You know, people are asking me all the time,
"Hey, Guy, that one joint, you checked out in that one city,
when you were doin' Triple D, how they doin'?"
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 blowin' up,
and we're goin' back to see what's cookin'.
Like on this trip.
It's a healthy mix of friends...
...family...
This is so awesome.
...and pho.
Nothin' says more yum than tendon.
From Cuban with the one and only Cuban in NYC...
-That's the real deal? -This is the real deal.
[Guy] ...to shakin' beef and slurpin' soup in Cincinnati...
Mmm, delicious, man. Great job, chef.
...and on the shores of North Carolina, fresh fish...
I got these in yesterday mornin'.
-I mean, so we're not even 24 hours? -Correct.
...and hush puppies...
-This is the legendary, Sanitary Seafood... -Yeah.
-...hush puppies, I've heard about my whole life. -I swear.
...I haven't had, since I was a pup...
We have so many family memories in this place.
-Cheers! -[all clamoring]
[Guy] ...familiar faces, new places, and more off the hook flavors.
This is Triple D Nation.
Okay, so this is a step back in time.
I haven't been here... Let's see, when was the last time I was here...
[bell ringing]
...maybe when I was 12.
This was the thing we looked forward to the most.
Coming down here, all the cousins.
You can't come to Morehead City and not check it out.
I remember the name being Tony's Sanitary Seafood,
but I believe they've dropped the "Tony", and I believe it's Sanitary Fish Market.
But still, just calling something Sanitary
-is the craziest thing. -Sanitary? Interesting.
But, at least, it's clean.
[Guy] And we're gonna meet the current owner,
who is, I think third generation, come on.
[Hunter Fieri] This is gonna be awesome.
[Jeff Garner] Two minutes on a tuna!
Fresh fried shrimp for y'all, as well.
[Jeff] Soft crab up.
[man] Comin' down here, uh, bein' right here on the water,
you... You know you're always gonna get great seafood.
[Jeff] Fish and chips up!
It's just iconic, uh, nothing has changed.
[Guy] Certainly not since I was a kid,
when we would come down to North Carolina with the entire family.
But it goes back even further than that, to 1938,
when owner, Jeff Garner's grandfather opened a small seafood joint.
Tuna up!
-[Guy] My nephew Jules... -Jules.
-...my oldest son, Hunter. -How you doin'? Hunter.
-Nice to meet 'ya. -All right, Jeff, I was so young
the last time I was here.
But I remember the wood walls,
I remember the smell, I remember the hush puppies.
[Jeff] Family hush puppy basket for patio.
The hush puppies are just unbelievable.
One of the most important thing about havin' a seashore dinner is the hush puppies.
Sugar, salt, pinch a soda, eggs, buttermilk and water,
cornmeal, I'm just gonna mix this up.
So you want it to be wet, not so wet that it's runny.
Let this set up, we're gonna refrigerate it. Let it sit for about 30 minutes.
And then we'll be ready to go to the fryer.
Appetizer hush puppy, table 21.
This is the legendary, Sanitary Seafood
-hush puppies I've heard about my whole life. -I swear.
-Uh-huh! -I swear we would get these,
and I would be so full on these by the time dinner got there.
That I know my parents didn't order me a real dinner.
[waiter] Hush puppies.
Hush puppies were amazing. Not too fried, not too breaded, but great flavor.
Very light and fluffy on the inside.
I'd fill up on the hush puppies,
and probably not have enough room for my entree.
[man 2] I didn't know they didn't served anything but hush puppies.
I learned later,
that the parents were eating shrimp and other things down at the end.
[Jeff] Flounder and shrimp up!
-This is our traditional fresh flounder and fried shrimp. -Okay.
So when you say, "Fresh", it's comin' off the boat, how long ago was it caught?
Absolutely, I got these in yesterday mornin', so I got it then.
-I mean, so we're not even 24 hours? -Correct.
-That's fresh. -Fantastic!
[Jeff] We start with our ocean caught flounder.
So know we're gonna fillet him...
...and that's a fillet.
And we're also gonna have some shrimp.
So the first step here is gonna be to get the heads off of the shrimp.
Peel the first section off, pinch the first section off.
Cut it down the back, now de-vein it, it's ready to go.
We got our flounder that's ready to go to cracker meal,
and we have our shrimp.
We're gonna fry 'em up, and they'll be ready to go.
Add our shrimp.
So now we're gonna make our spice rub for our flounder and shrimp.
Paprika, granulated garlic, cayenne pepper, granulated onion, salt, pepper,
and we're gonna season it.
Fried flounder and shrimp combination fresh from the ocean.
[waiter] Fried flounder.
[Guy] Is flounder the number one seller?
Our flounder and shrimp combination is.
-That's it! -That is... That's it!
That's what this place was built on, right there.
And the flounder and shrimp were fresh out of the ocean, so very, very good.
Very light breaded, had great seasoning on it, too, but not overwhelming.
[cook] Got three fish and chips up!
How many different types of fish are you guys bringin' in on the regular?
[Jeff] Probably a dozen types throughout the year of fish that rotate
-in spots through the season. -And so you're rotatin' the menu, too?
Yeah, whatever's in season.
I got two minutes on the sea bass.
[Jeff] There are families that come here that are third and fourth generations.
They come every year, and we see a lotta the same faces.
Shrimp salad in the window!
I've had relatives coming to this place for years,
my first time here, so I'm glad I got to experience it.
[Jeff] Parmesan wahoo and sweet potatoes!
This is so awesome.
It has that same nostalgic... You're by the water... Long tables... Tons of food.
Order up!
Thank you, so much. This was a, uh, this... One, to share it with my kids.
Two, to have my parents come back, and we have so many family memories in this place.
-That's great! -And I think you probably hear that
from everybody that come back or lives here.
But, uh, you takin' the time to share it with us
-is really awesome, so-- -Yeah, thank you, very much.
[Guy] Comin' up in New York City...
This amount goes in and the rest I drink.
That's the way it should be.
...enough oxtail and arroz con boil...
Two people eat this?
[Guy] ...to feed an army.
-So-- -Two Cubans, seven regular people.
So I'm here in Queens, New York, lookin' for some outrageous Cuban food.
I gotta call in the authorities.
One of my buddies has got the lowdown on the culinary showdown.
So I ring up Carl Ruiz, fantastic Cuban chef, here in New York,
we call him the Cuban.
That was in 2011, with my buddy, an amazing chef, Carl the Cuban,
who we lost, unfortunately, in 2019.
-What's this place called? -Ricon Criollo.
-And it's the bomb? -Legit!
[Guy] And even though Carl's not here to enjoy this place anymore,
they're still dishin' out authentic Cuban meals, he would be proud of.
Let's check it out.
Vaca frita con tostones!
-How's the food? -Amazing.
Rincon Criollo, that little nook in the city where's everybody's family.
The food is decadent.
[Rudy Acosta] Pork tenderloin.
After I saw Guy had been over here, I had to come and try the Cuban food.
It's the only one that compares to the food
that I used to have in Miami from my own mother.
Cuban food is incredible. A lotta spices, a lotta flavor.
Sweet, savory, they cover all bases.
[Guy] And the recipes at this place
were pulled straight from Rudy Acosta's family cookbook.
My grandfather's youngest brothers opened up in May of 1976.
I got involved when I was 11 years old.
[Guy] And now he's runnin' it with his mom and sister.
-How would you describe Cuban food? -Very seasoned, not spicy.
There's nothing in the restaurant that disappoints.
The food is phenomenal. It is traditional Cuban cuisine.
All right, chef, what are we gonna make?
We're gonna make a arroz con pollo.
[Guy] Rice with chicken.
And this is the one dish, in particular,
that you say you can really judge a great Cuban restaurant by.
Arroz con pollo, every part of Cuba has a different way of making it.
Carl the Cuban, he was the, uh, Cuban food police, right?
He was here to make sure that everything was legit.
He was one of our customers since he was born.
First thing we do is we're gonna add some extra virgin olive oil.
-Add in our chicken. -[Guy] A whole chicken, bones and everything?
Bones and everything.
-[Guy] Then you hit in just some regular Spanish onion. -[Rudy] Correct.
[Guy] Then you go with some green bell pepper.
That's the make it or break it ingredient.
We're actually gonna add a couple a more key ingredients...
-[Guy] Okay. -...which is our tomato sauce,
homemade garlic sauce, now we're gonna throw in some white wine.
-[Guy] And you have a cooking wine that you guys use? -[Rudy] Correct.
My great uncle says this is what we gotta use, can't use anything else.
Now we're gonna go ahead and follow up with, uh, a nice bottle of beer.
-[Guy] Okay. -This amount goes in there, and the rest I drink.
-[Guy] That's the way it should be. -[Carl laughing]
Now, we're gonna go ahead and add some spices, ground bay leaf,
cumin, white pepper, oregano.
[Guy] The chicken base goes in. Look at the color of that!
Now, is this dish made once a day?
Not at all, this is made to order.
This particular order's for two people.
That's for two people?
The way you see it cookin' right now, this same pot gets delivered to the table.
Add par-cooked rice, and now, we're gonna add some bijol.
Bijol?
[Rudy] We use it to give it that nice, yellow color that the arroz con pollo has.
-And a little bit a salt? -Yes, sir.
[Guy] And that's all she wrote?
Now, you're gonna take it, pop it in the oven for how long?
-[Rudy] About 25 minutes. -[Guy] Covered?
[Rudy] Covered, yes.
-We're ready. -Let's see this.
-[Carl] Look at that. -[Guy] Two people eat this?
-So-- -Two Cubans, seven regular people.
[Rudy] We're gonna go ahead and garnish it with some green peas,
and some red bell pepper.
Hey, what's up with givin' him more?
-Cuban. -He's Cuban.
I wouldn't believe it, except for the fact that they said it together.
[Carl and Rudy chuckling]
Rich, it's creamy.
I get the chicken, I get the rice, I get a little bit of the sofrito,
but nothing is overwhelming.
-Not one item is taking, like, the lead in this. -[Rudy] Uh-uh.
-That's the real deal? -This is the real deal.
I love everything here, but my go-to's the oxtail.
It's how the oxtail's supposed to be, the meat falls off the bone.
[waiter 2] Octail, rabo encendido.
Rabo encendido.
[man 3] Oxtail stew with a nice red wine tomato sauce.
And it all starts with the sofrito.
We'll throw the green bell peppers in here. We're gonna throw some onions in here.
Some olives, we're gonna get some garlic sauce in here,
some tomato paste, okay, so we're gonna blend this up here.
Now, we're gonna go ahead and add sofrito here to the oxtail.
Go ahead and add our red wine, nice chicken base, ground bay leaf,
ground cumin, white pepper, oregano and salt.
White wine. We've been using this cooking wine since 1976.
I have no idea what it is, but it works.
We're gonna go ahead and add some water here, yep.
Cook it up for about two hours.
Let it get nice and tender, and it'll be ready.
And this we're gonna pair up with our moros rice, arroz moros.
Oxtail up!
It's very juicy, it's very succulent.
The meat and the sauce kinda covalence together,
and really bring out this richness and savoriness.
It's sweet but it's very savory, as well. It's just also so delicious.
We're hangin' out in Queens, New York, tryin' some off the hook Cuban food.
-You can't get enough of it. -Yeah.
You gotta come back, 'cause next up...
-Ropa vieja means old clothes. -Old, torn clothes.
[waiter 3] Chicharron de pollo.
At Rincon Criollo... Did I say it right?
-Yo-yo, like a yo-yo. -Cri-yo-yo!
Welcome back to Triple D, here we are in Queens, New York,
hangin' out with my buddy, Carl the Cuban.
-And, uh, it's called... -[Rudy] Rincon Criollo. Rincon Criollo.
-Crilollio? -Rincon Criollo.
I still can't get it right!
But no matter how you say it,
this place has been dishin' out real deal Cuban cuisine way before I showed up.
Mmm!
-I can't get enough of it. -Yep!
And that's the bad thing about it...
-[man 4 chuckling] You're killin' me. -...is you can't
get enough of it.
Right after the show aired, there was an immediate impact. We went from busy to crazy.
We got a Triple D favorite, ropa vieja!
I'm a ropa vieja fan.
If you know Cuban food, you know ropa vieja.
-It means old clothes. -Old, torn clothes.
-Actual shredded beef. -Shredded beef.
[Rudy] A little bit a oil in there, I'm gonna throw some onions in here.
Now the green bell pepper which is completely indigenous to the Cuban style a food.
Correct.
-We got some garlic sauce in there. -I love the garlic sauce.
Go ahead and put half a bottle a white wine.
Put the plum tomatoes in there.
-We're gonna go ahead and add our spices, ground bay leaf... -[Guy] Okay.
...black pepper, oregano, add our chicken base scoop.
-Tomato paste. -[Guy] Goin' big with the tomato paste.
You put a whole number ten can, practically.
[Rudy] Last is our ketchup. This give it that nice, sweet touch.
I've made a lotta Cuban food, my friend,
-I have never put ketchup in it. -Never put ketchup in it.
This is what gives it the nice sweetness.
We're gonna go ahead and let this simmer for about a good 20 minutes.
We're gonna go ahead and get the, uh, beef ready to be shredded.
And that juice is gonna go in the sauce, too?
-This meat stock here's gonna go right into our sauce. Yeah. -Oh, that's nice.
And, I mean, literally, shreds apart, and that's why it looks like old clothes.
[Rudy] Correct.
[Guy] It's like bein' right at the rim of the volcano in Flavortown, man.
Look at that thing! Now, how long's this gonna go together before we get to eat it?
Good 30 minutes.
[Guy] The meat really, really holds onto the sauce.
And then you get the texture of the meat.
-Look at how juicy it is. -[Rudy] Yeah.
[mumbling]
There you go.
I'll be back.
[Rudy] Ropa Vieja!
Nobody makes it like Rincon Criollo, the saucisson you get here,
the flavor is like no other.
[Rudy] Oxtails ready! Two chicharron de pollo's comin' up.
It's fried chicken like you've never had it.
Chicharron de pollo.
So we're gonna start off with just some simple lime juice
that we're gonna pour on top here.
Garlic powder, our chicken base, now we're gonna add in our oregano,
some salt, some extra lemon juice, and let it soak it, yeah,
then we're ready to throw it in the oven.
All right, chicken's ready.
And then we're go ahead and deep fry it once we get the order.
We're good to go.
Raw onions on here.
Get a little garlic sauce.
The garlic oil is actually just extra virgin olive oil,
a little lime juice, and peeled garlic.
[waiter 2] Chicharron de pollo.
It's just seasoned so beautifully.
The flavors are just incredible, juicy, moist.
It's sort of caressed in the pot with the flavors, and not just deep fried.
All right, guys, it's gettin' busy out there, let's roll!
[Rudy] Vaca frita ready!
What do you say, adios?
Hasta luego.
You got that right.
And comin' up...
I don't know that I've ever seen head cheese.
...a Vietnamese joint in Cincinnati...
How long is the line to get into this joint on a Saturday?
...servin' so much soup...
-About an hour and a half. Yeah. -No!
...they had to switch up spots.
Pho tai, nam at the window.
So I'm here in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Findlay Outdoor Market,
now, this is the oldest market in the state of Ohio.
It opened in 1852, and it's been runnin' ever since.
And when I was there in 2014, I found a place dishin' out phenomenal pho.
Since then, the marketplace got too small,
so they moved across the street to their own joint.
Right here, at Pho Lang Thang.
If you come to Cincinnati, definitely come to Pho Lang Thang.
It's just a whole experience, itself.
I have thit nuong at the window.
This is just very authentic food, really takes me back home.
Grilled pork chop, had to have beans.
The food is amazing.
When I saw Duy on Triple D, I loved the beard. I mean, he looks a little different now.
[Guy] I'll say, but while chef Duy Nguyen may have changed his look,
he hasn't changed any of the family recipes he's been makin'
with the help of his brother, Bao and buddy, Mike Dew.
I'm actually American, born here, but my folks are from Vietnam.
We've always had a lot of fun playing with food.
We've been able to introduce new Vietnamese dishes
to this region that people have never really seen before.
[Bao] Pho tai, nam at the window.
The soup is amazing.
Everybody talked about the pho, that was the first thing that we got.
[waiter 3] Beef pho.
So where are we gonna start?
-We're gonna start off with the bones. -Okay.
-So oxtail. -Oxtail.
-We got some femur bones. -Wow!
[Duy] Next up, we add our brisket to it.
-So we take our beef scraps, toss it it in there, as well. -[Guy] Okay.
Kosher salt in there, from here we add the water, then let it simmer.
It takes about three hours.
I'm gonna pull out the brisket.
It's like bobbin' for brisket.
Now, we're gonna drop, uh, the tendon in.
Nothin' says more yum, than tendon.
-Let it sit in there overnight. -Next step.
[Duy] Roasted onions, roasted ginger, roasted spices,
and the cinnamon, as well, too.
-Sugar, kosher salt, rock sugar, rock candy. -Rock sugar?
A little bit of mushroom seasoning and MSG.
-Top back on, come back three hours later ready to plate it. -[Guy] Kay.
-[Duy] Fresh pho noodles. -[Guy] It's just a rice noodle.
-Yep! About 30 seconds or so. -[Guy] Got it.
Start placing the meat in.
First we go with, uh, brisket, and then we got our meatballs, tripe,
-some tendon, and, uh, we got our rare eye round. Yep! -[Guy] Eye-of-round.
[Duy] A little bit of white onions, green onions, some cilantro, as well.
-[Guy] Got it. -And then, ladle the broth on.
That's outstanding.
Mmm!
Tender noodles, great meatball,
I think that there's so many components to it.
The balance is great, the flavors are subtle.
It's delicious, man. Great job, chef.
[waiter 3] Pho tai, nam, table 13.
Typically I get the pho ga, and add a side order of the wings.
Nuoc mam wings at the window.
Uh, nuoc mam wings are probably one of my favorite.
Sauce in the nuoc mam wings.
The wings are great. There's just really good marinade.
I think that's some of the magic in the secret sauce.
To make our nuoc mam wings, first, we brine 'em overnight
in garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, black pepper and lemon grass.
We add a little bit a water, whisk it up, and then brine the wings in them overnight.
Once the wings are brined, we lay it out on a rack,
and bake it off, 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Drop six in a basket...
Nuoc mam wings goin' down.
...pull 'em out, toss 'em in the wing sauce,
which is water, sugar, honey, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and lime juice.
Add some ginger, garlic, Thai chilis, top it off with a corn starch slurry,
heat it up, and then we're gonna blend it.
I need two wings for table 12.
I love the wings. The sauce on 'em, bit of spiciness to add to the sweetness.
It's really nice.
They're super flavorful. A nice crisp to it, really enjoy it.
We had the wings, we had the bo luc lac, which is the steak.
Bo luc lac.
One of the new things that they have,
the shake and beef is now one that I get pretty frequently.
Oh, I love it.
For our bo luc lac, we start off with a cubed, ragu plank steak.
Marinate it with soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic,
shallots, sugar, and black pepper.
We mix that all up. Add our steak to it, let it marinate overnight.
We start off with a really hot pan, get the oil sizzlin',
and then we toss in the cubed plank steak.
We toss it a few times because the name translates to shake and beef.
Add a little bit of the marinade sauce to it,
and once it hits at medium-rare, it's ready to plate.
[Bao] Plating the bo luc lac's!
The beef is really good. It has a really nice, slightly sweet light sauce on it.
Super tender cuts of meat.
I have it every time I come.
You can come here once, get the steak. Next time, wings, the soup.
There's somethin' for everybody.
Got a pork banh mi!
I've eaten a lot of banh mi, but I don't know that I've ever seen head cheese.
That's great.
This is, like, probably the favorite in my family.
Mmm!
Think I'm having the knee.
-[Duy] I need the two wings. -Comin' right up.
Two banh mi chay's in the window.
Triple D comin' through Cincinnati, has been great.
Phew!
Have you been here before?
How long is the line to get into this joint on a Saturday?
Uh, about an hour and a half.
-No! -Yeah.
We thought we were already busy. We didn't realize that it could be even busier.
The business seemed to, at least, double.
[Mike Dew] We moved right across the street from Findlay Market
to a much larger space.
The growth is beyond, you know, any of our wildest dreams.
[woman] Pho Lang Thang's first location was pretty small,
coming into the new location was just really surreal.
If you don't get here right when they open, you're gonna have a bit of a wait.
You gotta come to Pho Lang Thang.
We got a bunch a tickets coming in.
Vaca frita con tostones!
[Guy] That's it for this road trip, and don't you worry...
Can't forget about y'all over here.
Gotta banh mi for the Triple D Nation.
We'd get shoved down at the end, and it was pecking order of how old you were.
[Mike] Plating the bo luc lac's!
Lechon!
...there's over 1,100 joints! We got a lot more to check out.
-Todo salio bien? -Gracias.
See 'ya next week.
Yay!
You didn't expect that, did 'ya?
It was the... It was the chicken wing that he gives with that look.