What are the best restaurants on the Treasure Coast? Guy Fieri's new show may offer clues

Since its founding, Port St. Lucie has been starving for a civic identity. TV personality Guy Fieri may have just the recipe.

The spiky-haired super chef made two public appearances on the Treasure Coast last week. But it was what he was cooking up behind the scenes that may have the most lasting impact on Florida's sixth largest city.

Fieri hosted a meet-and-greet Thursday at Sip Tequila, a liquor store at 2210 SE Federal Highway in Stuart that held its grand opening over the weekend. Later that afternoon, he dropped by the Smoke Inn Port St. Lucie, 1680 St. Lucie West Blvd., for a similar event.

He was in the area partly to promote Santo Spirit, a line of tequila founded by rock star Sammy Hagar, and Knuckle Sandwich, his own line of cigars.

Soon, though, he'll be promoting our area to a national audience on the Food Network.

'Best bites' in Port St. Lucie area?

In a brief telephone interview, Fieri told me his local trip involved filming for the pilot of "Best Bite in Town," a new show expected to debut sometime early next year.

Fieri, also known as the mayor of Flavortown, said the new hourlong program will feature six Port St. Lucie restaurants. He isn't saying which ones, because he's hoping that will be part of the surprise that entices people to watch the program.

(I missed Fieri by a few minutes at his second appearance, so a word of thanks to Smoke Inn owner Abe Dababneh, who arranged my phone call with Fieri and provided the space for what is either the first, or possibly second, interview I've ever conducted from inside a humidor.)

When I asked Fieri if all of the featured restaurants are located inside the Port St. Lucie city limits, he amended his remarks to say the ones highlighted are all in "the Port St. Lucie area." Read into that what you will.

That conversation helped me to make sense of some other recent Fieri sightings. If you recall, he was spotted doing some work on an unspecified filming project at Tradition Square in January.

In 2021, he made a stop at Gilbert's Coffee Bar, 615 SW Anchorage Way in Stuart, for an iced Americano.

Will Gilbert's or one or more of the Tradition Square eateries be featured on the new program? We'll have to wait a few months to find out.

Building a brand through people's stomachs

Fieri said there's no single type of cuisine he focused on during the filming work. To the contrary, he mentioned the variety of different dining options as a local strength.

"You've got a real eclectic mix of restaurants in Port St. Lucie," he said.

Ordinarily, I'm not a huge fan of shows about food or cooking, because I'm trying to lose weight, but this could be fun. I would be interested to know which six restaurants locals would nominate for a Mount Rushmore of area dining establishments.

It feels like this is happening at the right time for "the Port St. Lucie area," too. City officials recently spent a considerable amount of time surveying residents (and some nonresidents) about how they perceive Port St. Lucie's image.

While that effort is primarily directed toward creating a new logo for marketing materials, I'm hopeful the city will take further steps to create and cultivate its own unique brand.

Fieri's new program could help with this.

Our region's signature food is ... ?

I'm not trying to be unkind, but Port St. Lucie isn't really nationally known for anything special. To people who live north of the Interstate 4 corridor, I think the city is perceived as predominantly a retirement community halfway between Orlando and Miami. Or the spring training home of the New York Mets. If it's perceived at all.

Being featured on one nationally televised program isn't going to singlehandedly propel Port St. Lucie out of the shadows of its larger neighbors to the north and south. But it could be a starting point on the road to somewhere different.

Fieri's program may introduce Port St. Lucie and surrounding areas to people around the country who couldn't find any Treasure Coast cities on a map.

Some may decide to check out the featured restaurants while on vacation. Some may get the impression there's more to the community than pickleball courts and cul-de-sacs.

I'm used to living in places that have some specialty dish associated with them. In Memphis, that means barbecue. In Nashville, God help them, it means hot chicken. Even Pueblo, Colorado ― a relatively small community on the edge of a desert ― is pretty well known for its green chile sloppers.

Offhand, I can't say what dish people most closely associate with our area. However, it would be more interesting for people to be talking about that instead of having the former homes of actress Megan Fox and rapper Vanilla Ice stand as the city's main claims to fame.

Port St. Lucie officials are in the middle of plans to develop the City Center and Port District, both of which are expected to have restaurants.

I asked Fieri, who owns 17 restaurant brands, if he is considering opening an eatery somewhere in the Treasure Coast. He didn't offer any insights about that, but did praise the restaurants already here.

"It's a really nice place," he said. "You've got a lot of great people."

A potential opportunity awaits

If I were working for Port St. Lucie city government, I wouldn't take that as a "no." I would take that as a "why don't you make a pitch and we'll see where we go from there?"

Fieri owns two homes in nearby Palm Beach County, so it's not really stretching the imagination to believe he could have more regular business dealings in this area, if properly motivated.

What does the Port St. Lucie area have to lose? After all, Flavortown is just a mythical place. But it doesn't have to stay that way.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at bfontenay@gannett.com or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Guy Fieri's Food Network show to focus on area's coolest restaurants