Tom Papa heads home to sunny Los Angeles to celebrate the city's baked gems. He stops by Vito's Pizza, where the crust is so special there's a bodyguard to protect the dough starter. At the legendary Canter's Deli, Tom makes a Monte Cristo sandwich stacked with ham, turkey and cheese griddled on fresh-baked challah French toast. At Creme Caramel LA, he samples the glitter-covered meringue known as unicorn poop and learns the secret behind their signature dessert, a psychedelic purple custard crowned in caramel. At East L.A.'s El Gallo Bakery, Tom helps bake Mexican sweet breads with chocolaty sugar crust, and he meets up with two of his baking heroes at Lodge Bread Company to make hearty, rustic bread and L.A.'s trendy treat, avocado toast.
Andrew Zimmern joins the crowds looking for lunch before hitting the sand and surf at a food truck rally in Huntington Beach, Calif., a town rightfully dubbed Surf City, USA. He meets two young college buddies who traded in their corporate jobs in New York City to open their Chinese-inspired food truck, Mad Dumplings. Their funky menu includes dumplings stuffed with fried chicken and longanisa sausage. Andrew is also intrigued by El Governador, a family-owned taco truck that claims to make the best shrimp tacos in Orange County. Then he visits the bright red Tumaca Truck, a Spanish sandwich and tapas truck run by a French husband and Spanish wife who are serious about the ingredients in their Serrano ham sandwiches, croquetas ibericas and more. Finally, Andrew rewards one deserving culinary dreamer with a $10,000 tip and a Food Network seal of approval.
If there's one ghoul with a passion for the freaky fun, food and sweets of Halloween, it's Jeff Mauro. And the scary good times are only fueled by the costumed excitement of his young son, Lorenzo. So Jeff heads downtown to do his homework at a place that makes a frighteningly large array of sweet cookies and delicious Halloween-themed ice cream sandwiches. He gets a lesson in some key autumn flavor combos, then heads home and gets busy with some sweet/savory Halloween combo sandwiches to feed Lorenzo and his friends before they head out to trick or treat the neighborhood. The classic flavors of a caramel apple go devilishly well with bacon in his haunted take on a Panini. Then, an eyeball-shaped ham sandwich that stares back at you and Mummy Aki Chicken Fingers straight from the tomb of King Tut will keep his little goblins fueled and focused to bring back bags stuffed with candy.