A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Is Nashville Hot Chicken Overrated?

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

Today, we ask the question: is hot chicken overrated? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. No, we got a lot of fun stuff coming up. Such topics as why come food is. How food why. To do cooking. Like cooking, maybe. See y'all in the new year. You can't throw a nickel down the damn street without hitting a Nashville hot chicken restaurant these days. But today we ask the question, is hot chicken overrated? Also, why are you throwing nickel? Stop doing that.

That's weird. You're going to hurt somebody. This is a hot dog is a sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what? That makes no sense. A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the show where we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host, Josh Ayer. And I'm your host, Nicole Anaiti.

And Nicole, today we take an official stance on throwing nickels down streets. How do you feel? That was a great intro. I was not anticipating that. Yeah, right? That's a fun thing. You throw a nickel. And really, you can't throw a nickel without hitting a Nashville hot chicken, especially a pop-up in Los Angeles. Yeah, LA is like the hub of Nashville hot chicken.

It's getting pretty bananas up here. Almost as much as Nashville. I'd say probably more than Nashville, just because, you know, for us, it's like a novel thing. Yeah. It didn't exist too much in L.A. Like, I remember, I'm trying to think the first time I had Nashville hot chicken. Do you remember?

I don't remember the first time I had it. Suddenly, like, it was almost nowhere. I'd heard of it, of course. And then it was everywhere within a span of like four years. And it's not just L.A. We hear you commenters who say stop with the regional stuff. This is a wide audience. L.A.'s cool, man.

We've got a lot of cool stuff. We're a trendsetter. Honestly, I credit Howlin' Ray's Johnny Ray's own friend of the show. I'm sorry if I say anything that offends you today because you make a fantastic chicken. You are a good person. It's just a good food. Yeah, it is. The way he has perfected his craft is incredible.

Yeah, so there's one restaurant in Los Angeles called Howlin' Rays that I believe is responsible for kicking off a lot of the hot chicken trend. I'd say so. I'd say in the cities, but also there's always like Hattie B's and like those actual like Nashville originators.

Oh, of course. Yeah, and that is to say that like the originators, so Hattie B's is actually not one of the originators. Oh, really? Yeah. But you kind of thought they would, right? Well, everyone knows it. I feel like Hattie B's is not.

Everyone knows it did not start until 2012. It was a family of, not restaurateurs, but one was the CEO of a chain of cafeterias called Morrison's Cafeterias that were famously pro-segregation. Bad, bad restaurant chain back in the civil rights era yeah and then

Hattie B's was like the the son of the family opened it in 2012 they were copying from Prince's and Bolton's were two of the first

Prince's Prince's is OG huh? exactly exactly and actually there is an OG restaurant

from someone from the Prince family called Hotville Chicken in L.A. That's really fantastic. Oh, I've heard Hotville. Yeah, Hotville is really great. And I mean, Johnny from Howlin' Rays, he really put it on the map with his use of social media as well. And I think that's one of the reasons that Hot Chicken is so big. I mean, the red.

I mean, whatever photographer this guy hired to do his marketing. Dude with an iPhone. Incredible. I mean, I mean, the way whatever photographer hired to do his marketing dude with an iPhone. Incredible. I mean, I mean, it's beautiful. Like, it's just so jarring and it's alarming. And you're like, chicken shouldn't be that color, but it is. And then they dip it in the comeback sauce. Oh, my God. And then there's a pickle like a like a rogue pickle.

And you're like, oh, my God. And then it's on top of a piece of bread. And you're like, ah, I have to eat it. It's not just the Nashville hot chicken that blew up. It's specifically the Nashville hot chicken sandwich. And we see the extensions of this branching out, right? We talk about the chicken sandwich wars all the time. On the podcast, Popeye's changed the game with their chicken sandwich.

And then you have McDonald's, Carlos Jr., Burger King, KFC. KFC, good. I like KFC. They make good chicken. KFC is close second to Popeye's. I agree with that. You and I have the same rankings. But are you familiar with the way that like high fashion works?

Because I certainly am. Of course. So like. I know all about high fashion. You get all these. Honey. Did you forget where I'm from? I'm going to go ahead and paraphrase everything I know, which is from a 30 second clip from

Devil Wears Prada, which I hadn't watched till recently. So good. It was so good. Adrian Grenier plays a pretty bad chef. Did not like his part. No, he's like, there's a scene where he's making Anne Hathaway a grilled cheese and he keeps flipping it back and forth because that's what a chef does, apparently. And it's like, that makes no sense, dude.

I just did that with a quesadilla that I made for V, so I kept flipping it over and over. Yeah, the Adrian Grenier method of cheese melting. But no, there's this scene where Meryl Streep is Anne Hathaway is like no one cares about this high fashion BS and then

Meryl Streep is like in the 1974 East Saint Laurent show he debuted the bow tie blah blah blah dress and then that one Pantone color ended up in every

Nordstrom across America you know and that was actually a learning moment for me because I will of course see, see these, like, fashion shows and I'm like, ah, a person's wearing, like, a trash bag with, like, a clear visor and, like, you know, spiked sandals. That's dumb.

Terry Mugler, 2019. Amen, sister. You're preaching to the choir on the Terry Mugler. But you know what I mean? Like, they introduce these, like, crazy ideas in a very small metropolitan setting that ends up in a department store. That's the same thing I think that happened with Nashville Hot Chicken. You think Nashville Hot Chicken is high fashion? In a way.

In a way. In terms of it being in. And I'm specifically calling Howlin' Ray's one of the progenitors here. And again, this is something that's dating back, you know, 50 years in Nashville, predominantly black owned restaurants. And, you know, unfortunate reality of how, you know, ideas spread via social media, et cetera, et cetera. Those who have the marketing tend to win. So this isn't to discredit like the OGs of the Nashville Hot Chicken Game. But I think with the recent national blow up across, I meanFC, Buffalo Wild Wings Arby's had a damn Nashville

hot fish sandwich It was good Nashville hot fish is kind of hot fire food. You know what is that? Bolton's Bolton's is the originator of the hot fish. I think it works better than a hot chicken in fact. I do too I do too. Unpopular opinion. That's what the question should be

Is Nashville hot fish underrated? Hell yeah it is dude. Yeah it is. I love Give the question should be. Is Nashville hot fish underrated? Hell yeah, it is, dude. Yeah, it is. I love Nashville. Give me more fried fish. Fried fish is better than fried chicken. No, I wouldn't say that. As soon as I said it, I was like, no.

You know what it is? The bitterness of the cayenne and the sweetness of the brown sugar works really well with the fish because it's such a delicate flavor and has a delicate texture that it works really well with Nashville seasoning. Yeah. It's incredible. I think it's the texture of the fish that it's like lighter, flakier that for me it works better with it. For those who don't know, let's talk about

Nashville hot chicken, what it is, what it isn't, what the origin is. Yeah. So Nashville hot chicken, contrary to something like a buffalo chicken, right? Buffalo chicken, which I think Nashville hot chicken is supplanting it now yeah in a way yeah uh buffalo chicken is i don't know i think it's a little bit polarizing but continue go on like is and is it we'll get to that buffalo chicken is say vinegar and butter and so that is you know a very clear just like fatty acidic spicy

fried chicken nashville hot chicken is not that and i think some people expect it to be nashville hot chicken you take cay, any other sort of chili powders. What? Just a bunch of red. Yeah, a bunch of red stuff. Cayenne, paprika, other chili powders, stuff like that. Maybe some garlic, maybe some onion, and then brown sugar. But the two real components are cayenne, brown sugar.

Those are the main tastes that you get. Yeah. And then you take that and you dump it in hot oil. Some places use straight up lard which is great and then the lard or the oil blooms the spices right gets them nice and toasty yeah you dunk the chicken you take the chicken out of hot fry oil you put it back into oil with the spices put some more spice on top of that and so it is like just greasy, sweet, aromatic, bitter, dusky, spicy chicken. And it's like not a universally great profile, I'd say.

In the same way that buffalo chicken is like it satisfies like an evolutionary desire in me. Interesting. You know, it's just it's very simple. It's vinegar and spice cutting through butter. And that to me is like a very just syncopatic balance. Yeah. But I think the American palate isn't used to eating bitter stuff often. No.

But they're starting. So you're saying like the Nashville hot chicken is kind of like introducing people to like, oh, there's more complexity in this. Yeah, I think so. I do too. I think there's a lot of complexities in a beautiful piece of Nashville hot chicken. I agree with that. I think it's the way that kind of like when Flamin' Hot Cheetos sort of changed. Yeah.

To me, changed the American palate. Totally. When every single, I mean, talking about Richard Montanez, who there was some debate on whether or not he invented him. He invented him, god dang it. I believe him. But, you know, he was saying before that, every snack aisle, it was all just cheese-flavored chips. It was cheese chips. Cheese, cheese, cheese.

Because Americans love cheese. And we have a dairy surplus, and they hold hold cheese in caves and it's a whole thing. But like every spicy chicken sandwich was buffalo before this, right? I mean, how many other spicy chicken options did we have in like the American can? And especially looking at like a KFC type place. Yeah, that chicken wasn't, it was well seasoned, just not spicy. Yeah. Yeah.

And then, you know, KFC comes out with the Nashville hot chicken. That was, it's perfectly fine. I think it makes KFC chicken maybe better. It was good. I think it's almost too sweet. Yeah, I agree with that. The KFC version is almost too sweet, almost teetering on like an orange chicken in a weird way. Yeah, I actually feel that.

It has like a bone in orange chicken almost. Well, they came out with three different regional chicken flavors. I remember. Yeah. And they were only tangentially, because Nashville hot chicken is so closely associated with the city of Nashville. They did a Carolina honey, no, Carolina something gold. Carolina gold.

Yeah, I think so. Carolina gold. It was like a South Carolina style mustard barbecue sauce. But it was just- Georgia gold chicken. Georgia gold. Georgia gold. Georgia gold. There was a south carolina style mustard barbecue sauce but it was georgia gold georgia gold georgia gold georgia gold was there was a carolina tang maybe carolina barbecue yeah it was a it was a barbecue one it was like sweet smoky tennessee mountain maybe i don't know but uh they

came with three original varieties but the national hot chicken is always the one that stood out yeah um and then the origin of national hot chicken uh it's often associated to the Prince family. The matriarch, right? There's the classic origin myth that every good empire needs to start with. And it's that,

you know, her husband was cheating on her and he came back and she was going to make him his favorite dish, which was fried chicken. But she was like, I'm going to ruin this dish

with so much cayenne pepper. He's going to be so mad and in pain. I'm going to go, don't cheat on me anymore. And then he ate it and he was like, this is the greatest thing

I've ever had. And then they started a restaurant. Who knows if it actually happened. So are you trying to tell me that Nashville hot chicken can help repair cheating in a relationship? Yeah, I don't know. We still probably cheated after that. Because he didn't learn his lesson if he loved the chicken. Now he's incentivized to cheat.

Yeah, he's incentivized to cheat. What a weird. Maybe, you know what? Maybe they ended up being ethically non-monogamous. Oh, that's a possibility. That's about anything within, anything is possible within food origin stories that were likely made up because it's a great story and it's a great way to sell chicken. Yeah.

But now down to the nuts and bolts. Do you think it's overrated? Do you think that we have outkicked our coverage? I think Los Angeles has overdone it so much. We have the how. Let me speak. Don't take up so much space. We have Dave's Hot Chicken, which Drake invested a lot of money in.

We have Howlin' Rays, which is delicious and amazing. We have, I mean, I'm on Yelp right now. Flamin' Hot Chicken, Blazin' Hot Chicken, YOLO Hot Chicken, Harry's Hot Chicken. Angry Birds, Raging Hot. Hades Hot Chicken. There's a place called Bangin' Buns. I can't say the F word of this podcast. I sure want to because there is, have you seen Idiocracy?

Yeah. You know how Fudruckers, they show the evolution of Fudruckers? I can't say the F word of this podcast. I sure want to because there is, have you seen Idiocracy? Yeah. You know how Fudruckers, they show the evolution of Fudruckers? Yeah. It turns from like Fudruckers to like Rutbuckers and then it just ends up just Butt-effers. Yeah. Bangin' Buns is just that. It's the Idiocracy version of hot chicken. What I'm trying to say is that there is a lot of good hot chicken out there in LA.

I cannot eat hot chicken often i think um it's one of those foods that you can spoil yourself with if you eat too much of it i think it's a special occasion thing that you do you like you eat the spicy food you put the gloves on whatever it's an event um yeah um i don't i think it's like a little bit overrated right now yeah a little bit i think it's a, like there's too many cooks in the kitchen. There's too many fingers in the pot. There's too many people trying to be like hot chicken gods. And like, I don't need all that, you know, do something else, do something new, do something

unique. Um, there was a, there was a pop-up that did a hot chicken with Szechuan pepper. Uh, not actually a pop-up. It's a restaurant from, that did a hot chicken with Szechuan pepper. Not actually a pop-up. It's a restaurant from Meilin called Daybird. I mean, that's an incredible twist on a very, very famous chicken sandwich. I want those people that are opening up these hot chicken shops. Give me some, you know, I don't know. Give me some cool stuff.

Give me some stuff from, I don't know, Cambodia. Give me some stuff from Russia. I was just thinking about that. Give me some stuff from, I don't know, South Africa. I'm just looking Russia. I was just thinking about that. Give me some stuff from, I don't know, South Africa. I'm just looking at you because you're South African. Like, you know what I mean? Peri-peri chicken. Yeah.

Give me a fried peri-peri chicken sandwich. Yeah. Use the African bird's eye chili. Bring some cool stuff. You know? Yeah. Get some innovation in there. But that said, I think it has led to people innovating, right?

Anytime something becomes too popular, there's going to be overflow and people are going to make little like derivations on it. Sure. And so if that overflow and popularity stems from spicy chicken, spicy fried chicken,

then I'm in, right? If it just raised the game of because spicy fried chicken is, I mean, Korean chicken wings, you know, you got Thai fried chicken with the sweet chili sauce,

like peri-peri chicken, spicy chicken. It's a game-changing food. It's the best food. It's good. It's hard to beat. It's hard to beat. And there's so many possibilities. The possibilities are endless.

There was someone at a pop-up in LA doing like a Mexican hot chicken sandwich. I mean, yum. What? That sounds delicious. Using like actual instead of just cayenne. Because I think one of the big knocks against Nashville hot chicken is that you're really only tasting like cayenne and brown sugar. Yeah unless you do it right. Unless you yeah I mean there's certainly some like I know Johnny at Helen Ray's he uses a huge blend of spices and real chili peppers but like imagine

taking that and flipping it to like the Mexican profile even using like piloncillo the unrefined sugar you know with actual like dried chilies or chilies that have been fried and then dehydrated. That's incredible. You know, get some chile morita in there. Like that sounds freaking awesome. So I love the fact that it's opened up people to just making more better spicy fried chicken. Totally.

But as it stands now, dude, I was like pulling, I was pulling in my old apartment in Sherman Oaks and there's a, what's it called? A washing machine car wash. A washing machine for your car? I do's a, what's it called? A washing machine? Car wash. Car wash. A washing machine for your car? I do that sometimes. That's what I called it. I say it sometimes.

There's a car wash next to the apartment complex I was in, and I saw a line 50 people deep, right? You see the floodlights there. You see the fryers. You smell a little spice in the air. And I was like, man, I got to go. This is going to be great. National hot chicken. And I went, and it was people just I gotta go this is gonna be great Nashville hot chicken

and I went it was people just frying like pre-made tenders and putting real crap seasoning on it you know everyone's doing a pink sauce yeah comeback sauce

comeback sauce is what Johnny calls it at Helen Ray's which I believe is a North Carolina invention so that's not typical with Nashville hot chicken right

really no it's not well I'm glad that I get to experience it with that sauce on there. I do, too. I do, too. But that said, this place just, like, sucked. Like, it sucked.

The food was ass. They were, like, underfrying or Ida French fries, putting the sauce that was garbage on these garbage dry chicken tenders, just shaking cayenne. And so we've opened ourselves up to, like, snake oil salesmen with Nashville hot chicken. That's what I'm saying. There's too many people copying the idea of a good chicken and it's pissing me off. It's pissing me off.

It's pissing me off. People trying to make a living. You're pissing me off out there. Make me sound evil. No, I'm just tired of- No, I'm on the same page. Every corner I see a hot chicken shop. It's tiring.

It's how I feel about Smash Burgers and Birria. Those are three-ers and Birria. Those are three Nashville Hot Chicken, Birria, and Smash Burgers are three great foods that have been just completely screwed

by the people trying to make them better. 100%. And you get so many people. There's actually a story about Pueblan food truck owners who just flipped

to start making Birria because they knew they would make more money. And so, I love Semitas Poblanas, the sandwich. One of the world's greatest sandwiches, dude. Yeah.

Is it a green truck? Oh, yeah, yeah. You're talking about the place in West LA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's literally what it's called. I was literally just saying the name of the food. Oh, sorry. Semitas from Pueblo.

But there is a truck called Semitas Poblanas. No, I prefer Semitas Don Adrian in Van Nuys. You've told me about it. Yeah, that place rules. They got a head cheese and a steak milanesa, semita. So semita, it's the sandwich that's on this kind of like sweetish, crusty roll. I mean, it's a savory roll, but it's like crusty, sweet, dark brown with sesame seeds on top. You cut it open.

You put in queso Oaxaca in it or quesillo is what it's called. So like really just hard, shreddy, salty string cheese. They put avocado on it, a really delicious chipotle salsa, and then whatever filling you want. Refried beans? I don't know. There's no beans in a simita. I love beans. And a little bit of cabbage.

Really? I always ask for beans in my simita. Oh, really? Oh, maybe I just didn't get them. I don't know. But like it's just such a beautiful sandwich. But there are these food truck owners who had to start making birria because they wanted to survive, right? And they wanted to make money.

Dude, remember the birria boom? The birria boom. The birria boom is still going on. So birria, for people who don't know, it is a dish that I believe originated in Jalisco, typically made with goat. But then as it traveled across Mexico, people started making it with lamb, with borrego, or with just beef, which some people call Tijuana-style birria. But I know that's a bit of a controversial statement there, Nicole.

But anyways, the beef birria is just spicy, shredded beef cooked down in a bunch of, like, chilies and aromatics. And then it's typically served with a side of the broth or the consomme. Consomme. And then they'll typically dip the tortillas in the red oil and fry those, which is how you get names like Teddy's Red Tacos and stuff like that. I think Teddy's Red Tacos is like the Howlin' Rays of beardia. It is.

Yeah. I mean, honestly, the social media that these guys have just pumped out makes you want to eat it. It's crazy. The psychological things that they do, it's like the dips and the videos and the pictures. It's like, oh, my God, it's stunning to look at. Someone was we did a tick tock about Flamin' Hot Cheetos and someone someone made a comment that was like, why can't they just take out the red dye number 40? Why can't it? It would taste the same and it sure would.

You know why they can't take it out? Because it's beautiful. It's beautiful. It's gorgeous. It's glowing. Red food. Yeah. Yum. Tandoori chicken. That's beautiful. It's gorgeous. It's glowing. Red food? Yeah. Yum.

Tandoori chicken. That's food dye, dude. Oh my gosh. That's food dye. The super red Tandoori chicken that you see, that's straight up food dye. Can somebody make a hot chicken, but with like Indian flavors, please? That'd be really dank. It would make my soul.

It would just please my soul. Oh my God. Like just grate the jaggery and then make like a really good masala. Dude, can we do that? Yeah. Next Mythical Kitchen episode. Hot chicken from around the world?

Yeah, let's do it. I mean, honestly, that sounds really dank, right? Every culture like has like a certain spice profile.

Yeah. Even if it wasn't a dry spice, like I'm thinking about, you know, Filipino hot chicken, even though there's not typically a lot of like

real spice in Filipino food, but I mean, even, oh my God, like, uh, with, uh,

Indonesian, like with the different sambals. hell yeah. There's that lemongrass sambal with the shallots in it. You know, I always talk about that lemongrass sambal with the people I work in. They're like, what are you talking about?

I'm like, this lemongrass sambal that David brought for us. I still remember what color their jar is. It's purple. Yeah. And so again, if, if that's what it takes,

the natural hot chicken boom if it takes me getting a couple crappy fried chicken tenders from a from a washing car washing machine you mean a car wash yeah that one if it takes that to like raise the general spicy fried chicken game across the world i'm in i'm absolutely in i'm in too how do you feel about dave's um dave's hot chicken so i went to one of so david my husband took me to dave's on like a date one time and then um i stood in line for about like 45 minutes and i got their chicken tenders and then I got a chicken sandwich and then chicken tenders. Well, they only serve chicken tenders.

Oh, really? So I didn't get a chicken sandwich. No, no, no. Sorry. I mean, like they they don't serve like bone in chicken. Oh, OK. So it's just tenders and a sandwich. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

OK, yeah. I had a sandwich and then I also had a few tenders and then I also had fries on the side, I believe. It's been a while. And honestly, it was great. It is. It's good. It didn't knock my socks off.

No, and it's not meant to. Helen Reyes knocks my socks off when I have it. And that's the reason that when people listen to this podcast, you aren't in a major metropolitan area who maybe don't know what we're talking about with the Nashville Hot Chicken. Obviously, you've seen it at KFC. You're about to because of Dave's in the next five years. Yeah. And the next five years, Dave's is going to be in your hometown. I'm convinced.

Also, Drake invested like so much money into Dave's Hot Chicken. Yeah. It's nuts. Because they're franchising. And that's the reason Drake invested. They're about to blow up. Blow up. And the reason Howlin' Rays can't do that is because they, frankly, they use more expensive

ingredients. They use Mary's Chicken. They take a lot more time. They use Mary's Chicken. Use Mary's Chicken, dude. Mary's Chicken is a very, very high quality chicken. It's a nice little organic chicken farm up, it's actually kind of close to here, I think. Yeah, I think so too.

It's a couple hours away. You should go visit. You should go kill a chicken. I need to kill a chicken. Like, for like prayer reasons? No, no. Like caporos? I don't like have a relative dying and I'm trying to sacrifice.

Oh, sorry. Is that? I don't want to talk about it. Yeah, well, okay. No, I was just going to say, I feel like I've never killed like an animal. I'm trying to sacrifice. Oh, sorry. Is that? I don't want to talk about it. Yeah, well, okay. No, I was just going to say, I feel like I've never killed like an animal. I feel bad. I've never killed an animal. I know.

I feel bad hooking a worm to like fish, which isn't a thing I do often. But even as a kid, I was like, I feel bad killing this worm. I've never been fishing before. Really? Mm-hmm. Do you want me to take? No, I don't. Maggie, do you fish?

That's so nice of you to offer. Yes, you can take me fishing. I just, I wouldn't know how to do it. What do you do? Oh, well, no, I don't want to go fishing with you. I know how to cast a rod, but like, I don't know how to drive a boat. I feel like sitting on a boat with you in silence wouldn't be fun. Oh, I wouldn't be silent.

Are you kidding me? I would be doing exactly what we do on the podcast, but for eight hours on a boat. Are we talking about the TCBY closures of the mid-2000s? Josh, the fish wouldn't come because you talk too much. Can they hear you? I thought it was like a keep your footsteps light on the boat. Do your fish have ears? I don't know, man.

I get blacked out and not be able to drive the boat back, though. Yeah, maybe you just Googled how do you fish, and there's a man in a Georgia Bulldogs cap that says, how to catch your first fish. I feel like you have to be how do you fish and there's a man in a Georgia Bulldogs cap that says how to catch your first fish. Yeah, I feel like you have to be quiet when you go fishing. Yeah, I feel like maybe that's just a thing that like stoic dads said to their kid to get them to shut up. You gotta be quiet on the boat now there, boss. The fish can hear you.

Yeah. I don't know. Point is, I feel like I'm a hypocrite for eating meat without ever having known that I can take the life of an animal. I think. Because I'm already doing it indirectly. I just don't see it. I think BuzzFeed actually did a video where meat eaters killed their first chicken. And I think it opened their eyes.

It messed them up. Yeah, it messed them up. Yeah. Yeah. You should do that. I don't think I could do it. I'd be pretty messed up. I don't know.

I kind of like my life right now. Okay. Well, I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do, but it's just a thought. Okay. So I feel like neither of us have even close to answer the question well i mean we we did we said it's it's overpopulated right now but even as like a flavor profile like do you think it's overrated can a flavor profile be overrated i don't know maybe that's probably not it's tough to say it's just honestly i'm no it's not a nashville hot chicken is not overrated the sheer

volume of the amount of hot chicken is overrated yeah and like to some point the supply is you know commensurate to the demand and so it's like the people demanded it the supply followed yeah right that's actually one of the reasons dave's exists right is that howland rays was so popular for people that don't know this place literally has five hour lines um and it's insane you have to plan your whole day around it and the chicken is really one of the better foods what i don't like the lines yeah i hate lines i have so much adhd i hate lines i'm physically in lines did you know is that a medical i like i just need one other buddy in line and then like we can go to different places and I'll like get coffee and all that. Yeah.

Kind of keep yourself occupied. Listen to a podcast, but I hate sitting still and listening to podcasts. I want there to be lines. That's why I crochet when I drive. I want there to be lines, but I want there to be what? What? You know how to crochet? Yeah.

I don't care. I taught myself while I was driving to work. Well, I don't care about your driving. My 2017 Nissan is self-driving. No, it's not. Your knees do not make it self-driving. Somehow I get here, Nicole. Somehow I get here. Using your knees does not mean self-driving. No, it's not. Your knees do not make it self-driving. Well, somehow I get here, Nicole.

Somehow I get here. Using your knees does not mean self-driving. What was I going to say? I totally forgot. Flavor profile. There needs to be chairs and lines. Oh, yeah. It should be like in WALL-E. They're kind of on like a treadmill, like an escalator moving you through.

Stuffing the chicken into your mouth., kicking your ass out, you know? That's the future. That's the natural hot chicken future I'm living. I think I smell over the microphone, Maggie. I'm so sorry. I feel like I was making a point about supply and demand economics. Where's the, what's his name? Paul Krugman or whatever?

Get your ass over here, New York Times economist. Who's Paul Krugman? Paul Friedman Krugman? whatever. Get your ass over here, New York Times economist. Who's Paul Krugman? Paul Friedman Krugman? I don't care. What I'm saying is that there's such a huge demand for natural hot chicken in LA because of Helen Ray is that Dave's, they just started a pop-up. Mediocre. Well, not even mediocre. I mean, it still tastes really good, but they're cutting down on costs.

They probably cut down on labor. They're probably using a lot more pre-cut ingredients, et cetera. And they figured out a way to take all the overfill this is a picture of drake eating daves yeah yeah this is drake eating daves and that's what they're gosh man once drake gets on we need drake to endorse this podcast point is they just started one pop-up on like on the i think it might have been melrose like in hollywood yeah and then and then that you know exploded and now drake is investing in their expansion plans, which is incredible. And it reminds me of another boom. Uh-huh.

What's that? Frickin' Froyo, man. Oh, wow. It's the Froyo boom all over again. Oh, my gosh. I do miss Froyo. When's the last time you had Froyo? Like, all the time.

Like, I go to Yogurland often, like, alone. Like, two weeks ago. I was just driving by. What? You eat Yogurland? i took a wrong i couldn't make a left leaving the office and so i had to like go a different way and the gps rerouted me yeah you know exactly what i'm talking about and then there's the yogurt land and you gotta make a somewhat difficult left turn i hope people don't reverse engineer this to find where the studio is

i i left it vague enough but there's there's a yogurt land nearby the studio but that's there's a yogurt land nearby talking there's a yogurt landland nearby the studio. But there's a Yogurtland nearby. Just stop talking. There's a Yogurtland nearby every studio in Los Angeles. Just stop talking. Because it's freaking Yogurtland because they're everywhere. Move on. Move on. And I went there and I got my half pound of Yogurtland and I just sat and I ate it outside in three minutes and I got back in my car, commuted home.

Oh my God. Traffic was lighter because I spent some time eating Yogurtland. I love it. But that said, that's one of those industries that like, TCBY was one of the first major chains. TCBY? You ever had TCBY yogurt? I don't think they were

big in California because I think we had a lot of mom and pop shops. Never heard of TCBY before. But there's the place in LA that I know you've been to a lot, The Big Chill, which got into a huge fight

with Demi Lovato about their body negative yogurt shop. It's just yummy. People need to chill. It's terrible. It is the worst frozen yogurt I've ever had. Demi Lovato needs to chill. Demi Lovato had a point and their yogurt negative yogurt shop. It's just yummy. People need to chill. It's terrible. It is the worst frozen yogurt I've ever had.

Demi Lovato needs to chill. Demi Lovato had a point, and their yogurt's also bad. Go to Penguin's. There's another frozen yogurt. Penguin's is better. High key. This is just to illustrate my point

that there is a frozen yogurt shop 50 yards from the frozen yogurt shop we are talking about. Yeah, I guess. And so that was such a huge, massive boom, and then you saw like... Menchie's Yogurtland. It didn't tank Pink huge, massive boom. And then you saw like... Menchies. Yogurt land.

It didn't tank. Pinkberry. Red mango. There's all these massive yogurt chains. Do you remember Pinkberry? I go to Pinkberry all the time. I go to Pinkberry in the Westfield. When?

I went there a week ago and I went shopping for pants. I'm shocked. Yeah, I love frozen yogurt. I like frozen yogurt more than Nashville hot chicken. So much money on food I really do Yeah dude you dropped like 8 bucks of pink berry On one of those little parfaits

But I like the fruit What kind of fruit do you get on your pink berry? Pineapple, blackberry, blueberry Nice I don't like strawberries I mean strawberries are fine And now you ask me Oh my god I'm so sorry Nicole

I didn't know you went to pinkberry nicole what do you what kind of fruits do you get in your pinkberry parfait that people need to know i don't think it's that important they always have like three flavors only it's like chocolate vanilla and then they're like uh this one's nutella matcha and it's like why why is that one nutella matcha. And it's like, why? Why is that one Nutella matcha? Yeah. Closing thoughts. Yeah. Okay. I don't think we answered the question.

Yeah. Do you want to answer the question? Sure. Certainly. I can riff. Go for it. So food, everything's cyclical, right? There's always going to be a boom and bust cycle among food.

And then once something gets really popular, there's always going to be the a-holes like us who like to detract from it. When it comes down to it, I think, you know, the Nashville hot chicken boom, much like Birria, much like Smash Burgers, ultimately it's leading to one more opportunities for restaurateurs. If there's a couple snake oil salesmen out there who are getting rich off of Nashville hot chicken, not even pointing fingers at Dave's because, again, they taste pretty freaking good. That's good. You know, that's totally fine. That's part of the cost that's going to come with it.

That's good. You know, that's totally fine. That's part of the cost that's going to come with it. But then you get the benefit of people, you know, I don't know, able to start a pop-up using an old grandmother's recipe and making people happy with their food. And so I think if you don't look too deep into it, you just accept the fact that, hey, spicy fried chicken, whether or not it truly pays homage or respects the original recipe or the creators of it um it's it's here to stay there's nothing we can do to it it's only our reaction that we can control uh and i choose to believe that it's going to raise the bar on spicy fried chicken across the globe all right nicole all right we've heard what you and I do every time?

We've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the Twitterverse. Oh, it's time for a segment we call Opinions Are Like Casseroles. Great. Glad we got through that cleanly. I did the laughing. Now, maybe we'll do another nine takes, and then we got through that cleanly. I did the laughing. Now, Maggie, we'll do another nine takes, and then we'll get the good one. No, first up, we got, at Victory Wilson, my fiance eats his breakfast pizza with peanut

butter on top. I have a couple questions. Okay, so let's break this down. Let's break down the sentence structure. One, you're establishing that breakfast pizza is a thing that exists, which I can- It can exist. I've, like like made it. Yeah, me too.

But it's not like in the culinary canon of things one would eat for breakfast. Second, use the term his breakfast pizza, as in this is a thing he does all the time. Right? He didn't eat a breakfast pizza. Like you are implying that this is a daily occurrence. He's an often. Yeah, he eats a lot. Yeah.

And so this is already weird to me. Okay. And then you introduce the fact there's peanut butter involved. And then it kind of goes off the rails. Yeah. I just don't get it. I need to know more or I need to know less. I just don't.

Yeah. That's a good one. Either way, the amount of information given to me is not appropriate. I'm very curious. What's on this breakfast pizza? Are you, do you love him? I don't know. I mean, it's her fiance.

So she's not like, so she's still not married. Yeah, yeah. There's no legal document. You can balance. If she wants to. No, everything about if there's eggs on that pizza, everything about this sounds quite unpleasant to me. I'm happy that your fiance found his thing. It seems like his thing.

It's like my gross protein. It's like my prune teen shakes. I understand that. But the prunes make sense a little bit, Josh. Yeah. A little bit. Pea butter might. No.

Toast? No. Yeah. You're trying. Peel butter might. No. Toast? No. Yeah. You're trying. All right. Next one. Liddy Casimiro says Cheetos, Puffs, or Original? One, two, three.

Original. Let's do a whole episode of the podcast about it. Okay, fine. Hell yeah. Eat that, Liddy. All right. Out of humans. Wait, what do you know?

What do you think? Actually? Yeah. Original. Oh, and Puffs? Oh, well, I guess it is going to do you think? Actually? Yeah. Original. Oh, I'm puffs. Oh, well, I guess it is going to be a podcast. Let's hash it out. Let's hash it out.

At humans underscore are featherless. Yeah, that checks out. Peanut butter and honey is better than peanut butter and jelly. Josh made another burner account. I haven't made that joke in a while. This isn't me. Why would I go with humans are featherless? I always go with rusty Shackleford. That'sless? I always go with Rusty Shackleford.

That's all my burners. It's Rusty Shackleford and then a series of numbers because it's a fake alias made by the character Dale Gribble in King of the Hill. Oh, okay.

You are a big King of the Hill fan. Favorite show of all time. Cool. Really great. Yeah, no, Peanut Butter and Honey is the better combo.

The Peanut Butter and Jelly. It's the delight. Introduce some bananas in there. You're about to have a wild time. But I found out though, Nicole. What It's a delight. Introduce some bananas in there. You're about to have a wild time. But I found out though, Nicole. What's that? That there are certain jams out there that are honey-like and I enjoy.

Which ones? Fig. Okay. You're having so much fun today. I'm really glad you're having such a good time. It really makes me happy. Of course I am. But you're just like happier than usual.

And I love that. I think I'm sleep deprived and manic. Aww. No, it's a good thing. It's a me happy. Of course I am. I don't know. But you're just like happier than usual. Yeah. And I love that. I think I'm sleep deprived and manic. Aww. No, it's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's great for content. You drank a lot of water today.

Yeah. That's good. Oh, I'm dehydrated too. Keep drinking water. Yeah, I'm going to keep plugging away at it. Okay. Aeroholic says, a sandwich with summer sausage and strawberry jam on cheap grocery store bread. What I would do is I would sear the sausage.

I would sear it. Then it ruins the internal fat structure of the summer sausage. I don't care. Nicole, this is my culture. I literally don't care. I was raised by a white boomer dad. Summer sausage is the official food of white boomer dads. You get it from the Hillshore Farms box

that his sister sends to him every Christmas. And the same summer sausage. That's a Boomer White Dad food. You know what this is? This is Boomer White Dad charcuterie. Charcuterie. This is, this is, you got like the, you know, the bread,

you got the cured meat, you got the strawberry jam, which functions as like a membrillo or a quince paste. This is white Boomer Dad charcuterie and it's delicious. You said it. Add Samuel Labra 14, French fries don't go in milkshakes.

Yeah, of course they don't go in milkshakes. You use them to scoop up the milkshake. Duh! Well, they quickly go in, and then they quickly come out. It's called the pull-out method of French fry milkshake drinking. I've seen them go in milkshakes, Bert. Dude, you can't tell me they don't. They will fit in there if you shove them hard enough you know i don't see what the issue is um again i used to be someone who was disgusted by the french fried milkshake thing and i tried

it a couple times and then somehow my palate changed to be more of a garbage human as i aged instead of refining it's gotten the opposite it's been literally it's like if you were to take refined oil and return it back into crude, that's what my palate's done because I now enjoy this heavily. Good. I'm glad. I like mustard. French fries and mustard.

No, I mean like I used to not like mustard and now I do like mustard. Mustard milkshakes. I never said that. You're just mixing my words. All mustards or just like yellow? Yellow. Yeah. Yellow.

Yellow mustard is technically hot sauce. Uh-huh. I thought you were going mixing my words. All mustards or just like yellow? Yellow. Yeah. Yellow. Yellow mustard is technically hot sauce. Uh-huh. Well, I thought you were going to fight it. I don't have any fight left in me, Josh. I'm going to be honest with you. I know. I know. Like someone not responding to a bully, I now have no incentive to throw out wild accusations and theorems.

Okay, fine. Maybe I'll get a little bit. I'll get a little aggressive with it. All right. Okay. Travi Maybe I'll get a little bit aggressive with it. Okay, Travioli4 says, truffle oil is a gimmick. Upcharge to make something taste a bit more like dirt. Everything's a damn gimmick, man. What? Upcharging for...

It doesn't taste like dirt to me. What does it taste like? Um... It doesn't taste like dirt. Do truffles taste like dirt? I mean, when was the last time I was, you know, face deep in dirt? I don't remember. Yeah, no, wet dirt.

I don't eat a lot of dirt. Yeah, there's other mushrooms taste more like dirt than truffle. Which ones? Like creminis. Creminis, I like kind of. Oh, I love creminis. I kind of don't like them. I'd rather just have a button mushroom.

I'm like, ugh. Creminis just tastes like dirty button mushrooms. Patoy on button mushrooms. You love button mushrooms. No, no, no. You're not too good for button mushrooms you pretend baby bellas they're just creminis

I know that good then good you know that Nicole good I'm happy for you truffles taste like farts but like a fancy person fart you know like if a fancy person raised on a diet of just caviar

ate wendy's once and then farted into a cup like who like who give me an example i'm thinking like like one of the trumps like an archduke like one of the trumps no no like eric trump farted into a wendy's cup that's a that's what truffle tastes like like somebody who grew up on a grotesquely rich diet you know you ever seen the the like caviar service at Mar-a-Lago where they're just like spooning it with plastic spoons on the like package saltines? Someone like ate that type of diet. No vegetables. Eats Wendy's once. Farts into a cup.

That's truffle. I don't see why. I don't see why. That's just what it is. Those are the tasting notes. I'm like a sommelier. I'm fine with truffle oil. I kind of like it.

I don't know. I know it's fake. I know it's fake. I know it's a weird little extract, but like it's oil. I kind of like it. I don't know. I know it's fake. I know it's fake. I know it's a weird little extract, but like it's fine. I like truffle honey. It's my favorite way

to eat truffle. Interesting. Yeah, truffle and sweet is a good combo. Favorite. Some funk. All right. At Hogtown DJ,

first love the show. Stop trying to butter us up. Just tell me your garbage opinion. Yeah, here it is. I'm mad as hell about this. Don't care that you love the show now.

Cantaloupe and honeydew in a fruit cup is garbage filler. Oh, no, I'm sorry, Josh. Okay, well, technically they're correct. Because having worked for a catering company, that's what it is. Yeah. Yeah, let's pull back the veil on this. Because we once had, like, it was like a wedding that hired AS UCLA catering for their wedding, which is sad. Did they have fruit cups at their wedding?

Oh, we had a big bowl of fruit salad. That's embarrassing. And they were like, can we not get any honeydew and cantaloupe? And we were like, yeah, and then we'll charge you triple. And they were like, why? And they were like, because that's the cheapest fruit. No one likes it. It's there.

I happen to love it. I would have said, I have an allergy to cantaloupe and honeydew. Don't upcharge me. We were all like 19-year-olds. I'm talking about the couple. Yeah, but I'm saying we just wouldn't have cared. We would have just been like, well, it's there. I don't know what to do.

Do you want an extra like Dan and yogurt cup? Because that's what we also probably gave them. You gave yogurt at a wedding? Yeah, dude. I don't know. You don't have mercy. This catering company, there were like three packages. It was like, do you want beans and chicken or the yogurt fruit

or like packaged muffins with tea and that's like all we had okay um i don't mind cantaloupe and honeydew in my fruit cup but i never get fruit cups because i don't get fruit that's not my i was at a brunch the other day and someone ordered like fruit for the table. That's pretty nice. That's nice. When I go on vacation, I always try to order fruit for everybody because your digestive tract kind of gets a little wonky whenever you're traveling. You don't eat vegetables on vacation.

Oh, you, you have, don't eat. That's a rule. When I go on vacation, my whole life goes on vacation. No veggies.

I mean, airport Panda express and that's it. Like four, like four in the morning. Okay. I'm eating an airport Panda Express and that's it. Like four in the morning? Yeah. Okay. Snuggles says, spaghetti squash is better than pasta

for spaghetti and meatballs. Oh. I haven't had spaghetti squash in about like five years. I eat a ton of spaghetti squash. You do.

You do. This is something that spaghetti squash is very deeply rooted at least from what I've seen in diet culture in a very weird way, right? Yeah. It do. This is something that spaghetti squash is very deeply rooted, at least from what I've seen in diet culture, in a very weird way, right? Yeah. It's like cauliflower rice or zoodles. It's become one of those things that people think you should eat spaghetti squash with spaghetti-esque ingredients because it's called spaghetti squash. It doesn't go well with the tomato sauce, in my opinion.

What do you think it goes well with? Because I've been trying to, like, find out how to consume spaghetti squash in an enjoyable manner and i haven't found it yet i mean i like it on right it's it's starchier than something like a butternut squash it's not quite a sweet you still get some sweetness i mean i've been using it as like the base for like uh braises that have a fair amount of like salt and acid in it okay which i guess tomato sauce so like instead of a bit of polenta it's like a bed of spaghetti squash? Exactly. Oh, cool. And I really enjoy that. And I think it just soaks it up nicely.

And I think if you think of spaghetti squash as either spaghetti or squash, it's bad. But if you think of it as coleslaw potato, then it's really good. Because that's what I like it for. But that said, spaghetti and meatballs is a bad combination. They shouldn't be eaten together. Oh, really? Why do you say that? Why do you think it's good?

Why would you say that? There's bread in the meatballs already. Why would you say that to hurt me? My Italian roommates told me that this... It's on the side. What? It's on the side. It should be on the side.

I agree with that. I don't think they should be topped. Yeah, there's no point in eating them together. But they go well together. And I never want them in the same bite, even. Oh, what? No, if I want bread and meatballs, I'll put it on. Che cosa fai, Madonna?

Che cosa fai, Madonna? Mortacci tua. Yeah, but I don't know, man. Spaghetti meatballs isn't that good. Spaghetti squash with meatballs also isn't that good. If you enjoy it, that's pretty rad. But there's just like better things to do with spaghetti squash. Stuff it like an Israeli eggplant.

Oh, yeah. That sounds good. There's a Persian dish that's squash and meatballs. And it's really good. Oh. Really good. Or is it zucchini? Is squash and zucchini like the same thing?

Zucchini is technically a summer squash. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. Or like a spring summer squash. Oh. Really good. Or is it zucchini? Is squash and zucchini like the same thing? Zucchini is technically a summer squash. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. Or like a spring, summer squash. Yeah. So, yeah.

One time, I'm going to bring it for you. My mom makes it really good. Oh, that's interesting. What kind of sauce? Is it tomato based? No. I don't know.

It's really good though. You're a chef. I forgot. Your mommy makes it. My mom makes it. I don't make it. I don't know. She makes it.

I don't know everything. Well, I don't know the circumference of the earth. It was like 23,000. Stop. Get away. 23K? Maggie, Maggie, real quick, look it up.

Read the next. All right. At Mitchell SRM, gyoza are the best food. Man, gyoza aren't even the best. Is it gyoza's is or gyoza's are? I don't know. 24,000. I said 23,000.

Well, 25,000. I said 23,000. Okay, stop flexing for the gram? I don't know. 24,000. I said 25,000. I said 23,000. Stop flexing for the gram. I don't know. No, I mean gyoza are one of those things that like whenever I go to a Japanese restaurant, typically if I'm with Julia, she orders them. That's cute. For me though, I would like I wouldn't order it. Yeah. Or if I'm

at like an izakaya, I'd rather eat other izakaya dishes. Give me the takoyaki. Give me the okonomiyaki i think that's true gyoza is a crowd pleaser good frozen food a great frozen yeah probably the best i i will say this frozen gyoza is the best frozen food more than taquitos more than i don't even know like chicken nuggets i think gyoza is the the number one pigs in a blanket yeah yeah no no no no no no you got to make fresh pigs you had them at your wedding i did you had pigs in a blanket? Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. You gotta make fresh pigs in a blanket. You had them at your wedding. I did?

You had pigs in a blanket at your wedding. Did you not know that? I know. I don't know anything about my wedding. Well, it was cows in a blanket because, yeah,

Jewish wedding, ain't really want the pigs. I was like, what do you mean there were pigs in a blanket? Like, yeah, it's all beef hot dog. I snuck in my own pork

to your wedding. And I really love like the Chinese canon of dumplings as well, you know? And so I feel like for me, I just, there's better Japanese dishes and there's better dumplings than gyoza. And I. Like what? Like what? What's a better dumpling than gyoza?

I mean, xiaolongbao, for instance, or shumai, hargao. I guess. Like any of the dim sum canon. But also they're not as easy to make as gyoza so you have to think about that too. No, for sure. Like nowhere is going to make

like xiaolongbao. Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying though. If a place has gyoza, I probably don't want to order it because I don't think it's going to be, like the dumpling

isn't going to be as good. It's like, well, this is something I do though. Like, it's like if a Chinese buffet is making sushi, it's not going to be good.

I'm going to eat it. I'm going to eat it. I'm going to eat it, yeah. Some of them is going to have canned tuna in it the one over here in burbank i love canned okay whoever doesn't like canned tuna in their sushi is like tripping it's not really good it's kimbap at that point it's good whatever it is i love it so you're a korean um monty that's a good dumpling too oh yeah mandu Not Monty Yeah sorry Monty's the freaking Armenian dumpling That's also delicious I was gonna bring that up too

And Mandu's good Georgian dumpling Georgian soup dumpling King Kali I've always wanted to try King Kali Dude like There's just so many The world of dumplings is great

Gyoza's perfectly fine food Not my favorite Have we done an international Dumpling episode? We should We definitely did We did Okay

Look at us Look at us. Look at us. We like boiled a whole plum and dough. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You remember things so well. Yeah. Weird memory.

Weird, weird, sick thoughts up in my head. All right. On that note, thank you for listening to A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. If you want to hear more from us here in the Mythical Kitchen, we got new episodes for you every Wednesday. If you want to be featured on Opinions or Like Casseroles, you can hit us up on Twitter at MythicalChef or at HandyZada with the hashtag OpinionCasserole.

And for more Mythical Kitchen, check us out on YouTube where we launch new videos every week. And of course, if you want to share pictures of your dishes, hit us up on Instagram at Mythical Kitchen. We'll see you next time. I always think you're going to say pictures of your feet.