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...
We're throwing everything into the fryer.
It's so delicious.
Forget the diet, just eat it.
[Guy] Including crunchy crab cakes by the Jersey Shore...
Buffalo crab cakes good to go.
[Guy] Crispy pig tails in Blue Ash, Ohio...
Mmm. Dude, I don't know what to tell ya.
[Guy] And in Knoxville, Tennessee...
This was season one, episode two.
That is good.
Oh.
[Guy] Onion rings...
Tell me those aren't great.
[Guy] And fried chicken...
-Crunchy. It's perfect. -Mmm.
[Guy] Carried out to your ca
You have a great day.
Off the hook.
[laughs]
[Guy] Familiar faces, new places and more off the hook flavor
This is Triple-D Nation.
So, I'm cruising through Knoxville, Tennessee,
and I'm thinking to myself, "So, I feel like some pasta or maybe some pizza."
This was season one, episode two.
Wow.
Oh, good stuff, folks.
[Guy] We saw this in 2007.
I mean, Italian food in a drive-in? I got to check this place out.
[Guy] This is Pizza Palace.
[staff on speaker] Can I help you?
I saw Pizza Palace on Triple-D.
It means it's got to be on my list to try it.
[woman] I've been coming her
probably since I was about ten years old.
Pizza's great, everything's great.
Can't come near the place without coming and eating.
We first came here in 1968.
Come down here on Friday and Saturday night.
We thought, "That's the best pizza in the world."
[Guy] A brand-new concept
brought to town by Charlie Peroulas' father and uncles
when they came here from Greece.
On opening day in 1961, they were lining up out the door
because this was the first experience with pizza
that many people in Knoxville had.
-No. -Pizza was not available at that time.
Your dad and your uncle, they had the pizza experience in Greece.
They wanted to come and share it
with everybody in Knoxville, of all places.
I've always asked that question.
But they do it with a drive-up
-because drive-ups were hot back in that era. -Sure.
[Guy] How is the pizza here
-I mean... -It's delicious. It's crazy
-It's crazy? -It's crazy.
[laughs]
The best pizzas in town.
It's fresh, it's always hot.
I remember making pizza dough with you
-in the back, on the table, rolling out the dough. -Yeah.
Wow.
Looks like a big brain.
-It's the brains of the operation. -[laughs]
Go up and back. Up and back.
-Okay, I got that one done. God, you sucked at that one. -No.
-[chuckles] -Oh, you switched 'em didn't you?
-[laughs] -I thought you worked here.
-Hey, listen, I'm on internship. -The staff does two at a time.
I'm gonna turn on our machine.
This is gonna flatten our dough out for us.
-Gonna come out one end... -[Guy] Spin it.
[Charlie] Turn it.
So now we've got our pizza dough here.
-[Guy] You ever run out of pizzas? -[record scratch]
No. No.
-[Guy] I say that -[Charlie] Yeah, lights off
-and everybody just kind of go, "Oh." -and everybody gets fired,
yeah.
[Charlie] There he is.
[laughs boisterously]
-Huh? -I'm right behind ya.
-Can I get some of that? -Excellent.
[Charlie] Right down the middle. Excellent. You're a pro.
-Fresh grated mozzarella cheese. -So you go about
-two handfuls? -Yeah, we eyeball it.
-Okay. -So, we want to make a pepperoni pizza.
-[Guy] Do we ever count? -[Charlie] Put as many on there as we need to.
-So, now we're just gonna top just a touch of mozzarella, -A little bit more.
-just a little bit, -For the look.
and then fresh grated Parmesan.
See, what I like is I like this crust that you do on the bottom.
Mmm.
We'll send you home with that.
Pizza's great. The sauce is good,
the cheese is exactly the right blend.
Well done.
It's got the most cheese on it you've ever seen,
-and you pick it up and it just goes forever. -Yeah.
The cheese is wonderful. [chuckles]
Mmm.
All right, buddy, give me the rundown.
What has changed inside of the world
-of Pizza Palace? -[Charlie] Nothing.
-[phone ringing] -[chuckles] Hi.
[Guy laughs]
-Are you surprised this thing still works? -Yes, I am.
-But I'm glad it does. -[laughs]
[Guy] It's still just one Pizza Palace?
-Just one Pizza Palace. -Wow.
-Do you guys just get slammed all the time? -We do all right.
-They get slammed all the time.
I come every Saturday, about noon, just to get the onion rings.
-We just ordered a big batch of 'em. -That's my favorite.
-Who came up with this? -That was developed by the family.
One of the things I love about this place, they didn't change it.
They do it the way they do it, always the way they've done it.
We start with the raw sliced onion, goes into milk.
-Straight up milk? -Straight up milk.
-[Charlie] Little bit of flour. -[Guy] Seasoned flour?
-[record scratch] -Could tell ya but I'd have to kill ya.
[sad trombone]
So, basically, you need to use two separate hands,
one wet, one dry.
-Otherwise, you're gonna have yourself... -Otherwise you're gonna
bread your fingers.
-[Charlie] Any harder. -[Guy] When you throw it in,
you're actually pressing...
[Charlie] I'm actually pressing pretty hard.
Otherwise, it won't stick.
Wow, and this is cracker meal?
This is a blend of different meals.
-[Guy] Again, not gonna tell me. -You know the drill.
-So, each one goes by hand. -Boy, you sure gotta love your onion ring.
And you'll go through, like, 15 or 20 of these day?
We go through, probably, about 15 of those.
-This is every day. -Every day this is gonna get made.
-This is every single day. -Wow.
Oh. Mmm.
Oh.
Tell me those aren't great.
Typically, the film crew doesn't eat while we're filming
but nobody can pass this up.
Onion rings are legit. Mmm.
I can't stuff them in fast enough.
They're thick and not too oily. They're just right.
Really delicious.
They are the best you'll ever find anywhere, I promise you that.
-[Charlie] What do you think? -That is good.
[Charlie] And your shot of ketchup.
So good.
[Charlie] Triple-D, ground steak dinne
This is getting ridiculous at this point.
It's been 14, 15 years since I was here,
so I'm having that, "What did Guy have?" experience.
It's even better than I remember.
[Guy] Not to mention all the new memories I'm eating.
So, for everything I didn't try the first time I was here...
Fried chicken up.
[Guy] Fried chicken, pizza, onion rings.
Coming up...
Oh, my God.
[Guy] I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee
taking a trip way down memory lane.
Pizza Palace.
Dude, you are bananas.
We shot Pizza Palace season one, episode two,
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives 2007.
-2007. -Okay.
[man] This is a whole tradition.
I basically love everything about this restaurant and the people.
Off the hook.
Now, who's the longest standing employee that you have?
We have a guy, his name's Jerry. He has been here for 36 years.
-How many years now? -50 years.
-I worked with him. -50 years.
-Now... -You OG.
-OG, yeah. -Yeah, you OG.
-50 years throwing pies. -50 years ago, yeah.
[Guy] Helped start the place
Just knowing the people, the service you get,
they're kind of like a famil
-How long have you been here? -I've been here about 17 years.
Well, I started about 35 years ago.
Ready? Go.
[people laugh]
She since retired a couple of years ago.
Alma, we miss ya.
I came in looking for ya, sister.
-Nice job, nice job. -[chuckles]
Some of this equipment seems like it has been here
-since day one. -It has.
-These look like door stoppers. -Well, that's, yeah.
This is a piece of PVC to keep the little cups available.
I think that was actually hand woven.
So, for everything I didn't try the first time I was here,
Charlie's now making up for it.
Fried chicken up.
Oh, my God.
Fried chicken, pizza, onion rings at a drive-up.
You have a great day.
Right?
Mmm.
Fried chicken is one of my favorites.
We've been serving fried chicken since the beginning.
Our menu has not changed since 1961.
We hand-bread and cook it to order.
It takes about 30 minutes but it's delicious.
We've got our chicken that came in fresh this morning.
We've broken it down into a breast, a wing, a thigh, and a leg.
It's gonna get an egg wash bath. It's just eggs and milk.
Throw the chicken into our seasoned flour here.
Little sage, celery powder, onion powder,
little bit of baking soda, garlic, salt, beet powder,
paprika, and some dried milk powder.
So all kinds of different seasonings.
And into the fryer it goes.
It's gonna cook for about 25 to 30 minutes.
Customers are willing to wait.
They're willing to wait, we're willing to make it for 'em.
Fried chicken up.
I like the crispiness of it and the seasoning.
It's really good.
It's flavorful, crunchy. It's perfect.
Mmm.
[Charlie] My dad worked very hard for a long time
to give me all the opportunities he never had.
And what better tribute than continuing the traditio
It's good stuff.
Is it funny for you to think about what an icon you are
in the history of Triple-D?
-We call 'em Triple-D OGs. -OGs.
You know, it's almost like the business.
You don't set out to be a landmark, you end up becoming one.
With the show, you know, we took a chance on it.
-Has the food changed? -Yeah, it's got better.
It's gotten better?
You know, there's not a day that goes by
that somebody doesn't ask for you or mention the show.
[laughs boisterously]
We only found out by Triple-D.
I saw the Pizza Palace on Triple D.
Mmm.
I'm a pilot, I've got some time to kill.
Let's go try the Pizza Palace.
-When we say OG, brother, you better carry that crown. -[chuckles]
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, my friend,
because we wouldn't be where we're at
without people like yourself and without places like Pizza Palace.
[Guy] Coming up in Somers Point, New Jersey.
-What are we making? -A mess?
[Guy] A tavern by the sea where your options could fill an ocean.
They're all my favorites.
Two buffalo crab cakes going up.
Mmm.
So, I'm here at Somers Point, New Jersey,
right on Bay Avenue to check out a joint that's got a lot of history.
Let's see. It started out as a hotel back in the '70s. That's the 1870s.
[Guy] And I checked it out in '14 That's 2014.
Mmm.
[Guy] But no matter what century it is,
this joint is still a landmark destination.
This is The Anchorage Tavern.
We've been coming here 20 plus years with our family.
The Anchorage has just continued
to amaze and surpass all expectations.
[man] Shrimp and scallop fra diavolo.
[woman] Everyone that comes here loves it,
and it's great to see it on Triple-D.
I can tell that it is homemade here.
The best thing about this place is the owner. That's Donnie Mahoney.
[Guy] And Don's been the head honcho
serving scratch-made meals since 1998.
Dad, we need two Guy Fieri combos.
[Guy] And now he's got his son, Connor,
learning the ropes and all those recipes.
The recipes were already here,
-or you developed a lot of 'em? -No, we made the whole menu.
They're all my favorites.
You'll see there's no lamb on the menu.
Do people come in and ask for lamb?
No, they know I don't like it.
Oh, okay. Hey, come on down
-and try the lamb special. -[Don laughs]
And there's all these people out there,
coming into Anchorage saying, "Where's the lamb?"
I put lamb on the menu. I still don't like it but we've sold it.
[woman] There's such a wide variety on the menu,
and everyone can find something that they're going to like.
Flounder, and gorgonzola, and crab, very, very good.
-That is about old school legit as they come. -Thank you, sir.
Nicely done, brother.
[Don] We got a gorgonzola flounder.
A lot of times,
I order the flounder gorgonzola that was featured on Triple.
Forget the diet, [laughing] just eat it.
The flounder gorgonzola.
When Guy was here,
we did the gorgonzola flound with a crab stuffing.
We have egg. That's Worcestershire sauce.
[stuttering] Worcestershire, shire.
Seafood seasoning, parsley.
Got some cubed bread.
-Very nice. That's... -Now, we have this beautiful jumbo lump crab meat.
-Whoa, whoa, look at that. -[Don] Whoa.
-Gonna mix this up a little. -Now, would you like me
-to flop some mayo in there for ya? -Yeah, you can do that.
Little more.
-Flick that in there. -Okay.
In my world of crab cakes that's the ratio.
Buffalo crab cakes in the window.
The same crab stuff, we're gonna make it into a crab cake.
Battered, dipped, deep fried topped with a buffalo sauce
We're just gonna start with some butter in the pan,
hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and some garlic powder.
Stir that up a little bit.
We're just gonna let that simmer and then it's ready to go.
I'm gonna grab some crab stuffing.
We're gonna form it into balls for our crab cakes.
Dredge it in the flour. I'm gonna put it into our homemade beer batter.
Ton of eggs.
Whisk that up.
Some beer, a cup of oil, cornstarch, flour.
Then it's gonna get dropped right into our fryer.
Top 'em off with our house made buffalo sauce,
go into the oven for a couple of minutes,
and then we're gonna put 'em on top of fried tomatoes.
Add some of our gorgonzola sauce.
Now we're into the gorgonzola sauce.
[Don] First, we're gonna add our clarified butter,
flour to make a roux.
Start out with a little milk, salt and pepper.
-So, we're gonna simmer this for 15 or 20 minutes. -Okay.
[Don] We're gonna make a reduction here.
We got wine, we got some garlic going in here,
and some shallots in here, okay?
-Shallots? -Yes. You got that?
[Don] And we're gonna add it right into our bechamel sauce.
-There we go. -We gonna add gorgonzola cheese,
and simmer for about five minutes
just to get the cheese flavor throughout everything.
Some scallions, some blue cheese crumbles too.
Top it off with some more spicy sauce.
Crab cakes good to go.
It was fantastic.
Not too much sauce,
just perfect, crispy, and delicious.
Everything blended together perfectly,
and it just melted in your mouth.
No filler. You know, plenty of crab meat in there.
Gorgonzola's one of my favorites. It's not overpowering.
It's just delicious.
Here we go. Showtime.
Since Triple-D, you know, we've become quite busy.
It's a dream come true.
[man] The place is always jammed,
so if you don't get here early enough to get a seat at the bar
you don't get a seat.
-What are we making? -I've no clue. A mess?
[chuckles]
[Guy] Coming up...
I love how it comes with the...
-The eating apparatus? [laughs] -Apparatus.
[Guy] A hotdog hangout in Ohio...
Rich, salty, sweet, tangy.
[Guy] Beefed up their menu..
We got everything from poutine to pot stickers.
[Guy] And their real estate
Korean hotdog.
I'm here in a city in Ohio that was one called Porkopolis.
That's because it was the largest
pork producing city in the United States.
Well, a lot has changed since the late 1800s,
but people still call it Cincinnati.
[Guy] And a lot has changed since 2014 too,
because this Triple-D joi doesn't call Cincinnati home anymore.
They brought in such a crowd they had to find more space and a couple of spin-offs.
Starting off with this one right here, Senate.
Got a trailer park hotdog.
I love Senate because the atmosphere is super inviting,
the staff is fantastic, the food is amazing.
[man] I saw the episode on Triple.
It was really exciting to see you guys feature
one of our favorite restaurants.
We love coming here. The hotdogs are to die for.
They're really, really good
[Guy] I would hope so,
since a hotdog spot was the original idea Daniel and Lana Wright had
when they opened this place in 2010.
We thought we would open up
this little hotdog joint
and realized that that was not gonna work.
We needed more food.
We got everything from poutine to pot stickers.
Come on down.
This is the booty and belly sandwich.
We are doing a little braised pork belly
and a little braised pork butt here.
So, these get seared on both sides.
[Daniel] Then we're gonna add that to our caramelized mirepoix.
-Okay. -We're gonna deglaze
-with some Kentucky bourbon ale. -Love it.
[Daniel] Gonna pour it right back over our pork belly and our mirepoix.
And our spice mixture here.
-[Daniel] That is a little Sichuan peppercorn. -I love 'em.
Oh, they go crazy on your tongue.
[Daniel] And we got a little cinnamon stick.
-Put a little star anise as well. -Love it.
[Daniel] We're gonna add chicken stock,
cover it with foil.
Roast off in the oven for how long?
450 for about four hours.
[Guy] I can already smell it.
Okay, now we can put the sandwich together.
[Daniel] So, we're gonna take our pork, add it in a little pan here,
barbecue sauce, braising jus.
And just let it come together.
[Daniel] Yeah, just kind of let it do its thing there.
-Are you ready for this? -[Guy whistles]
Take a little bit of this apple celery root slaw, little bit of our sauce here.
I'm gonna squeeze two of these guys on here.
That's flat-out ridiculous.
There's only one way
to really eat the booty and the belly.
What?
I think Guy had it just nailed down.
I love how it comes with the...
-The eating apparatus? [laughs] -Apparatus.
That's what I needed.
-So, you guys going to the bar later? -[people laugh]
We got a lobster mac and cheese.
They're not afraid just to kind of do
something weird and off the wall,
do whatever pops in their head,
and they manage to make it work into a great dish.
-Favorite thing on the menu? -The crispy pig tail.
Which you just don't find enough anymore.
-No, you do not. -You know?
-Just a good, crispy pig tail. -Yes.
Crispy pig tails.
[Daniel] Everybody obviously does rib
We decided that it would be fun
to take a lesser known part of the animal
and make something great out of it.
I like to be adventurous and try new foods,
so I had the pig tails today and they were wonderful.
Got some beautiful pig tails right here.
Hit 'em with a little bit of salt and pepper,
add a little olive oil to our pan here,
and we're gonna start adding our pig tails.
So, we're just gonna get a little sear on these.
We're gonna start adding in our celery, onion, garlic and carrots,
chopped thyme, a little bit of stock, Kentucky bourbon ale,
couple of bay leaves, and some fresh oranges.
Now it's gonna go in the oven at 450 for about three hours.
Now we pull these out of the oven,
let 'em cool off, trim it a little bit,
and we're ready to drop 'em in the fryer.
We're gonna top it with a little bit of our barbecue sauce.
Gonna coat 'em nice and evenly.
Hit 'em with a little bit of sliced scallions, sesame seeds,
and here we have our crispy pig tails.
Got the crispy pig tails.
[woman] Super tender, really good flavor.
Almost like a mild teriyaki but a little bit sweeter.
It's like a crispier version of a rib.
It's so delicious.
[woman] The food is outstanding.
Really enjoy all of the hotdogs.
The trailer park, the Korean
Got a Korean hotdog.
I really like the braised short rib that they do for it
and the kimchi.
Stuff you would never think of that could go on a hotdog,
but it'll go on a hotdog.
We're gonna take our short rib, add that to a pan here,
add that braising jus, cook that down a little bit.
We're gonna take our bun that we seared off here.
This is gonna be our harissa aioli.
Put some of our braised beef short rib.
Take our kimchi here. There's the pickled cucumbers,
little bit of toasted sesame seeds.
[Guy] Well, we've gone from hotdog to dinner.
These are definitely a meal.
[chuckles]
Dude, I don't know what to tell ya.
That's a flavor kaleidoscope.
Rich, salty, sweet, tangy.
-This is outstanding. -Thank you.
Nicely done.
All right, I got a trailer park and a Lindsay coming up.
There isn't anything on the menu that we haven't enjoyed.
Bringing up a big kale beet salad.
What was this joint before you classed it up?
[Daniel] Nothing. There was absolutely nothing in here.
Since that show,
we've expanded and moved into a much larger facility.
The original space sat 40 people.
This one can seat 150 people
We also opened Pontiac Barbecue,
Forty Thieves, and Holiday Spirits.
They all have their own unique flavors.
We love coming to their restaurants. It's always great.
-Great food. Really a pleasure. -Thank you.
That's all right here, right now on Triple-D Nation
And that's just a drop in the bucket, ladies and gentlemen.
Look alive down there.
Triple-D ground steak dinner.
-We got a long list to get through. -Look at it.
We got a trailer and a Lindsay Lohan going down.
So good.
Ordering a cannelloni feta and two Guy Fieri combos.
-[woman] You might be famous soon. -We will be.
Next time on Triple-D Nation.
They're are not many people that I see
use garlic as... as...
frag... [stuttering]
-Fragrantly? -Fragrant... [stutters]
You know the word.
Are we going with fragrant or flagrant?
-Flagrant. -Flagrant.