Food Paradise

Local favorites feature comfort food that evokes home-cooked meals; warm, cozy and nostalgic foods from mac 'n' cheese in Detroit and chicken pot pie in Portland, Ore., to fried chicken in Atlanta and classic meatloaf in Kansas City.

Restaurants across the country prove that bacon makes everything better, from Bacon Grenades in Chicago and the I Bacon Your Pardon Roll in San Diego to bacon-wrapped wings in Vegas and an all-you-can-eat bacon buffet in Milwaukee.

It's time to ditch the protein and reach for the carbs in this over-the-top tour of foods to satisfy any carb craving. A trip to California turns up a pizza topped with pasta and a grilled cheese filled with spaghetti, and a doughnut shop in Portland takes mashed potatoes and fries them into fritters. In Chicago, a pretzel joint stuffs its knots with cakes and cookies, proving that no carb is safe from more carbs.

In this day and age, donuts aren't just for dessert! We're frying a batch of donuts for every meal of the day starting off in Minneapolis, MN, with a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich made on a sweet glazed donut. For lunch, we're in Texas for donuts loaded with barbecue brisket. When dinner rolls around, we're checking out donut burgers and donut French onion soup. If you've got a donut-shaped hole in your soul just waiting to be filled, you won't want to miss this!

We're taking a tour of retro restaurants around the country including a pair of period pharmacies on both coasts, a Jewish deli in Texas, a hot dog temple in Tennessee and a classic, chrome-clad diner in Minnesota. From massive old-fashioned sundaes and skyscraper sandwiches to towering patty melts and unique doughnuts, these restaurants bring the delicious past to the present.

We're giving America's favorite condiment a swirl in this deliciously drippy episode. Seafood dishes like hot lobster rolls and blue crab spaghetti get dressed in robes of butter at restaurants in Boston and New York while bakeries in San Francisco, Washington, DC and Atlanta bring butter to new heights in their flaky pastries. We've also got butter in places you never even thought of -- on top of knish sandwiches and melted into mochi.

Four regional rivals compete against one another in a meaty, mouthwatering mega-battle for barbecue bragging rights.

The tastiest spots under the Golden State's sun, including beach bites on the central coast, authentic Italian in Mammoth and some of the juiciest burgers in Southern California.

From gourmet Texas chili in Austin, TX, to a revamped patty melt in Los Angeles, diner menus across the country have been upgraded and elevated with fresh ingredients and new flavors.

The best local hideaways and tourist-friendly spots on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Kauai; delicacies include pineapple fried rice, Hawaiian-style dogs, lau lau pork and Spam musubi.