December 26, 2007
Dot’s Back Inn to be spotlighted on Food Network
It’s been a few weeks since the camera crew from the Food Network swung through town to film a spot on North Richmond’s favorite institution for its “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” program. Style Weekly has a few details:
Jimmy Tsamouras, who bought the North Side hangout Dot’s Back Inn not quite a year ago, got his first, fleeting shot at stardom last week when the Food Network came calling. “They shot 10 hours for six minutes of airtime,” he says, “which means I still have nine minutes of fame left.” The program, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” enters its third season in January, and the local episode airs in a couple of months. Spiky-haired host Guy Fieri charmed the diner’s regulars, who camped it up for the cameras. “Everybody he talked to loved him and had a great time — they didn’t want him to leave,” Tsamouras says. He counts himself among those new fans: “Our chemistry was great, we cooked well together, and this makes me want to have my own show.” And while The Village Cafe in the Fan was also featured, word is that Millie’s Diner declined to be involved.
And the Times-Dispatch’s Melissa Ruggieri provides even more background in this piece from the News Virginian (originally appeared in the TD):
Guy Fieri bent over a plate of pasta, grilled chicken and feta, inhaled and proclaimed, “That’s what I’m talking about!”
… Fieri hosts the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” and yesterday, he parked himself in the kitchen of Dot’s Back Inn for several hours to cook with chef/owner Jimmy Tsamouras for a show segment to air early next year …
… Fieri explained why Dot’s, a modest hangout on North Side, was chosen.
“A location has to have good food, a character and a story,” the energetic Fieri said. “Sometimes a place has the character, but not the food. It’s when you get the cool person with the good story and the great food that it works.”
Head waitress Emily Isenberg said the Food Network contacted Tsamouras about a week ago to tell him Dot’s had been chosen from a bank of e-mail suggestions of places Fieri should visit.
“It’s been great. Guy is a lot of fun,” Tsamouras said during a minute-long break between filming. Indeed, the pair spent about an hour creating a sailor sandwich and the Chicken MacArthur, often making unairable jokes and laughing like old college buddies.
The Food Network crew filmed background footage and interviewed customers for about 10 hours Sunday, then returned yesterday for another seven or eight hours with Fieri.
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