A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Pro Chefs Rank Their Top 10 Fast Food Restaurants

Episode Date: April 10, 2024

Today, Josh and Nicole curate their very own fast food restaurant ranking! Who will make the top 10?! 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. Did you know that Guy Fieri said In-N-Out is the only fast food he'll eat? Do you think if I ate at different In-N-Out locations every day I could bump into him and ask him to adopt me as his large adult son? Maybe, but only if you bleep your tips. 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 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 we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host, Josh Ayer. And I'm your host, Nicole Aniety. And today we're discussing what I would look like if I bleached the tips of my hair and then spiked them a la Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray. Did he have bleach tips?

Someday. You're going to have to sing more bars than that for me. What did he say? Is that how it starts? Someday. No, today we are ranking our top 10 fast food restaurants as professional chefs. What's up, Nicole? Did you even notice that I

got highlights? Speaking of tips, blonde tips, I highlighted my hair. You see, it's pro chefs. You're so mean. Wait, I'm so sorry. How new are your highlights? Like, I got them over the weekend.

Did you really? You didn't. Well, I feel like, did Lily also put highlights in her hair? She's had highlights for like months. God, aren't you happy that I don't judge any of your performances at work based on your physical appearances? Isn't that better than if I were like constantly nipped? You know what I mean?

I think it's a good thing that I don't notice when your physical appearance changes. Yes. Because I'm judging you for the content of your character and your work. Yes. It would be nice if you just threw in like a compliment. Nicole, your hair looks nice. You have hair and that's good. But even if you didn't have hair, you'd still be a valuable friend and employee.

I would look so cute bald. Yeah, you could really rock it. David disagrees. Okay, we're going to talk about our top 10 favorite fast food restaurants. I keep telling Julia she should get a pixie cut. Big pixie cut. Yeah, she looked beautiful with a pixie cut. Do you think she...

Well, she worries... Hold on. We'll get to the fast food restaurants in a second. She worries that she doesn't have the face shape for it. And I don't know what that means. I know what she means, but. Her face is shaped like a face to me. She has a great face for a short haircut.

Right? She's got those like little, those kind of like little Eastern European features, like a Russian ballerina. Yeah, yeah. And small. And small. She's got bird bones. Bird bones. I feel like pixie.

Oh, bird bones. Cara Delevingne. Well, speaking of bird bones, we'll get to the fast. Taco Bell is great. We'll get to the fast food in a second. Cara Delevingne in Carnival Row. Taco Bell isn't even on my list. Cara Delevingne in Carnival Row.

I got to edit it. She, small feature, bird bones, pixie cut. She has physical wings in that, a la a bird. Most people think that chefs eat gourmet food all the time No way, Jose Oh, and after service, Nicole, they're making a beef wellington with sauce bordelais and roasted mushrooms No, no, no, no, no Every chef I've ever known has a big soft spot for fast food

We, of course, have big soft spots for fast food I have big soft spots for fast food I got big fast spots for soft food, if you know what I mean. And so today... We're unhinged right now. We are going to try... Nicole and I each have our list of top 10 fast food spots, and we are going to try and collate them.

That's right. Collation shall be happening on today's podcast to see if we can come to some sort of consensus. I don't think my back can bend that way. I'm just going to do this, and we're going to create... That can come to some sort of consensus. I don't think my back can bend that way. I'm just going to do this and we're going to create That's a circle.

Synergy. Just do a hand heart. Synergy. There you go. What is that? That's like a spade, like an ace of spades. Well, because your fingers

don't curve that way. I broke my finger so many times in high school basketball interrupting passing lanes because I am a good help side defender. Oh, I don't have the shoulder mobility.

I've really been having rotator cuff issues. Okay, Josh, what's your number 10? What's out of the gate? What's your fave? Number 10. How familiar are you with the NFL career of Brock Purdy? I know Jenna Purdy. I don't think they're related.

Then I don't know anything about it. Brock Purdy is what's known as Mr. Irrelevant. He was literally drafted last in the NFL draft, which I believe is like pick number 246 or 247. That's brutal. And well, well, well, well, then he started in the Super Bowl. So there was something written in the air. My point is being drafted last, he was still drafted,

is way more special than being drafted like 157th, right? So when we're thinking about our number 10 on the list, there's got to be something special about it, which is why I picked Jollibee. Oh, wow. Jollibee. Jollibee, the Philippines national fast food franchise that has come to America.

They're trying to do a stateside takeover. There's now multiple locations in Los Angeles. A lot of people out there know Jollibee. They got the chicken joy, but I'm not going there for the chicken. I'm going there for one item and one item only.

Spaghetti. Spaghetti, baby. Filipino spaghetti. More fast food spaghetti. But no pancit palabok. I like the pancit palabok, but it's not as good as if you were to get

like pancit palabok. Pancit palabok, it's pancit is... Are they glass noodles or just very thin rice noodles? I don't know. They're just kind of see-through-y. Yeah, it's a very kind of translucent rice noodle dish.

Just tons of savory flavors, veg in there, sometimes like a hard-boiled egg. It's good, but it always gets a little like gummy, a little overcooked at Jollibee. But their fried chicken and their gravy, what they call a chicken joy. Incredible. They have a fantastic fried chicken sandwich. Their fried chicken sandwich, their spicy one with the fresh jalapenos, do they still do that over there? I don't know if they're still doing it.

Was it limited time? I don't know, but the fresh jalapeno spicy chicken sandwich was probably one of my top fast food sandwiches of all time. It's really freaking good. And then the spaghetti, Filipino spaghetti is such a unique dish that you cannot get anywhere else.

There's chopped up bits of hot dog in it. There's little chopped up bits of ham. It's a sweet sauce, yellow cheese. And oh my God, when you just inhale the overcooked noodles with this sweet, meaty sauce. Mormon mom spaghetti. Mormon mom spaghetti. I'm dead serious when I say that I like slightly overcooked spaghetti. Like not mush mush, but al dente spaghetti. You don't want that in fast food. I think Jollibee brings too much

uniqueness to the table to be left off a list like this. Interesting. Great. Because when you're looking at like Burger King

versus McDonald's versus Carl's versus Wendy's whatever it's like what are they individually bringing to the table that you can't get

anywhere else. And I think that's what we have to answer here. So I got Jollibee at the 10th spot. What do you got? That's great. I have something that is so iconic, so deeply iconic.

Just whenever you think of pizza, you think of this place first, and it's Domino's. Domino's. At number 10, though. Yeah, at number 10. Interesting. I do have, I'm looking at my list and I noticed that I eat a lot of chicken, which I didn't know. Like looking back on this, I put a lot of chicken spots on here.

But a Domino's pizza, I think it's some of the best fast food pizza out there. I like it better than Pizza Hut. I like it better than Little Caesars. Little Caesars is great because, you know, the $5 hot and ready or whatever. But I just love everything about Domino's, the way that they transform their crust. I think the Domino's pizza tracker is iconic. And I mean, no, no, like birthday party, pizza party, participation, like trophy party is done without a Domino's pizza. So that's why it's number 10 for me.

Also, we've talked about this before in terms of Domino's versus Pizza Hut. One, Domino's surpassed Pizza Hut financially for the first time in like 2019, I believe. Pandemic only secured that because Domino's was always delivery first. They did the 30 minutes where your pizza is free.

It's so good. Delivery challenge. It's so good. Their pizza tracker, I still am convinced that it's absolutely fake. No way. I think it's real.

I don't know. It'll all just be like, Kevin got your order. There's no Kevin. There's no Kevin. No, the name I think it's real. I don't know. It'll all just be like, Kevin got your order. There's no Kevin. There's no Kevin. No, the name changes because it's accountability. Do you remember when we would play the Jeopardy Amazon Alexa interactive game

every single day, but then we lost our subscription because I think we were using Trevor's credit card on it and charging him like $3 a month for the last two years, effectively garnishing his pay it's pretty messed up Trevor I gotta

Venmo you for that dude I think that was my bad they were like do you want to upgrade I was like Alexa yes and then I anyways

point is we would play that game and they'd be like your challenger today is Elizabeth and we were like are these really

challengers that we're playing against and then we realized that every single name was a very Anglo name. Yeah, but there's not always... There was never like an Arush. There was never an Alejandro.

But there's never... But whenever I'm doing the pizza tracker, it's not always Anglo names. No, you're right. But still, I get the same vibes. They were probably just better with that.

You know what I mean? So you think it's AI. So you think the Domino's pizza tracker is AI generated. The Domino's pizza tracker is only real if you truly believe. Hey, in the words of your father, if I

can feel them, they're real. Listen, the pizza always gets to me and the little lights light up on the Domino's pizza tracker. That's all I know, baby. But I agree. I agree. Domino's is the best fast food pizza place. There's no argument to be made for Little Caesars simply for its convenience. I do

appreciate its convenience, but I don't think the quality of pizza is up to par. I'd rather, so $5 hot and ready versus 30 minutes Domino's. I'd go with Domino's any day. Pizza Hut can only compete if they kept the salad bar. I love, let me tell you, Pizza Hut's good too.

I love their crust. I think it's super cakey, super delicious, and I love the crust it gets, but Domino's just wins with the garlic and all that good stuff. I accept your Domino's at number 10. Thank you for accepting me. Let's jump to my number nine.

Jersey Mike's. I'm not a big fast food sandwich guy. I don't, like, get a lot of fast food sandwiches, but when I do, I think Jersey Mike's is doing'm not a big fast food sandwich guy. I don't like get a lot of fast food sandwiches. But when I do, I think Jersey Mike's is doing it by far the best in the game. So good. I wouldn't put a sandwich spot higher than, say, a nine seed right now. But I do think they're by far the best. We talked about it way better than Subway.

You go there, you can get cold cuts. You can get a cheesesteak. You're always going to get something good. Jersey Mike's, to me, is the best in the game. No, I have something to say about that. Because some people would. Jersey Mike's, to me, is the best in the game. No, I have something to say about that because some people would consider Jersey Mike's and Subway and all these sandwich places to be fast casual. Do you think you and I sitting here… Oh.

Do you think we should define what fast casual versus fast food is or should that be another podcast entirely? So, it's really funny because the industry term fast food doesn't exist. Oh. It's QSR. Quick Service Restaurant. Quick Service Restaurant, right? Like Oh. It's QSR. Quick Service Restaurant. Quick Service Restaurant, right? Like it's a QSR.

And that is different than like a fast casual, but there are some. So right now I'm looking at a trade publication that I used to follow really closely and still use a lot. Shout out to QSRmagazine.com. I used to get a lot of news from there. Are you subscribed? I used to be, yeah. When I was a journalist, I covered the fast food industry. Is it behind a paywall?

No, no. It's fully free. But I think you can pay for deeper market reports. But right now I'm looking at QSR's top 50 list in terms of they have locations. They have average sales per unit, which is like a really important metric. And so they have Panera on their list, which to me, Panera is like the... Stretching it. Stretching it.

But like Chipotle, I think you have to call fast food. I think they're competing in the same categories. So I would put places like that on there. Let's see if there's anything else they have that I would disagree with being fast food. There's interesting ones like Dairy Queen because they're really in the food game right now. They're not just doing sweets, but they also have Baskin Robbins on here, which is only ice cream. They have crumble cookies on here as well, which is interesting. I feel like that's tough. It's quick service. It's quick service, sure, but it's not food. I mean, it's a dessert. It's not a nutritive meal. People don't go there for a meal. A nutritive meal.

I used to get McDonald's salads a lot, and they did pretty good. Oh, my gosh. Me too. Speaking of which, my number nine seed. Are we doing seed? We are doing seed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is McDonald's solely for their breakfast.

I think. Dude, dude. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I literally wrote that on my own list. Oh, my God. Solely for their breakfast. Same verbiage.

Solely for breakfast. I love us. I don't know. I think they have the best breakfast in the game. The verbiage, solely for breakfast. I love us. I don't know. I think they have the best breakfast in the game. The McGriddles, delicious. The English muffins, incredible. I think that they are innovative

and no one can do breakfast better than McDonald's. Dunkin' is a close second, I think, for breakfast. But whenever it comes to the way that they've just cornered the market, McDonald's breakfast before 10 the market, McDonald's

breakfast before 1030, there's nothing like it. They're McCafe's. I love all of their coffees. I think they have some of the best fast food coffee in the game. And I mean, they're just the originators of fast food. I think they deserve a spot on the list. 100%. Well, I'm glad neither of us had them higher, too, because McDonald's is far and away the

biggest fast food restaurant in America, other than Subway I well do they have more uh locations yeah Subway has more locations but their average in-store unit sales are so so low because Subway is like a ghost town if you go in dude more than one sandwich when they go into yeah oh fully agree um but McDonald's is far and away the uh top fast food restaurant in America but I don't have them higher I had them at seven but even then even then I think that's pretty high for them because I don't have them higher. I had them at seven, but even then, even then I think that's pretty high for them. Cause I don't get, I,

the last time I had a non breakfast meal at McDonald's, like an earnest meal, not doing something for work, not like, Oh, I got to try this new item. Almost never anymore. Yeah.

Yeah. I love a big Mac. It's good. But like going there to get their chicken, chicken McNuggets are, I think the best McNuggets in the game. Yeah. Yeah.

But it's nothing that would bring me there. Breakfast, sausage McMuffin with egg and a hash brown. Big old black coffee. Their hash brown. And now their black coffee is served at an appropriate temperature that will not give you third-degree burns. It'll scald your upper thigh. I'm glad we have McDonald's solely for breakfast on there. Yeah, good.

Okay, I'm glad we're on the same page. page. Okay, my number eight. I think we need a fried chicken specialist. I know we have Jollibee here, but I'm not going to Jollibee for the chicken. I think you need a fried chicken specialist. But now I'm almost doubting it if I have Jollibee. I would be willing to strike this potentially, but I think their chicken sandwich is good enough to keep them in the game, and that's Popeye's. Oh, my God. Okay, okay, okay. This is so funny. And also, Popeye's has great fish.

Okay, because I have Jollibee at eight, and then I have Popeye's at seven. Wait, are we just making the same list? Pretty much. We're pretty close. We're pretty close. Yeah, I think Popeye's does the best fast food fried chicken. I think KFC, I do love the

11 secret herbs and spices. I do think KFC has a great flavor profile. Personally, I've experienced significantly better quality control

at the Popeyes that I've been to. Absolutely. And I'm not a chicken tenders guy. I mean, I love chicken tenders, but if I'm going to a fast food fried chicken restaurant, I'm getting bone-in chicken.

Me too. Unless they have some silly little burrito. You know? They got like, ooh, this is the new famous bowl twister wrap. I'm always going for the chicken sandwich. At any spot. But specifically Popeye's, their chicken sandwich, so perfect.

Yeah. I don't know what laboratory the chickens were injected in, where the bread was made, the pickle, everything about it is perfect. The craziest thing about Popeye's fast food chicken sandwich changed the game the same way that Chipotle changed the game to me. Where it was like,

oh my God, this doesn't have to taste like it was just a frozen puck that was dropped in a fryer. So good. Because that to me is what all fast food, and I love,

to me, Carl's Jr. slash Hardee's have the best value menu fried chicken sandwich. 99 cents. Yeah, sure. But it's, I mean, it's a pressed, it's formed, it's amalgamated, it's blended. It's delicious.

So is a McChicken. But it's not like Popeye's where that tastes like an actual chef, that tastes like a $19 gastropub fried chicken sandwich. I will give them a demerit because I don't like their chicken strips either. I think they're too bready. Chicken strips are terrible. I don't like them and I don't understand them, but their sauce game makes up for it too.

That blackened ranch, man. Popeye's got the fries. Popeye's got the red beans and rice too. If you want like a nice hearty side, Popeye's absolutely deserves to be on this list. You can get beans and rice at a fast food joint. That's awesome. What else do you got? What do you got at six?

It's Panda Express. Yes. I had Panda Express at the four spot. I love Panda Express. I effing love Panda Express. I love Panda Express. I grew up going to Panda Inn across the street from the mall, the Westside Pavilion Mall, Maggie.

Do you know what I'm talking about? Yes, ma'am. The Panda Express across the street? Yes, ma'am. The Panda Express across the street. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, yeah. It was so good. The Panda Inn, I'm so sorry. And everything was perfect.

And the fact that I can get that childlike experience at any kiosk, at any mall in the United States and the airport is just so special. They've perfected orange chicken. My order back in the day. Not that they perfect, they invented it. Oh, yeah. They perfected and invented it. But my ideal meal used to be a side of chow mein and a side of veggies with an orange chicken. And then I would probably get an egg roll or a cream cheese wonton with a side of sauce.

And then two fortune cookies for me and like whoever I'm with. I would make them read both fortunes for me. Big chicken egg roll or a little vegetable egg roll or little vegetable egg roll? Little vegetable egg roll. I like the big chicken. But now my favorite thing to get from there is their veggie slash power greens and then their chicken teriyaki

with so much sriracha. It's perfect. The chicken teriyaki is a relative, I mean, when I say relatively new, I mean, it's still over a decade. But when I was a kid, they didn't have the chicken teriyaki. Really?

Yeah. It was just sugar sauce? Like the only chicken, at least maybe it's just But when I was a kid, they didn't have the chicken teriyaki. Really? Yeah. It was just sugar sauce? Like the only chicken, at least maybe it's just the locations I was going into. But now they have it where they chop it fresh. It's just a whole chicken thigh. They literally chop the chicken in front of you. They do a lot in front of you. They don't do that much.

No, they do. They do. They do. If you ever, okay. There was that big trend of TikTokers who like worked at a Subway. For a day? No, no, no. They were actual Subway employees. Oh, yeah. Milad. Milad. Was he Subway worked at a Subway. For a day? No, no, no. They were actual Subway employees.

Oh, yeah. Milad. Milad. Was he Subway? Yeah, Subway. And there was like a Cold Stone one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A bunch of these folks.

But yeah, Milad at Subway, right? And he'd be like, one, I'd love that he seemed to take a lot of pride in his job. I think his dad owns it. Yeah, that adds up. But people at Subway, you know, they're literally when you get a cheesesteak, they take a little pouch of meat and they go. Who does? At Subway.

Oh, at Subway. That's how their meat comes. I know Subway's done a big redesign, but they will literally be microwaving little like meat sacks and then they just like squidge it out onto your sandwich. And it's like, this isn't any sort of like food or cooking. Like I might as well have microwaved a Hot Pocket for lunch. You go to Panda Express, they're genuinely like getting wok hay on the food. Like they are crushing that in hot woks. They're sauteing aromatics. They have fresh vegetables. I know a lot of Panda Express

is just like caked in oil, but that makes it delicious. My favorite thing about Panda is that I can go in if I'm trying to get a healthy meal. You can just get a bunch of steamed vegetables. Where can you get that at fast food restaurants? It's so good. You can get steamed vegetables, and then you can get something like a Kung Pao chicken, which isn't breaded.

It's just chicken in a flavorful-ass sauce. You can get some white rice. Or if you're trying to hit, you're trying to hit that that day, and you get double Beijing beef with orange chicken, half fried rice, half chow mein, bam, there is not a better meal in the fast food canon. It's so good.

I don't know why we don't have it higher. I think it's because I have a lot of chicken on me. I don't know why I have so much chicken. There are a lot of Panda Express detractors. What do you mean? There are a lot of people and Panda Express is a very West Coast thing. Is it? Okay. It's Panda Express founded in Pasadena, Panda Inn, very West Coast.

A lot of people on the East Coast grew up with local Chinese steam table spots. Must be nice. I wish I had that. I wish I had that access, but I didn't. Or maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. Well, because you're surrounded by pandas, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I had my in Orange County.

I had my local spot that was like cheaper than Panda. So Panda for us was like a luxury. Oh, nice. And this place is called Ho Toys. And would they fill it to the brim like in those videos? You know, the videos I'm talking about where they would just. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They would just scoop it on.

Oh, my God. Like a one entree bowl growing up was like $3.45 or something. And so, you know, it was like a low income family. Bro, we were crushing it. That said, of all the mom and pop steam table Chinese places that I've been to, I don't think any of them

hold a candle to Panda. Because of the orange chicken? The orange chicken at Panda is the best orange chicken I've ever had. But I've probably had some fancier restaurants that are good.

But even then, I don't know that I have. I don't want my orange chicken fancy. I just want it good. They load it up with orange zest. It's too much orange zest. It's over-caramelized. It's never quite as acidic as I want. I don't want my orange chicken fancy. I just want it good. They just, they load it up with orange zest. It's too much orange zest. It's over caramelized. Like, it's never quite as acidic as I want it to be. Panda Express orange chicken is kind of the best.

Yeah. Their chow mein is still my quintessential chow mein. The flavor of the chow mein. It's wok hay. It's perfect. Dude, they get wok hay on the chow mein. The noodle thickness, it's not too thick. It's not too thin. It's perfect every single, it's so good that if you have it at the airport, it still tastes the same.

It's crazy to me. Like if you have a Carl's Jr. at the airport or if you have like a Jack in the Box at the airport, it doesn't taste the same. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But at freaking everywhere, every airport I've been to, it is just perfect. It's crazy. It should be number one. What am I doing? Honestly, hold on.

Let's preliminarily like put Panda Express in say like a three spot. We'll see if we have any. Are we creating a list together? Yeah, we are. We have to collate ours. Is that what you're doing? Yeah, let me share my document with you. Oh, I didn't know.

I don't. Are you really going to share Google Doc with me in the middle of our podcast? Like a little bit. Nicole, entertain them. Entertain them. Can you just keep. Hold on. Restrict. Restrict.

Restrict only. It says you're outside my network. Do my regular email, Josh. Hold on. I don't know. What's your email? Wait. Click into the doc.

I shared it with you. But you can click in. Copy, paste. Nicole, copy, paste. Why are you yelling at me like my brother? I'm not yelling. I'm not yelling. They can see I'm not yelling.

I don't want to be a part of this doc. Fine. No doc. You just keep editing. Okay. So what? That's number six for me. What's your number six?

We haven't mentioned Chipotle yet. I mean, I've mentioned it. Chipotle's not on my list. Chipotle's not on your list. I think it's fast casual. I think it's a restaurant. It's a legit.

Dude, are you kidding me? It's Subway. No, no. They had a guy. Literally, he was like the music curator

of Chipotle. Yeah, they're just a... No, no, no. The amount of TLC that went into making a Chipotle... That went, not goes. Whatever. Chipotle used to have

TLC in it. During its heyday, my Shazam was on when I was into Chipotle. Great music, great aesthetics. I didn't like the fact that they used Tabasco as their hot sauce instead of other better hot sauces. Wendy's used to have salad bars. You know what I mean? Times have changed.

No, Chipotle's are your run-of-the-mill fast food now, right? They're no longer really new or novel. They're a run-of-the-mill fast food restaurant. Sure, they got art that kind of maybe tried to look like Olmec. Do you guys remember the OG ones

where everything was kind of corrugated steel and wood? Yeah, it was cool. And they had a lot of pre-Hispanic looking art. I liked it. Especially for a fast food restaurant

founded by a Coloradan named Steve. Oh. Steve Ells. Anyways, but Chipotle, to me, it tastes, we had their chicken al pastor.

It tastes really good. All three of us had their chicken al pastor it tastes really good all three of us had the chicken al pastor and it was so good is it the best Mexican food you've ever had no should it even be called

Mexican food like maybe I think it's what was al pastor about that chicken nothing was al pastor about that chicken it was a little red

it was maybe alabada if you really look at it you know what I mean but anyways I just think they taste pretty damn good for fast food. And they're healthy whole foods.

It's nice. You could throw it in there. Yeah, I like the fact that I can get like vegetables. Yeah, that's fun. And like the beans. Beans are seasoned well. Their salsas are very good. Very good salsas.

Their medium salsa, their roasted like tomatillo salsa, it's a very good salsa. I need to start getting that on my stuff more. Corn freaking salsa changed the game for me that was a revelatory experience for me do you remember the first time you had the corn salsa absolutely

me too absolutely okay well on my list I have a little a little place that not many people not many people know called Pollo Campero

Pollo dude do you like Pollo Campero it's fine I so this is a little bit like insert. So, my brother-in-law was thinking of franchising one. Heck yeah.

So, he got the whole entire menu for us to try. And I was like loving it. And I just love, well, maybe I don't like them that much. They have yucca fries. Maybe I don't like them. They got platanos. They have flan. Maybe I like them because they have platanos.

And I love platanos. They got horchata. They have mango. They have jamaica. I think, okay, let me tell you. I like them because they have platanos. And I love platanos. They got horchata. They have mango. They have jamaica. Yeah, I think. Okay, let me tell you. I like them. But okay, how about we do this?

How about pollo campero and el pollo loco? We just form together. That's okay. Is that okay? El pollo campero loco. I'm so down. No, pollo campero. I've only had their fried chicken.

I've had like a basic fried chicken meal there before. Their grilled chicken is so good. It rivals el pollo loco in terms of freshness and deliciousness. It's a little spicier, which I really, really like. That's just me. No, I'm ashamed that I have never had Playa Comparados grilled chicken because that is almost always what I'm in search for. Right, right, right.

Oh, I didn't. You don't need to put it on the list. No, I have a late addition to the game. You do? What is it? It's Nando's. I was thinking, okay. Nando's is put it on the list. No, I have a late addition to the game. You do? What is it? It's Nando's. I was thinking, okay. Nando's is far and away the best. I was thinking of putting Nando's on, but I thought maybe, you know, because it's not in the U.S., it wouldn't be fair.

But I went to like the U.K. once, and I had Nando's, and it was so good. Yeah, I've only had it in South Africa. Yeah, peri-peri sauce. Peri-peri sauce. So good. They serve pop and chocolata there, but the grilled chicken at Nando's, just grilled chicken covered in spicy sauce, slow grilled. Chicken was all cooked. It was hot.

Great service, too. Nando's is a strong, strong, strong brand. And if I'm looking at like Nando's versus El Pollo Loco, I'd rather have Nando's. I'd rather have El Pollo Loco. What's left on your list? Okay, okay. Number three, In-N-Out. Okay.

Number two, Taco Bell. Number one, Waba Grill. I love Waba Grill. Waba Grill from the top row. I want to be the official spokeswoman of Waba Grill. I want to open a Waba Grill in every single country on earth. I love Waba Grill. It is the most delicious fast food. It's so good. Yoshinoya can suck it. Never had it before. I've never had a Waba before. I've never had a Yoshinoya before. You don't need

Yoshinoya. I don't. I don't. Okay. I love Waba Grill. It's fresh. It's delicious. It's thoughtful. I like it. Yoshinoya, briefly, it's as if you just took the Instagram saturation filter on beef and just drew it all the way to the left. You're like, what if beef but gray and didn't really taste? I love Waba Grill. Every single time I've been to Waba Grill, I've had wonderful service. The food is delicious. It's teriyaki bowls, though? Yeah, I like teriyaki bowls.

It was a big deal. I was a flan- No, I just- I didn't expect that. I didn't expect Waba. What do you mean? I've never had Waba Grill at all. My only interaction is Waba Grill.

Or Pollo Campero. No, I've eaten food from Pollo Campero at least. Waba Grill, if I'm driving on a road trip, somehow you're passing a new outlet that you didn't know existed 90 miles north of your home. Yes. And there's a Waba Grill. Exactly. And that's the only Wabba Grill. Exactly.

And that's the only time I've seen them. It's the perfect outlet food when you go shopping at the outlets. But yeah, I would say In-N-Out and Taco Bell. So my top three are

Wabba Grill, Taco Bell, and In-N-Out. Sorry, I'm perfect. One, I'm a flame broiler for life. I've never had flame broiler. That's my teriyaki bowl fast food chain. I've never had flame broiler.

Oh, the amount of scallions they'll put on your meat. Oh, so many. No, but you and I are very similar on the Wobba Grill. I have In-N-Out at number one. Yeah, yeah, naturally. Quintessential fast food restaurant. I love In-N-Out.

If I am craving, I have not had a fast food hamburger. This is crazy. Probably in five years from anywhere else. In terms of an earnest meal, if there's a new burger, I try things. If I eat it for work, I eat it. But if I am in California and I'm trying to get a fast food burger, it is exclusively In-N-Out. The only other place that could compete is The Habit.

I was going to say maybe The Habit might be on your list. Because they get bacon, avocado, and ranch on that hamburger. That's something California in a nutshell. But as far as burgers go and fries, I can get them from anywhere else. That's perfect. In-N-Out fries are not good. Fries with onions, go, and fries, I can get them from anywhere else. It's perfect. In-N-Out fries are not good. Fries with onions, cheese, and sauce, it's fine. It's fine.

Yeah, yeah. And then Taco Bell, the branding, the lifestyle. It's perfect. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm living Moss. Fourth meal. Nothing else tastes like it. I love Taco Bell.

They have their own proprietary core competencies out there. And even though they have all the, you know, they did the birria thing, they're doing chicken nuggets. I think they're going to find their way back. And I think they're going to start, you know, making more meat hexagons, double stacked, whatever. I'm ready.

And we're ready for it. But Taco Bell will always be there. After the book release party, Julie and I didn't eat enough and passed appetizers. And so we went right to the Taco Bell drive-thru. And what a great experience. Just a steak quesadilla with that mayonnaise sauce. It's unbeatable to me.

Do we have any way that we can sort of reach consensus here? Are we trying to reach consensus? In all of the places that we have, to me, they're the best in their field, right? Taco Bell is better than Del Taco. Panda Express is better than whatever the second, what is the second biggest fast cash Chinese? Wobble. Domino's does pizza better than Del Taco. Panda Express is better than whatever the second, what is the second biggest fast cash? Jenny's.

Wobble. Domino's does pizza better than Pizza Hut. Chipotle is its own unique bird with the burrito bowls. McDonald's does the best fast food breakfast in the game. Popeye's does the best fried chicken. Jersey Mike's does the best hoagie. And then Jollibee is our wild card 10th pick. Yeah, we don't have any coffee spots, which I love.

Yeah, no Dunkin'. I don't need Dunkin' in my life. Well, McDonald's takes the breakfast, so. I can get a block of coffee from McDonald's. You can get coffee from In-N-Out.

And hot chocolate. And hot chocolate. In-N-Out's number one. I know, everybody hates us coastal elites, and that's perfectly fine. We don't like you either. No, we do.

We desperately want your approval. I actually really like you guys. Culvers! Butterburger. I've never had Culvers. God, I want your approval. Culvers! Butterburger. I've never had Culvers. God, I want Culvers. Whoa!

Nicole, we've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out whether wacky ideas are rattling out there in the universe. Well, it's time for a little segment we call... Opinions are like casseroles. Now like Scott Stapp from Creed. Opinions are like casseroles. That was too good. Anyways, before we get into those opinions,

we have everybody's favorite section to call. That's right. It's time for another edition of... Review and Review! Review and Review! Review and Review! Linda Ronstadt? Is that her name? That is a person.

I don't really know what she did this is a section of course where we review your review of us on Apple Apple Music Apple Tunes

iTunes Apple Podcasts cheese and rice we review your review of us on Apple Podcasts trying to incentivize you to leave us five star reviews

hopefully on Apple Podcasts that's why we started doing this Lisa Stanfield. This is five stars from at Bastille Alexa, pretty cool little name there, titled Commuting Giggles. I recently

transferred to a four-year university that's about an hour plus away from my house, so of course I need good material to listen to while I drive. Recently SoCal has been having crazy weather. It was. We went through a crazy rain period. So having this podcast made me feel less lonely and scared while driving in random storms. It's like I have them sitting in my car and we're all

just giggling over the different food opinions that get brought up. I also tend to create my own opinions like I'm on the show and then I relay these opinions to my boyfriend. Anyway, highly recommend this podcast. Heart, love you guys so much. He he he. This was cute. This is like genuinely It's givinghe hellogiggles.com

That was Zoe Desch. Zoe Desch. Yeah. No this is just a very touching earnest review that makes me

earnestly very proud of the work that we do. Yeah. Thank you so much. It means a lot. We love you. And that's that's kind of what

we always wanted to do with this podcast was make it like we're your friends because that's what we do in normal situations with strangers. Like this is a very natural thing for us to do. Yes, we befriend people. We do not cast them aside.

Yeah, and there's another world in which this is like, you know, a very serious, well-researched podcast. This isn't that. This isn't that, man. This is you're hanging with your buddies who hopefully you get something from. One of them is super smart and one of them is super beautiful. I mean, I know my new hair is giving me something, but...

I'm socially smart. No, but thank you so much, Bastille. Alexa, that was very sweet. Very sweet. Thank you. Congrats on college. I don't know. Is that a thing you say to people? That party last night was awfully crazy. I wish I taped it. Is that Asher Roth's college? Is that what it was called?

College? I love college. Oh, no. Oh, no. Opinion. Opinion. Freshman. Freshman.

Oh, he's. First opinion. He's alive still? I don't know. Well. Hey, Josh and Nicole. This is Connor from your favorite city of St. Louis, Missouri. I'm probably not going to be doing my city any favors here, but one of my favorite things to do, my secret food thing, is that instead of using butter on bread, I actually use hot sauce.

Probably because I'm a big hot sauce connoisseur, but I think it tastes better. Would love to hear your thoughts. Just be nice to us St. Louisans a little bit. Thanks. Have a great one. I'm confused. That's like saying instead of adding creamer to my coffee, I put in pickle juice. It's like there's no instead. Are they talking

about when they go to a restaurant? I think probably at home need a quick little snack. You want some bread and butter. But they go, Connor from St. Louis goes bread and hot sauce. I thought he was going to say mayonnaise, which is something that I like doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see yourself in a lot of people.

I project. I project. But butter and mayonnaise are in this case a substitute good because it's like both kind of white, creamy, salty. And that's what you want on bread. Whereas hot sauce is red, sometimes green, sometimes yellow, acidic and salty. I think it was just a vibe. It's just a vibe.

This person loves hot sauce and they just do the damn thing. Professional hot sauce tasters use bread to taste hot sauce, especially nice crusty bread with some hot sauce. You're effectively just adding chew. It's a sponge to soak the hot sauce to you. I'm not mad at it. And squirts a little hot sauce in your mouth. Connor, I think that's great, man.

I do love bread and butter, though, so much. It does nothing for me. When you go and there's like bread and butter at a restaurant, you don't enjoy it? Unless there's something very cool that's been done to the butter. Normal bread and butter, it's just not a thing that I... Like Cheesecake Factory, like you don't do the bread and butter. You know what we used to do back in the day

disgusting heathens we used to get ranch and cheese and we would dip the bread and ranch and cheese now we're talking you know what ranch is mayonnaise

bread and butter doesn't do it for me butter is great cooking I just I don't I'm not a butter guy 15 years old

just got money from our parents just going to cheesecake factory and showing out. Lebneh. Oh, Lebneh. Lebneh and bread.

That is good. Have you ever had sarsha before? Breakfast cream? Oh, no. Similar to kamyak, Turkish kamyak. It's breakfast cream. It's the top part of like a bottle of milk or it's like top cream milk. They collect it and you like have it for breakfast

Josh it's the best thing in the world crema salvadoreña pretty much it's like it's like hot barberry bread

with that there's nothing else on earth that's better stop doing that I like it I don't like it

I don't like it get that crema salvadoreña with the hard cheese and the beans and the platanos and some eggs salvadoreña breakfast man we gotta eat more I've never had salvadoreña breakfast oh we gotta go I'm a Salvadoran with the hard cheese and the beans and the platanos and some eggs. Salvadoran breakfast, man. We got to eat more of it.

I've never had Salvadoran breakfast. Oh, we got to go. I've had tres golpes, though. What is this? Tres golpes? No sé. It's a famous food. It's like breakfast, Dominican breakfast.

Oh, yeah. We don't have like hardly any Caribbean spots in Southern California. I mean, they're around if you really find them. But I pass like six Salvadoran restaurants on my drive home every day. Next. Hi, Josh and Nicole. I have two controversial opinions. My first is that undercooked pasta is the worst.

Like pasta al dente is awful. I would much rather have chewy pasta than crunchy pasta. Yes. And then two, I think that rinsing rice is a myth. I have never noticed the difference between my rice when I've rinsed it and when I have not rinsed it. Okay. Love you guys. Bye.

I just love how everybody loves it. No, I love you too. I think we should show love for our homies more often. I love al dente pasta, and this is where we differ, and that's okay. We can be different, but we can still be friends. I love crunchy pasta, but not too crunchy, just crunchy enough. But when it's too overcooked, like there's like dishes where the pasta is like purposely overcooked, and that's fine. I like it that way too, but I just like it al dente.

Trinidadian macaroni pie. Yeah, cooked to oblivion. Yum. I love the al dente pasta, but the rinsing the rice, you have to rinse your rice. It has arsenic on it. You ain't got to do nothing. Yeah, I agree with the pasta.

It's like there's something more essential about it. That's what – I don't know, dude. I picked an apple off the counter yesterday. I didn't wash it. I ate it. I'm here. I'm living. Um, what does it do? Like most actual harmful bacteria, it's going to either get you or it won't. Heat is the best way to kill bacteria, but then some of them don't get killed with heat. You know what I mean? Some bacteria thrive in acid rich environments. Most bacteria thrives in wet environments. I don't know what to tell you. I rinse my rice out of habit. I don't know if it's actually cutting down on the starch. I don't know what to tell you. I rinse my rice out of habit. I don't know if it's

actually cutting down on the starch. I don't know what arsenic is doing to me or not. You know what I mean? Did you eat the apple seeds? No. I dare you to eat four apple seeds. I don't want to do that. I simply don't. I knew somebody that ate apple cores though because they had pica, the disease where you eat non-edible things. Yeah, the rice thing. Did we test that myth? No. We should. We should. We should test it because I don't know.

But also some people, they rinse their rice, but they don't like triple wash it. They're not letting it soak and drain and soak it again. Go till clear. Some people just go like and spray the water at it. That's for the ars. But again, I don't know. That's interesting. Pasta, definitely agree with.

Hey, Josh, Nicole. Hi. I love the podcast. And just wanted to point out, Josh said that the vomitorium in ancient Rome... It's not for vomiting. ...was a place for the hedonistic vomiting. That is incorrect. It is actually an architectural feature that allows people to leave the Coliseum or various places quickly,

i.e. to be spewed forth or vomited forth. Thank you. Have a nice day. Do you know who this person sounds like? Who? That guy from The Office with the Chili. Kevin? Yeah.

Doesn't sound like Kevin from The office. Yeah, it does. Brian Baumgarten. Sounds like it. I remember saying that, and I remember also right in my head going, that's not what a vomitorium was. So, did they have vomitoriums? No. Surely, people of all

cultures throughout all times have made themselves throw up after food. But no, a vomitorium is not a room where decadent party guests would go to throw up a vomitorium. It's simply a confusion of, as this guest said, Latin terms, vomit to spew forth. And so it was like an exit feature of arenas. Have you ever seen Monty Python's The Meaning of Life? No. It's one of my seen Monty Python's The Meaning of Life? No. It's one of my favorite

Monty Python movies and there's this character named Mr. Cressot and it's all vomit humor and it's so funny and you should watch it

when you have an opportunity. I'd like to do that. I think that'd be really fun. You might throw up watching it but it's funny. I think it's so funny. To this day I watch it

and I'm like, ha ha, funny. That's it. You know the funny thing so we you know we do like we like a podcast every week we do two youtube videos every week we make some little ticky-tockies you know two of them bad boys every week we wrote a whole book that's a lot you'll guest on other people's things go to a try guys go do a smosh go hit something up with Tasting History with Max Miller. You go on the radio, you know. You say so many things

out loud. It's hard to remember, yeah. Oh my God, trying to get all of them right. If I was like sitting down and writing like an essay or like a book. An essay?

An essay. I would like make real sure that I got stuff right and you wouldn't have things where you just went like, yeah, vomitory where they went to throw up. But no, you just, thus is the modern nature of content production. And you're going to get things wrong.

I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. We're not striving for perfection. We're striving for content creation. The weird thing is I knew I remember exactly the episode that you said that. And I was like, oh, that's not what that was. And then I just let it come out of my mouth. Crazy.

No, I need to be better. I need to have more accountability. I said participation trophy earlier on in the podcast. But that's okay. What do you mean? People say things and it's okay. You're not perfect. Neither am I.

I used to think the word was conveyor belt. Like Darth Convader. Stupid. You're stupid. No, it's okay. It's okay. you're not perfect neither am I I used to think the word was conveyor belt like Darth like Darth Convader stupid you're stupid no it's okay it's okay and on that note

thank you for listening to a hot dog is a sandwich we got new audio only episodes every Wednesday and a video version right here on YouTube well that comes out every Sunday

if you want to be featured on opinions or like casseroles give us a ring and leave a quick message at 833-DOGPOD1 my Roman Empire is the fact that the In-N-Out founder, Harry Snyder, invented the two-way radio call box.

Wow! No, no, can I have a new Roman Empire? No, you can only have what? Okay, it's Casa de Fritos at Disneyland. And for more Mythical Kitchen, just like whatever you assume that I'm going to say after this, just assume that I said it.

For more Mythical Kitchen and then do whatever you want. You can get more Mythical Kitchen just by going outside, taking a walk.