I'm Guy Fieri.
We're rolling out looking for America's greatest...
[all] Diners, drive-ins and dives!
[all cheering]
-[Guy] This trip... -[both roar]
[Guy] We're going from Vietnamese...
That I'm excited for.
To vegan.
Let's party.
With plenty of meat in between.
That's how thick you slice it.
That is a portion.
That means Asian inspiration in Minnesota.
-Dip, dunk. -Nice.
[Guy] Meatless masterpieces in Montana.
This is some next level cookery.
And a Texas take on barbecue...
Get some of this, the magic food duct tape.
...smoked and stacked on the Jersey shore.
In the Flavortown dictionary under "absurd",
there's a picture of that sandwich.
That's all right here, right now on Triple D.
[theme music playing]
Hunter, we're here. This is Point Pleasant Beach.
I thought we were going to the beach and having barbecue there.
No, I said, "We're going to a place
in Point, Pleasant Beach to get some barbecue."
And this is it.
-So I don't need my swimsuit? -Or your water wings.
This is Jersey Shore barbecue.
[Hunter] I don't use water wings.
We got our smoked corned beef.
This is just outstanding, over the top.
Like a gourmet meal, barbecue style.
Picking up a Big Country.
There are lots of barbecue places, but not like here.
[woman] Doug has mastered the art of barbecue.
That's a big title.
And it's a level owner Doug Walsh and his wife, Dana
have climbed to since I first met them in 2010
while visiting another Triple D joint.
So, Tenth Avenue Burrito was this joint we shot.
You saw my pit in the back.
So, I came over and asked to look at the smoker.
[Doug] You had a slice of brisket and you said,
"Why aren't we filming you?"
-Wow. -And I said, "Because we've only been in business
for three months." At that point, you said, "Cool. We'll be back."
-And where did you learn to barbecue? -I learned in Texas.
I was in technology. I fell in love with the cuisine.
-So, technology and barbecue. -[Guy] What are we making today?
[Doug] Smoked corned beef Texas Reuben.
I've never seen that in Texas.
That is a little taste of Jersey.
[server] Texas style Reuben.
It has creamy coleslaw and Russian dressing instead of sauerkraut.
The way he smokes it, it's just second to none.
-What are we into first? -Brining our corned beef.
Start with water, trimmed down brisket,
brown sugar, Himalayan pink salt,
-black peppercorns. -[Guy] A lot of it.
-Mustard seeds. -Mustard seeds and bay leaf.
-[Guy] And how long are we letting this brine? -[Doug] For 16 days.
[Guy] Nice.
So we have an air dried corned beef.
Stout beer, pickling seasoning.
[Guy] Why don't you add some garlic?
[Doug] Finish it with onions.
In a very interesting category of corned beef.
It absolutely is.
Cover it with foil, poke holes in the top of this.
How long is it gonna go, at what temp?
-[Doug] 225 for 16 to 18 hours. -[Hunter] Wow.
[Doug] So, now we're gonna make the brine for our pickles.
-White vinegar. We're doing hot brine. -Got it.
What's the difference between hot brine and cold brine?
-It expedites the process. -Yeah.
Cider vinegar and water.
Fresh jalapenos, black peppercorns,
mustard seed and then salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil. -[Guy] About 15 minutes steeping.
[Doug] Pour the pickle brine over the curvy cucumbers.
-And how long will these brine? -[Doug] Five days.
So, now we're going to be making our Russian dressing.
We start with our house brined pickles and jalapenos.
Sriracha sauce, mayonnaise, salt, pepper.
Blend and it's ready to go.
You can put that on bad food and it would taste good.
-Yeah, it's really good. That's-- -That's like
the duct tape of food.
[Doug] We have a local bakery.
They make a Pullman Rye for us.
We do a thickness almost like a Texas style toast.
-[Guy] So, butter that on the flat top. -[Doug] Actually on the grill.
-That's good caraway in there. -[Hunter] Mm!
-Great chew, great crumb. You can smell it. -No.
-I've tried-- -Every year for 27 years,
you've smashed my face in a cake,
saying "Smell this cake."
-[Guy] You either trust me or you don't. -Just get it over with.
-Smell. -Smells great. [chuckles]
Where's that father-son trust at?
-[Doug] Take the corned beef. -[Hunter] Look at the color.
[Guy] That's how thick you slice it.
That is a portion.
So you're just putting a final little sear on this.
[Doug] Add coleslaw. Pepper jack cheese.
Add a little steam.
We take our spicy Russian dressing.
[Hunter] That looks so good.
In the Flavortown dictionary under "absurd",
there's a picture of that sandwich.
-[Hunter] Huge. -[Guy] That's bigger than your head.
Go ahead and eat it because I know you want to.
So the corned beef is not corned beef.
-It's cracked beef. -[laughs]
-[Doug] It's got moisture. -[Guy] That little kiss
- of the smoke... -[Doug] Mm-hmm.
[Hunter] I love the thick bread.
It saves the sandwich from getting soggy on you.
[Guy] That's a monster rye.
-And rye not? -Right?
-Thank you. -Wow.
This needs to be bottled and sold for sure.
You need to have a commercial with it.
Is your food not that great?
Get some of this, the magic food duct tape.
I'd put it on dinner mints.
I'd come buy this sandwich in a heartbeat.
-Wow. -Thank you.
[man] Corned beef.
This is the juiciest, the best I've had anywhere.
The sauce on it is to die for.
It's the innovation that Doug puts in.
I'll tell you, I've been on the barbecue train with Doug
for 20 years. We were in Arkansas,
we were in Texas, we were in Carolina, and he's taken it all
-and made... Yeah. -Make it into his own.
So the menu is eclectic, but it's really, really good.
We do breakfast a lot, steak and eggs.
They have cornbread pancakes.
You can get wings and pizzas, sandwiches.
[Doug] Cold chicken Rodrigo with collard greens.
The Rodrigo chicken sandwich is really excellent.
The chicken's always nicely smoked.
It's one of the better chicken sandwiches around.
-What's up next? -Chicken Rodrigo.
We're gonna start by brining the chicken.
Mustard seed, salt,
black peppercorn, brown sugar,
-and some bay leaf, and then water. -And some bay leaf.
Our chicken is brined overnight.
Season it with salt and pepper
and smoke it for two to two and a half hours.
-At, what temp? -[Doug] 22.
-[Guy] All right, chef. -So we're gonna cure our pork belly.
This goes in our collard greens.
[Hunter] We like collard greens.
We take a fresh belly, we take the rind off,
-hit it with salt. -[Guy] Himalayan salt, not pink salt.
[Doug] That is correct, and brown sugar.
So how long are we gonna let this dry brine?
Just about 10 days. We flip it every morning,
and then we'll hit it with some salt and black pepper.
- It's now ready for the smoker. -[Guy] Got it.
[Doug] We're gonna do a quick, fine dice.
-Why don't you try some chef? -Man, that's delicious.
-[Doug] Diced onions, chopped garlic. -[Guy] Little S and P.
-Dump these. -[Guy] Washed, chopped greens.
And some liquid.
[Doug] Finish it with those pork bones.
These are gonna cook for two and a half hours.
I love the way this is going. I'm excited.
So we're gonna assemble our smoked pulled chicken Rodrigo's sandwiches.
We're gonna start with our butter-toasted brioche roll.
-[Hunter] Very nice. -We pulled this to order.
[Guy] So it's not drying out.
-[Doug] That's correct. -[Guy] That's impressive.
Chipotle Mayo, collard greens, pickled onions,
Delicious. That chicken isn't just regular seasoned chicken.
-That's correct. -It's a two day brine.
[Hunter] And you get the smoke coming through.
-Amazing sandwich. -Then...
The bun's outrageous.
The greens, that's the apex, baby.
-They're tender. -Still got a little bite to it.
It reminds me of like, the leftovers on Thanksgiving.
When you make it with the the mayonnaise
and the turkey, it's just simple, but it's just delicious.
[Guy] All that flavor is there.
-Well done. -Nice.
A Rodrigo pulled chicken sandwich.
The chicken is moist and tender. Can't beat it.
[woman] These greens are outstanding.
They'll get you to eat your veggies, that's for sure.
Can you grab a rack of ribs off the smoker?
Just, you know, perfect barbecue spot.
I wouldn't expect that everything
that you're doing on the menu would be as cheffed as it is.
And everything's house-made. Very impressive.
[Guy] And you're humble about it, man.
-Thank you, Chef. -Congrats.
-Thank you. -Awesome, dude.
[Guy] Up next, the Southeast Asian flavor fest in Minneapolis...
The flavors are like monster.
...with Balinese bird.
-Come on down, try the chicken. -[woman laughing]
[Guy] A Vietnamese crepe.
Mm hmm.
And plenty of personality.
-You have a good time. -Yeah, you will enjoy yourself.
I love these old neighborhoods in big cities.
You've got a great restaurant right in the middle of all these houses.
I'm here on the northeast side of Minneapolis,
a few miles away from the university,
to check out a restaurant where this husband and wife team
first started out with a restaurant doing arepas.
Her family's from Vietnam.
So she did a tour of Southeast Asia,
and came back and said, "Wait a second. I love all those flavors.
We need that kind of restaurant." And that's what you get.
This is Hai Hai.
Beef Rendang, going to table 15.
Anything coming out of that kitchen is fantastic.
You're transported away to Southeast Asia.
Coconut shrimp toast.
It's got unique flavors that you can't really find at a lot of places.
[Guy] But chef and owner Christina Nguyen and her husband, Birk
found them while traveling the world before putting it all together
in this neighborhood spot.
We went to Southeast Asia and we just got to eat so much delicious food.
-Are you a cook at all? -I run, like, the bar program.
[Guy] I can tell the flavors that she's talking about are, like, monster.
They're seven-feet tall, even though I'm only five.
-Thank you. That was my point exactly. -[laughs]
Balinese chicken thigh.
I love the Balinese chicken here.
You get the cream. You get the rice.
The chicken and the greens. They're delicious.
-So we're making Balinese chicken thigh. -Okay.
[Christina] We just brine the chicken.
We're gonna add sugar and salt to our water and whisk it up.
Pour that over the chicken and put it in the walk-in overnight.
What is this now? This is going to be our marinade.
[Christina] Yes. Lemongrass. Ginger. Shallots.
-Lots of garlic. -[Christina] Fresh turmeric.
-Lots of color off that. -Yeah.
Sugar. Fresh macroot lime leaves.
Coconut oil.
-Rubber spat. Yeah. -My hand is a rubber spat.
Mix this all together.
Then we let it hang out in marinade for a while.
-Come on down. Try the chicken. -[laughs]
[Guy] And this is gonna go from there to the grill. What are we gonna do next?
Crispy chicken skins as a garnish.
-Nice little continents on our map here. -Okay.
[Christina] Season them with some kosher salt.
Cover this with parchment paper.
And lay another one on top of it so it doesn't curl.
Yeah. Put it in here for about two hours at 300 till they're nice and crispy.
-What else is on the menu? -[Christina] We're gonna make some coconut cream sauce.
-Coconut cream, lemongrass that we've already... -[Guy] Beat a little bit.
Smashed garlic. Ginger.
-Turmeric. Shallots. -[Guy] Turmeric.
Lime leaves, powdered turmeric, salt and sugar.
We're gonna let it boil for an hour, and strain it.
And we'll tighten it up with a slurry.
-Exactly. -[Guy] Got it.
We're gonna make a little salad.
-Kale, julienne. -Salt and sugar.
It's like, "Grr," knead at it like a cat.
-She's fool crazy. -[laughs]
[Guy] Mung bean sprouts go in.
We're gonna make a little dressing to go with it.
-Melted coconut oil. -Coconut.
Center of the lemongrass.
Little Thai chili in there.
-Lime leaves. -Lime juice.
[Guy] So all that's done.
We're making one more spicy condiment.
Oil. Thai chili.
Coconut oil and then some fried shallots. Salt.
So we're gonna plate our Balinese chicken.
Coconut rice, kale bean sprout salad.
That I'm excited for.
[Christina] Infused coconut cream.
Chicken. Finishing salt.
Fried shallot sambal.
-Slather that on. -Slather.
Lime leaf.
Crispy chicken skin,
-[laughs] -The way I intended to try this
was in the good, old-fashioned barbarian manner. Perfect. I like it.
-Perfect. I like it. -Mmm.
Wow, that's a lot of flavor.
The chicken is so juicy and so flavorful.
-I love this cold salad. -[Christina] Awesome.
Simple, subtle, crunchy.
The coconut cream is great. Dynamite.
Chicken is on the turn.
The crispy chicken skin has just got a ton of flavor in it.
It's got a little bit of kick to it,
but the coconut cream kind of helps to balance out that spiciness.
Cheers.
To know that you're in just a great restaurant and a great neighborhood.
There's plants galore.
And it's super lively.
Even in wintertime,
kinda gives us a little bit of summer.
[man] As if we're on a cruise somewhere,
and we got off the ship and got on the island.
Now take me to something more traditional.
I'm gonna bring you over. Don't tell anybody.
Let them be in suspense.
I'm gonna finish this. I'll see you in a bit.
We don't have to do it.
-There was a wink in there. -There's a ...
-[laughs] -That's something new that we haven't seen.
From all the body moving shoulder shakes,
hand gestures, growling,
-a little wink you got in there, too? -[laughs]
Welcome back to Hai Hai.
Chef Christina here. We're in Minneapolis.
Being Vietnamese, you were brought up
with all kinds of great flavors.
Is this something that Minneapolis is ready to handle?
They have been ready.
Nice sticky rice for you.
[man] In Minneapolis, the twin cities,
we have a lot of different Southeast Asian foods here,
and I would definitely say Hai Hai stands out as the best among those.
[Christina] Vietnamese crepe going to bar 12.
[woman] The Vietnamese crepe is almost like
if a crepe and a taco were combined with shrimp and pork belly.
Just a lovely combination of flavors.
-Your mom would make this. -[Christina] Yeah.
We're gonna start prepping our crepe batter with some water.
Coconut milk. Rice flour.
A boatload of cornstarch makes it really crispy.
-Turmeric for some color and a touch of salt. -Okay.
[Christina] Let it rest overnight.
The way we do pork belly is a little different.
-[laughs] -Well, let's do some pork belly.
Cover up these bellies with some water.
Onion. Ginger,
Garlic. Lemongrass.
-Smashy, smashy. -Our parchment paper.
[Guy] You do the plastic and the foil in the oven. How long?
[Christina] Three hours at 325.
-[Guy] When it comes out... -[Christina] We're gonna let it cool.
Finish in the fryer.
Okay, Nuoc cham.
-The Vietnamese sauce that goes on everything -[Guy] This is it. Yeah.
-[Christina] Some hot water. Sugar. Lime juice. -[Guy] Lime juice.
And then you just dump a bunch of fish sauce.
Garlic. Thai chillis.
I'm gonna touch your eyeball. Just kidding.
You threatened to burn me with a chili eye finger
-and then a "ha, ha, ha." -[laughs]
-[Guy] The Nuoc cham is done. -Crepe time.
Our hot pan here. Crepe batter.
Swirl that around a little bit.
Then in the meantime, we're gonna cook the filling.
Onions and scallions. Bean sprouts.
Throw some shrimp on that.
Just keep moving that oil around that.
[Christina] To get nice and crispy.
Shrimpies in there.
What is this shrimpy thing? Because they're adorable.
Pork belly.
What is this? The lumberjack crepe?
[Christina] A little bit over. Looking nice and crispy.
Our Nuoc cham. Spicy sambal.
Lettuce. Basil.
Mint. Some cilantro.
Make a little lettuce wrap thing out of it.
-And then dip it. -[Guy] Dip. Dunk.
Nice.
Mmm. Mmm.
The crepe is tender.
You get this little crunchy surprise inside.
A little bit of the spice. Nuoc cham in there.
Mmm-hmm.
They're herbaceous. The salty.
The sweet. The heat.
The interactive eating.
-So what I love, this is all scratch made. -Oh, yeah.
Short of you catching the shrimp in Lake Minnetonka.
-[laughs] -It's delicious.
Putting the shrimp on the crepe.
You get all the fresh herbs.
You get the brightness from the fish sauce and sambal.
-It's super tasty. -Order up.
I would say Hai Hai is the best food in Minneapolis.
Find your way. It's worth it.
What a blast. You're looking for a good time, you'll find it.
And if you're not looking for a good time, we'll make you take it.
We'll make you have a good time.
[Guy] Yeah, you will enjoy yourself.
-Grrr. -Grrr.
-There you go. Watch out for this one. -[laughs]
Coming up. Boom!
It's meat-free magic in Missoula, Montana. Is that hocus pocus?
Summoning the savory.
You just turbocharged avocado toast?
And the sweet.
There's absolutely no way that's gluten free and vegan.
-You're a sorceress. -[chuckles]
So I'm here in the university district or the UD
of University of Montana in Missoula.
Now, if you went to school here in the 70s and 80s,
this place I'm gonna check out was called Freddy's Feed and Read.
Feed and read. You can't beat the name.
Anyhow. Now it's a husband and wife team
that are doing the scratch-made bakery and cafe.
And by the way, did I mention that they're vegan and gluten free?
This is the Tandem Bakery and Cafe.
[woman 1] Vegan bacon, egg and cheese up.
I love the food here, and I'm not a vegan.
[woman 2] This French toast is ready to go.
The food is delicious, fresh.
People don't miss the meat.
[waiter] Your crispy tofu sandwich.
I come to Missoula, Montana.
You're gonna tell me that we're gonna have a vegan bakery cafe.
Then on top of it, it's gonna be gluten free.
It's crazy, but I mean, they started out
with just breads and donuts and grocery stores.
[Guy] And it was those donuts that first pulled husband and wife duo
Beth Gerline and David Tyson into the bakery.
Then the restaurant business.
There was one night where we were looking for a donut,
and there was no donut shop in town.
Much less a vegan one.
So we kind of decided to take the plunge.
[Guy] Figured out how to make donuts.
-What is the menu now? We make vegan pastries. -[Beth] Mmm-hmm.
And we also have savory.
[Beth] I've got one loaded avocado toast up.
The avocado toast is this perfectly toasted piece of bread.
Pickled onions. Pepitas.
Chili crisp. It's perfect.
-This is to make the wet bread. -The multigrain bread.
We're gonna make an egg substitute.
This is flax meal.
Some warm water and it'll give us a little gelatinous.
-It's a great amalgamator. A binder. -It's a good binder, yeah.
I tried to show off with amalgamator.
-Whoa. -Yeah.
White rice flour. Brown rice flour.
-Tapioca starch. -[Guy] Okay.
Sorghum flour. Cornmeal.
So now we're gonna add the flax.
So this is psyllium husk.
It also gets gelatinous.
-Does this mean gelatinous? -Vegan sign.
-[Guy] There you go. -Yeah. Coconut milk powder.
Millet seed. Baking powder.
-Yeast. -[Guy] Salt.
[Beth] Olive oil. Agave.
-We add warm water. -This will mix just to where it's combined.
[Beth] Put it in the low pan.
-[Guy] At what temperature are we baking at? -Three seventy five.
Forty minutes. Halfway through the bake, we'll tint it with foil
-so that... Yeah. -[Guy] We don't dry out.
-We are gonna pickle some red onions, yeah. -Yeah.
We have water in the pot. It's already warm.
Add the white vinegar.
Sugar. Salt.
-Mitts. -Mitts. I'm gonna grab some mitts.
We call them touchdown.
-Pour this over the garlic and some thinly-sliced onions. -[Beth] Yep.
Put them right into an ice bath.
We don't wanna get into the point of having them turn into mush.
-Yeah, we're not, like, cooking them. -Cook them.
You have a lot of body language.
-You really get down with it. -[laughs] Yeah.
We're gonna make the chili crisp.
Dried chilies. Sesame seeds.
Garlic powder. Onion powder.
Canola Oil. Sesame Oil.
I let this get bubbling hot.
-Turn off the heat. -Okay.
-[Beth] And then we'll add the sugar. Salt. -[Guy] Okay.
Time for pepitas.
[Beth] Just a little bit of olive oil.
-There we go. Boom! -And salt.
Onto a sheet pan.
Into the oven. Three twenty five.
-We're pretty much ready to go. -I'm hungry.
-Look at that. -[Beth] Yeah.
[sniffs] Smells awesome.
[Beth] Canola oil. And I put the bread down.
You like it really toasty.
-[Guy] Oh, I like it. -Me too.
See, sister from another mister.
[Beth] Pull the bread off.
Cut the avocado in half.
-Just try the squeeze like this. -To get it like this.
-Life changing. Thank you. -[Guy] There we go.
[Beth] And I slice it.
It almost is like a spread.
Pickled red onions. A generous amount of chili crisp.
Sea salt. Cracked black pepper is essential.
The pepitas that we toasted, and serve it with lemon.
What's the vegan sign language for delicious?
[both inhale and exhale]
[Guy] It's got really good chew to it
-like it has gluten in it. -Yeah.
[Guy] The chili crisp is delicious.
Just enough heat, just enough acid, just enough salt.
-You just turbocharged avocado toast. -Yeah.
Bread going down for avocado toast.
The best thing about the avocado toast by far,
chili crisp and pepitas.
And the bread is amazing. It's not too dense.
[Beth] Cookie-dough brownie up.
Everything I've had here I've been so happy with.
-They have really yummy baked goods. -Especially the donuts.
I've got a lemon donut for Olivia.
They have this lemon-infused sugar
that just takes it above and beyond.
-I'm not a sweets person. -Okay.
You maybe pulled your hocus pocus,
but we'll see if you can win me over on a gluten-free doughnut.
-Is that hocus pocus? -Yeah. It's a doughnut. There's a lot of sugar.
White rice flour. Chickpea flour.
-Tapioca starch. -[whistles]
Arrowroot. It makes it really soft.
-Baking powder. -[Guy] Okay.
Baking soda. Xanthium gum,
-which is also a binder. -[Guy] Tighten it up.
[Beth] And a little bit of salt.
And then we'll add the liquids.
This is applesauce oil. Mexican vanilla.
We're kind of making like a cake batter.
Hot water is the last ingredient.
[Guy] This will get poured into these ring molds.
[Beth] And put it in the oven.
At three twenty five for 15 minutes.
-We're gonna make lemon glaze. -There you go.
[Beth] Powdered sugar. Fresh-squeezed lemon juice.
Lemon zest.
We're gonna make a lemon-infused sugar
by putting granulated sugar and more of the zest in this bowl.
It's a party. And you let this sit in here a little bit.
[Beth] Turn the doughnuts out of the pan, in the glaze.
Sprinkle on a little bit of the lemon-infused sugar.
Moist. [sniffs] Tender.
There's absolutely no way
-that's gluten free and vegan. -It's magic.
[Guy] And the glaze is the true lemon flavor.
And the little piece de resistance
is that little zest kiss on top of it.
-It's outstanding. You're a sorceress. -[laughs]
I have a lemon-glazed doughnut.
Just so great with my black coffee.
Zesty is the word that comes to mind.
Biscuits and gravy up for table number six.
Having a place like this is a win.
For sure. Especially in a town this size.
I always just kind of get pulled in every time I walk by.
This is some next-level cookery.
What you will do for people that have never really
had a chance to experience great vegan food,
you're gonna blow their minds. One more sign language.
-The old Tandem library of communication. -[chuckles] Yeah.
I love a high five.
And we just finished it with a high five.
So was that another righteous road trip or what?
But don't you worry.
We got plenty more joints to find all over this country.
I'll be looking for you next week on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
There's a little bit of fat.
-Little bit of fat. -There's gonna be a lot of grizzle in it.
Don't take my movements.
I mean, we kinda both did. I'm your son.
-We do the same thing. -No, I...
-We do. -I get it. You follow behind me.
-We have the same mannerisms. -I learned it from watching you, Dad.
I learned it from you, Dad.