At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe
1902 East 8th Street
Duluth, MN 55812
Phone: 218-724-6811
Website: www.taransmarketplace.com
Recipe: Brisket Sandwich by Carla Blumberg, co-owner At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe Duluth, MN

Cafe Rakka
71 New Shackle Island Rd.
Hendersonville, TN 37075
Phone: 615-824-6264
Website: caferakka.com
Recipe: Lamb Rakka by Cafe Rakka, Hendersonville, TN

J.J.McBrewster’s
3101 Clays Mill Road #301
Lexington, KY 40503
Phone: 859-224-0040
Website: www.jjmcbrewsters.com
Recipe: Salmon Candy by Susan Mirkhan, owner J.J. McBrewster’s in Lexington, KY

Highway Inn & Ho’okipa Catering
94-226 Leoku Street
Waipahu, HI
Phone: 808-677-4345
Website: www.myhighwayinn.com
Recipe: Haupia Recipe recipe, courtesy of the Highway Inn.

Nico’s At Pier 38
1133 North Nimitz Highway
Honolulu, HI 96817
Phone: 808-540-1377
Website: www.nicospier38.com
Recipe: Marlin Burger recipe, courtesy of Nico’s Pier 38.

Hank’s Haute Dogs
324 Coral Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone: 808-532-4265
Website: www.hankshautedogs.com
Recipe: Pineapple Relish recipe, courtesy of Hank’s Haute Dogs.

Germaine’s Luau
91-119 Olai Street
Kapolei, HI 96851
Phone: 808-949-6626
Website: www.germainesluau.com
Recipe: Lomi Lomi recipe, courtesy of Germaine’s Luau.

First stop is Tap Tap in Miami Beach, FL. Tap Tap is a Haitian restaurant that serves up authentic Haitian food including classic marinated pork and one-of-a-kind watercress sauce… all of which is made from scratch. Check out the Malanga Fritters recipe provided by Tap Tap.
Tap Tap Haitian Restaurant
819 5th St
Miami Beach, FL 33139
305-672-2898
www.taptaprestaurant.com

Second stop is Niko Niko’s. A local joint for me. Nikos serves up awesome authentic Greek food including moussaka, gyros and honey-drenched donut holes called loukoumades. Check out this recipe for Guy’s honey ballz (loukomades), courtesy of Dimitrios Fetokakis who is the owner of Nikos.
Niko Niko’s
2520 Montrose Blvd
Houston, TX 77006
713-528-1308
www.nikonikos.com

Third stop is Pok Pok. Pok Pok is located in Portland Oregon and they cook up some great looking Asian dishes ranging from Thai marinated boar to Vietnamese chicken wings. Check out this Pok Pok – Khoa Man Som Tam recipe.
Pok Pok
3226 SE Dvision Street
Portland, OR 97202
503-232-1387
www.pokpokpdx.com

Second stop is Sam LaGrassa’s in downtown Boston. Sam LaGrassa’s is a family run business that’s been around for 40 years. A few of their best dishes are the chipotle/pastrami sandwiches (they sell around 1300 sandwiches a day) and their clam chowder.
Sam LaGrassa’s
44 Province Street
Boston, MA 02108
617-357-6861
www.samlagrassas.com

Third stop is the Cattlemen’s Steak House in Oklahoma. This steak house has been serving the same steaks, salads (and dressing), and desserts for more than 80 years… and it’s been around for 99 years. Along with their steaks Guy tried the calf brain & egg dish, which he didn’t like. Their salad dressing recipe which was passed down from the previous owner looks awesome. After seeing what goes in it, I can tell it’s definitely not a healthy dressing, but it still looks good.
Cattlemen’s Steak House
1309 S Agnew
Oklahoma City, OK 73108
405-236-0416
www.cattlemensrestaurant.com

First stop is Lucky’s Café in Cleveland Ohio. This locals love the quality and how everything is made from scratch. They even grow their own veggies out back behind the restaurant. One of their best known dishes is the house-brined (for 7 days) corned beef Reuben sandwich. Guy even got some goose bumps on his arm from eating this one. During the owner’s demo of making her breakfast sausage gravy, Iron Chef Michael Symon stopped by for a visit. You can visit Lucky’s here:
Lucky’s Cafe
777 Starkweather Ave
Cleveland, OH 44113
216-622-7773
www.luckyscafe.com

Second stop is Honky Tonk BBQ in Chicago IL. The owners been making it for 25 years. He even took 3rd place for his cooking in the 2008 Memphis in May competition. My mouth started watering watching the pulled pork sandwich being put together. Yum! You can visit Honky Tonk here:
Honky Tonk BBQ
1213 W 18th St
Chicago, IL 60608
312-226-7427
www.honkytonkbbqchicago.com

Third stop is Pizzalchik. Strange name for a pizza joint, but it comes from what they serve best… brick oven pizza, salads and roasted chicken. The owner started out serving high end food but got tired of the stuffy atmosphere. He changed it up and started serving what he enjoys… pizza. The owner’s 12 year old son throws the dough for the pizza and wow, he’s good at it. Guy got a kick out of the chef preparing his smoked salmon pizza. The chef has a $50K pizza oven, but he smokes the salmon out in the alley in a Big Chief smoker. You can visit Pizzalchik here:
Pizzalchik
7330 W State St
Boise, ID 83714
208-853-7757
www.pizzalchik.com

The episode of No Reservations in Hawaii started with Tony having to get the typical.. or in this case, the untypical Aloha shirt. Tony said he wants to blend. Instead of just picking out a standard Aloha shirt he heads to Baileys Aloha Shirts and meets the owner David Bailey. David gives Tony a history of the shirts and shows him some vintage shirts worn by all types of celebrities. Tony ends up picking out a $3000 vintage design.

With his $3K shirt on, he heads to Puka Dog with his friends Bruno Stemple. Tony and Bruno are shown how the Puka dogs are made, with the bun wrapping all the way around. The fillings are squirted down in the bun and then the dog slides into the bun. Good idea and looks like a great variation from the typical hotdog.

Next stop is Ono Hawaiian Foods with Colin Nishida, owner of Side Street Inn. Colin says Ono is the place for true Hawaiian food. They sample a big variety of traditional Hawaiian dishes including lau lau with pork, poi, kaluha pig, poke and coconut jello.

During the sampling at Ono, Colin explains how all of the local chefs visit his restaurant after hours. Colin and Tony meet up at the Side Street Inn for drinking, food and discussion with all of the local chefs including Alan Wong, local farmers, and staff from the kitchen. A few of the dishes Tony enjoys with his guests are Big Island smoked pork, Ahi Sashimi, Shoyu Limu and Ahi Poke Combo.

Next is some surfing history when Tony spends a day at the North Shore on the island of Oahu. There he meets up with legendary surfers Darrick Doerner and Peter Cole. Darrick takes Tony to some of the most famous surf spots via jet ski, including Pipeline, Waimea and Sunset beaches. Later they meet up with big-wave surfer Peter Cole for a barbecue at his home on Sunset Derik Dormor.

After a meal with the surfers Tony heads to the Uptown Fountain and meets up with local food columnist David Chu for an explanation of the Hawaiian fascination with SPAM. David arranges a sampling of many different SPAM dishes, all of which Tony seems to enjoy.

Next stop is La Mariana Sailing Club where Tony meets up with Lloyd Kandell, tiki expert and member of the Hawaii musical group Don Tiki. Tony and Lloyd sample several drinks including the zombie and the scorpion.

After a cookout with some locals, Tony heads to Mt Kilauea to check out the volcano and lava flows, along with a local that still lives there running a bed and breakfast right in the middle of it all.

Tony’s last stop is right where he said he didn’t want to be. In the middle of the typical tourist type of laua. The Paradise Cove Luau is a traditional Hawaiian luau with entertainment, a giant buffet, hula dancers and all types of umbrella drinks. Tony didn’t think he would enjoy it, but after he has a few drinks he really gets into it.

Anthony’s first stop for food was breakfast at a Bangkok restaurant called Jok Prince. At Jok Prince, Tony eats a classic Bangkok breakfast of jok (rice porridge) with pork offal and eggs, garnished with chilies and hot sauce.

Next was an interview recap with Eric Rivera… Eric was interview back in 2008 when No Reservations was selecting a person to travel with Tony. Eric didn’t win, but he made an impression on Tony. Since Eric wanted to travel to Thailand to fight a well known fighter (Jom Pop), there was no better time than now for Eric to make the trip with Tony.

No Reservations also arrived during the festival of Songkran (Thia, Buddisht New Year) in which the main activity is throwing water at people. Everywhere you go you get water thrown on you, squirted from water guns and buckets soaking you down. It was obvious that Eric and Tony had some fun walking the streets during all of this.

After a bowl of noodles with Tony’s tour guide Gong at the train station, they head off on a hot and packed train to catch a boat to the coast. The idea was to take a boat to the mud banks and catch some cockles. It didn’t turn out to be that easy. The cockle farmers/fisherman slide across a board digging out the cockles from the mud. Tony gave it a try, but didn’t have much luck… instead getting stuck in the mud with his cameramen. They were going to head off to cook the cockles in an elevated hut, but the winds got cranked up and they decided to head back.

Tony’s next stop was the Amphawa Floating Market. A floating market on the banks of the Mae Klong River where Tony and Gong sit on steps at water’s edge and eat yam ruam mit (spicy mixed salad) and fried shrimp cake.

After the visit to Amphawa Tony heads back to Bangkok to have a meal with local celebrity chef McDang. They visit Tang Jai Yoo in Bangkok’s Chinatown to eat Chinese-style roast suckling pig.

Next it’s fight time. Before the fight though it’s tradition for everyone to have some food from all the local vendors who pull up carts next to the stadium. Tony and Eric go to Likit Gai Yang next to the stadium for a meal of gai yang, a very popular Isan-style grilled chicken dish and green papaya salad. Eric goes on to explain that his size doesn’t matter in muai thai fighting. It’s all about experience.. and the guy he’s going up against is good.

After the fight both fighters sit down with Tony for a meal and discuss how Eric and the Thia fighter Jom met through Facebook. Even though they fought each other it’s all good in the end. Friends before and friends after.

First stop was “Comet Café” which puts bacon in just about everything. If you’re trying to watch your cholesterol don’t visit this place. But if you’re not, and you love bacon, then this is the place to go. Bacon, bacon and bacon.. oh yeah, and some bacon fat too.
Bacon meatloaf, bacon and bananas, free bacon on Sunday nights if you buy a bear.
Comet Cafe
1947 N Farwell Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 273-7677
www.thecometcafe.com

2nd stop was Dotties True Blue Café. Go early to this place, there’s always a wait. The chef/owner was trained as a pastry chef but it looks like he’s doing well serving everything including a huge selection of pastries that he makes… nothing brought it pre-made. Jalepeno cornbread.. grilled with jalepeno jelly, cornbread smothered with chili. Great looking food. Here’s the video of this segment.
Dotties
522 Jones Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-885-2767

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Du394EsfK8

3rd stop was Over Easy in Phoenix. Over Easy serves up everything breakfast. Ham steak with red eye gravy, chicken fried steak with country gravy, and some good looking French toast. If you’re in Phoenix, check out Over Easy.
Over Easy
4037 N 40th St
Phoenix, AZ 85018-5204
(602) 468-3447
www.eatatovereasy.com

Here are the recipes provided by the restaurants featured in this episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
From Dotties: Roasted Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes
From Over Easy: Over Easy Ham Steak with Red-Eye Gravy
From Comet Café: Turkey Balls comet

What’s most interesting about an episode like this one is you get to really see what traditional international cuisine is suppose to look like. Every time something American gets thrown into the mix, the traditionalism of the food gets diluted.
A few examples that are very apparent (watch these sections of the show in the videos below… approx time in the video noted).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODVOORvTyU

(Beginning of video above) -- When Tony visits the Hindu Temple Society and gets to enjoy their food you get a true understanding of how great Indian food can be. None of the American twists on Indian food. Just true vegetarian Indian food. And wow did it look good.

(~ 03:20 above) Tony’s visit to Sik Gaek Restaurant was also interesting. Very clear who visits this restaurant; Koreans. And his guest David Chang even mentions, this restaurant doesn’t want “white people”. But if you like seafood, cooked in a traditional Korean way, this place would be for you. None of it looks that fascinating to me… and I’m not a big fan of watching your food die right before your eyes (Tony & David eat an octopus, ~ 07:00), but I can see how the locals would love it.

(Beginning of video below) Another example is the Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos. Real Mexican food, period. None of the “Tex-Mex” plates served at most American Mexican Restaurants. I wish this place was down the street from me.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PggvAmIgA4E

The last restaurant I found very interesting was the “Diner” restaurant. All locally sourced, seasonal, sustainable food is served here. More and more restaurants are finding the value in doing it this way. I think more and more this will hopefully become the norm and not the exception.

Here’s a recap of the restaurants he visited and food he ate.

In Madrid he visits Casa Botin… the worlds oldest restaurant. It’s been in business since 1725. Andrew ate a whole roast pig. And I mean whole. He ate the tongue, ears, eyes, brain and to really get disgusting he had to suck on the skull. He also had angulas (baby eels), and baby squid cooked in their own ink.

After a tapas crawl that included pigs ears, bulls tails, blood sausage and tripe, Andrew went on a quest to find bull testicles. After visiting several places he ends up at Mercado de la Paz Market where the “criadillas” (bull’s testicles) are cooked up and eaten.

Next he was off to the Mueso del Jamon (Ham Museum). This is a place I would like. Ham is one of my favorites. And a store with nothing but different quality hams… I’d be in ham heaven. I found it interesting that serrano hams are the everyday hams to Spaniards. It’s the Jamones, that get top billing in Spain at around 8 times the cost of a serrano.

In Barcelona Andrew visited the La Boqueria, Barcelona’s largest and most famous food market. He ate razor clams, fried worms, crickets, and “horchata”, which is a drink made from tigernuts, water and sugar. And believe it or not, Andrew didn’t like it… I was shocked

His final stop was El Bullí, voted by many to be the best restaurant in the world. Andrew sampled many dishes cooked by the restaurants chef Ferran Adria, including nitrogen-cooled sake sorbet with lychee nuts and pine nut meringue. Each patron to this restaurant enjoys a 22 course meal. Wow, my kind of place.