Seems that 2010 will be totally money for Guido (aka SoCo’s own Guy Fieri) as his star ascends even higher into the stratosphere.
In addition to his Rock and Roll Roadshow, the Food Network darling has been cast as host of a new NBC gameshow called “Perfect 10″ set to air next spring. The show will have a large studio audience (better to showcase Guy’s spiky-haired persona) and is being produced by the folks behind Deal or No Deal. Says Fieri, “This show is out of bounds,” said It truly is America’s gameshow, anyone can compete. Contestants who complete 10 games in 10minutes will win a $1 million prize, it’s the win-it-in-a-minute attitude.”
Meanwhile, Guy is also in final preparations to hook up with Obama for reals. (Check out the SNL spoof of a healthcare meeting with the prez.) Apparently his platform for cooking with kids (the state senate adopted the second Saturday in May as Cooking with Your Kids Day last year) struck a cord with the Eater in Chief.
But wait, there’s more…Guy plans to be in SoCo in coming weeks to shoot a local episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives at Cafe Citti.
And, he says there may be plans to expand Johnny Garlic’s ’round the country, starting with cities like Portland, Seattle and Vegas. Oh my. Meanwhile SR’s Tex Wasabi’s is still shuttered, with remodeling pushed out until next spring.
– Thanks to Brent Farris at KZST for the Guy hook-up.
I find this thread bothersome. Why all this to knock someone down?
So y’all don’t have the self-promotion genes this guy does. So?
If he isn’t to your taste…..ignore it.
I mean, it’s one thing to share an experience (good or bad) at a local restaurant. This informs others. But to go on and on like this?
Point made…..y’all are tire of GF. Got it. Move on.
Man. I am so there. What if they gave you complimentary sunglasses to wear backwards while you eat? Or when you order the “They’re So MONEY!” Ribs you get a bib that looks like a tank top with gold chains? How about edible pinky rings? Or the DDD burger: 5 pounds of beef fried in duck fat and wrapped with bacon, served two grilled cheese sandwiches for a bun and covered with chili and chipotle fries. There is no stopping this train.
Heather- I would like to be the first to buy you some deep-fried jalapeno stuffed garlic stuffed Jalapenos at the new Guy-tina. We can dip them in cheese and share a cocktail served in a fishbowl.
No sense of humor involved when you spend good money and get lousy service and mediocre food. The guy is all hat and no cattle. He is a clown.
Meh. Folks need a sense of humor. My vote is for Guy to buy the Cantina and turn it into a shrine to himself. A sort of food Disneyland to Guy-ness. A Hard Rock Cafe of Fieridom. Lots of cheesy schwag. His face on dozens of big screen tvs. Every dish with garlic or jalapenos.
And yes, I have written about Johnny Garlic’s.
I WROTE & SENT THIS IN MAY 12, 2006 & I NEVER GOT A RESPONSE, but now then we all keep hearing about Johnny Garlic’s & Tex Wasabi’s but somehow we seemed to completely forgot this “chop shop”.
Guy Fieri, Co-Owner
Russell Ramsay’s Chop House
1460 Farmers Lane
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
Dear Mr. Fieri, (The Next Food Network Star!)
I just wanted to take a minute to communicate to you my recent lunch experience at Russell Ramsay’s Chop House. I want to warn you now that it was not a good one!
My group and I have all been to both Tex Wasabi’s Rock-N-Roll Sushi BBQ & Johnny Garlic’s California Pasta Grill numerous times and had decent experiences in our visits to both of those places of yours.
I cannot say the same of my birthday lunch experience this past Thursday, May 11th.
We arrived at your restaurant for lunch at 1:10 pm and were finally greeted by a wait person (who immediately told us that they were “totally amped up” on “like 5 or 6 Rockstars”) sat us out in your moon shaped covered terrace, the “Crown Jewell” of your place. It ended up being more like an oven because it was so hot out there. The restaurant was not at all busy at this time, maybe 3 or 4 seated tables tops.
When they did return with our drinks, mine was overflowing the glass and was a mess. They seemed a little pushed out of shape when I asked them if they could please just put the drink in another glass, as the one they had served was a complete mess and was now overflowing onto the table. They brought it back in another glass only to set it on the same coaster in the same mess that the first one had left. I was amazed with this person’s lack of simple service at this point.
My coconut prawns were then served completely over cooked, and my green beans (of which when I ordered I specifically had asked for and was assured that I could get SHAVED Parmesan cheese over the top) was served with a small ramekin of grated cheese. When I asked the serving person (as it was a different person than our wait person) I was told “sorry, we don’t have any shaved left” as they quickly made their exit, never to be seen again.
I would like to say things got better from there, but they did not. Our dirty plates sat on the table for a long time and after what seemed like well over 20 minutes in an oven, as our wait person was no where to be found, we all got up to go and try to find our check so we could pay and leave.
Upon reaching the bar (which was empty) our wait person suddenly appeared with what looked like a brownie with a scoop of ice-cream over the top with a candle in it. Nice gesture for my birthday, but way too little, way too late! Some good old fashioned casual business lunch restaurant service would have gone so much further. My group and I came in to partake in your food, your beverage, and in your service for the very first time, not asking for or expecting a “birthday party”.
Mr. Fieri, I write this informational letter to you so that perhaps your Chop House will be able to catch up to your excellent reputation, both from your other 2 restaurants as well as from the Food Network Show. I am sure that you would not be very pleased if my group was new in town, having just seen you win on the show’s competition, and had received the quality of food, beverage, and service received by my group.
Regards,
GF has creative talent – it shows and he’s getting rewarded for it (fame and fortune?).
Looking past the obvious, it also shows that he’s not the strongest operationally.
I don’t like JG or TW – think the execution sucks on all fronts – but they both are full of imaginative concepts.
He won a Food Network game show – its kind of funny how sensationalizing food as a passion results in a few great moments with real talent and a lot of moments of pretty crappy entertainment. (FN has to pay the bills.)
The SoCo issue is interesting – a positive view is that creative people come out of this awesome place.
Most of this comment thread is garbage, but there are a couple of good points to be made that were touched on.
First, Fieri banks on the Sonoma County/Wine Country thing, but nothing about him is either. That is a big issue for those that champion all that is local.
Second, a lot of people have problems with celebrities that are celebrities for no reason. Sure, he won a contest, got a show, and owns a few restaurants, but that doesn’t mean he’s earned the attention he is given, and it doesn’t make him likable. That said, Guy has clearly attended the Paris Hilton school of fame and is going to keep putting himself out there. Those that hate him are just as important to that machine as those that love him.
Third. His appearance. Yes, the obvious affectations are irritating. The many rings, the sweatbands, the hair, the “attitude.” All of those things are bothersome, but they are part of the persona he has created to sell his product, which is for the most part, himself. I don’t want to see anyone cook anything with jewelry on their hands or wrists, but those that like to watch him? They’re probably not so much concerned with hygiene.
Fourth. Most of the readers of this blog/column are local and have the luxury/misfortune of knowing Fieri or having been to one or more of his restaurants. We’ve all clearly been inundated with Fieri the past few years because the papers/media love a “Local Boy Makes Good!” story. We’ve all decided what we think, and those that think poorly of the man are tired of reading and hearing about him. What is frustrating for those folks is the fact that as a nationally known celebrity connected to this area, every time Guy Fieri does anything anywhere, it’s picked up locally and becomes a thing. People get tired.
What is really interesting is that @ChefGuyFieri doesn’t even follow @johnnygarlics on twitter.
Interesting, no?
From twitter
“@ChefGuyFieri You need to start following us Buddy! We serve really awesome food and have the best service around! 5:37 PM Jun 17th, 2009 from web in reply to ChefGuyFieri ”
PS, still waiting for Ms. Heather Irwin to take one for the team and actually GO to JG’s and tell us how the food is and if the place is clean. Still waiting Heather.
I love the show Diners, drive-ins, dives. I believe it would work with a different host just as well although Guy is the guy so its his. He is a bit out there with his whole image deal but he was that way before, who knows why he feels the need to be a visual spectacle? But, that’s his choice and I agree it’s more LA than Sonoma. My problem with him has always been that there is a hypocrisy in how he comes off. He acts like an authority, he finishes sentences for people, he judges food ingredients and quality etc. He is a know-it-all but he has a well below average restaurant in Johnny Garlics. Its actually bad. All of the other Food network personalities have very solid restaurants that are well above average. His sucks and I find that to be a concern at least for me. If he knows so much, why does he put out such a poor product? He must not care enough, and that is insulting to his local followers. He should burn his dump down and start over with a restaurant that represents everything that he has learned as a host of DDD and bring some interesting food from all over the USA to Santa Rosa. The question is will he skimp on quality and come up short on the final product. See, its very easy to be cynical about Guy Fieri’s motivation. He’s a sushi roll wrapped inside a fortune cookie, pierced and tatted, covered in silver spiked hair. But he is good on TV.
My issue with Guy has nothing to with his fame, restaurant hiring practices, or personal hygine. It simply has to do with the fact that he doesn’t represent Sonoma County cuisine in any way, shape, or form. His entire approach is to take sub-par ingredients and cover them up with as many flavorings (garlic, spices, smoke, etc.) as possible. Sonoma County cuisine is all about fresh, locally harvested produce shining through simply prepared dishes. Also, Guy’s personality is all show with no substance. Spiky hair, gold watch, rings, and if he calls something “bad boy” one more time I think I’m going to puke. Perhaps he would make a better spokesperson for LA rather than SoCo. He’s an actor, not a chef.
Can’t understand why there seems to be so much hate and anger directed at Guy. Can’t we just critique without being mean?
In response to xtianap lengthy editorial. This isnt about despising or being jealous of Guy Ferry its about the facade this guy portrays.He isnt a Chef. A Chef wouldnt hire employees who have human crap on their hands and then prepares food to be served to customers and it is a a fact that Shigella originates in MEXICO.If i remember correctly someone died.This is about a person who broke immigration law,probably guilty of tax evasion and and more than likely still doing the same thing.So when you see that stupid grin on his face and he brags about his cars and money he did it with illegal alien labor at the cost of a lot of people suffering.So i hope he fails miserably, because behind that stupid grin and spiked hair and the cars there is a LAWBREAKING ASS and believe Iwould love to see him him in public and confront him on these things
I find this entire thread disturbing. People seem to seriously DESPISE Guy Fieri because of a perception that he does not deserve the fame he has received. They point out the mediocre food in his restaurants, the health incident at Johnny Garlics, even insult his choice to change his name (like who even cares about that – lots of people change their names to something that sounds better to them). The health incident where people got sick was unfortunate and preventable, although not necessarily Guy Fieri’s personal fault – he could feasibly have set higher standards than the on-site manager chose to enforce. The mediocre food – I agree that the food at Johnny Garlics was mediocre, but the quality of the food is not why Guy Fieri became so popular. He became popular because he came up with a cool concept and creative ideas and ran with them. Lots of people LOVED Johnny Garlics while it lasted. I personally didn’t, but I did enjoy Tex Wasabi’s. It had a fun atmosphere and I thought the sushi rolls were really creative and non-traditional. They may not have been authentic, but they were fun and tasty. I never experienced bad service or uncleanliness there myself, and I went a few times.
Guy Fieri became famous because he took risks. He went on a TV show and won. He has a winning, unique personality that many people enjoy watching on TV. He is not boring. He has interesting, creative ideas. He is local now and I think he is raising a family here. He may not be the greatest chef ever, and he may have made mistakes in management in his past, but does this mean we should begin insulting him and showing this kind of bitterness toward him? There are lots of famous people that are not the GREATEST in what they became famous for – do we hate all of them, or only the ones who are local who we think we know personally? When I read these bitter posts I think that those posters must be really unhappy with their own lives and maybe even jealous a bit. Like – why should THAT guy be famous when his restaurants “suck?” Well, first of all – his restaurants don’t necessarily suck – they just sucked for YOU. And besides, he didn’t get famous for his restaurants. He got famous because he put himself out there, and good for him for doing that! Not everyone can set a goal for themselves and achieve that goal. That doesn’t mean we are not allowed to say that we think the food at his restaurants is not good…but going beyond that and insulting this guy and cussing and all that goes too far IMO. I don’t know Guy Fieri and I will never go to Johnny Garlics, but I’d watch the show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives because it sounds fun. And informative. And a lot better than watching a mindless half-hour comedy starring one of the dozens of mediocre sitcom stars that are currently famous.
Right under “Leave a comment” it says “Sign in to comment, or comment anonymously”, so here I am. Heather, get reals, you post an article on a newspaper blog and criticize people who criticize your golden boy. You talk about a guy “taking over the world” who can’t even parlay his “fame” into more than the Farmers Lane Johnny Garlic’s and wonder why some of us don’t step into line with you? Heather, get reals! There is a reason why this guy hasn’t started a chain of Johnny Garlic’s. They’d fail.
blogging is road rage with a key board.
I’m sure if any of these bloggers met him at a party they would be so far up his ass, they would walk away smelling like it.
I went to Yelp to look for reviews. Still I think that you need to get there and tell us the cleanliness of the tables, the bathroom, etc.
Here’s the Yelp reviews.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/johnny-garlics-california-pasta-grill-santa-rosa
Ok Tami, or whomever, can someone go to Guy’s this week and report on the cleanliness aspect? I’m curious.
Or even Ms. Anger Mgmt Heather Irwin? Could you do it? You went to the Toad & the Hole and gave a bad review about the taste of the fish & chips there, so since you’re the mistress of the column, could you just pop in there and tell us how clean the place is?
Wow – so much bitterness! We’ve been eating at Johnny Garlic’s for years – long before Guy was famous. We still go there almost once a week and have used their catering service several times. The service is always great, the food is always wonderful and we’ve never had a bad dining experience there. Where do you all eat anyway? McDonald’s and Burger King?
Recently on Dinner Impossible Chef Robert Irvine had Fieri or Ferry whatever his name is on his show and he wanted to go to this guys restaurant to use his ovens and he flatly refused.Makes you wonder what hes trying to hide.Wouldnt you want your restaurant to be seen on Food Network
You can’t post some ridiculous article extolling Guy ferry’s supposed virtues and then criticize those of us who don’t agree with you. If you don’t want negative feedback on Guy Ferry, don’t write about him. Did you get sick from the gross food contamination at Johnny Garlic’s? I for one will never eat at any of Guy Ferry’s “restos” after what happened, and what caused, all those people to get sick. And Tex Wasabi’s is still closed. The guy is all hat and no cattle. And don’t even get me started on the name change and him pretending to be Italian and wanting people to pronounce his name different than what it is: Ferry.
I didn’t read the Wikipedia article, but my understanding from his friends is that his mom pronounces it “ferry” and he pronounces it Fieri.
Seems (again) like there’s a lot of unnecessary hostility. Can’t we just give the guy a pat on the back and move on with our lives? Sheesh.
Ride that 15 minutes. The food is fair.
I KNEW IT, Guy Fieri is really a FERRY!
You know that there is truth when they say “There are 2 types of people, those that ARE Italian & those that WISH THAT THEY WERE Italian”, and Ferry just proved that true! Did he really think that changing the spelling of his name would make him MORE ITALIAN? LOL!
And all this time CORRECTING people on the air as to the correct pronounciation of Guy Fieri (pronounced gai fi’eri; as opposed to gai ferry, born Guy Ramsay Ferry, poor mom & dad!
Well maybe he can cook up a good Corned Beef & Cabbage for all of us sometime?
Oh yeah, and both Tex Wasabi’s (when it was open) and Johnny Garlic’s are AWFUL examples of Sonoma County restaurants, as the food is “tolerable” at best, and the service sucks, and THEY ARE FILTHY!
And as far as “It’s Guy’s world and we just live in it”, LOLOL, maybe NBC could offer him up a brand new show like “How To Clean Up Your Dirty Diner”. Now that would be a hometown fit would it not?
Maybe some of us locals would go back if he cleaned up his “showcases” and if he offered at least “average” service?????
. . . . . And maybe not . . . . .
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND GOOD LUCK FERRY!
well i love guy and his shows. but i don’t like his restaurant, johnny garlic’s. the food may be good (not great) but the place is always filthy! the last time i ate there, i accidently moved my place mat and found underneath it a VERY soiled tablecloth. it sure spoiled my appetite. when i called it to the attention of the waitress, she just shrugged.
OMG, Guy Fieri really IS Guy Ferry. Check out what Wikipedia says.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fieri
Born in Ohio, and lived in FERNDALE. Says he went to Piner HS, is there one in Ferndale? I know there’s one in Santa Rosa.
Correct me if I’m wrong, and I don’t remember all of the details, but as best I can remember the original Johnny Garlic’s on Farmers Lane in Santa Rosa, being run by Chef Guy Ferry, had to be closed down by the Sonoma County Health Department due to the lack of sanitary care of a kitchen employee.
I MYSELF FIND ….SPIKEY HAIR, RINGS ,WATCHES AND WRISTBANDS ABSOLUTELY UN APPETIZING WHILE WATCHING SOMEONE COOK FOOD.(IF THATS WHAT HE IS REALLY DOING?) HE LOOKS LIKE A CARTOON CHARACTER AND ACTS LIKE ONE TO. FOOD AND ESTABLISHMENTS NOT UP TO GRADE!GUY JUST GOT LUCKY.
its FERRY not FIERI!!
The tard changed his last name to sound more Italian…
Still amazed this guy is getting any recognition whatsoever….his restaurants suck!
Like many of the people that follow Bite Club I enjoy good food and am grateful that Sonoma County can fill that need. Though Guy is entertaining (he connects with a lot of people, he has found his calling as TV personality) and I like his shows, his restaurants are sub-par at best. If you want to watch a chef that is entertaining and has the cooking chops to back it up you would watch Gordon Ramsay.
Maybe before you judge a book by its cover concerning Cafe Citti and supporting our local Sonoma County Chapter”Hells Angels”~Try getting your facts straight and know what you are talking about when accusing such acts of “Rape”. NO RAPES IN OUR COUNTY OR EVEN ONE CLOSE~That just leaves more great cuisine for US,who look above and beyound than the SHALLOW JUDGMENTAL PERSON YOU,YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS REALLY ARE.
If Guy wants to be famous as a chef, he would do well not to export his restaurants too widely. People in SoCo apparently want the home boy to succeed enough not to mention very loudly that Johnny Garlic’s and the (ex?) Tex Wasabi’s aren’t/weren’t very good. Tex’s smelled like a toilet even before the sewer break, and the food always tasted like butt. Johnny’s food is no better than mediocre, and as someone else pointed out it’s less than clean. It would take some persuadin’ to get me back into one of Guy’s restaurants — he should probably concentrate on the game show host thing and leave the chefing to those that have the time (and/or talent?) for it.
Getting a little tired of Guy…. He needs to spend some time talking to people about getting his restaurants detailed and less time spiking his hair.
Cafe Citi used to be one of my favorite spots till they became supporters for the Hells Angels. Sorry if you support a gang that gets it’s kicks beating and raping women than you loose my support and all my family and friends. Next time don’t post their lame poster on your window it makes you look like the trash they are.
I’d love to know when the Cafe Citti segment will air. In the 60′s that place was La Casa Rojo and owned by my parents. (One of the first TexMex/Bar-B-Que places in the county) I grew-up in that restaurant.
well i love guy and his shows. but i don’t like his restaurant, johnny garlic’s. the food may be good (not great) but the place is always filthy! the last time i ate there, i accidently moved my place mat and found underneath it a VERY soiled tablecloth. it sure spoiled my appetite. when i called it to the attention of the waitress, she just shrugged.