Ina Garten Honored With Her Own Street In East Hampton, New York

Food Network host Ina Garten has "changed the world in so many ways." That's what Drew Barrymore proclaimed on a recent episode of "The Drew Barrymore Show," which featured "The Barefoot Contessa" herself. Garten, who was on the show to promote her newly-released cookbook, "Go-to Dinners," received more than a little air time to discuss her latest publication. 

Preparing her recipe for Cacio e Pepe Eggs from "Go-to Dinners" alongside Barrymore and "Girls" actress Zosia Mamet, Garten gushed about the importance of "good pecorino" in her easy-to-make dish, detailed her first date with husband Jeffrey (a professor at Yale School of Management, whom she often shares tidbits about in her books and on her shows), and spoke of how she became a pilot, among other anecdotes. 

But the highlight of her appearance was a surprise Barrymore had cooked up for her with the help of East Hampton Mayor Jerry Larsen.

When Ina Garten left a career as a nuclear energy budget analyst for the White House over 40 years ago to take on the gamble of running a small specialty food shop (named The Barefoot Contessa) in East Hampton Village, New York, she probably never dreamed she'd be where she is today — let alone that she'd have a street named after her in the town where it all began (via "Next Question with Katie Couric" podcast). 

Garten, whose Roast Chicken With Bread And Arugula Salad and Beatty's Chocolate Cake recipes alone should qualify her for the key to every city in America, seemed truly taken aback at the honor bestowed on her amid "The Drew Barrymore Show." Thanking both Mayor Larsen and Barrymore, she said, "When I first came to East Hampton, I remember looking around and thinking, it is so elegant and it's so beautiful. I don't know that I'll ever fit in here — and now I have my own street."

Having a street named after her is a first for Garten, whose shop, The Barefoot Contessa, was so popular in the Hamptons it attracted the attention of both Martha Stewart (whom she credits with inspiring her on-camera confidence) and The Food Network (who she told at first to "lose her phone number," via People Magazine). The re-christened road, which was unveiled on the show with a new blue and white sign reading, "Ina Garten Way," is located at the intersection of Barns Lane and Newtown Lane in East Hampton Village, right next to where the old Barefoot Contessa was located. 

In an interview with The East Hampton Star, Mayor Larsen said of Garten, "She made East Hampton her home. She had a business here for 20 years, employed a lot of local people, and people came to East Hampton to look specifically for her store." The honorary naming will be in place concurrently, alongside its original name, Barns Lane, "It's a really nice tribute for a successful woman who has always had East Hampton Village at the top of her list," said Larsen.

Garten, who has won multiple Daytime Emmys and James Beard Foundation awards for her show, "The Barefoot Contessa," per Variety and the James Beard Foundation, has a new talk show on The Food Network called, "Be My Guest," featuring chats with celebrities like Emily Blunt, Nathan Lane, and Faith Hill among others.