Guy Fieri Brings Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives to Gordy's Hi Hat in Cloquet Minnesota

Sure, everyone within a hundred miles of Cloquet Minnesota has heard of Gordy's Hi Hat. Sadly I'm a life long almost local resident who until word of Guy Fieri's pending arrival hadn't made the 20 mile journey to sample their food. Maybe Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives knows something I've missed?

Once, driving by and witnessing a packed parking lot and huge throngs of people, I chose not to stop. Thinking, with all these customers, the wait for service would be horrendous. I was sadly mistaken...

Two weeks ago, on my way through Cloquet headed elsewhere, we stopped at Gordy's Hi Hat for supper. Undeterred by the crowded parking lot, we worked our way through the crowd on the outside deck, up the steps through an old time wooden screen door, and into the dining area.

Lining one side of this narrow hallway like space were a half dozen tables for four with smaller two person mini-tables on the opposite wall. No fancy carpeting, or wall coverings, this was just basic white painted walls with fixtures right out of the 50's.

The order counter was a mass of activity, set high up it was like approaching the window of a food vending truck. Though crowded, our order was snapped up within a minute or so, and we stepped back with our ticket stub to wait for delivery of our meal. We didn't wait long, the order was up in about 2 minutes.

Looking for a lighter meal, we had ordered a fish sandwich and onion rings, planning on splitting one order of each between us. What a shock we received when this monster meal of 4-5 pieces of hand battered Alaskan fish fillets, neatly stacked on a bun with chopped lettuce, was placed in front of us. The single order of onion rings filled to over flowing a box large enough to pack a whole meal much bigger than we could possibly consume.

As we sat, and ate, and watched and ate, and conversed and ate some more, we were consumed by the whole experience. This was a huge step back in time to when Drive Ins were family owned operations that built their business around top quality food served hot and fresh. The names McDonald's and Burger King would be foreign to this part of the country for many years while Gordy's was establishing themselves as the place to go.

As we left with smiles on our faces and full tummy's, we decided that the next trip would be both soon and more strategically planned.

A week later we stopped again as we were leaving town in our motorhome. Yes, they have plenty of parking, even for RV's. This time we ordered one serving of fish & chips, and one serving of onion rings. Fish & chips forgoes the bun and includes french fries for slightly more than the previous fish sandwich. It also includes more FISH (their fish and home made tarter sauce is simply to die for).

For a total charge of $10.45 the two of us had a hard time finishing our meal.

For a place to be featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives it has to be something special. At Gordy's Hi Hat you won't be disappointed. Make this eating experience your newest tradition. Every spring when they open for the season make sure you're one of the regulars that just has to get there soon and often.