12 Biggest Foods Guy Fieri Has Ever Eaten On Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives

Michelin-starred white-tablecloth eateries have long gotten all of the acclaim, but since 2007, more down-home eateries finally got the recognition they deserved with the hit show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." And there's no better man to bring Americans to local, beloved hotspots than Triple D host Guy Fieri, who got his start as a kid in the food industry selling soft pretzels and later, built a casual eatery empire – no suited-up servers hawking still water at his restaurants. However, he had some of his own now-forgotten failures, too.

Throughout Guy Fieri's hundreds of episodes throughout a whopping 48 seasons traversing the United States and trying everything from high-quality burgers to homemade barbecue, it's only natural that his eyes have had to widen to see the gigantic dishes that creative chefs have come up with on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." So, we rounded up the biggest, craziest menu items that Fieri has ever been lucky enough to taste throughout his storied Triple D history, which is Guy Fieri's best cooking show. You'll need an extra pile of napkins to dig into these enormous dishes.

The Bottle Cap had only been a Nashville hangout for two years when Fieri came knocking on its doors. When he headed to the sports bar and restaurant that serves "cheffed up pub food," as Fieri described it in 2022, he couldn't resist trying The Titan. As restaurant manager Natalie Beshears told Belmont Vision, it includes "one of everything that we have." She's not exaggerating. The burger and sandwich hybrid incorporates a fried chicken tender marinated in buttermilk and smothered in cornflakes and spices, beer-battered onion rings, a smashed burger patty, American cheese, bacon, a mozzarella stick, a jalapeño popper, pepperoncini, and house-made Snappy Sauce, pickles, and bun, all for $16.

It's all made by chef Rachel Cannon and served alongside the restaurant's fries, in case you're still hungry. Although you sure can't take a typical mouthful of this towering sandwich, it's worth the work, according to Fieri. He said that the chicken tender was perfectly cooked, and all the ingredients provided a tasty juxtaposition in every bite — especially when topped with the Snappy Sauce, which he called "a kiss of acidity and sweetness." "If you order a burger like that, you'll be telling all your friends about Bottle Cap," Fieri continued (via Belmont Vision).

Pauli's in Boston is known for its enormous sandwiches, but none is quite so talked about as the U.S.S. Lobstitution. That's a 24-ounce lobster roll made with knuckle and claw lobster meat tucked into a grilled sub roll and slathered with lemon, lobster stock, and mayonnaise. At the time of Fieri's episode, it cost about $100. Of course, Fieri had to try it for himself when he visited Pauli's in 2022. The restaurant is owned by Paul Barker – the eponymous Pauli — who opened it in 2011 after he and three other generations of his family worked in the North End food industry.

Pauli's sources the lobster meat locally, so Barker maintains that there's no need to dress it up with too many seasonings. "This is the most straightforward lobster roll that I've ever had, besides eating it on the boat," Fieri said on the show. "And the most honest lobster roll I've ever had. It's dynamite." The sandwich has also been featured on "Good Morning America" and has been recognized by Zagat. "This is 10 times your typical lobster roll. I can't finish it on my own, but I've tried more times than I care to admit," said one customer.

If anyone knows where to find Kansas City, Missouri food that's big enough to serve a whole team of hungry football players, it's Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. He brought Fieri to what he calls "the greatest sandwich shop you've ever eaten at" — Pigwich (via Food Network). 

The spot began as a small butcher shop in 2012 and grew to a beloved local staple. It's now known for its Big Pig sandwich, which includes fried chicken, a pulled pork patty, pork tenderloin, a variety of cheeses, jalapeño pickles, house-made ranch, barbecue sauce, and spicy 'Nduja spread. "It's pork on top of pork on top of pork," said one customer in the Food Network clip.

To make the pork patty, which Fieri said was his favorite part of the sandwich, chef Alex Pope first smothers a pork butt in house-made barbecue rub and lets it rest overnight. Then, he smokes it with hickory wood for five hours. Next, it's ground down and mixed with ground pork, more barbecue rub, and bacon. He then takes pork tenderloin and brines it for 24 to 48 hours before breading and frying it. "You need like five hands to pick this sandwich up," said one customer. 

Back in 2007, when "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" was just a fledgling Food Network show, Fieri tried a dish at Squeeze Inn (now Squeeze Burger), which currently has two California locations. The menu item in question was a burger adorned with a crispy skirt of melted cheese , created with the help of ice to keep the cheese from burning. "They put as much cheese on their burger as they do meat," said Fieri. That means 1/3 of a pound of meat and a 1/3 of cheese created what Fieri then said was the craziest thing he had ever seen. 

Customers seemed to agree. Owner and chef Travis Hausauer, who bought the Squeeze Inn in 2001, told Fieri that people start lining up to get a bite at 10:00 a.m. when the 12-seat dive opens.

"That is money," said Fieri as he got to eye level with a burger sporting a still-bubbling cheese skirt. "I can't even find the burger underneath the cheese," Fieri noted. The burgers are served with mayonnaise, mustard, dill pickles, tomatoes, and red onions. Customers can also add bacon, mushrooms, jalapeños, and avocado.

Don't let the name of this food truck turned restaurant fool you — Momma's Mustard, Pickles and BBQ in Louisville, Kentucky serves a lot more than pickles and mustard. However, it was indeed inspired by the homemade pickles and mustard created by the mother of owner Chad Cooley. Those do go perfectly with the eatery's massive beef ribs that cost $45, or market price. "I refer to them as Fred Flintstone ribs," said one customer. "There's so much on there you can't even eat it all." 

To prepare them, Cooley first removes as much fat as he can from the ribs before smothering them in the restaurant's house rub and then smoking them for about five hours. Fieri was shocked at how good the ribs looked once they emerged from the smoker. "Look at the smoke ring on that," Fieri pointed out. "That is championship right there."

Once Fieri tasted the ribs, he said they were tender and not dried out at all. Fieri then paired the ribs with the mustard, which Cooley makes by combining yellow mustard, apple cider vinegar, egg yolks, and dry mustard before cooking it. Then came the rib bites with the pickles, made with English cucumbers, sliced onions, bell peppers, garlic, salt, and ice. "That is a real good pickle," Fieri glowingly concluded.

J's Prairie Rose Café has seemingly everything – Western comfort foods, Southern classics, diner eats, and Latin-influenced specialties. The latter category includes J's 7220 Burrito, which includes two eggs, shredded pork, peppers, onions, black beans, and hash browns inside a flour tortilla topped with green chili and cheese. Although the burrito — named after the altitude of its home city — says "no substitutions" on the menu, restaurant co-owner Jason Eickbush made one for Fieri without eggs since, as "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" fans know, eggs are one food that the Food Network star always skips. He doesn't even like to see an egg being cooked on video.

To create it, Eickbush rubs the pork with the restaurant's dry rub before baking it for four and a half hours. Then, he creates his famous green chili made with tons of butter, ground pork, diced tomatoes, jalapeños, and spices. "The pork is delicious — nice and tender and juicy," Fieri said. "And the green chili — that is comfort food 101. That is welcome to Laramie, have a nice day, see you tomorrow morning." 

Fieri couldn't resist using a flour tortilla as a napkin. Customers remarked how much they also loved the burrito and its green chili. One said that even though he's traveled all over the world, he's never had a better green chili. "It's very savory and flavorful," said another.

Colorado isn't known as a destination for Italian-American fare, but that's what people will find in Wheat Ridge, Colorado at Grammy's Goodies. Fieri visited the Italian joint in 2020 after hearing about how the owning family, the Quattrones, launched Grammy's Goodies as a festival vendor. That morphed into an eatery due to its booming popularity. But it's more than just another Italian restaurant using family recipes — it's known for its hearty portions of comfort food. That includes a six-layer lasagna baked over four hours, which includes co-owner Vicki Quattrone's grandmother's recipe for Sunday sauce made with pork ribs and crushed tomatoes simmered for three hours. It also incorporates pork and ground beef meatballs, sausage, a blend of cheese, and noodles.

When making it, Vicki summons her grandmother's habits by adding ingredients in trios, saying, "Father, Son, Holy Ghost." She said that since her grandmother had bad arthritis, Vicki did the cooking while listening to her grandmother's instructions. Slices of lasagna are served alongside bread so customers can dip the bread into the sauce. "That is a monster," said Fieri as he watched the gigantic lasagna emerge from the oven. "This is exactly the kind of lasagna I would expect to go get at Grammy's house."

Jason Seither, the bayou-raised owner of Seither's Seafood, loves to create his specials nearly every day inside the colorful seafood shack in Harahan, Louisiana. One of those items is the Seafood Totem Pole, which made its way to "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" in 2019. That episode aired on the same day as the restaurant's 15th anniversary. The totem pole includes crab stuffing, a fried soft-shell crab, fried eggplant, and shrimp on a skewer, topped with sauce and Parmesan. "You have got a big imagination, my friend," Fieri told Seither.

"It's all of my New Orleans favorites wrapped into one dish," said one customer. Fieri felt the same way when he tried a bite of the dish. "The batter on that crab? Money," Fieri proclaimed. "And to get the smooth, creamy texture of the crab stuffing and the crunch of the eggplant ... that's like a road sign in Flavortown right there." 

Those lines were music to Seither's ears since he told NOLA.com that he's long been a fan of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and Fieri himself, even purchasing his cookbooks and spatulas. When he screened the Seither's Seafood episode at the restaurant, it was an extra-special occasion. "I feel like it was meant to be especially with the air date being the same date as our anniversary," he explained to NOLA.com. "We had a big viewing party on our anniversary with about 300 people and 1,000 pounds of crawfish. It was awesome."

Jimmy's Down The Street may be a small streetside diner serving breakfast and lunch in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, but its made-from-scratch caramel pecan roll featured on a 2018 episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" is anything but little. For over a half-century, Jimmy's Down The Street has been a local staple serving big plates of comfort eats. Fieri got to try its most famous item, originally made by the owner's mother. Baker Kim Wohlert mostly eyeballs the ingredients of the colossal roll when she creates it since she's made it so many times. But what results from her efforts is a giant roll, bathed in brown sugar and cinnamon. "Look at the size of that — that's ridiculous," said Fieri. Wohlert made the caramel from scratch, too before she baked the rolls atop the caramel and pecans.

"Such great texture to the dough," Fieri said when he finally got to try a taste of the sweet, baked concoction. "The pecans are rocking, and it's not just a little sprinkle-dinkle — that's a fish full of pecans." Fieri finished off his tasting by giving Wohlert a high-five. Back in the dining room, customers also praised the giant caramel pecan roll. "It's really moist," said one. "It's got a good cinnamon-y, crunchy top. It's gigantic."

At Maxwell's in Salt Lake City, Utah, where East Coast native Steven Maxwell draws on his Italian-American roots, a meatball is 10 ounces and comes doused in his grandmother's marinara sauce. But no, Mom Mom, as she was known, didn't make a 10-ounce meatball — hers were the more usual 1 to 2 ounces. "I always wanted to make a big one," said Maxwell, reminiscing about cooking with his grandmother. Inside Maxwell's, there are tons of nods to Mom Mom, who once owned an Italian restaurant in New Jersey.

Fieri made his way to Maxwell's in 2014, where he got to try the shareable hunk of meat made with garlic, fresh basil, onions, and San Marzano tomatoes. It's also simmered for six to eight hours and served with a homemade gravy. To make the meatball, Maxwell draws on his grandmother's original recipe to combine seasonings, fresh breadcrumbs, Italian sausage, and ground beef. He then bakes it in the oven before dropping it into Mom Mom's sauce. The meatball is served over pasta with Parmesan and parsley. 

"It's very rich. It's everything you want in an old-school Italian meatball," Fieri said. "I always leave satisfied and probably with a to-go box, too," continued a customer.

Salty's on 2^nd in Fairbanks, Alaska may be known for its boozy brunch, but if you only ever go there for the avocado toast and Bloody Mary's, you're missing out. That's because this women-owned spot also serves a gigantic meatball sub that's a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds since everything in the sub is entirely made from scratch – including its meatballs and marinara inside a hoagie smothered in mozzarella. Workers at Salty's on 2nd, named for the owners' love of tequila, make the meatballs with ground pork, ground beef, and tons of Parmesan. Then, they assemble the sandwich by lining the hoagie with provolone before adding the meatballs, slow-cooked marinara, and mozzarella.

Fieri dug into the sandwich once it came out of the oven, hovering over the edge of a plate since the sandwich was so massive and bits were bound to fall. "I could easily be in an East Coast sub shop getting this," he said.

Clayton Scholl and Jesse Reece opened Born in a Barn in 2013 when they realized that they couldn't find American comfort food favorites like chicken wings and burgers in their town of Laramie, Wyoming. So, they did it themselves. The restaurant offers 16 wing sauces and 17 burgers, with a new burger special every week. 

When Fieri visited the hotspot in 2022, it wasn't chicken wings or burgers he was after. It was the unique barnachos, a heaping pile of house-made crispy pub chips, queso, smoked pork, bacon, jalapeños, red onions, shredded cheddar, and barbecue sauce for $18. "It's an appetizer for the whole family. Everyone enjoys it," claimed one customer.

Born in a Barn creates the scrumptious staple by using a house rub on pork and then smoking it for 18 hours before shredding the meat. They also make their queso in-house, as well as their sweet and spicy barbecue sauce. "I gotta give every chip a little love," said Scholl as he doused the pub chips in queso. Fieri appeared to be unable to stop diving into the heap of chips. "I can't even make a hole in this and I've been digging in this thing for a while," he joked.