0:00

If you're like me, the first thing you do when traveling

0:02

is check out what's happening with the local food scene, right?

0:05

And as I've been planning my big book

0:07

tour and live podcast taping all around the

0:09

country, man, I am very excited to eat

0:11

my way across the nation. There's Atlanta, there's

0:13

Miami, and so many more. Going to local

0:15

restaurants gives you a great taste of that

0:17

place. And if you pay your bill with

0:20

the Delta Sky Miles Platinum MX, you get

0:22

double miles at restaurants. Getting a

0:24

taste of local food is the best way to

0:26

get to know the local culture. And if you

0:28

travel, you know that's how it's done. The Delta

0:30

Sky Miles Platinum American Express Card. If you travel,

0:33

you know. Famous

0:35

Amos chocolate chip cookies are so iconic

0:37

that I just say Famous Amos and

0:39

it's like I can taste it. Each

0:41

cookie is filled with semi-sweet chocolate chips

0:44

and a satisfying crunch. And the word

0:46

satisfying is very key there because some

0:48

cookies are crunchy and brittle. And I

0:50

don't like that, but Famous Amos has

0:52

a deep, tooth-sinkable, satisfying crunch that I

0:54

know and love. And Famous Amos classic

0:56

bite-sized chocolate chip cookies are bringing back

0:58

the original recipe that everyone knows and

1:00

loves. One perfect bite, everything

1:02

classic in a cookie. Find

1:05

Famous Amos cookies anywhere you buy your

1:07

favorite snacks. Hey

1:11

everyone, we're getting back into the flow of reheating

1:13

episodes for you. We're pulling out old episodes from

1:15

the deep freezer and serving them up to you

1:17

for your enjoyment. Today's reheat is my interview with

1:19

the legendary Guy Fieri. People still message me and

1:21

ask me about this interview and talk about it

1:23

even many years later. So we thought it was

1:25

a great one to reshare. If you have an

1:27

episode you'd like us to pull out of the

1:29

deep freezer, send me a message at hello at

1:31

sporkful.com. Thank you and

1:33

enjoy. This

1:35

episode contains explicit language. What

1:41

is this? Hey man. What's

1:43

cooking, dude? How are ya? You

1:46

know, just staying ahead of the curve. Just

1:50

trying to keep it above ground. Ha ha ha

1:52

ha. Today

1:55

On The Sporkful, my guest is Food

1:57

Network star Guy Fieri. I like your

1:59

question. because you questions aren't the same

2:01

bullshit. Ever since he was a kid

2:03

guys been obsessed with becoming a successful

2:06

food business man and some people don't

2:08

realize this but he was well on

2:10

his way before he was ever on

2:12

Tv. Coming up Guy tells us about

2:14

going from the pretzel car, seen his

2:16

dad maybe he was ten opening in

2:18

South Africa and Dubai and will find

2:20

out what people don't get about Guy

2:22

so debriefing. So live on a yacht

2:25

that shoots off rockets you know at

2:27

midnight of. This.

2:35

Is this foresaw? Not for foodies is

2:37

for eaters. I'm damned pacman Each week

2:39

I shall. We obsess about food to

2:41

the more about. A

2:44

some of you may know. I hosted a Cooking

2:46

Channel web series called you're eating it Wrong I

2:48

think this simply tips in the series on T

2:50

V to split because of that. A couple years

2:52

ago I was invited to compete on Guys Grocery

2:55

games that Guy Fieri show where you're in a

2:57

supermarket any get weird salads is a get a

2:59

run around the store getting ingredients and in cook

3:01

a meal in one hour was a ton of

3:03

fun even though. I did not come close to

3:06

winning. By. The way my take away

3:08

his or ever on a couldn't competition

3:10

show cook something you've cooked before. That.

3:13

Was. My mistake. Of. Is one of.

3:16

Them. Okay anyway, That's.

3:18

When I met guys the Etti and then

3:20

and twenty seventeen I guess talk with him

3:22

for Sport full interview. I love that the

3:24

conversation and I want to shared again now

3:26

because I was thinking about a lot lately

3:29

as we get ready to celebrate the Sport

3:31

for ten year anniversary this September. Have always

3:33

been struck by guys ambition. You

3:35

probably know mainly from is T V

3:38

shows, diners, drive ins and dives or

3:40

Triple the Skies, grocery games or Triple

3:42

G and more. but he considers himself

3:44

a restaurant tour First and foremost today

3:46

he has restaurants all over the world

3:49

even it's see things to deal with

3:51

Carnival Cruise Lines. Now. i'm

3:53

obviously nowhere near as level of success

3:55

but in a way i'm a food

3:57

business person to i started this podcast

4:00

years ago in my living room after getting laid

4:02

off from six radio jobs in eight years. If

4:05

you had told me back then that someday I'd

4:07

actually be able to make a living doing this

4:09

thing I love, I would have said, I'll take

4:11

it and I'll never ask for anything ever again.

4:15

But now that I'm here, I have

4:17

ideas for like 500 new projects, new

4:19

directions, new heights. Ambition

4:22

is a funny thing. You

4:24

need it to be successful, but

4:26

it makes it hard to ever feel successful. I

4:30

wondered how Guy feels about everything he's

4:32

accomplished. After all, he's been building

4:34

his food business empire since he was a kid.

4:37

Back when he was 10, his family went on a

4:39

ski trip to Tahoe. Guy's dad gave

4:41

him five bucks for food for the day. Guy

4:43

fell in love with the pretzels the man in the

4:45

ski lodge was selling. So this guy steams

4:48

it and he dips a little bit of salt and he

4:50

puts this mustard on it. And

4:52

I always loved flavors like that when I was a kid. I

4:54

always loved salt and I loved mustard and I love vinegars and

4:56

I love acids and all those kind of stuff. So

4:58

I ate one and I just, I mean the doughiness

5:01

and the chewiness, it was, I mean, I'd never seen

5:03

anything like it. And I'd never been to New York

5:05

City. Anyhow, I

5:07

spent all my money on it. My dad says, what'd you have for lunch? One day he says,

5:09

what'd you have for lunch? I said, I had

5:11

pretzels. And he goes, they're 50 cents

5:13

a piece. How many pretzels did you eat? I said, dad,

5:16

have you ever had one of these things? You're the best

5:18

goddamn thing in the world. So I

5:20

got him a pretzel and I brought him a guess. He asked, and

5:22

I said, man, I sure would love to have a pretzel cart like that.

5:25

My dad says, well, let's make one. And

5:27

my dad was always, and that's, you know, my dad's still

5:29

my, you know, my best friend and my right hand man.

5:31

And he always taught me there were no boundaries. You could

5:33

always be anything you want to be. And he just had

5:35

to think big and go big. And I said, dad, come

5:37

on, where am I going to get the pretzels? He says,

5:39

I'll make you a deal. He says, you go find out

5:41

where the pretzels come from. And when we get back home,

5:44

you and I will make a pretzel cart and you can

5:46

sell pretzels. And I'm not

5:48

even thinking of the business aspect. I'm just

5:50

thinking unlimited pretzel. I was never a

5:52

sweets guy, so this was my thing. So

5:54

I go down to the pretzel. Now this has been

5:57

my homie for like four days. I've

5:59

spent all my time. money. I bought his pretzels. I've sat there and

6:01

talked to him about pretzels. I said, hey, could

6:03

you tell me where to get the pretzels? And

6:05

all of a sudden the cool went to fool, and

6:08

he said, absolutely not. I

6:10

mean, total jerk about it. And I'm like, whoa,

6:12

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm 10. I

6:14

said, why won't you give me the thing? He says, because you're

6:17

going to open a pretzel cart and then maybe my competition. I

6:19

said, I live like 500 miles away,

6:21

dude. So I go

6:23

back completely defeated, and I go back to where my parents,

6:25

I think they were in the lounge. My dad says, say

6:27

lounge. Don't say bars. So they were trunks. But

6:30

it's after ski. Everybody's hanging out and doing their

6:32

thing. So I go back and I'm completely

6:34

defeated like the bird dog that couldn't get the bird. And

6:36

I tell my dad, the guy wouldn't give me the pretzel.

6:38

My dad goes, now here's what you're going

6:40

to do. And this is the way we also achieve things in

6:42

our family is you do not stop. You

6:45

do not take no. You continue

6:47

to work hard. He

6:50

says, you go down there and you would just hang out

6:52

in that area and you wait till he closes up your

6:54

shop. And then when he takes his trash and he throws

6:56

in the dumpster where he throws his garbage

6:58

away, go find the box. So

7:00

they're at the age of 10. I'm dumpster diving,

7:02

jumping in, jumping in to get the box. And

7:04

I tear off the side of the box. J

7:06

and J snack foods. And I run back happy,

7:09

you know, like the bird dog that got the

7:11

bird. And I bring it to my dad and

7:13

he takes it and he writes it down. He

7:15

goes, no, throw this away. And so I went

7:17

through it, threw it away. And then we went

7:20

home and we spent a year. We mounted the

7:22

pretzel cart on the back of the three wheel

7:24

bike, had a little camp stove that would heat

7:26

up little half pans and the half pans had steaming

7:28

racks in it and they put the pretzels in there and

7:31

they would steam and get nice and soft. And then

7:33

I sold them for 50 cents and I sold them at

7:35

the fair. I sold them at the rodeo. I sold them

7:37

anywhere I could and had my friends

7:39

work for me, named it. My dad said, you know, what do

7:41

you want to name it? He said, the awesome pretzel. Pretzels

7:44

are awesome, right? And had a

7:46

little, I had, I was in sixth grade, I had

7:48

a checking account, had a full banking system. I mean,

7:50

I had the whole, I had the whole thing, man.

7:52

I'd save my money to buy my inventory, to get

7:54

my shipment in, to pick them up, to, to get

7:56

them to the freezer company, to do all this kind

7:58

of stuff. And, and it all started. at the

8:00

sixth grade. Guy

8:02

took the money he made selling pretzels and used it

8:04

to get himself to France as an exchange student. He

8:07

fell in love with French cuisine. He

8:09

came back, graduated from UNLV with a degree

8:11

in hospitality, and went to work for Stouffer's.

8:14

He says he always wanted to work in corporate

8:16

restaurants. At age 28, he and a partner opened

8:18

the first restaurant of their own, Johnny

8:20

Garlics, a California pasta grill in Santa Rosa

8:23

where Guy still lives, a couple hours north

8:25

of San Francisco. A few years

8:27

after that, Guy opened Texquisabis, a

8:29

barbecue and sushi concept, and

8:31

more restaurants followed. In fact, by the

8:33

time Guy got his big TV break winning Next

8:36

Food Network star in 2006, he was already a

8:39

successful restaurateur. And you know,

8:42

it's such a notoriously tough business. I wanted

8:44

to get a sense of what Guy is

8:46

like in that role. I'm curious, like

8:48

when you run a restaurant, what are

8:50

the tiny details that drive you crazy?

8:54

What my pet peeves or what my

8:56

things are is you try so hard

8:59

to get the

9:01

food great that it really takes the wind

9:03

out of the sail. It's kind of like

9:05

a band creating an awesome song and then

9:07

the lead mic doesn't work. You

9:09

know, if you've ever been to a concert and then

9:11

the lead singer's mic isn't working. I mean, go what

9:14

in that, you know, what the hell does it take

9:16

to, so it's those kind of things. So, so bad

9:18

service, bad service to me is just I can't get

9:20

it. I can't get my head around it. Dirty

9:24

restaurants, dirty restaurants drive me nuts.

9:26

Just drive me dirty bathrooms drive

9:28

me crazy. And back

9:31

in that service piece is fake service, you

9:34

know, not paying attention to what's really

9:36

going on at the table and just

9:38

doing this scripted rehearsal bullshit. You

9:41

know, this is kind of things. I mean, this is

9:43

all I know. I've only been in the restaurant business.

9:45

I've only cooked. I've only done. I've only that's all

9:47

I've ever done. So I have my thing about it.

9:49

I read that you

9:51

watch your own performances on TV

9:53

and take notes. What

9:57

are some of the things that you critique yourself on? Well,

10:00

I think I'm the one that told you this. I don't think you read

10:02

shit. No, you

10:05

know what I mean? I'm

10:09

not the one who's a good hair guy. Come

10:12

on. I mean, dude, I mean, dude. So what are you saying,

10:14

guys? No, I'm just kidding. I

10:17

had to. I didn't know what it looked like. I

10:19

didn't know what I looked like on TV, you know?

10:21

So I wanted to find out, like, what was my

10:24

body posture and when was I catching the camera the

10:26

right way and how was that? Was I pausing enough

10:28

for shots of the food and just

10:30

all that kind of stuff? So I had

10:32

to really become a student of

10:34

the craft and really pay attention.

10:36

And it's painful. Don't get me wrong.

10:38

I'm like anybody else I think. I hate watching myself

10:40

on TV. And I'm glad

10:42

you didn't follow and say you do too. But

10:46

I do too, guys. That's a great point.

10:48

No, I meant me. No, but I'm pumped.

10:50

Seriously. I'll be here all week. But,

10:52

you know, the thing is, is you got to pay

10:55

attention to what you're doing. It's like you got

10:57

to self edit. You got to self reflect. You have

10:59

to. I mean, I think that that is what we

11:01

have to do to continue to

11:03

stay in the game. Coming

11:15

up much more with Guy Fieri. When

11:17

I told friends I was interviewing him, a lot of people had

11:19

the same question. Is the guy we

11:21

see on TV some kind of character, a persona,

11:24

or is that what he's actually like? After

11:27

the break, we'll try to find out. And

11:30

I'll ask him for some business advice.

11:32

Stick around. And

11:48

now, a delicious word from our

11:50

sponsor. Recently

11:55

I went into my closet to try to get a collared

11:57

shirt out. And it occurred to me that I don't think

11:59

I have bought a new collared shirt in

12:01

five years. I mean every

12:03

shirt in there was either really old

12:05

or it had some kind of permostain situation

12:07

or it probably never fit right in the

12:10

first place. I gotta freshen up

12:12

a little bit here. It's time for something

12:14

new, right? And spring is coming. Now is

12:16

the time if you've been looking to refresh

12:19

your wardrobe, home, or skincare and beauty routines

12:21

this season. You know Walmart has genuinely surprising

12:23

style finds that don't break the bank. This

12:25

spring there's only one destination for the latest

12:28

fashion, home, and beauty inspired by real life.

12:30

Walmart. I freshened up my wardrobe. I

12:32

got some nice dress shirts, a couple

12:34

of light hoodies. You need light hoodies

12:37

for the springtime. Very useful, very comfortable.

12:39

Discover surprisingly stylish new season favorites

12:41

at Walmart now or shop at

12:43

all on the Walmart app. Go

12:45

to walmart.com slash

12:48

nowtrending. That's

12:50

walmart.com/nowtrending. Nowtrending

12:53

your style at Walmart. Whether

12:56

you're a family vacation traveler, a business

12:58

tripper, or a long weekend adventurer, Choice

13:00

Hotels is a stay for any you.

13:03

They've got over 7,000

13:05

locations and 22 brands including Comfort Hotels,

13:07

Radisson Hotels, and Cambria Hotels and you

13:09

will get the best value for your

13:11

money you book with Choice Hotels. I

13:14

especially love those Cambria Hotels. They have

13:16

locally inspired hotel bars with all kinds

13:18

of specialty cocktails, downtown locations right in

13:20

the center of all the action. Radisson

13:22

Hotels have flexible workspaces. That way if

13:25

you're a business traveler, you'll get all

13:27

your work done. On-site restaurants, fantastic. And then

13:29

at Comfort Hotels, you'll enjoy free hot breakfast

13:31

with fresh waffles and great pools for the

13:33

whole family and spacious rooms. I mean, if

13:35

you have kids, you understand the importance of

13:37

the pool. If you stay at a hotel

13:39

with a pool, almost

13:41

nothing else matters. Fortunately, all the Choice Hotels take

13:43

care of all the other stuff too but I

13:45

mean a pool is a great start. Whatever

13:48

kind of vacation you're going on, whatever

13:50

kind of travel you're doing, Choice Hotels

13:52

is a stay for any you. Book

13:55

direct at choicehotels.com where travels

13:57

come true. One

14:00

in eight. That's how many people have worked

14:02

at a McDonald's who serve millions

14:04

the best Big Mac and best birthday

14:06

party they've ever had. We

14:09

haven't just seen kids graduate from a

14:11

Happy Meal, but have gotten

14:13

help graduating themselves. Because

14:15

they know the skills learned here.

14:18

Diamonitos, welcome to English under the

14:20

arches. Can help you grow from

14:22

here or keep growing here. Hi, welcome to

14:24

McDonald's. One in eight, start a McDonald's. And

14:27

when you start, stay with you. It's

14:31

been chilly here in the Northeast lately and

14:33

we have been on a big grilled cheese

14:35

dipped into tomato sauce kick here at the

14:37

Passion household. And I'm making the grilled cheese

14:39

with hero sliced bread. The kids like the

14:41

hero classic white bread. I like the hero

14:43

seeded bread. It's fluffy, the crust is just

14:45

right. And I like that the slices are

14:47

sliced just a little bit thicker than a

14:49

lot of other sliced breads. You griddle it

14:51

in butter, you add some cheese, you dip

14:53

it in the soup. Phenomenal. And

14:56

all the hero breads are low in net

14:58

carbs and they're high in fiber. All these

15:00

hero breads are delicious and flavorful. They'll give

15:02

you that soft fluffy experience you love when

15:04

enjoying a refreshing BLT savory breakfast burrito or

15:07

mouthwater and cheeseburger. So whether you're

15:09

making homemade grilled cheese, BLT, maybe a tuna

15:12

melt sounds nice on some hero seeded bread. I

15:14

bet that would be really good. Maybe you're doing

15:16

slatters in the Hawaiian rolls. Whatever it is, hero

15:18

has the bread for you. Don't give up

15:20

being a breadhead. And hero bread is offering 10% off

15:23

your order. Go to hero.co and

15:25

use code SPORKFUL at checkout. It's

15:27

code SPORKFUL at H E R

15:29

O dot C O. I

15:33

recently discovered a new cut of steak that

15:35

I am in love with. It's called the

15:37

bevet steak. Have you heard of it? It's

15:39

also known as flap steak. It's a little bit

15:41

thicker than a flank steak. It is long and

15:43

flat and tender. It literally melts

15:46

in your mouth and I discovered it thanks

15:48

to Goodshop. Goodshop offers

15:50

fully customizable boxes of high quality meat

15:52

and seafood delivered right to your door

15:54

on your schedule. Goodshop

15:56

especially prides itself on sourcing meat that comes

15:58

with no antibiotics or added hormone. ever.

16:00

No artificial ingredients, only the good

16:02

stuff. And they're introducing me to

16:05

cuts and fish that I just didn't know that

16:07

rockfish, I've heard of rockfish, I just never bought

16:09

it at a fish market. They sent me some

16:11

wild caught rockfish. So go

16:13

to goodshop.com/sporkful120 and use

16:15

code sporkful120 to get

16:20

$120 off your first four boxes. That's

16:22

code sporkful120 at goodshop.com slash

16:26

sporkful120 for 120 bucks

16:29

off. One more time,

16:31

goodshop.com/sporkful120 code

16:34

sporkful120. Welcome

16:44

back to the sporkful. I'm Dan Paschke.

16:46

My cookbook, Anything's Possible, is out now.

16:48

You can get it wherever books are

16:50

sold. You can even get signed copies.

16:52

All that information is at sporkful.com/book. At

16:55

our Sporkful Live, Anything's Possible tour continues.

16:57

I'll be in DC this Tuesday in

17:00

conversation with Patty Hinnich. Then in two

17:02

weeks, I'll be at WHY in Philly

17:04

with Kehlani Palmasano, followed by Boston with

17:07

Dan Sousa. And then on to the

17:09

West Coast, get tickets and info at

17:11

sporkful.com/tour. Thanks. Now

17:15

back to Guy Fieri. There's

17:18

no shortage of opinions about Guy. It seems

17:21

for every person who'd love to spend all

17:23

day eating donkey sauce in flavor town, there's

17:25

another who gets sick of the thought. Here's

17:28

Bobby Moynihan doing his impression of Guy

17:30

on SNL. The key to

17:32

Super Bowl food is having a theme.

17:35

So what better way to get ready

17:37

for the Giants versus the Pats than

17:39

with a giant pat of

17:41

butter. Guy

17:47

called the impression hysterical. He asked Bobby Moynihan

17:49

to do it in a video for Guy's

17:51

son's 18th birthday. But Guy doesn't have

17:53

as much of a sense of humor about his more pointed

17:56

critics. If you know one thing

17:58

about him, it's probably that when he opened his

18:00

restaurant in Times Square, he got an epically bad

18:02

review from Pete Wells in The New York Times.

18:05

In other interviews, guys basically said he thinks Wells

18:07

was overly harsh because he was trying to get

18:10

attention for himself to advance his own career. In

18:13

2016, four years after opening, the restaurant

18:15

grossed 17 million dollars

18:17

according to the trade publication Restaurant

18:19

Business. But the next year,

18:21

it closed. Still, Guy's

18:23

business and brand keep expanding. A few months before

18:25

this interview, I texted Guy to try to set

18:28

it up and he said he wasn't free because

18:30

he was on a month-long road trip with his

18:32

family. And I thought, oh that's nice. I'm glad

18:34

Guy's taking a break from work. Then

18:36

I find out he has a new show on

18:38

Food Network, Guy's family road trip. Soon

18:40

after he launched another one, Guy's big

18:42

project. He just keeps

18:44

going. So you started

18:46

your pretzel cart when you were 10. You're

18:48

turning 50 soon and now

18:51

you're opening restaurants in South Africa

18:53

and Dubai. I mean, I

18:55

gotta say, Guy, like that's a

18:57

hell of a 40-year climb. You've

18:59

been so driven and so single-minded

19:05

for so long. I

19:07

mean, it seems to me that there's

19:10

a fire inside of

19:12

you that's not in most

19:14

normal people. I've

19:17

been thinking about this getting ready to talk with you.

19:19

I know that some people think that like your shirts

19:21

and your cars with the flames on them are kind

19:23

of like a gimmick or something. But

19:25

I actually think that those images are

19:28

quintessentially you. Like

19:31

even your hair is kind of reminiscent

19:33

of a fire. Where

19:36

do you think that's... I think

19:38

there's way too much stereotyping. There's a

19:40

picture of me in a flame

19:42

shirt that everybody loves. I

19:44

get that picture sent to me. I mean, when

19:46

we do fan mail, it's the picture they send

19:48

more than anything. And I think people want to

19:51

love the shirt more because I hate the shirt.

19:55

And I don't know what the shirt... We'd open

19:57

a barbecue restaurant and this is way before even

19:59

Food Network. We opened a barbecue restaurant and that was

20:01

one of the shirts that we had. I don't know

20:03

where I got the shirt or what happened. But,

20:06

God damn, I hate that shirt. But

20:09

the funny thing is, is people

20:12

want to make a story of

20:14

what something is when they don't

20:16

understand it. Yes, I

20:19

work hard and yes, I love my cars and yes,

20:21

I love to go to football games and I love

20:23

rock concerts and I love anything crazy

20:25

except for jumping out of airplanes, which is a whole other story.

20:27

But I love all that stuff. I just let people, I mean

20:29

people are just going to say what they're going to say. They're

20:31

going to go on their own way about, you know, oh yeah

20:33

man, everything's flamed at his

20:35

house. I bet you so. And I just

20:38

kind of go, okay, you know, all right.

20:40

Well, do you think about it? I mean,

20:42

what do I wear? I wear shorts and

20:44

tennis shoes and a t-shirt every

20:47

day unless I have to go

20:49

to work. I

20:51

typically don't shave that often. I

20:54

cook every single day. I mean, I cook in the morning

20:56

for my, well, I make

20:58

him cook now. My youngest, he has to cook his own

21:01

breakfast. That was the new deal, sixth grade. But

21:03

I cook every night. It's my goal. I mean, like I'm

21:05

already thinking today, we already had a little conversation like starting

21:07

to plan like what's out in the garden and what I'm

21:09

going to cook. So it's kind of way, it's a lot

21:12

more mellow and a lot more simplistic

21:15

than I think everybody believes. I

21:18

think everybody thinks I live on a yacht

21:20

that shoots off rockets, you know, midnight

21:22

every night. Right, right. I think, you

21:24

know, the way that I think

21:27

about it when I started doing TV,

21:29

and this is already kind of a ridiculous

21:31

premise for a question because clearly you

21:34

and I are not in the same orbit when it comes to

21:36

food media success. But you've done pretty,

21:38

listen, I watch your show. We talked about

21:40

that. You're very kind. I appreciate it. No,

21:42

you're doing great. You know how many requests we get to

21:45

do podcasts. I mean, we're all so busy and so forth.

21:47

You're a great guy. And I like, I told you this

21:49

when I met you. The

21:51

way you carry yourself, the information you have, that's

21:54

where it comes from. So in certain people have it and

21:56

certain people don't have it. It's tough when people don't have

21:58

it, they want to have it. And it's

22:00

tough when people have it that don't get to

22:02

use it as much as they can use it. Sounds

22:05

like some weird riddle, doesn't it? No,

22:07

I understand exactly what you're saying. And

22:10

I know the way that I thought of it when I first started out

22:12

was to say, like, okay, I'm going to pick a

22:14

couple of aspects of my

22:16

personality and a couple of

22:18

aspects of my approach to food. And

22:21

I'm going to magnify those on TV

22:24

because I think that's what we'll make for good

22:26

television. There's other parts of my personality and other

22:28

parts of my approach to food that if I went on TV

22:30

and talked about those or did that, it would just be boring.

22:34

So from that, I created what I think

22:36

of as a sort of a character that

22:38

is myself. It's not fake. It

22:40

is rooted in part of who I really am. But

22:42

when I go on TV, I think of myself

22:45

as sort of playing a character that is

22:47

myself. Does

22:50

that sound familiar at all? Does that make any

22:52

sense? To

22:54

you – to me, no. I

22:57

don't really have – I mean, I don't

22:59

have much of a filter. I'm

23:02

not trying to give anybody –

23:05

I'm not a TV person. I never wanted to

23:07

be a TV person. But I didn't know any

23:09

different. All I knew to do when I got

23:11

on television, when I got on the Food Network,

23:13

all I knew to do was be me and

23:15

talk about food and be what I am in

23:17

food. And then fortunately, I

23:19

guess with the escalation of how things went in my career,

23:21

I didn't really have to worry

23:23

about filtering. But I don't sell people

23:25

a line of crap on the show. If

23:28

I don't like it, you don't see it. And if I don't like

23:30

the restaurant, it won't air. I guess

23:33

when people say – and they say this about a lot

23:35

of celebrities, like, what do they really like? We

23:38

all know the same thing. Right. I mean, look, every

23:41

human being, whether or not you're a celebrity, understands the

23:43

idea of being on. You've got an

23:45

important work meeting. You're going to behave differently than you would if you

23:47

were drunk in a bar with your friends. We

23:49

all put up a front depending – or

23:52

accentuate certain parts of our personalities.

23:55

That's what I'm saying. That's the truth. When

23:58

I go into my regimen of work… There's

24:01

no staying up late. There's no going out having cocktails. There's

24:03

no any of that. I can actually testify because when you

24:05

came to do a book event in my hometown, I texted

24:07

you and said, hey, let's go get a drink after your

24:09

book event. And you said, I can't do it. I got

24:11

a 6 a.m. call tomorrow morning. Yeah,

24:14

I am work is work. I mean, to

24:16

me, work is like it's

24:18

such a discipline. It's such a responsibility. I got

24:20

people paying for me to do this. I got

24:22

people staying up on Friday nights to watch it.

24:24

I got a thing to do. It's

24:27

the same thing with cooking. It's exactly the same

24:29

responsibility. I have friends coming over for dinner. I

24:31

mean, last night I got home. We're

24:33

doing my wife and I are working on this new project. And

24:37

she was picking our son up from soccer. And I was

24:40

late getting out of the meeting to

24:42

get home. And I had 29 minutes

24:44

to get dinner on the table. And

24:46

I came home and I did quinoa

24:48

and lamb chops and spinach and cauliflower.

24:51

And I busted all that. And I

24:53

am working with focus and got it

24:55

done. And that's the way I do

24:57

things. I

25:00

know that Sammy Hagar is a close friend of yours. And

25:03

that's an interesting pairing, I think. I think on

25:05

the surface, people would say like, oh yeah, you

25:07

guys both kind of have this rock star vibe.

25:09

You guys both have not the same look. He's

25:11

the one to blame. He's the one to blame

25:13

for mine. But the

25:15

thing that I think that maybe people are

25:18

less likely to associate with both of you is

25:20

that you're both such successful businessmen. I

25:23

mean, people should know. I mean, Sammy has made way more

25:25

money from food, from his lines of liquors and his restaurants

25:27

than he ever did from music. He

25:29

sold 80% of his tequila brand for something like $80 million.

25:32

I remember the day it happened.

25:34

I remember where I was. I remember

25:36

the moment. I remember the phone call. I remember

25:38

the whole thing. I

25:41

just about fell on the street.

25:43

I was up in Seattle shooting.

25:45

No, Sammy is – I

25:48

think he's probably more driven at 70 than he was at 30.

25:52

So yeah, he's a great example. What's

25:54

the best business advice he ever gave you? I

26:00

think it would be, don't react

26:02

too fast. Don't

26:05

jump at it too fast. Really

26:07

stand back and evaluate it. Know who the

26:09

players are. When you

26:12

get ready to make a

26:14

big deal, when you get

26:16

ready to make a big acquisition, when you get ready

26:18

to change a direction, you've got to be really clued

26:20

in on who you're with and where. I

26:24

just called him the other day about a big thing that

26:26

I'm thinking of embarking on. But

26:32

he doesn't give it to you in business terms. He gives it in Sammy

26:34

cool terms. Like,

26:39

yeah, yeah, yeah. Right on, man. So what you've

26:41

got to do is you've got to make –

26:43

and I can't believe I'm doing Sammy. I can't believe

26:45

I'm doing Sammy. But he's just cool. He's just

26:47

cool and he's so goddamn smart. You

26:51

look at those deals, so he goes and sells

26:53

Cabo Waba, and then he does Sammy's Beach Bar

26:55

Rum, and then he goes off and does another

26:57

one to do just – I'm like, it's hard

27:00

to keep up. It's

27:02

hard to keep up. That line

27:05

really stuck with me. The idea that someone

27:07

as successful as Guy Fieri could ever feel

27:09

like he was falling behind. The

27:12

website Munchies did a long profile of Guy.

27:14

In it, Sammy Hagar talks about what he

27:16

learned when he rose to rock stardom in

27:18

the 80s and how it applies to Guy.

27:22

Sammy says, quote, the

27:24

stuff that drives you is not as fulfilling as

27:26

people might think it is to be a celebrity.

27:28

It's one of those things that's addicting, and you feel like

27:30

as soon as you sit around for too long, you're like,

27:32

oh, man, I'm going to lose it. You're

27:34

afraid of losing your magic, so you keep pushing

27:37

yourself and saying, oh, I'm going to do that

27:39

interview, that TV show, that other cookbook. You

27:42

sit there and go, why am I doing

27:44

this? You question yourself all the time. It's

27:46

a bottomless pit, fame and fortune. I'm

27:49

telling you from my point of view because I'm not talking

27:51

about me. I'm talking about Guy. You

27:53

can just take everything I said and say that this

27:56

is what Guy said because if he really thought about

27:58

it, that's why you keep up. rolling

28:00

like that. He's just like me. He'll

28:03

never stop." That quote was

28:05

on my mind when I asked Guy this question.

28:08

Having that kind of fire inside can

28:10

be a tremendous strength and clearly

28:13

it's helped drive you to tremendous success.

28:16

But I do wonder, you know, like in

28:18

other ways, perhaps that fire can

28:21

be a curse because you're never

28:23

satisfied for long. Do you

28:25

feel like you're able to enjoy your success? Oh,

28:31

I enjoy it. I enjoy it tremendously.

28:33

I do suffer from working too much,

28:35

but I have the balance

28:42

better than I've ever had it. I mean, there was

28:44

a few years there that I was really just

28:47

a pedal to the metal man. But it

28:49

was also, you know, it's also kind

28:51

of like launching a rock at that beginning

28:53

trajectory that you get really is important, you

28:55

know, how that works. So, but

28:58

no, I enjoy it now. We got a

29:00

lot of great things that the

29:02

family gets to share and the times we get to

29:04

share and the things we get to do and, you

29:07

know, setting up the future for my

29:09

sons, you know, and for my nephew. I lost my

29:11

sister to cancer seven years ago.

29:13

And so I have my nephew as well

29:15

who just went off to his first year of college and, you

29:18

know, just having the resources to be able to

29:20

support them and help them, although they all have

29:23

to work and all that, not supporting

29:25

my kids. Here's just money. But just

29:27

having those things, you know, being able to,

29:29

I'll tell you, I'll tell you the most

29:31

important one, man. The town I

29:33

grew up in is this little town called Ferndale, and

29:35

it's about four hours north of where I lived here

29:37

in the wine country. And

29:39

I wanted to have that house my whole life. That was

29:42

where I was raised. That's where I wanted. And I didn't

29:44

want my parents ever to give me the house because I

29:46

didn't, I wanted them to spend their own money. There was

29:48

their retirement. They put all the money in the house. They

29:50

should sell it. They should live off their retirement, blah, blah,

29:52

blah, blah. But

29:54

now in my lifetime, I

29:57

get to own that house and

29:59

preserve house for my kids to have, for

30:01

their kids to have to know that I have

30:03

done enough in my career that

30:06

we will be able to have things

30:08

like keeping our family home. That

30:11

is just it man. That is whenever

30:13

I question how hard have I worked

30:15

and have I worked too much, I

30:17

can look at that house and say,

30:20

no I did. I did what I was supposed to do.

30:41

This is of course a little bit of an

30:44

oversimplification, but it seems to

30:46

me that these days the food world

30:48

is divided in much the same way

30:50

that our country is divided. You

30:52

have your higher end food scene in the cities

30:54

and then you have the food everywhere else. I

30:57

was reading an interview with you where the writer was

30:59

kind of giving you a hard time about donte sauce.

31:02

I know people make a comment

31:04

about the name, but then he was saying it's not healthy or

31:08

whatever it is. And you said, look, it's aioli. You

31:10

want me to call it aioli? It's aioli. I

31:14

loved that response. I

31:17

would like to propose to you guys that

31:19

we refer to the cultural divide in the

31:21

country and in the world of food today

31:23

as the donte sauce aioli divide. Can we

31:26

call it that? Yes,

31:28

I'm worried about it. Watching what's happening

31:30

in our country right now just drives me crazy. I

31:33

don't know that I would put it on as much of

31:35

a scale as what's going on in the world, but

31:38

I think that as long as

31:41

what you're doing and as

31:43

long as what you're believing and as

31:45

long as what you're giving

31:48

is not hurting anybody and

31:50

is not hurting yourself, then

31:53

you should be allowed to go as you

31:55

please. I'm talking in

31:57

the world of food. How

32:00

does that? Divide. Factor into

32:02

your thinking about your businesses in

32:04

your brand. Terrorist.

32:07

In Emmy your original pits to Food

32:09

Network in your in your trial tape

32:11

You know real food for real people

32:13

which came at a time when Food

32:15

Network was mostly hi incest for from

32:18

big cities and you are very astute

32:20

and savvy to come in and say

32:22

look as a big segment of the

32:24

country does not get an attention a

32:26

job at Indo Gimme Don't give me

32:28

that credit now and of us that

32:30

now. Listen, I'm of, I'm a boutique

32:32

cowboy boot ten issue dirtiest. I didn't

32:34

know any of this stuff right. You

32:36

know, It's it's to the i never winning. Would

32:39

like to say this is that time to strike

32:41

but if what you're saying is do I were

32:43

whereas in the model I still think it's real

32:45

food for real people. I think that just depends

32:47

on who you are. I know

32:50

that in your personal life you're very

32:52

passionate about organic, simple, fresh food and

32:54

I recommend making Iran's self sufficient. I

32:56

hear your even getting into beekeeping. You

32:59

gotta see me in the Bcs. As narrow

33:01

as singer of yeah but it's awesome. Well

33:04

as it is as is over. but at

33:06

the same time you have this this grow

33:08

in corporate restaurant empire and I know that

33:10

there are some organic. Components.

33:12

In simpler foods, but that's not the biggest part

33:14

of the focus on the menu than a lot

33:16

of your restaurants. Would.

33:19

I love to have a her completely organic

33:21

restaurants that did just five items a day

33:23

only what was available and Ireland and France

33:25

well as exchange student in France you would

33:27

go to a home when you're to town

33:30

the didn't have a killer restaurants and you

33:32

go in and whatever that family was eating

33:34

that's what you would sit down and then

33:36

we laugh about it. My wife well as

33:39

well thank as I said she is where

33:41

you can to up in and was still

33:43

business owner and of Mexico little village put

33:45

the red flag out on the porch. And.

33:48

Means of the were open tonight. And. when you

33:50

come it's whatever is to put up with is

33:52

being served speedo because whatever is available that's i

33:55

eat down and viewers little village that we go

33:57

and stay and that's what you eat is what's

33:59

available so What I love to do that, yeah. Can

34:02

you sell that in Las Vegas? Not

34:04

in my position you can't. You

34:06

know, that's not exactly what translates. Plus, one

34:08

of the biggest branding factors that I have

34:11

is the representation of DDD. And

34:13

DDD is everything of the

34:15

blue collar America, not just blue collar, but

34:17

it's this representation. So no, I don't get

34:20

to exactly do what I want to do.

34:22

Do I move the needle a little bit

34:24

every time? Yeah, I do. A

34:27

couple years ago, Guy and some partners started

34:29

an organic winery. The announcement got

34:31

a lot of attention in the food world because

34:33

it seemed like such a departure from Donkey Sauce.

34:36

Was this Guy's attempt to move the needle a little

34:38

more? Maybe, but the approach

34:40

was pretty different. Unlike just about every other

34:42

new business Guy rolls out, the winery doesn't

34:44

have his name on it. It's called

34:47

Hunt and Ride, after his sons Hunter and

34:49

Ryder. The wines are only on the

34:51

menu at a handful of Guy's restaurants. In

34:53

other interviews, he said this winery is especially

34:55

personal for him. I asked him why.

35:00

I like wine. No. You

35:04

know what it is? You can stop

35:06

right there, that guy. That's a good enough reason.

35:10

It's something I never knew how hard

35:12

it was to start in the wine

35:14

business. I never had a clue. Knowing

35:17

that you come from, you know,

35:19

the beginning of the year and you see

35:21

the buds start to come out on the

35:23

vines. Then you look

35:25

at and you start to calculate how it's going

35:27

to work. You're wondering what the weather report is

35:30

and when we're getting rain and when we're not

35:32

getting rain and where we're at on trimming and

35:34

what we're cutting back and how this harvest is

35:36

going to go, when we're going to harvest and

35:38

where we're at. All

35:41

this stuff going on. It

35:43

was just something that I never thought I would

35:45

ever have the resources or the time or the

35:47

organization or the team to do. When

35:50

I finally did, it was like it

35:52

was another one of those milestones. You just

35:54

go, oh, so this is what it

35:56

all feels like. This is where you were going with

35:58

that. Final question and

36:01

this is confidential now guy, but I

36:03

am thinking of starting my own food

36:06

business Awesome. I

36:08

want to tell anybody good. Thank

36:10

you. Don't know it's gonna hear this podcast. I

36:15

Want to try tweeting this There's

36:20

a line of people waiting up meetings with outside the

36:22

door I Want

36:25

to invent a new pasta shape? What

36:28

advice as I embark upon this business venture,

36:30

what advice do you have for me? Here's

36:33

my thing about pasta when you're

36:36

going to eat pasta. You gotta

36:38

eat really goddamn great pasta I'm

36:41

talking air-dried. I'm talking great

36:44

flour. I'm talking done

36:46

the right way So that's the first and the foremost and

36:49

the other factor of it is is Pasta

36:51

has got to have texture in my world.

36:53

One of my favorite pastas in the world

36:55

is ratiatori. You like ratiatori Yeah, like that's

36:57

like the little it looks like an accordion.

36:59

It's called the little radiate it right,

37:01

right Okay, and then the sauce

37:03

just nestles itself down in there. So when you

37:05

take a bite of one ratiatori You

37:08

get this bite that explodes with all

37:10

of the sauce and the flavor in

37:13

it I'm a texture

37:15

guy I'm really into the into the

37:17

big textures that you get from those

37:19

types of pastas and typically those are

37:21

extruded pastas Where the pasta is

37:23

pressed through a a brass die

37:27

Versus sheet it out like a linguine

37:29

or tagliatelle or parpadelle or one of

37:31

those so I think where

37:33

you're at and my advice would be really

37:35

good pasta dough and Extruded

37:38

and good luck after that Okay Buka

37:42

teeny is another one of my favorite. Oh, it's

37:45

good. Yeah, I love a What

37:47

do you call the kavata pe? Kawata

37:49

pe is fantastic, but see you you're in the

37:51

right zone. I mean I

37:54

mean if you're really serious about talking about this business piece

37:57

what I want to know is why aren't the

37:59

quinoa's? the rice, all

38:02

of these non gluten pastas,

38:04

why are they only coming out in

38:06

penne, fettuccine, and

38:08

spaghetti? So

38:11

where's that business? Where is the

38:13

ratiatori in the quinoa pasta? Smart.

38:16

Could be your angle my homie. Could

38:18

be your angle. That

38:28

is Food Network star Guy Fieri and

38:30

if you want to know what Guy's

38:33

been up to lately, well in the

38:35

first few months of the coronavirus pandemic,

38:37

he raised more than 20 million dollars

38:39

for restaurant workers in need. Of course

38:42

his shows on Food Network are Diners,

38:44

Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy's Grocery Games, and

38:46

more. This episode is produced by me

38:48

along with senior producer Emma Morgenstern and

38:51

producer Andre Soheiro. Our editor is Tracy

38:53

Samuelson. The show is mixed by Jared

38:55

O'Connell. Special thanks to Anne Sani and

38:57

Dan Charles who produced and edited

38:59

the original version of this episode.

39:01

Music helped from black label music.

39:03

The Sporkful is a production of

39:06

Stitcher, our executive producer of Chris

39:08

Bannon and Daisy Rosario. Until next

39:10

time I'm Dan Pashman and I'm

39:12

Hannah Knox in Espos Park, Colorado

39:14

reminding you to eat more, eat

39:16

better, and eat more better. The

39:25

team that produces the Sporkful today includes

39:27

me along with managing producer Emma Morgenstern

39:30

and senior producer Andre Soheiro. Our engineer

39:32

is Jared O'Connell. The Sporkful is a

39:34

production of Stitcher Studios, our executive producers

39:36

are Nora Ritchie and Colin Anderson. Until

39:38

next time I'm Dan Pashman. for

40:00

all the ballpark picks you want. Just trade

40:02

in your iPhone, any model in any condition

40:04

so you'll feel like you're winning, even when

40:06

your team's not. Trade in any iPhone in

40:08

any condition for a great deal on iPhone

40:11

15 Pro with Unlimited Ultimate and get iPad

40:13

and Apple Watch SE with eligible service plans,

40:15

only on Verizon.