Adam Richman's Best Sandwich in America

Adam Richman begins his quest to find America's No. 1 sandwich. In the series premiere, Richman samples the best sandwiches in the Northeast. Featured sandwiches include: a french fry-stuffed capicola-fried egg-and-cheese sandwich from Primanti Bros. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; a juicy roast pork sandwich topped with sharp provolone and sauteed broccoli rabe and drenched in pork gravy from Tommy DiNic's at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and a pastrami-and-corned beef combo sandwich topped with Russian dressing and coleslaw on rye bread from Katz's Delicatessen in New York City.

Winner: Tommy DiNic's roast pork sandwich

Richman heads to the Gulf Coast in search of the region's best sandwiches. Featured sandwiches include: a double-dipped fried shrimp po'boy with lettuce, pickles, homemade ketchup and hot sauce at Domilise's in New Orleans, Louisiana; a "medianoche" Cuban sandwich filled with boiled ham, serrano ham, slow-cooked pulled pork roasted in a sour orange and garlic mojo sauce, swiss cheese, salami, mustard, and pickles at the Aguila Sandwich Shop in Tampa, Florida; and a blackened grouper Reuben sandwich with swiss cheese, caramelized sauerkraut and thousand island dressing on grilled marble rye bread at Skipper's Smokehouse, also in Tampa.

Winner: Domilise's fried shrimp po'boy

Richman seeks out the best sandwiches in the South. Featured sandwiches include: the Asian Flank-Steak Sandwich, a soy sauce and brown sugar-marinated grilled Angus steak topped with melted provolone cheese, an Asian-Italian giardiniera, and a slather of mayonnaise (and is only served on Mondays) from Mitchell Delicatessen in Nashville, Tennessee; the Chicken-and-Cheddar Biscuit at the "Research Triangle" of UNC, Duke and NC State at the college hangout Time-Out Restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and the "Chicken Conquistador" sandwich, mustard-based marinated and secretly-spiced grilled sliced chicken topped with lettuce, tomato and two secret sauces on a toasted baguette at Zunzi's Express in Savannah, Georgia.

Winner: Zunzi's Chicken Conquistador sandwich

Richman scopes out the tastiest sandwiches in the American Midwest. Featured sandwiches include: the "4-Courser", a unique sandwich combining jerk-rubbed pulled pork sauteed in a Béchamel sauce, fried jalapeño chips, "waffle-ized" 6-cheese macaroni and cheese, crunchy sweet potato chips, and barbecue sauce, all inside a pretzel bun, at Fifty/50 in Chicago, Illinois; the iconic Italian beef sandwich, featuring sliced roast beef in Italian bread, both drenched in hot beef gravy and topped with sweet peppers and spicy giardiniera at Al's #1 Italian Beef, also in Chicago; and the "Heart Stopping BLT", which features 14 strips of crispy kettle-cooked bacon, plus lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, all inside toasted white bread, at Crown Candy Kitchen in St. Louis, Missouri.

Winner: Al's Beef's Italian beef sandwich

Richman samples the best sandwiches in the Mid-Atlantic region. Featured sandwiches include: a saltine-encrusted lump crab cake sandwich from Faidley's Seafood at Lexington Market in Baltimore, Maryland; the deluxe double-decker chicken club (rosemary-marinated paillard chicken breast, applewood-smoked bacon, a sunny side-up egg, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and avocado all between sourdough toast) that's only ordered through room service at the W Hotel in Washington, D.C.; and the "C.S.S. Virginia" (named after the Civil War ironclad battleship) which is a 2-foot panko-breaded fried-chicken liver baguette "battleship" sandwich topped with an apple-cabbage-green onion slaw and remoulade from The Black Sheep in Richmond, Virginia.

Winner: Black Sheep's C.S.S. Virginia battleship sandwich

Richman visits the Pacific Northwest to sample the region's best sandwiches. Featured sandwiches include: a braised oxtail sandwich, featuring oxtail stewed in marinara sauce with two house-made sauces (breadcrumb olive oil and parsley caper) and topped with sauteed onions and peppers at Salumi (run by Mario Batali's sister, Gina) in Seattle, Washington; the "Big-Ass Roast-Beef", a massive sandwich loaded with 1/4 lb roast beef, bacon, onions, cheddar cheese Béchamel sauce, hot sauce, and stuffed with two layers of hand-cut fries at the Big-Ass Sandwiches cart in Portland, Oregon; and the "Pork-Belly Cubano" sandwich, a non-traditional Cubano filled with Italian spiced and molasses rubbed pork belly, ham, pickles, aged swiss cheese and topped with mayo, yellow mustard and Mexican hot sauce at Bunk Sandwiches, also in Portland.

Winner: Big-Ass Sandwiches' Big-Ass Roast Beef sandwich

Richman continues his sandwich-eating quest on the west coast of California. Featured sandwiches include: a Memphis-style 15-spice-rubbed pulled pork sandwich topped with a maple syrup-and-pineapple-sweetened coleslaw, plus piping hot barbecue sauce, all inside a grilled Brioche bun at JR's Barbeque in Los Angeles, California; the "El Toro", a sandwich of Mesquite-grilled tri-tip beef, double-grilled and doused in a sweet barbecue sauce while placed inside a fresh-baked Kaiser roll, at Phil's BBQ in San Diego, California; and a "pulled" lamb sandwich topped with pickled watermelon rind, placed inside a sweet deli roll and served with a side of red cabbage slaw and a unique watermelon vinegar sauce from Wexler's in San Francisco, California.

Winner: Phil's BBQ's "El Toro" barbecue tri-tip sandwich

Richman heads to the Great Lakes region to sample their best sandwiches. Featured sandwiches include: the "Fish Taco Torta", a tempura-style cornstarch-breaded/beer battered mahi-mahi filet stacked with a habanero-lime mayonnaise, pico de gallo, a cabbage-and-peppadew pepper slaw, and crispy tortilla chips, all inside a milk bread bun, at Tilia in Minneapolis, Minnesota; a flame-grilled and sliced prime rib sandwich with melted Swiss cheese, a buttery mushroom-and-pepper relish, topped with two pads of butter, all stuffed into a toasted Semolina roll and served with a side of au jus, at Kroll's West in Green Bay, Wisconsin; and "The Yardbird", a sandwich combining boneless hickory-smoked Amish chicken (cooked with sautéed mushrooms and a mustard-based barbecue sauce), shredded cheddar cheese and applewood-smoked bacon in a toasted poppy-seed bun, at Slows Bar-B-Q in Detroit, Michigan.

Winner: Slows Bar-B-Q's "Yardbird" chicken sandwich

Richman travels to the American Southwest region to try their best sandwiches. Featured sandwiches include: the Bar-B-Que Brisket Jalapeño Sandwich, a creation combining a 1/2-pound of open pit-barbecued beef brisket and pickled jalapeño peppers, both drenched in a spicy Habanero sauce, at The Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas; a seared beef tongue sandwich with garlic aioli, a red pepper relish, and smoked green onions, all between grilled fresh home-baked bread, at the Noble Pig in Austin, Texas; and a Mexican torta known as the "Torta Del Rey", which features a Telera roll stuffed with a staggering 12 ingredients (slow-roasted pork, breaded beef sirloin, ham, melted mozzarella cheese, an omelet filled with Mexican chorizo and a hot dog, tomatoes, onions, avocado, all topped with peruano beans and chipotle sauce) at Los Reyes de la Torta in Phoenix, Arizona.

Winner: The Noble Pig's seared beef tongue sandwich

Richman's quest concludes in New England when he tries its best sandwiches. Featured sandwiches include: the "Crab Grilled Cheese", a sandwich featuring toasted Ciabatta bread filled with melted Vermont sharp cheddar and a mound of lump Jonah crab, with the sandwich first grilled then oven-baked, and served with a side of potato chips and tomato soup, at Jumpin' Jay's Fish Cafe in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; the "Zesty Lemon Lobster Roll", a creation packing cold Maine lobster meat with mayonnaise, Romaine lettuce, and a lemon-pepper spice topping, all squirted with lemon and placed inside a butter-grilled New England-style bun, at The Galley Restaurant & Pub in Naples, Maine; and "A Tale of Two Turkeys", sage-buttered oven-roasted turkey with swiss cheese, coleslaw, and homemade Russian dressing on onion rye batard bread at the Book Trader Cafe in the heart of the Yale campus in New Haven, Connecticut.

Winner: The Galley's Zesty Lemon Lobster Roll

Ten regional sandwich winners and two wild cards go head-to-head, elimination-style. In the end, only one can take the coveted title of "Adam's Richman's Best Sandwich in America".

Wild Card #1 (Recommended by G. Love): Cheesesteak with 3/4-pound sliced beef, five slices of provolone cheese, "long hots" (hot peppers), and fried onions all topped with mayo and ketchup on a sesame seed Italian roll from John's Roast Pork in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Wild Card #2 (Viewer's Choice): Duck Confit Grilled Cheese with white American and gruyere cheeses and sliced green tomatoes between two slices of grilled sourdough bread from Olio Soups, Salads & Sandwiches in Jacksonville, Florida.

Note: These matchups were randomly decided by a computer. And the three chefs (DiNic's, Zunzi's & Slows Bar-B-Q) of the final three sandwiches were present at the time of the winner announcement.

(Winners in bold)

Round 1:

• "El Toro" (Phil's BBQ) vs. "Yardbird" (Slows Bar-B-Q)
• Seared beef tongue sandwich (Noble Pig) vs. "C.S.S. Virginia" (The Black Sheep)
• "Zesty Lemon Lobster Roll" (The Galley) vs. Cheesesteak (John's Roast Pork)
• Italian beef sandwich (Al's Beef) vs. Chicken Conquistador (Zunzi's)
• Fried shrimp po'boy (Domilise's) vs. Roast pork sandwich (Tommy DiNic's)
• "Big-Ass Roast Beef" (Big-Ass Sandwiches) vs. Duck confit grilled cheese (Olio)

Round 2:

• Cheesesteak vs. "Yardbird"
• Seared beef tongue sandwich vs. Chicken Conquistador
• Roast pork sandwich vs. "Big-Ass Roast Beef"

Final Round: Adam invites the top three restaurants' head chefs to create their signature sandwiches on the spot for one final taste test.

• Roast pork sandwich vs. Chicken Conquistador vs. "Yardbird"

"Adam's Richman's Best Sandwich in America" champion: Tommy DiNic's roast pork sandwich