Note from Gloria Martin: Please don't mob Southern Kitchen this weekend

Gloria Martin, owner of Tacoma's Southern Kitchen, is worried after she dished to local bloggers and news outlets that the television crew from "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" will be filming this weekend at her restaurant. (You might recall the producers of the show called me in November, asking TNT Diner readers for possible locations).

"It's been really exciting and also kind of confusing," said Martin. She's worried that her Sixth Avenue restaurant will be mobbed, which will interfere with the filming of the segment for the Food Network show.

"To ensure the integrity of this shoot, I would prefer not to have non-regular customers come. I don't want lookie loos," Martin said as she prepared to leave for Home Depot to buy new light fixtures for the restaurant.

She added, "I have loyal customers who have been coming in for years, these are my regular customers … these are the kind of people I adore. These are people I want there."

Her plea to you: If you show up and see a mob scene, please leave and don't contribute to it. After this weekend, it will be safe to dine there again.

That said, Martin is jubilant about the Food Network visit. "I think it will be awesome for this town. I'm so excited about it."

She had a signup sheet for those wanting to meet show host Guy Fieri. "I have so many people who want to meet the guy," she said with a laugh. The meet and greet, she said, happens Sunday.

I asked her what's on the menu for the show. She said fried green tomatoes, jalapeno hush puppies and fried chicken with cornbread stuffing. She's a bit worried about tracking down green tomatoes this time of year. She hasn't received a call back from her vendor yet, but she's hopeful she'll find some.

This story was originally published January 21, 2009 at 1:59 AM with the headline "Note from Gloria Martin: Please don't mob Southern Kitchen this weekend."