The wait is finally over.
It's time to hurry on down to the Grand Reopening of Flavortown market.
- Oh, my gosh! - Wow!
[Guy] We've added real-deal new features
that will keep the culinary curve balls coming.
-Mystery meat, here. Mystery meat. -Come and get it.
And best of all, we're celebrating our re-opening
with an epic two-part tournament.
- Hunter, what is up, dude? - We're getting there.
Come back soon, thank you.
Flavortown has gone insane.
Four of our greatest chefs of all time
are taking on our revamped store at a shot of up to 25,000 bucks.
No way!
Like money!
The kickoff of the Triple-G grand re-opening
is happening right now on Guy's Grocery Games.
[sighs] It's great to be back.
So let's meet the returning Triple-G champs.
Now first up, we have Brandon Sumblin,
an executive chef from Maryland,
whose four Triple-G wins have earned him the most cash
with $57,000.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
What you talking about, man? Let's go!
I've been on every single format you can imagine with Guy's Grocery Games.
I've won with my family, I've won by myself,
and I'm here to win again.
- What's up, big man? - What's up, man?
- Nice to see you. - Yes, sir.
Next, we have Tracey Shepos Cenami,
executive chef de cuisine from Northern California,
who won the title of Triple-G Supermarket Master.
- Bringing your grand total to $48,000. - 40... 48?
It's my seventh time on the show,
I feel like this is my second home.
- That's the dance? - That's my dance.
But I've heard Guy has done some remodeling.
Chef, welcome back.
It definitely means the games are gonna be harder, right?
Then there's Tobias Dorzon,
a Houston executive chef with three Triple-G wins under his belt.
Tobias.
And $41,000 in his pocket.
Hey!
I've won $41,000 in Flavortown.
Wow, I've won... I've won a lot.
That's it? I just get a stroll now?
-What's up, brother? Nice to see you. -What's up, baby?
And finally, Laura Fonner,
executive chef from Charlottesville
who's our most undefeated chef,
whose Summer Grillin' Games tournament victory
raised her Triple-G winnings to 55,000 bucks.
- [Laura laughs] - Ta-da!
I am undefeated on Triple-G.
Laura, congratulations.
Chef Laura.
- Chef Laura! - Yes! Congratulations.
And I don't really plan on changing that today.
- Wonderful to have you. - Thanks.
Welcome, welcome!
Welcome to Flavortown market's
grand re-opening, huh?
[fanfare]
So, of course, we have to bring back
some of Triple-G's Greatest Of All Time.
We had to put the best of the best to the ultimate test
to take on Flavortown market, huh?
- We're ready. - We've got Hunter, manning the new deli
and butcher department.
And if you look behind you, you'll see a new hot section,
you'll see a cold salad section,
you'll see the chicken fountain.
It's all kinds of good chicken.
We also have a brand spanking new Flavortown scoreboard.
Our judges will taste your dishes
and score them based on taste, game play, and plating.
At the end of the evening, the chef with the lowest score will be eliminated.
Ultimately, the chef who consistently gets high marks
will be crowned The Grand Reopening Champion!
The Grand Re-opening Champion could get a chance to win up to $25,000 in cash.
- Hey! - [all cheering]
All right, so to mark this momentous occasion,
I'm in a good mood today. It's a grand re-opening.
I'm gonna give you a full one hour.
To do what?
I'm just waiting to hear the rest.
Since I'm giving you an hour,
I want you to make two completely different courses.
No, no, no, no.
I want my G.O.A.T.s
to make a Triple-G Hometown G.O.A.T. Entree,
using goat as the main protein.
And a Hometown Appetizer.
So, what's gonna happen?
This is great, you're gonna love this part, maybe not.
You have 25 minutes to make that appetizer.
Once you get done with that appetizer,
you will plate it up right here on the counter,
and I will deliver it to the judges for you.
You'll continue to cook your entree.
So it's seamless, you don't even have to stop, okay?
I told you about the appetizer, right?
- Yes. - Okay? And the entree.
I told you about the goat.
I got it, you know what happens?
Every time I do this, I should... I think I should make a list.
Wait a sec, I did make a list.
- [chuckles] - I knew it!
This is so I don't forget, okay?
That's what's important.
So I don't forget, this is Grocery List.
That's the name of the game, this is Grocery List.
Four special items on this list
that highlight the new sections here
- in Flavortown market for the reopening. - Of course!
A cut of goat from the butcher.
He's got a great selection of goat available.
Something from the awesome, fantastic salad bar,
which the judges will be in these stations serving this for you.
A grab-and-go container from over at the deli shop - you'll really love this.
And then something from the hot section.
Pre-prepared, I mean, meatloaf, fried chicken, roasted chicken.
So you'll grab four items that satisfy this list,
at least two of the items must be featured in the appetizer
and two of the items must be featured in the goat entree.
Last thing.
I just want you to remember there are four chefs,
and the chefs with the three highest combined scores
at the end of the two courses will move on to the finale.
And the one chef with the lowest score will go home.
[timer ticking]
He said, "Three, two, one, go!"
We're back!
A goat dinner.
A hometown appetizer.
- A grocery list. - In one hour.
Is somebody writing this down?
I thought I was coming back to the same Flavortown,
but this feels completely different.
There's a hot bar.
We got ten kinds of hot food.
Winner-winner, chicken dinner! Right over there.
A deli in the butcher counter.
We're slicing and dicing.
You, Hunter, have risen to a new level.
You're kind of, now, like the Deli-Lama.
- Pa-ra-pah! - Nice!
Who doesn't love a good salad bar?
Being a judge in Flavortown now means Guy makes us prepare a cold bar every morning.
Come and get it.
Flavortown has gone insane!
Can I have two packs of ground goat, please?
Mm. Mm-hm.
- Thanks. - There you go.
[Laura] And for my Hometown G.O.A.T. Dinner,
I'm gonna make goat meatballs mixed in with pork sausage.
- Sausage. - Hot food, hot food.
- What do you got? - Got roast chicken,
I've got chicken parm, meat lasagne.
- I want mashed potatoes. - Mashed potatoes? All right.
[Laura] I'm going to make potato gnocchi.
It's a great combination with goat meatballs.
- Good luck. - Thank you, I'm gonna need it.
Cold bar.
I do love a good salad bar.
- Can I have some beets, please? - Some beets, absolutely!
- We're here to serve, chef. - Thank you.
[Laura] So for my Hometown Appetizer,
my plan is to make a pickled golden beet salad
with a goat cheese mousse.
Goat, goat, goat, goat, goat. Thank you.
So from the grab-and-go deli, I grabbed a taboule for my beet dish.
I used to think that you could strategize,
and then you get here and you just get punched in the face
with, like, reality.
What's up, champ?
He's very excited about the remodel.
- Being across from the vegetables? - Yes.
Right next to the veggies.
I have never cooked goat before,
it's not a meat that I am familiar with at all.
Oh, crap!
[Brandon] I'm going with the goat leg.
Let me get a goat... goat leg, please.
You want goat leg? All right.
That was the only thing that seemed somewhat familiar to me.
Come on, come on, come on. Go, go, go.
Hunter, what is up, dude?
We're getting there.
In my opinion, the butcher could have moved a little bit faster,
but I understand, he was trying to fulfill a lot of orders.
Man, I got a goat leg.
- Goat leg? - Thank you.
So for my Greatest Of All Time Hometown entree,
I instantly think of Southern food.
I am doing a peanut crusted goat leg.
All right, baby.
From the grab-and-go, I decided to grab taboule
to do a taboule-laced rice grit.
Hah! That's a tongue twister.
I'm not gonna get my appetizer finished in time.
When I think of Hometown Appetizer, I'm thinking of tortellini.
Because we have to use a fresh item from the hot side,
I decided to use a rotisserie chicken for my filling.
What can I get for you, chef? Fruit salad, pasta salad, seafood salad?
Can I get some of the juice from the sweet dried peppers?
- Just the juice? - Just the juice.
You know, that is a custom order
that we're happy to fill for you, chef.
Appreciate that.
And I could just use the pickled brine
from the peppers in the pasta broth.
[Guy] That's all you really... That's who you're gonna go with, huh?
That is exactly what--
Judges might take that into consideration.
I hope that it's good enough for them.
- Hunter, I'll take ground goat behind that, please. - Okay.
I want to make some spiced Mediterranean meatballs.
Thank you.
Meatballs are something that is very much hometown for me
as far as I'm Italian.
I'm gonna get a little bit of pork too,
because goat is so lean, there's not a lot of fat in it.
Ground pork.
And I wanna stick with that, the Mediterranean theme.
I have to get a grab-and-go container from the deli.
I see deviled eggs, love deviled eggs.
I'm sure I can use them in something.
I also see the taboule salad, and it's great,
because it's layered and on top is a ton of fresh herbs.
So next, I hit up the salad bar.
- Hi. - Hi!
I'd like, please, garbanzo beans.
This is gonna be a really great hummus dish.
- Thank you so much. - Come back, whenever you like.
- Come back soon, thank you. - Thank you.
Bread, I'm going for bread.
I'm gonna make a bruschetta for my Hometown Appetizer.
What better to put on bread than some really tasty goat cheese?
Hot food here, we have roast chicken,
chicken parm, meatball lasagne, meatballs.
You know what? I think I might go
to the chicken fountain, though, it's lovely to see you.
So I grab a rotisserie chicken.
I can incorporate crispy chicken skin somewhere in my dish.
Like, who doesn't love the chicken skin?
- You made all this? - Of course I did.
- Beef ravioli! - You know I woke up early today.
I knew everybody else was gonna go for the ground goat.
Let me get a goat chop, goat rack.
You want to win, gotta be ahead of the game.
- We got goat rack. - I've got it.
All right.
For my Hometown G.O.A.T. entree, I'm making a goat curry.
Coconut milk.
Curry.
We're big on curry in the Maryland area.
What they got over here?
And from my grab-and-go container from the deli, I grabbed...
Thai noodles. Thai chili noodles.
So for my Hometown Appetizer, I'm thinking Thai noodle chicken egg roll.
Egg roll wraps. We'll go to the hot bar.
For the egg rolls. And of course, the chicken counter.
We have chicken parm, we have roast chicken,
- meat loaf. - I'm gonna go with chicken here.
You're gonna say no to all this beautiful food?
Yes, sir!
I'm going with this roasted chicken, right here.
- Rejected, can't believe it. - [laughs]
Here comes my buddy.
What we got? What we got?
Some delicious items here on the cold bar.
- I see. - Some gorgeous olives, some stuffed peppers.
Some garlic.
- That's pickled garlic. - Yeah, and hot curry cherry peppers.
Hot curry cherry... Oh, my mouth just started to water.
The cherry peppers would give the egg rolls some more flavor.
[Guy] What do you think of this?
I like this.
-Thank you. -Enjoy, chef! Come on back, come back soon.
[laughs]
Where's the sample toothpick?
I gotta tell you, what everybody's had in their mind
for Guy's Grocery Games for the last six or seven years,
I think completely goes to the next level.
Pre-prepared foods, hot foods...
I mean, welcome to a whole new Triple-G.
[Guy] 20 minutes!
What do you think of the new store?
[Rocco] The store looks great. Congratulations on the reno.
Let's talk, more importantly, what do you think about one hour to cook,
25 minutes to make an appetizer? Who's gonna be the G.O.A.T.?
Yeah, it feels like you've given them a gift.
- I'm the giver! - He's the giver.
But you've also given them a lot of other things that they have to do.
- Yes. - Okay.
25 minutes is hard to do an appetizer.
What this plan is, I'm going to make a fresh pasta
but with Southern influences.
I'm thinking of a chicken tortellini.
Flour.
I have about two and a half cups of flour,
three whole eggs, and two egg yolks,
and then I finish it with some olive oil.
Making pasta in this timeframe is definitely a chance,
but because this is the Greatest Of All Times episode,
that means I got to pull out the Greatest Of All Time techniques.
- Are you making pasta? - Yes, sir!
Revelation!
We've never been able to see anybody really make fresh pasta here
because there's not enough time to let it rest.
[Brandon] And then I take the pasta dough
and put it in the Cryovac machine
to take all of the oxygen out of the bag,
which helps hydrate the dough faster.
This is the most stressed I've ever been at Guy's Grocery Games.
I'm not gonna make it. Whoo!
Chef Laura, what's the dish? Have an idea?
So I'm gonna do a pickled beet with goat cheese mousse, sumac vinaigrette
and almonds as my appetizer.
You need 25 minutes just to say that.
I am known for my beet dishes, where I'm from.
I'd never miss beet season.
First thing I wanna do is get the beets pickled.
Vinegar, sugar, and salt.
To make a sumac vinaigrette to go with the beets,
I add garlic and lemon juice and honey and sumac,
vinegar, and olive oil in the blender.
Sumac has a pungent and part lemony flavor
which will match perfectly with the golden beet.
So I'm coming into this tournament undefeated.
I definitely I feel like there is a target on my back.
I'm making Thai chicken egg rolls.
Where I'm from, we put everything in egg rolls.
I shredded my roasted chicken.
Okay, I was over there
and saw you get the peppers and the garlic out of the salad bar.
- Yes. - And the grab-a-go container?
- Thai noodles. - Thai noodles.
So just for my filling, I already knocked out three things on the list.
[Guy] Well done, buddy.
But I do have to still use two of those in the entree.
Mix it together.
A little bit of Asian flair with a little bit of DC swag.
What's the idea, chef?
I'm gonna do a goat cheese bruschetta,
which is, I think, very much kind of food I make.
- It's very much you, okay. - And of the area...
[Guy] What's going on with the chicken skin?
[Tracey] I'm gonna make it crispy, and use that on top of my bruschetta.
Okay.
I've got my taboule salad from the grab-and-go,
so I'm using herbs from there, and a quick shredded carrot salad.
- You gotta grab-and-go container of deviled eggs. - I got a few of them, yeah.
Bleugh!
[Rocco] An hour feels like a lot of time,
but it might have been good game play
to just take an appetizer off the cold bar and re-jigger it a little bit.
[Aaron] I agree with that completely.
[Guy] 15 minutes, chef!
I'm not gonna make that.
The time constraints are really getting to me,
but I'm here to prove that I'm the G.O.A.T. so game on.
For my tortellini filling,
I use carrots, leeks, onions, and the collards.
Get those in a pan, saute them with a little bit of oil.
Growing up in the South, we always have collard greens.
Once those are soft, I get those in the food processor
with the ricotta cheese and a rotisserie chicken.
So to help with my pickled collard stem.
It's a pickling solution made with the item from the salad bar.
Put a little bit of apple cider vinegar, and pickling spice,
sugar and salt,
and then I take my collard stems, thinly slice them,
and put it in there to make a pickle.
Next, I need to get working on this goat cheese mousse.
Oh, that is stinky!
For the goat cheese mousse, I throw it in the mixer,
try to incorporate as much air into it as possible.
I pull that out of the bowl and set it to the side,
and then I add the heavy cream in the bowl,
and basically make a savory whipped cream and fold the two together.
So I'm trying to be as goaty as possible.
I gotta use goat meat in the entrees,
so I figured why not use goat cheese in the appetizer?
I gotta start chopping up all the herbs.
Very citrusy, very herbal, very much like the inside of my brain.
Hey, Tobias, how are your egg rolls working?
- They're in the fryer right now. - Awesome.
- Trying to get them nice and crisp. - Nice.
I'm making some sweet chili sauce.
Diced up my jalapenos to add to my Thai chili sauce
to bring out a little bit of spiciness.
A little bit of swag to it.
Brandon, how are you doing with your goat over there?
Trying to get the appetizer out first.
I hear you.
[Tracey] I wanna work on my carrot salad.
I want to shred the carrot,
so it'll absorb some of that flavor pretty fast,
and then vinegar, olive oil, some salt.
And then for freshness, I'm adding some mint and dill,
and then I've got that beautiful parsley
from my taboule in the deli containers,
I'm gonna throw some of that in there, too.
To get my chicken skin extra crispy, I throw it in the fryer.
I wanna be the Grand Reopening Champion
because this is my spot, this is my hometown.
I'm here with competitors that are also greatest of all time.
It's an even playing ground for all of us.
How much time we got, Guy?
[Guy] Four and a half minutes. Four and a half to go.
No way!
Oh, geez, I'm pushing it. Come on, God, help me.
Hearing that there was only four and a half minutes left,
and I haven't even formed my tortellini,
I had to pivot.
And instead of making tortellini, I made "faux-tellini".
I couldn't make the shape of the tortellini, so I did what I could,
and I got them blanched in the broth.
[Laura] First, I'm going to lay down my pickled beets,
so then I add my toasted almonds and my shaved shallots.
And then adding huge handfuls of the beautiful fresh herbs,
and the last step is to top it off
with that beautiful creamy whipped goat cheese mousse.
Back to my egg rolls, you know, I take them out the fryer, nice and crispy.
Now you wanna see how great this dish about to be.
Drizzle my jalapeño Thai chili sauce on top,
and finish them with some green onions.
All right, bye. That's overweight.
[Tracey] I get a good healthy smear of goat cheese.
Holy moly!
Then I've got my tangy carrot salad on top.
What a mess these plates are!
Finish with some crispy chicken skin,
and some fresh dill to garnish.
30 seconds, chef!
[Brandon] God, have mercy!
When I first tasted this, I was, like, this is exactly what I'm going for.
However, I didn't have enough time to plate.
Ten seconds.
I scoop the pasta and broth, and put it in the bowl.
Five.
- Next, I top it with the crispy collard green. - Four!
- Three. - And the pickled stems.
- Two. - Oh, my gosh, Brandon, you're killing me.
One.
Appetizers are gotta be done.
Oh, my gosh.
Wow! Nice job, everybody.
I realized I forgot the sumac vinaigrette.
Continue on with your dish.
Now they've got 35 minutes to get the entree done.
Whoa, that was something new.
Judges, in honor of our Triple-G Grand Reopening,
I've challenged the chefs to a one-hour two-course super battle,
while playing the game Grocery List.
The chefs are still hard at work on their entree.
Now first up is their Hometown Appetizer,
featuring two of the items that they had on their list.
And you know that you're gonna be scoring this
based on taste, game play, and plating.
Up first, Chef Tracey.
She's got a Mediterranean bruschetta with chicken skin,
- and added carrots. - It's a bruschetta
with carrot salad, fancy goat cheese, and crispy chicken skin.
There you go.
So the two items that Chef Tracey used
was the herbs from the taboule salad,
and the skin from the roasted chicken.
I really love the idea
of using the roasted chicken skin
to crisp it up and add some texture here.
I'm a big fan of her game play.
The word bruschetta does come from the word bruciare, which means burnt.
You want to be crispy and a little bit browned,
and that's what makes bruschetta, bruschetta.
Thank you to Chef Rocco Espirito
for the bruschetta nomenclature.
[chefs laugh]
I didn't know that.
The carrot salad on its own is actually really beautifully balanced,
but it's that goat cheese that is so strong, that it's drowning it out.
Up next, Chef Laura.
Pickled beet salad, fresh herbs,
goat cheese, pickled onions, and crunchy almonds.
She used the pickled beets that came from the salad bar,
and the taboule salad from the deli.
She did have a little mis-step.
She forgot to apply the sumac vinaigrette dressing that she had made.
Rocco, I can tell, you don't enjoy it.
This is exactly the kind of game play we were talking about.
Grab something from the cold bar,
make a quick appetizer. This is delicious.
As Aaron May said, can't beat it.
The beets, the taboule, the goat cheese, it's a classic combination,
and she plated it very elegantly and simply.
I like the way that Laura is playing with the idea of goat.
She's giving us goat cheese in the appetizer,
and there's gonna be goat in the entree, so that was smart.
I like the play of that tangy goat cheese with the sweet beets,
but I wanna see that dressing.
That could have made this a really great salad.
Okay, Tobias.
Thai chicken curry egg rolls with a Thai jalapeño sauce.
Chef Tobias used the pulled chicken
from the rotisserie chicken over at the chicken fountain,
hot curry cherry peppers from the salad bar,
and he used some of the Thai noodles
from the pre-package over the deli.
I'm impressed by just how much cooking Tobias did.
To make an egg roll, to form it, to fry it,
to pull the chicken,
I think it needs more heat to break up all that heaviness.
I think a little crispier would have been nice.
If I could say one thing, I would have loved,
maybe some vegetables, some bean sprouts,
something in that egg roll to give it just a little break from the chicken.
And last but not least, so Chef Brandon made tortellini.
"Faux-tellini."
Faux-tellini, not real.
Faux-tellini! That's smart.
It's a faux-tellini! Chef Brandon made you a faux-tellini.
So roasted chicken, and the vinegary pepper water from the deli case.
Brandon, is this the fresh pasta you made?
- Yes, sir. - Oh, wow.
I did not expect that in the appetizer.
I think that it takes real chutzpah
to try and make fresh pasta for the appetizer course.
I think the filling tastes great,
I think the broth tastes great.
I think Brandon achieved great flavor
in the filling and in the broth.
Brandon only used the pepper water.
I could have used a little pepper salad, maybe right on top of that.
- I agree. - And it would have been nice, and bright, and beautiful.
Definitely went sideways at some point.
I'm pretty sure when you said, you know, "30 seconds left,"
he thought, "Let me plate whatever I have, and that's what we have here."
Another two or three minutes, and he could have turned this into something extraordinary.
[Guy] All right, judges, 20 points for taste,
20 points available in game play,
ten points available in plating,
for a total of 50.
So total up those scores, and get them on the board.
The chef with the highest score
will receive an advantage that could help them come out on top.
They've got a grand twist coming up,
they are not gonna believe what hit them.
- Oh, no. - Oh, boy.
How's that goat coming, Tobias?
Goat is coming along.
So now I'm focusing on the G.O.A.T. dinner, feeling like a hot mess.
I've never been so stressed in my life.
[whistles] Stop working! All right, now listen.
I know that your Hometown G.O.A.T. entrees
are probably coming along just fantastic.
But I'm gonna stop the clock as I read you these scores.
Chef Brandon, 38 out of 50.
Chef Tracey, 38 out of 50.
Chef Tobias, 39 out of 50.
And winning this first round, Chef Laura with 41 out of 50 points.
- Whoo! Thank you! - Congratulations.
So, chef, here's your deal.
When you win the Appetizer round,
I will either give you $1,000 in cash
- or I will add two points to your final score. - Ooh!
I want the two points, please.
Two points to the final score.
Listen, we're dealing with the G.O.A.T.s of Triple-G
so we're gonna play our own little mini version of the ABC game.
- No. - Yes, we are.
I want you to go find an extra ingredient
that starts with either G, O, A or T,
and incorporate that into your dish. Now, good luck.
As if we haven't already been through the ringer.
It's a grand reopening, all kinds of crazy things happen.
I'm thinking, I'm thinking.
I think I'm gonna do... I'm grabbing a really good olive oil.
I can use it in my hummus I can use it in my olive pesto,
like, this would be a great ingredient.
Thyme, thyme, thyme, thyme, thyme.
Thyme will be a great addition for the sauce
for my peanut crusted goat leg.
I kind of wanted to incorporate one more vegetable item
into the gnocchi part of the dish.
The first thing I see was green chard. Done.
Thank you.
Garlic!
I'm gonna use fresh garlic,
to make sure it is not the same as my pickled garlic.
[Guy] 20 minutes.
- When it comes to picking your cut of goat... - Yeah.
You have to make sure you don't make a baa-d decision!
That's a sheep joke, Aarti.
That'll be nice green to add with my gnocchi.
For my Hometown G.O.A.T. Dinner, I'm gonna make goat meatballs
simmered in a tomato and harissa sauce
over potato gnocchi and crushed pistachios.
So I'm going to start working on my meatballs. This goat is very, very lean.
I'm gonna add a little bit of pork sausage
to give it that extra bit of fat.
I got the chili flakes, the cumin, the paprika.
Next up, I put my bread into the food processor, into a bowl,
and I pour the goat yogurt into the bread crumbs.
That's gonna bring a level of moisture
to this goat meatball you can't get from anything else.
- Chef, where are we at? - I'm working on my meatballs.
I've been letting the breadcrumbs soak in this funky goat stuff.
I like it, goat on goat.
I decided I want to pan fry the meatballs to start,
and then I need to make a sauce
that I can blend up and pour in there and have them simmering.
So in a pot, I throw the canned tomatoes, and garlic,
and the harissa, and salt and pepper,
and let that start cooking down for a little bit.
So next, I need to work on my potato gnocchi.
Do that now, go ahead and get some of this.
Oh, you see that?
Push them through the ricer, salt and flour,
and add my eggs to it,
and then mixing it together to make my dough.
Okay, so we're gonna let them boil.
I think you can tell these are some of the greatest competitors
in Flavortown market history by the sense of purpose
they're working with right now.
There's not a moment or a movement being wasted.
[Aarti] 100 percent.
Chef, where we at, buddy?
Where I'm from, in my hometown, we have a peanut plant.
So this is my take on the Southern thing between Coke and peanuts.
I am doing a peanut crusted goat leg, with a cola reduction.
I've never worked with goat before,
but I've worked with leg of lamb before, I've taken it off the bone.
So I'm thinking this may be the same thing.
Next, I take my peanuts,
put them in the food processor with panko bread crumbs,
peanut butter, a little bit of sesame oil,
and soy sauce.
I need it to be a pasty consistency to make sure
it forms a nice crust when I go to sear the meat.
And I put it in the oven to cook.
For 18 minutes, it's good time.
The next thing I'm gonna start working on is my rice grits.
Rice grits!
- Rice grits, okay. - Rice grits, that's great, Brandon.
Strong move.
I decided to use rice grits instead of regular grits.
Now rice grits are just taking long grain rice,
blending it up in a blender till it get to a fine consistency,
and then I'm gonna cook that on the stove
with a little bit of onions, cream, and chicken stock.
I am adding in some taboule, which is the deli to-go item that I'm required to use.
I've been on Guy's Grocery Games,
like I said, this is my sixth time competing.
I've made grits before, so I'm trying to pull out every technique
to prove that I am truly indeed the G.O.A.T.
Yep, they need more time.
You give them an hour, and already the time is burning up.
Let's do this first.
For Hometown G.O.A.T. Dinner, I'm making Mediterranean spiced goat meatballs.
The first thing for my meatballs is I have to make my base.
So in one pan, I've got my onions, and my garlic.
I'm adding some cumin, cinnamon, and some paprika.
Mediterranean food is all about fresh seasonal produce and flavors,
and so is Sonoma County, so I really think I'm tying this Hometown in.
I wanna brown the outside of these meatballs,
it's gonna take a long time to brown in a pan, so I use my fryer.
Now that I've got my meatballs cooking, I want to make hummus.
I've got these awesome already-marinated garbanzo beans
from the salad bar.
This would be a great place to use that center of the deviled egg.
It's creamy, it's rich.
I thought that would earn me some good points for game play.
- Are you a deviled egg fan? - Yeah, I mean, I think it's got its place.
Oh, that creamy part.
- Right, that's the best part. - That's probably the worst part.
I forget that you don't like eggs.
[Tobias] For my Hometown G.O.A.T. entree,
I'm gonna make coconut curry goat wrap over rice and beans.
Just to give my rice and beans the creamy flavor,
I add coconut milk with a whole scallion and scotch bonnet,
to bring out a little bit of spiciness.
It's time to start the goat.
I add olive oil, curry powder, onion powder, garlic salt.
Threw the goat right on the grill.
Looking for a good char.
I cook goat often,
but that was my first time actually cooking goat rack,
but a G.O.A.T. can definitely figure out how to cook goat.
Now I need to start on my curry base -
yellow onions, green onions,
and I'm using my pickled garlic from the salad bar.
The curry, you're burning it, so you can take that bitterness out of it.
The coconut milk thickens it up,
any great dish, you know, you gotta have a lot of flavor to it.
Like money!
I thought this was a ton of time to be giving them.
Some look like they're handling it well,
others look like their wheels are off the wagon.
[Laura] Sorry!
We haven't cooked and competed
in Flavortown market in over a year.
Love the way the store looks, love the new games.
Head down, going for it, chefs are playing it hard.
15 minutes! 15 left!
It's time to shine, guys.
[Laura] So I chop up the green chard really small, fold it into my gnocchi,
it's gonna give it a nice earthy flavor to it.
- [Guy] How we doing, chef? - [Laura] I'm okay.
- [Guy] Fantastic! - [Laura] Goat meatballs.
- That is amazing! - Okay.
I was gonna walk off and just go home now. [laughs]
That's up there at the best goat meatball I've ever had.
I've never had a goat meatball.
So while my goat is in the oven
and my grits are going,
the next thing I start working on is my cola reduction sauce.
Take a little bit of cola
with some soy sauce, some hoisin,
and a little sesame oil, and sugar.
And then I thought, thyme would be a great addition.
Thyme.
Oh, that's good.
Keep reducing, baby. Keep reducing.
Now, every plate needs the green,
so I choose bok choy because peanuts and cola
is such a great flavor combination.
I know those flavors also speak Asian.
But how's the goat prepared?
So it's a peanut crusted goat with a cola sauce and rice grits.
And then a little bit of bok choy.
I like that.
Ooh, I don't know if it's gonna be done.
Executive decision.
Time was running out,
and I noticed that some of the crust was coming off my goat,
so putting it in the fryer for a few extra minutes
was just going to ensure
that the crust was really encased over the goat.
For Hometown G.O.A.T. Dinner, I'm making Mediterranean spiced goat meatballs.
They're nice and golden brown, out of the fryer,
and then I'm gonna add them into the pan with my chicken stock,
and then I'm gonna finish it with some pomegranate molasses,
add some nice kind of sweetness and tanginess to the dish.
- I always think of pomegranate molasses and lamb. - Yeah.
And goat has that same gaminess,
that was such a great ingredient-grab.
From the cold bar, I'm gonna use these Castelvetrano olives,
and I wanna make them into a nice, herby pesto.
I can use the olive oil.
Olive pesto, yep, that's what it needed.
How are we doing, Tobias?
- Lovely, lovely! - You've got scotch bonnets dipped in there.
- What do you got here? - I got a coconut curry.
And what extra item did you get?
Fresh garlic.
I sauteed my carrots in my fresh garlic.
Wow! I like it, buddy!
The goat comes out the oven,
it's nice and brown on the outside
and then finish it off in the curry sauce.
Three and a half minutes left. Three and a half to go!
I need to make sure that this Hometown G.O.A.T. entree is a winner.
There's my hummus on the bottom,
there's, of course, those goat meatballs.
The tzatziki.
And olive pesto, and this really great herb salad.
So I pulled my goat out of the fryer, and it is looking beautiful.
Oh, that's perfect. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah!
Brandon's goat looks heck-a-good.
[Brandon] So first, I put down my grits.
Next, I plate my goat.
Top that with my cola sauce,
and then I finish with my grilled bok choy.
First, I'm gonna plate a scoop of the creme fraiche, right on the side of the bowl.
Next up, I put my fluffy gnocchi
with the green chard, over the top of that,
I put three of my goat meatballs in the tomato harissa sauce,
and then top it off with crushed pistachios.
30 seconds!
[Tobias] I plate my rice and beans first,
I then plate my garlic-sauteed carrots.
Then I add my curry sauce,
and I fan out my goat rack on top of the carrots.
Five, four, three, two, one.
-And that's it, chefs. Stop working! -Yes!
Good job, everybody.
- Good job! - Great job!
What a battle, huh? Welcome back to Triple-G Reopening.
Yeah, really, really!
Make an appetizer, make an entree,
and a couple bumps and bruises along the way.
But the food looks dynamite.
All right, judges, this is the second course
of tonight's Triple-G Grand Reopening battle.
That was an interesting round.
An hour to cook!
Our scores going into this round are... Let's take a look.
Chef Brandon, 38.
Chef Laura, you have won the first round,
two extra points added to her final score, 43.
Tobias, 39.
And Chef Tracey, 38.
The three chefs with the highest combined score
for both the appetizers and the entrees
will be going on to next week's tournament finale
for a chance to win up to 25,000 bucks,
but one of you will be checking out tonight.
With that being said, Chef Laura, you're up first.
Today for my Hometown G.O.A.T. entree,
I actually made goat meatballs simmered in a tomato and harissa sauce
over potato gnocchi with green chard,
herb creme fresh, and crushed pistachios.
You did a great job here.
Meatballs, gnocchi, lots of elements,
but it's a very rich dish that eats light,
thanks to your use of fresh herbs.
I think you have a lot of great ideas here,
I think the meatballs is a great way to use the goat,
the gnocchi are delicious.
Using the chard in your dish gives it a beautiful burst of color,
a little bit of grassiness that works really well with the goat.
For me, adding some kind of texture,
maybe getting some crispiness on the outside of those meatballs,
like a bit of a crust, or a little bit of a crust on the gnocchi themselves.
Fantastic. All right, thank you, chef.
All right, up next, Chef Brandon, what do you got for us, bud?
How you doing, chefs?
Today, for my Hometown G.O.A.T. entree,
I did a peanut crusted goat
with a cola reduction, bok choy,
and taboule-laced rice grits.
Hope you enjoy!
Do you cook with a lot of goat?
First time ever.
- First time ever with goat? - Yes, first time.
The creativity involved in marrying soda and peanuts and goat
is just so brilliant.
Your G.O.A.T. ingredient, the thyme, lightens up the tanginess
and the gaminess of the goat, so good job there.
The grits, I thought were incredible,
probably the best thing that I've tasted today.
- Nice job. - Thank you.
This does feel super Hometown G.O.A.T. to me,
but I think the goat is real tough.
And I think that it's not as tender as you wanted it to be probably right now.
Up next, Chef Tracey, what do you have for us?
So for my Hometown G.O.A.T. entree,
I prepared pomegranate molasses-glazed spiced meatballs
with some hummus, a tzatziki,
and then a Castelvetrano olive,
herb tapenade on top.
This is a stunner.
If there were 100 points for plating, I'd have given you all 100 of them.
Gorgeous dish, tastes really good,
and lots of hard work went into it.
Thank you.
I was so excited when you grabbed that pomegranate molasses,
it is such a brilliant ingredient
to go with a protein as gamey as goat, so that was really smart.
First of all, the egg yolks from the deviled eggs
into the hummus is really smart,
I'm getting that richness, I'm getting that flavor bomb.
The meatballs themselves
are maybe a little bit overworked, a little dry.
Not to be outdone, Chef Tobias.
Hometown was Maryland for me,
so for my Hometown dish, I ended up doing a coconut curry goat rack,
and I added some sauteed carrots and rice and beans.
Curried goat is a natural combination.
My favorite thing about your dish is the rice, what is going on here?
So good!
The combination of the curry powder
and the coconut is really smart,
because it brings out the natural sweetness
- in the goat. - Yes.
Really well done in terms of game play and just chef technique,
that was beautiful.
The goat is cooked very nicely.
I could have used a glaze, a sauce,
a little more curry, a little more of that on the actual goat itself.
Okay.
Well, chefs, I'll tell you what,
we're gonna send you back to your kitchens
and allow the judges to deliberate.
Thank you very much.
- Wow! - Judges?
Guy, you picked such a good protein
for this re-opening challenge, because it really takes a G.O.A.T. to cook goat well.
Two dishes in one hour, not easy.
It was tough but we gotta send one of them home.
Just to remind you,
three of you will move on to the big finale next week.
The chef with the lowest combined score tonight will go home.
First up, Chef Brandon.
15, 16, 7,
for the score of 38, for a total of 76.
Nice numbers! Chef Laura.
17, 17, 7, a 41, for a total of 84.
Could have taken the 1,000 bucks.
I'm happy without it.
- You'd rather keep your points? - Yeah.
Chef Tobias.
15, 16, 7, for a 38.
For a 77.
Well, right now, the three of you are going on.
It's what does Tracey do?
Take a look.
All you have to...
[Guy chuckles]
Please, just go. Just, okay... Commercial break!
We'll be back after these important messages.
- I'm wound up, folks, it's my first day back. - [all laughing]
Let's take a look. All it's gotta be better than is 76.
Don't know!
For a total of 39.
- Wow! - Congratulations, Chef Tracey.
Tracey, Tobias, Laura, all moving into the next round,
and unfortunately, our buddy Brandon over there, we love having you come back.
You sure are a champ and it's a pleasure.
- Thank you. - Thank you, brother.
- Thank you. - Congratulations.
I may be going home today, but it's awesome to be here.
Anytime Guy extends the invite for me,
I'm coming on the first plane.
- Bye! - Yes, sir!
You have just made it into the grand finale
of the Grand Reopening game
where one of you will be crowned the champ and win up to 25,000 bucks.
All right, folks, make sure you join us next week.
We'll find out which one of these three
is gonna sharp Flavortown market for up to 25,000 bucks.
We'll see you then. Adios!
- Yes. Good job! - Thank you, thank you.
Good job, everybody.
Well, chefs, welcome back to this exciting finale.
Let's play that Triple-G classic that everybody hates.
No!
[Aarti] These are the Greatest Of All Time.
This is probably the toughest competition of their lives.