Guy Fieri has become a culinary meme, winning over millions of fans with his love of greasy spoon-eaters and his “Flavortown” image. But when Chris Wallace was interviewed on The Newsman’s HBO Max show, the discussion quickly turned to Fieri’s most famous haters.
In 2012, Fieri opened its first New York restaurant, Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar, in Times Square, earning rave reviews from a New York Times food critic. Pete Wells Which was quickly elevated to a masterpiece by both writers and Fieri opponents.
“Is the whole restaurant a really expensive piece of conceptual art?” Wells wrote. “Is the shapeless, structureless Baked Alaska that falls and falls and falls while you eat it, or not eating it, supposed to be a representation in sugar and eggs of the experience of going crazy? Why did the toasted marshmallow taste like fish?”
When Wallace did the review while apologizing, Fieri simply shrugged it off.
“If you’re going to spend a lot of your time worrying about what other people think of you and what’s going on, you’re going to really keep track of where you plan to go. and what are you trying to achieve,” he said. “Can’t please everyone out there, not trying to annoy people, but I have an agenda of what I want to do and where I want to go. And I think maybe that’s what more people should do.” should.”
Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar closed its Times Square location in 2017, although it has other locations open in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Boston and other cities. Fieri said the experience of opening that restaurant in one of the world’s most famous tourist destinations was still a valuable lesson.
“Did we learn a ton from it? Absolutely. Do we appreciate the opportunity? Without question. Would I ever change it from what has happened in the past? Never,” he told Wallace.
A new episode of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” premieres Friday on HBO Max. Watch a video of Fieri responding to his critics in the clip above.