A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - What’s the Best Discontinued Fast Food Item of All Time?

Episode Date: November 29, 2023

Today, Josh and Nicole discuss iconic fast-food items that have been loved & lost and decide which one is the best of all time! 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. Hey, will you sign my petition? It's to fund arts programs in public schools. Um, this says bring back the bacon club chalupa. Just sign the paper. This is a hot dog is a sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what? That makes no sense.

A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the show where we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host, Josh Scher. And I'm your host, Nicole Hendizadeh-Anayadi. Why did I say

my last name wrong again? What's wrong with me? I'm just glad we officially have one signature on my petition to bring back the Bacon Club Chalupa at Taco Bell because today, Nicole, we are talking about what is the best ever discontinued fast food item. And my first entry into the competition,

it's going to be the Bacon Club Chalupa. Are there any handwriting experts out there? I want to know what my signature says about me. Your signature almost, if I were to see that written down, I would think it's a language that I had never heard of. I'd be like, oh, is this traditional Pashto writing? I think my signature is very Trumpian, actually. Is it?

Oh, my God. I think that's where I've seen that before. I have a very similar... What do you think that says about your personality? So much we can't fill it into one podcast. Wait, can I... Let me sign this. Sure.

Tell them about the Bacon Club Chalupa and how much you loved it. I never tried the Bacon Club Chalupa. You never had the Bacon Club Chalupa and how much you loved it. I never tried the Bacon Club Chalupa. You never had the Bacon Club Chalupa? I'll tell you this about fast food. I was never one of those chicks that would get the new exciting, modern thing.

I would always just get the classics. If I'm going to McDonald's, I'm getting a chicken nugget. If I go to McDonald's, I'm getting a Big Mac. If I go to Burger King, I'm getting a Whopper. That's how I've always been. I'm a purist. One of the beauties about fast food to me is that it's so cheap. I mean, God, it feels so expensive now.

Thanks, inflation. But fast food is so cheap that the opportunity cost of being disappointed by a new menu item, which happens almost all the time, it's not that big because you can come back the next day and spend another $4. The next day? But now I feel like you're spending $12, $13 on a fast food meal. If you're at Taco Bell and you're eating like I eat, you're rocking 18, 19 bucks.

That's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. But in the golden age of fast food, so for instance, I lived next to, I know I brag about this all the time, one of the top three most important Taco Bell locations in all of California. We're talking strategic importance here.

Weird flex, but okay. No, literally, this is in Mission Viejo, California, next to Tribuco Hills High School. You lived in Mission Viejo? There's so many weird little new towns that spring up around there. Technically, I lived in Rancho Santa Margarita, but my high school was in Mission Viejo. Which was how long? Like, how far? They, like, bordered each other.

And Rancho Santa Margarita wasn't a city until I was like seven years old. There's just so much new money. How long was your drive? Like 10 minutes. But then I moved up to Fountain Valley and it was like 45 minutes. Point is, there was so much foot traffic

from like a relatively diverse, you know, demographic of people and a very young age demo going through this Taco Bell. And so they would test out a lot of their new menu items at this location. That's so cool. Yeah. And so they were like, they were like, what does a slice of America, you know, want to buy from the, you know, 18 to whatever demo. And so they would test out all their new items, but they would all be like 99 cents.

So when the Crunchwrap Supreme. Shut up. Yeah. Cause they were like, we want feedback on these. We want people to buy them. Oh, that's sick. So my high school Taco Bell location was like one of the first in America to get the Crunchwrap Supreme.

And it was so exciting. We were one of the first in America to get Taco Bell breakfast. We're talking like 2000. Oh, that's so cool. We're talking like 2007 Taco Bell breakfast. And it was funny because it was so, so, so different now. And I think a lot of this has to do with the recession and everything, but they're like downsizing all the items. So now Taco Bell has like the toasted breakfast tacos. Everything's kind of smaller, cheaper. You can go more a la carte with it. But I remember eating, this is not in the running for best discontinued fast food item, but it was called the cheesy guacamole bacon grilled stuffed breakfast burrito.

So many words. And it was just a bomb. That was a lot of words. It was as big of a breakfast burrito as you'd get from like a local taqueria, except it just had so much boiling hot Taco Bell guacamole in it. I don't like hot guac. With the eggs. I can't do that.

I'm down with hot guac if it's in like a carne asada burrito or if it's at least, you know, guac that's been made fresh and it's going to taste good. But we're talking about Taco Bell. Taco Bell guac, which I will say they have made strides in lately. It used to be worse. Oh, really? It's just so, it needs to be so citric acid-y to be shelf stable. And to be considered like guacamole, you know what I mean? Sure, yeah, yeah.

It's like the essence of guacamole. When you try and boil down the flavors of it, they're like lime juice, and it's like, well, that'll make it more shelf-stable. But the hot guac with the eggs was not my favorite. But it was a very exciting time to be around fast food when you could just pay a dollar and try the new

thing. So I've been the opposite, where I get, and to this day, if there's a new fast food item, I. So it's not like that anymore. I've been the opposite where I get into this day. If there's a new fast food item, I'm trying it no matter what. I'm the opposite. I just, I look, I'm like a curmudgeon.

Like I'm driving and I'm like a Del Taco and I look and I'm like, what are they doing now? Oh, Del Taco. No, Del Taco has made strides, Nicole, because Del Taco,

Taco Bell, right? They have the lion's share of the fast food Mexican market in America Del Taco you have Taco John's you have Taco Time you've never been to those places I've never driven by Taco John's I've never sort of Taco Time I think Taco Time is actually an SNL oh I think you're right no yeah what am I thinking of I don't know. Time for tacos? Taco Town is literally an SNL skit. You're absolutely right. I was like... Jesus.

What are the other ones called? The only... I mean, I don't know. Do you consider Baja Fresh to be in the same canon? No, Baja Fresh is a contemporary to like Chipotle and Moe's Southwest Grill is the big other regional player. Yeah. But Del Taco is the West Coast one that we have

and they're making big moves to expand. It's good. They've found that Taco Bell has like the middle 60% in terms of pricing of items so Del Taco is like we're going to take the cheapest 20% and the most expensive 20% and we're making

that ours baby so Del Taco to this day still has like the cheaper crunchy taco and they'll do deals three for I mean like three for two dollars or something So Del Taco to this day still has like the cheaper crunchy taco and they'll do deals. Three for, I mean, like three for $2 or something. And then they also have like shrimp and carne asada burritos for $7. And carnitas, right? Dude, Del Taco.

It's the Treif Taco Bell. It's the Treif Taco Bell. And I love that. We're mixing dairy with crustacean with meat. You know, none of these were kosher slaughtered and they're delicious. What about octopus? I think Del Taco has to put octopus on the menu

and then we'll talk. I would absolutely love that. Would you really? No, I would try it, of course. Do you even get like octopus

at like pokey spots? Not pokey spots. Me either. I don't love cold octopus. I think that's the thing I agree with, right? Okay. Like even octopus in like a ceviche the thing I agree with, right? Okay.

Like even octopus in like a ceviche mixto or like a campechana. I like it. I like cold octopus. I love hot roasted octopus. But I also, I prefer hot roasted octopus. Yeah, same, same, same. What does this have to do with fast food items again? Oh, we were just talking about like the canon.

Okay, bacon club julep. Yeah, why do you like it so much? Okay, bacon club julep. Yeah, why do you like it so much? One of my favorite things is when a company just adds in an entirely new meat or protein to the mix. So we were talking about Del Taco, that they just go willy-nilly. They'll be like, good news, we have chornitas. We have shrimp.

We have fish tacos, all that. Taco Bell didn't really do that for a long, long time. And anytime they did, it was like very exciting. Okay. When you say exciting, is that like for the general public or for you? I like to think that I'm the Vox Populi. I am the everyman. I am the person. Vox Populi, huh?

Voice of the people out here. I think what I find exciting, literally everybody else gets excited about. So when I saw that they had bacon and avocado ranch dressing inside of a fried flatbread shell with grilled chicken, I was very excited. And I will never forget, I would ride my bike to elementary school

and middle school. And on the way back, there was a Taco Bell. And I would take whatever money I scraped together from, you know, lemonade stands or whatever the hell we were doing. I would take that

and put it right into Taco Bell and I'd try all the new items. A Taco Bell fund, if you will. It was literally a Taco Bell fund. And I would eat lunch at school and then I would take that and put it right into Taco Bell and I'd try all the new items. A Taco Bell fund, if you will. It was literally a Taco Bell fund. And I would eat lunch at school and then I would bike home and eat Taco Bell and then bike home and then eat dinner. And that was just how I lived my life. And it was great. And the Bacon Club Julep, I will never forget that first bite. If you get the fire sauce, a half packet on the first bite, and the creaminess of the avocado, that protein chew of the chicken. And then I was like, oh my God, where is that smoky base note,

the boom, boom, boom, boom coming in from? And it was the freaking bacon. And they recently brought back the Bacon Club Jalupa. Oh, they brought it back. They brought it back. I mean, they're bringing it back and discontinuing it again. Is it the same? They brought it back recently.

I imagine it's the same. You haven't tried it. But I will tell you, no, I tried it. My palate has changed. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. It was still perfectly fine, but I was like, that excitement of when I was a kid and something new came out certainly wasn't there.

Yeah. Also, when I'm looking at this, because we have a list of incredible things. A lot of these we've done on past foods. We have. Which is so exciting. We have a whole show on Mythical Kitchen called Past Foods where we review discontinued items. If you're watching this podcast, just type in past foods

in the search bar next to the about section and you'll see it. It's good. It's a good show. What is this? The Taco Bell Caramel Apple Empanada, speaking of Taco Bell, was very good. Greatest fast food dessert of all time. Incredible. Not counting Jollibee pies. Oh counting Jollibee pies.

Oh, Jollibee pies are the best pies. The way that like the crust of the empanada was like fluffy, but crispy and delicious. There was a crack-a-lan on it. It was like a crack-a-lan. Yeah, yeah. It was ridiculous. I don't know what kind of R&D they did to like, I think, you know what I think they did? I think they flash fried it and then they flash fried it again like in the actual like

wherever they make it, like the studio. The studio? The Taco Bell Test Kitchen. I've been there. It's incredible. It's like freaking Willy Wonka. They eat with golden, solid gold spoons. Is that also in Mission Viejo? Irvine. Oh, close. Used to be in, I think, like Orange or Santa Ana and then they moved to Irvine and I went

to the grand opening of their new campus in 2010 because my high school girlfriend's dad worked in HR. Oh, really? Yeah. She stayed with Irvine. That was rad, dude. I know, now she found an army guy, and they seem really happy. Oh. You know?

Okay. Yeah. Back to the camel, apple, and pinata, I think they twice fried it in the test kitchen and then they sent it over to the people to fry it. So it's a thrice fried pie. I think that's the only way that crust was like possible. Yeah. It was gorgeous.

I think that was one of my favorites too. And all this talk about McDonald's apple pies from back in the day when they used to be fried. Oh, I don't think I ever tried a fried one. We had it once. So Taco Bell at some point, right? Everybody knows they used to fry in beef tallow. Sure, yeah. And there's still one restaurant location. It's

one of their originals that I believe is in Downey, California, which is in like South LA. I've had some great food in Downey as well. I adopted my dog from Downey. Everybody loves Downey. Shout out to Downey, Artesia, Cerritos. Come on,

Inland South LA. Yes, Cerritos, I know square. But anyways, Taco Bell used to fry their pies and they have original fried pies at this location. No.

And we tried it and when I ate it, I was like, oh, that's a caramel apple empanada. Empanada is a pie. Yeah. Of course,

they just have an apple pie. Sure, it's just shaped differently. Yeah. But now that McDonald's bakes their pies, they are significantly worse. Do they have slits? They do. Okay. Do they have slits when they were fried? Some of their baked pies don't. When they were fried, do they have slits? Okay, because that wouldn't make sense. Would not make sense.

Zero sense. All the apples would leak out. I tried a strawberries and cream pie from McDonald's recently. What country is it from? No, it's just, it was an American limited time. Sounds so good. Edition.

And it was not as good as I wanted it to be, which is fine. That's the, it was $2. It's a low opportunity cost. You can try another pie. You can go to Panda Express, Nicole, and you can get their new apple pie egg rolls. A thing that exists. Are you kidding me? No, pie egg rolls. A thing that exists. Are you kidding me? No, they did it.

They finally did it. Oh my God. I don't know who was asking for that at Panda Express. They probably wanted to like corner like the dessert market. It just didn't work. I don't know what their numbers said, but there was somebody in a suit going, we need to put apple pie filling in the egg roll wrappers. Why apples?

Why are apples like the default American like fruit to fry? We grow a lot of them, you know, shout out to the state of Washington. Johnny Appleseed. That was a deranged man

just walking around. Yeah. Oh, he wore a pot on his head. That's weird, dude. That's weird. In your house, in your garden.

Can I tell you something about a small, a small little aside about strawberries and cream? Yeah. I think strawberries and cream was like the flavor of like 12-year-olds back in the day. Interesting. Like our generation of 12-year-olds.

I thought you were going to say like Victorian boys. No. Like us growing up in like the time we did, I think strawberries and cream was like the it flavor. Remember those little lifesavers? Cream savers. Dude. Were they called cream savers?

They were called creme savers. Yeah, they called cream savers? They were called cream savers. Yeah, they were cream savers. They had orange cream and strawberries and cream. The strawberries and cream flavor is like, when I think, can you taste it in your mouth right now? I'm salivating from it. Isn't it ridiculous? I wish more people did strawberries and cream stuff.

Well, I'm an orange cream. I've always been a dreamsicle man myself. Me too. Me too. Me too. Dreamsicles are great. Do you know how I eat dreamsicles? Orange Julius, another discontinued fast food. I love Orange Julius.

Millennials killed Orange Julius. Do you know how I eat a dreamsicle? What? I eat all of the orange on the outside first. Suck down the icy vanilla ice cream. I have one thing I want to talk about. What's it? Sichuan sauce, Josh.

Sichuan sauce. You remember it? It came out. People were okay with it. They took it away. Rick and Morty brought it back and the internet

went ablaze. Remember that? We even redid it once. We did. We made it from scratch and I ate the original Sichuan sauce. And what did you think about it?

The actual taste of the sauce? The actual sauce I didn't care about. I didn't care about the sauce. I was like, wow, I got to get this sauce and all my foods. I thought the absolute insanity and the hoi polloi

around it is what really interested me. Yeah, it was a Rick and Morty. I don't watch Rick and Morty. I think it's funny, I just don't watch cartoons. I'm okay with it. My favorite part was about Rick and Morty throughout the whole thing was the way that they animated the eyeballs. The eyeballs had little squiggles and that's the only redeem they animated the eyeballs. The eyeballs had like little squiggles

and that's the only redeemable quality about them. I was a King of the Hill guy. Really? I was an adult swimmer. Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. Robot Chicken used to scare me

like the theme song used to give me really bad anxiety so I had to turn it off. I ate the Szechuan sauce and I thought it was perfectly fine. I thought we were having a moment. I don't know.

Sorry. I didn't watch like Adult Swim. I didn't watch it. I I didn't watch a ton of I loved Adult Swim Like King of the Hill Simpsons South Park That was kind of my big three

Family Guy as well I liked Family Guy You got into like The kind of weirder stuff Like Aqua Teen Hunger Force I loved I was just like I don't

I loved What's the one with Death Clock I don't know Death Clock Metal It was like a metal show Oh the metal one The metal show I never watched

Metalocalypse Metalocalypse Metalocalypse It was funny I just like you know played sports I wrote down a list

of my all time favorite disc okay Josh you want to take it away I had Taco Bell Caramel Apple Empanada I'm just going to list them off to you

see if you remember any of these this one is a bit of a deep cut but it was I don't know about ahead of its time. I freaking love this. I thought it was so well done. Wendy's ciabatta bacon cheeseburger. Was this the one with Asiago? No. Wendy's, I don't know why they bet so big on Asiago. Asiago. Do you remember those ads? Yes. It was a multi, multi-million dollar ad campaign

around Asiago cheese, which is fine. It was like a fine, I don't know. It'd be like betting the horse on like Munster, like Fontina, where like their fine cheese

is just, I don't know if it's special enough to launch a whole line of fast food. I think I understand the thought process. Asiago bagels, very, very good. Asiago bagels, very, very good. Asiago on another bread that is similar to a bagel or ciabatta, very good.

And probably like low enough cost. I think I got where they're coming from. I think it's cheap. It's cheap. It's not like Reggiano or Pecorino. Those actually have like government protections on. Like a stamp of approval. Yeah, for real.

But like Asiago has none of that. So you can kind of call anything Asiago. And also it's Italian, so it sounds fancy, which is psychology of why wendy's introduced a ciabatta bacon cheeseburger and a ciabatta chicken sandwich did they come out at the same time as the asiago sandwich it was around the same era it was that and also the frescata line which i also have in here okay because i can see the i can see like the the through line of the roasted tomato the garlic aioli the asiago it all makes sense that that's what we're talking about. Roasted tomato on a burger is one of my favorite things in the world.

I roast my own tomatoes at home all the time when I'm making burgers. I know. And also the ciabatta, it was like, it was still fast food bread, right? So it's still cakey and soft enough, but had just enough chew and yield to it, you know? It was perfect. It was perfect. The garlic and the aioli. So passionate.

It was so good. And then Wendy's, they completely flipped. They're in Thai because they had the frescata, the ciabatta, the asiago, very Italian, trying to be the fresh maker, right, of the fast food world. And then the Baconator came out and they're like, oh, all people want is more bacon and cheese. And fat. And burger patties and fat.

Yeah. And it kind of killed me. I thought Wendy's was, they were really cooking in the mid two thousands. Um, and then they had to go back to their core competencies and it's just bacon, everything.

Well, yeah, it makes sense. It makes sense. Uh, other ones. I have Taco Bell, naked chicken,

Chalupa. That was awesome. Audacious, audacious. That was awesome. And the most audacious menu item I've ever seen. It was beautiful. They took a Chalupa,

which is already a very specific regional Mexican food. It is like a small tosta. You dip the tortilla in oil. You depress it with a ladle, and it creates a little hole. And chalupa means a little boat. And then Taco Bell, they took naan bread, right? And they cut it into a circle, and they deep fried it, and then they called that a chalupa.

But then Taco Bell took chicken meat. They took chicken force meat, and they made that into a circle, and they breaded that, and they fried just chicken. It's a fried, non-shaped little boat named Chicken Force Meat Shell. Josh, this is just capitalizing on the protein keto craze. It was. I know, I know. Because when this came out, like four years ago?

This was in, what, 2014? Not 2014. 10 years ago. No, this was in like no like 2018 2018 are you sure 2019 okay okay 2019 maybe i'm saying 2019 okay you could say 2019 i'm saying it because i used to go to the grocery store and i would see all these new things popping up like uh like a chicken crust or like or like chicken this and chicken that and it was just egg wrap yeah yeah exactly like all of that's called an omelet homie that's called an omelet, homie. That's called an omelet. You're egg wrapped.

That's called an omelet. Like all of these like health conscious or health aware like foods. So you're not eating like bread and stuff. And this is just a response to that. But it's just a fast food response to that. Humans are so stupid. We are so. I think they're pretty smart.

I think humans are smart and innovative. What is. Stop. You need to do me a favor josh in order for you to continue to be the jovial young stunning man you are you need to be happier there are literally health food products out there called fat bomb and they're advertising how high of a fat content they have and then saying it's for health reasons why are you mad about it because we're very... Some people need to go into ketosis or whatever. Yeah, like children with epilepsy to prevent their seizures, which is why the diet was

created in the first place anyways. Okay, why are you still holding a Sharpie? I like Sharpies. My point is, the naked chicken chalupa, I don't know if it's endorsed officially by the keto community. It's endorsed by me, though. By the protein community. By the protein community.

It's certainly, even though I don't believe the macros on it, whatever I'm going to talk about, I am not caring about the macros. Let me tell you that. Um, I liked it because it was just fried chicken with like banchan inside it. Right. It was just a piece of fried chicken. And then inside was like a sauce and like lettuce and tomato. Banchan is a stretch. I just don't think banchan is the right word. What about ingredients? I love eating meats with just like acidic and crunchy things. And that's all this was. It was just fried meats with acidic and crunchy things. The only thing it was missing

a little of beef. Oh. Why did they not put beef in there? I think people would be turned off by it. I want the beef sludge with my chicken. You know what's so crazy about Taco Bell? You can customize.

This is before the custom. Like you could still ask, but I was too ashamed. Oh yeah. So you wanted them to do a foray so you didn't feel ashamed? You want to just naturally in the charter? Yeah. So you didn't have to do it yourself? And this would have been just after their chicken chips, right? Which was Taco Bell's foray into the nugget category.

I think I remember those. And then they also had their foray into the chicken sandwich category. Oh, yeah. I did not like that either. Which was Taco Bell, I feel, they have perfected so many items that it's really difficult for them to come out with new ones. Did they ever do taquitos? They called them, yeah, they did. They did, but they, of course, called them like rolled dipping tacos.

Were they cheese filled, right? No, so they had some that were filled with shredded chicken and they were proper, like what you'd find in the freezer section, taquitos. But another great discontinued Taco Bell menu item were called the loaded grillers. I remember the loaded. Chipotle chicken loaded griller. Light me up.

It was like a mayonnaise-y sauce in there, right? Yeah, I remember that very well. The delivery mechanism for Chipotle has to be mayonnaise, and the mayonnaise has to get hot. And then the mayonnaise melts with the chicken and becomes a gravy, you see. But they were really, really good. I remember. This is just a love letter to talk about at this point.

You know there's other places you can talk about. We got to talk about other places. We got through Wendy's. I didn't care for Wendy's. We're still missing my, you don't care for any Wendy's? No. I'll eat it sometimes. To me, they lost their identity that made me love them.

I will say their Frosty game I love. Frosty's. And their french fries. Strawberry Frosty's great. Their french fries are good. I like the skin on them. Because I used to go to Wendy's for all the things that I couldn't find at a Burger King, a Carl's Jr. or anything. I used to go, I mean, the chili, the baked potato, the Caesar salad, the Frescata sandwiches.

They filled in the cracks. They were the cock. If I needed those things, I would just go to like the store. You're the cock that filled the crack. I'm happy you've said cock twice on this podcast now. Sorry. I had to. Mature.

Grow up, Josh. What's up? We haven't mentioned my favorite one of all time. Oh my gosh, what is it? Should we mention it now or should I save it? Because we can stall more time and talk about Carl's Jr. What does Carl's Jr. do? They had all the cool burgers?

They had all the cool burgers. All of them? The million dollar burgers? Six dollar burger. Oh, sorry. I thought it was a million dollars no I thought they called it that

the six dollar burger was a dig at places like Denny's where Denny's you would go there and you'd get a burger and it would cost six dollars and they're like

our six dollar burger is actually $2.49 or whatever but now inflation is caught up oh okay so six dollars for a burger used to be expensive

and that meant it would be thick and nice. I don't remember that at all. This was like 2000, 2001, something like that.

Wow. How old was I in 2001? Nine. Yeah, I wasn't buying burgers. But then inflation caught up so quick that they had to rename it

to just the thick burger. Okay. But they have played around so much in that territory and I think they've found some really great stuff. They had the El Diablo Thick Burger, which they recently brought back. That was fantastic.

They had fried jalapeno poppers on the burger. Oh, my gosh. I do remember that. And then they're also responsible for some of the worst discontinued fast food items of all time. Oh, yeah? Okay. Including the most American Thick Burger. Oh, yeah. Didn't they have a hot dog?

Uh-oh. Hot dog. Populi, come on the show. Bobby Lee, come on the show. Bobby Lee, come on man. I give you a little kiss. Yeah, the hot dog and potato chips,

but the potato chips are on top of the lettuce. That sounds... And they got wet. Josh, can I tell you something? That sounds like a dream to eat

at like a barbecue when like you're like seven and like your hands are still wet from the pool and you're like, you take your goggles off. I thought you were going to say seven beers deep. Oh no. Because I agree with that. Oh no. I guess seven year old me still wet from the pool and you're like, you take your goggles off. I thought you were going to say seven beers deep.

Oh no. Because I agree with that. Oh no. I guess seven-year-old me coming out of the pool is very similar to seven beers deep me now. We have similar, yeah, we both have wet hands going into Dorito bags. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think that is, it's a shame that they discontinued that. I agree. Was it with a side of Freedom Fries or something? No, but the, yo, their marketing campaign, they had all the sexy lady marketing campaigns. I agree. Was it with the side of Freedom Fries or something? No, but the their marketing campaign, they had all the sexy lady marketing campaigns. I loved those ads. I know they were a little bit like sexist or whatever, but I loved

Paris Hilton riding the bull. The car cleaning. Paris Hilton washing the car. Yeah, I loved them. Kim Kardashian eating salad in a bathtub because she couldn't eat a burger. Oh yeah, and then the drip of sauce, the drip of dressing. I remember that. Very suggestive dressing dress.

I thought it was fun. What was the ad that was like, twins? That was Coors Light. I like... And twins! I like burritos at 4 a.m. Yeah, real.

That really conditioned a whole generation of young men to think that casual incest was just very normal. Yeah. That was the thing we were supposed to desire was being in a romantic partnership with two identical twins who are presumably going to be. It's just it was very strange time.

I remember the lyrics. For all of us. I love. Sports and. Big, big cars. I love weekends. This is like the third bar. And the beer.

And twins. It was that. This is like the third bar. And the beer. And twins. It was that. I love burritos at 4 a.m. Chilling with my friends and.

And twins. Very good. God, no, but that had the same energy as Carl's Union commercials. Totally, totally. No, I think it was for the El Diablo Thickburger. The commercial was like, they were at the Mexican-American border. And it was like, they were playing were playing volleyball maybe over a border fence and they were like hot

Latino women and hot American women and the crowd like coalesced over them just objectifying women and it was like we're all the same El Diablo Thickburger I'm watching this as a 14 year old just like word yeah that makes word that makes sense

Carl's Jr. has had an incredible arc and I have a deep love for them let's talk about Burger King their Santa Fe chicken sandwich is great Burger King, oh yeah Burger King they've been at the peak of innovation there's one thing that I have to mention that I feel like we would also do

and we would be so proud of ourselves doing. What? The mac and Cheetos. I literally invented those. Wait, you know the story. What? Do you not know the story? You invented them?

No, like- Did you talk about this on the podcast? Actually, I don't know. I don't know if we've talked about it before. I've talked about it somewhere, but- Are you sure you can say this without getting sued by Big Burger? A hundred percent. No, no, no, no, no.

So what had happened was I created a recipe for breaded mac and cheese fries. Fries. No, but I mean, they were, no, no. So what had happened was I created a recipe for breaded mac and cheese fries. Fries. No, but I mean, they were, yeah, they were exactly like what Burger King

ended up doing. Shaped the same. Correct. In the curl of a Cheeto. It was not in the curl of a Cheeto and I didn't crust them with Cheetos. I crusted them with Chicharrones, but let me tell you the story.

Okay, continue. It's okay. So I made mac and cheese like log fries crusted in Chicharrones and then I put chili on them. I wrote it on my blog Culinary Bro Down. Kyle Marcouxcu the vulgar chef who has now been featured on gmm many times he made a video and wrote a blog post where he was like i'm gonna crust mac and cheese fries

and cheetos and he shouts me out in the description of his video and says hey i'm taking inspiration from josh over at culinarybrodown.com. And like six months later, out come mac and Cheetos from Burger King using the exact same method that Kyle Marcoux did. Do I think that this is just convergent evolution and it all happened at the same time? Burger King, you probably have to work on new menu items for like years.

Maybe. But I'd like to think that Kyle Marcoux, the vulgar chef with the assist pow alley-oop from me invented mac and cheetos and it still hurts both of us

that we've seen zero mac and cheese money Kyle you deserve better man you are entitled to compensation please call 833-DOG-POD-1

to state your claim did you or if you have mesothelioma did you think they were good the mac and cheetos no yeah I just I've never had a DogPod1 to state your claim. Or if you have mesothelioma. Did you think they were good, the mac and cheetos? No. Yeah, I've never had a fried mac and cheese that I thought was better than just a bowl of mac and cheese.

Oh, no. Well, like Cheesecake Factory does a good mac and cheese fried bowl. Really? Yeah, I like it. I don't know. I don't know if I need it to be fried. I like it. I don't even know if I like breadcrumbs or mac and cheese. Okay.

I like Ritz on my mac and cheese. No, my favorite fast food item that's been discontinued of all time, there's just not that much to say about it except Popeye's. You got to bring back the spicy loaded chicken wrap. Those chicken wraps were fire. That's the only negative thing you can say about Popeye's. They were so fire. Because they had the red beans and rice in a soft,

the tortillas were weirdly orange. Nobody knows why. Those were good. And then there was just a chicken strip in there and you got the vinegary hot sauce. Really good. You're getting fried chicken, mushy beans and rice in a burrito

and they were like $1.29. You load it up with Louisiana hot sauce and that was the greatest fast food menu item of all time and it is gone. It was really good. And then you take the mac and cheese and put a little bit on it? Yeah. Oh, my goodness.

You make the world your oyster. It was truly a great time. I once went to a house party when I was 16, and afterwards— You went to house parties? What? No way. Actually, I went with my brother to his friend's house party, and it was— Like in Hereditary?

I've never seen that movie. Do you think I've seen Hereditary? I've talked about it like 80 times with you in the hopes that you would watch it. Yeah, no, of course. No, I'm never going to watch Hereditary think I've seen Hereditary? I've talked about it like 80 times with you in the hopes that you would watch it. Yeah, no, of course, no. I'm never going to watch Hereditary. I don't like to be scared. I'm a coward.

That's how I fight against toxic masculinity is I just be a coward. But I ate six of them. I ate six of them at like midnight and it was the greatest meal of my life. No, afterwards. We were in the drive-thru. We had a DVD.

And also I was 16, so we're all sober. And we drove through. Your eyebrow raised. You're right out my razor. Everything safely and in moderation, and also I was 16 so we're all sober and we drove through your eyebrow raise you're right everything safely and in moderation except for spicy loaded

tortilla wraps when Josh lies or like has an aside he raises one eyebrow and that's what I've discovered from

being friends with you for how many years so we agree yeah Popeye's spicy loaded chicken wrap bring it back bring it back from the past like the show we do and bring ciabatta back to society in general we miss it i love you you love ciabatta get the hell out of here it's too chewy i'd rather eat focaccia it's fluffier All right, Nicole.

We've heard what you and I have to say. It's time to find out what other wackadoodle ideas are floating out there in the universe. It's time for a segment we call... Opinions are like casseroles. Genetically, what makes somebody able to sing? And why can't I do it? I think you can sing. I think, no, I'm like the penguin from Happy Feet.

I can't do it. Duh. Duh. Ray. Off to a horrible start. All right. Before we get to that, we're going to do everyone's favorite segment,

Review a Review. That's where we take one of your reviews from Apple Podcasts. Please go out there and review us and we review it ourselves. This one is from Hannah Duvall.

Ice in cereal, five stars. Josh, do you really put ice in your cereal? First off, I'm giving this review five stars off the bat

because I love that you tried to reach me through our Apple Podcast reviews page as opposed to any direct social link. But it works. And it works because my DMs are flooded mostly the pics of what you'd think. Nudes.

Yeah, but only from men. Because men are grosser than not men. So anyways. Talk about putting words in my mouth. Am I right? They tell me to put others.

Anyways. Uh, so I really put ice in my cereal. It is not a matter of policy, but, um, Justine Sterling, editor in chief of spork.com mentioned that it's actually very good.

And I like a lot of iced milk desserts. When I say a lot of ice milk desserts, I mean, one, I mean, jet high, the Vietnamese dessert. There's ice floating with a bunch of various jellies and lychee and other fruits in like a sweetened pandan coconut milk.

Yummy. And the ice just keeps it so cool. And I was like, why not put ice in dairy milk? There's no reason you wouldn't want to be like, it waters it down, like drink faster. So I put ice in my cereal and it keeps the milk very cold and it waters it down. Like, drink faster. So I put ice in my cereal, and it keeps the milk very cold, and it's a delight. However, when you can't get the ice cube off the spoon,

you got to crunch through the cereal and the ice. That's rough. You got to get big ice cubes. You can't use like pebble ice. Like a whiskey cube. You can't. Yeah, a whiskey cube. That'd be perfect.

Exactly. I agree. I would love to eat it out of an ice bowl. But I would never do this because it's silly. It's very silly. Okay. Okay. Five stars.

Let's get to those opinions. I'm going to make you practice singing later. I wasn't expecting that. Why not? Nobody ever is. Nicole, Josh. Oh, yeah? First off, love the show.

Thanks, buddy. If I may, for just a moment. You may. Taco Bell. Oh. They bring back items the show. Thanks, buddy. If I may, for just a moment. You may. Taco Bell. They bring back items like the Enchirito or the Double Decker, and everyone loses their mind. Why on earth have they not brought back the Volcano Nacho Sauce line? Maybe it's just me.

Was that not the epitome of the history of Taco Bell? I mean, I feel like it outranks the days when everyone's favorite Chihuahua introduced the Chalupa. It's better than what we have now. Yo quiero Taco Bell. So what's up with that? Or am I just crazy? I thought it was the best.

Hmm. I have, I have a lot of thoughts. Didn't they bring it back for a second? Am I imagining that? Did they bring back the volcano? Maggie, can you look that up real quick?

I don't know if they ever did. Um, we've recreated it. And I, I remember when the volcanocano menu came out. There's a Volcano burrito and a Volcano taco. And it was a very exciting time. The Volcano sauce or the lava sauce they called it was actually quite spicy.

And it was delicious. I think a couple reasons why they brought back other menu items. Say the double-decker taco. They already have all the ingredients there. Right? It just was literally taking up too much space on a menu board. But they could always make it and now with their

new customization plan you can just make it yourself effectively. Right? The bringing back lava sauce would sort of mean negating

all of their like say the rattlesnake sauce was a new thing they had with the rattlesnake fries and the rattlesnake burrito. Was that the habanero? I don't even know what

because they've done some like ghost chili things before. Yeah, that's true. But basically lava sauce is lost out through the sands of history to ghost pepper, creamy ghost pepper ranch or whatever they called it. That might have been a Wendy's thing. I think that's a Wendy's thing. But like the Taco Bell has had so many creamy red sauces

with newer, more exciting names that there just must not be a thing. And then the red taco shells without any additional flavoring I think would be too confusing given the fact that they had red taco shells with the fiery Doritos Locos taco.

Oh, yeah. Why did I think it was Flamin' Hot? They never got the Flamin' Hot branding on it and I don't know why. From what I've heard, I don't know if this is verified, the agreement to do Doritos Locos tacos was almost like a handshake agreement between Frito-Lay and PepsiCo.

Interesting. Which owns Taco Bell and Yum! Brands. And so there's some just weird legality behind it. But they never did Flamin' Hot. They did Fiery. They discontinued Fiery, which I would, again, add to my list of best discontinued items. Yeah, that was good. That was good.

Right? The Cool Ranch is fine. And then the nacho cheese is not my favorite. Me too. It just, it clashes. Yeah, I agree. Because there's real cheese on it already. Oh my God, yeah, exactly.

I don't like the chemical cheese with the real cheese. Exactly my thought process. Yes. So they already had a better red taco shell. I weep for the volcano menu. I wish I could go back to eat that, and also the blackjack taco with the black-dyed taco shell in creamy pepper jack sauce.

No, I never saw that. But I understand exactly where you're coming from. I have the same nostalgia, but I also understand why Taco Bell would not bring it back. Astute question. Hi, Josh and Nicole. My name is Lily. I'm from Idaho. I wanted to ask your opinion about finger steaks.

They're kind of an Idaho thing. What's the vibe? What do you think? My opinion is that they're better than chicken nuggets. Okay. Thanks. Trevor has made us finger steaks before. He is also an Idaho native. Shout out Boise.

Shout out Marin County. Marin County? His family's from Marin? Isn't it Meridian? I think his family's from a place called Meridian. Oh, did I say Marin? Isn't Marin County like a rich county in California? Yeah, it's in San Francisco. I got confused. I'm sorry. a sandwich from a place called Meridian. Oh, did I say Marin? Isn't Marin County like a rich county in California? Yeah.

It's in San Francisco. I got confused. I'm sorry. I mean, Meridian! Shout out to the Vault Cigar Lounge in Boise. Vault Cigar. Yeah. Finger steaks are good. They're not better than chicken nuggets, though. But I'm a chicken nugget connoisseur, so. So, finger steaks are a chicken fried steak.

Oh, yeah. Explain to people what it is. I'm not missing this out. It's a chicken fried steak, but the steaks are a chicken fried steak. Oh yeah, explain to people what it is. I'm not missing this out. It's a chicken fried steak but the steaks are cut into strips beforehand. AKA fingers. So it's chicken fingers

but it's steak fingers except they for some reason call it finger steaks. That's right. Personally, personally, these are not my favorite. I think

frying, even chicken fried steak I like the idea of fried steak I like the idea of more than I like the taste of it and I've been to some of the best spots in Oklahoma City

I've eaten it I get the appeal it's real cowboy cuisine right it is hearty you know I'm more there for the fried

anything covered in gravy yeah right I think the steak is not the best thing to fry I'm not personally the biggest fan of finger steaks

but you go a little bit more north to the Dakotas and you get, what do they call it? Is it chislik? Have you ever had like shishlik? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a Turkish thing. Yeah, yeah, I've heard of chislik. There's an Americanified version of like shishlik,

I think called chislik. Yeah. That's just, you know, a little toothpick, meat gobbets up in the Dakotas. So yeah, go a little more north and then you'll find the regional delicacies that I love. Cheers, Lick. Hey, Josh and Nicole.

This is Jordan from Minnesota. Love the pod. Great regional food spot. My opinion is that I judge every Chinese takeout restaurant based off of their sesame chicken. If the sesame chicken is not good, it's not a good Chinese restaurant. Okay.

Thanks. Love the pod. Bye not good, it's not a good Chinese restaurant. Okay. Thanks. Love the pod. Bye. That's me with fried rice. Andrea, well, at the Chinese takeout spots you grew up going to, did they have something called

sesame chicken? No, only orange chicken. Same. So Minnesota is actually one of the nexuses of regional Chinese-American food delineation, right? Oh. So from how I understand it.

Those are all words that I understand. How I understand it, there's a fantastic documentary called Searching for General Shou. And I don't even know how to pronounce General Shou because so many people pronounce it in so many different ways. General Shou. General Shou. General. Whatever you want to call it, which he was a real person, by the way.

They go into it in the documentary. You have to watch the documentary. I'm not going to remember the whole story. But what I learned is that orange chicken was invented in Pasadena, California by the Panda Restaurant Group. Then the Panda Inn. So damn good.

General Tso's was a very East Coast thing. I didn't even grow up with General Tso's chicken because every Chinese place here had orange chicken. Sesame chicken, I believe, and maybe lemon chicken are, I think, invented in, I mean, sesame chicken is a bigger category, but I think those specific ways of preparing it are very much a Minnesota, specifically Minneapolis thing. So the type of Chinese American food that you grew up with in Minnesota is going to be different than what we grew up with in Southern California. And I think that's beautiful because I would judge every Chinese restaurant

on their orange chicken. You're right. That's the main menu item is a fried chicken nugget, effectively. My question. Covered in sugar. So are you saying orange chicken, General Tso's, and sesame chicken are all similar but not the same? Correct.

Cool. And they are all based off of what I believe is a Hunanese dish that is called like citrus peel chicken that has vaguely some connection to General Shell.

I would love to try that. Same. Like orange peel. They probably use like bitter orange peel or mandarin peel in it. Probably mandarin, yeah. Probably, I mean,

a lot of citrus in East Asia. Yeah. But yeah, check out the documentary Searching for General Shell. It's fascinating. Hey, Josh and Nicole,

this is Rice from Northern Virginia. Long time caller, first time listener. Anyway, I just wanted to say that little oyster crackers

that you get for putting on top of soups and chowders and all of that, they are a trash option. And what you should use instead is kettle-cooked potato chips. Oh, you're right.

They get that nice texture of being both fried and wet. Love that texture. Josh, I know you're also a fan of fried wet things and wet potato chips in general. It adds more flavor, more texture. It's just generally a better thing. Anyway, love the pod. It's my favorite way to learn

about extremism. Have a good one. Oh, that took a dark turn. You're right. Rice, you're right. At first I was like, no. Do we teach people about extremism? Oh, no. About the oyster crackers. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We don't teach people about extremism. It's no, about the oyster crackers. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't teach people about extremism. It's just, it's always been a common fascination of mine. What extremism have we taught people? I have expressed, like, when I casually throw out things like the state is only defined by its monopoly on violence, it's a paraphrasing of a Max Weber quote from the early 1900s. You know, things like that are kind of in that line. What I'm saying is, if a clam chowder is perfectly seasoned... It doesn't need anything?

Well, do I want to add more... Salt to it? Salt to it. Well, okay, no, but hear me out. A chef once told me, under-seasoned plus seasoned equals under-seasoned. Seasoned plus seasoned equals seasoned, if that makes sense. I don't agree with that statement. Oyster crackers are under-seasoned, right?

They're bland. They're just bland. Yeah. And so if your clam chowder isseasoned, right? They're bland. They're just bland. Yeah. And so if your clam chowder is perfectly seasoned, you're adding something bland to it, you're reducing the seasoning. But potato chips are perfectly seasoned. But are you willing to take,

are you willing to sacrifice a little bit of seasoning for a better texture? Yeah, absolutely. And you're saying that oyster crackers have a better texture than potato chips. Yeah, they do. But I like the idea texture than potato chips. Yeah, they do. But I like the idea of putting potato chips in my soup. Same. It needs the crunchiness.

It's like a chicken tortilla soup. I mean, you put the fried tortilla chips in a soup. That's a delight. Oh, my gosh. My sister used to be such a chicken tortilla soup girl. I used to make fun of her all the time. I hated it. I don't love it.

I despise it. It's just been a very American thing. They thicken't love it. I despise it. It's just been, it's a very American thing. They thicken it with like, I just tasted it in my mouth. They like thicken it with like tortillas, right? Yeah, yeah, like masa. I don't like it. You don't like that? Oh, I love it.

I like the wet tortillas in there. I don't like it. I used to be like, you're drinking tortillas. And she's like, shut up, Nicole. Ain't nothing wrong with that. It's like, what's the drink? Atole? I like Atole.

I love Atole. I've made Atole many times. Yeah, it's a good stuff. Champurrado? I've made champurrado many times. But anyways, I've never tried potato chips in my clam chowder, which seems shocking to me. And now I'm going to try it, especially kettle cooked. Like you said, wet soaking into fried.

That's going to hold up a lot better than like a Lay's standard cook. Yeah. Ooh, ruffles might be nice in there too. I never liked Ruffles. What? You and I like... There's Ridges. I don't give any fancy cuts. You and I murked a bag of Ruffles Extreme Ridges Buffalo Chicken with a basketball player on it.

Do you not remember that? It was a Jason Tatum, I think. I don't remember. Until he wins a ring, I'm not eating his Ruffles anymore. Okay. All right. Well, that's it. Are we done?

We have run out of time. Wow, we talked so much. We did talk so much. Well, thank you all for listening to a hot dog is a sandwich. Sorry for teaching you about extremism. We got new audio-only episodes every Wednesday. Video comes out on Sunday. Doe.

What am I supposed to do after that? Doe Ray. Not even I can do do after that? Do, re. Not even I can do it. No, but it goes, it's like a scale. Like it goes up in pitch. Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. Okay, let's give, do you want me to give an earnest attempt at doing that? Yeah.

Don't look at you. Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. That is earnest, dude. I i swear that's the best i can do we're gonna work on it i know i don't know how to do it we're gonna work on it if you want to be featured on opinions are like casseroles hit us up at 833 dog pod one the number again is 833 dog pod one bro i'm like when i'm a karaoke when i'm doing the oki i'm all stage presence no singing ability i know you know what i mean of course you know what i mean i've course I am. You know what I mean? I've been there. Also, I rewatched the video of me doing that recently. I kept my phone and you can hear the glass that you shattered.

I didn't shatter it. That wasn't, you were at that table. I did not shatter it. There were like four people at that table and none of you take responsibility for shattering glass. Who shattered the glass? I literally did not do it. There's shattered glass under my feet.

I'm jumping, getting the crowd pumped up in the wash pit. I know who it was. I'm not going to call them out. Katrina, Katrina and FSC. Katrina. Anyways, for more Mythical Kitchen, check out the other videos. We launch new episodes every week. See you all next time. She denied it to my face. She's a liar. I wasn't mad about it. Katrina, you lied.

It was you. They let me finish the song and then afterwards you hear the DJ be like, that was Josh with Chop Suey by System of a Down. Everybody, please be careful of the broken glass you're so proud