Shanty sizzles as 'dive worth a drive'
Wadsworth eatery relishes 8 minutes of fame on Food Network show
WADSWORTH -- Since April, when Food Network celebrity chef Guy Fieri came to The Shanty to film an episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," the Lake County culinary world was waiting to see which of the three titles would be applied to the Route 41 eatery.
The answer came on Monday with the airing of The Shanty's moment in the spotlight: "Dives Worth a Drive."
(Thomas Delany Jr./News-Sun)
Waiting with a crowd of more than 100 Shanty fans to watch the episode on an inflatable projection screen, chef and principal owner Dimitri Kallianis said with a smile that he had an idea of what was coming when he and Fieri worked the kitchen side by side.
"I said to him, 'So, how's that (name) going to work?'" Kallianis recalled, "and he said, 'Well, you're not really a diner, and you're not really a dive -- you're The Shanty.'"
That is, in fact, how the platinum-maned Fieri opened the show.
"Right between Milwaukee and Chicago is a little joint -- nah, maybe we won't call it a joint, call it a dive. Nah, wouldn't call it a dive -- just call it The Shanty, all right?" he said in his trademark raspy voice. "It's one of those examples of 'don't judge a book by its cover, 'cause what's going on inside is a Greek family is keeping a tradition alive."
The roughly eight-minute segment was the result of a four-hour visit last spring, with Fieri chatting up the locals and joining Kallianis in preparing whiskey shrimp, alligator tail, filet mignon with conch meat, and tequila-and-orange salmon.
At one point, Fieri praised the Kallianis clan for importing ingredients like olive oil from a family ranch in the old country, saying, "That must be one full suitcase when that guy comes back from Greece."
In between chatting up the locals and ribbing Kallianis for homespun directions like "squirts" of sauce and "a couple slices" of butter, Fieri wolfed down the shrimp and the conch filet, raving about each.
"That is a beautiful looking filet," he said. "Don't know that I was anticipating a meal like that when I pulled up to The Shanty."
Monday's episode of "Dives Worth a Drive" -- which aired at both 9 p.m. and midnight Central time -- also featured Grover's Bar & Grill in East Amhurst, N.Y. (which makes a cheeseburger soup), the Parkview Niteclub in Cleveland (known for its smoked salmon BLT).
With the broadcast, The Shanty joined a roster of Chicago-area diners, drive-ins and/or dives featured on the program that includes Dell Rhea's Chicken in Willowbrook, Hackney's in Glenview, Paradise Pup in Des Plaines and the White Palace Grill in Chicago.
Kallianis noted that this week marks three years since his family -- parents Dino and Elaine, sister Notah and brother George -- bought the 80-plus-year-old business. He credited the community for making the diner/joint/dive worthy of the Food Network's attention.
"This is a tribute to the staff and the people in this whole area," Kallianis said. "It's the people in this town that really built this place ... Just a little shack that ended up with some global fame."
