Guy Fieri can’t get his fill of Central Oregon restaurants.

The celebrity chef has been making rounds in the region to film episodes of ”Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” Those rounds included some Redmond restaurants, including Grace and Hammer Pizzeria and Feast Food Company.

Grace and Hammer Pizzeria got on the Mayor of Flavortown’s radar last year. Fieri visited in November 2022 and the episode, titled “Tasty Time Travel,” aired Aug. 25. Watch the episode here.

Owners Chad and Cinnamon Nemec, originally from Texas, regaled the traveling chef with their story of seeing the old church and imagining it remade into a pizzeria.

“It really, really is beautiful” said Fieiri, looking up into the steeple of the building that dates back to 1912.

On the show, Grace and Hammer’s head chef Adam Valentine walked Fieri how to make smoked brisket that tops of one of the restaurant’s most in-demand pizzas. Valentine also showed off how he brines, rubs and cooks Grace and Hammer’s signature chicken wings.

The most exciting part of the tour for Fieri was the specialized wood-fired oven that is fueled by white oak. The oven can reach 800 degrees and can cook a pizza in just two minutes. Fieri was smitten.

“I gotta confess, it’s excellent pizza,” said Fieri, giving a nod to the building’s former occupant.

A feast at Feast

A week later, another Redmond restaurant was featured on the popular Food Network television show. This time, it was Feast Food Company —

located just a few blocks north of Grace and Hammer.

The episde, titled “From Chicken to Caribbean” premiered Sept. 1 and is not yet available online for a rewatch. At Feast, Fieri tried the restaurant’s Cuban sandwich and their “over-the-top” chicken and dumplings. Fieiri called the restaurant a “genuine definition of a farm-to-table

eatery that does it right.”

Regional visits

The downtown Redmond pizzeria wasn’t the only stop on Fieri’s tour of Central Oregon.

In Sisters he visited High Camp Taphouse while in Bend he made stops at Big Ski’s Pierogis, A Broken Angel and Anita’s Kitchen Gourmet Indian Food.

Anita Chopra, chef and owner at Anita’s Kitchen, said she wasn’t interested in being featured on the show at first, but the experience has been life-changing.

“I thought I’m not worth it,” she said. “I have just a little food truck, and I’m not a professional cook.”

When Chopra received the call to be filmed on the show, she had a flight booked to India for the first time in five years. She was also apprehensive about appearing on TV. But her college-aged sons insisted that she reschedule her travel plans.

On the show, Chopra prepares butter chicken and fritters, a taping that she said took 20 hours. The fritters are a vegetarian dish popular in Punjab, her home state in India.

Chopra was pleased that Fieri couldn’t stop eating her food. Even after the cameras were shut off, Fieri continued to help himself.

Chopra recalled one customer who drove three hours from Eugene after watching Anita’s Kitchen on the show. The customer said the drive was worth it.

“This makes me really proud,” she said.

Du,. mpling-icious

Nurbu and Pema Sherpa, owners of High Camp Taphouse, were featured in ”Dumpling-icious,” an episode that aired Aug. 18.

“We had a good time,” Nurbu Sherpa said. “We kind of joked around and (Guy Fieri) is just like us, just a regular guy.”

On the evening the episode aired, the Sherpas hosted a jam-packed viewing party at the restaurant.

Since the airing, Nurbu Sherpa said he has noticed new faces dining in the restaurant, with customers driving in from Portland, La Pine, Prineville and Redmond.

According to Sherpa, Fieri wanted to learn more about the Sherpas’ humanitarian work benefiting the Musahar caste in Southern Nepal. A portion of the restaurant’s profits benefits Ten Friends, which provides education to children and vocational training to women in an effort to break the cycle of poverty.

— Janay Wright of EO Media Group contributed to this story.

“Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” is available for streaming on Max, Food Network, Discovery+, DIRECTV and fuboTV. It’s also possible to purchase and download episodes on Amazon Video, Apple TV+, Google Play Movies and Vudu.

Indian food prepared with love at Anita’s Kitchen in Bend

Watch two Central Oregon bakers compete in Joanna Gaines’ ‘Silos Baking Competition’