Guy Fieri's Kitchen + Bar opens Monday, first celebrity restaurant at Harrah's Casino

Saturday, May 20, was a historical day in Iowa, with Guy Fieri hosting the ribbon cutting of his new restaurant, Guy Fieri’s Kitchen + Bar, at Harrah’s Casino & Hotel.

This is Harrah’s first celebrity restaurant, and Fieri said he chose this location for multiple reasons, the main one being the people.

“Here we are in the center of the country, we are surrounded by great people,” he said. “Good people like good food and like to have a good time and that’s what Harrah’s is all about.”

A variety of dishes from the menu had been prepared, including Trash Can Nachos, an Old Skool Steak sandwich and a Bacon Mac-n-cheese Burger. One dish pays tribute to Iowa — the Awesome Iowa Chop — which is a smoked, thick-cut pork chop with corn and pepper relish, loaded garlic mashed potatoes and whiskey glaze.

“You don’t come to this part of the country and not have an awesome chop,” Fieri said.

While some dishes have a more local vibe, the Cajun Chicken Alfredo is a dish that Fieri created in college that helped him graduate, he said.

To graduate he had to invent a restaurant and run it for three days at the school, and the number one dish he sold was the Cajun Chicken Alfredo, he said.

The chefs have gone through a lot of training to make sure these dishes have the same bold flavors as Fieri’s. There’s two ways Fieri cooks — hot and fast or low and slow — and these chefs have learned the techniques, he said.

“This has really been such an amazing partnership,” Fieri said. “(Harrah’s) really invested in us, my team has been great at getting involved with them from the design to the training.”

The restaurant will have its grand opening on Monday.

“As you can tell I’m a guy who just likes to eat great food,” he said.

For more information about Guy Fieri’s Kitchen + Bar visit bit.ly/3BOmRXu.