Gordy's Hi-Hat to make second national television appearance

Gordy's Hi-Hat restaurant is scheduled to make its second appearance on Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" as a part of a unique segment revisiting popular stops previously featured on the show.

Host Guy Fieri and his crew first visited the beloved Cloquet diner nearly a decade ago in season nine's "You Called It" episode after an abundance of Gordy's patrons wrote into the Food Network, requesting the establishment be given time on the show.

Now, a decade later, a production crew revisited the establishment, filming throughout the course of two days last July.

There was no word on when the episode would air until recently, when the restaurant announced its time slot on the show to be 8 p.m. Friday, May 28.

According to Gordy's owner Dan Lundquist, Gordy's officials were not told the episode date until about four weeks ago and were only permitted to publicly share the information two weeks before the episode aired.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Rain or shine, pandemic or not: Gordy’s remains a spring tradition Gordy’s Hi-Hat restaurant in Cloquet reopened for its 61st season this week, reverting to classic carhop service for the second consecutive year.
  
• Duluth Grill to be featured again on Food Network The Duluth diner was first featured on Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" in 2010.
  
• Creative COVID-19 responses keep Carlton County businesses rolling From reviving carhop service to installing a walk-up window, local restaurants showed ingenuity to allow them to keep serving customers during the pandemic-related shutdowns.
  

Gordy's manager Sever Lundquist speculated that the delay may have been due to the pandemic and its impact on restaurant operations.
Regardless of the wait, Sever emphasized that the Gordy's crew cannot wait to see the newest episode, adding that the timing was "fantastic."

"We're really excited about it," he said. "It's an absolute honor."

Sever was present throughout the filming of both episodes and shared that things looked slightly different the second time around, with one notable difference being that the second filming took place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to pandemic precautions, masks were required to be worn by anyone not on camera and only limited people were allowed in Gordy's during the filming.

Whereas the 2010 episode featured Gordy's patrons who had written into the Food Network about the diner, the upcoming episode will only include people who are either Gordy's employees or close family friends to the owners.

While this may have not been ideal, Sever said it was still a great experience, adding that many of the employees are excited to see themselves on television.

"It's kind of fun for us," he said, adding that the community has been very supportive of the diner's television appearances.

Another notable difference in this month's episode is the absence of Fieri.

Sever explained that the famous television host did not make an appearance at Gordy's for the filming last summer, with members of a Minneapolis production crew running the show.

Despite the absent host, Sever said the process still had unique aspects to it such as some staff on the production crew being regular customers at Gordy's and the fact that restaurant management was already familiar with filming for the show.

"(It was) an easy process because we knew what to expect," he said.