Doughboys - Del Taco with Alan Yang

Episode Date: November 19, 2015

A frequent topic of conversation on the podcast, west of the Mississippi Mexican fast food chain Del Taco gets its own episode, with foodie and TV writer Alan Yang (Master of None, Parks and Recreation). Plus, Alan reveals his Last Meal.Want more Doughboys? Check out our Patreon!: https://patreon.com/doughboysSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yermo, California, a secluded town near Barstow in the Mojave Desert, it has little to distinguish itself from the countless others scattered enclaves along Interstate 15, the highway that connects Los Angeles to Las Vegas, with one exception. In 1964, Ed Hackbarth and David Jamison chose Yermo as the site of their Mexican fast food restaurant, giving it a Spanish name that literally translated to House of the Taco. The duo dropped Casa and, with the help of a kitchen equipment industry professional named David Nagel, expanded their business across SoCal's inland empire and subsequently throughout the Golden State at large.

The 80's saw expansion across the western United States and the decision to have locations be open for 24 hours. Over the decades, value conscious consumers have benefited from the race to the bottom between this chain and its much larger rival, Taco Bell, as they attempt to provide Mexican inspired menu items at the lowest price point possible. Yet this restaurant distinguishes itself from the global number one by offering American items like burgers and fries, in addition to the tacos, burritos, and quesadillas that form the bulk of their menu.

Now with over 50 years of operation and over 500 locations, this frequent, scorch-a-wing hot topic here on the podcast is finally getting a full episode of its own. This week on Doughboys, Del Taco. Welcome to Doughboys, the podcast about chain restaurants. I'm Nick Weiger, alongside my co-host, Mike Mitchell, the Spoon Man. How you doing, Spoon Man? Doing good. Just want to give a big, uh, to Spoon Nation and a little, uh, to the monster squad.

Didn't, wait, didn't you, you added the last, the last episode, you added the church lady. I noticed it was absent this time. Oh. Is that a cut you made? Well, isn't that special. Okay. And do you have one more? Or are you good with those three?

I'm good with those three for right now. Also, remember to tweet at us if you can make that into one MP3 for the Spoon Man so you can just push one button and not have to worry about this anymore. Yeah. So you can push one button and have them play, not do like half-assed impressions of a couple of them and play one bad audio clip of the third. Oh, okay. Well, I don't see the little wigs doing anything in the opening.

No, I don't have, I don't have a gimmick. Oh, no, you have that ASMR talk, you have my little monologue that's just for me. The Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert. I didn't know that Del Taco kind of started in that little shitty, the shittiest stretch of land in the world. Yeah. I was surprised to learn that, you know, California, the inland empire, which I think Yermo is

kind of a part of or at least adjacent to it, but it's just like this interesting part of land that's kind of like, it kind of feels like the Juggalo Nation of California. It's like its own, it's got its own kind of culture that's a little distinct from what you'll find on the coast, you know? It's like a little bit, it's not quite rural, it's more just sort of, you know, it's kind of like desert, weird desert folk, you know? Yeah. Well, we should be careful because I think Juggalo Nation makes up about 95% of our listeners.

I'm pretty sure that the Venn diagram for Juggalo Nation and Spoon Nation overlaps pretty heavily. What the fuck? Spoon Nation? Well, I gotta say, kind of pointing to your patheticness, this is a big episode for you, a big day. You know what this is? We have episodes that are big for America at large, knowing that this podcast stretches

all across the United States, across the world, if you will. There are episodes that are big for, in a global sense, but then there are episodes that are big for us, and I think this is one that's big for us. This is something we talk about a lot. This is one we each have our own opinions on. I feel like I've made my opinions pretty clear in the past, but you know, this is maybe the week where we're really gonna just focus in and hammer it home and just get it out there, just put it all out on the table.

All right. Sounds exciting. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know what, it is an exciting episode. There's all sorts of things going on. We have a guest here right now who is eating his meal at the Doughboy's first. Yeah.

This is unprecedented. So, our guest is very, very busy, was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to appear here on the podcast, and he has his spread of food for this week's episode, for this week's restaurant. In front of him now, he is currently eating just outside of the distance of the microphone, so as not to bother our listeners who are babies, who can't tolerate chomping and chewing on a food podcast, but we're excited to get his thoughts. Big day for me, too.

Yeah. I got Dr. Scholes. Oh, you got some Dr. Scholes inserts for your shoes. I got Dr. Scholes inserts for my shoes, yeah. What is the, what provoked that? Years of being flat-footed and having back and issues and everything like that. So, there wasn't a particular trip to a podiatrist where he recommended this, and you just sort of took the initiative on your own.

Yeah. So, I was flat-footed, and then I was at CVS last night, and there was one of those Dr. Scholes things where you could stand on the pad, and I stood on it, and it told me that I had no arches in my feet, and I got some Dr. Scholes inserts, and I think I literally had the worst, like, it goes from green to yellow to orange, and then to red, and I had the C440s, it was maybe the worst ones, so. Isn't that though, I would suspect that they would put that pad down, and it would just tell everyone they're the worst, so that it would provoke everyone to buy inserts, right?

It takes an imprint of your feet, it lets you know, it does all sorts of different stuff. It sounds suspicious to me, it sounds a little fishy, like a kind of- No, if they're improving your life, if you like the inserts, because your feet have been feeling better, your back's been feeling better. It feels great. I'm a new man. Yeah, so it's a net positive for you, but I'm just saying it's possible you got a little hoodwinked by this machine.

I would say that, no. No, I don't believe that. Okay. I believe with my inserts, I'm a faster man than you now. You think you can take me in a foot race? I think so. Wait, are you talking distance, or are you talking a sprint? Sprint, short sprint.

You think in a 50-meter dash you can take me? I'd say like 15-meter dash. I don't think I got hoodwinked. I think it was a good deal. It was much needed after a lot of time. See, you always analyze stuff. It's a difference between you and I. Well, I just think there's a reason they would put that in the store, and it's for

marketing reasons, right? It's to sell people. I don't think anyone's going to step on that and be like, you're all good. Don't put these insoles in your shoes. So you don't believe Dr. Scholl. You think he's a fake medicine man? You think he's just selling people a bunch of shit? I think Dr. Scholl is more like Dr. Shit.

See, with you, the Burger Boy, you get a butterfly, and you want to take your pins and put it to the wall and dissect it. In me, the Spoon Man, I let that butterfly fly, baby. So in me, you're saying classic serial killer behavior, making animals and collecting them. All right. I'm a guy who appreciates things in life. Let's get into it. Let's introduce our guest.

He's eaten at least a little bit of it. He's in the midst of his meal, but let's start talking to him. We're so, so excited to have an amazingly talented writer and producer for some great shows, Parks and Recreation, and Master of None, which is now streaming on Netflix. Alan Yang is here. Hi, Alan. Hey, guys. How are you doing?

We're doing great. How's that meal treating you so far? This is somewhat of a dream and a nightmare, to be honest, because no joke, I'm so happy to be here. I told Mitch that I'd seen or listened to every episode of the show, and that's true. And so I got to be here in the studio watching you guys, and it's really cool. But the whole time, I'm eating a five-course Del Taco meal, so it doesn't feel like I'm actually on the show, like I'm trying to eat nachos quietly while you guys are riffing.

And it's weird, right? I mean, it's a weird scenario. Well, now you're in it, but we had to give you a moment to get some of this down. But you're well-versed in Del Taco, anyway. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Just to paint a picture of what is currently happening. I'm sitting in front of two music stands that have five plates of Del Taco on them and every kind of sauce.

But yeah, actually, I am familiar with Del Taco. One of the reasons I picked it was because I grew up in the Inland Empire. I grew up as you described, I think, just now as part of Juggalo Nation and weird desert folk. I don't think either of you guys knew I was born in San Bernardino. Oh, my goodness. Where Del Taco was born. Wow.

So it's not a coincidence. No, no, I totally agree. I love telling people about where I grew up because it's a very weird part of California. It's, you know, people say, you know, I tell people I'm from an hour from LA and people assume that, okay, it's probably kind of similar to LA, but it's not at all. Yeah, no, no, not in the least bit. It's so crazy how an hour outside of LA can be the furthest away from LA of anywhere. Yeah.

It is truly weird. You know, and also I read, and this makes total sense, I read that Vince Gilligan was going to set Breaking Bad in Riverside because it's a place that's full of meth labs and strip malls, and that's kind of true. But apparently got a better tax break in Albuquerque. But it's very weird. It's a weird place. My parents are UC Riverside alums, a University of California at Riverside, and my dad was

a chemistry professor for many years. And I talked to him, you know, I was talking about Breaking Bad and everything. And it turns out he had a colleague, someone he worked with at his first job. He left that job and then that guy got arrested for setting up meth labs. He was basically doing it for hire, served a lengthy prison sentence, got out of prison, and then died in a boat explosion because he was trying to set up a meth lab offshore. Now, it sounds like you're saying that Vince Gilligan ripped off your dad's trans life and he should be suing him, but he's lucky that he died in a boat explosion.

Which by the way, maybe a better ending than the ending of Breaking Bad? That's incredible. That's incredible, man. What is that guy's story? Yeah. It also sounds like that is just your dad, and that's how he faked his death, which is for that boat explosion. You know, my dad is like a curly-haired guy with a mustache and he resembles heavily

the photo, or not photo, the police sketch of the unabomber that was circulated before they found Ted Kaczynski. And I remember growing up, people would like kind of jokingly say, like, huh, huh, your dad looks like the unabomber, but then also be like, like, maybe he is, you know, like, wow. That's a strange anecdote. Was there any hesitation in your voice just now? If my dad framed Ted Kaczynski, I'm proud of it.

I'll just say that. Another great idea for Vince Gilligan to write. Go for it. Oh, yeah. I had never heard that Vince, that I had never heard that Breaking Bad takes place here, but that makes so much sense. It makes a lot of sense, and I think he picked it also because it's close to L.A., so I think he reasoned that, oh, it wouldn't be that difficult to shoot because it's an hour away.

And I don't know, maybe this is all apocryphal and made up, but I'm pretty sure I read that on the internet where everything's true, so I don't know, man. Like, yeah, it makes a lot of sense. But it's a weird place to grow up. It's a weird place. Well, speaking of shows, you are, this is a rare thing on Doe Boyz, a relevant guest. This is timely. Yeah, we're, let's not shit talk our other guests by saying they're irrelevant.

Listen, I'll just say every guest before Yang is suck. Is Evan Susser in the zeitgeist, guys? I'll just say Evan Susser sucks. That's when I came here to get you. But congratulations on the show. That's really great. It's been a crazy week for you, I'm sure, right? It just, it premiered this last week.

Yes, so I actually flew back from New York yesterday, and we did the premiere in New York last week, and yeah, it's just blowing our minds, man. So yeah, me and Nizees created this show called Master of None, and it's on Netflix. And you know, look, we really like the show, man, it's our show. But I don't think either of us expected the kind of positive reaction we got. So we're just overwhelmed and really happy. People really seem to like it. And you know, the New York Times gave us such a crazy review, and no, it's been great.

It's mind-blowing. It's universally beloved. It's just like everyone just loves it. It's kind of like the anti-Dobois. Yes. I think Dobois is better. I mean, I spent way more time listening to Dobois than watching our show. You have listened to 26 more episodes than I have.

Mitch walks out of the door and he forgets to give her to the show. He just washes it out of his hair. Just furious. I will say this, as a guest, I give you a five-fork review already because he walked in and he gave us a gift right off the bat. And this gift is pretty amazing. Yeah. This is Alan went above and beyond with this one.

Something that will be a part of the show from here on out. This is, yeah, this is now officially entered the lore. If you're out there maintaining the Dobois pedia, this is an important date to scroll. This episode, an immense event happened. Alan, you may be familiar with Donald Trump's now ubiquitous Make America Great Again hats. I would say that the font and style of these hats is similar, but a different color scheme, different colorway, and certainly a very different message. Alan gave us custom hats.

Mitch is wearing one reading The Spoon Man. And I am wearing one that says, little wigs of the burger boy. And just thank you so much. What a tremendous, tremendous gift. The pleasure is mine getting to see you guys wear the hats. Well, now people can tell us apart. Yeah. I think, Mitch, I think the plan is the two of us should go out in public wearing these

together, not get recognized once, and feel really stupid. Well, I'm going to wear this Spoon Man hat from here on out. And I hope that you wear a little wigs of the burger boy hat. This is the moment where I come to terms with this nickname, and I accept it because it is inscribed on a lovely hat from our wonderful guest. You're red and seem angry, and you're tightening the cap to your pervy eyeball. I mean, it's one of the most infuriating gifts you could give to someone. It's an article of clothing with a nickname they hate.

I mean, it's almost like a Michael Scott thing to do or something, so you're welcome. I think Mitch likes his hat, but I'm clearly furious. I love the hat I'm going to wear forever, and Weiger, you should, too, if you're a grateful host. I will definitely wear this hat again. Forever is a little much, but I'll wear it again. Alan, I wanted to ask you before we get into our restaurant, so you also are someone who has, I don't know if you characterize yourself as a fan, as an interested party, but you're

someone who has some opinions on the chain, Benihana. Is that correct? Yeah, Benihana is interesting, man. It's such a weird place. There's a story once where, you know, when you get it in your head, you just have to go there. I don't know if that's ever struck you guys. The food isn't great, but there's something about it that you just want to do.

I told Mitch this one time, Aziz and I, and my girlfriend at the time, and his brother, we're deciding where to eat, and we're like, let's go to Benihana, and so we went to the one on La Cienica, I think it is, and we go in there and try to get a table, and I think it's Friday night or something, and they're like, it's a two and a half hour wait, and we're like, oh, really, a two and a half hour wait for Benihana, and the four of us looked at each other, and we said, all right, I guess we're waiting, and we went up the street and just had some drinks. We went to like two other places, and then came back, and we ate dinner two and a half

hours later, which is just a horrible decision. We live in LA, a place where there are, I would say, one million good restaurants, and probably all of them are better than at Benihana. It's not good, but I don't know, we had fun. Benihana is definitely in the lower tier of good restaurants. And I've been to good teppanyaki places, like I've been to Tokyo a few times, and every time I go, sometimes we go to a teppanyaki thing, even though it's not a real Japanese thing, but there's a couple really great places there, and still we waited for Benihana.

Well, now some people take offense to this label, but you are into food, you're a foodie guy, and I know that Aziz is too, and so that must have been fun being in New York, when you were making the show, and just going to every cool restaurant you could. Yeah, it was just disastrous for my health, I think, because I felt like I was there for a limited time, I was there for about six months, and I hadn't lived in New York for a while, I used to live there, and I hadn't lived there since I really started getting interested in food, so getting to live there for a while, I just wanted to try every restaurant, and I don't mean, like I'm not exaggerating, every meal I tried to go to a new restaurant,

so I assembled a list, I just took, I kept a log of this, this is like something that Weiger might do, like just keep a list of every place you go to, and by the end of the shoot it was, I don't know, it's hundreds of restaurants, it sounds crazy, I mean it sounds like I'm a crazy person, I kind of am, but it was delightful, and at the same time when I came back to LA, I felt sluggish and gross, because I was eating so many meals out, and you guys know, you're looking at me right now, I'm not like a big dude, I'm a little dude, but I just felt really unhealthy, and so since I've been back in LA I'm eating a salad every day for lunch, just to balance it out, because that's a six months of gluttony,

that's a very sort of disgusting thing to do, but it was fun. It's probably just as bad as the meal you have in front of you. The five courses just in front of me just set me back as much as that six months ago. No, but there's just such great places in New York that their restaurants are just... Well, yeah, I was going to ask you, if you got a name, name me a top fancy and then a top regular, like you know, a Shake Shack level place. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, oh there's so many, man, like you know, there's some classics that we always tell our friends to go to just because they're kind of our buds too, like I'm friends

with this guy Dave Chang who runs Momofuku, and so he weirdly, the answer could be his restaurants for both, because I want some Momofuku Co, which is really his super high end place, that's two Michelin stars, but it's not stuffy and it's really, really good, and I had an amazing meal there, but he recently opened a chicken sandwich place called Fuku, and it's just chicken sandwiches, so it's basically like take a Chick-fil-A sandwich and make it even more delicious if that's possible, but we also like, so we like all his places, I like a lot of Mario Carbone's places, yes his place is Carbone, and a place called Santina, and a place called Dirty French, and actually over the course of the show people

have already been pointing this out online, but we shot at a lot of great restaurants because those are just places we like to go, so we shot at Dirty French, we shot at Mission Chinese, we shot at Marlowe & Sons, we shot at The Smile, we shot at you know, bars and restaurants we really liked, so that was an added bonus of working on the show that we also were fortunate enough to get to make. That's amazing, and so I gotta ask, time out here, you're spending a lot of time out here, sometime in New York, what would you say is better, and also we'll throw Boston in the mix. You went to school in Boston, so. Boston is the best, yeah, Boston is where I ate the most dining hall food, so yeah, it's definitely up there.

I would say, so here's my thing, there's things LA does better than New York, and those things I would say are ethnic food and cheap eats, and specifically Mexican food, which is one of my favorites, if not my favorite cuisine total, so Mexican food, Chinese food in the San Gabriel Valley, and Korean food are unparalleled, not only between LA and New York, but I think just LA in general over the entire United States, I mean those three things are just really, really good. New York just has more depth, it has, it's so dense, and there's so many places, because I've lived in LA for longer, I just feel like I've tried most of the places, and I would even go far, you know, Jonathan Gold always does that list

like 101 places, and you know, at this point I've eaten at 75 of them or something, which again, sounds very obnoxious, but it's, but I've lived here for a while, so I've just been trying to go on. And also why not, why not try to get to all those places, you gotta. Yeah, or you could give them money to charity, but you know, yeah, but yeah, why not spend $500 at Ursula? Yeah, that seems likable. You mentioned, because one thing that I, that does, I do hear from New York expats that kind of bugs me, because I think it's not true, is I hear about New Yorkers talking about how New York Chinese food is superior to LA Chinese food, and I just feel like in the greater LA area, you mentioned the San Gabriel Valley, I feel like, yeah, there is, I feel like Chinese food just

is better here. I feel like there's just more, it's, you're gonna, like, I feel like the New York Chinese food that people like is like this, it's just like this weird New York Americanized version that they're used to, and then you can get a more authentic version out here. You'll never, you'll never convince me of that. I mean, there's great stuff in New York, and that's, that's no, there's no doubt about that. In fact, as I was about to leave, I made a special trip up to Flushing to eat at a bunch of places up there, because you know, I heard about it, and there's a lot of legitimately amazing places, but I will say, for in terms of depth and breadth, the, and I grew up, you know, again, I grew up in Riverside, so my family and I would go eat in

the San Gabriel Valley as, you know, when I was a kid, we'd go get dim sum, we'd go to Monterey Park and San Gabriel and Rose Mead and all these places, so I'm fairly familiar with that area, and what the, the thing about that region is, it's so, there's so many Asian people there, there's so many goddamn Asian people there, it's like, it's almost impossible not to have good food, and there's so many different kinds, and you know, when people say Chinese food, it's such an insane thing to say, because if you've ever been to China, it's fucking massive, I mean, it's a, so whether you're talking about Sichuan, or Hunan, or Yunnan, or Cantonese, or Taiwanese, and the San Gabriel Valley has, almost has it all, I mean, you can go there and get,

you know, Mongolian Muslim cuisine, or you can go there and get Taiwanese spicy beef noodle soup, or you can go there, it's just staggering, and I've barely scratched the surface, and I've been eating there for 25 years, you know, it's just staggering, so I don't, I can't speak to New York Chinese food as much, I just haven't been to as many places, but I do think the San Gabriel Valley is an unbelievable treasure trove that, I don't think anyone, much less a white person, like a white person definitely hasn't seen everything, but even like the Asian people were there. Oh, I have. Oh, I have, yeah. I love having Alan on the podcast, because he has such like this, this breadth and depth of knowledge, and clearly knows so much about food. Almost like

he should be hosting. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna say. It's, it's contrasting our analysis, which is typically like, the ranch is better than blue cheese, sum up dick, and then we, then we wrestle over it. Wait, no, but I love, but the reason I love this podcast is because I love so much horrible garbage food, and like chain restaurants, like, so again, growing up in Riverside and in, in the Inland Empire, all I ate was fast food for 15 years, like honestly, like, and my mom's cooking, so my mom cooked a lot of delicious, amazing food, but, but I love, like, I would rather have gone to Del Tago than eat my mom's delicious food until I realized, like, much later on in my life, and I learned to appreciate that stuff, but I ate so much chain restaurant food, like,

it was staggering, it was staggering. My mom's cooking kind of sucked, actually. Oh yeah. She didn't know 500 Taiwanese dishes, like my mom. She, my mom's Irish, but there was an, this, the Tufo's, I think I may have said this on the podcast before, the Tufo's lived up the street, shout out to my Anthony and Dan Tufo and Chris, the great family, the whole family, they're a great family, and I would- Wait, you're saying the Tufo brothers don't have dumb nicknames? Dan's- Those were their nicknames, their real names were Johnny and Chris. Anthony Tufo, Dan Tufo, they're called Dan Danba sometimes. Okay. So yeah, no, they, not everybody has to have a nickname, all right?

What kind of name is Tufo? What is that? It's Italian. Okay. So they, yeah, they were, they were, they were super Italian. I was imagining a spelled like Trufo, but with no R. I was like, oh, were they like French new wave directors or something? It's like Trumbo, but no R, no M, no B, and add an F. Okay. That's Tufo. That's how they used to tell you how to spell it. Okay, so they're Italian, sorry I didn't know that. It's like Trumbo, but take, oh yeah.

Double down on the Trumbo reference. Hey, it's out right now for people who are enjoying it. Dude, it's topical. We just talked about Cranston Breaking Bad. That's true, that's true. Lay off for God's sake. And also, I'm sick of your fucking West Coast bias. Oh, East Coast doesn't have as good, the Asian food isn't as good. Who cares? Sometimes it just has better food. I'll concede that, I'll concede that in specific cases. I'm just saying like, that's one thing that I've heard in particular. Well, because I'm one of those guys who says that. I agree on that. I think that East Coast does better like chicken wings, chicken fingers, steak teriyaki. I know this isn't exactly Chinese food,

but this is like the poopoo platter appetizer and that's what people do and living there. You know this. Wait, hold on. You name chicken wings, chicken fingers, and steak teriyaki. So like two American dishes and a Japanese dish. You don't understand a Chinese poopoo platter from the East Coast. This is what people, and they like, of course they like fried rice and stuff like that, but this is the food that they eat more. That's what people like and you can't get food like that here that's as good as it is on the East Coast. Well, I think it's a matter of different genres, right? I think Nick mentioned this earlier, but it's a little bit Americanized, but that's okay. The same way that people love Tex-Mex and the best Tex-Mex is in Texas or whatever

or you know the best Southwestern Mexican American hybrid is in New Mexico or whatever. Like it's just a different thing and that stuff is really delicious. I mean, that stuff that New York Americanized Chinese food can be really delicious. And by the way, they have some great Sichuan places too. Like, you know, the wings and the dumplings at Han Dynasty are really good. I mean, that stuff is just like, it's really good. There is good stuff out here. I'm just sick of him crying about this fucking L.A. just as good as any city there is. I'm just enjoying the bickering. That's why I'm here to just watch that in person, just watch the magic happen. You're a good peacemaker. Well, speaking of, I guess you could call it Americanized food

or corrupted or mashed up food, whatever you want to say. I feel like Del Taco is definitely an example of that. And that's this week's chain where we've got these ostensibly Mexican dishes that have all been kind of Americanized in a different way. And I would say probably in a less extreme sense than what you might see at Taco Bell, where you've almost got kind of this cartoon idea of food. I feel like in Del Taco, it's like a little bit more accessible. But these are definitely not like, this is not like a taco you would get from a taco truck. These are all like kind of these Americanized version of these dishes. Yeah, you know what, Nick? You know, we were just talking about those appetizers, chicken wings and chicken fingers. Del Taco

sells cheeseburgers. They do. They sell cheeseburgers and they sell crinkle cut fries. And it's kind of like a, I don't know, it's interesting that they're kind of this catchall of like American and Mexican cuisine. But also that's kind of what I like about it. But what is your relationship with Del Taco? You talked about liking the lot growing up. Is that a thing that's continued into adulthood? No, not really. I ate it so much growing up. So I had a weird situation where I think, you know, when I was like 16 or 17, I had a strange high school schedule where I went to school from 7am to 11am. And then I just got to leave and go to lunch. And that was the end of my school day. And then it was a strange thing where it was like I was taking these weird classes.

And then, but what ended up happening was because I could now drive and had lunch on my own and was eating at school, is I just say fast food every day. And the Inland Empire is where fast food was born. I mean, it's where Del Taco was born. It's where McDonald's was born. It's where, and it's, again, it's a car culture. It's a lot of things converging, right? It's a car culture and it's, you know, it's kind of a blue collar area. And, you know, there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of people of Mexican descent. It was a lot of things combining. But yeah, I mean, I used to get a little Del Taco all the time. There's a little taco like two blocks from my house and like two blocks from my high school. So yeah, it was happening a lot. And there was

also this place in San Bernardino, like I was born in Colton, which is in San Bernardino also. And there's a, there's a street in San Bernardino called Hospitality Lane. It's called Hospitality Lane. And what that meant was it's every chain sit-down restaurant in the world. So it was Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Chili's, Applebee's. When Outback was invented, Outback came there. And it was so strange because that's where you would go out to eat. So this is where Spoon Nation should orient their prayer mats to, uh, to pray. This is their Mecca. Just paint, just point it directly at the center of Junglo Nation, where the weird desert folks live. But yeah, and there's, you know, there's just, there just wasn't that much stuff out there. It wasn't, it weirdly is a pretty

populated place, but it's not a big metropolitan city. And maybe that's changed. I haven't lived there in a while. But when I was growing up, eating out meant going to Denny's or Caro's or all these weird, you know, Caro's. There was a Caro's out there. No, I heard the Caro's episode. I know your take on Caro's. Jesus Christ. It may have been good at one point, but it's not. No, I don't think it was good. I mean, was, is that the worst restaurant you guys have ever gone to on this podcast? Yes. Yeah. That's the, that's the worst of them. But I, I have fond memories of Caro's growing up. And I remember it being a little nicer than Denny's. Yeah. Yeah. It was a more upscale. I saw that in an ad for Caro's and said worst Doughboy's restaurant ad was weird.

Like, I was like, all right. All right. I knew that would happen sooner or later. No, but that was a long winded way of saying, yeah, like I would probably eat Del Taco once a week or once every two weeks for a while. Okay. And, and, and I would, because I would rotate, it would be like Del Taco, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Carl's Jr. And then there's a weird Green Burrito was out there. Oh yeah. They're combining those, but Green Burrito was separate for a while. I had, you know, look, I, this is the guy, like, I'm even like reading like fast food websites. Like I still do that. That's how crazy and sad my life is sometimes. But yeah, I'm still interested in it. My 17 year old self or 18 year old self, that was his dream to live your high school schedule for all the

wrong reasons, but to leave school at 11 and then go and eat fast food. He would, that, that, that still is kind of my dream. The only, the only shitty part about it was getting up at six to go to school early, but then you're done at 11. I mean, what even was going on? I don't understand, I didn't understand it. I still don't really understand it, but hey, man, I got to eat a lot of fast food and it got me in this room today. And we got to go to a hospitality row. Oh yeah. That sounds great. A field of dreams-esque place. I would honestly wonder what is there now because I bet they, I think they added like a BJ's brew house and I think there's newer chains there. I would be curious to like look on a Google map and see, I almost did this before

coming here, but then I was like an hour late and I felt, I feel really bad about that also because I had a meeting before this that went long. So these guys really generously went out and got me Del Taco. So thank you for that. Please. No, that's like ridiculous. Like I'm, I'm your guest and you, I, you got the food for me. That's embarrassing. We just happen to be there anyway. I feel horrible about that. So thank you guys. I apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. You're very, very busy. You're volunteering your time. Mitch went and got you, looks like eight menu items. Yeah. Yeah. So his normal order. You motherfucker. But let's talk about the food specifically a little bit. So did you have a,

did you have a favorite order when you were growing up? Yes. So yeah, I was telling Mitch, I was texting him. So usually I would get a, this is such a weird order. I wouldn't get the, this isn't a very popular burrito, but I think it's called the Del Combo Burrito. Oh yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's an in between. It's not the biggest burrito they have. It's not the smallest burrito they have, but it's like, I think it's just like ground beef, beans, cheese, and maybe hot sauce and onions or something. It's pretty simple, but for some reason I didn't want the macho one that was too big. And then I would get a side of chili cheese fries. And I guess in, in retrospect, that makes a lot of sense. Cause now as a grown man, I realized like, I like a lot of really good foods,

food. I've been a lot of really nice restaurants, but I still love eating burritos and chili cheese fries. Oh yeah. And it sounds disgusting, but it's like, I still like it. Like I still like it. And so it makes sense that as a 16 year old, like that's what I was eating. That's part of the appeal for Del Talk over me is like, there just aren't a lot of places where you can get that combination. Like I can't get like, oh, I can get, I just, I really enjoy their fries, their chili cheese fries in particular. I usually go with their deluxe chili cheese fries, which they add a little diced tomato and onion and sour cream. But just the, just getting tacos or a burrito plus fries is just such an interesting combo. And it's very satisfying. It's very Southern

California. And I think, you know, me and Nick are both from Southern California. I think that, I don't think that's a coincidence. I mean, it's such a weird combination that, you know, the San Diego burrito, the California burrito that they invented has fries in it. And so it's just a thing where like, I just can't stop. I would eat french fries every meal if I could. It's like a problem. And I love, I love, I love burritos. This is very controversial, but I'm going to out myself here. I think I like, I like burritos more than tacos. So I just like burritos more than tacos. I'm with you. It's truly controversial and people, if you want people to fight you, just tell them that fact. I have one more fact. This is not really that relevant. I think pasta's

better than pizza. No one will agree with me. Wow. I disagree with that. That is insane. And I will fight you. The one person who ever agreed with me on that was Chelsea Peretti. And we would always say, like, fight this man like, you know, pasta over pizza. We wouldn't always say that. I made that up. But she did agree with me that, that, that, that pasta is better than pizza. That's just, that's just how, that's just my opinion, man. I love pizza is my favorite food and I could eat it always. But I mean, if you get a homemade pasta, what I was going to say about the tufos is that Mrs. Tufo would make like spaghetti and meatball meals. And I would come up there and I would just eat so much, you know, she would feed, you know, feed the fat little Irish kid from down the

street and I would just fill up so much on a big pasta meal. And I, I'm with you. Pasta to me is, is, it's, it's up there, you know, right below, right below pizza. But pizza, pizza wins it. Pizza, pizza wins out. I mean, hey man, there's a great debate on another podcast called Great Debates where they argue about this and they're like, the top five foods, it's like, the debate was something like, would you rather have these five foods or every other food in the world? And pizza was one of them. It was, I'm mangling it, but I think it was pizza, tacos, spaghetti, and I think pasta was folded into that burgers and, and I, what was the other one, fried chicken or something? Anyway, it was five amazing foods and one of the guys on there was, this is like,

well, you're going to go against the five kings. I mean, like, it was just an amazing podcast. Anyway, there's a reason why there's no right takeout spaghetti. I mean, pizza can be like even a bad, like they say, there's no bad pizza or whatever. And, and, and I think that's a big part of why pizza, people love pizza so much is that you can have a great, I'm in the minority. There's, there's no way if you pulled America, it's 90 10 pizza. It's 90% of people. No one, no one's going to be in my corner, but you know, that's why, that's why America is a great country. We can all have our own opinions. No, we're fighting. Can I also say, oh, what a shocker that Nick Weiger likes a place where you can get a burrito and a burger and fries. Would you like

it too if you could get a slice of pizza and any other food you wanted at this place or what? You know, I've gotten, as I've gotten older, I've gotten less of like, I want one of everything, but, but this is a specific combo. And I know you're insulting me here, but I'll feel it seriously. This is a specific combo that's kind of stuck with me. And, and you know, I, it is just like, there is just something very satisfying about that burger, tacos, fries, quesadilla sort of world, all kind of living, cohabiting, what am I looking for, living together, whatever I can land on it. You're getting under my fucking skin today. You take the high road too on all this. I know that you're insulting me, but I'll take the fucking high road. I hate you tonight. But I just want to say

that I am, I disagree. When I go to Del Taco, I, I love the fries there. I think they do an amazing job with the fries, but I have, I have a big three there that I kind of always get. And one of them is the bean and cheese burrito. I think it's the half pound bean and cheese burrito. And I have never liked a bean and cheese burrito. I will say that until I tried Del Tacos and now, and then open my, it opened my eyes. I was like, Oh wow, bean and cheese burritos can be really, really tasty. It's just homemade beans, I believe, and then cheddar cheeses in there. And then they, they put either red or green sauce in it. And it's, it's really, really, really good. That, that's funny. Cause you know, the bean and cheese burrito is actually like an old LA staple.

It's really like, you know, it's, there's a lot of places in Boyle Heights. There's this place called Al and B's. It's A, L and B, A's. That's like a legendary bean and cheese burrito place. And that's like all they serve is like bean and cheese burritos ones with green sauce ones with red sauce, but it is a very Southern California thing. So I just never, I was always like, why would I get, if I'm going to get a burrito, why don't I get a chicken or a conne asado or anything else? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds like a vegetarian option or something. Exactly. And, and, and, and, and that's exactly, I feel the same way. And, and um, Del Taco really, it really opened my eyes to being in cheese burrito. And now I will, I will now sometimes do it at a restaurant or

try it somewhere else because it's not strictly a vegetarian thing. Yeah, there's something about the simplicity. It's, it's a, it's like a zen food. It really is. It's, it's, it's, it's a nice little, you know, you're going to get a nice, you're going to get like a nice little meal no matter what. Like it won't be, it won't blow you away, but it won't be terrible. And yeah, well, that half pound one is, and I'm not sure if it's still at the 99 cent price point, but it was there for a while. Yeah. If it is, if it's any more now, it's like probably like 119. It's still, still very affordable, very filling. And I really think they do like, I think their beans are good. And I think they do a really good ratio of cheese and sauce to beans. Like I feel like you get a

lot of good cheesy bites in that bean and cheese burrito. It's very satisfying. Yeah, it's a great mix. And it's, it's always like when I get it, I'm kind of always blown away by Del Taco's quality. Like, like I'll get a bean and cheese burrito. And I'm like, this is nice and hot and feels fresh. And you know, it's, it's a difference between them and in Taco Bell. Like Taco Bell is so much of like, it's just the gun. And we've talked about this on here. I like that. I like, I like that it's all on a gun. And I like, I like the way Taco Bell is. But I feel like sometimes you can be like, oh, this is garbage Taco Bell. I have pretty good quality from Del Taco, though they do fuck up my order sometimes. The food will be good, but they sometimes get my order wrong. What were your,

what were your other staples? You said bean and cheese burrito? What else? Spicy chicken burrito? Spicy jack chicken, spicy jack quesadilla. Interesting. Yeah. So I was going to say that was one of my backups was the spicy jack quesadilla. I guess that's been on the menu for a long time. Yeah. So good. I used to get that growing up and put, put a little of that Del Scorcho sauce on it. There was a point I switched from being the cheddar cheese quesadilla guy to the spicy jack quesadilla guy. And I haven't looked back that spicy jack is really good. That you celebrate that day every year. Yeah. Big party. It's like become a legendary LA party. Yeah. Who, who is this? Who, who, to who? What, when, when did you like, who, like to yourself,

you became the, the spicy jack guy from the cheddar guy or were other people like, Nick's now the spicy jack guy. No, this is, this is a personal thing. This is just, this is just me. Um, dude, real quick on the, on the burritos. So you get a choice of red and green sauce, typically. Do you guys have a, do you guys have a preference there? I'm a, I'm a red guy. Wow. I'm a red guy. Yeah. You know, I also like, when I get a burrito at a, at a different place, I'm also one of those guys who gets one of every salsa. Oh yeah. I think there's like a, there's like a bunch of bad standup bits about that. It's like, oh, you need all those sauces. Like, yeah, fuck you. I do. I want to try them all. I think that's like how I am in life too.

Where it's like, well, I do want to try everything. Like if I'm a, you know, if I go out with friends, I'm always trying to convince everyone to just order everything on the menu so I can try one of everything. I don't know. It's a, I think it's the thing about like, it's like a sociological description of it. It's like a maximizer or something where you're going to try everything and then see which one is the best. No way. I think that's genius. I really do. I think, and if you're with someone who's down to do that, it's the best feeling in the world because then, all right, we're going to tackle a few things together and we're going to try as much as we can because why not? If you're going to a new restaurant or new place, what, you're going to

try stuff. It's a metaphor for life, man. If you don't want to try everything on the menu, like what are you doing? Like, I want to try everything in life too. That sounds stupid, but it's true. And that's, tonight, even when I was at the window, I told the woman at the window to give us every salsa that she had. Yeah. Oh, man. I was going to text you that, but I was like, that'll sound really crazy and stupid. You did it anyway because me and Mitch, that's why me and Mitch are getting married. And you're not invited, burger. But you, so you like green better? What do you, I don't know. I'm a green guy. Okay. I say I'd mostly opt for red, but I appreciate green. I think I'm, I think I'd lean towards red.

See, that's why you guys go well together, red and green, you know? It's like McCartney and Lennon. How many weddings have you ruined by eating the cake before? You know, my brother's wedding actually, there was a, there was like a pristine cake and there was, we looked at the, at one point we were looking at the cake. Oh God, please, please God. This is about me. This is kind of an endearing story about family, we looked at the, we were looking at the cake and they had been left alone. We went over there and there was just like a hole in it and everyone was like, what the, what happened with the cake? There's like a hole in the cake and it turned out my grandma had like want, went to touch the

cake because she just wasn't sure it was real and made a little dent in it and then like licked her finger. So it was like, if it was, it was anyone other than my grandma, everyone would have just been furious, but because it was grandma, it was like, oh, that's cute. I can't believe you blamed that on your grandma. It was grandma. What? It was new. While we're in the world of sauces, so at Del Taco, you've got the, you've got the mild, you've got the Del Scorcho, which we already mentioned, and you've got the Del Inferno, which is a relatively new addition. I feel like within the past 10 years, we've seen Del Inferno, which is the hottest fry at all. What do you guys think about the Del, the Del, Del Taco sauce

options? I think they're all right. I think so growing up, there was no Del Inferno, right? It was just Del Scorcho. Side note that is not that interesting. The band Weezer, they named the song El Scorcho after Del Scorcho sauce. Oh, wow. And that's my favorite band. So it's just another reason why it was great that I picked Del Taco. I just realized that. But anyway. Do you remember what your original plan was for, well, because you're going to go to Benny Hanna, but didn't you remember what you said anytime you came back after that? Oh, after, after, for this podcast? Yeah. Yeah, there's a bunch. Well, you guys did one, which was Hard Rock Cafe. Yeah. But I had some, some thing where like, we used to go like,

go to Hard Rock Cafe and then go see a movie at City Walk, which is just such a dumb plan. But it's, it's just, I think it's kind of fun. But you guys did that in Rocktober. Maybe we'll do in Rocktoberfest next year. There's no way Rocktoberfest will happen. What if, what if January were just Rocktoberfest too? What if Wager was like, Hey, man, would you walk? I think you would walk. I would probably walk. But there's, there's so many, man. It's like. Well, you had, you had a great idea. Yeah. Oh, yeah. This was great. Yeah. Yeah. So, so I was going to, I pitched this to Mitch that I would do, I think something like Yoshi Noia or something Asian or Panda Express. And then gradually, because I don't think you guys have had that many non-white guests. So

like the first Asian, I was like, okay, they made him do Panda Express. And then you get a black person on and do something really racist with that. And you segue into just, then it would become like a really racist food podcast where you'd have a guest on of a certain ethnicity and force them to eat that food. And anyway, I pitched this to Nick, not really meaning it, but it would have been funny if I had done Panda Express. It would have been really funny if we just kept bringing you back for Asian restaurants and not saying anything about it. Yeah. Yeah. Just, and never mention it. That would be pretty funny too. There's still time. We could just scratch this whole podcast. This is where it's about a restaurant that is where I actually grew up and just do horrible

Asian shades. I love that. And I also think no amount of diversity can make this show less white because of Weigar and I. We're two blobby white men. And virulent racists. Yeah. We should be phased out. The type of human beings that we are should be phased out in this world. Oh, yeah. Time is taking care of that. That's a demographic shift that's ongoing. And our body types are taking care of us. We'll be done soon enough. We'll die in our 60s, very angry at what the world has become. Our children will be ashamed of us. Yeah, I could tell that's happening with Weigar especially. Well, I want to quickly say Scorcho is my favorite. Oh, yeah, yeah. I don't think, you know, I don't think that there's a great, a lot of,

like a ton of great sauce options, but I'll just say Scorcho is one of the best. Scorcho is up there with some of the best hot sauce packets that there are. And I really appreciate Scorcho. It's all I asked for when I'm at Del Taco and I asked for a lot of Scorcho. Yeah, I think I would rank them Scorcho, then mild, then Inferno. I don't really love the Inferno. But I do also say just, I would also say I do like the Taco Bell hot sauces. I know like they're not even real. It's the same thing where like, look, Taco Bell isn't real Mexican food, but you kind of crave it sometimes if you, if you have a nostalgia for it. I think that's, excuse me, I think that's a big part of what it is. But I like those hot sauces too. I don't know what you guys like Del Taco sauces

better. I like, I think I'll, on balance, I'll give Del Taco the edge. I think in, as far as their sauces are concerned, I agree with you guys about Del Scorcho. That's the best one that kind of has a nice balance of heat and flavor. Whereas I feel like all you're getting with, yeah, all you're getting with in Del Inferno is just heat. It's just so like, just not interesting. Yeah, it's just, there's just nothing to it. And the mild is fine, but it's just kind of like, it's almost a tomato sauce. Yeah, it's like a thinner ketchup basically. See, I think Del Scorcho is the winner there. You know, interesting the Del Taco I went to, which on Santa Monica Boulevard and West LA, they have little pumps there. So you can actually pump out from a big

vat of Del Scorcho into a little paper cup. And that's a fun little thing you can do. Yeah, that's pretty fun. That's pretty fun if you're Nick Weigher and that's what you consider fun in your life. Alan, let's dig into the spread you've got in front of you a little bit. So what are you tasting, what were you tasting over here? What are your assessments of these different menu items? I got some wild cards over here, man. Yeah, so Mitch went and got a bunch of this food. Let's see, from left to right, I'll just go in order here. There's a plate of macho nachos, which is I think their biggest nacho thing, which by the way, sitting on what appears to be a normal like grocery store paper plate. I bet it's interesting. It does have a branding on it,

but I haven't seen that very often at fast food places. It's just a paper plate. Yeah, yeah. That very much, I'm like, where do they keep those? I've never seen that ever, ever. It's typically like a plastic thing. Maybe this is more environmentally friendly. Next to that, we have the epic carne asada burrito, I believe it was called. The big boy, yeah. Yeah, I ordered that because it seemed to be like a, I like that I had the word epic in it. That's really stupid. I didn't really want it, but it said epic, so I got it. Then I got a fish taco just because I was surprised that they even tried. They have a fish taco. Then I have a deluxe chili cheese fries, which is one of Fliger's favorite things that he's mentioned on the podcast before.

And then there's a bacon cheeseburger. Double bacon cheeseburger, I think. Yeah, I think it was a double bacon. I said bacon cheeseburger and she said double bacon cheeseburger. And then you just didn't have the willpower to correct her. But yeah, that's, I entered that order in because I never had a burger after going to Del Taco for 100 times. I've never gotten a burger there. And these are kind of new, these are things that you kind of ventured out, right? These aren't your, this isn't your normal. Yeah, a little bit. I usually get the chili cheese fries there and I like it, but it's a little bit different. And yeah, to varying degrees of success, I would say. That's kind of what my experience was when I was,

when I was there. Tonight, I was going to do some of the classics, but I've done them, the classics so many times. And I feel like for the last three days that I was going to have a heart attack. So I figured that I would not do it. But a few days ago, I had, I tried some Del Taco stuff that I had never tried before. And I got the French fries again. And I don't usually get the French fries there. I don't normally do it. And the fries there are so good. Because crinkle fries, I never think are going to be good, but they do a really, really great job with it. Some of the other stuff I went on along with, I was, I'm with you. It was, to varying degrees, some of it was, was all right. I had a, I did a burrito as well. I did the,

I did like the Chipotle ranch, chicken, epic chicken burrito. Yeah. And that was not great. It had bacon and a lot of ranch. And it was more like a, it tasted more like a sandwich. It was, it was not very burrito like, I did a mini quesadilla, a mini bacon quesadilla. And that was like nothing. There was bacon in it. And it was really tiny. It was maybe the worst of my orders. And that was sad because like we said, the regular size quesadillas are really tasty and good. And this one, this, this, this one was not great. I had a churro for the first time from there. And I'm not, not a churro for the first time in my life, but a churro for the first time from Del Taco. And it was fantastic. It was the best fast food churro I've ever had.

Wow. It was so good. And it made me be like, wow, Taco Bell doesn't can't pull off a churro like this. This is really, really good. Was it on like Disneyland churro level? It was, it was up there for me. It was really, really, really. I don't know where the best churro is. I mean, but, but, but, but it was, I was like, oh, this is like going to Disney and getting a churro at Disneyland. So it was, it was, it was, it was really good. And I got the, I got nachos. I got the, the chili and cheese nachos. And they were done very simple. I think they were on the buck and under menu. So they, they were, they were not the best. They were not like these macho nachos that we have in front

of us today. Yeah, these, these aren't bad actually. Yeah. Yeah. I, on my recent visit, I got the macho combo burrito, which is a notch above the, the delk. Wait, did you say you get the del combo? Del combo. The del combo. So the macho is a step, a step above that. Yeah, it's a step above that. So in addition to the meat and cheese and beans, it's also got some sour cream, just some assorted vegetables. It's just a little bit of a more, of a more filled burrito. I also got it just in order of fries and a cherry Coke. So I kind of got the, the number 10 combo that came with all of those. And then I also got a mini bacon quesadilla and a cinnamon churro. So we inadvertently had a little bit of overlap there, spoon man. Oh, God damn it. I will,

I will agree with you 100% on that cinnamon churro. I, I rare, I don't know if I ever get dessert from Del Taco. It's just not a thing I'm particularly craving there. It's not the reason I go there, but that is a really well done churro. It's just like a really good representation. It's on a higher level than you'd expect at a fast food chain. And particularly when Taco Bell's offering is like a, they have like these cinnamon twists, which are not even an approximation of a churro. They're, they're pretty far from a churro. I love Taco Bell, but those cinnamon twists can fuck off. Yeah. Those can suck a dick, man. Those are terrible. They're really bad. And the cinnamon churro by comparison, just it's like a pretty decent churro. It's not bad at all. It's, I'd

say it's carnival tier. So I was pretty, I was pretty impressed by that. That many bacon quesadilla, I'm with you. It's like such a small bite. And in all fairness, it's on like their bucket under menu. I think it's like a 59 cent price point. It's super duper cheap, but it's, you know, it's, it's about half the size of a hot pocket. It's very tiny. It's really tiny. And then the, the, I think the, just the small nature of the flour tortilla, just like it's very gummy. You're not getting a lot of bacon. It's just kind of like a handful of bits strewn in with the cheese. Yeah. That one's kind of forgettable, but I guess if you want a little bit of a bacon flavor, just for, for not much money, it's an okay thing to spend two quarters on.

I stand by that bacon is one of the, bacon is a hard fast food thing, especially if it's not a burger place. Like a, and I know that Del Taco is a burger place, but, but it's hard to do like bacon and other things that aren't. It's always going to be those weird bits or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let me go really quickly through the things I got. Yeah, of course. I didn't really rate them, but you know, the things that they, that are more ambitious just aren't as good. I think here's my, here's my take away from this. So I got a burrito that had what they describe as carne asada in it. I think if you're going here, you should just get the ground beef because you're just going to, you're just going to get this fast

food. You know, it's not good ground beef, but it's just ground beef. Like, you know what ground beef is. You know it's, you know the quality that it's going to be. It's not going to be amazing, but it's going to taste like what you expect. If you try to go too upscale and get a carne asada, it's not just not going to be that good. So I would say that burrito wasn't that good, but if I had gotten the regular combo burrito or whatever, it would have been fine. It would have been a fast food burrito. So you're just, they're just trying to compete with a kind of burrito they shouldn't be competing with, I think. I think the macho nachos are pretty good. I mean, it's just like, you know, again, like you were saying the beans are pretty good. It's nacho cheese.

It's like what you would get at a stadium or something, but better. I mean, it's not bad. It's fast food nachos. They're pretty good. They look tasty. I'll say that. Yeah. This is a small thing, but I think I really like the grating of their cheese. Like it's like a very thinly graded, finely graded cheese, and I think it both melts well. And then if you get it in a situation where it's just kind of thrown on top and it's unmelted, it's also good. I think it kind of works in both capacities. That's not a tiny thing, Weiger. That's what people come to, that's what listeners of this podcast come to you guys for. That's the kind of hard-hitting analysis that people are waiting for and you just delivered. I like that the cheese is smaller here

than at the other place. I'm not even kidding. I think it's good. So the next item down the line is the fish taco. Don't come here for fish tacos, I don't think. I think, again, you go to Ricky's fish tacos in Silver Lake or something. I did go to somewhere that's like awesome. So yeah, that's like a fish stick, whatever. Again, that was one of my wild card orders. The chili cheese fries, here's an interesting thing. I like almost all chili cheese fries, so I'm probably not the best critic of this. But yeah, they're pretty good. I got the deluxe ones. I don't even really like crinkle cut fries. I think these are pretty good though. And it's impossible for me to separate this from nostalgia and growing up there. But yeah,

I'll still eat this. Yeah, I mean, it's part of it. Yeah, that's all inextricable. But yeah, I think they are pretty good. And I didn't mind the addition. I usually get the regular ones, but the extra stuff, the sour cream just makes it unhealthier and it's tasty, so that's fine. They must be similar to the chili cheese nachos that I got. Eating them, I was like, this is great. How can these be wrong? There's nothing special about them. They could be from anywhere else besides the fact that dels fries are great. You know what you're getting. I mean, if you are into eating fast food chili and cheese, you're going to like these. I mean, not everyone is, but yeah, if you're into that kind of thing, I think it's not a bad example of it.

Again, this may be because I ate it for years growing up, like some sort of food Stockholm syndrome that I developed. But yeah, no, I like that shit. And as for the burger, I don't think you, again, I don't really think you should be getting burgers here. But I don't know. Do you guys like the burgers? I've never had one before. I like the burgers there, but it's not my first choice. But there are definitely times when I'm kind of craving a del taco burger in particular, because it's kind of got a, I don't know, I think the burger quality is pretty good. It's not a Wendy's. It's not like a higher tier fast food burger, but I think it's very solid. And I think if you're craving a burger in fries and you're there, you could do a lot worse. I would usually

go with just the normal cheeseburger. I think the double del or the double del bacon, I feel like just the normal cheeseburger is just kind of simple and kind of delivers maybe kind of what you were talking about, about the burrito. It's just like kind of like the simpler you go at this place, I think the more likely you're going to have success. And I think that's, we've talked about this on the podcast, but I think it's a thing that every fast food and chain restaurant is pushing each other into these weird areas where maybe they shouldn't venture. And I think del kind of has a bit of that because the epic burritos there, and they do a California burrito and I had it before and I was like, this is not good. It's bad and I don't know why you guys are trying

this because your spicy chicken burrito is so deliciously good and your, you know, your quesadillas are so good. They do some stuff so well. I was like, why chase that other stuff? I will say like Taco Bell though, they do new things like every month or so and those are usually pretty good. Yeah. I mean, there's been this weirdness arms race in the world of fast food, right? You know, it's been going on for a long time. But yeah, Taco Bell did those Doritos tacos and, you know, KFC did the double down where the buns were fried chicken. And I think there are restaurants that do that kind of thing. I think Taco Bell and Jack in the Box are really sort of aggressive innovators where there's just a new product every day when you go there. And it's

like, that's kind of their draw. I don't think del taco should be getting in that game. They don't seem to be doing it that well. Maybe they might not have the R&D resources to do it well. Yeah, that might be part of the issue. I really think Taco Bell is probably like a multi-billion-dollar corporation. I don't know how big del taco is. You know, these things might need pun intended a little more time in the oven in the development process because yeah. But I will say del tacos guys aren't punching Uber drivers in the face like that no good Taco Bell advertising guy was. Did you see that? No, what is this? This a guy a Taco Bell like an advertising executive or something. I don't know. He's some guy who works for Taco Bell was in an Uber and he started beating the

tail out of the Uber driver because he was too drunk and the guy wouldn't drive him any further. I would pay you money to deliver me the news every day. That was amazing. I just like read the read the new skim the New York Times. I give you 10 minutes to skim the entire New York Times. Some guy in I don't know. There's this country in the Middle East adjacent to another country. They got some tanks and shit. It's just it's fucked up. I guess you know they ain't doing so good. Onto entertainment. A man was in a movie. You know sometimes I can't get past my own thickness but I know it's there. So that makes me a little bit smarter right to at least realize that I'm stuck in a is it Lenny which one in mice invented Lenny is the beast. Sounds right.

Yeah. I realize that that's what I have. There's nothing I can do about it. You're also one of the most likable people in the world. So that's why that's why I'm still around. Yeah, I went to murder years ago. No, no. So yeah, I'm not I'm not going to do a burger at Del Taco but it's a part of their thing. So I let those slide. I think the special stuff though they got to stop trying to do it. Yeah, they haven't really figured anything out. They try to do like a copycat of the gordita that didn't really they think they still have a flat bed a flat bread taco on their menu that just doesn't really work in execution. Yeah, I think they I don't know they must just feel some pressure to come out to push out new product. But yeah, I mean they just it kind of

reminds me of remember we did the Long John Silver's episode and we're looking at their their full menu online and they had like they were offering like new salads and we're just like why is Long John Silver's doing salads. It's just like this company that's about like this place that is about to close. Yeah, like what are you what are you doing? Why are you doing that? That's the wrong direction to go in and I do feel like Taco Bell is consistently like oh we know what our customers want we're pushing that you're right jack in the box the same sort of thing they're kind of going for that 2am drunk stoned guy and and you know they're they're targeting their their their menu items towards that before before we get into final thoughts on Del Taco I just want to say

because it gets compared to Taco Bell so much what what where do your thoughts on that light I mean do you think that this is more authentic Mexican food like in how authentic is Del Taco as far as Mexican food goes if I'm being objective it's not authentic and trying to say it's it's more authentic than Taco Bell is kind of like I don't know I mean it's it's a weird it's it's kind of like not even a relevant an important argument to have because I don't feel like either really is you know I know no no I'm just saying like they have like I think they have the I'm not sure if they still have the menu but they had the street tacos at Del Taco for a time that we're kind of like trying you know more of like a soft shell corn tortilla a taco execution

but I don't think either place really does authenticity it's it's more just sort of like what the core flavors and the core menu items are I think is a better way to evaluate I don't know what do you think Alan yeah I totally agree I think I think they're just different beast man I mean this is a horrible analogy but I just thought of it so I have to say it if Mexican food is is say Mexican food is is a dog it's an animal it's a dog Taco Bell neither Taco Bell nor nor Del Taco are dogs like one is a lion and one is a tiger they're cats they're just they're different things this is an analogy for a for a five-year-old but because that's like the only words they know this is this is the thing that made the most sense to me this entire this is the only way

I can explain things to me what I'm into kitty terms no but it's a horrible analogy but I guess the point stands that they're just different and they're just different cravings and I think again you can't get away from the fact that you know if you grow up eating Taco Bell you probably like Taco Bell and if you grow up eating Del Taco you have a soft spot in your heart for it I grew up eating both so I kind of like both and I I very rarely eat at these places like I pretty much never go to them anymore but I still kind of like them I mean it's like it's barely even food but I kind of like it yeah I I agree with that I think that like Taco Bell if I'm I can crave Taco Bell and I can crave Del Taco and they're two different cravings and they're both separate from craving

Mexican food and or a good burrito or or anything like that they're there but I but I do crave both of them that's a thing I do like both of these places I like Taco Bell and I like Del Taco Taco separately from each other you're right it's it's like comparing Del Taco and McDonald's or anywhere else yeah why even do it it's also like don't tell me I'm stupid for craving Taco Bell or Del Taco it's like no it's a just a different thing it's like oh is there's great Mexican yes obviously there's a million great Mexican places it's like you don't always go to or a solid eat sushi you sometimes go to sugarfish or whatever you know you don't always get the best of everything every time yes and also sometimes your body's stupid and it wants a chalupa or whatever whatever

people get there I agree don't don't call you stupid for craving Taco Bell but you can call someone stupid for starting a podcast based on these restaurants and forcing yourself to eat them weekly um for me on that topic real quick I think I'm probably in terms of craving and probably 90 10 Del Taco versus Taco Bell but Taco Bell has its merits and I appreciate it I I just I I like Del Taco more I'd rather have Del Taco you know nine times out of a 10 out of 10 I'd rather have Del Taco than Taco Bell but I will get Taco Bell on occasion and I do appreciate it and I think it's it's philosophy and flavors have merit for me it just depends on the night you know it could be a Del Taco night could be a Taco Bell night but one thing thanks for sure I'm going

to a fast food drive-thru alone uh all right should we get into our final yeah let's get to our final that's so I want to listen to the podcast you know this works uh go ahead and give you your your your summation your closing argument if you will and then give your rating on a scale of one to five forks before I do that I have a question that has just bugged me for a while sure what do you do you consider this fork rating a rating of the restaurant visa v all restaurants in general or just for the world of chain restaurants so for instance with the best chain restaurant got a five even though it's not it's not the best restaurant in the world yeah yes we we try to take them on the level of chain and and and fast food restaurants uh or

I mean I guess we just try to do it on on on on go ahead it's not an individual level I think it's I think it's up to the person to decide I think if you want to if you want to weigh it versus uh you know bobo fuku and all these high and feel free to do that but I mean I think personally if I really enjoy something I'll I won't be shy about giving a high fork rating even if I know objectively it's not the best food that one can get in the greater LA area near the world yeah yeah yeah let's say momo fuku is definitely getting five forks if we ever reviewed it on here yeah that would be funny I mean that's like two and a half no yeah so I totally understand we're like if you go to in and out it's like oh this is the best it's five forks yeah that makes sense

right because that's like that could legitimately be one of your favorite foods that ever you know that could be someone's death is there a better burger than in and out yeah I've had better burgers in and out I'm still gonna give it a five fork rating yeah no no no um so there's man I could talk for an hour but I won't this is this is this is a big one there's a lot to say about this place so I'll also say if you right now gave an unbroken hour long monologue I think that would be and each sentence completely well constructed yeah unbelievably cogent with a beginning middle and end of the entire hour that would be unbelievable that'd be something and I did write it I did write it beforehand and memorize it no so I think I think Nick made some great points and and that I

hadn't even really thought about which is this is the place where you can get this is the most basic argument is this is the place where you can get a pretty good burrito and pretty good fries and to me that's like a pretty good basic argument for a place and by the way is kind of a beautiful metaphor for where it was born and by the way where I was born and it's that you can get a a great American side french fries or chili cheese fries and you can get a pretty good Mexican or Mexican analog we know what we're talking about here fast food Mexican burrito and I just can't think of another place you can do that is the it's the it's not the best food in the world I mean I would say we are we are actually the minority the three guys in this room here saying that del taco is good

would be laughed out of the room in a lot of places in LA but who cares you know it's like people shit on del taco people think it's worse than taco bell I don't think it is I think it's actually probably a little better than taco bell there again they're both kind of different but so yeah I think for sentimental value I think the fries are pretty good I think the burrito is passable I think I think you you know it's okay um but yeah I'm gonna give it four forks oh four forks that's great go ahead Mitch for those of you who laugh at us um or laugh at del taco I am telling you right now to go out there try a bean and cheese burrito get it with green or red sauce try that spicy chicken burrito that I like try the spicy jack quesadilla and I think

you'll come back to us and and I think you'll apologize if if if you if you just kind of roll your eyes at del taco because del taco is good it's it's it's it here's a thing with it it's one of the weirdest chains there is because it has so much weird shit on it and that's okay and I'm okay with its its older school style of having burgers and fries and burritos I think that's fun sometimes you want to mix it mix them all together I don't like it as much as taco bell I think taco bell is great but I I do think the quality there is good and I think if it feels like a more wholesome meal um that being said uh every time I'm in there there's oh it is always a fucking disgusting shit show I've never I've never mentioned that yeah I didn't have to go I didn't

have to go there you just brought it to me so I went in eight there at two thirty on on sunday thinking that oh this will be an okay time because I've gone in there on Friday and Saturday night's late and it's a fucking there's lettuce like on the ceiling and shit and it's insane and I went in there and a bunch of drunk football fans came in they were Patriots fans so I liked them and we got along well but they were so fucking loud and so messy and the place was messy that's another side of it too as far as my eating experience goes one thing I didn't mention I got one of on the buck and under I got a strawberry lemonade it was shitty uh del taco should stay away from doing some of the weirder things stick to some of the stuff that's that's made them what they are and

that's kept them in business and and and has made fans like the three of us um still to not give it a perfect score kind of burns nick in some sort of weird way so I'm gonna give it four and a half forks the taking off a half star for vengeance yeah just for spite for unrelated to the rest all right mitch um here we go here comes a tearful del taco review let's hear it nick I'm excited okay oh god he does have something written up no I don't I don't have anything written up I'm referring to my notes to make sure I got all of the elements of my meal I did touch on them macho combo burrito uh good good quality burrito you know I feel like a little too much stuff I usually like the simpler options I'm with Mitch I think that bean and cheese

burrito is is very very solid if you have a little bit of if you want a little bit of meat I think Alan's on the right track which is getting the del combo um with ground beef fries are great there they just are really crisp and delicious well salted well seasoned very consistent like the crinkle cut I'm usually a shoestring man but this is a case when the crinkle cut comes through um mini bacon quesadilla chinman cinnamon churro I touched on cherry coke I had a little weak on the syrup but that's okay I'll give them a pass here's the thing about del taco I have a lot wrapped up in this because it's a place I've been going my whole life it was probably my first experience with what I what someone would consider to be Mexican food is going

to del taco and getting a quesadilla um and I remember wanting to go to taco or remember when my friend dain I was staying over at his house and we were going to go to taco bell and uh I asked for a quesadilla and at the time I'm old enough where there was a point where taco bell didn't have quesadillas on their menu yet and so I couldn't get it and I just remember that little bit of disappointment and I feel like that has kind of followed me my whole life that is a formative experience where del taco had a thing that I loved that I had associated with a good meal and taco bell did not have it and I couldn't get what I wanted del taco I couldn't get a taco bell so for that reason and not just that reason but for that reason and many other experiences taco bell

will always be inferior to del taco to me del taco is the king of the fast food mexican options and while I was eating there I was reminded of a time in my life when my wife and I we were just dating we didn't have much in terms of means del taco was a great go-to option we could eat there affordably you could eat there very cheaply and this is a thing we touch on very a little on the podcast but I think it's an important thing that some listeners have brought up to us that this is a good date spot oh yeah yeah yeah if you want to woo the one take her to del taco um no the the notion of value and del taco has a lot of value as does taco bell but you can get things there you can eat very affordably and you can get food that will be tasty and fill you up and you know while

it was there I I was sitting at the west LA location I was in the dining room it wasn't the pile of filth that Mitch experienced it was a little scattered but I think it was well maintained and you know you just there were a lot of there the people dining there who were working class folks you know a guy in a security guard uniform a painter a couple of sign spinners came in and with their skateboards and put their signs against the wall in order to meal and you can eat there very affordably an adorable little girl with her family offered me some napkins when I was out of napkins and I was just like this is this is this is what america is all about like this is a place where if you if you don't if you're you're maybe hard up or you just want to get a little bit of

something that you just want to stretch your buck out for a good meal you can go and you can get something that's satisfying and you know sometimes I think with fast food that's that's part of the reason it exists that's part of the reason people eat there is because just you can a buck goes a long way I don't think there's a place it goes longer than del taco I love the food I eat there regularly del scorcho is great fries are great quesadillas are great burritos are great hardshell tacos which I barely touched on are great this is my favorite fast food restaurant in the traditional sense for me there's no way it's getting less than five forks that was that was astounding well weiger delivered that review with the eloquence force and emotion of a man delivering an impassioned

plea before the supreme court what the what the listener at home didn't see was that he was also gesticulating wildly and sort of pontificating before an unseen audience for just kind of looking on and off but he was holding in tears for sure yeah the national anthem started to play softly in here um but yeah I you know that that's that's that's you know well well reasoned if anything else right if nothing else it was it was well reasoned it's a triple dip three different scores and it's in the gold plate gold yeah welcome to the gold plate that's the rare staggered gold play right yeah you're right staggered gold plate I like that triple dip triple dip triple dip staggered triple dip staggered I got I got I got a quick question about your experience yeah

when that girl offered you a napkin did you throw her in the lake like Frankenstein no you're thinking of you bitch you reversed our statuses real quick you're the you're the overly strong simpleton I'm the one who when she did that her mother quickly grabbed her away what are you doing with that man that weird guy oh that's right yeah you're a little Jared I'm a little friend oh my god you're both murderers just different kinds um that'll do it for a discussion of Del Taco uh it's time for another segment we do here regularly on the podcast we have a fast food item that we bought yesterday and we're going to test how it held up under spending a night in the fridge these are the leftovers

we hear the unmistakable strains of the opening theme for the leftovers from HBO as we lead into this segment now Mitch you were tasked with getting the fast food item that we're gonna taste test today oh what did you get for us wow what a piece of shit this whole setup because last night I forgot to get the leftovers and here's the thing with the leftovers you need to get at the night before you can't do the fucking segment but Nick just had to do the intro and had to play the little song wait wait a bit of bitch you're telling me that something you said you were going to do you didn't follow through on you're telling me Spoon Man or to go buy your other nickname The Oath Keeper I'm just relieved man I'm relieved Nick Weigher tries to win fans over so much he

tries to he tries to dirty the Spoon Man's name and that's fucked up but we're doing a different segment that's better for Alan anyways yeah this will be this will be more fun you're not gonna you already ate this king's bounty of trashy fast food you're not gonna have to subject yourself to anymore a guy so well versed in food that this makes sense this makes sense Alan Yang you've been sentenced to death oh wow so Mitch uh why would Alan seems like a lovely young man he's been very generous with his time here why would he why would anyone impose the ultimate punishment on him it's 2037 Alan went to a taping of snl saturday night live and he laughed and in this dystopia laughing at snl is good enough for a sentence of death

wait hold on laughing at snl specifically or laughing in general it's become a serious dramatic show oh i got it and lord michael's puts to death anyone who laughs at it he's still lord michael's still alive he's still alive so in his early 100s i would assume he's wearing a robotic suit oh wow okay all right and alan has been put to death so it's a way method of death yes he has to climb a really tall ladder while pretending to decorate a tree and then fall off the ladder to his death we push it like a like a giant christmas tree that you see in time square just like chevy chase does at the beginning of snl as gerald ford is as is it as gerald ford wait really i don't i'm not remembering are you conflating like christmas vacation with snl or

something no he that's an opening for snl i don't remember this cold but he is gerald ford climbs the ladder and then falls all he you know his big thing was falling in the openings i got you and that's how loren wants alan to die so and so we have a dystopian future where snl is a very serious dramatic show that's right and that you did alan undercut the seriousness of this show by laughing at it and uh loren in this uh evil super villain bit of of ironic punishment is forcing him to die via something from a apparently famous snl cold open that's right um did you know you just made that up now but did you know that i went to snl on saturday did you really really crazy that you said that oh no i had no idea that's insane yeah i i just went to the donald trump show on saturday

oh my god what was that like weird man it was weird uh uh he he's not a comedian i i learned it i found out like i realized he's not an actor or comedian but yeah no he yeah i was at that show and then uh i saw i saw loren michael's there and at the after party uh donald trump uh pushed past me he pushed me out of his way so so you know what it weirdly my death sentence makes sense because i'll probably be at snl in 2037 i'm gonna count on you so really eerily prescient uh prediction from from from it's that's really strange yeah hey sometimes simple people can come up with some weird stuff you're just self describing yourself as simple all the time i'm going with it now okay oh cool yeah um so alan you're you're you're being sensed to death uh the warden comes to you

is gonna give you your final walk but first he wants to know what's your last meal yeah okay so um i can go big with this right i can i can describe whatever you literally have anything i love it at all that you would ever want okay okay this is this may this may drag on then but i'll try to keep it i'll try to keep it reasonable um just because it's actually relevant to the discussion i think one of the things i would get would be a burrito and the first thing that you know i so i grew up in southern california like i said um my high school was probably 55 latino um i ate a lot of mexican food growing up some of it was the sort of you know california mexican for lack of a better word sort of the the hybrid uh that is not maybe truly authentic but it's still delicious um one of

my favorite places and this is actually mitch related because um mitch used to help me out for while he drove me around um when i when i uh i tore my Achilles tendon and couldn't drive so mitch was really really cool about it and drove me around what a great friend um and i wore a little cap and uh put on an english accent he drove me to work sometimes um but we both like this place called cactus um mexican on vine and one of the things again it's not like it's not fucking you know fancy cuisine but it's really good and mitch turned me on to a burrito there that is the uh i think it's the number five it's basically the one with everything and i was getting that one sometimes but i would get it with al pastor regular but the little tip that mitch gave me was you can get it

extra crispy they say like you know and it just really makes a difference so they cut it on the good nights they have the spit going you know traditional al pastor is done on the spit and it's roast on the thing that you might see like them cook euro meat on and and it's really delicious pork i think is is maybe the most delicious meat it's it's just really delicious and al pastor is great and so they put this in the burrito and this burrito has everything in it it's again one of these american hybrid sort of burritos with beans and rice and and cheese and sour cream and avocado even too so so it's really really unhealthy and i i did i have one last yeah i had one last night so anyway but anyway so maybe that's why i just thought of it but i think that's

that's that's in there because it's because it's a food i eat a lot and it and it's you know when i come back to la it's like listen it's like an eight dollar burrito or something and and you know you can eat at a bunch of fancy restaurants but sometimes you want that kind of thing now let's get a real a lot grosser with the with the traveling well you're that that almost put me to tears yeah more so than weigar's dumb and passionate al taco no but but so that's part of it i mean i gotta go i gotta go with some of my mom makes and and she makes a bunch of really good stuff um she's a really really talented cook uh just like a really short anecdote i once i i didn't appreciate it growing up because i was like i want to be american

and eat american food and i don't want to eat fucking five delicious amazing courses of chinese food that you made from scratch um but now i really appreciate it and i once asked her uh you know like how many how many dishes do you know how to make and she's like oh i don't know like three or four hundred it's just like she's like really really good so um this sounds really stupid but and it's very simple but she makes a really good fried rice that's really tasty and she makes this other dish that i can't even describe that's like kind of a again it's pork base but it has some potato in it which i love and it has like these soft breadcrumbs around the pork and it's kind of cooked in a sort of a pressure cooker type thing and i just haven't had it anywhere else and so

that's the thing that she would make that was really delicious so i'd have those um and maybe one or two other things that this is where it gets really really uh kind of fancy is is some sushi from from tokyo there's this place called uh sushi suata which is one of the best sushi places in the world and i think i would get just a piece or two of the uh the medium fatty toro which is a chewed toro and that's a fatty tuna but not like the otoro which is the fattiest and the the kind of medium kind it's kind of the chewed toro that's just a delicious fucking bite um all right i think that's enough stuff i don't know i mean i could go i could list a million other places you have truly almost quite a spread you've you've almost moved me to tears for real because that was such a

good answer we didn't even tell alan we were gonna ask him no i was i was terrified i thought i was gonna do flavor the week or snack or whack guys come on i know i'm sorry that was that but i mean and we talked about this after i had fucked up but we talked about and and and you were the right guy to ask that was that was some good yeah jeez man i want to come back and say more though i've got more answers man we'll get we'll get we'll get you back for sure and also we've just officially invited ourselves to one of your mom's five course meals oh yeah yeah it was really funny though because yeah when my first moved out to la a couple uh my friends from college came out too and they stayed in my mom's house for a while and she just made us food every day and they're like

this is crazy it's just incredible and as we do she does a fun thanksgiving too where she makes some american stuff like turkey and stuffing but then there's just a ton of chinese food and she's really amazing like she is just a little ball of energy like i think my sister was late last time she's like i'll just wait till sharon gets here and sharon got there and she made the whole thanksgiving dinner in like half an hour wow crazy like that it's just like really crazy like chinese food you can cook quickly but um yeah she's really cool that's amazing step up your game mrs mitchell and also thanksgiving is next week yeah oh yeah we should we should this is not part of a last meal but just uh we should talk about thanksgiving real quick um so this yeah this is

our last episode before thanksgiving as mitch just said i felt the need to repeat it um like what are your feelings on thanksgiving in general or i guess this is a question for the room uh thanksgiving the meal is one of my favorite meals i love it every every year i i'm going home my uh my god parents have thanksgiving at their house now and it's and it's always delightful my godmother is a really great cook and i can't wait mashed potatoes gravy stuffing turkey what's not to love i love it i tell you i i'm i'm something of a thanksgiving cynic just because i feel like a lot of the i feel like a particular turkey i'm just like i'm turkey's fine i'll tolerate turkey but i'm not crazy about it i'm certainly more of a dark meat than a light meat guy when it comes to turkey because i just

think that the white meat in the turkey is just lacking so much moisture um maybe that's the way i've had it prepared but it's just generally what i've uh what i've experienced but i do like the side stuffing i'm all right with um you don't seem to it doesn't seem like you can get stuffing year round so that's a nice little seasonal treat mashed potatoes and gravy sure all that other stuff it's fine um but yeah thanksgiving's not it's that's not one of my favorite holidays i'll i'll deal with it but it's uh also just a little too close to christmas i think i need some more space it should move thanksgiving to like september so there's a little bit more you're not like going to see your family and then going to see him right again right away you know what i mean yeah sure

let's just move it to september what the hell is wrong with you you go back to school and then you get a thanksgiving holiday right away i think no you gotta murderers row you got halloween thanksgiving and christmas and that's the best that there is and you're a fucking idiot ha ha ha how many your thoughts on thanksgiving um i i like it you know i think the point about it being too close to christmas is kind of interesting because it's like what sometimes you have to pick right yeah if you're only going to travel once sometimes you have to pick and that sucks but you know what i like about thanksgiving it's a holiday where you just eat you know you just eat and like the when you're a kid growing up it's hard to be christmas right you're gonna get

stuff you're gonna get video like i want video games and and whatever you know but as you get older it's like now i have to like think of presents to give people like i don't want to do that yeah even though i brought you guys presents like you did a great job i'm a very thoughtful generous person but even so thinking of gifts is a pain in the ass so as as time went on i started to appreciate thanksgiving more and more because you know it's just an excuse to to lay around watch sports if you're into that stuff if you're not then whatever but it and depending on how you feel about your family like i happen to i like hang out with family so and i know that's not true of everybody but you know i like going to see my mom dad and i've actually started doing a sort of

uh i have a very small family and it's a it's a it's there my parents are divorced and and they don't really they don't really want to be around each other that much so i have some i have a lot of really small thanksgivings so two years ago i went over and my thanksgiving was me my mom my mom's husband and my mom's dentist who was an asian lady named mrs do who didn't really speak english so who's just like what what is going on here like it's just it's just seems like a random meal that's great yeah yeah so it's it's just a nice so basically on thanksgiving i generally do my mom i you know i i have lunch with her or i have lunch with my dad and then i have lunch with my mom and then i come back to la and we do a friendsgiving and i think that's an underrated

part of thanksgiving which is people who are marooned away from their families or maybe we're going to see them on christmas friendsgiving is really fun man like in everyone like you know if you're in your 20s or 30s and maybe you don't have your own family yet but you you know you're not going home to see your family um everyone bringing like a dish like you know it is really fun and you can you know drink a bunch of wine and and and and just like watch a bad movie which is what me and my friends have been doing for a while and it's just great it's like that's your new that's kind of your new family right and we have this sort of society not to get too sociological about it but we have this society now where you're between the sometimes if you're gonna get married a little

later you have a long period of your life where you don't have your own family yet and and those people are kind of your surrogate family so and then on top of that i love carbs and there's a ton of carbs so thanksgiving it's not it's probably not the best holiday of the year although i don't know what what is but it's it's it's it's up there for me yeah not to uh thanksgiving grinch nick why that's a horrible that's a horrible screenplay that i just sold last year you know what i think you could sell is a is something called friendsgiving yes that's a that sounds like a vince von seth rogan two-hander oh yeah friendsgiving from them from the makers of valentine's day it's got everyone in it for some reason how this happened i your mom must make a pretty good

thanksgiving yeah that sounds amazing yeah it's really good man and and and she and she really whips it up and she and i agree with you white i i agree with why turkey meat kind of sucks like turkey you know it's traditional but it's like white turkey meat that shit is dry and bad and it's like legitimately chicken might be better like chicken might be better and so i i'll i'll eat like the dark meat whatever i'll eat it because it's one day a year but like i'm really there for the sides and in the case my mom for the chinese food uh awesome well just like a restaurant we value your feedback let's open up the feedback today's email comes to us from cameron wilson cameron writes subject line you call yourself dough boys body of the email but we need more pizza

talk how do you guys feel about the regional pizzas of the good old us of a where's your favorite you've got greasy big nyc slices to the gargantuan deep dishes of chicago and your stupid veggie thin crust pizza from who knows where i'll also add if anyone has had detroit style square pizza i love the dough to sauce to cheese ratio the pizza chains jets and little caesars have a pretty good representation of the motor city's signature pie while we know pizza is a staple of the american diet i wonder if the listeners come across the same conundrum i occasionally find myself in the dreaded but often delicious double dip what's the double dip it's the same food for two different meals pizza for lunch and dinner cereal for breakfast and dinner burritos all meals i'd also

like to your opinions on that also a lot to unpack there cameron uh but it seems like we're talking about regional pizzas is kind of is kind of column a and column b is kind of like eating the same thing for consecutive meals in the same day um uh how do you guys feel about those i still can't get my head around the last part of it but i will say cameron try to not start your email so accusatory what the fuck yeah you call yourself dough boys well yeah all right well yeah he or she became a lot yeah he or she became a lot more conciliatory immediately seemed like they were just gonna go off on a rant yeah i thought we were in trouble yeah so i'm happy that we're not in trouble and i do like this

discussion um i'm probably a big uh i like the northeast sloppy new york and i i'll put boston in there too slice of pizza uh and and you know like a i like a crisp pizzeria regina original slices pizzeria regina is my favorite i set up here before uh the north end pizzeria regina is my favorite pizza and then santarpios is great too but uh i i i prefer that over chicago but i feel like chicago people kind of like they they kind of sell out their own pizza all the time they were like chicagoans don't actually even really like deep dish like when you talk to them they're like we don't even really like it like it's like the torus thing and i'm like all right well like it is still good i i don't get it like i went to chicago and tried it and i and i really liked

it so but i can't really get behind it 100 when those guys are selling it out so quickly and that's like multiple people i feel like so many chicagoans are like fucking i don't eat deep dish deep pizza but if i had to say what do i like better between detroit and chicago this is kind of crazy i might go with detroit i love that buttery crust i like the outer rim it's uh it's it can be it can be done really well i yeah i'm not sure if i've ever even experienced like a proper detroit style pizza it feels like something i need to i need to travel to that region just to experience um but yeah if we're talking about i always feel like it's kind of a false dichotomy when people are saying like either like oh new york or chicago and then everyone always talks about it in terms of like

one's great and one sucks and so i've like i feel like there's room for both they're both good i think i i definitely could eat new york style pizza a lot more frequently than any chicago style pizza and i generally prefer it more as a proper pizza but um but chicago style pizza is good too and that's a lot of fun to have it's a nice little occasional treat i got so many people in chicago mad at me i think maybe i i love that city by the way i'm scared that's one of my favorite cities on earth it's in the food is so good it's just that's that's also such an undertaking to to do like we're gonna eat a deep dish pizza it's just you're gonna be in the right you know mindset and even though i i love it and i and i love you know so there's there's some places there

that that and here we have hollywood pies which is the closest we can get to it but it's it's really good it's just it's too much yeah it's its own thing uh what do you think alan yeah it's it's it's i i like it but yeah it's the thing you're gonna eat i don't know a couple times a year at most i mean it's a it's a journey right you want to go in with an empty stomach you know look it's it's kind of like greasy cheesy bread that's i'm gonna like it like it's heavy and and yeah really yeah i'm gonna like i like everything like that um you know you're just not gonna eat it that much and as far as like different types man like so again while i was in new york i went to a bunch of different restaurants and when people say new york style pizza i think they're typically

thinking of that you know those big slices that you fold over yeah but there's an incredible variety of places in new york alone and that comes from italy too like you know so there's there's a lot of places you're doing the kind of neapolitan thing that that that that is you know basically the pizza style in naples which that's that's like reberta's and motorino and places like that but there's also a place like uh this place marta that danie meyer does and they do like a roman style oh that's like almost like a thin cracker like crust and it was really delicious i had a carbonara pizza there that was a thin cracker like crust and it was really delicious and just really really quickly you know i i went to italy last year also and so i went to some places

in roam and naples and i gotta say like they were unbelievably delicious but there are places in new york that are that are close to approximating it so you know i also you know i kind of like motza i know la doesn't really have doesn't have the depth that other cities do but motza is really good it's getting there though i i think la's pizza game is it's they've been they've been doing mother does mother does pretty good i like mother does a lot of fun but new york is like man there's just a million places i had detroit style pizza in austin weirdly so i don't know if that was like a food truck i was like yeah this seems like the time and place to try authentic detroit style pizza i don't know it seemed good i don't know um but you're a pasta guy anyways i'm

a pasta you know what fuck pizza just a long unnecessarily digressive discussion yeah and pizza styles and they're saying but you know what fuck it all the second part of your question cameron uh it just sounds like you need to leave your house if you're eating the same thing for consecutive meals that seems like you got a little leftovers from for breakfast and you're just being lazy and needing that for lunch i don't know i'm not crazy about double dip and i can't double i can't do two of the same meals in the same day unless unless it is leftover pizza but that's almost like a i'll have pizza at night and then i'll have like leftovers later that night you get a full night's sleep in between i think it's fine i think that's

the but yeah breakfast lunch dinner i mix it up a little bit yeah what am i a prisoner come on three bowls of gruel a day you cameron spitting some fire on the way out the door don't get mushy in here fuck cameron fuck chicago fuck pizza oh god i really let loose something oh we have to that happens at the end of every episode if you have a question or comment about the world of chain restaurants you can email us at doboyspodcast at gmail.com follow us on twitter at doboyspod check out our facebook page it's just doboys alan yang congratulations on master have done a wild success is there anything you would

like to plug uh no i guess just that show i mean uh we worked hard on it and it would be great if you guys watched um yeah i want to say thank you to you guys uh for letting me on here because it's it's it's legit one of my favorite podcasts i did a i did a fresh air with terry gross last week and this was a much bigger thrill i'm not even i'm not i've listened to more of you guys not joking well we're gonna have to get you back on because this is this was a such a loaded one and you know your stuff so i could listen to you talk about food all day this is a real treat i would love to come back this is great yeah oh well you're you're you're gonna yeah it's what's happening uh and thank you for the the hat that i will be buried in um it was a wonderful gift

hopefully soon that'll do it for this episode of doboys until next time for the spoon man mic michael i'm nick weigher happy eating happy thanksgiving