Hey, everybody. I'm Guy Fieri, and we're rolling out,
looking for America's greatest Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
This trip...
To drums of flavor town.
We're going from chicken...
That is some crunchy chicken.
To noodles. I might not leave.
There's elevated authentic Italian in Greenwich, Connecticut.
No filler, all thriller.
Pasta cheese and sweet in Nebraska.
I know it's outside of downtown Omaha,
but this is worth the drive.
And an all-star lineup is in Los Angeles...
Tonight is a very special Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
To watch a championship.
She wears the belt.
Knock out some heavyweight bird.
That's step four of the 98-step chicken sandwich.
That's all right here, right now
on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
You know, at Triple D, I am always looking
for the real deal, the original.
People that are scratch-making it, hand-making it,
you're coming from the source.
So I'm here in the Cos Cob neighborhood
of Greenwich, Connecticut,
right outside of New York City,
where a husband and wife team from Italy
have showed up and opened up a pasta shop.
Now, you could buy the pasta here,
take it home, and cook it,
or they'll cook it for you.
Either way, you are getting the real deal.
This is Il Pastaficio.
Ciao. Buon appetito.
Coming to Pastaficio is always like
returning home to Italy.
Ravioli ricotta and spinach in the butter right now.
All these dishes have maybe five ingredients.
You can't fake it.
It's got to be done right.
Ricotta e spinaci ready, guys.
[Guy] That's because Federico Peradine's heart
still beats for his home country of Italy
after moving to the US in 2015.
So how did you come to the United States?
I was in advertising.
My wife, she asked me,
"Do you mind to move to the US?"
I say okay.
I attended a culinary school focused on the pasta.
And then open up a pasta joint.
Absolutely.
The bigoli veneziani ready for table one.
[man] The bigoli is great.
It's a duck ragu, and it's so flavorful.
It's a very unique dish that I haven't had anywhere else.
All right, so what are we going to do with the duck?
We are going to take out the breast for the ragu.
[Guy] And then we grind those?
-The breast and the legs. -Okay.
-[Guy] We roast the bones. -For 10, 15 minutes.
We put some vegetables.
[Guy] Carrots, onion, celery.
[Frederico] Yeah, bay leaves and water.
We cook for 12 hours.
-And then we strain it, and that's the stock. -[Frederico] Yeah.
Put butter, a little bit of oil,
carrots, the celery, the onions.
-In French, we call that mirepoix. -You speak French, too?
-Little... poquito. -Poquito?
[Frederico] We have our duck.
Next, the white wine.
[Frederico] Bay leaves, black pepper, salt.
We add a little bit of broth.
All right, let's get it. What are we making, chef?
Bigoli is a very thick pasta
made with eggs,
-double zero, -Okay.
durum flour and grappa.
-With grappa, really? -Grappa.
[Guy] All right, so we mix this up for how long?
[Frederico] Four or five minutes.
-Let it rest? -Yeah, for half an hour.
[Guy] What is this?
[Frederico] This is a bigolaro.
-It was invented 200 years ago. -No.
[Frederico] We put our dough.
[Guy] It's awesome.
And slowly, slowly, slowly, it came down the bigoli.
-We have to put the bigoli inside our pasta machine. -Okay.
-We have extra virgin oil. -Extra!
[Frederico] Duck ragu.
[Guy] Look at that.
[Frederico] Bigoli ready.
Taking the time to nest it.
I might not leave.
The jewels of the crown.
We finish with rosemary,
olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano. Enjoy.
If someone said they don't like duck,
this would be the dish that I would say,
let me introduce you to duck.
It's tender, great depth of flavor,
no filler, all thriller.
-Outstanding. -Thank you.
Gives me goosebumps.
Bigoli almost ready.
You can taste the duck. It's tasty. It's not gamey.
The thick pasta along with the crumbly duck,
I think it goes very well together.
So I'll give you a real great Triple D insight.
Coming soon will be flavor town,
hard sodas, and hard teas.
And this is the team from Two Roads Brewing.
Well, just part of the team.
All right, so tell me about this.
Have you ever had duck ragu?
No.
[Guy] Did you even know that was duck?
I did not. It's incredible.
Linguina with sugo di pesce is ready on the pass.
What does the name mean?
In Italy, we have the Pastificio.
That is the little store where everything is made inside.
You just added the A to it
-so people would see pasta -Yeah.
inside of the name.
Lasagne al tartufo.
This is my favorite lasagne.
I can't find it anywhere else.
We make the lasagne with tartufo and fungi,
-mushroom and truffle. -You had me at a look.
-Let's go. -[Frederico] Eggs.
-[Guy] In the durum flour? -Yeah, correct.
Then after this, we'll let it rest.
-And then this is the sheeter we're going to go to. -Correct.
So we're going to finish cooking the pasta
inside of the lasagna.
-With the bechamel that we make with the truffle. -Let's go.
[Frederico] Butter, double zero flour.
[Guy] To make the roux.
Now we are going to season the milk with the nutmeg
and the salt into the roux.
And we have to whisk super, super rapid.
-Here you go. You got it. -Okay. Thank you.
-Thank you. -What's next.
-[Frederico] Garlic oil. -Truffle paste.
And the cremini mushroom.
-[Guy] The creminis that have been sauteed. -Yeah.
[Guy] Cooks down.
Let's see this come together.
[Frederico] We start with a plain bechamel,
lasagne,
and now we start to make the four layers with our bechamel
-with mushroom and Parmigiano Reggiano. -Beautiful.
And we go ahead with the second one, the third one.
[Guy] And then the last one.
[Frederico] 40 minutes, 360.
-Here we go. -Gorgeous.
[Frederico] And we finish with truffle and Parmigiano Reggiano.
[Guy] You get to taste all the ingredients.
Full of flavor.
Creamy.
You get to enjoy the handmade pasta.
Delicious.
[Frederico] Lasagne al tartufo is ready.
-How's the lasagne? -Fantastic.
I mean, the flavor on this is unreal.
Great quality and tasty.
It has a great balance between creamy,
the crisp on top.
This is your gnocchi San Marzano and the fusilli al pesto.
It's a celebration of Italian food,
whether it's prepared or whether you're
bringing it home to prepare.
We're just talking about bringing more home for dinner.
So good.
You have such passion for what you do.
-Thank you. -Outstanding, my friend.
[Guy] Up next,
I'm bringing a Food Network posse to Los Angeles.
We are in the home of a Tournament of Champions champ.
To grab a spiced up sandwich.
I can't even feel my tongue anymore.
[Guy] They can't be contained.
Oh, I love this out of the bun move.
Hang on, I'll try again.
[vocalizing]
-[all laugh] -[claps]
-All right, so where are we? -Virgil Village.
It's near K-Town.
-You been here before? -Never.
-You? -Not yet.
I have. It's kinda hard to find.
Chef Me Lin.
TOC four champ.
And we're hungry.
And it's a simple neon chicken on the outside.
Sounds good. This is daybird.
Chicken's up.
It's a limited menu, but everything on the menu
is just perfect.
Nashville hot fried chicken,
but in a Sichuan Chinese ingredient style.
You got the different levels of spice.
You got the different dipping sauces.
How do you explain...
I mean, there's just a little chicken neon on the outside.
They're only open for lunch.
That's how you explain it. Look for the chicken.
Hey, man, you guys seen a chicken in a strip mall.
But when you're a proven winner,
you got license to do things your own way.
Tonight is a very special Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
because we are in the home of a
Tournament of Champions champ.
From season four, the one and only
champ Chef Mei Lin.
-[laughing] -And she wears the belt.
All right, how many items on the menu?
Four main items, and then we have some sides and sauces.
If you're gonna come and hang out with the champ,
why won't you invite Chef Nate Appleman,
Iron Chef Stephanie Izard,
and the one and only Chef Aaron May.
Everybody was excited to get in on this deal.
We'd all love to know how you're making the magic,
the great sando.
-You say sando or sondo? -Sando.
-Sando. What do you say? -I defer to the champ.
[Mei] All right, one medium sando up.
It is the chicken sandwich you take a picture of.
From top to bottom, it's just absolutely phenomenal.
Let's get into this, Chef.
[Mei] The chicken thighs are what we use for the sandwich.
Pound out the thicker side.
This is going into a brine, water, salt,
granulated garlic, fish sauce, buttermilk.
So we got funk, acid, and salt.
[Mei] We're gonna add that into our chicken,
cover it, and let it marinate for about 12 hours.
This is actually for the chili oil.
We're gonna dip our chicken in it.
Szechuan peppercorns, black peppercorns,
coriander seed, fennel seed, cumin seed,
star anise, bay leaves, and cinnamon.
Get all the spices and we dry toast it
until it's nice and fragrant.
-Once you see it-- -Just stick your hand in there.
-Your hando. -[laughing]
[Mei] So we're gonna go into the blender.
[Guy] Oh, my gosh.
-It smells amazing. -Fantastic.
Add my chile de arbol into the oil.
Gochugaru chilies.
We're gonna let that infuse.
Add the sugar, turn it off, and then we add in our spices.
And we're gonna let it rest overnight
and we'll strain it in the morning.
-What's next? -We're gonna make our pickling liquid.
We have our mirin and sugar.
Let that reduce by half.
And we're gonna get our spices toasted,
coriander, black peppercorns, and bay leaves.
Add it into our reduced mirin and sugar liquid.
Turn off the heat, and then we're gonna add white vinegar
and our rice vinegar.
Once this cools...
[Mei] Add this over our vegetables.
Shallots, fresnos, and jalapenos.
That's step four of the 98-step chicken sandwich.
-Sando. -What's next? Thank you.
[Mei] We actually strain that liquid
from the pickled jalapenos and fresnos.
Mix that together, add into our honey.
That's what we make our hot honey with.
Holy moly.
Uh, what are we making next? Who cares?
[all laugh]
[Mei] We're gonna do our no-heat spice mixture.
Bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, green peppercorn,
black peppercorns, szechuan peppercorns, coriander seed.
Was the goal to use
-everything that you had in the kitchen? -Pretty much.
Cumin seed, fennel seed, some clove,
green cardamom, star anise.
Give it a mix.
-Spices that we just blended up. -[Guy] Okay.
Mushroom powder, granulated onion, granulated garlic,
some sugar, and some salt.
That's the base seasoning.
We actually have a lot of different spices
that we add in depending on the range.
-All right, so you'll make this medium right now? -We'll make you a medium.
[Mei] Cayenne, chile de arbol.
We'll just leave it at that.
We're gonna start off by dredging our chicken,
add our fish sauce into the buttermilk, and our eggs.
You know when you see fried chicken,
you see, like, those corn flaky
-looking things on the chicken? -Yeah.
So they're not actually corn flakes.
We add a little bit of water to our flour.
-So just kind of rubbing it between the hands. -Interesting.
[Guy] And you get those little chunks.
-Oh, look at that. -Smart.
[Guy] Into our mixture of rice flour, corn starch,
and regular flour.
[Mei] Going into our egg mix and into our dredge.
-[Guy] What's next? -We're gonna do multiple fries.
-[Mei] At 325. -[Guy] For the first fry.
We fry at a hotter temperature on a double fry at 375.
There's sauces.
Habanero ranch, sugar, granulated garlic,
black pepper, fish sauce, habanero hot sauce.
Add our mayonnaise, sour cream.
So this is our ranch.
-[Stephanie] Missed my eggs. -Ranchy.
You know what it is? You know what makes it ranchy?
Fish sauce.
-Yeah, agreed. -Fish sauce makes everything delicious.
[Guy] What's next?
[Mei] We're making our daybird sauce.
Sugar, granulated garlic, black pepper,
Tabasco, Worcestershire, ketchup, Kewpie mayonnaise.
Thank you, folks, for sticking around
for the 24 hour Triple D marathon.
[Mei] And then we're ready to build our Szechuan hot chicken sando.
That is some crunchy chicken.
For the medium, we only do a half dip.
-I'm doing medium. -Medium and an extreme.
For the extreme, we do a full dip.
We season both sides.
We're gonna get our honey in there.
Oh, I love this out-of-the-bun move.
Our slaw consists of red and green cabbage,
chives, and cilantro, our pickled shallots, and pickled chilies.
[Guy] Oh.
I'm rethinking my order at this moment.
How do you recommend eating it?
Whatever you want to start with.
-Okay. -[Nate] The habanero.
-[Stephanie] The ranch. -[Aaron] Wow, that's so crunchy.
[Guy] One of the best chicken crunches I've had.
Very juicy.
I feel like I have to open my mouth real big for this one.
[Guy] The full sandwich bite with the slaw, that's the kicker.
[Aaron] Slaw's money.
All the pickled veg in there is really dynamite.
[Mei] Thank you.
[Guy] I love that little extra honey kiss,
but definitely the habanero ranch
-is my go-to. -Amazing ranch.
How's the extreme treating ya?
He's a little redder than he was when we got here.
Like, I just took a tiny bite
of the tiny edge of your chicken, and I'm like,
"I can't even feel my tongue anymore."
-[Guy] It's a really dynamite sandwich. -Thank you.
Medium sando with the milk tea.
All the flavors explode in your mouth, and it's just so good.
You know what I really like about this chef,
is the crunch you're getting with the sandwich.
Chef Danny and I have worked together...
-Ten plus years. -You're awesome.
[Danny] Thank you.
This slaw is so good, I would eat it by itself.
One more no heat coming up.
Perfection.
Saddling up to this counter to eat together is really fun.
Your mystique as TOC Champ,
has made this an outstanding visit.
Come down here and let the chicken talk for itself,
-and it has. Thanks for having us. -Thank you.
[Guy] Coming up, a culinary couple in Omaha, Nebraska.
Watch out.
Cooking up a dynamic duo.
50% cheese, 50% pasta.
Topped off with decadence you want to dive into.
-Do we eat it this time? -No.
You have to wait.
As you know, I am a huge patriot.
I love our country.
And if you really think about it,
everybody in this country is an immigrant,
almost everybody is, or a descendant of an immigrant.
So you love to hear a story about a couple chefs
that one comes from Mexico, the other comes from Peru,
and they come out here to Omaha, Nebraska,
and they open up a restaurant featuring the type of food
they love to cook and the type of food they love to eat.
Oh, I hope you're hungry.
This is WD Cravings.
[Wendy] Chocolate mousse for Angie?
When you see Wendy and Piero's cuisine,
you're just smitten.
[Piero] Fried chicken rice bowl for Ashley.
It's everything, like all in one spot.
[Guy] That includes Wendy Delgado's sweet treats
and her partner Piero Cotrina's savory dishes,
which they introduced to the people of Nebraska
when they left the New York City restaurant scene.
How did you get all the way
from New York to Omaha, Nebraska?
I told her that there's great opportunity in this town.
And these are your cravings?
-Mmm-hmm. That's right. -Okay.
[Piero] Cheese wheel with chicken parm and mushrooms.
If you are a big cheese lover,
the cheese wheel special with the chicken parm,
absolutely got to be your go-to.
The homemade pasta is phenomenal.
It goes very well with the cheese, the marinara.
I don't think anywhere else in Omaha has it.
-What are we making? Okay. -Spaghetti.
[Piero] Our semolina flour, water.
Mix it up for eight minutes.
-Pasta's working. What are we into? -Pomodoro sauce.
[Piero] Olive oil, garlic.
They just go in. Basil stems.
-Salt. -Let that go...
[Piero] 45 minutes or so.
-What's our next step? -Cheese sauce.
[Piero] Milk. Let that come up to a boil.
Butter, flour.
[Guy] And why are we doing this in two separate pans?
I want the milk to be hot when it hits the roux
Fontina cheese.
I'm fond of Fontina.
[Piero] MSG, salt.
Turn the heat off.
-It's ready to extrude. -Let's go.
-I like a long spaghetti. -[Guy] Whoa.
Is that one portion?
-[Piero] Yeah. -Beautiful.
[Guy] Okay, next up.
We're gonna dredge the chicken.
Flour season. Salt and pepper.
Straight up eggs.
[Guy] Into panko.
We're gonna flatten it out a little more.
[Guy] We're gonna flatten it out more? Okay.
350 degrees.
-[Guy] Should go quick as thin as it is. -Two minutes.
Then when it comes out, we hit it with the
pomodoro, mozzarella,
finish it in the oven, and then build the dish.
-That's right. -Put it together, bud.
[Piero] Olive oil, garlic.
Got timers everywhere.
Timer there, timer there, timer there.
Time is the essence.
Garlic. Nice and aromatic.
It's the drums of flavor town.
[Piero] Chicken stock.
Cream.
Butter.
Lemon juice. Cheese sauce.
Pasta into the pan.
Black pepper.
Shaved cheese.
Little saucy.
Mix it all up.
[Guy] A little bit of cheese in there.
I think this might be your first Triple D.
-[Piero] Chicken parm. -Diced portobellos.
Cooked in butter and sage.
Parmigiano Romano.
[whistles]
[Piero] Parsley. Olivia.
[Guy] The pasta's great.
Perfectly al dente.
The cheese sauce, as thick as it is,
is not as heavy as I thought it was gonna be.
But I think a lot of that has to do with you cutting it
with some lemon juice.
Chicken stock.
Simple tomato sauce.
Your attention to detail is really strong.
I mean, let me clean this thing out completely. Good job.
Cheese wheel chicken parmigiano with mushrooms.
The chicken parm, it has a ton of flavor in the breading.
It's very crunchy.
The Fontina cheese sauce is creamy, delicious.
50% cheese, 50% pasta.
Yeah, I just demolished it.
[Piero] Short rib sandwich for Jay.
This place is in my top three best food to eat in town.
It's worth the drive.
What part of Omaha are we in?
This is the middle of nowhere, brother.
[Guy] Really?
You crave quality, and this sums up what WD Cravings is.
When we come back,
we're gonna go a whole different direction.
We're gonna do dessert.
[Wendy] Peanut butter bar to go.
It's like a hyped-up candy bar
that could never be in a wrapper.
It's gonna happen. See you in a minute.
Welcome back, Triple D hanging out in Omaha, Nebraska.
We're at WD Cravings.
Wendy's the pastry side of things.
-That's how it all started, right? -Yes.
Berry tart for number three.
All her desserts are gorgeous.
-Peanut bar. -The peanut butter bar is delightful.
Beautiful tempered chocolate over the top,
-a little bit gold leaf. -Mwah.
Compliments to the chef.
There's three layers, so we need to make first the cake,
so it's gonna be a long process.
-Oh, okay. -Yes. [chuckles]
Good. It's only a half-hour shot.
Flour, cocoa powder, salt, sugar,
baking powder, baking soda, milk.
-[Guy] Liquid chicken. -Red oil.
And the espresso shot.
-The espresso shot? -Yes.
-Oh, I thought that was-- Oh. -Espresso shot.
[Wendy] Vanilla, add the liquids,
and then we are gonna add the boiling water.
Combine for one minute.
You are a timer person also?
Yes.
-[Guy] 350, how long? -25 minutes.
-Let it set for how long? -[Wendy] One day.
-What do we work on next? -White chocolate ganache.
So we're gonna add the heavy cream
to the white chocolate.
[Guy] Just warm enough to melt it?
-Yes. -Got it.
[Wendy] Cold, heavy cream right now,
peanut butter, and then whip.
[Guy] That's my kind of sweet.
A little bit of salty, a little peanut.
We let it set for how long?
-[Wendy] One day. Yes. -Another day?
What now?
[Wendy] We are gonna make the pate a bombe
that is the base for the chocolate mousse.
Pate a bombe is eggs and sugar.
We are gonna put it first in double boil,
and then we are gonna reach until 45 degrees.
When it's ready, we start to whisk until it gets fluffy.
Combine with the chocolate and the heavy cream.
We're gonna put it on top of the cake.
-[Guy] And we freeze it again? -And then freeze it again.
-Now, when it comes out of the freezer... -[Wendy] Yes.
-Do we eat it this time? -No.
You have to wait.
Which step is this? Step 96?
-Ninety-nine. -Ninety-nine.
We are gonna do a rocher glaze.
We are gonna make chocolate, toasted hazelnuts,
and then the grape oil.
Double boiler over here.
Oh, this should be fast, double boiler.
[Wendy] Okay.
We are gonna mix it first, or accordion, one inch.
Very precise.
That's the size that is the peanut butter.
There it is.
We have the pieces.
Now we are gonna dip in this rocher glaze.
So now we take this back to the freezer.
[Wendy] And when it's ready,
we are gonna decorate with ricotta filling
and then caramelized peanuts and then some gold leaf.
-Ta-da! -100 step dessert.
-That's what it should be called. -Right?
Mmm.
The peanuts.
This is very decadent, very chocolatey.
But so many different flavors and textures.
The hazelnut, peanuts up on top, the mousse.
The cake is really nice and light.
That's more dessert than I've eaten in the last year.
-Good job, chef. -Thank you.
[Wendy] Peanut bar for Pario.
This dessert is really amazing because it's not sweet.
It's got that light fluffiness.
You don't feel weighted down after you eat it.
You feel happy.
Beef Bolognese up.
It's nice to be able to come in and have a full dinner with your family
and end with a great dessert.
I know it's outside of downtown Omaha,
but this is worth the drive.
Watch out. 101 steps.
So is this a great road trip or what?
But don't you worry, I got plenty more joints
to find all over this country.
I'll be looking for you next time
on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
Hi, I'm Mei Lin with four whatchamacallit?
You want to learn how to make the spice blend?
-Right now. -[all laugh]
You heard it here first on Triple D.
-Oh, there you go. -Aye.
See, she's got that belt right to her head.
She's now taking over the show.