Dinner Club Theme - Triple D

[TSAW]

My dinner club has chosen Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, from Food Network, as a theme. Each recipe should be chosen from an episode that you have seen, not just internet searches. In many cases, there is no 'recipe' but just trying to figure it out, from the segment on the show. We're in charge of the mains but to challenge ourselves we're restricted to NO:

...no burgers
...no sandwiches
...no bbq
...no breakfast food
...MAIN dishes, only

So..... I know there are tonnes of ideas out there. Does anyone have any suggestions or favorites, based on the above rules? Again, ideas must be derived directly from the show, not just a 'Diner' theme.

Thanks!

[TSAW]

Thank you everyone for the great suggestions. So many, many choices!! It was tough but we decided on the Machaca Taquito (coffee, ancho beef brisket) with their wacky guacamoles, such as pineapple habernaro and smoked trout/bacon from Momocho in Clevland. Our second dish will be Kotopita (creamy chicken phyllo squares) from Athens Family Restaurant in Nashville.

Thanks again everyone. I always know I can count on my ChowFriends to come through when I need help!!

http://www.momocho.com/home.php
http://www.athensfamilyrestaurant.com/

[J M S]

AJ's Compact Turkey dinner from the Comet Cafe in Milwaukee, WI. We drove through Milwaukee and stopped for these. They were incredible. Here is a link to the episode.

http://www.flavortownusa.com/comet-cafe.aspx

Here is a link to the recipe..

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tu...

[maplesugar]

Our Dinner Club just did Triple D as a theme for November. Here's a fansite I found with a spreadsheet that lists recipes by episode with links: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...

[soypower]

My favorite episode is when he went to Pok Pok in Portland. Thai Green Papaya Salad and Vietnamese fried chicken wings.

Here's the segment on Youtube. The salad and wings are the last two recipes on the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0wNKJ-500w

There's also a recipe from Food and Wine:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/ik...

[nemo]

TSAW: here's a link to a discussion on the Standard Diner's beet box. I think I could certainly eat it as a main dish salad, but it might not fit your definition. Sadly, I haven't attempted this recipe yet, so I can't help you with anything more than what's in the link. If I can find a picture or the show on Food Network, I'll post it. It was definitely a hot dish with cold salad greens on top.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/599954

Here's a link to the episode on the Standard Diner's Web site. The beet box comes on briefly at 3:50.

http://www.standarddiner.com/

[TSAW]

Hi thanks so far for all the great ideas. But this group are carnivores, they would shoot me if I served a beet as a main dish! MEAT, MEAT and MEAT only! With that said, I think the bacon wrapped meatloaf, from Standard, looks like a possibility. I will keep the beet idea under my hat for a future dinner, when I'm on veggies/sides!

Keep the ideas and video links coming!!

[ESNY]

Just saw one last night where they made pupusas, which are corn flour patties filled with meat and griddled. Sort of halfway between a tortilla and a tamale. I love pupusas and they didn't look all too complicated to make.

Besides that, I recall a really good looking meatloaf sandwich with cranberry chutney, which obviously can be served as a platter, not on a sandwich.

[goodhealthgourmet]

so pizza is fair game? there have been some interesting ones.

some main dishes i really wanted to try that you can probably track down with a Google search or on the FN site:
- turkey confit at a Greek place on a recent Thanksgiving episode
- pork with coconut curry at a place in Berkeley, CA
- duck hash (does that count as breakfast?)
- machaca taquitos with coffee & ancho-braised brisket at Momocho in Cleveland, OH (i seriously wanted to get on a plane and fly there immediately after watching that epsiode. their guacamole menu sounds outrageous too.)