Phillyist Interviews... Guy Fieri

Of all the chefs we met at last weekend's Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival, Guy Fieri seemed most like he belonged in New Jersey—even though he's a California boy. Personable, at ease in his surroundings, and completely un-self-conscious (unless you're trying to capture him mid-"Hunch," as you'll see below), Guy's exactly what you'd expect him to be if you're a fan of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. And above all, he's funny. Before we got our chance to chat with him, he taunted the husband one of the event's hostesses for allowing his wife to drive a minivan before insisting that she yodel his introduction. We didn't even get five minutes of Guy's time, but we got at least ten minutes worth of interview material with this fast-talking winner of the second season of The Next Food Network Star. And, as you'll see at the bottom of the interview, he said we can buy him a sandwich sometime. We fully intend to follow through.

We know that you've got some experience in Philly, and there are lots of diners in South Jersey and the Philadelphia area. Do you have any favorites that you can recall?
You know what, probably...I think Starlite's definitely one that we had a blast at. [ed. note: We think Fieri may be referring to the Starlite Lounge, which is actually out near Pittsburgh. Please let us know if you have a different idea of where he may be referring to.] You know, we haven't been back for about a year and a half; we're looking to come back. I'm a big fan of the White House [Sub Shop] here in AC, and as a matter of fact one of the first things we did when we got here—we got in late yesterday—was I took all my boys down there and we got a ton of White House and had it in my room.

What do you like to order at White House?
Well, I go for the Special, and then also the cheesesteak.

To me, between the energy and the people and the crew and the pictures and the memorabilia and all that kind of stuff—it just, it just makes the food taste better. I always say that, environment always affects [the food].

Speaking of cheesesteaks, do you have a favorite in Philadelphia? Want to weigh in on the cheesesteak wars?
D'you know, I just do not put myself in any political mess, okay? I will tell you this, you can take the exact same cheese, take the exact same sliced ribeye, the rolls, the dude, and the griddle—and you can take them and put them in another town—it will not taste the same. It's in the air, it's in the water, it's in the people. It's the environment.

I tell everybody, "Go to France to have a baguette, go to Philly to have a cheesesteak. Go to the point of origination and eat it there, and that's where you get the best experience."

You know, Philly also has the roast pork & broccoli rabe that's trying to compete with the cheesesteak. Do you have any thoughts on what's going you end up dominating?
Y'know, I can't...I don't know about the roast pork [and] broccoli rabe, but I gotta say, I want to try it. But come on, cheesesteak.

I invented a whole thing on my show, on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, called the "Hunch." I was in Philly with my son, and we did make a tour. We hit four different cheesesteak joints. And I was watching these guys at the counter that had this thing goin' on with their hands and they were leanin' over and they had their arms out. It was kinda like they were eatin' prison food, like ya thought someone was gonna take it from you. But I figured it out: they were leanin' over so it didn't drip on your suit. [Phillyist tries to take a photo of Fieri demonstrating the Hunch.] Oh you think you're gonna get a shot of that? There's a few things I'll let you take a picture of, but we're not gettin' into that. (Laughs)

So I've got this thing like this... [Phillyist tries to take another photo of the Hunch; Fieri stands bolt upright.] Oh, you're not fast enough. So I got this thing, the Hunch, on Triple-D, and now it's turned into this whole big story. It'll actually be in my book, talking about the Hunch. And actually that originated when I was in Philly.

Any plans to be in Philly anytime soon?
I hope. On the show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives—which you can see on Food Network Mondays at 10 [p.m.]—I'm sorry, did that come out? 'Cause I also wasn't supposed to talk about my other show, Guy's Big Bite [Sundays, 11 a.m.]. Or Ultimate Recipe Showdown, that's going to be coming out this fall. I'm not going into those, excuse me. Or my restaurants. (Laughs)

So, what were we talking about? Oh, Philly. Yeah, if you go to FoodNetwork.com, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, it has a thing in there that says, "Where would you like Guy to go?," meaning, as in, locations. Not to the moon or anything. But the best way for us to go is for the viewers to tell us, "Hey, try this joint. Try that joint." And we'd need to find a few of 'em, 'cause if we're going to come to Philly, we're there for a week. So if you could please find us some locations, we'd love to come back. It'd be a blast.

Next time you come to Philly, can we treat you to a roast pork sandwich?
What's that, a respiration sandwich? Oh, a roast pork sandwich. With the broccoli rabe? I'm in. You gonna cook it or you gonna take me to it?

We'll take you to it.
Okay, dig it.

Photo by Ross Currie