Guy Fieri
Q1
PLAYBOY: You have spiky bleached hair, tats, bling, money, millions of fans and serious attitude. When did chefs become the new rock stars?
FIERI: All I know is we all gotta eat, and not everybody knows how to cook. So if you’re the guy who can rock the kitchen, people go crazy for you. People such as Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, Tom Colicchio, the Iron Chefs—they’ve turned food making into a kind of arena spectator sport with their TV shows and competitions, and their restaurants, cookbooks and products have made them rich. Me? I’m just a dude who always loved to cook. At a certain point I got to the reality I wasn’t going to be Evel Knievel or a pro football player, which were my childhood dreams. So I thought, Hey, why not be just as frickin’ cool with a frying pan in my hand?
Q2
PLAYBOY: Gone are the days of “A woman’s place is in the kitchen.” But what exactly is a guy’s place in the kitchen right now?
FIERI: Men have always been cooks. Since the first saber-toothed-tiger burger, guys have been grilling and thrilling. My dad was always my role model. He could make anything in the kitchen, even when we were basically living out of a van in California. I remember once he traded a pair of cowboy boots for salmon. He liked to cook healthy, vegetarian mostly, with a little fish and stuff like bulgur. Yuck. One night we had eggplant parmigiana, and I said, “Why can’t we have chicken parmigiana like everybody else?” That was the fatal day.
Q3
PLAYBOY: Did he hit you with a piece of tofu?
FIERI: Actually, it was my mom who got mad. She said, “If you don’t like the food, you cook.” So being the confident 10-year-old I was, I rode my bike to the grocery store and told John the butcher to give me a bunch of red meat. He slapped down two big fat rib eyes, and somehow I managed to get dinner on the table that night. I remember watching my dad. He took one bite, put down his fork and glared at me. It’s as clear today as it was 30 years ago. “You know what, Guy?” he said. “This might be the best steak I’ve ever had.” Total relief! And on top of that, my sister had to do the dishes. I was hooked, man.
Q4
PLAYBOY: You never went to cooking school?
FIERI: I left home when I was 16 to go to Europe as an exchange student. Before that, I cooked for my parents a lot. Their friends would come over, and I’d put on a whole Asian dinner—chopped the stuff, made my version of wonton soup and all those things. If I didn’t know a recipe, I’d make it up, trial and error. France really opened my eyes to great cooking. Then I came back, majored in hospitality management and lived with a bunch of college students, who were my guinea pigs. I had a skill nobody else had. You get away with a lot in college if you can feed people.
Q5
PLAYBOY: It sounds as though that came in handy with women.
FIERI: I saw some possibilities, definitely. When I was 18 or 19 I got a job as flambé captain at a hotel, cooking table-side with the brown polyester outfit, the dickey, the whole getup. I realized success is all about your style. I’d meet these families having dinner and would always find the older daughter who looked bored. “Hey, you want to see an extra-big flame on your scampi?”
Q6
PLAYBOY: Was it a winning pickup line?
FIERI: Sometimes, but I effed up on that job. They taught us this technique of opening and closing the jar of Grey Poupon mustard with one hand for the steak Diane presentation. [rolls eyes] One time my cart got stuck, so I yanked it, and ch-ch-ch, the Grey Poupon fell, hit the side of the cart, the lid clicked off and a globule of mustard flew through the air and shhhpwakked this grandma on the forehead. Her beehive hairdo flopped down, and there was mustard everywhere. It was the couple’s 50th anniversary, and I was thinking, I’m a dead man. But her old man thought it was the funniest damn thing he’d ever seen. Dude tipped me 40 bucks!
Q7
PLAYBOY: Do you separate fancy food from the food in your book and on your Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?
FIERI: I don’t separate fancy food from the rest. Good food is good food, though there’s definitely way too much fussing and phoniness out there in the food world, with people talking about ingredients you need an advanced degree to pronounce. That’s not to say I don’t like five-star dining. But costwise, I don’t know. Even with flavor. If you prepare it right, a burger can taste better.
Q8
PLAYBOY: How can a burger taste better than filet mignon?
FIERI: The core fundamental is great meat. Go to a good butcher and ask them to grind a great piece of chuck right there. With chuck, you don’t need to add a lot of ingredients at home. It’s quintessentially great as it is. Cook it medium rare. Some people like a charbroiled or wood-fired taste, but I use a flat metal grill top or a big flat pan. That way you get a little bit of fat, and with fat comes the crust. Crust is key. We’re a culture of crust, and that crunchy outside is what makes a crowd go crazy for a burger.
Q9
PLAYBOY: Speaking of crowds, what is the secret to a memorable Super Bowl party?
FIERI: It’s the greatest sporting event in the world, so do it up a little. It doesn’t have to be expensive. At my house I’ve got my buddy Kleetus at the stove, cutting fresh tortillas into wedges and frying them into tortilla chips. It’s so much better than out of the bag. Then my buddy Opossum makes fresh salsa. Chicken wings are great, but bake them, then panfry them in a nonstick pan to get a little more crust on top. Oh, and ice. Nothing’s worse than a party where you have to dig around the beer cans for ice. It makes my hair stand on end. [laughs]
Q10
PLAYBOY: What’s the deal with your hair anyway?
FIERI: About 10 years ago I was in Vegas with a bunch of buddies. It was my buddy Reno’s birthday, and we were shaving his head. My buddies and I are a little bit on the wild side. But it gave me the idea to try something new. Next thing I know, I’m telling my hairdresser, “Do whatever you want.” She sits me down and puts a plastic bag on my head. When she takes it off, my hair is Colonel Sanders white! And I go, “Oh no! Man!” I used to dye it blackish purple in the winter, but now it just stays white.
Q11
PLAYBOY: Who’s hotter in person, Rachael Ray, Giada De Laurentiis or Padma Lakshmi?
FIERI: Get out of here! If my wife finds out I answered a question like that, you’re looking at the next dead Food Network star. Those ladies are all amazing and sexy, and I have my opinion, but I’m not sitting here playing candyass.
Q12
PLAYBOY: Do you believe certain foods are aphrodisiacs?
FIERI: I’m not a great believer in “12 oysters and you get a woman in bed.” But I will say women who know how to cook are hot. Especially when you’re together in the kitchen, it’s sexy. You’re activating each other’s senses—the smells, the flavors, the textures. Baby!
Q13
PLAYBOY: Let’s say you’re not a great cook. You have a woman coming over. You want to impress her. What’s the foolproof plan?
FIERI: Practice. Don’t jump into shrimp creole or whatever if you’ve never made it before. Do a test run a couple of days ahead. And stick to dishes that aren’t too dangerous. Pork’s my favorite. Google a recipe for pork chops piccata style—grilled or pan sautéed with lemon, capers, garlic, white wine, parsley. She’ll be eating out of your hand, as long as you don’t overcook it.
Q14
PLAYBOY: Bagels or doughnuts? McDonald’s coffee or Starbucks? Ben and Jerry’s or Pinkberry?
FIERI: Let’s see. Bagels by a mile because, despite my boyish waistline, I’m not a sweets guy. Starbucks, mainly because in comparison to Mickey D’s it’s still the little guy, and the coffee’s usually good. Ben and Jerry over Pinkberry. Any dudes who can get their names on a couple million cones and make people happy are my kind of guys.
Q15
PLAYBOY: What’s one food you hate?
FIERI: Squash. I can’t be in the same room with it. Every time a piece of squash comes near my mouth, I want to heave.
Q16
PLAYBOY: You own several restaurants. What’s something you secretly wish you could tell your customers?
FIERI: Stop stealing stuff. People steal things from restaurants, anything with a logo on it. One guy came into my place Tex Wasabi’s and stole this huge leopardprint welcome mat—rolled it up, put it under his arm and strolled out the door. Also, don’t eat the whole plate of food and then tell me you didn’t like it. We know that’s bullshit.
Q17
PLAYBOY: Who’s the best chef alive?
FIERI: Oh man, you’re killing me! But if I have to go with somebody, it’s Masaharu Morimoto, the Japanese Iron Chef who now works out of New York. In the Asian realm especially, nobody does it better. My greatest honor would be to work in Morimoto’s kitchen, even for a day. That dude will forget more about cooking than I’ll ever learn.
Q18
PLAYBOY: Name one or two dives worth driving across America for.
FIERI: How about three? Ted Peter’s Famous Smoked Fish in St. Petersburg, Florida. These guys make unbelievable smoked mullet. That probably sounds disgusting, and I’m no fan of mayonnaise and fish, brother, but that fish spread—pow! It’d knock your socks off. Number two, Mo Gridder’s BBQ in Hunts Point, the Bronx. You may not be able to find it because it’s in a trailer outside an auto parts store. Trust me, though. Finally, Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Cafe in Victorville, California. One family flipping burgers for 60 years on Route 66—need I say more?
Q19
PLAYBOY: What’s the worst cooking mishap you’ve had in front of a huge audience?
FIERI: We were doing a show in upstate New York with 2,000 people in the audience. I came out onstage, the crowd was clapping, cameras overhead, cameras to the side—the whole thing. I wasn’t into this damn demo for more than 30 seconds and I cut this chunk off my finger. I thought it was my whole thumb. The butt of the knife had driven through. And it was so bloody. Ever seen blood when it’s blue? That’s what the hell I’m talking about. I was like, “Oh shit!” Do I tell all these people who’ve paid good money that I don’t even know how to use a knife? I made the blink decision to keep going. I tied the towel around the thumb like a tourniquet and just barreled through. That finger was sore for the next four years.
Q20
PLAYBOY: What would you want your last meal to be?
FIERI: I’d love to say [exaggerated highbrow voice], “Oh, I would enjoy to have a dish I once had in France,” but I gotta go with spaghetti and tomato sauce. It was my favorite dish as a kid, and it’s still my baby. Don’t get me wrong; it has to be done in the proper Italian way, not just “Here’s a jar of tomato sauce”—blop. I’m talking phenomenally fresh tomatoes, a little basil, a little oregano, a little sea salt. My favorite spaghetti is bucatini, thick with the hole running through the center, al dente, almost Roman style, like a broom brushing the plate. An ovenwarmed plate topped with some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Twisted on the fork. No spoon. That’s heaven.
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