Guy Fieri likes Salt Lake City restaurants

Remember back in May 2008 when the Food Network's Guy Fieri came to town?

Fans of his "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," series have likely caught the segments featuring the Utah places he visited: Ruth's Diner, the Burger Bar in Roy, Moochie's Meatballs, Lone Star Taqueria, Blue Plate Diner, Red Iguana and Pat's Barbecue.

Four of these spots are featured in Fieri's new cookbook travelogue, "More Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" (William Morrow, $19.95).

You'll find recipes for Smoked Barbecue Meatloaf from Pat's Barbecue; Eggplant Parmigiana Sandwich from Moochie's Meatballs, Carne Adovada Tacos from Lone Star Taqueria and Red Iguana's Mole Negra with Chicken.

There are 40-plus recipes from Fieri's other jaunts around the country. But it does sound like he has a soft spot for Utah.

"Salt Lake City is definitely one of my favorite cities for food; so is Phoenix, and I love Cleveland, too," he wrote in his foreword.

He adds this piece of advice, "One of the things I tell people is if it's a really hot or really cold climate, it's likely that people will have good food there. My theory is it's because you have to spend more time indoors. Now I'm not saying that you can't find great places elsewhere — I'm just saying the likelihood is high for great eateries in these places."

On Fieri's blog, he says that the Utah restaurants featured on his program have noticed a significant increase in business, not just when the first show airs but each time there are re-runs.

And that's not likely to change, even if readers can make these recipes at home. More than anything, it gives you a healthy respect for what goes into these dishes. Just looking over the 28 ingredients for the Mole Negra, you start thinking it's a lot easier to just head over to Red Iguana for it. The Smoked Barbecue Meatloaf is simple enough, except that you need to your own smoker and cured applewood to smoke it for four hours.

The Utah restaurants were pretty tame compared to some of the quirky stuff Fieri has eaten along the road: chicken gizzards; lamb, beef and calf testicles; calf brain' pig ears and pig tail.

But, he wrote, he will NOT eat liver; if the keys to a Lamborghini sports car were hidden under a piece of liver, "it would end up being somebody else's car ... One thing we probably won't see on the show is a liver and egg sandwich or a lot of sweets. This is me, Guy Fieri, and hey, it's my road trip."

EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA SANDWICH

Even if you don't think you like eggplant, this will convert you.

1/4 cup kosher salt, plus 1 teaspoon