-Hunter! -Hey, yep? What's up?
Hey, uh, listen, Hunter, I need you to, uh,
I don't know what you're workin' on right now, I need you to rearrange the shelves.
I wanna put every ingredient in the store in alphabetical order.
-What? -Yeah, exactly.
Tonight's chefs, they're gonna be thinking in alphabetical order.
They're not ready for this, though.
[Eric shouting] Does elbows count as macaroni?
Wow!
'Cause we're playing a crazy new version
of that classic GGG game that everybody hates, ABC.
And we're playin' it all show long.
Oh, my gosh!
When I have nightmares about this store,
this is pretty much my exact nightmare.
Oooh-wee!
[Guy] All-Star ABC right now on Guy's Grocery Games.
-But I was serious, alphabet... -I'm not... I'm not
-...Alphabetize the whole store... -...doing
-alphabetical order, that's insane. -...for me.
So, let's meet tonight's spellbinding chef's!
Now, first up, it's a bird, no, it's a plane, it's a SuperChef,
Chef Darnell Ferguson!
Dah!
No cape huh? But a sweet lid.
-Yes. -So, we left the capes,
and now we're just goin' to lids?
You're gonna cook in that?
[Darnell] I have competed on Guy's Grocery Games for ten times,
Tournament of Champions for three straight years,
I won the Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge,
you've seen me from here, there, everywhere.
-I'm tellin' you, where's my hat? -[Darnell chuckling]
Next, critically acclaimed author, Food Network star, and spice guru,
the one and only, Aarti Sequeira.
[Aarti] I am no stranger to competition, I won Food Network Star,
and also, I've won $71,000 here in Flavortown, so I'm ready.
-[Aarti] Ta-dah! -Ta-dah!
-Is that your "ta-da" move? Ta-dah! Go get 'em. -That was my, "Ta-da!"
Then, there's GGG and Iron Chef winner, the king of comfort food,
Greeny Greenspan! Chef Eric Greenspan.
Dun-dun-dun!
Man, the king of comfort food, that doesn't get old. Gotta be honest.
-[shouting] Ha-ha-ha! -It will be tested here goin' for a title.
And finally, San Diego's hot spot executive chef,
who has helped launch countless restaurants,
the Shenanigan protégé, Chef Carlos Anthony.
I'm known as Mini-Shenanigans, as Brian Malarky's protégé,
but I'm here today, to pave my own road.
Foo!
-Hi! -There you go, my brother. Lookin' good, Daniel son.
Anyhow, look what we have in front of us, we have food world superheroes.
This is kinda like the Chef-Vengers.
-Dun-dun-dun! -[indistinct chatter]
Well listen chefs, I have assembled you to take on two very diabolical challenges
that will determine your place in the Flavortown multiverse.
-Huh? How contemporary is that? -I like that.
Hunter taught me what those words are.
Consider this the ultimate test of your cooking, shopping, and...
spelling skills.
-Ooh! -[chefs groaning]
Because you are gonna be playing the super version
-of the dreaded GGG game called... -[Aarti] Oh, no. Oh, gosh.
-ABC. -[judges laughing]
Welcome to the All-Star ABC game, folks.
The chef with the lowest score at the end of round one will be eliminated.
But the chef with the highest combined score at the end of two rounds
will get a chance to shop Flavortown Market for up to $20,000.
Now, you up to the task? You ready?
-Yeah, sure. -I think.
I want you to make the judges
your favorite comfort dish.
Give the judges your super-take on the classic.
Hunter? Come on out, buddy.
-You got it? -Oh, my gosh!
-Look at that fridge. -What a refrigerator, as vintage as they come.
So chefs, here's the deal.
To play the new ABC game, I'm gonna let you pick a letter.
And this is the letter of the items you can cook with.
And we are going to take turns in picking those letters.
-[Aarti] Oh, jeez. -But we're gonna go in alphabetic order.
So, we're gonna start with "A" for Aarti.
-Oh, my goodness. -Ah.
-Letter "C." -[Carlos] Ugh!
Letter "C."
Carlos, you're up next, buddy.
Uh, well, now that I don't get "C".
You know what? Would you like to also have letter "C"?
I would love "C".
-Does that work? -You can have letter "C", also.
-Oh! Oh! -[bell ringing] There you go.
-[Guy] Darnell? -Let's go with the letter "B".
-[bell ringing] -[shouting] Come on, man! That was gonna be my letter!
[all laughing]
You know what?
I am the giver, and you both can use letter "C",
-and you both can use letter "B". -Ah!
-Thank you. Thank you. -Appreciate that.
-Thank you. -All right! 30 minutes to shop, prepare and plate
your favorite comfort dish using ingredients
that start with the letter "B", and the letter "C".
Um, whose... What station are you in? Who's in station four?
-I am. -[Guy] Okay, who's in three?
-You're in two? -[Aarti] Mmm-hmm.
-You're in one. -[Aarti] Uh-huh.
Okay, hang on a second. Hang on a second. Hang on a second.
I'm just asking, you know what I have in my yard? I have gophers.
-[all laughing] -Watch out!
I let her hit 'em first.
[Eric] What a challenge on the ABC's, you're so limited.
Always a catch with Mr. Fieri.
I gotta make my favorite comfort dish using only the letters, "B" and "C".
Beef!
I'm gonna take grilled cheese, I'm gonna take a burger,
I'm gonna take a Rueben, I'm gonna combine 'em all, and I'm gonna do a patty melt.
Bacon.
Go get some bread.
Went to the bread aisle. That was next.
Where's the brioche at?
Hey chefs, you know you get to use "C" and "B"?
Is cheese "C", Guy?
-Or does it have to be a... -Cheese is... Cheese is "C", Eric.
Good, sound out the words when... When you don't know it, just sound it out.
-Ahhh! -It says cheese on there.
[Eric] I think our sharp cheddar's gonna cut through
a lot of the fat that's going on.
Speaking of cutting through the fat...
Cabbage, comma, red?
Cabbage, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, cabbage would be... Yeah.
Make kind of ,like, a quick kraut.
This one's, like, fancier.
Right? Like, that's the stuff, like, health people drink.
I'll take it away from Darnell.
I don't even know what I'm doing.
Cheeseburgers are the quintessential comfort food in my family.
That is what we go out for when we need a little bit of a pick-me-up.
What can I get away with?
I am making a cheeseburger with potato chips.
Brioche, okay, we'll go with that.
Okay, cheese.
-"B"... This is the hard part. I need some sort of potato. -[buzzer]
It starts with a "P".
Baby potatoes, okay.
I am making some form of tomato chutney.
What can I make chutney out of?
Tomatoes don't start with "C" or "B".
Lucky for me, Campari tomatoes are in season!
Ooh, look at the gooseberries.
Excuse me. I do love those.
I'm really intrigued by gooseberries.
Uh, it's just such a great ingredient here for my chutney.
We'll work with that, see what happens.
See, that's one a things that gets tough, is you start to go into a recipe,
and then all of a sudden, you get into a huge hang up
where you can't use one a these ingredients.
It doesn't fit in the... In the letters that you picked and that can be the roadblock.
The first thing I think of when I think of comfort,
is fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and bingo! [bell ringing]
Chicken starts with "C".
I'm gonna grab all a these incredible "C" spices
to help boost the flavor of my chicken.
Cumin, coriander.
There's nothing better with fried chicken than creamy mashed potatoes.
Potato, potato, potato.
Bingo! Baby potatoes, baby.
And then, you need herbs...
I'm from San Diego, I'm from the beach.
We want something light, bright and full of flavor.
I just love a chimichurri with chicken.
Kay, capers.
Something I like to call a California gravy, this is gonna go great.
Chicken, season it, de-bone it.
I'ma go this way first.
"C" and "B", if I walked past somethin' that has one a those letters, I would grabbed it.
Where are biscuits at?
[exhaling] Dun-dun-dun.
Comfort dish, I wanna do a biscuits and gravy.
-Is that where you're goin', biscuits and gravy? -[Darnell] Yep, yep, yep.
-Makin' a cheddar chive biscuit, just the dough. -Got it. Got it.
Cheddar chive.
[Darnell] Makin' this biscuits and gravy stand out,
I'm gonna make a chive, cheddar cheese and bacon biscuit.
-Cream... -Oh, hi!
-Excuse me, do you need something? -[Darnell laughing]
Do you need something?
I wanna garnish the biscuits with a little bit a shredded cheddar.
So, I grab the chorizo for the punch of flavor.
So, I have to get these biscuits in the oven.
It is extremely important that they cook long enough.
So, here tonight to score these dishes, or maybe give them a letter grade,
is our panel a judges.
Now, we have Food Network Star, ramen master,
who was in the national spelling bee as a kid.
-Is that true? -It's really true.
The wild card, Chef Justin Warner.
Los Angeles, culinary iconic cookbook author
who makes a mean alphabet soup, and also a lotta world records,
the one and only, Chef Jet Tila.
And celebrated Texas restauranteur, who knows the ABC's of Southern cookin',
the one and only, Chef Tiffany Derry.
All right, so what is your comfort food?
What is the one that you would love to see?
-Uh, I mean, I would choose a "C" for chicken. -[Guy] Okay.
I mean, like, when I think comfort, I think fried chicken.
-I was fried chicken, all day. Bacon, gravy... -Ah, huge!
I thought a bacon gravy with a buttermilk fried chicken.
-[Justin] Easy. -Thank you, judges.
[softly] Okay.
For my favorite comfort dish, I am going to make a cheese and chutney burger.
They're Cape gooseberries.
Even though the burger is the star of my plate,
I need to start on these chips.
Get a little extra starch outta there.
Next, I'm gonna start on the chutney.
I've got a little bit of cumin seed crackling in that oil,
and starting to release those nice, nutty flavors.
I'm sort of obsessed with the gooseberries. They're acidic, they're sweet.
And I know that the judges are gonna lose their minds over them.
I have never made chutney without onions and plain garlic,
so, let's see what block garlic brings to the party.
Hit it with some vinegar.
This has gotta be, like, a $20,000 cheeseburger.
No big deal. No pressure.
So, our all-star chefs are able to, uh, cook a classic comfort dish
using only the letters "C" and "B"...
-[Jet] Mmm. -...for their ingredients.
You know you're gonna see a mess of bacon today.
Come on!
[Guy shouting] 25 minutes!
For my favorite comfort dish, I'm gonna make fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
Watch your step over here!
The first thing I get started on is dropping those potatoes.
Oooh-wee!
Next, I need to work on my chicken.
Boom! Boom! Open up a little bit.
I soak my chicken in buttermilk,
and then I put a lot of amazing spices,
coriander, cayenne, cumin, curry powder.
Okay,
So, Carlos is doing fried chicken. That's ultimate comfort, right there.
[Carlos] I dredge my chicken in flour, and I put it right into the fryer.
These are real deal competitors, and if you're gonna make fried chicken,
it better be perfect!
[Eric] I got beef! I've got bacon! I've got cabbage, red.
I've got brioche.
So, for my favorite comfort dish, I am making a bacon cheeseburger patty melt.
First thing that I do, I take my bacon, I lay it out on a sheet tray.
It's gonna be a great way to render it down as fast as possible,
and get back cooking.
Next, I take my cabbage. I thinly slice my red cabbage.
Cover it with the cider vinegar, some salt, some sugar,
and I'm gonna simply bring that to a boil, and make kind of like a quick kraut.
-Look at you, you bread cuttin' machine. -Look at that, huh?
I like that you sliced the bread yourself, 'cause you're gangster.
-So, avant-garde. -Avant... That's avant-garde!
[Darnell] Cheddar cheese, some cream...
For my comfort dish, I'm makin' a cheddar chive bacon biscuit and gravy.
The first thing I do is I fry my bacon.
This will add another element to that fluffy, flaky, biscuit dough.
Next, I need to work on my biscuits.
I'm gonna add my chives, my cheddar cheese, and my diced up bacon to my biscuits.
Gonna roll these back out.
You're scarin' me with these things, man.
Can't you just do 'em like that, and get 'em in there?
[Darnell] Yeah, I'm gonna make 'em thinner, so they don't have to rise as much.
I'ma cut 'em again.
It's called biscuits and gravy.
Imagine if the biscuits ain't good?
I'm definitely goin' home.
Chefs! 15 minutes, halfway point. 15 to go!
[Aarti] It's time to fry those baby potatoes, and make them into chips...
Watch out, it's gonna splatter.
...which will be the perfect accompaniment to my burger.
I season the ground beef very well with salt and pepper,
I add a little bit of cumin, and paprika.
-[Guy] Aarti? -Yep!
-Where are ya? -Burgers are goin' on.
Fries are fryin'. Oh, thank you.
My favorite kind of burger is actually a smash burger.
I like those thin patties. They cook really quickly.
And it's kind of hard to mess them up.
Yeah.
The chutney is simmering away, and doing its business. I taste it.
It's awesome, you guys!
Ooh, that's good, it's tangy.
Some sharp cheddar, my favorite cheese.
If I'm going to make this really vivacious chutney,
I need a cheese that can really stand up to it.
[softly] Okay.
And then for the flavor,
I want to soak up some of the beef fat that was left on the griddle with the buns.
That to me, is comfort food.
Time, I'm looking good on time. I'm looking good on time.
I've got my baby potatoes working. I've got my chicken frying.
Now, it's time to work on that California gravy.
Bingo!
I chop some chives...
Okay, curlied those.
Bang-bing--bang-bominos!
...I crush some capers...
A little bit a that.
...and then, I add a little bit of cipollini onions.
Olive oil, red wine vinegar.
It's gotta cut through the richness
of those potatoes, and that fried chicken.
[British accent] A little crushed red pepper.
This is my creative way to take fried chicken over the top.
Once my baby potatoes are done, I get to smashing.
I add buttermilk, butter, and a whole gang of salt.
And now, I can finally pull my chicken out of the fryer.
[singing] These are looking delicious.
[Eric] I take my bacon.
I look down, and I see all this nice bacon grease in that sheet tray.
I'm, like, ah! Let's use that!
And that's what I'm gonna use to grill my burgers.
And then I smash my burgers.
I flip my patties. I put the cheddar cheese on top.
It's lookin' good!
[Guy shouting] Five minutes! Five to go!
Next, I need to work on my gravy.
I'm gonna dice up my bacon and get that, and the chorizo
startin' to render inside the pan.
The key to makin' a good gravy is havin' a good base.
You know, you want all the flavor before you add the milk or the cream.
I'm gonna tell you one secret people...
these biscuits look fire.
They're beautiful, they're petite, they've fluffed up.
I mean, these are exactly what I was looking for.
Three minutes, chefs!
God, this clock is so gnarly, I'm having anxiety.
[shouting] Good! Oh!
I'm feelin' good, guys. Let's get a plate.
I'm ready to plate.
First, I put the creamy, delicious mashed potatoes on the bottom of the plate.
And then I stack that crispy, seasoned fried chicken on the creamy mashed potatoes.
And then, I'm gonna put my California gravy on the side.
[Aarti] Time to plate.
I place the burger with the melty cheese on the buns,
and then, the nice ladle of the Cape gooseberry chutney.
Chips go on the plate, and I'm done!
90 seconds!
[Darnell] I pour my gravy on the bottom of the bowl
because I want those biscuits to be the star of the show.
So, we are gonna take too many biscuits, set it right on top,
and then, I wanna garnish the biscuits with a little bit a shredded cheddar, chives.
[Guy shouting] One minute!
[Eric] Take my bread out. It's nice and toasted.
And the bacon's gonna kinda protect the bread a little bit,
and keep it from sogging up.
I put my slaw up on there.
My cheese is nice and melted on top of my burgers, I put that on top.
But I look at it, and my bread to burger ratio's just off.
So, what do I do? Trim off the crusts, like I'm cooking for the kids.
Next thing you know, I got a... It's a smaller burger.
And we finish just in the nick a time.
Three, two, one. Chefs, that's it! Stop working!
-[Tiffany shouting] Good job! -[Justin] Yeah, good job, guys!
Wow! That was intense, man.
Well, chefs I'll tell ya, you can cook better than you can spell.
That's awesome!
Let's take it to the judges, right this way.
All right, judges, this is it, the All-Star ABC, game one, and it was letter pick.
That's right, our chef had to make their favorite comfort dish,
being the giver, I let 'em use the "B" and "C".
This round.
Up first, Shenanigan's little brother, Chef Carlos, tell us about your dish.
[Carlos] I've made the most comforting dish that you can think of,
fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
Uh, I added a little twist in there, a California gravy, if you will,
a, uh, caper chimichurri, uh,
to give it a little bit of brightness of acid, and... And flavor.
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes,
that's been a comfort classic since, like, 1000 BC.
What I love most about this dish is that while it is comforting,
it still has refinement and finesse.
I think that the California gravy
brings a much needed acidity and brightness to this.
But I think I'm missing just a little salt in the potato, itself.
Mmm-hmm.
It is crispy, it is juicy, it is delicious.
It is seasoned!
I mean, the amount a people who don't season chicken nowadays is, like, outrageous.
Capers, chives, chicken, I think you played the game.
Thank you.
Not to be outdone, Chef Aarti.
Most benevolent and compassionate judges...
-Ooh, oh, wow! -I like it!
[Aarti] I have for you a cheese and chutney burger.
Ketchup is just a chutney,
so I've made you a Cape goldenberry and Campari tomato chutney.
Cape gooseberry ketchup.
-[Tiffany laughing] -[explosion]
[Jet] Gooseberries with their acidity are perfect for ketchup.
And I never would have thought about it, I'm totally stealing this move, by the way.
There is so much flavor going on.
You know, at the end of the day, it's delicious.
In terms of the execution, I gotta say that it needs more cheese.
I... I want a little more cheesiness on the melt.
Uh, the bun is a little big,
and it's so briochy that it's getting a little bit ahead of the beef.
Yep.
Up next, Chef Eric.
[Eric] What you have here, is a butter burger... A bacon butter burger patty melt.
Crispy bacon, and then I made a slaw out of cabbage, comma, red.
[Justin] You know, this is screaming diner comfort.
I feel like a trucker would get on a CB radio, and tell his trucker buddies,
"Hey, you gotta pull over and get this."
-Dude, you're the grilled cheese king... -Yeah.
-...and you didn't give me enough cheese! -[Eric] I... Yeah.
The most crucial "C" in this game...
-[Eric] Fair. Fair. -...it needed that, bro.
You constructed a beautiful sandwich,
and you didn't forget about the acid in the cabbage.
All right, not to be outdone, the one and only Chef Darnell, what do you have for us?
For my comfort food classic, ABC style,
you have a cheddar biscuit and bacon and chive biscuits and gravy.
I mean, Chef Darnell came to play!
-[Guy laughing] -[Tiffany] You came to play today, I mean,
ultimate comfort.
You get so much cheese, you get the bacon,
everything you're seeing, we definitely taste it.
[Justin] It's speaking to a little kid in me
that just couldn't get enough of these flavors.
When we ask for a comfort classic, that's what you want,
the sort of nostalgic flavors.
But my biscuit is eating ever so slightly chewy.
The B and Cs, you're killing in the alphabet game,
but salt level is aggressive.
Listen, I think that was a great round,
I'm glad that you got to use "B" and "C."
Unfortunately, one of you is gonna check out early in this round,
and it's all up to the judges who say they're your friends,
so we'll send you back to the kitchens,
and we'll call you when we have a decision.
Judges, did anyone's dish deserve a minus after their letter?
Twenty point available on gameplay,
twenty point available on taste,
ten points for plating.
All righty then.
Let's take a look at this.
We'll start off with Carlos.
Seventeen out of twenty in gameplay,
seventeen out of twenty,
and plating, eight for a forty-two.
Greeny.
Seventeen out of twenty gameplay,
sixteen out of twenty for taste,
seven for plating for a forty.
Aarti.
Sixteen out of twenty gameplay,
fifteen out of twenty taste,
seven for plating, for thirty-eight.
-Okay, that's fair. -[Guy] Okay.
Darnell,
you need a 42 to lead,
and you gotta get better than 38 to stay in the game.
Sixteen out of twenty in gameplay.
Fifteen out of twenty in taste,
eight in plating for a thirty-nine,
one point above Aarti.
Unfortunately, um, one of them does not stay,
and, uh, that is my sister from another mister, the spice queen,
with that at a thirty-eight,
Darnell taking you up by one point,
we say goodbye.
Goodbye, sister.
Good luck, guys.
You know what? I had so much fun today.
-I love you. -[laughs] I love you.
Thank you, guys.
Do I wish I had done better?
One thousand million percent.
[Guy] So, for the final challenge,
I want you to give the judges a seafood classic.
For that we're gonna pick the letters
for your seafood ingredients.
And we'll start with a little thing that we like to call
Letter Draft.
Ooh.
One-by-one, each one of you will pick a letter,
those are the only letters you can shop with,
-and no one else can use them. -Oh.
And remember, you can't pick letter C or B.
Oh!
Chef Carlos, you're first, go ahead, pick a letter.
Uh, S.
S for Carlos.
[Carlos] I know that I wanna make shrimp and grits.
-[Guy] Greeny. -M.
I picked M, not sure why.
Chef Darnell.
P.
[Guy] P.
[Darnell] Petrale sole,
I'm making fish and chips.
[Guy] What do you got?
G.
Grits, perfect.
L.
L, Lobster.
Lobster mac and cheese.
-Chef Darnell. -E.
'Cause I wanted eggs for my dredge.
One more letter.
T.
[Carlos] Tomatoes
to make this dish come together.
[Guy] Greeny.
-R. -[Guy] R.
Red chards, the stem is for the texture, the greens for some freshness.
[Guy] Chef Darnell.
-A. -[Guy] A.
I have my all-purpose flour.
[Guy] Fantastic.
Gentlemen, step in front of your carts.
Uh-oh, why would we do that?
Good news is 30 minutes to create your seafood classic
featuring ingredients that start with
any one of those three letters in your category.
S, G, T.
M, L, R.
P, E, A.
Bad thing is, it's no carts allowed,
single shop.
So as soon as you go back to your station, that, that is it.
Here we go, any questions?
S, G, T.
M, L, R.
P, E, A.
One, two, three, go.
Look at that face.
[Carlos] You know what you're doing.
One shop.
No carts allowed.
I've to figure out ingredient's letters.
This should be fun.
I'm looking at my letters,
if it's lobster mac n' cheese, you gotta start with lobster.
Mild cheddar should work.
Mozzarella should work.
I have R, so I grab some
ricotta.
Guy!
Does elbows count as macaroni?
-Yes! -[Eric] It does?
Macaroni is macaroni.
And now, let's go grab some produce that's gonna jazz this stuff up.
I wanna use onions,
but I don't have a O.
I got an L,
I got leeks.
So I grab some leeks.
Frankly, I feel like I got what I need.
All right, let's party.
[Carlos] I bet you wanted these, huh, chefy?
I run off to grab shrimp
because when I think about seafood classics,
I think about one of my favorite all time
shrimp and grits.
Let's go with cherries.
The shrimp will go in a great tomato broth.
Shopping in Flavortown...
Tarragon.
...only using my hands and my pockets
is crazy, I mean,
this is really tough.
Hello.
[Darnell] For my seafood classic,
I'm making fish and chips.
[Guy] What are yours again?
-P, E, A? -Yeah, sole.
-Petrale sole? -Yeah.
So I grab Petrale sole
because it's very thin, flaky, cooks fast.
This is the P.
Eggs for my dredge.
P.
E.
A.
Next thing I grab is my potatoes.
I got my fish, now I got my chips.
Technically,
P, where is bread crumbs at, panko?
For my fish, I need to grab some panko for my dredge.
What about panko with some flavor?
But what do I find right next to the panko?
Pork panko.
Panko pork.
It's gonna have flavor, fat,
it's gonna give me something that panko by itself can't.
And then I'm gonna grab some papayas and pineapples
for my chutney.
That's gonna, like, remind you of the vinegar that
goes fantastic with fish and chips.
And he saying P, E, A, doesn't help me think of anything, by the way.
Are you do-- Hey, hey, before you start cooking,
you're done with your one shop?
[Carlos] Yes, uh, yes.
[Guy] Your one shop.
-Greeny, you're done with your one shop. -I guess so.
That's it, yes.
-Let the good times roll. -Yeah.
Twenty-six minutes, you feel good?
You got everything you needed?
-Ah, yeah, it'll be okay. -Okay.
[Jet] Guys, this is a terrible round for them.
[Justin] Yes.
Not only are they stuck using the three letters,
plus no carts allowed.
When I have nightmares about the store,
this is pretty much my exact nightmare.
All right, Darnell, tell me what's on the menu, bud.
Fish and chips.
[Guy] Fish and chips.
Yeah, make so much sense, right?
The first thing I'm gonna get started on is the chips
because they will take the longest by far.
You have to blanch the fries.
I start my blanching in water.
So while my potatoes are boiling,
I'm gonna work on the dredge for my fish.
I have my seasoned all-purpose flour,
egg wash with my E,
and then I have my pork panko and everything seasoning
from my P and E.
Next, I need to work on my fish.
This type of sole is great for frying
because it doesn't take long,
but you can overcook it fast.
There's a lot riding today.
If I win today,
the money will 100% go toward a down payment on the house,
we are house searching right now.
-You feel good? -I feel so--
What seafood dish has got cheese in it?
-Lobster mac. -Got it.
We got those broilers, right?
Whoo!
Yup.
[Eric] While the lobsters are boiling,
gotta get all my, kinda my vegetables together.
A little rainbow chard
and leeks in there.
I drop the macaroni in the water.
Finally, I need to make my cheese sauce, I mean,
I'm a cheese guy.
I make a roux, I add my milk,
bring it to a boil...
...and then I'm gonna start adding my cheese.
There is no way I'm getting dinged
twice in a row for not enough cheese.
-Yeah, look at that. Show it to us! -[cheering]
-[Jet] Yeah! -[Tiffany] Talk to me!
[Carlos] You gotta go grits first, big boy.
This is a big risk in Flavortown
because any good grits
is gonna take some time to cook.
While my grits are cooking,
I'm using all of my pantry ingredients to season my shrimp.
Paprika, cayenne, coriander,
great spices that are gonna be fantastic in my shrimp and grits.
Ready to go.
♪ Ready to go home ♪
Shallot, garlic.
For the base of my sauce,
I wanna get some smokey flavor into this broth,
so I char some heirloom tomatoes
and some of those white parts of green onion.
♪ Going for a treat ♪
[Guy] Fifteen minutes, chefs, fifteen to go, half way.
Classically fish and chips is served with malt vinegar,
so I wanted to echo that
with a vinegar forward chutney
with papayas and pineapple.
Get them in my pot with my red wine vinegar,
sugar, and I dice up some thyme,
and let that reduce.
This flavor profile is what's going to wake up the fish and chips.
And then I wanna blend it up, so it's not just all chunks.
Checking on my fish, and it is looking delicious.
Once my potatoes are done blanching once,
I drop them in the fryer.
-Fryers are working still? -Yes.
And they're gonna go into about 30 seconds left.
[Eric] My lobster is cooked,
I pull it out of the water,
my lobsters are warm,
and I'm just kinda going at it.
Yeah!
Thought you knew.
-Oh, I'm here for it. -[Justin] That's right.
I've got all my lobster meat separated,
I dice it up,
I fold it into the veg...
...I toss all that together...
...and I check my macaroni, and strain that macaroni out,
and I add it into the mix,
then I start to kinda toss it all together.
I put a couple of spoon fulls of this amazingly cheesy creamy sauce
and fold it all together.
And I got everything I need, but you know what?
I got no cheese left to top my macaroni and cheese,
but I still have some leeks left.
So I grab my leeks, I slice 'em up really thin,
and I drop those in the fryer.
So I wanna get those nice and crispy,
I feel like that might be a really great topping
for my macaroni and cheese.
[Guy] Eight minutes.
[Carlos] I know I don't wanna over cook my shrimp,
but I also want there to be texture,
a little bit of snap when you eat it.
So the first thing I do
is I sear my shrimp real hard.
Next, to make my sauce, I start with the aromatics.
Onions and garlic,
and really sweat down those flavors.
Then I add my charred tomato broth.
There is some smoky flavor in this broth,
this is gonna be delicious.
You know, the last few years in our industry
has been incredibly difficult,
and I'm here today competing because when I win,
I'm gonna donate all of the money to Golden Rule Charity.
To give back to restaurants
and to the people that really run them.
[Guy] I will tell you what,
that is stupid delicious.
Wow.
What is going on in there?
Tomato, tarragon.
Flavorville.
No, it's Flavortown.
-Flavorville, you know what? I'm gonna-- -I got my one chance to...
I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take points of you right here for that.
I had my one chance.
[Guy] Three and a half minutes, gotta get plated.
[Eric] I'm starting to run out of time,
so I dab some of that cheese sauce on top,
and under the broiler it goes.
Thank God, for these fried leeks,
and now I've got this beautiful, salty leek julienne
to kinda put on top, we're gonna be okay.
The pasta is starting to get that nice kinda gratin.
I feel like that two point gap
between me and Carlos
is getting really small.
This is a $20,000 dish.
[Guy] Two minutes, chefs, two to go.
-How you feeling, bud? -All right.
I'm gonna let my chips fry a little longer
and go ahead and start plating.
The chutney is looking fantástico.
I grab my fish, and I wanna sit it up,
that way it has the height,
but also allows the air to get out of the fish,
and now it's time for the fries.
[Guy] Ninety seconds.
[Darnell] They're ready.
[Guy] Forty seconds.
[Carlos] With a little bit of time to spare,
I pour on the beautiful grits into my bowls.
Oh, my gosh.
It's packed full of flavor.
I know that this is a winning dish.
Make it perfect, make it perfect.
Five, four,
three, two, one.
Yes, that's it, stop working.
-[sighs] -[Darnell] Down to the wire.
Chefs, I gotta tell you what?
Something smells good,
let's take it to the judges right this way.
Smells good.
All right, judges, this is it,
game two of the All-Star ABC.
First up,
Chef Eric, had M, had L, had R.
-Tell us, are you gonna win with this? -[Eric] I think so.
Judges, this is a lobster mac and cheese,
and then topped it with some crispy julienne of leeks,
Greeny, you know, when you're out at sea,
one of the last things you wanna think about is leeks,
um, but I gotta say...
[all laughing]
[Justin] But it's got quite a lot of elegance to it.
There's a lot of really good texture in this,
and that's something that I think
lobster mac and cheese, uh, is often missing.
That cheese pull,
I've never seen a three feet cheese pull,
but you balanced it so deftly.
I think it was well played, you, you crushed these letter, bro.
Anytime someone says lobster mac and cheese,
here you gave it to me, baby.
It is delicious, it's creamy.
One of my favorite things again is the leeks,
and my least will probably be the Swiss chard,
it is a lot of flavor,
and it's almost trying to come back,
um, the lobster and leeks for the star.
Thank you very much. Up next, Chef Carlos.
Today, for you judges,
my seafood classic with shrimp and grits.
I used the letters S, T, and G
very gracefully throughout the dish.
The harmonies that this dish brings
are, are masterful.
You were truly at one with your ingredients.
The fact that you got this absolute
wallop of flavor on this plate,
I mean, it's fascinating.
[Jet] The grits are creamy,
Uh, the shrimp cook is perfect,
and that ragu that you created with tomato,
my knock for it is really just,
-but it was uneven seasoning. -Mmm-hmm.
Being that I am a southern belle,
I do love my shrimp and grits.
And I must say...
Here's where you're gonna find out
whether or not you're going home or you're gonna win.
-[all laughing] -Na, na, na, na, na, na.
You did a freaking fantastic job.
Are you sure you're not from the South?
-Thank you. -[Guy laughing]
All right, ladies and gentlemen, not to be outdone,
the one and only, Chef Darnell.
What do you have for us? P, E, and A.
I have a Petrale sole fish and chips.
I also used papaya and pineapple
as like a chutney sauce to dip everything in.
You have your fries which have been blanched and fried.
And put a little bit more everything seasoning on top of 'em.
Wow, Chef Darnell,
the sole did you very well,
I love the pork rind, like,
I've never seen pork panko, it was very successful.
[Justin] This papaya-pineapple concoction on the side,
it's conjuring, like, a very fun,
by the sea vibe, and I, I like that.
Petrale sole, dude, like, you could walk by the stove and overcook it,
and then to plate it up
to make sure it didn't steam out and sog out,
that was a really, really smart play.
Um, the fries, to me, were kind of where, where you stumbled.
See how many of those stumbles you ate?
[all laughing]
-I ate a ton of stumbles. -'Cause, look, they, they were stumbling
-right into your mouth. -I ate a ton of it, I'm still, still stumbling, bro.
-[Justin] I'm stumbling, too. -Wow.
I think the fries could have gone a little longer,
just to get a nice crunch on 'em.
This was a really exciting round.
We're gonna send you back to the kitchen
we'll just let the judges figure out, uh,
uh, whose day they're gonna make
and whose day they're gonna break.
Thank you much.
-Thank you, all. -Thank you.
All right, judges, which chef would you like to,
uh, ABC, win.
All right, judges, thank you.
In the second round, you were just outstanding,
but it's a shame that we have to just award one
and send the other two packing,
but that is the way it goes,
and judges, I hope you, uh, I hope you can sleep tonight.
Chef Darnell, 39.
Greenspan at 40,
and, uh, Carlos at 42.
Darnell, let's take a look.
Uh, out of twenty in gameplay, seventeen,
eighteen out of twenty in taste,
nine out of ten in plating for a forty-four.
-Nice score of eighty-three, well done. -[Eric] Wow.
-Greeny. -Yeah, it's me.
-Gotta get better than a forty-three on this. -I would like to.
Eighteen out of twenty in gameplay,
eighteen out of twenty in taste,
nine on plating for a forty-five.
Congratulations, eighty-five points.
Carlos, you have the same thing, man.
You got a forty-three to tie, and a forty-five to win.
[all exclaiming]
[Guy] Nineteen out of twenty in gameplay.
-Nineteen out of twenty in taste. -[all exclaiming]
Nine out of ten for plating for a forty-seven.
-[all cheering] -[Guy] Congratulations.
Eight-nine points, and for his first win in Triple G.
-Chef Carlos. -Yes!
[Darnell] Congrats, man.
-[Guy] Congratulations, buddy. -Thank you.
I believe this may be
the highest score we've had in Triple G.
-Thank you. -[Guy] Well done, congratulations.
Eric Greenspan, Chef Darnell, thank you very much.
Goodbye, guys.
-Good job, man, congratulations. -You're incredible, chefs.
You're incredible.
Hey, hats off to Carlos, man,
he cooked an amazing two rounds of food
and, and I'm really happy for him.
-Sir. -Hi, sunshine.
I had a ball cooking today.
I learned a lot about myself,
and that is, when you don't know what you're doing,
you still know what you're doing.
I'm super excited to see this happen to you.
Congratulations, it's your first big win in Triple G.
-Whoo! Let's go! -[all cheering]
[exclaims] Like, I can't believe it.
I won Guy's Grocery Games.
I'm shaking, I can't even describe it.
-Let's go shopping. -Let's go.
Chef, you have 90 seconds
to find five items based on an alphabetical clue.
You get all five items, you win $20,000.
I will read these off to you,
you will find the item,
put it in the basket,
-you have 90 seconds to do this. -Okay.
First one would be
this melon starts with an H.
-Which would be... -Honey dew.
-We're going?
As soon as you're ready, go.
-He's off and running. -[Jet] Come on, let's go.
[Tiffany] Let's go!
Melons, melons, melons, melons.
Uh, water melon, honey dew.
Okay, honeydew is in the basket.
[Guy] Honeydew, all right.
That's $4000 to Golden Rule Charity.
This "B" whiskey is named after
the Kentucky County it's produced in.
[Carlos] This is an $8000 bottle of Bourbon,
I can't believe it.
-Bourbon, Bourbon, Kentucky Bourbon. -There we go, fantastic.
This "N" legume shares its name with a branch in the military.
I take off to the camp good aisle
and try to find these navy beans.
[Guy] Branch in the military.
-Navy. -Navy, got it.
All right, five,
four, three,
two, one, hold up.
$12,000 coming to Golden Rule Charity.
There you have it.
Navy beans for 12 grand.
This guy came in.
I would've called him the underdog,
but you know what?
He's no longer, he's a winner of Triple G,
he's got 12,000 bucks,
and he's looking for you Shenanigans,
he wants a rematch with the big boss.
See you next week on Guy's Grocery Games.