A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - IHOP vs. Denny’s

Episode Date: February 21, 2024

Today, Josh and Nicole go head-to-head in the ultimate breakfast brawl, comparing the delights of Denny's and IHOP. From fluffy stacks of pancakes to sizzling bacon, join them as they settle the score on which diner truly takes the crown. Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 Check out the video version of this podcast: http://youtube.com/@mythicalkitchen To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. You want some RTFNFS? Are you trying to sell me drugs? No, I'm talking about the Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity. Oh, I prefer to get Grand Slammed. Ew! This is a Hot Dog is a Sandwich! Ketchup is a smoothie.

Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what? That makes no sense. A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the show where we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host, Josh Ayer. And I'm your host, I guess, Nicole Inaidi. I guess.

I guess. You didn't like my joke? The Grand Slam joke? Well, no, I just feel like you should explain to people what getting Grand Slammed is. It means going to Denny's And eating breakfast Yeah so it means When you go into The Denny's bathroom

Right And what you're gonna do You're gonna slide your foot Underneath the bathroom stall And then that way The rooty tooty Fresh and No that's IHOP

Today Nicole What's up We're discussing The two biggest Pancake juggernauts In the entire game Not only are they Pancake juggernauts though

But they are Family Style Dineradjacent restaurant chains in America. And those words mean something, I swear to you. Yeah, one of them is an international house on pancakes, and one of them is not. Ironically, both of them are lowercase international houses of pancakes, right? Yes, correct. Both of them have several international locations. Not a ton. They're both in, like,

pancakes, right? Both of them have several international locations. Not a ton. They're both in like maybe the low hundreds or high two digits. Both of them have somewhat equivalent numbers in America. Denny's is about $1,500. IHOP is about $1,900. And their revenue is, yeah,

they're a lot closer than I thought. For some reason, I thought Denny's was bigger than IHOP. I consider Denny's to be more ubiquitous than IHOP. Really? Yeahny's to be more ubiquitous than IHOP. Really? Yeah, do you? I think I guess I don't travel much, so I see a lot more IHOPs. Or maybe my eye is just geared towards looking at more IHOPs.

Whoa. I don't know why. I just think the iconicism of IHOP versus Denny's is obvious, to me at least. I always said the opposite, where I thought Denny's was a lot more iconic. You know what I think it is? Why? I think it's growing up with an American boomer dad. I didn't. I grew up with an immigrant father. That's funny. So like I think

I came at this from a whole different perspective because Denny's started a little bit earlier than IHOP. Denny's started in 1953 in Lakewood, California. Lakewood's like around the corner. It's like South LA. Okay, so you're going to

Mar Vista, but you make a left. But yeah, but it's south too, right? So you make a right. I don't think people care about the geography. I have no idea where Lakewood is. I'm sorry. It's LA. It's LA. Danny started in LA in 1953. It was originally called Danny's Donuts. Was it a donut shop? Yeah, it was a

donut and coffee shop. No way. Yeah, and you know who Danny is? Danny Palumbo, former Sporked employee. Danny DeVito. No, nobody knows who Danny is. They just named it Danny's because it was a name, right? It's a good name.

There's a lot of Daniels and Dannys in the world. There sure are, and they probably wanted an all-American name. That is, I forgot. You're Danielle. I forgot I have it. Do you ever forget you have a middle name? Miriam? Never.

I am Miriam. No, Miriam, you did not forget. I am Miriam till the day. That was supposed to be my real name. Did you know that? No. Very Hebraic. My parents wanted to name me Miriam or Mariam.

And then my sister's like, no. We're giving her an American name because there's a pretty girl in school named Nicole and we're going to name the baby after her. And what are your siblings' names? Sanam and Salar. Sanam, Salar, Nicole. Yeah, that's me.

And I'm Nicole. The American baby. So anyways, they eventually changed their name to Denny's in 1961 because there was another spot in L.A. just called like Dan's Coffee together. So there's like nothing behind the name. Five years later, 1958, is when IHOP opens. So they're pretty close contemporaries. You see this big boom in chain restaurants after World War II. Okay.

Right? So you get In-N-Out starting at the same time. Taco Bell is starting at the same time. McDonald's. But this is, like, the fast, casual version. Yeah, I'm sure when it first came out, it was, like big deal, like to get coffee and pancakes at like a franchise place. 100%. And they started franchising super quickly.

In 1981, so like 23 years, they reached their thousandth location. Denny's? Which is crazy because right now they're only at like 1,500. So Denny's had a super fast boom, which makes sense why I consider Denny's to be the juggernaut because my dad grew up going to Denny's. And did you go to Denny's with him? Oh, my God, all the time, right? Because kids ate super cheap, right? Oh, yeah.

Denny's does that like it's like seniors and young people, like under six or something. You eat free if you're under five or six. Yeah, yeah. And they probably have like a veteran discount. My dad had that too. You know, so Denny's was the ultimate like boomer dad comfort. And I even remember when Denny's in the early 2000s was trying to to rebrand some of its locations to be like a 50s style diner. And so to me, I have a lot of fond memories of Denny's.

But IHOP is really the juggernaut. I thought IHOP was the underdog in this situation. They are not. That's so interesting. They are not at all. They have IHOP about, jeez, and Rice, $3 billion in sales in 2021 is the data we're going off of. Pretty damn impressive. Denny's about $2.5 billion.

Not far behind. Followed very closely by Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel is the third. Dude. But we didn't really grow up with Cracker Barrel. I've never, okay, let me tell you. I've never been to Cracker Barrel. I've never been to, what is it, Old Spaghetti Factory?

I don't think they're in the same echelon, dude. No, yeah, they are. They're all like these like. I know what you mean, though. They're like cool, like not cool. They're kind of themed. They're like iconic these like, I know what you mean though. They're like cool, like not cool. They're kind of themed. They're like iconic Americana restaurants.

It's like you're in a small town, like, I don't know, is Akron a small town? Akron. Is Akron? Akron, Ohio. Is it a small town? Like, it's probably pretty big.

Maggie, Google how many people are in Akron. I'm going to take a guess. I'm going to say, I'm going to say 220,000. 190,000. You're so close. 190,000.

I'm pretty good at this. That was incredible. Okay, what about Canton, Ohio? It looks like it's lower. What's Canton? Probably like 60? 70,000. Okay, yeah.

Canton, Ohio probably has... It's where the NFL Hall of Fame is. No way. Jim Thorpe, maybe the greatest athlete of all time. I don't care at all. He played for the Canton Bulldogs. I don't care. You don't care about Jim Thorpe?

I don't care about sports. Dude, he was a Native American hero. Wow, really? He won gold medals in the Olympics, but then he had to give back the gold medals because he played semi-professional baseball. And when they found out, but people think like, yo, if he was white, it would have slid. If you play two sports, you can't get into the Hall of Fame? Until like 1992, you could not. What about Michael Jordan?

Until 1992, you could not be in the Olympics if you were a professional athlete. It was only amateurs. No way. Yeah. And there's still certain sports like that. Like I believe boxing is that way in the Olympics. Okay. So if you're a really good boxer and you want to win Olympic gold medal, you basically have to forego your pro career.

I had. That is insane. So 1992, I'm pretty sure. It's because of like unfair advantages? No, it's like to uphold the sanctity of. Stupid. 1992 was the first time I believe that

so all of the basketball players to the American Olympic team used to be college kids because they couldn't get paid at the time either 1992 first time they let the pros in

and that is when Michael Jordan Charles Barkley the whole freaking dream team I know about the and they kept one college kid on just to be like ugh

he was in Christian Laettner useless everyone hates Christian Laettner okay let's talk more about like things that I know about the Dream Team. And they kept one college kid on just to be like, uh, he was in Christian Leitner. Useless. Everyone hates Christian Leitner. Okay, let's talk more about things that I know and like about. I'm so sorry. I got caught up. Small Town America. Small Town America, they have these cool restaurants like Old Spaghetti Factory and

Macaroni... What is it? There's like a macaroni store? There's a macaroni store. That's what it's called. Yeah, they call it Ye Olde Macaroni Store. And store is spelled with two R's and an E. Yeah, like I like that stuff. And I feel like living in LA, I never got to go to those small town things, which sucks. But I feel like IHOP and Denny's are the closest things that I got to experience.

Yeah, no, I agree with that. And I've been to several Cracker Barrels because I used to go to Allentown, Pennsylvania. They have games. Don't they have a cool game? The peg game? Yeah, they do. They do. They have little board games. I agree with that. And I've been to several Cracker Barrels because I used to go to like Allentown, Pennsylvania. I think I went to one. Don't they have a cool game? The PEG game? Yeah, they do. They do. They have little board games.

They have a little country store. I love board games. Waffle House is in a distant fourth place with 1.2 billion in sales. I've never been to Waffle House. I went to one in Aurora, Colorado. It was very strange. What time did you go? Probably like 11 a.m.

Pretty hungover. And the server comes. my only Waffle House experience. We ordered the house. We got it flipped, flopped, chopped, dipped, whatever the chunked, hung, scooped, and scooped. On the hash browns, we got every kind of waffle they had, which was like two kinds of waffles, just like normal and pecan.

I'll never forget, the server came and just threw a bunch of forks at our table. Through? Straight up through, like unwrapped, no napkins, whatever. And we're like, I don't really care. Yeah, and then she comes by holding two burnt waffles, and they go, they burnt your waffles. Is that okay? And I just went, yeah.

And you ate the burnt waffle. I sure did, and I ate all the other food. It was fine. I'll love me some loaded hash browns. But then a cop came to the door, and he just goes, hey, has anybody seen a mentally disturbed teen? And we go, and the whole table

raised their hand. We go, no. And they go, all right, watch out. They're roaming around and then walked away.

What the heck? Very Waffle House experience. Anyways, I go to IHOP more than I go to Danny's. Why do you think that is? Availability or do you actively prefer it?

I don't, so when it comes to going out for whatever kind of food this is, what kind of food would you consider this? This is, it's not like quite diner food. I guess you'd say diner food. Diner, breakfast, fair, Americana, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's unfortunate. I don't find myself attending either of these places anymore. What do you go for in that? Like a local diner? Yeah. If I go to a diner, I go to like a random crappy one next to LAX,

Pans, Pens. It was great. It was delicious. It's not crappy. I don't know why I said crappy. It was very good and I loved it very much and I can't wait to go back.

But like I try to go to like more small like places in LA that aren't necessarily corporations. But do I, if I'm like driving around and I see an IHOP, I'm going to stop at an IHOP more than I'm going to stop at a Denny's. Yeah, no, same. I have always very actively preferred IHOP.

And there's like a very specific reason why. The syrups? Oh, the syrups. The syrups are one, but I think the syrups are symptomatic of the larger reason. And that's just, IHOP to me, when I was a kid, was always more Epicurean. They had more, like, it's an international. Tell the people what Epicurean means. Epicurean meaning, like, having an evolved taste in food, an adventurous palate.

Yeah, Josh read books when he was eight or something. IHOP. Nicole, tell me what dilettante meant today. I had a completely different definition in my head for what a dilettante was. Nicole, tell them what dilettante means. A dilettante is someone who, like like just very surface level appreciates the arts and like other things, but doesn't like go in depth. Something like a dabbler. A dilettante is a dabbler.

Now, what is the Rizzler? I don't know, but you're so skibbity. And that's all I know about that. Is that a compliment? Saying skibbity? I don't know. I don't want to live here anymore. What do you mean you don't want to live anymore? Chill out. I don't know. No, Is that a compliment? Saying skibbity? I don't know. I don't want to live anymore. I don't want to live here anymore. What do you mean you don't want to live anymore?

Chill out. I don't know. No, but it's changing so fast. Josh, I said one word. The kids are changing the language so fast. And then it's going to change. And then I'm just, there's no monoculture anymore. You know what I mean?

You can't reference. I could like say a line from a sitcom 10 years ago, right? Yeah, say it. And people know what it is. Say it. I would just say like, day man. And then somebody would respond,

fighter of the night man. Ah! You can't do that with any piece of media anymore. And it sucks and I hate that. Especially in people

who operate in pop culture. What I'm saying is, IHOP, they had like an international menu of pancakes. You had the normal menu of pancakes. They had the international menu and they made like Swedish lingon lingonberry crepes they made like or no swedish

pancakes they called them and then they had like um blintzes do they have blintzes they had blintzes that's pretty cool menu and they had all the flavored syrups so they had boysenberry they had strawberry they had maple and then the greatest syrup of all time buttercan. Did you say pecan or pecan? I say pecan. I say butter pecan. Do you know pecan is actually like a native, it's an indigenous word? So is pecan proper or is pecan proper? It's probably neither. It's like the, you know the film festival, I'm going to pronounce it properly, Cannes?

The Cannes film festival? Yeah, the Cannes film festival. The Cannes? What about it? People, I had an argument where people are like, they're like, it's Cannes. And some people are like, no, it's Cannes. And I'm like, no, the French vowel sounds are just different. There's no proper, the only way to pronounce it is in French, which is Cannes.

Are you even going to mention that I'm holding two pancakes in my hand? Nicole's holding two pancakes. Okay, right now I'll tell you this much. I'm sorry for fondling the cakes, but I had to. The IHOP feels like mattress foam. In a good way, right? In a good way. It's like springy.

It's bouncy. It feels like they whipped egg whites, but obviously they didn't. And the Denny's one, a little bit more flatter, a little bit more sturdy, and more like a flapjack. More like a flapjack. What's really interesting. So let's talk pancake for pancake. Okay.

I'm going to drop them. Okay. Go for it. Even if IHOP, to me, they have the more decadent menu of pancakes. You can get the New York cheesecake pancakes right here. Those are fancy schmancy. I love it. Right here, we have the Mexican tres leches pancake, not to be confused with the Guatemalan

tres leches pancakes. It happens a lot. It happens a lot. I'm tired of it. It's a plague in this country. I agree. But if we're just talking pancake for pancake, this is, let's say, 50% fluffier than this. Very fluffy.

You know what the crazy thing about that is? What? This is allegedly 50% fluffier than Denny's old pancakes. No way. I believe it was 2015, 2016, Denny's spent millions upon millions of dollars to completely redesign their pancakes. Okay, I'm examining the inside. And they promised 50% more fluff because their stores were in decline, their revenues were in decline for at least a decade,

and they were like, we need to wage war against the IHOP. And so they redesigned their pancakes, and they offered a new menu of decadent pancakes, which is why we have here, Nicole. Woo! It just looks like this got grand slammed. I was going to say the same thing but this is our salted caramel it's like looking into a mirror

right here so we should get into it we should taste these I'm gonna rip off a hunk yeah do you want some syrup from the IHOP you want IHOP syrup well IHOP didn't give us butter which I think is shady I don't need butter on my pancakes I've never been a buttered pancake guy it's like fun but I'm really there for the bread soaked in syrup I shall follow suit I'm gonna on my pancakes. I've never been a buttered pancake guy. It's like fun, but I'm really there for the bread soaked in syrup.

That's fine. I shall follow suit. I'm going to smell the pancakes. I smelled them too. Denny's so much artificial vanilla extract. It smells sugarier. Yeah, Denny's is just, it smells like sugar and artificial vanilla. Let's try the, wait, I forgot which one's which.

Oh, no. Denny's pancake. Let's try it. There's a slight leathery chew to Denny's pancake, which I do really like. Can you give me the Denny's syrup? That's probably. Thank you so much. Excess gluten development.

Yeah. Which they probably agitated the batter a whole lot. Some people don't like that, but I love it because it reminds me of the pancakes I ate growing up. Yeah, home style pancakes. No, opposite. Divorced dad pancakes. Opposite.

Well, part of that. Married dad pancakes. Crust. No, they weren't married I was only conscious For like one year When my parents were married What do you mean conscious?

Like the spark of consciousness Hits you when you're like Two and a half Three You weren't conscious When you were like A six month old right? What?

Am I being crazy? Like when Maggie when did you Reach consciousness? Three No I don't know I think

What's your earliest memory? My third birthday See Yeah I was My I was, uh, my grandparents, I was just having a good time. How old were you? Uh, three and four days. See? That's when you become conscious. Oh, she's being silly. She's BSing. Don't, Maggie, don't BS a BSer. Okay, okay. Next time you want to BS a BSer, why don't you BS each other and see how that feels? Do you know the reference? No. Oh, come on, please, Jane Lynch. Oh, it's from the movie, You Like Role Models. Yes. I've never seen it, though. Oh, the B.S. her. Why don't you B.S. each other and see how that feels? Do you know the reference? No. Oh, come on, please, Jane Lynch. Oh, it's from the movie, like, Role Models. Yes. I've never seen it, though. Oh, the kids will never know it.

Go ahead. You were saying? So I tasted the Denny's and I tasted the IHOP. I will say the Denny's has a more, I can taste the leavening in Denny's more, which is crazy because the IHOP is fluffier. IHOP is so fluffy, but it airs on biscuity to me. A little bit. I can see that.

If you look at the air pockets in the IHOP one, it's very synonymous with like a biscuit. Look at it. 100%. Look at it. I don't know if that's just like there's a ton of hydrogenated oils in there probably. So they keep the batter solid and thick, so it mounds. But then when it heats, it sort of melts and like evaporates creates air pockets i will say pancake for pancake i vastly prefer denny's me too hot damn isn't that crazy

denny's pancakes but it does taste more like leavening but it also tastes more like a pancake the ihop one tastes like it's it's the fluff factor is a little off-putting to me this the the ihop pancakes taste like the Bisquick pancakes that my divorced dad used to make. That is a divorced dad pancake, but this is the Apogee. Meg, you look up Apogee. It's a gobby.

A-P-O-G-E-E. This is the Apogee to me of divorced dad pancakes, whereas the Denny's one, these remind me of the frozen pancakes I grew up eating, but I do prefer the chew. I do. I really like that glutenous chew on the Denny's pancake. these remind me of the frozen pancakes I grew up eating, but I do prefer the chew. I do. I really like that gluten-free on the Denny's pancake.

I like it. I like it. It's good. Like, it paid off. The millions of dollars that they spent absolutely paid off, dude. Good work.

R&D, it works. Apogee, the highest point in the development of something. This is the apogee of divorced dad pancakes. What's apotheosis? Or apotheosis? She is not your walking dictionary. I kind of like this segment.

She has a job. It's the same thing. Apotheosis, yeah, same thing. I was deciding between apogee or apotheosis to describe these divorced dad pancakes. You went with your gut. What the heck are you doing, Josh? I bitch slapped an SAT.

Can I say the B word? I never took my SATs. What do you think I would get on my SAT if I took it? It was out of 2400 when we would have taken it. Do you want me to give you the 2400 score? What? It was out of 2400 points when we took it. We were in a weird period for like three years.

It was out of 2400 instead of out of 1600. But I can amortize it to 1600. What would you have thought I got in the same? Let's say out of 1600. So I got like, same? Let's say you had a 1,600. So I got like, if you average, I think I got like a 1,400. Okay. And that's good? Yeah.

I'd say like. If you say 1,250. Were you a good test taker? I was a confident test taker. What does that mean? That's a no. That's the answer. That's no, right?

You know what I mean? It's like if you ask someone, like, did you test negative? And they're like, I tested well. And you're like, what do you mean? What did you, you pe You know what I mean? It's like if you ask someone, like, did you test negative? And they're like, I tested well. And you're like, what do you mean? What did you, you peed in the cup well? I was an okay test taker. I was okay. Yeah, probably 1240.

It's a good score. Yeah? It's a very good score. Where could I get in with that score? Brown? No, like Cal State Northridge. Oh, I hate you so much. I couldn't, you can't get into, I couldn't even get into Brown with an athletic scholarship.

I'm eating the dulce de leche. Okay, so if you're ordering plain pancakes, they're typically coming on the side of your eggs with your hash browns, your bacon, etc. To me, if I'm going to a spot like this, I'm picking the dumbest pancake on the menu and I'm ripping them stacks. I used to go to IHOP. Josh likes dumb bitch pancakes. I'm in my himbo era and I'm eating my himbo pancakes. I want it just covered in a shleem of whatever the hell

this stuff is. that's really good. You think they're actually putting tres leches in here? You think they're taking all tres? Well, there's milk and pancakes. I guess that counts.

Wait, these are shredding. It's kind of delicious. God, that's good. It's kind of delicious. Okay, the good thing is

IHOP's pancakes are very cakey, right? The dulce de leche is mostly on this side here. Let me adjust the plating for you. Oh boy, I see the goo over here. IHOP's pancakes are very cakey, so it lends well to being soaked. Soaked, yes. It is proper soakage, which I appreciate. Imagine if they were just a little

bit warmer. Oh god, we need a microwave on set. Literally, I literally, Josh, it need a microwave on set. I literally... I literally... Josh, it's getting a little ridiculous. I literally told Meggie this 20 minutes ago, right before we started the podcast. Why are we so similar? What? Even though your SAT score is better than mine.

Why do you think we're so similar? No, you didn't even take an SAT, man. I'm talking like imaginary. How far did you throw the shot put? I didn't. How many CDs did you make for your teacher so they'd pass you? I certainly did none of that. No, I just shake my stuff in front of them.

All right. Let's try the Denny's. What is this? Salted caramel. It's the salted caramel banana pancakes. No, I just told my teachers like, hey, I'm not going to go to class. My life would be better served if I learned how to throw this ball farther. And they were like, but you need to learn chemistry.

And I was like, do I, Ms. Gaines? Like, do you really think I do? Okay, I'm eating salted caramel banana pancakes from the Denny's. What is this cream on top? I think it's a salted caramel cream. There's a heavy layer of cream. It just tastes like a creme patissiere at the Denny's. You're getting that creme pat.

This looks more appealing to me. The IHOP pancakes dried out my mouth a little bit in a strange way because they do have that, like, very biscuity appeal to it. With a sip of coffee, though, it was great. Yeah, I agree. Let me tell you. I do like it, but I don't love it. I like it, but I don't love it. I like it, but I don't love it.

You know what the problem is? Tell me. I believe Denny's has a better pancake recipe. I agree with you. You know what IHOP has? Better international pancakes. A freaking death wish. I'm sorry.

They have no fear. Nicole, this is a fearless stack of pancakes, right? Denny's is like, oh, take our normal pancakes and put some bananas on there. That goes on pancakes. We'll put like a little creamy cream on it that almost tastes like salted caramel. And IHOP is like, we're going to soak every single pancake in the sugar milk, and then we're going to put caramel between all of them. Nicole, this has turned into one mass.

And I'm into it. Same. This is now a loaf. If you refrigerated this, you could compress it like a muffalata and then just slice it, right, as one cake. This is an utter fearlessness that, to me, IHOP has had for their entire existence that Denny's will always be trying to bite at their heels. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? Better pancakes be damned.

IHOP is out there just cooking. They're more innovative. They're more innovative. Yeah, yeah. It's this childlike wonderment of putting whatever the heck you can on a pancake and making it good. I like that about IHOP. I mean, again, Denny's, really good stack of buttermilk. Really impressive stack of buttermilk.

I would love to give the IHOP Corporation Denny's pancake recipe. That's what we should do. You know what they should do? They should just merge. A little bit of a merger. Ocean's 11th. A little bit of an acquisition. We don't need any more food companies to merge.

I want an M&A of IHOP and Denny's. Call it Idubz. Idubz. No relation. Don't look up his old videos. Weren't you going to fight him? What? No, I was going to potentially fight in Idub's creator clash,

but then I hurt my back, and it's actually a real bummer because I do want to get into boxing. It's really fun. Dr. Mike Varshavsky. Friend of the show. He fought Idubs, and he beat the pulp out of him. Really? It was actually a really good fight, but Mike is so, what a handsome.

Good job, Mike. Mike, now that he's not here, what a handsome, strong man. Mike, so strong. Actually one of the best people I ever talked to. So smart. I'm not even jealous. I feel nothing but compersion towards him. You're not jealous of him?

No, truly. I'm just like, I'm glad people like you. Do you normally feel jealousy? Not really. I tend to be less of a jealous person, more of like a compersive. I don't know what compersive means. Compersion's the opposite of jealousy. It's like you accept that somebody. Yeah, you sort of like admire the differencesive. I don't know what compersive means. Compersion is the opposite of jealousy. It's like you accept that somebody.

Yeah, you sort of like admire the differences. And I really do. I've become much more comfortable with myself as I've gotten older. I'm so proud of you. Good job. Thank you so much. We need to Ocean's Eleven heist

the Denny's pancake recipe to then give that to the chefs over at IHOP. We need to assemble a crew. You're going to go in a little box and then you're going to pop out of the box like that one guy. We need to get Awkwafina. You know, she's a street hustler in Brooklyn. you know, and don't ask her where her accent's

from. She's out there counting cards and then they recruit her. You know, or she's playing three-cut Monty. They recruit her. She's the, you know, whatever. Then we got to get a, who else was in Ocean's 8? I don't remember. I haven't seen any.

I only seen Ocean's 11. You never watched Ocean's 8? I saw Ocean's 11. I thought you were supportive of women. I genuinely am. Okay, Sarah Paulson. Anneceans 11. I thought you were supportive of women. I genuinely am. Sarah Paulson. Anne Hathaway loving Sarah Paulson. Wow, there's so many women in this.

Is that the point? Is this the women's episode? This was the all women's redux of Oceans 11. Are you for real? Yeah, you missed it? How'd you miss this cultural moment? When was this? 2018?

My problem with this wasn't that. This is incredible. What a star-studded cast. Rihanna? It was a very star-studded cast. And it was, I saw this movie. I just. What are we doing here?

I can't tell you. I couldn't tell you about anything other than Ocean's Eleven. I watched Ocean's Eleven. I watched Ocean's Thirteen. Don't remember any of it. Is this where she goes and returns the stuff and then she's like, never mind. But she steals it? I probably.

Yeah, yeah. In the beginning, she takes all of it. Sandra Bullock, also known as Debbie Ocean, takes all of the stuff. And she goes, can I get a bag? Can I get a return on this? And she's like, oh, do you have a receipt? And she's like, no, I don't have a receipt. And then she's like, oh, let me just call her.

She's like, never mind. Just put it in a bag for me. I'll take it. And she, like, stole, like, so much makeup. Women do be shopping. Am I right, Nicole? That's the message of that movie. My problem with this is not, and I know I'm a white guy with a podcast mic right now,

so I need to tread carefully, but my problem wasn't that. What's your problem then? It was all women. My problem was Scott Conn wasn't in it. And Scott Conn. Who's Scott Conn? Who's Scott Conn? I don't know who Scott Conn is.

He played tweeter in Varsity Blues, and then he was one of the Ocean's Eleven. No, C-double-A-N, Maggie. Scott Conn. Like Conn. Yeah, it's Scott C-A-A-N, Maggie. Scott Conn. It's Scott Conn, and all I needed was a little Scott Conn. It's pronounced Conn. Scott Conn. I needed a skosh of Scott Conn in Oceans 8,

and then I would have been in. Is he in all of the other Oceans movies? I don't know. Most Def was in The Italian Job, not... I've never seen The Italian Job. Is that with Charlize Theron? Charlize Theron. Is that with Charlize Theron? Charlize Theron. Is that with Charlize Theron?

Yes, and Mark Wahlberg. Mark Wahlberg! Edward Norton or Giovanni Ribisi, I got him confused. Can I tell you my favorite actor of all time is probably Edward Norton. Is he really? Oh, my God. American History X. American History X.

Great movie. The one with Richard Gere where he plays someone who's unstable. Oh, my God. What a film. What a film. I just love him. Who wins? Maggie, who wants to know who wins? Okay, who wins?

If we're talking pancake for pancake. No, no, no. I know what you're going to say. Shut up. What? I don't like your answer. Yes, ma'am. Take it away.

I don't like your answer. I know what you're brewing. Take it away. Okay. Let me tell you. Denny's, you do a good job. You're beautiful. I'm into it.

I love it. I'm going to come get Grand Slam there. It's fine. But when it comes to an experience, I think IHOP takes it because of the A-frame. I love the A-frames. Almost none of them have the A-frame anymore. I love the vibe. I think I love walking into an IHOP and, you know, someone gets country fried steak.

I'm the someone. And someone gets hash browns and someone gets pancakes and someone gets Rudy Tutti. Like, I just think it's more of an American icon than Denny's is. Although I love Denny's and I appreciate Denny's and what they've done. And that one time there was a punk band that was like, what the blank is up, Denny's?. Although I love Denny's and I appreciate Denny's and what they've done. And then one time there was a punk band that was like, what the blank is up, Denny's?

Like, those are iconic. They were a punk band. They were a hardcore band. They were HXC to the freaking Max, baby. Like, iconic. Denny's has this iconicism too,

but I think IHOP is just America on a plate. Even though they're international. I actually listened to that entire band, like a metalcore band's discography.

The Denny's people? The Denny's, yeah. What's up? What's up? What the? What's up, Denny's? And then they have a mosh pit. This is how they mosh. This is how you mosh. I agree with you. If you were talking technical proficiency versus balls-to-the-wall

innovation, I'm taking innovation every time. Me too. If you look at the rest of their food canon, one, Denny's just debuted a new chicken fried steak recipe that I have yet to try but boy am I excited for it.

Should have gotten it for you I'm sorry. No it's okay. But if you look at their other canon of food right they're probably serving very similar things.

You get the chicken strips, you get zucchini sticks, you get onion rings and they're all probably pretty equal. IHOP has made some stride in the burgers

game. They once did. IHOP. They called it IHOP International House of Burgers. IHOP has made some stride in the burgers game. They once did. IHOB. They called it IHOB, International House of Burgers. IHOB was fun. It was fun. Their brunch burger was really great. Yeah, I take IHOB any single day.

But I do think that the money and time and effort that Denny's put into the new pancakes is very worth it. Just still coming up short. You did your part, and I'm excited for you, Denny's. And while Nicole's going to get grand slammed in a Denny's, I'm going to get a little rooty-fruity fresh and tooty in the bathroom. Ew. All right, Nicole. We've heard what you and I have to say about getting gross in pancake restaurants' bathrooms.

Now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the universe. Well, it's time for a segment we like to call... Opinions are like casseroles! Before we get to your opinions, it's everybody's favorite part of the show. That's right. It's another edition of Reveal and Reveal. I was going to say it. I know.

I'm so glad I cut you off. I was going to say it all funny. Anyways, this one is from at cups MF. Five stars to review or to be reviewed. I feel smarter when listening to this because both of us am now a chef, and apparently I can add critic to my list of accomplishments. Five stars to me as well. Ironically, no, three stars.

Oh, I give this five stars. I value confidence so much. I love it when someone comes in and they're like, I'm a five-star girl. I'm a five-star guy. It's like, yeah, you are. No, I actually agree with that. I'm very attracted and confident.

It's important. It's not an attraction. I mean like platonically attracted. You can't be platonically attracted to people. Of course you can. Are you kidding? Yeah, I gravitate towards certain people platonically. Platonically attract is a weird sentence.

Just say friendly. I don't think so. I didn't say like I'm attracted. I said like, yeah. Attractionically attract is a weird sentence. Just say friendly. Why do you have to say platonically attract? I don't think so. I didn't say like I'm attractive. I said like, yeah. Attraction implies. It's not romantic. You can have platonic attraction. I've never seen it.

People have like an animal magnetism to them. Now it's getting creepy. Where are those pancakes? Bring the pancakes up. I stand by three stars. I give them five. Let's get to that first opinion. So I think one thing that used to be a big old craze

was the pickles on a peanut butter sandwich, right? I don't understand why that ever went out of fashion, if you will. Me either. I love me some pickles on a nice, creamy, smooth peanut butter sandwich. Anyways, big fan of the show. Love y'all. Sir, your accent is the creamy peanut butter to my ears. And your opinion is the little bite of pickles on that. Oh, my gosh. I will say they do sound a fair bit like Zach Galifianakis from The Campaign. I was going to say it sounds like Bruce from Family Guy.

I love your voice. You have a mellifluous tone of voice, and I really appreciate it. Stop with the SAT words. Mellifluous. Josh,, and I really appreciate it. Stop with the SAT words. Mellifluous. Josh, I swear I'm going to get up and leave. I was deciding between mellifluous and dulcet. I would have loved dulcet. You should have said dulcet.

Mellifluous. Oh, my God. Sweet or musical? Pleasant to hear. Maggie, now look up dulcet. No, it's down there. It's similar. It's similar.

No, no, but look up dulcet. So this is, look up dulcet, because I want to see how similar they are because I'm pretty good at just picking sweet and soothing. Yeah. Dulcet tones. God, I'm good. I'm like a natural, what's the thing called? It's like a dictionary, but for sentence.

Antelope. Thesaurus. Thesaurus. Peanut butter and pickles. I'd eat it. It's something I've almost never man in my old age i've been getting much more into bread and butter pickles i love i eat a lot of pickles i eat a lot of i just love fermenty foods i always have i love pickled stuff are bread and butter pickles

even fermented i don't know i mean it's they're vinegared yeah they probably are i'm sure they are i don't feel like that much lactobacillus on the outside of the cucumber. I like pickled things. Let me just redact what I said. Sure, sure. I like things that are vinegary. Yeah. And bread and butter pickles is the dessert version of vinegary foods.

Yeah, a lot of people say they don't like bread and butter pickles, but I say reframe them in your mind as candied cukes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you really enjoy them. My preferred peanut butter sandwich that's on the fringe is peanut butter, bananas, and mayonnaise. That's a great sandwich. I don't think I've ever had that, and I don't ever will. But peanut butter and pickles, that is a good sandwich.

You've inspired me. I'm going to have one soon. I want red onions and sriracha on that. Yeah, a great way to jazz it up. Yeah, fun. Soak the red onions in ice water first. Hi, Josh and Nicole. Love the podcast. Why?

I am calling to defend honey on pizza and especially honey on pizza crust like they do in Colorado on those Colorado Mountain Ties. I'm fine if other people don't like this, but I am sick of being hated on for dipping my crust in honey.

Thank you. One, thank you for listening. Two, is this person doing that thing that people do on Twitter where they sort of like make up a victimhood? They're like, everybody hates me for this opinion, and I'm the only one. I don't know. I have a challenge. How much hate are you really getting? Is the hate inside your own head for dipping your pizza crust in honey?

You made that pizza, the mountain high. It is from a spot called Bojo's where Bojo's tried to effectively force a pizza genre into America called Colorado Mountain Pizza. It was good when you made it. They're very thick. They have a whole wheat crust that is braided. There's honey in the dough, and then they serve warm honey on the side to dip your crust in. It's a fantastic style of pizza. It's very different.

I mean, it's similar, but also different enough to where it's very cool. Didn't really catch on as like a, you know, nobody in L.A. is opening up a Colorado Mountain style pizza restaurant. I mean, they can. It'll be popular for like three months, and then it'll just plummet. Sure. But yeah, I agree. The crust to me is a completely separate food from the pizza. It needs to be treated like it. Okay. I think you need to eat pizza crust. People that leave pizza crust on the side, I think they need to go to jail. No, it's a handle. It's a breadstick handle, and it's perfectly edible and good. It's just less good than the pizza.

I know, but it's a completion. It's like doing things to completion. I don't like it. It's like people that put napkins on their pizza. I hate it. To absorb the oil. Just pizza is good. Do you eat the corn husk too?

It's not edible. The corn husk isn't edible, Josh. A lot of things are more edible than you think if you just really put your mind to it. Get out of here. What I'm trying to say is, I like honey. I like hot honey and honey on pizza. Sometimes if there's a pork product to go along with it.

I'm not going to get a quattro formaggi mushroom situation and put honey on it. That's not happening. But if it's like pepperoni, those little pepperoni cups with some hot honey, yum, of course. I pretty actively dislike that. That was a trend for a minute. So she's talking about two different things.

One is dipping the crust in honey, which I fully agree with. To me, that's a great dessert. And I tend to not love like ultra sweet desserts. Do you think restaurants should have a cup of honey for every single pizza they sell?

Yeah, they do at Bojo's in Colorado. Why not? Other than Bojo's. Why other than Bojo's? Because Bojo's... Papa John's... Listen to me. Papa John's served garlic sauce

and now everyone got the garlic sauce. Can I tell you what it is? What? It's because the bread is so soft and braided that it lends itself to being a dessert almost like a donut

or like another baked good. I would dip a Neapolitan crust. Would you? Neapolitan crust you need to sort of incorporate into the eating of the pizza if it's too wet. But I really don't, I'm pretty actively against, not in theory, just in terms of going into my body,

the honey on the pizza. I get it with the spicy pepperoni. The bee sting and all that stuff. Yeah, it was a Roberta's from Brooklyn who opened up in LA and they're very, very good. What a good pizza. But I just just the honey I'm it's not my favorite and I would never do it myself I'm telling you the pork if there's like

speck or prosciutto on the pizza a little bit of honey it's like oh my god it's like a charcuterie board it's fun it's fun it's a new way to enjoy pizza I might need the honey without the tomato fine I think the tomato and sweet makes me taste vomit it makes me taste like I ate a big bowl of spaghetti and then ate yogurt land and then vomited that vomit. It makes me taste like I ate a big bowl of spaghetti and then ate Yogurtland and then vomited. That's what it reminds me of. And I've done that a lot. I've done that a lot. The old spaghetti Yogurtland vomit?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It happens. I've been there. Looks like worms. Hey, Nicole. Hey, Josh. Smells like pistachio. This is Vince DeBoma.

Just wanted to say more of a rant than an opinion. Great. Go ahead. Have you seen where the Chef Boyardee pizza kits have taken the cheese out of the kit? You now have to supply your own cheese. The best part of those kits was

the stinky cheese. Am I right? Am I wrong? I'm listening to your answer. I owe this person such a big apology because I have never had the Chef Boyardee I've never heard of this.

Pizza Maker Pizza Kit. Me either. And I feel so ashamed because this is something that I should have done. Oh my God, they're absolutely correct. Now it just comes with two... This, what a bad product. It comes with two crust mixes.

That is just a bag of flour that you presumably mix with water to create what is, I'm sure, not a very good pizza crust. And then you roll it out and then they simply have a can of pizza sauce. It's for kids. It's like an Easy Bake Oven. It's fun. Have some fun. You sure? Yeah, but I'm looking at the cheese. Have some fun. Are you sure?

Yeah, but I'm looking at the cheese that they have. Easy family fun. It literally says easy family fun. I don't know. Go to a zoo. Go to a zoo

for some easy family fun. No, John. Get the bowl-y pizza crust. Okay, but no. Design your own pizzas. It teaches kids to mix and to be patient probably and wait.

I like it. What kind of cheese used to be in this though? Stinky cheese. Because now I'm fascinated. He said stinky cheese. He said stinky cheese. Was this in the refrigerated section? Okay, they say grated Parmesan and Romano cheese topping.

Okay, my question is, do you think this was in the refrigerated section? No. It's a can of sauce. Why would it be? Yeah, so it was a grated Parmesan and Romano cheese topping. God, if this is shrinkflation, it's like how Gatorade went from 32 ounces to 28 ounces. I'm sorry about that. But the bottle got cooler, and so I didn't mind.

God, priorities are straight. The bottle's more ergonomic. Your priorities are straight. But that's a reduction of, what, 12.5%, you know, 32, 28. Good math. Thanks, Josh. Good job. SATs.

Right? But math portion is my worst. But if they just took the grated Parmesan Romano cheese topping out and kept this the same price, which I imagine they did, that's a big win for Chef Boyardee. It's on sale. Buy them up. Buy up the world's supply. I don't want to.

I don't have kids to do this with. I have my niece and nephew, but they don't care about these things anymore. David's a big kid. That's super infantilizing and you should apologize. Infantilizing? Look at you with the big words.

Say sorry. David, I apologize, but you do have a youthful... Say sorry to my husband! You have a youthful joie de vivre that I really do appreciate. Keep my husband, Dave!

And I think you really know... Ouch, you're blanking out! You are not a child. You're going to be a lawyer. I'm going to need you to bail me out of jail one day. He's a really good candidate for that kind of stuff, Dave. I promise you.

Leech on. You know what they call young attorneys? Ambulance chasers. I don't think that's a young attorney thing. I think it's like someone who's trying to get their name out. I think it's strictly a personal injury attorney thing. Oh, really? Yeah yeah because they literally drive yeah ambulance chasers yeah yeah all right next video hello josh and nicole love the podcast i personally believe that macarons are just overrated i don't want to offend the frcais, but they're just shells of nothing.

Saccharin, just overhyped and overrated. They deserve to be buried deep in a dungeon away from humanity, never to be seen again. That's it. Thank you for listening. Where do you think they're from? Because they were real fluid. I think they're French-Canadian. Oh, could have been.

French-Canadian. Actually could have been. Or they're just like from America and they just studied French. But I definitely caught an accent. I was wondering if they're maybe a Spaniard who happens to, you know, dabble in a bit of Francophilia, if you will. That's where you go into a Denny's bathroom after you're ordering. Go into a Denny's bathroom after ordering the... Anyways, macarons, I think by definition they're overrated because they went through such a big moment. And anything that relies on the color and the aesthetic and being in a big pastry case.

It's pretty. What's the spot downtown? Lett. Huh? Bottega Louie. Bottega Louie. They got the big pastry case. I used to walk by there.

There's people pissing on the road, smoking cigarettes outside. But there's Bottega Louie shining with their the big pastry case. I used to walk by there. There's people pissing on the road, smoking cigarettes outside. But there's Bottega Louie shining with their multicolored. Do you remember it? It was so iconic. Is it not there anymore? No. It's just, when do you ever go? Oh, yeah.

I used to live closer downtown. So I used to skateboard to my yoga studio. God, I'm too LA. But they do taste very good. I do love them. I love macaron. It's the texture of macaron, which is not to be confused with macaroon. Very Passover friendly.

Very Passover friendly. One time, Maggie brought macaroons to the office, and I laughed at her. Do you remember that? That's for Passover. It's so funny. She literally was walking and holding it like a purse, and I'm like, did you bring those for Passover? She's like, yeah. I'm like, okay, give me a moment.

it like a purse and I'm like, did you bring those for Passover? She's like, yeah. I'm like, okay, give me. If anybody wants a quick etymology lesson, the reason, so macaron in French became macaroon in English is the same reason that the word ballon became balloon. It was a way to differentiate American English from French, I suppose. So we sort of added O's, but the reason in France, a macaroon is made with whipped egg whites, sugar, and almond paste, right? Or almond flour. And that's how it gets that signature texture that's almost kind of wet.

That crunch and puff. Crispy and crunchy. And I'm a sucker for texture in baked goods, and that's great. An American macaroon, which is big in the Jewish American community because they sell Manischewitz kosher macaroons. They're so good. They are just dense and sugary, and instead of almonds, it's using coconut meat. Yes, yes, yes. And I believe Martha Washington was maybe the first person to publish a recipe.

God bless America. With coconut macaroons. Wow. Which is very interesting. I think it was Martha Washington. It could have been somebody else. Well, it makes sense. Yeah, like coconuts were.

Almond, coconut. You know, we'd just been to Hawaii. We bought it. America, all that stuff I think we didn't annex Hawaii until like 1850s 1840s yeah

but the point remains we're still there so tropical fruits are coming into America I prefer American macaroons because I grew up on them and I love the density and the coconut-iness

and I love it I would love to create a macaroon macaroon or a macaroon macaroon macaroon I would like to combine a macaroon macaron or a macaron macaroon. Macaroon. I would like to combine the two somehow. I don't know if I can.

Let's just make a coconut flavored macaron. Okay, well, that seemed pretty easy for you. Or like put a bunch of almonds in a macaron. That wouldn't be nearly as good. I get why you would call them overrated. I'm curious. I don't think they're overrated. I think they're fine.

I think they had their moment, but now it's kind of like evened out. And Earl Grey Macaron is delicious. Macaron is delicious. What do you think? And I would be curious, Monsieur,

if you were to call back and tell us what your favorite French pastry is and what you think, not even French pastry, your favorite pastry that you think should be

the Paris Brest. And tell us what you think it is. What's your favorite French pastry? I don't know. I actually do love a Paris breast. It's a laminated pastry. It's filled with like a chestnut cream, right? Yeah.

Let me actually look up French pastries. Oh, my God. I know my answer. What is it? It's a cannelé. Oh, cannelés are? Cannelé. I used to make. What is it? I know my answer. It's a canelé. Oh, canelés are... Canelé. I used to make... They're...

You know what I used to do? I used to make handmade canelés, and right before they would come out of the oven, I would shove a dulce de leche truffle inside, and then it was the most delicious thing in the world. You would serve the canelé, and then you slice it in half, and it had this ooey gooey chocolatey dulce de leche

filling in it which it it was it was really good oh eclairs also are great choux pastry is fantastic a canelé for people that don't know

it's like a it's a super wet eggy batter that you cook very hot very high temp and you have to cook it in what's supposed to be cooked in like a special copper mold

yeah and they say that it's not copper but it's just like dense and eggy and caramelized sugary, but also kind of wet. I absolutely love it. But eclairs, I absolutely love. There's something called a religieuse that is like two cream puffs stacked on top of each other. But I love choux dough filled with creme patissiere.

But I understand why macarons got, you know, their day in the sun. I love, I love Napoleons. No, I hate, I hated Napoleon. My dad. Hated Napoleon. It was my dad's birthday recently. And you know what I got him? I got him, a Napoleon is a mille feuille.

Mille feuille. Mille feuille. Means a thousand leaves. Yeah, it's just, it's just like puff pastry uh creme patisserie in the middle and i hate that little almond topping that they do the white and black almond topping ugly i like just like pastry and cream pastry and cream not like whipped cream but creme pat um i think we may have to do it's an episode our french pastry is overrated okay fine we can't they're not even french they're austrian austro-hungarian But also it was all different

But it was my dad's birthday And I got him two Two custard pommes Two cream puffs And two Napoleons One with cream One with custard God

I want to It's so funny How much our parents Influence our tastes I was going to say I need to get a pastry right now But we got some Leftover Denny's pancakes

Woo Same diff Ham on them Well that's about all our time. Thank you so much for stopping by the podcast. We got more podcasts coming up. If you like that kind of thing, we're here on YouTube. If you're watching it on YouTube.

Yeah. That's good. That's okay. Yeah. Call us 833-DOGPOD1. We love to hear your super incredible voices. Because we're tired of hearing ours. Buy a t-shirt. It doesn't even have to be the podcast t-shirt at mythical.com.

Buy our stuff. Did I tell you I switched t-shirts to the guy outside the bar on Saturday? You did? You did the jersey swap? We did the jersey swap. It was completely organic. What kind of shirt were you wearing? I was wearing, so you know my like, it's like a orange and black striped polo. Yes. That I accidentally have two of because I was supposed to wear that for the photo shoot for the book uh-huh and then

i lost it and then i went back to express and re-bought it and didn't tell anybody but then i found it julia put it behind the cat carrier in my closet so i didn't see it so anyways i have two of these shirts and i'm outside this bar you know we closed it out it was a lot of scarga actually and it was great i loved it so fun and this guy just goes hey man cool shirt and i go yeah thanks and he goes hey i'll trade you my jacket for it and he was real drunk and i was like dude like for real i have two of these shirts i will gladly trade you for that cool jacket you take a picture and then somebody took a picture and i don't know where it is so if you were involved in the jersey swap outside a lot of scarga on saturday whatever 119 or something please try and find me.

And then his girlfriend was like, hey, he's really drunk. This is a nice jacket. And then I was like, I don't even want anything in return. I just need a shirt that I can wear home. And so the guy took off his T-shirt, and then another dude was like, hey, do the jersey swap picture. What was the jacket? It wasn't, like, nice, nice.

I don't even think I would have worn it. Like, with no disrespect to him, we just have different styles. Was it, like, a jean jacket? Well, not jean, but definitely some sort of fabric. Like kind of cool, like multicolored, a little bit Gen Z looking. He was younger than me.

Did it have like a cherry on the back? I don't think so. Oh, okay. Yeah. Are you still here? Oh, see you guys. See ya.