Guy Fieri: Beyond Diners, Flames, And Flavortown

Guy Fieri is everywhere. He has Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, he has California restaurants Johnny Garlic's and Tex Wasabi's in Santa Rosa, his Carnival Cruise Lines endeavor Guy's Burger Joint, two new Food Network shows in addition to Triple D (Triple G aka Guy's Grocery Games, and Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off), and he still has his New York City restaurant Guy's American Kitchen & Bar (snarky New Yorkers, and New York Times restaurant review critic Pete Wells be damned). So it should've been no surprise for New Yorkers to see him involved with at least three events during last year's New York City Wine & Food Festival. Still, as much visibility as he has, you may find you actually don't know as much about him as you think. And it was shortly after the festival that The Daily Meal was able to catch up with the star, an opportunity to discover a few things beyond the flames, the hair, and the iconic key phrases.

Did you know, for instance, that Fieri spent a year as an exchange student in Chantilly, France? That's where he first had chicken feet soup. Did you know that when it comes to baseball, this California native, at least when anyone is going up against the Red Sox, roots for Boston? His wife is from Providence. Where do the flames come from? How about the iconic hairstyle? What did general manager/senior vice president for Food Network Bob Tuschman tell Guy about his hairstyle after he won Food Network Star?

We're getting ahead of ourselves — it's all in the interview below, along with his explanation for where catchphrases like "Flavortown" and "TheBomb.com" come from. Read on for more about this, his new cookbook recipes, and a new restaurant expected to open in 2014. 

The bio on the New York City Wine & Food Festival website notes that, "by selling pretzels and washing dishes, you [Guy] earned enough money in six years to study abroad as an exchange student in Chantilly, France. There you [he] gained a profound appreciation for international cuisine and the lifestyle associated with it." It seems as though few know this side of you. How long did you stay in Chantilly and what's the one culinary lesson you learned, serious or not, from your time there?
A lot of people don't know about it, and not because I've kept it a secret or anything, but because everybody thinks your life begins after college. I left to study in France before I went to college at the age of 16, not through an exchange program or anything — just on my own. I went and lived in a boarding house and I barely spoke any French. My mom and dad hosted some French exchange students through the community college when I was a kid. But we learned so much when they came, and when I decided to go to France, my parents said, "Well, you'll figure it out." It was about a year that I spent over there — 11 months. And I'll tell you, this will sound funny, but in terms of culinary experience, well, you are much more likely to eat something when you are hungry.[pullquote:right]

That may sound stupid but let me explain. That's how I've taught my own kids to eat. That's how I got them to eat sushi at the age of 8. When you're hungry you're a lot more willing to be a lot more daring. Take for example, chicken feet soup. I remember eating it when I was over there because I was hungry. That's about the only time when you're going to eat chicken feet soup when you're 16 years old — when you're hungry. There wasn't a lot of snacking going on when I was working in the restaurant kitchens in France. It just wasn't that way. You had a breakfast and a break and a great lunch, and you came home hungry for dinner. But the meals! Everything from foie gras, mussels, and pâté to this unbelievable mushroom tart — and I wasn't even a huge mushroom fan at that age. But when you're hungry you learn to appreciate things. I think it's a great example to follow.

Too much snacking is no good. But eating great ingredients in correct fashion, prepared with the correct methods... that's the good stuff. It was funny when I came back, my parents were like, "When did you start eating this stuff?" And it wasn't just the restaurants where I worked. The families that I stayed with all had outstanding home cooks.

Is there anyone that you're still in touch with from during that year?
My best friend from that time was Vince Oisel. And actually, he's planning a trip! Well, I'm planning a trip to have him come over. I haven't seen him in about 20 years. I was visiting Cognac, and I went and saw him, and it was a great reunion.

Given your experience there, what if anything do you think is the most important thing that most Americans could benefit from understanding or applying from French cuisine?
First, and this is enormously important, and not as unknown as it was before, but it's my interpretation of what French food is — and I really think that that's just really cooking seasonally. That's what it is. It's really just using what's available and to its fullest extent. And in that culture, it was always commonplace to make chicken stock after you used the rest of the chicken. You didn't buy chicken stock. The simplicity, the appreciation of the ingredients, and the utilization of what was available, that's just part of the culture. And you had these other things and then you just bought bread every day. You bought fresh bread every day from the bakery. You trimmed your vegetables and then you made stock out of that, too. Nothing gets wasted — you make vegetable stock.

I didn't live with a poor family when I was in France and that mentality was everywhere. I would go to people's apartments in Paris and they had the same outlook: you wasted nothing and things in moderation. When we would finish eating dinner after sitting down together, everything was gone. Why? Because you didn't make more than the family needed to eat! When you've come from a country that has been poor at some point, you learn that. And you have that with these countries that have been through wars, and been through famines. Those people have learned how to make soup from chicken feet. First you pluck the feathers for the pillows, and then hey, "Today we're having chicken feet soup!"

You were a headliner in at least five events this year... of course you're not supposed to say, but beyond your closing-night event, what was your favorite part of the New York City Wine & Food Festival? And what can people look forward to in South Beach?
Well unfortunately, I'm not going to be in South Beach this year. And you know what that really is all about when I am there? And I don't want to sound cliché, but it's just such a great time — it's a time to touch base with fans. I'm so appreciative that I came into Food Network, and that I've had a different opportunity than many others have. Not everyone has gotten the support. See, the fans are the ones who pay the bills, and they're so enthusiastic.

I'm a big football fan, and a big basketball and baseball fan, when the fans come out for those teams, well, sometimes it feels like that when people talk about my Food Network shows. And it's just great to be around a bunch of people who want to hang out and talk about Triple D joints, and seeing the fans, and connecting with my chef buddies that I don't get to see, and hanging out with them — Morimoto and Irvine — and telling stories with them... and it's busy, but it's like a reunion, like a high-school reunion, and it's just amazing.

Well now I have to ask you about the World Series — between the Red Sox and the Cardinals, who do you root for?
Well [laughs], Boston. My wife is from Providence, so she's a Boston fan. When Big Papi gets up there and hits the ball, well you just gotta go, "Wow."

You're a major star of both the New York and South Beach festivals, on Food Network, and you've had your time on network television, but this is all nothing new at this point — is there anything about your stardom now that still excites or scares you?
It's all scary. You never know what tomorrow's going to bring. Right now there's Triple G, and there's that in the middle of my Triple D sked — it's all pretty crazy. But I'll tell you what really excites me. It's probably one of the greatest things that have happened during my career. I was just given an award by the Make-A-Wish Foundation — I do a lot of work with kids — and I lost my little sister two years ago to cancer, we battled cancer together as a family. And I remember being at the Ronald McDonald House so Make-A-Wish was naturally something for me to be involved with... it's a deeper thing than just a charity.

There have been letters sent to me that put me to tears no matter how many times I read them, whether it's from a Triple D visit or meeting me at a restaurant and the families experiencing it together. When someone has cancer, the entire family is going through cancer. And to know that something I do, something I love to do, is helping somebody, that's a lot different than ratings or commercials. I'm making a real difference in someone's life. And that's the greatest reward out of the entire process — it's amazing what you can do by just putting kids in limos and spending some time with them. It's just amazing. And knowing what it's like to be on the other side, and this is coming from a guy who lost his sister and going through everything in the final months with her, everything I did with my sister, well, being a part of Make-A-Wish is huge.

I saw you in South Beach right after she passed away and it seemed pretty amazing how you were able to put on a good face during the festival.
Well I know what my sister would tell me: "Keep living and please do not stand here and lose another day. Celebrate me." We celebrate my sister all the time. My parents are still a collective unit and celebrate my sister in a spiritually positive way. I guess you make a choice. But that was a tough one. I had to ask myself, "Should I go? Will I be a mess?" But it was the right decision. You don't want to disappoint people and you don't want to hide from life.

On a less somber note, and something I'm sure you've been asked, where did you get your iconic hairstyle from? And how did it and your signature goatee come to be?
[Laughs] Let me tell you, you want to talk about some little thing that just turned into something much bigger! I wish it was a better story. This is as far back as it goes. There was a young girl studying to be a hair stylist, and she finally graduated and she was the girl that cut my hair for years, Christina. And back in the day I had a rocker mullet — long — that I sometimes pulled back into a ponytail. And she hated it. And she would say every time she cut my hair, "Let's do something with this." And I would always say no, until one day she asked me again, and I was like, "OK, come on. Do it!" And I just said, "Do whatever you want. I don't care."

So she takes the bag off my head and I was like, "You're going to wash out the hair color, right? You didn't just do this!" And she just said, "No, I think it's awesome on you." I remember it was a Friday afternoon and I had to walk into work and you wouldn't have thought it would work, but a few weeks went by, and then a few months — it's funny. And then I used to do black hair in winter and blond in summer. And when I happened to be on Food Network Star I had the blond hair, and when I won, Bob Tuschman was like, "Oh boy, I guess you'll never change that style." And I was like, "Well, I guess I'm stuck with it."

How about the flames? To what do you attribute the inspiration for your clothing style?
Oh yeah, the flames. I think I got my first tattoo with flames in 1994. But I haven't been into the flames very much since then. You know, the thing is that once you wear one shirt with flames on them — well, now people just send me shirts with flames on them. And then there's SNL — they'll run their spoof with Bobby Moynihan. I won't tell anybody that I don't wear lots of flames — I'll just let it be the way it's going to be. It's funny, though, we were just talking about the new cookbook and talking about the font for it, and I took a picture next to a fire and said, "I want flames. Not Guy Fieri flames. Enough with the fake flames. I want real flames. Real fire."

It's been a year since The New York Times review... many at the time seemed to be saying it was only a matter of time before the restaurant closed, but it still seems to be going strong. How do you feel about braving the New York City restaurant scene a year in?
Well I will tell you, it's a very tough environment. There's the greatest of the greatest in New York, and it's a city filled with everything you could imagine in the world of food. You gotta take your lumps and I'm very happy with where we are, how we're doing, and where we're at. Winning Burger Bash with my team from Guy's American was a huge thing for us. So onward and upward.

You've been to so many amazing places that feature the great food of Americana through Triple D. Are there any places you can name that every American should try to get to?
Triple D has been to more than 750 locations so that's tough. But let me just preface my statement with this — I'm a huge music fan, and I'll listen to anything, especially if it's live. It's not just the song, it's the experience. You know, it's a sunny day, the top's down, you have a carful of buddies, you're driving near the water, it's that moment... that's what happens on Triple D. It's not just that the pizza was unbelievable, but that it was also on a rainy day in Chicago on the South Side. There are so many facets and emotions to it. But if I had to pick one it would be Grinders Pizza and Grinders in Kansas City. We were just in Grinders and we were doing this barbecue competition, and I hadn't been there in years, and the guy who owns it, we have become good buddies, and we sat down and ate a Philly cheese pizza that was just rock star.

"Flavortown," "off the hook" — you have coined some pretty iconic culinary phrases... is this all your own stuff... or is there anyone who inspires you to come up with these gems?
[Laughs] OK, no that's all my own stuff. And just so you know, I don't [laughs] I'm not trying to do it to be cute. I'm not going, "I gotta come up with a phrase." I just say sh*t that's in my head. You gotta have descriptors. You can't just say "awesome" and "gnarly." Now I don't use things like "special." Now "TheBomb.com!" What does that evoke? Well you know, if this is greatness it would be on the site "TheBomb.com!"

Sometimes my wife will question me, she'll ask, "What made you make that comment? Where is Flavortown at?" And I'll say, "It's coming from a manhole cover, a pizza the size of a manhole cover that's in Flavortown!" It's like the Willy Wonka thing, the chocolate factory where all the great candy comes from, a make-believe town where the great food comes from. It was a great one-liner one time and then all of a sudden I had people calling me "the Mayor of Flavortown," and it was just like, "Wow, this is getting wacky, man." And then they egg me on, and Flavortown this and that. Somebody even made a website.

You're a master of delivery... what if any piece of advice would you give the aspiring showman... many of whom don't have the fantastic voice you do?
I think this is a good and a bad thing. In anybody's situation, you gotta be able to say what you're going to say and say it with self-confidence, and have it hit great or not have it do so well. Once people have gotten to a point it can be amazing — it's like watching Emeril talk or Rachael Ray. I'm so impressed watching them rattle things off. Experience helps, trial and the experience of doing it helps, but first and foremost, don't sit there and double-check every word you say because otherwise you'll stumble and won't get it out OK.

Is there any one home recipe that you have passed onto your children that you're particularly tickled that they love or riff on?
Chicken Parmesan. It gives me goose bumps. By the way, this is one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you in person, I don't want to just answer questions in an email, then you get that pasteurized presentation. That's why I wanted to talk to you. So I'll tell you what it is. My son Hunter has never hit a homerun in baseball. He's a good athlete, but he's never hit one. He works at one of my restaurants where he started as a dishwasher. I told my guys, "Do not give him anything."

He's been working his way up and he was on the line cooking recently, and to watch him — I'm not kidding, it was like I was watching that kid hit a homerun. Anyway, I've been working with getting more kids involved with food and he's been getting more involved with food. And about a month or so ago, he and his buddies were here, and I said, "Why don't you and your buddies make the chicken Parm tonight?" And for him to lead the brigade and make it, it was the best we've had in the house.

What's next for Triple G?
I think Triple G will be an outstanding show. It's just everyday people, chefs from different walks of life having to shop and be creative, to spend some six minutes and 52 seconds to make a Mexican dinner for four people, I mean come on. This is barbaric. But you know, the more challenges we make up, the more people are resilient. I'm really excited to see what people will think about it.

Sounds like your TV filming sked is busier than ever, and we've heard of Triple D going international, what's going on? What are you excited about?
Triple D, just when I think it can't get any better... we were down in Cabo San Lucas and you would've thought that we had been shooting it there for 20 years. People were coming up to me and asking, "Where's the Camaro?" And up there in Canada I think we're onto something. You know what's cool, you know what people love about Triple D? If you're traveling to another city, you don't want to risk it for the few days you're there, you want to go somewhere you know will be good. And you know that if I've been to a place you have a pretty good chance that it's going to be great. If it isn't, I won't air it. I won't like that. I won't air it.

Anything new coming up?
You're all over the place! I like it. I'm doing an outdoor cooking book called Guy on Fire. It will be coming out with new recipes and I'm so proud of this book. The photography we've been working on for a year. My photographer John traveled all over the place with us. It's a really cool book. And then we're getting ready to open a big restaurant in the first quarter of 2014.

Arthur Bovino is The Daily Meal's executive editor. Read more articles by Arthur, reach him by email, or click here to follow Arthur on Twitter.