Mise en abyme.... mise en Fieri
March 8, 2017 10:42 AM   Subscribe

Is there something more behind the bleached hair, tattoos, rock n' roll, and diner food of Guy Fieri? "True things have depth" answers Fieri in a longform piece from Vice.

Guy Fieri has a history on Metafilter, including fiction, a criticism in Salon that some felt was too critical, (a piece that didn't even bother interviewing Sammy Hagar!) and a love of fake menus. The critical reception of Fieri's NYC restaurant (previously on mefi) was so sharp it prompted the infamous "who run flavortown" live blogged and archived meetup.
posted by zenon (49 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Always liked Cracked's take on him (#1).

Good post, thanks!
posted by Melismata at 10:55 AM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Someday, I too will live a 40-minute drive car from Sammy Hagar.
posted by Naberius at 11:14 AM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


I really enjoyed Drew Magary's piece on him as well.
posted by Carillon at 11:20 AM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


My partner and I have also watched Next Food Network star, and it makes me appreciate how hard the job is that he does with a good amount of ease. Watching Diner, Drive-ins, and Dives, he really does come across as excited about the food these chefs are putting out. Whatever else you might say about his act, to me he doesn't come across as condescending or patronizing at all, which could be a real worry.
posted by Carillon at 11:23 AM on March 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


I gotta say I feel like Fieri is living his own personal truth. Sometimes one person embodies the zeitgeist and they just have to go with it. And he is.
posted by GuyZero at 11:25 AM on March 8, 2017 [11 favorites]


Sometimes one person embodies the zeitgeist and they just have to go with it. And he is.

Jesus. I mean I'm not his biggest fan, but that's harsh.
posted by howfar at 11:26 AM on March 8, 2017 [17 favorites]


What I mean is I don't actually think he panders with his food - I think he genuinely makes things he likes. And there's a big segment of people who are really into it. But I don't think he's out doing surveys or mining foreign cultures for food ideas. I think he really says to himself "garbage can nachos would be awesome" and just does it.
posted by GuyZero at 11:28 AM on March 8, 2017


I get all my recipes from the Guy Fieri automatic menu item generator.
posted by w0mbat at 11:32 AM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


I hate Guy Fieri and everything he represents as a human being and television personality. But damned if I don't stop on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives when it shows up while I'm channel-surfing.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:34 AM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


Sometimes one person embodies the zeitgeist and they just have to go with it. And he is.

"You do your own thing in your own time"—Captain America
posted by TedW at 11:46 AM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


Warning: a particularly aggressive auto-playing bit of audio, a video ad embedded three pages down that slipped through my ad blocker. Guy Fieri finds a way to deliver again.
posted by Nelson at 11:50 AM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


I think this video (mentioned previously on metafilter) says what I feel about Guy. Sure he seems fun on the surface, and possibly is fun all the way through. But the lifestyle he's preaching really isn't healthy. I mean I respect what he says in the article along the lines of "If it doesn't hurt you why the fuck do you care what I do"... but I really do feel like he is hurting people in the end...

Meh maybe I do need to just lighten up.
posted by cirhosis at 11:51 AM on March 8, 2017


I don't have any problem with the idea that Fieri is a 100% sincere and genuine guy who just loves food with a goofy enthusiasm that, in the right setting, can be contagious and fun. Tell me all about that boss-ass grilled cheese, Guy. Where do they make the best pupusas, you Smash Mouth-looking goon? I don't need someone recommending comfort food or fast food to pass a fucking written exam to screen for bad musical taste or to have a haircut I can respect. I don't even need him to be that well-spoken. Very few of the best diners or burger joints I've found came to me in the form of a thoughtful, contextualized formal review. Mostly, some mook just said, "Dude, you gotta try ______! It's awesome!" and they were right.

I also don't have any problem with the idea of Guy Fieri the Chef as a clumsy-to-crapulent cook who embodies the worst , laziest, most bro-centric aspects of tv food porn, focusing on extreme/flashy/gluttonous/stupid awfulness rather than any cogent take on what might taste good to a human or be worth eating once the hyperbole and marketing is stripped away. We're at a moment in time where people are making it into the broader avenues of popular culture to speak about food and cooking in ways that consider culture, form, and even art, and there's not a thing wrong with finding Fieri lacking in that context. It's fair game to try and gauge his complicity in the way this more thoughtful discourse on food and cooking is being muddled by gauche motherfuckers who just can't put bacon on enough fucking things.

I also don't have a problem pillorying Guy Fieri the Brand for being a crapulent corporate bastardization of his already suspect cooking, putting out near-inedible processed food in stores and loading restaurant menus with dumbass dishes any grown-ass adult should be embarrassed to read out loud, much less order. I had a cheeseburger the other day from a chain restaurant I got dragged to by family that was little more than a nicely grilled piece of ground meat on a bun with cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomato and I wanted to applaud because I was so grateful it wasn't slathered in some bullshit sauce or made so large I had to unhinge my fucking jaw like a python. Fieri and his corporate co-horts are pushing the extreme ethos that can ruin even a simple pleasure like a burger hard. Why do it when you can overdo it?

All that said, and I get the sense from the article that in addition to these three Guy Fieris, it's somewhere between very possible and likely that there's another Guy Fieri, one who's just a friendly guy and a loving dad. And that guy would be okay with me, too, maybe not as my companion for the next [insert band you consider unimpeachably cool here] show, but certainly as a nice guy at the neighborhood block party.

I guess what I'm saying is: Guy contains multitudes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:53 AM on March 8, 2017 [30 favorites]


I was on a cruise and they served Guy's burgers. They were actually pretty good.
posted by jonmc at 11:57 AM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


He also did a piece on the Merritt Canteen, my favorite greasy spoon, on DD&D.
posted by jonmc at 12:01 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


In an alternate universe, his show is called Ridiculous Dudebro Shows You Where All the Yummy Unhealthy Shit to Eat Is and we are all in agreement that it is what it says on the label and there is no reason to complain.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:11 PM on March 8, 2017 [4 favorites]


Guy Fieri is Poochie.
posted by Rob Rockets at 12:15 PM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Related (at least in my mind): As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:18 PM on March 8, 2017


I used to watch a lot of DD&D. Like, I would just turn the TV on and squick out at the greasy shit on there when there was nothing better to do. Now that I don't just veg in front of the TV anymore, I never see it, and that's fine.

I have trouble integrating the Guy Fieri dudebro persona, the military-worship, and the alleged "hippie" upbringing and environmental consciousness here, to be honest. Plus, maybe it's just The Times, but there's something unsettling about the undercurrent of middle-America, jus' folks whiteness of the Fieri enterprise.

Also the name "Donkey sauce" makes me really uncomfortable.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:26 PM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Guy Fieri is Poochie.

I've said it before: I'd rather grab a burger with Fieri than just about anything else with Bourdain every time.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:30 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Really? Bourdain is a bitter misanthrope, but for real... aren't many of us here?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:32 PM on March 8, 2017 [11 favorites]


I mean, I feel like they'd both spend the whole meal talking at you, but at least Bourdain might have something interesting to say.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:34 PM on March 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


"I gotta say I feel like Fieri is living his own personal truth. Sometimes one person embodies the zeitgeist and they just have to go with it. And he is."

posted by GuyZero at 2:25 PM on March 8

You'll forgive me if, under the circumstances, I'm a tad suspicious...
posted by Naberius at 12:35 PM on March 8, 2017 [10 favorites]


I've said it before: I'd rather grab a burger with Fieri than just about anything else with Bourdain every time.

I'm the exact opposite.
posted by Splunge at 12:39 PM on March 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


I am 100% sure that if "donkey sauce" wasn't slang for male ejaculate before Fieri started using it, it most certainly has to be by now.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:39 PM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


I mean, I feel like they'd both spend the whole meal talking at you, but at least Bourdain might have something interesting to say.

See, I disagree. I think Fieri would love to hear about my favorite places. I just find Bourdain insufferable, but I know I'm in the minority.

Also, Guy Fieri is nothing like Poochie.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:41 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


I've said it before: I'd rather grab a burger with Fieri than just about anything else with Bourdain every time.

I'll break bread with a bitter Ramones fan before an enthusiastic George Thorogood fan any day of the week.

(Also, Bourdain was awesome when I met him)
posted by lumpenprole at 12:43 PM on March 8, 2017 [8 favorites]


I just find Bourdain insufferable, but I know I'm in the minority.

I'm not sure I'd want to hang with either of them, honestly, but the high-energy, wants-to-be-everybody's-friend extrovert thing really, really doesn't work for me.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:47 PM on March 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


I'll break bread with a bitter Ramones fan before an enthusiastic George Thorogood fan any day of the week.

Deal!
posted by Room 641-A at 12:50 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Having read the piece my thoughts are:

Guy Fieri the show? Now and then I'll watch DDD and I like the idea of the places he chooses to visit. I like dives, diners, and drive-ins. And if each show wasn't so dominated by his reach for bigger superlatives and his wacky antics, I'd probably like them a lot more.

Guy Fieri the business? I am still amazed that anyone can sell 36 dollar bottles of Sutter Home wine.

Guy Fieri the persona? Bourdain's remark about Fieri looking like he was designed by committee doesn't seem too far off the mark. The most interesting thing about this piece is the sense I get of just how carefully this rich and successful and apparently educated guy chooses his signifiers. To me, those signifiers say "Casual dining manager who really wants you to wear more flare," but it's obvious that he works hard to exhibit himself in this way.

The difference between what Bourdain does and what Fieri does seems to be this: every story Bourdain tells is about loss or expected loss and how we grab at good things to forget that loss for a while. Every story Fieri tells is about how THE GOOD TIMES JUST AIN'T GOING TO STOP BABY!!!
posted by octobersurprise at 1:27 PM on March 8, 2017 [11 favorites]


Does anyone know if it's possible to watch the season of Next Food Network Star with Guy Fieri on it? It's Season 2 from 2006 and I'd love to watch him learn his TV craft. OTOH maybe he sprung into the world fully formed; his demo tape feels pretty much identical to his shtick now. It's remarkably good, actually.

Oh, hey, it's on iTunes. Not on Amazon or Netflix that I see.
posted by Nelson at 1:32 PM on March 8, 2017


I'm a fan of both the Ramones and George Thorogood (and I seriously doubt I'm alone in that).

*breaks bread*
posted by jonmc at 1:34 PM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


And I met Bourdain on the street once. He was very nice.
posted by jonmc at 1:35 PM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


Well, I don't encounter Fieri or his restaurant or media properties during the normal course of my life--I don't watch the Food Network, eat carbs, or plan to go to NYC in the near future--so I'm a lot less tired of Guy than of his use as an easy, lazy class signifier.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:42 PM on March 8, 2017


Guy's visit on DDD saved a local restaurant - just when they thought they were sunk due to a massive ventilation issue, their episode aired and suddenly people arrived in droves to eat the same steak tips and drink the same lobster martini Guy did. They were able to make the improvements to the ventilation system and no longer had sleepless nights about The Call and were even able to open up a second restaurant in town.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 1:56 PM on March 8, 2017 [9 favorites]


Fieri filmed at our local Argentinian empanada place in Denver, which is an accessible, family friendly counter service neighborhood spot with pretty damn good empanadas for $2-3/pop. Since then my opinion of him has gone up a touch, but not enough to want to watch any of his stuff.

But let's be real: I'm really just here to commend DirtyOldTown for the epithet "Smash Mouth-looking goon." Hats off to you, sir.
posted by deludingmyself at 2:08 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


You pay the producers to have 100% legit authentic Guy feature your restaurant on DDD.

Jesus, what a world.
posted by Keith Talent at 2:32 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Reading about the rivalry between Fieri and Bourdain makes me happier than ever that the Neko Atsume cat collector game let me rename Guy Furry to Anthony Purrdain. Because while I may have cosplayed as him once, I felt so... unclean afterwards. I mean, people do cosplay villains all the time, but usually the ones who have at least some redeeming qualities buried somewhere in there, or at least audacious levels of magnificent bastard-ism.

The last standing Supreme Court Justice and butcher of The US Constitution, High Chaplin of Interstellar War, and Third and Final Anti-Christ was none of these, merely an especially degenerate piece of filth sub-assistant to the middle manager villain who despite being an alien Empress was chafing under the rule of that story's actual big bad.
posted by radwolf76 at 2:37 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


My first association with Guy Fieri is now this, and I'm not entirely sure it's an improvement from DD&D? Anyway now I'm spreading it a la the video from The Ring, sorry not sorry.
posted by yasaman at 4:46 PM on March 8, 2017




You pay the producers to have 100% legit authentic Guy feature your restaurant on DDD.

Jesus, what a world.
posted by Keith Talent at 5:32 PM on March 8


I'm glad somebody understands how the media works. This is no different than paying Mojo or Pitchfork to review your record, or how NPR just repeats every goddamn thing Trump says in a tone that implies they may disagree.

It's all a part of the same bullshit, like why they only play the same 12 songs on the radio on every station in this country.

Just keep hammering home that this is the only way to be, i.e., Lowest Common Denominator thinking. I'll take Bourdain any day. At least he has the balls to be an asshole to your face rather than smile and shove bacon and Sammy Hagar in your arteries.

Fieri for Cabinet! Make him head of Health and Human Services! Serve Bacon encrusted fried cheese to public school kids!

Sorry, I'm done now.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 7:11 PM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


I worked in restaurants for many years and I cannot explain rationally how much I hate this person or the ethos he espouses
posted by SystematicAbuse at 7:16 PM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


At least he has the balls to be an asshole to your face rather than smile and shove bacon and Sammy Hagar in your arteries.

When Bourdain did a show about Cabo San Lucas, he had Sammy Hagar as a special guest.
posted by jonmc at 7:33 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Really? Bourdain is a bitter misanthrope, but for real... aren't many of us here?

Yeah, the older I get the more I think life's too short, and I'm trying to change the bitter misanthrope in myself, as well. But you all? You're like family -- we're good.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:11 PM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


When I worked on a show where Fieri did a segment, his own people hated him. He was a snappy asshole even in front of us.

Now, that Ace of Cakes guy? His people all seemed like they'd throw themselves in front of whatever assassination attempt anyone might try, and happily. He was a pretty awesome guy.
posted by nevercalm at 8:28 PM on March 8, 2017 [7 favorites]


Ace of Cakes was the best. I loved that show.

(Cake Boss can get fucked, though.)
posted by tobascodagama at 8:30 PM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'm agnostic on the subject of Cake Boss the man, however... Cake Boss the character as portrayed by Paul F. Tompkins? Sublime.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:28 PM on March 8, 2017 [4 favorites]


A couple of months ago, David discovered that our local cable started showing three Star Treks in a row every single night on the "H&I" channel. While I could live without Star Trek, ST-TNG, and Deep Space Nine every week night, at least I'm not watching DD&D every night any more. David loves that show. I don't mind it, but after a couple of hours (!) of it, I'm sick of the constant shouting.* OTOH, we will drop everything to watch an Anthony Bourdain shows, no matter how many times we've already seen it.

*To me, quietness is the best feature of any show. On my own, I spend a lot of time on PBS.
posted by corvikate at 12:47 PM on March 9, 2017


cirhosis: “I think this video says what I feel about Guy.”
I was sure that was going to be this. [Caution: Language]
posted by ob1quixote at 10:34 PM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


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