Man v. Food Season 3 Episode 15: Niagara Falls
Adam heads to Niagara Falls, New York, to take on Mick & Angelo’s Eatery & Bar’s Italian Challenge: a seven pound behemoth platter consisting of six Italian entrees, a loaf of garlic bread, soup, salad and dessert. Adam has ninety minutes to finish the challenge, if he does he wins a t-shirt and his photo on their wall of fame. Of the three hundred who have taken on the Italian Challenge, only twenty have succeeded. Adam tells the audience “If I lose today, I blame Canada”, referring to the Oscar nominated South Park song and his close proximity to Canada.
First Adam pays a call to Riverstone Grill, where they are famous for their hand carved steaks. Adam is there to try Riverstone Grill’s Bone in the Stone, a hand cut forty eight ounce ribeye steak served over a bed of waffle fries, and topped with creamy blue cheese, crumbly blue cheese, and crispy onion strings. Adam heads back to the kitchen where Chef Chaz Bulera shows him how the Bone in the Stone platter is created. Adam quips he’s “Ready for this beefy ride.” Chef Bulera pulls out a huge scimitar sword for the butchering work ahead, making Adam’s eyes wide with surprise.
Next Chef Bulera butchers the twenty pound bone in beef loin and hand carves the steak Adam will be eating. These steaks are an enormous three and a half pounds of beefy goodness. The steaks are dry aged for ten days, receiving a special spice rub to flavor them. After grilling the thick steak, the chef puts the steak in the convection oven to finish. The chef places the finished steak over a bed of sweet potato and potato waffle fries. The steak gets two layers of blue cheese goodness, covered in a creamy blue cheese sauce, then a handful of crumbled blue cheese. Crispy onion strings top the huge platter of meat. Adam and restaurant owner David Hughes sit down to the Bone in the Stone platter. Adam cuts into the tender beef steak and as he eats he rolls his eyes and says “That’s delicious!” Adam describes how flavorful the meat is cooked with the bone in, calling it a revelation. Adam takes another bite and says “I love this place!”
Next Adam visits New York’s Silo Restaurant, where they are known for their tasty sandwiches, hamburgers and hot dogs. Adam is interested in trying the local favorite, The Haystack, a pound of chopped steak, mozzarella cheese, and topped with crispy hash browns. In the kitchen Chef Birdie Cicero, the creator of The Haystack, shows Adam how it is put together. The chef begins with angus beef coated in a special blend of spices. Chef Cicero chops the meat on the grill as it cooks, then loads up the meat with lots of mozzarella to melt on the grill. The chef takes hash browns and deep fries them in the fryer, places the meat and cheese on a locally baked bun, then places the crunchy bits of hash browns on top of the sandwich. The chef hands Adam the sandwich and he dives into the food, remarking on the crunch of the hash browns. Adam calls this sandwich “The Holy Trinity of dude food!”
The Italian Challenge at Mick & Angelo’s is at hand, and Adam says he is in the mood for Italian food. Adam visits with the diners, a clip shows Adam and a woman diner eating a piece of spaghetti from either end a la The Lady and The Tramp. The Italian Challenge consists of seven pounds of food: six entrees of lasagna, canelloni, manicotti, spaghetti and meatballs, Italian sausage, chicken parmesan, a whole loaf of garlic bread, a bowl of soup, a salad, and an apple crisp dessert with ice cream. Back in the kitchen Chef Andy Beaudoin creates the dishes for the Italian Challenge. Chef Beaudoin creates the serving of lasagna using beef in tomato sauce with three kinds of cheeses. The canelloni is stuffed with beef and ricotta, while the manicotti is stuffed with egg, ricotta, and parsley. The chicken parmesan is coated, fried and covered in cheese and sauce, then the chef puts together the spaghetti and meatballs covering it in tomato sauce. A hot Italian sausage entree is next to be put in place. A loaf of garlic bread with spread is placed on the platter, and a bowl of Italian wedding soup and a salad join the mix. Last but not least an apple crisp topped with a scoop of ice cream is placed on the huge platter.
Adam enters the dining room to cheers, and pretends to be a speed skater skating through the restaurant with one hand behind his back. The chef brings out the huge platter of food. Adam looks at the seven pound platter of food and is amazed, telling the audience he is impressed that this is the first time in a challenge the entire table is filled with food.
The challenge starts and Adam decides to use some strategy to make the food go down easier. Adam combines the chicken parmesan with the loaf of garlic bread, and mixes the hot Italian sausage with the spaghetti and meatballs. Adam tackles the lasagna entree first, then starts in on the manicotti, finishing both entrees in nine minutes. The crowd chants “Go Adam, go!” as Adam bites into the canelloni entree and finishes it off at eleven minutes into the challenge. Next Adam hoists the huge chicken parm garlic bread hero and starts hoovering it down, munching it to completion by thirty minutes into the challenge. Adam takes on the soup and salad, tossing them down by fifty minutes into the challenge. With twenty five minutes left, Adam has the Italian sausage, meatballs and spaghetti and dessert to take on.
Adam starts in on the Italian sausage, meatballs and spaghetti, takes a few bites and hits the pasta wall hard. Adam realizes with so much pasta, sauce and cheese he’s having a hard time eating more pasta. Adam decides to call his mother on his cell phone. Adam asks his mother for permission to eat dessert first, and she tells him to go right ahead with dessert. Adam finishes off the dessert and turns to the Italian sausage, meatballs and spaghetti. At sixty five minutes into the ninety minute challenge, Adam gives in to food, not able to face another pasta bite. Adam tells the audience in the Italian Challenge of man vs food, today “Food most definitely won.”
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