The Great Food Truck Race (2010–…): Season 4, Episode 6 - A Food Truck Kind of Town, Chicago Is - full transcript
The teams face a pizza challenge judged by Chicago's mayor, Rahm Emanuel.
Previously on
"The Great Food Truck Race"...
Eight teams of food truck
rookies began a mad dash
to win their dream truck
and $50,000.
But for five of them,
what began
with the highest of hopes
ended in disappointment
in San Francisco, Portland,
Pocatello, Rapid City,
and St. Paul, Minnesota.
We work really well together,
and now we know
how to operate a food truck.
But for three teams,
the finish line
and the grand prize
are well within reach.
We got a final three.
Aloha Plate spent
most of the first few weeks
being edged out
by the single moms
of Bowled and Beautiful.
This feels familiar,
fellas!
But a breakthrough performance
in South Dakota
put them over the top
and sent the ladies packing.
They've been dominant
ever since.
Everyone's wondering how
the hell we make so much money.
Tikka Tikka Taco
gave new meaning to average
with four third‐place finishes
in a row.
I'm putting every sales tactic
I ever learned
on the table here.
But they've outlasted
and outsmarted
five very talented teams.
If I buy two plates from
you right now, how fast
can you move that truck?
And, all of a sudden,
they looked like
legitimate contenders.
And then there's
Philly's Finest Sambonis.
After an impressive start,
it's been one disaster...
Did you say anything
about the money?!
...after another.
Ohh!
But here they are,
still hanging on...
...and even more determined
to prove they can...
Who's up next?
...and will win this race.
Now the race comes here
to Chicago, Illinois.
Three trucks remain,
but not for long.
Who will go home next?
I'm Tyler Florence, and this is
"The Great Food Truck Race."
Let's get rolling.
Food truck road trip!
‐‐Captions by VITAC‐‐
Closed Captions provided by
Scripps Networks, LLC.
Chicago's known for
three things ‐‐
deep‐dish pizza, hot dogs,
and Mike Ditka.
We could make a hot dog pizza
and call it the Ditka.
We're back in a big city
like we're used to in Philly.
I mean, this city's, like,
twice the size,
but city people are city people.
We got to go
back to our roots in this city
and just make
a nice Philly cheesesteak.
The truck was made for
cooking cheesesteaks.
Let's make cheesesteaks.
We're down to
the top three teams,
so it's do‐or‐die time.
I feel like Philly's
the underdog this week.
They're the ones
with something to prove.
They've been on the chopping
block three weeks in a row.
Philly needs to go home.
Clearly, this competition
is going to move towards
the East Coast,
so we need to
establish ourselves
as the team to beat now,
which is gonna be hard,
because we're facing
some tough competition.
If the finale
of this competition
ends up being
on the East Coast
within two, three hours
of Philadelphia,
we're in trouble.
Did you ever think
we'd make it this far?
You know what,
I never thought
we'd make it this far,
to be honest.
Not only did we make it,
I think we've been
dominating each city.
And, you know, I think the
big thing we learned, though,
is it doesn't matter
if you dominate a city
because
anything can happen.
We've got the food down.
Our rhythm is down.
Thin to win is working.
We're gonna keep it steady and
keep doing what we're doing.
That's the strategy.
So, we just got to
stick to our game plan
and get as many plates as we can
on our first day
and go thin to win.
What's up, guys? Whoo!
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good to see you, too.
Welcome to Chicago!
Guys, you all should be
very, very proud.
You are the final three ‐‐
the finest final three
we've ever had.
Yes! Yes!
Yeah!
We're in the top three now.
We've made mistakes before,
and somehow bounced back.
Any of the mistakes
that we've made in the past ‐‐
Not gonna fly here.
We're gonna go home.
We are far from done,
but very soon,
one of you
will win $50,000
and your very own
food truck.
Listen, I'm not here
to mess around this morning.
I'm gonna give you
your seed money right away.
It's 500 bucks.
Yes!
Had a feeling that, being
in a big city like Chicago,
we might be given
more money than we had before.
We can use that to reduce
the amount of times we shop.
That's huge because time
shopping is time not selling.
But here's the thing,
guys.
I'm not sending you out
to sell.
Not yet, anyway.
We're gonna have
a truck stop cooking challenge
right here, right now.
And this one
is gonna be judged by taste.
There we go.
A taste challenge?
Seriously,
we've been waiting for this
since this competition started.
This is awesome.
Your judge today
is a man who loves Chicago,
and he loves food.
Impress him today,
and there could be
a lot more food trucks rolling
around Chicago very soon.
You'll meet him
in a bit.
Teams, under the colored covers
in front of your trucks
are portable,
wood‐fired pizza ovens.
All right.
It should not surprise you
that today
you'll be cooking deep‐dish,
Chicago‐style pizza.
Oh.
Pizza?
Making pizzas was my first job.
This is nothing to me.
Tyler might as well
gave us a challenge called,
"Why don't you go lay
in that bed and go to sleep?"
I provided you with
a deep‐dish pizza pan,
a peel, and fresh dough.
The rest is up to you,
but remember,
a 4‐year‐old can toss
ingredients on top of a pizza.
I want to see some skill,
and so does your judge.
He's gonna hand out
a reward, on the spot,
that you're all gonna
really, really want.
All right.
I'll let him
tell you what that is.
When I say "go,"
you'll have two hours
to light your ovens,
shop for ingredients,
and bake your pizza.
I feel like we have
the best chance, by far,
to win this pizza challenge.
We do meat.
That's our thing.
Come on, who's the judge?
They're gonna love it.
All right, teams,
are you guys ready to cook
some deep‐dish,
Chicago‐style pizza?
Yes!
Well, get in your cars, guys,
let's get rolling!
Well, do we stick to our guns
and make tikka pizza,
or do we switch it up
and make ‐‐
I think going away from it
would be a shame.
We've made pizza before
with chicken tikka,
feta cheese on it ‐‐
It tastes delicious.
Never tried to do it
in a deep‐dish before,
but why not give it a shot?
Definitely use feta, spinach,
chicken, yogurt.
That's the stuff
we've been using.
Garlic, ginger,
black pepper, cilantro.
What are you making, chef?
Deep dish is easy.
It's like a pie.
You just put everything in,
put the sauce over it,
cheese on top, and bake it.
So, what are we
gonna do for sauce
if we do use sauce?
We're gonna have to buy
some kind of store‐brand sauce.
Do we really have to?
We can't just buy
a can of crushed tomatoes
and make a sauce
real quick?
That would
take way too long, dude.
Go, baby.
Here, produce right here.
Black pepper,
Italian dry salami.
All that,
and then bacon crust.
Tomatoes right here,
fresh tomato.
No need.
Use canned tomato.
I'm not a big pizza eater.
In Hawaii,
our family and friends
don't eat a lot of pizza.
How much of this cheese,
Adam?
One.
But I am a chef.
I understand what it is.
Look for buffalo mozzarella.
Here we go.
Garlic paste,
minced garlic.
Anything of the sort?
One of the biggest challenges
that we face
is the specificity
of our ingredients.
This market
didn't have regular yogurt,
so we're gonna have to
make some modifications.
Thank you, sir.
Let's go!
I'm just stretching the dough
over the pan so it cooks evenly.
It's gonna be like a pie.
On top of flame, yeah.
When it turns to charcoal,
then pull it off.
What the eggs are gonna do
is help it
make, like, a custard
to help it bind.
The pie that we're going to make
is a traditional,
Chicago deep‐dish style.
Thick crush, three‐meat,
buffalo mozzarella,
asiago, parmesan cheese,
spicy tomato sauce.
Aloha, brudder!
Looks good, man.
I wasn't out there
when you guys lit the oven.
Does it look good?
Yeah.
We are making
a chicken tikka and feta cheese
deep‐dish pizza.
Spinach, mozzarella,
feta cheese,
our chicken tikka.
But the special part
is the sauce.
We're gonna use raita
with the chicken tikka spice
mixed into it.
So, no tomato‐based sauce.
It's gonna be
a yogurt‐based sauce.
Look at that, guys.
Make sure you use this
from now on.
Dude, look at that skill.
Do you see this guy?
I ain't playing games,
bro.
We're gonna name this pizza
the Ditka.
It's just, why not?
Three different kinds
of cheeses,
Italian salami,
gabagool, prosciutto,
and the best part of all ‐‐
bacon in the crust.
Bacon crust pizza!
Guys, 50 minutes left!
50 minutes! 5‐0!
We got a little ‐‐
a little burned crust.
Oh, man.
There are two huge issues
with our pizza.
"A," it's burning,
and "B," all of the spinach
is now wilting,
and all of that water's
being released.
I say we drain,
we re‐beautify,
and we go with it
because we have to.
It's all about damage control.
Moments like this
are gonna define
whether we win
or lose this race.
We got rid of the crust
that was burnt.
We put cheese over the top of it
to make it look
a little bit better than just
a crustless pizza.
Now we're
going back in the oven.
We made our bed.
We got to lie in it.
Teams, 10...
Rock, let's go!
...9...
Yeah!
...8...
Tyler,
you hungry, buddy?
- ...7...
- Look at the Aloha!
...6, 5...
I think
we made Ditka proud.
...4, 3...
Look at that color
on that.
...2...
Tikka time!
That's it,
bring up the pizzas!
Teams, I would like for you to
meet someone very special.
His name is Rahm Emanuel.
He's a former
U. S. Congressman,
White House Chief of Staff,
and is now
the Mayor of Chicago.
Today, he is your judge.
The boys back home
will never believe this.
Six weeks ago,
I was working in a hospital.
Now, I'm cooking for
a mayor and a world‐class chef.
Teams, I told you earlier
that the judge
will be handing out
a game‐changing prize.
Mr. Mayor, why don't you
tell them what the prize is?
All right, here it is ‐‐
Not only are you gonna get
a city proclamation
that I personally wrote,
but $1,000
for your till.
$1,000 is a big, big deal.
Teams got sent home
for less than 150 bucks already.
Joe from
Philly's Finest Sambonis,
step up
and tell us about your pizza.
Mr. Mayor,
it's a pleasure.
Hey.
In honor of Chicago's finest,
we named it the Ditka.
Five different kinds
of Italian meats in there.
Oh, wow, good.
Three different kinds
of Italian cheese.
We got sautéed
spinach and peppers,
and there's a little surprise
in the crust for you.
Put some bacon in there.
All the things I love.
Cut him a nice slice,
Joe!
Mmm.
The meats and the cheeses
really work well together,
but it's a little wet
in the middle.
The pizza's
all wet in the middle.
All the Italian meats
greased up in the center.
You live, and you learn.
All right,
Adam from Aloha Plates,
step up
and tell us about your pizza.
Come on up, man.
Aloha, Mr. Mayor.
How are you, Adam?
Welcome from Hawaii.
Hi, brother.
How are you?
Today, we have
a Chicago deep dish.
We have
three types of cheese.
The sauce
is a little spicy.
I put
some chili flakes in them
and a little bit of,
also, mushrooms.
This is
a great Chicago pizza.
You got
great crust here.
The tomato sauce, though,
overwhelms everything else.
It's a little too strong,
and it takes away from
the cheeses in there.
I don't think
the mayor likes it,
and we're starting to sweat.
We're starting to worry now.
Mike from Tikka Tikka Tacos.
Step up
and tell us about your pizza.
We're doing
a chicken tikka pizza.
It's got some spinach,
some feta cheese,
some mozzarella.
No tomato sauce. It's actually
a yogurt‐based sauce.
Yogurt?
All right.
Its strength is
it's totally different.
But it also
runs up against the expectation
that you were thinking
you're gonna get pizza.
How come you did
a feta cheese,
different than
a mozzarella?
We put some mozzarella
in there, too,
but one thing that we learned
along the way here
is that the feta cheese kind of
goes with that tikka flavor.
Adds saltiness to it.
All right.
We've dreamed for
this taste challenge.
We've wanted this taste
challenge.
Losing this means losing $1,000
and looking stupid for saying,
"I want a taste challenge,"
this entire race.
All right, teams. Mayor Emanuel
has tasted all of your pizzas.
Mr. Mayor,
which team did Chicago proud?
Coming up on
"The Great Food Truck Race"...
Mahalo, mahalo.
Your new menu item is
a sausage sandwich,
Chicago‐style.
Officer, can we park here?
No way.
Tell 'em how good it is.
Left, left, left,
left, left.
I'm not talking about
the chicken!
You just want to
fight about it?
That will haunt me
forever.
You guys stink.
Mayor Emanuel
has tasted all of your pizzas.
Mr. Mayor,
which team did Chicago proud?
First of all, I want to say
all three were really good.
You know, Chicago is in
a bit of a transition now.
There's the old, and we're
kind of building a new.
And I would say, if I
said something about the old,
Aloha Plate was closest.
On the other hand,
as we think about the future
where Chicago pizza
is changing...
...Tikka Tikka Taco
gets my vote.
Yeah!
Yes!
Congratulations, guys.
Step up
and claim your prize.
Fantastic, guys.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you so much,
Mr. Mayor.
We're getting a proclamation
from the city of Chicago,
$1,000 in our till,
but even more importantly,
the validation
that comes from making
a dish I've never before,
and somebody telling me it was
the best that they tasted.
Thank you so much for your time.
I really appreciate it.
Please give
a round of applause.
See you guys!
Thank you!
Congratulations
to everybody!
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Good to see you.
Congratulations,
Tikka Tikka Taco.
You now have a thousand‐dollar
advantage in this city.
Enjoy it
because you're gonna need it.
I was more worried about
the Philly boys.
They know a little bit more
about pizza.
I'm just kind of shocked
that Tikka won,
but hey,
the mayor made that call,
and good luck to you, Tikka.
Guys, since we started
in the Hollywood Hills
five weeks ago,
you've all been focused
on one thing,
and that's earning a spot
in our grand finale.
Well, I need to tell you
something about our finale.
Here we go.
It began
about two hours ago.
What?
That's right, guys ‐‐
Not only
are all three of you
in our finale,
it's already begun.
So, Tyler throws the bomb on us.
We're all in the final.
Three, or as we say in Hawaii,
"tree" in the final.
Guys, this finale
will be unlike
anything
we've ever done before.
We're gonna cover 800 miles
and cross six states.
And only then
will one of you win
"The Great Food Truck Race."
Be ready for anything.
Truck stop
cooking challenges,
speed bumps,
and even
a surprise elimination.
I can't tell you
when it will happen,
but I can tell you all three
of you will be leaving Chicago.
But, at one point,
we will get down to two teams.
No idea what he means by
surprise elimination,
but I can't
worry about that.
I just need to make sure that
we are always in the lead
in this race.
We have a $1,000 head start
that we cannot give up.
Now, to send you off
in a style
befitting a grand finale,
I'm gonna give you
your speed bump right now.
For the rest of this race,
all teams must serve
a minimum
of five different dishes.
And I mean dishes,
not sides and drinks.
Hey, if you're gonna run
a food truck in the real world,
you're gonna have to offer
a full menu.
And so far, I haven't seen that
from any of you.
The one big problem
that we've had is efficiency,
and we're only cooking
one or two or three things.
Now, we got to cook five things.
So, I'm nervous about this,
probably more than
any other challenge
or truck stop or anything.
Are you guys
ready to do this?
Yeah!
Let's get rolling!
Let's go!
Finale, boys!
We start every city
at a huge disadvantage
because of the fact that
we can't
just roll into
some wholesale supermarket
and get everything we need ‐‐
They don't have it.
These other two teams,
Aloha and Tikka both,
could go in
any supermarket in the country
and get what they need.
We got to go to
butchers, bakers.
We got to find the right cheese.
We stay so true
to ourselves
that we're taking
an hour trip right now
to buy
the proper rolls and steak.
There's a guy here in Chicago
from Philly
selling authentic
Philly cheesesteaks.
If we can get some ingredients
off him, we're good to go.
Going to an extra store
is gonna cost us some time,
but dude,
it is what it is.
Hey, Kathy, aloha.
This is Adam from Hawaii.
I heard you guys have
an event going on down there.
There's a great Hawaiian event
going on called Kamehameha Day.
The Hawaiians up here
got together
and had a great, big festivity.
What better place to post up?
Mind if we come down there
and park our food truck
and make some sales?
Make it a big ho'olaule'a?
Cool.
Good job.
So, obviously,
we're gonna do the tacos,
the nachos, the taquitos.
Some things that we've
kind of done on the fly
we might as well go ahead
and put on the menu
like the salad
and the little veggie wrap.
Five menu items? No problem.
We can take
our same basic ingredients
and turn 'em into 12 menu items,
if you want me to.
You want to kind of, like,
look it up
and see if we can find a brewery
that we can hook up with?
We've had
some great success.
And, obviously,
our menu goes really well
with the brewery menu.
One of the reasons we survived
and thrived in Minneapolis
was because of our partnership
with 612 Brewing.
The direction
that we're heading in now,
there's one called
Revolution Brewery.
Why re‐create the wheel?
If it works in another big city,
it can work in Chicago.
It's okay
for us to come by,
and then you and I
can work something out?
Awesome.
Get the money.
Chicken thighs.
$12, 16 in a pack.
Our strategy is thin to win.
We want to buy minimal
to make a lot.
Cost a little higher,
but we're gonna make it work.
It's $250.63.
Thank you very much.
Have a good day.
Did you get jalapeño?
Oh, I like that.
Yogurt.
Yep.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
The line is long.
Everybody from Hawaii here?
Or connected to Hawaii?
You can tell
some of these Hawaiians
are craving for
some food from home.
We're about $1,000
behind the lead,
so call all your friends
if you can.
Tell them to come down.
We'll be here.
Mahalo, mahalo.
Our five‐item menu
is a teri burger.
It's been our old faithful.
Our chicken lettuce wrap,
our sesame chicken sandwich,
our favorite Spam sandwich
that we won with,
and a chicken chopped salad.
Pretty good menu for the day.
One chicken salad,
one chicken sandwich,
one teri burger,
one Spam burger, and one wrap.
What are the chances
we meet someone from
our high school?
Dude's from my neighborhood.
He's got the meat we need.
He's got the bread we need,
he's got the onions, the cheese.
Everything we need.
Can you hook us up with some,
like, rolls?
Philly rolls?
I got that.
I'm the only guy in Chicago
that's got 'em.
I got that, and I use
Black Angus rib eye.
Beautiful.
This is a lot of food,
dude. What's the damage?
So, we're talking
rib eye, cheese, rolls, oil,
fry oil ‐‐ $250.
It might take a little longer
for us to get our ingredients,
but that's how much
we care about our customers.
We're just trying to bring good
food to the streets of Chicago.
Let's hit it.
Let's get
another small bowl marinated,
and then
we're good to go.
Hey! Tikka Taco's
now open for business.
Our menu today represents
the best of what we've done
thus far.
Our top three selling items ‐‐
tacos, the nachos,
and the taquitos.
So, that leads us to
our fourth and fifth dishes,
which is the salad
and the veggie wraps.
Two tacos, three taquitos.
That'll be $35 even.
It looks like we got
a high foot‐traffic area
at the Rush and Division
section of Chi‐Town?
I found a bar
right at that corner, basically.
Called Pippin's Tavern.
Hopefully, people are
in there hanging out,
having
a good, old Saturday.
We found a pretty good bar.
People like to eat at a bar.
Feeling pretty good.
Damn it!
How are you?
Good. How are you?
Awesome. Thanks for
coming up here.
Our epic grand finale
has just begun...
Mahalo, mahalo.
...and Tikka Tikka Taco
is off to a terrific start.
That steady business ‐‐
That's what we're looking for.
They've already earned
a $1,000 bonus in their till,
and now they're making money
hand over fist
at a brewery in Logan Square.
Aloha Plate has posted up
at Chicago's
Kamehameha Day celebration...
Two teri burgers, please.
...and they're struggling
just to keep up with demand.
We had a line of
about maybe 150 people.
Nobody's
killed each other yet.
And Philly's Finest?
Well, they drove an hour out
to Lincoln Square
to get their ingredients,
and now they're heading to
a great location downtown...
...slowly.
Never in my life
seen anything like this.
Traffic in this town is insane.
It's gonna take us two hours
before we open our doors
and start selling.
Where are you all going?
Does it ever, ever end?
It's nonstop traffic.
It's a crawl.
This is not looking good.
Dude, it's only, like,
8 miles away,
but it's 40 minutes.
Guys!
Yeah?
I notice that the foot
traffic's kind of dying
around here. I made a call.
Amy from Revolution Brewing
has a great suggestion.
There's a roller derby
going on tonight.
Should be
about 500 people there.
There's a couple food vendors
inside,
but you'll be
in the parking lot,
so you'll get first look
on everyone.
Having a solid plan
in place for dinner
is something
that gets me excited.
Let's go roller derbying.
All right, that'll be $30.
The line doesn't stop,
which is a great thing.
Mahalo, brother.
The community
is supporting us,
buying lots of food.
I think we've narrowed the gap.
How's it going, brother?
All right, good, good.
How you doing?
Thanks for waiting, man.
Food is culture,
and culture is food.
All of our love, and all of
our passion is in the food.
I mean, this is the kind of food
that we eat back home in Hawaii,
so I'm really excited
to try it today.
Damn, this Spam smells good.
What you order
comes with fries and a drink.
We're finally open for business.
We're off to a great start.
There's people everywhere.
This is awesome.
This location
is looking prime time, man.
We've been open for ten minutes.
We're already at, like,
150 bucks.
We have five menu items.
The cheesesteak,
chicken cheesesteak,
then we have a buffalo wrap,
a ranch wrap,
and steak fries.
Right now, Rock,
it's taking
like 15 to 20 minutes
to get stuff out.
Don't tell people that.
Just keep selling.
But we got to
get a better system.
Having five things on the menu
is definitely slowing us down.
This is the first time I seen
Turchy struggling on the grill.
What are we at?
What number are we at, Rock?
This chicken
has to be used for the wraps.
Joe, Joe.
This chicken has to be used
for the wraps.
Okay.
All right, listen.
Please.
Don't, don't, don't do that.
Don't do that.
Dude.
We're already ‐‐
Look me in the eyes
when you talk to me.
I said it five times
to you, dude.
I'm not trying to ‐‐
This chicken ‐‐
I'm not talking about
the chicken! I'm talking
about the rations.
It's way too much onion.
What's on there?
What's on there?
I don't want to argue
and start this
Just listen to me.
Then stop screaming.
I said it
five times to you.
Yo, guys. Yo, guys.
He won't listen to me
with the rations.
You guys hush this up
because youse are arguing.
Shut up, Rock.
No. No, I won't.
Tensions are getting high
once again.
You know, we've argued in
the past, but here in Chicago,
we cannot be arguing ‐‐
We don't have time for it.
We argue with each
other more than we ever
did in our life, man.
Tyler's stressing us out.
You're stressing me out.
The nachos.
You want to try those?
What name
can I put on that?
The Windy City Field House
has been
a steady source of business
this evening,
but it hasn't been as great of
a dinner rush as we wanted.
We got to reverse this trend
about having slow dinners.
People don't seek out
food trucks at dinner time
like they seek out food trucks
at lunch time,
and that's been
one of our issues.
That would be
pretty incredible.
So, business isn't as good
as we thought
it was gonna be right now.
And the way we scrambled around
and wasted time this morning,
I think the best use of our time
right now
might be to just go shopping.
This way, tomorrow morning,
first thing, we can roll.
We're gonna
head back to Monti's.
We're gonna re‐up on
some rolls, some steaks,
some cheese, some onions.
Wasting time tomorrow
going all the way back out there
to get more product
is a stupid idea.
Monti's!
I just don't think
we should give up selling
completely tonight,
though.
We got another hour.
Let's use it.
If we've learned one thing
in this game,
it's that
every single dollar counts.
This ain't bad, man.
No, we could work this.
What, are we gonna
call it a night?
Nah, we're gonna see
if we can get one last rush.
A cheesesteak, fries,
and a water, 20 bucks.
Feeling good, man.
You know,
we're all restocked up.
We're just gonna
keep selling
until the orders
stop coming in.
Cheesesteak?
20 bucks, my man.
Everybody's gone.
I think the best plan of action
would be to
kind of ‐‐
Wrap it up.
The derby's over.
It's getting dark.
We made about two‐thirds of
what we really wanted to make,
but hey, this is the finals.
An okay day
isn't gonna win it for you.
Tomorrow has to be huge.
I don't feel good at all
about our total today.
I'm a little confused.
We usually make
a little bit more money.
Especially in a bigger city,
we should have done more.
I planned on making
at least 4 grand.
I guess we're just
gonna have to suck it up
and go hard tomorrow.
Tonight's little push
was huge for us.
Good work today.
Good day, yeah.
Yo, Rock, good work.
Hell, yeah, boy.
Good job.
We just made
like $400 in under an hour.
After the day we had,
I'm feeling like
we're in contention here.
This is anyone's game,
and we're in it.
Philly in the house.
What, what, what, what, what?
Coming up...
Your new menu item
is a sausage sandwich,
Chicago‐style.
Officer, can we park here?
No, way.
Our bags are packed?
Really? You just
want to fight about it?
65 more to go.
Left, left, left,
left, left.
That will haunt me
forever.
You guys stink.
It's gonna be awesome.
Amazing.
Let's be awesome.
It's Day 2 of our grand finale,
and tensions are sky high
in the Windy City.
I wish we could have
had a better day yesterday.
I mean, this is the finale.
It doesn't start over.
Tikka Tikka Taco
took the advice of a local
and set up
outside an historic cathedral.
Hey, there.
Step right up.
They've got
plenty of customers.
Let's just hope
one of them pays with change.
So, I'm gonna put a tip jar out
for quarters only.
Tell 'em instead of tipping us,
feed the meter.
Aloha Plate began the weekend
a full $1,000
behind Tikka Tikka,
and now they're banking on
heavy foot traffic
in Wicker Park
to help close the gap.
We have a bunch of people
waiting for us.
We're stoked.
The weather's beautiful.
We brought a little bit of
Hawaii to Chicago.
And Philly's Finest is thrilled
to be heading to
a farmer's market,
where they always
seem to do well.
How youse doing?
Only problem is,
it's a flea market.
I don't like this spot
at all, man.
We got to get out of here.
We thought we had
an advantage today,
getting our shopping done
yesterday.
We're ready to go.
Advantage squandered.
I wanted to be knocking it
out of the park, out the gate.
People come to this flea market
to pay a nickel for a t‐shirt.
They damn sure ain't
paying $20 for a sandwich.
My morale is low, dude.
We're here, we might as well
open the windows
and just tell people,
you know what I mean?
Even if we could just
get our prep work done
while we're here?
This way,
if we get to a new spot,
we can just
start selling, ASAP?
Well, let's prep,
and let's hopefully
make a couple of sales.
We should have
looked more into this location.
We didn't,
and the worst part is,
we don't even have
a back‐up location.
Well, our monster grand finale
is off to a roaring start,
and we've just begun.
Now, I've told the teams
that we're gonna
cover 800 miles
and cross 6 states,
and, well, we haven't even
left Chicago yet.
Now, if you thought Tikka
had it made
because they won the
pizza challenge, think again.
Aloha Plate and Tikka
started today
$311 apart,
and Philly's late push
last night in Lincoln Square
puts them
right in the mix, too.
At this point,
this race could go
a million different directions,
or it could just go one ‐‐ East.
Tikka Tikka Taco,
how can I help you?
Hey, guys, it's Tyler.
We miss you, Tyler. Haven't
talked to you in a while.
I'm sure you've been
having a little bit
of separation anxiety.
Well, I'm here now.
I hope your bags are packed.
Our bags are packed?
It's time to move East, but
there's one thing you've got to
do before you leave Chicago.
We have to
do something first.
We're gonna have another
truck stop cooking challenge,
but this one
is a sales challenge.
We're having
another truck stop challenge.
Shut down now ‐‐
No more sales
until I tell you
it's okay to reopen.
You're not allowed to
take any more sales right now.
This is gonna be similar to
the Spam challenge
we had in St. Paul.
You must continue to offer your
full menu with five menu items,
but you're gonna add
a sixth item
and sell it for
exactly 7 bucks.
No more, no less.
$7.
Your new menu item is a hot beef
Polish sausage sandwich
served in
the authentic Chicago style.
Okay, the new item
is a hot beef Polish sausage.
Authentic Chicago style.
We got this.
That means grilled onions,
sport peppers, and mustard.
No freelancing here.
It's got to be the real deal.
And guys, these sausages
are a third of a pound
and eight inches long ‐‐
This is not a snack.
That's a full meal, dude.
That's a pretty big sausage for
7 bucks. This should be easy.
Now, a little more
about these sausages.
You guys met
one Chicago icon yesterday.
Well, it just so happens that
another Chicago legend
manufactures great sausages
and sells 'em in his restaurant.
Ditka!
All right, Philly,
try to contain yourselves.
Yes, it is
who you think it is.
- Ditka!
- Are you kidding me?
Are you kidding me?
Yes!
It's NFL Hall of Famer
and Super Bowl‐winning coach
Mike Ditka.
Philly boys
are going crazy right now.
Oh, Mike Ditka.
Coach Ditka has set aside
20 cases of sausages
for each of you
at his manufacturing plant
on Damen Avenue.
That's 300 sausages each.
- 100 pounds of sausage?
- That's a lot of sausage.
You need to sell all
300 sausages as fast as you can,
and then get yourselves
to Coach Ditka's restaurant
on East Chestnut Street.
The first team to arrive
will earn a reward
that you're gonna
really, really want.
What is it, Tyler?
Give it to me.
It's a five‐hour head start
to our next city.
Five‐hour head start
to the next city.
I'll tell you
what that city is later.
We don't know
what city it is yet.
We're not gonna find out
till later.
If you haven't sold out
by 3:00,
just shut down
and come to Ditka's, anyway.
You're gonna have to sell
Chicago‐style sausages
to locals who can get them
on every corner.
So, that's gonna be
tricky.
It might be like
trying to sell ice to Eskimos.
It's a good thing
we can do that.
Hey, listen.
This is our grand finale.
Nothing is gonna be
a walk in the park.
This is
the grand finale.
Nothing's gonna be a walk
in the park. We knew that.
All right, guys. Hang up
and go pick up your sausages.
I'll see you
at Iron Mike's restaurant.
All right, let's sell
some Ditka sausages, bro.
Let's pack up
and get out of here.
Chicago‐style sausages.
We fry 'em at home,
but we throw 'em
on the barbecue.
It shouldn't be too bad.
Just throw it in a bun.
The sausage
has to be $7.
Everything else
is gonna be $25.
If they want to buy it,
then it's $25 in the till.
We're selling six items, but
we're really only selling one.
All we need to do
is find a good spot to park,
and I guarantee,
we can pull this off.
All right, let's hit it.
Let's go.
This challenge requires speed,
so we've got to
shut down the windows
and race off
to get the sausages.
We got a parking ticket
on the car.
Why?
Didn't have
any quarters to pay it.
Yeah, but that's ‐‐
Shaun, you just want to
fight about it?
Is that what you want to do?
No, man.
I just, like ‐‐
Nothing else.
Be more careful,
how about that?
"Hey, I made a mistake. I need
to be more careful next time."
This is our first real mistake,
and so,
how we handle it going forward
is going to make or break us
in this competition.
Why are you being an
I'm not trying to be, dude.
We just need to be more careful
about crap like that.
We always
try to be careful,
and I don't need to
hear it from you.
It's not good. It's a mistake,
and I hope it doesn't kill us.
Buns, onions, mustard.
It's noon on Day 2
in Chicago,
and I've given the teams
a truck stop cooking challenge
that has the potential to turn
this race inside out.
Both feet on the ground.
Don't step up on the dock.
They must sell
300 Mike Ditka sausages
and then race
to his restaurant downtown.
All right, guys.
Let's go.
The team that arrives first
gets a game‐changing reward ‐‐
a five‐hour head start
to the next city.
Five hours ahead
to the next city is huge.
Tikka Tikka Taco
is partnered with a tavern
on North Milwaukee Avenue
in Portage Park.
Ladies and gentlemen,
step right up.
And so far, sales are brisk.
The Ditka, two taquitos,
three veggie rolls.
$32, please.
Aloha Plate is back
in Wicker Park,
but the foot traffic
is starting to thin out.
Chicago‐style sausages.
Mike Ditka loves it.
And Philly's Finest?
Well, who knows
what their plan is?
Man, dude, this location
right now is killing us.
I think we should definitely
check out the beach, though.
Dude, worse case scenario,
we could park
along Columbus Avenue.
If we could find a spot,
it would be the most perfect
thing ever,
'cause that's where
all the tourists are.
Looks like we have a plan.
It's gorgeous out.
People are gonna be
at the beach.
Once we get there,
we're gonna kill it.
Hopefully, we can do all right
here, man.
I mean, it's a beach, and
there's gonna be people there.
Ask this parking attendant,
Rock. Hop out.
Ask him if we can sell here?
Yeah.
We can't have the trucks
in here? No?
Is your boss around?
Can I ask him?
Officer,
excuse me one second.
Can we park here
for like an hour?
We just showed up at the beach.
There's thousands of people.
Can't park here.
On to Plan "C,"
which doesn't exist.
Everything about
our planning for today,
the location was a complete
bust ‐‐ both of them.
Today's special,
Chicago‐style sausage,
which you'll want to get
because it's very ono.
Mahalo, brother.
Right now, we're cutting
these sausages in half.
They're gonna cook faster.
They're gonna look a little more
than they are,
and this is the way we do it
back home.
I've never made
a Chicago‐style sausage,
but it sounds pretty simple.
Mustard, caramelized onions,
sport peppers.
How hard could it be?
Really good. You could really
taste the sport peppers on it,
which is my absolute favorite.
And I'm not a big fan of onions,
but they were cooked
really well.
280 more to go.
Mike, how many big Ditka
sausages we sold today?
It looks like
we are almost to 75.
At the end of the day, the way
to win $50,000 and a food truck
is to have the most money
in your till.
We need to push our other menu
items to make actual cash.
How many
can I get you, brother?
Four Ditkas.
Four tikka tikka tacos.
We are offering $5 off
another menu item
if you purchase the Big Ditka,
so you are getting a lot for
your money in this situation.
Look at that.
Look at that.
One for you, sir?
Yeah.
And two tikka tacos.
It's a tow zone!
We've been driving through
the Chicago traffic
for an hour and a half.
The other teams probably been
selling for an hour and a half.
It's almost like we don't stand
a chance to win now.
I don't see any signs that say,
"No Parking."
I know we just drove around
forever, but this is a bust.
Come on, we're moping around.
What do we got?
Let's go to a place.
We got to get our truck
near some people.
Typical Philly fashion.
Here we go.
We made it to the finals.
Now we're blowing it.
Cooking and selling food
is not our issue.
It's things like this
that is our issue,
and that will haunt
me forever.
Steve! We're at 235.
We need 65 more to go.
Got it, guys?
Okay!
$7 for the special today,
$5 for anything on this side.
We got to get to $300 sausages,
but we realized we might not
be able to do it.
What we need to do
is re‐strategize.
Everything on the menu $5, guys,
except for the special.
Tell 'em how good it is,
ladies.
Super good!
Let's push everything
on the menu for sale.
One teri burger for Mike
and one special for Mike.
We're going to Logan Square.
I've heard multiple locals
talk about this place.
There's also
a brewery nearby.
Brewery.
Right here, right here.
Popular place, that's it.
We've been driving around
for two hours.
Enough's enough.
Let's just park.
Now cut it.
Now cut it.
Let's just try something.
Bang, perfect.
Stay right there.
Don't even move.
This is us. I don't know.
We got nothing else.
At least there's people
walking around. Whatever, man.
Yeah, whatever.
Guys let me down so bad.
Put my faith in these guys
to follow 'em.
I mean, I don't want
to point fingers.
We're a team, but they drove me
all around the city.
I mean,
a million great spots.
A million places where people
were all over,
and I'm on a dead‐end street
with nobody around.
Good news is,
we're finally opened.
Bad news is, I got to get
my binoculars out
to see the next guy
down the block.
It's terrible.
Ditka sausage sandwiches!
Only 7 bucks!
We got a lot of sausages
to sell, boys.
Our three teams have about
a half hour left in Chicago,
and right now,
the stakes could not be higher.
One Ditka!
The first team to sell 300
Mike Ditka sausages
and arrive at his restaurant
wins a 5‐hour head start
to the next city.
Ditka sausage sandwiches.
They're only 7 bucks apiece.
Tikka Tikka Taco has sold
about 250 sausages,
and right now, they look like
they're in the driver's seat.
Two more regular style,
coming right up.
Aloha Plate has sold about 230,
but you can never count
these guys out.
Whoo!
And Philly's Finest?
Well, they've sold none.
This spot stinks.
Let's do what we're good
at today. Drive around.
This is the last location change
of the day.
We're gonna head on over
to Humboldt Park
and give it one last shot.
If it doesn't happen there,
we're just gonna head to Ditka's
restaurant and give up.
We're just going straight
to the park.
There's apparently some kind
of festival going on.
Hopefully, they're hungry.
We did enough running around.
This is our Hail Mary.
This is our Hail Ditka.
If we don't do it here,
we're not gonna do it anywhere.
Only 19 more orders of
the Ditka special left!
That's all we need,
so if anybody's hungry,
send 'em out here!
Amu's on the grill.
He's sweating.
He's rolling.
He's making eight different
things at a time.
Shaun's prepping it.
I'm taking orders and sending
'em out the window.
We are so close right now.
I think we got this, Mike.
I think we got this.
Let's do it.
Paul!
Two Ditkas for Paul!
We have ten sausages
left to go.
We might actually make this.
We are so close.
We have like five Ditkas left!
We have three more.
Only two Ditka specials left!
If you're hungry,
step right up!
I swear, we sold those last 20
sausages in about 5 minutes.
Peggy's got the last two orders
of the Ditka!
Yeah!
Ladies and gentlemen,
thank you so much!
We are all sold out!
We are almost there, Amu.
I really hope we don't see any
other trucks when we get there.
Good news is,
we got a couple customers.
Bad news is, we only sold
three orders, no sausage.
I seen you getting orders.
I put food on.
Nothing?
Oh, man.
They're 7 bucks.
All right.
We got a half hour left,
and we only have to sell
290‐something sausages?
This day's great.
I love this day.
Sausage sandwich,
sausage and peppers, $7.
Park, park it.
Let's go!
Ditka's restaurant!
Left, left, left, left, left.
We're not gonna see the hostess,
I hope you don't mind.
Let's go! Let's go!
This way, this way, this way.
Come on, come on!
Oh!
What's up?
Wow, the man, Mike Ditka,
is actually there.
I'm sure you're wondering
if you're the first team here.
Well, you guys
are the first ones.
Two for two, baby!
Baby,
two for two in Chicago!
Congratulations, guys.
You win an autographed ball.
Yeah!
Thank you, sir.
I'll tell you what.
I'm a nice guy.
I'll get you two more.
Yeah! Thank you!
We swept the challenges.
We're in first this week.
When it really counts,
we have such a solid chance
at taking home $50,000
and a food truck
and a signed football
by Coach Ditka.
Tikka Tikka Taco,
you know what this means.
You guys are free to drive
to the next city.
You will have
a five‐hour head start
over Philly and Aloha Plate.
All you need to know now
is where to, right?
Tell us.
Your next city is a healthy
724 miles due East.
It's Annapolis, Maryland.
Whoa!
Yes! Yes!
Head straight there and start
making money right now.
That's a big advantage.
Good luck to you guys.
Go, go, go, go!
We won't fumble.
Let's go!
Tikka Tikka Taco!
2 challenges in 2 days,
$1,000, 5‐hour head start.
Call us the underdogs
all you want,
but we're making a statement.
We are getting
no love here at all.
It's a wrap, dude.
Bad day
to have a bad day.
This whole day
was a complete joke.
We let ourselves down,
we let our city down,
and most importantly,
we let Ditka down.
Chicago 1, Samboni 0.
Zero.
We sold only 238,
but we have to go
to Mike Ditka's restaurant
and show up.
You ready to pack up?
Let's go.
Oh, baby.
Hey, what's up, guys?
How you doing?
Hi, guys.
How you doing?
That's Mike Ditka right here.
I got to go get a shower.
I have to put on better clothes.
I need to shave.
This dude is a legend to
everybody, especially to me.
Neither one of you sold enough
sausages by the deadline.
Neither one of you
won the advantage.
Well, guys,
let me tell you something.
Tikka Tikka did win
the advantage,
and they're already on their way
to the next city.
Aloha Plate always sets a goal
before we start out.
In this city,
we didn't reach that goal.
I'm really glad there wasn't
an elimination,
because we could have been
on our way home.
What do you think, Coach?
Well, I'll tell you.
It's a little embarrassing
to me.
I mean, you guys.
Ten sausages?
Ten?
This is one of the greatest
sausages in the world.
You could only sell ten.
You guys stink.
I feel like I let Coach down.
I really do.
Our performance was pathetic
at best.
Well, Coach,
here's the thing.
I promised the winning team
a five‐hour head start
to the next city,
which is gonna be Annapolis,
Maryland, by the way,
and Tikka Tikka's only been gone
for 45 minutes,
which means these 2 teams
have over 4 hours to kill.
Have you got any suggestions
on how these guys
can pass the time?
I think I got something for you
guys to do for four hours.
Look at this.
Tikka's on the road already.
Horrible, horrible day.
Next time on
"The Great Food Truck Race"...
Let's go show 'em
how the East Coast party!
You're gonna cook crab right
in the heart of crab country.
We're right back, dude.
We're right back in the game.
We might as well just pack up.
We're coming home.
We're here!
Are you kidding me?
I want to cry.
This is one of the most
important dishes
we have ever made.
You guys will go head‐to‐head
for the right to take home
your food truck and win $50,000.
There's really nothing
more dangerous
than somebody with nothing
to lose.
"The Great Food Truck Race"...
Eight teams of food truck
rookies began a mad dash
to win their dream truck
and $50,000.
But for five of them,
what began
with the highest of hopes
ended in disappointment
in San Francisco, Portland,
Pocatello, Rapid City,
and St. Paul, Minnesota.
We work really well together,
and now we know
how to operate a food truck.
But for three teams,
the finish line
and the grand prize
are well within reach.
We got a final three.
Aloha Plate spent
most of the first few weeks
being edged out
by the single moms
of Bowled and Beautiful.
This feels familiar,
fellas!
But a breakthrough performance
in South Dakota
put them over the top
and sent the ladies packing.
They've been dominant
ever since.
Everyone's wondering how
the hell we make so much money.
Tikka Tikka Taco
gave new meaning to average
with four third‐place finishes
in a row.
I'm putting every sales tactic
I ever learned
on the table here.
But they've outlasted
and outsmarted
five very talented teams.
If I buy two plates from
you right now, how fast
can you move that truck?
And, all of a sudden,
they looked like
legitimate contenders.
And then there's
Philly's Finest Sambonis.
After an impressive start,
it's been one disaster...
Did you say anything
about the money?!
...after another.
Ohh!
But here they are,
still hanging on...
...and even more determined
to prove they can...
Who's up next?
...and will win this race.
Now the race comes here
to Chicago, Illinois.
Three trucks remain,
but not for long.
Who will go home next?
I'm Tyler Florence, and this is
"The Great Food Truck Race."
Let's get rolling.
Food truck road trip!
‐‐Captions by VITAC‐‐
Closed Captions provided by
Scripps Networks, LLC.
Chicago's known for
three things ‐‐
deep‐dish pizza, hot dogs,
and Mike Ditka.
We could make a hot dog pizza
and call it the Ditka.
We're back in a big city
like we're used to in Philly.
I mean, this city's, like,
twice the size,
but city people are city people.
We got to go
back to our roots in this city
and just make
a nice Philly cheesesteak.
The truck was made for
cooking cheesesteaks.
Let's make cheesesteaks.
We're down to
the top three teams,
so it's do‐or‐die time.
I feel like Philly's
the underdog this week.
They're the ones
with something to prove.
They've been on the chopping
block three weeks in a row.
Philly needs to go home.
Clearly, this competition
is going to move towards
the East Coast,
so we need to
establish ourselves
as the team to beat now,
which is gonna be hard,
because we're facing
some tough competition.
If the finale
of this competition
ends up being
on the East Coast
within two, three hours
of Philadelphia,
we're in trouble.
Did you ever think
we'd make it this far?
You know what,
I never thought
we'd make it this far,
to be honest.
Not only did we make it,
I think we've been
dominating each city.
And, you know, I think the
big thing we learned, though,
is it doesn't matter
if you dominate a city
because
anything can happen.
We've got the food down.
Our rhythm is down.
Thin to win is working.
We're gonna keep it steady and
keep doing what we're doing.
That's the strategy.
So, we just got to
stick to our game plan
and get as many plates as we can
on our first day
and go thin to win.
What's up, guys? Whoo!
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good to see you, too.
Welcome to Chicago!
Guys, you all should be
very, very proud.
You are the final three ‐‐
the finest final three
we've ever had.
Yes! Yes!
Yeah!
We're in the top three now.
We've made mistakes before,
and somehow bounced back.
Any of the mistakes
that we've made in the past ‐‐
Not gonna fly here.
We're gonna go home.
We are far from done,
but very soon,
one of you
will win $50,000
and your very own
food truck.
Listen, I'm not here
to mess around this morning.
I'm gonna give you
your seed money right away.
It's 500 bucks.
Yes!
Had a feeling that, being
in a big city like Chicago,
we might be given
more money than we had before.
We can use that to reduce
the amount of times we shop.
That's huge because time
shopping is time not selling.
But here's the thing,
guys.
I'm not sending you out
to sell.
Not yet, anyway.
We're gonna have
a truck stop cooking challenge
right here, right now.
And this one
is gonna be judged by taste.
There we go.
A taste challenge?
Seriously,
we've been waiting for this
since this competition started.
This is awesome.
Your judge today
is a man who loves Chicago,
and he loves food.
Impress him today,
and there could be
a lot more food trucks rolling
around Chicago very soon.
You'll meet him
in a bit.
Teams, under the colored covers
in front of your trucks
are portable,
wood‐fired pizza ovens.
All right.
It should not surprise you
that today
you'll be cooking deep‐dish,
Chicago‐style pizza.
Oh.
Pizza?
Making pizzas was my first job.
This is nothing to me.
Tyler might as well
gave us a challenge called,
"Why don't you go lay
in that bed and go to sleep?"
I provided you with
a deep‐dish pizza pan,
a peel, and fresh dough.
The rest is up to you,
but remember,
a 4‐year‐old can toss
ingredients on top of a pizza.
I want to see some skill,
and so does your judge.
He's gonna hand out
a reward, on the spot,
that you're all gonna
really, really want.
All right.
I'll let him
tell you what that is.
When I say "go,"
you'll have two hours
to light your ovens,
shop for ingredients,
and bake your pizza.
I feel like we have
the best chance, by far,
to win this pizza challenge.
We do meat.
That's our thing.
Come on, who's the judge?
They're gonna love it.
All right, teams,
are you guys ready to cook
some deep‐dish,
Chicago‐style pizza?
Yes!
Well, get in your cars, guys,
let's get rolling!
Well, do we stick to our guns
and make tikka pizza,
or do we switch it up
and make ‐‐
I think going away from it
would be a shame.
We've made pizza before
with chicken tikka,
feta cheese on it ‐‐
It tastes delicious.
Never tried to do it
in a deep‐dish before,
but why not give it a shot?
Definitely use feta, spinach,
chicken, yogurt.
That's the stuff
we've been using.
Garlic, ginger,
black pepper, cilantro.
What are you making, chef?
Deep dish is easy.
It's like a pie.
You just put everything in,
put the sauce over it,
cheese on top, and bake it.
So, what are we
gonna do for sauce
if we do use sauce?
We're gonna have to buy
some kind of store‐brand sauce.
Do we really have to?
We can't just buy
a can of crushed tomatoes
and make a sauce
real quick?
That would
take way too long, dude.
Go, baby.
Here, produce right here.
Black pepper,
Italian dry salami.
All that,
and then bacon crust.
Tomatoes right here,
fresh tomato.
No need.
Use canned tomato.
I'm not a big pizza eater.
In Hawaii,
our family and friends
don't eat a lot of pizza.
How much of this cheese,
Adam?
One.
But I am a chef.
I understand what it is.
Look for buffalo mozzarella.
Here we go.
Garlic paste,
minced garlic.
Anything of the sort?
One of the biggest challenges
that we face
is the specificity
of our ingredients.
This market
didn't have regular yogurt,
so we're gonna have to
make some modifications.
Thank you, sir.
Let's go!
I'm just stretching the dough
over the pan so it cooks evenly.
It's gonna be like a pie.
On top of flame, yeah.
When it turns to charcoal,
then pull it off.
What the eggs are gonna do
is help it
make, like, a custard
to help it bind.
The pie that we're going to make
is a traditional,
Chicago deep‐dish style.
Thick crush, three‐meat,
buffalo mozzarella,
asiago, parmesan cheese,
spicy tomato sauce.
Aloha, brudder!
Looks good, man.
I wasn't out there
when you guys lit the oven.
Does it look good?
Yeah.
We are making
a chicken tikka and feta cheese
deep‐dish pizza.
Spinach, mozzarella,
feta cheese,
our chicken tikka.
But the special part
is the sauce.
We're gonna use raita
with the chicken tikka spice
mixed into it.
So, no tomato‐based sauce.
It's gonna be
a yogurt‐based sauce.
Look at that, guys.
Make sure you use this
from now on.
Dude, look at that skill.
Do you see this guy?
I ain't playing games,
bro.
We're gonna name this pizza
the Ditka.
It's just, why not?
Three different kinds
of cheeses,
Italian salami,
gabagool, prosciutto,
and the best part of all ‐‐
bacon in the crust.
Bacon crust pizza!
Guys, 50 minutes left!
50 minutes! 5‐0!
We got a little ‐‐
a little burned crust.
Oh, man.
There are two huge issues
with our pizza.
"A," it's burning,
and "B," all of the spinach
is now wilting,
and all of that water's
being released.
I say we drain,
we re‐beautify,
and we go with it
because we have to.
It's all about damage control.
Moments like this
are gonna define
whether we win
or lose this race.
We got rid of the crust
that was burnt.
We put cheese over the top of it
to make it look
a little bit better than just
a crustless pizza.
Now we're
going back in the oven.
We made our bed.
We got to lie in it.
Teams, 10...
Rock, let's go!
...9...
Yeah!
...8...
Tyler,
you hungry, buddy?
- ...7...
- Look at the Aloha!
...6, 5...
I think
we made Ditka proud.
...4, 3...
Look at that color
on that.
...2...
Tikka time!
That's it,
bring up the pizzas!
Teams, I would like for you to
meet someone very special.
His name is Rahm Emanuel.
He's a former
U. S. Congressman,
White House Chief of Staff,
and is now
the Mayor of Chicago.
Today, he is your judge.
The boys back home
will never believe this.
Six weeks ago,
I was working in a hospital.
Now, I'm cooking for
a mayor and a world‐class chef.
Teams, I told you earlier
that the judge
will be handing out
a game‐changing prize.
Mr. Mayor, why don't you
tell them what the prize is?
All right, here it is ‐‐
Not only are you gonna get
a city proclamation
that I personally wrote,
but $1,000
for your till.
$1,000 is a big, big deal.
Teams got sent home
for less than 150 bucks already.
Joe from
Philly's Finest Sambonis,
step up
and tell us about your pizza.
Mr. Mayor,
it's a pleasure.
Hey.
In honor of Chicago's finest,
we named it the Ditka.
Five different kinds
of Italian meats in there.
Oh, wow, good.
Three different kinds
of Italian cheese.
We got sautéed
spinach and peppers,
and there's a little surprise
in the crust for you.
Put some bacon in there.
All the things I love.
Cut him a nice slice,
Joe!
Mmm.
The meats and the cheeses
really work well together,
but it's a little wet
in the middle.
The pizza's
all wet in the middle.
All the Italian meats
greased up in the center.
You live, and you learn.
All right,
Adam from Aloha Plates,
step up
and tell us about your pizza.
Come on up, man.
Aloha, Mr. Mayor.
How are you, Adam?
Welcome from Hawaii.
Hi, brother.
How are you?
Today, we have
a Chicago deep dish.
We have
three types of cheese.
The sauce
is a little spicy.
I put
some chili flakes in them
and a little bit of,
also, mushrooms.
This is
a great Chicago pizza.
You got
great crust here.
The tomato sauce, though,
overwhelms everything else.
It's a little too strong,
and it takes away from
the cheeses in there.
I don't think
the mayor likes it,
and we're starting to sweat.
We're starting to worry now.
Mike from Tikka Tikka Tacos.
Step up
and tell us about your pizza.
We're doing
a chicken tikka pizza.
It's got some spinach,
some feta cheese,
some mozzarella.
No tomato sauce. It's actually
a yogurt‐based sauce.
Yogurt?
All right.
Its strength is
it's totally different.
But it also
runs up against the expectation
that you were thinking
you're gonna get pizza.
How come you did
a feta cheese,
different than
a mozzarella?
We put some mozzarella
in there, too,
but one thing that we learned
along the way here
is that the feta cheese kind of
goes with that tikka flavor.
Adds saltiness to it.
All right.
We've dreamed for
this taste challenge.
We've wanted this taste
challenge.
Losing this means losing $1,000
and looking stupid for saying,
"I want a taste challenge,"
this entire race.
All right, teams. Mayor Emanuel
has tasted all of your pizzas.
Mr. Mayor,
which team did Chicago proud?
Coming up on
"The Great Food Truck Race"...
Mahalo, mahalo.
Your new menu item is
a sausage sandwich,
Chicago‐style.
Officer, can we park here?
No way.
Tell 'em how good it is.
Left, left, left,
left, left.
I'm not talking about
the chicken!
You just want to
fight about it?
That will haunt me
forever.
You guys stink.
Mayor Emanuel
has tasted all of your pizzas.
Mr. Mayor,
which team did Chicago proud?
First of all, I want to say
all three were really good.
You know, Chicago is in
a bit of a transition now.
There's the old, and we're
kind of building a new.
And I would say, if I
said something about the old,
Aloha Plate was closest.
On the other hand,
as we think about the future
where Chicago pizza
is changing...
...Tikka Tikka Taco
gets my vote.
Yeah!
Yes!
Congratulations, guys.
Step up
and claim your prize.
Fantastic, guys.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you so much,
Mr. Mayor.
We're getting a proclamation
from the city of Chicago,
$1,000 in our till,
but even more importantly,
the validation
that comes from making
a dish I've never before,
and somebody telling me it was
the best that they tasted.
Thank you so much for your time.
I really appreciate it.
Please give
a round of applause.
See you guys!
Thank you!
Congratulations
to everybody!
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Good to see you.
Congratulations,
Tikka Tikka Taco.
You now have a thousand‐dollar
advantage in this city.
Enjoy it
because you're gonna need it.
I was more worried about
the Philly boys.
They know a little bit more
about pizza.
I'm just kind of shocked
that Tikka won,
but hey,
the mayor made that call,
and good luck to you, Tikka.
Guys, since we started
in the Hollywood Hills
five weeks ago,
you've all been focused
on one thing,
and that's earning a spot
in our grand finale.
Well, I need to tell you
something about our finale.
Here we go.
It began
about two hours ago.
What?
That's right, guys ‐‐
Not only
are all three of you
in our finale,
it's already begun.
So, Tyler throws the bomb on us.
We're all in the final.
Three, or as we say in Hawaii,
"tree" in the final.
Guys, this finale
will be unlike
anything
we've ever done before.
We're gonna cover 800 miles
and cross six states.
And only then
will one of you win
"The Great Food Truck Race."
Be ready for anything.
Truck stop
cooking challenges,
speed bumps,
and even
a surprise elimination.
I can't tell you
when it will happen,
but I can tell you all three
of you will be leaving Chicago.
But, at one point,
we will get down to two teams.
No idea what he means by
surprise elimination,
but I can't
worry about that.
I just need to make sure that
we are always in the lead
in this race.
We have a $1,000 head start
that we cannot give up.
Now, to send you off
in a style
befitting a grand finale,
I'm gonna give you
your speed bump right now.
For the rest of this race,
all teams must serve
a minimum
of five different dishes.
And I mean dishes,
not sides and drinks.
Hey, if you're gonna run
a food truck in the real world,
you're gonna have to offer
a full menu.
And so far, I haven't seen that
from any of you.
The one big problem
that we've had is efficiency,
and we're only cooking
one or two or three things.
Now, we got to cook five things.
So, I'm nervous about this,
probably more than
any other challenge
or truck stop or anything.
Are you guys
ready to do this?
Yeah!
Let's get rolling!
Let's go!
Finale, boys!
We start every city
at a huge disadvantage
because of the fact that
we can't
just roll into
some wholesale supermarket
and get everything we need ‐‐
They don't have it.
These other two teams,
Aloha and Tikka both,
could go in
any supermarket in the country
and get what they need.
We got to go to
butchers, bakers.
We got to find the right cheese.
We stay so true
to ourselves
that we're taking
an hour trip right now
to buy
the proper rolls and steak.
There's a guy here in Chicago
from Philly
selling authentic
Philly cheesesteaks.
If we can get some ingredients
off him, we're good to go.
Going to an extra store
is gonna cost us some time,
but dude,
it is what it is.
Hey, Kathy, aloha.
This is Adam from Hawaii.
I heard you guys have
an event going on down there.
There's a great Hawaiian event
going on called Kamehameha Day.
The Hawaiians up here
got together
and had a great, big festivity.
What better place to post up?
Mind if we come down there
and park our food truck
and make some sales?
Make it a big ho'olaule'a?
Cool.
Good job.
So, obviously,
we're gonna do the tacos,
the nachos, the taquitos.
Some things that we've
kind of done on the fly
we might as well go ahead
and put on the menu
like the salad
and the little veggie wrap.
Five menu items? No problem.
We can take
our same basic ingredients
and turn 'em into 12 menu items,
if you want me to.
You want to kind of, like,
look it up
and see if we can find a brewery
that we can hook up with?
We've had
some great success.
And, obviously,
our menu goes really well
with the brewery menu.
One of the reasons we survived
and thrived in Minneapolis
was because of our partnership
with 612 Brewing.
The direction
that we're heading in now,
there's one called
Revolution Brewery.
Why re‐create the wheel?
If it works in another big city,
it can work in Chicago.
It's okay
for us to come by,
and then you and I
can work something out?
Awesome.
Get the money.
Chicken thighs.
$12, 16 in a pack.
Our strategy is thin to win.
We want to buy minimal
to make a lot.
Cost a little higher,
but we're gonna make it work.
It's $250.63.
Thank you very much.
Have a good day.
Did you get jalapeño?
Oh, I like that.
Yogurt.
Yep.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
The line is long.
Everybody from Hawaii here?
Or connected to Hawaii?
You can tell
some of these Hawaiians
are craving for
some food from home.
We're about $1,000
behind the lead,
so call all your friends
if you can.
Tell them to come down.
We'll be here.
Mahalo, mahalo.
Our five‐item menu
is a teri burger.
It's been our old faithful.
Our chicken lettuce wrap,
our sesame chicken sandwich,
our favorite Spam sandwich
that we won with,
and a chicken chopped salad.
Pretty good menu for the day.
One chicken salad,
one chicken sandwich,
one teri burger,
one Spam burger, and one wrap.
What are the chances
we meet someone from
our high school?
Dude's from my neighborhood.
He's got the meat we need.
He's got the bread we need,
he's got the onions, the cheese.
Everything we need.
Can you hook us up with some,
like, rolls?
Philly rolls?
I got that.
I'm the only guy in Chicago
that's got 'em.
I got that, and I use
Black Angus rib eye.
Beautiful.
This is a lot of food,
dude. What's the damage?
So, we're talking
rib eye, cheese, rolls, oil,
fry oil ‐‐ $250.
It might take a little longer
for us to get our ingredients,
but that's how much
we care about our customers.
We're just trying to bring good
food to the streets of Chicago.
Let's hit it.
Let's get
another small bowl marinated,
and then
we're good to go.
Hey! Tikka Taco's
now open for business.
Our menu today represents
the best of what we've done
thus far.
Our top three selling items ‐‐
tacos, the nachos,
and the taquitos.
So, that leads us to
our fourth and fifth dishes,
which is the salad
and the veggie wraps.
Two tacos, three taquitos.
That'll be $35 even.
It looks like we got
a high foot‐traffic area
at the Rush and Division
section of Chi‐Town?
I found a bar
right at that corner, basically.
Called Pippin's Tavern.
Hopefully, people are
in there hanging out,
having
a good, old Saturday.
We found a pretty good bar.
People like to eat at a bar.
Feeling pretty good.
Damn it!
How are you?
Good. How are you?
Awesome. Thanks for
coming up here.
Our epic grand finale
has just begun...
Mahalo, mahalo.
...and Tikka Tikka Taco
is off to a terrific start.
That steady business ‐‐
That's what we're looking for.
They've already earned
a $1,000 bonus in their till,
and now they're making money
hand over fist
at a brewery in Logan Square.
Aloha Plate has posted up
at Chicago's
Kamehameha Day celebration...
Two teri burgers, please.
...and they're struggling
just to keep up with demand.
We had a line of
about maybe 150 people.
Nobody's
killed each other yet.
And Philly's Finest?
Well, they drove an hour out
to Lincoln Square
to get their ingredients,
and now they're heading to
a great location downtown...
...slowly.
Never in my life
seen anything like this.
Traffic in this town is insane.
It's gonna take us two hours
before we open our doors
and start selling.
Where are you all going?
Does it ever, ever end?
It's nonstop traffic.
It's a crawl.
This is not looking good.
Dude, it's only, like,
8 miles away,
but it's 40 minutes.
Guys!
Yeah?
I notice that the foot
traffic's kind of dying
around here. I made a call.
Amy from Revolution Brewing
has a great suggestion.
There's a roller derby
going on tonight.
Should be
about 500 people there.
There's a couple food vendors
inside,
but you'll be
in the parking lot,
so you'll get first look
on everyone.
Having a solid plan
in place for dinner
is something
that gets me excited.
Let's go roller derbying.
All right, that'll be $30.
The line doesn't stop,
which is a great thing.
Mahalo, brother.
The community
is supporting us,
buying lots of food.
I think we've narrowed the gap.
How's it going, brother?
All right, good, good.
How you doing?
Thanks for waiting, man.
Food is culture,
and culture is food.
All of our love, and all of
our passion is in the food.
I mean, this is the kind of food
that we eat back home in Hawaii,
so I'm really excited
to try it today.
Damn, this Spam smells good.
What you order
comes with fries and a drink.
We're finally open for business.
We're off to a great start.
There's people everywhere.
This is awesome.
This location
is looking prime time, man.
We've been open for ten minutes.
We're already at, like,
150 bucks.
We have five menu items.
The cheesesteak,
chicken cheesesteak,
then we have a buffalo wrap,
a ranch wrap,
and steak fries.
Right now, Rock,
it's taking
like 15 to 20 minutes
to get stuff out.
Don't tell people that.
Just keep selling.
But we got to
get a better system.
Having five things on the menu
is definitely slowing us down.
This is the first time I seen
Turchy struggling on the grill.
What are we at?
What number are we at, Rock?
This chicken
has to be used for the wraps.
Joe, Joe.
This chicken has to be used
for the wraps.
Okay.
All right, listen.
Please.
Don't, don't, don't do that.
Don't do that.
Dude.
We're already ‐‐
Look me in the eyes
when you talk to me.
I said it five times
to you, dude.
I'm not trying to ‐‐
This chicken ‐‐
I'm not talking about
the chicken! I'm talking
about the rations.
It's way too much onion.
What's on there?
What's on there?
I don't want to argue
and start this
Just listen to me.
Then stop screaming.
I said it
five times to you.
Yo, guys. Yo, guys.
He won't listen to me
with the rations.
You guys hush this up
because youse are arguing.
Shut up, Rock.
No. No, I won't.
Tensions are getting high
once again.
You know, we've argued in
the past, but here in Chicago,
we cannot be arguing ‐‐
We don't have time for it.
We argue with each
other more than we ever
did in our life, man.
Tyler's stressing us out.
You're stressing me out.
The nachos.
You want to try those?
What name
can I put on that?
The Windy City Field House
has been
a steady source of business
this evening,
but it hasn't been as great of
a dinner rush as we wanted.
We got to reverse this trend
about having slow dinners.
People don't seek out
food trucks at dinner time
like they seek out food trucks
at lunch time,
and that's been
one of our issues.
That would be
pretty incredible.
So, business isn't as good
as we thought
it was gonna be right now.
And the way we scrambled around
and wasted time this morning,
I think the best use of our time
right now
might be to just go shopping.
This way, tomorrow morning,
first thing, we can roll.
We're gonna
head back to Monti's.
We're gonna re‐up on
some rolls, some steaks,
some cheese, some onions.
Wasting time tomorrow
going all the way back out there
to get more product
is a stupid idea.
Monti's!
I just don't think
we should give up selling
completely tonight,
though.
We got another hour.
Let's use it.
If we've learned one thing
in this game,
it's that
every single dollar counts.
This ain't bad, man.
No, we could work this.
What, are we gonna
call it a night?
Nah, we're gonna see
if we can get one last rush.
A cheesesteak, fries,
and a water, 20 bucks.
Feeling good, man.
You know,
we're all restocked up.
We're just gonna
keep selling
until the orders
stop coming in.
Cheesesteak?
20 bucks, my man.
Everybody's gone.
I think the best plan of action
would be to
kind of ‐‐
Wrap it up.
The derby's over.
It's getting dark.
We made about two‐thirds of
what we really wanted to make,
but hey, this is the finals.
An okay day
isn't gonna win it for you.
Tomorrow has to be huge.
I don't feel good at all
about our total today.
I'm a little confused.
We usually make
a little bit more money.
Especially in a bigger city,
we should have done more.
I planned on making
at least 4 grand.
I guess we're just
gonna have to suck it up
and go hard tomorrow.
Tonight's little push
was huge for us.
Good work today.
Good day, yeah.
Yo, Rock, good work.
Hell, yeah, boy.
Good job.
We just made
like $400 in under an hour.
After the day we had,
I'm feeling like
we're in contention here.
This is anyone's game,
and we're in it.
Philly in the house.
What, what, what, what, what?
Coming up...
Your new menu item
is a sausage sandwich,
Chicago‐style.
Officer, can we park here?
No, way.
Our bags are packed?
Really? You just
want to fight about it?
65 more to go.
Left, left, left,
left, left.
That will haunt me
forever.
You guys stink.
It's gonna be awesome.
Amazing.
Let's be awesome.
It's Day 2 of our grand finale,
and tensions are sky high
in the Windy City.
I wish we could have
had a better day yesterday.
I mean, this is the finale.
It doesn't start over.
Tikka Tikka Taco
took the advice of a local
and set up
outside an historic cathedral.
Hey, there.
Step right up.
They've got
plenty of customers.
Let's just hope
one of them pays with change.
So, I'm gonna put a tip jar out
for quarters only.
Tell 'em instead of tipping us,
feed the meter.
Aloha Plate began the weekend
a full $1,000
behind Tikka Tikka,
and now they're banking on
heavy foot traffic
in Wicker Park
to help close the gap.
We have a bunch of people
waiting for us.
We're stoked.
The weather's beautiful.
We brought a little bit of
Hawaii to Chicago.
And Philly's Finest is thrilled
to be heading to
a farmer's market,
where they always
seem to do well.
How youse doing?
Only problem is,
it's a flea market.
I don't like this spot
at all, man.
We got to get out of here.
We thought we had
an advantage today,
getting our shopping done
yesterday.
We're ready to go.
Advantage squandered.
I wanted to be knocking it
out of the park, out the gate.
People come to this flea market
to pay a nickel for a t‐shirt.
They damn sure ain't
paying $20 for a sandwich.
My morale is low, dude.
We're here, we might as well
open the windows
and just tell people,
you know what I mean?
Even if we could just
get our prep work done
while we're here?
This way,
if we get to a new spot,
we can just
start selling, ASAP?
Well, let's prep,
and let's hopefully
make a couple of sales.
We should have
looked more into this location.
We didn't,
and the worst part is,
we don't even have
a back‐up location.
Well, our monster grand finale
is off to a roaring start,
and we've just begun.
Now, I've told the teams
that we're gonna
cover 800 miles
and cross 6 states,
and, well, we haven't even
left Chicago yet.
Now, if you thought Tikka
had it made
because they won the
pizza challenge, think again.
Aloha Plate and Tikka
started today
$311 apart,
and Philly's late push
last night in Lincoln Square
puts them
right in the mix, too.
At this point,
this race could go
a million different directions,
or it could just go one ‐‐ East.
Tikka Tikka Taco,
how can I help you?
Hey, guys, it's Tyler.
We miss you, Tyler. Haven't
talked to you in a while.
I'm sure you've been
having a little bit
of separation anxiety.
Well, I'm here now.
I hope your bags are packed.
Our bags are packed?
It's time to move East, but
there's one thing you've got to
do before you leave Chicago.
We have to
do something first.
We're gonna have another
truck stop cooking challenge,
but this one
is a sales challenge.
We're having
another truck stop challenge.
Shut down now ‐‐
No more sales
until I tell you
it's okay to reopen.
You're not allowed to
take any more sales right now.
This is gonna be similar to
the Spam challenge
we had in St. Paul.
You must continue to offer your
full menu with five menu items,
but you're gonna add
a sixth item
and sell it for
exactly 7 bucks.
No more, no less.
$7.
Your new menu item is a hot beef
Polish sausage sandwich
served in
the authentic Chicago style.
Okay, the new item
is a hot beef Polish sausage.
Authentic Chicago style.
We got this.
That means grilled onions,
sport peppers, and mustard.
No freelancing here.
It's got to be the real deal.
And guys, these sausages
are a third of a pound
and eight inches long ‐‐
This is not a snack.
That's a full meal, dude.
That's a pretty big sausage for
7 bucks. This should be easy.
Now, a little more
about these sausages.
You guys met
one Chicago icon yesterday.
Well, it just so happens that
another Chicago legend
manufactures great sausages
and sells 'em in his restaurant.
Ditka!
All right, Philly,
try to contain yourselves.
Yes, it is
who you think it is.
- Ditka!
- Are you kidding me?
Are you kidding me?
Yes!
It's NFL Hall of Famer
and Super Bowl‐winning coach
Mike Ditka.
Philly boys
are going crazy right now.
Oh, Mike Ditka.
Coach Ditka has set aside
20 cases of sausages
for each of you
at his manufacturing plant
on Damen Avenue.
That's 300 sausages each.
- 100 pounds of sausage?
- That's a lot of sausage.
You need to sell all
300 sausages as fast as you can,
and then get yourselves
to Coach Ditka's restaurant
on East Chestnut Street.
The first team to arrive
will earn a reward
that you're gonna
really, really want.
What is it, Tyler?
Give it to me.
It's a five‐hour head start
to our next city.
Five‐hour head start
to the next city.
I'll tell you
what that city is later.
We don't know
what city it is yet.
We're not gonna find out
till later.
If you haven't sold out
by 3:00,
just shut down
and come to Ditka's, anyway.
You're gonna have to sell
Chicago‐style sausages
to locals who can get them
on every corner.
So, that's gonna be
tricky.
It might be like
trying to sell ice to Eskimos.
It's a good thing
we can do that.
Hey, listen.
This is our grand finale.
Nothing is gonna be
a walk in the park.
This is
the grand finale.
Nothing's gonna be a walk
in the park. We knew that.
All right, guys. Hang up
and go pick up your sausages.
I'll see you
at Iron Mike's restaurant.
All right, let's sell
some Ditka sausages, bro.
Let's pack up
and get out of here.
Chicago‐style sausages.
We fry 'em at home,
but we throw 'em
on the barbecue.
It shouldn't be too bad.
Just throw it in a bun.
The sausage
has to be $7.
Everything else
is gonna be $25.
If they want to buy it,
then it's $25 in the till.
We're selling six items, but
we're really only selling one.
All we need to do
is find a good spot to park,
and I guarantee,
we can pull this off.
All right, let's hit it.
Let's go.
This challenge requires speed,
so we've got to
shut down the windows
and race off
to get the sausages.
We got a parking ticket
on the car.
Why?
Didn't have
any quarters to pay it.
Yeah, but that's ‐‐
Shaun, you just want to
fight about it?
Is that what you want to do?
No, man.
I just, like ‐‐
Nothing else.
Be more careful,
how about that?
"Hey, I made a mistake. I need
to be more careful next time."
This is our first real mistake,
and so,
how we handle it going forward
is going to make or break us
in this competition.
Why are you being an
I'm not trying to be, dude.
We just need to be more careful
about crap like that.
We always
try to be careful,
and I don't need to
hear it from you.
It's not good. It's a mistake,
and I hope it doesn't kill us.
Buns, onions, mustard.
It's noon on Day 2
in Chicago,
and I've given the teams
a truck stop cooking challenge
that has the potential to turn
this race inside out.
Both feet on the ground.
Don't step up on the dock.
They must sell
300 Mike Ditka sausages
and then race
to his restaurant downtown.
All right, guys.
Let's go.
The team that arrives first
gets a game‐changing reward ‐‐
a five‐hour head start
to the next city.
Five hours ahead
to the next city is huge.
Tikka Tikka Taco
is partnered with a tavern
on North Milwaukee Avenue
in Portage Park.
Ladies and gentlemen,
step right up.
And so far, sales are brisk.
The Ditka, two taquitos,
three veggie rolls.
$32, please.
Aloha Plate is back
in Wicker Park,
but the foot traffic
is starting to thin out.
Chicago‐style sausages.
Mike Ditka loves it.
And Philly's Finest?
Well, who knows
what their plan is?
Man, dude, this location
right now is killing us.
I think we should definitely
check out the beach, though.
Dude, worse case scenario,
we could park
along Columbus Avenue.
If we could find a spot,
it would be the most perfect
thing ever,
'cause that's where
all the tourists are.
Looks like we have a plan.
It's gorgeous out.
People are gonna be
at the beach.
Once we get there,
we're gonna kill it.
Hopefully, we can do all right
here, man.
I mean, it's a beach, and
there's gonna be people there.
Ask this parking attendant,
Rock. Hop out.
Ask him if we can sell here?
Yeah.
We can't have the trucks
in here? No?
Is your boss around?
Can I ask him?
Officer,
excuse me one second.
Can we park here
for like an hour?
We just showed up at the beach.
There's thousands of people.
Can't park here.
On to Plan "C,"
which doesn't exist.
Everything about
our planning for today,
the location was a complete
bust ‐‐ both of them.
Today's special,
Chicago‐style sausage,
which you'll want to get
because it's very ono.
Mahalo, brother.
Right now, we're cutting
these sausages in half.
They're gonna cook faster.
They're gonna look a little more
than they are,
and this is the way we do it
back home.
I've never made
a Chicago‐style sausage,
but it sounds pretty simple.
Mustard, caramelized onions,
sport peppers.
How hard could it be?
Really good. You could really
taste the sport peppers on it,
which is my absolute favorite.
And I'm not a big fan of onions,
but they were cooked
really well.
280 more to go.
Mike, how many big Ditka
sausages we sold today?
It looks like
we are almost to 75.
At the end of the day, the way
to win $50,000 and a food truck
is to have the most money
in your till.
We need to push our other menu
items to make actual cash.
How many
can I get you, brother?
Four Ditkas.
Four tikka tikka tacos.
We are offering $5 off
another menu item
if you purchase the Big Ditka,
so you are getting a lot for
your money in this situation.
Look at that.
Look at that.
One for you, sir?
Yeah.
And two tikka tacos.
It's a tow zone!
We've been driving through
the Chicago traffic
for an hour and a half.
The other teams probably been
selling for an hour and a half.
It's almost like we don't stand
a chance to win now.
I don't see any signs that say,
"No Parking."
I know we just drove around
forever, but this is a bust.
Come on, we're moping around.
What do we got?
Let's go to a place.
We got to get our truck
near some people.
Typical Philly fashion.
Here we go.
We made it to the finals.
Now we're blowing it.
Cooking and selling food
is not our issue.
It's things like this
that is our issue,
and that will haunt
me forever.
Steve! We're at 235.
We need 65 more to go.
Got it, guys?
Okay!
$7 for the special today,
$5 for anything on this side.
We got to get to $300 sausages,
but we realized we might not
be able to do it.
What we need to do
is re‐strategize.
Everything on the menu $5, guys,
except for the special.
Tell 'em how good it is,
ladies.
Super good!
Let's push everything
on the menu for sale.
One teri burger for Mike
and one special for Mike.
We're going to Logan Square.
I've heard multiple locals
talk about this place.
There's also
a brewery nearby.
Brewery.
Right here, right here.
Popular place, that's it.
We've been driving around
for two hours.
Enough's enough.
Let's just park.
Now cut it.
Now cut it.
Let's just try something.
Bang, perfect.
Stay right there.
Don't even move.
This is us. I don't know.
We got nothing else.
At least there's people
walking around. Whatever, man.
Yeah, whatever.
Guys let me down so bad.
Put my faith in these guys
to follow 'em.
I mean, I don't want
to point fingers.
We're a team, but they drove me
all around the city.
I mean,
a million great spots.
A million places where people
were all over,
and I'm on a dead‐end street
with nobody around.
Good news is,
we're finally opened.
Bad news is, I got to get
my binoculars out
to see the next guy
down the block.
It's terrible.
Ditka sausage sandwiches!
Only 7 bucks!
We got a lot of sausages
to sell, boys.
Our three teams have about
a half hour left in Chicago,
and right now,
the stakes could not be higher.
One Ditka!
The first team to sell 300
Mike Ditka sausages
and arrive at his restaurant
wins a 5‐hour head start
to the next city.
Ditka sausage sandwiches.
They're only 7 bucks apiece.
Tikka Tikka Taco has sold
about 250 sausages,
and right now, they look like
they're in the driver's seat.
Two more regular style,
coming right up.
Aloha Plate has sold about 230,
but you can never count
these guys out.
Whoo!
And Philly's Finest?
Well, they've sold none.
This spot stinks.
Let's do what we're good
at today. Drive around.
This is the last location change
of the day.
We're gonna head on over
to Humboldt Park
and give it one last shot.
If it doesn't happen there,
we're just gonna head to Ditka's
restaurant and give up.
We're just going straight
to the park.
There's apparently some kind
of festival going on.
Hopefully, they're hungry.
We did enough running around.
This is our Hail Mary.
This is our Hail Ditka.
If we don't do it here,
we're not gonna do it anywhere.
Only 19 more orders of
the Ditka special left!
That's all we need,
so if anybody's hungry,
send 'em out here!
Amu's on the grill.
He's sweating.
He's rolling.
He's making eight different
things at a time.
Shaun's prepping it.
I'm taking orders and sending
'em out the window.
We are so close right now.
I think we got this, Mike.
I think we got this.
Let's do it.
Paul!
Two Ditkas for Paul!
We have ten sausages
left to go.
We might actually make this.
We are so close.
We have like five Ditkas left!
We have three more.
Only two Ditka specials left!
If you're hungry,
step right up!
I swear, we sold those last 20
sausages in about 5 minutes.
Peggy's got the last two orders
of the Ditka!
Yeah!
Ladies and gentlemen,
thank you so much!
We are all sold out!
We are almost there, Amu.
I really hope we don't see any
other trucks when we get there.
Good news is,
we got a couple customers.
Bad news is, we only sold
three orders, no sausage.
I seen you getting orders.
I put food on.
Nothing?
Oh, man.
They're 7 bucks.
All right.
We got a half hour left,
and we only have to sell
290‐something sausages?
This day's great.
I love this day.
Sausage sandwich,
sausage and peppers, $7.
Park, park it.
Let's go!
Ditka's restaurant!
Left, left, left, left, left.
We're not gonna see the hostess,
I hope you don't mind.
Let's go! Let's go!
This way, this way, this way.
Come on, come on!
Oh!
What's up?
Wow, the man, Mike Ditka,
is actually there.
I'm sure you're wondering
if you're the first team here.
Well, you guys
are the first ones.
Two for two, baby!
Baby,
two for two in Chicago!
Congratulations, guys.
You win an autographed ball.
Yeah!
Thank you, sir.
I'll tell you what.
I'm a nice guy.
I'll get you two more.
Yeah! Thank you!
We swept the challenges.
We're in first this week.
When it really counts,
we have such a solid chance
at taking home $50,000
and a food truck
and a signed football
by Coach Ditka.
Tikka Tikka Taco,
you know what this means.
You guys are free to drive
to the next city.
You will have
a five‐hour head start
over Philly and Aloha Plate.
All you need to know now
is where to, right?
Tell us.
Your next city is a healthy
724 miles due East.
It's Annapolis, Maryland.
Whoa!
Yes! Yes!
Head straight there and start
making money right now.
That's a big advantage.
Good luck to you guys.
Go, go, go, go!
We won't fumble.
Let's go!
Tikka Tikka Taco!
2 challenges in 2 days,
$1,000, 5‐hour head start.
Call us the underdogs
all you want,
but we're making a statement.
We are getting
no love here at all.
It's a wrap, dude.
Bad day
to have a bad day.
This whole day
was a complete joke.
We let ourselves down,
we let our city down,
and most importantly,
we let Ditka down.
Chicago 1, Samboni 0.
Zero.
We sold only 238,
but we have to go
to Mike Ditka's restaurant
and show up.
You ready to pack up?
Let's go.
Oh, baby.
Hey, what's up, guys?
How you doing?
Hi, guys.
How you doing?
That's Mike Ditka right here.
I got to go get a shower.
I have to put on better clothes.
I need to shave.
This dude is a legend to
everybody, especially to me.
Neither one of you sold enough
sausages by the deadline.
Neither one of you
won the advantage.
Well, guys,
let me tell you something.
Tikka Tikka did win
the advantage,
and they're already on their way
to the next city.
Aloha Plate always sets a goal
before we start out.
In this city,
we didn't reach that goal.
I'm really glad there wasn't
an elimination,
because we could have been
on our way home.
What do you think, Coach?
Well, I'll tell you.
It's a little embarrassing
to me.
I mean, you guys.
Ten sausages?
Ten?
This is one of the greatest
sausages in the world.
You could only sell ten.
You guys stink.
I feel like I let Coach down.
I really do.
Our performance was pathetic
at best.
Well, Coach,
here's the thing.
I promised the winning team
a five‐hour head start
to the next city,
which is gonna be Annapolis,
Maryland, by the way,
and Tikka Tikka's only been gone
for 45 minutes,
which means these 2 teams
have over 4 hours to kill.
Have you got any suggestions
on how these guys
can pass the time?
I think I got something for you
guys to do for four hours.
Look at this.
Tikka's on the road already.
Horrible, horrible day.
Next time on
"The Great Food Truck Race"...
Let's go show 'em
how the East Coast party!
You're gonna cook crab right
in the heart of crab country.
We're right back, dude.
We're right back in the game.
We might as well just pack up.
We're coming home.
We're here!
Are you kidding me?
I want to cry.
This is one of the most
important dishes
we have ever made.
You guys will go head‐to‐head
for the right to take home
your food truck and win $50,000.
There's really nothing
more dangerous
than somebody with nothing
to lose.