- And we're doing carrots.

- This was Adam's idea.

(xylophone music)

Carrots!

♪ Is it worth it ♪

♪ Make it worth it ♪

♪ Make it worth it ♪

♪ Worth it ♪

♪ Worth it ♪

- So we filmed most of this episode

at the beginning of this year but we had to pause production

because of COVID-19.

- So we weren't able to finish

the episode like we normally do,

so you'll notice some scenes are

filmed here in the Highlander,

while we're still practicing social distancing.

- Today on Worth It, we're gonna be trying

three different carrot dishes

at three drastically different price points,

to find out which one is the most worth it at its price.

Adam found a very delectable

carrot steak that happens to exist in Detroit.

- Yeah a very exciting carrot dish at that last location

and we're not just eating three carrots, it's going to be

three dishes where carrot is the primary component.

- Andrew, the whole internet knows

about your love for carrot cakes.

It's your birthday cake, whatever you wanna call it.

- Whatever you wanna call it?

The cake I eat on my birthday is a birthday cake,

that's the only thing you ever call that.

- Yeah, tell me about that cake.

- Yeah I love carrot cake, I've had it

every birthday my whole life

and so the first place we're going to,

we're going to have carrot cake.

We're going to a place called Good Cakes and Bakes.

We're gonna see April, the chef and owner.

- Yeah and we're gonna get one of those nice slices.

(upbeat music)

- Good Cakes and Bakes is an organic bakery

where everything is made in house from scratch

and we do vegan but our baked goods are

mainly like, Southern-type baked goods.

Since 2012, eight years ago, people felt like Detroit was

a food desert and now there isn't

too much that you can't find.

We're situated inside of five neighborhoods:

Bagley, Sherwood Forest, Green Acres,

University District and Palmer Woods.

Sherwood Forest, that is where Marvin Gaye lived,

Diana Ross lived there, Barry Gordon,

all of the Motown stars

but now, in this two and a half mile radius,

it is the largest Black-owned building, owners,

as well as businesses in the United States right now.

So I've been baking since I was nine years old

but I have an MBA in Corporate Accounting,

I worked in Accounting for 17 years.

One day in 2009, I decided to go back to school

to get a degree in Pastry Arts.

Brianne, one of our assistants, is going to walk you through

and show you how we make our carrot cake.

Our carrot cake is the best carrot cake you will ever taste,

I promise you.

- Really?

- So what makes our carrot cake so unique?

It is the different flavors, you will taste orange,

you will taste lemon, you'll taste vanilla,

you'll have the sweetness of the carrots

but what helps give us the sweetness of it is

how we allow the raisins to soak in hot water,

so by doing that, you don't have to add as much sugar to it.

By adding the flour in last and creaming the oil

and the sugar, that's how you get fluffier, tighter crumb

opposed to a dense cake and then it's topped off

with a sweet and tart cream cheese icing.

- I guess I should warn you that I've actually had

carrot cake every birthday for pretty much my whole life.

My mom has always made carrot cake.

- I can't compete with your mom but I promise you,

this'll be the second best carrot cake you ever had,

I promise you.

- Okay, looking forward to it.

(cash register sounds)

- Okay before we begin, wanna just give a huge shout out

to the Midwest.

Both Adam and me are from Ohio.

It feels good to be back.

- Cozy feeling.

- [Steven] Cozies, yes.

- Visually beautiful.

It just has that golden hue to it.

- [Steven] Looks very fluffy.

- [Andrew] It's nice and firm.

- Cheers.

- It's pretty good.

- The texture is very kind, it has

the kindness of the Midwest in it.

It's like soft, forgiving but also a little stern.

- Depending on whose carrot cake it is,

sometimes it can skew a little spice cake.

This one is fruitier.

- It's so bright in flavor, it really lifts my mood up

when I eat this.

- And the cream cheese icing has that tart dairy flavor

that strays away from just straightforward sweetness

and I think is fantastic in cakes.

- How does this compare to your mom's carrot cake?

- I think this is a very good carrot cake

and if I was having a craving for carrot cake,

I would be very happy with this carrot cake.

- Are you saying though, that you can't beat

your mom's carrot cake?

I'm putting you on the spot, Andrew!

We've got April right there!

- Listening!

- Listen April, this is an excellent carrot cake.

- Thank you.

So it's like second to your mom's, right?

- Yeah.

- Like this?

- I will say, this is much better than my mom's carrot cake.

My mom doesn't make carrot cake, so I can say that.

Carrot quiz time!

Adam has the answer.

How much did the world's heaviest carrot weigh?

- I mean carrots are like, a root

and I've seen overgrown roots of trees look pretty massive.

So I'm gonna go with something like, 63 pounds.

- I'm actually gonna go bigger than that.

I'm thinking the size of a regular adult human,

so I'm gonna go 135 pounds.

- 22.44 pounds.

- No!

I was gonna guess lower but you threw me

off the trail, Andrew.

So when I was born, I came out just under 10 pounds,

so it's like two of me.

- That is, yeah, that's a very big carrot.

Okay, so our next carrot is actually going to be

a carrot dog and it's a particular type of dog

called a Coney Dog.

So I didn't know this about Detroit

but Coney Island-style hot dogs are very common here

and that's a hot dog with chili, onion and mustard.

- Oh, that sounds so good.

I'm actually used to them with cheese on top as well.

I love my Coney Dogs chili cheese style.

- And so the next place we're going is

a place called Nosh Pit,

where we're gonna see Stefan and Karen

and we're gonna have

their Lady Fantastic Coney Carrot Dog.

- Are we gonna say updog there?

- What's updog?

- Not much, what's up with you?

(upbeat brass music)

- We started out as a food truck doing

vegetarian-vegan soups and sandwiches.

Here at the restaurant, we are all vegan, all the time,

so we're trying to do vegan food that is

more vegetable based, rather than weird starches and stuff.

- You know, because this is a carrot episode,

I wanna check if either of you have a particular love

or particular feelings for the carrot.

- Oh you got!

(laughing)

- I was raised a lot by my grandmother.

She was raised in the Depression era,

where the vegetables that we stuck to were

a lot of the root veggies, potatoes, onions, carrots,

the things that kept.

I have a particular love for root vegetables