A storied North Vancouver restaurant may soon be flooded with visitors from all over North America, after it was selected to feature on the hit Food Network TV series Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
The Tomahawk Restaurant has been serving its popular burgers and breakfasts alongside unique aboriginal art work since 1926, making it the oldest family-run eatery in Canada.
It's already something of an institution on the North Shore, but it will soon be known across the continent after it appears on the show.
Tomahawk owner Chuck Chamberlain was surprised to get a call from the producers a few weeks ago, because the show, which shines a spotlight on independent establishments that serve up home-style cooking, normally sticks to filming in the United States.
"I was told that they so far had not received as many comments, write-ins, emails, whatever about a restaurant, as they had about the Tomahawk," said Chamberlain.
"They were in Seattle, and I guess they thought it was a hop, skip and a jump away, so why not go visit Vancouver?"
The show's famed host Guy Fieri, a beefy, bleach-blonde food buff, arrived at the Tomahawk Thursday in his trademark red Camaro to help prepare the dishes of his choice - organic roast beef dinner, beef dip sandwich, steak and mushroom pie and Yorkshire pudding.
According to Chamberlain, Fieri was "overwhelmed" in more ways than one.
"He was really taken aback with the food itself; he was amazed at what we were able to turn out," said Chamberlain.
"And to be in some place that was 86 years old . . . to see it and to see all the carvings and just feel the restaurant itself, he said it just absolutely blew him away."
About 25 patrons were also let into the diner during filming, and a few lucky couples were chosen to be interviewed.
North Vancouver's Terry and Joyce Mulligan, both 78, were among them.
They filled in Fieri about their romance, which revolved around the Tomahawk.
"I actually asked one of the waitresses to get my wife's phone number, and I eventually dated her," said Terry, who worked as one of the restaurant's first-ever carhops in 1953.
While the Mulligans said they enjoyed being a part of the show, they found Fieri's choice of menu items somewhat peculiar.
"This was surprising to us. That place was famous for two things: its hamburgers - huge hamburgers - and the Yukon breakfast," said Terry.
"I think he thought it was a twist to have a place like that serving Yorkshire pudding, cause that's . . . foreign to them," he added.
While in town, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives also visited Save On Meats and The Red Wagon in Vancouver.
An airdate for the episode has not been set.
