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 doing?"
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 blowing up
and we're going back to see what's cooking.
Like, on this trip...
the menus may be all over the map...
[exclaims]
...but the places sure aren't.
We're so happy to share it with the world.
[Guy] Because we've got our eyes...
Don't wanna put my finger in that one.
...and our tastebuds...
That's exactly how I like it.
...laser focused on the Northeast.
And one coming to Cali soon.
[laughs]
[Guy] First, it's piled high hot dogs in Fairfield, Connecticut...
I'm like, "Ah, somebody's gonna be eating really well today."
[Guy] ...and then, we're off to Philadelphia...
This is the next level.
...to sample everything from stromboli to seafood.
Ah, this is dreamy and creamy. Dynamite.
Familiar faces, new places and more off-the-hook flavors.
This is Triple-D Nation.
2008, I'm at some good friends' house,
and they said, "We have a surprise
coming for this big dinner we're gonna do at our house."
Now, what comes rolling down the driveway for dinner,
but this, the Super Duper Weenie wagon.
I'm like, "A hot dog truck? You don't think I had enough hot dogs in my day?"
They said, "No, you're gonna love these guys."
And I did love 'em.
And that's what brings us here to Fairfield, Connecticut,
to the Super Duper Weenie world headquarters.
Dixie, New Englander.
Super Duper Weenie is a great hometown place.
Even after the Triple-D episode aired,
everything is from scratch,
everything is made-to-order, everything's delicious.
[woman] Two Californian hot dogs.
[man 1] They're crispy, they're tasty, they're fresh.
I've never had another hot dog like it.
[Guy] And it's all thanks to Gary Zemola
who's shouldering a pretty impressive title around here.
So, you're the "big weenie" here?
[laughs]
-Dogs are dogs. -Mm-hmm.
[Guy] There's dogs made great.
-There's dogs made okay. -Yup.
What has been the success of Super Duper?
[Gary] I started making everything from scratch.
It has not changed one bit.
New Englander up.
You don't find places that feature hot dogs
from specific areas, and they're pretty accurate.
Our top selling dog is the New Englander.
The bacon, the sauerkraut, and I like the sweet relish a lot.
Like a typical pickled relish, but fresh.
[Guy] Cucumber takes a big role in this.
Yes, the sweet cucumber relish.
Chopped, tossed with some kosher salt.
[Guy] Red and green bell peppers.
Cucumbers, onions, mustard seed,
celery seed, sugar.
This is cider vinegar, water.
We're gonna bring this up to a simmer,
shut it off. I still want it a little crispy.
[Guy] That's bananas.
That's relish.
And we give it a blend.
-So, you're gonna leave a little texture to it? -Oh, yeah.
[Guy] Now do we taste it?
I know why the call it "relish." You relish that.
And this is gonna go on what again?
[Gary] The New Englander.
So, you're starting off with a nice big slice of bacon,
our sauerkraut, just a real good spicy brown mustard,
sweet relish.
[exclaims]
[Gary] Chopped onions. There you go.
[exhales]
So, get ready for this.
Wow, that's good.
Where has that been all my life?
We have the New Englander ready.
[man 2] The New Englander was always my favorite,
but I really got into the Californian,
and that's my go-to now.
Two Californians for Scott.
The California dog is great, it has hot relish on it,
very flavorful.
That's a California you're delving into.
It has American cheese, house-made chili, and relish.
These have been cooked for about five to six minutes,
get a nice crust on 'em.
First ingredient, slice of American.
Our house-made chili.
First thing I've gotta do is sear off the meat,
whole tomatoes in their juice.
Fresh chopped green peppers.
Onions, tomato paste,
and our spices.
Black pepper here, cumin, oregano
chili powder, little chopped garlic.
And we'll let this simmer for a little bit.
Hour and a half to two hours.
Chopped onion.
House-made hot relish.
-This is-- -Hot pepper relish.
-Hot pepper relish? -That's correct.
Red and green bell peppers, they've been salted
and drained to get most of the liquid out of them.
[Guy] So you put the onions in.
[Gary] Water, red wine vinegar.
Garlic cloves, fennel seed.
Ooh, I like that move.
-[Gary] Sugar. -[Guy] Okay.
A quick simmer and I shut it off.
You don't wanna mush it.
Hot chopped pickled cherry peppers.
This is where you get the extra heat as well as flavor.
-Give this a shock. -And we get the party started?
Don't wanna put my finger in that one.
[Gary] That looks about right.
Hmm.
Marries together nice.
Two Californians for Triple-D Nation.
[Guy] Delicious. Great snap on the dog,
toasting on the bun.
I always think the bun doesn't get enough treatment.
-That's been one of the signature hot dogs. -That's gotta be crushin'.
[Gary] It is.
[woman] Two Californian hot dogs.
The Californian has a hot relish and a hot chili,
and the combination together is just something you'll never have.
Chili on the hot dog is like a thicker chili, on the sweeter side.
The hot relish is absolutely the best.
It's something you really gotta try.
When I found the truck, it was back in 1991.
We took it and gutted it, redid it.
The truck just got to be overwhelming.
I could not keep up.
When I met you, you had the brick and mortar,
-and you had the truck. -[Gary] Yup.
All right, give me the update. Where are things?
It's cruising right along, lot of catering going on,
-lot of off-premise work happening right now. -[Guy] Okay.
-How many trucks? -[Gary] Total five.
-Five trucks? -Five.
And one coming to Cali soon.
[laughs]
[man 1] Driving around, I see one of Gary's trucks,
I'm like, "Ah, somebody's gonna be eating really well today."
[Guy] But they're not the only ones.
Mm-hmm. [mouths] Wow.
If you think the dogs are drumming up all the business...
think again.
[Gary] Phairfield cheese steak up.
Gary has it all.
[Gary] Small nuggets.
I know as an adult, you're not supposed to eat 'em,
but I just can't resist 'em.
Please hold. I have to take another bite.
[laughs] "Please hold."
-[laughing] -[Gary] Hmm!
[Guy] It's not often that I get all the way back up to Connecticut,
but when I do, I always check in with this top dog.
The way you do it, the discipline you have for it,
you don't treat it just like, "Hey, it's only a hot dog."
You treat it like it's a hot dog
which is an all-American iconic staple
and it should be treated with respect,
and I'm gonna do everything I can to make it
-as big and bad and bodacious as I can. -Old school. Yep.
As old school as possible.
California dog with the French fries.
Coming to Super Duper Weenie, there are so many options.
From the most simple to the most complex.
[Gary] Putting on the chili.
I've got my favorites, and I've tried just about everything.
I think they're all good.
[Gary] Georgia red hot.
Southern-style sausage.
Little bit of our kraut.
-You fortify it with your own little giddy up. -Right.
[Gary] Take a little chopped bacon, a little caraway.
I'm gonna put that right in our bowl of sauerkraut here.
Smells good.
It's probably one of the most widely used condiments that we have here.
Mustard and a little bit of the homemade sweet, and there you go.
I hope you know at home that I eat this for you.
[Gary] I'm standing back.
No, you're not.
-[Gary] Okay. [sighs] -[laughs]
-[Gary] That's hot. -[Guy] But, uh...
But then, you get that cool relish
-'cause it's a little bit cold... -Right, right.
...and sweet, counterbalancing it.
And then, a little bit of the vinegar coming, too.
Excellent.
If you're gonna do it, do it right.
That's what I wanted to do.
Three orders small fries.
Well, hot dogs are great,
and then every once in a while, Gary has a special.
So, it's not just dogs anymore.
French fries are to die for.
They cut 'em fresh everyday.
I ate the cheese steak and that was great.
My kids love the chicken fingers.
They do great chicken fingers.
Small nuggets for the Triple-D Nation.
They are known for their hot dogs,
but stay for the chicken nuggets.
Fresh, fried-to-order.
Chicken nuggets are awesome.
I know as an adult, you're not supposed to eat 'em,
but I just can't resist 'em.
Everybody wants nuggets at a party.
Now, we're gonna season our breadcrumbs with some thyme, garlic powder,
black pepper, onion powder,
cayenne pepper, salt.
I'm gonna mix this up, and we're ready to dredge.
This is chicken breast, all white meat here.
Drop this in flour.
We'll go to the egg next.
Get those well coated with the egg.
Now into the seasoned breadcrumbs.
These bad boys are ready to fry.
Sauces are honey mustard, Super Duper secret sauce,
and homemade barbeque.
This is our house-made barbeque sauce.
We cook onions down for about four to six hours.
After that we add, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce,
brown sugar, cider vinegar,
black pepper, red crushed pepper,
dried mustard, molasses.
In order to make the Super Duper sauce,
we start with some mayonnaise, yellow mustard,
honey, house-made barbeque,
fresh lemon juice, horseradish.
Blend this, and there you have it.
[Guy] Delicious.
The breading on the chicken's great,
not too breaded, and the sauces are all on point.
This is money.
[Gary] Chicken nuggets.
They're almost like sophisticated nugget,
they're really fresh, they're really well made,
and they're made-to-order.
I love the barbeque sauce, it's homemade,
it's definitely on the sweeter side.
That Super Duper sauce, I don't what's in it, but it's super-duper.
[Gary] Phairfield cheese steak up.
Instead of just going for the ordinary, come for the extraordinary.
Represent, brother.
Is this what you thought was gonna happen?
No, not by any stretch.
[Guy] It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Continued success, my friend.
Thanks, man.
[Guy] And coming up,
we're off to Philly for some pasta...
It is crab on crab on crab.
...pizza...
Dynamite vibe.
...and legit Pennsylvanian lingo.
Here in South Philly, we call it "gabagool."
So, I'm here in South Philly.
I always wanted to come here 'cause it reminded me
of a great Italian food, lots of stories,
lots of family,
and I found a joint that's serving up just that.
The place had it all when I was there in 2020.
Mom's recipes, neighborhood vibes,
and thankfully, nothing's changed.
Check out Stogie Joe's.
[employee] Antipasto salad for table one.
I love the food here, it's amazing.
You will always get a good meal.
[employee] Sausage, broccoli rabe pizza coming up.
Since they've been on Triple-D,
everybody comes from all over.
Once you come, you know, it is the place to be.
-You got them perogies ready? -[employee] Coming.
It's such a unique menu, which is crazy 'cause it's just a bar.
[Guy] Well, not just a bar.
Because the Leuzzi brothers are serving up a mashup
of Italian family tradition and a bunch of street cred.
This isn't Stogie Joe. No, this is Stogie Joe's brother.
And Stogie Joe doesn't smoke cigars,
but he got the name when he was a kid,
because if you're in South Philly
and you don't have a nickname, like...
Well, he didn't have one, but his other brother did,
and that's, uh, Sonny Boy and Stogie Joe,
-and Kristian. -[laughs]
It's all family.
Everybody here, we treat like family.
So that's a big part of what we do.
And, of course, the food is fabulous.
[Kristian] Order up, linguine with crab gravy.
Sunday gravy was a tomato sauce for a pasta dish, correct?
Exactly.
-But we're gonna make it with crab. -Yep.
So, we start with olive oil, little bit of butter,
leeks, onion.
[both] Celery.
[Guy] Bay leaf.
Garlic, peppercorn, little bit of oregano.
Crushed red pepper.
Some fresh parsley and thyme.
Get that going for a few minutes.
-[Guy] Raw but cleaned blue crabs. -[Kristian] Exactly.
-And this is just a crab of the East Coast? -Yes.
[Guy] Talk about great flavor and sweet.
[Kristian] Old Bay. And then, we'll cook it for 15 minutes.
We'll finish it with white wine
and crushed plum tomatoes.
-We're gonna cook it? -Yep.
Four hours, five hours.
-[Guy] Oh, really? -[Kristian] Yeah.
We macerate it through a food mill.
-[laughs] -I've never seen this.
-[Kristian laughs] -[Guy] That's awesome.
I'm gonna grind it up,
-get the sauce out of it. -[Kristian] Yep.
[Guy] The crab, all that great flavor's in the shell.
So you get all the flavor and none of the shells.
[Kristian] Exactly.
This is the next level.
[Kristian] Crab gravy,
add the tomato.
A little butter just to balance out.
-Bring it up to temperature. -Okay.
[Kristian] I'm gonna add linguine,
and salt and pepper.
Just coat it real nice.
[Guy] Real nice, like that?
[Kristian] Finish it with a little parsley.
Extra virgin olive oil.
And that's all she wrote.
It is crab on crab on crab.
Really delicious.
[Dominick] Two linguine and crab.
We had an influx of people come.
They look at the menu, see Guy's picture next to, you know, the crab gravy.
It's always a staple of mine when I come here.
Need a little more dough on the line here.
I've eaten everything in this place.
The variety is insane.
[Kristian] I got mussels coming off.
The mussels with the white bean are amazing.
We start with a little white wine,
oil in the pan, little garlic,
crushed red pepper. We add the mussels.
Give it a little saute.
Fresh lemon wedges.
And we hit it with the white wine.
Fresh parsley, herb butter.
And we bring it together.
Now we're gonna make our white bean salad for our mussels.
Cannellini beans.
Olive oil, extra virgin.
Parsley, some garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice,
bay leaf, salt, and white pepper,
crushed red pepper, and red onion.
Clam broth.
And we just cap it, give it a few minutes.
Gonna arrange 'em in here, get most of them out.
We'll add the white beans.
I'm gonna garnish it with bread, parsley.
That's it.
Mussels and white bean.
It's nice and light, not too buttery.
The mussels are always so good. It's perfect.
There's not other places like this,
that you could have mussels on one plate
and then a square pizza in another plate.
[Kristian] Stogie Joe pizza.
[Guy] I love it.
It's not too many ingredients for the right amount of crust.
That's exactly how I like it.
-Dynamite vibe. -Thank you.
Stogie Joe pizza.
The pizza is amazing, it's crisp, it's not greasy,
it's not too cheesy, it's just, like, that perfect mix.
[Kristian] Stogie Joe stromboli.
And the stromboli, a lot of people love it. It's great.
Stromboli is an Italian sandwich that's baked.
Packed with pepperoni and gabagool and cheese.
-[Kristian] We're gonna make the dough. -[Guy] Yeast.
[Kristian] Water.
-[Guy] High-gluten flour. -[Kristian] Yeah, we use high-gluten flour.
How long are we gonna let this mix?
[Kristian] Seven to ten minutes or so.
[Guy] We're gonna let it proof.
-Portion it out. -Yep.
Then what I'll do is I'll cut this in half,
this will make strombolis.
And roll it out slightly. We put the cheese down first.
We're using Pepper Jack.
Genoa salami.
Soppressata, spicy capocollo.
Here in South Philly, we call it gabagool.
Now we just kinda like pinwheel it, fold it over.
We get it on a pan and we brush it olive oil.
Little garlic powder.
Pepper, salt, parsley.
Takes about six to eight minutes
and it's about 500 degrees.
And we're serving it with our house-made tomato sauce.
We start with extra virgin olive oil,
chopped onions, butter, garlic.
Sautee it for a few minutes, now add the tomato.
Fresh basil, salt and pepper to taste.
So after about four hours, this will be ready to serve as a dipping sauce.
Plating up the stromboli.
It's thin, crunchy, crispy.
Baked perfect, it's never soggy or greasy.
The sauce tastes like homemade.
It's fabulous.
Order up for the Triple-D Nation.
To pull up to a joint
where three brothers are celebrating their mom's recipes,
you're in this funky old bar joint.
-This was dynamite. Congrats, man. -[Kristian] Thank you.
Come on down to South Philly.
And next up, we're heading to a neighborhood pub...
[Carolynn] It's good drinking food.
[Guy] Good drinking food.
...that's pushing out both culinary classics...
-Making chicken pot pie? -Chicken pie.
...and curve balls.
Fire it up, octopus.
So, I'm here in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia,
about six blocks from Center City
to check out a joint. Now get this,
they were the first to be serving
only locally made drafts in Philadelphia
and maybe one of the first in the country.
You think their beer program's impressive?
Check out their menu.
It was loaded with all the goods back in 2013,
and they're still knocking it out of the park
all these years later.
This is Standard Tap.
Grilled venison in the window. Can I get a runner?
It's working people's food,
but done in a really, really good way.
The roast pork sandwich.
Triple-D just highlighted the place so well.
It's a meeting spot, and I think William and Paul have done a great job
to cultivate that over the years.
[Guy] That's because Paul Kimport and William Reed
had a theory when they decided to open this place.
It's more fun to eat in a bar
than it is to drink in a restaurant,
and that's what our passion is.
It's great local beer and great local food.
We had specific ideas
about how we were gonna make it a neighborhood tavern.
I think that's what we've always tried to bring forward.
I have a calamari for the table.
I love everything about the food.
They have this chicken pie.
That was the first dish that I've tried in Philadelphia.
-Making chicken pot pie? -Chicken pie.
It's not in a pot, it's molded.
We just season them with salt and pepper
and then we roast 'em.
-[Guy] In the oven? -[Carolynn] In the oven. 400.
Little over an hour.
-I'm gonna pick 'em. -Oh, we're saving the skin?
[Carolynn] We're saving the skin, and we're gonna save the bones,
and we're gonna make a stock out of it.
No bones. Wait, how did this get in there?
-[Guy] That wasn't me. -[Carolynn] That was yours.
[Guy] No, we... I...
[laughs]
Next step?
[Carolynn] We're making the filling for chicken pie.
-Let's hit it. -[Carolynn] Get the pan hot.
Blended oil, quartered cremini mushrooms,
chopped garlic, salt and pepper.
-It's a pretty hearty dish. -It's good drinking food.
Good drinking food.
[Carolynn] Fresh sage and thyme.
Parsley, and you add your mirepoix.
[Guy whistles]
Sweat it all down.
-And then we add the chicken. -[Guy] Okay.
[Carolynn] And then we add the chicken stock.
And how long will this cook down once the stock goes in?
[Carolynn] This will take a couple hours.
And at the end of it cooking down, what are we gonna do?
[Carolynn] We're gonna add a rue.
[Guy] Now we're gonna make the pie.
Ho, ho, ho, ho, how much...
I wasn't trying to be Santa Claus there.
How big is the filling in this thing?
[Carolynn] It's, uh, little smaller than a softball.
Grab the pastry and just stretch it over like that.
And then you cinch it, and it's nice and sealed.
Take a piece of puff pastry, cut a strip,
and just twist it, and put it right on top.
[Guy] Now, these are baked-to-order.
-[Carolynn] We par bake them and then-- -[Guy] Par bake 'em,
hold 'em, fire 'em up in the oven again.
Does it come with a gravy or a sauce?
[Carolynn] Comes with a salad underneath it.
There you go.
I'm dying to see this inside here.
Aw, this is dreamy and creamy.
Yeah, all right.
If you like chicken pot pie,
and you want more of the crunchy crust that you have on top,
this is what you want.
The chicken pie, I mean, that's been Standard Tap for over 20 years.
It's always one of the things that people are looking for after seeing the show.
If anybody wants to give me a little high five
or high four.
[employee] Beer batter blue fish.
The menu's so robust.
Every week, they kinda look at it and they dissect it.
"How can we make this better?"
[employee] Mussels and chorizo, in the window.
One of my favorites is the mussels.
They have a nice light flavor, but also, the chorizo comes in at the end
and rounds it out.
Our chorizo is made with pork shoulder.
We add salt, thyme, and fennel, black pepper.
Smoked Spanish paprika, garlic,
and last, onion.
And we'll grind that up and we'll make our chorizo.
We'll add some onion and garlic, butter, parsley, basil,
tarragon, and oregano.
We'll finish it up with some white wine and lemon.
And lastly, our wild Maine mussels.
And once the mussels bloom, we serve.
[employee] Mussels with chorizo.
The mussels are fresh, a little bit of a nice perfect amount of spice to it.
The chorizo itself is not too spicy,
but overall, it's got a nice depth of flavor.
Just wonderful.
We got the grilled chicken sandwich.
-These guys have been setting the trend for a long time. -[Guy] Really?
-Yeah. -Trailblazers.
[employee] Grilled venison and spelt berry risotto.
Great food. Sometimes, you can step out
and try something that you're not gonna get at every other place.
It's definitely not a generic menu.
Fire it up, octopus.
All right, first we're making a court-bouillon.
Water, then you add Spanish onions,
celery, fresh grapefruit, oranges, lemons,
garlic, bay leaf, fresh thyme and parsley.
We're gonna let this go for a boil.
[Carolynn] We're gonna add the octopus.
[Guy] Nice.
[Carolynn] We're gonna make a marinade for the octopus.
Start with some garlic, crushed red pepper.
[Guy] Oh!
Little bit of celery seed, fresh parsley.
[Guy] What's up with the red chili flake there, sunshine?
Gotta get some heat.
Got some, uh, fresh thyme and oregano.
Little salt, white pepper,
vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil.
Blend and whisk.
[Guy] The octapus is gonna go down.
Are we gonna cut it before we drop it in?
We're gonna pull it apart with our hands, you know...
tear it apart.
-Now I know you're serious. -[chuckles]
-[Guy] Okay, we're done? -[Carolynn] We're done.
So how long was this down?
[Carolynn] Couple hours.
[Guy] Just how it's... I mean, it literally is fall apart tender.
Marinade up. And then, are we gonna grill it for service?
[Carolynn] We're gonna grill it for service.
[Guy] Some heat on there.
Little bit of olive oil, little bit of lemon.
-That's all she wrote? -That's all she wrote.
Hmm. That's good.
It's so cooked down that it's falling apart
or it's dry. Dynamite.
-Enjoy. -Thank you.
Everybody comes here just to kinda relax, have a good time,
eat a really good meal.
A lot of places open up and they wanna be an Irish pub
or a Belgian pub or something like that.
We wanted to be a Philadelphia pub.
Will and Paul are like a dynamic duo that do a great job
opening up multiple places in the neighborhood.
If you're looking for a good time, drinks, food,
Standard Top is your ticket.
I mean, this makes me wanna come to Philly.
Congratulations.
Can I get a Californian?
Mussels and beans, perogies, and a salmon.
Will, folks, that's just a few of the stories
coming out of this Triple-D Nation.
How long next plate?
Nuggets going down for the Triple-D Nation.
Stogie Joe's stromboli, up.
Two more minutes on the mussels.
And there are a lot more chapters in this book.
Hey, guys, here you go.
Got the roast pork sandwich.
[woman] Thank you. Looks great.
[Guy] And we're gonna get through 'em all.
So, we'll see you next time.
Stick your head in there and breathe.
That'll clear you up.
-That wasn't that bad. -No.