{"id":1404,"date":"2008-05-13T16:50:32","date_gmt":"2008-05-13T16:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/?p=1404"},"modified":"2008-05-13T16:50:32","modified_gmt":"2008-05-13T16:50:32","slug":"salt_lakes_diners_driveins_and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/2008\/05\/13\/salt_lakes_diners_driveins_and\/","title":{"rendered":"Salt Lake’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like any other couple who have been together long enough to drop our camouflage shields and start showing our true, obnoxious selves, The Girlfriend and I tend to disagree pretty frequently on what constitutes good television. My picks tend toward PBS documentary series like Nova<\/i> and The American Experience<\/i>, old TV shows, and movies. Anne, on the other hand, is into all the do-it-yourself, makeover, and “slice of life” reality shows that clog up the basic cable channels. Which means that about nine times out of ten, when I show up at her apartment, the tube is set on TLC or The Food Network, and it’s all I can do to keep from groaning out loud. (To be fair, she has much the same reaction when I run across an old Godzilla flick and settle in for a blissful evening of daikaiju<\/a> silliness…)<\/p>\n

Anyway, there is one basic-cable show that manages to cross party lines, appealing to both of us more or less equally with its mixture of travel, nostalgia, and greasy-spoon cuisine and culture, a Food Network program called Diners, Drive-ins and Dives<\/i>. The set-up is that the host — a boisterous Gen-Xer like ourselves called Guy Fieri<\/a> — drives around the country in a classic Camaro, stopping into, well, diners, drive-ins, and dives to sample regional food favorites and give a little history about the featured establishments. It’s a fun show; a half-hour episode typically covers three quirky, mom-n-pop-style locations, and the eps are often themed in some way, like all family-owned diners, or places that are open 24\/7.<\/p>\n

The show’s website<\/a> includes a feature called “Tell Guy Where To Go,” and not too long ago, The GF and I had some fun coming up with a list of our favorite Salt Lake-area places we thought the show ought to visit. We never got around to submitting our list, but it turns out we didn’t have to: Guy was here last week<\/a>, filming segments for the new season, and as it turns out, the places he visited match our list almost exactly:<\/p>\n

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