Original subtitles

Hey, everybody, I'm Guy Fieri and we're rolling out

looking for America's greatest diners, drive-ins and dives.

This trip...

That is gorgeous.

...we're gathering flavor...

Give me two.

...from all over the globe.

I could just eat that right now out of a shoe.

We've got Italian flair in Montana.

We're showing off at this point, folks.

A Caribbean mashup in Minneapolis.

Not a combo that I thought I was going to be getting.

And a legit Vietnamese spot in Boston...

I look at the food, my mouth starts to water.

...cooking up new-to-me creations...

That's crazy. I've never seen this.

...and the bomb banh mi.

Ah! Lights out.

That's all right here right now

on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Yes, we are here, 20 minutes out of downtown Boston,

right here on the edge of Little Saigon and Savin Hill.

This has got story, this has authenticity,

and you like Vietnamese food, don't you?

Dad, come on. Of course I do.

Fantastic. We've hit the jackpot.

This is Ba Le and Bakery.

Maya, spring roll.

Tried the food and it was love at first bite.

Basil and cucumber.

This is the closest to Vietnam that we can get in Boston.

And they've been around for so many years.

1996, my sister start in this business.

-She started it. -And then I took over in 2000.

And Jennifer Nguyen is still serving up

a smorgasbord of Far-East flavors.

I look at the food, my mouth starts to water.

-Papaya salad. -Tofu, yellow noodles.

Don't steal my food! Don't steal my food!

-This, we call banh cuon. Yep. -You make the rice paper?

Banh cuon are ready.

[woman] They put the meat in the middle

and they roll it,

and they sauce with the fish sauce.

It tastes very good.

-What are we gonna make? -When I do banh cuon,

I put it inside.

It's oil,

-garlic. -I'm so excited.

Hunter and I both are Asian food fanatics.

-Ground pork. -Just a little bit.

-[Guy] Jicama! -Jicama.

Mushrooms, red onions and some salt.

[Guy] MSG.

-Black pepper. -Sugar.

I could just eat that right now out of a shoe.

I got to make the fish sauce.

-Nuoc mam. -So, nuoc mam is typically

the dipping sauce you'd find with a spring roll.

The fish sauce, water, sugar...

Just a touch. A little bit.

[Jennifer] Garlic, hot chili--

[Guy] Coconut vinegar.

-[wincing] Smooth. -Whoo! Good morning!

Okay. What is this? Rice flour?

Rice flour to make the skin. Warm water.

-[Guy] Oil. -Here, salt. MSG.

[Guy] That is so thin.

I don't understand how that's gonna be made into anything.

Okay, so we pour that right-- Okay.

-[Hunter] It's like a drum. -It's like cloth.

[Jennifer] All ready.

[Guy] So you just take that and get underneath?

That's crazy.

I've never seen this.

[Jennifer] See?

[Guy] And that's the mixture of the pork and the mushrooms.

And this is the pork roll.

-Yep. Fried scallion. -Fried shallots.

Take this one, combine with this.

-Some basil, cucumber. -[Guy] Bean sprout.

[exclaims] Outstanding.

It's like a spring roll, but really moist.

A lot more texture in the wrap.

[Guy] Once you build it the correct way

with the pork, with the banh cuon...

-[Hunter] The basil. -Get a little bit of the bean sprout,

a little cucumber. You dip it in the nuoc mam,

it makes the whole package deal.

The fish sauce, it's got enough little kick in there

with the vinegar.

I would just drink that by itself.

That is fantastic.

Lights out.

And a banh cuon.

[man] The rice flour is nice and fluffy.

It's very popular. And it's easy to eat.

The pork is kind of sweet, kind of salty at the same time.

This one, the beef stew.

A couple of my good buddies from Camp Chef.

-Have you ever had Vietnamese food? -Yes, sir.

-What do you think? -Fantastic. It's phenomenal.

-I have not. -Never had a banh mi.

-Never had a banh mi. -This is your first one?

I go out of the way to come here for the banh mi.

Barbecue beef sandwiches are ready.

[woman] One of my favorites, the beef sandwich

with the onions, carrots, cilantro.

The bread is homemade. It's fresh every day.

It's really delicious.

We're here for what she really does,

and that's the banh mi.

First, we've got to start with the bread.

Look at the size of this mixer.

A 50-pound bag of high-gluten flour.

-S500. -What is S500?

Dough conditioner.

See how much I know about baking.

Sugar, polony, flour. Makes the flavor.

And yeast, salt,

some water.

[Guy] How long are we gonna mix this?

About 20 minutes.

And then we let it rest?

No, I go to the divider.

-That fast? -Yeah.

[Hunter] Oh, wow.

[Guy] Look at her.

[Jennifer] They come with the ball like this.

[Hunter] Look at that. It keeps on popping them out.

It comes out like that.

We can make 600 baguettes in about five hours.

-[Guy] Now we let it proof? -Two hours.

-Put it in the oven 18 minutes. -And this is done?

I mean, this is what makes a great banh mi.

-You get that awesome crust. -[Hunter] Mmm-hmm.

-Nice light and airy. -Mmm!

This is the game changer.

You're amazing.

There's a poster that says

"A special thanks to our troops.

Banh mi sandwich and Vietnamese iced coffee on the house."

-[Hunter] Yes! -That makes me teary-eyed.

I'm gonna show you how to marinade the barbecue beef.

-Add some sugar. -[Guy] Just a touch.

-Lemongrass-- -Ground up.

Oil, garlic, MSG, oyster sauce,

-black pepper, salt-- -Food coloring.

How long are we gonna let this marinate on the meat?

-Overnight. -And then how do we cook it?

On the grill.

Now I go to make the Vietnamese butter.

Some eggs.

Mayonnaise, a little bit.

And that's it.

-Aioli. -Vietnamese butter.

-Okay, it's butter. -Yeah.

Now I go to make the barbecue sandwich.

Okay. I'm so excited.

-I put some butter. -[Guy] The barbecue beef that we did.

-Scallion. -What's in the scallion?

-Just oil. -Fish sauce.

[Jennifer] Some cucumber, pickled carrots, daikon,

-jalapeno-- -A monster!

Cilantro. The sandwich is ready.

This is what I'm talking about.

So good. The barbecue beef is a little sweet.

The jalapeno and the cucumber and the cilantro offset it.

[Hunter] You get some of that fish sauce in there.

[Guy] But the key is the bread.

That crunchy texture on top, mmm mmm!

Your filling ratio to bread ratio is perfect.

You've been recognized in Boston as making one of the best banh mis,

and I understand why. It's delicious.

All right, two barbecue beefs.

The beef is a little spicier, and it's definitely

the pickled vegetables that make the sandwich.

-What do you think? -It's delicious, Guy.

[Jennifer speaking foreign language]

This is the one and only Mike Morris.

Mike's one of our favorite producers,

who started with us back in 2007.

-Yes. -And he just came back from Vietnam

with his wife, Jill.

-What do you think, buddy? -I'll tell you--

Awesome. Thanks, Mike.

-[man] Cut. -If you want to try Vietnamese food,

this is the place to do it.

If he's saying this is legit, it's legit.

Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.

I'm gonna come back and slowly eat my way through the menu.

-[Hunter] Yes. You're amazing. -Jennifer, you're the best.

-Thank you so much. -Well done.

[Guy] Up next, a spot spreading island vibes in Minneapolis...

You got the flair. You got the energy.

...with carnival treats from Panama.

Outstanding.

A Caribbean spin on risotto.

There's so much flavor going on here.

And a top-notch taste of Jamaica.

That's some of the best jerk marinade I've tried in

I don't know how long.

I have four children and eight grandchildren.

You're so young.

Thank you.

If I eat more banh mi, I'll look young?

-No. -Um...

-No? -That's gonna be a hard one.

So I'm here in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I love this town. I'm telling you,

I've been coming here for years for Triple D.

As a matter of fact, some of the first Triple Ds

we ever shot were here.

I'm here in the North Loop,

and to see the way the food scene has blown up

is mind-blowing.

If you would have told me that I'm gonna find a joint

that's got a Panamanian chef with Louisiana background

bringing all kinds of flavors together,

I would say you're crazy.

Hey, crazy, this is Guacaya Bistreaux.

Plating up octopus.

The food here is very unique to Minneapolis.

Two empanadas ready.

So many different flavors from different places around the world.

It's bold, it's vibrant,

just like Pedro.

He is bigger than life, man. and life's pretty big.

[Guy] And life's pretty big for chef and owner Pedro Wolcott.

You got the flare, you got the energy.

I was born and raised in Panama.

-Panama to where? -Louisiana. New Orleans.

Did you always want to be a cook?

Yes, especially after New Orleans.

My wife and I, we decided to bring the vibe to Minnesota.

Carne en Palitos up.

The steak skewers are my favorite.

[man] Very tender, and the bollo liso

is like a Panamanian twist of an arepa.

-What does en palito mean? -Beef and skewers.

-And what does this come with? -Bollo liso.

Almost like a small tamal that we eat in carnival season.

This is one of those dishes that bring me back home.

It keeps me rooted in Panama.

We've got the big pot and sirloin.

Trim it, cube it,

and we're gonna start infusing all the flavors.

[Guy] Is that achiote oil?

Yes, it is. Sour orange, orange juice, lemon juice.

A little sazon.

[Pedro] Pepper, salt, a little bit of oil.

[Guy] This gets mixed up.

[Pedro] Pour our marinade over our beef cubes.

[Guy] And we screw it up with the onions?

Yep. And let it sit overnight.

Bollo liso. Cornmeal, water.

We use a little bit of cotija cheese

-to give it a little bit more-- -There's cheese in this?

[Pedro] Yes. Butter. You got to have some sort of fat in it.

We're just gonna let it rest.

For the bollo liso that we use,

actually, leaves of the sugarcane plants.

But because we don't have sugarcane growing wild...

-There's not-- -There's not in Minnesota.

Did you look by the railroad track?

All right, so we're gonna wrap this up in foil.

[Pedro] Yep, and then boil 'em about 30 minutes.

-What are we into? -Chimichurri.

Parsley, cilantro--

-Just a touch. -Heavy on the garlic,

pepper flakes. Urfa biber peppers

give it a little smokiness.

Kind of like an ancho.

[Pedro] Salt, apple cider vinegar--

-[Guy] ACV. -It all comes together.

A little bit of oil.

This is our bollo liso.

Make little slices, grab a little bit of butter,

put them on the grill.

We have our marinated beef skewers.

We're gonna plate them up.

And then we grab our bollo liso,

chimichurri that we made earlier,

cotija cheese. Shaping it up a little bit.

You got those Panamanian tweezers

that you see going here.

Watermelon radishes, micro cilantro,

pepper on top of that.

That's our Carne en Palitos.

This is a game we call "feed the camera."

[cameraman barking]

The camera says, " Thumbs up." That's good.

This is a lights-out dish.

I'm not kidding ya. Between the achiote,

the sour orange, the sazon, and grilled, fantastic.

I love the little onion inside of it.

A little kiss of the chimichurri

with a ton of big flavor.

I'm going to go to Panama forever.

That just solidifies that I'm making a trip.

I'll call you. Maybe we'll go down together.

Outstanding.

Ready for plate-up.

The bollo liso and the chimichurri,

put the little beef in there.

You can really taste the magic.

I mean, it's not just a meat kebab.

No. He also catered our wedding last year.

Nice!

-Pollo asado, sir. -Thank you.

So when you bring friends for the first time,

how do you explain to them what they're getting?

First, I say "good vibes."

I love it. It's welcoming.

Every bite, you can tell that there was personal connection

with how he was plating it and how you're gonna taste it.

The guy's a gangster.

Jerk chicken looks fire.

What are we doing next?

Don't tell me. Surprise me.

We'll be back hanging out in Minneapolis.

Watch out for this guy. Do you want to try some?

No. Okay, good.

Welcome back, Triple D hanging out with Chef Pedro.

We're at Guacaya Bistreaux, and the flavors, bro.

If this is any indication of what the flavor is

from the glasses to the shirt,

he will start dancing in a minute.

I know he will.

[Pedro] Jerk chicken.

[woman] I had the jerk chicken and the extra veggies.

And then that creamy risotto and a pop of sweet corn in it.

So good.

[Guy] So what makes your jerk chicken

so much better than the average?

It's all about marinating overnight.

We start by making our jerk marinade.

[Guy] A bunch of cilantro on the stem.

-[Pedro] Thyme. -A lot of green onion.

Shallot, ginger, garlic. I love garlic.

If I could make a necklace and become a vampire...

That got weird real quick.

Got real weird. [chuckles]

-Habanero, tamarind paste. -A little wango tango.

A little something in there. Dry rub that we make in house.

Worcestershire, soy sauce, oil--

-[Buy] Blend this up. -Crushed black pepper,

salt as well.

[Guy] And that's all she wrote?

[Pedro] It'll get nice and happy.

Nice and happy.

[Pedro] Does it overnight.

We're gonna do our jerk barbecue.

Ketchup, tomato sauce,

apple cider, our molasses, Worcestershire, vanilla syrup.

That's our little twist.

[Guy] Very similar to the blackstrap molasses.

[Pedro] Liquid smoke, smoked paprika,

garlic powder, onion powder,

jerk spice that we make in house,

load of black pepper.

Remember that marinade we made?

And then we're going to cook this down.

And next, Panamanian risotto.

Yeah! A little oil, shallots.

Give them a little color and whatnot.

Oh, we're gonna add in whatnot.

-[Pedro] Our risotto. -Toast that up a little bit.

Deglaze with the white wine.

[Pedro] Chicken stock.

-Chihuahua cheese. -A little bit of cream.

-[Pedro] Roasted corn-- -...that was roasted on the cob!

-Correct. -Poblanos.

Delicious.

-We cook it about three quarters of the way. -Al dente,

-and then we're gonna finish it. Got it. -Yup.

[Pedro] Marinated chicken and let it cook.

Our risotto, chicken stock that we make in house.

And we just want to warm it up,

and we're just gonna hit it with a little bit of cream.

Traditionally, in Jamaica,

you have callaloo with our greens that go on top of it.

Bacon, a little oil, shallots, red bell peppers, some kale.

This is all gonna cook down.

[Guy] All right, flip that chicken.

Mouth is starting to...

[Pedro] Hit it with some of this barbecue and glaze it.

Here we have our risotto,

Panamanian jerk chicken.

Not a combo that I thought I was gonna be getting.

[Pedro] Callaloo, do a little pile right there.

One of my favorite culinary words, "pile."

Finish it with a little bit of Korean pepper flake.

[Guy] Beautiful plate.

Delicious risotto.

There's so much flavor going on here.

The roasted corn and the poblano.

The callaloo,

which is really nice and crunchy and bright.

But the chicken is so tender, so moist.

That jerk spice goes all the way through it.

That's some of the best jerk marinade I've tried in...

I don't know how long.

Outstanding dish, bro.

The jerk chicken. The jerk chicken has a nice little heat

towards the finish, nice and sweet.

And the veg is kind of like just crisp it up.

Some nice roasty toasty notes from the poblanos, too.

It's just elevated.

[Guy] On a bridge by the railroad track...

On the right side of the railroad track.

[Guy] Well, it just depends on which way you're facing.

-Either way you're facing... -Yeah.

-It's the right side. -The right side. Okay.

Be here or be square, man.

We want to just be ourselves,

do something out of the box and play with flavors.

-You should play with flavors. -[chuckles]

Well done, Chef. Give me two.

[speaks in foreign language]

[Guy] Coming up, Italy meets Montana in Missoula...

You can come in your cowboy hat.

...rounding up gourmet meatballs...

It's delicious.

...and octopus layered with flavor.

It just keeps unfolding, like chapters in a book.

You're unstoppable.

So I'm here in the Rose Park district of Missoula, Italy,

and I'm gonna take you to a restaurant that you'd expect.

I mean, scratch-making the pastas,

basically scratch-making the entire menu.

They bake their bread in the basement

and they sell it to the local stores.

I mean, they're doing everything you would expect

from an awesome Italian restaurant.

This is Florabella.

Oh, wait a second. Did I say Missoula, Italy?

No, no. I meant Missoula, Montana.

We're in Montana, folks! Check it out.

Mafaldini, table 40.

You can just tell with every dish

there is a touch that you don't get at other Italian restaurants.

We have the Italian sub here.

This is a great date-night restaurant.

They have fantastic scratch pasta.

[Guy] And that fine Italian feel

comes from Chef Ben Burda's experience

in high-end kitchens.

But he also grew up in Montana,

and he knows his audience.

When we opened, initially, it was a little too fancy.

People wanted comfort and they wanted approachable.

So we pivoted to rustic country style Italian.

Things like handmade pasta every day and meatballs.

Italian meatball sub.

The meatball sub is one of my favorite things.

I love the lamb meat with the sauce and the cheese.

We're gonna make baguettes for our lamb meatball sandwich.

During 2020, cultured a sourdough.

-Love it. -Our water, two different flours,

hard red winter wheat and malted hard red winter wheat.

We'll mix it, add kosher salt and mix it again.

Proof for an hour, hour and a half,

-and then we'll portion. -Beautiful.

[Ben] And let it rest for 30 minutes.

Then we'll shape.

Let it proof overnight.

-Chill it. -Yup.

And score it. This is going to bake at 450 for 15 minutes.

How many loaves in an area this big?

Twenty-five.

Okay, good. That's about the size of the Camaro.

I'm gonna just need to be able to get those to go.

All right. Meatballs. Pork shoulder here,

lamb leg here, and some pancetta.

That's my amount of pancetta right there.

Yeah. Course grind one time.

We're gonna mix together everything we've got here.

Fennel, some oregano, salt here--

-Italian parsley. -MSG, chili flakes.

Mix this up here and put that over the top.

We're gonna make a panade. Fish sauce.

The old famous Italian fish sauce meatball recipe.

[Ben] Milk, egg, ricotta, a little sofrito here,

garlic confit and breadcrumbs.

Gonna mix all this together.

Shape these. Bake these in the combi oven.

Just a little bit of steam for 30 minutes, 350.

-Meatballs are done. -Now we're gonna make pomodoro sauce.

San Marzanos, salt and sugar,

some fresh basil.

Let this simmer a little bit

-and then hit it with the immersion blender. -Yep.

Let these continue to render down and cook a little bit more,

and then we'll be off to the races.

We're gonna put together a little sammy for you.

[Guy] That is gorgeous.

[Ben] I'll fill it up with these lamb meatballs.

Pickled Fresnos on here.

Fontina and Parmesan.

And if that's just not enough, how about some burrata?

Throw this in our pizza oven at 550 degrees for a couple minutes.

-[Guy] The molten lava. -Tear a little basil.

Are we cutting that thing in half?

[Ben] This is a fork-and-knife dish for sure.

It's delicious.

The lamb is what elevates the meatball.

It's a really nice, light, flavorful meatball.

Mmm!

The bread will save anything.

The ricotta, which is always one of my favorites.

Don't get fooled with thinking it's just a lamb meatball.

It's such big flavor.

Our meatball sub for you, Madeline.

When you bite into it, it's so tender.

This is phenomenal. It ties together really well.

It's pretty flavorful.

Meatball goin' in the oven.

They've done a really good job.

[Guy] Not too high-end that it's not approachable, though.

You can come in your cowboy hat.

I come in here when I've just gotten off the river.

It feels like a local joint, but it's upscale.

This the food that you would expect in Missouri?

No, it is not.

Octopus, table 30.

The octopus is an absolute must-have

with the 'nduja and the chickpeas.

Fantastic.

We've got little octopus.

This actually gets to us already cleaned up.

We're gonna braise this.

We're gonna do in a pressure cooker though.

Just some water.

Red wine, Italian, of course.

Garlic, lemon zest, shallots, salt and thyme.

We're gonna cook it,

pull this out after it's nice and tender

and let it cool.

Portion it.

We're gonna serve it on 'nduja and cannellini beans.

So, the guy that grew up in Montana

is gonna make 'nduja?

[Ben] Some dried chili here,

-garlic confit, Calabrian chilies. -One of my faves.

Paprika and chili, Calabrian chili oil--

-[Guy] And some salt. -Mix this up.

We got some ground pork here.

After it's rested for two days,

cook them off on the char grill for about five minutes.

How much can we get in an area that big?

Enough to fit in the trunk of the car?

Glove box. Glove box.

Come on, buddy.

Not everything's in the trunk.

[Ben] Crumble them up, and that's going to go into the beans.

I love that we're going from dry beans.

[Ben] Cannellini beans, chickpeas.

-Let them soak overnight and then we'll cook them? -Yup.

[Ben] So we've got those chickpeas and cannellini beans here.

Gremolata, white wine, our nduja, sofrito here,

fresh parsley, roasted red peppers, lemon juice,

a little bit of salt.

Cook this for about a half hour.

[Guy] That's a meal in itself.

We're gonna make some Parmesan brodo.

Every Italian family will save that rind of the Parmesan.

Now it'll soak in the water to make this brodo.

Basically cheese water broth.

And we're gonna let that simmer for about an hour,

and then we're gonna strain all those rinds out.

Fortify it with thyme, the garlic, shallots and a little bit of salt.

-I like the way you roll. -Fry up this octopus here.

Italian olive oil.

Braised octopus dredged in a little cornstarch and rice flour.

-[Guy] Put a little crust on this. -Cannellini beans here.

Octopus, Parmesan brodo reduced,

Italian olive oil, chive and parsley oil.

We're showing off at this point, folks.

[Ben] Just a little bit of lemon on there.

Some gremolata. And there's our braised octopus.

Some of the most tender octopus I've ever had in the world.

Rice flour and corn starch kind of pulls up some of the sauce.

The brodo and the cannellini chickpeas are so flavorful.

The herbaceousness of the gremolata,

it just keeps unfolding, like chapters in a book.

-Well done, my friend. -Thank you, Chef.

[Ben] I got three octopus going in.

I'm always skeptical to get seafood this far from the ocean,

but this is delicious.

The 'nduja, it's got this heat to it

that is just incredible.

The beans are great. Keeps your taste buds just guessing.

Italian grinder.

Everything they have here is great.

You're not gonna leave unsatisfied, that's for sure.

You're unstoppable.

All right, now, let's get that in the trunk.

Was that a road trip or what?

But don't worry.

There's plenty more joints all over this great country.

I'll be looking for you next time on Triple D.

We also use spelt in that as well.

-Same sourdough starter-- -How is that?

-The spelt? -Yeah. How is it--

How is it spelt?

[film crew laughing]

-I've had a lot of coffee this morning. -Nice.