You know, people are asking me all the time,
"Hey, Guy, that one joint you checked out
in that one city when you were doing DDD,
how they doing?"
"You know, I don't know, we should check it out."
[car revving]
Over the years, I've seen and tasted it all.
This is ridiculous, dude!
But it turns out it was only the beginning!
'Cause DDD joints have been blowing up,
and we're going back to see what's cookin'.
[car revving]
Like on this trip!
We've got all sorts of sandwiches.
Mmm. Mmm!
From fried...
That's ridiculous.
I'mma hug you.
...to pie.
We're gonna fold this baby up.
[Guy Fieri] Like this deep-dunk Monte Cristo in Boise...
Gives me goosebumps.
The stuffed and seeded sandwich in Vegas...
-Is that weck "weady"? -[man] Beef on weck for table four.
[Guy] And we're wrapping things up in New Jersey.
Forget the bun.
[Guy] With this pork roll, patty and pizza dough combo.
It's literally the perfect bite every single time.
[Guy] Familiar faces, new places and more off-the-hook flavors.
This is Triple D Nation.
[dynamic music playing]
[Guy] It was back in 2009 when I first met this chef.
[chuckling] And I mean a real chef,
at his old-school, '50s-style diner in Boise, Idaho.
And here, you could order up everything, from prime rib to shrimp gumbo.
These days, he's almost got the trifecta. A diner and a drive-in.
All that's missing is the dive.
This is Westside Drive In.
[upbeat music playing]
[man] Ice cream potato for Triple D Nation.
This isn't your typical drive-through that you go to.
You have a gourmet chef here.
Three minutes on the Cuban.
You're getting great, hot food at a drive-through speed. It's hard to beat.
That's a Club Focaccia.
I do give Guy credit for finding this place.
And you know, the food's great here.
[Guy] How could it not be with Chef Lou Aaron behind the line?
He brought his decades of culinary experience to the drive in
when he nabbed this blast from the past in 1994.
I, uh, grew up about six blocks west.
Came down here all the time for shakes.
-So this was a go-to spot when you were a kid. -Oh, yeah.
[Guy] Now, it's a family affair.
With his wife, Renee,
and his kids, Emily and Josh, helping out.
-Will the kids take over? -Hopefully.
You know, I... I'm hoping.
All right.
Gentlemen, this was 15 years?
-Not 15 years ago-- -Fourteen.
-[Guy] Fourteen years ago. -[Lou] Fourteen years ago.
And he said, when he went up to close, "I'm never walking back in here again."
And then, you came.
Really opened up my eyes to...
To see what he's put into the business.
Gives me goosebumps.
You hide a gourmet restaurant inside of a drive-in.
This is not a short order cook scene.
It may say "Drive In,"
But it's a whole different experience, and how great that you tuned in to that.
Plating gumbo now.
It's so elevated. They have great prime rib.
-[Guy] That's a nice piece of prime rib there. -[Lou] Granulated garlic.
Flour. Seals in the moisture.
[Guy] Oh, this is interesting.
We save everything. Onion peels, celery, carrots.
-And it's actually what we're gonna roast it on. -[Guy] I like it.
-What in the world-- -It's bacon grease.
[gasping]
That's ridiculous. I'mma hug you.
[chuckles]
-Rosemary. -[Guy] Which is one of my favorite on prime rib.
So, 425. I give it 20 minutes.
[Guy] Drop it down, finish up in three hours at 275.
-[Lou] Yep. -[Guy] All right, what are we into now?
Our au jus. We start out with the beef stock.
Bacon grease again. Beef bones.
And I'm just gonna sear the bone...
[Guy] You really think you get flavor out of the onion skin?
-Every little bit helps. -Oh, I agree.
Some basic herbs. Thyme, rosemary.
Something you really expect to find in every drive-in. Juniper berries.
They just add a nice, mellow flavor to the stock.
Bay leaves... Everybody's in the pool.
And I transfer this to a big stock pot. Fill it up.
[Guy] You fill up full of water. You let it go for eight hours.
And you're gonna make yourself some righteous stock at a drive-in.
-[funky music playing] -[Guy whistles]
-It's good-looking rib, man. -[Lou] Nice rib.
We cut 8-ounce portions.
[Guy] That's a nice medium rare to medium.
-[Lou] We serve it with some horseradish. -Look at the crust.
-That builds up right there. -[Lou] People love that.
Mmm.
Wow, that crust really has some flavor, huh?
[Lou] Yeah, it adds a very great flavor to it.
[Guy] It's tender. It's done the right way.
-You know what to get to get crazy on this? -What?
-That au jus. -[chuckles]
[exclaiming]
The prime rib, I have had that. It's very delish.
I love the prime rib, but the Monte Cristo's boxed it out in my mind.
Monte Cristo!
And I give you the Monte Cristo.
Which, traditionally, Monte Cristo is, uh, egg-dipped and grilled.
-And that-- -I've seen it made this way, but that was in the '80s.
Yeah. We're the only ones around, I think, that make these.
It's like a triple-decker sandwich with Texas toast.
And it's actually deep-fried. It's absolutely phenomenal.
We do chicken instead of turkey, just to add a little difference.
This is actually the rub that we use for our prime rib.
To the cast of characters. Salt...
-Granulated garlic. -[Guy] Sugar.
The white pepper.
-[snickers and exclaims] -[chuckles]
Black pepper, whole thyme, onion powder, dill weed, paprika.
Chili powder. Cumin, you know.
Celery salt and poultry seasoning.
-Is it cream of tartar? -No, it's, uh, cornstarch.
-[exclaiming] -[laughs]
Then you just mix it together.
Add a little bit of water. Put them in the oven. Cook 'em for seven to nine minutes.
So this is our chicken. It's chilled now.
I've got some garlic butter here.
We put our Swiss cheese on there. And cheddar cheese.
We have ham.
And then we've got our chicken breast. And we put it on there.
And then we close her up.
Now, we're gonna cut this in half.
And dip it in the egg.
And then we have panko breadcrumbs.
And you just wanna bread it all in there, just like so.
Do the other half.
And we cook it for about 45 seconds to a minute.
-With a berry coulis... -Yeah, with a raspberry coulis, yeah.
Raspberry preserves. We add a little bit of cranberry juice to it.
And then we stir it up.
And, uh, it's one of our top sellers.
-[Guy] Fantastic. -Yeah.
[man] Monte up.
The crispiness comes out in the way that they batter it.
When you bite into it, it just explodes in your mouth.
It's really juicy, and that flavor comes through.
Then you dip it in some jam. It's incredible.
Bacon burger, mushroom burger up.
-What's the update? -[Lou] We opened up a second location
7 miles from the first one.
-How's it going? -It's doing just as good as the original.
[woman] The nice thing about the Parkcenter location is you can actually come inside.
They have a really nice diner. It's super fun.
-You get a dive, take it over. Is that what you're doing? -[Lou laughing]
-Is there a whole empire thing going on here? -That would--
-That would be my house. -You spike that hair, you get in earrings,
-I'm coming. -I'm on my way.
[Guy] Coming up.
[Lou] How's that finger steak coming?
[Guy] No matter whether it's the diner--
Here you go, guys.
[Guy] ... or the drive-in...
The out-of-bounds bite will have you divin' right in.
Mmm!
-If you can get that cheese stretch... -[Lou] There we go, baby.
[upbeat music playing]
I'm here at Boise, Idaho. And I got a pop quiz for ya.
When I say, "drive-in," what are you thinking?
Fries... You're thinking milkshakes and killer burgers.
But are you thinking, "Chef"?
I mean a real chef. An ACF-certified chef.
"American Culinary Federation" chef.
That was the infancy stages of DDD.
You became one of those benchmarks for us.
That when we go and check a place out, I'm like,
"Just because it falls in the criteria of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,
doesn't mean I'm gonna take it if they can't back it up with the food.
-[Lou] Mmm-hmm. -[Guy] And you always backed it up with the food.
[dynamic music playing]
This is a first.
-We made steak fingers. -[Lou] Mmm-hmm.
[Guy] And I remember all the attention to detail.
Seeing Guy making the finger steaks... I came down and had 'em,
and it's something that I'll travel hours to get.
[Lou] This is just bottom sirloin cut into strips.
Dip it in some flour. You wanna keep them all separate.
Throw it in our batter.
Hold them up a little bit before they go down into it. Dig it.
[Lou] Right. Don't take long to cook.
By the time you get the last one in there...
-You're almost done, yeah. -[Guy] This is crazy.
Let them drain just a second.
-[Guy] And what are we serving them with? -Spicy cocktail sauce.
Just chili sauce, horseradish, and lemon juice.
[upbeat rock music playing]
[exclaims]
Nice and crunchy. You get a lot of meat flavor.
-It's tender. -[Lou] Mmm-hmm.
-And the cocktail sauce, oddly enough-- -Match made in Heaven.
-[Guy] That's great. And that's a whole order? -[Lou] Yep.
-[Guy] Who could eat all that? -You're gonna eat them all before you--
-[exclaims in protest] -[chuckles]
-Convertible Camaro, not a dump truck. -[chuckles]
They're hand-dipped and, uh, cooked just to perfection.
[woman] If you like the finger steaks, you're definitely gonna love
their mozzarella sticks.
They're just spot-on, every-time delicious.
All right, Bruce, I have your mozzarella sticks.
Mozzarella sticks is a unique little recipe that we have.
Okay, tell me what's unique--
[chuckles]
Okay, these have been sitting here for a bit, folks.
If you can get that cheese stretch...
[Lou] There we go, baby.
Take some whole milk mozzarella.
We cut it into sticks and we freeze them.
Dust them with flour. Batter 'em.
Put it in the crumbs that come from our croutons.
Nice herb flavor. Italian seasoning in there from the croutons.
We're gonna freeze these and they go directly from the freezer to the fryer.
Finishing with a little bit of parmesan cheese.
[man] Mozz sticks up.
We had all this big crouton dust in the bottom of the buckets.
After we get our croutons, we got all the crouton dust.
So that's what that is. It's crouton dust.
That's not what people expect at a drive-in. Delicious.
Okay, plating mozzarella sticks. Full order.
It isn't like your normal mozzarella stick
because of the crust that's on the outside.
Crunchy... And the inside is gooey.
The breading and texture is nice.
Stringy cheese. I liked that.
One Triple D Nation special in the window!
Chef to chef, friend to friend, business to business, dad to dad...
This? Warms my heart.
-This is what life is all about. -[Lou] Oh, yeah.
I mean, then you'll do this for your kids, and it continues on.
Well, congratulations. Got large shoes to fill, my friend.
[Guy] And coming up at Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Turkey Apple Brie, in the window!
Burgers and brie--
You're getting very cosmopolitan on us.
...from the 18th hole.
[man] Tequila Shrimp Banger.
Mmm. Spot on.
[mellow music playing]
So I'm here at the Chelsea Heights section in Atlantic City.
Right between the boardwalk and the bay. And, man, was this area hit hard
by Superstorm Sandy.
Now, in 2016, it felt like the area was still recovering.
But things are definitely looking up.
'Cause since I stopped into this place, they not only survived but thrived.
And had to open a second location to handle the success.
Welcome to Vagabond.
[dynamic music playing]
[man] Sticky wings in the window. Pick it up!
There's nothing like Vagabond. It really is a hole in one.
Brussel sprouts.
The menu's so well-rounded. There's something for everyone.
Doughboy, coming right up.
I like the picture of Guy on the wall. It's amazing.
It's great to see two local guys doing so well
and making it all the way to DDD.
[Guy] But all Atlantic City native Elvis Cadavid wanted to do
was give the locals something local.
And he brought in his buddy, Tom Harris, to help.
Atlantic City's got 125 restaurants that...
-If you want fine dining, there you go. Take your pick. -Right.
[Elvis] I wanted something that was just affordable.
[Guy] I like that you call it "Kitchen and Tap House."
It means you're putting food forward.
[man] Turkey Apple Brie, in the window!
The Turkey Apple Brie, sweet and salty...
Everyone likes that.
Now we're just gonna get down to some brie.
-Just some brie. Yeah. -Right, brie.
[Elvis] So we're gonna make the smoky pepper jam.
-Let's get it. -Raspberry jam.
Sriracha. Apple cider vinegar.
-Crushed red pepper. -[Guy] And a little chili powder?
We're just gonna whisk this together.
Step one. What's next?
Turkey breast. We're gonna start off with some kosher salt.
-Rub it down. -[Guy] Next?
-[Elvis] Fresh pepper. -A little water?
A little agua. Cover it up.
-In the oven, 350 for four hours. -Got it. Okay.
So next, we're gonna start off with butter.
Turkey on the grill.
Okay.
[Elvis] Few slices of Granny Smith apples.
Brie cheese.
You're getting very cosmopolitan on us.
-[Elvis] Cranberry walnut toast. -[Guy] Gorgeous.
Top it off with a little bit of smoky pepper jam.
And top that off with the oven-roasted turkey,
the Granny Smith apples, and the brie cheese.
-It's Thanksgiving every day at the Vagabond. -Every day.
[Guy] You get a lot of brie right off the bat.
Turkey's not dry.
Nice little acidity from the jam.
Spot on.
[server] Turkey Apple Brie.
Usually, when I come here, I always get the Turkey Apple Brie.
But after trying the Spartan Doughboy, that is my new favorite, for sure.
[man] Spartan Doughboy, coming right up.
The Spartan Doughboy is just always fantastic,
because it's deep-fried in this pizza dough,
and it's just juiciness.
We're gonna make the Spartan Doughboy.
Pork roll, caramelized onion, American cheese.
Forget the bun. We're talking about pizza dough.
All-purpose flour, oil, sugar.
Yeast and a little water. We're gonna mix it.
And I'll let these sit overnight.
We're gonna kick it off with 8-ounce fresh Angus beef burger.
A little seasoning here. Next, we got the pork roll.
We got some caramelized onions. Get these warmed up.
Press out the dough.
A slice of cheese.
And we're gonna add the burger patty.
We got the pork roll.
There we go.
Caramelized onions.
We're gonna top this off with spicy ranch.
Ranch, mayo.
Crushed red pepper. Granulated garlic. Cajun seasoning.
This kicks it up a notch.
Next, we got another slice of American cheese.
We're gonna fold this baby up.
And it's ready for the fryer.
All right, here we go.
And we got the Spartan Doughboy.
Spartan Doughboy.
This is by far my favorite burger.
They took the recipe, wrapped it in pizza dough, deep-fried it...
It's literally the perfect bite every single time.
It's like a blend of the juices from the meat and the American cheese,
and the onions, and it's all wrapped up in the dough.
It's just the best combo.
Potato bombs! Pick it up.
Whether you're coming for lunch, coming in for dinner or happy hour,
appetizers, they've got everything here.
[man] Tequila Shrimp Banger.
Why's it "Tequila Banger"?
[Elvis] The heat, the tequila...
-Oh, so, like, bang. -The bang. Yes.
Got it. First, we're gonna make the sauce.
We have the mayo. Thai chili sauce.
-Sriracha. -A little sesame oil.
[Elvis] Cayenne pepper. Garlic powder.
-Next up? -Tequila.
I love this sauce more and more.
-[Guy] Adobo seasoning. -[Elvis] And a little agua.
Quick whisk.
All right. Let's do the shrimp.
[Elvis] We're gonna dredge the shrimp,
and then we're gonna flash fry 'em for about two minutes.
We add the tequila banger sauce to the shrimp.
[rock music playing]
That's just what I need. Not too much breading.
[clicks tongue] Little spice, little kick out of that tequila.
-Well done, my friend. -Thank you.
I've tried all three items that Guy had.
Shrimp Bangers, the Turkey Apple Brie and the Three Way.
[Guy] Smoke.
Nice tang. That's a great sandwich.
That's a really great sandwich.
We really took off after that.
Business just went up 20%, 30%, immediately.
When Guy came in with DDD, the place just exploded.
To the point that they needed another location.
One just couldn't contain that much energy.
[Elvis] Coming right up.
So we have our location in Atlantic City.
And our newer location in Egg Harbor Township.
Not just food here, but it's food on the 18th hole at our Putt Stop.
-Thank you. -You're welcome.
When do you guys have time to sleep?
So overrated.
No, no... I mean, 40 years down the road, I'll sleep forever.
Sleep when you're dead.
-Yep. -Good motto.
[Guy] Coming up.
Is that a threat or a promise?
A pizza place in Vegas.
It's a conversation starter.
[Guy] Servin' slices--
Dude. Awesome.
...and sandwiches from way back east.
-It's Buffalo style. -Mmm.
-I mean, it's "wock and woll." -Dad's Giambotta Pizza.
[upbeat music playing]
[Guy] I love when a transplant from another state brings
their hometown favorites to a brand-new audience.
Like this pizza place in Vegas that I found in 2012.
They were bringing cool Buffalo-style pie to the hot Las Vegas crowd.
And now, they can introduce it to twice as many people,
because they've opened a second joint.
This is Naked City Pizza.
[dynamic music playing]
We need a quarter sheet Rebel Pizza.
I've seen the shop on DDD. We have a lot of great pizza shops here.
But this one definitely sets itself apart from the others.
Half sheet Dad's pie up.
It's Buffalo style. Oh, it's the best.
It's not too thin, not too thick.
It's the best combination of airiness and crispiness.
Mike, Triple D Nation' s hungry, we gotta get it going.
[Guy] He's right about that!
Because once their pizza had a national audience,
owner Chris Palmeri had to call in for reinforcements.
So his brother, Mike, came west to help run their two spots.
"Get naked." Is that a threat or a promise?
Oh, it's a conversation starter.
[Guy] How did you come up with "Naked Pizza"?
We started downtown in the original "Naked City" section of the neighborhood,
back from the showgirl days or the Rat-Pack-era Vegas.
The Guinea Pie.
It's not that round pie a lot of people do.
Big old squares, lots of sauce. Lots of flavor. It's delicious.
We got a half sheet Guinea Pie.
White garlic sauce. Spinach, meatballs, mozzarella and ricotta cheese.
-Now we're gonna make up our meatballs. -Hit it.
So first thing we got is our white onions and our garlic that we sauteed.
-[Guy] Okay. -Italian parsley.
Fresh mint. Fresh basil.
[exclaims] It smells awesome.
Fresh bread crumbs. Parmesan cheese.
Kosher salt. Little bit of black pepper.
[Guy] I love your measurements.
"Whoa-style."
[Chris] Gonna mix it up.
-Rip off a nice portion of it. -A chunk.
Gonna go together.
-[Guy] Into the oven, running at what, 650? -[Chris] 650.
[Guy] Seven, eight minutes.
Out of the oven.
Ooh. A little kiss of the mint.
-Tasty meatball. -[Chris] Slice it about four, five slices.
Now we're gonna put together a pizza.
We got our dough. Pound it out on the table.
Pinch and pull. In Buffalo, they do a full sheet pizza.
Put down our white garlic sauce and chopped baby spinach.
Our chopped meatballs. Whole milk shredded mozzarella.
The in-house ricotta.
Finally, we hit it with a little bit of dried oregano.
[Guy] In the oven at 650, how long?
[Chris] About seven, eight minutes.
[Guy] You're gonna throw it back on the deck though, little crust on it.
[Chris] Put it down here.
So we're gonna go right down the middle.
Boom. Twelve slices.
[upbeat music playing]
Very rich, very creamy, good salt coming out of that ricotta.
The meatballs are tasty. Dude. Awesome.
-Do you make red sauce pizza as well? -Absolutely.
Dad's Giambotta Pizza.
It's got, uh, spicy homemade sausage and, uh, some sweet peppers, sweet basil on it.
Really good combo.
We start out with the Galbani mozzarella.
Parmesan. Here's some raw, white onion.
Roasted red peppers. Crispy oregano potato.
Then we're gonna top it off with Italian sausage.
Red sauce and a little bit of dried oregano.
Put in our pizza oven at 550. It's gonna cook about 10, 12 minutes.
We're gonna finish this with our fresh basil.
Finishing Dad's Giambotta with the basil.
The sauce had a nice spice to it. Like a-- Like a nice Italian, like, pasta sauce.
The blend of the sausage with the peppers and the onions.
And the way the crust that forms on the bottom of these pies...
It's really, really great.
It's not just pizza. He's got kind of all over the board of things that he makes here.
[man] Beef on weck for table four.
Wonderful sandwich.
-Is that weck "weady"? -[man] Coming right up.
It's a fancy Buffalo roast beef sandwich.
So we're gonna start with our top round of our roast beef.
Season it with some garlic oil. Little bit of garlic powder.
Black pepper. Kosher salt.
We're gonna wrap it with foil.
Roast it off at about 350 for about two and a half, three hours.
Take it out of the oven, let it cool.
We're gonna reserve all those drippings that actually make our au jus.
Little bit of salt and pepper. Mix it up.
Let it cook down.
The second most important part is the weck seasoning.
Even parts sea salt and caraway seed. Give that a mix.
Give them a little brush. Oil and butter.
Then right into our weck seasoning.
Now we're just gonna pop these in the oven for about two minutes.
Just till they're nice and toasted on the outside.
Now we got our buns and our beef. We're gonna dip it in our hot au jus.
Serve it with a little side of au jus.
-I mean, "weawy"? -Really.
[Guy] "Wook" at the weck!
-[Chris] Homemade roasted beef. -Seriously.
[Guy] The meat's seasoned really nice. It's medium rare.
On the weck roll.
I mean, it's "wock and woll."
It's a slow-roasted meat that he does that is just spot on.
It's got the salt and the rye, and you dip it in the au jus. And it tastes so good.
We need a quarter sheet Royal Kourt.
Chris, you know, he started off in a little food booth, uh, in another establishment
-in town, and now he's got his own restaurant. -Cheers!
More room, more kitchen space. Game changer.
[man] Chicken finger sub for table three.
Just remember. When you come down here and hang out,
the only thing he asks is...
-Get naked. -[whistles] Get naked.
-[server] One more marinara? -How are we doing, guys?
Let's feed that Triple D Nation.
As if the Triple D plate couldn't get any fuller...
The more places we check in on, the more joints I add to the list.
Triple D Nation special in the window!
You guys set for now?
So we just gotta keep catching up.
And we will. Next time, on Triple D Nation.
It's illegal. It's illegal-- Illegal use of meat.
-Flag! [exclaims] -Oh... [chuckling]
-Hit him on the head. -[people exclaiming]
You're out of the game now.
Ah!
[laughing]