LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
The American Royal ribs at Fieri’s Smokehouse.
Guy Fieri has brought his brand to town, and local foodies are all atwitter. The jokes just write themselves, and you can find them all over social media.
I’ve been trying to stay above the fray by ignoring it. I sent regrets on an invitation to a public relations extravaganza at the new Guy Fieri’s Smokehouse in Fourth Street Live. Apparently, if my colleague Michael Powell is to be believed, that soiree attracted a deplorable pack of food writers and bloggers with noses uniformly raised and pinkies delicately extended. I don’t go to those things, no matter if it’s Fieri or Bourdain or, in his prime, Ferran Adria from the late, lamented El Bulli. Well, okay, for Adria maybe I’d go. But not Fieri.
Does this make me a snob?
I like to think of myself as particular rather than snobbish. I like authenticity and I like honesty, in my chefs and in my celebrities. I have little tolerance for the fake. Am I saying Fieri is a fake? Well … his resume is legit, running from a childhood lemonade stand to French culinary training, a hospitality management degree from UNLV, and a whole stable of restaurants and television shows that have boosted his net worth to $8.5 million , according to the all-knowing Internet. (gonetworth.com/guy-fieri-net-worth)
But there’s something that just doesn’t quite fit about an $8 million guy from Sonoma County who wears a blue-collar persona while affecting spiky bleached hair and Mephistophelian goatee that would probably get him beaten up by the guys drinking beer behind the Sunoco Station in Santa Rosa.
His style screams “Look at MEEEEEE” in the vernacular of the classic narcissist, and his approach to food strikes many of us as a deplorable dumbing down of a growing American gastronomy that has lifted our national culinary scene since the 1980s - perhaps not coincidentally the age in which the laudatory term “foodie” was born. Perhaps not all the blame goes to Fieri, but he is one of the most visible faces of Food Network, an institution that has visibly dumbed down over two decades, devolving from Sara Moulton and Ming Tsai (and yes, the original Japanese Iron Chef) down past Emeril and Flay. Rachael Ray and, eventually, Fieri and a squadron of pretty faces whose names we don’t remember very long.
Now, to his credit, when I watch Fieri’s D, D & D, I can look past the flamboyant buffoonery and applaud the needed attention that he gives to America’s fascinating family diners, drive-ins and dives in an age that more inclined to celebrate high-end, chef-driven temples of foodiness. But still, I just can’t seem to get past the sense that, like his compatriot and possibly role model Bobby Flay, he’s having us on.
I’m also selectively snobby about corporate restaurant chains run by bean-counters; for what it’s worth, Guy’s chain seems to be adding a lot of beans. According to his own webpage, guyfieri.com, he’s running about 50 units across seven Fieri-labeled concepts, counting Louisville’s Smokehouse, which is said to be the first in a series, with another coming to Norfolk, Virginia, soon. Guy’s Burger Joint alone has almost 30 properties, most located in music and show venues; nine of them feed the hungry masses on Carnival cruise liners.
In short, while Guy did turn up in town the other night to wow the bloggers and VIPS, I think it’s safe to say that you won’t see his spiky hair bouncing around in the Louisville shop’s open kitchen very often. I’m sure he’ll be in at Derby time, perhaps singing a few verses of Les Miserables’ catchy hit, “Master of the House.” But I figure the over-under on his being in the house the rest of the year is pretty close to zero.
So I guess it goes without saying that when my editor called on Saturday to say, “I want you to go review Fieri’s Smokehouse and I want it right now,” I was all “WTF?”
But I got over it quickly enough. Over many years as a food writer and even more years as a reporter I’ve learned to keep my opinions on the shelf when I get out my reporter’s notebook. Even when I have to express an ass-kicking opinion, I try to keep it fair and balanced, because that’s what reporters do.
So I put on my big-critic’s pants, and off we went to Guy’s with open mind, heart and tummy. ...
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=5721
You'll also find this review in LEO Weekly’s Food & Drink section today.
http://www.leoweekly.com/2016/09/guy-fi ... -worst-us/
Guy Fieri’s Smokehouse
Fourth Street Live
434 S. 4th Street
919-7299
http://guyfierismokehouse.com
https://facebook.com/GuySmokeHouseKY
Robin Garr’s rating: 80 points
