- Hey, it's Andrew, Steven and Adam.
This episode was filmed at the beginning of the year,
before we began social distancing, due to COVID-19.
- And, while we're currently practicing social distancing,
we wanted to share these great restaurants with you,
even though dinning out is not the same right now.
We're in Houston, Texas!
- We're doing breakfast sandwiches!
- The classic breakfast sandwich...
- Right
- What does that look like?
It looks like breakfast in a sandwich,
eaten for breakfast.
- I'm thinking, like, muffin, egg...
- [Steven] Mm
- [Andrew] Some cheese?
- [Steve] Have to have cheese.
- [Andrew] Maybe a ham or bacon...
- [Steven] Yes.
- But what if, breakfast didn't have the halves
of the sandwich closed?
- [Steven] What if it was on a donut?
- [Andrew] What if there were no eggs on it whatsoever?
Is that a breakfast sandwich?
We're gonna be finding out today, on Worth it!
♪ Is it worth it? ♪
♪ Make it worth it ♪
♪ Make it worth it, worth it. ♪
♪ Worth it! ♪
- Today on Worth It, we're gonna be trying
three different breakfast sandwiches
at three drastically different price points
to find out which one is the most worth it at its price.
Oh, and just wanna say off the top,
thank you to Toyota for making this season possible.
Okay, Andrew...
- Like I hinted at earlier,
the breakfast sandwiches this trip
are going to challenge your convention
of what a breakfast sandwich is.
- I always like the episodes where Andrew goes rogue.
- [Andrew] Yeah.
- Andrew goes rogue, Andrew goes food theory mode.
Where are we going first?
- We're going to see Andrew and his mother Nga,
at Cali Sandwich to try their banh mi,
because banh mi, from what I understand,
is eaten at all times of day in Vietnam,
as well as breakfast.
(guitar music playing)
- Can you tell us a little bit about Cali Sandwiches.
- Oh, we started in 1993, yeah, that time we only
sold sandwich only.
We sell about 700 bread a day.
- [Andrew] Your previous restaurant sold
700 sandwiches a day?
- [Nga] Yeah, yeah.
- [Andrew] So you still only make sandwiches,
what do you guys sell now?
- We have pho, we have egg rolls, uh, spring rolls,
we, we have branched out, so stir fried food.
- Cause Cali Sandwiches, in Houston,
is one of many Vietnamese restaurants,
what is it that makes your food, you know,
a little different, a little special?
- [Nga] We make fresh everyday, we make everything here,
we get here eight o' clock, you know,
and then we start, you know, cook everything fresh,
by the second day, they're not fresh no more.
They say that's gonna be too much work,
I say, "I don't want people who, you know,
eat one time, and they say 'bye, bye'."
The meat some places, they buy already cut,
but we don't want it like that.
- [Andrew] Yeah, you guys are
very well known around town.
Like everybody I've asked who says
"where should you go for banh mi?"
Everybody says " Cali Sandwich"
- Really?
- [Andrew] Yeah.
- Thank you.
- Oh, I didn't know that.
(laughs)
- [Andrew] Yeah!
- [Steven, Owner] So once they grill the meat,
they cut off all the chars,
she doesn't wanna put too much char
cause it's not really good for you.
- [Steven, Host] But then why do you char it?
- [Steven, Owner] So you get the flavor, smoke it.
- [Nga] You put on oven, it not fry good.
- [Andrew] Our video is about breakfast sandwiches,
I actually learned recently that Vietnam,
people eat banh mi first thing in the morning.
- [Nga] This morning, I walk in,
I was so hungry, and I had the half sandwich
with the thin pork, oh my, it made me so good, yeah.
- [Andrew] So that was your breakfast today.
- [Nga] Yeah.
- [Steven, Host] How do you spare your
breakfast sandwich though, it's a,
it's a sandwich you could eat kinda on the go?
- [Andrew] You guys offer a lot of different versions
of the banh mi, which ones should we try today?
- [Nga] Uh, combo and the grilled pork.
- [Steven, Host] Uh, how much is the banh mi?
- Banh mi is, uh, $3.69.
- What?
(laughs)
(cash register ding)
- Wow, thank you.
- [Andrew] Thank you so much.
- Cheers!
- Cheers, Steven.
- Mm.
- We got their Thai iced tea that they make in house.
- Good morning, Andrew!
- Good morning!
- Good morning.
- Good morning, sandwich!
- Good morning, sandwich.
- We got a grilled pork, and we have a combo.
So why don't we have half of each,
start with the grilled pork.
- [Steven] Lets do it.
It is a lot lighter than I thought it was gonna be.
- [Andrew] Yeah.
- Cheers.
(crunch)
- Mm!
- It's the perfect sandwich, regardless of the time of day.
- That was really fresh.
You know the first thing I want in the morning
is to feel refreshed.
You get up, you wash your face, brush your teeth.
- Yeah, it's like looking in the mirror and...
(smacking noise)
Slap on your face.
- Yes.
- That's what having a jalapeno for breakfast is like.
- Hey, I got you, I got you.
(paper crinkling)
- Okay, I gotta wipe that down now.
- We're moving on to the combo.
- Woo!
- Oh.
- Wait a sec, wait what's in here again?
- Pate, pork roll, steamed barbecue pork.
- Steamed barbecue pork.
- [Andrew] And ham.
- [Steven] That's a labor of love right there.
(cash register ding)
Cheers.
(crunch)
The jalapeno.
- Yeah...
- Woo.
- This one's a little spicy.
You know what's interesting about jalapeno,
in a otherwise not spicy thing?
A jalapeno... (slurps)
makes you salivate more after your bite,
therefore making you want even more sandwich.
Oh! (slurps) Salivating,
I want some pate, rich pate, cool it off.
You eat that, but hey, there's a bite of jalapeno
still in there, circle of sandwich life.
- Couldn't have said it better myself.
(silent crunch)
Breakfast sandwich fact time!
Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo!
According to historian Heather Arndt-Anderson,
the breakfast sandwich has its origins in
early 19th-century London when factory workers
desired a quick and convenient breakfast
on their way to work.
The soft roll used for the sandwiches was called a "bap."
It's both a sad and a happy thing.
- Why sad?
- Sad because it was like "oh, no we don't have
time to eat breakfast anymore so lets just
package it in a way, so we can get to work faster.
- But a delicious thing was born.
- Yes.
- Okay, so our next breakfast sandwich,
we're going to see Mark and Drew at Squable,
where we're going to be having their
donut breakfast sandwich.
Of all the sandwiches we're gonna be having in this episode
this one definitely contains
the most breakfasty items, you know?
- All right, let's go to Squable, I, uh,
I do respect the name, great name, Squable.
(chill music playing)
- Could you just give us a description
of what kind of restaurant Squable is.
- A rustic, European restaurant,
with American influences, which gives us like
liberty to kind of play with cuisines,
like French cuisine, Italian cuisine.
- So you guys are co...
- [Together] Co-chef partners.
- Do you have different focuses here?
- I mean, I'm very much focused on the bread.
So I'm, you know, responsible for the donuts.
Mark is more responsible for the savory part of the menu.
- The mustaches, was that before you guys met or like...
(laughs)
Once you decided to start a restaurant together?
You were like, "this is the look".
- The last time we did a photo shoot, uh,
we said "next time let's do it with mustaches."
- [Andrew] So, bread and pastry is really intertwined
throughout this whole menu, right?
- [Drew] Definitely, we have these specific bread section,
but it finds its way in to like, pretty much half the menu.
- And, so with this breakfast sandwich
that we're having today,
can you talk about how that ties in together?
- [Mark] In a roundabout way,
the sandwich is like a croque madame,
but a little bit more playful.
- [Steven] And then, why use a donut?
- [Drew] So, we serve donuts for dessert,
as well, for dinner.
- [Mark] A big part of this restaurant is
making sure we utilize everything, as much as possible,
I don't like wasting anything.
And we were like "Well, what would be kind of interesting
to do and use the donut in more than one way?"
- [Drew] Generally, the ones that we use for brunch
come from the service before.
- [Mark] We more or less need like a stale donut
to be able to build a sandwich out of.
We tried doing it with like a fresh donut
it would be too hard to eat.
The sandwich is layered with a ham and cheese,
so we use country ham, with Gruyere.
You have a mornay sauce, which has a little bit mustard,
Gruyere cheese, Raclette cheese,
and there's a little bit of Parmesan milk in there,
from cheese rinds that we use.
And it was like "croque madame, put like an egg on top"
And I was like "that's gonna look really messy"
So we just started to like separate the two.
We confit egg yolks,
basically putting egg yolks in olive oil.
We use the egg whites in the sandwich
and then putting the egg yolk on top
because everyone wants to see that,
so we just kinda made it to where it's the star.
And then take the top part of the donut
and dip it in the maple reduction.
Um, and then it gets finished with a little flake salt.
- [Steven] I gotta say, man, that's a lot of
work and technique that goes into making this breakfast.
- And that's kind of the idea behind the restaurant,
to keep everyone challenged, in the restaurant,
and engaged.
- [Andrew] Is there a strategy for what to do with the yolk?
- [Mark] You kinda have to commit
when you're gonna eat the sandwich, right?
If I were eating for myself, I would just kinda,
like pop it just pick it up.
- Would you eat it that way?
- I agree with that, that's exactly how I eat it.
(cash register ding)
(Andrew woos)
- [Steven] I will admit, it is the most appetizing looking
Bloody Mary I've ever seen.
- [Andrew] It makes me think I'm just having a smoothie.
I'm doing this for my gut health.
- Yes, cheers.
- Thank you, I mean cheers!
(laughing)
- What?
- Mm, that's tasty.
- I think I'd like to have more,
because it felt like I was eating it.
I want a fork and a knife.
- So check this out, fork and a knife, built into the table.
(silverware clinks)
- [Steven] Nice.
- I would like a separate compartment
for people to put their phones in.
Stop texting, people.
Definitely gonna forget that.
(laughs)
- I'll start with the potato.
(Steven ohs)
- [Andrew] They are fluffy, yeah.
It's like mashed inside.
Look at the other visual on this plate.
- [Steven] It's wild.
For those of you in home who cannot smell this,
the smell is very confusing.
- It's like, is it dessert or is it ham?
- (laughs) yeah!
I'm so messy that if I go fork and knife,
it'll be as clean as if you go with your hands.
(both wooing)
- [Steven] Wow it is sticky.
- Oh my God. (laughs) Oh my God.
The maple syrup flavor is just there enough, you know?
- It has a donut and maple syrup and it's not that sweet.
- It's cause the balance is right there, you know?
Like it had a cheese sauce,
but it's a sauce that's very peppery and mustardy.
So it works with all of this other sweet and rich stuff.
This is a killer sandwich,
this is actually very well thought out
and I did not make the realization
that it's like a croque madame.
- Were you like "croque my damn."
I feel like I'm dreaming right now,
I feel like I'm sleeping
and my wild mind came out with this.
- I've never heard that term before
but it totally makes sense,
I know about the wild mind.
(laughs)
This feels really good to eat after the sandwich.
(lettuce crunches)
- Oh my gosh.
- You gotta try one of these potatoes, they're unreal.
- I definitely almost forgot my phone.
- You did forget your phone.
- Okay, yeah, we were about to walk out the door
and somebody pointed out that my phone
was in fact still in the drawer at the table.
This is actually gonna conclude our time in Houston,
and our last breakfast sandwich is gonna be in Dallas.
- Road trip!
- Before we, uh, head off to our next place,
time for a little breakfast sandwich fact.
- [Steven] Woo! Breakfast sandwich fact!
- It's actually not gonna be a breakfast sandwich fact.
- Come on!
- Okay, bare with me, our last breakfast sandwich
is served on an English muffin.
So this is actually gonna be an English muffin fact,
so English muffin fact!
English muffins in England are known simply as muffins.
- (laughs) No way!
- Yes way.
- So what is a muffin to them.
- I'm glad you asked, what we know as muffins in America,
sometimes in England they're called American muffins.
- No way!
- Or sometimes just muffin.
- Wait what?
- Yeah, it's confusing.
- Do they call it the English channel,
the English channel over there?
Or is it just the channel?
And is that channel just BBC?
(laughs)
Well we're here in Dallas, Texas,
because we're going to talk to Dean Fearing
and we're going to Fearing's restaurant to eat what, Andrew?
- [Andrew] We're having the crab eggs benedict
off their brunch menu.
I would argue that an eggs benedict
is an open faced breakfast sandwich.
And, in fact, if you go to Wikipedia,
that's what it says, I didn't make that edit.
Look, it's a theory, we're gonna test it out,
that's the new point of this show,
is a food what we say it is.
- All right, let's go.
(elegant music playing)
- I'm Dean Fearing, I am the chef owner
of Fearing's Restaurant
located at the Ritz Carlton here in Dallas, Texas.
So, Fearing's Restaurant is unusual,
in the sense that we have five different dining rooms.
And I wanted this factor,
to have people be able to sit
in a different atmosphere, each time they come.
Fearing's is a southwest restaurant,
but with many worldly features.
Southwest cuisine is ingredients indigenous to our area,
identifying Texas as it's own food source.
The main component is all the influence
of food that came from South of the border.
We change the menu almost every three or four weeks.
Now, we don't change the whole menu,
as we have some signature items,
our buffalo that's been soaked in Vermont maple syrup
for 48 hours.
- Buffalo soaked in maple syrup?
- [Dean] Yes.
- [Andrew] Wow.
- [Dean] Unbelievable.
Our crab cake benedict is definitely
influenced by the southwest.
Crab meat coming from the Gulf,
the Hollandaise being poblano,
a taste from Mexico that I absolutely love,
using homemade English muffin.
- I have this theory of the eggs benedict,
I'm interested in getting your opinion on it.
So the eggs benedict, I think,
really is kind of an open faced breakfast sandwich.
- Of course!
- You agree?
- I would agree!
Yeah it's probably the first of it's kind.
- And if you wanted to have a breakfast sandwich
in a little bit more of a refined setting...
- (laughs) Yes.
- You'd eat it with a fork and a knife, right?
- You do.
- Who's gonna be making the benedict for us today?
- Mike Matis is our restaurant chef,
I love the curve and the little quirkiness
that Mike brings to the menu.
- For me, generally speaking, great crab cake,
it's gotta be like maybe 95% crab,
so we but like a pinch of breadcrumbs or croutons.
You know, a benedict, the most important part
is when you hit it with that Hollandaise,
it looks fresh, it's appetizing.
- [Dean] You know, you just can't beat that flavor.
- [Andrew] Steven, we've made it
to the final breakfast sandwich.
Does my theory hold water?
- Sure, I mean you already had Dean agreeing with you so...
- It's your feelings that matter to me, Steven.
(laughs)
- Okay, your gonna say that here.
- You know what, why don't you reserve your judgment
'til once we're done eating.
- Okay, all right.
- To start, we've got Dean's margarita.
Wow, that's good.
- Oh, tequila.
- Sorry, this is delicious.
- It's, uh, it's strong and it lets you know it's strong.
So, we're here, and we have this, quite beautiful,
and, I mean, benedicts are usually pretty beautiful,
but this is, this is a different level of beauty
that I'm seeing right now.
- I don't think I've ever had an English muffin
that wasn't the store bought variety.
(Steven woos)
- [Andrew] That is perfect yolk for me, it's just jammy.
Okay, cheers, Steven.
I'm gonna come over to you.
(laughs)
Yeah, that's great.
That Hollandaise!
- That's crazy.
- Yeah.
- I feel like I just bit into a crab.
(Andrew laughs)
- This Hollandaise is like if a hot sauce was dairy.
(laughs)
- What is Hollandaise?
Like what is the der, derivation of that?
- I can tell you.
- Oh, you know?
- Did you ever travel to Europe?
- Uh, yeah.
- Did you ever spend any days in Holland?
- Yes, we did.
- That's Hollandaise.
(Steven laughs)
Sorry what was your question?
- You know, you've made this theory
very prominently a part of this episode,
a benedict is an open faced breakfast sandwich.
You could eat it with a fork and knife that...
- Right!
- That is the one thing that I think kinda
deters me from your theory.
- Okay, you might recall our double cheeseburger episode,
at Petit Trois, the chef said "Sorry, in France,
we eat a cheeseburger with a fork and knife.
It's a little foo-foo, but that's how we do it."
- Right.
I really gotta say though,
the, the star of this dish is the crab, super good.
- Andrew, Steven?
How's everything tasting?
- Very delicious.
Tell me about this margarita.
- Well everything is pretty traditional,
except we use a Mexican liquor called Damiana,
that has a little bit of a licorice flavor.
- [Andrew] Yeah, and I heard you went
and selected the barrels of tequila?
- [Dean] Yes, out of 28 barrels,
I picked two for the hint of vanilla.
- [Andrew] It's a delicious margarita,
one of the best I've ever had.
- [Dean] Thank you for coming by
and joining us, and, and seeing what our
breakfast sandwich is all about.
- [Andrew] Thank you.
- (laughs) All right!
- Look what you've done, Andrew.
- [Dean] Enjoy!
- Steven, you look repulsed.
- I am.
I don't care if it's a sandwich or not anymore,
I just want this to stop.
- Well, Steven, breakfast is officially over.
Before we get to our Worth It winners,
what was your favorite thing from this episode
that was not a breakfast sandwich?
- Egg roll at Cali's Sandwich.
What makes it so crispy?
- Oh, the rice paper.
Some people use, you know, the frozen one,
but I don't like using those frozen.
I like that one.
- I also have ever eaten an egg roll that was wrapped
in a leaf of lettuce.
- Yeah.
- That changes the game.
- Andrew, what was your favorite thing,
not a sandwich, in this episode?
- I think I will have to choose the Bison
at Fearing's Restaurant, we talked about it,
but we did not eat it on camera.
It's delicious, they serve it with a taquito.
- Which breakfast sandwich was the most worth it to you,
at its given a price point?
- All of the sandwiches we ate today were worth it.
I also want to clarify that they were also
definitely sandwiches and definitely
consumable for breakfast.
- When you have to say "definitely" twice in a sentence,
that makes a reason to pause.
But yes, I would agree.
- You know, that donut sandwich, at Squable,
seemed like the kind of food that you would,
you know, scroll pass on Instagram,
and be like "there's no way that's actually a good sandwich"
But the way they have all those components dialed in there,
at Squable, is delicious.
But, for me, my Worth It winner has to be that bahn mi,
at Cali's Sandwich.
It's a beautiful idea to just eat
the thing you want the most first thing in the morning.
Okay, Steven, which breakfast sandwich
was most worth it to you, at its given price?
- If we were doing crab cakes,
my answer would be Fearing's Restaurant.
If we were doing donut, my answer would be Squable.
But we are doing breakfast sandwiches, my dude.
(laughs)
And that's why my answer goes to Cali's Sandwich.
It's in the name, the value on that,
which we don't even talk about enough on this show,
is absurd.
- Alrighty, one final question, Adam,
who's your most Worth It breakfast sandwich?
Adam says Cali's Sandwich.
(Steven woos)
- When was the last time we had a triple Worth It winner?
It's been a while.
- It's so nice to do a whole video in Texas.
- Oh, favorite thing that we, uh ,uh, sorry,
had off camera, that had nothing to do with anything,
we had dinner with my parents.
- It was fun.
- Yeah.
- Lovely people
- Yeah, shout out to my mom.
Hi. Mom, hi, Dad!
Last time I said "hi, Mom" and my Dad got mad.
So I have to say" Hi, Mom and Dad."
Hi Mom and Dad!
Love you guys.
(rock music playing)
♪ Worth it. ♪
♪ Worth it! ♪