Flashy Celebrity Chef Guy Fieri Plunks a Huge Sports Bar In Capital One Arena

Everyone’s favorite frosted-tipped, convertible-obsessed TV chef Guy Fieri zooms into Chinatown this year with the debut of his first full-service D.C. restaurant.

Guy Fieri Kitchen + Bar will sit inside Capital One Arena’s year-old Caesars Sportsbook, the gambling giant announced on Thursday, July 14, with hopes to open by September.

Guy Fieri Kitchen + Bar

The belt-busting menu will showcase some of the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host’s most iconic creations. Look for his “Bacon Mac ‘N Cheeseburger” doused with Fieri’s cult “donkey sauce” aioli and heap of “Trash Can” nachos. The towering stack starts with crispy tortilla chips blasted with Fieri’s proprietary “super melty cheese” and bourbon brown sugar barbecue sauces, with familiar nacho fix-ins on top.

Local diners first got a taste of Fieri favorites during the pandemic with the debut of his delivery-only Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen in D.C. (out of the Buca di Beppo in Dupont Circle) and 23 states. Capital One Arena is a prime pick for Fieri, who’s a frequent front-row fan at NBA games. He’ll have no shortage of crowds to feed in and out of the arena, which reportedly attracts around three million people a year between concerts, NBA, and NHL games.

The two-story, 18,000-square-foot facility debuted inside Capital One Arena in May 2021, making it the first betting facility in the U.S. to operate as part of a pro sports stadium. Guy Fieri Kitchen + Bar will replace the opening restaurant manned by Michelin-starred chef Nicholas Stefanelli, whose upscale spins on sports food included roast pork and rapini sandwiches and New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp.

Jill Weisleder

Fieri’s first Caesars Sportsbook restaurant debuted last year in Phoenix at Chase Field, home of the MLB Arizona Diamondbacks. That menu, filled with chili cheese fries, wings, salads, and a chocolate whiskey cake “Flavortown Finale,” will likely look similar in D.C.

Completely renovated from its past life as a location of the Greene Turtle (601 F Street NW), D.C.’s Caesars Sportsbook is outfitted with 17 betting windows, 16 self-serve betting kiosks, more than 100 TVs, with a 1,500-square-foot LED screen that wraps around the whole area.

Along with Fieri’s big debut, Caesars will carve out room for 13 more betting kiosks and a new entrance leading directly to the concourse of the arena.

Fieri is the latest big TV personality to plant a flag in the tourist-heavy area, with incoming Penn Quarter arrivals from Bar Rescue host Jon Taffer (Taffer’s Tavern) and boisterous British chef Gordon Ramsay (Street Pizza). Fieri already has a fellow cigar-loving friend to welcome him to the neighborhood: José Andrés, whose cluster of D.C. restaurants surround Capital One Arena.

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