Katie Lee is on a mission to find the best beach food along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The Biloxi Bay Bridge connects historic beach town Biloxi to Ocean Springs, an artistic community that's becoming a hot spot for eclectic, diverse restaurants, and Katie finds that there's great food waiting to be discovered from one end of the bridge to the other. She starts with seafood gumbo made with crab straight out of the local waters, fishes for one of her meals, and samples some soul food that's not your typical beach cuisine. Down-home barbecue is a must-have for food lovers in the South, so Katie digs into the best ribs below the Mason-Dixon Line. Chicory coffee, homemade buttery biscuits and refreshing ice pops round out a perfect culinary tour of the Mississippi coast.
Food writer Troy Johnson is on a cross-country trip to discover his ultimate hot dish. From New Orleans, home of gumbo, where he uses aromatics to infuse crawfish and spice up its flavor to the headquarters of Tabasco where Troy traces the origins of America's fascination with all things hot. In Chicago, an American classic is given a kick with the infamous ghost pepper making the hottest wings anyone will ever eat, then to Philadelphia where Troy plays guinea pig at Monell Chemical Senses Labs and discovers just how high his tolerance level for heat actually is. In Texas, Troy experiments with two classic spicy dishes -- Texas style chili and dips into salsa, before jetting off to Los Angeles for a 5-pepper creation that will set his taste buds on fire.