Celebrity Chef Vincent Fiore didn’t originally have Story, Wyoming, on the itinerary for his new “Cookin' With Cowboys” episodes, which have recently begun streaming on YouTube.
But the “Wise Guy Kitchen” chef is always up for a new adventure. That impromptu adventure led to an unexpected deal for Fiore.
A new restaurant at the Wagon Box Inn, where he plans to soon hang both his apron and his chef’s hat.
Fiore has loved the West for as long as he can remember, and he particularly loves Wyoming, which is why his new “Cookin' With Cowboys” television show honed in on the Cowboy State, filming episodes in Cody and Casper.
“Cookin' With Cowboys” is a travel and cooking TV series hosted by Fiore that blends Italian culinary flair with Western cowboy culture through adventures at ranches, resorts and restaurants across America. Episodes stream on Roku TV’s Black Rock channel.
So far, it had all been a great ride, but not necessarily one where Fiore was expecting to find a new restaurant of his own.
“Kelly Eastes took us all over,” he said. “We went to Powell, and Cody, and Wapiti and all of that. We wound up going to Casper and we did Douglas. We went to the Powderhorn Ranch, and we went to Alcova resort. We did all these crazy things, and it was wonderful.”
Eastes is Visit Casper’s film liaison, but often also helps production crews find their way around Wyoming.
“He goes, ‘Yeah, I know this place called the Wagon Box,’” Fiore said. “'And it would be a pretty good place for you to film.'”
Fiore wasn’t sure his schedule was going to allow for a location so off the beaten path, but ultimately decided to shoehorn it in on Eastes’ recommendation.
“I don’t know the whole history of it, but when I got there it’s such a beautiful little place,” Fiore said. “And it’s right outside of Sheridan.
"So, if you want the bigger city, you’re just 20 minutes away. And if you want the mountains and the rivers in the country in 20 minutes, you’re in Story. So, I really, really liked it.”
At first, it was just another cool filming location in Wyoming.
But then one day back home in Texas, Fiore got a call from a friend in Cody who knew the chef was interested in finding a new restaurant in Wyoming. She’d heard of an opportunity she thought might be just right for him.
“She goes, ‘Story, Wyoming. It’s called the Wagon Box,’” Fiore said, chuckling a little bit.
Fiore didn’t really need to hear any more than that. He’d already become a big fan of the historic location.
If it had a restaurant looking for a chef, he wanted to know more.
A Second Chance For The Wagon Box
The Wagon Box Inn in Story traces its origins to the early 1900s as a historic retreat and dude ranch in the Bighorn Mountains.
To dip his toe into the water, Fiore staged a couple of different events at the Wagon Box just to see how things would go. Both were a big hit, not just for Fiore, but with the community.
“So, what happened in October, we did what’s called a popup dinner experience,” Fiore said. “I showed up for the weekend, and we created a menu, we did like a prix fixe menu, and people bought tickets ahead of time.”
After that, Fiore set up an Italian Christmas for December. That one was a sold-out show which attracted people from both near and far, Story resident Mark Caudle told Cowboy State Daily.
“I was so busy playing the piano, I didn’t really eat a whole lot of the food, but what I did have was the pasta with red sauce,” Caudle said. “There was some fancy name for it. I don’t know what it was called, but it was good. You can’t complain. He put a lot of work into it.”
The success of the two events has a lot of people in the Story community excited for the Wagon Box’s future, Caudle added.
“There’s been some really good local support,” Caudle said. “People are excited and wanting to see something else different. Quite a few people have posted about it on the Story Community (Facebook) Page.”
Caudle sees it as a second chance for the restaurant, which has struggled amid controversy over some of owner Paul McNiel’s initial plans for the Wagon Box Inn. That had included starting a DAO, which stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization, involving the historic property.
A DAO is a digital entity that can be used for a wide variety of things. In this case, it would have essentially been run like a digital timeshare for other writers and thinkers.
All of those plans have all been shelved, McNiel has told Cowboy State Daily.
While he had hoped that structure would help him find like-minded writers and philosophers to help him with the renovation costs, it created too many misunderstandings and is no longer the way McNiel intends to go.
Despite initial misunderstandings, Caudle said he believes the community was lucky to have someone willing to put so much money into the Wagon Box.
“Paul has really done a lot of good things for the Wagon Box, as far as renovating and putting a lot of money into much-needed maintenance that needed to be done for a long time,” Caudle said. “It’s really good that somebody like him came in and did some remodeling on the cabins, the lodge, remodeled the bathrooms and the restaurant, and did a lot of things that were really positive.”
No Riding Horses In The Kitchen
Fiore has been a longtime fan of the West and always dreamed of one day living there when he was a small child.
“I used to read Louis L’Amour western novels when I was growing up,” Fiore said. “My mother would tell me that my eyes were gonna hurt because I’m reading a book a day.”
It took some time for Fiore's dream to become reality.
“I always had the (idea) of going to the West,” he said. “And lo and behold, in my older age is when I wound up going there.
"Not when I was old enough to ride a horse and join the rodeo,” Fiore added with a chuckle. "Things happen for a reason maybe.”
Fiore is already making plans to get his license plates transferred to Wyoming and become a resident, he said. He can’t wait for more adventures in the Cowboy State. But not riding rodeo horses. His adventures are all in the kitchen.
“We’ve filmed three episodes for Cookin' With Cowboys in Wyoming so far,” he said. “And episode One is already out on Roku TV. It’s on the Black Rock channel, and that one highlights Casper and the surrounding areas.”
Episode two, meanwhile, has just finished final editing and should be out by the first of the year.
“That one highlights Cody and surrounding areas,” Fiore said. “And the third episode is a combination of extra footage they had between the two.”
Fiore isn’t sure when the third episode will release, but he has just returned from Cowboy Christmas in Las Vegas, a convention-style show with all kinds of Western businesses held next door to the National Finals Rodeo.
“We’ve met with a bunch of them about sponsoring the show, advertising and things like that,” Fiore said. “So, we have a lot of work we’re doing with that.”
How well that goes will determine how long the show can go on, but Fiore hopes for at least six more episodes of “Cookin' With Cowboys" in different parts of Wyoming, as well as in Montana.
“We will be filming at the Wagon Box in the spring, right on the patio deck, in front of a live audience,” Fiore said.
Cowboys Will Never Die Hungry
Fiore’s plan for now is just to lease the Wagon Box restaurant as his own business, Vincent at the Wagon Box, which will start sometime this month.
Under that structure, McNiel will be Fiore’s landlord. McNiel plans to focus on the lodging side of his business.
Right now, Fiore is in the process of hiring and training staff, as well as listening to ideas from Story residents about what they’d like to see at the restaurant.
With the success of the two Italian-themed events he had at the Wagon Box, that has made some residents very vocal when it comes to wishing for a classic, Italian-style restaurant.
But Fiore is thinking long-term about what would be right for such a historic property, and he’s not sure that’s the way to go.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the history of Story,” Fiore said. “So, I think what I’m going to do is a modern American menu with an Italian twist. We’ll keep some of the Western favorites.
"There will be some nights where we do an Italian night, maybe every Thursday night. We might do a prime rib night every Friday night. Saturday we’ll have an open menu and Sunday we might do a brunch. These are the things we’re currently working on to make everybody happy.”
During the winter, for the first year at least, Fiore plans to have winter hours and will just be open Thursday through Sunday. For summer, he anticipates opening seven days a week.
Fiore is already getting requests from various groups in Story who want him to come do brunches or cater events.
“We’d love to do that,” Fiore said. “But as I explained to them, much as I want to do it and wish I could do it tomorrow morning, it takes some training with the staff.”
Fiore said he’ll start slowly, with catered events upstairs in the Wagon Box, which has space for about 100 people.
“We are going to be doing monthly dinner shows,” he said. ‘And the first one is Valentine’s weekend. It’s called Love is in the Air, and I’ll be bringing in tribute artists. Some people call them impersonators.”
The tribute artists will include people who portray Marilyn Monroe, Dolly Parton, and Reba McEntire, as well as, likely, George Strait and Elvis.
“We also have a murder mystery planned called Legends Never Die,” Fiore said. “It’s my understanding it’s the only western-themed murder mystery in the country. So, I’m excited about that as well.”
Fiore hopes that the catered events and the restaurants will bring something he believes Story residents have been clamoring for.
“We’re going to give people the best of both worlds,” Fiore said. “If they want to come into the restaurant and pick up a menu and order a bowl of soup and go home, they can. Or they’re welcome to buy a ticket with a prix fixe menu to go upstairs and see a show.
"It will be a little bit for everybody.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
