Where Guy Fieri Ate in the Bay Area

Season 8, episode 4 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives came into the West Berkeley flats for the Demon Lover, spicy fried chicken over buttermilk waffles with gravy and syrup both, plus the Grayson burger and the Charlie. The chicken and waffles has been unremovable from the menu ever since.

The orange rail car on Highway 1 turned up in season 5, episode 10 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, with the ribs, the beef brisket sandwich and the house hot sauce. Pacifica came back into the show in 2020 through a Takeout episode, a remote segment rather than a second visit.

Episode 5 of the forty-third season of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives came to the room across from City Hall for the Caribbean beef patty, jerk chicken wings and island fried rice. Brooklyn-raised cooking that spans the islands instead of picking one of them.

The patio over the water carried season 8, episode 10 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, with oysters, ceviche sangrita and crab cakes going out toward sunset. The Embarcadero room appeared again in a 2021 Takeout episode, filmed remotely rather than on site.

Season 24, episode 11 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives sat down to deep-fried Southern tofu, a falafel wrap and walnut cake, none of it pretending to be meat. Tamearra Dyson has been making that argument in Oakland since 2009.

Season 18, episode 4 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives found the operation three years into the idea, and the order was the sisig burrito, pork sisig tacos and Shanghai lumpia. Four permanent rooms followed, this Valencia Street one among them.

Season 18, episode 2 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives was given over to meat, and San Carlos contributed the pastrami burger, the Wit cheesesteak and a pastrami Reuben. All three start with brisket cured and carved in the back of the house.

Bernal Heights turned up in season 18, episode 3 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and the plates were shrimp and grits, Dr Pepper short ribs and crawfish hushpuppies. Southern cooking that most of the city does not attempt at that depth.

Season 42, episode 11 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives put the birria tacos, the halal beef rib plate and the nar-chos on camera. Halal Mexican reads like a gimmick until you taste how straight the Michoacán recipes are played.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives filmed on Fourth Street in season 8, episode 7, and ate the pan-fried fish sandwich, the berry souffle pancake and scrapple. The workers who now own the place kept all three exactly where they were.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives opened its second season on this Stevens Creek lot, episode 1, with the falafel sandwich, a kifta kabab pita and a banana shake. That last pairing is what San Jose has been ordering here since 1966.

Episode 7 of the sixth season of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives found San Rafael eating tostones con mojo, the Cubano and the veggie deluxe sandwich. Marisol Hernandez had gone from a farmers market stall to a twelve-seat room not long before the camera arrived.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives drove out to Pescadero in season 2, episode 4, and ate cream of artichoke soup, an abalone sandwich and olallieberry pie. The show came back a decade later for a season 26 special, which the fourth generation behind the bar took in stride.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives pulled up a window table in season 28, episode 15, and ordered the chicken truffle bao, an egg custard tart and chicken feet. Planes lifted out of SFO across the water the entire time.

The truck made season 18, episode 3 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with the short rib KoJa on its garlic fried rice buns, plus kamikaze fries and mochimisu. The show caught up with it again for season 22, episode 14.

Season 17, episode 12 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives came for the torta pambazo, its roll dipped in guajillo chile before it hits the griddle, along with the quesadilla roja con chicharrón and a plate of totopos. From-scratch masa held up under the camera without a single shortcut.

Season 28, episode 13 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives stopped in San Carlos for the rigatoni, shrimp with grits and a molten chocolate lava cake. The New Haven style oven is the reason anyone drives to Laurel Street in the first place.

It shows up in episode 13 of the seventeenth season of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, where the order was the arepa pabellón, cachapas and cheese empanadas. Corn rather than wheat carries the whole structure, which is simply how this cooking works.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives came to Park Street in season 28, episode 14 for the smoked brisket sandwich, the California corn hush puppies and a Bloody Mary. The bar next door is part of the arrangement and always has been.

Season 6, episode 10 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives came to Folsom Street for grilled trout over risotto, a frittata and grilled salmon, which is not the menu most people expect out of the oldest restaurant in SoMa. The Italian American half of the kitchen is still right there behind it.

The carving counter made season 5, episode 5 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, with the buffalo stew, a turkey dinner plate and the corned beef sandwich. Five years on, the show came back for season 21, episode 17.

The SoFA Market stall appears in season 43, episode 8 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with the red hot beef banh mi, a spicy bulgogi rice bowl and tofu vermicelli. A counter inside a food hall holding its own against rooms with full kitchens.

Season 43, episode 6 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives went inside the fermentation room for the funk bowl, the tzic de seta tostada and a round of mock tales. Everything on that table had been left alone to do its own work first.

The butcher counter made season 24, episode 10 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, with the cheesesteak, the meatball sandwich and fries cooked in rendered beef tallow. The Oakland shop went dark in 2026, so the footage is most of what is left of it.

Emeryville shared season 8, episode 4 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with a Berkeley breakfast counter, and the plates on this side were the monster burger and the crunchy Asian tofu salad. Chrome, vinyl, a Clash song for a name and a room that has never been quiet.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives reached downtown San Jose in season 42, episode 10, and ate the somlaw machu kroeung, jumbo sea scallops and jackfruit sticky rice. Cambodian cooking rarely gets that much airtime without being softened on the way.

Season 2, episode 8 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives found the Portuguese specials board hanging beside the burgers, and ate the bacalhau, the Portuguese style wings and steak and eggs. The old lunch wagon has been serving that combination past midnight for decades.

Los Gatos got season 43, episode 7 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, where the kitchen sent out house andouille, buttermilk biscuits and the fried shrimp po boy. David Kinch built the place as the Louisiana bar he wanted on his own night off.