‘Diners, Drive-ins and Dives’ to air Gordy’s Hi-Hat segment

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The eyes of the world will be on Cloquet the evening of Monday, July 26, as the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” turns the spotlight on Gordy’s Hi-Hat.

Filmed in May, the program will feature interviews with some of the restaurant’s many fans who nominated Gordy’s for the popular Food Network program, as well as segments with the Lundquist family who started it 50 years ago.

Perhaps the highlight of the program will feature personable host Guy Fieri cooking at the grill alongside head chef Marilyn Lundquist, as well as conversations with Gordy himself.

According to second-generation owner Dan Lundquist, the family first “got an inkling” three weeks ago that the segment might air sometime in July. He didn’t get confirmation of the actual date until late last week, however, when he was notified by the producers of the program via e-mail.

“Back when we first started talking with the program’s producers,” said Dan, “they told us a segment usually takes about eight weeks to produce, though we later heard that some can also take as long as six to eight months so we weren’t sure just what to expect.”

Since the Gordy’s feature was a “Customer Choice” segment – meaning it was nominated by far more fans than most that are featured on the program – it was given more air time for interviews and diner interaction. As such, the Lundquists thought it might require more production time and weren’t expecting it to be scheduled quite this soon.

Dan said the show’s producers were in touch with him almost daily during the first month following the filming of the local segment in order to check facts, garner additional information, and verify the copy for Fieri’s “voice over” script that will be dubbed into the portions of the food preparation that were filmed the week before his arrival.

The upcoming Gordy’s Hi-Hat segment of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” will be aired as part of the 9-10 p.m. time slot on July 26, with possible reruns to be scheduled later as well.

A segment on Northern Waters Smokehaus in Duluth, one of the other northeastern Minnesota restaurants filmed this spring for “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” was aired nationally in late June.

Producers qualified the scheduled air date for the Gordy’s segment, saying there’s always a chance things may change due to some unforeseen circumstance and urging viewers to continue to check their local television listings for the latest updates.

The Lundquist family is currently in the planning stages of a special “Premiere Night” event to welcome the community in to share the much-anticipated program. Dan said more details of the event will be made public as they become available.

In the meantime, it will be business as usual for the Lundquist family, since the week of July 26 is also the same week as the annual Sunnyside Health Care Center ice cream outing at Gordy’s as well as the restaurant’s annual classic car show.

“We’re keeping plenty busy,” said Dan.

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