Firstto the stage was Kevin Sloan, former owner of the now-departed Sol Fire and TheSocial, and current chef of the rock stars at the Riverside Theater’s diningroom. Working with Roots executive chef Paul Zerkel, Sloan prepared carrotcurry soup, olive oil-poached salmon with tabouli, and a warm black olivevinaigrette. Australian-based bartender Hayden “Woody” Wood entered stage rightto a remix of “Whole Lotta Love,” with liquor bottles twirling like batons. Hestretched out the process of mixing a jasmine vanilla martini with helpfulbartending tips, audience participation and flashy Cocktail-worthy techniques.
It wasthe elevated DJ booth wrapped in orange shag and topped with a disco ball andred emergency lights that foreshadowed how Guy Fieri’s Roadshow was going tounfold. The Food Network star of “Guy’s Big Bite,” “Ultimate Recipe Showdown”and “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” modeled his two-hour “food-a-palooza” after ahigh-energy rock concert, which didn’t gel with the portion of the audiencethat went to the chef’s roadshow to learn something and taste samples, not witnessstand-up comedy performed with football field swagger at the risk of beingcaught in the cross-squirt of one of Fieri’s trademark squeeze bottles. Theother demographic in the theater, however, ate it up. They were responsive,they were on their feet, they called from the balcony and they clamored forfreebies shot from T-shirt guns. While preparinga pasta with dry rubbed pork tenderloin, the celebrity chef drank from a“Megamartini” machine, hosted a karaoke contest with members from the audience,introduced a blooper reel from “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” and made acostume change. If the show had a message, it was to encourage parents tocreate better eating habits for their children… and to watch “Guy Fieri’s Topof the Class,” premiering on the Food Network on Dec. 5.
Photo by Cj Foeckler
