Friday, July 17, 2009

HGTV borrows Guy Fieri for Beef Braciola

Guy Fieri makes a guest appearance on HGTV Showdown this weekend, where two design teams battle side-by-side, making over the same room for a couple whose decorating styles differ.

The episode airs on HGTV
July 19, 2009 - 9:00 PM e/p
July 19, 2009 - 1:00 AM e/p

Check the "Clash of the Kitchens" episode page for upcoming airings.

Guy will make a savory Beef Braciola while designers Vern Yip and Angelo Surmelis make over an outdated kitchen. Braciole are simple thin slices of beef pan fried in their juice or in a light amount of olive oil. It is, probably, one of the simplest dishes in Italian cooking. This looks to me like classic Fieri food.

Enjoy.

Braciola Guid Style With Rustica Pomadora
Courtesy Guy Fieri

For sauce:
1 tablespoon grape seed oil, or olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes with basil (prefer Muir Glen)
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped (hold until very end)

In a large non-stick skillet, heat oil, saute garlic briefly, add red pepper flakes, add in tomatoes and let simmer while preparing meat.

For braciola:
4 top sirloin steaks (½” thick)
salt and freshly cracked pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoon grape seed oil or olive oil (in all)
2 cups crimini mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
1 tablespoon shallot, minced
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon capers, drained
4 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped, (in all)
¾ cup panko bread crumbs
½ teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
½ teaspoon black pepper, freshly cracked
8 pieces prosciutto, very thinly sliced (3″ x 4″)
2 mozzarella cheese sticks, sliced in quarters, long way
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

Special equipment: gallon size resealable bag, meat mallot, kitchen twine, crock pot (optional)

Salt and pepper sirloin, place in plastic bag, one at a time. Pound with flat side of mallet until ⅛” thick. Can hold up to light in bag to see where thick parts are. Set aside.

Remove tomato sauce to hold warm (can be placed in crock pot on simmer or low). Wipe down pan, heat to med high and add in 1 tablespoon butter and ½ tablespoon oil. Add mushrooms, sauté until lightly browned, add in pine nuts, then add in shallots, sauté for one minute more then add in capers and half of parsley. Combine panko crumbs, oregano and granulated garlic and add to mushroom mixture, lightly toast and remove from heat transfer to small plate. Wipe out pan.

Cut 8 pieces of kitchen string to 14 inches.

Place pounded sirloin on work surface, place one piece of prosciutto, one-quarter piece of the cheese and 3 tablespoons of the filling. Rolling towards you, fold over meat and tuck in ends. Truss with string. Repeat. Heat remaining oil in pan, add in rolls and brown well on all sides. Cut strings off carefully (unless using crock pot method, then leave string until right before service).

Add tomato sauce back to pan (or add rolls to crock pot if you chose this method) and simmer for 10 minutes, add in basil ( or if crock pot method, hold basil and leave on low for 1-2 hours, add in basil right before service). Plate by putting sauce on plate, slicing braciola into 3-4 pieces on diagonal and laying on sauce, garnish with grated parmesan and chopped parsley.


Yield: 2 to 4 servings (8 rolls)
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Ease of preparation: easy

Interview with David Page

What follows below is an excerpt of an interview from Heavy Table with David Page, founder of Page Productions and executive producer for Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It's a fascinating article, and I encourage fans of the show to read the full article; link below.

David Page and Guy Fieri

... I had done a food show for them at an annual festival that takes place in Branson, MO. And I had done an hour for them on, of all things, diners with Al (Roker, of the Today Show). With a lot of thanks to Al for having gotten me to the food side, I started pitching the Food Network a lot of things, which they kept turning down until this happened.

When Food Network commissioned it, I said, “Well, do you want to look for a host?” and they said, “Well, yeah, but we think we have this guy we’ve been trying to figure out what to do with him in prime time, if he can do prime time.” I said, “Who?” They said “Guy Fieri.” And I said, “What’s a Guy Fieri?” And they said that he won The Next Food Network Star contest and I did not let on that I wasn’t really sure that that contest existed.

And I went to the website and I looked him up and I saw this spiky-haired guy in shorts and I went, “Oh my God, I’m dead.” ‘Cause I had never seen him on television and I thought, “What are they doing to me?” And then we were going to shoot a one-hour special and I couldn’t get a hold of him on the phone. We have a summer house on the Jersey shore and he finally called me back as I was walking into a market.

So my first conversation with him was, “Hey, can I call you back? I’m walking into the fish market to buy dinner.” First thing he said to me was, “Well, what are you making?” And I said, “I’m making cioppino.” And he said, “Well, what are you going to use for fennel?” And I said, “Well, I don’t know because I can’t find any fresh. There’s nothing on the island so I guess I’ll use fennel seed.” He said, “That won’t work. Here’s what you do. Go get some Sambuca. It’s the same flavor profile.” So I went home. I don’t know if I called him before or after the cioppino. I think it was after because it was really good. And we started talking and then he said to me, “You know, how much time do you need?” And I said, “Well, what days do you have?” And he sent me his calendar and I said, “I’ll take them all.” And we went out and shot the special.

(...)

We will plan a trip to a given geographical location, generally based around a city. In each of those locations the intent is to visit seven restaurants. When we’re on the road, it’s two full crews: two camera guys, two sound guys, two production assistants, two producers, as well as the driver who takes care of the car. So what we’ll do is send the crews in several days ahead of Guy. Each crew will shoot a full day at each of their locations. All or most of the close-up shots, the beauty shots, a lot of the atmosphere of the place, and it gives the producer and crew the opportunity to, what I say, smell the place. Get a feel for it, because we’re very, very good in the research department, but still you can be surprised. And to be candid, we have gotten to town and canceled places because the key to the show is that they have to meet that bar.

But logistically, the crews will shoot ahead of time. Guy will then come in and do his visit to each of these restaurants, which is half a day at a time. He’ll do two restaurants a day for three days and one restaurant either on the day he arrives or the day he leaves, which is plenty of time for him to do everything we need to do. And then after he’s done, that leaves a half-day for a crew to pick up anything, you know, if we caught an audible in the field, if Guy said: “Hey I’d like to do that instead of this.” And that amount of shooting is surprisingly high for a show like this, but we really take all the time it needs to shoot every step and every process, make sure we have all the beauty shots we need, make sure we have spent enough time getting the personality, the characters, so it’s pretty intensive. Guy’s amazing. Guy’s able to walk into a place, strike up a relationship, a friendship. Guy just loves hanging out with and cooking with other chefs.

Guy Fieri and David Page
(...)

This has to be handmade food. If it’s hamburgers, it better be handmade hamburgers. It better be done from scratch. It better be made right. And it better be good. And more than that, the whole place has to be like that. It’s not like we want to walk into a joint that has 75 percent frozen Sysco pre-prepared product, but they make two specials a week that will knock you on your butt. That’s not good enough. We just booked seven places in Houston. I was talking with the researcher today; he looked at 80 joints to get seven. That’s not unusual for us. The reality is we’re incredibly discerning about what it takes to get on the air and the first thing it has to have is real food because that’s the soul of the show.

See also: Page Production's Website - www.pageprod.com
And specifically, check out www.pageprod.com/television, a list of upcoming specials produced by David Page for the Food Network, featuring Guy Fieri.

Related Post, Site and Article:
Frequently Asked Questions about Guy Fieri
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives episode guide
Star Tribune interview, with video

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Guy Fieri finishes up round of DDD joints in Cleveland

Here's a great article about Guy Fieri's visit to Momocho in Cleveland, Ohio: http://clevelandfoodie.blogspot.com. (thx for the tip, Buckykatt!)

Here are the places I've heard about from the Cleveland area:

Momocho - website
1835 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 694-2122
www.momocho.com
*airs 3/22/10 - Twists and Traditions, episode 809*

Geraci's Restaurant (no website)
2266 Warrensville Ctr Rd., Cleveland, OH 44118
(216) 371-5643
*airs 11/16/09*

Melt Bar and Grilled - website
14718 Detroit Ave, Cleveland, OH 44107
(216) 226-3699
www.meltbarandgrilled.com
*Premieres 2/8/10* By Request

Lucky's Cafe - website
777 Starkweather Ave., Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 622-7773
www.luckyscafe.com
*Airs 10/12/09*

Sterle's Slovenian Country House - website
1401 E 55th St., Cleveland, OH 44103
(216) 881-4181
www.sterlescountryhouse.com
*airs 1/11/10*

Click here to view a map of all the Triple D restaurants Guy Fieri visited in the Cleveland, OH area.

Fan with Guy Fieri

Monday, July 13, 2009

Kansas City Impostor ... again ??

This man was passing himself off as Guy Fieri at a Kansas City BBQ contest recently. Look familiar?


So for those of you who think you've spotted Guy Fieri in Kansas City, do be careful. The real Guy Fieri has frequented K.C., so it very well may have been him. But then, perhaps not. The real Guy is usually surrounded by crew, friends and family. Look for a big crowd.

There is also a Guy Fieri impersonator in Las Vegas. Guy Fieri sightings, beware!

Related Post:
Guy Fieri impostor interviewed on live tv

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The new DDD book due out in November

Harper Collins, who published the first Triple D book, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives - An All-American Road Trip ... with Recipes!" has announced that the follow-up sequel is due to be released in November, 2009.

The second book has an equally lengthy name, "More Diners, Drive-ins and Dives - Another Drop-Top Culinary Cruise Through America's Finest and Funkiest Joints."

"Say THAT three times fast."
"That. That. That."
"Ha. Very ha."

If you haven't bought the first one yet, click here to browse through some pages.



The new book, cover recently released, is listed at $19.99, due on sale November 3, 2009. You can pre-order from your favorite online vendor by clicking here.

To promote the More Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Guy Fieri is scheduled to appear:

Monday, November 02, 2009
BARNES & NOBLE
395 Route 3 E Clifton, NJ 07014
(973) 779-5500

Tuesday, November 03, 2009
BORDERS BOOKS
10 Columbus Circle New York, NY 10019
(212) 823-9775

Related Posts:
Guy Fieri photo shoot closes a city block
Celebrity Food Show, Anaheim CA
Video from book signing

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Houston Roller Derby at Triple D taping

In late June, Guy Fieri and the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives filming crew spent a week in Houston, Texas. One of their many stops was at the Red Lion Pub, one of the sponsors for the Houston Roller Derby.

The episode *premiered February 8, 2010* Visit By Request for video and more information.

Houston Roller Derby girls at Red Lion Pub

The group of Roller Derby ladies participated in the taping, but even more fun than that, some of the crew participated in Roller Derby.

Check it out ~

Houston Roller Derby girls and Guy Fieri

Jeremy and Neil, from the DDD filming crew

And many thanks to I Still Hate Pickles for sharing her story and pictures. For more on the story and a few more pictures, visit her blog post.

Related Posts:
Places Guy went to in Houston, Texas for DDD
Fans travel miles to Diners, Drive-ins and Dives
Making memories in Milwaukee, observations in Ohio

Friday, July 10, 2009

Guy Fieri appearance in Tahoe, July 18, 2009

Chef Guy Fieri makes a one-day only appearance at the 20th annual American Century Championship, Tahoe Celebrity Golf, on Saturday July 18, 2009

Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course
Highway 50 at Lake Parkway, South Lake Tahoe, Nevada
Phone: (775) 588-3566

Celebrity players include Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, Jerry Rice, Chuck Liddell and Ray Romano.

Guy will set up on Edgewood Tahoe’s 17th hole, partnering with Viking and the National Pork Board, to pass out Pork En Fuego sandwiches, as seen on The Tonight Show, to tournament superstars on their way to the 17th green.

Tickets to the event are available in advance at www.TahoeCelebrityGolf.com and at the gate. Prices are $25 for each tournament round, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

A season pass for $60 provides admission for all six days of the event. Kids 10 and under are free with a paid adult.

The Champianship will be televised Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19, Noon-3 pm PT and 3-6 pm ET Live on NBC Sports.

For more information, visit www.BlueLakeTahoe.com.

Related Posts:
Pork En Fuego - as seen on The Tonight Show
Guy Fieri on the Tonight Show
Guy Fieri at the Shoreline Amphitheater