[crowd cheering]
I'm just outside Newark, New Jersey, at Tito's Burritos and Wings,
taking on the Fat Amy challenge.
So how many people have actually taken it up?
- Well, no one is crazy enough to try it. - Yeah, that's where I come in.
If I can finish nearly four pounds
of titanic tacos in 30 minutes.
One will be too much, but two tacos, that is insane.
I get a T-shirt, and cookie dough empanadas.
You got this, Casey, let's go!
Fat Amy, you're getting crushed!
[Casey] For years, food's army has grown unchecked.
Oh, my God.
- Bigger... - Wow.
- Spicier... - Ooh!
- Bolder. - What is that?
But a hero rises...
That is tremendous.
Ready to taste the nation's most epic eats.
- Ah. - [crowd cheering]
- I'm Casey Webb... - Yes!
Holding the banner of man, and armed with years of
experience in the restaurant industry...
[crowd chanting] Casey! Casey!
[Casey] I go into battle.
- Bring out the steak! - [crowd cheering]
Food, your days are numbered.
It's going to be a wild ride.
- The mighty Casey has a taste for victory. - Whoo!
This is Man v. Food.
My tasty travels take me to Newark, New Jersey,
for iconic Italian Portuguese pork...
And a taco the size of Mexico.
Newark, hit me with your best eats.
Newark, New Jersey is the largest city
in the country's most densely populated state,
which means, there's a million places to choose from,
but I'm starting with a classic.
I'm in Newark at Jimmy Buff's,
the originator of one of Jersey's most iconic dishes.
These taste titans have created a hand held treat so good,
you won't be able to forget about it.
[laughing]
Established in 1932, Jimmy Buff's was
the birthplace of New Jersey's most beloved hot dog.
We come here 'cause Jimmy Buff's
is the original place to get Italian hot dogs.
Need I say more.
[Casey] Today, Italian style hot dogs are seen throughout the state,
but nothing compares to the original.
Through all these years, they've kept up the integrity of the product,
it looks today like it looked when I was kid.
[Casey] From singles to doubles,
they're dishing out deep dogs with all the fixings.
But hot dogs aren't the only thing being served Italian-style.
Locals here love the entire lineup.
Oh my God.
You got to come for the double Italian hot dog,
the double sausage, the double cheeseburger, the cheesesteak,
- you got to sample it all at some point. - Absolutely.
[laughing] I'm seeing double.
So what do you have today, what do you have?
I got the cheesesteak, the double cheesesteak.
All right so, you're a Jersey guy,
I'm sure you've had a cheesesteak from Philly.
- Absolutely. - How does this compare?
It's better, because it's all in one.
[man] Cheesesteak inside, with the potatoes,
with the onions, with the peppers,
with the ketchup, with the mustard, it's a family.
- That's the way to do it. - That's the way to do it.
[man] You gotta go all the way.
[Casey] I know, I mean, I think you did.
- I have a day off from work. - [Casey] Amazing.
[laughing]
[Casey] And the man behind this day-off indulgence,
is fourth generation owner, Tommy Racioppi.
- Tommy! - What's going on?
How are you, man?
I've been waiting my whole life to come here.
Yeah man, we're lucky to have you.
Tell me about the history of Jimmy Buff's,
and how you're standing here now.
Back in the 30s, my great grandfather used to
play cards in his basement with his friends.
My great grandmother started making these
sandwiches for them while they were playing cards.
It had to be something they could all hold
in one hand and still play cards.
They're not going to drip it all over themselves.
People started showing up just to eat,
they didn't want to play cards,
so they said, "if you're not playing cards,
it's a nickel for a single, or a dime for a double,"
and it started from there, 1932, they opened.
All right Tommy, so what are we doing?
So, you're going to help me set up today,
we're going to be cutting peppers,
onions, potatoes, before the rush gets here.
- All right, let's do it. - Let's get ready.
[Casey] Tommy starts each day by chopping peppers,
onions and potatoes for their sandwiches.
And then these we'll soak in water,
to get some of the starch out so they don't stick together.
And they fry better, right? Because you're cutting them and going to open 'em up,
you want to soak 'em some more, so you take out the starch.
[Casey] Once the veggies are prepped, we load up the grill.
Look at that, we're just throwing
the hot dogs right into the oil.
- It looks like a custom job. - Custom made, yeah.
Originally, when they first opened, it was pots and pans,
but they adopted this pretty soon after.
[Casey] It's like a reservoir for oil and for your hot dogs,
for your sausage, and the peppers, and the potatoes,
- so it's all getting cooked over here. - That's it.
[Casey] And we'll just keep adding to this, all day long.
Yeah, these are going to get brought
up over here to drain a little bit,
and as the day goes on, we'll be cooking meat,
we'll be doing more onions and peppers just alongside here.
[Casey] And these are all cooking together, in the same oil,
and so all this flavor is being drawn out.
Can I take some of the oil home?
Yeah, I'll give you a little jar.
A little jar, a little boo-poo-doo-boop, pickle my eggs.
Everything's ready to go here.
- Mustard? - Yes, however you do it.
You got it.
[Casey] Classic Italian doubles starts with mustard,
two hot dogs, peppers and onions, potatoes and ketchup.
- That's how you do it, right? - Yeah.
[Casey] Jimmy Buff's legendary Italian hot dog.
So Tommy, what do you suggest?
- Go right there, go for it. - Right here?
Unhinge the jaw.
- Oh yeah, 'cause the hotdog's sticking there. - Uh-huh.
[chuckles]
This is so great.
That's it, right there.
How're we doing?
So good.
Better than you could ever imagine.
The bread is so soft,
it's got just enough firmness on the outside,
and the first thing I hit was the hot dog, all beef hot dog.
I love how the flavors of the onions and the peppers,
and the potatoes all kind of come together,
just explodes with flavor.
Then you have the spiciness of the mustard,
and the sweetness of the ketchup,
and the bread is just doughy, and it just holds everything together,
and then you get those bursts of the all-beef hot dog,
there's so much flavor going on in one.
Is there a triple, Tommy?
People make triples, yeah.
- Do we have more hot dog? - Mm-hmm.
Nah, this is good just the way it is.
Jimmy makes me want to shimmy,
but I still got to meat Amy, who's going to make me shake.
[crowd cheering]
The hardest part is actually holding the taco,
I don't know how he's going to do it.
It's falling apart in his hands.
Fat Amy challenge, you're getting fired.
[Casey] I'm in historic Newark, New Jersey,
to take on the Fat Amy challenge,
two titanic tacos, totaling four pounds of food.
But first, I'm stopping at an Ironbound institution
that takes sandwiches to sensational heights.
I'm in Newark's Ironbound neighborhood,
the historic Portuguese enclave
that has quickly become the city's culinary capital.
It's where you find No Pao, the leader in Portuguese eats.
"No Pao" is Portuguese for "on bread,"
and in here, these guys are killing the sandwich game,
with unique takes on traditional flavors,
and an array of succulent meats, like the Pork-Tuguese,
with three types of pork, pickles,
Serrinha cheese, and a spicy paprika sauce.
I actually got three of them, two for me, one for my friend,
and I'm pretty sure we're going to
demolish that as soon as they get there.
Or the Francescana, with five layers of meat,
melted cheese, and a fried egg,
all smothered in a slow cooked braising broth.
[man] Look at this.
It's almost like a bowl of soup with
- a sandwich in the middle of it. - I love it, you're right.
- Look how much stuff is in it. - Wow, can we turn that around?
Oh my God. [chuckling]
[man] Now you put some sauce on top of this, or you dip it in the sauce.
[Casey] You know, one of my favorite things to do is,
- eat food with food, and like, dip things into things. - [Man 2] Into sauce.
- And you know, that... - This is very good.
You know, I had it here, I had it in Portugal,
and different places here in Newark,
to me, it's like one of the best places
to come, and it's just done right.
[Casey] But the pinnacle of Portuguese pride
here at No Pao, is the classic bifana.
Richly marinated pork cutlets served on
a Portuguese roll and drenched in chili wine sauce.
They've marinated overnight.
It's simple, yet amazing, because it's very flavorful.
[man] So the sauce is as important as the pork itself, as the bread is,
so there's basically three major ingredients.
It was on point.
Forget the Philly cheesesteak, this is where you gotta come, right here.
[Casey] Big words from a Jersey boy,
but is it just too good to be true?
I'm in the kitchen to see for myself.
Zeca!
[speaking Portuguese]
- How are you, man? - Good, good.
[speaking Portuguese]
- That's uh, very good or... - Yeah, very good.
[speaking Portuguese]
All right, so let's cook.
Right, you want to, all right, let's go.
We're going to make some pork butt.
- Yeah, bifanas. - So we're going to get--
- Bifanas. - We're going to be funny while we're making bifanas.
Bifana is known for being thin sliced.
[Casey] The pork butt, despite its name,
actually comes from the shoulder of the pig.
Its heartiness makes it ideal for
marinating and holding up to strong flavors.
Just like Zeca's bifana.
Look how thin that is, and there's still a bit of fat in there,
so once we marinate it and cook, it's going to you know,
draw some flavor out, draw some flavor in.
The marinade starts with paprika,
chili flakes, salt, pepper, and bay leaves.
Then it gets white wine and garlic.
- This is going to marinate for 12 hours. - Yup.
[Casey] Then, Zeca cooks down a sauce,
with olive oil and lard.
You know, this so much reminds me as kid,
my dad used to take bacon fat and put it in a Campbell's soup can,
and put it in the freezer, we had no idea what he was doing,
and then I realized, he's cooking
all the eggs in it, it's amazing.
[Casey] The sauce gets more garlic,
some mustard, white wine and paprika.
Once the sauce has cooled down,
Zeca drops the marinated pork.
So we're putting in small layers of thinly sliced
pork butt that we've marinated for 12 hours, wow.
[chuckles] That color is incredible.
[Casey] And after a few more minutes cooking down,
we're ready to load up this bread.
The bico bread itself is dense,
because it needs to hold up what we're putting on, right?
- Yeah, absolutely. - We'll do a little dance?
Yeah, we'll do a little dance.
[Casey] Don't be shy, now.
You know what we're looking at right here.
- Yeah. - Okay.
- [Zeca] Put that on top. - [Casey] So you dip the bread
in the actual sauce that we're cooking the pork in.
Yes, absolutely.
- [Casey] And then, you put it on top. - Yup.
- [Zeca] Here we go. - I give you, the bifana.
- [Casey] Do you want half? - [Zeca] Yeah, I'll take half.
Okay, there you go.
I haven't had breakfast yet.
- Yours has got more meat on it. - Cheers.
- Hey nobody ever called me stupid. - [both chuckling]
I felt it was about the drip out of this sandwich,
but the bread is so good at its job,
- it's soaked up all the sauce. - Yup.
[Casey] And then we have this thinly sliced pork, our pork butt,
it's so tender and it's soaked up the juices.
I'm getting a lot of wine from it, which is really great,
it's got this rich flavor with the paprika, and the garlic,
and just a pocket of flavor, you know it's layered,
so we've been cooking in layers today,
and this is exactly what I'm getting at in the sandwich.
This bifana has my taste buds singing,
but I still have a challenge that'll make me scream.
I really hope he can keep up that momentum,
before he realizes just how full he is.
[both] Let's go, Casey!
Fat Amy, you're going down.
[Casey] I'm outside Newark at Tito's Burritos and Wings, for the Fat Amy challenge.
If I take down two massive tacos
totaling nearly four pounds in 30 minutes,
I get a free T-shirt, and a delicious dessert empanada.
It's time to put a taco where my mouth is.
First opened in 2005,
Tito's massive menu matches their many food influences,
from Mexico, to California, to Hawaii,
and these diverse comfort food flavors
have attracted a following of diehard fans.
We've been here so many times,
but I don't think we've covered
even like, one eighth of the menu.
- [Casey] It is more than just burritos and wings. - Yeah.
[man] I mean, I'm seeing wings, I see quesadillas.
- The fries are amazing. - [woman 1] The fries, ten out of ten.
[woman 2] Oh, my God, you would have never
guessed that these fries are fire.
[laughing] Fries are fire.
[Casey] Tito's has your cravings covered,
from killer wings to their massive bigalito quesadilla,
loaded with cheese, chicken and and mound of French fries,
or the Fat Amy tacos, with a 12 inch flour tortilla,
stuffed with French fries, chicken strips,
and all your favorite taco fixings.
But this two-pound taco isn't the challenge.
For that, I'm taking on two.
Compared to this taco, how big is that Fat Amy?
[woman 1] This big. [Casey laughing]
[woman 2] Like if that taco went home, got married and had a family.
It's a group of 'em.
- So you got to do two of 'em, though. - [Casey] Yeah.
I believe in you.
- Do you believe in me? - I do.
- We just met, and you believe in me? - You're from Jersey.
I'm from Jersey, see what happens, when you're from Jersey?
- We stick together. - We try to stick together, we do our best.
- Are you from Jersey? - I'm not.
- Canadian. - Oh, man!
[Casey] With the support of Jersey and I guess, Canada behind me,
I'm ready to see how the Fat Amy is formed.
Hello, Caroline!
- Hi. - Did I scare you? I'm sorry.
- A little bit. - I know, I was creeping up.
- How's it going? - Good, how are you?
I'm all right, I'm just getting my hunger up for...
- Fat Amy? - Yeah, I hope you're ready.
What do you think my chances are?
Slim to none.
Is it just because it's a lot of food?
Each taco is almost two pounds.
[Caroline] I mean, imagine putting all that in your stomach,
and your stomach's like, this size.
So how many people have actually taken it up?
Well, no one's crazy enough to try it, you're the first.
No one is crazy enough to try it, yeah, that's where I come in.
- Shall we build this thing? - Yeah, let's get started.
[Casey] Caroline starts with their tempura fried chicken strips.
When most people think about tempura,
they think about Japanese cuisine,
but tempura was introduced to Japan
by Portuguese sailors, fun fact.
The chicken gets dredged in flour,
tempura batter, more flour, then placed in a deep fryer.
Oh, we might not be able to cook all of them,
because they won't fit in the basket.
You can put a few on top.
All right.
[Casey] We drop the chicken strips
and French fries for a few minutes.
Look at that.
See, that by itself is a lot.
[Caroline] You've got a lot more. [Casey groans]
[Casey] Then, we fry up two 12-ich flour tortillas.
- Whoo! - There it is.
[Casey] And we're ready to build the Fat Amy taco, times two.
[Caroline laughing]
Half a pound of French fries, ten total chicken strips,
and now, you're just slowly getting more and more menacing.
- It's more fun. - It's more fun for who?
[Casey] A mix of shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheese,
lettuce, Pico, and spicy chipotle sauce.
- Thanks, Caroline. - You're welcome.
For nothing!
[crowd cheering]
[Casey] It's time for me to face the music.
[continued cheering]
[all] Ooh!
Casey, are you ready for this challenge?
Jersey, you ready?
[all clapping and cheering]
That's all I need.
You have 30 minutes to eat both tacos completely,
and you get to win a lovely Tito's Burritos and Wings T-shirt,
and also an order of delicious cookie dough empanadas.
[applauding]
[all] Five, four, three, two, one!
[cheering]
[Casey] To start, I'm going in with both hands.
But keeping it in one piece might be an issue.
The hardest part is actually holding the taco,
I don't know how he's going to do it.
It's falling apart in his hands.
[Casey] The chicken and fries are delicious,
but this tortilla is faltering.
I can't move my hands.
And so is my confidence.
I really hope he can keep that momentum,
before he realizes just how full he is.
One would be too much, but two tacos, that is insane.
[crowd cheering]
[applauding and cheering]
[Casey] I'm just outside Newark, New Jersey,
taking on the Fat Amy challenge,
two towering tacos loaded with tempura
fried chicken and French fries.
You've got this Casey, let's go! [cheering]
Whoo!
[Casey] I'm nine minutes in, and nearly one taco down,
but this shell is falling apart,
so I'm just shoveling down French fries.
[cheering]
The French fries at the end are so dense at the bottom,
and I feel like that's what he got a fistful of right now,
he's not even half way done, technically,
so it might be a little bit of a struggle bust, but I believe in him.
Did you say struggle bust? [laughing]
You said struggle bust.
[Casey] I may be struggling, but I'm keeping stride.
[all cheering]
Time to one taco down?
[crowd chanting] One taco down!
[Casey] For my second taco, I have to pick up the pace...
- Yeah, baby! - [all cheering]
Whoo!
'Cause my stomach's catching up to me.
But it's not over till the Fat Amy sings.
And Amy ain't singing.
[both] Let's go, Casey!
- Whoo! - [cheering]
- Let's go Casey! - Let's go!
15 minutes in, we're half way through.
One taco down, one to go.
[all] Whoo!
[Casey] Half my time gone, I'm kicking into overdrive.
But even after this taco, I still need to clean the plate.
[chanting] Eat that taco! Eat that taco! Eat that taco!
Eat that taco! Eat that taco! Eat that taco!
[applauding]
[Casey] I'm finally done with taco two,
- but I've still got a tray filled with taco bits... - [all] Casey! Casey! Casey!
And time is ticking down.
Handful after handful,
this home stretch is stretching my stomach,
but I've got my home state behind me.
[both] Do it for Jersey!
[cheering and applauding]
[Casey] Jersey, I got this. [crowd chanting]
Whoo!
Hasta la viva, Amy!
- Yeah! - [crowd cheering]
Congratulations, Casey, you completed
the challenge in 24 minutes and 20 seconds.
Amazing, you guys are the best, Tito's I love you!
- Whoo! - [crowd exclaims]
In the battle of man versus food...
- Man won! - [all exclaiming]
[applauding]
No?
Yeah!
[crowd exclaiming]