(orchestral music)
- What's up guys, we're back.
We're at Carrabbas's Italian Grill.
And we're trying the
most popular menu items,
AKA most of the menu.
You're gonna see chicken,
You're gonna see seafood,
you're gonna see pasta.
You're gonna see loads of alcohol,
don't even pray for me anymore.
Let's just go.
I'm running.
I'm running in, see ya neva.
(door closing)
(Italian music)
- [Chelsea] I feel like you're always
ready to fall in love with sangria.
- I'm always ready, and then it burns me.
It's like that cute guy at the bar.
And then you find out he hates dogs,
and you're like (beep).
That's how I feel about sangria.
I'm like ugh, beautiful.
And then it does something terrible to me.
Let's get to my favorite
round, appetizers.
(Italian music)
We are starting with the calamari,
which is their most popular appetizer.
And, they only use the
babies of the calamari.
Okay, they're not like babies
it's not like they take the babies
from the mommy squids and they're like,
"You're comin' to Carrabba's."
The smaller ones are juicier,
just get with the program.
This is the most popular menu item
that excites me because calamari's
always been like fine to me.
(chewing)
Is that an entire squid?
That might be an entire one.
Let me count the legs.
(voice on fast forward)
I'm eating a baby.
My favorite really are the legs,
which apparently is very just,
my mom thinks that's gross.
But I think you get more crunchy bits.
So why not?
(chewing)
We got the fresh burrata here.
We have our little baby cute tomatoes.
Basil, red onions, balsamic, balsamic.
(drops knife)
(laughing)
This is going well, I
haven't even had a drink yet.
Okay, we already cut it open to see
the beautiful, ugh.
It also kind of reminds me of brains.
Does that makes sense?
Like you cut open a beautiful
head, and then brains.
Oh no.
(giggling)
Wow that was delicious even though
I completely messed up that bite.
That is smooth and creamy, ooh.
Okay.
(chewing)
Yeah you definitely need
the olive oil on it.
Because that makes it just smooth, creamy,
and then you have the
acid from the tomatoes
and then onions.
It's just super fresh but creamy.
We have this beautiful
blackberry sangria here.
That is a strong boy.
Flavor-wise, not necessarily alcohol-wise.
It's very heavy on the blackberry.
But smooth.
I've already said this
before in another video,
but I would love this as a lipstick color
or a nail polish color.
- [Chelsea] The sangria burn you?
- A little bit.
(laughter)
It burned me a little bit.
Mama Mandola's Sicilian Chicken Soup.
Julia's Fun Facts.
Dammit, put it here.
The Mandola's and the Carrabba's
started this restaurant in Texas.
And strangely enough,
you would think it was started in Italy,
no, it was started in Texas.
And then they moved to Florida,
because Florida gives us all
the great things in the world.
- [Man] Florida man
arrested for calling 911
after his cat was denied
entry into strip club.
(beeping)
- The soup was made by
one of the grandmothers.
This soup is supposed to
cure more than just hunger.
It's supposed to cure sadness.
Oh no, sangria.
It'll cure my sangria burps.
I want every bite to
have a piece of chicken
and I think I might get that
with how they made the ratio.
That's very homey.
It definitely tastes like someone's
grandma's soup recipe.
We have two big ol'
meatballs here, with ricotta.
It comes in it's own little bath.
I'm sad there's only two in here,
but I guess you're not
supposed to be sharing it.
This one's just for you.
It's much sweeter than I expected,
I was waiting for it to
be a little spicy almost.
But no.
Meaty, and sweet and creamy.
This one I think you also
would dip in the bread.
I feel like this one
'cause you're gonna have
a lot of sauce left over.
So you would definitely,
this one you get to wipe
the skillet clean.
The Margherita pizza.
Which, fun fact, I have so
many of them for this round.
This is supposed to
model the Italian flag.
(sipping drink)
Still hurts me.
(coughs)
Okay, I'm gonna go for the cheesiest bite.
This one.
You think?
- [Chelsea] Mhm.
- Okay, oh whoa, oh.
That's when you know.
(chewing)
(laughter)
(laughter in slow motion)
- [Chelsea] Did you snort too?
(laughter)
- What (mumbles) is happening to me.
I feel like this pizza's out to get me.
It's very light, crispy.
It's not super doughy bread.
It stands up on it's own.
And I would almost do a drizzle
of the olive oil on it too.
These are hand cut, and hand breaded,
so they've been made with a lot of love.
(takes bite)
I like the ratio here.
When you eat mozzarella
sticks from your cafeteria,
you know how all the cheese
sometimes can come out
and you just have this breaded carcass?
This one's all still
attached to each other,
which is very hard to find.
Favorite things.
Duh, calamari.
And then surprisingly for me, the burrata.
Calamari and burrata have
won my heart for this round.
(Italian music)
Note to self, stop wearing
bulky balloony sweaters.
Stab stab stab stab stab.
This is Italian salad.
It has Italian dressing vinaigrette, duh.
Chicken, onions, olives, olives?
Olives.
There were olives in here, I
coulda sworn I spotted one.
Maybe I didn't.
Carrots, tomatoes, onions, the works.
Here we go.
(chewing)
I really like that vinaigrette.
This vinaigrette is really tangy.
Mmm.
I'm usually not this
excited about a salad.
We have our minestrone soup over here.
I've been calling minestroney forever,
and then I heard someone say it out loud.
It's one of those words
where you see it written
and then you never say it out loud,
and then when you do you're like oh, mm.
I like minestroney, it sounds
better than minestrone.
Minestrone sounds like you're about to say
the e and you just sit
there and wait for them
to say it and then they don't.
Okay, soup, we're eating it.
I like the soup from the other round more.
This is the Sicilian Citrus Spritz.
I like this more than the sangria
that we had, the blackberry sangria.
Because it's essentially an Aperol spritz,
but way more citrusey.
If I watched horse races
I would drink this.
We have the Prince Edward Island mussels.
And it comes with a buttery white sauce
with probably a bunch of wine in it.
You can never have enough garlic.
Oh my gosh.
These mussels, yes.
When it's lemony and buttery,
and just not super overpowering
so you're actually getting
the taste of the mussels.
(places fork down)
Those are like, juicy little one.
Juicy little guys.
(giggles)
What does this taste like I wonder.
After I ate like three of them.
(chewing)
Okay, this sauce is way
better than that vinaigrette.
I know that they're not
competing in any world.
They're not even the same category
but that is really, when you
dip it in the bread, yup.
We have the Chicken Bryan Pizza.
You're probably wondering,
who the hell is Bryan?
Julia's Fun Facts, go.
Bryan is the city, town, place,
in Texas that the family immigrated to.
And this is gonna be really delicious
'cause there's sun dried tomatoes,
chicken, goat cheese, mozzarella,
basil, and it's pizza.
(biting into pizza)
Whoa buddy.
What is that sauce?
(licks finger)
They put (beep)ing butter on pizza.
Wow, I'm a fiend for goat cheese.
(biting pizza)
Oh my god I'm so glad we're gonna eat this
in another round too.
(biting pizza)
Wait.
(biting pizza)
Fried zucchini sticks.
Zucchini and I, don't get along.
But maybe I will like
it because it's fried
and it's in little chips.
Or not chips, sticks.
(biting food)
Maybe if mom, you served
this as zucchini fries,
I would've liked it as a kid.
'Cause I like this.
They're like perfectly crispy,
and then this sauce on here is lemony,
and tangy, and brilliant.
It's not winning first place,
that pizza's winning first place
don't even think about that.
I'm just putting pizza at first place,
and then rest of these are all runners up.
That's how I'm ending this round.
(Italian Music)
This is really, really beautiful.
Wow, I can't believe I get to
put these in my mouth hole.
We're starting with the
Fettuccine Carrabba.
More fun facts for you,
this one was actually made by accident.
One of the owner's here, founders,
they took all the leftovers that they had
in the walk-in freezer and
just kinda threw it together.
And they originally thought it was
a little too American with the cream
and the chicken and the
peas, and the mushrooms.
But now it's one of their
most popular menu items.
(chewing)
Fettuccine for me, can be very one note.
I hate when fettuccine's not salty enough.
This one actually has the
right amount of salt to me.
It's extremely cheesy and
creamy, don't get me wrong.
But it's actually has more
seasoning and flavor in it.
That's great.
We're gonna break up the pasta
with this Johnny Rocco Salad.
Which sounds more like a
crazy cartoon character,
like Johnny Bravo almost, right?
It's made for two uncles,
named Johnny and Rocco.
And there are four pieces
of scallop in here,
four pieces of shrimp, that's
a lot of scallops for a salad.
Oh I really like this.
You can taste a lot of the
olive, like the brininess in it.
And it has sun dried tomatoes.
(takes a bite)
And I really like that
the scallops are grilled.
We have the Mezzaluna,
AKA little half moons.
And these are hand made.
Fun fact, this half moon pasta
is made only for this one specific
pasta place in Massachusets.
So that means, you can only get this
specific one at Carrabba's.
(chewing)
That is the perfect amount of creamy,
but just a hint of spice, not too much.
That's sinful.
I would order that on
my death bed for sure.
This little cute little pink color
from the prickly pear.
Prickly pear doesn't have too much
of a strong flavor though.
It's much more I feel like a color thing,
than a flavor thing.
(sipping drink)
Heavy on the tequila.
I'm not mad about it.
(sipping drink)
This is definitely my favorite drink.
That was an obvious one that this would
be my favorite 'cause it's tequila.
I really love the color too.
I don't want this one
as a lipstick though.
That would mute my skin tone out.
This round is full of family recipes.
Johnny Carrabba's, one of
his favorite menu items
is this Lasagne.
He gets it made for his
birthday every year.
Which means it probably is
better than a birthday cake.
If you're getting this for your birthday,
wouldn't ya think?
Kind of also, it's like
a cake it has layers.
And you could consider
the ricotta frosting.
(chewing)
It's like seasoned sausage, with ricotta.
If I was going to have
a savory birthday cake,
I would definitely have a Lasagne.
I'm totally behind you Johnny Carrabba.
I get it.
We have the Rigatoni which has a bunch
of sausage balls in here.
And this huge clump of goat cheese
which don't just eat the
goat cheese on it's own.
They instruct you to
actually mix it around.
Otherwise you're just gonna get like,
a pound of goat cheese on one bite.
So these are thick rigatoni bites,
with cute little sausage balls.
I mean, you've seen the super tiny ones
when you get in those little soup cans
but this is way better.
This is actually the mini size you want.
Okay.
(chewing)
It's peppery, and tangy, and creamy.
I think I like the flavors in this
more than the lasagna.
I'm a freak for goat cheese.
They come in those little two packages,
I eat like one of those a week.
(chewing)
That is amazing flavor.
They went through almost
150 different iterations
of the recipe because they just couldn't
make up their mind and
then finally one day
they were like (beep) it it's
not gonna get any better,
this is where we're leaving it.
And I'm glad that that's
where they left it.
This is an incredible
amount of pasta in here.
It's like an entire box worth.
We have a spicy marinara
sauce, watch out people.
It's not that spicy.
Again, my mom would say this is too spicy.
(chewing)
It's totally tolerable.
Even when you take a bite of the scallops
you can taste the mussel flavor in there.
Considering it's five pounds of pasta
it's actually pretty light.
This was actually a really
tough round to rate.
I'm calling it a four way tie
between salad, fettuccine,
the little moonies, and the rigatoni.
(Italian music)
The Pollo Rosa.
It's stuffed with fontina cheese,
and prosciutto, and ooh
do you see that lemon.
Is that lemon butter just drippin'?
Or is that just regular butter,
that might just be regular butter.
And we have basil in here
and we do have mushrooms.
And, a bed of spinach.
That fontina cheese is
just the perfect amount.
It's not over bearing, it's
not taking over the dish.
It just has a bunch of flavor,
I'm gonna eat one piece of spinach
so I don't feel so terrible today.
(chewing)
Good.
The Marsala wine comes
from Italy, from Sicily.
I don't know if this one could
be as good as the Pollo Rosa.
I don't know if it stands a chance
'cause that one has cheese
and this one doesn't.
(chewing)
This sauce might be
better than that sauce.
(chewing)
That's really smooth.
These are in a tie right now.
I like this Sangria-Rita.
I think this is my favorite drink
that I've had so far of the day.
And it's a sangria, with tequila.
It's a nice halfway point for me.
(sipping drink)
I want it in one of those CamelBaks,
so I could take it to
work and sip out of it.
We have the ribeye with this lemon butter
which if you recall the
lemon butter is phenomenal.
Should be put on everything.
And of course you gotta
top it with some shrimp.
I used to think that filet
mignon was the best cut,
and I'm a full believer and
I've changed my opinion.
Ribeye is far superior.
It doesn't even need the shrimp,
it truly does not.
Am I gonna still try it?
Of course I am.
(chewing)
The shrimp is also well
seasoned, and delicious.
But you don't need it at all.
I can't believe I have to
do all four of these still,
when I've already found my one true love.
I feel like this is how
The Bachelor must feel
when he finds his true love on the show
and he still has to date
all those other girls
and he's like, "No I found her."
Shrimp and Scallop Spiedino.
This is loaded with
garlic and lemon butter,
and breadcrumbs.
So this is by just the description itself
going to be perfect.
(chewing)
Wow.
Scallops are already rich,
adding lemon butter sauce
and the breadcrumbs, ooh.
I'm a believer in (mumbles) now.
I like the shrimps more in this sauce
then the scallops 'cause I think scallops
are already super rich.
I would do this with just all shrimp.
This is the Mahi Wolf.
The name Wolf isn't just
because it's like aggressive.
Ed Wolf is the person who found
their first two places in Texas
for the Carrabba's which fun fact,
those are the two locations that are still
solely owned by the family.
Okay, ohh.
I just got some of the cream sauce
in that margarita that's gonna be bad.
This Mahi Wolf is very delicious,
buttery, extremely rich.
But that sauce can go,
I said in the beginning
it should go on everything
and I think actually by
putting it on the Mahi
they have proven that
it goes on everything.
This is the Chicken Bryan.
Chicken Bryan has peppers.
(bell dinging)
Sun dried tomatoes, basil,
goat cheese and is grilled.
(takes bite of chicken)
That was so much goat cheese
I just put in my mouth.
I love goat cheese but I just
put all of it in my mouth.
I think if you smothered
everything in goat cheese
I would automatically
tell you it's amazing.
It doesn't matter to me.
Just goat cheese when
it's super creamy, soft.
It almost looks like butter on here.
Ugh, I'm gonna sound so stupid.
I was about to be like it
makes it extremely edible.
I don't know, that's not a real review.
This is extremely edible.
Eggplant parm, got a blanket
of mozzarella on here
and we got some beautiful marinara.
And we have a beautiful
little bed of penne.
(chewing)
It's very soft, I hate when eggplant
gets all chewy and soggy.
This is soft, not soggy.
My feelings on this round are,
there were too many
winners not enough losers.
The winners of this round, hands down
have to be the ribeye,
and then the mahi mahi.
(fast forwarding)
That cake is staring me
right in the eyeballs
and I don't like it.
There's a layer of
hazelnut in here actually,
with the ice cream and it
looks like caramel as well.
Ooh, crunchy and crispy.
It has that sweet and salty balance.
It's taste like fall and warmth.
Up next we have the
Limoncello Bread Pudding.
Which, you guessed it,
soaked in Limoncello.
And it's brioche bread, so
it's gonna be super sweet,
super fluffy, warm, happy, you name it,
gives you butterflies, whatever
else you wanna say about it.
Oh god.
(chewing)
The ice cream got stuck to the back
of my front tooth and oh that hurt.
Not your fault, my fault.
This is super delicate.
It's like a very gentle
little baby cute dessert.
The Limoncello isn't too strong.
It's very soft.
Tiramisu cake.
Beautiful layers going on right here.
Lots of chocolate.
Probably lots of coffee.
We'll find out, here we go.
Tiramisu is very light, not
too crazy on the espresso.
And actually way more chocolate heavy
which it doesn't take a
genius to figure that out
there's a lot of chocolate on the plate.
Peppermint Frost Martini.
You've got vodka in there,
and we got some liqueur and
probably lots of sweet stuff.
Candy canes, happiness,
holiday spirit, Santa.
Oh god that is Christmas.
I'm like freshening my breath before
I get to the next thing
so I'm just gonna eat
all the mint on the outside.
It's kinda like brushing your teeth.
Except not at all, 'cause
there's alcohol and sugar.
You want it?
- [Chelsea] I mean, yeah.
- Awe.
(giggles)
- [Chelsea] That was so sad.
(laughter)
- Cannoli Cake.
Layers of cannoli frosting on the inside,
that looks like cookie dough but it isn't.
And lil' cute lil' pistachio
lil' niblets in there.
And of course, you got
business in the front
party in the back.
Look at all that, that is an actual
chocolate chip party
happening right there.
(coughs)
We're professionals okay?
The cake is super moist so it sticks
to your tongue and your throat.
In a good way, that's not a critique.
I think the real star
is the back of the cake
with the chocolate chips.
I think I would be one of those
terrible, terrible humans that just
eats the backside and leaves the front.
(chewing)
That makes me so happy.
I can't believe I'm saying this,
but it's actually not that chocolatey,
I was worried it was
gonna be too chocolatey
and just sometimes when people
get excited about chocolate in a dessert
they just make it explode all over it
and you're like I get it.
This actually because of the mousse
it makes it very light.
But definitely still dense
if you ate the entire thing.
It's definitely still gonna
be a brick in your belly.
(chewing)
We've eaten a lot of brownie
sundaes on this show.
And I think people should sub out
their brownie sundaes for
this type of situation more.
Because this does the same job
as a brownie sundae but better.
That's my hot take right there.
Okay, my favorites are for sure
the Apple Crostata, and
the Chocolate Dream.
If you are a chocolate fiend,
you're going with this one.
If you're not a chocolate fiend
and you're everyone else in the world
you're going with this one.
The Peppermint Martini,
if you get to come here
during the holidays,
drink a few of these
with the fam, you know.
Thank you for watching,
don't forget to like and subscribe,
I'm sorry I keep eating my food
with the fork the way that you hate
the sound it makes, I'm sorry.
And, again, we're
packing up the leftovers,
we're taking it home.
I gotta go, Chelsea has to go.
She has to go more than I have to go.
They're ready to kick her out.
So, oh and my foot's asleep.
Oh no, it's fine.
It's waking up, okay, gotta go.
It's actually, okay it's tingling.
All the way up my leg.
Are you just eating now?
We're not, stop.
(laughter)
(Italian music)
