Jan. 1, 2021

Food Network star Guy Fieri had high praise for South Dakota restaurants in his first visit to the state.

His show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” featured three area restaurants in Jan. 1 episode titled “South Dakota smorgasbord,” beginning with Urban Chislic in Sioux Falls where he sampled what he called the state nosh: chislic.

“That’s lights-out,” he said to chef Ryan Pederson after trying a barbecued pork sandwich featuring made-from-scratch sauce. “Excellent, out-of-the- gate dynamite.”

He also featured The Regret Burger, a double smash burger, with an onion ring, fresh jalapenos, Uncle Ed’s Specialty Meats smoked cheese and paired with Bone Dust fries and Rack XXX sauce.

“It is a little bit spicy,” Fieri said. “But that lamb burger is the thing I enjoy the most about it. It’s nice, warm heat.”

The visit also featured several Sioux Falls customers sharing what they enjoy about Urban Chislic.

“The whole experience has been fantastic,” Fieri told Pederson. “Chislic is the bomb. Love that you take this scratch-made attitude.”

The show then went to Lalibela Restaurant in Sioux Falls.

Don’t think “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” is all burgers, pizza and chicken, Fieri said.

“I love ethnic food. I love learning about the history, the story, the culture, the methods, the ingredients,” he said.

The mix of spices used at Lalibela were new to the area when the restaurant became the state’s first Ethiopian restaurant in 2003, the show said.

Fieri cooked a chicken dish alongside co-owner Marta Endayehu and admitted his skills were lacking as he attempted to make injera, the traditional Ethiopian flatbread.

“That’s fantastic. The sauce – it’s rich. It does have a little spice,” Fieri said in trying the dish. “A lot of garlic, a lot of onion, a little bit of chicken … delicious.”

One customer who was interviewed said he lives 120 miles away and eats weekly at Lalibela.

Fieri then made a lentil dish with Endayehu.

“I get mental for the lentil; I’ve got to be honest,” Fieri said.

“Delicious … the lentils remind me of beans. This concept right here, of scooping it up (with flatbread), pretty special.”

And finally, the show went to Garretson, where longtime Fieri fan Omar Thornton got to cook with one of his favorite celebrity chefs.

The owner of ‘O’ So Good showed how he marinates jerk chicken for a dish with mashed potatoes and collard greens.

Thornton’s family is from Louisiana, and he came to South Dakota by way of California.

“He’s got an eclectic menu, he’s got a unique style, and he’s doing this his way,” Fieri said, while clearly amused at the idea of mashed potatoes bringing a Midwest element to this otherwise Southern dish.

“Dude, I don’t know what’s going on right now,” he said to Thornton after trying the dish.

“This is a little bit of the culinary twilight zone .. those are lights-out greens right there … It works. I’ll tell you one thing — I can’t stop eating it. What you’re doing has got a ton of flavor.”

The show highlighted the restaurant’s unique vibe, with an open kitchen and live music.

Thornton also prepared his shrimp hot plate with cornbread.

“I’ll eat this whole plate, but it does not make any sense,” Fieri said. “It’s almost like I’m eating shrimp poutine … then all of a sudden in the middle of this crazy dream I’m having, I get cornbread … the shrimp are cooked perfectly … the cornbread is the bomb.”

While he only tried two dishes, he was surprised by both, he said.

“I can only imagine what the rest of the menu is.”

“Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” will return to the Sioux Falls area several more times. Future episodes Jan. 8 and 29 will feature Bread & Circus Sandwich Kitchen and Look’s Marketplace, respectively. Daily Clean Food & Drink also will appear in a currently unscheduled episode.

Local restaurants prepare for spotlight on upcoming ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’ episode