Guy Fieri Unveils New Foxwoods Restaurant at Tom Brady’s Charity Football Game

Photo by Tony Dube

Guy Fieri once again joined Tom Brady and his collection of famous friends for this year’s Best Buddies Football Challenge at Harvard Stadium on Friday night.

The Food Network star didn’t catch any passes at the charity football game, but he did organize the annual event’s first ever food and wine festival. Fieri also broke some big news at halftime as he announced the opening of Guy Fieri’s Kitchen + Bar at Foxwoods this fall.

While most of the details about the menu are still under wraps, the celebrity chef gave us a preview of what to expect from his latest venture.

“If anybody knows something about me, I do fantastic burgers,” Fieri said. “So I have really fantastic burgers, eclectic, unique appetizers, and then there will be a few items on the menu that will be special just to Foxwoods that represent the New England area.”

The Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host revealed that he’s been working with the team of chefs at Foxwoods to create a list of food offerings that’s “not super complicated” and merges his style of cooking with New England cuisine.

Fieri said people should expect a lot of seafood, including sashimi, clams, oysters, and definitely some lobster and shrimp.

“We’ll bring some of our California style, we’ll bring some of our southwestern style, a little Asian influence,” he said. “I have a background in sushi, so it’ll be what you hope would be on the menu, but in a little more unique way than you would expect.”

Foxwoods president and CEO Felix Rappaport and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council chairman Rodney Butler helped Fieri unveil the news at Friday’s event, along with a few surprise guests, including Spice Girl Mel B and Fast N’ Loud star Richard Rawlings.

In addition to Fieri’s new restaurant, the group announced that Cat Cora’s Wine Bar, Richard Rawlings’ GARAGE Bar & Grill, and Sugar Factory American Brasserie will also be coming to the resort and casino in the fall.

“We have gourmet restaurants. We don’t need more gourmet restaurants,” Rappaport said. “I think what we really need are fun places for people to congregate and enjoy themselves.”

Photo by Tony Dube

Announcing a new restaurant at a charity football game might seem like an odd choice, but Fieri has been working with Best Buddies for almost a decade.

His involvement with the nonprofit, which empowers people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, started seven years ago after a dinner with founder Anthony Kennedy Shriver. Fieri can relate to the cause because his cousin Dougie, who helped cook at Friday’s event, has intellectual disabilities.

The Food Network star has become more and more involved with the cause and brought along his Foxwoods pals to this year’s game so they could help out by donating $75,000 to the organization.

Through working with Best Buddies, Fieri said he’s become super close with Brady and praised the Patriots quarterback for his philanthropic efforts.

“Here’s the thing, Tom is such a great guy,” Fieri said. “Watch how he interacts with the buddies. Watch how he interacts with the families. Watch how he interacts with the fans. The dude is so real deal it’s not even funny.”

Considering Brady’s recent foray into the food world, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he decided to start his own restaurant, à la a Michael Jordan or a Tiger Woods.

Fieri admitted that he’d totally be down to open up an eatery with him.

“I would open a restaurant with Brady in a heartbeat,” Fieri said. “The guy knows great food, he’s from California. We might be on separate teams—he might be a Patriot and I happen to be a Raider—but we’re not going to hold that against each other. I think we’ve said that enough times.”

He added, “So yeah, if I ever got a chance to do a collaboration with Tom, we’d kill it.”

If this fantasy restaurant ever came to fruition, don’t expect it to be in the vein of something you’d see on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Fieri revealed that he’s actually “a very healthy, clean eater” and would probably create a menu more in line with what Brady usually eats.

“I’m a faro, quinoa, steamed fish, big greens fan,” Fieri said. “It’s not as sexy, not everybody wants to talk about faro on Triple D, but knowing how Tom eats and knowing his nutrition level, knowing what it takes to be a supreme athlete like he is, I think we could make a really cool restaurant.”