Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • - Okay, we're in Detroit.

  • - 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

  • 'cause I find them more sustainable.

  • - I noticed that Coney Island dogs are a big thing here.

  • Do you know why that is?

  • - Greek folks moved from Greece to New York originally.

  • They invented slash perfected the Coney Dog,

  • as they left New York into the rest of the US,

  • they brought it with them and I don't know why

  • it took root in Detroit.

  • - It's a real thing here.

  • - Coney restaurants are sort of the Detroit version

  • of a diner.

  • (upbeat music)

  • - So we're having a carrot dog

  • but I thought we should have a true Detroit Coney Dog first.

  • We're at Duly's.

  • Hot dog, chili, onions, mustard.

  • - Cheers.

  • - Steven, yeah.

  • The way the bun is steamed, it's like a hot dog donut

  • but instead of jelly, it's chili.

  • - It is a Sloppy Joe for hot dogs.

  • - Whoever thought that the best condiment for meat would be

  • more meat was a genius.

  • So this Coney Dog is two dollars.

  • - [Steven] That's wonderful, that's home right there.

  • - So tell us about your Coney Carrot Dog.

  • - So I wanted something that was hot dog-ish.

  • The shape is obviously the first thing

  • (laughing)

  • but then unlike a regular hot dog, it does have

  • the sort of underlying sweetness to it

  • but it also has a savory nature.

  • I peel them and then I take a cuber, which is a little tool

  • which has a bunch of little blades in it basically.

  • It just puts small holes into the flesh of the carrot,

  • so the marinade can penetrate a little better.

  • I make a marinade and then I soak them

  • for a minimum of three days.

  • - [Karen] We do a mixture of grilling

  • and steaming at the same time.

  • - It's never going to be hot dog texture,

  • it will have enough bite to it

  • that it's not mush in your mouth

  • but yet it will be cooked enough

  • that it's not like eating a raw carrot.

  • - And it's the timing too because we also have the chili.

  • - [Stefan] It's lentil-based, onions, garlic,

  • tomato paste, veg broth.

  • - [Karen] Nowadays when people come in

  • and they'll ask for something unique.

  • You know, we have quite a few unique things

  • but this is something that's familiar,

  • they know what the flavors are.

  • (cash register sounds)

  • - [Steven] A delightful carrot dog.

  • - So from this view, it looks like a hot dog.

  • From this view, you get the center of the carrot.

  • - Yeah, I'm very confused.

  • I wanna eat it though.

  • - Okay, me too.

  • Cheers to you, man.

  • I don't know why this wasn't more obvious to me

  • but it tastes better than a hot dog

  • because I mean, do you love hot dogs?

  • I don't really love hot dogs.

  • - I'm all about the hot dog.

  • - I mean, let's face it, it's like the weakest sausage.

  • (Steven inhales)

  • - You're in Detroit man, you gotta be careful what you say.

  • - I'm sorry but this tastes like much more than a hot dog.

  • The carrot is also just the right doneness for me.

  • I don't like a carrot to get too soft,

  • I want a little bit of crunch to remain.

  • - That crunch gives me

  • that satisfying to my soul satisfaction.

  • - Yeah.

  • So they also have this mac uncheese.

  • - One of the things that

  • we're pretty well known for locally is our mac and cheese.

  • It's again, completely vegan.

  • It's cashew and potato is the base of the sauce.

  • - Mac and cheese?

  • - Mac uncheese.

  • - Wait, how does that taste so accurate?

  • - Wait, I'm confused, yeah.

  • Now this is, this is a winner.

  • I am slightly lactose intolerant, so.

  • - Yeah there's no lactose here, so go crazy, Steven.

  • - I'm going, I am going crazy right now!

  • I have one more thing to say about the carrot dog.

  • I don't think I've ever seen so much love and care put

  • into the preparation of a carrot before.

  • It is very good and it's also very confusing,

  • like my brain is just like jittering right now.

  • Carrot fact!

  • - [Andrew] Carrot fact!

  • - Rabbits do not naturally eat root vegetables or fruits.

  • - What!

  • - Whoa.

  • Who founded Bugs Bunny?

  • - When will we stop lying to children about everything?

  • - Their diets are largely hay slash grass,

  • as well as leafy greens.

  • Now that this fact has come into my life,

  • I don't think I've ever seen a real life rabbit eat a carrot

  • but now we've gotta move on to our next restaurant.

  • - Our final carrot.

  • This is actually the carrot dish that motivated

  • this trip to Detroit.

  • - Yes.

  • - Adam saw it and was like, we should do a carrot episode.

  • - Carrot alert!

  • - Where are we going now, Steven?

  • - We're going to The Lady of the House

  • and we're gonna see Chef Kate and her $20 carrot steak.

  • That's right, $20 and it is a carrot turned into a steak.

  • (birds chirping)

  • - That is a loud bird.

  • - [Steven] That is a very loud bird, hey!

  • - [Andrew] It's that one.

  • - [Steven] That one?

  • - Yeah.

  • Look at the bird.

  • (birds chirping)

  • (upbeat funk music)

  • - So Lady of the House is kind of a new American,

  • little bit of an Irish hospitality feel.

  • We like to say it's like throwing

  • a dinner party every night,

  • what we wanna drink, what we wanna eat

  • and what we wanna serve.

  • We try to be no-waste, which means we're using

  • every part of the animal, every part of the vegetable

  • or fruit and really kind of make the things taste

  • more like themselves.

  • What a lot of people don't know is Michigan is

  • the second most agriculturally diverse state in the country,

  • so the produce that comes

  • out of this state is really incredible.

  • - So before we get to the main event,

  • we've got three dishes, just to give us

  • a little more taste of the menu.

  • So we have shrimp butter, the Lady ham trio

  • and the half sour cabbage.

  • - So shrimp butter's really interesting.

  • The thought behind it is what else can we spread on toast?

  • It's like beautiful shrimp

  • that's almost emulsified in butter with aromatics

  • and then topped with butter.

  • We've been making our own hams since we opened,

  • right now we have our traditional Lady-style Parisian ham.

  • I love cabbage and we've had a version of a cabbage wedge

  • on the menu for a long time.

  • This one gets a beautiful color on it with not much work

  • and it already has kind of a funk and umami flavor in it.

  • - Let's do it, so this is the shrimp butter.

  • Oh whoa, whoa!

  • - Cheers, Steven.

  • - Cheers.

  • (toast crunching)

  • That's really good.

  • - It reminds me of seafood-y cream cheese that you spread

  • on a bagel.

  • - Yes!

  • - All right next up, what do we got here?

  • - Lady ham trio with Parisian ham, Sassy Molassey

  • and lamb ham.

  • I forgot the taste of meat for a while.

  • - [Steven] Oh 'cause you've been eating carrots all day?

  • - Yeah.

  • I didn't know lamb could be ham but this lamb is going ham.

  • Now we're easing back into vegetables.

  • - There's no mango in it but it tastes like mango.

  • It's the miso.

  • - It tastes like 60% of a Reuben sandwich.

  • Now on to the main event.

  • - The inspiration for this dish actually came

  • from my time spent in Copenhagen.

  • I was working at a restaurant called Relae.

  • The way that they cook vegetables is just incredible

  • and that same philosophy of just like, make the carrot taste

  • more like itself.

  • This became a challenge for me of like, okay,

  • how can we make it worthy of a restaurant?

  • They're peeled and then shaved very thinly,

  • then we salt that, basically taking the water out,

  • breaking down the cell walls, so it's more malleable

  • for us to actually line it up and roll it.

  • It actually gets rolled into a rose, tied

  • and then basically low and slow, care and patience,

  • based with butter for about 20 minutes.

  • We also serve the carrot with Hollandaise,

  • which is traditionally served with steaks, right?

  • Or Eggs Benedict but treating it like a whole meal,

  • like an entree, like a steak would be treated.

  • The perfect texture has a beautiful crust

  • and then that fine line of melting together from the butter

  • and salt and kind of the layers forming together

  • without being mushy.

  • The attention to detail in the carrot

  • and the length of time it takes to produce

  • makes it sort of, ta-dah!

  • (cash register sounds)

  • - It's like a croissant of carrot.

  • - I was thinking crab cake.

  • - Yes.

  • Shall we taste the sauce first?

  • - Let's do it.

  • Mm!

  • - Oh wow, it's borderline cream cheese-y.

  • Here are my layers, I'm gonna scoop up a little sauce.

  • This really is like fantasy food.

  • Like, they eat this

  • in the Elven kingdoms in Lord of the Rings

  • (Steven laughs)

  • 'cause only they have the time

  • to meticulously slice carrots.

  • - Cheers.

  • (Steven groans)

  • I knew what would happen to it,

  • I knew going in what we were eating,

  • I've seen pictures of it.

  • Had no idea that was gonna happen.

  • It was the same feeling of when you get into

  • a really good medium-rare steak

  • and you feel the meat kind of give to your teeth.

  • - Yeah.

  • - That's not carrot.

  • This transformation here is absurd,

  • we're going from this root to this.

  • It has the feelings of unfamiliarity and of familiarity.

  • - Also thinking about carrots are usually the side dish

  • or the after thought and here it's the centerpiece.

  • You know, it actually tastes like carrot cake to me.

  • There is carrot flavor, it's very buttery,

  • it's a sour dairy flavor from the Hollandaise

  • and then the pistachio is the nut that you usually find

  • in a carrot cake.

  • We're now just eating a savory carrot cake.

  • - It is like cake, yeah, you're right.

  • - It's wild, it's one of the best things I've ever tasted.

  • - It's almost like perfectly cooked fish.

  • - Not often do you get to eat

  • foods you've just never eaten before.

  • - Andrew, what was your favorite thing in the episode

  • that was not a carrot?

  • - Mm, very good question

  • but I'm gonna go for the easy answer,

  • which was the Coney Dog at Duly's.

  • That was delicious.

  • - I've gotta say the Midwest vibes.

  • All right, now it's time that we've all been waiting for.

  • What carrot was the most worth it to you

  • at its given price point?

  • - My winner is Lady of the House.

  • I love carrot cake, I respect all carrot cakes

  • and I'm gonna call that dish a carrot cake.

  • It was the most unique carrot cake I've ever had.

  • - My worth it winner, it goes to Good Cakes and Bakes

  • and all of the carrot cake proprietors out there.

  • Good Cakes and Bakes did it, they did it the right way.

  • - Yeah Good Cakes and Bakes, it just made me feel

  • good being there.

  • - Adam, who's your worth it winner?

  • - The mac uncheese at Nosh Pit.

  • My carrot winner, Good Cakes and Bakes.

  • - Okay, well that does it for this episode of Worth It.

  • Look, we got more stuff coming down the pipeline.

  • - Yeah we're just getting started.

  • Next week, quesadilla.

  • (rock music)

  • Is it worth it

  • Is it worth it

  • Is it worth it

  • Worth it

- Okay, we're in Detroit.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it