You know people are asking me all the time,
"Hey Guy, that one joint you checked out in that one city
when you're doing Triple D, how they doing?"
You know, I don't know. We should check it out.
[engine roaring]
[Guy] Over the years, I've seen and tasted it all
This is ridiculous, dude.
[Guy] But it turns out, it w always the beginning.
Cause Triple D joints have been growing up
and we're going back to see what's cooking.
[Guy] Like on this trip...
Burgers are found...
-That's ten patties? -Yup.
-And you'll eat this? -[all chanting]
...all over the nation.
That's on golden meat pond.
[Guy] There's a Cali inspire Chorizo burger at Blue Ash, Ohio.
-You're speaking my language. -Yeah, that's good.
[Guy] A goat cheese and strawberry jam packed double decker in Nashville.
It's hot but not too hot.
[Guy] And in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
Patty's any which way you want.
I think there's about two million combinations you can get.
[Guy] From giant size...
Baby burger, mommy burger.
...to a Chili Size Combo.
That's going big Triple D.
[Guy] Familiar faces, new places and more off the hook flavors.
This is Triple D Nation.
Texas has it's Brisket. California has Tacos.
Memphis has barbeque. New England has chowder.
What does Cincinnati have? That's right, Cincinnati style chili.
There has been a big debate, who made it first and who makes it best?
Well, everybody has their opinion.
[Guy] But back in 2010,
it seemed like the whole tow could agree that this place was doing it right.
And now, they got two locations as proof.
It's right here. Blue Ash Chili.
You got a six-way up in the window for you.
Blue Ash Chili is the best Cincinnati chili in town.
I saw the episode of Triple D, and I thought they did this place justice.
Nick and Charlene bought it. Turned it around and made it
just an outstanding local institution.
It's been around as long as I've been here.
[Guy] Actually longer.
Because when Nick and Charlene Insco bought this place
and the recipe back in 2005
it's been turning out chili since 1969.
I had the opportunity to buy a restaurant that's an icon to the city,
it's just priceless.
[Guy] Blue Ash has been her since 69. And everybody know
-it and everybody loves it. -Correct.
You haven't changed the recipe, you continue doing the same way.
[Both] Yes.
-What's up, buddy? -How you doing?
-How long's it's been? -13 years.
[Guy] I love Cincinnati chili. We make that at home.
-It's good. -It's not good, it's outstanding.
And it's one of my favorite things.
[Nick] Got a Blue Ash Chili it's way.
Cincinnati chili's just pretty unique. It's got a good balance
of spicy and sweet.
A hint of cinnamon, some beef.
We start of 100 pounds of ground beef.
-100 pounds? -Yup.
-[Guy] Fresh ground. Never frozen? -[Nick] Correct.
-Filled up with water. -We'll just stir it to a slurry.
Now, we add salt, garlic powder.
-How long is it gonna cook? -Two hours.
You have never seen a 100 pounds of meat boil.
-So, now what goes in? -Now, we put in the onions.
-Tomato paste. -That will put some nice color in this.
And then chili spice mix.
[Guy] Paprika, tomato powder, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, salt.
-Correct. -But you won't tell me the portions.
You got that right. Just stir it up.
-How long does this go? -It's gonna go about a hour and a half.
Now, we're gonna go ahead open up the lid and put in the soy mix.
The soy mix is water and... and that's gonna help tighten the chili up.
Correct. Right now, we'll go ahead and stir for another
45 minutes and allow sleep overnight.
Two-Way chili coming up.
The chili's always been a Two-Way, Three-Way, Four-Way and a Five-Way Cincinnati.
Five-Way chili.
You go anywhere in Cincinnati, say I wanna Five-Way
I'm getting spaghetti, I'm getting the chili, I'm getting the onions,
-I'm getting beans, I'm getting cheese. -[Nick] Correct.
All right, guys. Make it a Six-Way.
-Six-Way, dude. With the jalapeno's on top. -Yep, incredible.
You can't get that anywhere else in the city.
It'll be a Six-Way brother.
Start off with spaghetti, chili, onions, kidney beans.
We're gonna top it off with cheese.
Whoa, whoa!
[indistinct]
Just went from ridiculous to crazy.
Will have a bite right there.
Um... The chili has a unique spice to it.
The onions are nice and fresh. Having the beans in there,
there's a texture that you expect to see in chili.
-But the beans are a little bit more whole. -Right.
Then, we put a ridiculous amount of cheese on it.
That's a great way to do chili.
-I could eat that six or seven times a week. -[both chuckle]
We're probably doing 1,500 to 2,000 covers of chili a day.
Now that's doubled. At least.
My favorite is a Two-Way because it's just like a classic
but the menu has a really wide variety of food.
Plating up the Chorizo burger.
-What do we have it? -Our Chorizo burger.
[Nick] We do pepper jack cheese on it. house made guacamole.
House made chipotle sauce on it--
Now, you're speaking my language. You know you got a delving into my...
-I know-- -Chipotle, Northern California and Avocado.
We're gonna go ahead and take our ground beef and
we're gonna incorporate in with our chorizo.
Put a little butter down the grill.
Go ahead and grab our hand burger bun.
[sizzling]
Pepper jack cheese.
Turn it out, give a good melt.
We serve it with our house made chipotle sauce.
Peppers with our sauce.
A cup of mayonnaise We'll go ahead and blend it up.
Fold that in to our remaining amount of mayonnaise.
Freshly squeezed lemon juice kinda cut it.
Now, we're gonna go ahead and add a little bit of sauce to our buns.
And place this on the bun here.
And we're gonna top it off with our house made guacamole.
Here we have our chorizo burger.
Little bit of cheese, little bit of tomato.
A little freshness coming through that.
But the ratio to our chorizo to your burger is spot on.
I could be eating this on Northern California or Southern California
I would not be expecting to eat this in Cincinnati.
-But it's dynamite. -Good, glad you like it. Thank you.
Got chorizo burger on the grill, guys.
It's got a little bit of zip in it. A little spice to it.
Then it cools it off with the guac. It's delicious.
-You should come with like nine napkins out. -[laughs]
[Nick] Got a meatloaf and a chorizo burger on the window.
-How's biz? Give me a rundown. -Business is good.
The biggest thing that has occurred to us in the past few years is
our original location has to be knocked down. So, we had to relocate.
Since 69. All the souls that walked through that building.
-All that history. -History gone.
So, the new place you did. How far away from the original location?
It was down headed. We've opened a new location Tri-County
which is in Springdale, Ohio. We got a food truck.
Only works on private bookings, wedding, receptions that kind of thin
-What a wedding to go to. -Right?
Come on in down, feed the whole wedding.
[Guy] Coming up, there's a lot more to dive into...
here at the Carnivore festival come on in and bob for ham hocks,
including Mom's meatloaf.
It's close to what my mom used to make that I found anywhere.
[Guy] I'm about 15 miles north of Cincinnati,
at Blue Ash Chili, getting a little history lesson.
So, you bought in 2005, I was there in 2010.
-Yep. -And here we are now at 2000 whatever.
-22. -Boy, I'm telling you time flies.
Are you still making it in that big hot tub--
Meat on golden pond. Yep.
Wow, dude.
Here at the vegetarian baptismo program...
Here at the Carnivore festival come on in and bob for ham hocks.
That's on golden meat pond.
Playing it the movie theatre in flavor town.
Meat on golden pond is in flavor town. So, when we make the big flavor town map...
-Yeah. -I'm gonna have to make,
gotta do little flavor burst. All right.
[Nick] Turkey and beef double-decker.
The menu is bigger. They've expanded it a ton.
[Nick] Bowl of chicken florentine out.
They have a variety of literally everything that you could possibly want.
[Nick] Mom's meatloaf down the grill.
Mom's meatloaf is great. It's close to what my mom used to make
as I've found anywhere.
-Walk me through the meatloaf. -So, the meatloaf we start off with an 80-20
fresh, never frozen ground beef. We throw in oats.
Diced onion.
We mix tomato juice and eggs, sort off make a slurry.
Salt, little bit of pepper.
We throw in like a somewhere to like a steak seasoning in there.
Blend it all together very well.
We're incorporating our tiny bread crumbs into our meatloaf,
we go ahead and cap with it before we put it in the oven.
What are we glazing it with?
[Nick] We actually glaze with our own house made sauce.
We use ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, worcestershire sauce.
Blend this all together. Incorporate really well.
It goes back into the oven for 30 minutes.
We slice it up and we're gonna put on our griddle.
Put some more meatloaf sauce on our meatloaf.
Got one last flip here and it'll be ready to go.
-Quality ingredients. Handled the right way. -Absolutely. Yep.
Not over-cooked. Real simple straight forward.
Simple and straight forward 'cause that's all a meatloaf can be right?
Plating up the Mom's meatloaf.
Mom's meatloaf is so good. It's very light, really delicious.
It's the right amount of flavor without being too over powering.
Always outstanding.
Got a Cincinnatian up in the window.
What's the future for Blue Ash?
Ah, you know what...
-Keep it strong, keep it running and... -That's right.
Keep it strong, doing it right.
What's the next step? What're you guys gonna do?
Hopefully we continue to grow, improve the menu and open up additional locations.
This is exactly why you are a Triple D OG.
The way you're doing it. The story that you had.
[Guy] The passion. The history that you kept going since 69.
All of those were components that
establish kind off what the criteria was to become Triple D joint.
-Congrats, brother. Very happy for you. -Thank you, appreciate it.
[Guy] Up next in Nashville...
You're gonna get in there. Aren't you?
Breakfast...
That banana bread always hits the stop.
-[Guy] Lunch. -Mm-hmm.
[Guy] And a Long Life salad.
I understand why you call a long life salad.
-You need to have a long life to be able to make it. -Yes.
So, I'm about ten minutes from downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
Now, a lot of people think of Nashville, what do they think?
They think, great music, killer barbeque.
But you know what there's another side, the collective mix of people that live here.
That's why there's a joint that's serving up a really funky, unique healthy menu.
[Guy] And since I was there in 2013,
this spot still serving up a healthy dose of delicious.
Just in a location. That's three times bigger.
You gotta check out Phat Bites.
Mac and cheese.
Last time the show was filmed, I happen to see Guy.
It just has a funky, upbeat atmosphere.
It's just a great place to come in and eat.
And then here I am today.
This is a perfect place for Triple D.
Gourmet food but a dive bar at the same time.
The menu is so diverse and the atmosphere, there's nothing like it.
[Guy] That's what you get wh you get friendly, funky and foody.
All thanks to owner, Julie Buhler.
-Why do you call Phat? -Pretty hot and tasty.
And I wanted to have fat sandwiches in skinny salads.
We have people who just wanna eat healthy. We have people who don't wanna eat healthy.
We can make everybody happy
Two 4/20's and a side of Long-Life salad.
I tried the Long Life salad. All of it, she makes inhouse. It's so delicious.
All right so, let's get into it. Here we go, coming at you.
All right. Black eyed peas.
Christmas lima beans, black beans.
Split lentils.
-So, these are gonna soak overnight. -Now, next up?
-We have to cook them now. -You have to cook them all individually.
Okay. So, we got all of our beans on.
Now, we're gonna make the vinaigrette.
-Lemon peel, orange peel. -Bunch of ginger.
...just little thick by itself.
What yard sale did you get that from?
-It's just old. I like it. -No.
I can hear the one squirrel in there peddling his it's heart out.
Okay. Now, I have to stop it. Just one second.
-Coconut oil? -Coconut oil, yeah.
This thing is not gonna be able to make it.
It will.
[machine squeaking]
Orange juice, fresh leaves...
-[Julie] Fresh lemon. -And fresh leaves lemon.
-Okay. -And that's our vinaigrette. Can I taste this?
Yes. It's very zesty.
Oh, my gosh.
Finally...
We're almost to the end of the journey.
I understand why you call Long Life salad.
-You have to have a long life to be able to make it. -Yes.
A whole garden full of kale, beans.
Quinoa, Christmas lima beans, black eyed peas...
-Cranberries, mangoes-- -[Guy] Golden raisins, plums.
-Citrus vinaigrette. -You're gonna get in there. Aren't you?
[Guy] Serve me up a hand full of this.
The crunch of the kale.
The quinoa.
The dried mango, the cranberry.
-If you did eat this you would have a long life. -Yes.
-Killer, outstanding. -Thank you. Oh, I'm so glad you like it.
Can I buy it by the bath tub full?
-You can. I'll sell it to you. Yes. -[both laughing]
Long Life salad plate. After that, we had to make
a bus tub of that Long Life salad everyday.
[man] Trashy Noods.
My favorite thing about Phat Bites is there's a lot of variety.
-[Julie] Black bean burger. -The food is incredible.
There's just so many other things you can have.
Two more minutes on the 4/20 burgers.
4/20 burgers always great.
Our 4/20 burger is two beef patties.
And then I'm gonna top them with goat cheese and our caramelized onions.
The strawberry chipotle jam.
It's fresh strawberries, cane sugar, salt.
I'm gonna just let that cook down for about three hours.
I'm gonna go ahead and put my chipotle peppers in.
It's hot but not too hot.
A little bit of local lettuce on a potato roll.
And it's ready to go.
-[man 1] 4/20 burger. -[man 2] Thank you.
4/20 burger has two patties first of all. And they're cooked perfectly.
And then there's this spicy delicious jam that's sweet.
Mm-hmm.
There's a really good late night menu.
-[man] Breakfast bowl. -Brunch is spectacular.
[man] Big banana.
It's banana bread, bacon. It's everything you want in a breakfast.
Sugarcane sugar, brown sugar, flour. Stir it together a little bit.
Nutmeg, cinnamon, salt.
Ginger, baking soda, baking powder.
Sunflower oil. I'm gonna mix my eggs.
And I'm gonna zest an orange.
And I'm just gonna squeeze all the juice out of it.
Now, I wanna put my bananas in.
It's a good little workout.
Now, I'm gonna add the raisins in. A little bit of mix.
We're gonna put this into our double boiler.
There's our banana bread.
I'm dipping it in just egg and a little bit of cinnamon.
Here we go. Now, I'm just gonna let it brown.
We're ready to plate. We're gonna add our chopped bacon.
A whole banana. Fresh whipped cream.
Our homemade vanilla syrup.
And this is our Big Banana.
[man] We have the Big Banana.
If you love French toast, I would really recommend it.
And then of course that delicious bacon on the side
So, you get a little bite of the salty and the sweet. Perfect!
That banana bread always hits the spot. The portion size is on point.
So, you definitely get your breakfast, sometimes your lunch too.
[Julie] Mac and cheese is ready for the burgers.
The food is great and the atmosphere is great and
you can't miss the big mural outside.
We have seen some big Diners, Drive-ins and Dives set up before
but nothing to this degree.
It's going big Triple D.
I loved the pizza art so much that we had somebody cut it off the wall
and bring it to my new location.
This location is much bigger.
So, there can be a lot of music and there is a full bar.
There's a patio outside.
If I lived in Nashville, I'd be by two to three times a week to get this.
Oh, I wished you lived here.
[both laughing]
[Guy] Coming up, a burger joint in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
She has no idea what's coming.
[Guy] With millions of ways to make'em.
No two burgers are alike.
-I've got a double on onion. -Quad onion with bacon.
-What kind of cheese? -Smothered in chili.
So, when I'm cruising the quarter of the University of Michigan,
in my Max 67 Camaro.
A question comes to mind, where should I eat?
[Guy] And while the answer' still the same, the address is not.
Because since I heated up this burger haven in 2008,
it's moved to a bigger spot downtown.
Now, if you ask anybody, where to go?
They'll say, you gotta roll to Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger.
[man] Triple cheese on your mushroom on a Kaiser.
Blimpy Burger's are great. It's always the hometown favorite.
I saw Blimpy Burger on Triple D
and if Guy could go there, I felt I should be here as well.
When I think of this place, I think of the burgers right off the bat.
I think they're kind of a classic.
[Guy] A classic with a crazy amount of combinations,
cooked up since the early '50s.
I think there's about two million combinations that you can get.
[Guy] But only owner Rich Magner, knows for sure
Because he's been in charge of making them.
Since he bought the joint in 93.
Thanks for coming.
Blimpy's all about a custom burger.
No two burgers are alike.
I got a quad on onion with bacon.
This is triple with bacon.
-Banana peppers. -I've got a double on onion.
-What are you gonna have? -Ah, probably a double with cheese.
What kind of cheese?
-Umm... Cheddar. -What kind of bun?
It starts with two patties where you can have a triple, quad or a quint.
[Guy] The real foundation you believe of this meat is
-fresh ground by you everyday? -[Rich] Yeah.
Now, we're gonna make them into the
ten balls per pound which is 1.6 ounces a ball.
That's right. Eight ounces for five.
Which is 16 ounces for ten.
We start by giving a little smash.
-What kind of bread would you like? -Kaiser.
Anything grilled on it?
Onion, mushroom, bacons, salami, egg.
And what would you like on your burger?
What condiments you want.
Touch of..., mayonnaise and yellow peppers.
Been doing this since 1958.
Let me get a double with hot peppers, onions on...
I need a triple bacon, sesame bun.
She has no idea what's coming.
Can I get a quint, onions, peppers, bacon, salami and mushrooms.
Yes. If you get it, you just eat it.
-Oh! -[laughing] Look at that.
Baby burger, mommy burger, go to the hospital burger.
I don't know where to post up on this thing.
Mmm-hmm. That meat...
It's so tender.
The beauty is layering it. You get all your flavors mingling just the right way.
[Guy] We still get people coming because they see us on Triple D.
That's been nice and it's surprising
how often that happens even though it's been so many years.
[woman] It's in a different location from where it used to be bu
it's pretty much the same feeling.
I first went to the original location when I was four or five.
And then now I come to this location.
It's my favorite restaurant in Ann Arbor.
[man] Order up, triple cheese, salami egg.
The burgers here are great. But the Chili Size Combo is also excellent.
You got a Chili Size Combo.
It's a triple cheese burger. Smothered in chili.
Chili Size Combo is huge. All kinds of chili, tons of meat.
And just over flowing.
We start with the chili.
So, here's our diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, a half a can of water in there.
Chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, basil leaf.
To make it hot, we use a little white pepper.
Cayenne pepper, and last is bay leaves.
Five or six of them. Stir that in.
We're gonna put in the red beans now.
Put in the meat that we browned up with the onions.
And I'm gonna start stirring that chili meat in.
And our last ingredient is the brown sugar.
Let it simmer for a couple of hours.
I got three patties here.
Every patty gets cheese and you put them together.
It's layered with meat and cheese.
So, the next thing I'm gonna do is put chili on this.
And just spread it all over.
Little bit of onion, some banana peppers and tomatoes.
Pop the top bun on there.
Give them a fork.
Chili Size Combo for Kyle.
It's scrumptious for people who like a lot of meat.
The chili is great. It's a little spicy but not too much.
It was like an explosion of flavor in my mouth.
That's gonna leave me full all day.
I kinda wanna take some home.
And have it later as a second meal.
People love to come into Blimpy's and try to eat
as many burgers as they can eat.
-That's ten patties? -Yup.
And you'll eat this?
[all chanting] Dave, Dave, Dave.
Some girl showed up here right here on her 21st birthday.
Looks like she wants to have 21.
I ate 21 Blimpy burgers on my 21st birthday.
[all chanting]
Okay. That's it.
Don't leave me hanging.
All right guys, meatloaf on the grill.
Black Bean burger, ready for the patio.
That's it for this road trip and don't you worry,
we got plenty more joints to look back on
all over the Triple D Nation
[both laughing]
-That is the scariest thing... -[all laughing]
[man] That's awesome.