A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - The Best Things We Ate in 2025

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

Today, Josh is joined by the Mythical Kitcheneers to talk about the top 3 things they each ate this year. Warning, this episode will make you hungry. Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 Check out the video version of this podcast: http://youtube.com/@mythicalkitchen To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this is mythical. Guys, I've been eating this year, and I'm not just talking about my fits. This is a hot dog is a sandwich. Cetchup 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 Weiner Warriors to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. I'm your host, Josh Scherer. and today Nicole is not here because she has a tiny little baby which is still crazy but we're doing something extra special today we have all of the mythical kitcheners

who didn't call out sick today which is to say three of them we're rooting Tony we're rooting Tony as a speedy recovery we have everyone in house today to talk about the best things that we have eaten in the year 2025 we have Lily cousins right here

Lily tell the people what's up Hey what's up what do you call them Weiner Warrior Yeah, oh, I will say Wiener Warriors is the first time I've ever called them that. Why? We did a poll to ask our listeners what they wanted to be referred to as. Yeah. And I think Wiener World was the winner over hot doggers.

But then I was thinking about, I kind of want people to have a call to arms. Yeah. Not a violent call to arms, you know, just about a kind of like rallying cry around each other. And I think Wiener Warriors is really nice because we sort of stand up for truth and justice. Yeah. And Wieners. Okay, hi, Wiener Warriors. Thank you.

That felt really natural, didn't it? Yeah, it does. Rolls off the tongue. So we are going to look back at the year that we've had in food in 2025 and tell our personal stories of the best things we've eaten. What comes to the top of mind for you? Okay, so for the first one, I went to London from Mythical. Hell yeah, you did. And I stayed near Borough Market, which, if you guys don't know, it's this giant food market with all these food stalls.

and they sell, like, fresh produce, but they have a ton of, like, hot food stands. Is this the one that, like, there's a field in the middle and everyone's, like, drinking near it and it's almost a walking track with all of the food vendors or no? I don't think so, no. I don't do a bunch of outdoor markets in London. It was just, like, very crowded and had a bunch of food stalls, and they were so beautifully set up. Like, every food stall was so proud of what they were selling, and, yeah, it was just, it was really cool. But it was very touristy, and I didn't think the food was going to be that good. but everything was insane.

What was the top bite yet? I was looking at Borough Market to see if I'd been there, but no, I went to a different market. I went to multiple different market markets in London. Never went to Borough. Okay. There's a place called Ginger Pig, and they sell these sausage rolls,

and they have like a buttery, flaky crust, and then in the center is just this, like, super juicy, tender pork sausage, and it's so good. Sausage rolls are one of those, like, very British foods that people like to crap on. traditional British food all the time, then you eat a sausage roll. I don't know that there are many better foods in the world than a proper sausage roll. I didn't know. Like I didn't know what it was

and yeah, I had it and it was so piping hot and yeah, it was so juicy. It was delicious. Did you eat any other like traditional British foods when you were there? The classic fish and chips. Which is always like just fine. Yeah. Yeah, it was just fine. There wasn't like a place where it was amazing. I had like a full English breakfast. I don't know. We had like Indian food, which I feel like is traditional British food, Indian food. I agree. No, it genuinely is. Where'd you go get Indian food? Deschum. Which now they're like opening a place in New York, so it didn't feel as authentic. I know. That's one of those things whenever you travel to another city, I feel like if you are from out of town, you have the list of names that you know you're supposed to go to. Yeah.

And then all of the locals are like, oh my God, that place is so overrated. All the tourists go there. And you're like, well, I am a tourist. Yeah. And that's why I'm going there because I also went to DeSum. Yeah. I mean, I liked it. It wasn't like any Indian food that I've had here in the States. No, same. So for me, it was a great experience. Man, that's a fun time. Have you ever had a Vietnamese dish called Pate Show?

No, what's that? I'm going to Google it. There's like a Vietnamese version of a sausage roll effectively, but it's like a flaky puff pastry with like a sort of like sausage force meat in the middle. Yeah. But very like Vietnamese flavored, like tons of black pepper, ginger, garlic, lemon grass. So it's in my blood. That's why I liked it so much. Yeah.

You were, like, reacting ancestrally to the sausage roll. Exactly. Man, that's fun. What's your second best bite? So I get, I have this every year because it's from Alex's family. But there's a bakery called El Gaio bakery. It's a Mexican bakery. Have you heard of it?

Mm-mm. He's from out in the sticks in L.A., though. Like, he's from... Saying Gabriel's not out in the sticks. Seeing Gabriel is, like, for L.A. purposes. You know what I mean? I guess. Yeah.

It's central for me because it's, I live in Pasadena, and it's right next to it. Yeah, yeah. Pasadena was so far out in the sticks that it started as a tuberculosis colony. It's not even, it's 20 minutes from here. It's not even that bad. No, it's not. Pull out your phone. Pasadena?

Here, keep talking. Okay. No way it's 20 minutes. During the holidays, this bakery has a line out the door. It's like you have to wait two hours to get the bread. And we get the pond de agua, and it's a really soft roll. And his mom makes these, like, cheesy potatoes where she grates the potatoes. and then adds like a bunch of cheese and sour cream

and there's nothing healthy about it. It's only 17 minutes from here. Yes, exactly. It's not that far. Yeah, but we're in Burbank. We're also kind of out in the stakes. Oh, my gosh. I'm sorry, you were saying.

Bandai, Aqua. And then cheesy potatoes that his mom makes. And then... Did she grate the potatoes fresh or she's using like a... Yes, I just said that. I'm sorry, I was looking... I was trying to disprove you and then thus disproved me entirely, and I'm fine owning that.

I have to repeat for the sausage warriors. No, they're called the sausage swordsman or the wiener warriors. Either one. And then, so his mom goes to New Mexico. She's actually in New Mexico right now. Are they from New Mexico? His mom is. Oh, gotcha, got you.

And she, it's green chili season. Hell yes. So she's, like, processing a ton of green chilies, roasting them, and then tossing it with, like, salt and garlic. And then she brings back slip-block bags and freezes them for the year. Dude, that's sick. I had no idea. Yeah, and so she makes a really good green chili salsa that shows up for, like, any celebration or holiday, or just like dinner, honestly, any meal. And then you make a little sandwich with, like, ham and cheesy potatoes and the green chili salsa and the bread.

Dude, that is such a fun, like, new Mexican dish, you know what I mean? Like, it feels very kind of like American in a way of just like ham, potatoes, bread, and then that, like, green chili. Yeah, exactly. I love any food. It's specifically like a crop that can be like tied to a time and a place. Yep. Anytime it's seasonal, anytime it only comes from one place. Like hatch chilies only come from Hatch New Mexico.

Yeah. And they're like really, really special. They're very like proud of their green chili. And like even throughout New Mexico, they're all so different from each other just based on the climate and everything. So it's really special. Yeah. Is that like the best application for green chili on that sandwich? It kind of sounds like it riffs, though.

No, it's so good. And then there's always so many leftovers. So she packs us home, like, all the leftovers, and you eat it for the next week. Can I have some green chilies? Yeah. Dude. I'll sell them to you for $100 a Ziploc bag. How big is this a block bag?

It's just the little... If it's a sandwich baggie, I'm suing, this is bullshit. No, I'll actually bring some in because it's really good. No, that'd be awesome. I feel like as I get older, which is every single day. But no, as I like get older and I've had all these, like, I've eaten the caviar. I've eaten the woggy. And not to, like, sound super privileged here, but that was like,

like a part of my job as like a journalist and we film a lot of silly stuff here where we have like the world's best products. These things that I used to like dream about of foie gras and all the stuff you see on the shows, they just become like kind of less special as you realize like I don't think I really care about. I don't ever need to taste a white truffle again. Yeah. It's perfectly fine. It was special when I had it. But now I'm like I want these singular experiences like fresh hatched chilies that have been like processed by hand and driven by someone. Like I want that story. I want that like love in the dish. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I was thinking about my favorite foods, and it really is all based off of, like, your experience there.

Like, it's, that's the same thing, even working in restaurants. Like, I've had the luxury of eating A5 wague and, yeah, caviar and all of these amazing ingredients, but it's about the experience and, like, who you're with, as corny as that sounds. No, it's not corny at all. Like, truly, though, that's what everything's tied to. I was thinking about, like, my own last bite and my own favorite bites this year, God. But I was, like, looking back through, like, last meals catalogs to be, like, we've eaten some amazing foods, and we have, but like I'm so locked into talking to the person and thinking

about sort of being in the show and thinking about living in the moment for the interview that like the food doesn't taste as good, which is messed up because you're primarily the one that's cooking it and you make awesome food. No, but you know what I mean? Like I don't have the actual moments in food that have like meant the most to me. You're like, I'm with a loved one and we took a road trip spontaneously and we ended up in this place. And yeah, it's a, it's a It's interesting the way that that's also changed for me through time. Yeah. I would say even, too, like after last meals, we, including you, enjoy the food, like, after the guest leaves.

And we're all just, like, around the table, just munching on the leftovers, which is always a fun experience. Just, like, taking whatever bread we have and swiping it through all the, like, random, like, seafood, roasted pan juices. Just mix everything together. Man, that's it. All right. All right. One more. Top three.

What are we got? Um, this is actually correlated to an episode that we shot where a sushi chef, um, taught you how to make proper sushi. Shout to my boy, chef gone. Yeah. So we had, um, a bunch of Shima Aji, which is like one of my favorite fishes for sushi. And it has kind of like a, not chewy, but like a firmer texture. And it just tastes really clean. Um, and there was a bunch of leftover of like the scraps that you, when you were like hacking away at the fish.

Yeah, I was really hacking away at the fish. I fudged it up. That was my bad. So we had a bunch of it, and the next day, we made, like, a sheet pan crudo, and we just, like, slice it up and put it on, like, that half sheet pan, and then spread it out and just made, like, a nice little crudo out of it. And me v. Tony and Colby, I think that was it. Sorry, I don't think we invited you. I was going to say, where the hell was I? I was in the office. Yeah, I think you were in the office. I think I was in a bunch of meetings at that time. I think I remember when this was going down.

We just, like, hadn't had lunch in a while, like, just sat down for our lunch. So we, like, closed the doors. And we almost, like, turned off the lights, too. And then we just ate the crudo for, like, the next hour. I've never consumed so much raw fish. But I was fine. It was so good, though. Yeah, I think why Tony's out with the stomach cake.

No, actually, we know why Tony's out, but also could have been the crudo. Could have been anything. No, those meals are so fun, though, when it's like you're taking all the leftovers because then you're sort of creating that moment, you know? Yeah, it was delicious. But I still loved an invite, but that's totally cool, man. Yeah, I'm sorry next time. Well, I'm going to tell you one of mine.

Yeah, tell you one of mine. I'm going to tell you about this. It was something I made. Okay. It was really good. I know, 100%. I am incredibly cocky. But no, it was for my best friend's bachelor party.

I decided that I was going to make him a very, very special meal that would be very special to both of us. And my boy, Deep, is Gujarati from India. And so he and I grew up going to Taco Bell all the time, which is also a very Indian-American thing to do. No beef, sub beans. You all know the deal. But I decided that I would make him an entire, like, Indian riff on Taco Bell's menu. So I did, like, a panir-tika-casidia, and I did, like, what else? Like a lamb Vindaloo, like, biria, crispy taco.

I love that. It was so sick. But the bite that, like, really, really stood out was this isn't exactly a Taco Bell riff, but just a Mexican food riff. But I used, like, a parata dough. It's like a wheat dough. It kept it raw. It was nice and flaky. And then I made, like, a go-and-spiced shrimp.

kind of almost like a far like a farce like a early yeah um and then like chopped it up to make like you know the the tacos dorados de camerones the crispy you ever go to marissa so i did that so it was like a fried shrimp and crab go and spiced fried parata taco and then i made like a cachumber picot de gallo and then did like i did two different sauces i did a roasted tomato like mint chutney yeah which was sick and then i did a mango pickle chili to our bowl salsa roha. That's insane. And we had drank, kids don't do this as bad, but we went to Catalina, and we were

like playing spike ball and doing ropes courses. And we did trace back the numbers and we did have 20 beers throughout the day before the meal. And so it was, we're kind of really teetering on that. 20 beers like all of you? A person. 20 beers each. Yeah, we're big boys though.

We're all big. Yep. Yeah, not a person under 200 pounds on that trip. Were you drinking water? Yeah, tons of it. Yeah. A little bit. mostly in the beer, but it was just like the most fun time.

And when I told Deep, we kept it a complete secret from him. And then when I told him what we were making, he started crying, gave me a big hug and so I love you. That's amazing. Yeah. That sounds really nice. So that was it. Did you, so you were cooking drunk? Yes.

Do you like that? Love it. Oh my God, I love it. Do you like cooking drunk? I do, but I get scared that I'm going to burn myself. Oh, no. I mean, you will. Yeah.

It doesn't hurt as bad. No, exactly. You wake up the next day, kind of being like, what's going on. Yeah. And I had a little bit of that. But I love cooking drunk because you're, you're, nothing matters. You're kind of just like fearless. You're flowing.

It's like jazz. If you mess something up, it's fine. 100%. And I did mess things up. And that was totally fine. But yeah, deep frying these like very wet tacos. You were deep frying in your Airbnb? No, it was his sister's house.

So she was over. So she was kind of like wrangling us like a bunch of, you know, cats on catnip. Yeah. She was kind of making sure that we didn't burn the place down. Yeah, that's nice. Yeah. So that was really fun. That's awesome.

Yeah. That's a good mem. Lily, I'm proud of all that we've accomplished this year, and I'm proud of you. Thank you. You're proud, and I'm proud, too. Hell, yeah, dude, super smooth. You want to send V in? Yeah, I'll send her in.

VNA, Austin. We've completed another year. Yes, we have. It's been a long year, but a very tasteful one. Where do you rank this in terms of years that you've been in Mythical Kitchen? Oh, man. Like, it's good, bad? Or just in general.

How the year... Oh, okay. This one's on the upper side, so I would say a solid eight. Hell yeah, dude. Top two-year Mythical Kitchen, for sure. We're talking about the best three things that we've eaten this year. What's your first? Oh, okay.

So I had to really think about all these things, and it just made me realize how slightly boozy I am, or slightly bougie that I've been this year specifically. You've gotten increasingly busier over the years. Yeah, part of me thinks it's your fault, but also part of me thinks it's just who I'm becoming, and I've accepted it at this point. That's incredible.

Like you're becoming your fully actualized self. Yes, I am. And it's a bougie self. Yes, it is. L.A. made me this way. I'm so sorry. It's a true thing. Okay, so the first one, I didn't want to say it in the French way, like actually

say it in French because I'm really bad at pronouncing things. And you know this because I have a hard time. Dude, respectfully, no one's worse than Lily. No, Lily's pretty bad. Lily's bordering on the point where you can't make fun of it for it because I think it might be some sort of, there might be a Latin name that allowed her to get a couple extra minutes on tests in school. You know what I mean? You guys know what I'm getting that? Like it might be an actual learning disability where I'm like, oh. Okay. Yeah, I'm not going to say the French word for

it, but this is a dish I tried in France. Earlier this year, I went to go see my best friend. She lives there. And I feel like I always talk to you guys about her. She's like in the art world too, right? Yeah, she's in the fashion world. In the fashion world. Yeah, this is, yeah, this was you at your bougiest when you came back from France and you're talking about going all the fashion parties. Oh, wait until you hear the stuff. second dish. It's just as bougie as the first one. But for the first one, I put the fried fish fritters that we tried at an African restaurant. It was called Wei Lee. And it was the first time I ever had African food. And I didn't know that. Oh, interesting. Yeah, the two chefs,

one of them was from Senegal and the other one was from the Congo. And they had mixed together all their fusions. They brought us out a couple of things. It was a brazed beef. It was these fried fritters, some rice, some plantains. And the fried fritters definitely got my attention the most because it was very similar to efficient chips the way it was fried it was a very thin very crispy batter but imagine it's a lot more spiced and then they served it with a red pepper

sauce on the side with onions on top of it and a lime to just squirt on top and it was just was it like a salt cod situation yeah it was cod was it bacalao or what do they call it I'm not sure I think it's just cod from what they said on the English

version at least could have been something very different Um, okay, I haven't written down right here. Here, this is it right here. Oh, Accra de Moru. Yeah. Okay, wait, so I actually, I know a weird amount about this. Uh-huh.

So, uh, moru means salt cod. Salt cod. Moru specifically means salt cod. Check this out. So French does not have a word for fresh cod. Or actually, they do now, but they used to call it like Moru fresh. The French is so bad. I knew you would know this.

This is why I didn't attend. Okay, so in French, the word for fresh cod is cabillo. Okay. But then the word for salt cod is Moru, but then French chefs in the 70s found out that they couldn't sell cabillo, but they could sell Moru fresh. So literally, the term for, like, fresh cod is, the term for fresh cod is like the fresh version of salted cod. Oh, okay, okay.

That makes sense. A cro de Moru. Yeah, it was a gorgeous dish. It was six pieces total, and we shared everything, of course we do, because you got to share with your friends when you eat. But this is just fried food. It's just fried food. My doctor told me my cholesterol is high now, so I got to cut it out.

They called me like three days ago. We've all known each other two damn long. We all have high cholesterol now. You're like, I can't. I think I'm allergic to alcohol now. I got IBS. Like, I don't know. This job did some numbers on me for sure.

We live fast and hard in here. But yeah, that dish was awesome. Granted, everything I ate in Paris, awesome. but this one stood out the most. Dude, but I bet the West African food in Paris is awesome. Yeah, I heard the African food is the best there, which is why I was so persistent on her taking me to this spot within the first two days.

And she lived down the street from this spot, and it looked like a mom-and-pop situation. It was one bar, maybe a couple seats on the side, and it was dim lighting. It was a vibe. Yeah, I would go back 100%. Dude, tell me that in case I ever go to Paris, I don't know what I ever will,

but, like, I would love to go there. Because, like, West African, like, we get some Nigerian restaurant, restaurants in L.A. Some Ethiopian ones as well. The Ethiopian, but that's, like, East African food is, like, so different than West African. But, like, there aren't a ton of, like, Senegalese spots. I went to a Senegalese fine dining restaurant called Dakar Nola in New Orleans, chef Serene Mabay.

And, like, had some incredible food there. Just, like, there's this national dish. So, like, you know, there's, like, the Joluff wars between Ghana and Nigeria. Yes, like, they all just talk so much crap. Senegal actually invented Jolof. They just don't call it Jolof. They call it Tibujin. or Teeb for short.

Teeb. Teab. And it's like the same, effectively the same thing, but typically more made with fish. But like this dude at Dakar Serin, he made just this like Tebujan dish that was just like, I can taste it my mouth right now.

It's so damn good. And like you take those like traditional like salt cod fritters that if you're making that from Portugal or Spain or France, it's probably just like salt pepper, salt cup, whatever. But then you actually get like the West African spices involved in there. Damn, man. It takes you to a whole new level. I've only had fried fritters maybe one other time, and it was from my friend's grandma in Puerto Rico.

She came to the house, the Airbnb that we were staying at. She brought her batch and just started frying them up for her birthday right in front of us. And that was the first time I had something like that. And I realized I never eat that here. And then I saw it again when I was in France. And I was like, yes, I have to grab this. Chef Rashida at Bridgetown Roti makes like a, it's her aunt's recipe. It's like Aunt Vise Salt Cod Fritters.

We should get some. Our next team outing. That's where we need to go. I'm in. All right, number two, busy dish. My second bushy dish, also in Europe. It was in Milan, and we went to Don't please.

It was in Milan. It was in Milan. And guess what I went to Milan for? Fashion. Dang it, yes. Yeah, it was a fashion show. She was working for a collab that she did with Diesel Brand. These are good friends to have, dude.

This is my best friend, guys. Okay, she's the greatest. Follow her on Instagram. She got invited to go to the fashion show. It was my first one ever. It's only 15 minutes. That is a real thing. Wait, what? Oh, the fashion show is.

The fashion show is only 15 minutes. I have no idea. If you asked me to guess how long a fashion show is, I could have said anywhere from... I thought it was a whole basketball game. I'd say like four hours. I would have thought it's like a long-ass thing. Nope, 15 minutes. There was 20 looks.

It was super fast. But the best part about it is we got to go eat after. I guess I only see the highlights, you know? I see the videos of them walking. I just assumed to do that for four hours. No, they do. I don't. It's 15 minutes. The music was loud. I don't know what they were saying. I was just in there sitting by myself because we sat separate. I made friends with this random German guy next to me. He was really nice. Yeah, it was a, it was a vibe. I went, and I know what? It was cool. It was a bucketless experience and I was glad I did it. But anyway, after we were in Milan, I decided to treat her for her 30th birthday to a seven-course dinner. And it was not. that expensive, which was actually great for me. But it was at a place called Joya, La Joya,

and you can sit at the chef's table when you're there, and they give you a little bit of everything. But my favorite one out of all seven dishes was just a plate of veal with frog wall on top of it. And it had a brown butter sauce with a bed of herbs. That's such a Milan style thing too. Yes. Because Milan's like in the north of Italy, right? So it's like less what we think of as like red sauce Italian because that all comes in the south. Yeah, very simple. More kind of German-French influenced. Yeah, very classy, very simple. And I'm, I might be bougie, but I do like classic simple things. And there was nothing else on this plate. And it was one of the best bites I've ever had. It was suvied, and they didn't even sear it. They just suvied it. And then, it was just wet soft

veal. It was just wet meat, your favorite with frogwa. And I don't like frogwa, but this made me like it. And I really appreciated this dish. It was a gorgeous piece. Dude, that's sick. It was so good. It was so good. I think about it every day. The whole course I think about every day because I was kind of flirting with the chef a little bit I'm like, can you bring us more breath? Please. Do you speak English?

A little bit. I think he understood my eyes moving and that I was flirting and batting them. Yeah, like a little Looney Tunes character. That translates across all languages. Exactly. All right, what's your third? Okay, my third one.

Oh, you guys are going to be so surprised. So it's actually a dish that Colby made. Oh, hell yeah. Wait, here's the thing. Colby's really good at cooking, though. Kobe is a- Excellent cook. Okay, man, I've learned so much from him, and he is so talented. Young, talented, and crazy. I like to call him the knucklehead ninja of the kitchen, because that's exactly what he is. But he made a patte for a dinner that Tony and Lily hosted with him. And I don't like patte. You guys know, I do not like living. It freaks me out. We've tried to make you like it over there, but his I liked, okay? And I had to tell him how he made it before this, like literally five minutes ago.

And he told me he mixed duck duck liver and chicken livers And he soaked them in milk of course And then he whipped it with butter and duck fat And then served it with pomegranates Hazelnut and a cured yolk on top With some homemade facacia bread And it was wow

That bite was incredible And I think because it was whipped with the butter And the fat that it made it a lot more rich And tasty And it kind of almost like dilutes the liver flavor a little bit So you're not getting all that ironing thing Because if I'm just eating liver, I feel like I'm tasting a body part. Yeah.

It just doesn't work for me. Well, you are. That's why I love it. But, like, in a more, you know, wholesome way if it's whipped with something. Damn, man. It was good. Shout out Kobe. Wow. I hope he knows that I think he's super talented.

That's incredible. It was so good. Okay, so what you've been doing is I've been telling everybody one of mine. Okay. But I wrote him down, but I think I might want to change it because you were talking about your boogie European experiences. I went to Europe for, it was for work, which is always a little bit different. I went, I was in Cannes in the south of France for like seven days or something for some big

YouTubey event. We were working, so there wasn't any time to like really go out and like seek the best food. But I found out that Andrew Ray, binging with Babish, was in town. He got paid to like cook somebody a private dinner basically for some tech company up there. But he never actually went into like the Cannes Festival. He had, he was like, hey, this company that I'm cooking a dinner for rented out a villa up in like the hills and can. you should come through. He's like, I've just been swimming in the ocean every day

and going to the farmer's market and cooking by myself while drinking a bunch of French liquor. That's something I would have did for sure. So me and Julia, we hiked like two miles up these like winding streets in Cannes, and we show up. And there's just baddish in this giant villa in can rented by a tech company. And he's just like, hey, I've been smoking like a four kilo steak on the grill for three hours.

It should be done like an hour. And I got a bunch of farmers market produce. what should we cook up? And so I literally just like went into this kitchen. And we started drinking this, God, it's an aniseed liqueur. I can't remember what it's called. What is the, I would know. It's called pastis in France.

And it's this like super, it's almost like, it almost makes your mouth go numb because there's so much of that like anise liquorish flavor. And then you add cold water to it and it turns like milky and makes it bloom. It's a crazy thing. Very of that place that we were in. So we're ripping a bunch of that. And then just, like, cooking in this strange French villa Airbnb-ass kitchen with all this farmer's market produce that he had. And we made, like, a black truffle mac and cheese because it was black truffle season.

And then I just started taking, like, all these random, like, nuts and peppers and aromatics. And I, like, blended it into, like, a remesco. And then we just had this, like, giant, beautiful French steak that we cooked. And, like, literally, I don't think a picture of any of this exists. Because we were, like, both of us were kind of, you know, there to, like, be on. and sort of be entertaining people, and we were like, we just want this for ourselves.

Yeah. Those are the best dinners, though. Those are the best meals. When it's just you and one other person or even maybe three other people and you just make something really hearty and homey and that's what I look forward to. That's probably why I had a good time in France

because it felt like more I was living there than it was a tourist vacation, and I appreciated that. Yeah. So I, wow, I feel it. I feel the heartwarmingness. And when you're just like, you're just cooking,

and you're cooking for, no particular reason, right? We weren't, like, worried about how anything turned out. We were cooking for the vibes. And you were just taking all these, like, random, like, herbs that I'd never seen and just, like, chop, like, hand-chopping it and, like, a piece stew for the steak. I wish I was there. Dude, it was so, like. He had these, like, weird chilies, too.

He found some, like, because you think of all the, like, classic French vegetables and whatever, you know, the Mirabois and the radishes and whatever. But, like, now that all of cultures kind of globalized a little bit more, he, like, went there and found this farmer that was, like, growing weird cheese. that he'd never seen in France, which is a specialty spot at the farmer's market. And so I, like, grabbed those and I, like, roasted them off and chopped them up and made almost like a banya couta with, like, butter and anchovies. And then tossed roasted cauliflower in this, like, buttery, anchovy chili thing. You're making me drool on my mic right now. It was just, it was such a fun time.

And we're just getting drunk up in the hills, like, looking over a pool. That was a really sweet time. I'm going to do that as one of mine top. I can tell that one sits on your heart. Just the way you're talking about it right now. No, and that makes me happy. It does, it does. V, it's been an incredible year.

Yes, it has. I'm proud of you as always. Thank you. I'm proud of you. Hell yeah, man. We're doing the damn thing. Yes, we are. This poop.

You know, sing Colby in? Yeah. Do it. Colby Blisteen. Hello. That name probably sounds very foreign to all the people listening. It's kind of jarring for you to say it. I don't know.

The full government, really? Dude, every time Julia, even, like, says my first name to me. It's weird. Yeah. Because you don't, you don't ever say that to your partner? What does she call you normally? Like, baby or something else? Yeah, like, hey, babe. Can you get my water? Even though you've been in bed for 20 minutes, and I could have easily grabbed the water myself, is typically it.

But yeah, listeners out there, Wiener Warriors, we've decided they're called. Oh, okay. Probably don't know who Colby is, but Colby has been working here as a culinary producer for a year and like eight months now. February 24 is when I started. That's great. Have you, have you been on camera? A few times, like, just sporadically. So, like, the, the live stream, you would have been running in and out? Yes, I gave

Ben Schwartz bacon. That's right, you gave Ben Schwartz a bacon. Oh, I made salad for Coleman. That's right. Yeah, you'll recognize Colby from his work as the table side salad presenter and Coleman Domingo's last meal. I'm synonymous with that, actually. Truly, but also you've been, like,

cooking truly some of the most delicious food I've ever had, especially on the show. Yeah. But tell me about one of the top three things you ate in 2025. Okay. I'm going to go ahead and hit nostalgia real quick. So I went to Washington, which is where I'm from over the summer in July, and I went to my favorite oyster spot. It's called Hamahama-Hamma Oyster Saloon. You might know Hamma-Hama-Hama oysters. Is it pronounced Hamma-Hama? Hama-Hama. I say Hamma-Hama. I feel like you're probably correct because you're from Washington. I've been saying Hama-Hama, like a freaking, what do they call them, a Shubi? The Shubis from Rocket Power?

Yeah. But so it's on the hood canal, which is just like a... It's actually the only fjord in the northern United States. We got a fjord in America? There's a fjord. It's kind of misleading, though, because it's not very deep, which is why it's perfect for oysters, because it's kind of warmer than, like, the coast. Since it's, like, an inland, it doesn't have, like, that direct access to the Pacific Ocean. But it's still saltwater, so it gets a little bit warmer.

So it's perfect for oysters. Anyways, they had a deal for half a dundress crab for $23. So you know I got two of them. and it was just I just feasted on it It was honestly I think about it every day You know

I can't really describe How did they serve the dungeon Scrap? Was it just straight steamed Served with like Shetray brown parchment Straight steamed Half a crab They give you a little cracker

If you want And just like some Cocktail sauce and a little lemon That's it And you just go to town You just go to town Were you alone? I was

I was I was alone Those are like Some of the best moments It kind of felt weird though Just you versus crustacean one-on-one. Yeah. No one watching you.

Because as dirty as you want. Yes, I sucked all the meat out of, like, the carapace, too. Like, it was a full experience. But, yeah, I don't know. The dungeness crab is just so sweet. Did you get oysters there, too, or not? I did, yeah, of course, I did, yeah. You got the oysters as, like, an app.

Exactly. I only got six. Like, I planned on getting more, but then I saw the crab deal, and I had to go all in. No matter how cheap those seafood spots are. Like, if they have deals or whatever, somehow I still end up spending $100. Yes, I think that's what I spent Because I need like a full dozen oysters to myself Yeah

You know just to kind of meditate on it But man I was thinking like one beer you know Then yeah I had to get another because my crab wasn't done So yeah Took about $100 but yeah It was honestly I miss Washington a lot

I miss my proximity to the ocean Yeah And I've been eating dungeness crab You know since I was a kid So going back and just being able to like kind of indulge Was like really special for me Is that one of the foods that really tastes like home to you? It does, yeah.

Oysters, too, for that reason. And then I wouldn't say that's like encompassing Washington. I think salmon is like the most like Washington core food. I mean, whenever I eat it out here, or if someone's like, hey, I'm making salmon for dinner and I go over and they got that frozen, you know, Atlantic salmon, I just go a little sadder. No way, brother.

I'm a little bit snobby with the salmon at this point. I was shocked when I went to Seattle, like truly how. awesome the food was. Right. Um, it was really fantastic. Like, even the terriaki. Like, I just, I don't know, man. There's something about Seattle Terriac. I actually almost made the list, but that was from the, the same trip. So I didn't feel like I wanted to continue harping on that. But yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, that has a special place in my heart too. Yeah, I miss Washington, man, the food there. Um, this is the funny thing about living in L.A. is that you are technically close to the ocean, but so few people actually go because it's such a hassle to

actually get there. And then once you're there, it's also just like a whole Michigan. where it feels like very, I don't know, intense. There's no privacy. No. There's no feeling like something's yours. Yes, exactly. In a way. Also, like, the infrastructure here is not really built around the ocean, where in Washington it is.

I mean, you have the fugitive sound, so that big inlet of saltwater, everything on the western side is pretty much the freeways, all the big cities, Seattle is right on the water. Everything is structured around the water. So it's, like, integrated in your life. That's interesting that so many major cities are built around the water, even even New York. York, even Chicago on the lake, like even, you know, in Milwaukee with the river, L.A. is, like, not at all, despite the fact that it's literally on the Pacific Ocean. Yeah, it's kind of like an anomaly, I feel. We're, like, in the desert, but next to the water, and we don't really do much with the water,

but we're out of water. I don't know. But, yeah. Every time I see the L.A. River, though, I just think of the scene from Terminator 2 Judgment Day. I haven't seen it. Oh, my God. You never seen T2 Judgment Day? No.

Do I need to get on that? I'll show you a screenshot. I'll talk about your second best day. Yeah, okay. All right, this one, we're hitting a little bit of an indulgent and, like, ridiculous note almost, I would say. So my mom lives in Chicago, and I was visiting her in the winter, and we went to this restaurant called Gavroche. Have you ever seen Le Miz? Yeah, it's based off Le Miz. So it's like a little French, like there's 32 seats in there. Gavroche is the, and he's the cop, right? He's the inspector? No, he's the little kid. That's Javert. Yeah, Javert is an inspector. Fun fact, I actually was part of LeMay's production in high school. Were you a theater kid?

Not really. Like, I was building sets and then, like, I did some ensemble stuff. But it was, yeah. But this was in my senior year, which I am class of 2020, so COVID year. So we were like two weeks out from the full show and then school got canceled indefinitely. That's crazy, dude. Yeah, but Gavroche, chef Jason Chan, I don't know if you're familiar with him. It's his kind of like culmination, I guess.

because he's owned like 12 restaurants or something like that. But this was like more, I don't exactly know why he opened this one, but it's delicious. So I had a Wagyu, caviar, and fog raw burger at this place. And I know that sounds crazy. Like, why would you want to eat all that all at once? Yeah, the combination of them seems interesting. It was so well done. Really?

Like, truly, like even the salt level, which is like what I was praising the most, like it just hit all the right notes. It was delicious. What else came on it? Were there any condiments? It came with a side of fries, duck fat fries, and like a truffle aole, which was not too truffly, which is like my biggest problem with truffle. He really put all of the things on it. He truly did. The truffle, the caviar, the flaw.

I was surprised there was no like gold leaf or shaved truffle on the burger itself. I'm trying to look up this burger to see if I can find a picture of it. I have one here. You want to see it? Hell yeah, I do. I came prepared. This is the only dish I screenshot it, or I have, but. Oh, with the brand on it?

Jesus Christ. Do you see how the foie gras is just like sitting up on there? And then the Parmesan, like, you're not getting assaulted by the Parmesan on there, but it's like, it's combining super well with all the rest of the funk that's going on. That's, like, out of character for you. I wouldn't have expected you to have, like V because she's bougie, maybe. Yes, I'm not bougie at all, man. I've eaten some trash.

Yeah, you be out there just going to town on a crab by yourself. Yeah, yeah. I'm drinking a couple crab beers. Yeah. No, this was a bit out of left field for me too, but it truly was special. like I we actually got to meet the chef so I feel like him being able to speak his vision to me was like a big part of the experience but I think food really is better or worse depending on context like you know that's the thing that we're learning talking to everybody is like it's always about that context it's who you're with it's the experience around it yes yeah if like you know if I had the money to order this on a regular I don't think it would be special or I would even crave it but just the fact that I was with my mom we were you know just celebrating being together and and yeah, it was so good. It was delicious.

And the fries truly, like, paired with it just really, really brought it home. Any food, no matter, like, how stupid the concept. And this is something that I think gets lost when you have a lot of people commenting on the internet, is any food, no matter of the concept, can be executed well. Yes. You know what I mean? Yeah. And there's also tons of foods that are conceptually cool and good, and then they are not executed well.

But when you have people, like, judging so many things just based on the image of it, and you're like, no, you don't understand the experience that was going on in the mouth hole. Correct. Right? And there's so many things like that that I'd probably see a video of this burger and go like,

oh, that stupid you're paying the algorithm in the caviar and all this. But like, I trust you and I trust your palate and I know that burger probably rips. It really did. And there's a good way to do it.

Yes. Like I said, the foggraw puck wasn't the whole burger. It wasn't like you're biting through it every time. You get to the middle and you have a little nibble off of it each time.

Something about it, man. Truly, truly one of the best burgers I've ever had. You and V both rocking the foie on the top three. Oh, really? She put that in there, too? Yeah, yeah.

Hers was on top of Veal in Milan. Oh, okay. Yeah, see, that's bougier than this, I think. Hi, man, what's your third? All right, my third. So, before I get into that, I guess, I feel like I've separated the cooking I do into, like, three major categories. So these are all kind of hitting different ones. So my third dish is a crude-dough from the farmer's market that I made, like, two weeks ago.

And I can rattle off what was in it real quick. Some yellow tail, some green gauge plum, some orange, some finger lime, some sunflower microgreens, an orange cherry tomato, cilantro, stem for the crunch, some Serrano, Yuzu Kosho, mustard, soy, and Meyer Lemon, olive oil. So I sourced all those from the farmer's market. They have finger limes at the farmer's market? They did. Dude, I was so stoked. Finger limes are cool. It's almost like lime caviar. Yeah. It's got like little balls in the pot. I went there with the intention to make crudeo, and like I didn't get the fish till the end, so I was kind of, you know, because I didn't want it to go bad.

worried about finding something good. And the last two things I found, this beautiful yellow tail filet and finger lime. And I was like, wow, dish is made right here. But yeah, this one's making the list mostly because it's kind of celebrating how I like to cook. So I cook for work, obviously, and that's like one type of cooking that I do. It's cooking for a purpose. There's an outcome that you want. You're either serving people or it's for a camera, whatever it is. That's my job. But then there's also cooking for sustenance, you know, you make slop bowls. I see you in there. You see me preloading my slop today?

No, I didn't see the preload. Yeah, yeah, so this is a clue. Right now in the fridge, there's a pound of ground chicken, but it's in a deli cup. That's because I wanted, I salted it, and I mixed it a little bit, so then it kind of like turns into a sausage-type mixture. Oh, it's raw. Yeah, it's still raw, but I think I'm going to put it in lavash and make almost like a slop, arise. Yeah, and that's good. You want that chew.

That salt's going to give you that. 100%. And that's 50 grams of protein right there. So, yeah, I feel the sustenance cooking. Prep in the slop, yeah. So, you know, for me, cooking for sustenance is usually synonymous with being quick, cheaper, maybe healthier, and then just like fuel for my day. And then the last type of cooking, it's, I would say it's more artistic. It's for enjoyment. So, you know, really taking the time to get everything, the correct texture, the correct flavor, which is not practical at all. But I think that's where it kind of merges with art. So, yeah, this was pure enjoyment for me, just something that I really want to do. I love to just be able to take my time with things and really just put my love and craft into it. So yeah, this crude dough honestly was just hitting that note for me. It was really delicious. Those green plums, I mean, that late summer stone fruit hit and those tomatoes too.

They're just so delicious. I don't think I could recreate it from any sort of supermarket vegetables. No. I'll never make anything that good. Dude, that's beautiful. It lives in a moment in time. Yeah. You know what I mean? The thing about cooking being an art, there are a lot of like relatively well-known chefs who have kind of said stuff like cooking isn't an art it's a craft and I'm like cooking is not one thing no there's a vast difference between what somebody say at a linia right a three Michelin star restaurant does versus you know a lunch lady trying to feed hungry kids right and both of them are incredibly valuable to the world but it's almost like saying well of course painting is an art and then you're like I don't know if the dude painting the billboard for the new season of traitors you know know, is exactly doing an artistic process. Right. Like, cooking is not one thing. Not at all.

Not at all. So many different things. Yeah. And like you said, you're, shit, I suppose those are all the three types of cooking that I do as well. But for me, like, the artistic thing comes into play. I talked about this as Lily, but like, and I'm sure I told you about it, but the meal that I made for my best friend, Deeb's Bachelor Party.

Yes. Where it was like, what if Taco Bell, but everything was Indian? Yeah. So for me, it's like taking, like, what are the things that these cultures have in common? And, like, where can we find the commonalities in those and how do we, like, execute that to make like a really beautiful thing that also was so close when I told deep what we were making he started crying because he was just like you know me so well we would always eat Taco Bell after basketball practice and for me that art comes into like which is why I

love last meal so much kind of like crafting something unique for somebody you merged his life experience with his cultural experience and that's really cool like seriously and then thanks man yeah what was your favorite uh Taco Bell one-to-one you made this wasn't a Taco ball one to one, but I was talking literally about it. But it was like, like, Tacos Toradoes de Camerones, right? Which are like the, the crispy shrimp tacos. They're covered in, like, the salsa and all that. But I did that, but with, like, a homemade, like, parata dough, like, the kind of layered, like, wheat dough.

Yes, okay. And then I made, like, a go-in curry-spiced, like, shrimp and crab farce with, like, aromatics, ginger, garlic, chilies, cilantro. And then shmere that in there and deep-fried it. A little smear. Respect the smear. And then I covered it in, like, a cucumber peaker. de gallo and then I made a salsa verde with roasted tomatios and like mint cilantro all that and then I did a salsa roha with fermented mango okay which is called like mango pickle yeah yeah pickled in

mustard oil is that the green the green mangoes uh yeah they're green and they but it's not pickled in like vinegar it's pickled in like mustard oil and salt wow and it was just like it was stupid I would never serve it in a restaurant no but it was the kind of stupid that I knew that he would love yeah you know but I had I had one other meal that was really important I've been telling everybody at my favorite. It was in Seattle. Okay. It was in Seattle.

It was on Bainbridge Island. Uh-huh. It was at a place called Seabird that I had, most of the time when I travel, and I used to be worse about this in a way that I kind of like, was it a hindrance to my life, where I'd travel somewhere, and I'd be like, we have to go to these restaurants. Yes. And whoever I was traveling with, they'd be like, oh, it's really out of the way, and we're supposed to see a friend.

And I'd go like, no, you don't understand. They got this chef who's from the Hunan province, and we got to try out. and now when I travel I'm a lot more chill and whatever we find to eat we find to eat but we're renting bikes with like one of my best friends in the world Sean up on Bainbridge Island and we drove these e-bikes around the entire island

and we found there's a giant wooden troll that this artist made and they dropped trolls or not Burbank I said Burbank Bainbridge Oh you've been California filled I went to see the Bainbridge troll and it was cool and we went and we'd like stop and grab a beer

and we returned the bikes to the little like E-Bing bike rental shop, and the guy was like, where are you guys trying to eat? And I was like, oh, we're probably just going to go down to the water and get some like, you know, fish and chips or, you know, fried shrimp, whatever. Yeah. And he goes, no, no, no, go around the corner is a spot called Seabird. It's really good. And I was like, all right. Like, I don't know if I trust this guy's pilot, but they had half off oysters. Ooh, okay. And so we went and we popped in there. Immediately hospitality was incredible. Um, they just like, you know, start bringing us free

champagne. Turns out the chef, recognize me. Um, awesome dude. Yeah. Brought us some free champagne. and had one of the coolest cocktails I've ever had that was like a clarified like dashi kombu martini did not know this place was a bonat best new restaurant 23 we just wandered in which is kind of the best you know time so that guy put you on he knew what he was talking about got put me on but they did these like grilled oysters with like almost a kind of like Indian like Kashmiri chili crunch on it

just the best raw oysters I've ever had they did this dish that was like a barely cooked piece of was an Arctic char or what's it? steelhead. Steelhead's a big one up there. Barely cooked steelhead with this thin buttermilk broth with stinging nettle puree dotted throughout it.

Those are local nettles, huh? Local nettles. I probably have some of the stingers still in my arms from the kid. That's so funny. But I saw this dish and I like asked the server I was like, this is insane. Don't mind me. But can you ask the chef

if this is based off of the dish Somon-en-Sorrel from Restaurant Tuagreau in 1973? How do you know about it? And I said, just please ask the chef. And he comes out and he's like, bro, of course you knew that. And then he ended up making us what they made for family meal, which were Seattle style bacon, jalapeno cream cheese dogs.

He goes, yeah, we made these for family. I couldn't let you leave Seattle without it. And so we're just dipping these Seattle dogs in like clam liquor. And like, it was just the best meal I've ever had. And it was just firing on all cylinders. Yeah. Seattle's such a special place, man. It's my favorite city I've ever visited.

It is, and I'm glad you got to experience that, like, kind of farm-to-table that's unique out there because there's so many different forageables and things. So, yeah, wow. The sea-buck-thorn. I don't even know what that is. You never had no C-Buckthorn? Hell not, man. I don't even know what C-Buckthorn is, but it was in their scallop crudo, and it had, like, vanilla something or other, like vanilla oil.

Never had those little C-buckthorns? Oh, okay, I have. I just didn't know how about that. Super, super tart. Oh, man. Colby, what a year it's been. You've had a good year? I've had a good year, man.

You know, I feel like there's been a lot of growth this year And I in my personal life, but also in the kitchen And I don't know, I've been really enjoying the process And just trying to push deeper, so yeah, it's been a great year It has been like truly an incredible treat to both like watch you work, watch you grow and also eat your food man I think you're immensely talented thank you man I hope to bring you some some cooler stuff in the future too I appreciate it and I'm excited that the wiener warriors get to find out now Yeah, right? Weiner Warriors unite when did you decide that

Literally at the beginning of this podcast. Oh, literally had something to do with it, right? Yep, uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. Well, on that note, thank you all so much for listening to a hot dog as a sandwich. We got new audio-only episodes every Wednesday and a video version here on YouTube every Sunday. Colby, the next line is yours. Yeah, if you want to be featured on opinions or like casseroles, give us a ring and leave a quick message at 833 Dogpod 1.

That's 833 Dogpod 1. Have you ever called it? No, hell not. Do you know what the answering machines? Should I call it right now? Yeah. For more Mythical Kitchen, check out our other videos where we launch episodes every week.

We'll see you next time. Wait, wait, wait, I want to, Cole, we got to play it on speaker. I am not good at the, what's it called, when the numbers are letters. I don't know if we ever invented, I don't know if we ever invented a word for what that's called. Well, yeah, hold on, I didn't have a phone like that. This is embarrassing. Where's the P? All right.

Yeah, I play on speaker. Hello, you've reached the hot. dog hotline leave us a message and we might just play it in an upcoming episode oh my god see you next year baby