Doughboys - Outback Steakhouse 2 with Leann Bowen

Episode Date: September 13, 2018

The 'boys are joined by writer and director Leann Bowen (Dear White People, I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman) to talk about her early restaurant jobs, dining in the San Fernando Valley, and more before jumping in to our return visit to Outback Steakhouse. Plus, a Carl's Jr. edition of Breaking Chews.Want more Doughboys? Check out our Patreon!: https://patreon.com/doughboysSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I know this beach like the back of my hand. Those were the final words spoken by Harold Holt, who, in January of 1966, had become Prime Minister of Australia. On December 17, 1967, Holt, accompanied by a group of companions, made a fateful trip to Cheviot Beach, located south of Melbourne. There, the then Prime Minister, brashly confident in his swimming ability, took a dip in the choppy ocean. But when he ventured into deeper waters, he disappeared into the waves and out of sight.

Forever. His body was never recovered. In America, the JFK assassination of a few years prior, despite being captured on film with hundreds of eyewitnesses, gave birth to a still thriving industry of conspiracy theories. And so in Australia, the sitting head of state disappearing without a trace provoked wild speculation that he had committed suicide, that he faked his death to elope with a mistress, that he had been killed with a nerve agent by Viet Cong intelligence due to Australian

involvement in the Vietnam War, or that he was working as a deep cover spy and had boarded a waiting Chinese submarine to flee the country. But the most plausible explanation, ultimately affirmed as the correct one by a state coroner's report in 2005, is that he drowned. As author Tom France wrote in his biography The Life and Death of Harold Holt, quote, he was simply one of the number of ordinary Australians who drown each year through poor judgment or bad luck. But while his tenure in office was tragically cut short, Holt's sensational death was more

than equal by his political achievements in life. His progressive administration helped transform the land down under by introducing the Australian dollar, liberalizing immigration laws, and most significantly, by spearheading a referendum that officially recognized its aboriginal population. Australia would ultimately emerge from the murky waters of tragedy as a more modern nation, and a decade in change after Holt's declaration of death in absentia, Australian culture began being exported en masse to its former British colonial counterpart in the Western Hemisphere. In the mid-1980s, the American box office was overtaken by the one-two pop culture punch

of crocodile dundee in Young Einstein. Australian musical acts like Inexcess, Midnight Oil, and Men at Work became huge in the States. The Aussie invasion of the 80s was so omnipresent that it was later lampooned on the classic episode The Simpsons vs. Australia, and capitalized upon by a group of American entrepreneurs who established a faux Aussie steakhouse concept in Tampa, Florida, with a cheeky atmosphere that traded on a pastiche of Australian cliches like boomerangs and kangaroos, and a menu of decidedly American fare centered on gigantic slabs of meat and deep-fried appetizers, including its signature bloomin' onion, the chain by design was a smash hit with the

Yanks. Today, it has over 1,000 locations in North and South America, Asia, and yes, Australia. As the Aussie invasion has now been reversed like the flow of its toilet bowls, with America encroaching upon the land down under with one of its chief cultural touchstones, the restaurant. This week on Doe Boys, we return to Outback Steakhouse. Welcome to Doe Boys, the podcast about chain restaurants. I'm Nick Weiger, alongside my co-host, Big Little Eyes, the Spoon Man, Mike Mitchell.

Like Big Little Eyes, but Big Little Eyes. Yeah, no, I got it. That was courtesy of Rachel Seiss, who adds, because he is large and his eyes are not, if you have an insult, you like me. Oh, thanks for clearing that up, Rachel. I think the clarification helped a lot, some people might have been lost with that one. RoastSpoonMan at gmail.com is the address if you want to send an insult for me to read about Mitch at the top of the show.

Or send in a toast. You send in a toast to Spoon Man. You know, October is approaching. Perhaps people could send in a ghost. A ghost of Spoon Man. A spooky, yeah, like a spooky sort of a take on Spoon Man. Hey, you know, our producer, Usong, got a haircut, and he's a little self-conscious about it. And I thought we should just take a second to point it out.

To tell him that it looks great. You look great, Usong. MR Engineer is giving him a round of applause. Usong, you look great. He shouted, he shouted, thank you from the other room. It's good to boost the self-esteem of people who work on the show. Yeah, okay. In lieu of payment?

No one here gets paid. Compliments only. Hi, Mitch. Usong, yeah, too bad we can't pay you to get a better haircut. All right. Usong, you look great. You always look great. People calling you a snack online.

This could be problematic. Why is that problematic? Because we shouldn't be calling our employees snacks. I'm saying people online are calling us snacks. Oh, we're relaying that some people are saying Usong is looking like a snack. But guess what? I could agree. Oh boy.

But I mean, when I say snack, I mean literally. You're going to eat him? Like an ogre? Nick, I got something to bring up to you. Yes. I'm checking in on one thing though. Well, you know what? Howdy ho to Spoon Nation.

I'm going to play a little drop right now first. And then I'll figure out what's going on. I will say this is one of the hardest. Just because I basically ate double taco bell breakfast. My own thoughts. Yeah. And then we ate Chick-fil-A. Great.

And I feel like closest to death that I've ever felt. You had a tremendous amount of fast food today. Yeah, it was a bad, bad day. Hang in there. So that was... Nick, do you know what that's from or no? It's some sort of... I assumed it was Super Mario World,

but it couldn't precisely place it, because it was like kind of slowed down a little bit. You're wrong. That's why. Was it Yoshi's Island? A bad day on Yoshi's Island. Yoshi's Island. That's where it's from.

Okay. Hey, Mitch, enjoy the drops with the ox cable and watch out for those fuzzies. They'll fuck you up. Thanks for the good times. Alex Staniloff. That's nice. That's nice.

Good job, Alex. The first timer, Staniloff, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's what you get from your give out the email. So new blood can get in it. Shut up. Shut up. That wasn't great.

You wouldn't have had that if you hadn't told people how to send in drops. What is it again? Is it Spoonman Drops at Gmail? Spoonman Drops at gmail.com. Send in some drops that roast fucking why go on here. I got something to say. Mitch, you're texting frantically. I'm trying to figure out what's going on here.

You seem very distracted. I... Okay. We should maybe introduce our guest, because... Okay. It feels like we're going to get into something substantial. I mean, it's not bad. Okay.

Yeah. Well, our guest is a writer and director from Dear White People, and I love you, America, with Sarah Silverman. The new season is now streaming on Hulu. Leanne Bowen is here. Hi, Leanne. Hi. Hello.

Great to see you. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Great to be in another room with you. We've been working together on this show. A lot of fun. We've been having a blast. Yeah.

Nick is super fun. Oh, God bless you. You all know. Well, they don't know. This is news to Doughboys listeners. I'm not sure either. I had hummus on my shirt earlier. Nick, that's not what the big deal was about.

That's what it was? But no, no, that's not what it's about. I just said I saw myself in the mirror. There's a big glob of hummus on my, by my chest, and I just feel like that's apathetic. It's still there. It's still there. Oh, yes. Oh, man.

It dried up. It dried up and just kind of it's now dried hummus. It does not look good. It looks worse than it did probably. Oh, whatever. It's not going to happen. If possible, you eat enough Mediterranean food that that's just now what you're lactating. Nick, what I want to bring up is grocery month, grocery store.

This is the whole thing. So Leanne, I'll bring up to speed a little bit. We've been having this text message back and forth. Me and Nick had a great idea. And Evan Cessar, commissioner. Why did you get to tell the story? This is my story to tell. I'm just saying, I'm saying, like, I'm not sure how familiar Leanne is with the podcast,

but we do these dumb theme months from time to time where we really dig in on a particular category or subcategory of chain restaurants. So go ahead. Me and Cessar. I mean me, but then Cessar loved the idea and jumped on it. We're like grocery store month and we had this great plan where we would review. I didn't shoot down the idea. Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's Whole Foods. Yes. A lot of fun. Costco. Yeah. And then there was one other one that I can't remember. Nick has a fucking hissy fit. I didn't have a you miscategorizing my reaction.

Susser texts me privately and said what a strange man. So you know talking about me. Yes. About you. Betrayed Susser. He does that to you about me all the time. I'm sure he's like Mitch's being a baby. We come up with this great idea.

We will review grocery stores. Yeah. Nick can't get over this idea that he creates himself that every. He doesn't want to do Trader Joe's because it needs to have a hot food bar. Yes. I think that's a fair argument. So that's a good argument. Thank you.

I mean like gelsons has this really great elaborate hot food bar. Exactly. We're not reviewing the hot food bars. We're reviewing the actual grocery stores for like stocking thing. Yeah. What are you reviewing? There's a lot. There's a lot of different things.

I think a cart. There's a cart section. There's a there's a there's there's cart section. The cart section where we go up and down the aisles fine up and down the aisle section. There's an actual maybe a deli section and maybe you know maybe there's a their own produced food section where we go to the hot bar at Costco, but we eat the Trader Joe's made food and we see what we think about all of them.

I think it's not a restaurant and then it's not a restaurant. It's grocery store month. But what I'm saying is that he came up with the idea. You're putting this hot food bar thing on to it already. That's your own thing. Yeah. I think I think that's a look. Leanne seemed convinced.

I'm starting in a field that the Trader Joe's like prepackaged salads. Yeah. All right. I don't know. I'm on the fence. All right. The Trader Joe and then you said we're going to do where you want. I think we should do Ralph's.

I think we should do like Vaughn's Kroger. I think that's not what you said. Where did you said? Oh, I pitched. You said Wegmans. I pitched a Wegmans. I pitched a regional chain that people feel very strongly about. And then you said you two are being coastal elites.

This is what he charged me and Susse. I did. I thought you guys are. You being a coastal elites. I look at our centered on Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. I looked it up. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods were available in like every state basically. All right.

And Wegmans was available in the fucking northeast. You fucking coastal elite right along the coast. Yeah. That's your favorite part of the country. That's your region. You should love it. I like Wegmans, but I was trying to make this accessible for everybody who for people who live everywhere.

Well, you're being a coastal elite about it. You were the coastal elite. You added on this hot food thing to I was pointing grocery store month. I hit me and Susse. We come up with the hit. You guys are both like to say wearing blue one. Yes. Mitch has on a patriot.

That is true. And you have this very and you have this very like California like button down. You guys are like the both coastal elite. That was too. You pointed that out too well. I cut at the core a little bit. Now I feel like I like I feel like what they parody like we're like newscast. Like you're like on East Coast and you're wet.

That sucks. Yeah. What have we become? Look, I think I am willing to put this debate to the people. Do we need the hot food bar for grocery month? Hashtag. No. Hashtag hot food barred.

If you don't think we need it. I came up with the idea with Susse. The answer is no. We don't need to do it or hashtag hot good bar. If you think we should have it grocery month. We do stuff different. Yeah. We rank it out of 10 shopping carts instead of force.

There's a lot of different things that go on. 10 shopping courts. Carts instead of five forks. Yeah. And there's a carts category. Yeah. There's an aisle category. How wide?

How you mean it is to roll the cart? The food. Like a lot of different things. Can Mitch squeeze through an aisle? Oh, really, Nick? Look, you didn't come up with grocery store month. I'm well. I'm open to doing it.

I know I didn't come up with it. I said it was a good idea. My boxes are all in a bunch literally. My boxes are all bunched up. I have family guy boxers on Nick, which means I'm at the bottom of my boxer pile. Do you really? Yeah. What?

Who's on? Is it like it's like a pattern. You've got like Stewie and Lois. That's right. You think those feel bad. God, I don't want to do this. Sorry. That reminds me of the time I got pushed in the pool at my friend Henry's house.

And I had to wear his Scooby-Doo underwear. It really happened. I threw his, I threw his big wheel into the pool at his house and then his friend pushed me into the pool. How old were you here? The big deal? Five. All right.

So, so Leanne, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for enduring that interminable grocery store pedantic debate. I want to see how it shakes. First of all, this is a great, you're here at the start of this debate. This is a great thing. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's gonna grocery store month is gonna happen. We'll let people weigh in. Hashtag hot food barred or hashtag hot good bar.

Why does that have to be your thing grocery store month? Yes or no could be the hashtag. What? Whether or not we do the idea or not doing it and we're doing the idea. You're being a baby. I want to see what specific. I think the hot food bar argument is solid. The fact of the place serves something like a restaurant like serve something that you

can eat on the premises or to go. Not something that you have to do any preparation for three of the places. One place is different. That's stupid. I think it's something different. I think that's, I think that's more of a frozen food challenge. Open up the goddamn huge box on my couch. Whatever the fuck is in there is scaring the shit out of me.

Yeah. So someone shipped a huge Amazon box to the, the dough boys PO box. We have not dug into it. I apologize. It's, it's a little. Scientology thing today and you had us on throw in the track. Yeah. Someone signed me up for a Scientology.

Someone signed up my email and started sending Scientology pamphlets to the dough boys PO box quote quotes around someone. Sign yourself up. I might start doing it. Time to go clear. What if it's Tom Cruise? Oh my God. Tom Cruise.

That would be amazing. If I could write it, if I could do a punch up draft on a mission impossible, it would all be worth it. I'll leave my family forever. What am I clinging to? Um, Leanne, you're yes. It will be funny when they're like Mitch is actually like a negative force in your life.

That's for sure. I paid $40,000 for this. So you're, you're from, you're, you're an LA native. You're from the, our, our lovely San Fernando Valley. Is that correct? Grew up there. What was it? What was it like growing up in an LA proper and, and, and, you know, you've,

have you always lived here? Did you ever move anywhere else? I lived in Riverside for high school. Right. So that was kind of cool to be out of like a big city. Yeah. Um, the valley seemed, I mean, yeah, it was fine. It was hot.

Um, It is very hot. It's very hot. Um, That's so much, I feel like so many people I've seen talk about the valley or something. And then they're like, it's, it was fine. They stopped to think about it for a second.

Different parts of the valley. There have been Sun Valley, which was like, it was like recycling plants and like salvage yards and like, uh, a giant, um, uh, landfill, which we would like me and my brother and sister would go to and like find treasures and stuff. So that was, that was like life. Good. Mitch and I both got scared when you paused after a second. People come and look at it.

Um, but yeah, there's, there's, there's a, there, I think there's a, people are hard on the valley, but then there's also like a nice, like a slice of Americana in the valley. Right. Kind of that L.A. doesn't have a ton of bone. I go up there and go to the, the Tonga, the Tonga hut or whatever up there. There's like an old movie theater. And I go, I would like some nights I'll go up and see the, like the go to the Tonga

hut and get a movie. Right. It feels like, it feels like you've transported into like 1980 sometimes. Oh yeah. It still feels like that sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. I do like going up there.

My mom still lives up there. I like parking lots and having parking and quiet streets around here. You just, you're up all night because there's helicopters. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's so much less dense there. And yeah, there, there's such like a, a paucity of parking in, in, in L.A. whereas,

you know, the valley, there's, yeah, it's like, it's honestly crazy. When you just go to like a restaurant up there and then there's just a lot to park in. Cause that's such a foreign thing here in L.A. where you've got to like find a meter or, you know, pay like $14 for a valet. Like there's just, there's just such an absence of park or parking some weird permit area and try to figure out like how long you can be there on the street. It's so weird. Yeah.

But yeah, it is, it does definitely feel like, like, even though it's adjacent to L.A., a little bit removed from L.A. and, and, and there are also, there are so many, when we go to chain restaurants, including the one we're going to cover today, we, we find ourselves going so often to the valley cause that's where a lot of them still are. Yeah. There's in L.A. proper, there's like no chain restaurants. I think the chilises in the Van Nuys, all of the chain restaurants, there used to be

a spaghetti factory like on Hollywood Boulevard. Oh man. Yes. But then that, I think that's gone. But that's all. Yeah. I love the old spaghetti factory. Yeah.

Was it really? Yeah. I loved it too. Wait. When were you working at Old Spaghetti Factory? 2001. Wow. Wait.

So, and were you a server there? I was a server. So, what was that like? And what was the, for people who might not know what Old Spaghetti Factory is all about? Like, give us just sort of an overview. It's funny cause it like the factory name kind of fits. Right. Like you literally order, you pick a pasta, you pick a sauce, and then in the back, they

just, they just like drop, you know, with pasta, you want the fettuccine spaghetti. And they dump it in a plate and they have just like big like vats of different sauces. And then they just scoop it up and it's just like, it's just like slinging pasta. Right. So, there's like nothing else on the menu. Well, there's like chicken dishes, but it's mostly that. It's nothing like made from scratch or anything. No, no, no, no.

Yeah. It's a, I remember that place for me because there wasn't one in the town I grew up in, but there was one on the way to a summer camp that I went to. And I remember going to that Old Spaghetti Factory a few times, like on the way back from camp is kind of like, camp is done and I get to have a big plate of pasta. Yeah. It's the camp food. I never liked pasta.

Right. Or I never liked red sauce, but they had this Mazithra cheese. Do you remember that? It's basically like just like cheese and brown butter over pasta. And I was like addicted to it. Oh yeah. I think, I think I was such a like conventional sort of spaghetti and meatballs kid that I'd always kind of go that like very, very basic direction.

Why did they dislike for red sauce? I don't know why. I was very particular when I was younger. I don't think I really had a lot of access to pasta. I was going to say if it's, because sometimes I think with some kids it can be tomato. Yeah. Tomatoes can be one and then it is acidic. I mean like a, but I think that's more now.

If I eat like a red sauce now, I feel like I can feel the acidity of it. Right. I had a little reflux from it sometimes. It's a little bit, but do you, so, so working there, was it like, this was, it was it, was it on like Hollywood Boulevard? Where was it? I worked at the one on Riverside. Oh, was it?

Oh, you were working the one on Riverside. Okay. Okay. What was the clientele like? And what was the, like, was that crazy? Was it filled with kids? Filled with kids. It was the cheapest restaurant ever.

Right. And the clientele was like, I mean, I mean, bless them, but like Riverside was just it's a very like, at the time it was very like, I guess more like podunk kind of like vibe. Right. Sure. So they would come and they'd bring their like bottle of like wine, which is funny because they were ordering like factory pasta.

And it was an event for them. And there was always like old people and they would order instead of blue cheese, they would say Rokeford. That's cute. Yeah. It's a cute general. Yeah. They're just like older.

That's nice. They're like an old person restaurant. Hmm. I wonder why. All right. I'm an old soul. I'm old man. Just write this out for a few more years.

I can hop on Medicare. I'm very excited. Nellie and I used to go to this. There's there's a mini chain in L.A. County called Polly's Pies and there used to be one on Santa Monica in Santa Monica that's now that got turned into a Panera, but we went to that like we used to go to that Polly's Pies and we went to that Polly's Pies. The like last week it was an operation before it closed and they were just being basically kicked out via a rising rents.

And I just remember this, this old guy like sitting at the counter by himself, like eating a slice of pie and he said to the waiter like, we're gonna, I'm gonna miss this place. And they just made a heart broke for this old man of just like this, you know, because it is like, you know, I think you reach a certain age and you just want something that's kind of comforting and solid. And it was that Panera which replaced it absolutely not that Panera feels so like, you know, it feels as inviting as a hotel lobby. It's not like it's it's not like homey at all.

But yeah, I do like I do like an old an old person restaurant. I do like those places that cater to that demographic. Did you so I know you you've had a few different restaurant jobs, right? I've worked at Old Speedy Factory, Olive Garden, Rush, the Red Lobster. Oh, wow. Outback. This place called Kay and Dave's in Malibu. The Cheesecake Factory.

Wow. You hit them all. I hit them all. These are, these are, these are big. Yeah. Heavy hitters. Yeah. Yeah.

What is the, what are the, how would you rank the jobs? What would you say were your were the toughest part, the toughest part in general of working these jobs? And where would you say like, or were kind of like your favorite places to work and your least favorite places to work? I think my least favorite place to work was Kay and Dave's, which was the Mexican restaurant in Culver City. And I didn't like it because our manager was like, you can't lean on, you can't lean against

the counter. You have to be standing at all times. You can't. That's rough. I liked Outback because it felt like a fancy restaurant to me at the time. Right. And I think I liked, I liked them for different reasons other than the restaurant. I think it's just like the people I worked with, how old I was at the time and yeah.

So just general sort of workplace things. It's not like one, you know, one place has a better way of doing things than other. Did you, let's step back for a second. So growing up in the valley and then spending some time in Riverside outside of places you've worked at, what are your favorite chains to like go to? Chains, I think I still like Outback. Really? I went there last year and I felt really, I'm, I am dating this guy who's kind of like

a foodie and he like, we go to like really fancy restaurants and I felt so bad going there because I'm like, if any of my friends knew, I'm just sitting alone here in this Outback eating this like food in LA, everyone like, oh, I went to Squirrel on Sunday. So yeah, I like, I think Outback's a solid restaurant. What about outside of sit down places? What about like fast food chains? I love Taco Bell. Oh, I worked at Taco Bell too.

Wow. I love Taco Bell. I just. My favorite restaurant. It's freaking, there's something about it. So addicting. How's that sour cream gun? It's cool.

It's like a little, it's like a huge cocking gun and you just like, yeah, hell yeah. I think Jack Allison is the one who like wanted to get one of those or someone, or someone maybe got a hold of one of those. Yeah. Gavress. Gavress said he went to Taco Bell and he asked them for the cocking gun and they like gave it to him. He's just really drunk.

He's just injecting himself with sour cream. I think if I think confronted with a drunk, gabress pretty much anyone would be like yeah man, whatever you say. Yeah, sure. Yeah, that person. They were like yeah that guy came in and grab the sour cream gun, like a, a he said there's a picture of his rugby reunion, right, and there it was a very funny crew of guys him with a like a bunch of gabresses and a man.

It really was. It was just like his old cause at John Gavress, a frequent guest on the podcast for out of the show. If you're not familiar, a great dude and he, yeah, he, he like it looks like it looks like a bunch of him. It like looked like a bunch of the same guy and they all had like red solo cups that were on a party bus. Yeah.

And it's just like these. No one's going to be alive after tonight. You can't put these men together. It's a recipe for disaster. You would certainly die if you hung out with them. That's I mean, it's funny to think about how like at the end of the night they just want to shriveled up like I mean, they just beat me to death for sport. Oh yeah.

They're fun. I actually, I mean, last time I was on a party bus. You remember this Mitch because we were going to our friend's bachelor party. I certainly do. And I got motion sickness on the party bus. Yep. And then I think the next day you and I went to Margaritaville. That's right.

We went to Margaritaville boys. That was a lot of fun. And then did you go home? I went home early. I would. Did you fly home? Yeah, I gotta. I gotta.

I booked myself a last minute flight. I didn't want to get them. I was gonna get motion sick. So you went to a bachelor party and you got motion sick and went to Margaritaville. Those are literally the two things you did. We went to the pool. Everyone went to the pool. We I remember when we went to the pool was after we went to Margaritaville, we barely

went to the pool. No, I was there early. You may be slept in. I was, I think the first one down at the pool. Yeah, I did. Oh, cool. The first one down at the pool in Vegas. Yeah, you are an old man.

I'm just going to go home. I'm just going to embrace it. Ah, a lot of fun, Nick. Well, that note, our taste test segment today is Werther's Originals. I've got them just loosened my pocket. You know what, outside of Werther's Originals, an old person candy that I think is it's got it's great. They're not bad.

They're good. They're good. They're not the wrong. They shouldn't be labeled as as well. So there's nothing wrong with being labeled old person right because the older, wiser and better than the young. They are wiser and better, Mitch. My grandfather, he's an is an immigrant.

He was born in the Philippines and he had a candy dish full of halls like meant the cost. Oh, wow. Those like candy to him and we ate it like that's awesome with the the I actually like I like those halls and there was a time when I kind of like when I got a little bit of a of a, you know, not super sick, but like a little sick as a kid, I got like the sniffles or a sore throat. I'm sick where you kind of liked it.

Yeah. Yeah. Because I like that I got the opportunity to have halls, which I didn't normally get to have, especially they have like a honey, like a ginger, honey flavor. It's delightful. Yeah. Every every little kid loves to get a little bit sick so they can have halls. Well, I wouldn't have them otherwise just eat them, eat them without being sick.

I have a question for you. Sure. Did your grandfather, did you have a lot of traditional dishes when you when you were growing up and you were okay? Yeah, I think that's one of the reasons I wasn't into spaghetti because I grew up on mostly Filipino foods. Oh, wow. Isn't isn't isn't there isn't there like a well?

This is I don't know a lot of Filipino food and probably Jollibee is Filipino. Right? Yeah, I was going to ask if you guys have ever done Jollibee or people have asked you to do. We did cover Jollibee with our friend or friend Jonah Ray and and I find I mean I find Jollibee fascinating. Have you have you been there? I just know the menu.

I haven't eaten there, but they have like funny names and stuff that one of the big things is spaghetti, but it is like sweet spaghetti. Yeah. Add sugar. Did you do? It's aggressively. Yeah. Wow.

My grandma is like catch. It's gross. And then add a little like sugar and sometimes like cut it with some regular spaghetti sauce. Oh, wow. But it was sweet. Yeah. It's it's weird. I mean, you just described it as gross, but that sounds great to me and I'm sure as a

kid that's like very like comforting like I'm sure if I had that as a kid, I think that was fantastic. Did you enjoy spaghetti like that or was like it was still kind of a turn off because of it. It's still kind of a turn off. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It was the sweets spaghetti sauce. There was a lot of good stuff there. The fried chicken was great. The fried chicken was great. They do. They do a really good fried chicken there.

Yeah. It's a fascinating menu. The thing that they didn't have there, but I've seen on the menu, they didn't have what our visit, but I've seen on the menu before is they have a hot tuna pie, which is just it's like a McDonald's apple pie, but filled with like hot tuna salad. I've never. That's like a thing that you would say to like make someone be sick. Right.

Like you're going to eat a hot tuna pie and then like a kid. Yeah. I'm going to Ralph, man. I hated that throw up noise you just made, by the way. Oh, I just raffed on my Nards. The kid threw up on his own testicles. Yeah. I'm going to Ralph somewhere.

I might as well do it down here and he pukes in his pants like I couldn't miss it. Messy Nards. The day's over for everyone. All right. What is this movie? So so we could go a big Nards, no wonder, you know, they don't even try to make. Well, I mean, I don't think they've ever tried to make a big Nards type. Yeah, but like the teen gross out comedy was definitely something I feel like of a different

age. Like what happened to the sandlots of the world? Oh sure. Any sandlots? Yeah, I don't know if they do those sort of kid ensemble movies. It's like a coming of age, but eighth grade is supposed to be great. Oh, so great. It was great.

I want to see it really bad outside of eighth grade. You know what fuck coming of age movies. Wow. Who cares about they're all every coming of age is boring and bad, including your own. Like they're bad. That's stupid. You didn't like Lady Bird. The Lady Bird was fun.

I know of them. There's too much. There's too many. There's too many of them. Who cares about coming of age? It's always stupid, dumb, not interesting thing to me. This is just this is just you mad at last Jedi again. Right?

You think that's a coming of age story? Ray learning her force powers. You're like leaning back. Like I'm saying something controversial. I know. I don't think you're saying something controversial. I feel I this includes like link later movies. I used to love Dazed and Confused.

I've told you this before though. Like every time I watch like a link later movies like well, like I am a smart nerd, but I'm also like a cool jock and you're like, yeah, you he does like he does like to make himself like cool. All he's going to age movies are like and I heard he put Alex Jones in one of his movies, which is bananas. Oh, that's insane. Yeah.

He just like cast him. Oh, yeah. And that that movie Waking Life. That's the one. Oh, yeah. I remember that. Maybe that makes. So weird.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there was a time when he was less shitty than he is, but he's just like it's still strange. But also like maybe they were trying to show a shitty guy, but you're right. It's still strange. And all this talk a link later makes me want to play Zelda after the podcast. Oh, God, fuck you.

Link later. Yeah. We're having fun. No, no, no. I'm having fun. You songs having fun, right? You song. You song.

Keep it down, please. Neighbors. So wait. So so. Oh, yeah. Go for it. Please. And I feel bad.

Like, no, please finish your thought. No, I mean, all right, whatever. I know what you're saying. I know you're giving a general frustration at the genre. Everyone in coming to the age movie makes themselves seem cooler. It's like it's all boring and bad. I don't know. I feel like I was at my coolest.

Terrible say when I was like young and coming of age, I was like, I was way more brave. And you know what age you talking about here. I'm talking about age. I'm talking about age. Yeah. What age you talking about here. I'm talking like 16. Yeah.

Really. 19. Damn. I really was not my coolest at that age. Yeah. Definitely not. Yeah. I was all downhill after like 20 for me.

Wow. You think you're, but like I still, I think you're cool. You seem cool. Thanks. Oh, you should have known me. Wow. It's just you're exactly the same, but you were just wearing sunglasses all the time. Yeah.

It was, it was way more brave. Like I've like, I got this car accident where I like flipped a car. Oh, wow. Jesus. I just got into a lot of stuff. Yeah. And it would seems bad now, but it was fun at the time. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I wasn't. I don't think I was cool ever. I don't think it ever, I think it's skipped over me. Nick, you too. Yeah. I'm pulling you down with me or whatever. I don't like coming to age movies.

Make something else. All right. I mean, there's other things to watch too. You don't have to just, are you just watching? Make another chef. A behind the scenes story of a chef who tries to make a new restaurant. John Favreau's chef. The food truck movie.

You know what's great about chef is that there's a scene, there's like Robert, Robert, and I wanted to say to narrow denaro's not right. It's Robert fucking Iron Man. Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr. Another Robert D. Another Bobby D. Robert Downey Jr. is in chef for like one scene and it's so clear that he gave them

like 30 minutes of availability because they like you only see Robert Downey Jr. and like his close up and then the over the shoulder shot. Like the, the, the, the John Favreau single is just like it's so clearly a body double that they're just having like a shoulder and like part of the hair for for Robert Downey Jr. He gives them so little and it's just like one of those things where it's just like, oh man, he like asked for a favor from his friend because he directed two Iron Man's and I give you 30 minutes.

That movie's like, I think that, I've heard that movie does, has a lot of stuff that's kind of accurate like kitchen wise. Like they, they got some, you know, they, they got some, man, I've been Roy Choi, they got to, to consult on the chickens or the kitchen scenes rather. The chicken scenes. There's some chicken. There's some chicken involved as well. But then like also a lot of it is just like it's so it's it's speaking of self-indulgent.

It's a director that puts himself in the movie and then the love triangle is like it's John Favreau, like fucking John Favreau now and the love. It's a love triangle between him, Scarlett Johansson and Sophia Vargara. It's so just like, what do you think you look like? He didn't have a fun house mirror at home. Just like I heard. Is it, is it really bad? I heard it's fine about good things about it.

It's fine. That, that element is weird. I don't know. I don't want another chef. I was joking and I want to see eighth grade really bad here. But besides the eighth grade right thing in general, I got mad at link later and you should have left it at your link later joke play. You're not going to play Zelda tonight is the truth.

You're going to bed as soon as you walk in that door. I'm ready for bed now. Link later do boyhood. He did do boyhood. That's the like ultimate coming of it. Like the real time coming of it. Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to get in trouble for this thumbs down from old spoon. I would say thumbs down too.

I mean, I like the idea of that of like following a kid around, but I was like, I don't care about this fucking lame little kid. That's my issue. I don't care about coming right. It's all stupid and dumb. I give it a, I give it a mild thumbs up because of the scope of it. I find impressive that they achieved that production side productions side of things. But as an actual film, it's like this really goes nowhere.

And then also I'm just like this and this is our buddy Ryan Perez pointed this out. And I think it's, I honestly think it's a trenchant point. Like the idea of doing a film about the basically focuses on a boys entire teen years and never once addresses like jacking off. Like that's like a thing. Like that would be like such a, that's like, I feel like for any teen, like that's such like a pivotal moment. That's such a pivotal discovery.

Right. Yeah. You could, and you could totally service that in a very artistic way. Right. They should have done a Marvel and credit sort of thing. Jacking off throughout the years. You know what's depressing Nick is that while that movie was shot, like through the years that we were shot, you could like see you through those years and it wouldn't like I'm saying

myself. Yes, we would be like adults and stay adults. Yeah, right. It wouldn't have been that crazy. It was like 13 years. It's like my time in LA. Right. If I had a boyhood in the time that they made boyhood, it would just be me getting fatter.

It would be nothing good. If I had a boyhood, it would just be like me sitting in my bedroom in front of a 13 inch TV, but then just like the controller for the video game system I was playing would change over the years like Nintendo to Genesis to PlayStation. And I apologize. I meant like if you did a boyhood of my time from 2006 to 2000, like, oh, got it. 18. They would just be me getting like I would look the same.

Yeah. But like my actual boyhood, I went from a blonde little boy to a monster. Oh, okay. Like I transformed. Yeah. Yeah. That kind of happened in Linklater's movie, too. It's like they cast this adorable boy and got super awkward and weird and not as cute

as he was when he started. That is true. That is that was I mean, that was like a cool element that I think like they kind of like it kind of just worked out that way that maybe they could have played up and I played up even a little bit more, you know, but I don't know. It's also weird because I'm sure it was like super awkward to put a fucking I can't imagine psychologically what it was like for that. It's fucked forever.

Yeah. It's so crazy. Yeah. One insane, insane thing to go through and then the movie was like did okay. Yeah, right. Easily forgotten. Yeah. It's like we'll put you through this for 12 years of your life and like now here's the

movie. Yeah. People kind of liked it. Well, see you like it didn't right. It didn't win. It didn't win. Awesome. Like right.

It didn't win any Oscars. I don't think no. I mean, yeah, I think it got. Oh, put your shark head. Got a best supporting actress. Oh, yes. You have a weird speech. You might have an opinion on this as someone who's done some work for funny or die.

The landlord is in boyhood. Is it? Oh, that's right. It's like a timer. It's like a timer thing. It's like one of those things where you know where you're at. They reset and it's like 2011 or whenever that came out and it's just like the landlord is used in like kind of the montage of things.

Now that you say that, that is so weird. It's bizarre. It's like not a big part of my life. Right. Yeah. I would have used maybe like 911 or something. Yeah. Oh, that's so crazy.

Yeah. Yeah. It's an okay. I mean, it's a great video. It's a very funny video. I will say the landlord is in a couple. Isn't it in this is 40 and it might be in this is 40 or it's in some Judd movie. Yeah.

I was going to say, and I might add this to IMDb's goof section. In fact, if there's a listener out here who's got IMDb pro and you want to make this edition feel free, maybe credit me the bug they use on the landlord. Hold on a second. Maybe credit me. You want this person to do this work and then you just get the credit for it? Yeah. Maybe just give a little shout out to me in the comment.

The bug they use for the landlord is the funnier die 2015 logo. They don't use the vintage logo. They use the bug from the more modern redesign. So it's actually an anachronism. Nick, this is insane. I need to do something about this. I'm telling you when this goof is uploaded IMDb link later is going to flip his lid. It falls apart.

Link later is good. I'm being too hard on everybody. Yeah. I just want to know. I don't even know what movie I want to see. I'll go see the nun. Whatever. I'll be fine.

A little scary movie. I'll be fine. Yeah. So Leanne, good stepping back to food service a little bit. Like what is having been on the perspective of the front work from from the workers perspective in the front of the house? Is there anything that particularly annoyed you in terms of customer behavior that people should maybe look out for?

And also, is there anything you try to practice as a customer now as a patron when you go, when you're interacting with a server? I tend to be as a patron now. I'm like way more patient because I know. Right. And it's intense juggling a lot of tables. It's like multitasking, which not a lot of people can do. And especially those chain restaurants, they like, you have six tables.

Right. What would annoy me about customers? I mean, just like low, low tips or like, it's, I'm so for like eliminating the tip, the tip, tipping and just having a part of your wage because you have to work for a tip. And when you have to work for a tip, you sometimes you have an asshole who thinks you have to work for a tip. Right. It's like, it's a pain in the ass.

The European style is like, they don't, that, that tips are included. But then when I was over there, it was very much seemed, at least from American tourists that they expected tips. And we did tip everywhere we went. So I don't, I don't know if that's changed or what the deal is. I don't know the international tipping. I don't know. I don't know where it is right now, but I could see that being the most frustrating thing

of all. That is them seeing like a gullible yank and being like, oh, I can fleece this fool. That's what you think I am. Yeah. I blended in everywhere. Baby. I can see you going to Portugal, a six foot seven, 350 pound man with a Patriots hat, looking like an ordinary citizen.

I did wear my Patriots hat around too. It's like people like, you shouldn't do that. Yeah, we'll be fine. I specifically hated working at the cheesecake factory in Brentwood because everyone that lives in Brentwood is like very high class and they come in. Nick's kind of in that area. I don't live in Brentwood. You dine, you dine, you dine a lot of Brentwood.

I live in, we live in Santa Monica, but yeah, there is definitely when you go, when you go north of Wilshire and you enter that, that Brentwood area, it's definitely things change a little bit. You get these, these fucking gigantic million dollar houses and there is like, I think there is kind of that expectation north Santa Monica as well. I think there is kind of that, that, you know, you do get a little bit of snobbery and elitism. Yeah. But sorry.

But I'm like, you're, it's still the cheesecake factory. Right. It's like your menu is a book. Exactly. I have 14 tables. Right. This isn't fine dining. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. Dialing your expectations a little bit. Yeah. It's also too, it's like, I think that that cheesecake factory closed now. Did it really? Yeah. I think it's something else, which is kind of a thing of like you always think of a cheesecake

factory could thrive anywhere. Yeah. But I guess maybe there it's just, it's just not fancy enough for those snooty Brent Woodians. Here's the thing. I was, I went to lemonade for lunch today. Oh. You know, lemonade.

Yeah, yeah. It's like a little salad, but they scoop salad into a little container. This is an LA chain. It's an LA chain. Yeah. I got, I got a four salad combo. Got some broccoli and whatever. I don't have to tell you what I got.

Or how do you say it? Or Keddie? Or, or Keddie? Or, or Keddie? I don't know what you're trying to say. The pasta or, or. I don't know. What?

What are you trying to say? Or Chetty? Emma is shaking her head, throwing her brow. Or, I don't know how to spell it. Or Keddie? Or Keddie? Oh, are the pasta. Oh, it's like they look like little thumb prints.

Yeah. That one. Or Cheddie? Or Keddie? Or Cheddie? I don't know what you're talking about. Or Cheddie? Emma is showing her laptop to me.

Oh yeah. Show Nick. Just show Nick the, uh, show Nick how it's spelled. For him, he doesn't know what the, how do you not know what I'm talking about? Or Cheddie. That'd be my guess. I didn't even know what the hell I was saying. I still, no, I don't know.

They've got the little thumb print impression of them. I saw the picture and I can get, I'm just, I'm painting a picture. No, I don't know what those are. God damn it. Are they stuffed? No, they're not stuffed. Okay. Anyways, that wasn't even, it didn't even matter.

I got that, got to the front counter, got it to go. Tip line. What are you putting there for a tip? What are you, what am I doing? Oh, that's an excellent question. I was 20, it was $20 expensive. Yeah. It was too expensive.

That's crazy. But anyways. I say like full service. If they are at your table, they're writing your order. They go put it in. I say that's 20%. If it's like part service where they're out of register, register, they don't have to come to you.

I'd say like 10%. Yeah. Yeah. I always feel like, I always feel like if there's an opportunity to tip, I'll give a little something, even if it's not like straight, like straight up table service. And I usually just, I like, I probably overtip because I usually, that's a way that sounds like a me bragging about, but how generous I am. Yeah.

I fucking, I am doing it. A lot of us seniors get shit for not tipping well. Some of us tip pretty well. But anyway. Did you just leave where there's original? And a nice loving note. Um, yeah. I'm one of those people who leaves like a, like a Bible verse that says this is your

tip. Man, I got a story. It's such a shitty thing to do. It's going to make people not like Chankton. Oh, no. We were at grumpy. I mean, we were in high school. We were at grumpy whites in Quincy and Chankton.

Is that just what they call the city in general? It was my Nana's favorite restaurant, Nick. Grumpy whites. What kind of restaurant was it? It was like, it had a bunch of different shit. Wow. You've painted a picture of his favorite restaurant. We'll have a chicken parmesan sandwich.

We'll have a, you know, we'll have a buffalo chicken. It's just like downhole American fare and there's salads and sure, which is like, it's a yeah American place, right? But we were like, you got money. He's like, I got money. That's how he sounds. And then we were like, all right, like, and he was like, he put down a thing for the tip and it was like two movie passes and we were like, you can't give two movie passes and

he was like, that's actually like a better deal. Like that's more like no fucking way and he put and he was like, I don't have any money and we were like, oh man. So we, it was on him, you know, and we were and I, no one else had any money and we left and the lady came up to the car and knocked on the window and was like, take these two fucking movie passes, a piece of shit, which he deserved. We all were like, we all were like, yeah, you're an asshole, Quincy servers, not messing around.

I mean, he's going to get so mad that I told that story. He was probably 17 years old and he fucked up, but then you get your piece of shit. He took those movie passes and went and saw boy of it. We'll take a break a decade later. Yeah, he saved him. We'll take a break. We'll be back with more. No boys.

Welcome back to dough boys. We're here with Leanne Bowen discussing Outback Steakhouse this week's chain, crikey, crikey and hey, good day to our Australian listeners. Hey, you know, the owners of out and the three owners aren't Australian. I've never been to Australia before they created. I like that. I like that. I like the hubris of being like Australian restaurant.

We're not even going to go down to Australia. We're just going to fucking make it up. We're going to watch crocodile Dundee and its sequel. And that's what it was. It was like, it's like the movie came out and people were like, oh, people love this. It's right. Yeah. Yeah.

It's 100% was capitalizing on the Australian invasion trend of the 80s. I think I was saying specifically that the big knives, the big knives you get there are just croc like crocodile Dundee references like this is a knife and we're saying that that's what dad's going to unique. You said this exactly. Exactly. It's a dad gets to make that joke when he's there. They give you an oversized knife so a dad can do the that's not a knife.

This is a knife joke to his kids and when they laugh at him to be nice, they get an extra long kiss on the cheek at night. Just like Brady did with his kid and it was normal people are too mean to him. Yeah. That's too mean. He's kissing the damn kid on the lips. I guess my dad on the lips before gives a shit. I mean, it's fun to kiss kids that whatever you want to show, however you want to show

affection your family. Thank you for that. Wait a minute. Thank you for that sound clip, my friend. I think we know the next job is going to be a boy should have qualified that. So yeah, we haven't we haven't reviewed this and we mentioned it coincidentally mentioned John Gabers. That was the last time we reviewed this chain on the way back on episode four, fourth episode.

You and I were a lot less cranky with each other. We were you're the one who's cranky. You've been cranky all night tonight. Well, you've been cranky cranky for two years. No, I haven't. You'll enjoy my company. I hang out with people. I go out and have fun.

I do too. I do too. What do you do? You do nothing. I go out and have fun with my wife. Has anyone met Nick sorry? She's real. She is real.

I've met her. She seems normal except for the fact that she's married tonight. So Leanne used to work there dead seem to have some fondness for the chain still. We went to the Glendale location. There's there's a couple here in the in the sand in the valley. There's the Glendale one and a Burbank one. We were talking about 80s kind of 80s feeling off malls beforehand. Yes.

It's across the street from Americana on New Modern Mall, but it's in like a little side, like a little across the street, little mall that feels like an 80s mall. It feels super. It feels very 80s. And then right across the street, there's like a new, the new super mall, the future with Americana. But, um, yeah, it's, it's, it's tucked away in the weirdest. It's tucked away in the, it's the strangest outback to get to its upper level and it's

right adjacent to an LA fitness. Which location did you go to? I went to the Burbank location and is that where wait, which, which outback did you work at? I worked at one and Riverside, but then I worked at the, at the Northridge one for a few months. Oh, the Northridge one. What was the, the like, cause I, our experience, in fact, the last couple of times I've been

to outback, I feel like it's been, it doesn't feel like they've had a lot of customers. And was it still thriving when you were working there? Yeah. Well, and yeah, when I worked there, I opened the restaurant in Riverside, so that was the first outback in Riverside. So it was a big thing at the time. Wow. Um, that was like 2006.

And then I worked at the one in Northridge in like 2009 or 10. Um, and it was booming, but I also think like Northridge is just like the right place to have a right outback and the one in Burbank was not booming, but it was also Labor Day. So I don't know. Yeah. I didn't think about that. Ours was not booming either. No.

Um, for a place that offers a blooming onion, business was not booming. Oh boy. Wait, did you guys have the little table computer that you can play? The ZEOS. That's so weird. Did they not have that when you, when you were there? No, no. And I didn't like it because we got into it.

We started playing it and I noticed I was like ignoring my waiter. Yes. I was like, he was trying to drop stuff off to me, move stuff around, but we were so stuck in this like computer game. Yeah. The ZEOS, I don't like it. We've been battling with the ZEOS since episode one and I don't mean the Phantom Menace. I mean, our first episode is funny to say.

We've been battling with the ZEOS. We went to our very first episode and you're right. We went to Chile. And there was, there, there was a ZEOS issue in this trip, but go ahead. The ZEOS soda soda to describe it, if people haven't experienced this, it's basically like an iPad, like, like, uh, like tablet mounted on a, uh, mounted on a stand. So it's upright and then you can use it to order appetizers, to order refills on drinks, to order desserts, and to print and pay your, print your receipt and pay your bill.

But also there are certain things you can't do on the ZEOS. Like you can't, I don't think you can order entrees or, uh, from it or, or like there's certain things that you can, certain restrictions. So you do have to interact with your waiter to some degree, but there's also the option to go to the ZEOS for certain things. There's a paper menu, but then there's also like other options that are just on the ZEOS. It's so confusing. It is.

Yeah. It's like a layer of computerized bureaucracy, uh, to your dining experience, to me, it makes it makes it more stressful. I'm like, I don't want this thing on the table. Yeah. Get this out of here. It's, it's so strange too with like a waitress or a waiter is at your table and then it's like they're interacting with these things that are kind of set up to like to get rid

of their jobs. Yes. We've said, we've said this before, but it's just like this weird thing. I can totally see it phasing out to just having food runners and you do everything on this little. Yeah. I don't like, cause I like going to a restaurant and like telling the waiter what I want. Right.

Yeah. And like them talking back to me. I love to ask for a recommendation and wait, is that annoying to ask a server recommendation? That is kind of annoying. Fuck. I do that all the time. It's like, I don't know what you want. I don't know what your taste buds are.

Fuck. Is it okay to ask between two certain things? Sure. Yeah. I'll tell you which one's more tasty. That's, that's, that's better. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. For sure. What, what do I want to eat? Nick? What the hell? I ask if there are any favorites on the menu a lot of times. That's better. Okay.

All right. Not like, what do you recommend? Right. I mean, I've been, I've been fucking up. It's fine. I tip a lot. Also, I was with you last night and you said, can you mash this up and spoon feed it to me? Grandpa's hungry.

My chompers don't work good anymore. Bring your cane against the table. So yeah, I mean, but I like the, I do like the interaction with the server. Like maybe like that's kind of the fun part of a sit down restaurant. I, you know, I like it if they're like a little funny, like that's always like, that tickles me a lot. They make some, they make some classic waiter jokes. I like that a lot.

And I like too. I just like it. It's, it's part of the, to me, it would just feel so sterile to like, to sit in a booth and then just be ordering off of a fucking tablet. And then someone who just comes out and's like, Oh, here you go. Here's your, here's your Torah case of the year or whatever. I'd just be like, what is this experience? Like you'd rather just order a counter sterile experience for a couple of sterile men.

Do you think it's related to how much chain restaurant food we eat? I'd say 99% likely. Oh, I will say, um, related to how much chain food they use a lot of chemicals cleaning in the back. It's like, and I'm always worried, like I bet their food would taste a little bit better if they didn't sterilize everything right into everything. Yeah. Imagine.

Oh, that's awful. Yeah. That is kind of like scary and ominous. Um, our, our visit, I, it's funny doing this because like we did the Outback episode before and we were like, Oh, it's exciting to do this. And I feel like we were kind of nicer to it. Yes. I think last night wasn't as exciting.

What happened? I think a lot of things happened. And I think a lot of it has to do with the food. Like, uh, this, I was just, I, I'm just going to say this disappointed about last night a little bit. Yeah. I want, I mean, you know, I go in wanting to like Outback steakhouse and you know, having the last time we went, I think it was like you were saying, I thought it was, it was

a little better. It might have been that we went on a, on a sleepier night. Um, it was very much. As I said, sleepier. Mitch started yawning. That was crazy. It was crazy. Um,

Try it again. Uh, we went on a sleepier night. All right. You're forcing it. This guy's an actor. So, uh, so, but it was kind of like, it was kind of a ghost down inside. There weren't a lot of customers. It felt like the, I noticed our server are, and you know, I thought she, she was, she

was great and very attentive, but I noticed that we ordered a drink. She like went behind the bar to like make the drinks herself. And I was like, Oh, they don't even have a bartender working. That's kind of crazy. Our, our waitress, she was great. Yes. There was one thing that she said that was funny week. Well, I have to explain it later.

Yeah. Should we talk? Should we start talking about this? Yeah. Let's get into our food. What, what, what, what? So besides that, the, does the Outback to you, does it, you still like it of all these places?

It holds a place in your heart. Yeah. Uh, when we opened the restaurant, they really sold us on it. Like Outback, you doesn't use any frozen products, which is very rare because every restaurant I've been in, it's frozen. Right. So I was always really impressed with that and, and because of that, their steaks always tasted better and everything tasted better.

So I feel like it's like a, just a good steak. Wait, nothing's frozen. Not even the lobster tails. They were like, we don't have a freezer. Wow. Yeah. That's impressive. But they would deliver food like every other day there.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Interesting. It is a place I want to like, but Nick, let's get, let's get into it. So the, uh, so the beverage I got, I got the Jackman, which I'm sure they don't have Hugh Jackman writes. They don't, they don't have his name right. So they just called it the Jackman, which I don't think is a thing.

They're just using his last name, right? They just want, they just want that, or has nothing to do with Hugh Jackman, but what is the word? Like, I feel like, isn't a, a baby kangaroo, a Jack, isn't, oh yes. Yeah. Or is it a Joey? That kangaroo. Jack was the movie with Jerry O'Connell.

Maybe that's what it was. Maybe that's what it was. Maybe what you were thinking of. Is they're just doing Australian movie. I describe you to people as a Jackman. I think they seriously are just trying to drift off of the Jackman. I think they're trying to drift off of Hugh Jackman. I think they're trying to say, this is the Jackman, which is not a thing, but you know,

then you have that association with the Wolverine greatest showman. But this was the, this was a tequila, lemon juice, honey syrup, and jalapeno had a good amount of spice to it and so some decent heat to it, you know, for a chain restaurant drink by that, by those standards, you know, a little on the sweet side, I think, I think a little bit maybe heavy on the honey syrup, but, but you know, it was fine. It was a fine, like spicy margarita adjacent drink. There's a totally serviceable cocktail. I will say that just because of the sweetness factor, I did not come close to finishing

it. And you know, for me not to finish an alcoholic drink, it has to be pretty, you know, pretty overly, overly sweet, because, you know, I like something with a little bit of a, with a little bit of alcohol in it. We got the brown, what Mitch, what tells me about your, your, your cocktail? Well, Nick, I got the Aussie punch, which, why isn't the, it was on here a minute ago and now it's not coming up. You could have just loaded it ahead of time, look, put it in your notes app.

What do you want me to say? I put it in my nose. It was a rum based drink, okay, but I mean, it was, it was kind of like the closest thing to a mite. I had had a bunch of jift. It was had tropical fruits and rum in it. Right. Here's the issue with this one.

I did like the taste of it. There was a little black cherry in there. My issue with it was a little fruit fly was in there, Nick. Yeah. Yeah. You had a bug and a classic bug in the cocktail. Tell anyone or do you, I did I, and this is, this is where it came from of this is the thing that the waitress said that was funny.

She was, I was like, Hey, there's like a bug in my drink. And then she was like, Oh, like, she was like, do you want the same thing or do you want something else? And that's when I went for a top bloke, which was kind of like a higher end drink. It was rum, grapefruit juice, some orange juice. And there was honey and stuff into two and a pineapple slice. And I didn't like that one as much. It was kind of, it was kind of like Outback's attempt at being kind of a higher end drink,

I feel like. But after I got that, you remember, she was like, Hey, like here's this. And she was like, and just so you know, like, I'm not going to charge you for the other one. Of course. And that's, that's, that's, and that's like, she was like, the other ones on, on, yeah, maybe she said on me and then that scares me to think that maybe she, I hope she didn't have to pay for it.

No. But, but at the same time I was like, well, yeah, I'm not going to pay for the bug drink. Right. There was a, there was a little bug, like a bug that was big enough for me to see floating in it. Yeah. But I think like she, like if she, she, there's a chance there's a customer, if she doesn't say that, it is just like kind of gets steaming as like, like, I'm not going to pay for that.

I hope you don't think I'm going to pay for that. You know what I mean? I think she's just nipping that in the butt. Me, but she came back and I had already drank the bug up through my straw. No, no, I, I saw it and I, I had, I drank some of the drink actually I drank probably about what would you say, not even a quarter of it. It was like a few sips out of it. You got it.

You got enough to get a decent taste of it. Yeah. And I actually probably liked the Aussie rum punch better than the top. Look, the Aussie rum punch is a little sweet, but neither of my drinks, you know, we've been to Chili's and in a or TGI Friday. Yes. Has some great drinks. Their cocktails are a lot better there.

And I get to say that the, they kind of, they kind of let me down at Outback as far as the cocktails go. They're not very exciting. I went for the wall. It'd be darned cause I remember when I opened, I was like, oh, it's such a cool drink. It's like a Bellini champagne. That's the one. That's what I got on our, the first time we went.

Yeah. Yeah. And I was disappointed too. There are a few things about the meal. I was like, oh, this isn't quite what I remember it is, but yeah. I would have just, like in hindsight, and I think if I go back, it's, it's, I get that big old fosters cause I think that's going to be like, you just embrace the, the kind of the, the stupidly broad, like, you know, stereotypical Australian, uh, a Tableau they've

created in there and just, just go all the way and have the big old fosters. Uh, cause I guess, yeah, I don't think their cocktails are, are anything to write home about. Um, and then you get the, you get the, the first thing they present you with is that brown bread with the, with the big old knife in it. And it comes with a little bit of butter. Um, as brown breads go, well, how do you feel about the brown bread there? I like the brown bed.

I liked it a while ago. This time again, I was like, maybe I liked it more back then, but, uh, in relation to other chain breads, it's probably like a six or seven out of 10. Yeah. I feel like specifically in the brown bread category, cause you got the cheesecake factory brown bread, which is great. And then there's, there's also the black Angus, which is a similar steakhouse concept. Haven't done it yet.

Um, I like, I like, I like black Angus. Hey, you know, you talked about, uh, my, uh, suspiciously absent wife, we go to black Angus. We'll have, we had a, we got a black Angus gift card. We went there. That is proof. Proof. In.

Proof. She'll tell you. We got a black Angus gift card. We went there. Case closed, um, but, uh, the black Angus has some good brown bread. I, you know, I, but that said, I think it's pretty good. I would like it if it was maybe a little bit warmer. I think I think just like, kind of that came out and it was just like a little bit like

almost too warm. I felt it. Yeah. I feel like it used to be right. What was it? It was like little kind of crusty on the outside and like, soft on the inside. Yeah. It was, it was, I mean, I still do like that brand.

It's good. It's good. Here's the other issue. I have that bread. You got the huge fucking knives. Hi knives. I keep saying knives. Uh, how are you supposed to put the butter on that on that brown?

Yeah. It's a little cumbersome. It's crazy. It should give you a little butter knife with it. A little butter knife. You just use a knife. Just fill a butter. Okay.

We're the opposite of that. That movie doesn't work on Nick and I at all. This is a knife and we, this is a knife and we'd be like, well, can we get something much small? We want something tiny. I've got a little tiny knife because I mean, I'm not particularly, I have a trouble even holding my hands still. I'm not particularly dexterous.

And then Mitch has hands the size of those novelty number one foam fingers. You get in a baseball game. So for both of us trying to dip, trying to dip it, a big knife into a tiny ramekin is pretty challenging. It's like playing operation. I'm going to fucking ram that king up your fucking ass. He's an old man. Oh, no.

Um, so yeah, Nick and I want smaller. We want smaller knives. I love a smaller knife. I wonder if there are any in the back. I don't remember. Can we have smaller knives? Can you find one for me? This is a knife.

I want that's not a knife. What? Shut up. So the appetizers, which are classified as Aussie teasers. We, we bet I've had the I'm pretty familiar with a blooming onion. A classic of the, of the, of Outback steak. I don't want to get your thoughts on that one second, but Mitch and I decided to go with a John Gabriel's favorite.

This is something that he says he, he used to take to the dome in his parlance. Which is crazy. He would eat one of these by himself, the Aussie cheese fries. Topped with melted Monterey Jack. That was my least favorite about going. Yeah. Wow. Shots fired at Gabriel's topped with these are fries topped with

Monterey, Monterey Jack, cheddar and chopped bacon with house made ranch dressing, and they give you like a soup bowl of dressing. They give you a lot of ranch dressing. I thought these were pretty good, but pretty basic. Yeah. Like they're, they're not like, they're not mind blowing. I don't know. They're not bad though.

I mean, they're not bad. They're a good cheese fry. Islands have better fries. I think islands has better. Well, I like the, I actually like the fries at Outback. I think they're good fries, but I think loaded up with cheese. I think there's, there's better executions of it. You can get it in other places.

And I don't know if the bacon actually like integrates all that well with this dish. It just kind of like is thrown on top of it. I wish it was more melted up in there, but I don't know what did you think? It's very bacon-y bit, but also then I don't know if I would want like, I don't know if I would want kind of like full cut morning bacon all over it either. I mean, the bacon is fine. Yeah. It all works for me.

It's just kind of a funny. If I'm going again, I'm getting the blooming onion for sure. Right. I think that's a lot more fun. I think that's a, that's a better way to go or get the ship on a barbie. If you're going to do it to the dome, just like gabris, I get it being the fries. The fries are a classic re-visiting a restaurant a lot, but the blooming onion's fun.

Don't you feel like you missed out by not having the blue? I do. I, there was a little bit of an absence in my, in my, in my belly that I didn't get to taste that blooming onion. Did you do anything from the, from the app standpoint, Leanne? I did. I got the cuckoo burrowings and hot and I remember that as being really good too, but it just was not good. Oh, that's a bummer. Yeah. And I wish I got the blooming onion because I do like the blooming

and they use like the 17 spices and it's addicting. Yeah. Did you ever have the, the, the chilies rip off the awesome blossom? No, I haven't. How does that compare? It's pretty good. I think I actually had the awesome blossom before I had the blooming onion, but the blooming onions better. I mean, it's the original that's endured. I think the awesome blossom is off the menu now actually at Chili's. They were just like, you know, ultimately the, the novelty wore off and there

was no reason to have that competitor there. But yeah, I was a little disappointed by the Aussie cheese fries as an app. If you were going to have like a, a large meal for one man, perhaps a man who's drank a heroic amount of alcohol, then I could see it, it, it working in that setting. But there was an absence in your stomach. Yeah. Just, yeah, exactly. I wish it was an abscess in your stomach.

You're just wishing. It's a slow, painful illness. That's right. All right. And then we, as far as mains, I got the, I went with the, we both went with ribeyes, Mitch, you got the, the bone out. I got the bone in. You seem that you wanted the bone in so bad that I laid off. You could have gotten the bone.

I know, but you, when I was like, you were like, I almost got the bone in. I was like, well, now I feel bad. And the only way he was going to get the bone in is if I got the bone out. No, you could have got, no, hold on. I'm not saying that you were being whiny about this. I'm saying that I made this decision because I wanted you to have the bone in. Well, that's nice of you to accommodate me. But I, but I wanted, I did want the bone in and here, well, here's,

you should have gotten the bone in. I know I should have, but then you wouldn't have gotten in. I wanted you to get it too. That's so nice. That's, you were trying to be too accommodating. I would have, I could have gotten the Melbourne Porter house. I could have gotten the roasted garlic filet medallions. It wouldn't have been bad except for how it all turned out.

Yeah. So here's what happened. So we were there with our, with our buddy you song. Hey, you song, come over here real quick and you, when you get a second. So you song, you, you got yourself the, the surf and turf, correct? That's correct. You got, and you got a, you got like a, what was it a sirloin and some shrimp? Is that what you got? Shrimp.

And what was the temperature you asked it to be cooked to? Medium rare. Okay. So you got a medium rare. I also got my, I got the bone in natural cut rib by medium rare. And Mitch, you also ordered yours medium rare. Here is the issue. I think me and you song stakes were both cooked to temperature, correct? You song is nodding.

And it, but yours was a thicker cut. Yeah. And it's, so I think they just threw them on the grill at the same time and yours came out and I was yours was like bloody rare. It was like pretty, it was like not medium rare at all. I didn't send it back. I just ate kind of what it was. So I got the second most expensive cut at the restaurant, but the, the rib eye, the bone out

rib eye, um, and it was not only was just under cooked, it was just fatty too. Yeah. Which, which I don't think you had a big, really good piece, which it wasn't a great piece. If it was cooked more, it would have been helpful with, especially without fatty. Yes. But it was just, it was, it was just a bloody, fatty mess. Right. Oh no.

And for, you know, like 40 bucks or whatever it was 35, what is it 30 bucks? It's like, it's like, it's a, yeah. So it's just a little, just a little under 30. 30 bucks, that's not, that wasn't good. Did you guys get the, they have a new chart, like it's a wood charred rib eye versus the like flat pan. I don't think that affects the temperature, but did you guys get that option? Or did they choose it for you?

We didn't get an option. We didn't get to choose a preparation method. What did you? No, I didn't. I saw it was a new thing though. Cause back in the day, they didn't have that wood. It was all, they cook everything on like a flat pan. Man, cause that's, that's the thing I've always heard about steaks is that you like,

like the ideal, if you really want a steak, you, you, a good steak, like steer, sear it in a skillet versus like cooking it on a grill. Cause all that, that, you know, the, the fat doesn't drip off of it. And you mentioned your piece being fatty, but you know, you know, you want like a good marble and a rib eye, but yours was not fatty in a good way. It was just like a bunch of superfluous sort of flabs sitting on there. Let me also say that we, so should we start just talking about what we got anyways? Yeah.

Cause I, so you get two sides of this thing. I got myself a baked potato. That's my favorite. I love it. Loaded. Yeah. A loaded, I got it loaded, which is crazy because they, it's sour cream, chives, cheese, baking bits and butter.

Yeah. They give you a bunch of butter under all of that stuff too. It's kind of nice. It's, I mean, it's great. It's crazy. It's, it's the baked potato equivalent of when the, like in the matrix, they just like, they get more guns and like all the guns just fly in and the white psych. It's just, it's just like, they just throwing everything in there.

It's kind of awesome. Uh, you didn't get them, you didn't get a baked potato because of the fries. You were thinking ahead. Yes. I was like, we're going to get, we're going to get these Aussie cheese fries. And I was like, I don't need, I don't need a redundant potato, but you know, you song also got a baked potato. Hey, you song.

Come over again. Sorry. You song, uh, you song ask, he got, he got a baked potato. And he asked an adorable question. What was the question you asked? Is it safe to eat the skin? As I was eating this, I think I was eating the skin. That's the best part of this.

It's all salted on the outside. It's funny. Also you song saw me eating the skin. And I was like, is it safe to eat the skin? I mean, yeah, it's like you seem to be eating something. You see that? It was an animal. Yeah.

He saw you. He's eating your napkin a couple of a couple minutes earlier. It was, it's very safe to eat the skin. Yeah. It's new. In fact, sometimes as the most, uh, it's the most nutritious part of the potato, right? I think it's got, so I think it's got a lot of the fiber in there, the fibrous content.

Um, but yeah, the, uh, the, yeah, I actually went with the, the, uh, I got myself the, it's nice that you can get a salad as a side, because like, like among their side section, you can do that. So I got there, I got their Caesar salad. I think they do a nice little side salad. They're dinner salads. Good. Their Caesar salad is good.

They're Caesar. They have these like little premium salads. One has like pecans and blue cheese. Oh, I saw that. I ignore it. That's so good. Yeah. I like that.

I got a, I got a, I got a house salad, which is a good salad. Here's what I'm going to say. For a house salad. Yeah. Here's, here's what I'm going to, for a house salad, I think it was great. They put cheese in it. It's like, it's very, it's cheese heavy, which is funny and good. Onion, you know, cheese.

The dressing is good. I think they make the dressing. The dressing is good. Here's my issue. Nick, they got a creamy. Italian's got to come back into style. Wow. Creamy Italian is a great.

It's a great house salad dressing. Right. And it's disappeared from a lot of menus. I feel like. Yeah. Why? They just have the, the, the thin conventional Italian. Now they don't happen.

Why is it a health conscious thing? I don't know. Can't bring back the creamy Italian. Damn. It's great. What is it like? I don't think I've ever had it. Oh, it's like Italian, but it's the creamy.

Can you just mix like ranch and Italian? I mean, it's like kind of, it's probably not far from that. Yeah. I think it is. I think it's just like a little bit of cream. I don't think it's exactly ranch. Nick, Mr. fucking. No, it's not.

It's not exactly ranch doctor dressing. Fuck you. Dane myself doctor dressing. Yeah, you do. I was saying that you think you can break down every dressing. No, I don't. I said I thought Leanne was, I was saying Leanne was, was onto something by saying, by suggesting that it just has

like, it's similar to like, like mixing a ranch in Italian, even though it's not exactly that. I hope it's not exactly that are all being huge trouble. But that's a, that's a, that's a dressing that I miss. I went with ranch because I feel like that's kind of like a, a house salad. It's a good house salad dressing. They didn't mix it into the salad.

Yeah. They just sort of give it to you. I really like a mixed salad dress. I really like the restaurant. You want to make stuff? They gave you like, yeah, they gave you like a, they gave me just a little side of a little ramekin of, of a, of ranch dressing.

It's not ideal. And then here's, here's my issue with it is that I then ordered the, the gar, there was like a garlic butter sauce for the steak and I was like, oh, I want to get that. And I ordered it and she heard me talking about a side of it. And then I got it and it was all over the steak, which was like a fatty mushy mess. Yeah.

And then so I was like, you didn't mix the salad dressing in, but then this thing comes all slathered on top of the steak. Yeah. Just completely glazed. I was, I was, I was bummed out. I was bummed out all around it. There was some good stuff with the meal. But, but Nick, go on.

What did you get for your other side? My other side, I got the broccoli and cheese. And here's what I'd say. Should call it cheese and broccoli. Because there's more cheese than broccoli. Wow. It was just loaded, loaded with cheese. What's going on over there out back?

There's, there are cheese crazy. There's cheese crazy. You know, and cause it doesn't just have the, the cheddar in the jackets also got like this, this cheese sauce. And so this, this, it's just, it's just loaded up with cheese sauce. But the actual broccoli florets were fine. Like they were, they were well cooked and they were good.

And I felt like I was getting something like somewhat nutritious with this very, very heavy meal. It was just like, there was just so, so much cheese on it. Hey, that abscess in your stomach is probably a block of cheese. It's probably what it is. I mean, that's, that's a side for kids, right? That's like a kid like getting like, like, like eating their vegetables, but getting like a bunch of cheese.

Like that's the reason it's there, right? More like adults that love minions. So, um, so, uh, uh, you know, and then my steak, uh, the, the, I, I saw, I got the bone in ribeye. Like I said, I thought it was, it was cooked a temple a lot better than yours. Uh, good marbling to it. You know, I think their, their steaks are, they're decently seasoned. Like they're not like unseasoned, you know, they have a lot of pepper on them.

And, um, I thought it was well cooked. I thought it, I thought it tasted pretty solid. The only thing I would say is that for that price point, like I feel like I could go to like, you know, I could almost go to like a legit steakhouse and not to, not to, to denigrate this place too much. But I could almost, you could almost go to like a nice steakhouse and then just get like a classic steakhouse and, and get a good ribeye, um, as opposed to going to this place. It's just like they can't compete on as much in prices as I think as the, as they used to

be able to, they can't make this like the budget steak option. It's just, it's almost a, it's like 80% of the cost of this at a nice steakhouse. Um, uh, but, but, you know, it's fine. It was a totally serviceable ribeye. Leanna, what did, what did you get for your main? I had the, um, uh, oh God, why is the name of it escaping me? It's the fucking, um, it's a little like the roast, the sliced, uh, oh God. I got, I got the menu up here for you.

You want to take a look? Oh, prime rib. The prime rib. Oh wow. I wanted that like horseradish flavor with juicy meat flavor. I was craving it. Right. I've never done that there.

That's, that's, that's cool. Interesting. It wasn't that great. I feel like I started off saying I live out back and I was like, said everything was terrible. But my boyfriend got the ribeye, uh, and it was very good. I think it was Nick's ribeye, uh, medium rare, very good. The prime rib was like, it was all right.

I liked having the, uh, the horseradish sauce because it's like that like flavor. Yeah. I mean, I love a good prime rib. And if you get it at a place that does it, that does it well, it's, it's fantastic. I like to think of you ordering it there too is like, can I get the, uh, the fucking, the fucking slices and the fucking, you know, what I'm talking about. But, uh, yeah. And what did you use?

Sidewise, uh, I did the baked potato with everything on it. Right. And that was very good. That was the best thing. And then I got the salad, the house salad with mustard vinaigrette. They put it on my salad though. Whoa. They did do it for you as fucked up.

What the hell was going on bug in my drink, salad, not tossed, you know what was going on, Nick? You asked for creamy Italian. They were like, don't fuck with this guy. It's fucking creamy Italian. They have one saved bug drink. Bug is drink this Italian creamer. Oh, I didn't say it.

You haven't creamy Italian. Shut the fuck up. Yeah, man, I was, I was bummed out though. It sounds like your meal was better. Here's what I was thinking when I had that, when I had that ribeye even, even with even besides that, besides the fact that was way undercooked right and it was fatty, the piece that even the piece I had of yours, Nick, there's like a taste to these steaks that are like like a metallic there's like a weird like like there's like a weird

taste that these steaks have that doesn't feel top quality to me. That's so interesting. It might have changed back when I was there. They were like, we have the second to highest grade of beef. And they like they proud of they pride. I mean, it could be my bad taste buds. By the way, they're just like capitalizing on profit. I'm sure they it's like gone down right made a name for themselves.

And then maybe in the last 15 years, they went to Bursmeet. They may have scaled it back. I mean, a lot of places start cutting corners and ingredient quality. But this the crazy thing to me is that outback. Well, well, I'll get into this in the final. Let's let's let's talk to touch on dessert real quick. Did you do any dessert? I did not do any.

We went for the we're pretty full, but we want for the salted caramel cookie skillet, a server recommendation, which now I now feel bad for asking. No, it's fine. It's when people get into the questions like, well, is it spicy? Is it too spicy? And it's just, it's just like, of course, you were saying the thing you said of like, what should I have to eat? Like when you do that, that's annoying.

Okay. This is when you give up. We gave a couple options to her. There was two desserts we were between. Yes. Yes, we looked really good too. I saw the picture. Yeah.

Yeah. Like a bazookie, right? Yeah. Yeah. Basically, yeah. I'll write the description. It's a it's a warm salted caramel cookie with pieces of white chocolate, almond toffee, and pretzels toasted in a skillet and topped with vanilla ice cream.

I don't remember the pretzel. Yeah. What was the pretzel like? Yeah. I honestly like like before reading it here, I didn't even realize they're pretzels. Yeah, me neither. They were there. They were there.

They must have been really like crunched up and that's too bad. And by the way, that's the most interesting part of that. Yeah, I said basically like a bazookie. I was. I mean, it just was a bazookie. It was a bazookie. It was a smaller bazookie. Yeah.

You know, I like that the soft, but the soft gooey parts I thought were good. They just like the perimeter was like very like crunchy and crust like, which wasn't particularly appetizing. We should have gotten that brownie sundae thing. The brownie sundae would have been better. You think that we've got? I think we got the other. We got the chocolate thunder from down under.

That's what we got last time. According to my notes, it's possible I got it wrong. Wait, we got it in what? And that was a giant cake that chocolate cake though. I thought we got the chocolate cake chocolate cake was the the was the the big I don't know what that that one's not on this menu I have listed, but the the big ass chocolate cake. It's probably got some other Australian name.

Yeah, the Yahoo seriously chocolatey cake. But yeah, I think I thought we got the chocolate thunder from down under. We did get a chocolate dessert. You know what? If some some sleuth who's listening to the podcast wants to track down the fourth ever episode of Doe Boys and let us know a hashtag dessert detective. Let us know what dessert we got chocolate cake. I thought it was the chocolate thunder from down under,

which is a pecan brownie with a bunch of with a bunch of ice cream, but it will stay with this one. You song had a great note. He said they needed more ice cream. They adds absolutely true. They gave you one like dainty little scoop of ice cream. There was almost just like a little bit of whip topping. This thing needs that needs like two scoops of ice cream and you need to be

able to have ice cream on every on every fight. This thing needs like two scoops. Hey, that would make a huge difference. If you if we weren't running low of vanilla ice cream, like a third of the way through this, this we would have been a better experience. Did all three of you share one? We did. Yeah, we did.

Oh, that's so cute. Yeah. And you know what else we fucking what's that dog movie? Tango. I was going to say Tango and Cash. That's not right. Oh, lady in the tram. Yeah, I was going to say we lady in the tram every fight.

How do you lady in the tram? That's good. Let's give them ice cream. Yeah. Lick it. God. Well, let's get to our final thoughts on Outback Steakhouse. So, Leanne, here's how this will work.

We'll each go around. We'll sort of give our closing argument, if you will, on this chain and then give it a rating on the order of zero to five forks. You're a guest. We will begin with you. OK, so an overall statement. Overall, I think the restaurant is good. My night there was mediocre.

I would give it zero out of five. Zero to five forks. I would give it a three. Three forks. Very solid. Go ahead, Mitch. I'm trying to think of what I gave this the first time. Here's what I have to say.

Cricky indeed. Nick is going to get something. He walked out. He literally just walked out while I was doing my review. Nick. All right. He's always on top. God, you're a crazy person.

Do you know that? Um, so I don't think it's crazy to be conscious of the needs of the podcast. That makes me crazy. Then put me in an asylum. I was getting those getting the thing for the next segment. I know what you were doing. I wish I could put you in asylum wherever Freddie was kept. The maniac compound there.

Um, I, I think that it's crazy to me that I think that like Outback is a chain restaurant that I also think will die when I also at the same time think it's like one of the more successful ones. Like I think it's one that actually kind of works. My experience there was not great, but I know the plus size of it. I, you know, if you're going to get the, uh, the, uh, the awesome blossom and you're going to, and you're going to do that. That's great.

If you're going to do, you can, there's some ways where you can get a steak without it can be fine. Mine was not good. Try. I don't recommend that sauce or if you get it asked for it to be put on the side. The house salad was good. The baked potato was good. I just wish they'd mixed, mixed my dressing in with the house salad and they should get

creamy Italian everywhere. Should. Um, and the dessert, the dessert was fine, but there's a bug in my drink. Yeah. The steak wasn't really that great. I got to go a little low. I got to go, I'm going to give two and a half forks, just knowing that it's still kind of one of the better chains, but two and a half.

And I that's lower than I thought I would go for outback, right? But I mean, like, come on, there was a bug in my drink. It was not a pretty bad experience. It was a bad experience. It brings it down. And, and I really, truly think it is one of the places that like that makes sense as a chain restaurant, right? Uh, but yeah, I know I, I, I'm guessing in my mind, like, I mean, we talked about this

a bit before too. Like if you get a steak and you're spending $30 on it, shouldn't we? Where's the place we went with Calpacas? The Morton is the steakhouse that wasn't that that steak was. I mean, that experience was a hundred times. It's a lot more high classes. It was more expensive like a celebrity dining there. It was, but, but like how much more expensive was the steak?

Maybe 15 bucks. It's, it's, it's yeah. It's, it's your maybe spending 25% more over on your overall bill. Maybe. I mean, I don't even know it was expensive. Did this was the steak like a plus like was it? Oh, the steak was great. I mean, I, I, I mean, like not a, it wasn't the best steak I ever had, but it was,

I was, I was very happy. As far as chains go, it's kind of like a thing of like, if you're going to spend as much as you go to, as, as you're going to spend it out back steakhouse, uh, you know, why not go to a, to a place like a, like a Morton's or, or, or if there's a Houston's in your town, you know, that they, they have a great steak there, but I'll just say this, you know what? Keep it down under, I said, keep it way down. Wow.

Um, I think the thing about, yeah, two and a half, two and a half forks from the Spoonman, Mike Mitchell, I would say that, uh, the, the reason that Outback Steakhouse has some value is for the kids. Like, I think if you had some kids and, and you know, it was, it was a, you know, a, a birthday or something, like they'd have a blast. Like they're, there's, the theming is fun. There's just enough like levity, like in the decor and in the menu items that I think it could be fun for a family.

But the counter, uh, the, the, the counterpoint to that is it's a, it's so expensive now. Yeah. It's, it's like, I don't know how you could feed a family of four for under a hundred dollars. Like that's a lot of money. That's a substantial amount of money for food. That's fine, but not like mind blowing. And, you know, the pluses are I, I, the service was good, um, despite it being a pretty

empty place and the, and the, and the servers being taxed, uh, overtaxed by, by perhaps being understaffed, uh, the potatoes are like a potato preparations are good there. They do good potatoes. Uh, I, I like their fries. Um, I, you know, I like their salads. I think their sides are generally good. Uh, I think their steaks are, are fine. Um, I think for the price, you know, I would maybe like something that I would maybe like

them like a little bit cheaper or a little bit better, but as they are, they just feel a little bit overpriced. Um, but yeah, overall, I don't know. I think, I think I have to be with, with, with Mitch here. Wow. I think, I think we're in the hand holding club at two and a half forks. And we're all ballpark buds. We're all ballpark buds here.

But yeah, I mean it, I just, I would have liked to have some more from, from out back. It's a little bit of a bummer, uh, but hey. Cricky indeed. You know, it's interesting. They're all franchises. So maybe that's why it could be. You had no dressing on your salad rules are maybe a little different. Yeah.

There could be some consistency issues, but Nick's your salad was dressed. Mine was dressed, but I think a Caesar salad is always dressed. I've never had a place where they give you that dressing on the side. Still strange. All right. Well, that was our review of outback steakhouse, uh, you know, a little, a little muted in our enthusiasm, unfortunately, but here we are. Um, I think Australia is doing well otherwise, right?

I think they're fine. All right. They're still surrounded by great whites. It's just terrifying. Oh boy. Yeah. Well, that was our review of outback steakhouse. It's time for a regular segment.

When fast food news breaks, the dough boys are on the case. This is breaking. Choose. Choose. Choose. Okay. No, hold on a second. So you're singing.

Choose where news normally would go in the song that you made up for this. Yeah. I guess also do the song. Does that lyrics? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding news. Yeah. Yeah. That's not how it usually goes.

Oh, does that news? No. Maybe there should be. By the way, did you know that track was a, the NBC nightly news theme composed by John Williams? It's a great track. It's a great track. That's a banger.

He was good. All right. So we've got these. He is good. He is good. People say he copied some stuff, you know. I think he drew inspiration from sources. Like you look at Gustav Holst, you look at Wagner.

There's a lot of references that are kind of built in there, but it's like anything. It's like how rock and roll built upon the blues. All right. Let's, but let's not have a discussion about John Williams or if we're in the NBC news world about Brian Williams, another controversial figure. We've got these Fruit Loops mini donuts.

That's right. These are Curtis. These are from Carl's Jr. Depending on what region of the country you live in. And our buddy, you song, picked these up for us. So these look like, I mean, they're about donut size, like a hostess donut. And they're, they've got a lot of, I mean,

this is like a super artificial coloring they've each got. It's crazy. Like the frosting is the color and then the bread is the color. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, it's like totally Fruit Loop color throughout. And they smell, if you smell them, they smell a lot like. So exactly like Fruit Loops.

They smell super Fruit Loopy. We've got a, we've got a blue, a red, or a red slash pink, a purple, a yellow, and a green. Let's bite into these. Leanne, Fruit Loops, was that ever a favorite cereal as a kid? I wasn't allowed to eat sugary cereal in this little, yeah. You and I are on different planets. I was like encouraged to eat sugary cereal.

Now you song said that these also are not made to order and they are just sitting out. Is that correct you song? Yeah, that's right. So they're just sitting out. It's kind of, that's kind of lame. I mean, I guess like what they don't, they're not going to fry up fresh donuts in store.

So I guess I kind of get it, but it is like you're getting a packaged hostess thing out of a vending machine. Like it's like, it's not fresh at all. I mean, it's pretty good. I mean, they are, I thought they were going to be a lot sweeter than they are, they actually are, which is good. Do they all taste the same?

Am I crazy? I mean, that's a Fruit Loop. That's the age old Fruit Loop question. They taste the same. You would think there's to be some distinction between the lemon and the lime and the grape, but no, they're all just, they're all just generic Fruit Loop flavor.

Didn't we have an awful Fruit Loop treat from a, from Burger King? We had like a Fruit Loop shake, right? Is that what we had? Do you remember? I think so, yeah. Yeah, that was pretty bad. This is better.

I don't know if I'd rather have this over a bowl of Fruit Loop. I think it'd rather have a bowl of Fruit Loops. Yeah. But this is, it's not bad. Definitely the, the- I think this one does taste, is it different? I can't tell. I can't tell at all.

They taste all generically sort of like vaguely, I mean, not even fruity really. There's not even like a fruit element to them. I might eat all of these. I kind of- They're starting to get overwhelming. I think they're kind of- They're super sweet.

Yeah. They are super sweet, but I kind of think they're good. Yeah. You could have mine. Hey, Mitch, you want some loose donut scraps? I've eaten- I've taken a bite out of each of them to see if there's a difference. They call me the closer for a reason.

Um, they're not bad. I think, you know, I don't, I, if, you know, we're talking about this as, as, as breaking chews as the segment, perhaps we should decide if this is good chews or bad chews. I think this is borderline good chews. Yeah. It's, it totally gets the job done. It's in terms of, of being like a nice novelty execution of a, of a flavor that you know. The donuts are fine.

I don't know. I think it's not bad. I know you agree, Leanne? It exceeded my expectations. I thought they were going to be too sweet and I couldn't stand it, but if I had to, I would eat the whole thing. Yeah. They really seem like they, they, you think on the surface they'd be gross,

but they're not bad. No. What do you think, Mitch? They should be, I'm probably going to kill these. They should, they should. I mean, and also I'm afraid that these are probably a thousand calories at least. Right. Oh yeah.

That's the thing we didn't get into outback. The calorie count on that menu is fucking astonishing. What a nightmare. Like one, one blooming onion was like 1900 calories or something like that. I went there with a stomach ache last night and it was not a, it was not good. Yeah. I think these are good chews. I, I, here's what I think.

These would be fun to bring. The, the issue with them is that they're, they're sold at Carl's Jr. Right. And as like a breakfast item. Oh, this is a, this isn't a dessert. I mean, I think that this is some sort of breakfast. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people got this as a dessert. Right.

And then a lot of people got this as in the morning. I think, I think this is probably available in the morning. Yeah. I think you can just get it whenever these would be fun to bring to like a, like a big brunch table or something to put down, but not in a bunch of fruit loop jack at Carl's Jr. Containers. And also I'm thinking of like, like, you know, like, like a lower and if you put

this on like a glass, like cake display, people will think you went to like Bottega Louis or something. Wow, you're right. I think so. Right. You're totally right. You could, you could 100% trick people. Here's my thing.

It's strange to me that these are, I mean, and maybe it's because they have to make them every night or whatever. And that's what they make them. And then they put them in the package and they sit, but why aren't these in 7-Eleven's in plastic sleeves? That would make more sense. And in little sleep, like in the donut sleeves, how there's the white powder donuts and the chocolate covered donuts.

Why aren't these sitting right there next to them as a fruit loops product? I feel like those would, it would sell, right? The context of, I absolutely agree. I think if this was like a grab-and-go snack at a convenience store, it would be a better context for it than it being something that you buy at Carl's Jr. Yeah, that's an, is an interesting business choice. Yeah, but that said, not bad. And, and, and you know, you did a totally, a totally, you know,

worth trying out if you're curious. Emma, what did you think of those? Feel free to hop on Mitch's mic there. They taste exactly like fruit loops. So if that's what you're going for, that's what they are. I mean, that's, I mean, like they're super sweet, but like if you want a donut that tastes like a fruit loop, that's what it is. Yeah, I think that says it all.

It makes sense, man, yeah. That's pretty much it. I agree with that. Yeah. You can get the milk out of there, fuck it. I'm not going to dip those in milk. It was great. Right.

That might be fun to dip in milk. Yeah. All right. I'm going to wrap up a point about maybe there should be some sort of milk with them, but I think also maybe if they were like a little smaller and harder and, you know, just a big bowl of milk. Yeah, you broke them in a little piece. Uh, that was Breaking Choose.

This is like a restaurant. We value your feedback. Let's open up the feedback. This week's email comes to us from Marge. Marge writes, as a proud and new member of the Golden Play Club, I wanted to share her voice as a proud and new member of the Golden Play Club. I'm going to do that for the whole thing.

I wanted to share a fun discovery I made while on vacation earlier this year. I was at the Bergen Airport in Norway when we stumbled upon a Swedish Boston themed sports chain. Wow. Apparently some Swedish dude visited Boston in the 1980s and just loved Boston sports bar culture so much. He made a themed restaurant. The best part was the Celtics wall because it was mainly just pictures of Jonas Jerebko.

I'm assuming because he is Swedish. As a fellow Massachusetts native and Celtics fan, I thought Mitch would be as just as amused as I was. Some photos are attached. Sorry. I didn't take a picture of the Patriots wall. I'll send it. I'll share this pic of Marge in front of the Celtics wall.

If you guys want to take a look at this, we'll post these on social media as well. Oh, that's cool as well. But yeah, it's a ton of Celtics memorabilia they've got here. Question for the feedback. Sorry if it's been asked already. What would a Mike Mitchell, Nick Weigher themed restaurant look like? What's the decor? What items on their menu are the staff and costume?

She also added, thank you, Mitch, Nick, Usong, Emma, Wally, Irma, and everyone else who works on the podcast. I'm obsessed. Very nice note, Marge. That's awesome. Thanks, Marge. We have tackled this question in the past, Mitch. But maybe I'll put this to our guest.

Leanne, as someone who's worked in food service for some time. It would make for Leanne to have a drink. I'm not going to put you fully on the spot, but I'm curious if you've ever given any thought as someone who's worked a lot in the industry as to what your dream restaurant might be. Oh, I thought the question was what I think your guys' restaurant would look like. Oh, wow. Okay, yeah. Let's tackle that, please.

It'd be like a huge tape running down the middle. Like, I love Lucy. One size, Mitch, and you guys aren't allowed to cross. And then there'd occasionally be food flying across. And next would be just like eggs and pancakes and like old people, like $2.99. I like this. And then I should just be like. I'm afraid of what this is going to be like just like burger meat.

Basically, it's like dog food just chopped up a burger meat. Right. I think my dream, oh man, what would my dream be? I'd be like fresh farm to table stuff, right? But accessible at a cheap price, the cheapest price point I could make. Which is a lot of what happens here. And there's a lot of those type places in LA, but for good reason, because that's, it's good. There's a lot.

And California is a big agricultural state. There's a lot of great produce out here. And I wouldn't sanitize anything. And people would be like, what is it about this restaurant? And I wouldn't tell them. Mitch, when you know I have answered this, we've said in the past. It was a beer, a pizza parlor, an adult's pizza parlor, which I think would be fun. The pizza parlor is always a fun thing.

And I feel like a thing you could bring that back and have like a little bit of a higher end concept. I can't wait for the end of dough boys in 10 years. I mean, I don't mean the end of the podcast. Right. I'm saying like the last thing that dough boys will ever do is dissolve our pizza parlor business. The dough boys, it's going out of business. I mean, the name is sort of set up for that. That is true.

Yeah. Might be someone else's copyright, actually. Have we ever gotten like a subpoena from like Pillsbury? Dough boys, pizza and pod. Not a name. We could do live shows right in the center of it, Nick. Oh man. There wouldn't be music.

Right. Hey, everybody commenting as people walk in. Why are there's two fat asses fighting? If you have a question or comment about the world of chain restaurants, you can email us at doughboyspodcast at gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 830-go-do. That's 830-463-6844. And hey, to get the dough boys double our weekly bonus episode, join the Golden or Platinum Play Club at patreon.com slash doughboys.

Leanne Bowen, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Oh man. This was a delight. You have to come back. I love you, America with Sarah Silverman. We both wrote on this show.

You've got some super funny stuff in this show and you guys can watch it right now on Hulu. New episodes every Thursday. Anything else you would like to plug at this time? No, just that. Check it out. It's every Thursday until November. So I don't know when this is going to air, but... This will be out in September.

So yeah, you get 11 episodes in the plug. Wait a minute. We're getting close. And vote November 4th. Oh, that's a responsible thing to plug. Yeah, vote dough boys. Vote. So you had two choices today.

It was the grocery store. Oh, yes. Yeah, we had to grow. Oh, fuck. Now, I have time to remember to hashtag from Act One. Hashtag, wait, it was the hot salad. Oh, not hot. Oh, God.

Oh, God. It was a hot salad. But it was barred grocery. Oh, shit. I'm sorry. Hot food bar. Hashtag, hot food barred or hashtag hot good bar, depending on whether we should, we should go to a place that doesn't have hot food bars or whether the place has to have

hot food bars. I think you're thinking of a hot food bar and you were thinking of a thing that should be served there is why you said hot salad. It's because you're in my brain, Mitchell. That's why I said it. Get out of there. Leave me in peace. That'll do it for this episode of Dough Boys.

Until next time, for The Spoonman, make Mitchell, I'm Nick Weigar. Happy eating. See ya. Hey, guys, you want more dough boys? To get the Dough Boys double or weekly bonus episode, join the Golden Plate Club. Sign up at patreon.com slash Dough Boys. Do it. That was a hate gun podcast.