Feb. 12, 2021

Food Network star Guy Fieri had as much praise for Shaley Bolks’ food as he did for how “clean eating” helped her change her life.

Bolks, co-owner of Daily Clean Food & Drink, lost 160 pounds in one year as she was inspired to change the way she ate while “not getting skinny on salads.”

A longtime fan of Fieri’s show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” she can now say she has been featured on it.

The Feb. 12 episode included Daily Clean Food & Drink along with restaurants in Minnesota and Alaska.

Fieri and guest chef Justin Warner introduced the segment by contrasting Daily Clean to the sort of cuisine – think hamburgers, pizza, and macaroni and cheese – that you might expect to find in Sioux Falls.

“They’re doing it locally sourced, organic,” Fieri told Warner. “A lot of the options are vegan, and it’s just all about clean eating.”

Bolks first prepared The Mightiest Mac, which starts with baked grain-free chickpea penne noodles, adds a house-made butternut squash and sharp cheddar sauce and then is topped with bison meatballs and house-made chimichurri.

The bison meatballs are the restaurant’s No. 1 seller, Bolks said.

“I have no clue exactly where this is going to end up,” Fieri said as they prepared the dish.

“It’s great,” he said, trying the chickpea pasta and then punching his fist in the air at the spice on the chimichurri sauce.

“In this dish, the richness of that squash cheese sauce, and the meatball cuts it … it’s delicious.”

Then came The Jeb’s No Bull Burger, which is a veggie-packed vegan burger with “a spicy kick” served on a Breadico ciabatta roll.

“The bun itself is outstanding. Cooking the mayo onto the bun adds another one of those textural points,” Fieri said.

“As soon as you put all the accoutrement of the pickles, onion and tomato, you start to sing the song of burger. It’s delicious.”

The restaurant makes healthy food “very approachable for everybody,” Fieri said.

“I saw a poster in the lobby that talks about all the things that are local and all the things that are organic,” he added. “It is a billboard this big.”

He praised Bolks for embracing a healthier approach to eating and sharing it with others.

“You take control of your life, and then you take that same philosophy and apply that into a restaurant, it can be nothing but successful. Well done,” he told her, adding to the viewers: “You’ve got to come meet this girl. She’ll change the way you look at things.”

Fieri visited six local restaurants in June 2020.

Daily Clean Food & Drink was the final one featured on the show. Bolks talked about the experience below.

Daily Clean Food & Drink is up next on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’