Hittin' The Grill

I'm Guy Fieri, and we're rolling out looking for America's greatest diners, drive-ins, and dives. This trip... This place is gonna be bouncing. ...we're hitting the grill... Out of bounds. ...with some worldwide flavor... Wow. ...in Los Angeles California. There's other magic in here. The buddy burger joint... This is kind of like The Rebels of Fairfax. ...going Mediterranean on the lamb... Look at the juice. That burger's rock star. ...and fiery on the pulled pork. It's up in the top 10. And in Tacoma, Washington... This is gonna be good stuff. ...the Belfast-inspired spot with a taste for the Middle East... All righty. ...going way beyond bar food. We're gonna kabob it up right now. From a homegrown take on kabobs... Right on. ...to a local spin... That's outrageous. ...on big-time beets. Off the chain. Honestly. That's all right here, right now, on "Triple D." -- Captions by VITAC -- Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC. When I was living down here in southern California, I used to cruise up and down Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles to go to work. It was always an area known for delis, bakeries, the farmers market, and now I guess you can say it's known for burger joints. Well, that's since this place opened up -- The Golden State. It's an amazing place. People come from all over the city to come here. Burger medium with fries up! This is the best burger I have ever had in my entire life. FIERI: Pretty high praise for a couple of restaurant rookies. Neither of you had culinary experience? Nothing that would say, "Hey, you should go open a restaurant." So, lifelong pals Jason Bernstein and James Starr ditched the corporate world to open this joint and found success with one simple formula. We're just trying to, like, do very clever things with very good quality ingredients. Like grass-fed beef in their spicy dog, locally made gelato in their beer floats, and fresh ground lamb for their burger coming from the farmers market right down Fairfax. MAN: It's got a great lamb taste, sort of a Mediterranean feel going on. MAN #2: That kind of stands alone just because they've chosen to use a different meat, which brings a different flavor, and all the ingredients are fresh. All right, what are we making now? We're gonna season the ground lamb for our lamb burger patty. All right. We're gonna start with some fresh chopped mint, parsley. Our house spice blend. It's made up of garlic powder, onion powder, and a little bit of oregano. There's other magic in here. But probably not legal in most states. Might not be. [ Laughter ] Some cumin and some oregano. You're taking this, mixing it up. You gonna let these flavors marry? Yeah, we'll let it rest for 20, 30 minutes. Not too long. Next up? We're gonna make the yogurt dill sauce for our lamb burger. Like a tzatziki of sorts? It is a tzatziki, yeah. It's like a variation on that. Start with some yogurt... dill... some mint, some cucumber. English cucumber? Persian cucumbers. We're in L.A., man. We got to represent. Lemon juice. I didn't know you were Persian. I'm not. But I do have some close friends who are Persian. Shout out to Sham Shabahain. All right. Did you just shout out on my show? Yeah. Please don't hurt me. A little bit of salt, black pepper, and again, our magical house seasoning. I want some more yogurt. Does that need more salt? Ooh, that's good tang on that yogurt. A little lemon juice helps. Good to go? Yeah, I think we're good to go now. We're gonna make some hand-cut roasted sweet potato wedges. Chop this bad boy up. We're gonna bake them first, and then we're gonna deep-dry them. Put a little crunch on the outside. Exactly Sort of like that Thanksgiving ham but crossed with a french fry. Dude. You look like you're gonna hurt yourself. Some olive oil. Salt and pepper. Toss, toss, toss. On to the sheet tray. Now we're gonna go right in the oven with these. What temp? 350 for about 45 minutes. [ Timer dings ] Bring them out, let them cool, and then we'll fry them again for service? Word. [ Sizzling ] Let's season the lamb patty and grill it up. We're gonna let that thing sear off for about three minutes on each side. Put some Gruyère cheese on top, throw it in the oven, let it lock all the juices in. Let's pull the lamb burger out of the oven. Got a little bit of that yogurt dill sauce that we made earlier. Lamb patty is next. Roasted red peppers. Little bit of arugula on top and some curry ketchup. Yes, sir. And our sweet potato wedges come out of the fryer. Put a little bit of salt, pepper, parsley, toss those up. There you go. So, here's the thing that you get -- great seasoning inside of the burger. The herbs, the fresh herbs in it really make it. Look at the juice coming out of the burger. Not overcooked. The Gruyère... nice and creamy on top. Sweetness of the roasted red bell peppers and then that little bit of that curry ketchup coming in there in the back comes together awesome. This is a real sweet potato. It's more like a Thanksgiving-style sweet potato in a french fry form. I'm gonna tell you, man, that burger's rock star. Lamb burger with sweet potatoes, table 10. It's really unique, and you can't beat the taste. The flavor really pops. These sweet potato fries are my absolute favorite. FIERI: When we come back... Wow. ...the sun keeps shining at The Golden State... It's really hot. ...with a spicy take on some pulled pork perfection. I've had a lot of pulled pork sandwiches. I know it's hard to tell. FIERI: We're hanging at The Golden State right off Fairfax Avenue in downtown L.A. Order's ready. Table number 4. A top-shelf burger joint owned by compadres Jason Bernstein and James Starr. Awesome. To find it, though, you got to keep your eyes from blinking. The location of this place is really cool. It's so unassuming. You wouldn't just, walking up the street, notice this place. And when you're grilling up flavors like this, you're bound to stand out. Funky little burger joint amongst all these delis and bakeries. This is kind of like The Rebels of Fairfax. From funky decorations to craft beer on tap to the outrageous take on this classic sandwich. Pulled pork sandwich in the window! FIERI: Topped with pickled jalapeños and a scratch-made mustard that'll make you cry uncle. MAN: It's really juicy pork. It's got some jalapeño in it for some kick. MAN #2: Super crunchy and super spicy. The flavor kind of spikes in a lot of different directions. All right, fire it up. We got the whole pork shoulder right here. We have salt, some more of our house seasoning, paprika, and black pepper. You gonna do a little rub to this, or...? Yeah, I usually massage the thing. Ohh, massage. Treat it like my girlfriend. There we go. Next up, we're gonna sear the pork shoulder on the stovetop. [ Sizzling ] Then we're gonna throw in some chopped onion. Chopped carrots, apple cider vinegar, some fresh beer off the tap. And how many beers do you guys... Very nice. How many do you have on tap? We have about 10 beers on tap. Yes, sir. And a little water. And some water for good measure, just to cover. How long's it gonna go? It's gonna go for about seven, eight hours. Yes, sir. Wow. All right, pork butt is cooking. Now what are we into? Something jalapeño and delicious. Yeah, we're gonna pickle some jalapeños that we're gonna put on the sandwich. Okay. All right. We're gonna start with some mustard seed. Black peppercorn. Toast those off. All right, next. This is L.A.'s finest filtered tap water. Apple cider vinegar. And a little bit of sugar. We're gonna let that come to a simmer. And then we're gonna pour the brine... Pour it right over the top. Let it sit in the fridge for a little bit, let the flavors marry. Now what are we into? We're gonna make the hot mustard sauce that we're gonna use for the pulled pork sandwich. Word. And we're starting off with...? Dijon mustard, sir. Ketchup is for wusses. Worc-ch-ch-ch-ch-estershire. Apple cider vinegar. And this is cayenne pepper. That's gonna be strong. Yeah, it's really hot. It is pretty strong. Yeah, it's intense. But when it's on the sandwich, it works really well. Wow. Take our tongs. Ooh. Yes, sir. Couple of those broken-down onions and carrots, as well. All right. Pickled jalapeños and some pickled onions. And then we're gonna top it off with our hot mustard sauce that we made earlier. The pork is super moist. It's got a little Latino side to it, almost like carnitas. Really where you start to rock the house is those jalapeños. Hey. I've had a lot of pulled pork sandwiches. I know it's hard to tell. [ Chuckles ] It's outrageous. I'm not kidding you. This is righteous. I'm so glad you like it. Well done. Excellent. Awesome. Thank you so much. You could sell just that. The meat is, like, fall-off-the-bone. I just can't stop eating it. It's one of the best things that they do here. It is one of the best pork sandwiches I've had. I mean, it's up in the top 10. It's awesome, guys. It's a great vibe, it's a great joint. Get ready to get in line. This place is gonna be bouncing. Crazy. ...we're headed to Tacoma, Washington... This is gonna be good stuff. ...for an Irish pub... Beef kabob. ...with some Middle Eastern grub. Off the chain. Honestly. I'm here in Tacoma, Washington. Now, you know when you go to a new town, you're always looking for, like, that road to Flavortown, you know, that area that's got all the killer bars and restaurants? Well, I'm told this is it -- 6th Avenue right by the University of Puget Sound. And I hear the joint you got to check out -- they're serving up the killer drinks and food -- is this joint, The Crown Bar. You're gonna get a good meal every time you come. It's my go-to place -- casual, neighborhood place. FIERI: A little like a place Chef Charlie McManus remembers from back home. So, The Crown Bar in Belfast is supposed to be the most beautiful bar in the world. It's been there for 140 years. A wee bit longer than this Crown Bar that Charlie and his wife, Jacqueline, opened in '07. We thought that this place could be a good ode to my Belfast roots, and so we called it The... ...Crown Bar. Love Jacqueline and Charlie, and their food is always delicious. How do you describe the food? Eclectic, ethnic. Upscale bar/tavern food. MAN: Currywurst. The mushroom quesadillas are off the chain. Honestly. Full of flavor, really crunchy falafel. Cheers. And the beef kabob. This beef kabob tastes so good. Spicy beef with couscous. MAN: And it's got a lemon cilantro sauce on it, cucumber raita, and a nice grilled pita. We are making couscous that will go with our beef kabob. Couscous. Big in the Mediterranean. That's just a bunch of little pasta. Equal parts hot water and couscous. Whisk the couscous in so it doesn't clump. And then curry powder. A little madras curry powder. We let this sit for about 10 minutes to absorb the liquid. Take some olive oil, rub it with our hands so that every little clump is broken down. Then we put it into the oven for 20 minutes. [ Timer dings ] It's come out of the oven. Sprinkle a little bit more oil on it. And then just work it one more time. And the idea is to make this light and fluffy. Fluffy and velvety. And this is the way they do it in Morocco. This is gonna be good stuff. Next we make the raita sauce. Raita. All righty. Take the skin off this cucumber. English cucumber, fantastic with the little seeds. I'm actually gonna take the little bits of seeds that are in there out. So, I'm gonna slice these. And then we're gonna chop them up. All right. So... then I'm gonna let it drain for about five minutes. So now we're using Greek yogurt for this. There we go. Little mint, cumin. Stir that together a little bit. The drained cucumber goes in. Little bit of salt, freshly ground pepper. And there we have it. Now, this will improve with flavor as time goes on. It will. Three or four hours, it's gonna be perfect. All right. We're going to make our Moroccan beef kebab. Okay. We've got grass-fed beef, ground up. Yeah, it's about 80%/20%. Bread crumbs, ground ginger, cumin, cayenne, parsley... cilantro, red onion. And then we have non-fat milk powder. And what it does is hold that beef together. I'm gonna mix this by hand. Salt, pepper. There's so much flavor in this. We're gonna kabob it up right now. About a 2 3/4-ounce ball. Then we're gonna make them into little bricks. There we go. And they are gonna go on the grill. We're not gonna put them on kabobs? They're gonna get the handle at the end. And about seven or eight minutes to cook. All right? We've got couscous, got the raita, and I'm gonna skewer up my kabobs. Here we have the charmoula vinaigrette, Little bits of pita. Little bit of cilantro on top. And there it is. That's all she wrote. That's not over-spiced, by any means. And the couscous, dude. Something that simple done that right -- mm. This is light and fluffy as anybody would love to get it. Tell me about this sauce on top. It's a charmoula sauce. It's the all-purpose sauce of Morocco. They use it to marinate lamb, fish, beef. So it has cumin, cayenne, paprika, lemon, parsley, and cilantro. I love all these components. This is really nice. Out of bounds. It's amazing. It's juicy. It's full of flavors. Little bit of curry flavor -- just awesome. The crust is really flavorful and gives it a really nice kick. Really a terrific dish. FIERI: And while they're serving up flavors from around the world, Charlie knows there's no place like home. I love this place. FIERI: When we come back... Beet salad -- the bomb. The bomb. The bomb bomb. FIERI: I'm hanging at The Crown Bar in Tacoma, Washington, where chef Charlie McManus has connected the dots between local farmers and his menu. Fried chicken. The food is fresh and it's local, and we're supporting local farmers. Beet salad up. I don't typically love beets, but I love this salad because the way they make the beets, they roast them, but they're still very tender and juicy. WOMAN: Roasted beet salad. I'm actually the guy that grew the beets over there. You're the beet farmer? Yeah. How awesome. And what kind of beets do you grow? We do mostly golden and red. FIERI: Front and center on this savory salad. Beet salad, and it's wonderful. WOMAN: It's great with the goat cheese and the fresh local greens. It's refreshing and delicious. Love it. All right, so we're gonna make a roasted beet salad. We have golden and red beets from a local farmer. We're gonna size the beets, cut the ends off, get them ready for roasting. There we go. We have to do them separately because the red ones would bleed in to the golden. We just set them in the foil, little bit of oil -- olive oil. Get them nice and tight. Tighten up the ends, make it a nice packet. Into the oven with them. 350, come out, cool down. All right, so now we're gonna rub the skins off them. Beautiful beets. Yeah, they are. Trim the ends. We're gonna make a citrus vinaigrette. Dijon, honey. Darling. This is from our own garden. This is this year's model. That's awesome! It's got that buttery thing, a little nutty at the end. Then into that, we whisk champagne vinegar. Really? Your own bees? Yeah. Doing it for three or four years. How many bees do you have? We had three hives. Two of them we lost, but one of them that's operating. We have 12,000 bees in it. What happened to the other two hives? Just the conditions for bees are really tough. Sometimes they don't make it. Yeah. Because of the climate, because of pesticides, things like that. Lime juice, orange juice, lemon juice. And then the zest of those citrus in there. Zest it up. Zest is in! Now we're gonna whisk some oil in there, some olive oil. There we go. Pinch of salt, pinch of black pepper. That's the citrus vinaigrette. Mm. Right on. Okay, right on. Next step, finish the salad. Red beets... into the bowl. Golden beets. Citrus vinaigrette to balance that sweetness. Just work them in there. And then we have some greens. They're gonna go in. Nice bit of greens. Just a very light dressing. And the beet salad in this kind of a funky bar atmosphere -- this is a big seller? It's a big seller. We got a local college here. The students come in. There's a lot of vegetarians. And people like a robust salad like this. There's the beets. And then we finish it with a little bit of fresh goat cheese. And there it is -- roasted beet salad. All right. Oh, those are good. The beets are fantastic. I mean, they're just so fresh, and you just get such great flavor. Really still some firm texture to it. The dressing is very mild on it, not too heavy. Little bit of the tanginess of the goat cheese. That's outrageous. The fact that you're making it all here in this little kitchen in this bar, this is beyond bar food. Thank you. And you make your own honey. I've never seen that on "Triple D." Beet salad -- the bomb. The bomb. The bomb bomb. WOMAN: Nice and sweet. Yeah, you -- FIERI: To the locally grown beets, the vinaigrette, with the honey that comes from your house -- I mean, that's a pretty big farm-to-table attitude, my friend. In a little bar joint like this? Crazy. Thanks for having me. I love it. 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." We're all in the trust tree here. Fred Meyer guy, beet farmer, vegetarians, face-ripper. I haven't talked to you two crazies over there yet. This is like "Twilight Zone" "Triple D" style.