You'll probably never see Emeril go platinum blonde or Rachael Ray with a half-dozen tattoos. Paula Deen? No bling.
Guy Fieri, on the other hand, won his own Food Network show with his blend of California cool and Vegas energy. The UNLV alum was crowned the Next Food Network Star earlier this year on the channel that has elevated chefs to celebrities.
Fieri's show, Guy's Big Bite, premiered in June. It appeals to a new generation of unfussy foodies who prefer a rockin' beach bash to a buttoned-down dinner party. "The network is full of a bunch of great all-star players. Maybe (the network executives) brought in the rookie who can adapt and learn from the styles of all of them," says Fieri, '90 BS Hotel Administration. "I brought a little bit of edge, probably a little bit more smack — but smack in a positive sense. I'm honored to be sitting at the table with these people."
The show features Fieri dishing up specialties such as a rich blackened chicken alfredo — a dish he created for class at UNLV. It's now a top-seller at Johnny Garlic's California Pasta Grill, his flagship restaurant in Santa Rosa, Calif. He also co-owns Russell Ramsay's Chop House and Tex Wasabi's, a barbecue-and-sushi joint that epitomizes Fieri's flair for fusion.
Avoiding Less Palatable Chores
Fieri discovered cooking while growing up in Northern California. Whoever cooked in his house got to pick the menu. One day at age 10 he dove in and fixed two New York steaks, pasta, and sauce by the time his parents got home.
"They were just thrilled that I cooked dinner, and not just because I made it and they didn't have to," he says. "I remember that look on their faces, and I vividly remember thinking, 'If I do this, I have to stack less wood.'"
He's one of those kitchen savants who cooks by sight and taste (good luck finding a measuring spoon on the set of Bite). And even after a full day at the restaurant, he unwinds at home by cooking for his wife, Lori, and their two sons. Hunter is 9 and baby Ryder was born last New Year's Eve, just nine days after dad's win on Star.
He spoke frequently of his family during the reality show's interviews and then lobbied to stay in California when Food Network asked him to move to New York. The chef 's specialties at Johnny Garlic's are called "Hunter's Selections." And each boy has one of Dad's arms dedicated to him in tattoos.
Devotion to family "is something I got from my parents. They always put our family first," Fieri says. "I wanted a pretzel booth when I was in fifth grade and my dad says, 'OK, let's do it.'" At 16, Fieri went to France as an exchange student; when he came home, he decided he was done with high school. His parents let him jump to junior college, and by the time his friends were going to prom, he was working in restaurants. Soon he transferred to UNLV.
"If you want to become a leader in the industry of hospitality, you go where hospitality is king, and there's nothing better than Vegas," he says.
Don't Leave Home Without It
Though classes on equipment management and hotel law seemed tedious at the time, Fieri says now he's glad to have gotten such a global view of the industry. "In the hospitality business, if you have an interest in making people happy and have personality, you can be a superstar," he says. "It's kind of the American Express card of education — if you can do hospitality, you can do anything."
That must include TV. Fieri was thrilled with how Guy's Big Bite turned out, and he's in talks about whether to continue the show or develop one of the other two pilots he's shot for the network.
"I tell people they see about 80 percent of me on the show," he says, adding that shooting six shows in three days took its toll. "I was under the gun to get it done and do it right. My friends say I wasn't as mouthy as usual."
Those same friends — who know him affectionately as "Guido" — pestered Fieri repeatedly to audition for Next Food Network Star. But once he made the pool of eight contestants, Fieri played to win. "I think one of the reasons I did well in the competition is because I didn't have to win. I have my life with my restaurants," he says. "I can have a Food Network show and the next minute I have to answer a call about where the soda cups are."
