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Hey, everybody.
I'm Guy Fieri, and we're rolling out
looking for America's greatest diners, drive-ins, and dives.
Take me to promised land.
My ma said we couldn't do it.
...especially when they're passing on the family secrets.
Oh, talk to me.
Now we're cooking with gas.
...an Italian-American spot digging into grandpa's playbook.
This is the old-school Italian gravies
and meatballs and pasta.
In Troutdale, Oregon...
This is starting to get a little surreal.
...the outdoor patio paradise...
Yee-ha! Peow!
...run by a rock star dishing out her mama's favorites.
My mom came from the old school and did it all.
And in San Francisco, California...
That level phenomenal.
...authentic Mexican
cooked up by the third generation.
Do I have any on my face?
All over your face.
That's all right here, right now,
on "Triple D."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
So, I'm here in Troutdale, Oregon,
about 18 miles from downtown Portland
to check out a joint here on Highway 30
right along the Sandy River
that opened in the 1940s feeding loggers and locals.
Well, it turned into all kinds of restaurants
until it ended up being closed as a biker bar.
It's been reopened, refurbished, and renewed
by a local restaurant owner that I hear is a real firecracker.
This is Shirley's Tippy Canoe.
Hey, diner guy.
You want to race for some pink slips?
[ Tires squeal ]
MAN: If I would describe Shirley in one phrase,
it would be high-speed, low-drag.
Quite the sassy little gal.
FIERI: A sass that 40-year restaurant vet Shirley Welton
brought to the table when she picked up this joint in '07.
You might say it was a biker bar.
It used to get pretty rough here.
Shirley has done a wonderful job here.
I think she's Superwoman.
No, no, no. Just have a lot of energy.
That's all. [ Laughs ]
This is starting to get a little surreal.
But the food is keeping everything grounded.
Captain's plate.
Everything Shirley does is homemade and fresh.
MAN: Thank you.
FIERI: Just the way her mama taught her.
Well, we're gonna make sloppy joes.
I'm gonna go ahead and cut it in half.
Where did you learn to cook?
You're amazing.
Fool around.
[ Laughs ]
[ Laughs ]
All right. We're gonna take this and go grind it up?
Okay, let's do it.
We're gonna grind it twice.
Yes.
We're making gunpowder?
We're making gunpowder, and that's our spices.
All this goes to gunpowder?
Salt, paprika.
Then we're gonna go ahead and put some celery salt in it.
And we're gonna put nutmeg, curry.
Just a little.
Allspice, ground white pepper.
Thank you. Thyme after thyme, huh?
Ground bay leaves.
And marjoram?
Coriander.
Oh, cayenne.
Whoa!
Hey, we got to put some zip into it.
Got some garlic.
Oh, yeah.
Whoo! Whoo-hoo!
Lighten it up with the clove!
Trust me, honey.
Onion powder.
And there we go with onion powder.
50 points. Sage.
And the last one...
Yeah.
[ Laugh ]
I've never had more fun mixing spices.
Snap it down. Okay. There.
[ Whistles ]
Gunpowder.
Yee-ha! Peow!
Gonna make the sloppy joe.
Okay. Let's brown the meat here.
Next up, white onions.
Green peppers, celery, some cayenne, some salt.
We're gonna take some oregano,
chili powder, and bay leaves.
And then we have some minced garlic,
some black pepper, and then we have some cumin.
Yep. Give it a swirl here.
Get after this. It smells great so far.
WELTON: Okay.
Worcestershire sauce, vinegar.
Uh-huh.
[ Crickets chirping ]
Tomato sauce, tomato soup.
Now, how long are we gonna let this cook?
Oh, we're gonna simmer it for probably an hour.
And what are we gonna serve it with?
We're gonna serve it with a hamburger patty.
Gunpowder.
WELTON: Put the sauce on.
Cheese.
And then we're gonna steam it.
[ Whistles ]
Finish it off with a green onion.
I noticed that there's no top for the bun.
It's underneath there.
Mm.
Nice little medium-rare burger.
You get a lot of burger in this,
and it's not just a bunch of sloppy joe.
But this is hearty.
It's real food. That's the real deal.
That's a good burger -- sloppy burger joe.
[ Laughs ]
Not like a normal sloppy joe.
The spice on it that just lingers in your mouth.
It's a little bit sweet, too, so it's perfect for me.
FIERI: And getting here --
Well, that's half the adventure.
MAN: It's a very fun drive.
You sit out here in the beautiful Douglas fir trees
that are native to the Pacific Northwest.
Hamburger steak.
It doesn't matter what you have. It's always good.
Chicken fried steak.
WELTON: Table 8, Polish dip.
The Polish sausage French dip is very good.
FIERI: Pork butt. There you go.
Pork butt. There we are.
And this we're cutting up to make the Polish sausage?
Mm-hmm. My mom came from the old school.
You did it all, you know?
You cut and grind it yourself.
Kind of a course grind there.
Yes, it is.
Put half of the ingredients in,
then I put the seasoning in.
The garlic.
Pepper, salt, marjoram.
And then we put the rest in.
So it's right in the middle.
All right, here we go.
'Cause we don't have all day.
[ Shakily ] I can't hold onto it any longer.
Okay.
Make the patty, about 7 ounces.
And it has to be kind of elongated.
We're gonna put the sausage down.
Put a little butter here.
Put the onions.
Then we put the green pepper, the brown sugar,
and put it on the onions to caramelize the onion.
So, we cook both sides.
The au jus is ready.
Nice little toast on that.
[ Whistles ]
Paul Bunyan, or what?
And then we stab it.
The sausage sandwich usually is juicy enough.
Why put a dip with it?
Well, you try it and see what you think.
Good sausage sandwich, you know?
Peppers and onions, you can't beat that.
All right.
Mm-hmm.
That makes it. I mean, it's good as it is,
not overseasoned, the nice toasted bread.
Then that bread soaks up some of that jus.
When you stop by here, that's kind of
the old-school sandwich you'd want to have.
It's the best food around.
Just a wonderful, wonderful place.
FIERI: Just all the components, sitting in the nostalgic room,
it just has a really cool feel about it.
Make sure she's here when you come down.
Yum!
...we're headed to Carlsbad, California...
I'll take "tree" [three].
You want "tree" [three] of them?
...where family traditions...
No out of a mold with this one.
No. No molds.
...are spearheading authentic Italian eats.
Almost got it.
How about I just drag the sheets over the bed, boss?
So, I'm about 35 miles north of downtown San Diego
in Carlsbad, California.
And of all places, I'm in a strip mall.
They've got exactly what you'd expect --
grocery store, pet store, a gym.
I mean, the usual cast of characters.
And speaking of characters, I hear you got to check out
a joint where they're doing old-school,
East-Coast, Italian-American food.
This is Spirito's Italian Diner.
The food is awesome.
Chicken Parm with a side of manicot.
WOMAN: I come from an Italian heritage,
and when I smell his food cooking,
it takes me back.
FIERI: 'Cause owner Mike Spirito
is dishing up the Italian he learned
in his family's restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
This is the old-school Italian gravies
and meatballs and pasta.
East-Coast Italian.
But after a SoCal vacation in the winter of '78,
he brought his family recipes to the West Coast,
like Pizza di Politana, lasagna with meat sauce,
and of course, the gold standard.
Spaghetti meatballs.
FIERI: Smothered in the Spirito family marinara.
WOMAN: They're thick, they're meaty,
and the sauce over it just combines all the taste.
What are we gonna make?
Our Roman meatballs with the pignoli and raisins.
Yes.
Take the ground beef, add the eggs.
Italian parsley,
plain bread crumbs, not seasoned.
It's a combination Parmesan/Romano.
Do it before I eat all those pine nuts, man.
Then we've got a little black pepper, salted garlic.
Raisins.
And half the amount of the pine nuts that you need.
Because I've been eating them.
So, then we incorporate all the ingredients here.
And what size balls are you gonna form?
Okay.
Cook it off in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400.
We put some right in the gravy.
Okay, we're ready to go?
We're ready to go.
All right.
We got a couple of the meatballs soaking in the sauce.
How many meatballs you get with an order?
Whatever you want. Some people like three.
I'll take "tree" [three].
You want "tree" [three] of them?
A little Romano. A little pepper.
That's all she wrote.
That's old-school Jersey gravy.
Not overdone, not too spiced.
Good amount of garlic, though.
I'll tell you that much.
Look at the size of these things.
That's a really nice meatball.
Thank you.
I like it with that little raisin in there,
a little bit of the sweetness.
All right.
The garlic, the pine nuts, everything about it is fabulous.
As good as the food is,
we come here just as much to see Mike and the whole crew.
WOMAN: He likes to talk about
his history in New York and New Jersey
and all the things that he's done
and the places he's been, the places he's cooked.
FIERI: But he lets this big seller do all the talking.
We've got the raviolis with the meat gravy.
FIERI: A dish his grandpa started serving back in the '20s.
We're making handmade ravioli.
You really do this by hand all the time?
Yes.
It's nice, beautiful dough. Very soft.
No, I see it.
It's nice and silky and thin and not pulling back.
We're gonna work it.
Yeah.
All right. Looking good.
You almost got it to the corner.
About I just drag the sheets over the bed, boss?
All right.
Yes.
We've got the New York-style ricotta.
And then we have Parmesan,
fresh, chopped Italian parsley, black pepper, the eggs.
You're gonna do it with your hands?
I'm gonna do a little bit. Yeah, you know.
Hey, how, on the first one, did you already get me with it?
How? Because your finger was in the way.
There we go. We got the filling.
There we go. Then we take the egg wash.
So everybody sticks.
Whoa!
Yeah, these are nice-sized raviolis.
And then we'll be pulling the pasta over
to cover these babies.
Make the pocket there. Okay.
It's like a doctor doing surgery right now.
Very rustic.
No out of a mold with this one.
No. No molds.
We go straight into salted water.
They just take about 5 minutes to cook.
Look at the size of these monsters.
Four to a plate.
Goes beautiful with the meat gravy.
A little Parmesan, Pecorino, Romano.
Serve it with a little homemade foccacia.
And you're ready to go.
All right. Let's look at one of these monsters.
There's, like, 1/4 cup of the ricotta in there.
Oh, man.
The pasta itself is super tender,
and the ricotta inside of it is just creamy as can be.
Mmm.
Good old-school meat sauce right there, man.
Yum!
When I bite into that, it's like a pizzazz.
So, here's what's funny about this place.
You got this little mom-and-pop joint inside of a strip mall,
but you're doing it all real deal.
Keeping it real.
Mike, you're the best, man.
Up next...
This is everything but boring.
...we're headed north to San Francisco, California...
Oh, my gosh.
...for a new twist on old-school Mexican.
That was from one bite. That ridiculous.
[ Bell dings ]
So, I'm here in San Francisco, California,
in an area that I have driven through a million times
on the way to the airport but never visited.
It's called the Inner Sunset District.
Now, right across the street, Golden Gate Park.
Five miles that way, Ocean Beach.
And I'm here to check out a Mexican joint
that's doing it real deal.
This is Nopalito.
Something you're not gonna get at a typical taqueria.
MAN: Everything is homemade,
and that's part of the reason it's good.
FIERI: Well, that and the folks behind Nopalito,
Allyson Jossel and Jeff Hanack,
local restaurateurs who dug their chef, Gonzalo Guzman,
so much, they made him a partner.
He's always wanted to cook his cuisine,
and so it was just a logical choice
to open a restaurant to honor Mexican cuisine.
FIERI: Together, they opened this joint in 2012,
with a Mexico-meets-Bay Area attitude.
Pozoles up.
This pozole's probably one of the best I've ever had.
And a quesadilla...
Quesadilla Chicharrón is up.
...loaded with some of my favorite ingredients.
What are we on to, chef?
Carnitas for our Quesadilla Roja con Chicharrón.
Chicharrón I know to be the fried pork skin,
Yeah.
For the carnita, we're gonna do our bouquet,
which is just oranges with some onions.
Real cinnamon.
From Mexico, too. And then bay leaves.
Manteca, or lard.
If you're gonna do it, you got to use the lard.
We're gonna cook the pork in the manteca.
Unrefined Mexican sugar.
The bouquet goes in.
Now, that is a carnitas paddle, man.
And we're gonna let it go an hour, hour and a half.
Now what are we making?
We're gonna cook our pork skin for the chicharróns.
Poach it in hot water with a little salt.
Once it comes to a boil,
we're just gonna let it sit for two minutes.
Pull it out. Cool it down.
Cut it into pieces.
And then we're gonna dehydrate it in the oven overnight.
Look at this. It's practically a chip.
I mean, this thing is as hard --
That hard.
But that's awesome because the less moisture that's in it,
the more it's gonna bloom up when it fries.
Any moment, they're gonna start.
And you just go boom, boom, boom.
Look at that -- light and crusty.
[ Crunches ] Oh.
They're ready.
So, you're just gonna add the milk and dark beer.
And then we continue to cook for...
Right.
So, we're gonna pull out a little piece.
Then we're gonna add some salsa to it.
So, this is ready for our quesadilla.
Let's make our tortilla.
Masa.
And this is a paste, or adobo.
Yes.
Nice and red.
Some nice Jack cheese.
Some carnitas.
And then a little oil to fry it.
Just to put a little more crisp on it?
Now open it.
That's when we add our queso fresco.
The crunchy chicharróns go right inside.
Right inside.
Fresh cilantro and fresh onions.
Just close it, and pretty much, that's ready for you.
Now she's ready to go.
[ Whistles ]
The flavor's outrageous.
Light, crispy tortilla.
The crunch of the chicharrón. A pork that is super rich.
It's not just regular carnitas.
And usually, a quesadilla is most often boring.
This is everything but boring.
Wow. Right. That level phenomenal.
Give me two minutes, should be ready.
Reminds me of my grandmother's carnitas.
FIERI: Take everything that you thought was Mexican food
and take it a step further.
I'm hanging out with Chef Gonzalo.
And when we come back, I have to get ready
to experience torta to a whole nother level.
We'll see you in a little bit.
FIERI: Welcome back.
"Triple D" hanging out in San Francisco
with Chef Gonzalo at the Nopalito restaurant.
And I got to tell you something. The dude is real deal.
The Mexican food is like you've never seen before.
And now we're in to making...
Oh, exactly.
Which is a Mexican sandwich.
Mexican sandwich?
I assume chorizo is the foundation.
Chorizo's one of the ingredients.
All right. So, get us started, buddy.
Yeah.
Fresh garlic, coriander, cumin,
pinquito picante, dried thyme, ginger, cinnamon.
Marjoram?
Cloves, black pepper, nutmeg, dry oregano.
Pink curing salt.
Regular salt.
Adobo.
Apple cider vinegar.
Very nice.
Take me to promised land.
Oh, talk to me.
So, this salsa is the same base that we use for the pozole.
Okay.
So, we're gonna press a little bit.
You can see it's crispy on both sides.
When I open it,
you can see some steam coming, so it's hot inside.
Crispy on the outside.
Chorizo.
While we wait for that to get hot,
we're just gonna build the sandwich.
First, the avocado.
Put some of this salsa escabeche.
Pico jalapeño, so pico vegetable.
We've got Mexican jardiniere.
All right. Yeah.
Ohh!
Use some before you finish them all.
Make sure it's really hot.
Then we're gonna add some cabbage,
onions, mixed with some crema.
Queso fresco on top.
And then on the top side of the sandwich,
gonna put some crema.
That's your sandwich right there.
Oh, my gosh.
So, you've got to eat this with a beach towel.
Do I have any on my face?
All over your face.
That was from one bite.
That's ridiculous.
This right here is a complex dish made into a sandwich.
You get that little jardiniere.
You get that salsa, a little bit of the vinegar
cutting some of the sweetness of the potatoes and the queso.
Mmm.
It's not like any torta I think I've had.
There's a lot of depth. There's a lot going on.
It's an excellent sandwich.
Thank you.
In the category of Mexican food, this is wow.
Out of control.
Out of bounds.
This was an experience and then some.
This guy is incredibly talented.
In the "wow" factor, it's way up there.
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."
Hi, diner guy. You lost fair and square.
Where's the pink slip?
Got it right here.
How do I spell your last name, Shirley?
Which one? W-e-l-t-o-n.
Thank you very much.
[ Laughter ]