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 are 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.
Because Triple D joints have been blowing up,
and we're going back to see what's cooking.
Like on this trip.
It's first-class culinary...
He's the bossa of the masa
...with worldwide flavor.
Mm. [muttering]
I said, "That's ridiculous."
Like a taco tamale takeover in Indianapolis.
-Nationwide. -Nationwide tamales.
A multicultural mash-up in St. Louis.
Italian. Gyro.
It's one of the best things I've ever had.
[Guy] And I'm joining my man G. Garvin in Georgia...
-G, I'll tell you how it is. -Tell me.
...for ramen...
I want to be buried in that.
-...and ribs. -It's crazy, right?
It's the best that you can get.
[Guy] Right on the money.
It's definitely what we look for in Triple D.
Galbi ribs for the Triple-D Nation.
[Guy] Familiar faces, new places
and more off-the-hook flavors.
This is Triple-D Nation.
So I'm right outside of Atlanta, Georgia--
Dude, you're going to love this place.
-It's got the amazing sushi. -With my buddy G. Garvin.
I mean, it's fresh stuff.
It's got ramen, all different kinds of ramen.
The broth is amazing.
It's the Asian chicken wings.
You got to see what this guy's doing here.
[Guy] My buddy G. Garvin was not wrong.
This place, you had to see to believe.
And now, they're seeing double
with the second spot in the city.
Guy, come on, man. What are you doing?
This is Yakitori Jinbei.
My man, baby. Let's go!
I've got your galbi ribs.
I gotta say this restaurant is, like, top notch.
We saw the show back in 2018.
It brought in more people because they're curious.
If it's good food, people are gonna talk about it.
The food is amazing.
Miso cod. Order up.
[Guy] And the man behind it all is still eye doctor turned chef Jae Choi.
I can't stop talking about this place.
He has been ranting like this in the car.
Da-da-da-da-da. On and on and on.
Thank you.
I figured because, uh, G. Money Garvin
was at this visit four years ago,
that we should probably bring him back in for another feeding.
Uh, another meeting.
-Um-- -[all laughing]
Do you want to go through the list of foods that you love?
Love the ramen.
Jonesing for it since.
[man] One katsu curry ramen.
So what are we making first?
We're making a broth for the katsu curry ramen.
Ramen, man, is all about the broth.
This is gonna be interesting.
So we've got pork and chicken bones.
[Jae] Pre-boiled, washed.
-[Guy] Next up. -[Jae] So we're gonna bag the kombu,
dried anchovies, bonito flakes.
We got pulverized shiitake mushrooms.
Roasted leeks, roasted onions, roasted garlic,
-some roasted ginger. -[Guy] How long?
-Eighteen hours. -Whoa!
[Jae] We add salt, sugar and fish powder
and then let it go for another six.
What's the next step?
[Jae] The pork katsu, start off with a whole loin of pork loin,
A whole loin of pork loin.
I, I see, see, what you're saying, saying.
Thank you. Thank you.
Take this and tenderize it.
Salt it a little bit, dredge it in AP flour,
put it into the egg wash, dredge it and panko.
-[Guy] And this will fry? -[Jae] 350.
-The broth is ready -[Guy] Okay.
-[Garvin] Smells good. -[Jae] And the noodles.
-Here we go. -Take the pork.
Boy, that sounds crunchy.
[Jae] Top this with some cabbage.
Now we will add that.
Carrots and corn.
Green onions.
You and G. Garvin have been friends for all these years,
and yet, you've chosen to make just me a bowl of ramen.
G, I'll tell you how it is.
[Garvin] Tell me.
[Guy] Mm.
[Garvin] Yeah, the flavor on that broth is insane.
[Guy] And I love the little carrots and corn.
-It's good. -[Guy] It's not traditional.
It's unique and it's funky.
Noodles are tender, broth is rich.
And the creativity is an A. Nice job.
[customer] The ramen here is spectacular.
It's the best that you can get in Atlanta.
How many different ramens do you have now?
Eight different ramens, three different broths.
[Guy] What'd you bring us?
So we got Asian five-spice duck ramen.
It's nice to have a new flavor.
Fabulous tender duck.
And once again, I only made one ramen for the both of you guys.
He doesn't need to be involved in this.
I don't feel bad about this.
And how did you do the duck?
We marinated it in a misoyaki marinade.
White miso, sake, mirin, sugar.
Like a sweet miso.
We sous vide it.
Way to go extra chefy on me, okay? "We sous vide it."
And then we crisp up the skin.
Add some of our green onion, ginger oil, the noodles.
Ladle the broth, stewed shitake mushrooms, our steamed bok choy,
spring onions, our duck breast here.
Ooh, that duck is smoking.
-That duck is next level. -[Garvin] Mm-hm.
[man] Duck ramen.
The duck is so tender, so much flavor.
[customer] It just melts in your mouth.
The broth here is so rich, it is perfect.
I just want to drink it up.
This is our chicken broth with some duck fat.
Have some chicken feet, the backbones,
and boil it for about four hours,
and add our veggies.
Onions that we've charred off.
Charred green onions, charred ginger and garlic.
This is going to go for another four hours.
Salt, sugar, chicken base, shiitake mushroom stock, heavy cream.
Oh, I'm telling you.
Yeah, that broth is beast mode.
I wanna be buried in that.
The ramen here is very comparable to Japanese ramen,
which is quite the compliment.
All right, here's the deal, hanging out with my man G. Garvin in Atlanta.
Where this ramen empire is really starting to roll.
And you have another restaurant concept?
-Yum. -We'll see you in a bit.
G, I'm finishing this off. You stand back right now.
Welcome back.
Triple D hanging out right outside of Atlanta, Georgia,
-with the one and only G. Garvin. -G. Garvin.
We're at a funky joint called Yakitori Jinbei.
G. Garvin's optometrist says he wants to open a restaurant.
G says, "Don't do it."
He says, "Don't worry, I got a place that's closed down.
I'm gonna go do some test kitchen in there."
People come in and eat.
He says, "You know what? Just turn the old sign back on."
You just adopted the name.
That is the weirdest thing I've ever heard.
And you have another restaurant concept?
You guys are partners on a concept?
-Yeah. -[Garvin] Yeah.
We, uh-- He--
I can only imagine what this is.
[Jae] We call it Jinbei West, with his, kind of, West Coast influence.
Incredible ramen coupled with some really great sushi.
I'm a guy who loves food.
And because he has so much passion for food, it only made sense.
[customer] I love the sushi.
The lobster sushi roll, yum.
I think I've tried almost everything on the menu here.
You can't go wrong.
What else we got?
Uh, we've got traditional Korean LA galbi.
The LA galbi is, like, sweet and spicy at the same time,
which I really appreciate.
It's, like, one of my favorites.
[Jae] This is gochujang glaze.
Gochujang is, kind of, like the Korean ketchup.
We'll use that as our base.
Soy sauce, crushed garlic, mirin,
Kewpie mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar,
yuzu juice, smoked paprika.
We'll drizzle this over the galbi,
get them on the grill,
and we'll get this dish plated.
Pickled cucumber salad, drizzle the sauce.
Galbi ribs for the Triple-D Nation.
So, it's crazy, right?
This is delicious.
It's mindful, it's simplistic,
but it's also that deep, rich flavor.
And it's the kind of thing that when you walk in, you've got to get it right.
But when you get it right, people are gonna come back for it.
Well, thank you.
[customer] The taste is very complex,
so your first bite is different than the last bite.
It just melts in your mouth.
It's perfectly cooked, seasoned very well.
I still get people that walk up to me and say,
"Is the food really that good?"
I'm like, "Believe it or not, I'm not kidding you."
Delicious.
I love this restaurant.
We love the Korean fried chicken here.
It's delicious.
I couldn't find any good Korean fried chicken
so I decided to make one myself.
What is good Korean fried chicken?
-It's gotta have sweet heat and garlic. -Okay.
[Jae] So we're just gonna build it.
Hit it with some sesame, green onions.
-It's the Korean fried chicken. -[Garvin exhales sharply]
-Oh, that's crunchy. -[Garvin] Mm.
[Guy] That right there is money.
Flavored really well, sauces have got some heat.
You really pulled it off, man.
It's nice, man. Good job.
It's a different take of just, like, the regular Korean barbecue places.
You cannot find a better restaurant in a better location.
It's definitely what we look for in Triple D.
G knew exactly where to send me.
-Keep making food like this, and I'll be back. -All right.
Making the food is one thing,
having the creativity is another thing,
having the ability to present it is another thing.
And when you can swim that far upstream, that's genius.
Well done, buddy. Well done.
Coming up in St. Louis...
We're mixing Italian classics...
-That's a big ravioli, brother. -Oh, yeah.
...with a dash of Greek.
Look at that. Mm.
And a big dose of brotherly love.
Watch out for these guys.
So I'm here on the south side of St. Louis, Missouri,
at one of the highest points in the city, known as The Hill.
Now, this area is loaded with great Italian restaurants and specialty stores.
But this joint I found back in 2012
had a twist you could not have seen coming.
And once the word was out, they had to make room for the masses.
It's Italian-Greek, owned by two brothers.
This is Anthonino's Taverna.
One salmon pasta for the bar.
I'm Italian, and I love coming here.
The food feels like back home.
Ladies, I have your roasted garlic pizza.
[customer] It's so awesome that this place has grown since Guy visited.
I was here on Wednesday, I'm back here today.
You can get gyros, to pizzas, fresh pastas.
And it comes from their family's recipes.
[Guy] That's the family of Anthony and Rosario Scarato,
who inherited these gems from their Italian dad and Greek mom.
We just try to do everything like you're coming to my house for dinner.
That's our motto.
Oh, so when I come to your house for dinner, I gotta pay?
Oh, you gotta pay.
Toasted ravioli for bar four.
Toasted ravioli is definitely a huge kick here.
Regionally, in St. Louis, toasted ravioli is so popular.
We're gonna make toasted raviolis.
Ground beef.
-Ricotta cheese. -Ricotta.
Pecorino Romano, black pepper, salt.
-[Guy] Some onion. -[Anthony] Some onion, raw onion.
-[Guy] Granulated garlic. -[Anthony] Granulated garlic.
What we like to do is a nice paste.
[Guy] Paste? We don't want texture in this?
-No, we want it to be smooth. -[Guy] And fluffy.
They're like little meat pillows.
-[Guy] So the meat pillow mixture is made? -[Anthony] Yes.
-Now we're gonna make-- -We're gonna--
-With that apparatus? -With that apparatus that we had specially made.
-Okay, let's do it. -Okay.
So first, we're gonna take our dough.
Brush egg wash on there.
Get the mixture.
-So you just plop those in there? -[Anthony] Yes.
How many raviolis you guys go through a week?
[Anthony] About 1,500.
-Here, I'll let you take care of it. -Okay.
Center it. We're just gonna press it there.
It drops into its holes.
-And then we just bring it down. -And down.
-That's a big ravioli, brother. -Oh, yeah.
[Guy] In the Italian breadcrumbs.
-Ready to rock and roll. Gonna be nice and crispy. -[Anthony] Yes.
[Guy] This is a regular order?
Yeah, it's a big order. Yeah.
Set that marinara in the center.
A little fresh Romano on there.
Mm.
It's got a nice bite to it.
A lot of flavor. Mm.
Look at the amount of filling that goes inside of this.
[muttering]
I said, "That's ridiculous."
[waitress] I've got your toasted ravioli.
[Anthony] Our toasted ravioli, we're selling tremendous amounts
of 6,000 plus, you know, a week.
[customer] The filling and how it's flavored,
but also the size of it makes it stand out.
They put a lot of thought into everything and it really shows.
Marinara going in on bracioles.
The beef braciole is, like, rolled
and with spinach, provolone cheese and prosciutto.
It's one of the best things I've ever had.
We're gonna start with olive oil here on top of our flank steak.
Rubbed in real nice.
Salt, pepper on top.
Fresh garlic on there. Prosciutto, provolone.
I'm gonna saute a little spinach.
Roll that baby up and bring the sides in a little bit here.
We're going to pan sear these up.
And we reduce it with red wine
and finish it with our marinara to help tenderize that meat.
-We're making some marinara. -Yeah.
We're gonna add our tomatoes, basil.
Just the whole basil, in as it goes?
Yeah, we like to leave it whole.
-Roasted garlic. -[Guy] Roasted garlic, great.
[Anthony] Black pepper, salt, sugar, extra virgin olive oil, red wine.
-And these raw onions are gonna go just right in? -[Anthony] Yes.
And just let it cook down until it's a nice dark red color.
-Then we're ready to rock. -Yeah.
Our marinara sauce with a little arugula, Romano cheese on top.
And here's our braciole.
Your braciole.
It is a flank steak, so you'll get the meaty part of it.
You can really taste the prosciutto
and all the different flavors.
And the marinara is so rich and robust.
Pepperoni, sausage, mushroom coming up.
The food is fantastic.
You get a lot of different vibes.
You can do Italian, you can do Greek.
Italian. Gyro.
-Actually, you're Italian-Greek. -Yeah, I'm both.
All right, gonna need some more mozza on top.
Everything is good.
I haven't had a bad thing yet.
[man] Dolmades dinner.
-[Guy] Dolmades. -[Anthony] Dolmades.
All right, so first, you start off with ground lamb.
-Ground beef. -Ground beef.
Onions, rice, fresh parsley, olive oil.
-[Guy] Mint. -[Anthony] Yeah.
Here's some fresh garlic. Start mixing.
-Good luck to you. -Thank you.
-We mix. -[Guy] You double leaf?
You don't just double, you triple.
-What are you making, a Greek burrito? -Yeah.
Center it like that.
Now, bring the sides in.
Just, kind of, roll like a burrito, basically, you're right.
-[Guy] Look at that thing. -[Anthony] Like that.
And then, basically, we just, kind of, stack them in as you go.
Load it up, you pour the chicken broth in there, top it with some lemons.
-Let them simmer for an hour? -[Anthony] At least.
That's how we do it.
Now we're doing a Greek tzatziki.
Greek yogurt, cucumbers, and then lemon juice,
white pepper, little salt, Greek olive oil.
[Guy] Mix this together and let it set up.
-And this is what we're gonna serve with the dolmades? -With the dolmades.
Look at that.
Mm. You dip that a little in the tzatziki.
That's fantastic.
Originally, when Guy came, we had a little dining room and a small kitchen.
From there, we've expanded it.
We put the addition on the back.
There's more space, more tables.
They're blowing up, and it's great to see.
Pizza's up. Gotta get these pies out the window.
They're a staple that has been around for a long time.
It's like a big family. It's more than a restaurant.
I love coming to these, you know, these historic areas of cities,
and seeing where all this ethnic influence happened.
And the food is legit.
-Thank you. -Awesome job.
Thank you, brother.
-Hey. [chuckles] -Watch out for these guys.
And watch out for this Midwestern Mexican spot.
Look at that.
-Winning folks over... -It's amazing.
...one taco and tamale...
That's generous, baby.
...at a time.
-You're leading the tamale revolution in Indianapolis. -That's right.
I'm here in Indianapolis to check out a joint
that's cooking up one of my favorite foods in mass quantity.
That would be tamales.
Back in 2011, this place was serving up more than 150,000 a year.
And now they're still doing it all by hand.
And they're going national.
At The Tamale Place.
[woman] Chicken green tamales.
The Tamale Place has the best tamales in Indianapolis.
Acapulco bowl coming up.
Guy said it was great, so I had to try it, and he was right.
I got pork tacos coming up.
It's incredibly authentic,
and the owners are what makes it.
[Guy] That's husband and wife, Angela Green and Vladimir Ronces,
who met in Mexico,
and originally started this place as a tortilla shop before switching to tamales.
How many different types of tamales do you make?
[Angela] Maybe 15 to 20 right now.
What are you guys-- Is there, like, a meatball macaroni tamale?
Poblano chili and cheese tamales.
We have not taken any shortcuts from then to now.
We're still doing it all the way
we always were doing it.
The masa, we say, is the key ingredient to any great tamale.
And we make fresh masa here.
Raw corn, dried.
This is to grind it up to make the masa.
But first, what do we got to do?
[Vladimir] Just gonna put the lime there.
-[Guy] The lime in the boiling water. -[Vladimir] Then the corn.
[Guy] And how long is this gonna boil? Five minutes?
-[Vladimir] Yeah. -[Guy] Then it's cooled?
You have to wait 12 hours.
Now, it's ready to be rinsed.
[Guy] Get the skin off of it.
There we go. Skin's off.
And now, into the grinder.
Yeah, that's nice. Hit it.
So what he's doing is he's trying to get the right grind.
Look at that, fresh masa. That is killer.
Now, you take the masa?
[Vladimir] We divide it in ten-pound portions
-for the tamales, for the beef and bread. -[Guy] Got it.
[whistles] This is gonna make the shredded beef for the tamale?
Yeah. Onions, garlic. I'm gonna do the meat.
-[Guy] Okay. -More onions, some more garlic.
Salt, and then some water.
[Guy] So, this is gonna go for about three hours?
-[Vladimir] That's right. -[Guy] Okay, brother.
This is all the bases of the chili sauce.
Ancho, guajillos.
-Pasilla and then the puya. -Mm-hm.
-Now, we add water. -Let them seep.
-[Vladimir] Soak overnight. -[Guy] Nice and soft. Look at this.
-They puree real nice. -[Vladimir] That's right.
Pureed chilies with a little bit of water.
Now, it's time to make the red sauce.
-Garlic, onion, black pepper, ground gloves. -[Guy] Okay.
Salt, tomatoes, water.
-And that's it? -We blend it.
[Guy] So now the tomato mixture is done.
Now, we put some of these peeled chilies into this one right here.
-All that to cook the beef? -That's right.
Wow. A lot of work, man.
So we've got all the beef shredded apart.
Cool it down. What are we up to now?
[Vladimir] We want to fry it a little bit on oil, you know.
Onions. Burn it a little bit.
-[Guy] Flavor the oil, right. -[Vladimir] That's right.
[Guy] Got to take the onion out.
[Vladimir] Now we drop in the meat in there.
All this meat's gonna go in.
-It gets a little bit of a fry. -[Vladimir] Uh-huh.
[Guy] Now, some of the red sauce. Eight gallons.
Smells awesome. Okay, so how much longer is this gonna cook?
[Vladimir] Fifteen minutes.
-Then we take it to the masa? -Uh-huh.
He's the bossa of the masa.
So the masa balled up and ready to go.
We've got to separate. Pour the oil first in.
Kind of creams up the masa.
[Vladimir] Salt, baking powder.
That's what makes them nice and light and airy and not super dense and hard.
-Okay. -Now we'll mix it.
[Guy] How many tamales will this make?
-Seventy tamales. -About 70.
[Vladimir] Mm-hmm. We add sun-dried salsa.
[Guy] Okay, so we mix all this up,
and then we start building tamales.
-That's right. -Got it.
-[Vladimir] Oil. -[Guy] So it doesn't stick.
-Put some masa. -[Guy] Okay.
-Some salsa. -Oh, it's gonna be nice and moist.
-[Vladimir] And some meat. -[Guy] That's generous, baby.
I hate when it's so much masa and just a little bit of meat.
Roll the tamale, fold it up. So, tie.
-A little bit of salsa -And a little bit more in there.
[Vladimir] Yeah, there we go.
[Guy] And then we're gonna stand all those up in the steamer.
Start it from cold, stack them up.
-35, 40 min, then they're done. -Mm-hm. That's right.
-Beef and bread. -[Guy] All right.
The size of this.
That's huge, man.
Mm.
Nothing like shredded Mexican beef.
Mm. Great job.
Here's your poblano and cheese tamales.
I have had the tamales, and they are wonderful.
Morgan, I got tamales set.
Angie and Vladimir really pride themselves
in the layering of their flavors,
and that's what really makes it shine.
We need more beans over here, please.
There are a lot more items on the menu other than just tamales,
and you can't go wrong with any of them.
Spicy chipotle chicken nachos ready.
I have the chipotle chicken nachos.
Ah, the flavor, the crunch. They're just delicious.
The nachos come with our homemade tortilla chips.
We're gonna fry them just a little bit, make them crunchy.
We're gonna put some salt, lime juice and then chipotle chicken.
We use white and dark meat.
Some salt in there.
Now we're going to add some sauce.
It's chipotles, garlic and onions, salt and pepper.
Very flavorful.
We let it boil a little bit, just a few minutes, and then it's good to go.
Got some beans.
And then our cheese dip.
White American cheese, oil, evaporated milk,
combination of jalapenos and serranos.
That's the kick for it.
We're gonna add some water.
Cook until it's nice and creamy.
Real famous cheese dip,
and we finish with some lettuce.
[waitress] Spicy chipotle chicken nachos.
They're so crunchy.
I absolutely love the cheese. It's so delicious.
Nice smoky chipotle flavor.
I love the nachos. The tacos, especially.
What's your favorite item on the menu?
[customer] Steak taco, everything on it.
It's the corn tortilla what makes it.
Two pork tacos loaded.
The pork tacos are my favorite for sure.
[Angela] We're gonna start by pouring the pork into the pot.
Then I'm gonna pour my OJ,
onion and garlic, the milk, salt.
And a little extra sugar just for fun.
We're going to let this cook for several hours until it's nice and tender.
For the pork tacos, I'm going to start heating up the tortillas,
the pork so it can start caramelizing.
And we use provolone cheese because it's my favorite.
Now I'm adding my pork to get that cheese all melted into the pork.
We're finishing it with onion, cilantro,
a couple lime wedges.
These are pork tacos.
[waitress] Here's your pork tacos.
[customer] I love these.
The pork itself, it tastes, like, smoked
and has some sweet sauce to it.
[customer 2] The way that they crisp them on the grill,
they're nice and crunchy with the melted cheese.
It's amazing.
So what's the next step in the world of The Tamale Place?
The vision is nationwide.
Nationwide tamales.
[Angela] We're trying freeze-dried tamales.
You'll be able to order them online.
You're leading the tamale revolution in Indianapolis.
[Angela] That's right.
Two Acapulco bowls for the Triple-D Nation.
-[Anthony] Coming up hot. -So there you have it, folks.
Three more of your favorite spots upping their culinary game.
Hey, guys, enjoy your meal.
-You're welcome. -And they're not the only ones.
We'll have more to check out next time on Triple-D Nation.
-Test broths. -Did you--
Tying your shoes has not ever been a big thing, has it?
-I mean, that's-- -[all laughing]
That's why--
That's why they do the Velcro shoes.
-Huh? Does that-- -I-I am a Velcro man.