Hey, I'm Guy Fieri, and you know what I need?
I need you riding shotgun.
I'm on my way to Flavortown.
This is Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
This trip...
You'll lose your mind over this.
...it's full-flavored...
This is my jam here.
I am drowning in my own saliva.
...and spice-smothered...
Whoo!
...in the bowl...
I wanna just chug it.
...and on the bun.
Take a bite now?
No, now?
We've got fried chicken heating things up in Georgia.
This is a destination dish.
You will not be disappointed.
And in Canada...
That's when the magic happens.
...a Calgary spot goin' extra with their pho.
Actually my favorite part of the whole thing is
the whole thing.
And a sandwich that nearly defies description.
That sauce is out of bounds.
I mean, that sauce is off the hook.
That sauce is every word I've ever said
in the last 16 years of Triple-D.
That's all right here right now
on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
So I'm here at the First Street Market
here in Calgary, Alberta, to check out a noodle bar.
Not just any noodle bar.
No. I'm hearing about this chef.
I guess this guy scratch-makes everything.
Sous-viding ribs 72 hours,
making his own broth.
He even makes his own rice noodles.
Who makes their own rice noodles?
This guy does.
This is Pure Street Food Noodle Bar.
Pickup 3, chicken wings chili lime.
Pure Street Food is a great Vietnamese place.
Chicken and cheese donut.
[man] He's got all these authentic foods
that were from childhood
and then he puts a modern twist to it.
[Guy] Those twists are coming from Lam Pham,
who's leveling up the dishes he grew up eating.
What kind of Vietnamese food are you doing?
We're known for a noodle bar.
Everything we do is made in-house.
So as fast-casual as this all seems,
you're going ultra traditional deep culinary technique
-to make this? -Yeah.
[woman] There's just a lot of different items
that you don't find anywhere else.
72-hour short rib pho.
My favorite is the short rib pho.
From the noodles to the beef to the soup,
it's all flavorful.
I can literally eat the pho every single day.
[Guy] All right, so what are we making?
-72 hours sous-vide short rib-- -I don't-- It's...
It's a half-hour show, bro.
I don't really have 72 hours.
You think we can speed that up a bit?
-Of course, of course, of course. -Okay.
-[Guy] Let's see it. -So we're gonna sear the short rib.
What is this liquid here that we're gonna add?
That's the beef fat, our pho fat.
So when we do the pho,
we take the fat out, it has all the spice,
all the aroma, everything in there.
-This is the skim off the top of the pho broth? -Yup.
-Got it. -Yup.
[Lam] So we seal it, drop it in,
and we'll see you later in 72 hours.
-Hot tub in Flavortown. -Yeah.
What's the next step?
Next, I'm gonna make the broth.
-First things first, cinnamon sticks. -Got it.
Cloves, fennel seeds, star anise, cardamom seeds,
-and coriander seeds. -Got it.
Okay, nice and evenly toasted.
-Flip it around. -It makes all the difference right here.
-Okay. -[Lam] You see all that aroma coming out?
-Okay. Cover this up. -Okay.
Get the water nice and hot.
What bone is this?
These are like beef bones.
What size, a pterodactyl?
I mean...
[Lam] These are all the knuckle bones.
Roasted ginger and onion.
-And then the spice goes in. -And then the sachet goes in now, too?
-Yeah. -And just sits here and simmers for 24 hours?
It's gonna sit there and simmer. So, once it brings to a boil,
I skim all the onions, the ginger,
and those big, giant dinosaur bones.
[Guy] Right.
So, first, I'm gonna add a little bit of water,
-sugar, rock sugar. -Rock sugar. Okay.
-Salt, fish sauce... -Fish sauce.
-MSG. -Wow.
For a little bit of yum-yum.
Brisket.
So I'm gonna add the ribs in right now.
[Guy] What is this contraption?
We designed this just so we could put it all in at once
and take it out all at once.
[Guy] Huh.
What are we working on next?
We're gonna make the rice noodle. We're gonna make it fresh.
Overachiever.
-[laughs] -All right, Superman, let's see it.
[Lam] I've got rice flour,
tapioca starch, salt, water.
So, oil into the pan,
batter in,
and goes right into the steamer
and cover it up. Takes about two minutes.
All right, and we let it cool before you slice it?
Yeah, we're gonna let it cool, then we're gonna roll it up,
and we're just gonna slice it off.
You learn something new every day, folks.
And this is my jam here.
I am drowning in my own saliva right--
'cause you know I'm gonna go deep on this.
All right, so the pho's done,
the meat's ready to go,
this needs to be blanched for ten seconds,
and then we'll build the dish.
Right.
[Lam] The short rib, we're gonna sear it.
Nice hot pan, ten seconds per side.
We add the noodles.
And now we're gonna slice the beef.
Here's beansprouts,
basil...
Cilantro and onion.
Pickled red onions, sawtooth peppermint.
It's like you're making a wedding bouquet.
-Pepper. -And last but not least...
[Lam] The broth.
Now you give lemon and fish sauce with it.
Lemon, hoisin sauce, sriracha.
[Guy] That short rib is pretty ridiculous.
There's a fattiness inside of this broth.
It's so silky.
It's like an elixir.
I wanna just chug it.
Wow.
I gotta say, one of my favorite parts of the whole deal
is the house-made noodle.
Actually my favorite part of the whole thing is
the whole thing.
Short rib pho.
The broth is very rich, very, very flavorful.
You start drinking it kind of as a beef soup.
The 72-hour short rib is amazing.
It falls off the bone.
It just melts in your mouth.
[man] The noodles, it's not too hard,
it's not too soft. I feel like it's just right.
Look. You get so much meat.
There's no way you're eating that whole thing.
-I'm helping her. -No.
-Huh? -I'll eat some.
Oh, you'll eat the rest of it?
Oh, yeah. Why not?
[Guy] How'd you find this place?
I live around here.
[Guy] I think the property values went up when this place opened.
Don't you think?
I'm just here for the food.
[laughs]
It's a food court that is catered for different variety of audiences.
You get tons of varieties of food in just one location.
Vietnamese, Indian, tacos.
So what's unique about this market is it's all chef-driven.
Every time I come, I always wanna try a different place.
However, I just come back to Pure every time.
It's definitely one of the best on the First Street.
[woman] When I have friends that come from out of town,
I'm like, "Oh, come to Pure Street Food. Like it's always really good."
You really can't find like the donuts anywhere else.
Pork belly sesame donut.
All right, overachiever, I'm not goin' anywhere.
I'm gonna finish this. What are we gonna make when we come back?
[Lam] Crackling pork belly sesame donut.
It's a bun donut deep-fried, and it's good.
I love it. I could eat six of them.
-All right, get ready. I'm coming back. -All right.
-Done. -Don't look at me.
You do everything very meticulously.
I mean, you're very...
It's like you're doing--
You're the Bob Ross of pork right now.
[film crew laughing]
Welcome back. Triple-D hanging out in Calgary, Alberta.
We are at Pure Street Noodle Bar.
This guy's doing pho to another level.
Chef Lam's great. Everything there is home-cooked.
We're on the rice bowl. Get on the wings.
Uh, the donut, for sure.
[Lam] Pork belly donut, pickup.
Their donuts are like unique.
There's meat in it, there's some vegetables.
The dip is really great.
You just have to dunk it in there
and let everything soak in.
Now he tells me we're gonna make a donut,
a crackling pork belly sesame--
Donut.
First things first, is gonna-- let's make the dough.
-Let's see it. -[Lam] Flour.
[Guy] Is this a dessert or is this a savory--
-It's a savory. It's a savory donut. Yup. -Okay.
[Lam] So this is salt, baking powder.
We're just gonna mix it up. While it mix,
we're gonna dissolve the sugar into the milk.
This one's gonna mix more for about two minutes.
[Guy] When it's done, we're gonna let it rest?
[Lam] It has to rest for at least two hours.
Then we're gonna portion it.
Roll it in sesame seeds.
Roll it, then fry it.
All right, now we're gonna make the sate paste.
"Sate" is S-A-T-E,
which doesn't mean saute.
We need that to make our ultimeat dip sauce.
You call it "ultimate" dipping sauce?
-"Ultimeat." -It's not "ultimate."
It's "ultimeat,"
'cause, well, it's like a meat sauce.
It's like a meat-- It's like a meat sauce, right?
What-- this means meat sauce in-- in--
Yeah, it just means body, like rich.
Oil, onion.
But once the onion's cooked, we're gonna add the lemon grass and the garlic.
-Got it. -Chili powder, chili flakes.
You think?
Paprika, cayenne, annatto seed powder.
-Annatto seed. Okay. -Yeah. Sugar.
And some salt, I assume.
-And some salt. -Okay.
Now we're gonna make the crackling pork belly.
First things first, we gotta tenderize the skin.
It's the at-home acupuncture kit.
[Lam] Score the bottom of the pork belly,
-a little bit less than halfway through. -Got it.
So what I'm gonna do is we're gonna make the marinade.
-Okay. -That's orange jam, hoisin sauce,
soy sauce, sate paste.
[Guy] The paste that we made earlier.
[Lam] Five-spice powder, garlic powder,
this is our paprika...
-Salt, sugar and black pepper. -...sugar.
[Lam] After we marinade it,
we're gonna let rest in the fridge for two days.
And then roast it in the oven.
Okay, Chef, let's see it.
So we're gonna make the ultimeat dip sauce.
-Got it. -Oil,
onion, garlic, shallots.
All right, so that's all sauteed.
We roasted the trotter.
-The... pig feet. -The pig feet. Pig leg, right.
So everybody else goes home at ten o'clock.
You stay here all night, right?
Yes.
Sate paste.
Right here, this one is our mi kho sauce.
This one's made with salty onion, garlic,
pineapple, green apple, gochutgaru, sugar, soy sauce.
And I wanna bring it to a boil,
blend it with a blending stick,
and that becomes the sauce right there.
-Got it. -Bring it to a boil and then we just let it cook down.
Now we're gonna make the pate.
So welcome back to the never-ending dish.
We got 75 more things that we're gonna make.
[Lam] Oil, butter, onion, garlic, ground pork, shallots.
Fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, house-made chicken stock.
And once it comes to a boil,
I wanna add our milk-soaked bread.
-And then-- -We're gonna blend it up.
And then how are we gonna cook it?
I wanna steam it for two hours.
All right, Chef.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna get all the skin
evenly poofed up.
We're gonna spoon over our hot oil.
[Guy] That's when the magic happens.
[Lam] See how it's poofing up?
You just love that word "poofed up," don't ya?
Yeah, love it.
[Guy] Let's see this.
We've got our pork belly, our ultimeat dip sauce,
our pate we made.
Okay, so now we're gonna slice up this pork belly.
Open up.
This is our sate aioli, pork belly,
pork liver pate, cucumber, pickled carrots, and cilantro.
You ever wonder where Pac-Man came from?
[Lam] Pickled red onion and fresh herbs, okay.
Slice it in half.
Ta-da!
You understand how much work was put into that?
My car has been ticketed, towed, and re-ticketed.
[Lam] Dip with this ultimeat dip sauce.
If you like banh mi,
you'll lose your mind over this.
I mean, like...
The pork belly is re-dunk-ulous.
The dipping sauce...
I say, "You can eat it on a flip-flop."
That right there, you could eat a leather belt with.
That sauce is out of bounds.
I mean, that sauce is off the hook.
That sauce is every word I've ever said
in the last 16 years of Triple-D.
It's one of the most precisely-produced delicious dishes
I've had in Triple-D in the last five years.
Wow.
Pork belly donut.
[woman] There's like pork belly,
there's a lot of veggies inside.
Not really what you'd expect from a donut.
This one, it's like an air pocket.
When you thought of having a donut
at a noodle joint,
did you think that's what you were getting?
No. They still don't sell 'em by the dozen either.
And I want the baker's dozen, too.
Chicken basil rice for Angela, please.
Pure Street Food is my go-to place.
This is definitely the place to be.
[Guy] Food courts always haven't been my favorite.
But, now, understanding what you're doing,
and if you're telling me the rest of the folks here
are playing ball at this level,
well, then, I can't leave. Outstanding.
I'll be back.
Up next in St. Simons Island, Georgia...
It's "Flavortown." Isn't that what you say?
...chicken and shrimp are getting Nashville-hot...
This is all authentic. This is all done correctly.
...with a backstory that warms the heart.
All that love and energy, bro, comes out in the food.
Fried chicken, Nashville hot chicken,
I mean, the chicken craze has blown up all over the country.
I mean, I got Chicken Guy! restaurants.
Everybody's got their fried chicken
and they got their uniqueness.
Maybe it's the story, maybe it's the history,
maybe it's the recipe.
And this place I'm gonna check out
here in St. Simons Island has got one great story.
Husband-and-wife team in recovery
supporting people in recovery
and making great fried chicken at the same time.
Hope you're hungry. This is Porch.
Walking in, fried Nashville sub waffle.
[man] The name kind of gives it away.
There's a big wraparound porch on the outside.
It's a great local spot.
[woman] We have a lot of restaurants
for being a little island like this.
But it's something different and unique.
Runner please. Naked jumbo.
How do you describe the place to somebody?
It's just comfort food.
I mean, if you haven't experienced Nashville chicken,
it's a good place to do it.
[Guy] Pretty surprising since this place isn't exactly in Tennessee.
But it's not the first time that Amanda and Palmer Fortune
have impressed the locals.
Palmer's Village Cafe is an island staple.
Then they decided to take a chance on something a little less familiar.
My uncle was here from Nashville visiting.
-This was back in, what, 2016, 17. -Yeah.
My uncle said, "You know, Nashville hot chicken's getting pretty hot."
-There we go. -No pun intended.
And there's nowhere on this island
you could go and buy fried chicken.
[woman] Everybody thinks St. Simons and they think seafood.
But they have absolutely won the whole town over
with their chicken.
I have a MotherClucker with tater tots.
The MotherClucker is a handful.
Two handfuls, in fact.
[woman 2] Juicy, juicy fried chicken.
You can get it a variety of different levels.
So it could be Novice, it could be the National Hot.
It's got a great dill pickle, pimento cheese on top of it.
So it's just those perfect combination of flavors.
What are we into first?
We're gonna make the dry ingredients
for the Nashville spice.
[Guy] So this is for the sandwich?
-The MotherClucker sandwich. -The MotherClucker sandwich.
-Got it. -Nashville hot chicken.
-Some cayenne pepper, brown sugar, salt... -Salt.
-Paprika. -...paprika,
-garlic powder, black pepper. -Pepper.
And this is the general dry spice rub mix that--
[Palmer] That goes into mild, hot...
-This is the dip oil. Got it. -That's correct.
-You got all the big flavors in there. Okay. -That's right.
-Can I grab some hot oil? -Please.
-All right, so we'll come over to the chicken frier.
The hot oil's very important.
-You don't wanna do it with cold oil. -No, no.
-Cold oil, yeah. -Or lukewarm temperature oil.
No, no-- or motor oil.
[Palmer] Once you dip the chicken, it cures it.
And that's what kind of makes the authentic Nashville
is the big bark.
-All right, next up. -A little dry brine.
So we'll take our salt and pepper mixture.
We got cleaned, washed boneless breast.
We'll dump that mixture into there.
-Brine the chicken 24 hours. -AP flour?
AP flour. We'll do a double in the flour,
egg wash, and back to flour in the flour.
Got it. In the "frour"?
-In the flour-- -You did the "frour"?
-The "flour," yeah. -The "frour."
-That's how we talk in the South. Sorry. -Yeah, that's--
I wish-- I was about to say.
-You make me nervous, man. -I-- Why?
-When I'm around good-looking guys, -Guys,
-I get really nervous. -I get really nervous.
-Very. Yeah. You've heard that before. -[laughing]
Yeah?
[Guy] And what are we frying in?
-Soya bean oil. 350. -Okay, so soya bean oil.
While that's cooking, what are we gonna work on?
Uh, we're gonna make homemade pimento cheese,
which is the secret ingredient.
Secret ingredient?
-Secret. -[shushing]
-[imitating Palmer's accent] Secret ingredient. -Don't tell anybody.
[Guy] All right. Pimento cheese.
-[Palmer] Roasted red sweet peppers... -Got it.
-...roasted garlic cloves... -Roasted-- right.
...jalapenos, hot sauce, pepper, salt.
[Guy] This is processed cheddar.
[Palmer] So we'll drop a little mayonnaise.
Now we add in the pepper mix.
-That's right. -Bull in a china shop.
-I'm very gentle. -All right, pimento cheese is done.
[Palmer] We'll get the bun goin'
and get you a MotherClucker sandwich.
[Guy] Now, what temp are we on this one?
This is Nashville hot.
-And then this is some-- -That's a pimento-cheese-based queso.
So we called it the Smothered Tots.
Mmm, yeah, that's great.
-Want me to go ahead and build the sandwich for ya? -Let's do this please
before I eat any more of those,
'cause that right there, that should be illegal.
[Palmer] Perfect.
So we'll go two dill pickle slices on the bottom,
one on the top, pimento cheese,
-dip it. -Whoo!
Then we'll go right on top of the pimento cheese.
-And if you can finish it, you get a gym membership. -Bun.
[Palmer] MotherClucker.
Everybody at home's having their little food voyeurism thing right now.
Right?
Take a bite now?
No, now?
Look at how juicy that chicken is.
All right, I'll take the bite.
That is great Nashville hot chicken.
-Thank you. -This is all authentic.
[Guy] This is all done correctly.
That's got some good sting to it, man.
That is...
It's tender, it's moist, it's got great crunch,
it's great pimento.
And then the potato bombs that you're killing me with slowly.
Not softly.
-Slowly. -Slowly.
[Guy] This is a destination dish.
You will not be disappointed.
[Palmer] Nashville MotherClucker, Smothered Tots.
You have a big piece of white chicken fried.
It's definitely got some spices to it.
But, actually, it has flavor as well.
There's something unique about the Nashville spice.
It hurts so good.
You take this spicy chicken
and then you add the pimento cheese to it,
it's just the perfect bite.
Okay, favorite thing on the menu.
-It doesn't have to be the MotherClucker. -The MotherClucker--
-It is the MotherClucker. -Is it?
I mean, how-- what about the flavors here?
You got the pickle, the chicken, the pimento cheese.
It's "Flavortown." Isn't that what you say?
Better blond calling out my line.
I'm just completely losing my own show.
Uh, how about yourself?
The MotherClucker also.
It's got everything you want. It's perfect.
Dropping tenders.
[man] Pretty much every guy who works at Palmer's Village Cafe
or Porch has either been through
or is in recovery.
You're both in recovery?
-Yes. -That's right.
How this whole thing started was a recovery story.
[man] So Palmer had a halfway house.
JB was his first resident there.
He was a five-star chef.
And once JB stayed sober for a while,
they started Palmer's Village Cafe.
And then Porch was kind of an offshoot of that.
[man 2] He always offering people jobs
who trying to kind of recover from whatever situations they've had.
What else you got up your sleeve? Tattoo?
-Nope. -No, sir.
So we do Nashville hot fried shrimp.
Fried shrimp plate with cheese grits and collard.
Their fried shrimp will blow your mind.
The grits are some of the best grits that I have ever had.
We're not gonna go catch the shrimp,
but we're gonna eat it. Don't go anywhere.
Welcome back. Triple-D hanging out in St. Simons Island, Georgia,
with the one and only Palmer at Porch.
This is Palmer and this is Porch.
So you and your wife, it's an amazing story of these two.
Both were in recovery, and one of the great messages behind Porch
is supporting people that are going through recovery
and giving them a chance and giving them an environment
to be successful and be safe and be supported.
And all that love and energy, bro,
comes out in the food.
-Thank you. -It really does. I just had a chicken sandwich.
It was... [makes explosion sound]
That kind of good.
They're famous for the chicken,
but you can't come here and not get the fried shrimp, too.
Working fried shrimp.
[man] It's local. It's never frozen.
It's the best fried shrimp on the island for sure.
[woman] It's a great dipping sauce.
You take a bite and it makes you just wanna kind of close your eyes
and you just savor it.
But what everybody needs to know
is that, behind the scenes,
really running the show is the chef, JB.
And he's the one that calls the shots
and writes the recipes.
-That's right. No doubt. -All right.
So what are we makin' next?
We're gonna make, um...
We're makin' the fancy sauce.
The fancy sauce!
[Palmer] We're makin' the fancy sauce for the fried shrimp.
-Chef JB. -Yeah. Thank you.
Lucky he's here.
Start with a little base of mayo,
paprika, pepper, lime juice, kosher salt, cayenne...
[Guy whistles]
...apple cider vinegar.
And what comes along with this shrimp?
Collard greens and pimento cheese grits.
You serve grits at a fast joint like this?
That's right. Pimento cheese grits.
-I heard that the first time. -Yes, sir.
-Thank you very much. -Yup.
-This is the scary part. -What's scary?
I don't wanna mess up JB's collards.
[Guy] Bacon and onions, I guess, kick this whole thing off, huh?
[Palmer] That's right. Crushed red pepper flakes,
ham base, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar.
[Guy] You got the trimmed collards.
[Palmer] Cover with water. Cook for three, three and a half hours.
[Guy] Okay.
Now we're making our Nashville hot fried shrimp.
-Got it. -We'll start with the dredge first.
-White cornmeal. -I like the white cornmeal move.
All-purpose flour, kosher salt, garlic powder.
You'll mix all that in.
So we'll take our shrimp. Never frozen.
-Bought fresh from a local supplier. -Got it.
[Palmer] We'll go into the wet,
we'll go into the dry,
and these are ready to go into the frier.
This is the mild heat.
And we'll pour it in.
Ooh, hey!
[Palmer] You got a shrimp served with collard greens,
pimento cheese grits.
Dangerous.
There is something about fresh shrimp that are not frozen
that were locally caught.
They're buttery, they're...
I mean, they're as good as any lobster you'll try.
A little bit of heat,
but compliments that tender shrimp.
That's a good grit.
I want texture in my grits.
There's texture.
Those collards... JB.
The bomb!
Kiss of sweet, nice and tender.
-Yes, sir. -Well done, my friend.
-Thank you very much. -Delicious.
[Palmer] Novice shrimp, grits, collards.
-How are the shrimp? -They're awesome.
I love the greens. They do it right every single time.
Catfish with brussels and corn.
Love the food, love the atmosphere. It's just a good place.
Are you a spicy eater?
-A little bit, not too much. -So, I mean, they've got good heat,
they've got mild heat.
But if you're not a heat freak,
you don't have to worry?
-Nope. -They'll make it your way.
-They will every time. -Okay.
You're gonna get great food, no matter what you order off the menu.
[Guy] Coming to this fast casual
right off the beaten path of a very famous tourist area
and you're getting local food.
Made with a little love.
I think it's made with a lot of love, my friend.
This is worth a visit.
Thank you, JB.
That's it for this week, but don't you worry.
I'll be looking for more joints all over this country.
I'll see you next week on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
Do I got any right here?
-I'll get that for you. -Right there?
Right side, corner.
Other side. Other right.
-Other right? -Pardon. Yup.
We'll you got your right. I got mine.
-You're beautiful again. -Hey.