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It seemed like lunchtime as usual at Harper's Burger Bar last week with one notable exception. Customers were filling up the booths, chatting as their burgers arrived. The exception was that they were surrounded by lights and TV cameras.

The Food Network's You Gotta Eat Here was in the house with host John Catucci interviewing customers about what they had ordered. He had spent the previous day in the Harper's kitchen and earlier in the week had done the same thing at MltDown just up the street.

If you're not familiar with the show, it's one that isn't recommended you watch on an empty stomach. On each show Catucci, who is a comedian by trade, visits a series of restaurants across Canada, tasting favourite dishes, seeing how they are made and even helping out, and then talking to the clientele. It's a kind of Canadian cousin to the American Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins, which has become required viewing for anyone serious about eating. Neither show is about health food, however, because it's all about dishes that taste great, comfort food that isn't counting calories.

There is a major difference, however, and that is while Triple D's host Guy Fieri is a chef and restaurant owner, Catucci is not. He even disavows being a foodie. "I say I am an eatie," he chuckles between takes at Harper's. "I don't consider myself a food expert at all."

So how did he get this gig, one I must admit I've coveted since it first came on the air two years ago, although John's trademarked plaid shirts probably look better on him than they would on me. "I knew a producer at Lone Eagle who was doing the show," says John, just as amiable and unpretentious in person as he is on the show. "They wanted a comic, not a chef, an everyday person who could steer a conversation and improvise."

It seems like every second episode, the host is wolfing down a burger somewhere across this country, but that doesn't bother him. "I have eaten a lot of burgers and you would think I'd get tired of them, but I don't. The odd time I might need a salad.

"I really like the burgers here at Harper's because they're all meat and no filler with just a little salt and pepper added."

John is pretty slim and I don't ask him if he works out, but rather does he only eat when on camera?

"My first year I'd sometimes keep on eating, but then my plaid shirts started to get a little tighter," he says. "So now I tell my producers to tell me to stop eating when the shot's done. There are times when I can't stop, and I growl when they go to take the food away from me."

The day before we chatted, John had been sampling several of the burgers on the menu and my mouth is watering as I write them down. There was the Seoul burger with goat cheese, kimchi and red curry sauce. Then there was the Smokehouse, with smoked cheddar, pepper bacon, onion straws and South Carolina barbecue sauce. Or how about the Umami, with brie, balsamic candied onions, soya glazed mushrooms and white truffle aioli. John's favourite? "It was the Umami," he says. "The mushrooms were cooked down, and it was so creamy, it was terrific."

At MltDown, he had tried a couple of their different grilled cheese sandwiches. He didn't remember them all, "but my favourite was the lasagna grilled cheese," he says.

John pretty well likes everything he eats, "but there are certain things my palate likes more. Really spicy things I don't really crave. But I do like savoury stuff. There's nothing like a nice plate of pasta."

As for his shenanigans helping out chefs in the kitchen, "I think I'd make a pretty good sous chef," he says. "I can whisk like nobody's business, but I'm no chef."

Last year, John was on the road as much as a touring rock band, some 200 days, usually in two week intervals.

"When I get home and my wife says let's go out to eat, it's tough," he says. But if he has to, there is a favourite when he's at home in Toronto. "It's called the Black Skirt and it's a little Italian place," says John. "They really look after you there, and their pasta is great."

Field producer Monique Douek said probably a dozen to 15 short interviews would be taped for the Harper's segment and most of them would be used. One of the interviewees was Kathy Patterson, a teacher at St. Lawrence College and a big fan of Harper's, who had been invited to be one of the participants. Manager Craig Maclellan said the participants in the show were a mix of regulars and staff from other restaurants owned by Tim Pater, Harper's owner. He also said that the process of getting on the air, began last December when the restaurant was contacted by the show.

greg.burliuk@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/GregBurliuk

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