The home cooks enter to meet their new guest professors, Debi Mazar and Aaron Sanchez. The subject is geography, and for their group test, they must compete in a tag team challenge cooking dishes that combine the styles of where they are from. The two teams with the least successful dishes then compete in an elimination test using ingredients from the most popular cuisines in the world: Thai, Italian or Mexican.
On this trip, Guy Fieri's got Asian flavors, an American classic and some mashups in between. In Anchorage, Alaska, there's a Korean-Mexican joint rolling out kimchi burritos and wild wings. In Aspen, Colo., Guy and Hunter are hittin' a smokehouse putting their own twist on ribs, and in Albuquerque, N.M., a funky fusion spot heads off the charts with a flavorful veggie specialty and the bomb pork belly.
This trip, Guy Fieri's going fanatical for Phoenix-area fare in Arizona! First, Irish pub grub meets Southwest style with killer corned beef and cabbage taquitos plus a lamb shepherd's pie. Then, a family-friendly eatery is bringing smoke and spice to their dirty Cajun pasta and wood-fired pizza, and a neighborhood taqueria is redefining a Mexican street-food fave with a crunchy beef option and gourmet garlic mushrooms.
Food-truck and food-cart pros, on a roll, fight it out for Chopped Kitchen dominance. The mandatory appetizer round ingredients range from a cheap, sweet treat to a fine-dining indulgence. The three chefs who move on to the entree round find a pork delicacy and a Mexican staple. And when the finalists take on the dessert round, there is potential for confrontation over a key piece of equipment.
An over-reduced sauce and undercooked venison are two of the potential problems that threaten the chefs as they try to make appetizers. Salmon in the second basket seems like a good draw, but no Chopped round is ever straightforward and easy. Then, with Mexican chocolate in the dessert basket, it seems like the judges are in for a treat, but one of the chef's time management woes are worrying.
Inspired by a margarita at one of her favorite bars, Damaris invites the mixologist back to the kitchen with Mexican Food on the brain. On the menu: easy-to-make spicy, homemade "Fauxrizo" Taco Filling, Coconut Lime Black Beans and to finish the plate off, a simple, aromatic Jicama and Cilantro Creme Slaw. Damaris's fiery menu is cooled down with a Blackberry and Sage "Heart of Darkness" Margarita.