The Untold Truth Of Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives

If you're even a casual cable television flipper, there's no doubt you've stumbled across at least one episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the road-style documentary series on the Food Network that's helped to shine a light on some of the hardest working, creative, and capable small-town cooks in the country. "Triple-D," as it's affectionately known, celebrates the independent restaurateurs that help define the local flavors of this great nation, and give it character.  

And at the center of this celebration of great food, hard work, and that good old-fashioned American can-do spirit sits Guy Fieri, that catchphrase-spouting uber-bro whose entire "look" seems to be designed to be as grating as possible to every one of your senses. But whether you love him or loathe him, you have to hand it to Fieri; he helped build the show from the ground up, delivering a flagship program for the Food Network which transformed it from a stodgy series of boring cooking shows into the top cable network in its demographic, with legions of loyal fans willing to spend big bucks on branded cookware, serving platters, and table runners. 

So how did it get started, how do they find that never-ending supply of "funky little joints," and what happens to those food spots after the crew packs up and leaves? Plus, what's it really like to work with Guy Fieri? Here's everything you need to know. We're rollin' out! Lookin' for the greatest... untold truths of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Guy has pulled his antique Camaro up to literally thousands of different restaurants over the years. But did you ever wonder which one was the very first? That honor falls to the Bayway Diner in Linden, New Jersey, where the first scene for Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives was ever shot. This unassuming classic chrome diner was where Fieri and producers worked out the basic ingredients for a show that would last for over a decade, where scratch-made food, a few made-up catch phrases, some peroxide, and a few Dickies work shirts are poured in one end, and what comes out the other side is pure television gold. 

The effect on the diner was swift and profound. The diner got so popular after being featured on the pilot that owner Mike Giunta expanded seating to a tent outside his tiny diner, and launched a food truck and adjoining catering business to keep up with the relentless demand from the flood of customers and fans.

You probably realized that Guy doesn't literally roll up to a diner, drive-in, or dive, hop out, and start dropping catchphrases and hunching over to disconnect his lower jaw to scarf down a meal. Recording television programs takes time.

The general idea is to hit as many locations in a city as possible, although most probably won't air in the same episode. A crew will arrive at the chosen restaurant a few days or so before Fieri to get some required close-ups and general cooking. When you notice that Guy is narrating the chefs' actions during those 48-hour sequences of smoking meat, it's because they already filmed most of the prep work. The shooting follows a tight script, but there is some improv. That madcap, off-the-cuff wit is all Guy doing his thing, playing off the situation, and coming up with the yucks.

Should your restaurant make it on the show, get ready for the wave. Southern Soul Barbecue on St. Simons Island, Georgia, didn't believe it when told to "be ready for a 200 percent increase in business." But you know what? It happened. The allure of eating at a joint where Guy ate is great, and the show has paid tribute to fans who travel around just to visit as many Triple-D restaurants as possible. Triple-D restaurants generally let everyone know they were on the show, as it's a badge of honor of sorts for good, funky food. Even the Food Network official site plays up the food in delicious click-bait form. But to the restaurant it's just another chance at free publicity; basically if you land on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, you're being handed a golden goose.

If there's one universally justifiable annoyance, it's Guy Fieri's sanguine reactions. It seems like Guy would go to hell and rave about how warm it was. But is Guy truly raving about the food, or is he subliminally telling you what he really thinks?

Some people think there's a Guy Code: tiny little ticks, words, and reactions to tell you what he really thinks. If Guy takes a big bite and immediately starts talking about the decor of the place, or how tall the chef is, the dish is probably low-grade dog food. Occasionally, Guy will actually cook the meal for the chef in a different way. He's essentially saying, "Do it this way." That's a dead giveaway it was awful.

So if he really likes the dish? There are two stages of Guy nirvana. The first is an extra bite. If Guy only takes one bite, there's a good chance he didn't like the dish. If he takes two, you can guarantee it's a winner. Guy will suddenly start talking about how good he feels while eating the dish. If Guy takes it a step further, he gives "that look" — maybe asking the chef to hold and cuddle him — that's an award-winning dish. Guy will often openly proclaim that he wished he came up with a dish or will say he's "stealing" it. Those are the places you simply must try because that's the top of the Triple-D mountain.

Calling David Page simply a producer is quite an insult. At worst he is the creator of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and at his very worst he's the ultimate thorn in the side of Guy Fieri. From its pilot episode, Page served as executive producer up to Season 11. Page came from a news background, has a couple Emmys on his CV, and had a rep for being a bit confrontational. Seemingly out of the blue — in his mind at least — Fieri stopped taking his calls and didn't show for voice-over recordings. The next thing Page knew, he was fired. And he blamed Guy.

Page did something as all-American as a drive-in; he sued the daylights out of Food Network and Fieri. Food Network then countersued to the tune of $1.5 million. The Food Network claim said Page was such a jerk that working with him became intolerable. Page basically said it was all Guy's fault because he didn't show up to do his job. As it usually happens in these situations, the two sides settled and the show went on without Page. But it did do a bit of damage to the Guy Fieri brand.

Practically every episode begins with a red convertible cruising down an unsuspecting piece of earth. Inside the sweet ride. a voice bellows, "I'm Guy Fieri AND I'M NOT SHOUTING!" The car sets the tone for what the show is going for; that cool, hip vibe that screams, "You want all of this."

The regular car is a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro with a ZZ502 crate engine under the hood. Packing 505 horsepower and 567 foot-pounds of torque, it's no wonder Guy shouts. There are car nuts that tune in just to see Guy's ride. Those same car nuts also know something that only those with a keen eye caught: there have been two red Camaros. The original was a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro. In the early days, they actually drove the '67 Camaro to the restaurants from city to city. Nowadays, they ship the '68 Camaro. Guy owns the current Camaro, while a former producer owned the original. And his story is part of the reason why there's a new car.

If you've toiled for years under the false impression that Guy Fieri was the lead singer of Smash Mouth, you're not alone. After all, he bears more than a passing resemblance to band frontman Steve Harwell; spiky, bottle-blonde hair, ill-advised facial hair shaved into unfortunate patterns, SoCal roots, general jowliness, and a penchant for pairing color-blocked bowling shirts with baggy shorts might lead the casual observer to think that Fieri himself was the crooner behind such hits as "Walkin' on the Sun" and... other hits. 

It wasn't until Harwell's surprise appearance on a 2010 episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (when Fieri referred to Harwell as his "brother from another mother") that we realized: There's TWO of them. But Harwell wasn't the only celebrity to grace the doorstep of Triple-D. Throughout the years, the show has had a number of celebrity guest appearances, including Matthew McConaughey, Kid Rock, Chris Rock, and Adam Sandler.

Sometimes vitriol becomes sublime. Guy Fieri is not a chef, he has a B.A. in hotel management from UNLV yet managed to beat out pro chefs on a reality show to become famous. It seems like the kind of story people want to happen: the little guy who has a face for radio becomes the TV star and takes over the world.

Instead, it is required that if you have a voice in media you must detest Guy Fieri. But let's be real, you're nothing unless the late Anthony Bourdain called you a douche. Bourdain hating Fieri was the ultimate "dog bites man" headline. But when Bourdain said he had no hate for Guy? Man bites dog. Sure he called him "low-hanging fruit," but for a guy who made Larry David look like an eternal optimist, a semi-mea culpa is a miracle.

Then two months later, Bourdain declared that Guy was as "worthy of a solid and maybe relentless mocking as anyone." Well, that was fun while it lasted. Guy was generally on the high road when it came to Bourdain and other critics. Fieri occasionally let off a "gotta have issues" retort about Bourdain, but do you expect Guy to really get that salty about Bourdain? He won't even criticize a bad meal.