Gainesville is still getting a taste of Flavortown after Food Network star Guy Fieri’s recent stops at some of the city’s most popular local eateries.
Humble Wood Bagel Shop in the 4th Ave Food Park will be featured Friday night on Fieri’s popular “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” show on the Food Network. This follows an episode that featured Fehrenbacher’s Meats & Eats just a few doors down at 307 SW Fourth Ave.
In an interview with The Sun, Humble Wood Bagel Shop owner Brett Ader and manager Tempra Arroyo said being a part of the process was a unique experience, but that setting it up wasn’t an easy task.
Arroyo said Citizen Pictures emailed the bagel shop and reached out via phone a few times to let them know the eatery was being considered for the show. Fieri finally selected the shop after Arroyo sent in a list of ingredients and other information to the production team.
“I was honestly surprised because I’ve never seen the show before and that’s the thing, is they’re really focused on how things are made and ask like, ‘what salt do you use,’ ‘is it sea salt or kosher’ — it’s literally down to the degree, Ader said.
Arroyo appeared on the show and said she sent six menu items formatted to the production team’s liking multiple times, including for Ader’s other restaurant, Humble Wood Fire Pizzeria.
“They originally reached out to the bagel shop and changed their minds and said they wanted to do the pizzeria,” Arroyo said. “I did the process all over again for the pizzeria and they said never mind we’re doing the bagel shop. So, I had to do double the amount of work but glad it worked out.”
Ader said part of Fieri’s reason for bringing the show to Gainesville was that his friend was hosting a party in Ocala.
Arroyo added that she was starstruck meeting Fieri and that she grew up watching the Food Network.
“I love Guy Fieri and have met a handful of Food Network stars and love the aspect of how the shows are made,” Arroyo said. “I always wanted to meet him and was nervous, but he cares so much about the food and was very nice.”
Ader said the filming started at 5:40 a.m. on a Saturday and began with an interview. Arroyo said the bagel shop prepared both versions of their lox bagel sandwiches, nova and carrot, and the mushroom muffuletta melt.
Fieri spent only two hours with management during the process and only during filming,” Arroyo said.
“We spent a long time with the production team for two days, and I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but kind of a bummer that we went right into it and didn’t talk a lot of those things with him (Fieri),” Ader said.
Both said word spread quickly about the restaurant’s upcoming appearance on the show.
“It’s interesting, we had some people come by the pizzeria and said we saw that you guys are going to be on the show, to which I said, ‘Oh no, it’s at the bagel shop not here,’ ” Ader said. “They said, ‘We know,’ and they pulled out a bag of bagels from the shop.”
Humble Wood Fire Bagel Shop will appear on “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” April 4 at 9 p.m. The Paper Bag Deli, another Gainesville favorite, will be featured on the show April 11.
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