ho. Natalie? The Natty Jean on all the stuff and also page 7 LPN on Instagram and TikTok. Hell you. No, it's. If almost Pizza Hut heard, I definitely just got a text from Pizza Hut saying,

it's time to order some Pizza Hut. No, thank you. I don't know why I still get messages from them. My name is Jackie Zabrowski. Thank you again for going on this fucking Camado ride with us today. Yeah, I really feel like we've been zipping down the coast. I feel the wind in my hair. We love you so much.

You can follow me at Jack That Worm on Instagram. And we will talk to you next week. Bye. Bye. This show is made possible by listeners like you. Thanks to our ad sponsors. You can support our shows by supporting them. For more shows like the one you just listened to,

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