Only seven people in history have ever known the secret to Duff's favorite chili and only three are alive today. Layers of flavor are created as the chili is simmered, and you can order it in mild, medium or hot. Duff tops his bowl of "spicy meat" with sour cream and cheese.

On The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Troy Johnson celebrates his love of a Wisconsin favorite with none other than beer-battered fried cheese curds. Also try the Old Fashioned House Burger. Made from local beef, it’s topped with fried onion, bacon, cheddar cheese, garlic sauce and a soft-cooked egg.

Ray Lampe, aka Dr. BBQ, knows Prime 44 West's Lobster Mashed Potatoes are far from road food. A former trucker, he calls it full-blown, splurging vacation food, as they add butter-poached lobster and creamy Boursin cheese. You might forget all about the fine aged steak on the table, he says.

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Chopped judge, Chef Scott Conant, believes that every meal should be savored "down to its very last taste." Ted Allen says that Scarpetta's homemade spaghetti with tomato and basil is worth every penny. The care and dedication Scott puts into cooking the tomato sauce makes it one of the best around.

On Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Alton Brown satisfies his sweet tooth with Sugar on Snow at Bragg Family Farm, an 8-generation family-run sugarhouse, in East Montpelier, VT.

Alton Brown claimed that the Mock Eel at A Single Pebble could keep him vegetarian. That's why on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Alton gave two chopsticks up for Chef Duval's creation (actually made of shitake mushrooms). It's just one pebble in Duval's sophisticated menu of traditional Chinese.

Italian-American nostalgia is on Mark Bove's stove at Bove's Cafe in Burlington, Vt. Despite a Throwdown loss, locals love his meatball lasagna. Melissa D'Arabian even kisses and tells that for "garlic-times-infinity" cravings, Bove's Roasted Garlic tomato sauce is the best thing she ever ate.

Smack dab in Salt Lake City, locals have been feasting on a traditional pastry hailing from Brittany, France. Known as Kouing Aman (pronounced kween ah-MON), this butter pastry quickly got on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, as Pat and Gina Neely called it "absolutely the queen of desserts."

For Melissa, the fried chicken at Babe's Chicken Dinner House is quintessential fried chicken. This "classic country" dinner house has nine operations going full-speed ahead. With "über juicy" chicken, steaming biscuits and homemade pies, everyone’s too busy eating to stop them.

This Tex-Mex pioneer has been the driving force behind legendary dishes like fajitas and Tacos Al Carbon. But Mo Rocca finds his favorite in the Queso Flameado (think Oaxaca cheese and spicy chorizo rolled into a warm tortilla). The nachos strewn with cheddar and refried beans are also a standout.

Feast may be doing a "full throttle assault on Peter Cottontail" says Frank Bruni on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, but its hearty European-style cuisine has earned rave reviews from across the country. The fried rabbit liver and kidneys may be simple, but it easily makes Bruni's best-of list.

As Mo Rocca says in The Best Thing I Ever Ate, the word "cilantran" must be used to describe Bombay's "Gateway of India" pizza made with mint-cilantro chutney. Bombay's fusion of Indian and Italian ingredients like fresh crab and spicy tandoori chicken more often produces two words: "More please."

Hubert Green not only has the perfect-sounding barbecue name but he also has an incredible grill. The 2,260-pound armadillo grill emits smoke from its tail and is as big as a car. But Ted Allen says the real reason to visit is for the brisket, served buffet style only Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

If you visit El Paso, you'll quickly learn that Chico's Tacos is an El Paso tradition (and has been for decades). On The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Aaron Sanchez claims the tacos—which are rolled and fried and drenched in cheese and tomato chili sauce—are how tacos should taste.