By Sarah Meehan | The Baltimore Sun
“Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”
(Karen Jackson / BALTIMORE SUN)
A Baltimore barbecue truck is the latest local eatery to be featured on an upcoming episode of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”
The Smoking Swine food truck will be featured on the March 11 episode of the popular Food Network show hosted by Guy Fieri.
Fieri visited the truck in October, when the camera crew spent two full days shooting and working around the Smoking Swine’s commitments to customers.
“We were kind of like, we’re a food truck first — our customers come first — so you’re going to kind of have to work around it,” said owner L. Drew Pumphrey. “You’re pretty much shut down for about a week because you’ve got to scrub everything top to bottom with a fine-tooth comb.”
Pumphrey said working with Fieri was “awesome.”
“I don’t want to say I was surprised — he met every expectation I had of him,” he said. “He’s always kind of had what I have aspired to be.”
As the first Baltimore food truck on the show, the Smoking Swine found filming came with its challenges.
“It was a little tight,” said Pumphrey, who is 6-feet-5-inches and 400 pounds. “We were definitely squeezed in there.”
The show airs March 11 at 10 p.m. The food truck will have a viewing party at Waverly Brewing Co. starting at 9 p.m.
As for what viewers should expect to see, Pumphrey said, “lots of amazing barbecue.”
“We’re going to give some recipes out that are tried and true, kind of some of our biggest sellers,” Pumphrey said.
The episode, titled “Smoke and Seafood,” also highlights two Florida eateries.
Baltimore is getting plenty of love from Fieri this season. Earlier in the year, Alewife and Miss Shirley’s Cafe made appearances on the show. They join more than 20 local Triple-D alums including Slainte Irish Pub, Blue Moon Cafe and Joe Squared.
