GARDINER – A coach-style diner that has been a popular eatery in the middle of this small city for generations will get the spotlight on a national food show later this month.

The A-1 Diner, a venerable landmark perched above a cribwork of steel supports at the edge of a rushing stream, was visited by a film crew from the Food Network on Thursday. Guy Fieri, the host of the show, arrived Friday.

The film crew caught kitchen workers sizzling hamburgers over open flames, assembling chef salads and dishing up bowl after bowl of Hungarian mushroom soup. Those scenes and others will be shown in an upcoming segment of the Food Network’s new half-hour show, “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”

“This is a fantastic place,” said Bryna Levin, a freelance producer from New York, who carried a clipboard and orchestrated the filming Thursday. “I like everything. The whole front is so authentic.”

The half-hour show, to begin airing April 23, will feature three different eateries, Levin said. The Food Network is aired by Time Warner Cable on Channel 44 in the Bangor area.

After the Gardiner filming, the crew and Fieri are heading to the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester, N.H., and then to a barbecue joint in a converted garage in the Bronx.

So far, Gardiner’s 1946-vintage diner is the only Maine establishment selected for the show.

“We look for great characters and something interesting culinarily,” Levin said. “If somebody tells us it’s good, we go.”

If it weren’t for its distinctive appearance, spotting the A-1 might be tricky for the uninitiated.

The front of the diner has an A-1 sign, but also still carries the original name, Heald’s.

Bob Newell of nearby Randolph, a prep cook, has worked for every one of the owners, including Heald. After 54 years, Newell and his biscuits are as recognizable as the diner itself, customers say.