A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Should Drive-Thrus Be Banned?

Episode Date: August 14, 2024

Today, Josh and Nicole are exploring the problems that fast food drive-thrus pose on society! 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

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That's what's behind the blue cow logo. Dairy Farmers of Canada. Welcome to McDonald's, may I take your order? How many McNuggets can I order without you feeling sad for me? Sir, I can't feel sad for anybody, I feel nothing. Okay, give me a 50 piece with honey mussey. 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. Hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the show we break down the world's biggest food debates.

I'm your host, Josh Scherer. And I'm your host, Nicole Nighady. And I really could kill a 50 piece McNugget by myself right now, parked in my car, dipping it into not their new Honey Musty, but their old spicy brown honeymussy, which I think might be the best nugget dipping sauce to ever hit fast food doors.

Me and you ate some chicken nuggets in your car one time, remember? We did before we did our fancy fast food chicken McNuggets episode, which is one of the worst fancy fast foods we've done. It was a great episode. Like bad performing? No, we just like didn't make good food.

We tried to use black silky chicken to make fancy McNuggets. Okay, but were the numbers good? Yeah, the numbers, yeah. Okay, that's fine. I mean like 1.3 million. We kinda smoked that episode. But today we're talking all about eating in our cars

because we were talking about the problem with drive-thrus. This is the episode where Nicole and I are now deep into our 30s. I'm 31. There ain't nothing deep about that. I'm a young spring chicken. Deep into our 30s. We are now old people merely shaking our fists at the sky. I'm not old! I am old and I am sick and tired of all these kids going through the new Fingal drive-through. Go sit down in the restaurant like Grandpa Happy did. Really? And pay respect. Well no.

You're anti-drive-through? I've always been anti-drive-through. That's so crazy to me. I prefer drive-throughs. Why? Can you give me a five-point PowerPoint presentation on why you prefer drive-throughs? Because- No! But I can talk about it on the pod. Well, you are in the majority. Like, roughly 60 to 70% of all fast food orders go through the drive-through. That makes sense, uh-huh. And that number has only risen from 2019 to 2030. It has risen about 30%.

Right. 43% fewer people are now dining inside fast food restaurants, which is like deeply upsetting to me in a weird way. Well, really, why? Well, tell me why you like drive-throughs first. Okay, well, I'll say this. Number one, convenience.

I don't wanna get out of my car if I'm getting a hamburger. How inconvenient is it actually? So for instance, right? I hate getting out of my car sometimes. What if you could get your food three minutes faster inside than outside? Would you not want to save that three minutes? Like is getting out of your car harder

than three minutes of extra waiting? No, but it's also my second point the shame of eating inside of a fast food restaurant. There is shame attached to it. I don't know where it comes from. I'm not the only one that thinks that way. Are you serious? You're dead serious? I don't like sitting inside of a fast food restaurant and that might be a point of privilege for me, but that's okay. It's just not for me. I don't like sitting inside of a KFC or a McDonald's or whatever, only in and out. What I'm

ultimately worried about here is having the best fast food experience. I love fast food, like I think it tastes very very good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? It is it is surgically precise in the way that science is made in a lab, right? Arby's for instance, right? Their beef and cheddar, that beef tastes not like a cow. It tastes like sheets of paper that have been soaked in a saltwater brine with meat extract. And it's delicious, it's so, so, so good. And not to be like anti-science, it's just,

it's brined really well, it's emulsified with yada yada. But the point is, I want that beef and cheddar as hot and fresh as I can possibly get it Okay, so much fast food gets worse as it sits Yeah, but are you listen? I guess I'm one of those people like I don't have this like anxiety or this like Craving to enjoy my fast food super duper hot like that doesn't interest me at all What items of from fast food restaurants are like better or even? You think I can't but see this is your problem like you think that I'm eating fast food because I care about the temperature that with just going into my mouth

I don't care if I'm getting fast food the temperature doesn't really matter it's mostly for satiating. Okay like the Crunchw supreme. I guess this is where we differ though I was gonna say the crunch wrap supreme once it sits for 90 seconds It sucks because the crunch it just becomes okay. It just becomes a wrap supreme the crunch is absorbed. There's a tostada layer Yeah, tostada with the Giada di Laurenti's accent Tostada Tostada layer in the middle of the crunch wrap supreme Supreme

But like it just sogs into the lettuce, into the sour cream. But are you so like anal about this texture? Don't say anal and Taco Bell in the same sentence. Are you so serious? Are you such a savant of fast food that you having it hot and properly crunchy and crispy matters that much to you?

Yes. When it's a fast food item? Specifically because it's a fast food item. and properly crunchy and crispy matters that much to you. When it's a fast food item. Really? Specifically because it's a fast food item. That's so interesting to me. I've never really cared. I don't care if I get it like 20 minutes later or like if I eat it like five minutes.

I don't care at all. Well, you said something interesting. You said you're eating fast food for sustenance. Yeah, that's why I'm getting it. Well, do you not have nutrient-dense slop at your house? I mean, sometimes I do, but sometimes I just really wanted an out burger. You know what I mean? I almost never eat fast food for sustenance.

For me, fast food is exclusively like, I'm here to party, baby. I'm here to have a good time. OK, what's your favorite fast food place, actually? I mean, In- mean in and out has such a special place my heart cuz I grew up on it That's my fast food burger place, but Taco Bell for me. Okay has always been my number one I just there's something about the unique taste of their like Tex-Mex ragu Yeah, that they slop into various forms of fried tortillas stuffed with cheese I love I think their fire sauce is like tremendously balanced. And I love their innovation.

They always come out with a new item. And recently I sat my behind down inside a Taco Bell at nine at night. What? How many other people were there? Okay, so there, so it was me and a friend who's also a Taco Bell fan. We went to get the Cheesy Street Chalupas.

Okay. And they were delightful. Nice. Really good, cilantro, onion, jalapeno, ranch, seasoned steak, a new fried cheese stuffed shells, a little small. And it was so hot and piping fresh. So we're there. There's kind of just like a single 45 year old dude

looked a little down on his luck. He was sitting next to us. There were two teen girls. And then there was a creepy 40 year old dude looked a little down on his luck. He was sitting next to us. There were two teen girls. And then there was a creepy 40 year old guy who asked the teen girls where the party's at tonight. And it was strange. And then the creepy guy left and the other dude asked the girls if we all showed support,

like, hey, you guys cool? And that was the last time I ate inside a fast food restaurant. Yeah, I feel like I've had a lot of those experiences inside fast food. It's kind of weird, man. Whenever you step foot in certain fast food restaurants. I had sunglasses on nine at night. Yeah, yeah.

Asking two teen girls where the party's at. The vibe inside of a fast food restaurant can sometimes be a little bit uncomfortable. And I'm just not built for that anymore. Maybe when I was younger I was okay with it, but now I'm 31, I need to do all that stuff. What's your like seventh favorite fast food place? Like think about it. Like... Let's go Jack in the Box. Jack in the Box. Okay, so you're at your seventh favorite fast food place. You're getting, I don't know, what's it? Jumbo Jack? Yeah. And a curly fry? Ultimate bacon cheeseburger is a pretty good item. Okay, so you're getting an ultimate bacon cheeseburger and you get it and you're…

Do you like… Okay, so you're going through the drive-through. I'm pinning a picture for you. There's no parking inside of the Jack in the Box for some reason, so you gotta go like maybe like a quarter mile and park like at a residential area to eat. There's always parking in the Jack… Imagine there is it for today. You're getting the item through the drive-through and then parking in the parking... Imagine there is it for today. Are you, you're getting the item through the drive-thru

and then parking in the parking lot and just housing. That makes more sense to me than eating in. But you're not like driving home. And eating? No, no, no, you can't do that. You're supposedly eating alone in your car in like a reclined position. Not by myself.

I would like to be with another person. This is you, this isn't about me, this is you. Oh, no, sorry, ask your Sorry, ask your question ask your question So you're you go to Jack in the box you get whatever effing burger you just said ultimate bacon I wish they still had no that's Wendy's the ciabatta bacon cheeseburger Oh the ciabatta was good, so you can't but you can't you're not eating in the restaurant You're not eating in the in the parking lot. You got to go a quarter mile that way whatever It's been about like five and a half minutes You know you got your food

Do you think you're eating experience is marred because you ate it a quarter mile away in your car versus you're eating alone at a table It is not only marred it's ruined Shots the french fries Nicole because if I'm going to jack-in-the-box, I'm getting curly fries Yeah, I said curly fries. Did you I missed it? Maybe I did. I'm just- Maggie did I say curly fries? I feel like I said curly fries. I'm putting taco sauce on the curly fries. Yeah, I said curly fries. I seconded you, I missed it. Maybe I did. Maggie, did I say curly fries? I feel like I said curly fries. I'm putting taco sauce on the curly fries. I like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.

It's basically a spicy ketchup. There's so much sugar in it. Yeah, I get it. But you mean to tell me it's completely ruined? The fries have steamed. The fries have steamed. But it's ruined? Yes, I am not having a good time.

My day is ruined. You care that much? Yes, because I could be eating nutrient dense slop at home that is going to fuel my, when I say be eating nutrient-dense slop at home that is going to fuel my, when I say nutrient-dense slop, I mean like, it's not weird. It's like a porridge or a gruel. It's super normal.

Did you say porridge? Like a porridge. Mary and Mary got married. Yeah, can we address the channel? Can we address channel gate real quick? I'll address channel gate at the end. Okay, thank you. When's the last time you ate inside a fast food restaurant?

Can you remember? What about in and out? In and out, it's clean, the staff is friendly, you see the show of them working. In and out's different, I feel like. Yeah. In and out's different, yeah. But like a mass market, like a Popeyes.

No, I've never eaten inside of a Popeyes. The last time I remember eating at a Taco Bell, inside of a Taco Bell was four years ago on Halloween with like me and my friends. We just went to the parade. We walked over to the Taco Bell. This one did not have a drive-through and we just hung out there at like maybe like 1 a.m. and just ate in there and it was nice.

I liked it but it was Halloween and people were being crazy and people were being fun because it was Halloween. So you liked crazy and people being fun because it was Halloween So you liked that sort of communal? Yeah, that's but like on like a random Thursday at like 435 like I'm not gonna go eat on inside of a Taco Bell This show is sponsored by better help if you're anything like me your schedule is packed with social gatherings, big work projects, and so much more. It's easy to let your priorities slip. It's tough to juggle at times. But when you feel like you have no time for yourself,

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Visit rosettastone.com slash hotdog. That's 50% off. Unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com slash hotdog today. Do you remember a time when you were a kid? Yes. Flash Hot Dog Today. Do you remember a time when you were a kid? Yes. Eating inside fast food restaurants? Because the numbers are actually really shocking, right? Just a little bit of fast food drive-through history, right?

First drive-through ever was opened in 1946. It was Red's Hamburg. But it was in Springfield, Missouri on Route 66. I have something else on my research doc. What? The first drive, oh I'm sorry, drive in, not drive through. Continue? Yeah, so drive in is the right thing, right?

Where you would park your car and people would run out and serve you, but this idea of like your car stays moving was technically 1946 in Reds, Giant, Hamburg, but it wasn't like a two-way call box situation. You'd drive your car up, you'd like yell at someone, you'd go park, they'd run it out to you. But this idea of like a free flowing, like the way that Temple Grandin invented the slaughterhouse maze,

that's like what, it was pretty much Harry Snyder in and out, right, invented this two-way call box. I can't believe there's a Temple Grandin message. I can't believe you just talked about temple grandin. I love her. Yeah She's kind of the angel of death for cows, but like actually did a lot of really good stuff Yeah, yeah, but anyways like Harry Snyder and Mesa to a call box in 1948 what I didn't know is that McDonald's held off on drive-thrus until the 1970s, which is crazy. And like a lot of fast food restaurants are kind of like gathering places.

But it did end up the reason that Pizza Hut lost out to Domino's in the Great Pizza Wars. Officially in 2018, I believe, is the first year Domino's outsold Pizza Hut. But it's because Domino's was always about delivery, right? Pizza Hut still believed in what ended up being the false prophecy of people sitting down and eating in fast food restaurants, something that I like dearly dearly miss. I can't believe you miss it that much. Because now, like you said, you go in and you sit down and eat. I swear to God, I went to my local Taco Bell and it said, I went there like 9pm, perfectly reasonable time for a Friday night dinner to sit down inside.

And I was like, oh no, the inside is closed because it said open from noon till 7 and then in parentheses or later. So they don't even, it is such a non-factor eating inside a fast food restaurant that they don't even have real operating hours anymore. Wait, wait, wait, was that like a handwritten sign or was that like a printed sign? No, official like Taco Bell sign. Or later? Open 12 to 7 or later.

But was the or later like a cheeky like or later like like fourth meal? No, I got the sense that like hey, we may just close at 7 on some slow days so we can not staff, right? Yeah. Because fast food restaurants despite the fact that they're like making more money than ever they also apparently are having trouble getting people to work there You know right insert whatever political message or there But it seems like they they aren't even relying on that for a part of their business anymore. It's all delivery It's all app based. Yeah, they should just operate as ghost kitchens if they can No not the G word I hate it? I hate it. I hate it. I don't

I don't want delivery. What do you mean? It's the natural regression of of where they're going. What do you mean? I reject modernity. Embrace tradition. Go bring back the salad bars at the Wendy's. Bring back the red cups from Pizza Hut. Yes! This is what I want. Stop living in

nostalgia. Keep up with the times, Grandpa. I swear. You are wearing a grandpa shirt today too. I think it's a kind of like sexy grandpa shirt. Yeah, you look like you like have a summer house in Boca. Lounge lizard. Oh god, take me back to Boca. I'm such a drive-through curmudgeon. Oh really? How drive-through curmudgeonly are you?

I actually wrote an article for Los Angeles Magazine several years ago about In-N-Out drive-throughs so I know we talked about In-N-Out too much we're both Cali kids. I don't care. Yeah. We are who we are. It's a big part of our childhood. But also In-N-Out is one of the most influential fast food restaurants in the world. Right? Yeah. Right because of their very specific model of never franchising, of only expanding within their means and when they do pop-ups in places they did an Australian pop-up. They make money, they make buckets. Oh my god, it's like a 12-hour long lines.

Of humans, not cars. Of humans, not cars, thank you. But in and out drive-throughs in Los Angeles, not even in LA, in Orange County where I grew up. Everywhere, everywhere. A freaking plague. They are hundreds of cars long. The congestion is Insanity not only the like congestion in terms of getting your food

So where I used to live in Westwood when I went to UCLA you're on a street called Gailey Avenue This is my favorite in and out. I've had so many memories there. It's such a good in. Oh my god. I have been Drunk at that in and out. Do you think we ever met there? Yeah, I would have been. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw you there. I mean, between the years 2008 and like... 1000%. 2015, I would have been there.

1000% we were in that In-N-Out at the same time together. I bet you money. 100%. But there's this curve in the road and then all the cars just spill out into the road. So there's literally a blind turn on a 35 mile per hour speed limit street that is just going to rear end I've seen so many rear-end accidents. I called the L. I am a narc I called the LA Department of Transportation. You called the popo? I straight-up did I called them and No, I called the LA dot LA Department of Transportation.'re not the police pretty much the police no I just got like a guy named

Kevin and I was like it was for a story so I wasn't just complaining but I was like hey has anybody done anything to rectify this because it seems like it's an actual danger and guy goes oh yeah people sure seem to love in and out and I was like yeah I know they love it so much that they're literally causing accidents in the street he goes oh yeah no I know they love it so much that they're literally causing accidents in the street. He goes, oh yeah, no, I've heard this before. What are you gonna do about it? And then they were like, yeah, when a Chick-fil-A opened in Hollywood, what we did is, you know that Chick-fil-A. That Chick-fil-A.

They were like, we actually made them build a separate lane. We made them pay for it. Similar thing with Raising Cane's and Burbank. Like when a fast food restaurant that is so popular and Raising Canes and Chick-fil-A are both in that. Oh my god, the Raising Canes and Burbank. They had a cop station there for like all because the drive-thru is in such a disadvantageous position on a major thoroughfare and people were like flipping u-turns. Illegally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They had to put up a sign. No u-turns here. Yeah, but like this is actually Such an old man ranting about nothing

It's okay, it's okay, grandpa, let's get you to bed, let's get you to bed grandpa Big parking lots, you know, like build walkable cities where I can walk to raising games What do you mean build parking lots? There's no space in Los Angeles. They can't even buy a house anymore Parking structure two stories some places are actually doing that But anyway, so the point is, if a new place opens up in Los Angeles, they literally make corporate pay for any Department of Transportation needs to make it safe.

They can afford it. Problem is, In-N-Out has been there for so long. They're just grandfathered in. Oh, that's crazy. And so they just don't do anything about it. And so to me, like drive-thrus are a genuine weird blight and You grew up in a town just a small town that nobody's heard of. Yeah, Beverly They banned what's the what's the zip code there? Um, the famous one. Yeah, 90210. Okay. I've heard of it

90212 is also there. Is that where you lived? No, you're not doing oh, no. What were you? I don't want to tell people my former zip code. What do you mean? What are they gonna do with your zip code? You don't know fair enough They banned fast food, right? They banned fast food. Yeah, they did. They sure did They also banned in other places in California, too I'm guessing it's because either people are you know health nuts in Beverly Hills or they just didn't want the traffic congestion It's simply a thing that rich areas do. Okay, makes sense. Like it's a simply a thing that like well to do.

Makes a lot of sense. Great Neck New York also has a lot of fast food bands. Really? Yep. And so you have to like drive into Queens to get to the nearest McDonald's. Like fast food in general. Like you can't have like any fast food there. Correct.

Yeah. Oh wow. Yeah like no fast food whatsoever. And a lot of it is to stimulate mom and pop shops but then a lot of it is just like it according to them like sort of de-beautifies the town right? Kind of kills the vibe. Okay they opened a Buffalo Wild Wings there was pretty good. In Beverly? Yeah. No it's a Buffalo's isn't it? What's the difference between Buffalo's and Buffalo's? It's not a Buffalo Wild Wings it's a Buffalo's.

What's the difference? It's one that's attached to Fat Burger right? Yes. Yeah a buffalo wild wings, it's a buffalo's. It's the one that's attached to Fatburger, right? Yes. Yeah, it's called buffalo's, it's not buffalo wild wings. Really? Do you know how I know all this stuff about how they banned fast food and what fast food is there? Because you were a food writer and a journalist. No, that's not it.

I don't know why. Tell me. Because my first job after college, when I was 50k in debt and making 30 grand a year, I worked in Beverly Hills. Ah! Next to the Playboy building. I didn't work at Playboy. Yeah, yeah, I know exactly. In the street. In the street.

Yeah, yeah, there's a street within a street. I'm curving my hand on Santa Monica. There's a street, it's next to the police station and the library. Correct. I would have to drive by the police station all the time and I don't think my car was registered and I would always get scared. Clench your booty hole every time you would drive by.

There was nowhere where I could get a freaking lunch for under $15. Nowhere. Still, it's still the case. I went to, I know, and so I would walk into like, Buffalo's and get a six piece wing and then I'd eat a bowl of cereal from the office pantry. You would walk there? Yeah, let's walk to the systems. Was it walkable? Yeah.

Okay. And then I would also walk to a place called Clementine, you know Clementine? I love that Clementine! Get a $13 egg salad sandwich, unseasoned, had egg shells in it. It's so damn expensive. The point is fast food is like, it's a thing that a lot of people actually kind of need, right? It's a really cheap option. Yes, yes, yes.

It's getting a lot more expensive and a lot of places are banning it. San Luis Obispo is another spot that has banned drive-thrus, which I think is really interesting. I recently was at Starbucks the other day and I saw that they had two lanes. They had a drive-thru that was just for regular orders and they had a phone pick-up drive-thru as well, which I thought was really crazy. First time I've ever seen that. Man. That's all I wanted to say. One thing that I hate,

even if I'm eating inside, the drive-through people still ruin my life. Oh, because it's all back-ordered? Yes. Yeah, sorry. Because this happens at Starbucks a lot. Anybody that'll walk into a Starbucks, and I, similar thing, I don't go through the drive-through in Starbucks. I walk in and I talk to a human being. When did I become this old? I don't know, but it's nice.

So you can definitely see our age as like, we've done this podcast for about four years. I bet you like our first three episodes, we're like, la la la la la, we love food, la la la la la la la la. And now it's just like, I'm complaining about this, I'm calling the city. What the hell is eventing me?

Your kids and your whipped cream pink drinks. Coffee used to just be called coffee, dang it. I'm sitting there just reading the paper harassing anyone that walks in. No, but I don't go through the Starbucks drive-thru, so I'll go and I'll order. And then nobody addresses you for like five minutes because they are just violently hustling to fill the racks of drinks. So many drinks just don't get picked up. I will just watch the ice melt into some like matcha, pistachio, oleato, cold foam latte, and you just see the ice melt and it's half water and it's floating on top.

And you're like, who is this? We live in a society that is now nameless and faceless, and things are so easy and convenient. You just tap buttons on your phone, and inflation's so high, but you're hiring a private taxi to drive your Starbucks to you. What is happening? Just go somewhere, spend an extra five minutes,

talk to a person. I don't need to. Drink the thing at the temperature is meant to be drinking. I talk to people all the time. Temperature, schmemper-ture, what are you talking about? You're so dramatic. I swear, it's not that big of a deal if your coffee's a little bit colder than usual.

If your crumb trap's a little bit, I don't know, softer than you usually like it. Being so hung up on these things also, Josh, I think is bad for your blood pressure. I'm not kidding. I mean, it's probably higher because you do go through the drive-through. But I don't know what it is.

I mean, I don't hate drive-throughs. I think they're a necessity in this modern time I think it makes life a little bit easier makes life a little bit more digestible I used to be pretty hypertensive when I was a kid But now I've gotten my blood pressure to a really nice range due to cardio and changes in diet So take that Anyways Workers at fast food restaurants are taught to prioritize drive-through patrons

because I think this is hilarious. Drive-through, people in their cars are simply less patient than people inside the store, which I hate because- I've seen so many videos of road rage in the drive-throughs. Oh my God. So many. But I am one of the schmucks who just stands there and just will occasionally walk

over. Oh really? Hey. Hey. Oh really? I just wanted to check. Okay. Can I at least get the drink?

No, okay, that's fine. I'll just, I can reach the cup if I'm okay. That's you? Yeah. Not surprised at all, raw chicken eater man. I don't know, I mean, I think we need to maybe, hear me out, just split kind of how Chipotle has like a phone order section, like an online order section and a main section. Maybe you just got to split it up.

Maybe you just got to, you know, have like the drive-through people have their own like little section where they can do what they got to do. And then the people that come in, there's like a little section for them. Separate. Chipotle doesn't have any drive-throughs, right? Not a drive-through, but like online orders. Yeah. Phone orders. Chipotle actually was making a big push. This is everyone kind of following this Domino's

model. Yeah. I believe McDonald's is opening their first store with no seating inside whatsoever. Yeah, I'm into it. opening their first store with no seating inside whatsoever. Yeah, I'm into it. Yeah, I suppose that's the future, but we talked about this a while ago of like, it really changes the definition of what a restaurant is.

We talked about it with the ghost kitchen thing, right? I'm not mad at it. When a restaurant, but isn't there something, I know you don't like view fast food as sort of like special, which I don't. I think a lot of people don't, it is just a convenience thing but To me they're like is something about the early days of Chipotle, right? Mm-hmm

I don't know if it's cultural appropriation whatever but you walk in and they had like there was the kind of wood designs Like this with the exposed metal Kind of like faux Aztec stuff. I liked it the music there was a special music guy There's a special music guy, but that was so important to building the brand of Chipotle, right? It really was you know and I think without that like you really lose a lot of identity you lose a lot of like Specialness in what it means to eat food. I think we're getting more and more disconnected from our food even if it's fast food I understand that but you're getting like more and more Disconnected as this weird technocratic future hurdles on.

And it bums me out, man. The play place, Min McDonald's, I have so many good memories there. I got tetanus once. Well, of course we're far moved from our food. We don't kill our own livestock anymore. It's already, we go and we get ground beef. So I think you're just,

is this getting up on your soapbox almost a little bit? 100%. But like what's the next natural evolution? Like are we literally going to see a world in which fast food restaurants, so take for instance the KFC Taco Bell hybrids, or KFC Pizza Hut, Taco Bell Pizza Hut, all that stuff, because they're all owned by Yum Brands,

which is a subsidiary of like Frito Lay Pepsi Co. Is there gonna be a world in which there's just simply no physical space whatsoever and yum brands can save money by just having a commissary kitchen placed out like Amazon warehouses where you're ordering stuff on an app? Yeah, I think that's the natural progression of where fast food is going, yes. What about like other restaurants? Because we're seeing like…

No, I don't think other restaurants, no, I don't think so. We'll think about like a Sweet Green, which is- If Sweet Green had a kiosk- I don't think I've ever eaten inside a Sweet Green. I've eaten inside of a Sweet Green. I'm a little hypocrite here. What's it like inside a Sweet Green? It's nice, they have plants everywhere.

Looks like an apple store. Pretty much more plants though. It's really nice. I like eating inside of a Sweet Green. It's quite curious. I'll say the brand identity of Sweet Green is obvious whenever you walk through the door. And I think there might be a period of time where we're gonna see that brand identity go away because they've already established it.

People are like, I already know what sweet green is. I don't need to look at the pretty plants anymore. I don't need to look at the spoons and forks that have the SG label on it anymore. I think they're slowly gonna chip away at that because, you know, profit is the most important thing and they're just gonna have a little kiosk and they're just gonna pump out salads. And I think that's fine. I'm not that precious about it. I'm sorry. Maybe it's just who, maybe it's just where I come from and like what I think is important to me. I think fast food doesn't need to be a third place, baby. I think maybe the McDonald's doesn't need to be the third place for people.

Yeah. There's other places that can be third places, like the library or a bar. Libraries, famously booming businesses in 2020. No, I'm just saying, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like maybe there's a world in which the McDonald's of the world can just become these pseudo ghost kitchens and the space is utilized for something else.

I don't know exactly what that is. And yeah, I just think fast food places don't need to be the third place anymore. There's more options. The community can be, you can find your community elsewhere. Sure. But they actually have been like really important in Starbucks specifically for like low income people, unhoused people to have access to like things like Wi-Fi and bathrooms. That's very true. See this is like this is where it comes from like where I grew up and my background from my privilege

I've never had to consider those things. Yeah And it's it's really you know I don't want to be the person who's just like the future is bad that tends to be where I naturally go And I know this is such a dumb topic, like waiting in the drive-through for a hamburger. No, it's still important. But that's where my mind sort of goes. I'm really curious to see how this all shakes out

in the future, talking about how these physical spaces were important to the branding of these restaurants. Like the generation after us, are they gonna care about McDonald's anymore? Are they gonna care about all these brands that we grew up with? Brands that we throw on a YouTube page and people know so they click on them. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Are they even going to think of them other than just like a sticker on an app that they don't care about, don't have any connection to? I think that's the natural thing. You know, because we have that nostalgia. I think that's what it is and like that'll give rise to new things. What those new things are. I agree. The Mythical Ghost Kitchen 2025. Let's do it, man. Let's make nutrient dense slop. I'm not high-fiving you. Nicole, nutrient dense slop. The kids love it. I'm not high-fiving you.

It'll be like the gruel from The Matrix. I'm not high-fiving you. VoteLikeABeast.com is back and better than ever. We've created a one-stop shop of nonpartisan resources to help you participate in this year's election. Register to vote. Register to vote by mail, and research your candidates and ballot measures at the local, state, and national levels. Inform your vote today so you can cast a vote

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And it's an even better thing that you can get six IKEA 365 plus glasses for just $9.99. So go ahead, you can afford to hoard because IKEA is priced for student life. Shop everything you need for back to school at IKEA today. All right, Nicole. I've heard what you and I have to say, we heard a lot of it. Now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the universe. It's time for another segment we call... Opinions are like casserole! Okay, so we were talking about buffalo...

We were talking about buffaloes versus buffalo wild wings. So it is technically called Buffalo's cafe for some reason cafe is just European for coffee. They have no coffee. They have a lot of buffalo wings. There are only 19 of them and they're all across California there's 13 locations in Canada two in the Philippines and one in Dubai and Malaysia nice That is a hell of a spread. I like it. But they're attached to Fatburger, which was a contemporary of In-N-Out that started in LA and Magic Johnson owns like a lot of them to try and enrich the community in South Los Angeles. And a lot of people like Gabriel Iglesias, it's his favorite burger.

A lot of people, especially LA OGs, love Fatburger. I think it's really good. They also have a banana shake that's really great. I've only had it once. I've only had Fatburger once. I really love fat burger. I think it's really good. They also have a banana shake. That's really great I've only had it once I only had fat burger once I I really love fat burger I still would choose in and out over it But that's what the hell buffalo's cafe is it was them trying to get into the chicken wing game and like they're perfectly fine I almost all boneless wings tastes the same to me It's it's like okay. Okay, that's what that. Nice. Thanks for enriching me with education, Josh.

I want to go to Dubai just to go to the Fat Burger Buffalo's Cafe. I was saying I want to go to Dubai really badly. I want to go to Dubai. For the Buffalo's Cafe? No, I want to go lay in the sand and make sand angels, actually. Like, have you ever seen those videos of people that go like sand surfing? No. Oh.

I want to go. They have a bunch of weird bodybuilding gyms there. I want to go there. Like, how weird? I don't know. It's just like all the biggest influencers from have a bunch of weird bodybuilding gyms there. I want to go there. Like how weird? I don't know. It's just like all the biggest influencers from all around the world just go like train together there. You should try to go to the Aloe Gym later. What's the Aloe Gym?

Oh, Aloe. Aloe Gym. Who works out there? Influencers. Fitfluencers. Has anybody coined that yet? That's mine, baby. That's a lot.

That's a very commonly used term, fitfluencer. That's like a... Why are you so sassy today? I'm not sassy today. I'm saying that's like a common... That's a very commonly used term fit closer That's like a why you so sassy I'm saying that's like a college search hashtag fit flunzer. That's just me just sassy grandpa Let's get into our first Love the show thank you much Just wanted to Call and let you know that the entire world is sleeping on cheesy oats But instead of putting sugar in it you put cheese in it

It's so good. It's so much better than regular oatmeal. It should be the regular Okay, thank you very much. Once again. Love the show. Have a great day Welcome to movie phone. I like the gut of this guy's jib. I'll tell you that much What do you think about cheesy oats? They're all right. Have you had cheese oats? I've put cheese I've done crazy things in my oatmeal. You don't even want to know what I put it against wild and wacky at Nicole's I don't want I don't want to know yeah crazy. Um, it sounds fun. I like it Um, I haven't had oatmeal in a really long time. I gotta have I'm gonna have it tomorrow This reminds me of the like sugar and grits debate, right?

Very very very heated debate very heated debate and I understand. I'm not I'm not southern. I have no license to grits I like love sweet grits because I love corn porridges I love sweet grits because I love corn porridges. You love slop. I love slop. So like, rice is just a grain that's turned into porridge all around the world, right? You have arroz con leche, you have congee, you have juke, you have all that.

Corn is just a grain that's turned into porridge. Oats are just a grain that are turned into porridge, right? They should be able to lean sweet or savory either way, but I never put cheese in my oats. I've made savory oats before. You never made savory... I've had... You've never had savory oats? No, I've like made savory oats. Oh, you've never made cheesy oats?

No, I've like done oat zoto for dinner when I'm really hard up. That's pretty good. But I've never... They may have been some parmesan, but I've never like just thought to do a cheesy oatmeal with like eggs and bacon in the morning. That sounds really great. Sounds really good, yeah. And you should have the license to do that.

Like you said, it should be more popular. Yeah. I'm going to do that this weekend. This is a pledge to make cheesy oats this weekend. I got some good little cheese scraps in my fridge, and what better way to use up scraps than oatmeal? Sounds good. Julia's going to be disappointed.

That's all right. That's okay. I've disappointed before. I'm sure. Hello Mythical team. Are you in a liminal space? You need rugs in, wait pause it, pause it. Hold on. You need rugs in wherever you are. You need to put some rugs in your house and you need to get a bigger couch because it sounds like you're in an open house right now. Yeah. I love watching everything from Mythical Kitchen. Thank you for all the wonderful mood lifting content. My hot take is that Persian food is the most flavorful food and that it is really the best

because it can delight you without assaulting your taste buds with spice. So that's my heartache. Yes, absolutely. 100% agree. It's not just cause I'm Persian. It's true. It's the best food ever.

It's so funny when right when she said it's the most flavorful food, I immediately was gonna go, eh, not spicy. I was gonna say said it's the most flavorful food. I immediately was gonna go not spicy I was gonna say Indian food is the most flavorful food of all time Yeah, but what I would reject the use of a salting years your palette with spice because I would say gently massage No, sometimes some food can be a salting. It's fine. It's true Persian food does not have anything assertive Yes, it are you get black lime is not assertive. Yes, it, black lime is not assertive. Are you biting a black lime?

No, sometimes it's in the stew and then you actually get a bite. No, wait a second, no, stop it. It's because you grew up on it. If you eat Gourmet Sabzi for the first time, it's an arresting, I wouldn't say assaulting, I'd say an arresting flavor. I disagree with you. In the same way that if you eat various forms

like Indian curries with black mustard or with like asafoetida or something you're not used to, it's something that is unfamiliar and you try it and like, you know, I happen to love it, but Gourmet Sabzi is like a wild white, Fesenjun is utterly insane. Dude, pomegranate molasses is like arresting. No, no, no. Well, that's the thing. You're talking about eating these things on their own. The thing about Persian food is it's all about balance. It's all about balancing every single freaking taste that you have. I think every cuisine is about balancing.

What cuisine isn't about balance? What's the least balanced cuisine out there? Oh my gosh, I don't know. Right? Because even... But think about it. It's the one cuisine that has every single flavor regardless of what it is. The majority of the foods. The thing about the stews, it's a stew-based culture. Every single stew has sweet, salty, bitter, umami, whatever, like whatever else. I don't know. We literally did a podcast today. I'm sorry.

I forgot already. I wore my bitter sweatpants to the gym today. Yeah? Nice. But like, you know, it has everything bitterness sourness sweetness saltiness savory It has all of those things the majority of the foods have all of those things 100% and I think it's one of the few that does it really well specifically sour I Specifically sour that's one of the reasons I love to be clear Persian food is like one of my probably Mexican food is just so special to me love Mexican food love Indian food love Indian food

Vietnamese food and I think all of them was Thai food Korean food, but like Persian food to me is very very special I Just I really love capsaicin. I love heat. It's not big on spice. I'll say that it's not big on being spicy What about even like dried spices? Because I feel like you cook a lot of Indian dishes like the panoply of masala's that you use right? I mean there's like this There's like a Mount Olympus of just so many different masala's so many different spices that are used Is there that in Persian food you mean like a panoply of spices? Yeah, like do you use a ton of dried spices not a ton of dry not a ton

It's about using the right ones. Yeah, yeah, like do you use a ton of dried spices? Not a ton of dry, not a ton. It's about using the right ones, I'd say. There's a lot of turmeric. There's a lot of soma. There's dried fenugreek. There's black lime, like you said. There's advia, which is almost like a masala, like a mix of a bunch of spices. There's cardamom.

There's a lot. Persian food is wildly sour, which is very arresting for a lot of people. I was just thinking about it. Like even... I love how sour it is. I think you need it. Same. I love sour foods. But I'm thinking even if you try like, mace de moussier or something, right? Like that yogurt is like... Sour.

It's a very sour yogurt. Albalou. Albalou, sour cherries. Sour cherries are like wildly sour. Barberries. Barberries. And that's one of the reasons I love Persian food. Albalu all those sour cherries sour cherries are like wildly sour barberries barberries Uh-huh, and that's one of the reasons I love Persian food I think it is quite assertive on the palate unless you've like really grown up with it and you're trained for that interesting Well since I was raised on it, then I'm not the right person to say this

But yeah, I agree with you Persian foods the best. Hey y'all. My name is Christina and Combination I have it used to be a meme a couple of years ago. It was called the snickle. No, you're not. So you put together a pickle inside of a Snickers bar. Opposite Snickers inside a pickle. And it sounds gross. When you start eating it, it kind of grows on you a little.

So, just a try. Not only have we tried it, we've cooked with it. Yeah. I don't like it. I shoved a whole pickle inside a pork loin and in one of the most visually arresting images of all of Mythical Kitchen. Yeah, it was pretty sick. Huge pickle. I love this person's accent because it sounds like this,

Excuse me, you look like you love me. And I love your accent. Better than the song. I don't think Snickles are very good. I think it's a really, my main problem with it, I like pickles and sweet things. What about a Twixle? I get down with the Twixle. But no, it's what it really is, is the juiciness of the pickle

with the hardness of the caramel and nougat. Right? Because by the time you're squeezing all the juice out of the pickle, I don't think they're two textures that go together. It's pretty gross. It's pretty gnarly. I love that you found something for yourself that you love. I'm happy for you.

I would not be happy eating a snickle. No, nor would I. But that's great. Thicker than a snickle. I just no, nor would I, but that's great. Thicker than a snickle. I just want a banana mayonnaise and crunchy peanut butter sandwich right now. Ew! All right, one more, light it up, one more!

Are you pregnant? Me? Yeah. Hi, I'm Nat and I'm a little bit neurotic. This is my fourth take on this opinion because I keep making little inaccuracies and I am also a huge food nerd. I love that. I love your podcast. We love you. My opinion is that amazake is amazing. What's amazake? If you don't know what

amazake is, it is a creamy, delicious, sweet, a little bit grainy rice beverage. Look it up. And it is the pre-ferment in making sake. So amazake is super cool, super delicious. I want everyone to know about it so that I can find it. It's really hard to find. I learned about it at the first job I ever had, which was a health food macrobiotic store in Philadelphia. And they had amazake there. I can't find it anymore.

It's amazing. And amazake is really cool because it's a pre-fermented sake. And that means it's made out of koji mold. I'm also a big mushroom nerd. And koji is also used to make soy sauce. So here I am kind of tying together all the little things I said

to all these takes because I'm a little neurotic, but thank you for listening. I'm sorry, K-Pi. This was awesome. I love that her brain works like hours where it just sort of- Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. It's like you have this horizontal through line,

but then your actual brain is just doing weird helix laps around it, but you ultimately arrive at the same place. I have never heard of amazake before So it's it's mostly non alcoholic It sounds like they make some that are lightly alcoholic because of the ferment which is similar to like kombucha like a kombucha or something I I thought it was similar to a makgeolli at first. I mean both have this similar fermentation process But this is very cool, and I want more silly functional

beverages. We've talked about the functional beverage movement. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is an OG functional beverage. It's an OG functional beverage. Yeah. And I think we should be drinking more of it. Furthermore, humans ability to take a single grain and spin off a million different products from it is absolutely mind-blowing to me. It is incredible. And I really love that. I mean, to corn, you know, to have like from whiskey to Doritos, like pretty wild that we figured out how to do that over time.

The spirit of human ingenuity is eternal and that flame burns bright. Well, Amazake sounds amazing to me. I want to try it. I just want some. I want to try it. I don't want to make it, but I want to try it. I just want some I want to try it I don't want to make it, but I want to try it throw it on Amazon mail See if we can get some mail we can probably find it think everyone got it I mean they probably have it as like they don't have iceberg lettuce, but they might have the amazake They have it like named as something cool like probiotic rice Oh

Gosh well Nat that was a rad call. Thank you for that. Yes. Thank you very much. And thank you so much for watching a hot bag as a sandwich or listening to it as they say. I don't know, man. I'm tired. I gotta go take a nap. We got new episodes out every Wednesday wherever you listen to podcasts Sunday wherever you watch them assuming that wherever you watch them is YouTube. I bought it. It's coming tomorrow Yeah, yeah, actually. Oh, it's coming Friday

Yeah, and if you want to leave an opinion to a casseroles message leave it at this number 83 Sorry, what was it one? I got it I got it. 1-800-833-DOGPOD1 The number again is 833- 1-877-CARSFORKIDS 877-CARSFORKIDS Oh my god, it's 833-DOGPOD1 The number again is 833-

CARSFORKIDS DOGPOD1 I kids, donate your car today. And if you like watching Nicole and I in video, we got plenty more where that came from. Check out our YouTube channel called Mythical Kitchen. Statistically speaking, a majority of you, yes majority, are on Mythical Kitchen right now on YouTube. But continue to check it out. Hi.