Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives running thread

Smasher. I agree 100% but it is a good thing there is no meat on the sandwich. The quality of meat is dog food.

 

Guy's featured several Chicago area places on the show:

Smoque: Good BBQ. But if you have good BBQ available to you where you live, it's not worth a special trip. It really is good, but there's nothing to special about it.

The Depot American Diner: Average at best.

White Palace Grill: It's just a normal diner.

Glen's Diner: A diner that has a lot of fish dishes on the menu. It's not the normal diner fair, and you can make reservations. Was very disappointed with the lobster roll. Also got violently ill after eating here once.

Tufano's Vernon Park Tap: So disappointing. Was expecting a good old school Italian experience. The food was below average red sauce Italian. No reason to visit, no reason for me to go back.

Kuma's Corner: Gets very good reviews locally (see YGBFKM's) but I haven't been. Every time I've driven by, it has a huge line. I can walk to a couple of places with great burgers.

Tre Kronor: Good Swedish breakfast joint. Chicago has lots of good breakfast/brunch places. I don't know that I'd make a special trip for it. PM me if you want a list of Brunch places.

Hackney's on Harms in Glenview: Good burger. Not worth a special trip.


I think what trifectarich says is true. Guy never says, "wow, this place sucks." He never even says a place is so-so.

So, I think he ends up recommending a lot of places that aren't so great.

 

I enjoy the show because I at least know that if I ever leave Twin Falls, there may be more to food than the usual chains that have run off every local joint. I love Guy's DDD barbecue tours. I think his latest was for a few places in Kansas City.

 

Cool thanks YF, I will fire off a PM to you in a few minutes.

I've only ever seen him not like a particular dish a couple of times, but then they were dishes he basically ate on a dare it seemed.

 

I suspect if Guy really doesn't think much of a place, they just exclude it from the show.

 

Sorry YF, but you not being a native Chicagoan know very little about the really good inexpensive places to eat in the Chicago area. Here's just four of them that each have been around for over 50 years that I bet you've never visited. The first two both have been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Vito & Nick's Pizzeria
8433 S Pulaski Rd
Chicago, IL 60652-3194
(773) 735-2050
www.vitoandnick.com

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Del Rhea's Chicken Basket
645 Joliet Road
Willowbrook, IL 60527
(630) 325-0780
www.chickenbasket.com

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Top Notch Beefburgers
2116 W. 95th Street
Chicago, IL 60643
(773)445-7218
http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurants/top-notch-beefburger/menu

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Lindy's Chili/Gertie's Ice Cream
3685 S Archer Ave,
Chicago, IL 60609
(773) 927-7807
www.lindyschili.com

 

Yeah, except they've spent all that production money and have squat to show for it.

 

I think they have scouts who give a place a yes or no before Guy sets foot in there.

 

And while he's never straight out bashed anything, unlike similar shows -- such as Man vs. Food, which I enjoy, but Adam over-the-top acts like everything he tastes on it is God's gift to food -- you can at least tell when Guy thinks something isn't that great. Facial expressions, pauses, even some off comments. On the other end of the spectrum, he either does a great job of acting or you can tell when he legitimately thinks something is pretty darn good.

 

Northeast Flavor Magazine also had a recent interview with Guy Fieri. Two of my favorite questions:
"How do you pick the places you’ll visit for Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?"

Guy Fieri: There’s a lot of preparation that goes into that. We scout locations for Triple D anywhere from one-and-a-half years to two years out. We try to visit each location several times before we actually film. We can’t just pop in off the street when we’re filming—there are like 15 people involved, plus we have a crew to haul the car. It’s a big deal. Then, when a show is in production, I may be traveling from New England to New Orleans to Seattle, as I did this time around. It’s crazy! As for how we pick, we get calls, letters, and e-mails constantly from folks recommending these places.

 

Why doesn't the Food Network Web site have the locations from the show cross-referenced by location?

I have to go down to Orange County for a seminar later this week. I know an insane tacqueria/carniceria in Santa Ana.
But I thought I'd take a look at places in the area that were featured on the show.

All location listed by episode with no cross-reference by location.
No user-centric.

 

My favorite site with regard to such things, by the King and Queen of Road Food:

http://www.roadfood.com/