Mayor of Flavortown Guy Fieri returned to Cincinnati in the newest season of his Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, making a stop in Pendleton for some barbecue.
The latest episode aired Friday night, with Lucius Q chef Tom Martin and co-owner Aaron Sharpe at their restaurant on Broadway showcasing two of their dishes: the Cincinnati-style brisket chili and their Pendleton Porker sandwich.
“We call it Cincinnati barbecue. I take a little bit from the regions of everywhere,” Martin told Fieri.
Martin started by showing Fieri how he makes the brisket chili: starting with a wet rub of mustard, horseradish and apple cider vinegar, followed by a dry rub of salt and pepper on the brisket before it goes into the smoker. It’s chopped up and poured into a pot with peppers and onions, chili powder, sugar, paprika and other spices, as well as tomato paste, chicken stock, marinara and chopped tomatoes.
When it’s done, Martin piles a plate with spaghetti, brisket chili and shredded cheddar cheese while explaining to Fieri what makes it a three-way. But any eagle-eyed Cincinnatian who watched the episode knows Fieri actually made the dish a four-way by dumping a cup of onions on top.
As Fieri’s twisting the pasta on a fork to take a bite, Martin stops him and tells him to cut the pasta instead. An anguished look takes over the Mayor of Flavortown’s face.
“I don’t even know if I know how to cut pasta,” he jokes, using his fork to cut the spaghetti. “Gosh, this feels terrible.”
But the pained expression doesn’t last long as Fieri takes a bite and admits, “When I eat chili now, secretly, I long for the pasta in it.”
The second dish Martin makes is Lucius Q’s Pendleton Porker – a sandwich piled high with bacon onion jam, pulled pork, pork belly and smoked cheddar and drizzled with Carolina Gold barbecue sauce. Martin shows Fieri how he makes the dry and wet rubs for the meats, frys up the bacon onion jam and crafts the Carolina Gold barbecue sauce.
The jam goes on the bottom bun before being topped with pulled pork and pork belly with smoked cheddar melted on top, followed by the barbecue sauce. Fieri jokes about the lack of vegetables, but after biting into the sandwich notes they’re not needed.
“I was joking saying there’s no vegetal factor; I’m glad you don’t. I’m glad there’s no pickle in it. You don’t need it. Typically when you have that pickle or something in there, you need that acidic relief. But in this right here with all that flavor coming through that mustard, you’re setting it up to win.”
The episode also featured a very special guest, Boomtown Biscuits & Whiskey chef Christian Gill, who knows Fieri pretty well, having appeared on Guy’s Grocery Games several times. Gill confirms to Fieri that Lucius Q is a must-try place when visiting Cincinnati.
If you missed Lucius Q’s episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, you can watch it with a cable subscription on Food Network GO online or when it airs again Saturday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. on the Food Network. You can see other scheduled times here.
And Lucius Q isn’t the only Greater Cincinnati eatery to make this Triple D season’s cut. According to the Food Network’s website, The Governor in Milford will be featured on Friday, Aug. 4; an unnamed Cincinnati Japanese joint will be on Friday, Aug. 18; and the Schoolhouse Restaurant will be on the show Friday, Aug. 25.
Lucius Q, 1311 Broadway St., Pendleton. More info: luciusq.com.
Learn how to make Lucius Q’s Brisket Chili Three-Way here.
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This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 8, 2023.
