Guy Fieri
t
n
a
r
u
ta
s
e
R
n
ia
it
a
Tap Tap H
FT: I understand you had no formal
training, what was your motivation
to become a chef?
GF: There are two schools of
thought on formal training. I have
worked in restaurants since I was a
kid. You will meet people that go in
with a two year degree and they will
tell you they have formal training. I
don’t really get into that argument. I
began cooking when I was ten years
old. I worked in my first restaurant
at thirteen. I went to France when
I was sixteen. From there I came
back and went directly into college.
I was working in restaurants the entire time. I graduated with a degree
from the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas in hospitality. By twenty-six I
had opened my first restaurant. My
entire life, I have had a pretty strong
hold on the idea of food and what I
wanted to be. This has always been
my makeup, it was always where
my head was. Food is what I think
about. As a kid I would wake up in
the morning and the first thing I
would ask my mom was “What’s for
dinner?” She would flip out because
we had not even had breakfast yet.
84 FOOD TRAVELER | WINTER 2013
Miami Beach, FL
For the best on
the beach, TAP
THIS. This is
another case of
slowing down
and taking a
look around.
That’s all I had
to do with Tap
Tap. I’d say, “Tap
Tap, what is it—
maybe a tapas
restaurant? No,
it’s a dinnerdance joint, or
maybe beers
from around the
world?” Finally
went in and
checked it out.
Holy Haitian, the
food is rockin’.
I was not allowed to ask until we had
lunch. I would wait until that sandwich was bitten into and I’d look at her
and say “What’s for dinner?” It would
drive her crazy. I had a conversation at
home with my nephew recently about
doing the dishes and setting the table.
My mother said to him “On the nights
that you would like to cook dinner,
you do not have to do the dishes.” I
looked directly at him and said “That’s
how it started for me dude!” I hated
doing the dishes. I wanted to be the
one to decide what we were going to
eat, so I started cooking dinner when
I was ten years old.
FT: How did the concept for Diners,
Drive-Ins, and Dives come about?
GF: A production team brought the
idea to Food Network. Food Network
has done a number of travel shows
through the years. Diners, Drive-Ins,
and Dives is just a name, but it is the
concept that makes the show unique.
It is really about Americana, it is about
mom and pop joints all over the country. It took us two weeks to shoot the
first pilot episode. We traveled from
California to New Jersey. I do not
want to say it was a fluke, but here I
was, a chef, a restaurant owner, and
a dad. I had just won The Next Food
Network Star and had been working
with Food Network on a couple different shows. I thought to myself “Wow,
this is really cool. I’m going to get to
visit these places, just real people,
making real food.” It goes along with
what I said about being classically
trained. It is such a misunderstanding.
At most of the places we visit on DDD,
no one has been to culinary school.
These are places people normally
disregard because they do not have
all the glitz and glamour and the huge
advertising budget. Previous generations have not given these restaurants
the respect they deserve. That is the
beauty of what the show does. We go
into these communities, talk to the
locals, learn what is going on and we
highlight those places. It is amazing,
and it is not me, it is the show. It is
the joints we find, it is remarkable.
In my opinion, the show really has
been spawned out of the public really wanting the real deal. America is
the melting pot, you see all different
ethnicities of food, and styles of food.
It’s what you see is what you get, all
American food.
FT: What has it been like going from
a contestant on The Next Food Network Star to now hosting the cooking
competition show, Rachel vs. Guy:
Celebrity Cook-off?
GF: It is pretty surreal. It has only
been seven years. Rachel is a very
dear friend of mine. She is one of the
greatest people you will get a chance
to know. She sets the bar high and
plays hard. Rachel has a very strong
work ethic and real drive. It is great
working with her. We just finished
the third season of Rachel vs. Guy:
Celebrity Cook-off and I think to myself “Who would have thought? Who
would have thought it would come
full circle to this?” I do not watch a
lot of TV. I really was never tuned into
what was going on in the food televi-