Guy Fieri was back in Bend for his show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” recently. This time, he visited the popular spot, Anita’s Kitchen.
“Guy is like so friendly,” owner and chef of Anita’s Kitchen, Anita Chopra, said. “I never feel he was some celebrity. I feel like he is my old friend.”
Anita’s Kitchen is located in the lot of Cascade Lodge. The food cart features North Indian food with a spicy kick.
“I am just cooking the food inside with all my love and prayers, and I think this is my passion,” Chopra said.
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“Love to cook that one,” Chopra said. “Most of my sons really like that one. So that is why I picked that one for my Guy Fieri special dish. So now I will put this one in my menu as my Guy Fieri dish.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time Guy has featured Bend. Three restaurants were on the show two years ago: Zydeco, Rockin’ Daves Bistro & Backstage Lounge and Dump City Dumplings.
“Our episode has helped us a lot,” said co-owner of Dump City Dumplings Dan Butters. “It is nice to have a little cash infusion once in a while from selling merch and sauces online from the random re-airings that we get from it. Yeah, It’s been great.”
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Butters says they only had one location when the episode aired. Now they have four carts and are in two places.
“People just follow his locations around, and so we will have people come in, and they will take their picture in front of the Guy Fieri poster we have in there,” Butters said.
For Anita, once people found out the episode was coming, the food cart was slammed. She expects Wednesday — the first day they are open since the episode aired — to be even busier.
“So I expect, I think, mostly double business I will have these days,” said Chopra. “So, I need to be ready.”
Anita’s Kitchen is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am-8 pm.
Chopra hopes to expand into a restaurant at Cascade Lodge in the future.
