YouTube Video ID: Uva6FI6WEVM
Episode Post Date: April 15, 2026
GMM Episode Number: 3023
Transcript
We're competing to create the world's most Italian dish. Let's talk about that. Good Mythical Morning. We've spent a lot of time on this show, eating and judging the Mythical Kitcheneers for what they create. But rarely are we ever put in the hot seat to judge our own creations. So we thought, what better way to correct that than by working with the Mythical Kitchen on a simple task to create the world's most Italian, Italian dish. Then after that, the world's most Japanese, Japanese dish. Our task was to create the most stereotypically Italian dish that we, two dumb Americans, could conceive of. And before the Italians come for us in the comments. Yes, these are our very Americanized ideas of what Italian cuisine is, not what it authentically is. Yes. So we're sorry. We're sorry. We apologize. But, you know, uh, a little bit of Olive Gardenation, uh, can go a long way. Hey, don't sell it too short. I didn't go that far. Okay, so the question that I asked myself when preparing this first dish, or, or, or conceptualizing this first dish was, is there a way that you can eat your way through an entire Italian American meal in just a few bites? Yes. And the answer to that is what I am calling, Big Night in Little Italy. Yes, we are looking at a pizza, friends. And that pizza, once you cut into a slice, will be a journey through an entire meal. Starting with a Caesar salad, moving to some meatballs, then moving to a pesto pasta, then moving to chicken parm, and then finishing with a cannoli stuffed crust. All in one dish. Yes. And you can just do it over and over and over again. However many pieces of pizza. Let's bring it in. Nicole. Did you draw that? I didn't draw this. No. I didn't draw it, and I didn't make it. I just came up with it, okay. That's the only thing that I did. Hello, Nicole. Hi. Oh. My hands are a little messy, I'm sorry. You have beautiful executed my vision. Thank you very much. Look at that. And then, if you want dessert first, that is an option. And Link, I believe a uh, a slice has been cut for you. Maybe a slice has been cut for me as well. Correct. There have been two slices cut. Oh, that's a big slice. And you, yeah, you gotta make sure to get the salad now. Keep the salad on there. You know, uh. I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to cut. I want you to experience this as, as, uh, as intended. You said Little Italy though. That's not, that's like in Yeah. Not Italy. Well, exactly, because this is an Italian American dish. So Big Night in Little Italy. Not big night in actual Italy, you know what I'm saying? Little Italy is when Italy is somewhere else. I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to. Can I have my slice? Uh, that's gonna be up to you. I'm, I'm too busy judging. Salad, salad on pizza is not bad because there's no, there was no sauce under that part, I don't think. Oh, a little meatball. Was there? You mean is there sauce on the, on the. Under the salad part. Under the salad, there's sauce. There's like pizza sauce all throughout the bottom as the base. Yep. Maybe you should have thought about not doing that. Okay, just. Just, you know, you don't want sauce under your salad. Why not? What's wrong with sauce under your salad? It's just a bit strange, never had that before. Well. But it was still good. Great. Oh man. I, am I supposed to go for the meatball next? Correct. Because that's like an appetizer? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm already to the cannoli 'cause I'm kind of going sideways here. I like the fact that when I ate, the meatball. I got a little bit of the, the pasta too, so it's kinda, oh, and now I got some chocolate. Mm-hmm. I just licked off my thumb. That was, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't do that again. Too early for that. That's user error. Mm-hmm. You gotta make it through this thing and in the intended order, and. I am, I'm still going, now. I do acknowledge there's quite a lot. Now I'm onto the noodle. Hmm. Everything is so tasty. You feel like you're on a date night, with. I just don't love having chocolate on my fingers. Me and Nicole. I mean, I'm having to dig deep to, to get through it without actually eating the whole thing. Yeah, side bites. Mm-hmm. We're all waiting on you. Well, I think it's romantic. If anybody's wondering. All the, all the, the meal, main, the mains, were great. Now I'm going to the dessert. Mm-hmm. I kind of wanna know if I really, if I just got down to that, like if I, if I succeeded. Yeah, you would just have a cannoli. At eating, I would just, then I would just have this cannoli. Mm-hmm. With a little bit of sauce left on it. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That's special, isn't it? That is fun. That is nice. Still a bit strange, but really tasty. Okay, well Link, I don't get to score mine. You have to score mine on a scale of one to five. And I don't get to see what you scored. Look at what happened to my hand. So that. Same. I won't base my score on what you gave mine. Okay, that's the big reveal at the end of this thing. Well, I want to keep eating the, the cannoli crust. That's, that's a great sign. 'cause that thing is good. It looks like complete chaos. I think it's quite beautiful. But that's what it's like in Little Italy. People honking horns. Uhhuh. Yep, I'm glad you noticed. That's what I was trying to sell. Moving trucks backing up. Mm-hmm. You know, you've got dogs peeing on hydrants. I could see. I'm not gonna look, I'm not gonna look. I could, I could see this in an Olive Garden. Out of five. Out of five. I guess the salad was added right before it came to the table, right? That is correct. Everything's hot, but the salad. Correct, everything is hot, but the salad. Yes. Okay. There must be more numbers. I've locked in my number and I'm not showing it to anyone because I don't want it to influence your score of mine. Yes. For my, the most Italian of Italian dishes, I wanted to throw everything at it, and I also wanted you to experience all of it every single time you took a bite. Okay. Yes, I respect the journey that you took me on. Mm-hmm. But sometimes you just need a wham bam Italian thank you ma'am, kind of a thing. How about, thank you Italian ma'am? Sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. If that, if that increases your score, then I'm for it. You wanna see this um... Oh. Uh, I didn't draw this. You could probably tell. 'cause it looks just like the drawing that you didn't draw. That's right. Yep. So as you can see, this is a layered amalgamation of everything you would want from an Italian dish. A huge ravioli, stuffed with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five amazing Italian dishes. We got a flat lasagna base, we got a flat garlic bread. Ooh. Layer, risotto, chicken marsala, which is one of my favorites. Veal piccata is, is topping it all off. You wrap it all up in the ravioli and then you throw every sauce that you can think of on the outside. Bolognaise, Alfredo, pesto and vodka sauce. A four sauce mix. Yep. Four saucin' it up. I'm calling this the Italian burial mound. Oh, okay, well that... turned me off a little bit. Let's see it in person. Yeah, I would like to see it for the first time in person. Lily, you. Good Lord that thing's got a nipple, doesn't it? Look at that. A nipple? I'm just saying, it's not really a mound, it's more of a like. Well, plateau. Plateau. Italian burial plateau. Which incidentally, the thing I will say, just a little, just a critique right off the top, conceptually, knowing that I was going to be tasting this. Is that you could have appealed to the paleontologist in me. Oh. And you could have called this the Grand Ravioli 'cause it's like the Grand Canyon with all the sedimentary layers. But you do, did not do that, so no points for that. Well, it's, it's not because there's, there's no, there's no crevice in the middle. It's more of a plateau. But you can, uh, dig deep and try to uncover the fossils. It looks like a huge cube of lasagna, though. That's what you wanted. Well, no, I, I wanted lasagna in it, but I really wanted it to seem like a ravioli. I mean, it's got the, the edges. It's literally exactly like the photo that you didn't draw. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead and get, let's see the cross section and see if she's right. I'm gonna pull this. Oh, there you go. Oh, to the side. Come on, man. I flipped it some, hey, sometimes that happens in the Grand Canyon, but all the layers will flip upside down and the people will be like, see, it's not the same age, but it just flipped, dudes. It's called plate tectonics. Get a life. Now throw it on there because you're not, you're not really showing off my layers like I would hope. But, so then I'll, I'll have that there. Oh, you have that there. When you mix every single sauce is, does that create a sauce that already has a name or did I also invent that by accident? I think you invented it. Yes. Look at me accidentally pushing forward the boundaries of Italian food. Okay, I'm skipping to the spoon here to try to get everything that came off of that. It's all in there. And then you can get it all in your mouth at once. Huh? There's no journey. It's just arrival. Hmm. I gotta say, it's very tasty, um. That sauce, that sauce is amazing. I'm trying to figure if you, if you go quick. If you go hard. You can really. Yes. You can get everything that you need. It is a bit of a mess. I mean, it's a lot less of a mess on my faith than what you did. And that four sauce mix is not bad, Link. This may be the best thing that I've ever come up with that you've made. I think it's like the only time. Yeah. We've ever collabed. Mm-hmm. But not the last time. May, not the last time. Not the last time. Yeah, there's another round of this game. Yeah. But that might be the last time. Hmm. Okay, uh, there's a lot to love about this. It would've been nice if you had a caught it, the grand, uh, ravioli. It would've been nice if you had a put a little dinosaur bone in there or something. Um. You know, just something to make it more of a discovery process for me. It's a burial mound, pay your respects. But there's no, there's no dead people in there either. There's a, there's a dead, um, chicken. There's also a dead veal, whatever animal that is. I get, I get confused, sometimes I think that might be a goat. If you can't tell me what the veal is. Baby cow? Yes, okay. I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah. Okay, uh. Continuing to eat here, this is fabulous. Link, this is pretty good, man. I gotta say. Now let me just say, yes. Thank you, Lily. Before I score this. Thank you Lily. I'm going to take into account, uh, something that many of you may already be thinking, which is, Link is a very harsh scorer traditionally, and I'm a very generous scorer traditionally. So I, I don't know. Did you go with your instincts or did you go with like a little generosity? I think I judged fairly. Okay, so you did what you typically do. So you probably did, uh. It shouldn't matter what I did. You, you should be. It does matter because if, I like everything. I don't make, I, I don't, I don't, you know, I'm not, not, there's nothing about this that I don't like, other than the fact that it doesn't, it wasn't called the Grand Cannoli. I mean, this, you know. It's not a big ditch. I don't, I'm, I don't understand. Uh, the side of the Grand Canyon is one of these. Oh, one side. You know what I'm. So you need two of 'em to make it a Grand Canyon. Or you could just cut it down the middle, and part it like the Red Sea. I, I judged you fairly. I would say even generously. I gotta say, this might get a little taxing to eat throughout an entire meal. Because I'm literally getting everything, everywhere, all at once. Yeah. There's a reason why the movie was so well received. And for that. Amongst Italians. And for that I am going to give it that, which is still a really good score on a scale of one to five. Okay. So, um, you want to go at the same time? Oh, yeah. No, I want you to go first. Well, no, then you'll react. I, I don't like going at the same time because then if I was watching, I wouldn't know where to look first. That bothers me. So as like a producer, as an executive producer of this show, I'm just like, which number do I look at? Which is why I'm gonna show mine first. Okay. Next round, we'll try it your way. Okay. I gave you a 4.23. Out of five. Okay, uh. I gave you a 3.97. And do you know where to look. At the disappointment on my face. What would you, what were you gonna give it? Uh, I mean. This is good. This is, I mean, you're pushing fivedom. Before, before I took into account the way you typically score things, I would've said 4.25. But, uh, then I just, I, I graded, I graded on a curve. I would've won by two hundredths. I was like, there's no way, with as much negative stuff as he said about my pizza, that he's gonna go above a four. I mean, that's just, I was, I was like, if I give him a 3.97. There's still a really good chance that he's gonna take this round. I just, hey, I can't do anything about it, man. You know what? I think it's okay. I mean, technically this rounds up to four and yours rounds down to four, but it's not, definitely not a tie. Definitely not a tie. I think I'm just gonna have to take this round. Let's clear all this up with Japanese cuisine. Yes. Before I introduce you to my next Japanese dish, I do wanna remind you that my wife, Jessie, and I, we went to a hot new Italian, well, I don't know how new it is, but a good Italian restaurant. Oh yeah. Here in Los Angeles, and wanted to take you along with us to see our experience. So there's a vlog over on the Mythical Society that you can check out all about that Experience. Oh, you take the Mythical Society on an Italian date with you? All of them, there was a big bus. Oh, wow. Okay. Uh, what I asked Nicole to make here is what I'm calling Omakase-ception. Okay. You know, omakase basically means, leave it up to the chef. Yeah, chef. That scares me, boy. The chef, let him do his thing. Woo. I'm getting nervous already. And I'm not really the chef, but I'm the. No, you're not. The conceptual chef. You're not the illustrator either. Okay, so lemme tell you what we did here. We took other dishes that are beloved in Japanese cuisine and then we sushi-fied all of them into an Omakase. So, we've got, uh, the soba noodles, which typically wouldn't come in a hand roll, but they do now. We've got Japanese yellow curry, which wouldn't be a piece of sushi, but it is now. We've also got, the, uh, karaage chicken as a piece of sushi. And this is the highlight right towards this, the second half of the meal, you have a Omakase Omakase, which is literally salmon, white fish and tuna in a braid. Braid over sushi rice. I'd like to see that be executed. And then we move on to the okonomiyaki, which is that, uh, cabbage pancake thing also made into a thing of sushi with eel sauce on it. And then finally, for dessert, you have some matcha sushi with chopped mochi on top. Let's bring it out. Wow, that is, this is a lot. To see how Nicole did. This is so much. Ho, ho. And look, there's plates over there. Yes, I get mine too, brother. So. Okay, so what you wanna do? Look at the braids. I'm not where, where do I start? I start. Uh, right here. Whatever. Go that way. Is on the sheet. I would follow the sheet closely. Yes, start with the. Start with the hand roll. Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm. I know, I know it's supposed to be cold. Mm-hmm. And I know you're not a huge fan. Woo. Of the, uh, the seaweed, but that's gonna be a continual struggle throughout this meal. What, what is it? What's that in the middle? That's ginger. You probably taste the ginger. What was that in the middle? Ginger. And scallop. Refreshing. Hmm. A little, a little palette cleanse right at the beginning to set you up for round two. My stomach started doing something. Good. So a little note for round two, I recommend removing the shrimp out, taking a bite, discarding the tail, and then eating the whole entire gunkanmaki as one bite. So put. So eat the shrimp. Oh, man. Throw away the tail. Eat, eat the rest. I mean the. Very good. Yeah, they're a full bite. I mean, it might, it might be a lot, but. Hmm. I left some of the rice, but. That yellow curry? Mm mm. Oh man. That's good. Hmm. Link, your jaw's clicking. Is everything okay? No. No, everything's not okay. You got a clicky jaw. You got TMJ. You hear it? Yeah, it's loud. You hear it? It's very loud. Yeah. Chew harder. Clicky. Chew through it. Chew through the. My, um, it happens every time, Nicole. Ouch. Yeah. I don't know, I go to the dentist and they're like, are you okay with that? And I'm like. I mean, I, I, I've been so far. Botox. Botox right into the jaw next time. Yeah, it works. Alright. Sounds like another episode. You stop chewing. You wanna line that up? I would love to get Botox with you. What is the, yeah, I'm, I'm, I don't even hear it anymore and it's in my own head. So the karaage chicken, you know. Yeah, fried chicken. Usually the fried chicken. That's not my jaw, that's carrots. Mm-hmm. Sure. Hmm. Oh, that's my jaw. I need Botox. Telling you, it'll be fun. Just Botox down here in my throat. Yeah. Hmm. You'll stop chewing. That's a lot, I can't finish this one. And then we, that's funny. I'm so self-conscious about my jaw now. I'm sorry. Um. Okay, we'll do half bites of this second round. Look at this. It is braided, braided fishes. Braided fishes. Oh, I have, I have the sticks too. Yeah, we gave you the sticks. We thought you might want 'em. Oh, that's nice. That's fun. Has a sushi, has a sushi, sushi braid ever been done? I don't think so. I've seen it once before. Just once. Oh man. This is, I mean. Oh man. You, you've taken me on two journeys today. Mm-hmm. That's right. I'm, I'm your travel buddy. You're like Rick Steves. Uhhuh. Yes, I am. I don't remember what this is, but I think it might be. That is the, um. Okonomiyaki. Okon- how do you say it? Okono-miyaki. Okonomiyaki. It's little. And then for dessert, we got. Gotta go in the ham. Oh, and that's on crispy rice. Mm-hmm. What's the pink stuff? So that's mochi, it's strawberry mochi. It looks like flesh. Thank you. Mm. That tastes like something that'd be at a state Fair. Hmm. Strawberry. Chewy. Lots to chew. Lots to rank. I have to take this as a whole, though. Mm-hmm. What do you think? Extremely creative. Are you gonna take, take into account what happened in last round? It captures the Japanese spirit of elegance, thoughtfulness. So on a scale of one to five. Are you adjusting based on what happened last time? Nope. Okay. I'm just being an impartial judge. Impartial judge. Okay. I am locked in. Alright, let's see what you did. I've been to Japan. Oh yes you have. Yeah, I ate a lot of food there. Really enjoyed it. Bless you. I just wish I went to Japan with you. Yeah, you trying to take away from my moment. So I sneeze as a distraction, it was fake. Yeah. And because you're so jealous. So jealous. I'm one of those guys who likes to just swoop in with, like, an infusion of creativity. Just throw a little, little questioning question bomb over, over some brainstorming, and then just disappear and then come back later and see what happens. Oh, just ask a question and leave the room. So what I said to Lily was Japanese dinner cereal. Okay. With a question mark there. And then I like, I bit my lip like that and I was like, you got this. Sounds like you are. Right, Lily? It's sort of. That's right. Remember that? It sounds like you may be like feigning responsibility for this, in case it doesn't work out. Listen, I mean, who am who am I kidding? I, all I said was I wanna make, I wanna make cereal. Yeah. So take all the good Japanese foods and throw 'em in a bowl in such a way that I could have my comforting experience of childhood as a grown man who appreciates Japanese cuisine. Okay? You can see that there's all types of stuff that could be thrown into here according to the illustration, but let's see what Lily actually did. Okay. Japanese. Cereal. Dinner cereal. Dinner cereal. What's? Yes. What's the milk? Um, it's like a matcha shoyu broth. Uhhuh. So it it does have a liquid there. Down there at the bottom. You got, so there's um. Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's what. You got some, you got some gyoza? What's inside that ball? Green stuff. No, it's um, an onigiri with spicy tuna. Mm-hmm. There you go. Okay. Don't, you don't need a plate. It's cereal. You and you should be using a spoon. There you go. Okay, um. So you got that, got the onigiri. You see, you see, you see how that fish is hidden inside of that? I do feel like it is, it is a seal that requires a side plate. And then you got the octopus balls there. Oh, that's octopus ball. They're called Yucca, Yuma. Try, try again. Um. No. No. Tako yaki. Yeah. I did not. That's not one of my faves. Very good though. Yep, if you like it. And this is a egg. Yep. Quail egg. Yep. You don't like that? It's a songbird. You're not. You think a quail's a, is a songbird? Tweet. Tweet. You say a quail doesn't tweet. I mean, when I think of a songbird, I think of something I don't want to eat. Maybe we should start eating songbirds. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Then you got the pork chasu. Oh. Chasu. Chasu. Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dig deep. Bless you. Go hard. I don't. Well, are we mi, is he missing anything? Oh yeah, noodles. Oh, and. Yeah, there's noodles underneath. Get the noodles. Some tofu and green onion. Okay. Um, it's a little disjointed. We might would've needed a a for, more milk. Or just actual milk. I'm an American. Okay, sorry. Did you get a gyoza? Mm-hmm, he got that. Oh. Here, get it out. Like, yeah. That one. Yeah. It's your favorite. Yes. Oh, every individual ingredient is very tasty. Bowls are better. It things kind of fall. I wish it wasn't all floating in a green liquid. Out of bowls. You know, things fall out of plates all the time. I gotta say, you executed the vision incredibly well. I have some questions about the vision. Mm-hmm. Um. Yeah. Which is like something that would be served at a party like one time, but probably not make it onto a restaurant menu. Just because of the way that it all comes together, if you know what I mean. You know, he's saying, it's not your fault, it's my fault. Yeah, I, I heard that. And, and for people who don't like their foods touching, especially these kinds of food, this is gonna be a problem. But I'm not one of those people, so I'm not gonna hold that against it. Mm-hmm. Put your number down and let it be a big one. I don't know why I put that. Why, why are you looking at your drawing? Just to remind myself of, uh, what I liked a little bit better. Lily, thank you. I can, I can tell you did your best. I tried to execute. Which is usually awesome, but in this case, I guess it, uh, I didn't give you enough of work with. It's you, not me. Okay, Link, uh. Nothing I can do to change my number unless I erased it and then wrote again. Okay. I have locked myself in. So Rhett for your, oh, you wanna go first? I'll go first. My amazing omakase experience. I trusted the chef. It was exquisite. It, it kind of took a while. There wasn't a lot of efficiencies into it. So if I'm in a hurry, I, I notched you down for that. Alright. You can't eat this fast. Um, it, it all just kind of seemed like sushi. Well, yeah, that was the point. Yeah. But it was sushi, that wasn't sushi. I know, but, they've done so much creative stuff with sushi to me, I felt like I'd been there and done that. Yeah. All that being said, everything was executed perfectly and I, I still gave you a generous 4.003. Okay. Just trying to be, trying to be the critic here. Um, alright. Okay. That's a very specific score and, uh, Link, like I said, I thought that the individual ingredients were great. I did, it had some demerits for being sort of soaking in a green, uh, liquid there at the bottom, which is maybe flavoring in a way that I didn't enjoy. Yeah. Gotta be there. It's cereal. But I felt a little bit bad for, uh, round one. So I gave you a oh 4.01. Oh yes. Which is somehow, no no, three's higher than one. I know. I know how math works. Somehow I beat you? You did, by a very small margin. So I, so how much of that is pity? Oh, I would say, uh, 0.01 was the pity part. But I did win this round. But. If you add up all the scores. Then I had more points total. There's gotta be one winner, I mean, there's gotta be one. Uh, what are we calling it? World's Most Brian. That's me. You did it. Woo. And Nicole, we got one for you too. Oh my gosh. Uhhuh. No way. Yeah, yeah. We'll mail it to you. Don't come out. Oh, no, I, I want to. It's over. Alright, fine. Here. Okay, fine. Come take it. I love winning. Thanks for commenting and sharing this video. You know what time it is. I'm Al. And I'm Kristen. And we're on our honeymoon in Florence, Italy. Eating meats and cheeses on our terrace in front of the Duomo. And now it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality. Woo, I'm looking forward to doing that soon. Y'all living it up eating meats and cheeses... and breads. Meats and cheeses and breads. Okay. Link has a very special announcement that he wants to share with everybody. 3, 2, 1. The left one's. Longer. Click the top link to watch us build the definitive fast food tier list in Good Mythical More. The new Mythical Society is here. Unlock access to our new vlogs at MythicalSociety.com.