Welcome to "Guy's Grocery Games."
Go!
-Grab your cart... -Ah!
...and your culinary creativity...
-Ah! -Whee!
...and let the grocery games begin.
Clean up aisle six!
In August of 2013, when my sons were, when they were just
little kids, we filmed our very first episode of
"Guy's Grocery Games" in a small market in Southern California.
Now, who knew then that we'd do over 500 episodes and give over
$7 million in prize money?
For $14,000, he rocked the house on "Triple G"!
So tonight, we're bringing back three of the first chefs to
ever win "Triple G."
Happy to be back. It's been a long, long time.
And we're gonna play some old-school "Triple G" games.
-Ah ha-ha-ha! -Does it feel like your home?
-It's the home away from home. -Come on, baby.
-Wow! -This game is crazy.
It's a throwback throwdown tonight on
"Guy's Grocery Games."
Guys, knock it off!
I cannot wait to see
these folks. It's been a while.
Now, first up, Tom Ramsey, an investment banker turned
soul-food chef who won $18,000 on the premiere episode.
Come on, buddy, get up there. Congratulations.
-Chef Tom! -Oh-ho!
Hey, what's up, buddy? Long time no see.
This isn't the same contestant
that was here, you know, 12 years ago.
I've dropped 50 pounds, have a little restaurant called
Bon, spend more time with my wife and my family.
Man, I'm so much more at peace than I used to be.
I hope it shows in my cooking.
And then there's Chef Plum, private chef and father of
three, who won 14,000 bucks in episode two, and now he's gone
on to become an Emmy-nominated culinary host.
-Are you trying to take my game? -What's up, brother?
-Huh? -It's clobbering time.
-Let's go, brother. -Jeez.
Happy to be back. It's been a long, long time.
Being on this show and winning it helped me build
my confidence up a bunch.
Years ago when we first did this show,
I've definitely changed a lot.
I'm kind of the grizzled-old vet now, so I'm thinking
I gotta come back and try this again.
And finally, Cristina Topham, the Lebanese-American chef from
episode three, who is our first $20,000 winner.
-Give it up! -Yeah!
-$20,000! -Whoo!
-Hey, Guy, what's up? -Welcome back, Chef.
Winning "Triple G" changed
the direction of my career for sure.
I ended up starting my own catering company
and then decided to open a restaurant, which is crazy.
Welcome back to "Grocery Games," chefs.
Changed a little bit, right?
-Little bit. -Completely different.
[Cristina] Yeah.
Although this is the first time in this market, you started in
the beginning market, which was much smaller.
It wasn't quite a Flavortown market.
It would be more like what we'd call Flavorville market.
-Flavor Bodega. -Flavor Bodega market.
So, we invited you back to a very special
two-round throwback throwdown.
As always, the winning chef is gonna get a chance to shop
Flavortown Market for up to 20,000 bucks.
-Let's go. -[Guy] OK?
Bring it on.
[Guy] The only thing you three are gonna have to understand
is only one of you is gonna win.
I know you know what it feels like to win.
You're the only one that knows what it feels like to win
20 grand, by the way.
But talking about throwback, I also have a special guest
who was only seven years old when "Triple G" started.
And now that he's home for college, I figured this would
be a perfect time for him to make a cameo.
Ladies and gentlemen, my son Ryder.
-Right? -[all applaud]
[Guy laughs]
-Oh, wow. -Thank you, son.
-Nice to have you. -Yeah, of course.
Ryder, out of all the OG games that we have in "Triple G,"
and you've been around all of them, what are some of
your favorites? -Can Can.
Can Can, so you can only use the ingredients in a can.
-Yeah, don't say that. -I like that.
Five items or less.
That on the terrible meter is high.
Those are great ideas. All right, how about this?
I'm gonna get them started in the competition.
Why don't you think about your favorite
OG "Triple G" game,
go grab the stuff, bring it back,
and I'll get 'em started. -All right.
-Well done. -Sounds good.
-Thank you, son. -Did you say "Grab the stuff"?
I don't know what he's gonna do.
-That worries me, too. -Very much.
[Guy] We'll see what he comes up with.
First challenge, I want you to make the judges a classic,
a burger and a side.
Burger and a side.
That is old-school, "Triple G," OG.
Couldn't be easier, right?
I'm not even gonna come up with the game right now.
I'm letting Ryder figure it out.
So it'll be on a-need-to-know basis.
Right now, [clicks tongue], you don't get to know.
You can do this. You're winners of season one.
Your 30 minutes begins now in three, two, one.
-Go make great burgers. -[bell dings]
Get out of the way.
We takeoff running down the aisle.
It's very different from, you know, 13 years ago.
I'm almost 60 years old, so I'm pretty old-school.
I'm gonna make an old-school burger.
I'm making a cheeseburger and a side of smashed potatoes.
I find a Wagyu burger, and then I find beef that has
been ground with bacon.
I lean into the word "classic,"
so my shopping becomes really easy.
I need ground meat, I need cheese, I need buns.
Very classic, very simple.
Ryder, what game?
Let's see 'em make a burger without the buns.
You did Out of Stock?
[tense music plays]
Ironically enough, that is the first game that we ever
played on "Triple G."
Attention shoppers, we're sad
to inform you that we are out of stock.
That is so vicious, but well done.
Nice.
Attention shoppers, I've been informed by my stock boy that
all the buns are currently out of stock.
All right, going back this way.
Sorry for the inconvenience, and please enjoy all
the bun-like options that we have in aisles...
Uh, aisle...
-Good luck. -Burger buns are out of stock.
Everything's harder than I remember the first time.
So we're gonna go.
So the biggest challenge,
you want that softness of the bun.
You don't have that, you've gotta start thinking
about, what can I do to replicate that?
Go with focaccia.
It's close enough that I could
at least cut it out and make it simulate the buns.
Focaccia, in my opinion, is the most bun-like.
[Tom] In season one, we played out of stock.
You just gotta think on your feet.
You gotta come up with something that gets you in
the neighborhood, but is not so far out of the neighborhood.
Since then, I mean, that's been 12 years.
I've gone on to run top restaurants in one of
the biggest food cities in the world.
I can think on my feet and find something here.
OK.
[Kris] Coming in hot, coming in hot, coming in hot.
Ground beef deliciousness.
I'm gonna go a little ground beef.
I'm definitely on a smash burger kick.
Don't overthink it.
[Kris laughs]
But there's no buns. What am I gonna put these on?
All right, here we go.
Tortillas, we'll just do that.
I got an idea. Burger-rito.
Here we go.
I can make a burger on a tortilla and you cook it,
you know, one side and then one side and you put some cheese.
And then let's go with a crispy potato wedge.
These are great.
Coming back and going against two other people who have won,
you're playing people who already know
how to play the game. I don't wanna say intimidating,
but they're here for a reason.
It's gonna be a good competition.
Back to the stations. Let's do it.
Freaking burgers, man.
We had to do burgers in season one, and I had some
technical difficulties.
[Cristina groans frustrated]
[Cristina] I'm in trouble. My burger patties aren't
staying together very well.
But I passed.
I actually have a lot more experience under my belt
than 12 years ago.
So I'm gonna do a riff on
something we make at the restaurant.
And I'm gonna turn lamb kofta into a burger.
No buns.
I knew it was gonna get harder, but I didn't know it
was gonna get that hard.
Bread is a super important component of a burger.
This particular focaccia that I grabbed, I know it's gonna
be the perfect texture and addition to my lamb burger.
I don't wanna do a potato side, because it's what I know
the guys are gonna be doing.
My strategy is to stay true to my California, Lebanese style.
And I'm going to make a nice, fresh Mediterranean
couscous salad.
These are lemons are always full of flavor.
I thought it'd be really fun to come back just because I am
super competitive.
I think I'm set.
I'm definitely gonna kick those boys' butts.
All right, folks, who better to critique
our season one chefs than the three judges who have been
with us since the very beginning?
We have the James Beard-nominated
culinary legend, the one and only husband of Ali,
Chef Jet Tila.
-It doesn't get old. -It will never.
Cookbook author and founder of Weelicious, the OG herself,
Catherine McCord.
He's an award-winning food writer and publisher of
San Diego Magazine, Larry John -- Terry Troy...
Troy Johnson. Who did you judge season one?
Cristina. I just heard myself say, "Mmm."
You made it comfortable.
Jet, who did you judge?
-You remember? -Chef Plum.
In terms of flavors, you've hit all the points.
-And Troy? -Tom Ramsey.
You had ice cream in that
sauce and still made it savory.
Coming back into this arena is tough for anyone.
If you've been here last week or if you've been here 15 years
ago, it's still just as tough.
That's exactly right.
[Guy] 25 minutes.
Chef, you know we have a potato cutter.
Yes, sir, I do know.
-OK. -I do know.
But we're gonna go potato wedges.
-Got it. -One of my favorites.
How do you plan on cooking these?
We're gonna deep fry them once, let them chill,
and then fry them again. -OK, OK.
Hopefully. That's the plan.
-Tell me what's on the menu. -Do a little burger-rito.
A burger-rito?
Kind of like a smash burger in a tortilla.
-Got it. -[Kris] It's gonna be great.
So Chef Plum, we had a challenge
and it was stir fry.
So Chef makes all of the ingredients for a stir fry,
but he doesn't get the noodles. All they had was wonton skins.
So he takes all the stir fry and he puts it into,
uh, a dumpling skin.
And he serves it to the judges and all the judges are watching
him cook going "this guy is going down."
It's supposed to be stir fry.
And he says, "Today judges, what I have for you is one-bite
noodle stir fry." Mic drop.
And that became an example we used for years when I would
explain to the chefs, you gotta own it.
You gotta know what you're cooking.
You gotta sell it. You gotta embrace it.
That was a legendary moment in "Triple G."
I have to point out, I won that round.
Let these guys kip for a little bit.
Smash burgers is one of my go-to things.
It's not always on a tortilla,
but they are winners every single time.
Here, we're gonna spread this out a little bit on here.
I'll say burger-rito. That's gonna work out amazing.
This is gonna look great. It's gonna be delicious.
Need a little onion here.
Some grilled onions, so some of that onion flavor gets into
the burger, helps season it up nicely.
I don't know how far I can go away from a classic burger into
a smash burger-rito. -OK.
[Catherine] When you get a burger, what are you looking
forward to? -Bread and meat.
The bun -- bread and meat.
I love that we're going OG in every single way.
-In every single way. -They're OG from season one.
We're OG, and this game is OG.
I mean, talk about a classic burger and a side.
But now he's like, "No bun."
[Troy] This is one of the original
games that we saw when we first walked in here,
and had no idea that we'd still be sitting here 12 years later.
[Guy] 20 minutes, 20 to cook.
Tom is stamping out a focaccia with these kind of a circle --
[loud bangs]
Well, when I say, "stamping," I mean really stamping.
[Guy] Chef, tell me what's on the menu.
[Tom] So I'm using this focaccia for my bun.
Then I'm going to take those new potatoes, then kind of
mash them into little flying saucers.
-Right. -Throw them in the fryer.
Got it, and you went with Wagyu?
And some little beef with bacon in it.
I'm just gonna stay calm, play smart.
-We're off to the races. -[Tom] There we go.
OK, time to start on the patties.
Oh, wow, man. I have almost died once.
I was one of the early guys with COVID.
I was in the hospital for 47 days, two weeks of that
in the ICU. I thought I was gonna die.
So I made peace with that and decided that if I did
get out, I was gonna get in shape.
I was gonna spend more time with my wife and my family.
And sure enough, I didn't die. I'm in the not-dead category.
It made me rethink literally everything, my body, my mind,
my spirit, my relationships with people I love.
To say that almost dying is a great thing is an odd thing
to say, but it's probably
the best thing that ever happened to me.
[sizzles]
-How you feeling, Chef? -I'm going with what I know.
I'm doing Mediterranean.
-OK- -So I'm going with a lamb burger
and a nice Mediterranean salad.
[Guy] I like this.
I think the focaccia looks like a good call.
Does it feel like you're home from competing?
It's the home-away-from-home.
What's really important to this burger is adding
a little spice.
I'm gonna put a little cinnamon and cumin in
the burger patty, which will be some nice warm spices.
You know, I just remember it being loads and loads of fun.
And you know, the fun part was winning 20 grand.
My burgers are a little big.
I'm hoping they won't take too long to cook.
Lamb is one of my favorite proteins.
I love it. It's just easy to dry out.
-[Catherine] Yeah. -[Jet] Yes.
Next, I'm gonna griddle the focaccia so that it gets
a little crisp.
If I win the money this time, it's going towards
tenting our patio.
The bulk of our seating is outside.
Everything I do revolves around my business, which is my baby.
I want that $20,000 so bad.
[Guy] 14 minutes, chefs!
♪♪
Usually when you cook a burger, you cook it one side
and then one side.
And I was hoping my burger would cook all the way through
on one side because they're so thin to begin with.
A little bit of American cheese.
I look at the potato wedges and drop the potatoes back down
so we can get that second fry on
get nice and crispy.
If I don't put some kind of top on it, it may look more
and more not like a burger.
So we're gonna do a little burger toppers on these
with the tortillas.
There's not a lot of time to change,
not a lot of moves to make, you know.
You gotta just keep moving forward.
All right, all right. Think, think, think.
When I was first on this show, you know, my kids were small,
they were younger. I have a massive secret weapon.
One of my little girls put this note in my bag.
"Good luck, Daddy."
They're 17 now and the kids are going to college.
So if we get the win today, it's definitely for the family.
My family is my driving force.
I think as a good father, that's what it should be.
You know, it all should be for that.
All right.
[Cristina] I check on my burgers.
Personally, I like a lamb burger to be a little more on
the rare side, but I don't want them to be undercooked.
So I'll put 'em in the oven to finish them off.
Get those in then, because they're pretty rare.
Now I'm gonna make some whipped feta and labneh
to top it with.
The whipped feta and labneh
will have a really nice tang to it.
It'll be salty and briny, and it's really gonna
compliment the lamb.
Some flavor, that's what I want.
Next, I'm gonna start on my couscous salad.
[Jet] Is Cristina's side is salad?
There's the classic sides of French fries.
They have chips, they have crisps.
But think about it. Really think about
like a burger and fries.
It's a lot of brown. It's gonna give some color.
It's like refreshing.
[Troy] Of course, Weelicious is going to love this.
[Kris] Cristina, what's going on over there?
[Cristina] My salad is delicious.
So I just hope you don't cry too much when I kick your butt.
[Kris] Oh.
OK. Well.
[Tom] The key to cooking a good burger to me is getting
the crust on the meat.
Otherwise, you might as well boil it.
Grab some sliced American, put it on the top.
Oh, they look perfect.
[Guy] Six minutes. Six to go.
I check on the potatoes. OK, it's time to get 'em off.
Then smash it, put 'em straight in the fryer.
I'm worried that the potatoes will not crisp up in time.
Chefs, five minutes!
You got five minutes left to get you plated.
[Kris] I looked at the tortillas and realized how big they were.
I wish I'd grabbed a smaller one, so I gotta cut those down
a little bit.
Looking good.
Finishing up strong is kind of the key here.
The burgers are holding their shape
when I pick them up. They're not floppy.
Potato wedges. Take them out of the fryer.
Regular fries, kind of shoestring-esque,
or stick fries?
Oh, not even a competition, shoestring fries.
Oh, I was gonna go the other way.
[Kris] I'm confident on my flavors, I'm confident on my seasoning,
I'm confident on the crisp potatoes.
I'm just wondering,
they might kill me on this tortilla thing.
Are they gonna say I didn't make a burger?
[Cristina] I'm gonna put my focaccia down.
It was cooked perfectly.
Put a nice thick smear of whipped feta.
Plate my nice fresh Mediterranean couscous salad.
Put the burger on top.
I think these boys think they have it set, but I'm gonna
give them a run for their money.
Two minutes. Two to go.
[Tom] When I make burgers, cheese is really important to it.
So what I do is I take cheese and butter and I make a spread,
spread it on the bun,
and put it cheese side down on the griddle.
And you should have this beautifully toasted cheese that
acts as a barrier on the bun to keep the juice from the burger
making your bun soggy.
Tested one of the potatoes. It wasn't ready.
I wanna get 'em just right to get on the plate.
I'm happy with my burger.
It has the crust you get on a well-made burger.
I've got a branding iron that has an R on it.
I'm gonna put my touch on this.
I can put my initial on it.
That's R for Ramsey.
-[judges] Wow! -One minute.
[Tom] So the potatoes come out of the fryer.
The potatoes are nice and crispy.
And I think, "Oh, I need some ketchup for the potatoes."
10 seconds.
I've got no time left.
Barely got enough ketchup to get on the plate.
Get it on the plate, get it on the plate!
[Jet] Come on, Tom!
[Guy] Five, four, three, two, one!
That's it, stop working!
-Oh! -Oh, my God, that was wild!
It's hot in the kitchen, dawg.
[Tom speaks]
It was an afterthought for me.
[exhales]
Wow, they sure came out swinging!
All right, judges, this is the Throwback Throwdown
game one.
Chefs had to make their burger and a side, even though Ryder
shut down all the buns.
Up first, Chef Cristina, what'd you make for us?
I made a Mediterranean lamb burger.
There's whipped feta and labneh on it, and then I griddled
the focaccia, and the side dish is a couscous salad.
I'm sorry, can you just show -- hang on, can you just show that
to the camera?
The perfect cook.
There you go.
That's what Flavortown's all about, folks.
♪♪
Chef Cristina, this is so perfectly cooked that I'm gonna
watch the tape back and try to figure out how you nailed
this lamb patty.
Cristina, Out of Stock is one of the most
challenging challenges.
Really, the most challenging challenges?
Stop it! Stop it!
Is that really what it is?
Most challenging challenges
a challenger could be challenged with.
No buns, but you went and you found the perfect replacement.
Your ratio of lamb to bread with this labneh,
it's super darn creamy. -Thank you.
Welcome back, my friend.
I didn't want a salad as a side.
I never want a salad as a side.
I want something I'm gonna regret forever.
But this salad is this wondrous little herb garden
and it's delicious.
The burger, I think I wanted spice in there.
To me, the burger itself is kinda sitting in airplane mode.
I'm kinda waiting for it to
give me a little bit more energy.
All right, judges, thank you very much and please
save me half. Up next, Chef Tom.
When you said, "classic burger,"
I think burger, smashed potato.
I even saw an old branding iron back there
so I put my initial on it.
♪♪
Pretty thick burger to be getting that kind of
medium rare. Not bad.
Chef, a lot to great cookery here.
And when I say that, I go right to the execution of that
skirting, that focaccia. I've never seen that before.
The way it adheres, it keeps that all the juices in.
The bun itself, I take a little issue with.
The bread is on the thicker side, brother.
It makes it really kind of chewy to eat.
That caramelization that you're getting on the meat,
that's what makes it so just spectacular.
Thank you.
These smashed potatoes are so good.
You're on your way to a masterpiece, but you didn't
have any sauce. You need a sauce here.
That's the only thing you're missing.
If you'd have landed a sauce right over here to me --
[Guy] Thank you very much.
Last but not least, Chef Plum, what do you have for us?
When I make great smash burgers for my clients or for
my family, I try to get rid of the buns sometimes anyway,
trying to be a health kick.
I thought it would be a fun idea to put this onto
a flour tortilla.
Put a little cheese, a little grilled onion.
And for side dishes, my kids love potato wedges.
♪♪
[Jet] It's still under.
[tense chord plays]
[Jet] Um, Chef, I just gotta say,
one side seared perfectly, nice and brown.
You did not get the sear on the other side.
And there's some temp issues in the -- in the patty.
I had said earlier that I am a shoestring French fry girl.
You may have proved me wrong. These are phenomenal.
-Thank you. -I think your meat is good.
Mine -- on mine, I've got that hard sear and that
caramelization on my patty itself.
And I think that it's very well seasoned.
You wanna make a burger and you got an idea in your head
and then all of a sudden you don't have one of two
essential components.
I look at your burger and I'm like, "I think that
you made a quesadilla."
Burger-dilla.
I don't know if you made a burger.
Isn't it fun to be back in the big mega store?
Chefs, we'll send you back to the kitchens.
We'll call you when we have a decision.
-Thank you. -[chefs] Thank you.
Phew.
[Kris] I'm pissed.
You know, the mistakes that I made are mistakes
I know better than making.
Anybody safe?
I mean, Cristina, that was as close to perfection of a dish
as we get in my eyes.
She might've been the first $20,000 winner
and you can see why.
So that gives us Dr. Plum and Chef Tom,
who's got a better burger?
Sounds like there's quite a few concerns with Dr. Plum.
Mine was doneness, and I don't think it was
consistent across the three of us.
It wasn't, I cut mine through and it was -- mine was fine.
-Yours was cooked through. -Who had the better side?
-Plum. -Tom.
Got the band together again for the first time.
We love the story.
Love going back to the old-school.
But unfortunately, one chef has to check out in
the first round.
And the chef that we'll be saying goodbye to...
Chef Plum.
Chef, think of how many thousands of chefs we've had
compete here on "Guys Grocery Games."
Yeah, that's true.
[Guy] And you three were invited back.
So in my opinion, you already won.
-Great to see ya. -Hey, brother.
I was being that guy.
I was like, "Of course I'm gonna win this."
Are you kidding me? This is what we do.
-This is no problem at all. -[Guy] Thanks, bud.
But listen, someone's gotta go first, and today it was me.
Chefs, congratulations.
Whoever wins this round is gonna get a chance to shop
Flavortown Market for up to $20,000.
What do I wanna have you cook?
I want you to make a high-end dinner.
Something that the judges can celebrate being the judges on
the first season. An upscale dinner with some...
low-end temperature items.
Because we're gonna play season one's most diabolical
game ever.
Frozen?
[Guy] Frozen Food Feud.
-That's how I won. -You won on Frozen Food Feud.
-I did. -It's chill or be chilled.
30 minutes to create your high-end dinner using only
ingredients that are frozen. And it's three, two, one, go.
Oh, son of a.
[Guy] Frozen Food Feud.
Like the black widows, feared throughout the land.
-Tom won with Frozen Food Feud... -Yeah.
-...all those years ago. -Yeah.
So I think he's way more comfortable here.
Frozen Food Feud!
This is going against every way that I cook.
Thinking back to the first episode, and I did shrimp
and maque choux, and it was a big hit.
I think you really succeeded. Great job.
I won that one. I know Troy Johnson likes it.
I've got two new judges that have never had my shrimp
and maque choux, so I thought, I'll make that dish again.
Maque choux is one of those dishes where two cultures met,
and this was where Native Americans met the Creole.
Grab some frozen corn, and I've got to get fajita mix
because that's got the onions and the bell peppers.
Scallops and jumbo shrimp.
They're expensive items, something that
I can thaw quickly.
A high-end dish to me needs a sauce.
The first time, I took ice cream to make a little spicy
Southwest cream sauce.
Maque choux usually has cream or goat cheese.
I think ice cream.
The creaminess of the ice cream will cut this.
Then I see frozen lemonade. So there's my acid.
I'm almost 60.
I played this as a young man.
Phew.
Old Tom versus young Tom.
I don't know who's gonna win that.
Don't need it.
This is gonna turn into cream.
Chef, where are we going? How are you feeling?
I am feeling terrible, Guy.
Who's heard of a high-end dinner coming from
the frozen food aisle?
What am I gonna do?
[faint chatter]
So I have no idea.
Shrimp is really high-end.
They defrost quickly.
I do see frozen butternut squash.
So that gives me a little bit of hope and I'm thinking that
maybe I could do some kind of a purée.
Thai chilies.
-[Cristina] Let's just. -[Guy] Lime leaves, curry leaves.
Let's just take them off. All right.
Cristina, are you miserable right now?
I am absolutely freaking miserable right now.
I think that one of my superpowers as a chef is
to be really flexible.
I know I'm competing against another really great chef,
but I might be able to pull this off.
[Jet] We're down to our final two OGs.
Frozen food is hard enough, but when you're trying to do
a high-end dinner.
[Troy] I mean, when we started this show, we were just thinking
about the problems that people going through a grocery store
might run into.
This one particularly, though, is my worst nightmare.
I have nightmares about frozen food.
Jet at night is like, "Ah, frozen food, frozen food."
-High-dinner. -[both] Ah!
[Guy] 22 minutes.
Frozen Food Feud just teleported Tom back to
his winning moment.
Chef, you got a good game plan?
I do, I'm gonna make a maque choux.
One of my favorites.
Thaw some scallops and some shrimp.
All right, good luck, buddy.
30% of your time is just in getting the food from frozen
to cookable. -[Catherine] Yeah.
[Jet] Then you gotta cook it, then you gotta season it,
then you gotta plate it.
You forget how fast time moves in this kitchen.
It's -- it's tough.
[Tom] I got corn for maque choux.
I just load up the pan with butter and corn and garlic
and take some of the frozen basil and the fajita mix.
My family's gonna be watching this episode from all
over the country.
Right before I got sick,
I found out that I had a 30-year-old daughter.
She gets this DNA test, finds out that I'm her dad.
So this is the funny thing.
She starts searching these Tom Ramseys.
She finds my episodes of "Grocery Games."
It's really cool 'cause she got to watch me be silly in
a grocery store before we ever got to meet in person.
But what was so beautiful about it was that my family
embraced her and --
[sighs]
[voice shaking] I've never been so proud of people
in my life as I was
of how they just showered her with love.
[Guy] 20 minutes!
How you doing over there, Cristina?
I'm getting there.
Plenty of time, take your time.
I am super stumped on this one.
I never go down the frozen food aisle.
Any idea on what this dish is,
or you just kind of winging it right now?
[Cristina] Getting things thawed.
The stuff that's gonna thaw the easiest,
which are the shrimp.
I'm gonna make a little medley with some of the vegetables.
These things always purée great.
[Cristina] While the seafood is defrosting,
I'm gonna work on my purée.
A silky purée that sings high-end.
I cooked down the butternut squash and the corn.
Throw a bunch of butter in it, 'cause butter makes
everything delicious,
most of the time.
I mean, Cristina is a heavy underdog here because she does
Lebanese food, but California style.
So California style is all about fresh,
in-season ingredients.
[Tom] I check on the shrimp, the scallops.
My number one concern is, can I get it dry enough?
There's so much moisture in frozen proteins specifically.
You gotta really dry them in order for them to get
a nice crisp.
[Tom] Paprika, cumin, black pepper.
All right, here we go.
-How you feeling, bud? -[Tom] Feeling good.
A little lemon cream sauce, but I don't have fresh lemons
or cream, so I'm using frozen lemonade and ice cream.
Ice cream's a great call.
I think that's a fantastic move.
Ice cream corn on Tom's station.
It's brilliant, 'cause cream corn, you always add
a little bit of sugar.
Yeah, but that's a lot of sugar, guys.
So he's gonna have to give us plenty of heat, salt,
to like balance everything.
[Guy] Eight minutes.
Next, I'm making a little veggie succotash with corn
and edamame and pearl onions.
I really wanna get color on my frozen veggies to help
develop the flavor, but also so they aren't soft and squishy.
I want 'em to have a nice texture to them.
[Catherine] Having texture is so important to especially fine dining,
having sort of like crunchy, smooth, crispy.
I know that if I get a perfect sear on my shrimp that I'm
really good to go.
I also have to season them beautifully.
Paprika, a little pinch of cumin.
The great thing about shrimp, though, is it does take
three minutes to cook.
This money is coming in at such an important time
for my business.
Considering how hard I've worked for these past three
years to build my wonderful, amazing, talented team,
I always feel pressure to perform and to do
a really good job.
I don't have any partners in the business.
It's me and my 12 employees, and it's just fire to push
you to do better.
This money, like -- I'm probably gonna get emotional now.
I don't even have the right words for
what this is gonna mean for my business.
[Guy] Four minutes.
How are you feeling over there, Tom?
-Are you falling apart yet? -No, I'm feeling good.
Damn it.
[Tom] The scallops, they're right where they should be.
Here we go. Come on, baby.
Wow!
[Tom] The maque choux's ready.
You're talking about high-end.
Part of that art is how it goes on the plate.
[Tom] The shrimp, they're money.
Scallops, I picked the ones that give me a good bounce.
I'm a little concerned about the ice cream sauce.
A little on the sweet side.
So I decided to go very sparingly with the sauce
'cause I don't want it to overpower.
[Guy] Two minutes!
[Cristina] My shrimp, they've got some nice color on them,
so I'm super stoked about that.
-[Guy] How we feel, Chef? -Not terrible.
I got a nice sear on my vegetables.
I think my purée tastes good.
First thing that goes down is my microwave rice,
and then my purée.
Then my veggies go down.
Finally, I'm gonna put
the shrimp on top of the veggies.
Five, four, three, two, one. That's it.
-[judges] Whoo! -[Guy] Well done.
Nice, wow.
Not bad for frozen.
All right, judges, this is it. Throwback Throwdown game two.
Chefs had to make a high-end dinner using only
frozen ingredients.
Chef Cristina, you're up first.
Tell us about this delicious dish.
All right, we've got some paprika, spiced pan-seared
shrimp, little veggie succotash with edamame, pearled onions
and corn, and purée of corn
and butternut squash with ginger and garlic.
♪♪
You're truly an OG, "Triple G" person.
We say that a lot, but you two are really "Triple G" OGs.
So half of cooking frozen food is dealing with thawing
and moisture and fighting that.
The shrimp are perfect, like perfect perfect,
like crispy and aromatic and seared on the outside.
Thank you.
Looking at your dish, I would not know this was
a Frozen Food Feud.
I think the presentation is really, really beautiful.
It's bright and colorful.
Those pearl onions add so much flavor to the whole thing.
Nice choice.
Yeah, they were the only onions I could find.
[Troy] But the purée is more like a soup.
It kind of turned into a porridge, which to me is
something that I'm eating on a Tuesday night and not when
I'm doing a celebratory dinner, right?
Up next, Chef Tom, tell us what you made.
Well, I wanted to make maque choux.
When I won, I made maque choux and shrimp.
I thought it would be a nice thing to call back and make
the dish again, but possibly make it better.
I needed to get it creamy, so I used ice cream.
Seasoned the scallops and the shrimp with
the Creole seasoning.
The hardest part for me was trying to get the moisture out
of the scallops. That's just so tough.
♪♪
You're trying to go for a repeat on a dish that you won
originally with. -Yeah.
Challenge is high-end.
It's a really nice choice of plates.
It's a really nice choice of portion.
I think you did a really good job.
The corn, sweet, but feels real, like high-end
country, you know, Louisiana cooking.
I am getting some heat on the shrimp, but the maque choux
is a little under-seasoned for me.
It needed some acid.
It needed even a little bit more heat.
Chef Tom, Frozen Food Feud, ice cream and corn.
High-end, yes. Delicious, yes.
Played the game well.
Shrimp really is cooked beautifully.
But the scallop on the exterior,
it eats a little gummy.
High-end dinner is what we asked for.
Let's find out who's the high-end winner.
Send you back to the kitchens. See you in a bit.
-Thank you. -Thanks, guys.
[Jet] This is really tight, really tough.
Like, Cristina's dish was
an overall thought for me, right?
There was a protein, there was a starch, and there was like
a sauce that all brought it together.
Unfortunately, I did not love the butternut squash.
It ate like a thick smoothie.
-You know, it did. -Yeah.
[Catherine] But Cristina's shrimp tasted better to me than Tom's.
You're right.
Highs and lows cancel each other.
I feel like they got trapped in their own head,
especially Tom was like, "maque choux, maque choux."
To me, it's what do you wanna eat again?
Well, hello.
You both made really nice dishes.
One chef prevails.
The winner
of the Throwback Throwdown is...
[intriguing music plays]
Congratulations...
Chef Cristina.
-Oh, my God! -I told you, I told you.
-Congratulations. -[Guy] Well done, Chef.
Listen, Chef, I'm gonna say this to you.
One, it's awesome to watch you cook.
Two, the key was to bring you back, to say hello, to say
thank you, to recognize you for being such a great chef.
-We had fun. -Chef, it's been awesome.
-Thank you so much. -It was great.
Thank you so much. Congratulations again.
-Thank you so much. -[Catherine] Amazing.
Really nice to see ya, OK?
-Be good, my friend. -[Tom] You bet.
I didn't make a bad dish.
She just made a dish that was this much better.
Coming back felt great. I was on the first season.
It's a beautiful bookend.
Ladies and gentlemen, let's meet the champ of
the Throwback Throwdown, Chef Cristina.
-Well done. -[all cheer]
-Welcome back. -Whoo, Cristina!
I am totally blown away and shocked.
I'm so freaking proud of myself.
I'm so freaking happy. I can't even put words into it.
Didn't you do this back in the day?
I did.
What do you do with the money that you're gonna make?
And you were the first person to win $20,000 on
"Guy's Grocery Games." -Yeah.
What do you do if you back it up and you go back-to-back
and you win the second 20 grand?
We'll be tenting our patio so we can have seating
out there year-round.
And part of it'll probably go towards getting a walk-in
behind our kitchen, 'cause we need it.
All right, well, let's get into this.
Now, five clues here.
Once I read the first clue and you understand what I'm
talking about, you're gonna take off and go find it.
-OK. -[Guy] Once you find it, put it in the basket,
you get 4,000 bucks. -OK.
All right, I'm gonna read you the first one.
Here we go.
Root vegetable that gives borscht its signature
red color. Go when you know it.
-[Jet] Go, go, go, go, go! -[Catherine] Go, Cristina!
[Guy] Root vegetable that gives borscht its signature
red color.
I personally love borscht, so I know that it's beets.
[cha-ching]
French pork sausage often used in Cajun cooking.
-Andouille. -[Jet] Come on, let's go.
-Come on, Chef. -Let's go.
Andouille, where are you?
[cha-ching]
$8,000 will go a long way to some improvements
to our kitchen.
Version of a classic yellow condiment that has unground
seeds in it.
Easy, stone-ground mustard.
[cha-ching]
Fragrant, long-grain rice, that's an essential ingredient
in many Thai and Vietnamese dishes.
[softly] Rice. [normally] Jasmine rice.
Now I just gotta remember where the rice is.
-45 seconds, Chef. -Jasmine rice.
-Go, Cristina, go! -Let's go.
-Jasmine. -[Guy] There we go.
All right. Here we keep going.
Popular black tea named for an English prime minister.
I don't know if I'm gonna get the final item.
OK, I know where's that tea.
-Five, four, three... -[Jet] Oh, no.
-[Troy groans] -...two, one.
-$16,000! -$16,000, yes!
$16,000, which is freaking awesome.
I'm -- I'm -- I'm totally blown away.
It's gonna bring a lot of good things to the restaurant.
It's really big. It's great.
For $16,000, making her total of
$36,000 in two competitions
on "Guy's Grocery Games." -[Cristina] Oh, my God!
From the very beginning season to one of the newest seasons.
That's our champ, Cristina. See you next week on "Triple G."
-Adios. -[Jet] Amazing work.
We'll see you next week on "Triple G."
Thank you so much.