Kentucky is about to get sauced by Guy Fieri’s newest restaurant venture, Guy Fieri’s Smokehouse. The barbecue restaurant concept will open in Louisville in early fall promising, “eclectic, made-from scratch food that he has discovered on his travels for…Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.
The smokehouse, estimated to cost about $1.5 million to open, will become part of a large shopping, entertainment and restaurant area called Fourth Street Live! in downtown Louisville. Other restaurants at the “dining, entertainment and retail destination” include Hard Rock Cafe, T.G.I. Fridays, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, and local restaurants Birracibo (artisan pizza and craft brews) and Bourbon Raw (raw bar, Southern cuisine).
It’s not a huge stretch for the chef, who recently divested all of his involvement with his Sonoma County restaurants Johnny Garlic’s and Tex Wasabi’s. Fieri has long been a bbq fan, as a member of BBQ team Motley Que Crew, and winning a spot in the BBQ Hall of Fame in 2012. That and a line of bbq sauces that frankly aren’t half bad. He also recently opened Guy’s BBQ Joint in Baltimore.
The menu for Guy Fieri’s Smokehouse will include smoked meats, trashcan nachos, steaks, fried chicken and burgers, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Success magazine just released an epic “at-home-with-Guy” piece about the chef, his fans, his haters, and his dreams. Entitled Guy Fieri Shares What Feeds His Appetite for Life the article runs in the Personal Development > Attitude section of the mag in an issue dedicated to the theme of “Nourish”. Editor-at-large Michael J. Mooney finds the chef to be a “down-to-earth, family focused and unlikely chef who doesn’t play by anyone’s rules but his own.”
Here are a few quotes from the article
- “He is who he is, all day long. ‘What you see is what you get with me. There’s no show.'”
- ““Cooking is all about people,” he says. “Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat.”
- The level of hate baffles him. “If there are 100 people who don’t like me, 90 of them don’t have a reason, Have I pissed some people off? Yes. Have I done wrong? I’m not sitting here saying I haven’t. But most of the negativity is entirely superficial.”
- Fieri, now 48, estimates that, if he weren’t so focused on being there in the morning when his younger son wakes up and at night when he goes to sleep, he could do 25 to 35 percent more business—an astonishing number when you consider the incredible amount Fieri actually does.”
It’s a nice article, with plenty of photos at his home in Santa Rosa. It’s also nice to finally hear from Guy, in his element, without a whole lot of the Donkey Sauce bluster.
See a full gallery of the opening announcements about the BBQ restaurant with Guy here>
Local Coverage
The Courier Journal
Insider Louisville
from experience;
Sometimes he is your friend, sometimes he is not, I think it depends on what he needs from you that day…if you are a friend be a friend all the time….not just when it benefits you…
Sonoma County “buy local” “support local” ; again when it benefits him and his business. Not how he buys for his businesses…but it looks good in the papers and sounds nice on the radio…
Personality; let’s face it, the world is full of over the top big “look at me personalities” he just happens to have media coverage. Placing him on your tv, magazines, news papers, online postings, in eating establishments that he doesn’t own because he ate there once, and living in sonoma county you are bound to know somebody that knows him and has to talk about him every five mins…it is a bit much…
But end of the day, he made it, he is making it and we are lucky for it (?) IDK
MORE POWER TO HIM….GUY FOR PRESIDENT 2017 (donkey sauce half price for every vote)
Jeez, it is what it is now get over it aready. Tough licks. He made it and we just judge. He is a bit Top heavy, I’m out
Perhaps people don’t like you because you and your “entourage” go to places around the county and expect preferential treatment? I witnessed you do it twice at a local bar so I’m sure it’s your norm .. you walk in and expect immediate service despite the fact that some of us were there long before you and your friends. Trust me, my dislike of you has nothing to do with your hair or your tattoos. I cheered for you when you were competing on Next Food Network Star – and then your true colors came to light after winning.
I am guessing the backlash he gets from home is because the only news we hear about him, is how he is going to make more money. Haters are going to hate, but when you just see the fancy toys he has, and don’t see or here much about his community involvement, it makes it easy. He could be a community hero, it just depends on where he puts the money.
Not true at all, but thanks for chiming in.
Yeah Dar is right, his mother probably likes him.
cheeseborger,cheeseborger .. pepsi,pepsi .. chips,chips ……… keep up the good work, Guy.
Why can we not just congratulate him on his successes and let that be it? He obviously works hard or he would not be where he is. Who cares if you don’t agree with his hair or his bold personality. These are things that helped to distinguish him from the crowd and propel him forward.
Because it’s a free country and people can actually have a differing opinion??? Gasp!!!! And “hard work”???? Lmao!!!! Yup, all that tireless effort coming up with “donkey sauce”. That was awesome…thanks for that!!!
That’s the question of the day: Why can’t we let somebody celebrate success without freaking out? He’s not lazy; he’s not putting people down publicly (some here say he wasn’t kind in line, eh); and he seems to enjoy spotlighting the little guy/gals when he does his show. His food is not “foodie” food, but hot dogs are good sometimes, so not going to cry.
It’s as if some guy is dancing wildly and having a great time, with unmatched socks; and those who cared a little too much about their shoes are not liking it.
I’m thinking Kentucky and BBQ and Guy will go together just fine.
Last time I was in Kentucky I ate my ass off at little places, with names like “Sticky Pig.” You cannot eat more than $20 worth of food, with lemonade, at one sitting. So his prices may be a bit higher, but he’s famous and the locals will try it. I hope he gets rich.
I don’t really understand why this is front page news on the Press Democrat, its not as if he is creating the restaurant here in the county; it is in Kentucky! I understand he is somewhat of a local celebrity but c’mon, I was excited to read it to give it a try but as soon as I read Louisville I thought it was silly to be on the front page!
Good stuff, sounds like a “Recipe for success”.
This guy has to keep moving. Tourist food.
Ok, let me guess: Baby back ribs blasted with Coca-Cola and Hawaiian bunch-based BBQ glaze, macaroni and cheese curdled with his signature Donkey Sauce. And for desert, traditional moon pies dipped in chocolate chip cookie batter, deep-fried and then slathered in Nutella.
Don’t forget to wash it all down with an Axe Body Spray martini.