Original subtitles

You know, people are asking me all the time,

"Hey, Guy, that one joint you checked out

in that one city when you were doing Triple-D,

how they doin'?"

You know, I don't know. We should check it out.

Over the years, I have seen and tasted it all.

This is ridiculous, dude.

But it turns out it was only the beginning.

'Cause Triple-D joints have been blowing up

and we're going back to see what's cooking.

Like on this trip.

It's a barbecue...

Ribs are dynamite.

...Biscuit...

That is delicious.

...And big meatball kind of day.

Guess what? Hot.

Like in a primo pasta spot in Syracuse.

I can't come back and hang out with you anymore.

A real deal diner in Indianapolis.

Breakfast, dinner, whatever. That's just good food.

[Guy] And a lights out joint in Atlanta.

There you go.

Serving up Southern.

-Hoe cake. -Hoe cake.

That'll twist your soul.

It's love being put into these dishes.

[Guy] Still to date,

one of my favorite things I ever had on Triple-D.

Familiar faces, new places, and more off-the-hook flavors.

This is Triple-D Nation.

So think about every time you go on vacation

and you try great food.

Or think if you were a flight attendant

and you flew all over the world

and you got to taste all this incredible food.

Think if you took all that information,

and came back and opened your own restaurant.

That's exactly what went down at this place

I hit up in 2018,

which was just the start of more to come.

And she's still crushing it,

with unique spins on soul food.

If you're in Atlanta, Georgia,

you've got to check out Twisted Soul.

Hoisin Oxtails, pick up, please.

At Twisted Soul here, they have something for everyone.

Blackened salmon rolls.

It was really great Guy was able to find this place and highlight it.

[man] Salted caramel bourbon wings.

[woman] Very Southern.

This kind of brings me back to some of the dishes that I grew up with.

[Guy] Well, Southern with international flair

that took off thanks to Deborah Vantrece,

a former flight attendant who came up with her own flight plan.

Someone didn't send a memo.

We can't have two bleached blondes in the show.

[Deborah] Good to see you.

-Didn't we talk about the hair last time? -We talked about the hair.

Yours is looking pretty good tonight.

-I don't know. You really own it. -[laughs]

You don't know exactly what you're getting by the book in the cover.

-Yes. -All right?

Because you're fun and wild and sassy.

But then you're also really hardcore in the kitchen.

-What are we making? -Southern marinated fried chicken.

Yeah, and you know, that means treadmill.

It's bird time.

Seasoning salt, garlic powder,

onion powder, and a little black pepper.

-[Guy] And how long is it gonna hang out? -24 hours.

Dredge it in flour and house seasoning.

-And then right to the cast iron? -Yeah.

Hit it. Don't babysit it.

[Deborah] Gotta press.

Smack dab in the middle.

The leg on the other side.

There you go.

That is good old fashioned honest fried chicken.

[Deborah] And the famous collard green roll.

[Guy] Collard green roll?

I wanna order 100 of these.

Congratulations.

For wrecking collard greens for the rest of my life.

Still to date, one of my favorite things I ever had on Triple-D.

Thank you.

[Guy] And it was a great representation of everything that you do.

Sweet tea baby back ribs, pick up, please.

All right. What'd you bring me?

The sweet tea baby back ribs.

Sweet tea is something that we find in the South.

What brought you to brining the ribs in it?

[Deborah] Actually experiment.

You know, coming from Kansas City, we go for that sweet, spicy.

I like to use strong brewed tea.

We add brown sugar, salt, black peppercorn, bay leaf, garlic.

We'll let this cool.

Then we're gonna pour it over our ribs.

Wrap it up and let it brine overnight.

This is really a basic rub.

Brown sugar, smoked paprika,

garlic powder and onion powder all mixed up.

Cumin, chili powder, cayenne.

I'm ready for the smoker.

-Where you getting the smoke on this? -Hickory.

Slow cook for about an hour and a half to two hours.

[Guy] What's the slaw?

This is a cabbage and kale slaw.

Got a little jalapeno in there, a little onions.

-Got a little bite. A little spice. -Yeah?

Delicious. Great smoke on that rib.

Tender, but not falling off the bone.

A nice little char to it.

A good rub. What's this bad boy?

[Deborah] This is a sweet sauce that has a little bit of heat.

Ketchup, tea, brown sugar,

apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire,

fresh lemon juice, liquid smoke,

kosher salt, cumin, chili powder, cayenne. Give us that heat.

Garlic powder and onion powder.

Dijon mustard.

[Guy] Ribs are dynamite.

-Delicious. -Thank you so much.

[man] The sweet tea ribs.

These were just nice and tender.

It melts in your mouth.

[woman] I love the smokiness of them.

The sweet and spiciness of the sauce.

[Guy] We're in Atlanta.

We're hanging out with my sister from another mister

who has way better hair than me.

And her style doesn't stop there.

Crawfish gravy black pepper biscuit.

[Guy] She's got plenty more Southern to feed your soul.

Her biscuits are absolutely phenomenal.

See you in a bit.

Welcome back, Twisted Soul,

Triple-D, Atlanta, Georgia.

We're hanging out with my sister from another mister.

[woman] I consider myself to be a decent cook.

But I could not do what Deborah does on my best day.

Where did you learn to cook?

My mom cooked, my grandmothers cooked, my aunts cooked.

-A little dance move just busted out. -Nah.

-You're wild. -I know, right?

Flight attendant.

-Well, cook that was acting to be a flight attendant. -Yeah.

-You were taking that as a food adventure. -Exactly.

-You weren't sitting in the hotel. -No.

[woman] It's a lot more to it than just food.

It's actually love being put into these dishes.

[Deborah] This is our seafood louie.

Now what are we doing?

So we're gonna do a play on the little crab louie salad.

You know, the Southern belles down here

used to do that at the tea party.

I've never been to a tea party.

-I've been to a kegger. -No. Tea party.

-Tea party is different? -Yeah.

So, first thing. Hoe cakes.

-Don't you say it. -Now, wait a second.

I don't wanna go out there into flavor town and say it the wrong way.

So how would one say what we're gonna make next?

Hoe cake.

-Hoe cake. -Yes.

Did I get it right?

[Deborah] We've got self-rising cornmeal,

baking soda, eggs,

buttermilk, avocados.

I've never seen the avocado combo.

[Deborah] Red pepper, onions,

jalapenos, oil, cilantro.

[Guy] And that's all she wrote.

-What do we got next? -Next, we're gonna poach the seafood.

A little oil. Shrimper down.

-Shrimper down a little bit now. -Shrimper down.

Lobster down, water.

[indistinct]

-A little bit of crab oil. -A little bit of crab oil.

Lump crab.

A little poach being delicate.

[Deborah] Yeah, and then we let them cool.

And then we'll be ready for the salad.

And put a little arugula, corn relish.

And then the hoe cake is what puts it over the top.

-There you go. -Shrimp.

And our lobster.

Lump crab, mango vinaigrette.

Too pretty to eat.

It is kind of cute, isn't it?

That is delicious.

There's not many salads that I would order again.

I would order that every time.

You've always had such a big following in Atlanta.

Yes. Things just took off.

-Yeah. -No airplane pun intended.

Even though she was a flight attendant.

Deborah Vantrece leaves a mark.

She can just about cook anything.

Crawfish gravy black pepper biscuit.

What's this bad boy?

-I know it's biscuits. -This is biscuits and gravy.

[Guy] All right.

[Deborah] Okay. So I did a little Creole version of it.

So the biscuits have a little scallion,

goat cheese and black pepper to 'em.

-[Guy] A little black pepper? -Yes.

[Guy] A little black pepper?

No. What you're probably tasting

is that heat in that gravy.

-Oh, that was it? -Yeah, that crawfish gravy.

So it's got butter and oil,

and we've got a little bit of flour,

onions, celery, and peppers,

chopped garlic, some chicken broth,

Creole seasoning, old bay, cayenne, crab oil.

I'm gonna start adding in my crawfish.

A little heavy cream, water,

cooking sherry, Italian parsley,

simmer for 15 minutes.

-This is delicious. -Well, good.

If you're gonna do something Creole,

you know, Granddaddy always said,

"It's gotta have some spice to it."

-Your granddaddy was from? -Louisiana.

Everything in your back story folds into your menus.

That's what I like.

[woman] Here are crawfish biscuits.

[woman 1] Her biscuits are absolutely phenomenal.

It's got so much texture. That gravy on the crawfish is amazing.

Congrats on all your success.

You deserve every single bit.

[Deborah] Since Triple-D, I've opened Oreatha's At The Point.

Oreatha was my mom's name.

It's kind of an owe to her and moms everywhere.

So we play on comfort foods that your mother would cook for you.

I firmly believe that Deborah's restaurants

are some of the best in Atlanta.

You have reinvented yourself.

-Yeah. -That's what's so great to watch.

I don't see the sunset.

Not yet. I'm having fun.

[Guy] Coming up in Syracuse, a pasta institution...

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

...Where the sauce really sings...

It's ridiculous. That's not fair.

...And the meatballs are their thing.

Are you kidding? They're the best.

Mmm. That's an awesome dish.

I'm here in Armory Square in Syracuse, New York.

This place here, I hear they make their own sauce,

they make their own bread and they make their own pasta.

And since I was there in 2012, it's become a family affair.

So now, there's no telling how far this place is gonna go.

I mean, Pastabilities are endless.

We've got a carbonara fettuccine ready to run.

Pastabilities is definitely the place to go.

Dinner, drinks, lunch.

[woman] The hot vodka fettuccine.

This place has a great combination of a super friendly vibe.

And then there's the food.

Pesto angel here for ya.

There's a huge sign up that says that Guy was here,

which is definitely a stamp of approval.

It's the heart of the community.

We started in 1982.

We had $15,000.

You started your first joint with 15 grand?

-That was self service cafeteria stuff. -Okay.

It started, it morphed to change.

-And then you exploded. -Yep.

[Guy] And now things are blowing up even more,

with owner Karyn Korteling, joining forces

with her daughters, Rachel and Rylan.

It's just a real family team now.

I've got the wicked chicken riggies.

The riggies is very popular.

We are starting with our wicked chicken riggies.

-Wait there now. It's called riggies? -Riggies.

These parts, chicken riggies rule.

First we're gonna start with olive oil,

garlic, sweet onions.

And we'll just let that simmer for a moment.

Then we go to our peppers.

Yellow peppers, sweet red, green.

-A little jalapeno. -So it's got some spice to it?

Well, we call it wicked for a reason, you know.

-Oregano. -Red chili flake.

[Karyn] Cayenne pepper.

The pepper to everything else ratio is starting to go up.

[Karyn] Salt, dried basil, and black pepper.

And next up, this beautiful tomato sauce?

What's this little--

Oh, that's the wicked.

-This is the wicked? -That's the wicked.

-How hot is that? -I'd say it's hot.

It's chipotle peppers,

chili peppers, and spiced oil.

-You're not joking when you call it wicked. -Mmm-mmm.

Cream. Let it simmer for 45 minutes.

Add the sugar, Romano cheese.

[Guy] Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

-Should we let it simmer down? -Yep.

And next we'll work on what?

-We gotta chicken it. -We're gonna chicken it?

We're gonna chicken it.

Sliced chicken breast, a little salt and pepper.

-[Guy] So the chicken's ground up nicely? -Yep.

Cream chicky riggie sauce.

Then I pour my riggies in, coat it all.

Here you go.

And she's done.

Hmm.

That's an awesome dish.

Pasta's nice. Not overly spicy.

-Love it. -Thank you.

[man] Riggies up.

Chicken riggies was a big hit before, and now, it's even a bigger hit.

I love the chicken riggies. The sauce is amazing.

And the new dish, the pasta-cini has the exact same sauce.

[woman] Wicky-wicky pasta-cini.

We're making our wicky-wicky pasta-cini.

This is basically like an arancini.

So we blanched our angel hair.

Of course we gotta put the famous wicky-wicky sauce.

Romano cheese.

Shredded mozzarella, whipped egg.

Give it a nice mix.

And now we're gonna add our ricotta.

And we'll make it into balls.

A little bit more of our riggie sauce for our wet dredge

and squeeze out your ball.

Roll it a little bit more, put it on the sauce tray.

This is our stretch breadcrumbs.

Now these are ready to fry up.

Wicky-wicky sauce,

wicky pasta-cini balls,

locatelli cheese, green onion.

Wicky-wicky pasta-cini.

Pasta-cinis.

Perfect mix of like, spicy but not too spicy richness.

Basically heaven in a bowl. [chuckles]

[man] It's our spicy tomato oil for ya.

I love the hot oil.

I'm obsessed with it.

Let's go. Let's fire it up.

[Karyn] Add our tomato puree, salt.

A little bit of honey, chili mixture.

-The oil that had the garlic flavor. -Yep.

Stir our garlic back in.

-[Guy] Now we're ready to taste it? -Now we're ready to taste it.

I can't come back and hang out with you anymore.

This is ridiculous. That's not fair.

It went crazy when the show aired.

People coming in, looking for it, asking for it,

taking it on their way out the door.

It's a little bit hot, spicy, and then the garlic.

Oh, it's so yummy.

All the sauces are amazing, but I love the meatballs.

Are you kidding? They're the best.

[man] And here's our meatball bake.

Our meatball bake is topped with our 50-50 sauce.

It's like the hot oil, but it's not quite as hot.

So we're gonna start with chopped onions and garlic.

Salt, pepper, dry Italian spices,

sugar, fresh parsley.

Add our tomatoes and let it cook for about four hours.

What we're gonna do next,

is combine our house tomato sauce into our hot tomato oil.

We're gonna blend it all up,

and then I'll be ready for our meatball bake.

I'm gonna take my beef here and mix it in with the pork.

Liquid egg here.

Romano cheese, breadcrumb,

garlic, basil, parsley, black pepper,

salt, a little bit of sugar.

Form them into meatballs

and put them for about 45 minutes.

Ladle some of the 50-50 sauce.

Our shredded mozzarella mix.

Put this in the salamander.

Whipped ricotta on top, a little bit of basil, and voila.

Meatball baked, ready to run.

[man] It's super savory and I'm addicted.

Every time we come to pastas now, that's what I get.

[Guy] Do you think this would be what it all came to?

I didn't know where I was going with us.

I just love food, you know?

Well, it comes to you really well.

Very proud of you.

-Thank you. -Congratulations.

Up next...

Mmm. Rock star, man.

An old school spot given new life.

-[woman] Went from broke. -Yes, you did.

But keeping things classic.

Mmm-hmm. I mean, that's just good old stick to your ribs.

I'm about five miles east of the center of Indianapolis,

and I've got one of those great Triple-D stories.

Local hangout about ready to close down,

until a mother and son team up,

buy the place, resurrect it, and keep a tradition alive.

It may have been 2011 when I stopped by the first time.

But here, time stands still.

And that tradition of scratch-made-classics is still going strong.

This is Indy's Historic Steer-In.

[man] Wings for the bar.

Guy definitely picked a great spot coming here.

Everybody loves it.

[man] When I first started coming here in 1970,

there was cars everywhere, just like his.

But that was all new back then.

This is the best diner in town.

Twin steer burger, pick it up.

I happen to be here for the filming of the first episode.

Every neighborhood needs a joint, like this, man.

It's been a staple for my entire life over here.

[Guy] And it's still going strong.

Run by Casey Kehrer, his wife, Christine, and his mom, Barb,

who took a gamble and bought the joint in 2008.

Where'd you guys get the money?

We used her retirement money.

[laughs] Yeah.

Went from broke.

Yes, you did.

Here you go, Dan. Your lasagna.

Barbara and Casey, they're always here, smiling faces.

The food really hasn't changed.

The quality has always been great.

They have great meatballs.

[man] Meatballs up.

Is your family Italian?

No, they're not. We're German-Irish.

My dad lived near a bunch of Italians, though.

-All right. We start with veal. -[Guy] Ground chuck.

Some sweet Italian sausage.

Three meats at a burger joint. Dude.

Eggs, bread crumbs, fresh basil, minced garlic,

oregano, minced onions, Parmesan cheese,

pepper, salt, milk.

This is like meatball 101.

It's all here. Go fold that together.

Let's make meatballs.

-[Guy] Cook 'em off at 350? -Right.

Everything's good to go.

[Casey] Yeah, we're warming the meatballs up.

-[Guy] Reheat them on the flattop? -Right.

While those are cooking,

-take our bread. -For the marinara.

Lots of cheese. Throw that under the salamander.

-The cheese is melted. -[Guy] Nice.

Yeah. Look at those.

That's a big portion.

-A little marinara. -Marinara on top there.

Guess what? Hot.

-[Casey] I got to cut it. -Look at that.

Oh. That's a real good meatball sandwich.

-What's your last name? -Kehrer.

-Oh, Kehrer-leone? -Yeah, O'leone.

Oh, Kehrer-leone? Yeah. That's what I thought it was.

We still do meatballs by hand.

And since the show was on, we'd sell 200 a week.

[Guy] So, when you guys took it over, you said,

"Mom, one of the things we need to do, make meatballs

-like we used to have when we were kids." -Yeah.

We've kept our menu, um, pretty much the same.

We offer a little bit of everything.

My favorite thing is the tenderloin.

Pork tenderloin for Triple-D Nation.

In Indianapolis, the pork tenderloin sandwich is the go-to.

I mean, it's like the biggest thing here.

We have our double-cubed pork chop.

Pound it out a little so it's bigger than the bun.

Then we dredge it, and this is our breading.

All-purpose flour, granulated onion, granulated garlic,

coarse black pepper, seasoned salt.

So, we go from our breading to our buttermilk

and back to our breading. Now, we're ready to fry.

It looks nice and golden brown.

Now, we dress our bun, mayonnaise, shredded lettuce, tomato slice and red onion.

And this is our Hoosier pork tenderloin sandwich.

All right, guys, have our Hoosier pork tenderloin.

The Hoosier pork tenderloin is the best.

The quality of the meat, the breading they use tastes very authentic.

It's always very tender.

They just cook it to perfection.

We make the pizza like that, too.

We make our own dough.

[Guy] Lay it out, throw it up.

-[Casey] Yeah. Tomato mix on top. -[Guy] Whoa!

Stuffed pizza, please. Look at this thing.

Hmm. Rock star, man.

[Casey] Thanks, man.

The stuffed pizza and the beef and noodles,

people come from all over for those items.

Beef and noodles is great here.

All right, Casey, what are we making?

We're gonna make beef and noodles.

[Guy] Beef and noodles is a staple?

[Casey] Yeah, pretty much around here.

Um, it's an old family recipe,

passed on a couple generations.

A little flour down, roll out the dough, just like Mom used to do.

We use the pizza rocker for cutting.

A couple chops this way.

Then we'll just kinda fluff it all up.

-And into the pot. -You cook the noodles

-actually in that broth? -We cook the noodles in everything, yeah.

We cook that down for 45 minutes, till the noodles are ready.

[Guy] Wait a second. We're serving up

-the starchy pasta with potatoes? -Yeah, we are, yeah.

-It's probably an Indiana thing now. -I guess.

-[Casey] So, we're ready. -[Guy] Ooh.

-Mm-hmm. I mean, that's just good old stick to your ribs. -[Casey] Yeah.

[Guy] I'll back for this.

[employee] One beef and eggs.

Breakfast, dinner, whatever, yeah, that's just good food.

[employee] Reuben in the window. Pick it up.

The Reuben, the way that the corned beef mix in

with the little special sauce, it just comes together.

We start with making the brine.

We add paprika, rosemary, fennel,

a lot of coarse black pepper, granulated garlic and onion,

sugar, brown sugar, cloves, bay leaves and the pink cure.

Pour it over the brisket.

Now, we add a little bit more water to cover.

Put it in the cooler for seven days.

We're gonna take it out of the tub.

Put a little liquid on top to cover.

Seven hours in the oven. It's ready to go.

Now, we slice it for sandwiches.

Start with marble rye, add Swiss cheese,

sauerkraut and the corned beef.

Okay, now we build the sandwich.

Load up my sauerkraut.

This is a classic Thousand Island

that goes great with our corned beef.

Here's our corned beef, and we top it off.

And this is our Reuben sandwich, served with onion rings.

[waitress] Our Reuben sandwich.

A lot of meat on it, a lot of corned beef, it's thick,

a lot of cheese, and the way it's grilled is good.

The rye bread, everything just blends well.

So, your mom works here now?

-Yeah. She retired to come here and work more. -What did she do?

[Casey] She was a maintenance supervisor at a food flavoring plant.

-So, now she maintains the flavor here? -Yeah.

There's not a day that goes by that someone doesn't come in

that mentions the show.

We've had people from all over the world.

I have our spaghetti and meatballs.

It's just great food,

great staff, always a good time.

[Man] This is the old diner life.

-[Guy] This is the old hangout? -This is it, man.

-What a cool thing to, to get it. -Yeah. It--

It was neat to save it from going away.

-Gotta come check these guys out. -...

Got a meatball bake...egg.

Hot, ready. Pick it up.

That's it for this road trip,

but certainly not the end of our walk down memory lane.

We're gonna need more corned beef on the line.

There are plenty of other places flexing their culinary muscle.

Let's go! Let's go!

Excellent. Thank you so much.

[Guy] And we'll check 'em out, folks,

next time on Triple-D Nation.

I can pick up my collards.

-I'm gonna do it. -[Guy] It's on.

Hmm.

-Oh, you going big bite on that? -Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Now, I'm gonna ask you a lot of questions.

[mumbling]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You got to--

It was your chance to share.