He's that guy: Fieri on Columbus, food and the origins of 'Flavortown'
Guy Fieri is the guy in any crowd whose voice pierces through all others. He's the guy who ends up on the Jumbotron, mugs for the camera and makes a heavy-metal hand gesture. He's the guy who wins a Food Network reality show, becomes the face of the whole channel and opens nearly 100 restaurants that bear his name.
Wait. He is literally that last guy.
The chef and showman, in all his beach-blond, spiky-haired glory, strode into his latest restaurant last week — his first in Columbus — and instantly raised the energy level in a room full of stone-faced casino executives and reporters waiting for petit-four-sized samples of 68-layer lasagna. Guy Fieri's Trattoria opened Sunday to the public after a private preview party May 30.
If you're not a fan of guys who wear sunglasses in dimly lit rooms and their own logo across the entire back of their shirts, you're not a fan of Guy. But you're greatly outnumbered. So many people flocked to OpenTable during his restaurant's first two days in business that it had to put the reservation system on hold for a bit.
So until you're able to snag a table at the first solely Italian restaurant of the 56-year-old chef's career, you can chew over thoughts he shared (edited for length and continuity) on a variety of topics during his visit to Columbus.
His new restaurant: Guy Fieri's Trattoria serves up classic, quirky Italian food at Scioto Downs in Columbus
Guy Fieri on his Columbus roots
Guy Fieri: I’m proud to be from Columbus, even though my parents dragged me out of here when I was just a kid back in the '60s. I grew up in Northern California, but I have a lot of cousins who grew up here. My mom went to Ohio State.
My dad just unfortunately passed away in January, but before he passed away, I brought my mom and dad back. We went and found — well, it took us a couple times because they couldn’t remember where the hell they lived — but we went and found where my parents lived. There were so many great stories, and it was awesome to share that.
His visits to Ohio: All the 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives' restaurants Guy Fieri has visited in Ohio
... on Guy-isms like 'Flavortown'
Fieri: It was literally me just babbling, which you can tell I do well.
I picked up this pizza one time and it was so big — you know, like sometimes you see those pizzas they make in New York. It looked like steering wheel, so I picked it up and I made a joke like, "Ahh, look at the steering wheel on the bus going to Flavortown!"
Then a few months later, I was at this diner in Marietta, Georgia, and they made this plate of pasta called a "Seafood Festival," and I picked it up and I’m like, "Geez, this thing looks like the manhole cover in the street of Flavortown!"
So, I’m walking through the airport with my production team; we’re going to get on a flight and like five college students walk by and go, “Flavortown!” I’m like, "What the hell was that? People listen to that stuff?"
... on the Columbus food scene
Fieri: Your town is blown up with food, by the way. I’ve been coming to Columbus for quite a while. The food scene has just ratcheted up.
Even some of the places that might not have seemed so "foodie" back in the day have upped their game. That’s what we’re seeing in the food industry anyways, which is great for me as a chef because then the palate becomes more educated and the consumer starts to have more appreciation for what they’re getting and how it’s made.
... on Buckeye football
Fieri: I went to a game. Oh my gosh. It’s the craziest football game I’ve ever seen in my life. It is such the next level. It’s like NFL-plus-plus.
... on opening his first Italian restaurant
Fieri: We were going to do Polish-Chinese, but everybody’s doing that these days, and I just felt that with my strong heritage… No, you know what it is? I love American-Italian food. Being my last name is Fieri, having cousins still in Italy... There’s things I love about traditional Italian, then there’s some things I love about how we’ve Americanized some of it.
... on why an Italian restaurant took so long
Fieri: My first exclusively Italian restaurant is at my house. This is the one that I started inviting the public to. I’ve always had this in the back of my mind. This was something that I wanted to do closer to my cousins, and I thought this would be the perfect place to roll it out. There’s lot of wheels that are spinning upstairs. I joke; what did I say, Polish-Chinese? It could very easily happen. I don’t follow any rules.
... on putting his name on restaurants
Fieri: The "Guy Fieri" thing, that is the beginning. It’s the candle on the cake. But after that, the cake better taste great.
... on the fizzled-out Flavortown Fest
Fieri: We had this great idea to do this festival, and it still will happen. We’ve just got to make sure we’ve got the right people in the right positions making this fly. I don’t do things half-assed. I’m an all-or-nothing guy. It’s go big or go home. And if it’s not time to go big, then we go home, you know?
... on what he eats at home
Fieri: When I come home and I cook, I cook whatever I feel like eating. We could very easily have beef stroganoff and egg rolls in the same meal with some really great green goddess dressing on a salad. There’s just no rhyme or reason about how I make dishes. I just cook the way I like to eat.
The way we are in my family, we wake up in the morning and it’s like negotiation time that will dictate what lunch will be or what we're going to have tomorrow. We don’t menu-plan. My wife is like, "Can we just buy the groceries for the week and have them, as opposed to me going to the grocery store every day?"
But I don’t do things well out of the freezer. I just have to cook in the moment.
Instagram: @dispatchdining
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Guy Fieri talks about food, Flavortown and coming home to to Columbus
