[crowd] Man versus food. Man versus food.
I'm at Hofbrauhaus in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Kasespatzle challenge.
- So no one's finished it? - No one's finished it.
So this is insane. [laughs]
[Casey] If I finish 4.5 lb of cheese smothered German noodles
in under an hour,
I win a German beer stein.
Come on, Casey, you got this. Do it for Vegas!
[crowd cheering]
Kasespatzle challenge, you're no match
for this big cheese.
[crowd cheering]
[Casey] For years, food's army has gone on unchecked.
Oh, my God.
- Bigger. - Wow!
- Spicier. - Whoo!
- Bolder. - What is that?
But a hero rises...
That's tremendous.
Ready to taste the nation's most epic eats.
- I'm Casey Webb. - Yes.
Holding the banner of man
and armed with years of experience in the restaurant industry...
[crowd] Casey, Casey!
I go into battle.
- Bring out the steak. - [crowd cheering]
[Casey] Food, your days are numbered.
It's gonna be a wild ride.
The mighty Casey has a taste for victory.
This is Man v. Food.
My traveling taste buds take me to Las Vegas.
For a sushi burger mash-up,
a cheesy comfort food combo,
and a gigantic German delicacy.
Las Vegas, show me the money!
The Las Vegas food scene has evolved
from casino buffets and coffee shops
to a foody mecca offering every cuisine imaginable
for the hundreds and thousands of tourists that flock here each year.
If you know the right places to look,
it's possible to take a gamble with your taste buds in Vegas
and win big every time.
Vegas maybe known for this strip,
but I'm here for a different kinda strip,
Stripchezze.
This food truck will make all your foody dreams come true
with their star studded grilled cheese line up.
You'll have to see to believe.
Hi, can I get a Stripchezze, please?
Pretty please.
When it comes to guilty pleasure eats,
locals know to come to Stripchezze.
Where chef and owner, Suzy Davis has created
a decadent menu of grilled cheese sandwiches
with fun Vegas inspired names and delicious ingredients.
[woman] You are a cheese lover, you gotta come to her truck.
- You gotta find her somewhere. - You gotta find here.
So if you like grilled cheese,
times ten, times a hundred, you come here.
Strichezze has outrageously fun sandwiches
like their Hot Streak,
with Pepper Jack cheese and pickled jalapeno peppers
on parmesan and Flamin' Hot Cheetos crusted sourdough bread.
- Flamin' Hot Cheetos. - Flamin' Hot Cheetos, we love those, right?
It gives a really great bite when you bite into it. Very satisfying.
[Casey] And don't miss the Jam On It.
With maple bourbon bacon jam on parmesan cheese crusted sourdough bread
with mustard, cheese, and sliced tomatoes.
It's got everything you can imagine on here,
bacon, cheese, tomatoes, bunch of other stuff that really makes it tasty.
[Casey] But the fan favorite that I'm here to feast on
is the Pair-O-Dice-Pizza grilled cheese.
Made with three cheeses, pepperoni, and pizza sauce
on parmesan cheese crusted sourdough bread.
So when you close your eyes,
even though you're eating a sandwich, does it taste like you're eating a pizza?
- It does. - That's, uh, kinda amazing.
I lose at the casino and then I come here and I win.
You're always a winner at Stripchezze.
My taste buds are ready to win.
I head into the truck to get me a lucky
Pair-O-Dice-Pizza grilled cheese.
- Hey Suzy. - Hi, how are you?
- Good, how are you? - Hi.
- This is adorable. - [Suzy] Yes.
[Casey] Where does the name come from, what's the inspiration for it?
[Suzy] Las Vegas.
So it's this strip in Las Vegas and cheese.
So picture the Las Vegas strip covered in cheese.
- [Casey] What're we making? - [Suzy] I'm gonna make the Pair-O-Dice-Pizza.
[Casey] So not only is it pair of two of our favorite foods, it looks like a pair of dice.
- [Suzy] Right. - [Casey] Awesome.
[Casey] Suzy uses sourdough bread for all her cheesy creations
because it's sturdy enough to hold up to all that cheese.
You can really pile it on if you wanted to.
I can put as much cheese in here as you want.
[Casey] T o the outside of the bread,
we add a generous amount of parmesan cheese
and the decorative pepperoni dice.
[Suzy] So see how they look like real dice?
- Yeah, oh they sure do look like little dice, see that? - Little pepperonis.
[Casey] We lay the slices of bread with the buttery cheese side down on the grill.
Suzy throws a handful more pepperoni on to the grill as well.
I was like, oh there's only four little slices of pepperoni.
Now there seems to be 40.
And then of course we pile on cheese to make the pizza filling for our sandwich.
- What kinda cheese we got? - We got cheddar, provolone and mozzarella.
[Casey] Tangy homemade tomato sauce goes on the bread slices
and we flip the pile of melty cheese and pepperoni.
[Suzy] You're actually grilling cheese.
That's a nice move because we can't normally do that with a regular grilled cheese.
Which actually adds more texture to the exterior part of the cheese.
- I think so, it's a little crunchy. - Makes it crunchy. Yeah.
[Casey] We layer that grilled piece of cheese on to the crisp sourdough
and pull it off the grill.
That looks so good. [laughs]
I love how the cheese is pouring out. It's crispy on the outside.
-I think so, -'Cause you get... This is all the crispy bits.
- That's the fun part. - That's the total fun part.
Now that's how you get the cheese.
Woah, I know what you're doin', look at this.
- It's like you're seven years old again. - [Suzy laughs]
[Casey] Wow.
Thank you for grilling the cheese before putting it on the grilled cheese.
You're welcome.
It's everything.
Because you get all that crispy outside, the little bits that we love
are usually this spare parts of grilled cheese sandwich
- are inside the sandwich. - Yes.
[Casey] The sharpness of the cheddar,
the richness of the provolone, and the creaminess of the mozzarella
it's like, with the sauce that's really tangy
and the little 'roni is a little spicy and the sourdough,
it's just so good.
Think it's important that people come here and roll the dice on this one,
'cause it's that good.
- Like that? - Yeah.
I'm rolling with this Pair-O-Dice,
but soon we'll have to rock it with a very big challenge.
[woman] You've ever tried to eat a whole box of mac 'n' cheese,
it's like three of those.
Come on, Casey, you can do this.
Kasespatzle challenge, auf Wiedersehen!
I'm in Las Vegas, Nevada,
preparing to fight the 4.5 lb undefeated Kasespatzle challenge.
But first I'll get some sparring practice
with the rarest burger in town.
I'm at Jjanga Steak & Sushi,
a Vegas wonderland of culinary innovation.
Forget everything you know about sushi
because here they're reinventing them as burger, pizza,
and much more.
Ever wonder what happens when you combine
the finest ingredients and flavors of sushi
with the comfort and craveability of American staples?
Well, at Jjanga you'll find your answer
and it tastes even better than it looks.
When you think of, like, cool sushi, you think of Jjanga.
If you're feening for far eastern foods,
but also pining for a pie, Jjanga's got your covered with a slice of sushi pizza.
Featuring your choice of sashimi and sauces atop crispy rice
with a special crust.
So it's a stuffed crust and there's cream cheese inside and I love that
because it's warm, now it's molten.
I actually,
uh, taste a little bit of parmesan cheese which is usually on pizza.
I didn't think it was gonna work out,
but actually it tastes really good on it.
[Casey] Or if you're looking to party likes it's your birthday...
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ Come on, everybody!
Try Jjanga Sushi Cake with your choice of toppings.
- Happy birthday! - Yay!
What I wanted.
[man] Everything in Vegas is, is over the top,
it's big, it's grandiose, it's, it's special,
and it, this is it right here, this is amazing and it's delicious.
[Casey] But the fusion feast I have to try is Jjanga's take on a burger.
It screams spicy crab, spicy tuna, spicy mayo,
a soy reduction, and seaweed salad,
all between two deep fried panko crusted sticky rice patties.
You've got a little bit of everything that makes, like, the best sushi roll.
It's a little sweet, a little savory.
So the crust, it's, it's, the texture on the crust is great.
- I'm here for the rice bun. - [Casey laughs]
Came for the sushi, stayed for the rice bun.
I mean, I'd stay for buns too, man.
Every time.
[man] 'Cause I'm big texture person and too much, like,
- mushiness, I guess, gets to me. - Sure.
And that really, like, balances out well.
[Casey] I'm off to the sushi bar to see how to build this burger.
- Hey, Casey. - Chef Min, how are you?
- How are you? - Nice to see you.
- Pleasure, welcome, welcome. - Thanks for having me.
I heard that we're makin' a burger, yeah?
We are, we're making our signature Jjanga burger today with our panko buns.
[Casey] We start by makin' our spice crab mix.
To the crab mix, we add Japanese seven spice
for a spicy, ginger, sesame kick.
Soy sauce, Japanese chili oil and finally spicy mayo.
- So more spice? - Exactly.
[Casey] I love it, I love it.
And we mix it all together.
There you go.
[Casey] Then it's tuna time.
We add soy sauce and furkikake,
featuring dried fish flakes, nori and sesame seeds.
This tuna gets even tastier with chili oil, sriracha and seven spice.
We mix and set aside our tuna, so we can begin the bun building.
First and foremost we wanna put little bit of the plastic saran wrap
right in the mold here.
Grab our sushi rice,
just how you would do on a, if you're making burger patties
- [Casey] Right. - [Min] Right.
Give it a nice firm press.
[Casey] The firmer, the better, 'cause we're actually gonna be frying this.
[Min] Right.
- Looks great. - So that's one of it.
Don't get dizzy, ooh.
I make a second, more avant-garde, but...
It's like a snowflake,
it's all, it's different and special, just the way it is, right?
And we coat our buns in panko crumps.
And drop them in the deep fryer.
So we've to build this now?
Yes, we are, we're gonna go ahead and build it.
[Casey] We add spring mix, our spicy crab mix,
the spicy tuna, spicy mayo, and a sweet soy reduction.
So there's all kinds of things goin' on with this.
[both laughs]
[Min] Seaweed salad right on top of that.
Okay, we're gonna put the finalized bun right on top and there you go.
[Casey] Thank you, chef.
It's so good.
I love how crunchy our bun is, our panko rice bun, it's so crispy,
but, it has that...
thing that we love about actual bread buns.
It's gotta little bit of give to it.
And it's so crunchy and has so much flavor,
and then immediately this heat,
I get the heat right away, which I love.
I love the spicy tuna and the crab.
- There's a sweetness to both. - Right.
But then you get a cool down from the seaweed salad,
so, yeah, man.
I've had a lot of burgers in my life
and this is, like, one of the best burgers I've ever had.
Thank you, sir.
[Casey] This fish is delish, but I have a whale of a challenge ahead.
[crowd] Crush those carbs. Crush those carbs.
It's huge, I don't know how he's gonna do it.
Kasespatzle challenge, you luck's about to run out.
- Get outta here. - Get outta here.
Get outta, yeah, get outta here.
I'm in Las Vegas at Hofbrauhaus for the Kasespatzle challenge.
If I can take down this 4.5 lb cheese-covered, carb-loaded beast in under an hour,
I win a beer stein.
Kasespatzle challenge,
I'm all in.
Hofbrauhaus is the most authentic German beer hall experience
you'll find this side of the Atlantic.
Almost everything in this massive replica
of Munich's original Hofbrauhaus
is imported from Germany or made from scratch using German ingredients.
It feels like being back in Germany.
- [man 1] Great food, good beer. - [man 2] Good beer.
If we can have this and this before each show,
we wouldn't look like the way we do,
but we'd have a really good time.
- Yes, exactly. - [all laughs]
You guys are Chippendales, not Chubbydales.
Travelers from the world over enjoy their German classics,
like the pork sausage with sauerkraut,
and their jagerschnitzel,
a dish consisting of breaded and fried pork cutlets
with a mushroom gravy that tastes so authentic, you'll think it's magic.
It sounds good except for this bend fork.
- Wait, did you? - No, no, no, I didn't...
- You didn't bend it? - No I didn't do that.
Anyway, don't replay that later. [laughs]
[Casey] And with an Oktoberfest vibe year around,
you can always count on a good time at Hofbrauhaus.
- It's literally, like, the best time ever. - [woman] Yup.
You get to stand up on the table and drink beer
- and cheer and sing. - [woman] Cheer and sing.
Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug.
[Casey] Just make sure you don't have too good a time.
Especially if you somehow end up havin' to take on the Kasespatzle challenge.
A 4.5 lb German take on mac 'n' cheese
with a specially doughy dumpling noodles
and Swiss cheese, covered in crispy fried onions.
It's not really a hard dough where you make a pasta from, it's like liquid dough
It comes out as very fluffy,
it tastes like Bavarian clouds.
- I get to eat 4.5 lb of Bavarian clouds. - Mmm-hmm.
[Casey] It's a challenge so outrageous,
that despite hundreds of attempts nobody has ever succeeded.
It's always good to be nervous.
Yeah, nervous is good. If you're not nervous there's a problem.
- Exactly. - If you're too confident...
probably it's gonna be bad.
It's good. I'm not confident at all.
May be my confidence will grow once I see how this challenge is made.
It never does, but maybe it will this time.
Hey, Frank.
- Hey, Casey, how're you doing, my man? - Good, chef, how are you?
- Nice to see you. - Nice to see you.
[Casey] So let's talk about the actual challenge.
How many actual people have taken it on and finished it?
Hundreds have tried, nobody got it done.
- Nobody has done it. - Nope.
Then what am I doing here?
All right, let's begin, I'm just trying to prolong this thing, let's make it.
We start with 2 lb of flour,
we add nutmeg, then we add salt and white pepper.
We mix our dry ingredients.
- We add the eggs. - How many eggs?
- Twenty five. - [Casey laughs]
Twenty five eggs.
Then after mixing it all together...
Look at that color, i love it.
We have to boil our spaetzle
- We have the our... - So how do you get this in to here?
- With that. - Amazing. [laughs]
That's our spaetzle maker, custom made for us.
So you take it out...
- and get right there, push it out. - Wow, so cool.
[Frank] Push it out.
So what we do after, we're putting it in ice water.
[Casey] After an ice bath we sauté our spaetzle with caramelized onions,
salt, nutmeg and two cups of cream before adding a pound of Swiss cheese.
Well, Swiss cheese is a staple in German cuisine
and nearly half of all exported Swiss cheese goes to Germany.
The rest goes to my house.
That looks really good.
Out comes the lava of spaetzle.
Yeah.
And finally Frank adds a half a pound of fried onions.
Are you kiddin' me? [laughs]
Kasespatzle challenge, you're gettin' smothered.
If you can null this out in a whole hour,
finish the whole plate you get a free glass stein on the house.
Yeah!
[crowd] Three, two, one.
[crowd] Eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it.
This is so good, have you ever had it. [laughs]
The first bit is creamy doughy deliciousness.
I don't know how bite 284 will be,
but number one couldn't be better.
[crowd] Zig zag zig zag oi oi oi!
Zig zag zig zag oi oi oi!
I have never seen so much cheese in my life,
I have no idea how he is gonna finish this.
[Casey] I'm saving the onions for the end, so I can savor this spaetzle.
But I'm fillin' up in a hurry.
I'm an extreme long shot to be the first time winner of this jackpot.
But you never know, you can always get lucky in Vegas.
Whoa.
I'm in Las Vegas, Nevada,
taking on the undefeated 4.5 lb Kasespatzle challenge.
I started on a hot streak against this doughy mac 'n' cheese,
but carbo overload has me feeling like a serious underdog.
Our normal plate is about a fifth of the size of this.
And taking on half of that plate myself gets me way too close.
So this is insane. [laughs]
I have an hour to complete the challenge,
but it's becoming clear that this isn't goin' to come down to the clock,
I could run outta room long before I run outta time.
Go Casey, represent Las Vegas, baby, go.
[Casey] V egas loves an underdog and it maybe my night.
He's about ten minutes in, so that's pretty good.
[Casey] But I'm slowin' down and I'll have all those onions waitin' for me at the end.
So our friends taught us that if you're eating too much and you wanna make more room,
you compact and you make this motion.
[crowd cheering]
[Casey] Does this strategy work?
How have I never heard of this before?
Am I now an unstoppable eating machine?
[crowd] Casey, Casey, Casey.
It could hit him in a, like a brick wall right at the end there.
[Casey] Yeah, probably not.
My hot streak has cool down and I'm about to bust.
It feels like it's just not possible.
But this is Vegas,
I'm goin' all in.
[crowd cheering]
Yeah,
Come on, Casey, you're almost done, you got this!
Come on, Casey, that spaetzle got nothin' on you!
[crowd] Pound that pasta, pound that pasta.
[Casey] With the help of the Vegas crowd,
incredibly I've almost downed all the pasta in less than 27 minutes.
No more spaetzle!
[crowd cheering]
[crowd] No more spaetzle, no more spaetzle.
[Casey] But that still leaves a half pound of fried onions.
My strategy of saving the onions for last has backfired.
As they say in the betting world, Vegas always knows.
It could hit him in a, like a brick wall right at the end there.
[Casey] I hit that brick wall stomach first and I can't take another bite.
Guys, unfortunately...
the onions are just gonna be way too much.
And I hate to say it, but in the battle of man versus food,
food won.
[crowd] No.
[man] Well, great effort.
On behalf of Hofbrauhaus and your travels,
we'll still give you the glass.
- Yeah. - [crowd cheering]