UrbanUpdate

When Guy Fieri says “if you’re going to eat something, eat the best,” it’s easy to believe his diet consists solely of the greatest comfort foods the world has to offer. But hosting 14 different shows—most notably the long-running Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives—is a lot of work, and keeping up with that grind means taking care with what you put into your body.

In between a break of shooting Season 3 of Food Network's Tournament of Champions, GQ caught up with the hardest working chef on cable television to discuss the dinner debates in his household, why he’s a believer of CrossFit and HIIT, and what to serve if you're hosting the Super Bowl party this year. 

For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and everyone in between about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.

GQ: What does a typical day of eating look like for you?

Guy Fieri: I usually get up about six a.m. and I have my Americano. I love really good coffee and I’ll have a cup. I would love to have three, but that doesn’t do the best for me. I try to exercise four days out of the week. I usually don't eat until lunch. I’m not an early morning hungry guy and I’m not a late-night hungry guy. It's funny because if you go out with all your buddies, if you're coming back from a concert and they’re stopping to get something to eat, I’m like, “I want to go to bed.” Even in college I was that way. Since I have a lot going on with restaurants, shows, and my foundation, lunch is pretty light—something raw. 

People always think that I must just eat deep-fried pizzas and cheeseburgers for lunch but I’m a big salad fan, big sushi fan, and Thai food fan. Lunch is always set up to contrast dinner. So, if I know we’re going to be doing a big dinner, like barbecue, steak, or Asian food, I’ll make sure I don’t eat Thai for lunch. I typically cook every meal in the home. I don’t eat out a lot because I’m usually on the road eating out. When I’m home, I cook. It’s kind of eclectic and chaotic and my wife doesn’t always understand why I cook nine things and she's left with where to store it.

Where does all that food go? 

We have two refrigerators at the house. We have the family fridge, which is on the right-hand side of the kitchen. That’s where the condiments and normal stuff is. On the left-hand side, that’s my fridge and that has all the experiments, the things that are brining, pickled, or left over when I thought it was a great idea to make turkey pastrami. 

How is dinner decided in the Fieri household?

Dinner is an ongoing debate in our family. We start in the morning with the family offering their suggestions on what we should have. My youngest son Ryder always likes to propose pizza. I believe he actually thinks pizza is a food group. My oldest son Hunter, me, and him are big fans of Asian food and that’s anything Korean, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese. My wife is a little bit all-American. She’s more roasted chicken, potatoes, asparagus. 

You get to eat some of the best comfort food in the world, so do you have a favorite when it comes to snacking? 

I’m a big pretzel fan to the point that when I was a little kid, I had a business called The Awesome Pretzel Cart. I sold the big New York-style soft pretzels. They're salty, soft and I’m a huge fan of mustard with them. I love beef jerky. I’m a big believer that if you’re going to eat something, eat the best. Don’t go waste yourself on some imposter. It’s got to be the real deal. 

Tell me about these HIIT workouts with your trainer Scott Butler.

You definitely did your research. Scott is an amazing guy. He and his wife just got married and they’re both amazing trainers. We have them over to the house for training. We have this big old barn that was built in 1891 and its 14,000 square feet. During the pandemic, since we couldn’t go to gyms, I had Scott training me and I thought it was a great way we could still be socially distancing and masked up. Scott had been training Ryder since he was little with a program called Tigerkick. His wife, who was his fiancé, at the time, was training my wife and her friends. I just had the idea where we could all get together and here we are now and it’s been awesome. It’s really made a big difference in my life. 

When I started studying what makes me tick physically, I realized that I need to have my heart rate up. I love to hike and lift weights, but I realized I’m not getting the most out of it if I don’t do that interval training to get my heart rate up. Crossfit and HIIT training is super important to me. I don’t have a lot of time so I need to get that heart rate up, keep it up and make the workouts count.

I’m going to put you on the spot. What country and city are your favorites to eat in?

With the last name Fieri, you can be assured that it’s Germany. [Laughs ]I’m just joking. Don’t get me wrong, Germany has great food, but it’s got to be Italian for me. Going back to Italy, where my family is from, I don’t know what it is but I can eat at a gas station on the Autostrada and it will be the best sandwich I’ve ever had. There’s such a love affair with food in Italy that I understand where it comes from in me. 

Out of all the cities, I think one of my favorites is Florence. Cacio e pepe in Rome is amazing also. I haven’t been to Asia yet and I’m a huge fan of the food and culture, so I can’t wait to get the chance to experience that.

Can I have the recipe for these famous sliders of yours?

The Motley Que Pulled Pork Sliders are actually named after my barbecue team [Motley Que Crew]. I’m a big Mötley Crüe fan and so I just thought that would be fitting. I’m a huge fan of King’s Hawaiian and I was even before I got to partner with them. We still use them in all of my restaurants. It’s what every chef uses for the slider format. 

It starts off with doing the boneless pork, simple dry rub of granulated garlic, paprika, and salt and pepper and letting that go low on a smoker for anywhere from eight to 12 hours. The key to this was—if you’re going to take this much time to make this delicious pulled pork, you better partner it up right, and that was the King’s Hawaiian slider buns. I make a bourbon brown sugar barbecue sauce that we put on there. Add a little bit of cheddar cheese, a little bit of slaw and there’s not anyone that isn’t going to be thrilled with this one. 

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The Super Bowl is right around the corner. What are some options you would recommend for someone hosting the big game?

I think it’s a big responsibility if you’re hosting game day at your house. If everyone is showing up, you have to give them the goods. I do not believe those people walking in are expecting to see a packaged sandwich from somewhere that was made yesterday.

This year, if I was going to pick some of my highlights from the menu that we did, I think one of the biggest ones that will blow people away is going to be the Barbecue Chicken Ranch sliders. Everyone loves barbecue chicken. No matter if it’s a snowy or sunny day, everyone loves it. The next one is the Chicken Parm-eroni. It’s chicken parmesan in between King’s Hawaiian sliders. My wife is from New England, so lobster rolls are a big thing for her. If you’re going to get expensive lobster, you better serve it on something dynamite. I’m a big pastrami fan and we do a Pastrami Hash Rueben. Being Italian, there’s Italian sausage—that’s one of our favorite sliders. There’s also the Turkey Picnic. Think of Thanksgiving on a slider.

I tell folks all the time to not spend your entire game day in the kitchen trying to take care of everybody. We set these recipes up so people have the opportunity to get them done, ready and within a half an hour, get them plated and served up. Some are cold, some are hot—that will take care of everybody. 

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