If you’ve watched the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” you know that host Guy Fieri really rocks in the kitchen.
When he’s interviewing one of his subjects over a sizzling grill or a bubbling pot of marinara, the goateed, spiky-haired Fieri comes across like a crazed Sammy Hagar at mealtime.
Fieri is no Gallagher, smashing watermelons and splattering folks in raincoats in the front row. He’s a lot more interesting than that. And even though the joints he profiles on his popular show serve mammoth portions of vein-clogging food, it’s pure Americana. Comfort food on steroids.
Fieri’s first “Roadshow,” a live, touring show with the Kulinary Krew that allows the TV host and author “to do everything I can’t do on TV,” arrives in Seattle for a performance Friday (Dec. 11) at the Moore Theatre. Tickets to the 8 p.m. show start at $25 and go up to $148 for the Kulinary Krew package. You’ll find all the prices here.
The unique show — dubbed “the first-ever rock ‘n’ roll culinary tour” — combines cooking, showmanship and loud music. (Fieri’s musical tastes reportedly run the gamut from Willie Nelson to Metallica to Enya.)
Among the local restaurants on his “Locations” page is Bizarro Italian Cafe on North 46th Street in Wallingford. I haven’t been to Bizarro in a long time, but it fits the profile of his offbeat show. I recall being serenaded by an employee with an operatic voice when my order arrived at the table. You just don’t forget things like that. The food was good too.
Fieri has created quite a brand, employing a blend of hipster cool and meat-headed manliness. A page on his Web site asks fans to “predict” his next look, which could include a comb-over, but I doubt it.
Fieri’s big, brawny personality made him the perfect grand marshal for NASCAR in Sonoma, Calif. In 2007, the Navy flew him to the Persian Gulf to entertain and cook for the troops.
Read a story on Fieri from the San Jose Mercury News. And if you’ve got the patience, here’s an incredibly long review of a recent Lowell, Mass., show from Eat Me Daily.
Watch Fieri in action in this video: