Guy Fieri Is Distancing Himself From His Infamous Times Square Restaurant

The chef has been making the media rounds for the opening of his brand-new restaurant in Las Vegas, Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen & Bar. He was asked by Las Vegas Weekly about his infamous New York City outpost, and the scathing, zero-star New York Times review written about it by food critic Pete Wells back in 2012. Here's how Fieri responded (emphasis ours):

I only do things the best I can do them in the moment that I'm doing them. Have I learned from that experience? Yes. But I was doing the best I could do. Also, remember it's a licensing deal. I'm the chef, I make the recipes, I make the idea and I give it to a group. Let's be realistic about what this was. But there was nothing realistic about what was being said. You know, you take it; it hurts; it's a bummer. But whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

The gist of his argument is that though the recipes and the idea for the restaurant were his, after that the restaurant's day-to-day operations (and food) was out of his hands. The actual cooks in the kitchen weren't under his control.

And while this is technically true, Grubstreet is quick to point out that Fieri's latest quote is in direct contrast to what he originally said about the restaurant. He even took a redeye flight to be on the TODAY Show when it opened in 2012. At the time, he claimed to be instrumental to the NYC restaurant, saying, "Not only did we design the restaurant, we spent a year in a half doing this. We wrote the menu, brought my culinary team in to work with this team here that's on premise all the time. I did the training for the front of the house, I did the training for the back of the house. I was here painstaking hours."

"This is more heart and soul," he concluded to Savannah Guthrie. "This is not just a name stamp."

Guy Fieri's other name stamp - Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen & Bar - opened today.