NYT writer: No Fieri takedown intended in scathing Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar review

Guy Fieri's name popped up in an NPR interview with Pete Wells, the New York Times restaurant reviewer who dropped jaws around the world with his hilarious and uncharacteristically brutal 2012 review of Guy's American Kitchen & Bar on Times Square.

“Fresh Air” guest host Dave Davies asked Wells to reflect on his lacerating critique of the Sonoma County restaurateur-turned-celebrity's grand new eatery, and the tidal response it triggered.

“I wanted to like the restaurant,” Wells said. “It's flashy and energetic-looking, and it seems like it's going to be this wild crazy, party.

“And then the food arrives and it's no party at all. These nachos .?.?. had this kind of gray turkey pulp on them. I don't think I've ever met nachos that I didn't like before. It's almost inconceivable that nachos can be bad. It makes no sense.”

To read the New York Times review, click here.

As to the public reaction to his review, the reviewer said, “A lot of people rejoiced and thought that I was putting this interloper from television back in his place, which was not my intention.

“And then a lot of people thought I was being a snobby East Coast elitist who was belittling the common people and making fun of their tastes, which was not my intention at all.”

Wells said he was soon afloat in emails, pro and con.

“After a few days, the really nasty ones started to come in ... all of a sudden, I started to get these really profane and vicious emails, one after another. Somebody wished that my kids would get cancer and I thought, ‘What have I done here?'?”

Clearly, one thing he'd done was to bring Guy's new enterprise a load of free publicity and notoriety. Three years later, Restaurant Business magazine has estimated that the American Kitchen & Bar was the 35th top-grossing independently owned restaurant in the country.

I always enjoyed talking to and writing about Guy, who just celebrated his 48th birthday in Santa Rosa, but since the PD published and remarked on the NYT review, he rarely if ever talks to his hometown newspaper. It's too bad. We obviously could not ignore the story of Pete Wells' story and it's pretty obvious the global coverage didn't hurt Guy or his businesses.

I'm guessing that since the review ran 38 months ago, Guy's New York nachos have gotten better and his skin a bit thicker.

BELLA AND BOO were the dogs that perished in last week's devastating Santa Rosa house fire believed caused by a charging hoverboard.

Soccer-club friends of the pups' mourning owners, Dave and Kim Carpenter and their daughter, Cassady, are inviting donations to help them replace destroyed clothes, soccer gear and other essentials.

Gift cards or checks made payable to Dave or Kim Carpenter can be mailed to the club, Santa Rosa United, at P.O. Box 12154, Santa Rosa CA 95406.

THE DIRT WAS VIRTUAL when a triumphant crowd of community miracle-makers met Friday to break ground for a $17 million high school in the largely Latino Roseland district of Santa Rosa.

The day was soggy so VIP supporters of a gorgeous new home for RUP, Roseland University Prep, air-shoveled soil.

Real work on the future source of pride and achievement for Roseland starts soon.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.