Hey, everybody, I'm Guy Fieri,
and we're rolling out, looking for America's greatest
diners, drive-ins and dives.
This trip...
Holy moly!
We're cruising all the way across the country.
That's worth a pilgrimage.
On a comfort food joyride.
Just when I think he's gonna zig, he zags.
There's barbecue at the beach in New Jersey.
You're gonna have me right out of the board shorts into the muumuu.
Scratch me cooking on the California coast.
Teach me, oh wise one.
And a Midwestern real-deal diner.
I don't know where you could be in Ohio
that it wouldn't be worth driving to get that.
Serving up Greek family treasures.
I'm putting out the Flavortown Bat-Signal.
All the way down to dessert.
Hands down, one of the best cheesecakes I've ever had.
That's all right here, right now,
on Triple-D.
[opening theme music playing]
So I'm here in Columbus, Ohio, with my good buddy, Anthony Carano,
the president of Caesars Entertainment.
A long time ago, I said, "You know what, buddy?"
You promised me you'd take me on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
Exactly. The question is,
what did I take you to?
Today, Anthony, I'm taking you to a diner.
Not just any diner, but a Greek diner.
You're gonna get great food.
You're gonna get great story.
And you're definitely gonna get some characters.
This is Tommy's Diner.
I got a meatloaf sandwich, two special cheesecakes.
[customer] I just love coming to Tommy's.
The atmosphere is fantastic.
It's a place where everyone is welcome.
[owner] Stuffed French toast going up.
There's nothing like it.
It's my Cheers.
[Guy] And this breakfast, lunch hangout is where the Pappas family
has been serving up American and Greek classics
for over 30 years.
Is your name really Tommy?
Yep. I mean, the Greek name is Athanasios.
-You're from Greece. -Yep.
-[Guy] You were in Greece? -I was born there.
-I left when I was three. -But you went back to Greece?
-Is that where you met this guy? -[Kathy] Yes.
When did you get into this?
I was seven when we opened.
In this actual diner?
-[Michael] In this building, yeah. -Some history here.
[Guy] What are we gonna cook today?
We're gonna make Greek pastitsio.
Your pastitsio.
Absolutely fantastic dish.
It's pasta with meat,
cheeses and bechamel sauce.
It is to die for.
Have you ever had pastitsio?
-No. -[Guy] It's Greek noodle lasagna.
[Michael] We're gonna start off browning some meat, cooking it with onions.
Did your mom teach you to cook or your dad teach you to cook?
My mom taught me back here.
My dad taught me the line.
-Have you ever been on the hot line? -I have.
Started on the fry, went to the grill, pizza oven, everything.
-You can throw a pizza? -I can throw a pizza.
[Michael] Next up, I'm gonna add a little white wine.
Tomato sauce, salt, black pepper, ground cloves,
granulated garlic, cinnamon, fresh garlic,
cook this down.
-Next the bechamel? -[Michael] We're gonna heat up a roux.
And then we're gonna add the roux to milk.
A little nutmeg, some white pepper, salt.
We've got some Romano and shredded Parmesan
-cheese right there. -[Guy] Okay.
The eggs, you wanna make sure you're mixing it the whole time.
Time to build it.
-I'm ready. -All right. Penne, butter,
-cheese, pepper, salt and then the egg. -[Guy] Okay.
[Michael] We'll do the layered noodles at the bottom of the pan.
Pour a little bit of bechamel, smooth it out.
-[Guy] All of the meat sauce at once? -[Michael] All of the meat.
Then we're gonna pour the rest of the noodles on top.
-The rest of the bechamel. -[Guy] See, look at you.
You have a future in this business, Carano.
[Michael] Smooth it out.
Cheese, you gotta have more cinnamon.
We're gonna let you do that.
[Michael] Butter.
This go in the oven. What temp?
[Michael] 350 for about forty-five minutes to an hour.
What you want is just a nice brown coating on the top.
-Gorgeous. -[Anthony] Oh, yeah.
[Guy] You can smell that meat, smell the onions and the garlic.
-Cinnamon. -And then all of a sudden you get cinnamon.
[Anthony] Maiden voyage.
[Anthony] Mmm.
The flavor in the meat, you get that cinnamon at the end.
[Guy] I've had a lot of pastitsio,
this has got great balance.
Not too salty, not too much bechamel, not too much meat.
Good bite in the noodle.
Mmm.
Delicious.
Cutting pastitsio.
I love how they infuse Greek flavor into the lasagna.
[customer] The pasta was so tender,
the meat was well-cooked but not overcooked.
It's excellent.
Do you sit at the counter, or do you sit at the booth?
Sit at the counter. A lot of action you can watch.
And I like to talk a lot. [laughs]
-George, what do you think? -I love it.
[Michael] Just the conversations over the years
and the friendships that people built
-just from this counter, it's pretty cool. -I love it.
-Breakfast burger. -I've been coming here for about 20 years.
Always a good diner. Good portions.
But you definitely save room for dessert.
Baklava cheesecake coming up.
The baklava cheesecake is exquisite.
It's like they set a baklava on a piece of cheesecake.
We're making a baklava cheesecake.
-[indistinct] -Got it. But hang on. Wait, wait, wait.
-Baklava... -Cheesecake.
-Baklava cheesecake's not normal. -No, it's not normal.
We're gonna make a syrup first.
So, we've got water, honey, sugar.
-[Guy] Okay. -[Michael] I'm gonna let it simmer for about 25 minutes.
Then we're gonna add the cinnamon.
Roasted nuts, they're gonna get tossed in the syrup.
If there's any left from Anthony eating 'em.
[Michael] We're gonna make the filling for the cheesecake.
-Okay. -[Michael] Cream cheese, sugar, vanilla.
And with this, it gets nice and soft.
Key part of this is to do one egg at a time.
-[Guy] Got it. -[Michael] Let it mix in.
Sour cream to finish it.
Now it's time to build the cheesecake.
-Let's see it. -Start with a filo dough.
We're gonna do a layer of butter, fold it up, more butter.
[Guy] And we're gonna line this whole thing?
-Nuts. -All right.
-[Michael] Sprinkle on the bottom there. -[Guy] Okay.
Put half the mix in, you do the rest of the nuts,
rest of the sauce.
We're bringing the filo dough back up.
More butter. A couple more layers of filo.
Now you're gonna fold these in.
The royal wedding cake doesn't take this long.
-And more butter. -[Guy] More butter.
-[Michael] Score it. -[Guy] But no nuts on top?
There will be some nuts on top.
[Guy] We just used all of 'em.
[Michael] No, I have other ones. You were eating 'em,
-so I didn't wanna keep them all out. -Oh, is that what it is?
-Anthony, see what happens? -[chuckles]
-[Michael] And then we're gonna bake it. -[Anthony] Oh, baby.
-[Michael] Mmm-hmm. -If that eats half as good as it looks...
It eats better.
-Listen to the crunch. -[Anthony] It smells good.
I think that's just cologne.
-Look at that thing! -[Anthony] Yes.
Syrup. Just to make it look pretty.
There's no wrong way to go about this.
-Took the Guy position. -[Guy] Holy moly!
Wow!
[Anthony] Great crunch, flavors. Outstanding. It's all there.
I'm putting out the Flavortown Bat-Signal.
I don't know where you could be in Ohio
that it wouldn't be worth driving to get that.
[Anthony] You've got all these different layers.
The chewiness, the crunchiness.
It's delicious.
There's a lot of depth to it. Great amount of tang.
-I love the sour cream. -[Anthony] Mmm-hmm.
[with mouthful] You could call it, "Tommy's Baklava Cheesecake House,"
-people are gonna line up. -Nice.
[Guy] That right there, hands down,
one of the best cheesecakes I've ever had.
Here's your baklava cheesecake, enjoy it.
The flakiness of the baklava on top is amazing.
It's very creamy, sweet.
-Delicious. -Salty, tangy.
-That cheesecake should be illegal. -That's true. [laughs]
[Michael] Waffle's a minute half out.
It's not typical diner food.
Good ol' down-home cooking.
It's so funny that I have to bring the guy all the way from Vegas
to Columbus to have something so representative of going big or going home.
-You killed it. -[Michael] Thank you.
[Guy] Coming up...
An amped up down-home spot in Grover Beach, California.
Look at the technique.
Adding some fine-dining flair...
I'm trying to give each bite the respect it deserves.
...where you'd least expect it.
You have legitimized bologna and cheese.
So, I'm here in Grover Beach, California,
which is about a mile south of Pismo Beach.
You know, the place where everybody comes to go to the dunes?
Well, today is definitely not the day to go to the dunes.
But don't worry, I'm not here for the dunes.
No, I'm here to check out this husband and wife restaurant,
where they're taking every-day dishes
and kind of taking 'em to the,
as they say, the 2.0.
This is The Spoon Trade.
[man] Order up, chicken and waffle.
It really blows people away.
[man] Vegan tikka.
It is comfort food with a twist.
[woman] Fresh, locally sourced.
I've been to a lot of beach communities.
You do not find restaurants like this all the time.
-Agreed. -Finish that tartar, get it out first.
[Guy] That's because Jacob and Brooke Town
picked up some gourmet vibes during their time in San Francisco
before they headed back to the beach.
You know, we spent 20 plus years in the industry.
We moved back home and we opened a restaurant.
That's, uh, expression of our collective experience.
Why "Spoon Trade"?
We spoon food and trade in stories.
I think it's the one tool to bind us all on the whole planet.
-[Guy] The spoon is pretty universal. -[Brooke] Yeah.
-Everybody uses a spoon. -It's time to eat.
[woman] Chicken and dumplings.
A few things that are my favorites.
One of 'em is chicken and dumplings.
Garlic-fennel chicken sausage.
Completely changes your mind about chicken and dumplings.
-What are we starting off with? -[Jacob] Chicken stock.
Roasted chicken bones. We add carrots, celery, onion,
rosemary, thyme, garlic, peppercorn and bay leaf.
Top it off with water. Bring it to a simmer for about 12 hours.
Strain it off. We're gonna make our chicken broth.
We melt butter down, add a little shaved thin garlic.
Add flour to that. Lots of black pepper.
-Fresh ground? -Always.
Chicken stock. Bring it up, season it with salt.
-Now what are we on to? -[Jacob] Chicken sausage.
-We turn it into a meatball? -Mmm-hmm. We're gonna make a slurry.
White wine, salt, toasted pepper, rosemary, toasted fennel.
-Got it. -[Jacob] Some fresh garlic.
-Get ice in there. -All right, let's hit it.
All right, here we go. And we're ready to mix.
-[Guy] Oh, you're gonna paddle this out. -[Jacob] Ground chicken,
chicken and chicken skin puree, slurry of white wine, garlic, fennel.
Start it up, mix thoroughly.
We can scoop and bake, 425 for six minutes.
-[Guy] What's our next step? -Dumplings 2.0.
-Let's see it. -[Jacob] We have flour, baking powder,
baking soda, sugar, salt.
Do a quick little mix of that. Nice ice-cold butter going in.
Then we have some nice cold buttermilk.
[Guy] What are we doing using a spoon?
We are The Spoon Trade,
and this is a Lady Hamilton 1932.
-I was noticing that. -[chuckles]
[Guy] Make it a few hundred of these.
-What temp we baking 'em off at? -375 for 15 minutes.
-Let's build it. -[Jacob] Start with the hot broth.
Dumplings, sausage,
Brussels sprouts and butternut squash.
We'll bring this to a simmer.
-Greek oregano. -Okay. Look at that.
-[Jacob] A little bit of olive oil. -[Guy] Okay.
Crunchy sea salt, fresh ground pepper,
and some freshly chopped parsley over the top.
Mmm. This is a piece of art.
Thing about stock is, it really measures the chef.
Tender meatball.
I'm trying to give each bite the respect it deserves.
This is probably the most elevated
chicken and dumplings I've ever had.
Warning, the dish you're about to eat
may wreck everything you ever thought about
-chicken and dumplings. -[both chuckle]
[Jacob] Dumplings going to the plate.
Fennel, meatballs, chicken, really, really good.
-It's fabulous. -I almost drowned in it.
-[laughs] -Biscuits that are just soft and fluffy,
but a little crunchy on the outside.
These two are crazy? Creative?
-All of the above. They're creative. -Really creative.
[Jacob] Sauce for tikka going down.
Where do all of these spoons come from?
[Brooke] People just started bringing 'em in and...
-"Grandma's baby spoon, the World's Fair spoon." -I've got baby spoons.
And it gives you that sense of being at home.
And the food makes you feel like you're welcome.
[Guy] What is up next?
[Jacob] Bologna, nice and crispy.
Bologna sandwiches, don't go anywhere.
Hanging out in Grover Beach.
Not Pismo, he just told me.
-[laughs] I love it. -See you in a bit.
It reminds me when I used to go to chicken stock falls in Flavortown.
-[chuckling] -[background laughter]
Welcome back to Triple-D. Hanging out in Grover Beach.
This is Spoon Trade.
His last name is Town, his middle name is,
of course, together?
-Flavor. -Flavor. Exactly. Jacob Flavor Town.
Butter brioche hitting the flat top.
[customer] Jake's food is like a warm hug.
Catering to people who really love food.
Bologna going down.
Their bologna sandwich is a work of art.
From the brioche bun, to the bologna itself.
It's insane.
It's bologna 2.0.
We're gonna make a cure. A little water, maple syrup,
-salt, and a little bit of curing salt. -[Guy] Got it.
-And we've got pork shoulder? -[Jacob] Already has a good amount of fat,
but we want a little more, so we're gonna put
-some fatback in there also. -Where did you get-- Is that fatback?
-It is straight fatback. -Got it.
He didn't say we're gonna put the fat back.
It wasn't in there before.
[Jacob] This is gonna cure for one hour.
We grind this in a course grind.
And then our bologna spices.
Milk powder, nutmeg, white pepper, coriander,
-allspice, garlic powder and smoked paprika. -[Guy] Got it.
[Jacob] Get this going, and we're gonna add that ice water in there.
The colder, the better.
Load it in with as little air as possible.
So, our little mini-stuffer here.
[Guy] Wait a second, this is a plastic bag.
I've never seen this.
[Jacob] Get it nice and tight.
Look at the technique.
[Jacob] We'll drop it in the sous vide at 180 degree Fahrenheit.
And it'll cook for hours before we drop it in the ice bath.
-But it comes with American cheese? -Yep.
-Do not tell me you make American cheese. -We sure do.
-Teach me, oh wise one. -Right on.
Put some milk on the stove. Bring that to a simmer.
Sodium citrate.
Turn the heat off, and then some bloomed gelatin.
Make our little cheese mixture here.
Grated cheddar cheese. Add a little milk powder,
-salt, smoked paprika. -Okay.
[Jacob] Cream of tartar. Add to the food processor.
We just add hot milk to that,
and we let it run till it's that smooth, smooth texture.
This will go back on the stove, get it nice and hot.
And we'll pour it into our molds.
Chill it down, and they'll set up nicely.
What else are we gonna make?
-Brioche. -Of course we are.
[Jacob] Milk, room temperature eggs, organic flour out of Utah.
Add yeast and sugar to that, a little bit of salt.
Mix it for about four minutes, and then we start to add butter.
We'll proof it one time.
Portion it into the buns, proof again.
And egg wash it, pop it in a convection oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.
And then, of course, we're gonna make the Dijonnaise.
[Jacob] Egg yolks, lemon juice, garlic, Dijon, salt.
Put it on the mixer.
Emulsify our rice bran oil into that, Dijonnaise.
The bologna is done, and it's cooled.
Nice, thick slices.
Butter, throw it all on the flat top here.
Bun down, get it nice and crunchy.
And here we go. American cheese.
A little bit of time in the salamander.
Dijonnaise that bun.
Four slices of bologna, ooey-gooey cheese,
a little bit more sauce.
Simple.
Delicate.
-[Guy yells] What! -[laughs]
[Guy] You have legitimized bologna and cheese.
The texture of the bologna is outstanding.
A little coarseness to it.
The cheese,
silky, creamy. Brioche bun is spot on.
There's a guy named Oscar, he's looking for you.
Well, my bologna has a first name,
it's J-A-C-O-B.
That's worth a pilgrimage.
Our beloved balogna sandwich.
So you get this nice stack of really, really tasty meat.
And with the melted cheese all over it,
it is just really great.
And the gooeyness and all the different textures and flavors.
It brings me back to my childhood.
-You got to eat bologna and cheese? -Yeah.
See, Penny? Other people got to eat bologna and cheese.
[Jacob] Kitchen noodle soup, duck confit.
If you haven't eaten here, you really need to.
[Guy] It just seems like a place that's really comfortable to everybody.
But what you'll experience on the menu
is up in the multiple star restaurants.
-Cheers. -Flavor.
-That's what we call him now, Mr. Town. -[laughs]
[Guy] Coming up...
An out of bounds barbecue joint
in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Outstanding.
Getting serious...
Your attention to detail shines through.
...with their sandwiches.
I'm gonna have to whip out the hunch.
It's outrageous.
So, I'm here in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
About an hour from New York City,
and just a couple blocks from the beach,
check out a barbecue joint.
It's a regular story, you know?
The guy was in tech sales, loved barbecue,
did backyard barbecue, opened up a joint.
Well, the story doesn't stop there, no.
Evidently, the residents of Flavortown converged on this joint.
Yep, that's right. The Guy Fieri Flavor Army,
and they said, "This place is the real deal."
[all] Hey, Guy!
We're here at Mutiny BBQ Company
in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
[all] It's great barbecue!
I gotta check it out. This is Mutiny BBQ Company.
Sliced brisket combo, collards, potato salad for table five.
This place is so authentic.
Bacon Turkey Bama and a Beast from the East.
Definitely the best barbecue spot around.
[Guy] And it's sporting Carolina and Texas style.
All from Tom Dunphy, who risked it all to man the pit.
I was a corporate guy. Started in the driveway,
and just grew a business from there.
The dream was to open a place that could be on this show.
-Lottery ticket today, my friend. -Feels good.
-So what are we making? -[Tom] Our smoke fried chicken thigh sandwich.
I have the smoke fried thigh.
The smoke fried thigh is my favorite thing on the menu
'cause I just like the combination of the sauce.
And those homemade pickles.
[excitedly] Oh, it's delicious.
We're gonna make the buttermilk brine...
-Got it. -...for our smoke fried chicken thighs.
Buttermilk, sugar, kosher salt.
-[Guy] How long will it brine? -[Tom] Twenty-four hours.
We're gonna hit it with the house dry rub. Turbinado sugar, honey powder.
-Dehydrated honey? -[Tom] Yep.
Dry mustard, kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder,
onion powder, chili and cayenne just to give it a little bit of heat.
[Guy] How long we gonna go on smoker for?
[Tom] 250 for about two hours.
Do we serve this chicken as a sandwich when it's not fried?
-No, sir. -[chuckles] Oh, it doesn't work that way.
[Tom] It's gotta be fried.
Our dredges, cornstarch and rice flour.
The house dry rub in there to season it.
-So, this is gluten-free fried chicken? -It is.
-[Guy] What's the next step? -Hot honey barbecue sauce.
So, we gotta make the house sauce first as a base.
Water, ketchup, apple cider vinegar.
My kind of barbecue sauce.
Maple syrup, honey, Worcestershire,
kosher salt, pepper, brown sugar.
[Guy] Granulated garlic, onion and paprika.
Warm this up a little bit.
[Tom] Then it's ready for the hot honey.
Delicious.
[Tom] Dried chile de arbols, red chili, garlic puree and honey.
Let this go for about 10 minutes, and then we're gonna strain it
and add it to our house barbecue sauce.
-What's the next step? -[Tom] Doing our house pickles.
Fresh dill, mustard seed, garlic puree, a couple of bay leaves.
-Are we hot brining this or cold brining this? -Cold brine.
Vinegar, sugar, salt, whisk till it's fully dissolved.
Add the sachet to it, and then we'll pour our
sliced English cucumbers over the top.
-That is gonna be like a crunchy pickle chip. -[Tom] Absolutely.
I "pickle up" what you're laying down.
Now, we're gonna fry the chicken.
Get this a little tossed in the sauce here.
A couple of house pickles we talked about,
smoke fried chicken thigh.
[Guy] First thing I was worried about, I was gonna get too much smoke on this,
which is not the case. It's kissed with smoke,
but I know that you're cooking this all the way through at two and a half hours.
So, the fry can be really light on that.
It's not a real big, heavy batter on this.
It's more like just a little bit of a coating
that lets the sauce adhere to it.
The balance is what makes this such a great sandwich.
And the pickle is the little respite
that you want.
You think about things every step of the way.
And that's a dynamite sandwich.
[Tom] Smoke fried thigh, honey barbecue for Jesse.
The way the chicken is prepared, fried and smoked,
mmm, tastes so good!
You get hot, you get sweet, and it's got that little tang to it.
It's all about the sauce.
Longtime buddy of mine, one of my restaurant mentors
when I came out of college, Tom Karen.
But I've come out here to see the real player of the Karen family, Quinn.
Are you a barbecue guy?
Honestly, not really, but this was amazing.
Buffalo and the honey sriracha wings.
The flavor is cooked into it.
[Tom] We're burning nothing but kiln-dried barkless oak.
Dry enough to burn efficiently,
but still enough of the sugars, the tannins, the carbohydrates
-to stay in that wood. -[repeatedly] Wait, wait... Are you techie, nerdy guy?
I get obsessive and nerdy about the things that I love, and I love barbecue.
Building The Beast from the East.
The Beast of the East comes with pulled pork,
brisket and sausage.
It's bigger than my head. My head's pretty big. [laughs]
All right, jump in.
[Tom] So, I'm going to trim, score and then dry rub this pork butt.
-[Guy] This is the house rub? -[Tom] Yes.
This is gonna sit overnight, soak in, and then it'll go to the smoker.
[Tom] We're gonna go 250, ten or 11 hours.
-Paper wrap? -[Tom] Then double foil.
[Guy] Got it.
-Next brisket. -I'm just gonna trim some of this fat cap off nicely.
-[Guy] Salt-pepper mix, on to the smoker, 250. -[Tom] Eight or nine hours.
-Hot links go on the smoker also? -[Tom] We deep fry those.
-Just when I think he's gonna zig, he zags. -[chuckles]
-[Guy] All right, chef. Let's see it. -[Tom] It's our pork finish.
Apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, Cajun seasoning,
crushed red pepper, and the black pepper as well.
Whisk it together real quick.
This hot pork is gonna soak it up.
That finishing sauce is the money.
[Tom] We can slice this brisket.
If I look at this brisket mean,
it'll fall apart.
If all you sold was brisket,
you would have your treasure chest full of gold.
[Tom] I'm gonna go ahead and build our Beast from the East.
Texas style sausage, brisket, pulled pork,
house coleslaw, pickles,
pickled red onion, house barbecue sauce.
You know, the beach is right over there?
You're gonna have me right out of the board shorts into the muumuu.
[Tom laughs]
I'm gonna have to whip out the hunch.
It's outrageous.
I love the vinegar that comes through from the slaw
and from the pickled onions.
Sausage deep fried, nice snap to it.
Your balance is your key.
It's a dynamite sandwich.
It's really well made.
-Delicious. -[server] Beast from the East.
Pulled pork has a little bit of a vinegar kick.
It really has that smoky taste to it as well.
It's a little bit of everything.
But the brisket is so spot on,
he could just call it, "The Brisket House."
-Yeah. -Just so good.
[Tom] Half rack combo, in the window.
There's nothing like it in this area.
Your attention to detail shines through.
There will absolutely be no mutiny in this barbecue house.
-You're the real deal, man. Congratulations. -Appreciate it, bro.
Outstanding.
So, that's it for this road trip.
But don't worry, we've got plenty more joints to find all over this country.
I'll be looking for you next time on
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
All right, are we done? That was 10 minutes?
I thought we were doing this for TV?
You just stop being the producer, all right?
-Um, yes, sir. -You're a techie nerd don't-- Let me just stay on my job.
-Absolutely. -What's up with this guy?
-[laughs] -I'm gonna go talk to your wife.
-You're in trouble. -Sorry about that. [laughs]