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I'm Guy Fieri, and we're rolling out
looking for America's greatest diners, drive-ins, and dives.
This trip...
O-M-G.
...I'm taking a killer food vacation
in sunny San Diego.
Well, that's a great start. Now what are we making?
There's the Ocean Beach burger shack
where my brother from another mother...
This is gonna be stupid delicious.
...is raising the bar on big-time burgers.
Call your mommy! That's a lot of pastrami!
[ Laughs ]
And just down the street, a noodle house...
Unbelievable.
...making making phat pho...
Phoggedaboutit.
...way-out wings...
I'll be Jumping Bullet.
You be...
...Hoppin' Arrow.
KYLE: Can you feel the heat?
I can feel the heat.
And I can't leave without a pit stop in North Park...
Whoa! Look at that move.
...for a slice from a "Triple D" legend.
They're gonna throw you out of Italy?
That's all right here, right now, on "Triple D."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
I'm here in San Diego,
or "San Diago" as Ron Burgundy would call it,
and I'm in Ocean Beach.
I come down here for a lot of reasons.
But I got to be honest,
the main reason is to see my brother from another mother.
That's right -- the burger bad boy,
the dude that's got a tattoo of me on his leg.
Yeah, Mike Hardin.
We're here for a revisit and update at Hodad's.
Un hamburguesa.
The best hamburger in America.
FIERI: Not much has changed
since we first visited the original Hodad's back in 2007.
Lean over and trough it.
You got a couple more license plates...
It just gets more and more out of bounds.
...a longer line...
Go ahead and show them the weirdness.
...and there's that tattoo I told you about.
Hoo-hoo-hoo!
Oh, there's one other thing.
I have something called a *** burger.
You've been asking me for a couple years
to make pastrami burger.
Yeah.
MAN: Here comes a ***.
You guys want try a *** burger?
Let's go do a *** burger.
Let's rock 'n' roll.
So, what we do is we start off by putting the bun on.
No butter, no nada?
Okay. Okay.
But it does need -- It needs a little spice.
So you put a little spice on the bun,
and that just kind of helps.
That's what you want -- a little crust to it.
Go right ahead.
That's a 1/3 pound.
Always like to put a little spice on top of there, too.
It's a season salt.
Put some scores on there to kind of flatten it out a little bit.
I'm gonna put pastrami on.
You're gonna think, "Oh, no, he's not gonna put
"this much pastrami on.
Oh, no, wait. How much is he putting on?"
Call your mommy! That's a lot of pastrami!
[ Laughs ]
I do like the crust.
I do like the crust.
Little bit of spice -- little bit.
Now what we're gonna do, on the bottom bun,
we're gonna put ketchup on it.
Now, this is really the clincher.
It's the kosher dill pickle chips.
These are amazing. You're gonna love this.
Now, you always go counter-clockwise, always.
It changes the flavor.
You go the other way, and it's not kosher anymore.
You don't want that.
Now, the Swiss cheese -- A lot of people don't like Swiss
'cause it has holes in it.
I say, "Well, just eat around it."
You know, you don't really have to eat --
Okay.
Good call.
Now, I am gonna put the pastrami on top of there
'cause that's actually gonna help.
Now, we're not done.
We're gonna put some grilled, caramelized onions
on top of that.
Oh, here we go.
Isn't that silly?
That's crazy.
Now, crème de la crème, whatever that means.
We use a brown mustard.
Put plenty of mustard on there. Look at that.
Now, I'm gonna put this on top.
This is gonna be stupid delicious.
I like that.
I'm gonna bring it over.
Oh, my gosh. Look at that.
Now, this is the burger diaper.
We're gonna surround this thing.
Look at that. [ Laughs ]
That's it.
No, no, no, no.
I need, like, a shampoo.
[ Laughter ]
Delicious burger, but look at this pastrami.
Real deal.
I like how you crisp it up on the flattop,
and the Swiss cheese.
You give such a great product.
The burger's righteous.
Such an eclectic experience.
When somebody names a burger of this magnitude after you,
you can't say anything but...
I love you, man. You're the bomb.
Thanks, brother.
All right. We got a ***!
The pastrami just makes this burger.
It just melts in your mouth.
The flavor's amazing.
So, you got a "Triple D" joint for me?
There's a place in Ocean Beach
that's called the OB Noodle House.
Oh, yeah! Heck yeah!
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah!
All right.
Hanging out with Mike Hardin at Hodad's in O.B.
And when we come back, we're hitting the...
See you in a bit.
Let's go.
All right, Hodad. This is the joint.
How's the food?
Food's amazing, and the story is even better.
That's my kind of joint.
This is the OB Noodle House.
Spicy garlic wings.
Table two ready. Take it out.
STEVE: Chicken and lettuce wrap is done.
This is the best restaurant in Ocean Beach.
FIERI: A little corner of San Diego built on sun, sand, and surf.
Ocean Beach is one of the last remaining
old-school beach communities in California.
'Sup, brother?
...the owner of the Noodle House.
Oh, you're gonna love it.
Mike should know.
He's been lining up since '08,
when Steve and Kyle Yeng first opened the doors.
The brothers are awesome. They work well together.
FIERI: Taking up the Chinese culinary path
their parents laid down when they came to the U.S.
in the '90s.
House special fried rice.
Sizzling fish.
Outstanding.
It's really hard to beat a big bowl of pho
after a mid-morning surf session.
Phoggedaboutit.
It would be pho -- P-H-O.
BOTH: "Fa."
This is what goes into your pho?
Oh, I got to see this.
All right, so, start it off. First thing up.
Uh-huh. Load up the bones.
Uh-huh.
Oxtails.
Next, we got briskets.
60, 70 pounds.
Yeah, it's a ton of meat.
And here, it's called drop flank.
Flank.
This is a very, very tough meat.
Where does it come from?
The cow's chin.
And the last thing that goes out is the tendons.
Beef tendons.
Uh-huh.
I mean, I know that we don't use the bones,
so when the meat starts to cook and it gets done,
We'll pull that out.
About five hours or so.
So it doesn't overcook too much.
Wow. What a process. Every day?
BOTH: Every day.
So, we got to flavor the meat, also.
This is rock sugar, rock candies.
And salt.
We actually don't dump all of it out,
only about half of it.
This one is shallots that we have peeled and grilled.
This is ginger that we peeled and also grilled.
The cinnamon's are big.
You can throw it in the soup, also.
Those you can dig out. You can find those.
We let this go for about another 45 minutes or so.
And the last step, we actually make a spice basket.
Toasted star anise.
A lot of cloves.
Lots of cloves.
Here we got fennel seeds.
Got it.
Uh-huh. And then we close the baskets here.
Take the basket of fun, we drop that in.
15, 20 minutes.
And at the same time, you can also add fish sauce.
Bring it to a boil.
Yes.
Of concentrated broth.
Wow. What a process.
So, this is the brisket that cooked in there,
the flank that cooked in there,
the tendon that cooked in there.
Rare steak and tripe.
So, we grab fresh rice noodles.
This is hot boiling water.
Pretty much just cook it
for maybe about five, six seconds.
That's it.
Next, we get the noodle here and put some brisket...
then some flank...
and these are some tendons.
Put some onions, tripes on the side...
some green onions...
couple of layers of rare meat in here.
This is how much meat you put in this bowl?
That's why we call it a number-one special.
Now we put some broth.
Then a little cilantros.
Just like that. It's done.
I just want to try this broth by itself.
Unbelievable.
Look how clear it is.
Like consommé.
Mmm.
And to kick it up, you can actually add the sauté sauce --
give it a little extra flavor.
Get a little bit of spice in there.
Sauté.
You're gonna have a pretty tough time finding it this good.
You got a new brother at OB Noodle House, man.
Number one -- OB special pho.
I've had a lot of pho.
This really is of the best. Don't you agree?
This is excellent.
Ocean Beach is a really small beach community.
They're very proud of their identity.
This restaurant definitely fits it.
40-plus taps of really good beer.
FIERI: And what goes with beer?
Of course, wings.
Spicy garlic wings.
MAN: The absolute best wings that I've ever had.
We're gonna make the sauté sauces
that we use for our garlic wings.
Start by just turning up the fire.
It's pretty hot.
Can't wear a little hair-care product and be around that.
Okay. So, hot oil.
STEVE: Hot oil.
Brown ginger, into the hot oil.
There we go.
Ground lemongrass.
Nice.
And then we got the ground onions.
And then we stir this for about 40 minutes.
Who stands here for 40 minutes and stirs this?
So, now it's sautéed down.
Okay.
Seriously.
You got the habañero.
Habañero.
I'll be Jumping Bullet.
You be...
Hoppin' Arrow.
All of it.
[ Whistles ]
So hot.
Thai chili pepper.
[ Whistles ]
Peanut butter. Good old peanut butter.
Hoisin sauce. Just give it a sweetness to it.
And a little color.
And then I'm gonna stir it.
How long is this gonna cook down?
Let it cook for an hour until the oils start boiling,
and then let it simmer and get all the flavor for a day or so.
Yep.
What are we gonna make next?
Wings. You got to look at these suckers.
We prefer to use the mid-thighs.
We got some garlic, salt, pepper, sugar.
Make sure we get all the wings in there.
Now we add the chili-oil sauté we just made.
Okay. So, let them marinate for a day...
...and drop them in the fryer.
350.
350.
All right. So, the wings are done.
Now we put on the wok.
My brother Kyle, the wok master.
Okay. So, hot oil.
Garlic.
We're gonna put some pepper.
Uh-huh.
Some wings.
On top of that, put a little seasoning.
Sugar, granulated garlic, and white pepper.
And this one, some green onions.
And that's it.
So, a nice little crisp.
Quick, little sauté.
[ Whistles ]
Gonna be a little spicy, but let me know how you like it.
Get some ranch.
Garnish it with some cilantros.
Yeah.
A little bit of heat, not too much.
Good amount of spice to it, little bit of sweet,
just a little bit of the crispiness on the skin.
They're tender. They're juicy.
There's a lot of flavor, a lot of depth of flavor.
I'm impressed.
Tell me that wing is not the bomb.
Oh, man. That is excellent.
Not too spicy on the outside,
but just the right amount of heat.
Really, really good wing.
House special fried rice.
FIERI: Rocked out with their dad's signature sausage
when we come back.
O-M-G in O.B.
FIERI: "Triple D" is in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego,
digging in to the OB Noodle House,
a dream locale for Steve and Kyle Yeng,
Chinese immigrants with one heck of a back story.
My grandparents and my parents both are Chinese.
They immigrated down to Cambodia
to escape the communists, the war, and all that.
And life was good for a while
until they got caught in the whole Khmer Rouge genocide.
Which sent them to Thailand, where their dad, Yaoshir Yeng,
used his signature sausage recipe
to move the family to Cali.
Your dad really changed your life, his life, everyone's life
Mm-hmm.
And the savory links have always had a home
in mom's family recipe.
House special fried rice. Table three.
Hand-diced pork butts.
Yeah, we actually do it by hand,
so that way there's a little more texture to it.
We have a combination of salt and sugar and soy sauce.
And what in the world is this?
This is the secret recipe.
I see star anise.
Tremendous amount of star anise.
Clove.
Uh-huh.
Sake.
Yeah, sake.
It's been sitting here for at least a year.
Crazy.
Different ingredients, and you don't add too much of it.
It's pretty strong.
And pretty much like that.
So, you mix this up.
You mix them up.
Put the casing onto a little sausage stuffer there.
You have natural casings there.
Let's turn on the machine.
There you go.
There you go.
All right.
And you start to pinch it off now.
Once you go ahead and make the sausage, you're gonna tie it.
Mm-hmm.
And we just kind of poke some holes in them
That'll let some of the air out.
By putting it in the oven -- 160 degrees.
Probably like a day or so, just to get the moisture out.
I have to just try this sausage 'cause it's sitting here.
O-M-G in O.B.
It's got a richness, a little bit on the sweet side,
and awesome texture on the outside of it, chewiness.
Well, that's a great start. Now what are we making?
Okay.
Fresh jasmine rice.
And here's the seasoning for rice.
You know, there's some salt, some pepper, some garlic,
and put a little sauté sauce that we just made earlier,
chopped sausage,
and here we also have jumbo shrimps
and some beef strip loins that we fried up.
Is there any marinade on this meat or anything?
A little salt, sugar.
Here's some Chinese broccoli that we have to blanch in water
really, really fast.
Put a little oil.
We have these eggs right here.
It looks red because we actually mix it with Sriracha.
Chopped onions. Now we put the rice in.
Just constantly shaking it. Make sure it doesn't burn.
Can you feel the heat?
I can feel the heat.
So, after it dries out a little bit,
add the Chinese broccoli that we blanched earlier.
Put some green onion into it.
Put a little swirl of our sesame oil
and just a dash of soy sauce.
That's it?
That's it.
Dude, that is smoking hot.
Yeah.
Cilantro. There you go.
Mmm.
All the rice is separated.
You do get a little bit of the heat from the Sriracha.
The sauté, also.
The sauté.
But honestly, the sweetness of the sausage
just kind of marries it all together.
Mmm.
All right.
All right, you guys.
I've got an order of house special fried rice for you.
Every bite is full of flavor,
and you really can't get the taste anywhere else.
The best fried rice I've ever had, honestly.
I come here once a week because the food's so great.
Really a pleasure. You guys are the best.
Hey, group hug.
We're doing a team hug. Very nice, guys.
Yeah!
Oh! The OB Noodle House rocked.
So, listen, I still got a little time left in the show.
What do you say when we come back,
we go for a little blast from the past here in San Diego?
I feel like some Italian. See you in a bit.
So, here I am in the final leg of my San Diego tour,
and like I said, I'm feeling like some Italian,
but not just any Italian,
some really killer thin-crust pizza.
So, there's only one place for me to go,
and that's to visit the newest location
of the "Triple D" favorite -- This is Pizzeria Luigi.
It's my favorite pizza in town.
Seriously.
WOMAN: It's fresh-baked.
The crust is amazing.
There's a lot of love into it. It's really good.
FIERI: And since our visit in '08...
Oh, you gonna go round? Little dance?
..."Triple D" fans have given Luigi Agostini so much love
that he opened a second joint in an area called North Park,
expanding the menu to 25 totally unique pies.
You tell your friends back in Italy
this is what kind of pizza you're making, what are they gonna say?
They're gonna throw you out of Italy?
Until they try them.
'Cause who's gonna deny a white, veggie pie
called "The Fresh Prince,"
a baked-potato style called "The Sports Bar"...
This is one of my favorites.
...or a marinara meatball pie called "The Crime Scene"?
But I'm here today to get my Italian brother Luigi
out of his comfort zone.
So, every time Luigi and I get together,
we make some kind of unique pizza.
I want to think about what we can do for a pizza here,
Sounds cool.
FIERI: I'm in the spicy mood right now.
Got any hot sauce around here?
Well, I got some wing sauce.
Yes.
Whoa! Look at that move.
Now, I like, here at Pizzeria Luigi
how they take everything, and it's in a nice big format,
but I want to chop this up.
I want this all to work together.
So, pepperoni, some sausage.
We'll grab some red onion, some jalapeño.
Get it on.
Okay.
Meatball on top of that, too?
There's meatball on there, also.
Ready to go? Let's get her in.
Oh, hang on. Hang on.
It needs some red chili flake.
We don't need no stinking lid.
[ Laughs ]
Beautiful.
It's gonna be hot.
Bye-bye. Bye. See you.
FIERI: Got to come up with a name.
Something like "hot."
Diablo.
I say "El Diablo."
That looks good, man.
Now, we have to appropriately garnish it.
A little bit of Sriracha.
A little wing sauce.
Anybody wants to die?
Where's the cutter?
Oh, boy.
It's got a lot flavor.
Nice little vinegar coming from the wing sauce.
Mmm.
Chopped up meat's nice on top of it.
But I think the Sriracha and the wing sauce,
the jalapeños, all that coming together
gives it a little bit of a sting.
Mmm. I love the spice.
[ Laughs ]
He's starting to sweat. Look at that. Right there.
El Diablo.
I like it.
Come on down to Pizzeria Luigi's second location.
You can get this.
We won't tell the first location about this.
No, no. Just keep it a secret.
Same to you, man.
Damn good. Oh, it's super kicky. I love it.
That is when your pizza is done right.
The pizza love that's coming, pouring off that.
It's kind of like --
Yes, it is.
It is the mark of excellence.
In the world of pizza authorities,
this guy sits on the board.
He's the man.
Good job, brother.
So, that's it for this road trip.
But don't worry.
We got plenty more joints to find all over this country.
I'll be looking for you next time
on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives."
Uh, hello.
Just so you know, I'm trying to do an interview over here.
But how about you come on back and have a seat?
Yeah, you want to -- Okay, great.
Well, it's really been a pleasure.
See you later. Adiós.
BOY: A bug!
Oh, a bug. [ Laughs ]