Flavortown Market is known for its insane hijinks.
-[laughter] -[man] Whoo-hoo!
Dude, this is next level.
I hate you!
-[all laughing] -[Guy] And endless laughter
And nobody embodied that spirit more
than our dear friend, Carl "The Cuban" Ruiz.
So every year, the Triple G family likes
to honor the champ in the most wild...
-I hate this so hard! -[Guy laughs]
[screaming]
[Guy] ...no rules, bananas competition ever.
I don't like this at all.
[Guy] Tonight, Carl's crazie Triple G friends gather in Flavortown...
Okay.
...while the games will go totally off the rail
No!
That is like not even funny.
It's the third annual
April Fools' Carl "The Cuban" Ruiz Memorial Games
tonight on Triple G.
Love you, champ.
So let's meet some of Carl's friends
who know they're in a lot of trouble today.
Chef Antonia Lofaso.
Today is supposed to be over the top.
One, it's April Fools' and, two, it's for Carl.
Working with Carl, cooking with him, judging with him.
-[Carl laughs] -Oh, my God!
[all laughing]
[Antonia] It felt like April Fools every day.
My mother told me I was one of a kind.
You know?
[Guy] The one and only Hambino Christian Petroni.
It's April Fools'. I have no idea what's gonna happen.
I don't know what's up. I don't know what's down.
All I know, I am playing for the honor of Carl "The Cuban" Ruiz.
Yep, me. Carl, that's me.
[Guy laughs] Look at the scarf!
Then, there's Chef Damaris Phillips.
Carl was so intelligent
that he could be the funniest person in the room, always.
-[Damaris laughs] -That's awesome.
[in European accent] What do you think, Count?
Chef Jeff!
No one could take a joke like Carl.
[Guy laughs]
[Guy] And finally, the wildcard, Justin Warner.
[Justin] Carl was a great friend, a great mentor,
-and truly, if there was some laugh to be had-- -No!
-[Justin] ...he would find it. -[Carl laughs]
[Carl exclaims]
-Nice sweatshirt. -Thank you.
Okay, it has been far too long since we saw our friend.
Probably one of the most outrageous,
unbelievable, bigger than li characters that we all got to be friends with.
He is the Godfather of Flavortown.
So the heat is on because in honor of Carl,
who hated these types of challenges more than anything,
and particularly hated spice.
[Carl screams]
[Guy] Nobody was a bigger baby about spice than my brother Carl.
I want you to prepare, in honor of Carl,
I want a spicy appetizer
and I want an even spicier entree.
-In an one hour opportunity. -Yes.
-Okay. -[Antonia] Okay.
Spicy appetizer, even spicier entree.
Make dishes with the flavors that everyone loves
and the extra heat that Troy can't stand.
Not to worry, Troy!
All your comments and your behavior are gonna cost you.
And speaking of costs, why don't we play a game you all hate.
We're playing Budget Battle!
-No! -That's right.
-No! -No! We're not doing that.
Lucky for you, lucky for you,
I stopped at the bank on the way over and I got some cash.
Hunter?
-[Antonia] Hi, Hunter. -Hi.
-[Guy] You have to pay for the ingredients-- -Thank you, kind sir.
[Guy] ...for both dishes by using the money from that budget.
-How much you got there? -$100.
-$100! -Nice.
Whoo!
-Yeah. -Chickadee-chow!
Plenty of money, should get everything that you need.
-Unless... -See? See?
-[laughs] -[Damaris] What?
Unless you pay too much for the aisles of course, which that's a whole thing.
-Wait, what? -Oh, no. I get this.
-[Damaris] What do you mean? -No, no, no.
You have to pay for the aisle?
[Guy] I want you to pay for the aisle.
Because, in honor of Carl, we've created
a brand new evil, diabolical, method of budget game
called Flavortown Auction.
Oh, I...
Welcome, welcome, welcome!
All right, here's how it works.
You can visit most of the less popular middle aisles as usual.
But there are four exclusive, member-only aisles.
Those are aisle 1, which is produce,
and aisle 4, which is the international aisle,
aisle 9, which is bread and frozen section,
and, of course, aisle 10, which is meat, seafood and dairy.
Now, if you're the highest bidder of any one of those aisles,
you are the only one, the only one,
that can shop that aisle.
Wait, one person?
This is awful.
-This is most awful thing that you've ever done. Ever. -For both dishes?
-I'm serious, this is the worst game
-that's ever been created. -Yeah.
Heads up. Hear ye.
We're gonna start with aisle 4 now.
-Who has got $20 for an international-- -I got it.
-[Guy] $20 on 4. -$20.
$25 on 4.
-$25 going-- -$30.
-Justin, $30. $35? -$35.
-$45. -[Guy] $45 to Justin.
Going once.
Going twice.
Sold. $45, Justin Warner. Aisle 4.
Congratulations.
There you go. And aisle 4 is yours.
You'll be able to hang that on your cart.
Next aisle up for bid will be aisle 9, bread, jelly, frozen
-including frozen seafood. -[Christian] Ooh.
-All right, we're gonna start at $20. -$20.
[Guy] $20 going $25.
$20, $25.
-$25 for Hambino. -$30.
$30. $35 for the Hambino.
-You're trying to press out my cash so I spend money. -[Guy] $35 for the Hambino.
-$35 for the Hambino going-- -$40.
-[Guy] Going $40-- -[Antonia] Stop it!
-Don't play like this. -[Guy] $40 for the Hambino.
-$40 for the-- -$45.
-$45! -I'll hurt you if you want it.
-$50 for the Hambino. -Stop it!
-There is a lot of stuff. -$55.
-[Guy] $55. $60 for the Hambino. -Stop it when I tell you--
-[Guy] $60 for the Hambino. -...to stop it! Stop it!
-You don't even want it. -All right.
-I will never speak to you ever again. -All right, I'm out.
$65, once.
Sold! $65.
[all laughing]
[Guy] Going for aisle 1.
-[Christian] Ooh. -Okay, I'm ready.
-$60! -[Guy] $60.
$60 to the funny girl, once.
$60 to the funny girl, going twice.
Oh!
And sold to the funny girl for $60.
Aisle 1.
Ladies and gentlemen, for the final aisle to be bid, aisle 10.
We'll start off at $40 and we do have a proxy bidder on the line.
[Antonia laughs]
[Guy] Carl's brother is the proxy bidder on the other line.
-All right. -And the bidding will start at $40.
$40, $40, $40, $40.
$40 to the Hambino.
-$50 to the proxy bidder. -[laughs] Yeah, I bet.
$50 to the proxy bidder.
$55!
$55 to the Hambino.
And $60 to the proxy bidder.
-$65 to the Hambino, once. -Yell $70.
$65 to the Hambino, twice.
Sold!
-$65 to the Hambino. -I thought for sure--
-[Antonia] No, no, no, no. -...there was a last minute bid coming in for sure.
Fantastic. There you are Hambino.
All right!
You are not allowed to shop in any aisle except your own,
except for these fantastic aisles:
Aisle, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8.
One hour to shop, purchase, prepare, and plate
a spicy appetizer, and an even spicier entree.
Oh, by the way,
your appetizer must be plated by the 15 minute mark
-No! -Are you joking around?
-[Antonia] No, no, no, no. -What is wrong with you right now?
I know you have a lot of questions. Why don't we do this?
Why don't we get together over in aisle 3.
After you guys run around, we'll get to aisle 2, then we'll get to aisle 1--
Whoa, whoa! Hang on.
What won't we do in aisle 1?
-We're gonna just go-- -We won't go to aisle 1, because you guys can't.
Go get them!
Yeah, go get them!
-[Guy laughs] -[Hunter] After all that.
Let's go get Troy.
-Let the spicy games begin. -God, no!
-No! No! No! No! -[laughs]
Oh, man.
So it begins.
Oh, there's a brand new game.
Bid for an aisle.
Shop with a budget.
Cook in a hour.
And then 15 minutes to shop and make an appetizer.
This is something that I've never seen in all of my years in Flavortown.
I've seen a lot. I even see it in my dreams.
But even I couldn't dream this dark.
Step on up to aisle 4.
I just love my aisle 4.
So I got the steal of a lifetime. $45 for aisle 4.
That means I have $55 left for my appetizer and entree.
Aisle 4 has all of my favorite stuff in it.
All of the Japanese ingredients,
all the Korean ingredients, all the Chinese ingredients
I will crank something from aisle 4.
[Guy] Look at you celebrating your aisle 4, you mad dog you.
[Justin] Come on, you know it.
I'm gonna use the Chinese sausage
to make a Carl-inspired pig in a blanket with a cheesy dipping sauce
And then, I'm gonna flip those ingredients around
to create my version of Tantanmen.
Tantanmen is like Dan Dan noodles but ramen.
So we need one more pepper
-to light those judges up. -[all laughing]
I'm so sorry.
I am so sorry.
Ghost peppers are not really fit for human consumption in my opinion,
but I'm happy to feed them to the likes of Troy.
You know what's great about this day,
is that it's a way that we can keep Carl living on.
Basically, Carl was one of the greatest bon vivants
that has ever stalked this planet.
I am honestly surprised that Antonia took frozen for $65.
[Antonia] So we're doing two dishes.
So the first dish actually has to be plated within the first 15 minutes,
so I'm really focused on the appetizer
and that's gonna be my corn soup.
I don't mind.
Everyone for some reason always is like, "I don't want the frozen food aisle."
I kind of find it as a gift.
There's a lot of proteins that are in the freezer.
Shrimp that are there, so I can make a shrimp cake
that goes along with the corn soup.
We got some frozen chilies.
For my spicy entree, I wanna do a curry,
because I want to repurpose the shrimp.
So I grab a little bit of coconut milk.
I go and grab some jasmine rice.
Carl, I met him in Flavortow
I was just like, "Who is this guy?"
He's hilarious.
If it was up to Carl, we would be in hysterics morning, noon, and night.
All the time with Carl.
-Feeling good? -No.
-Okay, good talk. -[Antonia] Okay, bye-bye.
[Christian] Now, I got the protein aisle
It's got the cheeses, the dairy.
All that good stuff.
But now I only have $35 and the most expensive aisle of ingredients.
That sucks, dude.
Carl, really bro?
[Carl laughs]
[Christian] So for my spicy appetizer,
I am thinking whipped sheep's milk ricotta
with a spicy ghost pepper honey,
and grilled English muffins with ghost pepper.
As far as my entree, I know that I wanted to do something with chicken thighs.
I think I'm gonna make a spicy...
Extra spicy chicken scarpariello.
It's just one of the best pan sauces in the world.
But it's gonna be hard with no garlic or parsley
or sausage or rosemary,
which is normally in a scarpariello sauce.
This is for Carl.
If there's anyone that can make something out of nothing,
my brother Carl.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you're just tuning in right now,
you just reached the April Fools' edition of Guy's Grocery Games.
In celebration of our good friend Carl Ruiz, "The Cuban,"
we're looking for a spicy appetizer and an even spicier entree.
All right, where's everybody else.
I need to focus.
What do I want to do?
I love that nobody else can use the vegetables.
[thunderclap]
That was trying to be an evil smile.
[producer] I was looking for it, I was like...
[laughs]
Let me see how much honey costs.
Fifteen minutes is not a lot of time to make an appetizer.
I'm gonna keep this light.
I'm gonna keep it fresh.
I'm thinking of some kind of salad cup.
But I don't have any protein.
An endive cup.
And then I remembered that I have
fried chicken tenders in the produce section.
"Smart game play, Damaris." Thanks.
For the entree, I'm gonna make them Nashville hot chicken...
...ish.
I'm making hot chicken fried cauliflower
on cayenne biscuits with a little bit of a sweet and sour slaw.
Whoo! That's a mouthful.
Spices are expensive.
This spicy challenge, this is something Carl would have hated.
But why not make their entire mouth light up with flames?
Wanna keep an eye on the clock around here, folks.
You never know when that siren's gonna go off.
-[siren blares] -When it goes off, people should be worried.
Oh, no.
So "The Cuban" was one of my best friends in the world
and it hurts every single da
Carl used to love pranks.
And now that Carl's not here to receive them,
we have to take Carl's right-hand man,
who's probably one of the best sports in the biz.
-And that's our boy, Troy. -[laughs]
Troy, we love you but we're coming for you.
We have 11 minutes until your appetizers are due!
So who better to judge our April Fools' games
than all the folks who Carl loved and respected. And Troy.
Triple G's winningest chef who spent a lot of time cooking with Carl at my house,
mayhem himself, Chef Aaron May.
James A-Beard. James A-Beard.
-[all laughing] -[speaking gibberish]
James Beard Award winning culinary icon,
and the good friend of "The Cuba,"
is the one and only Rocco DiSpirito.
And Troy.
-[Rocco laughs] -So, Troy, it's great to have you here.
Troy, I have... I have something just for you.
-[laughs] -[Guy] Let me... Let me bring it over here
so we can celebrate this together with you
and recognizing just how important you are.
You don't go nowhere, okay?
[Rocco] Oh, my goodness.
-Ooh, I love this one. What is coming now? -[groans] Oh, come on.
We want to present to you,
in recognition of our good friend, Carl "The Cuban" Ruiz,
we honor you with...
The Wheel of Troy!
-Oh, my God. -[Guy] That's right.
The Wheel of Troy.
When you hear this...
[siren blares]
[announcer] Wheel of Troy!
[all laughing]
[Guy] ...you'll spin your wheel of opportunity
-Just spin it. -So, Troy, come on over here.
Go ahead and give it a spin there, pal.
[Rocco] This is so good.
[Troy] That scares me the most.
There we go, round and round.
Ice cream! Shoes!
Song.
Ice!
Why am I on that wheel?
It's... It's a spicy episode.
I wanna make sure that he can cool down.
-Oh, come on. -I wanna cool you down.
Right now. So go ahead and get up here, pal.
-[laughs] Oh. -There you go.
You get to sit right here and just cool down
as you watch this hot competition.
-[Troy] Better... Better view of my pain. -[Guy] Right.
[Justin] You know, that's the thing about Troy
He's just an incredibly good sport and a good-natured guy.
-[Guy] Yeah, you're like the king now. -Oh, yeah. No, that's great.
Wow!
[Guy] Ten and a half minutes!
I'm gonna make a little, like, riff on a pig in a blanket with the Chinese sausage.
I would say a good 60% of Carl's social media feed centered around hot dogs.
Uh, and so, the Chinese Sausage is the hot dog of aisle 4.
Little blister on those good guys.
Fifteen minutes for pigs in a blanket?
It's a little risky, especially since I'm making my own dough.
Essentially, gonna wrap my Chinese sausages in it.
Carl loves those deep-fried hot dogs.
I'm into it.
I'm real into it.
The annual April Fools' Day episode is a little bittersweet
We celebrate the loss of our dear friend, Carl Rui
But we always manage to have a great time doing it.
Or, at least, whoever's not on the receiving end
of the spicy has a great time doing it.
[Justin winces]
Ugh.
That was so unpleasant.
[Guy] You have eight minutes! Work with purpose.
Eight minutes till you're plating!
[Christian] I'm making a little ricotta crostini right now
with the spicy honey.
I don't know about you guys,
but when I think Christian "Hambino" Petroni, I think English muffins.
-It totally makes sense. -[Rocco laughs]
[Christian laughs]
So while my sweet muffins are toasting in that pan
with butter and ghost pepper juice, it is time to whip it.
Whip it good.
And I'm talking about my ricotta.
This is my first one hour cook.
And because it's two dishes within an hour,
the pressure from the clock is even greater.
Carl just loved April Fools'.
He loved playing pranks on anybody...
Worst thing I ever tasted. Have a good day.
[all laughing]
[Christian] ...and everybody
But, more importantly, we all loved playing pranks on him.
We decided that the judge who's going home will be Carl.
-What? -[all laughing]
And I think somewhere deep down inside, he loved it too.
[Guy] Six and a half minutes!
It's gonna be a... I'm gonna do a shrimp cake
with a little bit of a corn soup.
Start with a little bit of butter in a pot.
I take that sweet frozen cor
And also some of that boxed heavy cream.
I want all the accompaniments to be, like, aggressively spicy.
Carl hated spicy food.
He would sit there and just say, "I hate you,
I hate you. This is awful, I hate you."
[woman] Carolina Reaper vinaigrette.
-I didn't know that! I didn't know that! -[all laughing]
You didn't say... Should have said that in the beginning.
[Antonia] So to make that shrimp cake,
I'm really trying to repurpo all of the ingredients and I saute them in butter.
[Guy] Five minutes left!
On to work!
What is that, chef?
Spicy--
[siren blares]
[announcer] The Wheel of Tro
[Guy] Hunter!
Boo!
Come on over, pal. Come on over, Troy.
Time to spin for your opportunity.
I love that Troy is kind of the honorary Carl now.
[Guy] Marshmallows.
-Come on. Higher, higher, higher up. -It's going up.
-Oh! -Oh.
Troy, so close.
Okay! One marshmallow, Troy. Ready?
[Antonia] You know, he's so funny, he's so lighthearted.
And again, Troy knows so much about food. It's so many similarities.
[Guy] Here we go. Go.
-Oh! It was in his mouth. -[Guy laughs]
It was in his mouth!
[Guy laughs]
Three and a half minutes! Three and a half.
[Damaris] It's pretty cooked chicken.
Fried chicken salad in an endive cup.
It's gonna be so hard for me to taste.
'Cause those are so hot.
I don't think that Carl kne just how much he meant to all of us.
I felt like Carl was one of my best friends
but his magic was that everyone felt that way.
You're all a bunch of winners out there.
-Yeah. -Trust me, I know, I'm the biggest one of them.
[Damaris] Yeah, you are.
[all laughing]
-How we doing? -I'm doing okay.
-It's hot, man. -This is hot?
It's... It is.
On a 1 to 10, that's a 0.5.
What are you talking about?
[Guy] I mean, you really need to light that up, girl.
-That's like ice cream. -[Damaris] What?
I have the spicy mustard, I have cayenne, I have red pepper flakes,
I have habanero, and then I have Thai chili, serrano,
and habaneros going on the top.
It's so spicy it's uncomfortable.
Chefs, we've got three minutes.
Three minutes till your appetizers are due. Three minutes.
[Justin] I have a teeny-tin molcajete that I'm gonna us
to plate up my pigs in a blanket.
First, goes in the nacho cheese sauce.
And then, half-dunked, the pigs in a blanket.
[Guy] Two minutes, chefs! Two to go.
[Christian] I piped some of my whipped, fresh ricott into my little plate.
I spoon some of that pepper honey into the middle of that ricotta.
Cut my buttery, toasty, spicy English muffin into little points.
This is gonna be a spicy, little appetizer.
[Guy] One minute!
[Antonia] I just spoon that beautiful brown butter summer corn,
a little bit of that red Thai chili cilantro oil goes over the corn.
Then, that beautiful shrimp cake.
And then, just some little ramekins off to the side.
That beautiful, sweet, summer corn puree.
I think my appetizer looks beautiful considering I had four ingredients to use.
[laughs]
[Guy] Thirty seconds
Thirty to go!
[Damaris] Guy says that my fried chicken salad is not spicy enough.
But don't worry, I have a little sprinkle of raw chilies,
with their seeds and their stems, going on to
[Guy] Three! Two! One!
That's it! You're done with your appetizers, chefs.
Done.
[Guy] Hold that clock, by the way. Stop! One second.
[on intercom] All right, chefs, here's the deal.
Those appetizers have really whet my appetit for another chef game.
-Ugh. -Report over to the card tables in the produce aisle
-Meet me there. -Truly unnecessary.
[Damaris] I just wanna cry.
All right, chefs. Stand on this side of the table, chefs.
[Rocco] What could be underneath that?
You think there are live animals underneath that?
Once you complete your task--
-[Damaris laughs] -...you are welcome to grab your appetizers,
proceed to the judges table.
Whoever finishes their challenge first, presents first.
Let me reveal your opportunities.
-Oh, my God. I can't eat all this. -There we go.
There we go!
So your task at hand.
Eat an empanada and a half.
Okay, I'm doing this for Carl.
He loved an empanada.
[shudders]
[Guy] Stem all the kale, three big bites.
Carl's least favorite vegetable in the whole world.
[Guy] Open the eight cans of the guava paste.
Carl basically had guava paste in his back pocket at all times.
And set the time on ten watches.
-Why do I keep getting this kind of stuff? -[Guy cackles]
Carl collected watches
and he liked watches of all kinds.
Wait, excuse me.
I did not say go.
-No, you didn't. -Excuse me.
-I did not say... -You did.
-You did say go. -I did say go.
[chuckles] Okay.
-[Guy laughs] Hambino's done. -There's a tie. There's a tie.
[muffled] That's not fair! That's not fair!
-Look at that. -Go, Hambino, go!
All right, all right, all right.
You make it? [laughs]
My forearm is breaking off.
-Are they open? Okay. -Yeah, see?
You're done. All right, Justin, and you're fourth.
You wanna keep one as a souvenir?
-I do, actually. -[Guy cackles]
This is the only money I'll make today.
I'm taking these back to South Dakota
-and I'm selling it. -[Guy laughs]
We'll see who's got a budget to battle now.
[sighs] That was a disaster.
Chefs, you've gotta be plated with those spicier entrees in 45 minutes.
All right, judges, the chefs are still hard at work on their spicier entree.
First done is Hambino.
-Here we go. Nice, okay, here we go. -Hey, bub. How are you, buddy?
[Christian] Gentlemen, what I made for you
is a whipped sheep's milk ricotta.
We got a spicy, pepper jelly honey
and a ghost pepper, brown butter toast.
-Wow. -Bon appetit.
Now it's time to start my even spicier entree.
Mmm.
-Oh. [coughs] -Oh, my God.
[Guy] Christian, is it spicy, guys?
-Oh, my God. -Dear God.
Oh, good, good, good.
That's so hot.
-Oh, ice isn't such a funny thing now, is it? -Oh, my God.
[Rocco] The spicy, sweet crostini
makes a lot of sense and is delicious.
It's a really nice juxtaposition,
that sheep's milk ricotta, the ghost pepper, the honey
[Troy] I mean, Christian came through on the heat,
but he came through and then he kept on coming through,
-and coming through and coming through... -[Rocco laughs]
And that was way too much.
[Guy] Next to present,
ladies and gentlemen, Chef Damaris.
I have fried chicken salad for you in a little endive.
You're gonna get a little bit of heat
from the mixed pepper confetti on the top.
That is deceptively spicy.
The first bite, you're like
"Celery, mayonnaise, endive, delicious,"
and then it just wallops you.
See, I didn't get that. I got a perfect balance of spice and sweetness.
-I think Carl would've loved this dish. -Thank you.
-Thank you very much. -Thanks, y'all.
[Guy] Up next, Chef Antonia.
Hi, everyone.
Um, so what you have in front of you
is sweet corn soup with a spicy shrimp cake.
Mmm.
-That came out of the freezer section? -Yes.
That soup is so good.
That shrimp cake is so light and fluffy.
Really delicious.
Here's what I love about this,
is that it's really, really spicy
-but you gave us the corn veloute to... -...balance.
To balance, thank you. Really, really great.
[Guy] Awesome, thank you very much, chef.
Chef Justin, front and center.
Judges, so I present to you
a Chinese sausage pig in a blanket
with a nacho cheese dipping sauce.
-[chuckles] Sorry, bro. -Whew.
Of course the chili was a, yeah, ghost pepper,
uh, and habanero.
-Hi. -Wow.
[Guy] Carl would really be enjoying this right now.
-This is like a pain in a blanket. -Oh, my God. Wow.
[chuckles] "A pain in a blanket." Go back to cooking.
-Wow. -So what are you thinking here, chefs?
[Rocco] What I love about what Justin did
is he really thought about Carl in this challenge
and he did create a dish that Carl would love.
He managed to eclipse Christian Petroni's spice.
I don't know how.
[Aaron] I feel like I'm eati one of the best pigs in a blanket I've ever had
and then I got pepper sprayed.
-[all laughing] -How I feel.
All right, judges, remember, 20 points in taste
20 points in gameplay and 10 points in plating.
Could I get a little more water?
[Guy] All right, chefs.
Stop, one second.
I have your scores from your appetizers.
The chef with the highest score
is not Justin Warner, 39 points.
The second not-highest score is going to be
Christian Petroni with 40 points.
Damaris is second place with 41 points,
and Antonia Lofaso, 43 points.
-[Aaron] Yeah! -Stop it!
Chefs, you've gotta be plated with those spicier entrees in 31 minutes.
-[siren blaring] -[announcer] Wheel of Troy.
-[laughs] -[Guy] Yes.
All right, Troy. Step up, step in, come in and lose.
[both] Shoes.
You gotta remove one sock and one shoe.
[stammering] What? That makes no sense.
Troy is part of all of the shenanigans,
just like Carl.
[Troy] Okay, all right. All right.
-So out of control. -[Antonia] You guys are so out of control.
-Nice. -[Guy] Chef Antonia.
-Yes? -What is on the menu?
[Antonia] So I'm doing, um, a spicy curry
with some very, very quickly sauteed shrimp.
-[Guy] Right. -[Antonia] Um, some crispy potatoes.
The first thing I'm gonna get started on is my curry.
I start to bloom the red Thai chilis in that curry powder.
Then I hit it with a little bit of water
and a little bit of cream.
Then I leave it. I'm like, "Wow, I really have no ingredients." [laughs]
[groans]
Carl was like, a hardcore, old-school restaurant chef.
He could be like the most hilarious person in the worl
and the most serious chef all at the same time.
And so when it came to competition,
he took it very seriously.
Fine, let's make it spicy.
So that's the mentality that I'm in today.
All fun and games, yes,
but, like, we're here to win.
So there's not anything in this dish that's not spic
I think it's spicy. [groans]
[Guy] Chef Petroni, talk to me, buddy. Where we at?
We're doing a fried, savory, crispy panzanella
over my favorite New York classic, chicken scarpariello.
Scarpariello, great.
Chicken scarpariello is one of my favorite dishes
from growing up and going to the red sauce joints in the Bronx.
I have four English muffins left and I figure,
"Oh, perfect. I'll make a salad,"
a crispy, fried, spicy panzanella salad.
You heard me right.
It's a fried bread salad, people.
-What's on the menu? -Hot chicken fried cauliflower biscuits
and then a spicy slaw.
Sounds great.
This is an entree and so the biscuits need to be big.
Carl loved biscuits.
Of course Carl liked biscuits. He wasn't a dummy.
Let's make some tantanmen.
So, the backbone of any good ramen is the broth,
and the, uh, broth that I'm using is macadamia milk.
I know Carl loved the tropic and tropical flavors,
so this is a little nod to him.
Now, I'm gonna work on my tare.
I've got fermented bean past
I've got soy sauce,
I've got all sorts of thing that are gonna bring
the depth and richness that I need
in this ramen broth.
So I know that I need a ton of heat here,
so in addition to chili cris I'm also adding ghost pepper
straight to this tare.
This thing is borderline illegal at this point.
Like, I do not even condone of this remotely.
Lord, have mercy. What have I done?
I don't even wanna taste it.
Attention, chefs.
There are 16-and-a-half minutes left in the competition,
16-and-a-half minutes.
I have so much time. I feel great.
Hunter and I are bored.
It's now 10 minutes.
-10 minutes left in the competition. -No!
[Guy laughs] 10 minutes left
-[Damaris] No! -[Hunter] The clock's broken, everyone.
10 minutes, guys.
-10 minutes left in the competition. -That's right, got it, got it.
-[Hunter] It was delayed. -That is, like, not even funny.
-I've got biscuits! -[Antonia] No.
-[both laughing] -[Hunter] She's got biscuits.
[Aaron] Spicy episode,
the Carl tribute,
it's April Fools',
and Troy being the brunt of all punishment.
Carl would hate everything on this show.
[Antonia] Wait, did he really take off minutes?
[Guy] Nine minutes!
[Antonia] I've never cooked under these conditions before.
Let's just say that.
My potatoes, I quarter them throw them into the fryer,
pull them out of the fryer when they're nice and crispy
and dust them in a little bi of salt and cayenne pepper.
[Guy] Seven-and-a-half minutes, chefs.
How we doing, Hambino?
I'm feeling good, chef.
-I have, um... -None of this is rattling you, huh?
Oh, I'm very, very much rattled.
I just keep it very quiet.
-Just legs flailing, dude. -[laughs] Yes, okay.
It's time to work on my spicy chicken scarpariello pan sauce.
I got my jar of spicy vinegar peppers,
red wine vinegar, cayenne pepper.
I even put a little bit of that ghost pepper juice.
I had a little ghost pepper juice left, shh.
I want Carl to feel the spic from this pan sauce
all the way up in heaven.
[Guy] We are getting into danger time.
Six-and-a-half minutes.
[Damaris] Hey, biscuits. What's your name?
What's your game?
The cauliflower steaks are all battered up
and I'm dropping them in the fryer.
Carl, like, he joked a lot about not liking vegetarian food.
Like, he loved meat.
But truthfully, Carl was so smart
and he knew that all of us were gonna be
eating a lot more vegetarian food in the futur
He had, like, some sassy little vegetarian shirt.
"Meat-atarian"? I can't remember what it was.
[Guy] Chefs, you have five minutes left.
You can do this, five minutes.
Ugh!
[pants] Ugh.
Now I'm gonna use the rest of my Chinese sausage to make soboro,
which is essentially, uh, the ground meat mixture, generally pork.
I start adding crumbled jalapeno chicarrones, or pork rinds.
Carl loved pork rinds.
Super pumped about that.
[Guy] Three minutes left, chefs.
[Antonia] So, I pull out little, like, rice ring mold
and I lay the shrimp on top of the rice.
I put crispy potatoes around the rice.
I just kind of pour the curry sauce
over all of those vegetables
[Guy] Two minutes, two minutes flat!
Gotta be plated.
You know when you go to the trattorias, you know?
This saute pan reminds me
of eating at those red sauce joints
in New York City,
and I know that Carl likes eating out of a saute pan.
[Guy] 75 seconds!
[Damaris] Okay, let's plate
I dredge my cauliflower through the hot chicken sauc
put that down on my biscuit
and then I'm pouring on hot honey,
which is very spicy.
This looks like a volcano of flavor.
[Justin] Is it really 37 seconds?
Although this meal is gonna cause a little bit of pain,
Carl would have fun with thi
So at the bottom of each of these ramen bowls
I slide in the cheap watches
-[Guy] Going to 10, 9, 8, 7, 6... -[Antonia] No!
-No! Nope! No! -[Guy] Five, four...
-Three, two, one. -No!
Chefs, that's it, congratulations!
-You've accomplished the one-hour double cook. -[Aaron] Oh, wow.
-[Guy] Well done. -[Troy] Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Hunter, what you have just witnessed is four chefs--
-[siren blaring] -[announcer] Wheel of Troy.
[Aaron] Yeah!
-[Hunter] The last one. -[Rocco] Only one is left.
[Guy] All right, Troy.
For your last challenge,
you now have to now impromptu sing a song
and we will give you your shoe back.
I'm not Damaris.
I know, but you're gonna channel Damaris.
Damaris! Duet, let's go!
Will you make up a song with me?
[Guy] It has to be about all four chefs,
from the heart, and of course Carl.
-[sings] Antonia Lofaso... -Yes?
♪ Antonia Lofaso brings the heat ♪
♪ But then when you hear about Christian ♪
♪ His food tastes like mace ♪
♪ 'Cause it burns ♪
-♪ 'Cause it's hot ♪ -[Troy] ♪ It's hot ♪
♪ Justin Warner ♪
♪ The man with the passport that looks like confetti ♪
[Christian laughs] "The passport that looks like confetti."
Just in case this gets cut.
♪ Damaris, Damaris ♪
♪ Let's not embarrass her again ♪
One verse about Carl.
♪ Carl "The Cuban" Ruiz ♪
♪ He never met a hotdog he didn't love ♪
♪ If it had an... ♪
[Guy] All right, all right. All right, Troy. You're done.
Yeah, your album's over. Great job.
All right, Hunter, put the final X on the Wheel of Troy.
Congratulations, Troy Johnson! Wheel of Troy.
-That was terrible. -But you did them all.
I think my singing career's a little bit over.
[Guy] All right, judges.
This is the second course
of our April Fools' super battle.
Chefs had to make an entree that was even spicier than their appetizer.
Chef Justin, you're up first.
Please tell us about your delicious entree.
Yeah, this is a super tribute to Carl
in that it is a reinterpretation of tantanmen.
And so...
-Uh... -[all laughing]
[Justin] You know, Carl loved fast food.
-[all laughing] -[Justin] Carl loved...
Carl loved fast food.
He loved watches, you know?
He loved anything that had a prize inside, you know?
-And I like to think... -[Antonia] That's...
-[Damaris] Brilliant. -I like to think of Carl as that prize that's...
-I'm sure they're waterproof. -[Guy cackling]
Wait, is this not food?
[Justin] No, it's not.
Are you sure?
-It's delicious. -[Justin] Thank you.
Honestly, amazing.
There's no question you brought real heat to thi
It hurts, but I'm going back.
I feel like this is a dish whose time has come, for sure.
You put a watch in my soup?
-[all laugh] -Yeah, you know, um...
I'm wearing it. That is Carl.
That's the kind of, like, humor that's the kind of fun that I was looking for.
I think the negative for me, though,
is I want more noodles.
I want a little more balance in there
because I need a little tooth in this.
Yeah, I understand.
Up next, Chef Antonia.
So what you guys have in front of you now
is a little bit of a curry
and then some sauteed shrimp with ginger
and just had a little bit of, uh, chili powder on that as well.
[Aaron] You definitely nailed the spice on this one
Oh, great.
I could've used maybe, like, something to cut through it, a little citrus.
Troy, how's that heat treating you?
[chuckles] Yeah.
You need something to drink?
-I am so fine. Thank you so much. -He definitely needs some.
-[Christian laughs] He doesn't have water? -[Troy] Yeah, no, no, I'm...
-[Christian] I just noticed that. -[Aaron] Oh, it's hot.
He needs some salt water.
Troy, in honor of Carl,
because we all know that Carl loved his milk helmet...
There you go.
Boo.
I was actually feeling not like myself
until this guy made it on.
[laughs]
I think it was really smart that you went into the frozen food aisle
because, I mean, you could A, get yourself a protein, shrimp,
so that was great gameplay.
All right, up next, the great Hambino.
Christian, what'd you make for them?
Chefs, how you doing?
-Today... -I've been better.
[chuckles] You look gorgeous.
[chuckles] Thank you.
[Christian] We're having a little chicken scarpariello,
so I went ahead and made a spicy, savory, fried panzanella salad.
[Rocco] Listen, Carl would've loved this dish.
He loved Italian food
probably, you know, after his own native Cuban food, the most.
I would've loved to have seen you incorporate something in there
as, like, a cooling agent for all this heat
that you're just crushing me with.
-True, true. -[Guy] Thank you.
Up next, Chef Damaris.
I was very lucky to get to spend a lot of time with Carl.
One of my favorite experiences was we went down to Nashville.
We were with a bunch of people.
They wanted, they wanted to show Carl hot chicken,
which he absolutely hated.
And he said to me, he said, "Damaris,"
he said, "You are a smarter cook
than you realize you are.
If you would just show people the food that you make
and not apologize for it."
And so this is what I have done today.
You have some hot chicken fried cauliflower.
It's on a cayenne biscuit.
There's hot honey, there's mayonnaise,
'cause you know Carl loved that mayonnaise, y'all.
[Rocco] Chef Damaris,
100% identify with everything you said about Carl.
If you were ever questioning yourself,
he could make you feel better about it.
I love that you stuck to your guns
and did a vegetarian dish and you made it delicious.
[Aaron] The biscuit is perfect,
flaky, delicious, lovely.
My biggest flaw with this
is, like, The Cuban would've loved this.
It's not that spicy.
-[Troy] What? -The heat is not where I want it to be
on a spicy, spicy challenge.
[Troy] That's the most shocking thing about this competition, Damaris,
is that I learn Aaron May's mouth is broke.
-[Rocco laughs] -It is absolutely broke, 'cause that is hot.
That is so hot.
All right, judges. Thank you very much.
Chefs, I think you did an outstanding job.
I think that was a very difficult challenge.
The great thing is it's behind us now
and it's all in tribute to our good friend, Carl.
So, chefs, we're gonna send you back to the kitchens and we will call you back.
Thank you very much. Great job.
[Christian] Bye, guys.
[Guy] All right, chefs.
Judges, um, was any chef's spicy entree a hot mess?
All right, chefs.
It's who didn't bring the heat and who's the one to beat.
-Right off the bat, we'll start with Justin. -[Justin] Great.
Gameplay, what?
-[Damaris] What? -Wow.
-Gameplay, a 20. -Nice, Justin.
[Guy] Well done.
Taste, a 17. Plating, a 7, for a 44.
-[Antonia] Very nice. -[Guy] Congratulations, 83 points.
-[Antonia] Big numbers. -[Damaris] That's amazing, Justin.
-We've never seen a perfect... -Wow, never seen a 20 ever in gameplay.
Might've had to do something with there's a watch in the bowl,
but I don't know about that.
Going to Damaris.
Chef Damaris, gameplay, 16.
Taste, 16, plating, an 8, for a 40
-and a total of 81. -Ugh!
[Troy] Ugh!
[Guy] Christian, the Hambino.
Gameplay, 17.
Taste, 18.
Plating, an 8, for a 43.
Nice score of an 83, tying you with Justin.
That means Antonia Lofaso.
Gameplay, 18.
Taste, 16.
Plating for an 8 for a 42
-and there's your winner, 85! -[Antonia screams]
-Congratulations, congratulations. -[Damaris] Good job. Good job.
Let me introduce you to the third annual
Carl "The Cuban" Ruiz April Fools'
Triple G tournament winner who will go on the plaque,
the one and only Chef Antonia Lofaso.
Thank you, guys.
[Guy] Something that we should remember
is that we don't tell each other how much we love them
and how much we appreciate each other.
If I could do it again, I would sure tell the guy
how much I love him and how much I miss him.
So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.
Come on over, judges. Let's all stand together.
Chefs, you know what?
As we all stand here and we celebrate,
the only thing that I believe
is Carl would've wanted a bigger ending.
-Yep. -I agree.
He would've just...
-[siren blaring] -[all cheering]
Come on, Carl!
[Guy] Ladies and gentlemen, Troy Johnson,
you know how much we love you.
In the name of The Cuban,
this is Troy's...
-...Hot Tub! -[all cheering]
[Damaris] Yes!
-[Rocco laughing] -[Antonia] Yes.
-Come on, Troy! -[Hunter] Yes, Troy, get over there.
[Troy] This is great for me.
[Guy] All right, so...
-Champ, since you won, -All right.
you get the first throw.
Let's go, let's get him.
[all] Oh!
All right, Christian, you get the next throw.
[Aaron] Hambino!
[all] Oh!
[Guy] Justin, you're up.
-Boom. -[Troy] Oh!
Damaris.
Aw!
Hunter, you're in.
[all cheering]
[Guy] There you have it, folks!
[all laughing]
You guys are great. Carl, we love you. We miss you.
See you next year for the fourth annual April Fools'
Carl Ruiz "The Cuban" tournament.
-Audience, have a good night! -[all applauding]
-[Aaron] Wow. -[Guy] Good job, Troy.