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By Robert Philpot
DFW.com
Posted 10:08am on Tuesday, Apr. 17, 2012
For the second week in a row, Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives featured a North Texas establishment, but this trip to Arlington's Chop House Burgers was less over the top than last week's visit to Dallas' Maple and Motor. Once again, there was a celebrity cameo, but this time, host Guy Fieri kept his excesses in check and didn't make a psycho burger for his guest, Houston Oilers great Earl Campbell, of whom Fieri seemed to be in complete awe.
Unlike a lot of North Texas-filmed reality TV, Triple D a) got the location correct, rather than referring to Arlington as "Dallas," and b) limited its Texas iconography to shots of Cowboys Stadium and Rangers Ballpark instead of trying to put forth the illusion that cows walk down Collins Street. But there was plenty of cow -- in the form of the brisket and ground beef inside chef Kenny Mills' Chop House kitchen.
Fieri seemed absolutely astonished at the idea of the Chop House Burger: cooked slow-roasted brisket mixed in with raw hamburger meat, and then recooked, and topped with a killer steak sauce. Chop House was the runner-up in DFW.com's 2011 Battle of the Burgers, during which the Chop House Burger was also a big hit, although the judges didn't react to it with Fieri's level of wide-eyed effusiveness. Then again, it's pretty hard for anyone to reach that level.
The episode only scratched the surface of Mills' story, which goes all the way back to 1975 and includes stops at a number restaurants in Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas and elsewhere. Explaining why he launched Chop House, Mills said, "I turned 50, and thought, 'well, it's time for a midlife crisis. I couldn't get the red convertible, so I opened a restaurant." Hmm. A certain Food Network-show host "drives" a red convertible. Good thing Mills didn't say anything about spiky bleached hair and wraparound shades.
Fieri made a reference to Chop House's ecelectic burger menu, although he somehow missed the cheeseburger -- which is a cheese-covered patty between two grilled-cheese sandwiches. But I was drooling over the featured 10-pepper burger: ground beef mixed with jalapenos, habaneros, Anaheim and New Mexico chiles de Arbol, red and green bells, poblanos, anchos and crushed red peppers. The "10th pepper" is Tabasco mayo; shouldn't the pepperjack cheese topping be the 11th pepper?
After a break, Fieri brought on Campbell, whose Earl Campbell's Hot Links are used in Chop House's seafood gumbo. Fieri was particularly imprssed by the dark chocolate roux: "That's roux-licious, dude!" Fieri managed to get a non-Cowboy NFL legend onto his show in the heart of Cowboys territory, and it appears that he and Campbell have a mutual-admiration society: Campbell professed to be a fan of Triple-D, and Fieri gushed that Campbell is his favorite NFL player of all time. "This is one of the greatest moments in Triple-D history," Fieri said, adding that he's close to completing his bucket list: "I have to climb a pyramid, ride a unicorn, and that's it." Even a unicorn couldn't have outrun Earl Campbell in his prime.
DDD made seven stops in North Texas during a December swing; Deep Ellum's Pepes and Mitos was featured recently, and Cane Rosso will be on the April 30, reports our friend Teresa Gubbins, who also says that Dallas' Pecan Lodge will be on the May 28 episode.
The Chop House episode will repeat at 8 p.m. April 27 on Food Network
DFW.com
Posted 10:08am on Tuesday, Apr. 17, 2012
For the second week in a row, Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives featured a North Texas establishment, but this trip to Arlington's Chop House Burgers was less over the top than last week's visit to Dallas' Maple and Motor. Once again, there was a celebrity cameo, but this time, host Guy Fieri kept his excesses in check and didn't make a psycho burger for his guest, Houston Oilers great Earl Campbell, of whom Fieri seemed to be in complete awe.
Unlike a lot of North Texas-filmed reality TV, Triple D a) got the location correct, rather than referring to Arlington as "Dallas," and b) limited its Texas iconography to shots of Cowboys Stadium and Rangers Ballpark instead of trying to put forth the illusion that cows walk down Collins Street. But there was plenty of cow -- in the form of the brisket and ground beef inside chef Kenny Mills' Chop House kitchen.
Fieri seemed absolutely astonished at the idea of the Chop House Burger: cooked slow-roasted brisket mixed in with raw hamburger meat, and then recooked, and topped with a killer steak sauce. Chop House was the runner-up in DFW.com's 2011 Battle of the Burgers, during which the Chop House Burger was also a big hit, although the judges didn't react to it with Fieri's level of wide-eyed effusiveness. Then again, it's pretty hard for anyone to reach that level.
The episode only scratched the surface of Mills' story, which goes all the way back to 1975 and includes stops at a number restaurants in Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas and elsewhere. Explaining why he launched Chop House, Mills said, "I turned 50, and thought, 'well, it's time for a midlife crisis. I couldn't get the red convertible, so I opened a restaurant." Hmm. A certain Food Network-show host "drives" a red convertible. Good thing Mills didn't say anything about spiky bleached hair and wraparound shades.
Fieri made a reference to Chop House's ecelectic burger menu, although he somehow missed the cheeseburger -- which is a cheese-covered patty between two grilled-cheese sandwiches. But I was drooling over the featured 10-pepper burger: ground beef mixed with jalapenos, habaneros, Anaheim and New Mexico chiles de Arbol, red and green bells, poblanos, anchos and crushed red peppers. The "10th pepper" is Tabasco mayo; shouldn't the pepperjack cheese topping be the 11th pepper?
After a break, Fieri brought on Campbell, whose Earl Campbell's Hot Links are used in Chop House's seafood gumbo. Fieri was particularly imprssed by the dark chocolate roux: "That's roux-licious, dude!" Fieri managed to get a non-Cowboy NFL legend onto his show in the heart of Cowboys territory, and it appears that he and Campbell have a mutual-admiration society: Campbell professed to be a fan of Triple-D, and Fieri gushed that Campbell is his favorite NFL player of all time. "This is one of the greatest moments in Triple-D history," Fieri said, adding that he's close to completing his bucket list: "I have to climb a pyramid, ride a unicorn, and that's it." Even a unicorn couldn't have outrun Earl Campbell in his prime.
DDD made seven stops in North Texas during a December swing; Deep Ellum's Pepes and Mitos was featured recently, and Cane Rosso will be on the April 30, reports our friend Teresa Gubbins, who also says that Dallas' Pecan Lodge will be on the May 28 episode.
The Chop House episode will repeat at 8 p.m. April 27 on Food Network
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