This Town is officially part of Flavortown. Guy Fieri has quietly—for a change!— opened three delivery-only restaurants in the DC area, dishing up bacon mac n cheese burgers and cheesesteak eggrolls with “SMC” (Super Melty Cheese).
The Dupont Circle and Gaithersburg outposts of Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen are located in Buca di Beppo restaurants, while a third is in Brio Italian Grille in Fairfax. Both chains are owned by Earl Enterprises, whose founder Robert Earl (of Planet Hollywood fame) started a company called Virtual Dining Concepts, which is operating the ghost kitchens. Earl is also a partner with Fieri in fast-casual chicken tenders chain, Chicken Guy!, which has a location at FedExField. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Over the years, Fieri has made visits to DC restaurants such as Bub and Pop’s, Oohh’s & Aahh’s, and Comet Ping Pong for his Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. But Flavortown Kitchen is his first venture here. (Although in past interviews, Fieri seemed to think Baltimore and DC were basically the same place.)
The menu for Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen is everything you’d expect from a dude who describes food as “bomb-dot-com tasty.” You’ll find bacon-wrapped “jalapeno pig poppers” stuffed with pimento cream cheese and glazed in bourbon-brown sugar barbecue sauce plus queso dip with, of course, more bacon. There are also sandwiches and burgers with Donkey Sauce, entrees like “chicken parm-eroni,” and a potato chip-topped cheesecake for dessert.
Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen has also rolled out dozens of outposts all around the country. Fieri has gone from buffoonish TV host with wacky hair to industry hero during the pandemic for his efforts to help unemployed workers. His Restaurant Employee Relief Fund has raised more than $20 million to help the cooks and servers who’ve suffered financially from the health and economic crisis.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
