Get to Know the Indigenous Restaurants Featured on 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives'

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives travels coast to coast, highlighting the incredible cultural dishes and menu items well beyond typical American fare. However, the first American cuisine was Indigenous, and host Guy Fieri has visited some of the most inventive spots — both preserving Indigenous culture and giving iconic dishes a modern twist.

Located in Phoenix, Arizona, Fry Bread House is the most recent Indigenous restaurant to be featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Guy visited the James Beard Award-winning restaurant during Season 38 in Episode 15. Founded in 1992 by Tohono O'odham woman Cecelia Miller, the restaurant is now co-run by her children, Jennifer and Richard.

What sets Tohono O'odham cuisine apart from other American Indian fare is the Mexican influence, as the area is so close to the Mexican border. While the restaurant does make its namesake fry bread, it's important to note that fry bread is actually a more modern dish in Indigenous culture and cuisine, as it was born out of necessity from government rations in the 1800s. So, Fry Bread House also specializes in Tohono O'odham hand-stretched flour tortillas, called chumuth.

Red chili beef is the most iconic fare in Tohono O'odham cuisine, and if you visit the Fry Bread House, you have to try the red chili beef stew or the posole, which chef Jennifer Miller made with Guy during the show. When Guy tried the pork stew, he said, "That's not shy on flavor at all."

Of course, you can't have posole without chumuth, which chef Miller showed Guy when he visited — complete with the Indigenous hot plate known as a comal. Guy was blown away with both the cooking apparatuses, as well as the unique scaring on the chumuth compared to a typical tortilla.

But that's not to say that Fry Bread House doesn't know its way around fry bread. In fact, all of the restaurant's signature tacos use fry bread as the base. And chef Miller whipped up the Ultimate Taco for Guy to try. It's loaded with beef, refried beans, onions, sour cream, cheese and lettuce.

"The fry bread itself is fantastic," Guy said when he tried the Ultimate Taco. But, as the carnivore that he is, Guy was wowed by the signature chili beef flavor. "Job well done," he told chef Miller. And for die-hard Triple D fans, you know that's the highest of high praise.

Located in Denver, Colorado, Tocabe was the first American Indian restaurant to be featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Founded by Matt Chandra and Ben Jacobs, the restaurant not only serves a menu of Indigenous fare, but it also sources ingredients from Indigenous farmers and markets. Tocabe means "blue" in the Osage language, and chef Jacobs is a member of the Osage Nation. As he told Guy during his visit in Season 12, Episode 4, "A big part of who Indian people are [is] getting together and feasting."

As the restaurant name implies, there's plenty of blue corn items to be found on the menu at Tocabe — especially blue corn chips. However, it's the Osage hominy salsa that's truly the star of the show. When Guy tried it, he blurted out, "Oh my gosh, that’s good."

Bison is the most common red meat in traditional American Indian cuisine, and Tocabe has several signature bison creations, such as bison ribs with blueberry BBQ sauce. However, during a special episode of Triple D Nation, chef Jacobs made a braised bison bowl for a modern American Indian take on trendy grain bowls.

American Indian cuisine is rich in color thanks to the ingredients, and Tocabe's Medicine Wheel Nachos are no exception. The plate features a mix of red, white and blue corn chips, and it's topped with veggies, beans, housemade cheeses and two signature housemade salsas. On Tocabe's website, you can see where certain ingredients are sourced. The restaurant's Indian corn and blue corn come from the Bow & Arrow farm, which is part of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.

During Guy's first visit to Tocabe, chef Jacobs showed him how to make Tocabe's signature taco, which starts with a fry bread foundation. Guy said the fry bread is "a bomb." (That's a good thing in Triple D slang.) and that with the house-marinated chicken, it’s all "completely off the hook."

Amid the pandemic, we had to get creative with Triple D. We couldn't travel, but that didn't stop Guy and his son Hunter from visiting beloved restaurants and checking in with their favorite chefs — all virtually, of course. So, during Season 33 of Triple D: Takeout, Guy and Hunter virtually chatted with chef Jacobs, and he sent the Fieri boys a signature dish to make at home: an Indian corn tostada with braised rabbit.

The dish showcased several Indigenous ingredients not typically found on American menus, such as tempories. "They're a desert bean," said chef Jacobs. "That's why they're so small." The Tocabe chef even sent Guy the specific olive oil that the restaurant uses. "Our olive oil we use," he said, "is from the Yocha Dehe, which is right over the hill from you in Yolo County."

The world of Triple D has grown over the years, even as Guy's kids have grown up, too. In Guy's Family Road Trip, Guy traded his typical hot rod car for an RV with the whole family. And while in Albuquerque, New Mexico, they all visited the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, which is completely owned and operated by the 19 Pueblo tribes in New Mexico.

Guy's Family Road Trip was a unique riff on the standard format of Triple D. Usually, Guy heads straight for the kitchen, but in this show, learning about the culture at large was just as important as the cultural cuisine. And the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center covers everything about Pueblo culture, from ancient history to modern day. Here, the Fieri family got to watch the Acoma Dance Group perform the Acoma Buffalo Dance.