I'm on the Delaware coast in Heidaway
to take on the Delmarva surf and turf challenge.
Have you ever taken this on?
I'm not that crazy.
[Casey] If I finish this three-and-a-half pound crab cake
and short rib duo...
[crowd cheering]
That's the biggest crab cake I've ever seen.
[Casey] ...I get a t-shirt and bragging rights.
Whoo!
You can do it, man.
Let's go!
I hope you're ready because my claws are out.
[Casey] For years, food's army has grown unchecked.
Oh, my God.
Bigger...
Wow.
spicier...
- Whoo. - [crowd cheering]
[Casey] ...bolder...
What is that?
But a hero rises...
That's tremendous.
ready to taste the nation's most epic eats.
- Ahh... - [crowd cheering]
[Casey] I'm Casey Webb.
Yes!
Holding the banner of man
and armed with years of experience in the restaurant industry.
[all cheering] Casey! Casey!
- [Casey] I go into battle. - [crowd cheering]
- Bring out the steak. - [crowd cheering]
[Casey] Food, you're days are numbered.
It's going to be a wild ride.
The mighty Casey has a taste for victory.
Whoo!
This is Man vs. Food.
My quest for the best brings me to the Delaware beaches
for a cream of crop custard,
bodacious group hub best,
and a challenge that encompasses
all of Landon Sea.
Hey, Delaware!
Let's make some waves.
America's first state boasts six different beach towns
each with their own unique feel and food-filled attractions.
I'm here on the Bethany Beach boardwalk
where one spot has been doing ice cream their way for the past 25 years.
Delaware summers revolve around the beach
and after a long day of fun in the sun
there's no better way to cool down
than at Dickey's Frozen Custard.
Bethany Beach's best boardwalk bite.
Dickey's in Delaware has all the classic ice cream favorites,
with sprinkles, dips, and a cherry on top.
But the real draw for those in search of a boardwalk bite
is a richer, creamier style ice cream
called custard.
How busy does it get here?
Oh, there's lines like down the street.
- It's packed. - Yeah, Dickey's gets lines like, five blocks down.
[Casey] Five blocks down for custard?
-Kind of, amazing. -[woman 1] Yeah.
[Casey] And the question is do you like custard
better than you like ice cream?
Of course, yeah, you can get ice cream any where
- but you can't get custard everywhere. - [woman 1] Yeah.
- [man 1] Custard's a little bit thicker. - [Casey] Yeah.
[man 1] Has more like pasteurized egg yolks.
It's thicker and creamier.
[Casey] So thick and creamy that it really holds up.
But if you're craving something lighter,
only Dickey's is combining custard with fresh fruit
delivered daily
for their play on milkshakes.
And right now it's peak season for peaches.
So this is custard,
- frozen custard with peaches in it. - Yes.
They're super fresh and they're local.
[Casey] How fresh are we talking?
- Yester-- - Like today.
- Oh. - Yeah.
- Like today, today? - I mean, that's what they taste like.
[Casey] That's a big shake,
so is that something you would finish?
- Or you save it for later? - I might split it with Bubba.
[Casey] Oh Bubba? Does he eat ice cream?
- [woman 2] Yes. - Does he eat custard?
He might eat the whole thing. But yeah.
This?
Nah... He'll just take a little bite.
- I can share with him? - Yeah?
[Casey] There you go.
Good, just a little bit, right?
He's going to have a little bit.
He's not going to eat the whole thing. Oh.
- Good job, bud. - [Casey] Let me hold that for you.
You got a little on your face there.
[Casey laughs]
There you have it.
Dogs love it.
Ladies love it.
I think I'll love it too.
I'm going to get one of those.
I can't wait to try the Dickster
because these daily deliveries are no joke.
This is the ultimate farm to table.
- [chuckles] Hey, Dickey! - Casey!
Someone dropped these off for you.
They were picked this morning and they're getting ripe as we speak.
[Casey] And it's peak harvesting season here...
- [Dick] Correct. - [Casey] ...in Delaware.
Climate here is ideal for peaches.
We're dealing with the best of the best.
And I got to tell you,
- you think Atlanta, Georgia is called the peach state. - [Casey] Yeah.
But the peaches here from Delaware...
Blow them away.
[Casey] First the peaches are sliced into quarters and blended down into a puree.
After the puree, we pour the cream to prep their frozen custard.
Standard ice cream is made with milk and cream.
Frozen custard is made with the addition of eggs, making it richer and creamier.
15 minutes of churning
and we can mix a healthy helping of custard.
[Dick] That'll do.
Yup, perfect.
- Uh, uh. - Got a little ahead of myself.
With the perfect blend of Bennett's peach puree.
- I'm going to add a little bit-- - Do you need some more?
Yeah, don't-- You're drinking it?
- Come on, man! - [laughs]
- It's really good-- - I need this.
[Casey] Top it with fresh peach slices
and you've got Dickey's famous Dickster.
The legendary Dickster.
[Casey] From Dickey himself!
- And it's all yours. - Amazing, thank you so much.
- I love the fact that we left the skin on. - Yeah.
[Casey] Because when you mix it with the actual custard
you can see the little flecks.
Thank you Dickey. This is amazing.
- Dig in, it's all yours. - I appreciate it. [laughs]
I'm going to stick my face in it.
- Do it. - [Casey laughs]
- This is like the perfect spot for my mustache. - There it is.
Oh man, nice!
Whoa. That's a healthy swallow, right there buddy.
[Casey] It's so much different than ice cream.
[Dick] It's not a typical milkshake either.
[Casey] No, I mean, it's rich and creamy,
and fluffy, and it's aerated.
And those little flecks of fresh peaches are incredible.
Just bursts of flavor.
I can actually taste like, peaches and cream
on steroids.
Come before the season starts, we do them with blueberries.
Oh, my...
Elderberries will knock your socks off.
[Casey] My gosh!
I'll wear flip flops.
[sighs contently]
Everything here is just peachy
but I'm about to get crabby.
[crowd chanting] Eat the crab!
- Ride that wave, Casey! - [crowd cheering]
Delmarva surf and turf challenge,
you ain't got nothing on this guy.
[Casey] I'm on the beaches of Delaware
training hard to take down the Delmarva surf and turf challenge
but before I do,
I've got a hot tip on some beachside beer-infused
buffalo mac and cheese.
Everyone knows a perfect post-beach pleasure is an ice cold beer.
And at Rehoboth beach's Dogfish head Brewings & Eats,
they're infusing their signature beers into
unbelievable pub grub fare.
Time for a little hair of the dog...
fish-head...
[chuckles]
Come on.
Established in 1995,
Dogfish Head was at the forefront of the IPA movement
with a focus on flavor.
A few decades later, their badass beer is sold
in stores across the country
but can only be found in your favorite bar food, here at
Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats.
Wow!
They're fixing beer-infused bites
for a following of diehard fans.
Like their days wait pizza,
covered in beer cheese, mozzarella
and topped with shredded chicken and crispy pancetta.
Then wood-fired to pillowy perfection.
It's creamy and it just has a really natural, quality good taste to it.
Just like the beer does.
[Casey] Or the Sweet Jane burger
with a dry age beef patty,
melted cheddar
drenched in beer infused barbeque sauce
and loaded with crispy fried onions.
So juicy and tender.
Definitely, going to need more than one sip to wash that down.
[Casey chuckles] Oh, yum.
It's so good.
[Casey] But the real stout standout
is McLaine's Mac & Cheese.
Fresh homemade hot sauce pasta,
slathered in beer cheese.
Then topped with three buffalo chicken wings
and blue cheese crumbles.
You get the crispy outside, a little heat in there, little buttery.
Mmm...
It just exploded when you dug in to it.
- Did you hear the crunch? - [Casey] Wow. Yeah, I know, I saw the juices--
[laughs]
It was like Sea World.
- Splash zone. - Best wings in town.
[Casey] So you have two basic, classic appetizers.
You have mac n cheese and then you have wings
and they've somehow brought them together,
successfully.
It's a marriage of two great things.
- Yeah. - So most people use the fork.
- Right. - But any local knows
this is the right way to eat the McClain Mac n Cheese.
So you're using the actual wing
to eat the mac n cheese.
Oh, yeah, look how big and messy that is.
[Casey] That looks delicious.
Mmm...
[Casey] We're going to need some more wings,
I guess.
Time to head back to the kitchen
where their executive chef is doing wings
the right way.
Hey Zack!
- Casey, what's happening? - [chuckles]
-How you doing? Good to see you. -Good to see you.
[Casey] So what do we start?
All right, so we're going to start with our semolina base,
a little bit of wheat gluten, and some baking soda.
You can dump it right inside of the pasta machine.
Semolina flour is
-the best for extruding through a machine -Correct.
Because of its plasticity.
- We're not going to loose it's shape. - Not a lot.
- So all in, Zack? - All in.
All in.
[Zack] So now we have a mix of Franks hot sauce and a little bit of water.
- Is that the only moisture that's going in? - That's it.
[Casey] While we wait on the pasta
we can start the sauce with cream and milk.
Bring that to a boil
and it gets two types of cream cheese.
Mascarpone is Italian cream cheese
with a creamy, butter-like texture
that's slightly sweet and a little bit nutty.
So next, we're going to add in the cream cheese in to it.
Again, whisking this.
Make sure it's fully incorporated
before we add anything else to it.
Yeah, the Philly cream cheese has a bit of an attitude sometimes.
You got to work with it, right?
When the cream cheeses are fully melted,
we add shredded cheddar and mozzarella
and the star ingredient,
their signature 90 minute IPA.
[sighs contently]
[Casey] With the sauce done,
we can finally put them mac with the cheese.
We're going to add a little bit of cheese sauce
in the saute pan, make sure that's hot.
Look at how thick that is.
[Zack] We're going to add a little bit of our shredded chicken to it.
[Casey] And so it's layers of flavor,
which we really love, right?
I think our pasta's looking pretty good.
[Casey] Oh, it just--
Look at that, it just comes to life, right?
When the mac n cheese is ready,
it's time to plate this brew-inspired bad boy.
With three whole buffalo wings,
a touch of micro celery
and blue cheese crumbles.
Mclaine's Mac n Cheese!
Yipikaye! M-V-Effers.
- [Zack] There it is. - Oh, my God.
[laughs mischievously]
Ooh...
[Zack] It's reasonable.
People in Buffalo will be proud of that.
[Casey] The beer cheese steals the show.
Awesome.
The 90 minute IPA...
cuts through some of that cheesiness and the heat
and it adds this really great floral maltiness.
I'm getting heat from not only the mac n cheese
but I'm also getting from the chicken wing.
We've bridged the gap between mac n cheese and wings on one plate.
Try to make the best marriage out of it.
I mean, this is happily ever after.
This mac packs a punch
but I still got to claim my turf.
[crowd cheering]
All right, Casey, you can do it, man.
You got this man. Let's go!
Delmarva surf n turf,
it's going to get gnarly dude!
I'm here at Heidaway in Bethany beach
to take on the three-and-a-half pound surf n turf challenge.
I hope you're ready
because I'm feeling crabby.
- Oh, hi. - Hello.
[Casey] Opening it's doors in 2019,
Heidaway gained a fast following
on the Bethany beach front
for its fresh locally sourced sea food
and it's generously oversized portions.
What I love about this place
is they give you a significant amount,
as you can tell.
That's a healthy portion.
Their lobsters meat has like, the fires on top.
Grade A. Perfect.
[Casey] But there's one platter here
that puts other plates to shame.
Three and a half pounds of crab cake.
Short ribs and French fries.
Dubbed, Delmarva surf and turf challenge.
This dish is so daunting it's never been done before.
-The Delmarva surf and turf challenge -Yes, sir.
[Casey] You tried it before?
I have tried the challenge.
[Casey] So how'd it go?
I... I fell in battle.
- [Casey chuckles] - I gave it my best shot
in the 30 minute time limit was tough.
[Casey] Was it a textural thing
or was it a weight thing with the crab cake?
Pure weight.
- You see these here. - [Casey chuckles]
- Yeah. - We're talking...
Six?
- [chuckles] - We're talking like,
- oblong frisbee. - Eight?
- [Casey chuckles] - Eight.
An oblong frisbee full of crab cake.
Should I take my time
or should I be rushing through this?
- Come out hot out of the gate. - [snorts]
- Sprint. - Full sprint.
And then just stumble across the finish line,
however you can.
I'm not going to scurry like a crab
going to run like a bull, right?
Run like a bull.
Hopefully, momentum can carry me through.
But right now,
let's see how this monster gets made.
- Hey, Norris! - How are you?
I'm doing great man.
All right, so Norris, talk to me.
The Delmarva surf and turf challenge.
Well this is...
a huge meal
- and I'm rooting for you. - [Casey laughs]
Thank you for being honest.
So where do we start man?
We're going to start here in this bowl.
This is lemon aioli.
[Casey] Aioli gets seasoned with old bay,
then we add four egg yolks
to help bind it all later.
[imitates water splashing]
Next, we mix in a bowl full of claw meat.
That smells amazing.
And some crushed crackers
toasted in old bay butter.
- [Norris] You see how it's starting to thicken up. - [Casey] Yes.
And last
even more crab meat.
This has got weight to it.
I'm holding with two hands.
That's how massive it is.
Hear that, hear that?
[thuds]
Thud.
Crab mix cools for two hours,
then gets portioned
Lot of crab meat.
- Shut up Norris. - [Norris chuckles]
[Casey] formed and placed in the oven.
While Norris shows me their short rib.
All right, so we're going pull one of these out.
We're going to cut into it and make my portion.
One pound.
There's no going back now.
It's time to assemble this beach side beast.
Half a plate of old bay French fries.
A two pound crab cake.
That's so much bigger than I anticipated.
And a pound of short rib bathed in its own juices.
The dreaded Delmarva surf and turf.
All right, so you're saying
this three and a half pounds, yeah?
Three and a half pounds.
I don't think he has confidence in me.
[laughs softly]
Rest my shoulders.
[crowd cheering]
Yeah.
Let's do a little bit of this!
Yeah!
It's time to battle this undefeated heavy weight.
So you know what's in it.
You know what you're up against.
- You have thirty minutes. - Okay.
We'll start the clock
Are you ready?
Are you guys ready?
Yeah!
[crowd cheering]
I think they're ready.
I'm ready, I'm ready.
Guys, we need to give a ten second count down
to get Casey ready.
Ten,
nine,
eight,
seven,
six,
five,
four,
three,
two, one.
[crowd cheering]
[Casey] I'm starting out with the sea
by diving into this crab cake.
- First bite! - [crowd cheering]
[Casey] Right away, I can tell
it's going to be trouble.
That's the biggest crab cake I've ever seen.
Like, how do they cook that?
[Casey] I'm loading it up with lemon
to balance that brininess.
But the second bite's no better.
At least, I won't have to pick at the bone.
[crowd chanting] Casey, Casey, Casey.
[Casey] The short ribs, rich and tender
but it's just as daunting.
I'll have to dig deep
to down this duo.
[crowd chanting]
[Casey] I'm in Bethany beach, Delaware,
taking on the Delmarva surf and turf challenge.
If I can finish three and a half pounds of crab cake,
short ribs and fries in 30 minutes,
I get a t-shirt and bragging rights
along the Bethany boardwalk.
[crowd cheering]
[Casey] Ten minutes down and I already feel the burn.
This crab cake two pounds of trouble.
That crab cake ain't got nothing on you.
You got this man. You can do this.
- Let's go. - [crowd cheering]
[Casey] At this point
I'm just breaking up that crab cake
and hoping to stay afloat.
- Whoo. - [crowd cheering]
Hey, Casey, a customer wanted to buy you a glass of wine.
[inaudible]
I'll keep of on the side for you.
It's an extra prize in addition to the t-shirt, okay.
Is that actually wine?
- Yeah. - [all laughing]
It's just a glass.
[laughing]
We'll keep this on ice for you, okay?
Thank you, mystery wine giver.
Thank you so much.
The stakes have been raised.
So with the sea breeze at my back
and the crowd cheering me on
I summon the strength to push through.
15 minutes on the clock.
But I still got a mountain of meat on my plate.
It feels like I'm swimming up stream.
But where there's a will there's a wave.
- Ride that wave, Casey! - [crowd cheering]
[crowd chanting] Finish that crab cake.
[Casey] The crab's almost gone.
But I'm slipping into a crab cake coma.
All right, Casey, you can do it, man.
- You're almost done. - [crowd cheering]
[Casey] I still have five minutes left
but time's not the problem.
At this point I'm just struggling
to keep it all down.
Just two more bites left.
Casey, keep eating. You're almost there.
You're almost done. Let's get it, yeah!
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chanting] One more bite.
[crowd chanting] Last bite.
[crowd cheering]
Casey!
You completed the Delmarva surf and turf challenge.
- You get a t-shirt. - [Casey chuckles]
and you get a nice glass of pinot grigio.
- Whoo. - [crowd cheering]
Proud to say, the battle, man vs. food,
man won!
[all cheering]
[Eric] That is impressive.
Thank you, Delaware beach.
Thank you guys here
at Heidaway at Delaware.
Love you so much.
Thanks for having us.
I'm full.
Here's to you.
[all cheering]
- Very nice. - Good year,
- Good year. - Yeah.
Very good year.