Hey, everybody, I'm Guy Fieri,
and we're rolling out, looking for America's greatest diners, drive-ins and dives.
This trip...
Here we go.
With or without meat...
Looks fantastic, chef.
...we're bringing the flavor.
I'd like to stick around, do the whole menu.
There's surf...
Delicious.
...and uncommon turf in Alabama...
This I didn't see coming, at all.
...vegan definitely worth the visit in Omaha...
This is what I call a destination dish.
...and sportscasting legend Dan Patrick
is rolling with me in Connecticut...
Oh, man, that is unbelievable.
[Guy] Isn't that great?
...for some gangster Greek.
It's unbelievably great.
That's all right here, right now
on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
[opening theme music playing]
I'm here in Mobile, Alabama,
in the Oakleigh Garden District.
I mean, look at this neighborhood.
So quaint, so quiet.
And in the middle of it, there's a restaurant.
Yeah, right in the middle.
And not just any restaurant.
Now, I hear this chef's got pedigree.
Heard he was on Top Chef.
I heard that he's really involved
with the Alabama Seafood Commission,
and he's cooked for two governors!
Oh, this is the real deal.
Welcome to The Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar.
Place is off the hook, Guy! Triple D!
Panini Pete? Nah.
We have an oyster bisque.
Anyone that likes innovative menus
knows about this place.
[woman] It's typical southern food,
but then it's combined with really exotic flavors.
[chef] Lamb for table 30.
What Jim does back there, it is magic.
[Guy] And Chef Jim Smith has been casting his spells
on the scratch-made menu
since he opened the place in 2020.
How do you describe the restaurant?
Homemade food, but not too stuffy about it.
-I dig it. -[Jim] Oysters ready to go.
Yeah, it is an oyster bar,
but there are quite a few things more. You have the rabbit.
Creole braised rabbit.
Everything that he puts in it is just so delicious.
[Guy] All right, what are we cooking today?
-[Jim] Creole braised rabbit. -What do we start off with?
We're gonna make the blackening seasoning.
We start with paprika, smoked paprika,
cayenne pepper, white pepper,
garlic powder, toasted fennel seed.
We'll start off by salting these guys.
Now, I like to go pretty heavily
on the backing seasoning.
Grab those hot rabbits, ready to roll.
-[Jim] Once it's seared, we then remove the rabbit. -We braising this?
Yes. We'll start off getting the Conecuh Sausage in the pan.
[Guy] Conecuh Sausage, which is one of my favorites.
[Jim] You got the onions, we got the green bell pepper, and the celery.
Blackening in here. Garlic goes in.
Deglaze this pan with a little bit of beer.
Add bay leaf and thyme in here,
hit it with a little Tabasco as well.
We're gonna make a quick blond roux first
-and then we'll add the dark roux at the very end. -Got it.
[Jim] A little bit of AP flour.
Roasted tomatoes.
[Guy] The homemade chicken stock.
-The brown roux, nice, peanutty flavor. -Yes.
[Guy] Add the rabbit back in.
How long's this gonna go?
-35 minutes to an hour. -Got it.
[Jim] Now, we're gonna make the grits
that goes with the braised rabbit.
All right, let's get into this.
[Jim] Cold milk, grits, salt.
Grits need salt.
[Jim] And a little bit of white pepper.
How much butter are we gonna mount it with?
Just a little bit here, uh...
Um, that's a little bit?
That's a lot of bit.
All right, Chef, let's get into this.
-The grits... -Like southern polenta.
Yeah. [chuckles]
What are you gonna have? Front leg, hind leg?
I'm thinking we go hind leg.
[Jim] Sausage on there.
Bury me in that.
Parsley, go heavy on the spring onion.
Pickled cabbage.
Walk me through the pickled cabbage.
[Jim] Apple cider vinegar, sherry vinegar, water,
sugar in the raw, star anise, fresh dill,
bay leaves, black peppercorn, fennel seed.
Bring all of that to a boil
and pour it over a mixture of cabbage, spring onion, and jalapeno.
[Guy] The grits are spot-on.
Creamy, delicious.
They got great texture to 'em.
The rabbit is braised enough that it's still juicy,
not braised so much that it's leathery and shreddy.
The balance of the braising liquid is perfect.
But you know what really makes the whole dish sing,
is this pickled cabbage chow chow.
-Next level. -Thank you.
All right, I got two rabbit going to plate.
The rabbit is so good, so tender.
The grits, I love the texture mixing in with all the other things.
[woman] The pickled cabbage is excellent.
Definitely balances out the dish.
It's delicious. Everything is so good.
Just a great variety.
He's very talented. He was executive chef for the past two governors.
You were the chef of the state.
The executive chef for the state of Alabama for two different governors.
It's a cool job, it was representative of all things Alabama food.
Overachiever.
He finds the things that are near the restaurant,
local farm to table, or ocean to table.
[Jim] All right, platter's coming up.
You have the whole fried flounder,
herbs and peanuts in curry sauce.
[Guy] Let's jump into it.
The first thing we're gonna start off by making is a shrimp stock.
-[Guy] Okay. -We have some Alabama brown shrimp.
[Guy] Onion and celery and fennel.
-Star anise. -This guy's like Captain Star Anise.
Bay leaf and fennel fronds.
[Guy] And some water. All right, how long's this gonna cook?
An hour to draw all that flavor out of the shrimp.
[Guy] Strain it off, and this is gonna be the foundation
of this red curry sauce?
-[Jim] Yes. -[Guy] Love it.
This is gonna be the curry paste.
-Ginger, galangal. -Galgalangalanga.
Lemongrass, a whole garlic clove,
fish sauce, soy sauce,
shallot, Thai chilies,
raw sugar, cinnamon,
lime juice, white pepper,
cumin and coriander.
This is ketchup.
This I didn't see coming.
-What's our next step? -The sauce.
Oil, julienne onion.
-Green bell pepper. -Garlic goes in next.
-Salt. -Mirin.
[Guy] Curry paste that we made.
[Jim] Add a little bit of the shrimp stock.
[Guy] And some coconut milk.
Let this reduce down a little bit.
What's our final step here, Chef?
Right now we're gonna steam some clams.
Start off with white wine, couple cloves of garlic.
-Bay leaf in here. -No! Bay leaf? From you?
Fresh thyme, our littleneck clams.
[Guy] All right, so what are we doing with this flounder here?
[Jim] Just gonna score both sides of it.
-What are we gonna drench it in? -Flour, white pepper and salt.
Egg wash, and then a mixture of cornmeal, cornflour and flour.
-[Guy] Fry the flounder? -For about ten minutes.
And we're just gonna finish this sauce.
The clams, they are nice and opened up.
Then we'll take the curry.
Parsley in here, arugula.
You wild man, you.
[Jim] Roasted and salted peanuts.
This is just getting weirder as we go.
Clam sauce right over the top.
Spring onion on there.
Thai basil, fresh mint,
finish with some flowers.
It is gorgeous, I will tell you that.
Peanuts are awesome inside of it,
the curry is worthy of a Thai, Vietnamese restaurant.
The clams...
-Delicious. Chef, nice job. Thank you. -Thank you.
[Jim] Curry, flounder, clams!
It's lightly fried, where it's satiating but it's not heavy.
Flounder is so fresh.
It's flaky, very, very tender
and delicious with the curry sauce.
Is this a normal Mobile restaurant?
-[woman] It's hidden. -[Guy] Right.
You kinda have to know where you're going to find it.
[Guy] You're driving along, it's house, house, house, and then, restaurant!
I mean, just to be able to roll right out of your house. I'd go broke here.
Oyster casino!
I'd like to stick around, do the whole menu.
If you get lucky enough to live close
to Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar,
you're gonna love it.
Up next, a funky joint in Omaha, Nebraska...
This is an oasis.
...where fried chicken is crossing into Veganville.
There's a big depth of flavor.
Along with a fiesta that'll fool ya.
I challenge anybody to come down here,
then tell me that this is vegan.
That is legitimate nachos right there.
All right, Hunter, we are here in Midtown of Omaha, Nebraska.
Where do you think I'm taking you?
Well, I mean, we're in Omaha, I'm thinking beef.
Okay. What if I said fried?
I mean, chicken-fried steak's great.
-Fried chicken, french fries. -Okay, okay.
What if I said fried mushroom?
What, are you taking me to a vegan place in Omaha?
How did you know?
This is Modern Love.
[woman] Plating alfredo.
I love Modern Love.
It's a little bit of everything, but mostly comfort food.
A Reuben with fries.
[woman] It reminds you of food that you had growing up,
but it just happens to be vegan.
[Guy] From culinary powerhouse Isa Chandra Moskowitz,
who has made vegan cooking her life's work.
-You've written three books, four books? -[coughs] Twelve.
-Seriously? -Yeah.
-Don't you have them all? -That's more than you.
Yeah. When did it start catching on?
You think of Omaha, you think of Omaha steaks.
Since I was vegan and I lived here,
and I wanted to open a restaurant.
-Word got out and people came. -Yeah, for sure.
[Guy] You're making your seitan and your tempeh and everything else.
-[Isa] Yeah, and our cheese. -[Hunter] And you're using local ingredients.
As much as possible, yeah.
Fire three nachos.
These sauces are awesome.
I'm a big fan of the pickled red onions that they put on it.
Definitely one to try.
All right, Chef, what are we into?
[Isa] Walnut chorizo for the nachos.
Walk us through it.
[Isa] Sundried tomatoes in oil.
Garlic, fresh shallots.
Blend it and finish with apple cider vinegar.
-Next up. -Dry spices.
-[Guy] Okay. -[Isa] Chipotle powder.
Salt, paprika.
Regular chili powder.
Cumin, cayenne pepper. Season our walnuts.
-Then the wet. -Yup.
We are going to bake it for about 12 minutes.
-At 325. -[Guy] Got it.
Next we're gonna make the queso.
Red bell peppers, cashews,
turmeric, onion powder,
unchicken bouillon.
-Tomato. -[Guy] Tomato paste.
Lots of umami going on in here.
Chickpea miso paste.
-Lemon juice. -Lemon juice.
Hunter, if you can tell me what this is,
I am gonna let you have a free ride home.
-Nutritional yeast. -Yes!
-Free ride home. -[Isa] Garlic powder.
Salt, black pepper.
-And then last but not least-- -Sun tan lotion.
It's refined coconut oil
so that it doesn't have like a very pronounced flavor.
We have to do this forever.
-Forever? -Yes.
It takes a long time to get the cashews really, really creamy.
Okay, so we're done with the cheese, we're done with the chorizo.
-Yeah. -What's our next step?
-[Isa] House hot sauce. -Hot sauce.
[Isa] Bell peppers, Fresno peppers.
-Garlic? -Fresh lime juice.
-Salt. -[Guy] Sugar.
White vinegar and rice vinegar.
Blend that and we're gonna finish it with xanthan gum.
There you go. What are we doing next?
Plating the nachos.
-Nice. -The magic's gonna happen.
Tortilla chips fried inhouse.
Cashew queso, get it nice and cheesy.
Hot sauce.
Chorizo, nice and warm. Tomatoes.
-Some pickled red onions. -Look at the pickled red onions. Beautiful.
[Isa] Pickled jalops, guac,
-and then some micro cilantro. -And the micro cilantro.
Mm.
[Guy] The chorizo is just loaded with flavor.
You saw everything she put into it.
-Oh, yeah. -The chips are super crunchy.
I challenge anybody to come down here
and break this down
and tell me that this is vegan.
That is legitimate nachos right there.
I mean, it's outstanding.
Matter of fact, it even has more flavor
and the chorizo has such great texture.
This is a nine at any nacho level.
-[Hunter] That is fantastic. -Thank you so much.
Got the Nachos Molo.
That's tastes exactly like chorizo to me, honestly.
It just has such a great little flavor and the texture is amazing.
I can't believe that that wasn't real cheese
'cause I've had some real cheese that wasn't as good as that.
[woman] Papa's Bravas.
These are my hotshot partners over at the Harrah's Council
Bluffs Guy Fieri Kitchen and Bar.
-There's no dairy in that at all. -I know it.
-I wouldn't have known. -[Guy] Any of you vegetarian or vegan?
-[all] No. -It's fantastic.
Chicken bacon ranch up.
I grew up in a small town where none of this was available.
Having this for the first time,
I enjoyed every bit of it.
It's embarrassing how much we eat here.
[Guy] This was a great kickoff.
Don't worry, we're coming back.
-We're gonna do more. Fried chicken? -Yeah.
[man] Mushroom fried chicken up.
Chicken-fried chicken, but with mushroom instead of chicken.
See you in a bit. Hunter, which ones do you want?
-None? Okay. -Give me the plate.
-You're not gonna be able... -Help me.
There you go.
Thank you. Thank you, Guy Fieri.
-You're in the fight. -Come on.
There you go. Oh, let me get some for you.
Welcome back, Triple D.
We're at Modern Love.
A vegan restaurant inside of probably one of the capitals of meat
in Omaha, Nebraska.
[man] Cauliflower wing going down.
[woman 1] The food here is vegan,
but that's not why I come here.
Everything I've had here has been wonderful.
[woman 2] Fire to mushroom fried chickens.
The mushroom fried chicken, it's phenomenal.
With mashed potatoes, gravy.
It's just all on point.
[Guy] Take us to Flavortown, Chef.
So we're gonna start with these local oyster mushrooms.
-They look like chicken. -Juicy and flaky.
[Isa] We're gonna season our flour.
-[Guy] Black pepper. -[Isa] Oregano.
Paprika, garlic powder,
onion powder, ginger, salt.
Mix that and then season our flour.
Now, we'll bread our mushrooms.
This is just a flour slurry.
[Guy] And the key is to kind of pry open some of the nooks and crannies.
[Isa] Yeah. We'll fry them, let them cool,
and then give them a second fry for service.
Mushroom gravy, let's see it.
Extra virgin olive oil, cremini mushrooms.
[Guy] Just a couple pounds.
[Isa] It's mushroom on mushroom.
Salt, onion, shallots.
We're gonna let that caramelize,
and then we're gonna add little more oil,
some fresh garlic, nutritional yeast, salt.
Pepper, dried rosemary, dried thyme.
Anything that would be in a Simon & Garfunkel song.
-There you go. -[Isa] And chardonnay.
Once this is all cooked down,
we're gonna make another slurry.
The vegans can't stop with the slurries.
Chickpea flour, porcini powder.
[Guy] Like that.
-There's a big depth of flavor. -Yup.
-Salt. -Corn starch?
[Isa] Yup. Veggie stock.
[blender whirs]
We're gonna add it to the mushrooms.
Now we're gonna add more stock,
cook that down for about 40 minutes.
-[Guy] What do we have left? -The coleslaw.
-But first, we're gonna make our own mayo. -Okay.
[Isa] Soy milk, flaxseeds.
Lemon juice and apple cider vinegar.
Onion, garlic, kala namak,
which is an eggy salt, and salt.
We're gonna blend that,
and then emulsify it with the olive oil.
[blender whirs]
Now we'll make our purple cabbage slaw.
Salt, sugar, red wine vinegar,
and our house mayo.
-[Guy] And we're good to go. -Yeah.
All right. Let's see it, chef.
I just put a little bit of water in the bowl.
Parsley powder, cauliflower mashed potatoes.
-Mushrooms. -[Guy] Wow.
-Yeah. -Looks like fried chicken.
[Isa] Coleslaw in there.
Lots of gravy.
Some chives, and micro mustard grains.
Are you gonna make Hunter's now?
[Isa] Yes.
-Medium rare. -[chuckles] Medium rare.
-Mm. -Delicious.
I can't believe how tender those oysters are.
[Guy] The texture's fantastic.
The gravy is great on anything.
-[Hunter] Yeah. -You need the break with that slaw,
to kind of cleanse your palate.
It's on point.
I mean, this is the kind of thing,
I know you guys are gonna watch this and say,
"Come on, I went there, Guy,
and it didn't taste like chicken." It's not chicken.
You have to put yourself in the mentality for sure,
but this is what I call a destination dish.
-Honestly. -Thank you so much.
-Well done. -Chef, fantastic.
[woman] Mushroom fried chicken up.
Potatoes are great, the gravy's delicious.
Goes perfect with the fried chicken.
Great acidity and spice, awesome.
So this is Chef Gino and Rob.
They're doing our opening here for the Council Bluffs Guy Fieri Kitchen and Bar.
I mean, you couldn't tell me there wasn't beef stock in that gravy.
No, absolutely not.
It's crunchy. It eats like fried chicken.
-And you're for a guy that doesn't like mushroom. -It's unbelievable.
Buffalo cauli in window.
Modern Love offers swanky vegan food
that's accessible and delicious.
[Guy] If more vegetarian restaurants
were doing what you're doing,
I think more people would be experiencing
their vegetarian side of themselves.
This is an oasis.
-[Hunter] Crushing it. -Thank you so much.
[Guy] Coming up, I'm going Greek with Dan Patrick
at Stamford, Connecticut...
He laughed. You saw him laugh.
-No. -He chuckled.
...to a spot serving lights-out lamb...
Those spices, boom.
...and a dish straight out of Yiayia's kitchen.
Outstanding.
So here for his Triple D debut
is the one and only Dan Patrick.
Told him I was gonna bring him to Triple D one day
and here we are.
Yeah, ten years later.
I've been waiting for the invitation.
Uh... yeah, but I don't make it to the east coast as often as I want to,
and we're here in Stamford, Connecticut.
-I figured this was close enough to home. -It is.
-[Guy] Are you a Greek food fan? -[Dan] Yes, I am.
Okay, well, good. I... That's...
-But let's hurry this up. -Yeah.
'Cause I got a show to do, and, you know,
why don't you do what you do, and then I'll be in here.
Great, Dan. This is Kouzina.
Oktapodi.
It's like you've left Stamford and you've gone into Greece.
It's fresh. Everything is house-made.
-These guys are doing it right. -The best.
One Youvetsi.
Just feels really homey and comfortable and fun.
[Guy] Probably 'cause the Vavoulidis brothers
are used to making people happy.
I started off as a DJ. Frank was in the donut business.
-Okay. -We kind of put it together
and decided to open a full service restaurant.
[Guy] And when they added veteran chef Peter Alatsas to the mix,
it became a recipe for Greek greatness.
All right, I brought a buddy of mine.
You know Dan Patrick.
He's a big food guy. So what would we make him?
Some good comfort food.
Arni Kotsi, which is a braised lemon lamb shank.
One Arni Kotsi.
The Arni Kotsi, it is the most tender lamb I've ever tasted in my life.
The lemon potatoes, this spinach-stuffed tomatoes.
It's a wow place.
This is domestic lamb shank.
We're gonna start with salt, pepper.
[Guy] Greek oregano.
Drizzle oil over it.
Put the garlic, the thyme and the rosemary.
Why did you wear all the hardware?
This is 400 of Guy's Grocery Games.
I know you're a big fan.
-I haven't been invited to that either. -Here we go.
[Peter] We're gonna put it in the oven
for about an hour and a half at 450 degrees.
Deglaze it with some wine.
-And you make your own vegetable stock? -Yes.
Which is mixed with mustard and lemon.
We cover it halfway.
Put it in the oven again.
After an hour, we're gonna take it out
and we're gonna put a slurry of cornstarch.
[Guy] To tighten up the sauce. What does this get served with, Chef?
Lemon-roasted potatoes.
I dip them in the deep fryer and we get that coating on it.
Oregano again.
Salt, some garlic, thyme.
Smells are really... they jump out of there.
[Peter] A little olive oil on it.
Prepared mustard goes into the vegetable.
-[Guy] You love your mustard. -Oh, I love it.
Lemon juice.
It goes in the oven for about 45 to 50 minutes.
So now we do the stuffed tomatoes.
[Peter] Cook down some scallions and onions.
The dill, the parsley and the mint.
We add the spinach.
Once it's wilted, we add Pecorino Romano and feta.
We have different ways that you can get feta,
and there's some feta you wanna forgetta.
Ah, you wanna forget about it--
-No, no, no. -[Guy] I'm out.
-No, no, no. -He laughed!
-You saw him laugh. He chuckled. -No. No.
[Peter] And we're ready to stuff our tomatoes.
Top it up with a little Pecorino Romano on top.
350 degrees, 30 minutes.
The Arni Kotsi is ready.
-As you can see, it falls off the bone. -[Guy] Look at that.
-Yeah. -[Dan] You can top me with some of that gravy.
That'd be quite a dish, Guy.
Are we trying to get everything in there?
Gotta get that flavor in it.
-Oh, man, that is unbelievable. -Isn't that great?
I just said that.
You said "unbelievable," I said, "great."
It's unbelievably great.
-[Guy] There you go. -[Peter laughs]
[Guy] It is of the better lamb shanks I've ever had.
How's the, uh...
Those spices, boom.
[Guy] The fry on the potato.
-It's got a nice texture on it. -Tell you what.
I gotta get out of here.
Hey, Chef. Thank you.
Uh, bye, Dan.
-I really enjoyed-- -Hey, can I get your car keys?
-You're gonna bring that back though, right? -[tires screeching]
[Peter] I'm plating another Kotsi right now.
-How's the lamb shank? -Delicious.
The lemon sauce on top really brightened it up.
The lemon potatoes mixes with the lamb really well.
The tomato with the spanakopita inside, it's a big surprise.
This is Nicole, great, great friend of mine.
This is her family.
-Have you ever been to Greece? -I have.
-This, it feels like it, doesn't it? -Absolutely.
The atmosphere, the decoration,
everything here is top notch.
The outside seating, the sidewalks are always packed,
there's always plenty of people eating.
Plating one pastitsio.
The pastitsio is kind of like lasagna without the red sauce.
-If you haven't had pastitsio, you haven't had Greek food. -Ah, you're right.
We are making the ground beef.
Olive oil, pureed onions and garlic.
Then the ground beef.
Salt, pepper.
-[Guy] Stir it up. -White wine.
[Guy] Tomato paste.
[Peter] Tomato puree.
And then I can see we're making a sachet of something over here.
-Nutmeg. -Cinnamon stick.
-Cloves. -And some allspice.
How long is this gonna cook?
[Peter] For about an hour.
It's gonna get reduced.
Onto the Bechamel.
[Peter] Butter. I want to cook down the flour a little bit.
-[Guy] Salt. -Nutmeg.
-Okay. -We add the milk to it.
Grated Pecorino Romano to make it nice and smooth.
Whisk in the egg yolk slowly
so they don't turn into scrambled eggs.
Let it cool. And we gotta cook our pasta.
[Peter] A tubettini pasta, which comes from Greece.
Ready to assemble.
What's on the bottom of the pan there, Chef?
-A little butter. -Pecorino Romano. Nice and salty.
[Peter] Some egg whites over here.
That makes 'em fluffy.
-Just a little bit of binder. -Right. Beef sauce.
-Spread that out. -Little more cheese.
[Guy] Smells fantastic.
Let me guess. More cheese.
Didn't see that coming.
[Peter] Bechamel on top.
That's beautiful.
Put a little cheese on it again.
-Three egg yolks. -Okay.
-[Peter] And I'm gonna add-- -[Guy] A little butter.
We're gonna cook this in the oven.
[Peter] Uncovered, in a water bath.
-In a water bath? -375 degrees, an hour.
Looks fantastic, Chef.
I always like the corner piece.
[Peter] It's the best.
A little parsley and you're ready to go.
It is so rich.
The clove and the cinnamon sing through in the meat.
The bechamel makes a really nice crust.
That's like you're back in Greece
and your yiayia made it, huh?
-[Peter] Right. -That is delicious.
[woman] I have one pastitsio.
This is thick and really good.
The bechamel on top was to die for.
-What do you think? -Fantastic.
-Right? -Excellent.
You can save yourself traveling to Greece
and you can come right here to downtown Stamford and enjoy yourself.
Hey, Dan Patrick.
I think you might have left a little bit early.
Outstanding. Well done, Chef.
So was this a great road trip or what?
But don't you worry.
I got plenty more joints to find all over this country.
I'll be looking for you next time
on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
You stole my idea for Triple D,
so why wouldn't you steal a recipe?
Why not keep going along with this?
-Yeah. -Right. Right.
-Dan. "D." -Yeah, yeah.
I have Guy's Grocery Games.
I shoulda just stuck with that.
Yes, exactly. But...
-Phew. Man, talk about it. -Continue, Chef. Continue.
-Yeah. -[crew laughing]