It’s a compliment any Italian pays grudgingly to another, but I’ve got to say it.
Guy Fieri makes a good sauce.
The Food Network star, restaurateur and connoisseur of diners, drive-ins and dives nationwide opens the first Italian restaurant of his career Sunday at Eldorado Scioto Downs. And it’s a good thing his tomato sauce, meatballs and pasta are on point: He’s got family here, and they’re likely to dine regularly at Guy Fieri’s Trattoria.
“My cousins all still live in this area: Columbus, Cleveland, West Jeff, Catawba, you name it,” said Fieri, who was born at Riverside Methodist Hospital in January 1968. He grew up in northern California, but his family came back often for family vacations, he said.
“This is a good fit for all of us,” he said of his venture with Caesars Entertainment at the Far South Side racetrack and casino. “And it gives me a chance to come back and visit.”
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His first Italian, first Columbus restaurant
Guy Fieri’s Trattoria is the latest of 18 concepts and nearly 100 restaurants bearing the celebrity chef’s name. They serve barbecue, sandwiches, tacos, chicken, burgers and other dishes, largely at casinos, airports and on cruise ships. Surprisingly, the Columbus restaurant is Fieri’s first to specialize in a broader Italian menu than pizza.
It’s also his first restaurant in Columbus, although several Fieri-branded ghost kitchens opened and quickly closed in 2021.
“I’ve always had this in the back of my mind,” he said. “This was just the right time. This was something that I wanted to do closer to my cousins, and I thought this would be the perfect place to roll it out.”
Guy Fieri’s Trattoria is off the casino floor, and unlike Scioto Downs’ Brew Brothers restaurant, it doesn’t have its own entrance.
The décor is all Guy. Photos of Fieri and his family adorn the walls, and during a Thursday VIP party, both TVs played his Food Network shows.
It’s very red and shiny, but at the same time, it’s softly lit and comfortable. Booths are spacious and private, and the bar is wide with plenty of seating.
What’s on the menu?
Although Trattoria’s menu is more traditional Italian-American fare, Fieri said he wanted a few adventurous dishes on the menu, as well. He offers spaghetti all’assassina, or assassin’s spaghetti, which is a Pugliese dish in which the pasta is cooked like risotto in tomato broth and a sauce with the heat of chili peppers.
Other inventions are Fieri-esque, such as an alfredo sauce that includes his own brand of tequila and a flaming cheese appetizer modeled after Greek saganaki because, as Fieri figured, “Why don’t we have that as Italians?”
The lasagna has 68 layers of pasta, béchamel, ragù, ricotta and mozzarella that’s plated like a slice of cake on its side, then broiled so everyone gets some of the crispy bits.
“Sometimes lasagna’s not the sexiest thing,” Fieri said. “This is sexy.”
But if you like your Italian food on the comforting and familiar side, you’ll be happy. There’s chicken parm, Bolognese, meatballs, fried calamari (made more interesting with fried hot peppers added to mix) and plenty of house-made pastas.
His tomato sauce is chunky and flavorful but very simple. It’s flavored mostly by fresh basil and not overpowered with garlic or other herbs and spices.
As Fieri said during a Thursday ribbon-cutting, “If you can’t find something on this menu that you love, you’re not hungry.”
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