I'm at The Lumpia Company in Oakland, California
taking on the lumpia challenge.
28 lumpias cut in half, 56 pieces.
[Casey Webb] What would be the average amount
for a normal human being to eat?
Three to six.
[Casey] Can I finish three and a half pounds of Filipino spring roles
in 30 minutes?
Hold this for a second, uh.
- I pulled a muscle in my back. - Argh.
[Casey] I'll win a t-shirt and eternal glory.
You win it, you're gonna be the first, Casey.
Yeah, number one.
Lumpia challenge, roll over.
[all cheering]
Let's go, let's go.
[Casey] For years, food's army has grown unchecked.
Oh, my God.
Bigger.
Wow.
Spicier.
Whoo!
Bolder.
What is that?
But a hero rises.
That is tremendous.
Ready to taste the nation's most epic eats.
Uh...
[all cheering]
I'm Casey Webb.
Yes.
Holding the banner of man
and armed with years of experience
in the restaurant industry.
[people chanting] Casey, Casey!
[Casey] I go into battle.
[crowd cheering]
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.
Whoo!
This is Man v. Food.
My eating escapade takes me to Oakland, California
for a delicious dessert, a monumental molcajete
and enough Filipino spring rolls to feed a family.
Oakland, let's eat some hella good food.
East of the San Francisco Bay Area, lies Oakland,
an historical port city
with nearly every epic group represented.
Just across the bridge, locals call it "The Town."
And in this town, good food and community
live in harmony.
This is Oakland's Fentons Creamery.
A century old ice-cream institution
that's serving up jaw-dropping sundaes
that'll travel your taste buds
back in time.
What started as a local creamery back in 1894
is now a cherished local landmark
where all generations can come together
for a sweet treat.
My earliest memory was about three.
You've been coming to Fentons since you were three?
I came here, my mother came here,
my grandfather came here.
This is one of the first places I went to
when I got my driver's licence.
Come on.
I even had ice-cream the day that Abigail was born.
-The size of that. This big. -[Casey] Here?
Here. It was like the last meal.
So we have Fentons to thank for your birth.
Exactly.
[Casey] Fentons scoops indulgent
handcrafted ice-cream that screams nostalgia.
Like the black and tan sundae.
And their original rocky road.
[customer] My dad loved rocky road ice-cream
and rocky road was invented here
from Fentons.
This is the birth place of rocky road?
Yes, it is.
[Casey] And here at the parlor,
their original rocky road
is extra special in the banana special
inspired by a classic banana split
with three towering scoops of super creamy ice-cream
atop a fresh banana,
covered in pineapple, strawberry,
house chocolate fudge, nuts, whipped cream
and of course, a cherry on top.
For me, just looking at this is like excitement.
Now when I've had banana splits
here's the bowl, here's the ice-cream.
[Casey] It's more like a banana flat.
This is a castle, this is more like a banana special.
It's definitely bigger than any of the ice-cream sundaes you can find around.
I love banana.
He loves banana.
I'm hopping behind the counter, lickity split.
- Hi, Casey. - How you doing?
Welcome to Fentons Creamery.
Thank you.
Let's go all the way back to when it started.
[Scott Whidden] The Fentons family started a dairy.
Fentons has been around long enough
to see the ice box gets replaced by a refrigerator
with a freezer compartment.
Then Fentons starts churning ice-cream.
I know we're gonna make rocky road, right?
So one of the family members
said, "hey, maybe we could move away from vanilla
and chocolate and strawberry."
The American classics.
And try something new and novel.
[Casey] And in order to craft Fentons' banana special
our journey begins with a rocky road.
We started with a little bit of the ice-cream base.
Some milk, cream, sugar.
Here we go.
[Casey] Next we add coco powder
to create our chocolate base.
Whoa, I'm getting dust in my face.
[Scott laughing]
I'm not complaining at all.
It's said that Fentons based the flavors
off the original rocky road chocolate bar
with marshmallows and walnuts.
And the name was a tribute
to the tough times of the Great Depression.
And we have to turn too at the same time.
[Casey] It's a good thing we got three arms.
Our batch moves to a blast freezer to solidify.
And it's time to build my custom banana special.
- We start with the banana. - Okay.
[Scott] I'm gonna go for the vanilla.
Oh, my...
[both giggling]
[Scott] Ready, ready?
Serious?
- How about this? - [Scott] Whoa.
[Casey] Is that too much?
That's good, that's good.
[Casey] We add pineapple on to our vanilla
and strawberry on our strawberry.
Now we're ready for the final scoop.
Rocky road.
All right I got one, here we go.
Okay, there you go.
Right in the center.
[Casey] Finally a drizzle of homemade chocolate sauce,
chopped almonds, a dab of whipped cream
and our cherry on top.
Ah!
[both laughing]
- Steady as we go. - Steady as we go.
All right, I don't even know where to begin.
It's gonna be the rocky road.
- Mmm. - Whoa.
The chocolate is so deep and rich and indulgent.
This is a strawberry explosion.
[Scott] You have five or six different sundaes
within a sundae here.
And the rocky road leads the charge.
This is what dreams are made of, Scott.
Like a kid in an ice-cream shop.
Mmm.
This sundae is dreamy
but I got a deep fried nightmare ahead.
[people cheering]
Whoa! We got some heat.
Lumpia challenge, I'm gonna knock you over.
[Casey] I'm in Oakland, California
ready to take down every Lumpia in town.
But before I feast on Filipino rolls
I'm looking for a true taste of Mexico.
The Bay Area's known for their Mexican cuisine
but for the very best
you gotta go to Oakland's Molcajete Cocina.
They've mastered all the classics
in the most mouthwatering ways.
Here freshness and flavor are the driving force.
Family owned with Guadalajaran roots,
Molcajete Cocina uses local ingredients
and authentic techniques
to transport you all the way to Mexico
with every bite.
It feels like when we got to Mexico.
Everything is so well made.
It's so authentic.
[customer] You got a good mix of people as well.
A lot of us Mexicans eat here.
Oakland's a very mixed community that way.
[Casey] From crispy chicken chilaquiles
to cheesy quesabirria tacos.
[customer] Birria is one of the most traditional dishes in Mexico.
[Casey] Have you been there to taste it to compare?
Yeah, I'm Mexican.
[all laughing]
Yes, of course.
[customer] This is the real thing.
Very rich, very flavorful. Amazing.
[Casey] But if you want a one and done dish
with all the best flavors of the homeland
you treat yourself and your friends...
to the massive Molcajete Especiale.
A jumbo mortar lined with fried cheese,
overflowing with beans, veggies,
grilled meats and cactus, fresh pico and guac,
fried shrimp drizzled with cheesy crema
and served with a fresh tortillas.
I just like to bring my friends
just to show 'em, like, a piece of my heritage.
You wanna eat it traditionally
you just go right after it.
It's like digging for treasure.
You always find gold.
Yeah.
Out of the way, I want my Molcajete.
- [Manuel] Hey. - [Casey] Manuel.
Hey, how are ya?
- Good, how are you? - Good, good.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for coming.
[Casey] What are we making today?
[Manuel] Molcajete Especiale.
[Casey] We start by heating up our molcajete
on the stove over the open flame.
So this is the molcajete
which is made of volcanic stone.
Perfect for retaining heat for extended periods of time.
So how long do we heat it for?
[Manuel] Uh, five minutes. Mucho caliente.
Now is for the tortilla cheese for the molcajete.
[Casey] Manuel lays down a house blend
of mozzarella, Monterey Jack and Oaxaca cheese
on the flat top.
Are you kidding me?
- More cheese. - More, oh.
- [Manuel] More cheese. - [Casey laughing]
Manuel, what's next?
- Uh, the meat. - The meat?
We start with our steak then bring on the cactus.
So, nopales, or prickly pear cactus.
It's crunchy on the outside
and has a gooey texture on the inside,
similar to, like, okra.
- So we're gonna grill this? - Yeah.
[Casey] Next the chicken and chorizo.
We season the meat with salt
and their specialty house blend.
Man, that's a whole lot of meat.
Hey. [giggling]
[Manuel] Okay, the meat is ready.
The meat is ready. Perfect.
Let's build this molcajete mountain.
Whoa, this is flaming hot right now.
This is nuts.
In goes our beans and veggies.
Okay, cactus.
- Chicken. - [Casey] All the chicken?
Yeah.
The steak.
Is there enough room? We need a bigger molcajete.
And just when you think we've reached the tippity top of the tower,
Manuel piles on chorizo, lettuce, pico de gallo,
guacamole, lime, beer battered shrimp, cilantro.
But wait, there's more.
[Manuel] Sour cream.
[Casey] Little bit of crema on top.
[Manuel] Cheese.
[Casey] And lastly, a side of their fresh, homemade corn tortillas.
[Manuel] And that's it.
- Wow. - Heavy?
Yes.
The most special Molcajete Especiale taco.
The tortilla by itself is so rich and flavorful.
The corn, it really just compliments everything.
The grilled meats.
Everything's nice and hot.
And then you get the guacamole which is really creamy.
And the nopales is, like, really refreshing.
Wow, you get everything in every bite
which is exactly what I wanted.
I think this is the best kept secret,
is the crispy tortilla cheese.
I've said enough.
This Especiale has me stuffed
but I still have a feast to finish.
[people cheering]
It takes grit to get through this.
Will he? I don't know. We'll see, we'll see.
Lumpia challenge, go stuff yourself.
[Casey] I'm in Oakland at The Lumpia Company
for the lumpia challenge.
If I'm the first to finish this three and a half pound Filipino feast
I win a t-shirt with my face on it.
Lumpia challenge, prepare to get steamrolled.
28 please. All of them.
Every one.
Traditional lumpia are spring rolls
with thin, crunchy wrappers
paired with pork and veggie filling.
And owner Alex Retodo
opened The Lumpia Company in 2015
to make Filipino comfort food
more accessible to the community.
For me as a Filipino American, lumpia's the perfect dish
that introduce Filipino cuisine for a larger audience.
So what do you enjoy most about lumpias?
The crunch factor.
[crunching]
[male customer] I mean just...
[both crunching]
It's an audible food.
- Mmm-hmm. - It is.
- Mmm. - Mmm?
Mmm-hmm.
[Casey] Many regions offer their own spin on the spring roll
but at The Lumpia Company the standard is not enough.
From traditional Filipino dishes
like the chicken tinola
to the not so traditional peach mango cobbler,
they're remixing their favorite flavors
into all kinds of fillings.
[customer] Tinola's like a chicken, ginger soup
that we usually have and we make at the house.
So to have it now in lumpia form,
- it's pretty awesome. - Yeah.
[Casey] So wait, there's peach cobbler in the lumpia?
[female customer] Yes.
It's not a traditional lumpia but it's so good.
Who cares?
And with so many choices I'm here to try it all
and take on the lumpia challenge.
A three and a half pound feast of lumpia
ranging from savory to spicy to sweet.
At a family party, it's something that you just pick at.
- How long do you have? - 30 minutes.
Three and half pounds.
So I'm at that party but I'm like, whoo!
Member of the family. I'm gonna
- dance around the table. - Yeah, I think you have to do like this a little bit.
[Casey] What would the average amount
for a normal human being to eat?
Three to six.
- [Casey] Three to six whole ones? - [female customer] Yes.
[male customer] May as well just take it like you're eating a four course meal.
Start with your soup, have your pork,
Kare Kare oxtail, you have your dessert.
I think the sauces are gonna add some flavor.
Use the sauces to your advantage.
[Casey] Lumpia, I'm coming for ya.
- Hey, Alex. - Hey, buddy.
How ya doing?
Hey, welcome to the lumpia kitchen.
- Thanks, man. - How did you get started here?
- I wanted to share Filipino culture with the world. - Sure.
So I said, I'll go put your favorite Filipino dishes
- and transform them into lumpias. - Amazing.
So, the lumpia challenge?
[Alex] 28 lumpias cut in half, 56 pieces.
[Casey] How many people
have taken the lumpia challenge on?
Man, few have tried. It was too much for them.
So if you win it, you're gonna be first, Casey.
Yeah, number one.
We start with the first of the four flavors.
Chicken tinola, the one that we're gonna prep today,
it has a chicken ginger soup flavor.
[Casey] Our filling begins with ground chicken,
chayote squash and spinach.
Next we we mix in ginger, minced garlic,
pepper and fish sauce.
[Alex] So these are flour pastries.
A portion scoop.
- Okay. - One of these.
[Casey] So you pinch the two in, right?
- See these ends? - Yeah, yeah.
- I want the tips to touch like that. - [Casey] Touch it.
[Alex] Tuck that in at the bottom of the meat.
Once you do that, roll forward.
- [Casey] Ooh! - [Alex] And it'll correct itself.
All right, two.
Alex and I roll up five more chicken tinola,
seven Bicol Express,
seven Kare Kare
and seven peach mango cobbler.
Now all 28 are ready for the fryer.
They got so much bigger. [giggling]
Cutting each lumpia in half
we pile on the pork and shrimp Bicol Express
with spicy sweet chili sauce.
Next we lay down the oxtail lumpia
with their specialty peanut sauce.
This looks delicious.
Kare Kare.
[Casey] And finally we add on our chicken tinola
with shoyu aioli
and a peach mango cobbler with coconut ube sauce.
And then you've got the collection of sauces.
All Filipino staples.
[both] Ohhh.
Look out lumpia challenge, you're getting toppled.
- [chuckling] - Hold this for a second?
- Uh, I pulled a muscle in my back. - Argh.
[people cheering]
Casey, you ready for the lumpia challenge?
Let's go, Casey.
Let's go, baby.
You got 30 minutes to finish it all.
Three, two, one.
- Whoo! - Let's go, Casey!
[Casey] I opt for oxtail at the top,
knowing well it's the heaviest hitter.
Crispy, savory and delicious.
Kare Kare.
[people chanting] Man v. Food! Man v. Food! Man v. Food!
[Casey] But the thick peanut sauce is slowing me down like quicksand.
It's a little bit thick.
It's the sauce that's inside
is what's gonna slow him down a little bit
but he can do it.
[Casey] I spring forward to spicy
to cut through the richness.
Whoa! We got some heat.
Whoo!
Fire!
[people chanting] Lumpia, lumpia, lumpia!
[Casey] The Bicol Express has me distressed.
[people chanting and cheering]
[Casey] Will I be able to eat this heat?
Whoo!
[people chanting and cheering]
[Casey] I'm in Oakland at The Lumpia Company
undertaking the three and a half pound lumpia challenge.
A lot of chewing going on, lot of chewing.
With dozens of lumpia to go,
I crunch in to high gear.
This is like the lumpia Olympics.
[people laughing and cheering]
[Casey] And I'm in deep fried trouble.
All right, Casey, Ten minutes.
- Twenty more minutes to go. - [Casey] Whoo.
Let's go.
[people cheering]
Right now he's about a third of the way through
and there's a ton of lumpia still there.
[Casey] Too much spicy pork has me on the struggle bus.
I need a new plan of attack.
Am I Filipino yet?
[Casey] It's time to listen to the locals.
I think the sauces are gonna add some flavor.
Use the sauces to your advantage.
[people cheering]
Dunked one of the lumpias into the Suka, the vinegar,
which is gonna cut the richness in the meat.
It's gonna take grit to get through this.
Will he? I don't know. We'll see, we'll see.
[people chanting] Halfway, halfway, halfway, halfway.
[Casey] Halfway through I roll on to tinola
and its satisfying crunch.
[crowd chanting and cheering]
Other people die halfway and just quit.
He's blowing the competition.
I didn't think he'd be this good.
Casey, he's the wizard.
[people chanting] Finish those lumpias.
[Casey] Just a few rolls left I crunch as fast as I can.
And remember, there's always room for dessert.
[people chanting] One more lumpia!
One more lumpia!!
One more lumpia!
[people cheering]
Last bite!
[people chanting] Last bite, last bite, last bite.
[people cheering]
Whoo!
Congratulations, you are now lumpia champion.
It's me, look at that, it's me.
Yeah, it's you!
[people cheering]
In a battle of Man v. Food,
man won!
[all cheering]
[people chanting] Lumpia, lumpia, lumpia.