Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A Food Network series, starring Guy Fieri, as a spin-off from his Guy's Big Bite series. Guy travels the United States in his Cool Car, looking for places that are a diner, a drive-in or a dive. However, he's not looking for the typical greasy spoon -- he's looking for the place that everyone in the area goes to because of an outstanding signature dish or cuisine, or because their food -- even the most pedestrian-seeming fare -- is so damned good. While there, he goes back into the kitchen with the chef(s) to see how some of their dishes are made, then chats with the customers about their meals.

Currently in its 22nd season as of September 2015.

Tropes used in Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives include:
  • Anime Hair: Guy's spiky blond hair is probably his most recognizable feature.
  • Bacon Addiction
  • Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce: most of the BBQ joints featured on the show have a variant of this.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Guy, and frequently the cooks he visits. Having two of them in the room often results in Ham-to-Ham Combat.
  • Bonus Material: the Season One DVD set contains unaired recipe clips from the first four seasons.
  • Bottle Fairy: Guy asks one restaurant owner what he's going to do while waiting for his lasagna dough to mix, and is told "Have some wine." Guy is a little taken aback, noting that it's pretty darn early in the morning. The cook shrugs and says "It's five o'clock somewhere."
  • Bowling for Ratings: Played With. Guy visits Bryan Lane Bowl in Minneapolis, MN, which is a diner... and a bowling alley. But it's hardly the working class dive as it serves pad thai, buffalo burgers and smoked salmon salad.
  • Brain Freeze: Title of a Season Four episode about -- what else? -- ice cream. And yes, Guy did get a brain freeze.
  • Catch Phrase: Guy has several of these:
    • This is bananas... but bananas is good!
    • This is legit!
    • That is MONEY!
    • Holey Moley Stromboli!
    • Taking the bus to FLAVOR TOWN!
    • That is IN IT to WIN IT!
    • That's OFF THE HOOK!
    • It's on like Donkey Kong... grab a hammer, jump over the barrel and save the girl!
    • Winner, winner, ______ dinner! Originally just used for chicken dishes (as in the original saying), but since expanded.
  • Celebrity Star:
  • Comfort Food: featured by various establishments, but highlighted in the Season Three episode, "Like Mama Made".
  • Cool Car: Guy drives a red 1967 Camaro.
  • Crossover: of the culinary kind. An episode featured Chino Bandido, a joint mixing up Chinese, Mexican and Carribean food.
  • Dagwood Sandwich: the "Hemi" burger at The Penguin in Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • Deep-Fried Whatever: the episode featuring Joe's Gizzard City -- Guy created a battered and deep-fried burger that was later named "the Triple D Burger". Joe's already carried deep fried Twinkies called "Frinkies".
  • Fan Nickname: Triple D.
  • Foreign Queasine: Inverted. It's the local stuff like pig's ear sandwiches and Menudo (pig's feet and tripe) that can stop Guy in his tracks.
    • Unlike most cooking shows...heck...all cooking shows...occasionally Guy eats something that he simply doesn't like. But he generally makes it so humorous that the chef doesn't seem to mind.
  • From My Own Personal Garden: Joe's Farm Grill in Arizona grows their own veggies. As well as Lucky's Cafe.
  • Food Porn
  • Hash House Lingo: Guy orders a "B-17 for the Snagglepuss table, stat" in the first episode.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Guy is famous for these.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: So far, only Seasons 1-4 are on DVD.
  • Meat Versus Veggies: Averted. While a big meat eater, Guy has raved about vegetarian dishes, such as the spinach quesadillas at The Cove in San Anotonio, TX and the vegetarian Pho soup at The Fly Trap in Ferndale, MI.
  • Missing Episode: From Season One -- the episode "Blast from the Past" is not included on the Season One DVDs.
  • Orgasmically Delicious: Guy has been known to mutter "Hold Me!" after something especially good.
  • Out of Order: see Bonus Material and Missing Episode.
  • Real Men Hate Sugar: Averted. Guy loves his pancakes and (deep fried) cinnamon rolls. In general he says he's not a fan of sweets, but he'll still gladly have some if they're offered by his host.
  • Regional Speciality
  • Spot of Tea: Lampshaded. The British-born chef at the Tick-Tock Diner in NJ uses a tea pot to hold his cooking oil.
  • Stop Being Stereotypical: Barely averted, but one of the greatest chicken Guy has ever tasted was From Uncle Lou... created, served and attended almost exclusively by an African-American with a "grandma" recipe. To put icing on the cake, Lou is almost a real-life version of Chef, down to the voice.
  • Supreme Chef: Jamie's Bar and Grill blows Guy's mind, making beef sandwich with mignon prepared every morning, chopping each spice by hand, smoking his own prime rib, cooking through weekends without being open for business, and so on. Then there's Lucky's Cafe, a place that makes absolutely everything from scratch. Even for the thousand island dressing.
  • Tastes Like Chicken: Lampshaded. When a chef makes grilled octopus he tells Guy that it "Tastes Like Chicken!"
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Inverted. Guy loves just about every kind of food, but the only thing he can't stand is eggs. This is well-known enough that many chefs in the restaurants he goes to will tease him about it. If offered a dish with eggs on the side, he'll simply eat around them without calling attention to it. If the egg is a main part of it, he'll grudgingly eat it and then (somewhat unenthusiastically) comment on the rest of the dish. Doubled-up in one episode where he's served scrambled eggs with calf brains, which more than Squicks him out. But he goes ahead and tries it anyway.
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