Guy Fieri liked my hair. I think he described it as “crazy.” So, I instantly liked him.
Apparently, so did the hundreds of other people, who showed up to get the celebrated blonde spiky-haired restaurateur, author, and TV host to sign a bottle of his Santo Spirits tequilas on Friday, September 15th, at Buster’s Liquors & Wines.
Fieri and Grammy award-winning musician Sammy Hagar are co-founders of the Santo Spirits tequila company.
About 400 bottles went out the door, says Angela Williams, Buster’s marketing director. “He had all three: blanco, reposado, and anejo,” Williams says. “All sold out. To be honest, there were people in groups around one bottle, so there were way more than 400 people here.”
Fieri began signing bottles around 4:30 p.m. He stayed until “maybe 6,” Williams says.
There was a festive air about the bottle-signing event. The weather was beautiful. Earle Farrell, host of The Earle Farrell 4Memphis show on KWAM 107.9 FM and 990 AM, did a remote broadcast in front of the store.
The line of eager Fieri fans stretched from Buster’s entrance, around the building going north, west, and then east on the other side of Jason’s deli.
Trisha Brown and her friend, Leigh Sloan, were the first in line. They showed up between 12:45 and 1 p.m., Brown says. “We both watch the Cooking Channel,” she says. “We both cook a lot. ‘Okay. This will be something to do.’ We did wait a long time, but she’s really a determined person. I’m not as determined. I probably would have said, ‘Ahh, forget it.”
Brown took the day off and Sloan, whose father is ill, had a chance to get out of the house for a while. They each bought a bottle of tequila and had their photos taken with Fieri.
“We had a great time,” Brown says. “It was more, for me, being able to be around her and have fun and not have to worry about going to work. Or she had to rush home to her dad. It was kind of nice. And it was a good excuse to get together.”
Fieri also was on hand September 14th for a meet-and-greet at Guy Fieri’s Tunica Kitchen & Bar at Horseshoe Tunica.
The restaurant, which opened last July, serves “everything from fried catfish to ribs, steaks, pasta,” says Sindy Davis, Horseshoe Tunica advertising specialist. “It’s kind of unique. It’s open for breakfast at 7 a.m. every day.” The restaurant, which is open until 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, is open until midnight Fridays and Saturdays.
During his Tunica appearance, Fieri told the gathering, “You come into an area, you bring some of the things that you do great and then you look at it and say, ‘Well, you know what, if we’re going to show up in Mississippi we’d better do some great fried green tomatoes.’
“My mom is from Georgia, North Carolina, and I grew up in North California. I grew up eating fried green tomatoes — not the most common thing you would find for North California people. But once you educate somebody on it. You got to cut it the right thickness. You can’t cheat it. It’s either a green tomato or not a green tomato.”
On the counter in front of Fieri were several of the restaurant’s items, including “BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad,” “American Royal Ribs,” and “Bacon Mac-n-Cheeseburger.”
“I’ll walk you through a few of them,” Fieri says. “Have you been drinking yet? We need to get you drinking. This is a way more fun experience if you have a cocktail. Anybody like margaritas? Who’s a cocktail fan?”
If’s probably safe to say more of Fieri’s tequila went out that door, too.
