Wyoming just keeps capturing the attention of celebrities.
Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone,” Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” and now a new spotlight is about to shine on American cowboys and the Cowboy State.
Celebrity Chef Vincent Fiore, creator of the award-winning cooking shows “The Wiseguy Kitchen” and “Coast to Coast,” is coming to Cody to highlight cowboy cuisine and fun family things to do for a new show he’s hosting this fall on Roku called “Cookin’ With Cowboys.”
“When I approached the producers about doing this show, they contacted Roku and Amazon and everybody else, and they gave me the green light,” Fiore told Cowboy State Daily. “And I asked that the first episode be in Cody.”
At first, producers floated the idea of going to Bandera, Texas, for the first episode, which has claimed to be the cowboy capital of the world.
But Wyoming, Fiore pointed out, is the Cowboy State.
“(Bandera) is great, but I have to do this in Cody first,” he told the producers. “I have a big following in Cody, and this is my way of saying thank you, of giving back in a small way to highlight the local businesses out there on a national level.”
Fiore has chosen a knockout itinerary in Cody, starting with the Irma Hotel and the Diamond View Ranch, followed by Creekside Lodge, Buffalo Bill Cody’s Scenic Byway and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
Fiore says he believes he has enough material that Cody could become not just the one episode as planned, but two.
“This show is not just about food,” he said. “It’s about travel and basically educating the community on fun things to do across America for families.
“I have children and grandchildren and most of us, what do we do, we sit across the table from each other and we’re texting. So, let’s go back to America being all about family, being all about fun, let’s make America Cowboy again.”
Cowboy Culture On The Rise
Fiore’s idea to make America Cowboy again couldn’t be hitting at a more opportune time.
Cowboy culture is on the upswing, fueled by popular television series like “Yellowstone,” as well as tales like Craig Johnson’s “Longmire” series and C.J. Box’s “Joe Pickett” series, both set in Wyoming and written by the pair of New York Times bestselling authors.
That’s put cowboy culture front and center with stars like Beyoncé even going Western. Her most recent album “Cowboy Carter” won best country album at this year’s Grammy Awards.
Wyoming artists have also caught national attention, such as Ian Munsick with his motto of “Bringing the West to the Rest;” Chancey Williams, whose “Cowboy Who Could” made it on the Country Top 40 last year; and Chris and Ned LeDoux with a fanbase that brought thousands to Kaycee for Chris LeDoux Days for the last 15 years.
Kelly Estes, who directs film offices for both Cody and Casper, said he’s seen rising interest in Wyoming when it comes to both television and film.
“We just did another show that released last week up in Cody called ‘Expedition Unknown’ for the Discovery Channel,” Estes told Cowboy State Daily. “And they did an episode on where Buffalo Bill might be. So we’re getting quite a bit of interest in the state, which is fantastic.”
The cool thing about these kinds of shows, Estes added, is how minimal the footprint is for free advertising that tourism departments would normally pay big bucks to get.
“They come in and they often pay people for things, and then they go and advertise us for free,” Estes said. “And that is what’s great. They go and tell our stories and advertise us for free.”
Estes said Fiore’s plans include shoots in Casper, as well as likely Sheridan and Jackson as well.
“And he’s a great guy to work with,” Estes said. “All of his crews are nice. Frankly, I haven’t run into anybody who wasn’t nice to work with in this industry.”
Estes has been involved with the film industry for decades, going back to the late 90s when Starship Troopers came to Wyoming to film at Hell’s Half Acre, near Casper.
While the film crew did build several large sets in the bottom of the canyon, Estes said all of that was removed once the film finished in 1996.
The overall economic impact of that was $4.3 million, which is what prompted Casper to set up a film office, to try to snare more productions.
Inspired By Chance Encounter
Fiore discovered Wyoming and the West while on vacation after the COVID-19 Pandemic unexpectedly upended his cooking show.
He came to Wyoming to regroup, and to tick a couple of bucket list adventures off his list. First Yellowstone, and then working at a ranch near Yellowstone as a chef.
Fiore found the latter at the historic UXU Ranch, where he has become the resident chef.
Fiore has been cooking from a very young age with his Italian family and was a professional in the industry by the time he was 13 years old.
Fiore did go to culinary school, but the director of the school pulled him aside not long after, telling him he shouldn’t be taking the class but teaching it.
“I’ve worked every position in the restaurants,” he said. “I’ve owned my own catering companies where I did large events like weddings and corporate events.”
He was a chef for Major League Baseball teams, including the Texas Rangers and the Philadelphia Phillies, and he’s also cooked for companies like Roku and Tesla.
He’s also done a variety of private dinners for the CEOs of large companies, as well as upscale private dinners for doctors, lawyers, and celebrities.
His television shows won six Telly Awards for video and television content, five TASTE Awards which are considered the “Oscars” for food and fashion, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Guild of Chefs.
A Place Only God Could Make
Seeing Yellowstone for the first time sent chills down his spine.
“I drove all the way from Texas to Cody, and when I finally made it, I’m looking at the mountains and I’m looking at the entrances into Yellowstone and Wapiti and all these mountains around me, and I actually called my wife and I said, ‘I don’t care what people believe in. Everybody’s entitled to their own political views, their own religious beliefs. But nobody is going to turn around and tell me that God didn’t create this, because only God could create this. That’s how beautiful it was.”
The trip to Wyoming is what ultimately inspired his new show, “Cookin’ with Cowboys.”
He was outside on a deck just admiring a view that he couldn’t get enough of when a stranger passing by did a double-take, stopped, and asked, “Hey, aren’t you that guy on Amazon Prime?”
At first, Fiore denied it. He was in Wyoming to relax. He wanted to stay incognito, so he told the man he had the wrong guy.
But the stranger wasn’t fooled.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re that Wise Guy chef or something!” he said.
Fiore was caught. Still, he was reluctant to admit it.
“Yeah, I used to cook for wise guys,” he told the man. “But now I’m cooking with cowboys.”
Even as he was saying the words, Fiore knew that sounded awesome. It was his next television show, just waiting to be born.
“I ran to the cabin, and I sat down and I started writing out the show, “Cookin’ with Cowboys,” and it’s basically the flavors and the spirit of America,” he said. “That’s what the show’s concept is. It’s not just cooking and not just travel. It’s a combination, but more importantly, it’s a combination of cooking, travel, and education.”
The show is already getting a great response from potential sponsors, Fiore added, and he feels confident that’s only going to get stronger as the show progresses.
I just spoke to a gentleman who called me the other day from Cody, and his company is like an Airbnb but for farmers and ranchers,” Fiore said. “He’s interested in having his logo put up on our travel trailer and then we have Longhorn Steakhouse interested in a bunch of stuff as well.”
Love Letter To The West
Although Fiore loves cowboy culture and Wyoming in particular, he doesn’t consider himself a cowboy.
“I’m an Italian guy from New York, who fell in love with the West,” Fiore said. “And I love that way of life. I have a lot of friends out there now.”
When Fiore was in Cody, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West had a traveling exhibit that particularly caught Fiore’s eye. It was all about Italian cowboys. They are called the “butteri.”
“I did some research, and it turns out that when Wild Bill Cody was around, he brought the rodeo and his show to Italy,” Fiore said. “He actually brought it to my father and grandfather’s town. So that was pretty exciting for me to find out about that.”
Italian cowboys were a group of native cattle breeders and horsemen who came from the Maremma region of Italy.
“They had a whole term for Italian cowboys, and so with that said, I fell in love with Cody. I fell in love with the people,” Fiore said. “I fell in love with everything about it. I tell my wife all the time when we retire, that’s where I want to go.”
That makes “Cookin’ With Cowboys” more than just entertainment to Fiore. It’s really a love letter to the West, and to Wyoming in particular. And it’s an invitation for viewers across America to add a little authentic cowboy culture to their own lives.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
