(I got tired of the SkyMall catalog shtick.)
On recommendation from Guy Fieri (a.k.a. "Guido"), we decided to check out Taylor's Automatic Refresher. For those not familiar with Guido's oeuvre, he's the Guy from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (a.k.a. "Triple-D"). A cheeseball, most certainly, but we like him and his show (more on that below), and he hasn't steered us wrong yet (in addition to Taylor's, we recently went to Byways Cafe in Portland, also featured on the show, also awesome).
Anyway, so Taylor's. They have three locations -- one in St. Helena, one in Napa, and one in San Francisco. Triple-D featured the Napa location, but we hit the one in SF, which is in the Ferry Building (which we recommend in general as a cool place to spend an hour or two -- they've got a bunch of shops including Cowgirl Creamery and Scharffen Berger, plus the Slanted Door, which is a great restaurant with a great bar). Our meal (pictured above) included the ahi burger, which is basically what got us in the door, and which turned out to be really super awesome. We had actually already tried making it with some friends about a month ago based on the recipe in Guido's book (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) and it was really delicious -- our grill-master did an excellent job and the ginger-wasabi mayo and asian slaw, courtesy of the Admiral, really made it. The version in the restaurant was just as good; OK, better. Plus we got some super-garlicky garlic fries with it, which definitely enhanced the experience, and a nice bottle of wine. The Admiral ordered the bleu cheese burger but accidentally got the cheeseburger (as he pointed out, more differentiation among the names of the menu items couldn't hurt), which was tasty too. It certainly wasn't cheap for a meal of burgers and fries, but oh my, it was yummy.
Back to Guido. There's a lot of hate out there on the internet for some reason (try googling "Guy Fieri" with "douchebag" and you'll see what I mean). And, you know, I can see how some people might find him annoying, although I also suspect people are jealous of how awesome his job is. But anyway, not liking him is fine (even though I don't really see how anyone can dispute the fact that it's cool how his show highlights independent local hangout spots that generally have moderate to low prices and often are into making all their food from scratch using organic and/or local ingredients), and certainly making snarky comments about a public figure is not something I disapprove of. What really grinds my gears, however, is the way that so many of people's negative remarks about him make reference to his being fat -- just try googling "Guy Fieri" with "fat". I have to admit that maybe his being a chunky fellow is part of why I like him -- granted, it's probably easier and more common for a fat man to get his own TV show than a fat woman, but still, not that many fat people have TV shows. So I give him props for making it in spite of being fat (actually I don't think he's all that fat -- but he's definitely fat for TV). Am I a hypocrite if I like the guy more because he's fat but I think it's bad if people like him less because he's fat? Well, no, I don't think so. Maybe I would be if there was someone I disliked because they were thin, but I'm pretty sure I'm not that way. And furthermore, it's probably pretty uncommon for someone to have to overcome anti-thin prejudice in order to make it on TV (I don't deny that anti-thin prejudice exists, but I'm thinking it's not much of a problem in Hollywood).
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There are many other wonderful stops in the Ferry Building: Frog Hollow Farms cafe (pricy but great), the Ferry Building wine bar, where you can bring bread and cheese from Cowgirl Creamery to keep your wine company, Michael Recchuti (sp?) chocolatier, which I prefer over Scharffen Berger, Tsar Nicoulai caviar...
"Am I a hypocrite if I like the guy more because he's fat but I think it's bad if people like him less because he's fat?"
Either way, it's making a judgment based on size.
Sort of, but I gave reasons for the judgment that go beyond just the mere fact of the person's size, namely my assumption that a fat person with a TV show will have to have overcome an extra hurdle relative to a non-fat person in order to get his/her own show, and my appreciation of the fact that there's a fat(-tish) guy on TV. You could argue that my assumption is too simple, or doesn't apply quite as much in the case of food-oriented shows as on other shows, or that wanting more fat people on TV isn't a good reason to like a particular fat person who's on TV -- but in any case I don't see how you can reduce the whole thing to a simple "size-based judgment" accusation.
I would say it's more of an observation than an accusation. :) You did give reasons but they all boil down to size. There are a lot of fat(tish) people on tv -- especially men. Emeril, for one. Also, almost any guy in a sitcom. I understand that you're glad society has put aside their anti-fat bias long enough to give this guy the chance he deserves, but that doesn't make it an opinion based on anything but size.
Actually my opinion of Guy Fieri is based on a lot more than his size -- as I mentioned in the post, I really like the show and what it's doing in terms of promoting high-quality independently-owned local eateries, which I believe most towns have far too few of. So it's not true that I formed an opinion of this person based solely on his size.
I guess my original question ("am I a hypocrite" -- which in retrospect was possibly just a rhetorical question, since I find myself getting defensive now that you've given -- or at least implied -- an answer) was really whether liking a person more than you would otherwise because they're fat (and fat in a particular context) is anything like the flip side of anti-fat discrimination and therefore also not good. And that is a question I am genuinely interested in exploring (and actually I think the answer isn't totally obvious), despite not wanting to hear that someone thinks I'm a hypocrite. :) I am just not sure whether the observation that I made a size-based judgment provides a lot of insight into the question.
I like his show too. He's great.
(I'd like him exactly the same amount if he were skinny).
Btw Kat (et al), have you seen this already, specifically the paragraph about Guy Fieri? Argh. Forget about him being fat; what does it say about me if I like him more because Michael Pollan issued a smug and obnoxious attack against him? I'd like to like Michael Pollan and I agree with 90% of what he says, but he can be a real jerk.
Hi Mary,
I love Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives! I always get excited when they come to places near my house. I like the picture of your food, it looks delicious. I'm Hua, the director of Wellsphere's HealthBlogger Network, a network of over 2,600 of the best health writers on the web (including doctors, nurses, healthy living professionals, and expert patients). I think your blog would be a great addition to the Network, and I'd like to invite you to learn more about it and apply to join at http://www.wellsphere.com/health-blogger. Once approved by our Chief Medical Officer, your posts will be republished on Wellsphere where they will be available to over 5 million monthly visitors who come to the site looking for health information and support. There’s no cost and no extra work for you! The HealthBlogger page (http://www.wellsphere.com/health-blogger) provides details about participation, but if you have any questions please feel free to email me at hua@wellsphere.com.
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I also love Far West Fungi, the Ferry Building shop that's nuthin' but shrooms (no, not that kind :( ), and the salumeria, Boccalone. Oh, and that farmers' market out front ain't bad either...
Triple-D loves my favorite diner in the world (even though I've only been there twice), O'Rourke's in Middletown, CT, so that's good enough for me. And I'm down with his combination of regular-guy exuberance and (limited) chefly aspects of his cooking. (BTW, it's especially unfair of Pollan to harsh on Fieri, when GF's original show, Guy's Big Bite, was all about... cooking.)
It's funny, I don't watch Food Network much, so I don't have much idea about this - I thought there were some fat(tish) women on Food Network too, like Ina Garten... but the others I was thinking of are Sunny Anderson and Paula Deen, and they only look fat if you put them next to, say, Giada or Nigella (or Jamie Oliver).
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