How I Met Guy Fieri And Justin Warner From ‘The Food Network’

Local social media was all abuzz last Friday (June 26) with the news that Guy Fieri from The Food Network was in town filming for his show, "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives."

I saw the posts, but figured he did his filming and had probably already left the area. Contrary to popular belief, I was not trying to hunt down Guy Fieri, but I did end up stalking him...a little.

So, Friday evening, I was heading downtown to meet up with a couple friends to partake in an adult beverage on a patio somewhere. They just so happen to live in an apartment downtown. As I'm driving down Phillips Avenue I look to my left and I had to do a double take. "Is that Guy Fieri?" It was!!! He had a baseball cap on to hide his signature blonde spiky hair, but I knew it was him! He was also with Justin Warner, also a celebrity chef/judge on The Food Network.

Of course, I could find no convenient parking on Phillips so I had to drive around the block and all over to find a parking spot. In the meantime, I texted my friends and told them that Guy was on their street so they should go check it out! They saw him walk into Sushi Masa.

So, I park and walk to their apartment to meet up with them. Again, they already live near Sushi Masa, so we're not technically stalking. But, since we know he's in there we stood around debating what to do. Guy had a few people in his group, but we didn't see a camera crew. So, is he filming, is he actually just having dinner? I didn't want to bother him while he's trying to eat. However, I don't enjoy sushi, so even going in and eating something as a reason to stalk him wasn't even an option. Also, whether he was filming or eating, he could be in there awhile. Are we really going to stand outside this whole time?

Ultimately, we decide to leave because we're all a bunch of wusses.

So we proceed to go have a drink and kind of forget about our celebrity hunt.

But then, Karla Brown, from Mix 97-3 sends me a pic of her cousin with Guy, posted just moments ago, still at Sushi Masa. So we finish up our drink and head back to my friend's apartment. Which, let me remind you, is near Sushi Masa, so we're not technically stalking. However, good fortune was upon us because Guy and Justin were leaving Sushi Masa as we were approaching the apartment! Perfect timing!

We asked Guy for a photo and he obliged. I told Justin to get in the photo and he seemed surprised that I knew who he was. Oh, I know! I watch The Food Network!

Overall, they were super nice, but you could definitely tell that they were trying to move along as not to bring too much attention to themselves.

Of course, I think of great things to ask right after we part ways. Like, what place in Sioux Falls has been your favorite so far? How do you like Sioux Falls in general? Have you been to the Falls yet? Do you actually drive your car across the country? Can I be a guest judge and eat yummy food with you? Do you want to be on the radio on Monday? Or the fact that when I travel, I seek out restaurants that have been featured on his show. Ya know, the usual stuff.

I could definitely not be a reporter, I basically choked.

So, I did the next best thing, I tweeted him. He never did come out for a drink. Well, I tried.

P.S. A few people made comments about how you can barely see them in the photo because we are in front. Well, Guy told us to stand that way so we just did what he said. So there.