Happy Birthday to the Mayor of Flavortown

I freely admit, I used to hate Guy Fieri with a fiery (see what I did there?) and inexplicable passion. I’m not sure, exactly, what my problem was with the bleach-tipped celebrity chef, but I’m pretty sure it mostly had to do with his appearance. So when Pete Wells infamously ripped Fieri’s new Times Square restaurant to shreds in the pages of the New York Times, I was there for it.

But a funny thing happened on my way to clogged arteries: My opinion of Fieri changed, slowly at first and then real fuckin’ quick in the opposite direction. My man Fieri is cool. No, like, super cool. And I’d like to join Joe Longo in wishing this true king a happy birthday.

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Jeff Gross is MEL’s senior editor for social media and content marketing. His daily ICYMI column, which chronicles all things meta on the site, is the quickest way to catch up on MEL.