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 Triple D, how they doin'?"
You know, I don't know. We should check it out.
Over the years, I've seen and tasted it all.
This is ridiculous, dude.
But it turns out, it was only the beginning
'cause Triple D joints have been blowin' up
and we're going back to see what's cooking.
Like on this trip,
we're in vacation mode.
[man] Treat yourself to Flavortown.
[Guy] Hittin' up both island...
-Yeah, man. -[Guy] I love it.
...and Italian...
[gasps] Guys, gonna eat it with the egg.
-...flavor. -Thanks, Triple D.
[Guy] There's carbonara and Kalua pig in Manhattan Beach.
I don't care what it is, I wanna try it.
Mmm.
Lau Lau in Los Angeles.
-That reminds me of Hawaii. -[Paul] Pick up.
[Guy] And in Cincinnati, Ohio, a brown stew chicken wrap...
It's a ton of flavor
and flavors that people dig.
...fit for a football team.
It's a game-changer.
Brown stew chicken wrap.
-Mmm. -Righteous.
It's outstanding.
Familiar faces,
new places,
and more off the hook flavors.
This is Triple D Nation.
What happens when a restaurant that burns out
hops a plane across the ocean
and comes back with the culinary knowledge
that would make any Italian nonna proud?
Well, you get this joint
that I found back in 2010 in Manhattan Beach.
I'm not even thinking about what to tell you about this.
I'm just enjoying it while I eat it.
And this tiny place is still cranking out tons of flavor.
This is North End Caffe.
[man] Treat yourself to Flavortown.
This is a one of a kind spot in Southern California.
[John] Huevos Divorciados.
[customer] Triple D put him on the map,
and now this place is busy all the time.
[Guy] Nothing my buddy, owner and chef, John Atkinson can't manage.
His plate's been full before.
Quit the restaurant business for a while,
jump on a plane to Rome, one-way ticket.
-No. -[John] And that was it. Italy.
-[Guy] And that's how it started? -That's how it started.
[John] Oh, sweet.
All right, buddy, bring us up to speed 13 years later.
We just turned 20 years, uh, last week.
The restaurant's killing it.
You're on that corner little spot.
'Cause that was one of the most endearing parts of it is that
you could be sitting at this little quaint joint
yet be able to see the ocean
-having scratch-made food by... -Yep.
...an amazing chef.
[John] We got our carbonara.
The carbonara is a staple.
One of the best pasta dishes I've ever had.
-All right. -Pasta time.
Gonna start with a couple of cups of flour.
Add some beaten egg,
a little bit of salt to that egg and we're just gonna mix it up.
Just knead it.
Now it's getting some plastic wrap, let it rest up.
Take about a half an hour.
[John] About 30 minutes in the fridge.
[Guy] We unwrap it.
Just kinda make it into a snake.
[Guy] Okay, so start out at one.
[John] And feed it.
So I'm gonna dust this
and I'm gonna fold it back over the one.
-Layer yourself, okay. -All right.
Then I'm gonna kick it up to two.
[Guy] Kinda slowly go through it
to really build this, texture it.
I take it all the way up to five.
Just gonna go to the cutting side,
just feed it right down into your hand.
Now we're cutting the pancetta.
Wow, talk about great flavor.
Good salt to it.
-[John] Good salt. -[Guy] Mmm.
-Take it. -All right.
We're making, uh, the sauce for the linguine carbonara.
Gonna start with a little bit of olive oil, pancetta.
We're gonna sear this up nice and crisp, little bit of garlic.
-Little bit of wine. -There you go.
Little bit of cream, ready for the pasta.
[Guy] That's a healthy portion.
About 30, 40 seconds, going directly into the sauce.
We're gonna add black pepper, give it a nice little toss.
Now we're doing little egg white
off the heat real fast.
Hit it with some Pecorino Romano.
Now to finish it, drop the sun right on top.
[gasps] Pasta dish, guys, gonna eat it with the egg.
This is what makes the sauce.
Carbonara, egg yolk is what it's all about.
Mmm.
The pasta is phenomenal.
Pancetta's got nice crisp to it,
and then the only way to do it is with the Pecorino Romano.
-Nice job. -Thanks, dude.
I was selling six orders a night, and immediately,
I'm doing 70 orders
of carbonara a day.
Pasta carbonara as seen on Triple D.
It is one of the best pasta dishes I've had and we were in Italy last year.
All the dishes popping with flavor.
What did you bring me?
We have the Tommy Boy.
It's almost like it's a short-rib hamburger,
-which is really unique. -Walk me through it.
[John] So here I got some short rib.
Get everything dredged nicely, shaken off.
And we're just gonna sear this stuff off
and get it ready to braise.
Got a nice color on that.
Beef done.
Got your basic mirepoix. Onions, carrot, celery,
tomato paste, and garlic.
Deglaze this.
Everything in here.
Straight in the oven, six hours.
You took short rib, braised it down,
-let it cool... -Yep, let it cool.
-...then fried it. -[John] Yeah.
Then dropped it in our Dixie Fry,
flour, corn starch,
and creole salt and water.
Dredge it, to the fryer.
And then it goes on a soft bun.
Take a little bit of our creole rémoulade here,
one piece of Swiss,
cabbage slaw, fermented Fresno chilies.
Look at that thing. Little more cheese,
hip tang sauce.
Sauce it up, baby, and there you go.
Tommy Boy sandwich.
I don't know that I've ever had
-deep fried short rib. -[John chuckles]
Deep fried braised short rib.
-Got it. -[Guy] Little bit of slaw.
[John] Yep.
I love that it's in the Dixie Fry.
Delicious.
[John] Tommy Boy for here.
[customer 1] The Tommy Boy is very tasty.
It has a unique flavor.
Something about the tastebuds once it touches the tongue,
it just does the thing.
[customer 2] He deep fries the short rib, and then
the pesto and the Swiss just really made it pop.
[customer 3] John says he's gonna be serving, I wanna try it.
I don't care what it is, I wanna try it.
[Guy] You basically are throwing your own little
private dinner party in your environment. By the way,
remind you how small this joint is.
It's small.
[Guy] But you know what they say, it's not the size of the kitchen...
[John] Making Augilucco right now.
[Guy] The whoey whoey?
...it's the size of the sandwich that matters.
Look at the size of that.
I will be right back after these words.
[chuckles]
So here we are in Southern California
at one of my favorite beaches, Manhattan Beach.
This place is full of character, and speaking of characters,
we're at a joint where a dude bought a one-way ticket to Italy
to follow his culinary passion.
The he came home and started cooking up
the real deal food here at the beach.
[John] Homeboy Howly Bowl.
He's thinking outside the box
when he puts his foods together.
[customer] Absolutely fantastic.
There's usually a line.
The week that we aired our first Triple D,
I got 100 people standing outside my little restaurant.
-No. -[John] Nuh.
-No idea what to do. -[Guy] No.
[John] Huge.
Thanks, Triple D.
We are doing the Kalua Pig Monte Cristo egg rolls.
-Looks like you're putting in some banana leaves? -[John] Yeah.
Now we got a pork butt.
-Rub this guy down with salt. -[Guy] All right.
Wrap it up.
Quite a bit of banana leaf.
We're gonna add a little bit of water...
So we don't burn on the bottom of that pan.
...so we don't burn on the bottom.
-[Guy] In the oven? -[John] Into the oven.
-Two twenty, 12 hours. -[Guy] Fantastic.
[John] So now I'm gonna start just breaking it up.
Little bit of this cooking liquid.
Ready to go, and we're gonna assemble the egg roll.
Start with a piece of Swiss cheese, sliced Black Forest ham,
-little bit of our Kalua pig. -[Guy] I like it.
[John] Little bit of scallion,
-there's our teriyaki. -Okay.
[John] Little sesame seed.
Just a little bit of egg wash to seal it.
Corner to corner. Wrap it over.
-And then tuck those ends in. -Yeah, nice, dude.
[Guy] Oh, yeah, you're talking to a dude that makes a lot of egg rolls.
[John] We got a Wasabi Mojo
and our teriyaki sauce.
There you go.
Get down.
Mmm.
Take a look at that.
The Kalua pig just really rocks and rolls.
I just wanna hear you say money.
That's like bank.
-Bank? Thanks, dude. -I mean, there's money and then there's bank.
I got a Kalua Pig Monte Cristo egg roll.
I saw the egg rolls just flying out the door.
[Guy] You're still doing those?
Oh, dude, there's people beating me
to work at 07:00 a.m. and they're just like,
"When are the egg rolls?" I'm like, "Bro.
Bro, have a cup of coffee
and tell me your story. It's gonna take a while."
[laughing]
[John] Making Augilucco right now.
We're gonna load her up.
You love the egg rolls, you're gonna love the Augilucco.
The crispy pork inside that sandwich
with the crunch of the bread, it's unreal.
[John] Now here, we got the Augilucco
-and this is just-- -[Guy] The whoey whoey?
Augilucco, basically the same pork
we were doing for the Kalua Pig Monte Cristo egg rolls.
Gonna take a freshly baked sub roll.
Slather the bottom with creole remoulade.
Take mashed avocado, smear it on the top.
Three slices of pepper jack cheese.
And then all this pork that we cooked, braised, crisped up.
All right.
Look at that.
Got an Augilucco.
[Guy] The sandwich is delicious.
You have to California it with some avocado.
It's awesome.
[John] Augilucco, table five.
The Kalua pork that's on the egg roll with some
guacamole with the creole sauce,
it works together so perfectly.
[female customer] You get a little kick, a little spice that's in there.
And the bread absorbs all the juices
so you're not losing any of that flavor.
-[customer] Triple D is how I found this place. -Really?
All right. Well, hey, man.
Good to see Triple D bring people together.
-[customer] That's right. -It's true, man.
Boy, this was a great, uh, blast from the past.
You're creating legends out of middleclass working people
all across this country and it helps us.
-Everybody happy? -Yeah, everything's good.
Keep it up, baby.
Legend right there, folks.
And just up the 405 in Culver City...
What is that going on?
...Hawaiian hits...
-A Lau Lau dish. -A Lau Lau.
...and rockstar sightings.
I come have eggs here all the time.
[laughing]
That's the shot of the year.
Now, back in 2014 in Culver City, California,
I ate at this joint dishin' out
real deal Hawaiian food
from an authentic Egyptian guy.
I know. I was surprised too.
But the food is so legit he had to open a bigger place
to fit the locals.
The local celebrities, that is.
This is Rutt's Hawaiian Cafe.
Loco Moco ready for pickup.
Triple D found one of the best Hawaiian restaurants out.
I watched a lot of Guy
and this restaurant came up.
It has something different to it that I love.
[customer] Paul's always been a community fixture
but ever since the show, he's become a local celebrity.
Aloha.
[Guy] And Chef Paul Wahba's a local celebrity,
celebrating Hawaiian food
even though his roots are from somewhere else.
Where are you originally from?
Uh, originally, I was from Egypt, but um,
-yeah. -Really?
[Paul] I didn't know what Hawaiian food was.
I looked at the menu
and I was like, "Oh, my goodness, we're gonna have SPAM on the menu?"
My goodness.
When people come and they guess,
"Are you a Hawaiian?" I go, "I'm half Hawaiian.
Half Egyptian." He goes,
"Oh, yeah, what part of you Hawaiian?"
I go, "The food half." [laughs]
Triple D Nation's Lau Lau, ready pickup.
-A Lau Lau dish? -Lau Lau, we say twice.
We start by trimming the butter fish.
-Black cod is also known as butter fish. -[Guy] All right.
So there's your fish, we got pork butt.
-Now what do we do? -Let's make our marinade water.
A little liquid smoke, Hawaiian sea salt.
We're gonna whisk it up a little bit.
That's gonna turn it to Kalua.
We'll come back, we'll put it all together in the taro leaf.
-We'll make a Lau Lau. -[Guy] Got it.
[Paul] You wanna completely cover it so you put a lot of the taro.
We're gonna get the Kalua pork,
the marinated pork that we did,
drop it right in the center.
We're gonna get butterfish.
[Guy] It's gonna go in there with it?
[Paul] Absolutely, you wanna put it on top.
Wrap it up nice and tight.
This is ready to go.
[Guy] Steam it for four hours.
[Paul] Steam it for four hours.
-[Guy] And that's it? -[Paul] That's your Lau Lau.
[Guy] Look at how tender that pork is.
Mmm.
The pork is about as ridiculously tender
as you can imagine. It's not over-seasoned.
That reminds me of Hawaii.
-Nice job. -Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Lau Lau.
Everybody started coming in
'cause Guy Fieri was talking about that Lau Lau plate.
-Enjoy. -Every time I come, I try a new dish.
Boneless beef short ribs.
Well, first thing we do is sear it off,
get it nice and brown on all sides.
Now we're gonna make the sauce for the short ribs.
Start off with ketchup, mustard, vinegar,
tamari, soy sauce,
Worcestershire sauce, pepper,
garlic, brown sugar.
This is gonna give it a good nice sweet flavor.
I'm gonna pour it in, mix it up a little bit,
diced onion on top.
Cover it tight, put it in the oven
two and a half hours.
Two scoops rice.
Homemade macaroni salad.
Boneless beef short rib plate.
[waitress] Here's your short ribs.
They braise it and then they broil it
and that sauce that it has is just so savory, so delicious.
Best part about it is it's so filling. I can't get enough.
I'm getting real Hawaiian food every time I come here.
We got original fried Hawaiian Rio,
the Gene Simmons teriyaki beef plate.
We're gonna do Hawaiian Rio.
-Uh, a fried Hawaiian Rio. -All right.
What is that going on?
-Hello? -Excuse me.
-[screams] -[all exclaiming]
[all cheering]
I come have eggs here all the time.
Rutt's has been my fav.
[Guy] What is this you're gonna make for Gene?
The original Hawaiian Rio
-with teriyaki beef style. Yes. -Royale?
Gene Simmons comin', I go, "That's his favorite."
[Guy] So what do we got, chef?
We'll put a little bit of veggie oil in here.
Sauteed onion and sprouts.
Little bit of the bean sprouts.
And we're gonna do is gonna scramble three egg with the teriyaki beef.
I'm-- I'm helpless.
Wow.
Nicely done.
I'm never gonna get rid of this towel. [laughs]
[Paul] We put your scrambled eggs on there.
Right on top, sir.
Come on.
Well, I hope we're hungry.
Just so you know, you're gonna burn your mouth.
Look at this.
When would this ever happen?
[exclaims]
[laughing]
That's the shot of the year.
Guy gave me advice. He goes, "Prepare,
be ready for people to come."
It's not possible with that little restaurant
to accommodate all these people.
[female customer] He had to change locations.
Lines were going around the block.
Building is much bigger.
[Paul] We just started two new locations,
one in Gardena and one in Azusa.
[customer] The best way to put it is it was
more dive-y, now it's more diner-y. [chuckles]
Wow.
You're two miles from the beach, two miles from the studios.
Smack-dab in the middle of it all,
and you're making authentic Hawaiian?
-Absolutely. -With a dude who's from Egypt.
-Nice job. -Thank you.
[Guy] And coming up in Cincinnati,
he's gone from the football field...
Tackling people and now we're tackling chicken.
...to Flavortown.
Mmm.
This is outstanding.
And brought his Jamaican jerk with him.
I need a jerk chicken combo.
Close your eyes and shake your head. [laughs]
You know, people get in the restaurant business
for all kinds of reasons.
For a lot of 'em, well, it's a family connection.
For some, it's a life passion.
And for others, well, they see an opportunity
and they just run with it.
Now back in 2014
in Cincinnati, Ohio,
I met up with this guy who traded running football routes
for running a restaurant.
Now he's scored big time
with even more Jamaican favorites.
This is Island Frydays.
Oxtail Rice N Peas.
This has been my go-to spot for the last decade
bringing that Jamaican cuisine.
[Leo] Jerk chicken wrap.
Everybody's found this hidden gem up here
on Short Vine. It's become a household name here in Cincinnati.
Escovitch with yellow rice.
[female customer] I saw that Guy had been here before,
gotta check this place out.
There's nothing else like it in the city.
[Guy] And there's nothing like Jamaican born chef, Leo Morgan,
who's a captain in the kitchen and on the field.
I was the number one outside linebacker
in the nation out of junior college
coming to UC, so...
-You played, you got injured. -Yes.
How did you end up in the restaurant?
Before I left college, I used to always cook for my teammates.
Football only lasts for so long.
When you have one of the world's most powerful food ambassadors
coming to your spot. I mean, it's wonderful, man.
I've heard about your
statistics on the football field.
But everybody's told me about this chicken.
Tackling people and now we're tackling chicken,
is different story, you know?
So what are we gonna start with first here?
[Leo] We're gonna add the jerk seasoning.
So this looks like the regular cast of characters
when I do my jerk.
And this right here, we call it Allspice.
[Leo] This is gonna be the base of your seasoning.
Scotch bonnet pepper.
-[Guy] Onions? -[Leo] Onions.
-He's very graceful. -Garlic.
It's like an offering to the gods.
-All right. -[both laugh]
-Can we taste it? -Yeah, man.
Dip your spoon, man, come on.
[chuckling] Dip your spoon, man.
Spice up your life.
Oh, wow, man!
-Want some water? -Ah! No.
[laughing]
-Now we're gonna season the chicken. -[Guy] Okay.
-And rub it in by hand? -[Leo] Yes, sir.
[Guy] All right, so we let this go for a day
-and then we'll throw it on the grill. -[Leo] Yes, sir.
-[Guy] This is the basting technique? -Yeah, man.
[Guy] I love it.
-So now we're gonna pull this off? -[Leo] Yes.
Like butter.
Yeah, with the rice and peas.
Cabbage, some plantains.
Piece of chicken.
Finishing sauce.
Same jerk rub, we just, you know, we cook it down.
-I like it, man. -Appreciate you.
Mmm.
The wood flavor makes all the difference.
-The rub isn't as hot... -[Leo] Good.
as when I tasted it straight out of the mixer.
But it's really deep, mmm.
This is outstanding.
Jerk chicken, Rice N Peas, Triple D style.
[female customer] Once Triple D came,
that's when you started getting the longer lines.
We outgrew our space here.
Now we have a takeout window.
[man] Oxtail and Rice N Peas.
They have a window now where you just go up to.
You're in and out.
Brown stew chicken wrap.
So it's a wrap, it's to-go and it's fast.
Wrap filled with rice, lettuce, tomato,
and the brown stew chicken, it's a game changer.
We're gonna make our stew sauce.
Scallions, garlic,
onions, ginger.
Scotch bonnets.
Can't have Jamaican flavors without having ginger and scotch bonnet.
Ketchup, barbeque sauce,
sugar, browning liquid.
Pineapple glaze, paprika,
island all-purpose seasoning.
Soy sauce, honey as well.
Add our water.
We're gonna add it to the butt.
Add the water. Once it's come to a boil,
add our carrots, red peppers and green peppers.
I'm gonna stew it for about 45 minutes.
Then we're gonna deep fry the chicken.
Now we're gonna add it to the stew.
We're gonna let this simmer for about 30 minutes.
Put the rice and peas down.
Brown stew chicken, lettuce and tomatoes.
Gonna wrap it up.
[customer 1] I have a brown stew wrap with steamed cabbage.
[customer 2] The brown stew chicken is so moist,
probably my favorite thing on the menu.
The chicken is beyond savory.
Just can't help but just close your eyes
and shake your head. [laughs]
I think they often think that
Jamaican means too spicy.
That's a ton of flavor
and flavors that people dig.
He has unique flavor to his food. I mean,
even from the seasonings that he has, it's special.
Crab boil at table three.
[customer] We got crab, we got egg, we got some potatoes
just packed with flavor.
He does a little thing with the ramen noodle,
stellar, can't beat it.
We're gonna make our crab boil stock.
Our scallion, garlic and onions,
Old Bay seasoning, jerk powder,
paprika, little bit of garlic powder,
Island Fryday's fish seasoning.
Island all-purpose.
Finally, we're gonna do Island Magic.
Bring that to a boil.
Now we're gonna add our butter,
our whole lemon slices.
No we're gonna put together, we're gonna start
now with our sausage.
Now I'm gonna add my potatoes.
Corn, egg, shrimp,
crab, some ramen noodles.
This soaks up the sauce.
I figure if I like it, somebody else will like it.
No we're gonna add our Island crab boil stock that we made.
Cover this up for about six minutes,
now we're ready to start plating.
Top it off with some parsley.
Island crab boil ready.
[female customer] I have an Island crab boil.
Corn and then, the potatoes,
noodles, as well as the crab and shrimp,
had the best flavor.
When I tell you, I had to take my jacket off
and roll up my sleeves for it.
It was amazing.
Escovitch Whiting.
-You're amazing cap, man. -Appreciate you.
-I'm serious. -It's all the love, you know.
I just try to basically do the best I can, you know.
This is not about money. It's about basically
pleasing somebody's tastebuds, you know?
-Nice to hang with you, man. -Appreciate you, Guy.
Augilucco, please, for here.
Hungry Triple D fans out there, money, come on.
-Let's do this. -Enjoy, guys.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes up Triple D Nation.
Pasta carbonara as seen on Triple D.
One Hawaiian Royale for Gene Simmons.
[female customer] I have a Triple D favorite.
And I can't wait to see what the other places have been up to.
This is what Guy had last time.
-Seen you on Triple D, man. -Okay.
Flavortown, we'll catch you next time.
Whoa.
-Let me get this out of the way. -Oh!
You moved like there was something in it. [laughs]
Disaster.
That can't go on, man.
-You set me up, man. -No, man.
-All right. -All right.