Guy Fieri's Smokehouse coming to Fourth Street Live!
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Chef Guy Fieri's Smokehouse will open September 9 at Fourth Street Live!, the Food Network chef announced Tuesday.
The white-haired, flamboyant TV personality's venture into barbecue is new for his burger-heavy brand. That already includes 25 Guy's Burger Joints on board nine Carnival cruise ships and 16 more outlets serving music fans at concert venues from West Palm Beach, Florida to the Seattle, Washington suburbs.
Menu teasers revealed Tuesday include a Smokehouse Burger with brisket, hand-formed patty, onion rings, thinly sliced onion and pickle topped by a bun crowned with a skewered pork rind. Plates served up in a briefing included a sorghum-glazed pork chop, deep-fried "pork wings," a bucket of pork rinds, fried chicken brined in pickle juice, and a vegan plate of smoked sweet potato with Brussels sprouts.
Fieri insisted on a wood-burning outdoor smoker on the patio in the space that once housed Sully's Restaurant & Saloon. Guy Fieri's Smokehouse costs more than $1.5 million, financed "mostly" by the Cordish Co., company vice president Reed Cordish said.
"Most of the investment comes from us, but he is bringing the sweat and the talent," Cordish said. "It's fair for us to put in the lion's share of the capital."
Fieri, 48, said he has frequented Kentucky Derby festivities for nearly a decade, holing up after the race to cook for fun with friends at Fourth Street Live!'s Sports and Social Club. In 2015, Fieri was the guest of Papa John's founder John Schnatter at Churchill Downs.
Guy Fieri's Smokehouse is a concept that he and Cordish expect to expand nationwide at company-owned venues the likes of downtown Dallas or Philadelphia, the pair said.
"We want to build a brand inside the Cordish Group that we can take to St. Louis or we can take to Philadelphia," Fieri said.
"We’re not just a barbecue restaurant but maybe something you didn’t expect to find, like smoked lamb," he said. "We’ll be doing real smoke with apple and hickory because we know that is a Kentucky thing. There’s a lot of hickory around here, but it will have a little bit of my funk in there."
Look for other Fieri signature dishes like burgers sizzled on a 600-degree grill (never frozen, house-ground beef) or nachos like those found in "El Burro Borracho," his Las Vegas restaurant.
"I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, but we will bring in some of our favorites like Trash Can Nachos," Fieri said.
While Fieri was inducted into Kansas City's Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2012, Louisville's Fourth Street Live! is the place he wanted to start with smoked meat and more.
That same year Fieri hosted the Marriott Oaks Bourbon Brunch to benefit Kosair Children's Hospital. Fieri was eight years old when his four-year-old sister Morgan was diagnosed with Wilms' tumor, the most common type of childhood cancer. In 2011, at age 38, Morgan died after a brief bout with melanoma.
"I lost my little sister to cancer. I have a real connection to children's' hospitals," Fieri said, adding he picked Louisville out of a desire to partner on more events to benefit pediatric cancer patients. "The hospital you all have here in Louisville is amazing. You are a big small town where you really help people and get involved. We are also going to have food."
Fieri, 48, premiered his first Food Network show, "Guy's Big Bite" in 2006. Since then, Fieri has sampled close to 1,100 restaurants in his show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives," hosted "Guy's Grocery Games" inside a grocery store set built to resemble a real store and co-hosted a show with Rachael Ray called "Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off."
While fellow Food Network star Bobby Flay has been flirting with opening a Louisville restaurant, Fieri said "I appreciate being in on the opening game. I am right at the beginning. There is so much opportunity in Louisville."
Cordish said he plans another announcement soon for Fourth Street Live!; a venue for a noted chef from Louisville. Fieri hinted Tuesday he's pushing Cordish to choose his favorite homegrown chef, Damaris Phillips, a judge on his Food Network "Guy's Grocery Games."
"She's a great chef and needs to have her own restaurant. I'm trying to get the ear of the Cordish team," Fieri said. "She's like the little sister I didn't know I had."