A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Is In-N-Out Overrated?

Episode Date: February 3, 2021

Are the burgers and fries worth the hype, or is In-N-Out kinda overrated? 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. Anthony Bourdain once said that In-N-Out is his favorite restaurant in LA, and people from all over the country flock to the West Coast for animal-style goodness. But are the burgers and fries worth the hype, or is In-N-Out kind of overrated? 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. 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, Nicole Hendizadeh. And today we are talking about is In-N-Out overrated?

Why? Because you. This is disrespectful. Because you. Because the type of people who immediately cut off the conversation because they have, I'm not trying to pull like, facts don't care about your feelings. But if you have, your emotional attachment level is too high to In-N-Out to render a fair judgment. It's not.

I can tell. You wouldn't even let me finish the question. Why do you assume that I have an emotional attachment? Is it because I'm a woman? Oh my God, no. Do not. No, we respect. I don't even see gender.

I just think that people is people. Hey, welcome to Hot Dog and Sandwich, the show we break down. No, because when I started saying is In-N-Out overrated, you immediately cut me off. Because it's not. You wouldn't even hear it. Because it's not. It's good. Of course it's good, but that's not how it's rated.

It is rated as transcendent. Oh my God, who said that? It is. It is rated as transcendent. Oh my God. Who said that? It is. In-N-Out is, is. Who said that? In-N-Out is exalted as a God to your restaurant. I mean, the Anthony Bourdain thing for me is really big. And obviously, I mean, he loves In-N-Out and there's no reason to me not to love In-N-Out. I love In-N-Out and I am comfortable saying that. I'm not comfortable saying I love you to like a family member or anything, but I'm comfortable saying it to this fast food chain. Absolutely.

And it's a big part of my childhood. But the question isn't like, do we love it? It's, is it overrated? And so when people like Anthony Bourdain, you say that it's his favorite restaurant in LA, that it's his first stop after he gets off. I remember that episode. Yeah. Yeah. It was, you know, awesome.

It was, you know, awesome. But so many of his, like, fans and then, you know, In-N-Out is such a photogenic thing that it's become like a clout-chasing photo on Instagram when you come to the West Coast, right? I mean, you know the cute photo. They got the little red wrappers with the palm tree logos on it. And, you know, people take the thing with the cheese dripping and the double-double. Yeah. And then the influencers throw it away and walk away. They don't throw it away.

It's an experience. You're going for the full California experience. It's the long lines. It's the fantastic customer service. It's the crappy French fries. It's a delicious burger. It is what it is. It is what it is.

But I think it has been risen to such unrealistic expectations by people. Why? That now I think you're seeing this backlash against it where you'll get a bunch of people. And this happens with everything, right? This is the scarcity complex. This is the same thing behind the McRib. We're like, people, McRib.

Do not compare the McRib to In-N-Out. The In-N-Out is the McRib of fast food. They've created an artificial scarcity that has caused people to wait in lines. It's also, I mean, they call it line theory at clubs, right? Yeah, sure. I understand line theory. Like they don't, they allow.

Like string theory. Just like string theory. No, you like, I was going to jokingly explain string theory, but I have no idea. Was Stephen Hawking time and space or relative? I don't know. My teacher told me to watch it one time and it has to do with Forrest Gump. And I'm like, okay. Yeah, I don't know. Weird. But no, i understand what you say when it's like the hype you think it's over hype you see a line you want to stand in it because you

want to figure out what other people are standing in line for i but i feel like the line is worth it i i've stood in a not stood i've sat in an in an outline more than once you so in the drive-thru i thought you were lining up for In-N-Out like in person just scooting on your butt like a dog that has worms. No, no, no, no, no. I'm talking about like the drive-thru lines. I'm not talking about the lines out the door.

I never experienced that because I used to go to the In-N-Out in Westwood and I knew the times of the popularity and then that time's popularity. Wait, you know what? You know what sucks? We never talked about our favorite In-N-Out order. First and foremost, tell the people and me what your favorite in and out order is.

Okay. So my in and out order has changed over the years, depending on how bulky I wanted to be at the time. So when I was a teen and I was like, I really wanted to be bulky so I could throw a shot put far. It was two double doubles, chopped chilies, onions, two ways and animal style fries with a large Diet Coke. Why the Diet Coke if I was already doing that? Unclear. More of a symbolic gesture at that point. But onions two ways are both raw and grilled, which to me is perfect because you get the

best of both worlds. And again, I love In-N-Out. And you get the chopped chilies on there for a secret menu. Yeah. I mean, it's just, it's fantastic. It is a very well-cooked, well-proportioned fresh burger at a fantastic price point. So why do you think it's overrated if you love it so much? Because, OK, so so here's a big thing, right?

In-N-Out, like I said, it's a fantastic price point. If that burger was $12 to $15. Yeah, it's a $3 burger. It's a $3 burger. And it is what it is, which is a $3 burger. The question is, does any $3 burger deserve to be risen to a certain level? So when Shake Shack, right, which is a New York-based burger chain started by Danny Meyer. I mean, that was founded in the 2000s. When Shake Shack came out to LA, it spawned so many articles that were like,

Shake Shack versus In-N-Out, which one is better? And then everyone would eat a Shake Shack burger. They'd be like, there's twice as much meat and the meat's way better and more fresher. And they use a softer bun and Shake Shack's way better. It like yeah it was started 55 years later and cost two and a half times as much they have craft freaking beer on tap they are not comparable yeah no you can't you can't do that no and so like In-N-Out's comparison should be McDonald's yeah I think that's totally fair they're at the same price point they were started started around the same time in the same area too. The first McDonald's stand was 1948 in San Bernardino. And the first In-N-Out was 1948 in Baldwin Park.

So like those are the contemporaries. Do you ever go to like the first In-N-Out? I've never been. I don't know how. I used to work in Ontario. Why? Long story. I used to live in Ontario for like a month.

What? I don't know. I worked there for three months and I was like, why am I driving an hour and 12 minutes? And like I would go to that In-N-Out that was like the first In-N-Out. And then sometimes I'd go to the In-N-Out University and I'd just look. Wait, where's the In-N-Out University? I don't know. I don't know.

Somewhere in between my house and Ontario. That's interesting. Because I think so the In-N-Out University was open sometime in the 80s, like 30, math is hard, 30 something years. It's in Baldwin Park. It is in Baldwin Park. Yeah. And so that was, you know, essentially the training center they opened up for managers, which is another huge part of In-N-Out's success is how well they are run. Yes.

Which is absolutely true. I think the way that their operation, like, performs, it's amazing. It is. It's a performance. The way that they treat their employees is amazing. the way that they treat their employees is amazing the way that they treat their managers is amazing even i they hand sheath the lettuce josh you told me that 15 minutes ago i literally walked and we were waiting to take over the podcast you guys go to nicole like they hand sheath the lettuce and she just goes i could have told you

that and i was like okay see ya you didn't even ask me what my favorite In-N-Out order is. Oh my, sorry. What's your In-N-Out order? Okay. So my favorite In-N-Out order is as follows. It's a cheeseburger. Stop laughing. I didn't even start.

It's a cheeseburger, animal style, extra pickles, extra sauce, bun, well done. So In-N-Out does not put pickles on their standard burger, which I respect because I don't want pickles. If you've only ordered animal style, you wouldn't know that. I wouldn't know that. No. Yeah, so they have pickles only for animal style orders. And so it's animal style, extra spread, and mustard grilled patty and grilled onions.

So you're getting extra pickles on the extra pickles. And extra sauce. Hey, dog, I heard you. Hey, dog, I heard you like pickles. That did not sound like exhibit at all. No. I'm not even going to continue with the bit. That did not sound like exhibit at all. No. I'm not even going to continue with the bit. That sounded like a billy goat.

You know what? I felt like a bridge troll. Hey dog, you must pay the troll toll. One of my big starstruck moments in Burbank was running into Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer at a coffee shop. Wow. Yeah, and another one. Was it romancing the bean? No, I've never been there.

It's just called like, it's called Simply Coffee. Oh. Yeah. It's really nice. I don't think I've ever been there before. Owned by two ladies. You know, one of your cold brew with a smile. I really like him.

Cesar Milan goes there. And my other big moment was when I thought I saw Brad Pitt at the pavilions. And so much so that I brought it up in a company wide meeting and said, I'm pretty thought I saw Brad Pitt at the pavilions. And so much so that I brought it up in a company-wide meeting and said, I'm pretty sure I saw Brad Pitt. And then Zach Rezzawalli just goes, no, that's just a guy that kind of looks like Brad Pitt. I've seen him too. Like, okay. But anyways, what I was talking about. What does this have to do with the exhibit?

Hold on. Was when I was driving to the Walmart and I passed West Coast Customs. That's the original auto body shop. Apparently it's not the original location that they filmed Pimp My Ride at, but they moved the location to Burbank. I've seen it. Yeah, yeah. As the cool graffiti like West Coast Customs.

Yeah, yeah. It's really cool. What does that have to do with In-N-Out at all? It does. We're just talking about Burbank. I will tell you a story about In-N-Out. So again, In-N-Out has gotten elevated by, I mean, celebrities, right? Everywhere.

So there were a bunch of stories of celebrities like ordering In-N-Out to be delivered to like the Oscars and stuff. Yeah. Or there was like, I don't know, the Vogue after party one year had In-N-Out catered. And so In-N-Out got- They had the truck. Yeah, they had that truck, which those trucks are awesome. I've been to so many parties where they bring In-N-Out trucks.

I've been to so many bar mitzvahs. It's such a huge freaking part of Southern California life for us. So we grew up with that attachment to it. But anyways, once after the Oscars, I went to the In-N-Out in Hollywood. And I sat there for four hours with my camera and a single order of fries waiting for celebrities to walk in. And none did. Were you trying to be a paparazzo? No, I was writing a very silly article for Los Angeles magazine

that I was trying to catch a celebrity in and out after the Oscars, but it ended up just being all the celebrities I didn't see. And so I took pictures of random people in suits who came from the Oscars who were not celebrities. And I was like, is this Robert Rodriguez? Maybe you don't know what he looks like. Sure, imagine it is. But anyways, I'm saying like In-N-Out gets so much free publicity, which hypes it up for so many people.

But it's worth the hype. I don't think it is. I think in a blind taste test, if you had an In-N-Out burger with no prior knowledge against a mom and pop burger. So I'm not talking about like McDonald's because I agree. In-N-Out is probably the best fast food burger. Can I say that? Is it? You can say whatever you want.

There's no judgment here. But why are you saying it's overrated if it's the best? That's a good question. Just because people say it's the best and that makes you upset? Because people aren't saying it's the best fast food burger. I think people are saying it's the best burger, period.

You have people like Anthony Bourdain. Top three. Top three. You think, okay, you think In-N-Out is legitimately a top three burger in LA? Yes. No way. You want to know my other two? No way. I would like to know your think In-N-Out is legitimately a top three burger in LA? Yes. No way. You want to know my other two?

No way. I would like to know your other two. Okay, so there used to be a restaurant called PYT by the same guy who did Bar Alma. Yeah. And he had a really good burger. Joseph Centeno. That he wrapped, I think he wrapped it in caul fat. And it was beautiful and delicious.

And he had this crazy mustard sauce that I really, really liked. And then my other favorite burger was the Beef heart and bone marrow burger at Bel Campo. Yeah. So those are my – and then there's In-N-Out. So it's funny you bring up Bel Campo because Bel Campo – so Bel Campo, it's a butcher shop that does like really fantastically raised meats. I think they have like a ranch in Belize or something. I think so. Yeah.

Yeah, and it's really cool. And they have a full-service restaurant slash butcher shop, but they actually started like a fast food business that was making pretty much a direct copy of In-N-Out. It was good. It was not only good, it was like, to me, significantly better than In-N-Out and at a cheaper price point than something like Shake Shack.

I didn't like, I had one and it did not taste the same as In-N-Out to me. It was similar, but not the same. It was better to me though. Wow. The beef, like, cause they use dry-aged steak trimmings. Yeah, it's better. Not that you can expect, like, In-N-Out or fast food restaurants to do that, but they use, like, dry-aged beef trimmings, and it was still very cheap. It was something that, to me, I was just like, this is the comparison for In-N-Out, not Shake Shack, because, you know, they're using... Shake

Shack's different, yeah. Yeah. Curly, curly leaves. Yeah, I don't like... No, the, yeah, the green leaf lettuce, it's wilty. It's wilty. Yeah, and. Curly, curly leaves. Yeah. I don't like, no, the, yeah, the green leaf lettuce. Yeah, yeah. It's wilty. It's wilty. Yeah. And then the bun is really soft. The bun's too soft.

Yeah. It's like dipped in water almost. I'm like, and they use the crinkle cut fries? Who are you trying to impress? Yeah. Crinkle cut? What? Put cheese sauce, a piece of cheese?

Come on. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Top three burger, Josh. It's number three in my top three burgers. I would probably have it somewhere in like the 17, 18 range, which in a city of like 10 million people is still very impressive. 17?

Yeah, I mean, you got the Okonomiyaki burger. You got the Le Big Mac from Petit Trois. I had it. It was too salty. It is very salty. They put the border lights on it. Can you defend their fries? Can you honestly sit there as a culinarian?

Yes, because I always get my fries well done when I go there. Oh, my God. No, you're not one of the fries well done people. Do you know what David did recently? What did David? Oh, my God. Nicole, what did David do? He got animal fries and then he got a whole slab of grilled onion on the fry.

Oh. Oh. He got whole grilled instead of the minced grilled. He got a whole grilled onion on top of my french fries. Was it good? It was crazy delicious. And I hate having a whole grilled in my burger because it makes it taste like kotlet, which is a Persian meat souffle. I don't know.

And I hate it with the beef. But I had it with the actual animal style fries and I was like tripping out because it was so good. Yeah. Yeah. But like you think the well-done fries can run I was like tripping out because it was so good. Yeah. Yeah. But like you think the well-done fries can run with any other fry, including fast food fries. No.

Because we're not arguing that. Okay. The fries in and out are overrated. The restaurant itself is not. What about the shakes? I don't. What? What about the shakes? That's part of it.

You eat dairy all the time. Yeah, but I have lactate pills. That's right. You run to your purse to get the lactate pills. If I had a milkshake with my burger, I would throw up everywhere. Oh my God. That would be the worst experience. I did have their milkshakes once and a Neapolitan one and it was good, but it's not as good as a Johnny Rockets milkshake. Johnny Rockets. You and I both have a huge attachment to, maybe more so than In-N-Out. I know.

Well, my parents, okay. Well, I used to get the grilled cheese from In-N-Out. Oh, this is a really embarrassing story. When I was a kid, I would get the grilled cheese from In-N-Out and the cheese would always get stuck to the paper. Yes. So you would-

You eat the paper. I wouldn't eat the paper. I would tongue out the cheese in the paper. I wouldn't eat the paper. I would tongue out the cheese in the paper. Yeah, I would do the same thing, but I would scrape my teeth against the paper. And inevitably, you would eat some of the paper. Just a little bit of the paper. Which is the most pleasant bite. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was the best part. It's like when the wrappers partly get stuck to the Starburst. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't have time to finish picking this off. I'm just going to eat the paper. Yeah, it's almost like it's doubled down. It's kind of like cubed. You know what I mean?

Like when you cube something, like in math, but with cheese. Yeah, it heightens the flavor. It exponentiates it. This is so embarrassing. No, everyone eats cheese paper. That is, call in on the hotline right now to tell us your cheese paper eating stories. But see, experiences like that don't make me feel like it's overrated.

I mean, I think it's just, it's delicious food, it's easy food, it's fast food, it's cheap food, but it's all really good quality food too.

The veggies are really good. The sauce, delightful. French fries, eh. The burgers, hot. They are hot.

They are hot. So hot. They are hot. Sauce so cold. They are hot. I think people though, there are myths about In-N cold. They are hot. I think people, though, there are myths about In-N-Out's food quality that I think people, so I call this

Debunk it. Let's debunk some In-N-Out. Take that, Snyder family. I think there are a lot of myths surrounding the quality of In-N-Out. I agree that it is delicious and it is a lot fresher than pretty much all other fast food chains. Not even pretty much. Then definitely every other fast food chain. I wouldn't know. I mean, I wouldn't know.

But there's so many people, like I was talking to someone, I call this the Trader Joe's effect where someone goes, yeah, but we're talking about the calories in In-N-Out or something or other. And someone goes like, yeah, but In-N-Out uses all organic ingredients.

And I was like, what are you talking about? Don't they get their beef from like one of the biggest factory farming operations, which is how a hamburger can cost $1.79. Exactly. You know, and that's just like a fact of agroeconomics. But like, you know, there are some things where I think every in and out store has to get their food supplies from within 300 miles of distribution center, which is like very

good. And I believe all their beef is raised in the United States where someone did DNA testing on McDonald's hamburgers. Okay. raised in the United States where someone did DNA testing on McDonald's hamburgers. Okay. And found out that like cows from three different continents ended up in the same McDonald's burger. No.

Like American cows, like cows raised in Europe and like cows raised in Australia all ending up in the same burger. And like, I guess there's some actual crazy insidious science-y thing that could happen with like antibiotic resistance and all that. I don't know. I'll eat a McDonald's hamburger and feel okay about it. But In-N-Out, you know, they do take certain steps, but then the people sort of get these ideas in their head and they take it a step further that In-N-Out never claimed to do. Like, I don't blame In-N-Out for being overrated. They make a very good product. They treat their employees well,

and they have slowly grown their business to an incredible brand that for me, people have run with so hard. And now I think we're getting a lot of people who like are showing up to California being like, oh my God, I can't wait to try In-N-Out. I saw it all over Instagram. Then they eat it and they just go like,

this is just a normal burger. It's like, that's the point. It's a normal burger, which is perfectly fine. A $1.79 hamburger should not be the most transcendent thing you've ever eaten. A $1.79 hamburger is what you're supposed to eat, you know, after a youth basketball game and someone like the cool team mom takes you through the drive-thru and you get a $1.79 hamburger to fill your little child belly. You know, like a $1.79 hamburger, it's, you know, like a working class food. It is a normal ass lunch for a person who lives in the region.

It is not for an Instagram influencer to say that it's the greatest thing they've ever had. And I think that is the territory that we vent up in. How much did it cost you to buy those In-N-Out shoes that you're wearing? I'm not wearing the In-N-Out shoes right now. I know you're not wearing them right now. Were you going to lie? Were you going to lie? No, no, no.

I was going to say how much. I bought In-N-Out shoes. How about the socks? You got the socks? I didn't get the socks. I think I only got the shoes. I thought you had the socks. No. I was going to say how much. I bought In-N-Out shoes. How about the socks? You got the socks? I didn't get the socks. I think I only got the shoes. I thought you had the socks. No, you have the socks.

So I do have the In-N-Out shoes. The In-N-Out shoes cost me $60 and I really love them. It's a part of the brand. It's a part of the brand. So why are you wearing overrated brand shoes? I'm a shameless hype beast. I want the clout. Okay, so you're saying it's overrated, but you yourself are giving in to the clout.

I am a part of the mission. Nicole, we live in a society. You can't say it's overrated and then purchase it and then go eat there all the time. I think being a hypocrite is central to my brand in the same way. No, you are right. You are a hypocrite. Yeah. I also, I'm planning on getting an In-N-Out tattoo.

Why got to do that, bro? I think it's really cool. Dude, check this out. So it's going to be, Nicole, look at my arm. I'm looking on getting an In-N-Out tattoo. Why got to do that, bro? I think it's really cool. Dude, check this out. So it's going to be... Nicole, look at my arm. I'm looking at it. It's going to be a round bicep tattoo that at the first glance

is going to look like a tribal armband, but then you realize that it's actually the In-N-Out cup. But no, to me, I consider In-N-Out a formative part of my identity, right? Sure. Being big into food and also not growing up with a ton of money and being able to get that happiness for a dollar 79 and also feel like i'm eating something exclusive

that has god this is the douchiest thing to say that has terroir like wine right terroir terroir like the um character of the soil that grew the grapes right that there are ancient minerals in these certain valleys in france can only produce, you know, the best cab frunk. That's what I'm saying. Like, In-N-Out, to me, it has to be in Southern California and it has to mean something to you.

We got these tourist vultures coming in from Gary, Indiana. So what? Being disappointed by In-N-Out. Why do people go to Gary, Indiana to see Michael Jackson's house, man? Whatever. Wait, Michael Jackson, Gary, Indiana?

Yeah, you didn't know that? No, I didn't know that at all. Yeah. I pulled Gary, Indiana to see Michael Jackson's house, man. Whatever. Wait, Michael Jackson, Gary, Indiana. Yeah. You didn't know that? No, I didn't know that at all. Yeah. I pulled Gary, Indiana out because I recently watched the movie Glory Road about the Western Texas basketball team that won the national championship. One of the players from Gary, Indiana. Yeah.

But so was Michael Jackson. Yeah. Bet you didn't know that. Did not know that. Yeah. What I was going to say before I got very sidetracked from knowing where Michael Jackson's birthplace was, uh, you're a hypocrite and I hate you. You're tacky and I hate you. I totally forgot.

No, I am. I mean, I, I've absolutely bought into the internet hype, but for me, this is something I literally said in the office like an hour ago where I said, if I like it, it's cool. If I hate it, it's super lame and no one should do it. Yeah. And I am just an absolute hypocrite. Okay. And so I suppose I agree with you on that. How many times have you gone to In-N-Out like in your life? Hundreds upon hundreds. Yeah.

Probably not a thousand, somewhere in the deep hundreds. Somewhere in the deep hundreds. Like there's so many memories you have associated with In-N-Out. There are. But I'm sure there's like the same exact feeling for someone that has a lot of rallies. Rallies is one. Rallies is one. No, but that's a really good point though. There are so many of these regional fast food chains. The thing I love

about fast food that really fascinates me about it is that it connects people through common experiences. Super. Yeah. Right. So this is a good example. Waffle House. Waffle House is huge among the South. Anthony Bourdain also, you know, wrote some beautiful essays about Waffle House. Rhett and Link talk about Waffle House and how awesome it is so much. And like there's symbolism to Waffle Houses, right? They're often the only restaurant that's open during hurricanes. Yeah, I remember. There's literally like the National Weather Service has something called the Waffle House Index based on how bad a hurricane is. They can see that by how many Waffle Houses have closed down. And again, Waffle House, big in the South. The only time I've ever been to a Waffle House,

it's the closest Waffle House to California is in Aurora, Colorado. And I went there and I ate the waffles and the loaded hash browns that are clucked, chucked, flipped and flammed or whatever. And I ate it and I was like, this is a, it's undercooked hash browns and a crappy waffle.

Right, for me, I didn't have the context. I did not have, and I would have said Waffle House is overrated. But do you need context to enjoy a meal? I do believe it helps. Even a fast food meal? But like you said,

like you said, I have been In-N-Out hundreds of times and I have all these memories built up and that builds on the specialness, right? I don't think you would think

In-N-Out burgers taste as good if you hadn't been there hundreds of times, especially since you were a kid. If you hadn't eaten all that cheese paper. I don't know. One time-Out burgers taste as good if you hadn't been there hundreds of times, especially since you were a kid. If you hadn't eaten all that cheese paper. I don't know. One time I went to this amusement park. Which one is it?

Not Disney. And what's the other one, Josh? Not Sperry Farm? No, what's the other one? Six Flags? Six Flags. One time I went to Six Flags and I had the best In-N-Out experience. Have you ever noticed that whenever you go to an In-N-Out that's like not your hometown In-N-Out?

It's so much better. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like the one on the way to Barstow? Yeah, yeah. Oh my God. That's my fiance's favorite In-N-Out. The great In-N-Out that's like not your hometown In-N-Out. It's so much better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like the one on the way to Barstow. Yeah. Oh my God. That is, that's my fiance's favorite In-N-Out. The great In-N-Out.

Mine is the one next to Six Flags. I just love how it tastes. It tastes better when it's like not familiar in a weird way, but also just familiar enough. You know what I mean? Exactly. Exactly. It is, it's like a house with a thousand windows and only one door and it leads to In-N-Out. That metaphor made literally no sense.

You know sometimes you start talking and then you're like, I have no idea where this sentence is going, but you just push through and hope it wraps up at the end. Oh, but that's this whole podcast. All the time. That's the whole point of this podcast. That's just the brain of the operation.

See, that was an example. That was literally an example. That was the brain of the operations. Raising Cain sucks. Can we That was the brain of the operations. Raising cane sucks. Can we get that one out of the way? Who puts celery salt in their darn mayonnaise? Celery salt. Well, what are you doing?

Is it a Bloody Mary? Don't think so. Apparently, you know, I mentioned that, and someone told me there is no celery salt in it. Oh, what is it? Wait, do you taste celery salt in it? I taste something off. It's like a weird hickory, herbal-y situation. Some old coriander or something.

I always thought it was celery salt. It tastes like celery salt to me. It's not celery salt? But anyways, if you grew up with that celery salt-ass Raising Cane's. Well, like, we did it. We also had Raising Cane's here. No, we didn't. No?

No, the first Raising Cane's came in, like, the mid-2000s in one random part in Orange County. Raising Cane's is... Oh, I only had it once. I think Louisiana. Oh. Or is that Zaxby's? Might be both, I've only had it once. I think Louisiana. Oh. Or is that Zaxby's? Might be both. I've only had it once. Yeah. No, I've had it like twice and I disliked it both times. But people who are from the area,

I mean, I felt the same way about Chick-fil-A and I still feel that way about Chick-fil-A. No, I like it. I'm sorry. I know that the morals of Chick-fil-A are questionable. I'm sorry. I'm not perfect. But like Chick-fil-A, it's that thing that's that's big in the south and i remember i i roomed with a guy who was from atlanta when i went to shot put camp when i was 17 you went to shot put yeah i went to overnight shot put camp in uh tacoma or no spokane washington for how long it was like a week it was really great i like met a lot of yeah oh god me too i wish i could go back um i met a lot of I wish I could go back I met a lot of good friends

My roommate Caleb was from Atlanta And he was like oh man you've never been to a Chick-fil-A Oh it's the best thing you've ever eaten in your life And then a Chick-fil-A finally opened in Orange County And I was like oh my god This chicken sandwich is about to be transcendent And I ate it and I was like oh hey what's up Worse Wendy's

It's not worse than Wendy's We literally had the new Wendy's chicken sandwich like two days ago together. We're like, what is this? We shared a Wendy's chicken sandwich. We just ordered one to share just for research for our job. Yes. It's pretty bad. It was bad.

Can I tell you why? It's the pickles. It was a weird dill pickle and chicken. Yeah, it was aggressively dilly. Don't give me that. Too sour. Did not work. I don't need that. But anyways, I was very disappointed by Chick-fil? Yeah, it was aggressively dilly. Don't give me that. Too sour, did not work. I don't need that. But anyways, I was very disappointed by Chick-fil-A because it was hyped.

And so once you rate something so high, it is inevitable that it will just, by definition, be overrated. Whataburger is the same way for me. You ever been to a Whataburger? Where is it? Texas. Never been to Texas. And the Texans like to play the Whataburger versus In-N-Out game. to Texas. And the Texans like to play the Whataburger versus In-N-Out

game. Do you remember one time we got Whataburger sauce and you kept refilling it with water so it would become salad dressing? That, okay, this is how you can tell how much money someone grew up with by how they treat the end of a condiment bottle. And soap. And soap. And soap.

If you do not add water to it and dilute it. Always add water to the soap. I add water to the end of my ranch dressing bottles and I shake them up. I add water to the end of my ketchup bottles until there's a thin pink liquid soaking my fries. No, no, no. I only do that with my shampoos and my shower gels. Yeah, actually now that I've like raised in socioeconomic status, I only do one water fill. Oh, good.

And after that, I'm like, you know what? This is done. I can move on to the next one. Yes, yes. Yeah, I'm down to one water fill. Good for you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. We're coming up in the world. Yeah, good. And after that, I'm like, you know what? This is done. I can move on to the next one. Yes, yes. Yeah, I'm down to one water fill. Good for you. Yeah, thank you, thank you. We're coming up in the world. Yeah, big time. Yeah, but the Whataburger sauce was pretty good. I put that on a lot of salad

dressing. You used to make it so wet. That was the origin of the phrase, wet salad. Hey, Josh, what are you eating? Ah, big old wet salad. I like my salads to, I like, people are like, I just want the dressing to accent the greens. No, the dressing's the point.

The greens are the afterthought. So, Josh, what have we learned today? That you still think it's overrated? Question mark? I really hope not. No, honestly, 20 minutes ago, you convinced me that I didn't actually think that. But no, I totally told on myself. This is something that I've been saying for a long time.

You always tell on yourself. I always tell on myself. I'm an open book've been saying for a long time. You always tell on yourself. I always tell on myself. I'm an open book. But you know, that just shows you have a good moral compass. Yeah, because I literally just said In-N-Out is the best fast food burger to ever exist. And I believe that. What a burger. Nothing can compare to the freshness.

Nothing is cooked with, I don't know, in a blind taste test, if I could taste fresh versus frozen beef. But like you said, In-N-Out patties are hot, which is freaking rare in a fast food burger. Hot. They're hot. They're fresh off the grill. And the lettuce is cold. And the sauce is cold. Sauce is cold.

And the ketchup's cold. The buns stay toasted. Yeah. It's incredible. It's artisanal, Josh. It is. I mean, it's a perfectly architected fast food burger that costs $1.79 without all the additional add-ons and whatnot. And I don't believe any other

fast food chain at its scale. Five Guys cannot touch that. To me, Shake Shack cannot touch that. I do not enjoy me Shake Shack very much. I've had the Whataburgers. I've had some random chain in Oklahoma that I can't remember, but someone from Oklahoma is going to give me a one star on that because he's like, you don't like blimpy burger, you idiot. But no. And like you said, I've bought the in and out merch. Cause I, I want people to know my values that I am from Southern California,

that I love in and out. And I have great respect for their business model. I mean, to me, honestly, it reminds me a lot of mythical not to get like too deep into the practices. It's just,

it's just respect throughout every single part of the job. Yeah. It doesn't matter if you're a manager or if you're just starting out on the cash wrap. Yeah. And the reason you can do that is because you didn't expand too quickly and completely ruin the quality of everything you do. I mean, I think they ruined the quality of the company when they gave us a podcast a little bit. You know, that was a weird move. They kind of threw us in here with Maggie.

I disagree. What's up, Maggie? I thoroughly enjoy this and I am glad for the opportunities if you're listening to this threatening. No, but I mean, you know, In-N-Out never franchised and they've said that they never will. And they shouldn't. And they shouldn't. They just, they built organically from the ground up and they ran a badass

company and they make a fantastic $1.79 hamburger. And I guess that's all you can ask. That is the top tier of what one can ask for. Alright, Nicole, we've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the Twitterverse. It's time for a segment we call Opinion. You're looking at your phone?

It's called Opinions Are Like Casseroles. For those paying attention, unlike Nicole. Opinions Are Like Casseroles. paying attention unlike nicole before we start the segment i want to read a quote from mindy uh she does our research packets for the podcast and she's completely awesome and she's from southern california as well i am such a big fan of in and out i just i asked her what she thinks so she didn't just send me this message i'm such a big fan of in and. I personally don't think it's overrated since they always deliver

on dot, dot, dot the vibes, which is true. So true. In-N-Out is vibes. We used to hang out and people like rival high school

used to fight in the In-N-Out parking lot. Yeah, it was litty. It was litty. In-N-Out was so lit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Chipotle, we tried to switch to Chipotle

as like, we tried to like, who made that choice? We tried to, I did, I did, I did. I was trying to start like another click and I was like,

let's do our own thing with Chipotle. And no vibes. No vibes at Chipotle parking lot. Of course there's no vibes at Chipotle. Their product is always consistent, fresh, tasty, convenient, and cheap. And the service and environment is pretty much always super friendly and upbeat. Of course, I'm biased since I'm from SoCal, but I think they offer everyone the quintessential California casual West Coast experience in all their branches.

Even their merch is dope. I bought it. The merch is dope. Thank you for thinking my shoe choice is dope, Mindy yeah i mean that's a big thing and maggie maggie our producer engineer i don't know no one has any do we have she's our executive boss do we have do we have any titles at mythical uh we just kind of hang out maggie who is in the sound booth who edits and records everything nicole and i say she like was sitting down in the chair as we came into the studio and was just like

I hate that you guys are doing this. I'm like what? She's like In-N-Out is such a special place in my heart. And I understand that. It does. And I absolutely respect that as a special place in mine. I can't wait to get tatted up with my In-N-Out ink when it's safe to do so. Please don't get a tattoo of In-N-Out. Are you against tattoos because of like the Judaism

reason? No! Of course not. That's what my grandma is. Why would you sky your body? I am not your grandma. God gave you this body, Joshua. This is the last time I'm going to tell you I am not your grandma. Shut up, grandma. All right. We're going to start with at bleed two-tone.

I like to put gummy snacks in my Miller High Life so I have a little treat when my beer is finished. I really respect this. Yeah, I love this. What I don't. Okay, here's my problem. First of all, I love Miller High Life. It was the first beer I ever drank, champagne of beer. Shout out to Miller High Life. However, gummy bears to me, I don't like them when they're cold, but that is because I have bad teeth. And so if you like cold gummy bears, this is a lovely treat. But for me, the best application of this would be a warm Miller

High Life soaked gummy bears in it, but then it makes the Miller High Life worse. Yeah. You know? Well, all I know is that it's Miller time. You like that? Hey, that was good. Yeah, thank you. That's their commercial. It's Miller time. Are you trying to be Obama right now? No. If I was trying to be Obama, I would speak more with this cadence.

So bad at it. And I would make the Obama hand gesture. It's like, it's like almost there. Okay. Guinea, Guinea. Jenny Smith 17 says, so bad and i would make the obama hand gesture it's like it's like almost there okay guinea guinea jenny smith 17 says my husband thinks any sausage can be breakfast sausage if you eat it in the morning i agree i love all sausages and you can eat them at any time and i think this is a good idea i like your husband well here i think we need to break down you're trying to steal this woman's husband no come on now on now. Come on now. Be respectful.

Be respectful of monogamy. I just said I like your husband because I like his views. Are you in like with her husband? So who does everyone like? Who does everyone like? I like sausage any time of the day. Give me any sausage any time of day. I don't care, man.

I think what you should really be questioning is what is breakfast, though? Like, come on. Because when you're saying like- Time. Morning. Yeah, but no, no. I don't think you're talking about morning i think you're talking about pairings because when you're talking about breakfast sausage you're probably talking about pairing it with eggs if you eat in the morning read read the text i can't read i've been faking it the whole time i kind of guess what the mouth sounds would be based on the page

uh no i love making just like a nice breakfast platter with some andouille sausage in there. Yeah, there's no. A little mild Italian. I agree. There's no right or wrong sausage. Eat it. Yeah. We're sausage inclusive here. Super.

At Lizard Cowboy, yams and marshmallows? Please explain. Food history lesson needed. I ain't got no food history lesson. Yams and marshmallow origin story? So, I mean, the way I think about it, like, yams and marshmallows are a very, like, 1950s marshmallows were just developed and it was very excited

and someone from the Jet Puff Corporation needed to sell more marshmallows and just threw them on top of yams and baked them and was like, eat it! I love it. According to an article from Savior Magazine documented by the Library of Congress, the first recipe of mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows dates to 1917, where marketers of Anglis marshmallows hired Janet McKenzie Hill, founder of the Boston Cooking School Magazine, to develop a recipe for the booklet designed to encourage home cooks to embrace the candy as an everyday ingredient. Very interesting.

Also funny that now we kind of consider marshmallows to be an ingredient, right? Yeah. Like it's not a candy. No, I wouldn't eat a marshmallow. I don't like eating marshmallows by themselves. Oh, I love it. No. Julia, so Julia and I just moved in together. Yeah. Julia, she keeps, yeah, it's very exciting. Congratulations. So she likes to make a little treat for herself

on some nights where she takes a single graham cracker and puts chocolate on it and marshmallow and she like toasts it. and she makes a little individual s'more but then that means we always got marshmallows in the house so i just stuff about six seven in my mouth and go to town question yeah good do you like your marshmallows like golden or black black black i i light them on fire i blow them out i remove the fore. I put it in my mouth and I get another... Why are we the same person? Why? Why are we the same person? That's why this works.

It's so frustrating. I take off the foreskin too. You gotta do. It's in our heritage to take off the foreskin. You can't not. Oh my god. Hanna underscore showin20. Chocolate pudding. Chocolate pudding. Chocolate pudding.

Do you want some chocolate pudding? That's what's Norwegian. Is this just make fun of Nicole? Yeah, a little bit. Okay. Chocolate pudding and Pirate's Booty is the bomb. No. I don't like that.

I don't even like Pirates. I love chocolate pudding. I don't like Pirate's Booty. I am the opposite way. I don't care for chocolate pudding, but I love Pirate's Booty. Because my brother, we used to live like right next to a Trader Joe's and like we'd go shopping

and you know, like we'd have a little shopping budget and stuff. My brother would always like demand Pirate's Booty because he was just like a little complete a-hole, love you, John. But like, you know, when he was a kid, he was like the worst.

He was mean. He was mean. Big mean brother. Yeah, he like just threatened to scream all the time if he didn't get his way. I remember that. We won't just get into it. But anyways, point is, we would always have Pirate's Booty in the house,

but Zero Sum Game only had enough money to spend on groceries. I couldn't get a snack that I wanted. And so I just look at Pirate's Booty and just think of opportunity cost, and I get pretty mad about it. So now Hannah's showing this opinion enrages me. Okay. Add Specsor, ranch Doritositos and French onion dip. Don't at me or do. I'm not your supervisor.

Joke's on you. We don't have a supervisor. It's just me. Like literally, I gave Nicole a year-end review. Josh not only is my boss, he's also my supervisor. Yeah. Again, it's pretty I like how we're talking about how Mythical runs such a tight

ship like In-N-Out. You know, like didn't expand too fast, didn't take outside Again, it's pretty, I like how we're talking about how Mythical runs such a tight ship, like in and out, you know, like didn't expand too fast, didn't take outside money, grew from within, promoted from within. And they're just like, I'm a supervisor. Don't yell about Doritos. This sounds good. Yeah, it sounds pretty good. You know, I've talked a lot about flavored chips and dips,

and I've gone every which way on my opinion about them, and I don't even know where I stand anymore. Sometimes I don't know if I have any genuine opinions or if I just have things that I think can stir internet controversy. Yeah, there's a lot of sour cream going on in here. A lot of sour cream. Like there's a lot of sour cream powder in ranch Doritos, and then there's so much sour cream and sour cream powder in French onion dips.

So I think you just like sour cream. A lot of MSG too. You like sour, just mix sour cream and MSG and just mainline that. Just rub it into your gums and get in your bloodstream faster. Chris period Nicole 29. Dipping pickles in a vanilla milkshake is no different than dipping fries. Equally good. No, it's not the same.

It's good, probably. Yeah, you can say it's- Pregnancy cravings. Pregnant. Oh, you got a bun in the oven. Congratulations, Chris. I'm so excited. This is like a weird pregnancy craving.

I can't get behind it. Yeah. No, something about when you bite into a pickle, the juices kind of explode in your mouth, which is a very pleasant experience to me. Oh, love it. Especially when you're eating pickles with something starchy, right? Pickles on a sandwich, whatever. Delicious. To me, having the fatty liquidy milkshake already in your mouth and then having pickle juice run over that fatty dairy liquid makes Makes me feel not great inside. I'm happy if you're happy. And I think, you know,

you should probably keep doing it. To imply that it's no different than dipping fries, to me is a factual inaccuracy. There is a hefty difference between pickles and fries. Imagine you went to a fast food restaurant and you were just like,

can I get an order of fries? And they're like, sorry, we're out of fries. But good news, there's a mound of pickles. So have fun. Fun fact, me and David, when we're getting it now, we always get an order of fries? And they're like, sorry, we're out of fries. But good news, there's a mound of pickles. Yeah. So have fun. Fun fact, me and David, when we're getting it now, we always get a cup full of pickles.

It's not a joke. Of course you do. There is in the cup holder is a cup of pickles. And we take that and the pepperoncinis and we dip it in the sauce. I just put pickles in my cup holder in my car. No, like no other cup, just pickles. What did I do that? I did that with something like during an episode.

Like I was just eating chocolate out of the cup holder. I don't know. Oh, I think i put shrimp in the cup holder anyways at i make coffees wheaties are frosted flakes that grew up and got boring no bran flakes are frosted flakes that grew up and got boring uh i love wheaties are frost Flakes that grew up and got yoked. Yeah, Wheaties are Frosted Flakes that went to the Olympics. Yeah. I'm sorry. But Bran Flakes help you poop. However, however, so as someone who, you know, experiments a lot with his body, that sounds dirty.

No, I meant like I've done a lot of weird sort of like diet-y stuff. I like to work out a lot. And like a year ago when I was really trying to put on muscle pretty aggressively and gain some weight, I was eating a ton of protein, but it was hard to get enough fiber to push the protein out of my butthole. So I started, you know, I was like, I need

to start eating some sort of fiber-rich cereal because it's something I'll enjoy. And the fiber content of Bran Flakes compared to something like Fiber One, nothing. Like F fiber one has so much fiber in it that stuff will run through you i'm so happy to know this but i would pour the protein powder on the fiber one so it'd just be like a net net you know i don't need this yeah you should be concerned about my digestive health is part literally people were it was like 11.13 and people were like where's Josh? You knew where I was.

I knew where you were. That is too intimately familiar with your, I'm your boss that's stupid. What a joke. I knew where you were, you were pooping. I was in my executive conference session. It's funny because sometimes

I'll say I'm in a meeting and you know exactly where I am and then someone will be like oh how was the meeting like did you get creative for this episode settled? And I'll say I'm in a meeting and you know exactly where I am. And then someone will be like, oh, how was the meeting? Like, did you get creative for this episode settled? And I was like, I got something settled. Most of the time I am working while on the toilet. So that's where almost all of the titles of all the Mythical Kitchen episodes are decided while I am on the toilet. That's the only time I get to do it. You know, we're podcasting.

We're shooting episodes. We're making food. The only time I get to decide the titles know we're podcasting We're shooting episodes We're making food The only time I get to decide the titles Very important part Is while I'm pooping I'm hot Please stop this conversation And on that note

I gotta go hit the toilet Thank you for listening to A Hot Dog is a Sandwich If you want to hear more from us Here in the Mythical Kitchen We got new episodes for you Every Wednesday I'm sorry for laughing

If you want to be featured On Opinions or Like Casseroles You can hit us up on Twitter at MythicalChef or with the hashtag OpinionCasserole. For more Mythical Kitchen, check us out on YouTube where we launch new videos every week. And of course, if you want to share pictures of your dishes, hit us up on Instagram at Mythical Kitchen. We'll see you next time. I need about eight minutes. you