Doughboys - Poke Bar with Payman Benz

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

Payman Benz (@paymanbenz, Winning Time) joins the 'boys to talk the NBA, Taco Bell, and Disney Land before a review of Poke Bar. Plus, another edition of Snack or Wack.Watch this episode at youtube.com/doughboysmediaGet ad-free episodes at patreon.com/doughboysGet Doughboys merch at kinshipgoods.com/doughboysAdvertise on Doughboys via Gumball.fmSources for this week's intro: https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/true-story-behind-pokemon-theme-song-7453639/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/wednesday-may-8-2019-josh-ritter-marco-kyris-and-more-1.5126432/the-voice-behind-the-famous-pok%C3%A9mon-theme-song-explains-the-tune-s-enduring-popularity-1.5126498https://jasonpaige.com/about/https://hawaiioceanproject.com/a-brief-history-of-poke-in-hawaii/https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/new-restaurant-concepts/poke-chains-battle-dominancehttps://www.ilovepokebar.com/abouthttps://youtu.be/fCkeLBGSINs?si=YhyLGaOkFOU_GchsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. Wanna watch this episode? Check it out on our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash doughboysmedia. I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was. To catch them is my real test. To train them is my cause. So begins the indelible theme song for the American localization

of the original Pokemon anime, written by John Loeffler and John Siegler, and performed with a fire of a thousand Charmander's by prolific session singer, Jason Page. At the time of its recording in 1997, Pokemon was an unknown quantity outside of Japan, and the song's publishing rights were callously held by shell corporations owned by anime localizer 4Kids and Nintendo itself. And so, Page's compensation for the most identifiable song for what would become the

most lucrative franchise in all of media history amounted to a single payment of less than $1,000. While years later, litigation ultimately netted him a five-figure settlement, Page estimates if he was paid royalties for his performance, he would have received around $100 million. And just as American kids became obsessed with a Japanese poke franchise, health-conscious American adults became intrigued by a Hawaiian poke franchise, a dish of sauced and seasoned raw fish that's believed to be Polynesian in origin, and a dish of a Japanese fish that conscious American adults became intrigued by a Hawaiian poke franchise. A dish of sauced and seasoned raw fish that's believed to be Polynesian in origin, poke was consumed for hundreds of years before Hawaiian statehood.

And only in the 2000s did it become a sought-after delicacy in mainland USA. In 2015, Yun Ju noted the wild popularity of a poke appetizer at his parents' Northridge, California sushi restaurant and so collaborated with partner Jason Park on a poke bowl-centric concept. As Ju told Restaurant Hospitality in 2018, quote, we have to be the market leader, end quote. But despite nearly 70 locations, it's today been usurped by actual market leader Poke Works. locations, it's today been usurped by actual market leader PokeWorks.

Pokemon theme singer Jason Page has worked consistently in the intervening decades, performing as the vocal lead of Blood, Sweat & Tears, voice acting in Rick and Morty and Sausage Party and singing the Pepto-Bismol Heartburn, Nausea and Digestion jingle among countless other credits. And with the direct outreach presented by social media, he's finally been able to monetize his Pokemon performance to some degree. But perhaps more significantly, he has been endlessly praised by his rapturous fan base.

Responding to one comment on his YouTube channel, Page said, quote, Every action deserves our full commitment in life, even if it's a low-paying demo for an unknown anime that no one knows about for a random jingle house filled with people just trying to make money for corporate clients." And the same might be said for every pokeball prepared in a chain restaurant, no matter how calculated the business plan. This week on Doughboys, Poke Bar.

Welcome to Doughboys, the podcast about chain restaurants. I'm Nick Weiger along with my cohost, Snack Reacher, the Spoon Man, Mike Mitchell. Snack Reacher. So I reach for snacks. Right, like Jack Reacher, only you're reaching for snacks. You could have done something with Jack, you know, like the other thing with Jack.

Jack Offer. Jack Offer. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of ways to play it. Or just with Jack. Jack Offer. Jack Offer. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of ways to play it. Or just- Or like Jack Seeker. I'm looking for my dick. Jack Seeker, yeah. Where's-

I don't know. Can't find that fucking thing. I can't find it. Guess I'll reach for a snack. Yeah. I guess that could work if you, you know, if you explored this more. Yeah, I think this is worth exploring thoroughly.

Hi Nick, another week, another bad roast submission. Mark from New Zealand. Thanks Mark, and hello down under. Roastedbirdfuck.com. New Zealand. New Zealand, NZ. Hey, what are they called again? Kiwis. Kiwis.

Yeah. I don't know my fruit that well. Uh. Uh. What's your favorite fruit? You a berry man? I'm a pineapple guy. Oh, pineapple's a good one.

Pineapple is a lot of fun. I like grapes and pineapples. I would say lose the pine, it's cleaner. Sean Parker style. You like apple? I just like an apple, yeah. You are a big apple guy. I'm a big apple guy.

New York. Mitch, you're right. Like the city, the big apple. You're a big apple guy. I'm a big apple guy. But here's the thing, ironically, I'm born and raised in Southern California. That is ironic.

There's no fruit for California. Oranges? I guess so. Wags, I got news for you. One. Yes. One is that I got Rumblies, I think. Two. Oh, boy. Is, I mean, all I can think of is one right now.

Right. Two. All you can think of is two, honestly. Oh. Should have reversed the order. I can't believe we're gonna start the show and I'm gonna have to run out. Yeah, that's all right.

And I'm just trying to like, it's like the opening, you know, I mean, like also like everyone is back in the head gum office, it sucks. Yeah, full capacity. Full capacity. I thought there was- All hunks on deck. I thought truly before we started,

I thought there was a movie star here and then Casey was like, she just works here. Yeah. Do we, am I gonna do my own drop today? I didn't even think- No, I got the drops? All right, and then we did a ball gag. Doofson's ass, do-do-doofson's ass. They call him Doofson. He slipped me ketamine or something like that,

and I was in a cable. Doofson claims to have Dell close his skull. Doofson also told me he invented Thousand Island dressing. This is so bad. I mean, that was good. That was a good drop. I like that look is that is that a song you recognize? Or is that an original composition? I don't know. Yeah, I didn't recognize I couldn't place it

That it's probably from some gamers or anime or something that people are gonna be like how do weger not know this? Shut up for a second I'm struggling here. Yeah, we'll take a break. Oh no, it's okay. I mean, yes, I think we do have to take a break. We're about to make an eclipse in that toilet. Is it eclipse, a total eclipse of the sun today? We're recording this eclipse day. This episode's probably coming out in May, yes.

Look, hi Doughboys, just a heads up, Doofson is going gonna try to claim that he wrote the music for the strop, but he didn't Jonathan Bronson Norwood mass. I gotta go. Thanks Bronson. This sucks. I don't want to go. We're gonna take a break No, we're gonna take a break We'll be right back. All right. Welcome back. The earliest break in Doughboy's record history. Four minutes and six seconds? That's what we have on the clock.

How are you feeling? I'm going to say this. Yeah. The fact that I'm getting the Rumblies 20 minutes after eating a raw fish lunch is scary. Sure. I'm not, you know, I'm not, I'm not excited about the idea of that. And I'm not excited about ever taking a shit

at head gum studios. Right. It's a nightmare. Yeah. They're all people who look like they've never taken shits in their lives, most of them. And I'm in the, luckily a lot of them were out. Oh my god, a lot of them are outside. Were they outside? Whatever.

They saw you go to the bathroom, they went outside? Is that what you're worried about? They were all outside having lunch and I was like, now I'm like, can they hear me more out there? I don't know. Which bathroom were you in? All these three. They can't hear you. We have two soundproof studios. Can't they make two rooms in between the bathroom and where they were outside? I promise they didn't hear you.

Is there even a window in that one? I don't think there's a window. There's a window. I was in the far one. Oh you're in the other one. I was in the far one. You're in the far one. Yeah. Yeah it is, it is the the studios. I was gonna say there is a window where someone who's in that house could look down and see me with my tiny dick wiping my ass, probably. Yeah. But wait, what were you gonna say? There's two studios? Oh, I was just gonna say, it's like the soundproofing is very good in the recording studio.

But not in the bathroom. But it's like, they took the opposite approach in the bathroom. They installed the echo toilets. Just amplifies everything out for the hunks. Can't they do something? Yeah, I know. Or is it for the hunks. Can't they do something? Yeah, I know. Or is it for the hunks to know that we take shits?

Can't they soundproof those things a little bit? That would be nice. Jake? Amir? I mean, honestly, that's an Anya ask. Put another thing on Anya's plate. So it's just me in the bathroom playing music on my phone, which was, Little Miss Can't Be Wrong. So it's like, Little Miss, Little Miss, Little Miss Can't Be Wrong. So it's like, Little Miss, Little Miss,

Little Miss Can't Be Wrong, and I'm like, yeah, underneath the fucking music, it sucks. And guessing by the amount of time you took in there, you listened to that song four times, five times? I went through a few times. I don't even know if this is the end of it, but Anya and someone else were having a meeting out there and I like walked by, I like, just try not to look at them.

And of course they were like meeting close to the bathrooms. And then as I was coming out again, I sprayed like a million things. And then as I was coming out again, all the hunks and hunkettes were coming in from lunch. Yeah. So I like quickly slammed the door shut, but they were all, including the lady who I thought was a movie star walking by as I opened the door. Just a true nightmare. A true nightmare.

It sucks. You rode your bike here today is what I was going to talk about. Yes. We got sidetracked by the Rumblies. I got, you know, I knew you were gonna do this, so I like, I did a Peloton ride at home today. Wow. So I was tryingacked by the Rumblies. I knew you were going to do this, so I did a Peloton ride at home today. I'll try to get some pedals in too.

Well, here's the crazy thing. I shouldn't tell the amount of time it took to get here from my home. Yeah, people will be able to map it out. You don't have a super long ride, but it's a substantial ride. It's easier for you to drive. Yeah. Good for you. How was the ride? It was good. I mean, I guess I could say like, you know,

like they can't find it if I say it's like within 15 minutes, but it was like, you know, close to 15 minutes. Yeah, sure. Which is good to go first to go, I was, I almost got hit at, near on a street where I shouldn't have gotten hit. Yeah. Oh, that's all I'll say.

And then besides that, it went pretty good. It was tiring. It was way more tiring than I thought it was gonna be. You have a bike lane you can use, which is nice, right? Is it protected or is it just kind of a- It is, it's protected. Oh, there you go. Yeah, so it's good.

It's a good route. Well, I love this for you. I think it's good. I think I need to do it. So on the head gum days, I'm gonna come in. I mean, another thing, I pulled up to the studio and all the headgum hunks and hunkettes were leaving to go get lunch.

And I pulled up on my bicycle and they all just started laughing as I pulled up. Which I get, I look like a goon. I look foolish on the bike. So. No, I don I think that's true. I think it was just an unexpected site to see Mitch roll up on his bicycle. No one knew that was going to happen.

They were like, how often do you do this? I was like, this is the first time I couldn't breathe. Anyway, what the fuck? Yeah. Eclipse day. Things are going wonky. You know what I mean? Things are going great. I mean, wonky, you know what I mean? Things are going great. I mean, we should, you know, the other,

but speaking of wonky and things going awry, Emma's not here. Yeah. Jemmy's not here. Jemmy's not here, I got a pillow. Amelia's out of town seeing the eclipse, so we're kind of, you know, Casey's keeping the ship running.

Is that why Amelia's out of town? Yeah, she went to go see the eclipse. I'm almost positive that was the reason she's out of town. Can't you do it anywhere? No, there's a better place to view it because the way the sun is moving, like it's like you have a better perspective on a full eclipse.

Do you see the pictures she sent? It's a lovely photo. Amelia, you weirdo. I in hindsight don't authorize this trip. I'm just gonna pet this pillow the whole time. That doesn't seem creepy. Did she really go for the eclipse? You can ask her, I'm pretty sure that's why she was, she's out of town.

It's like in a cabin. Yeah, she's posting like, we're watching the eclipse. She went specifically to rural like New England to get a good look at it. What the fuck is going on over there, Amelia? Jesus. A cabin in the woods for an eclipse? Sounds like witch shit. Sounds a little bit like some witchy shit. Let's not go as a man from Massachusetts. Let's not go accusing women of being witches. I can end well for anybody. They weren't wrong back then. They had a few ideas.

Bring back the witch trials. Bring back the witch trials. Bring back the witch trials. You gotta bring back the witch. Witch hunts are fun. They're fun. You know what would be fun? Like back in the day, just be like, witch! Like pointing at a woman and saying witch,

cause like you thought she cast a spell or something. When you did that, I could see one of your ancestors a hundred percent doing it. I'm sure they did. I'm sure Mitchell played someone for being awake. That was a wiger in 16th century Estonia. Will you go out with me? No. WITCH! What's wrong with your dick? WITCH! So many Mitchells.

Wags, I got news for you. Wow. Eclipse day yesterday. I was at the happiest place in the world. Disneyland. Wow. I was there. I had a nice day. Talk about exercise. Got seven miles in, but probably offset it with churros.

Yeah, sure. I didn't get a run to, I did ride, what is smugglers in Iran? Still sucks. Still sucks. Still sucks. I'm not sure. I'm probably offset it with churros. Yeah, sure. I didn't get a run to it. I did ride, what is Smuggler's Run? Still sucks, still a bad ride.

I've heard it's bad. It's bad. Casey, have you ever done Smuggler's Run? I've done it a few times, and it's like, if you're not piloting the Millennium Falcon, it's kinda not. I don't want responsibilities. Just let me ride the fucking ride.

I don't wanna have to do a task and then be told I'm doing it poorly. That's just my life. I'm just trying to escape that. Yeah, no, you do bad. I know, you do a bad lot. I know. Star Wars land stinky.

I just think it stinks. I think it's bad. I think it's a bad. We're gonna get to our guest, but, and this will lead into our guest pretty well, I feel like. Oh, well, we'll find out. I see a guy there, I'm in California Adventure at the wine bar.

Also, I met a Doughboyz fan. Cool. Who gave me a ticket to go get food for like the Food and Wine Festival in California Adventure. Wow. And there were three things left and I didn't get to use it, so I felt bad. But they were leaving anyways.

But a shout out to a couple, a couple of doughboys fans. I saw a couple of doughboys fans. Cause I was going to, I was going to say, like, do you think they were doughboys fans or did they just see you and be like, oh, but this guy wants the food taken out. No, trust me. We talked for 25 minutes. They, uh, but no, he was, he was a great guy.

And then another guy, he was a great guy. And then another guy, I think the other guy was Andy. And I forget the other, I forget their names. I shouldn't try to guess their names. They were very nice. Yeah. And shout out to you guys. Thank you.

But we, anyways, I went into the food, the California adventure, the wine area. I see this guy there. He was like Celtics fan. He's like, you, you bandwagon or you liked him for a while? I'm like, I don't know. I liked him for close to 30 years now. Yeah, sure. I mean, when I was a child, what do you want from me?

Because I was wearing a Celtics jacket and hat. He's like, I'm a Lakers fan. I was like, oh, man. He's like, well, I was a Lakers fan. He's like, I had season tickets. Once LeBron came, I sold my season tickets. Wow. Hates LeBron.

There's a real psychopath Laker fan contingent LeBron came, I sold my season tickets. Wow. Hates LeBron. There's a real psychopath Laker fan contingent as a fan of the purple and gold that is, it's just completely rejected LeBron James. Said to me, if it was Lakers Celtics, LeBron Lakers versus Celtics in the finals, he'd root for the Celtics. Yeah, that's just unhinged.

I can't understand hating one individual that much. I'm just telling you, I'm telling you. He sounds racist. I'm like, wait a minute. I won't reveal if he was a white guy or not. He was. Was this your segue into our guests? It was me, It was me.

It's not about a racist basketball guy. Our guest likes basketball. Our guest loves hoops. That's actually... Well, you don't think it was a good story, this guy who's turned his back on the Lakers? No, it's interesting because... I mean, I don't think he was really racist. I mean, who knows?

Who knows? But I know we all have our own... We're kind of in a triforce of rivalries here with our respective franchises. Not only you say he was protesting outside of the splash bomb. So now I'm not sure. Our guest today, a director from Winning Time,

Black Monday, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, our unofficial official Poke correspondent, Payman Benz, returning to the show. Payman, thanks so much for being here. Thanks for having me back, guys. We gave you some options. You ended up picking Pokebar last time you reviewed Sweetfin.

Yeah. Two chains that faced off in our bowl competition. Yeah, well I saw the options and then it was like, I don't know, what if I have a thing and my thing is poker? I love it. I love it too. Also one of the options was yum yum donuts. I'm like, I don't want to eat a bunch of fucking donuts.

Like, there's no way I want to eat that. That's funny. Then one of our other options is yum yum donuts. We fucking suck. Yeah, that would have been good. Yum yum donuts. Peyton, I got a question for you. Well, besides the basketball thing. Yeah, which ended to land that, the plane on that thought.

Celtics fan, Lakers fan, LA Clippers fan, a franchise that you have something of a fraught relationship with. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, you get abused for a long time and you start to, like, everyone's like, are you excited about them this year? I'm like, I've watched this movie a thousand times.

I know how this ends. And so, you know, it's fun. I'm not as attached as I used to be. It's a little more of like, I like the game. I can't lie, I don't want to root for James Harden. So it's weird to like, I'm like clapping for this guy that I've been booing. He just like, it's weird to like, I'm like clapping for this guy that I've been booing. He's just like, it's weird.

I like them. I honestly, to be honest, at this point, my Clipper fandom is more anti-Lakers than it is anything. It's just defiant. But it hasn't paid off. It's never paid off. The only way to be a Laker fan, which I am, and I have been my whole life, is just to be a little shitheal about it,

because you are just the bad guys. Like, you are the team that has had an enormous amount of success, and a lot of times it's like just falling out. It's like Winnie the Pooh falling ass backwards into a bucket of honey, you know? It's just like, you just like, oh, well, we got LeBron, we got AD,

we won a championship, you know? These things just happen despite the franchise being mismanaged for many years. And I, by the way, I think the franchise has done great. I think my anti is, are those specific fans that seem so insane? I know a lot of Laker fans that don't like LeBron and it drives me up the wall.

And like, I understand you debated LeBron versus Kobe for years in the same way that I was programmed to not like James Harden. I now have to root for him. But there's this thing where I'm like, don't you understand you have fucking LeBron James on your team? Like, enjoy it, you son of a bitch. Yeah.

And also, the vile things that Laker fans have said to me over the years. It's just like where I'm like, what was I going to do? Pick him as an adult when I moved to LA? I had to pick the underdog. And look, it sucks. But I did. And it's fine.

Who's your hometown team? Here's the shitty thing. I'm from the Bay Area. But I grew up, nobody liked the Warriors growing up. Because everyone was like, what's the point? Magic or Jordan are going to win. Right. So there's no point in rooting for the Warriors.

And now I look back, god, I'd have such a better life. If I look, because I picked the Oakland A's, because of Jose Canseco, which meant I hate the Giants. And if you hate the Giants, you hate the Niners, because they were in the same stadium at that time. The Raiders were not in the Bay Area at that time. They were here. So we all picked random teams. So, but if I go back, had I chosen differently,

if I was Giants, Niners, Warriors, I would have celebrated, what, 10 titles? Yeah. Instead of zero? Well, one time the A's won, but there was an earthquake and half our city broke. But like, no, I'm from the Bay Area and I didn't like the Warriors and I regret it.

I regret it. It was a terrible decision. I like you liking the Clippers more than the Warriors, honestly. I mean, I'm from the Bay Area and I didn't like the Warriors and I regret it. I regret it. It was a terrible city. I like you liking the Clippers more than the Warriors, honestly. I mean, I do. I know that you hate the... Yeah. He almost hates the Clippers more than the Celtics. I feel like it's close.

I hate the Celtics the most. But you're in the city and it's just... It's gotta be annoying to be a Laker fan and see Clipper billboards and the Clippers were nice enough to fix all the hoops around LA and the Lakers didn't do that and all. I'm kidding. I don't like that shit. Our infrastructure should be rotting. Speaking of I'm the bad guy, like you said with the Lakers.

Was that a Billie Eilish thing you were doing? I'm the bad guy. That's what I was doing. I thought I did a pretty good job. It was great. Yeah, it was. I'm the bad guy. That's what I was doing. I thought I did a pretty good job. That was great. Yeah, it was good. Haley Mancini, she texted me and she's like, I dreamed that I made a calming smile hat and then it came as a clamp,

the hats were delivered and it said clamming smile and she was like, you were livid. You were so angry in my dream because the hats were wrong. That doesn't sound like you. were so angry in my dream, because the hats were wrong. That doesn't sound like you. And so this is my question to you about the bad guy. Am I now known to people as the bad guy,

like the angry guy? You do get a little heated at times. You do tend to blow your stuff. I was a nice guy my whole life. You are a nice guy, but you have some fits of rage. And I think there are maybe some people who think of you as a guy who's a guy who's a guy. People are dreaming of me as like an angry man?

But also like, where did that come from, from Haley, was she's trying to say that was out of character what she witnessed? Or was she- I don't know, I have no idea. But this podcast has made me the angry guy, I'm the nice, I was the nice, I know, look, I know that saying you're the nice guy over and over again

is not good. But I'm saying like, I'm saying I was always a nice guy to people. But her dream is about her perspective or whatever. It doesn't mean it's real. Yeah, that's true. You're a sweet man. Oh, thank you. But I will say nothing hits like a what the fuck from Mitch.

Every time you say a what the fuck, I'm laughing every time. It's the best. I'm just thinking if that clamming smile hat could work. Can you ship goods on that? Jesus. You're going to have to give Haley a cut. Just fucking... Maybe I am a bad guy.

I mean, look, I used to be a nice man. This podcast has driven me to be... You still are a nice man, Mitch. You're a nice man. This podcast has driven me to be. You still are a nice man, Mitch. You're a very nice man. Very sweet man. You get angry about certain things at times. Yeah, because of your bullshit. Your bullshit is bad.

His Lakers bullshit, everything you do, it's frustrating to me. I got a question. You yourself, in all fairness, can be a frustrating person. I don't know. I just don't see it. Hey, go on. What?

No, you go on. I was just going to say, while we're on the topic of anger, of heightened emotions, that certainly is tied to the outcome of this past March's tournament of champions, Dokiaro Talk-O-Belle. Payman, you told us you were shocked by the outcome. Shocked. What did you think was going to happen? Well, I thought it would either be the cheesy gordita

crunch or the crunch wrap. It just feels like those are the, like, Talk-O-Belle in its highest form, final form are those items. I thought the Crunchwrap was gonna go further than it did. Yeah, it just, you know, I'll be, the beefy Five Layer never had it. I've been there maybe 500 times, I don't even know how many times I've gone to Taco Bell.

So I was listening to the episode, I was driving back, I was visiting a friend in San Diego. It ends. I'm actually shocked as I'm listening in the car. Wow. And I'm like, what? And I was like, I think I threw a Mitch what the fuck out. I was like, what the fuck?

And I had never had the spicy potato taco. So I saw a Taco Bell and decided to get one. Wow. Over the weekend. This was on, oh no, sorry, Thursday. This is last Thursday. I'm afraid that the and decided to get one. Wow. Over the weekend. This was on, oh no, sorry, Thursday. This was last Thursday. I'm afraid how this story's gonna end. I ate it and it was fine, but I was like,

how did this get that far? I was very upset that the cheesy gordita crunch didn't go as a Taco Bell lover. But I'll say this about the particular one. By the way, I ate it and it was fine in a wagon one. It's like, yeah, you're agreeing, it's just fine. I don't think it's just fine. You're such a villain. By the way, I ate it, and it was fine. And the whacker went, it's like, yeah, you're agreeing. It's just fine. I don't think it's just fine.

You're such a villain. You wanted the potato to win. Well, it wasn't like, for my taste, it wasn't like, I don't know that I would get it again. It wasn't bad. It was just that there's so many other things I love there. Sure. I want someone to go through our episodes of Doughboys.

I mean, this is a nightmare job. But to record every time you've talked about the potato I love there. Sure. I want someone to go through our episodes of Doughboys. I mean, this is a nightmare job. But to record every time you've talked about the potato soft taco until this tournament, and how many times you've talked about the cheesy Gordy to crunch in the past. I'll say that they don't have to do that. I've talked about it zero times since before the tournament.

Yeah, no shit. They did not bring it up. But you know what? I like that spicy potato soft taco quite a bit, and I had a great time within the tournament, and I think it deserved to go where it ended up, which is as the runner-up for the Dave Thomas Cup. It did make me wonder what happens

if you get the spicy potato taco and have them add steak and make it a steak and potato taco. I like that. Interesting. I like that a lot. Maybe I'll do that later today. That's fun. But I was shocked, especially with, because you guys have talked about the cheese

and gordita crunch so much, and who was on the tournament, I was like, all right, because you guys have talked about that she's a Gordita crunch so much and who was on the tournament. I was like, all right, this is clearly gonna end where it's supposed to go. It was like the- Betsy was a bit of a Judas. I told her this. I did a shit.

See, this is the thing. This is why you get a reputation angry guy. You're still angry about this. This thing that doesn't matter. I, I, it- This inconsequential- It matters to me, damn it. Banked award. It matters to me, damn it. It matters to me.

WrestleMania was last night. I haven't finished watching yet. No spoilers. But some of it was pretty good. I haven't seen any of it. I said to Betsy, I did a show with her on Friday. And I was like, you traitors. And she was like, she did respond to me like respond to me like kind of like you're being annoying now It was kind of the level. She's like I don't I like the potato soft taco

Yeah, and then I was like well mono is Judas then because mono didn't even like the taco It hadn't even really had it to the tournament and they turned his back on fucking cheese You're gonna crunch, but this is the thing that's part of its strength in the competition as you have here It's like this thing's fucking good. It's fine, it's not even fucking good. I like the Fiesta potatoes more. No, you like the Fiesta potatoes or just a fucking bowl of goop.

Yeah, no shit. They're a bowl of goop. There's cheese and sour cream in them. No, it doesn't have any texture to it. You're out of your mind. But here's the thing. You just need to let it go. Just let it go.

It's over. It's set on beefy five for gasoline on this. Absolutely, that's what happened. Okay, Elsa. The beefy five. I'll let it go. I, I, I. Let it dough, let it dough.

It's not munch madness anymore. Let it dough, let it dough. It's not munch madness anymore Let it dough See you don't know one of the lines after let it go Do you know what that next line is Something never bothered me no that's later Go let go I'll be more like don't hold me back anymore. It's something like later. I go, let go. I'll be more of a go now. I think it's like, don't hold me back anymore. It's something like that. I like a lot of animated movies.

Frozen did nothing for me when I saw it. Frozen's okay. Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of it. I didn't see it. It's fine. I shouldn't comment on these movies. We know some of these people probably, I don't know, they listen to the podcast.

Frozen's just fine. You know who's great in Frozen? Gad. It's a good Gad one. It's a good Gad one. It's a good Gad performance. Great Gad performance. Also, I wouldn't worry about anyone going like, I can't believe a grown man didn't like Frozen,

that son of a bitch. Like, you're fine. You can even say it sucks. I didn't watch it. Yeah, Frozen kinda sucks. Yeah, I didn't watch it and it sucks. There. I think the, my hot Frozen take is I think,

do you wanna build a- Hot Frozen take? My hot Frozen take, Mitch. Get ready for some water. Get ready for some water. It's a water take. Yeah. The melting hot take I have is that, do you want to build a snowman a better song than Let It Go? I agree with you.

It's a better song. Let It Go just seems to me like a radio song from the 90s. Yeah, sure. And even though I love the 90s. It's phenomenally sung. Yeah. But I think it's just less of an interesting composition. Didn't see the Frozen characters.

I saw Mickey. Fun. Mickey was there. Who else? Oh, I'm Mickey. He did. Pretty good. He did do that.

You know who I met yesterday? R2d2 He did he was he was he was in he was in galaxy makes the noise Is he was making the noise cool, and I said to him he like talked with Fran yeah, Gillespie He was like talking with Fran for a while and that'd be funny, and it was very funny And she was like can I hug you and then she's like, and then he beeped. And she's like, I can. And then the handlers there were like, no, you can't. He's saying no.

So she was like going to hug him. They were like, you can't hug him. I was very, it was really funny. And then I said like, hi, R2. And then he kind of just like looked at me and didn't say shit. You little fucking asshole. I've been a fan of you my whole fucking life. You just wheel right by me. He's like get back to work Chewbacca

Neil showed the real Chewbacca I was confused for truly a few times, but he showed the real Chewbacca He brought a Chewbacca doll, and Chewbacca was up on a weird bridge or whatever, and he showed it to him, and then Chewbacca went, brrr, brrr, brrr, brrr, like he make a minute of noise. That's fun. You guys are good at these.

You guys are good at these. Should we do more impressions? Yeah, I think it maybe should be an impression pod. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm into it. Payman, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your... Going back to Taco Bell, I want to talk to you about your homebrew Taco Bell creations, because I know that's a thing you've done.

You've engineered some Crunchwrap Supremes and the like on your own. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I just saw like a video, like a 30-second video on how to make a Crunchwrap. It's very easy. So I started doing them, I just saw like a video, like a 30 second video on how to make a crunch wrap, and it's very easy. Yeah. So I started doing them, and I did beef,

and then I did turkey, and my girlfriend's a pescatarian, so I'll make them with impossible. Fun. And it's great, it's super easy, and it's very easy, but it looks like you made something impressive when you're done with it. But it's great, I mean, it takes like a couple minutes. It's very easy.

What is the process? So you get one big tortilla, like a burrito-sized tortilla, and then you need to get another one of those and basically cut, oh, then you get a tostada shell, like a circle tostada shell. Then you have to get another tortilla and cut basically that shape out. Then on the big tortilla, you put all your stuff,

the meat, the whatever. Then you put the tostada on top, couple more things. And then you put that little circle that you cut. Covering the other part of the, yeah, like the open part. Yeah, the open part. You basically cover it there. And then you put some cheese because that will help kind of glue it together.

And then you just kind of start folding in these little triangles, and eventually it just kind of makes the shape. And then you grill that side first for like a few minutes until it gets brown, and then on the other side. And that's it. And even I didn't explain it well. It is so easy.

It's crazy. And then it's awesome. It's just a great meal. It's really, really good. It's crazy. And then it just it's it's awesome. It's just a it's a great meal. That's really really good I'm wondering so it's for for Taco Bell because they have lettuce and tomato inside so they must They do they they must grill the with you make you have lettuce and tomato in there They grill it in there, but I mean they have to right. I don't like hot salad I know I'm just saying but but also like like it but also they have the beef is already hot Yeah, sure in there. So they just it's just basically the like, but also they have the, the beef is already hot that they're putting in there.

Yeah, sure. So they just, it's just basically they like char the outsides of it. That's all it is. That you're, like, everything is ready. It's just, it's just for the outside. It doesn't really, you don't really feel anything happening to the lettuce or tomato in it.

And there's so much protection from the other tortilla you put in and the tostada that it's great. How was it comparatively? Do you, like, do you think it's a pretty good approximation? It's, it's, if I just ate it, I'd be like, this is good, but there's just that Taco Bell seasoning, even though I buy their seasoning,

it's not the same. Yeah. It's like they're the Taco Bell beef. I could like blindfold it. I could call it out. I would know it just cause it's been my, I probably eat it more than anything else in my life. But it works.

I mean, making, I like doing that over tacos sometimes at home, just because it feels like I'm doing something a little different, but it's great. But it's not the same. Their tortillas are softer, it's great. Do you think that in like a distant, like cloud Atlas dystopian future, there will be like, like, oh, this is, this is American food.

And they'll be like making a Crunchwrap Supreme as like our national like heritage, like, you know, like, like, oh, this is the cuisine of the ancient American people. It'll be that old because of you guys. It's going to be the beefy five layer. We'll bring that up in the soft taco or whatever. No, I think so.

I mean, it is funny. It is such an American thing. Because I feel like if you went down to Mexico with a Crunchwrap, they'd be like, what the fuck did you do? What is this? Yeah, I think a lot of people would just be mad at us. Yeah, they'd just be very upset. But it's, God, they're so good.

To me, a Crunchwrap is just kind of everything that Taco Bell does in a thing. Did you like Cloud Atlas? I don't remember what I thought of it. I feel like I was overwhelmed by it. I think I liked it, but it was just a lot. It's definitely a more is more. KC, Cloud Atlas guy?

Kind of with payment here, so in the theater, I remember being pretty overwhelmed by what I was seeing, but there are definitely spots, like like the true, true stuff. Yeah. That all, I was pretty humbled. Some of the stuff is, there's some pockets of great in it. It's just like so overstuffed and it has some, I buy just like a big swing.

Yeah. You know, it's just a big old swing. It's a big swing, I like it. But it was one of those movies that when I saw, I was like, I watched it. God, I hope nobody wants to have a talk about this because I don't know. I don't know what I think of it or the theme or anything.

I was like, I don't know. I was just fucking watching the shots at one point. Like, yeah, I feel like I was like, wow, that must have been really hard to make. I feel like that was my first takeaway was like, wow, what an undertaking. But. Polkowskis are good, they're good.

Yeah. Speaking of movies, have you seen, God, now I forgot the name of the movie I was gonna reference, but look. Dune Two? Not Dune Two. Have you seen Dune Two? No.

Oh man, I'd be curious your thoughts. Let us know when you see it. Okay, should I watch Dune One? You haven't seen Dune One? I haven't seen Dune One. I think you should, I think they are kind of a complete piece. So I would watch Dune Part One before I watch Dune Part Two. Okay. Are they on YouTube? Just kidding. I'm going to, I'm going to figure out the name of this movie.

What, what is, can you give us any, any context for what it might be? Ari Oster's, the Hereditary. Okay. So I was going to say this say this, like with Omen, I mean like Damien, of course Damien's always, but in hereditary, the bad guy's name is Paimon. Did you know that? Here's the thing.

I watched that movie two years ago. No one had told me. Wow. Wow. No one had told me this thing. So when it got to the end, I believe they say pay mon, which is the way you really say it. That's the way my family says it, pay mon.

I'm watching the movie and all of a sudden it's like, pay mon. And I was like, sorry, what is happening right now? And I'm losing it laughing. And then I just start texting people that had recommended the movie to me years ago. I'm like, how did nobody say this to me? I had no idea. I went to a coffee shop a couple of weeks ago,

and a girl's like, have you seen Hereditary? Really? And I was like, she goes, you're a demon. I don't think you're a demon, but the demon's name. I was like, I swear to God, I had no idea. But apparently, it's the name of a goddamn demon. Wow. It is funny to have it be like, if you're

Damien, you're Child Damien, of course, now you know that that's the name of the Christ name. Yeah, sure, you understand. But I think I would assume you would not expect to see your name often in media, at least in the Western media. No, my weird ass name, there's no way, unless I do something terrible one day,

I don't expect to ever see anything. There's not really a lot of payments running around outside a guy, you know, a certain guy selling rugs in Westwood. But like, but no, it was shocking. It was completely shocking. I couldn't believe it was happening when I heard it. You want to kick Ari Aster's ass with me?

We can kick his ass if you want. Yeah, dude, what's the problem? Is he big, big guy? I don't know. And honestly, I'm kind of scared, but we're in now. Well, I'm good. I got me and this angry guy are gonna kick your ass. I'm gonna kick your ass.

All right, tell you, good horror movie. No, that was great. That's great. Yeah, that was really good. That right, good horror movie. No, that was great. Yeah, it's great. Yeah, that was really good. That's really good, yeah. Let's talk about, a little bit about Glendale life. Because Mitch, this is the thing we've talked about how Glendale, where you live, where you reside,

is a city that's a little bit removed from LA. It's not an LA proper, it's not a neighborhood, it's his own city, but it's a place where you will go. I was gonna say a large Armenian community in Glendale. Yes, for sure. It's a very, I feel like people think of Glendale as like a funny side city next to LA. It's like a little bit more suburban

and it feels a little bit removed, even though it's adjacent to the city, but the reason I was bringing it up in this context is it's a place for chain excellence. Like there are just outstanding versions of fast food and sit down chain restaurants in Glendale versus what you'll find in LA proper. Yeah.

Well, I mean, the, go back to Taco Bell, the Taco Bell in Glendale is unbelievable. Like they are, like I've gone so many times and- There's two that are, and they're both pretty good. Oh, okay. There's one on Colorado and then- That's the one I've been to. That's the one you've been to.

Then there's the one that's on, I'll look at my Taco Bell app. Great. Yeah. And then there's the other one that I- Let's see if you have any more text from Haley Mancini. Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss Fuck. See, every time. Every fucking time, man. It was five, five, it was bad, I was a beggar. Central Ave is the one that I... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's just good, every time I've gone, I'm like they, and it's not like they're not busy, it's just that, I don't know, I feel like no one gives a shit about chains on the other side of the five. I don't know what that is, but yeah, I feel like the handful of times I've gone to other, I'm trying to think of where else I went chain-wise.

I actually went to that IHOP once. Yeah, good IHOP. And it was like, it was actually good. I was like shocked. We're going there with, this will be a different episode, but we're going there in a couple of days. That's true.

Oh, nice, nice, nice. The other thing I want to mention about Glendale, because this is a chain that Mitch has talked about on the show, or not a chain, a restaurant Mitch has talked about on the show that I have a chain, a restaurant Mitch has talked about on the show that I have yet to visit, but Fish King. Yeah. Are you a Fish King fan?

I am, Fish King's very close to where I am. I can't believe you remember this. Yeah, Fish King's, it's great, it's great. Like their food. Vickendor, why would you be surprised that I remember that? That's nice of you. It's a detail you shared. We're gonna give a shout out to Eric Edelsine.

Oh, that's right. Who is a guy who took me there in the first place, which is Eric Waters. It's great. I mean, the food there, if you just eat something fresh, it's great. And if you wanna cook something and take it home, it's also, I mean, the fish there are such high quality

and they'll give you good advice. But it's very close to me. So I go there a lot. What's your go-to? It's hard not to get their fish tacos because like the fish is so good that it's kind of the best fish taco you can get. Right.

And then obviously anything fried, the fish and chips and all that. Yeah, they do good fry. They do, their fry is really good. What's the fish in the fish taco? I think it's cod. Okay, and it is like a breaded sort of fish taco or? Yeah, or wait, or is it mahi?

I don't even remember. Either way sounds good. Yeah. It's just good. That place is great. It's always packed, super packed. Wow. And for a little Catholic boy on Lent, you go to Fish King, you're in trouble. I'm in trouble.

You're in trouble. Well, you're in trouble because you're going to... Going to jack off later. You're going to jack off later. You're supposed to give that up for 40 days. It is like a rare non-Mediterranean thing there, because there's so much of that. Sure.

I was going to talk about when I said the large Armenian community, there is a lot of Armenian food, and there's a lot of other Middle Easterns, but there's Carousel Restaurant, which is famous. If you want any sort of Middle Eastern, I'm a huge fan of Greek food wise. Sure, yeah. But- A lot of Persian food. Persian food, yeah.

Yeah, Rafi's place, if you've been- Oh yeah, yeah. You mentioned Rafi's, yeah. It's fantastic. I gotta give a shout to Mini Kebab. Yeah, that place is great. Mini Kebab, this guy Armin runs it, not our Armin, but another Armin, and it rules.

I mean, you could picture Armin running a restaurant anyways. Yeah. It would be funny. It would be very funny. I'm laughing. I'm thinking about, just like we're thinking about Fran talking to R2-D2.

It's funny. It'd be very frazzled. Oh, it's great. It's great. It's an interesting place to live because everybody looks like me there. So it feels like I feel like I'm in a waiting room for an audition for like a Payman-Benz type.

Like everywhere I go. The thing I tell my girlfriend, I was like, you know what's great about Glendale driving around is I know what I look like in any outfit now. So like, so I can go, cause I'm so bad at, I don't know. I usually wear just the same stuff all the time that I'll like Photoshop myself in shirts cause I don't know what I look like in colors. And now I'll just like go to the Americana and I was like, oh shit man, orange is not

a bad color for my skin tone. It's great. It's great. It's just like my body doubles are everywhere. Normally in like a white Mercedes giving me a dirty look for some reason. Like it's great. I've gotten that look plenty of times. I've pulled out of the Taco Bell drive-thru.

My trainer was in Glendale. Wow. So I would see a lot of cool Armenian guys, and then I'd be like, I'm done with my workout, and then I'd feel like a fucking idiot. What commands did he teach you? Wait, what?

Sit, stay, roll over. Ah! This is why he's angry. I'm the bad guy. We're having fun. You're the bad guy. He is. Wags, I pulled up, look, to segway into the restaurant. I mean, I'll say this.

When we tried Sweet Fin, I hadn't had it. I feel like maybe it was one of my first times ever having it. Amon, we were talking about this before you got here, which is that it was your first time having poke. Our memory was on that episode. And I guess what? I loved Sweet Fin.

You become a poke guy. I kept, I got, I get Sweet Fin quite a bit. And when I was doing my walks with Susser with, uh, Susser and Jack, we would walk around the reservoir and then walk through there and get a sweet fin. And I loved it. Uh, you got something funny to say there? No, no, I just don't. Long walk.

You guys are slow or some shit. What's the. I don't know. Were you off leash? You're going with me being a dog today? I miss Jemmy, that's why. I wish Jemmy was here. Yeah, me too. They're traveling packs, maybe he's in a bad mood.

Sorry, I had to. I don't even, I don't think you're a dog. Chewbacca and a dog. You got me doing it now. This isn't even my nature. I see what he does to you. It's funny that I chose a day to ride my bike here where I feel like I might have diarrhea for the rest of the day. Right. It's just, of course. I don't know what to do.

It's not ideal. I'm going to ride the bike home, and I've definitely had to ride my bike home in a hurry having to take a big shit. It's just of course. It's not it's not ideal. I'm going to ride the bike home and I've definitely had to ride my bike home in a hurry. Having to take a big shit. It's horrible. I know. You have to exert your body. Well, yeah. Any doughboy detectives out there, if you want to find where I live, just follow the

trail. From Head Gum to my home. It's another one of those shit episodes. We shouldn't get into it, sorry. It's fine. Well, this is interesting. Go on, please. Oh, what's interesting?

No, I was gonna say, well, on the topic of, you know, having some sort of intestinal distress, poke doesn't really do that to me. I actually find that it's usually like very, like I'm always a little bit anxious about eating raw fish, even though I love sushi. Like it's just, it's not, it's, it's, I always feel like I'm going to have some sort of intestinal distress,

but it usually sits pretty well with me. I find it's like, it's like a pretty light nutritious meal. Mine was pretty spicy today, which was not, I got spicy tuna and then I got some spicy mayo, but I didn't think it was going to be as spicy it was. And I can deal with heat all right. Yeah, sure. And then eating it I was like,

oh, this is like, I am like sweating a little bit. I also got off my bike moments before. So I don't know if that's what the sweat was from, but I could feel the heat. I pulled up, why? Well, also I'm gonna say this. Sweet Fin just, it's become a go-to and I like Sweet Fin a lot.

Yeah. I got Poke Bar. Poke Bar. The other day on Friday when we were talking about, I got it for lunch. And I was about to text you guys and say, can we just get Sweet Fin again for lunch on Monday? Yeah. That's where my head was at coming into today because I like Sweet Fin quite a bit. So here's the thing.

Poke Bar is much larger than Sweet Fin. Is it really? It is about three times the size, but I think you can feel that, because they launched around the same time. I feel like Poké Bar has expanded really aggressively, and I'll talk about my experience, but I feel like some of the locations are, they don't feel like a... What I want from a Poké Place, a place that's specializing in a raw a... What I want from a poke place, a place that's specializing in a raw dish,

is I want it to feel like, sure, maybe part tiki bar, like a little bit of island fun, but also I want it to feel like a dentist's office. I want it to feel sterile and hygienic. And I did not get that feeling from the poke bar that I went to. Like, it honestly felt like a,

it felt like a teacher's lounge in an old middle school. It was just like kind of dingy and shabby inside. And I was like, this just feels like they got, honestly, it's because it was a, used to be a frozen yogurt place. They still sign up for the frozen yogurt place that they inhabited the shell of, you know, like a hermit crab.

And they're using the fucking yogurt bar station to prep poke now. And it just has that feeling. It's just like, even though this is, this tastes pretty good. It is kind of off putting versus the sweetfin experience, which I feel like you go in there and it feels like, Oh, this feels like a Mendocino farms. This feels like a nice, like, like a sweet grain. Like this is a, a place where I can tell that everything is fresh. You want it to be like a dentist's office.

Yeah. Hey, if someone puts their fingers in your mouth, that would be great. It's a bonus. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some, what's the stuff that you huff?

What is it? Nitrous. Nitrous. Yeah. That's what it is. Which locations did you go to? The one I went to, I went to one in Culver City. OK.

So it was, you know, it just was like in a strip mall and it does not, I'm just going to repeat myself. It just did not, it felt a little dingy. It felt a little shabby. Do you remember Final Destination 2 when the kids in the dentist chair and they have the nitrous on them and then the thing falls into his mouth? I haven't seen the Final Destinations. You've never seen the Final Destinations?

No, yeah, no. 2 is a lot of fun. We gotta watch two. I think two is a great one. I'll watch them all at some point. That would be fun. We should do them on some bullshit double or whatever. By your old December nation, we'll watch them all.

Sounds good to me. December, sure. Why not? This should be the promo. Check it out. We're fucking doing this shit. Final destination movies for some reason. Here it is.

Fucking enjoy it. I agree with you that you want it to be very cleanly. I mean, like, the idea, also, the idea of mass-produced raw fish, I don't know, it just does scare me a little bit. Like, when you're like, it's three times bigger, I'm just like, oh man, all this, like, raw fish that they're working with every day. Yeah. I want, like, I don't like the idea of a chain poke restaurant, maybe, but Sweet Fin does a good job.

I like Sweet Fin. I've gotten it delivered to my house a few times. I walk there and I go in there, but I like Sweet Fin. This place, on Friday, it was not a good meal. It was not, it was not good. We'll get into it. Today, better. I did like both of my poke bowls, but I don't know if there's a place I'll return to. We'll get to that in a second.

It was founded in 2015 in LA by Yun Ju and Jason Park. So, you know, not even 10 years old. Same year as the Dough Boys, this poke bar, which is. Wow. So Yun Ju came from a restaurant family. His parents owned the sushi restaurants called Yanagi Sushi that's in Northridge, California. The Jew came from a, you and Jew came from a restaurant family. His parents owned a sushi restaurants called Yanagi Sushi that's in Northridge, California.

They had a poke appetizer, it sold like hotcakes. And he was like, why don't you just build a concept around this? And for people who haven't been to a poke place or not this chain in particular, the setup is similar to like any sort of salad or bowl place or like a Chipotle where where they've got a counter and just make the order you throw in your ingredients.

And they have almost 70 locations as of this record. They were trying to have 100 by the end of this year, so they were really trying to scale up quickly. Seventy? Jesus. It's too many. That's too many. When you walked in there, did you say, do you want to feed a dough man?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's really good. I've been sitting on that for 40 minutes, Mitch. I was trying to see where it would work. Well done. I got mine delivered. And what was, when did we, we had Pokébar,

but we've never actually reviewed it. Yes, we had it for the Tournament of Champions bowl. That's a, and it was Pokébar versus Sweetfin and Sweetfin won pretty handily. Yeah, but we, I felt like we didn't hate Pokébar. We didn't hate it, and I didn't hate it this time. I didn't hate it either. I just, Friday, it was pretty bad.

And I don't know what they've, can I just get into this? Yeah, please. Why do they put the rice next to the fish? You want it on top of it. I want it on top of it. It just feels like a weird thing where I'm like, okay, now I'm like scooping the raw fish onto the rice and eating it.

Like, I don't, and I didn't know if the first time we got it, if it was on top of the rice or what the deal is, but I liked it being, I like it. And that's with, look, with sweet fin, it's right on top of that rice. It's right there. Yeah. I went on Saturday as well, and I

did not have a good experience. Oh, man, what a bummer. I went to, there's one in, it said North Hollywood. It's some fake thing that's supposed to be like the Grove. It's called something, Noho West or something like that. I was just trying to find the closest one to me. And I went there, you know, so it's just like a fake artificial neighborhood they've created.

So like, this is a very new location. Caruso's LA. I can't take it. Yeah, it feels like that jacket. Thinking about it in Disney yesterday, what LA could look all like Disney if Caruso took over. I mean, look at that. I mean, look at that.

And just how great that would be, right? But I went in this relatively new location and I went in and it wasn't, I got stuff that I normally don't get because I was like, oh, I want to do that. And then today I got what I normally get. And it wasn't great. And it just didn't feel like when I looked down at all their fish, like I'm like, it just feels like there's a lot of cross contamination happening. And it was right.

And I also asked for like a side of a spicy mayo and Isaac and I have that. And she went, of course, like I was an idiot. And then she never gave it to me. And that's why I had to use my own sriracha mayo at home to like give it something. But it was, it actually, speaking of intestinal distress,

yesterday, this hit me. I had it Saturday than yesterday, I was feeling awful. Oh man, what a burn. And it had to be this. My stomach is still hurting by the way. And also, I don't know if it is a thing of like, do the hunks and hungats just come in during like the lunch hour?

Are they just here like in the times when we would use the bathroom? Because I feel like if it was 3 p.m., no one would be here. It's a three hour work day for the headgum employees. They come in at 11, they take an hour lunch and they're out of here by two. They go home to their mansions. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, so here's a question about your experiences because, and I noticed this today, we got a delivery order that we had at studio. So we've all had two meals from Poke bars of this record. It came in a different container than what I got at the Culver City location. Interesting, mine came in the same container.

Yours came in the same container. Mine were the same. Okay, but that was the sort of thing I'm just like, I feel like they're probably, you know, again, when you grow so quickly, individual franchise owners are gonna make their own decisions. And there were weird things at this location I went to, where it's like, there was some like handwritten signs

that weren't like charming. They were just sort of like, this is spelled ramshackle, you know? What container did yours come in? It came in, it was the same sort of form factor, like a rectangle, but it was a clamshell as opposed to this one with a separate like detachable plastic lid.

Oh, weird, wow. Yeah. But it is the kind of thing of just like, it kind of gives you pause, because what you want from a chain, again, especially a chain that's serving raw dishes is uniformity and predictability. And if you're going to be throwing curve balls, I don't know. To me, it affected my experience.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I didn't have the, now I'm going to look at the curve balls, I don't know. To me, it affected my experience. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I didn't have the, no, now I'm going to look at the pictures I took of it the other day. I'm like, did I get a different one? Now I'm questioning. I took a picture of mine too. Pretty sure mine looked like.

I mean, I think you're right that you want something that's uniform, especially when you're having a raw fish place. Right. This is what we had, right? It looked like a thing like this? Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

That looks right. Yes. Yeah. That was the same container we had today. Yeah. This is what we had, right? It looked like a thing like this? Yeah, that looks right. Yes, yeah, that was the same container we had today. Yeah, this is the one I had that was terrible. You know what? I did have a different container. Man. That's very interesting. Yeah, it's just weird, right?

So this is what we had today, and it was the same size, by the way, so this is what we had today. And then this is what I had on Friday. How do I have so many pictures since Friday? You went to Disneyland. That's what I had on Friday. How do I have so many pictures since Friday? You went to Disneyland. That's what I had on Friday. Yeah, it is a Disneyland.

Yeah, that's like an old bowl. That actually looks like a Chipotle bowl. It does. It looks like a Chipotle bowl. What the hell? It's weird. What kind of chain is this? What are you guys doing?

You're too new to be doing this stuff. Wanna see Hanford and I on a thunder mountain? Yeah. Oh, nice photo. Look at you guys having fun. That's great. I'm taking my son out for a little flip on Thunder Mountain.

He looks like he was fine, you could take a photo. That's great. So when I went, actually this was actually yesterday when I went to this other location, I got half white rice, half spring mix. With a medium size, you get three proteins. I get tuna, spicy tuna and shrimp, cucumber, green onion, edamame and jalapeno

because I'm a bit of a heat seeker, spicy mayo, ponzu and sesame oil. And then there's so many things that you can add on. It's too confusing. You can add imitation crab and stuff. I mean, you can build your own bowl at Sweefin, but there are so many prefab bowls or whatever. That's the other thing.

I want a prefab option and they don't need's the other thing. I want a prefab option, and they don't need to have any here. I got a prefab one, but they're also... Oh, okay. But they're weird. I mean, like, they are... It's not like Sweet Fin. I... Also, I... Look, I commend you for getting half salad, even though I'm like, why? Come on, what are you doing here?

But the other part is, like, who... I don't want to eat raw fish on a salad, I guess, is I can't do it. It also doesn't really work because you just end up with really like just wet spring mix. Cause there's so many like moist ingredients. I've avoided it.

I actually on Saturday, cause I've never seen it before, it was like, oh, I'm going to try the kale noodle base. Did the, I don't, did they, was that on the menu? Yeah, there was an option. It was horrible. It was horrible. Well, it was just felt like I was eating a bowl of cold.

Like it just was just like cold mush. And like, and it didn't have the sensation of like a soba noodle, which I really love, like a cold soba. It just felt like what I love about poke when I have it with rice is like the contrast of the warm rice and the poke that's a little cold or room temperature or whatever. And I just felt like I took something out of it.

It almost felt like I took a dinner dish from the fridge out and didn't want to warm it up and was just eating it. Ugh. And it is, I love that as well. And today I did get that, but on Friday I did not get that at all either. It was like, just like, yeah. Oh, yeah. I just, it was too, I don't know,

it just was too much, and then definitely my stomach didn't like it. I got, I also got the OG tuna, which I had never gotten. And I don't really know- That's a prefab, right? Well, it was one of the fish options. Okay. And I got that and albacore and salmon when I went Saturday.

And then I didn't get a lot on it. I got edamame. And I was like, let's try corn. I've never put corn on a thing before. I just made all the wrong choices. And it was terrible. Man, terrible. Well, you know what it was?

It wasn't awful, but it was like when you're going to a meal that you're excited about, and then it's like average, you feel like you wasted a meal. And I remember thinking like, God, this could have been really great. Why didn't I just get what I normally get? But I was like, I'll do that Monday. I want to give a full accurate review as if there's like, this is so important that I had to do it. I was so riled up from the tournament

that I was like, I gotta give an accurate thing on Pokébar. This is, this is, this is. But yeah, I didn't like it. Pokébar, gonna eat them all. Maybe I had something like that locked and loaded for later, it's fine. Don't need, we don't need it anymore. You 100% should do it.

We're fine. You're doing it, motherfucker, you're doing it. I thought it was great. No, yours was great. You're doing your thing later. Look, Wags, I went to the menu online and this is frustrating because I got the firecracker on Friday.

This is, is it a different restaurant that I want? No, it's not. Well, that's the other thing. Cause like I downloaded the Poke Bar app. It was only for the Bay Area Poke Bars. And I was like, what? This isn't a national unified app. This is some different franchise owners

just launch their own thing. It's crazy. I just clicked on it on Postmates. Six minutes until closing. They close at two, I guess. Weird. They're in head gum hours. They're... They're...

She'll go down there and see the hunks working on a poke bar. Let's see here. Okay, so also I don't like these, the signature bowls. So there's Firecracker, original salmon, the OG. So is that what you got, the OG? The OG was just one of the fishes that I... Okay. Yeah, one of the, I don't even know what it was. Uh, goody mob, sunset house, Cali roll bowl.

I don't like any of these names for like a poke bar, but then also, I mean, I don't like this, but I also kind of do like it is one of them was a wazap. That is fun. It was pretty fun. I like that. There was one called goody mob. Yeah, there was one called goody mob. They named a poke bowl after like a 1990s Atlanta rap group?

Like, that's like where CeeLo Green comes from was Goodie Mob. What the hell is that connection? I, look, I'm just reading the damn menu. It's confusing to me too, but. I assume the owners were fans and it's an homage. I got a firecracker bowl on Friday, which is a brown or white rice. I got white rice or salad. I got white rice, ahi tuna, sweet onion, cucumber, green onion, uh,

misago is how you say it. And, uh, I said, and then the sauces are spicy mayo, sweet chili and house dressing. I said no misago because I don't trust the chain restaurant even more so with fish eggs. And then I ordered it with white eggs, I guess. Yeah, sure. And then I ordered it with white rice, avocado. I added avocado. I added crispy garlic and crispy onion, which I ended up doing today. The bowl was, it was bad.

The portions were weird. It just was like, nothing about it was great. I also got a miso soup that day and the miso soup was fine. Yeah. He's overseeing these portions, Unkar Plutt. Pfft. Hehehehehe. I wish I saw him at fucking-

He should be there. He should be there. How is he not there? I was mad because I got, we went- What's the planet that it is? Batu or something, what the fuck is that going on? Batu, isn't Batu, Batu's the name of Galaxy's edge planet. That's what I was gonna ask.

Oh, all right, but- But Unkar Plutt isn't in the Batuu continuity is probably their issue, right? Which is so stupid. Oh, he wouldn't actually- cause they overthought all this shit. Just have Darth Vader walking around. No one gives a shit. Darth Vader should be there. They're fucking idiots. Darth Vader's not there. He's not there.

He's not there. Cause they're like, they have a specific timeline that their fictional slice of the Star Wars universe takes place in. They're like, well Darth Vader wouldn't be around. It's so dumb. The world is burning, who cares? Jesus Christ, what the fuck are they doing? They fucked up galaxies. You know how I feel about it. I think they fucked up galaxies.

I still haven't been, but I've just heard so much negative feedback. The smugglers run is bad. Rise of the Resistance is like impressive in some ways, but I don't really like it, and I know people get mad at me for that, but whatever. It is like when you're walking to it, I think it's like, oh, this is like Star Wars-y.

It's kind of interesting and cool. But my idea for it was that it should have been broken up into different actual Star Wars lands from the movies that you know. More fun, way more fun. There's a Hoth section, it's snowy. You go over here, it's Endor, and then where's the canteen? Tatooine. Tatooine, and then I told here, it's Endor. And then where's the canteen? Tatooine.

Tatooine. Yeah. And then I told you, the Cloud City place where you get lunch, you go in an elevator, you actually go downstairs, and then you eat. This sounds like such a dumb guy explaining. You take the elevator, the engineers make it, so you go downstairs.

And that's where you eat the lunch. But I mean, they could have done anything. What do the Imagineers do? I mean, I think a lot of it is the dipshit who runs Disney. I mean, you do have a dipshit Imagineer character you just created that you can play around with. I like this guy at Disney where he goes, you get an elevator, so they go up. Guess what? This one goes down. This one goes down. You think you're going up, but you actually go down. Tomorrowland.

It actually takes taste today. Wait, so now he does bad ideas too? Is that the game? He has good ideas? He has good ideas. Oh, he sounds like a dumb guy, but he's got good ideas. He's describing them dumbly maybe? That's what it is. Okay, got it. Got it. In the Cloud City, if you go,

it's like, you know, there's a big tower, so it seems like you're going up there. Then you go down, and then you use like, you know, you're underground, but it could be like an indoor thing, and then you have this fake skyline that's Cloud City, and you're eating lunch in there. It's great.

I mean, come on. What a fun. What are they doing over there? Batuu sucks. No one knows what Batuu is. No one cares. No one cares is the issue. No one cares about? Batuu sucks! No one knows what Batuu is! No one cares! No one cares is the issue. No one cares about fucking Batuu.

Tear it down! We wanna see Lobot walking around. Give me a Lobot walk around character. Where the fuck is Lobot, you fucking idiots? Yeah, you fuck. What the fuck? Also, what the fuck is Lobot? Is Michael's character?

Tell us what Lobot is, because we wanna know. He looks like he's wearing headphones, he's an android, we don't know. Doesn't talk. What the fuck is he? What is he? Actually, it's one of those things where it looks like he's wearing headphones, he's an Android, we don't know. Doesn't talk. What the fuck is he? What is he? Actually, it's one of those things where it's like,

it's good world building that there's some mystery there. Sure. I don't know exactly what Lobot's deal is. I don't have to know the story. Not everything has to be explained, yeah. I don't need to hear fucking, I don't need the Lobot, like a Star Wars story, Lobot. Yeah.

I don't need to do that. You just put it out there, we're gonna do it now. Yeah, exactly, they're making it. It's gonna be a Disney Plus original. How did you get your name, Lobot? You're so fucking stupid. I don't know if you had an answer for that. What's that?

Man, that robot is so far beneath me. It took an elevator down. That guy's in it. They don't cast you. That would probably happen. Their loss. So I also want to say this. Sign up for Genie Plus Pass. This is, okay, so yes, sorry.

Disney ticket with Genie Plus pass and Park Hopper. So it was go to both parks. So I will say that, but go to both parks, Genie Plus ticket for the day. Guess how much it was. Can you guess how much money was? $200. $300. What?

What? For one person? For one person. $300. $300. What? To go for one person? For one person. $300. $300. What? To go to a theme park? To go to a theme park, Park Hopper and Genie Plus. And then, that's not all.

Do you know? I prefer Genie Bus. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha You know, you know, this does J more. That's true. Congrats to the lovely couple. It's only 200 bucks man. I, uh, so 300 bucks and then, do you know the new bullshit, the lightning passes? I've heard of the lightning passes, I don't know how it works exactly. There's the popular ride, so if you want to ride Rise of the Resistance, Genie Plus doesn't even work on it. You have to pay a fee to ride Rise of the Resistance, $26. Wow.

On top of the $300 you paid. It's an extra 20, it's another up charge. So if you're like a family and you want to, unless you just sit in the ride for like two hours. That's what the family does. They go and they endure the long wait or they just don't go on it. Oh, they just don't go on it.

What, there's just like a register up there and you got to put your credit card? You do it on the app, basically. That's the kind of thing that's like, and I don't want to sound too much like a back in the day guy, but one thing I liked about theme parks and water parks is that it's kind of a place

where everyone's on the same footing. You know what I mean? Like you can have a lot of money and go there, but like now that it just mirrors our society where you can buy your way to the front of the line or buy your way into certain experiences, it's just like, well, now this isn't even an escapism anymore. No, and when they first implemented like FastPass, it was decent because you used your ticket. Yeah. And then it's like, hey, and it was still kind of equal. Everyone gets a FastPass for this ride, and you can use it later.

But then it turned into, of course, a money game. But $26, the cars ride was $16, which we bought, and then the ride broke down. Anyways, that sucks. No way. Yeah, fuck Disney. It's like in-app purchases, but in a theme park. It's like you think you've already paid $300.

It's fucking horrible. It's crazy. You fucking nerds. when you get mad at me and when I say Disney stuff is bad, you fucking dorks, they're evil. People defend Disney? Who's defending Disney? They defend Disney in the Star Wars movies

and all that bullshit. They get mad at me. Disney sucks. Yeah, it's a bad company. I love it too. Bad company. Bad company. Anyways, Poke bowls. Wait, so I have a question about the lightning pass. Does it feature a Lightning McQueen?

No, huge missed opportunity. That's bullshit. What are they doing there? That is bullshit. Now you're mad too. I'm fucking pissed off. Yeah, right, you fucking idiots? You fucking nerds. Fuck you.

It's funny to call them fucking nerds because you're mad that Lightning McQueen isn't a part of the Lightning Pass. Lightning Pass. You know what's funny is that, Hanford brought this up yesterday. He's like, remember that phase when Weiger wore old Disney stuff for a while?

I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hanford's like, that was weird. I actually went to Disney. I had a Disneyland crew neck sweatshirt that I got and I had a Cars hat that I was wearing. that was weird. I actually went to Disney. I had a Disneyland crew neck sweatshirt that I got and I had a Cars hat that I was wearing. Bring it back. Yeah, I still have the Cars hat. The problem with the Cars hat is it frayed a little bit.

And so you maybe have experienced, we're all frequent hat wearers. It was like piercing my scalp when I put it on. Cause some of the netting was like folded in. So it was just not comfortable to wear. Well, bring back the Disney look. Look, I like a lot of Disney stuff. I love Disney.

There's nothing like as a kid, like at the end of the night, when you're going back to the car and you go by and you smell the stuff from the bakery and the lights and it's sad, but it's beautiful. There's nothing like that walk back. It's the greatest. I love Disneyland.

I think Disney has an old source system because it kind of does smell like shit too. There is like a wafting of shit in there. There's some bad smells at Disney. Here's a question since we're on this topic. What is your restroom protocol at Disney? Because we're at any sort of theme park. Do you have a spot you pick out?

Do you have a park or do you just wait for it to happen? You're like, well, here we go. At Disney, there are the bathrooms that I know that are like more crowded. People were like making fun of me because I knew my way around Disney quite a bit. I feel like in our twenties and thirties, people go a lot. And there's times where I go like three or four times a year and it didn't cost, and it probably cost as much as it cost one day. Yeah. When it was cheaper, we had annual passes for like a couple years, you know? A great spot to go is like in the Disneyland Hotel, if you gotta use the bathroom or like-

Oh yeah. There's like a few spots that are like the very heavy trafficked bathrooms. Carlson pointed me towards one that was in California Adventure. This is when we went for the pod. That's on, it's in the restaurant we went to, but it's on the top floor.

And so it's kind of like a little bit of more of an isolated bathroom. But yeah, sometimes you're just like, oh, well, this is gonna be a nightmare and I've got to use this very heavily trafficked bathroom. Yeah. But this is just what I have to do. They're pretty good with that.

There's a lot of stalls and stuff like that. Yeah, a lot of stalls. I can't imagine it's that crazy that you know, because what I've noticed as an adult is it's a lot smaller than I remembered stuff like that. Yeah, a lot of stalls. I can't imagine it's that crazy that you know. Because what I've noticed as an adult is it's a lot smaller than I remembered as a kid. Yeah. Once you start actually walking around, you're like, Disneyland's actually kind of small.

Like, as an adult, the map makes sense. As a kid, I felt like it went on for miles and miles and miles. And I don't think it makes it weird if you know those. It's good you want to know where to go. Yeah, it's good. It's good. Yeah. Listen, I think it's, I don't think it makes it weird if you know those, it's good you wanna know where to go. It's good, it's good. Yeah, listen, I'm on your side here.

41 year old single man knowing his way around Disney, I think it's good. Come on, you gotta know. Here's what I will say about any sort of experience, why I'm talking about bathrooms is that for me, like I always think of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And if I'm like, I'm not gonna have like, if I'm not gonna be well fed,

if I'm not gonna be hydrated, if I'm not gonna have'm not gonna have like a, if I'm not gonna be well fed, if I'm not gonna be hydrated, if I'm not gonna have a comfortable place to take a shit, if I need to, like I'm not, I'm going to be, have a bad experience overall. I don't care what exotic of a locale I'm at. Like I need these basic things to be handled. I need a good night's sleep in advance. And also, can't they just like make the robot,

like the toilet, like a robot, like an animated robot that like thanks you for shitting in it. Yeah, that'd be great. I think that's fun. Nice one, buddy. There you go, it goes down. Compliments you. I think that's fun.

Compliments you. Wow. Healthy shit. You must feel lighter. Here's a coupon for the cafe over at the toilet. Oh, so you guys are in the shit. I've never, I've never in a theme park. You just don't do it.

I've only, I will be. It's not too bad to do it. I've only, I will be- It's not too bad to do it in there. I will say in my life, and this is going out on a limb, but I would put money on it, I think I've gone number two in public less than 20 times. That's wild. Holy shit. It's just my body just, when I leave the house,

is like, no, it's not gonna happen. But there are times where, I was once eating with a friend in West Hollywood and he's like, you gotta eat the steak sandwich. It's unbelievable. So I ate the steak sandwich. And then as we're writing, I'm like, oh boy. And we were in a, where were we?

We ate at this place called Boa. And then we went upstairs to, what's that stupid place people pay money to go? Soho club? Soho house, yeah. So club. So, so house. Yeah. So we go up there and I'm like, what the hell am I doing here? And we're going to write here. And so I'm sitting there all of a sudden my stomach starts going.

And I see speaking to the most beautiful people I've ever seen in my life are there. And my stomach is telling me you got about a one hour warning. And I told my buddy, I had to go home, and I drove home in rough air traffic from West Hollywood all the way to North Hollywood at that time. And like every 30 seconds, I would like look at where I was and be like, all right, I might have to go in those bushes. I may have to go in those bushes.

Finally made it home, but in public, it doesn't happen to me. It's just like once I leave the house, my body is just like, it's not happening. Soho House probably would be a great place to go, by the way. It was, but it's like, you'd hear all these British accents in the bathroom. Right, right. It's all British people.

I don't know what the hell's going on over there. Yeah, if it feels too fancy, it feels like you're doing something wrong. Oh, you're popping a poo, or someone would say some weird little phrase, and I'd be like, oh, god, that's funny. Soho House is where I had my hand on Tom Cruise's back for three to five minutes.

And he never turned around. Three to five minutes? I was trying to get, Ferguson took a picture with him and I was like, I should take a picture with Tom Cruise because why not? And he was there after the MTV Movie Awards, I wrote for the MTV Movie Awards and I put my hand on his back and then, uh,

he didn't, uh, respond cause he's so used to people touching him. And I just left my hand there and after about three to five minutes, like a very long time, I just took my hand off of his back and walked away. And he was like, I'm much colder now. I was sweating and it was so, it was like, I'm much colder now. I was sweating. It was so, it was like, I know that you're like three to five minutes, but I was like, my hand was on that guy's back for so long. Like just trying to get his attention.

And he was just talking to a couple other people. He was, he was in the zone. And then I saw Chris Bosch and I said, you're going to come to the Celtics, right? And he went, huh. And I walked away. Where was he? Was he on the heat at that point? No, he had not gone to the heat. Oh right? And he went, huh. And I walked away. Where was he? Was he on the Heat at that point? No, he had not gone to the Heat.

Oh, that's when it was- Oh, this is his Raptors era. This is Raptors. Wow. Wow. Nice pitch, dipshit. It goes to your rival. They win two championships.

Yeah, no shit. You think I'm the reason why? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he crosses it off of this? Yeah. Yeah. This will be in the eventual 30 for 30 about the Miami Heat. I Said he crosses it off

This will be in the eventual 30 for 30 about the Miami Be like yeah this fucking Celtics And was soaking wet So angry it was like I can't go play for an angry Was pretty I probably I probably was like You know I just got turned down by Tom Cruise. I probably was pretty, I probably was like, I just got turned down by Tom Cruise. I was probably pretty fucking pissed off. Stuff to pick your spots. That, what you were just talking about,

that story about driving home and you made it home. I've had like, you know, I think I've told the story of the podcast before, but I had one of those situations where I was like, oh my God, I just have to take a shit. This is an emergency. And you're negotiating with your body at that point. You're like, look, we're almost home.

We're this far away. Just make it till then. And sometimes your body's just like, no. And for me, I was like five minutes from home. And I was like, I'm just gonna shit my pants if I don't shit right now. So I pulled over, there was a Quiznos. I walk into a Quiznos.

I walk into the Quiznos. I have to get the key from the guy. I go in there and I'm just blasting the loudest diarrhea in this tiny fucking sandwich shop. It's the fucking worst. It's an absolute fucking nightmare. I can walk to my house, but I just was like, there was no avoiding it.

There was just no way to do it. You could never go back to that Quiznos. I could never go back there and I go out and then I buy an apology water and I never show my face there and then the company closed a thousand locations sir you used our toaster I'm like, fuck, fuck, fuck. Shit in the toasting oven? Fuck. God damn again. Ugh. Uh, yeah, that's, look.

The worst. I've almost, in the pilot's chair on the ride home, I've almost, I've almost rounded out before. But you know, it always works out. But I am praying to God a lot of the time. Yeah. Where I'm like, please just let me get home, please. I was actually working on a project,

and on that call home, they called me to ask me what I thought of a bit. And I was in survival mode while I was trying to, like, figure out a joke for them and how I would film it. And at the same time, it would be these rushes where I'm like, am I sweating? Like, what's happening? And I couldn't say anything because I'm just an idiot.

I could have made up anything. And I was like, stay on the phone call and almost shit your pants. Just keep driving. And I don't think I solved the bit and I didn't shit my pants. It was good. I don't think we figured out the bit ever. It was terrifying. It is funny to think of God, you know,

like God up there and like getting like, please help my family or like all these like, and then like, it's like, it's Mitch again. I'm like, please don't let me shit. Like that's what I'm always asking him for is not to shit myself. These little shit prayers are floating up there. It's like everyone's asking for world peace.

That's all, that's, oh God. I think that's when I get the most religious is when I'm very nervous about shitting my pants. Anyways, it might happen again today. So we should end, we should get close to ending the episode. Let's get to our, I mean, cause I didn't talk about my meal today. I'm not sure if any of us really did,

but today I got a different, I just went in a completely different direction. I got brown rice instead of white. I got salmon as my protein. I went all salmon. I got cilantro and kale, which I didn't get the previous time. I got the how spicy and the wasabi show you,

which I did not taste any wasabi from. It was just completely, just a complete absence of that sort of like horseradish kick. I got a cucumber salad on the side. Too many options here. Just too many things you could throw in there. I threw in some avocado, which was nice. I thought this was a decent poke bowl.

I would like it more if I didn't know what these restaurants were sometimes like. You know what I mean? Like if this was just from a ghost kitchen, I'd maybe feel a little bit better about it. But I don't know. I thought it was fine. But my whole thought with this place,

even after two experiences where they're both like, ah, this is a pretty good poke bowl or this was an okay poke bowl, I'm like, I don't think I'd ever go back here. I don't think I have a reason to return to this place. Yeah. What I got today, I was like, let me go back to my regular. So I got white rice, I think two scoops of albacore,

one of tuna. I was like, I just want to go simple. I don't remember what I got sauce-wise. I think I had a ponzu and a spicy mayo maybe. I can bring it up. Yeah, I remember I looked at Mitch's order and was like, wait, I should do the crispy onions. There was no crunch. I'm trying to find my order right now too.

What the hell is that? I'll send it to you. I got it. And it was better. It'll follow you. I'll follow you. I got it. Yeah, I got it. And it was better. It was closer to what I like. I mean, what I really like is the way I had it years ago in Hawaii, where it's just the fish and rice.

Sure. Maybe with some green onions or something. It was definitely better. It was, like you said, spicier than I thought. I was like, God, why am I sweating? I don't feel like I should have been sweating from what I ate. I was a PokeBone in Hawaii.

Was it just incredible? The fish is way different. It's just like, it's like butter. I didn't feel like I should have been sweating from what I ate. How was the PokeBone in Hawaii? Was it just incredible? The fish is way different. It's just like, it's like butter. It's like, you can like almost bite through without your teeth. Like it's just, it's way, because you know, you go in the delis there and you could just get fish

and you can get a thing of rice if you want, but it's just, even though we're in LA and the ocean's here, the fish is, it's like a different thing. Right. It's totally different. And it's also like, this is like a traditional cuisine. Like this is like a thing that's, you know, been in Hawaii for hundreds of years. Okay. So the poke bar that we got today, let's see, this I believe was yours, which was white rice, ahi tuna, two servings of,

you get three proteins, two servings of seared spicy albacore, edamame, cucumber, the ponzu sauce and the spicy mayo. And then ginger wasabi and misago, as well as furikake and crispy onion. Yeah, the misago and like the edamame and furikake, all that stuff, and then the crispy onion, that's because I need something to balance it, so it's just not mush. A little bit of texture, yeah.

Yeah, just a little bit. Need that crunch. Because if I'm not just doing fish and rice, I need to get a little bit, but it so it's just not mush. A little bit of texture, yeah. Yeah, just a little bit. Need that crunch. Because if I'm not just doing fish and rice, I need to get a little bit. But it's so easy to go overboard. The funny thing is I was in the store and I don't remember seeing signature bowls anywhere.

I was just like... That was the same thing, the signage in the store. I didn't see any signature bowls. And I also just feel like I'm being judged as I'm picking stuff. There's almost a vibe of like, fuck you, I want albacore, all right, shit. And you're like, and I'm never, the scallop looks terrifying.

There's no way I could touch their scallop. Yeah. And, and, yeah. I'm trying to scallop for science, and I was just like, I don't want to risk it. It's not worth it for context. But it's interesting what you say. Being there made me go, I'll never come back.

Yeah. Because I didn't like the way, it didn't feel, like I feel like if the health board went in they wouldn't get a good grade It just didn't I felt like it was all sorts of cross-contamination happening and but today was definitely better today was definitely better today was To and why is the the delivery guy which is also funny we were like There's no Amelia no Emma here, and were like, how do we get the food? We didn't know what to do. So, which is pathetic.

Yeah. But I pulled up on my bike, right? You very kindly decided to take care of the order today. I'll do it another day. And the delivery guy pulled up right as I was pulling up on my bike. Yeah, perfect timing. And I got myself a medium bowl, white rice, and I got three different proteins,

three different salmons, three different proteins, which were, I mean, honestly, in hindsight, like was that dangerous? Possibly. The salmon, spicy tuna and the albacore, but those seem like kind of the main proteins there, right? Besides there's non-spicy tuna as well. I got cucumber, sweet onion, green onion, edamame. Wags, you informed me, you texted me and said,

there's no sweet onion, do you want sweet corn? Yes. You said, I'm not gonna add it unless you reply. I never replied, you didn't add it, which is good. Yeah, why don't corn gives you the rumblies? Yes, yeah, yeah. And it was 10. Yeah. I know corn gives you the rumblies. Yes. Yeah, yeah. And it was 10.30.

I'm in REM sleep at that point. Then, so, cucumber, sweet onion, no sweet onion, green onion, edamame, ponzu, spicy mayo and house sauce is what I got. And then I added for toppings, avocado, crispy onion, crispy garlic, sesame seeds. I kind of went all out. The Masako made me nervous because I thought it was going to make it too salty. Just the bowl too salty.

It was pretty salty. And so I, so that's, that's why I stayed away from it both times. I got crispy and here's the thing with this place. I was like, I'm going to get crispy get crispy onion and crispy garlic and sesame seeds. We're at Sweet Fin. I'm like, I don't need, sometimes I'll put crispy onion on it, but the bowl is so well constructed.

I don't need it here. I was like, I think I need these crunches on top of this thing. Totally. I got a side of cucumber salad, which I just don't think came with it, unless it was in the bowl, which maybe it was. This is the thing.

So like, there's like, it's weird because it's categorized as a side, even a side of seaweed salad, a side of cucumber salad or a side of imitation crab, just a side of crab. And they just put it in the bowl. I don't even want to call it a side. It's just another option. So that's maybe, that was like maybe the sweeter cucumbers.

It probably was, yeah. Which probably helped, honestly, helped the bowl a little bit. Yeah. This was better. This was better than Friday and it was close to good. Besides the Rumblies now, I was like, you know, I was happy enough with it.

The rice was warm-ish. Yeah, it was not bad. Would I rather have sweet fin? Yes, I think I would. Uh, I, yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was not, it was not bad. Would I rather have sweet fin? Yes. I think I would. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

I drove by the sweet fin that we went out and I was just like, Oh man, sweet fan. It just looks better. Just aesthetically. It's like, it's like, feels like a, you know, a better version of this. There's also things with, with sweet fin where it's like, this all comes in like plastic containers where you're like, if you're a poke place, Sweetfin where it's like, this all comes in plastic containers where you're like, if you're a poke place, it feels like it's the ocean

and it's not meat. And we're trying to, I mean, I know that the mass fishing is horrible for the oceans and everything like that, but I'm just saying, there's wooden forks, you know what I mean? There's so much stuff where you're like, this feels environmentally, they're at least thinking about the environment.

I don't know if it's environmentally friendly, but then here is like these cold, like a lot of the time, today was the plastic containers, right? And you're just like, this feels like they, it feels like a big conglomerate or something. And they just gave me a bag of six pack rings. They just got me in there and they were like,

just do what you want with it. This is how we do your fish. And like, just do what you want with it. This is how we caught your fish. Man, I said, do not cut is what it said. Do not cut. Weird, weird. I always cut up those, Irma loves to lick plastic.

She's like a plastic licker. Our cat's the same, we have to hide all plastic. Yeah, she loves licking it. What do you think it is, the texture? What do you like about it? I don't know, but he gets acne when he, Oh really? He gets these like, he always tries to, I don't know what it is, but we texture? What do you like about it? I don't know, but he gets acne when he- Oh, really? He always tries to, I don't know what it is,

but we have to hide, he always finds it. She looks at it so much and I'm like, and it's just like, it's hard, because everything is plastic. Everything. Which is bad. Yeah. But so often, oh man,

I'm gonna have to do a sweep of the house today. I'm now just feeling bad thinking about it. She licks plastic all the time. I don't know what it is. I don't know, it's really strange. Wally does it too, but Irma just loves it. Very Crimes of the Future. They think they have new organs? That was for Casey. Thank you. Who kind of liked it. I liked it. He's really happy over there. Grinning ear to ear over there. Wait, tell us about your cat.

Well, it's my girlfriend's cat, but it's my cat. And now, my cat. And he's great. He's like, I don't know how old he is. What's his name? She named him Mr. Darcy after Pride and Prejudice, which she finally showed me recently. Which version?

It was an old one. The guy who plays Tom in Succession isn't the one that I saw. That's the one I saw too. A girlfriend showed me that at one point back in the day. And I was like, you have a crush on this guy? He's an asshole in the movie. He's a fucking dick.

He's a rake. That's the whole thing. Not a fan, but... He's an archetype. But you know what? He's kind of likable still at the same time. That's the Tom Magic. That's the thing.

Tom is a fucking, that handsome son of a bitch. He's a great actor. He's great. What's his name in real life? I don't know why I even asked that question. I don't know why I'm, I'm about to pray to God again because it's getting close to that time. Yeah. ["The Daily Show Theme"]

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I mean, if you uncoil them. Well, this Father's Day is also the perfect time for your old man to stop stealing his wife's nail clippers and finally have a kid of his own that will last him a lifetime, Wags. You know what he's doing with those nail clippers. Trim his pubes. Yes.

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Yeah, it's a dad's cum joke. Your dad's cum free balls. Your dad's got to shave his balls because that's where his cum is. That's what led to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I get that. Yeah, I think that's what it was saying. So the pubes in that case are kind of your neighbors. They're kind of like the bird's nest. Yeah, that's what led to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I get that. I think that's what it was. So the pubes in that case are kind of your neighbors.

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That's helixsleep.com slash doughboys. This is their best offer yet and it won't last long. With Helix, Better Sleep starts now. Wow. Wow. Let's get to our fork score. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. All right, so Payman, you've done the podcast before. You know the drill, but we'll each go around.

We'll give our closing arguments on Pokébar and end it by giving a score from zero to five forks. Payman Benz, our official unofficial Poké correspondent, your thoughts. Well, look, I love Poké. It's one of my favorite things for lunch, always lunch. Um, and if I was to just go by Saturday, we were in bad shape. Wow. And Saturday, I will tell you after Saturday, I had

locked in like one and a half forks because I was like, this is just bad. Today was a lot better. Today was closer to what I want out of poke, but there's so many better poke options, especially here in LA, especially the place that we just, I drove by coming here and it's still, I still don't trust their fish.

I don't know if they're expanding too hard or what it is. I, there's something about poke bar that makes me really nervous. I don't ever want to step inside foot of one. We'll see how I feel later, but I have to be very honest. I'm going to give Pokébar three forks one time.

Three forks one time. Still a pretty positive assessment. It's a little, cause today was a little better. Yeah, sure. But it was, I couldn't, no, you know what, we're going three. Three. Yeah, that one time I was, I couldn't, no, you know what? We're going three. Three.

Yeah, that one time I'm taking back, because I'm realizing I'm probably not going to feel well in a few hours. But I'm just doing that just because today was safe enough, but I feel very, I don't, it's rare for me to go to a place and eat where I'm like, it's probably going to make me sick. And that's kind of how I feel about Pokébar. And I don't like their expansion. I think it's the wrong kind of chain to expand like I'm like, I'm like, it's probably going to make me sick. And that's kind of how I feel about Pokebar. And I don't like their expansion. I think it's the wrong kind of chain to expand like that.

Yeah, I agree. I don't know why I have that fear of Pokebar either. And it's after going there a couple of times. I like that I have now have this fear of it. Doesn't feel clean. It just doesn't feel, I don't feel like that. Like it shouldn't feel like Chipotle. Chipotle's different. We're like, I don't want to see these things next to each other.

And like, what ocean did this guy come from? And what ocean did that guy come from? It just feels, yeah, I don't know. I'm shocked that it's a chain. I'm shocked that it's, I didn't know there was that many locations. It's insane. So they had desires to be the number one poke restaurant.

Now I believe there's another concept called, what the fuck's that? It's another poke, I the fuck's it's another poke I think it's called poke works poke works is Chicago based. They're number one. They have like a hundred locations based poke company. Yeah, weird, right? You know, I guess you can do it anywhere in the world. It doesn't matter. It just seems weird. It seems strange, but who knows? I don't know if you know, it might be good. Um. We'll have to review it at some point.

Well, I mean, we will. Yeah. We'll do it. We're going to do it for you. We're going to do it. We're going to do it for you. Well, this show might change what it is. I mean, we're hitting 10 years. We're going to talk about it.

Um, look, I like poke and after sweetfin that's, you know, that was my, my dipping my toe into poke. Uh, and I, and I like poke and after sweetfin that's, you know, that was my, my dipping my toe into poke, uh, and I, and I like it and I now I'm a fan of poke. But you know what this is Wags and I hate to be, I hate to say this. I hate to be curled up. There's no what this today is. Tell me. Hoke poke.

Hoke poke? Hokey pokey. Hokey pokey? Wow. Hokey pokey. That's what I'm saying. It's hokey pokey. Wow.

It's not, you're giving me, you know what? My stomach's turning all around. I ate the hokey pokey and it turned it all around. That's right. All right? This is a good review. You sit down on the toilet and you blast it all about. So, you know, that's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. The hokey pokey. And you know, I don't think it's horrible. Yeah.

You know, there's maybe in its flagship locations, it's really good. I don't know, you know, the owners of it, I don't know how, you know, authentic this place was or what the idea started on and you know, where, where all the, where it came from. And there is maybe some sort of story where they love this food or they, you know, they, they, they, they, they, they used to make it all the time back in the day, or they they're connected to it some way. I don't know. I don't know the history of it, but this feels like a big conglomerate poke place. And I, and that kind of stinks, right?

Like I don't love it. Poke sweetfin is way, I want sweetfin a hundred times out of a hundred over this. Um, that being said today brought it way up from my meal on Friday. Yeah. And I'm gonna go, still not even that bad because I don't think it's, I'm gonna go two, I can't tell, two and a half or 2.75.

Maybe two, two point, two and a half. Two and a half. I mean, that's also like in the middle, by the way. It's not horrible. No. Yeah. I don't even think there's any Pokebar defenders out there. So I don't know why I'm nervous about it. I don't know. Yeah.

I don't know if there this has, I mean, it felt like there weren't a lot of people going to this place. And it's not a place I hear talked about all that much. Versus like, I feel like a Sweet Fin and, you know, Sweet Fin, I hope we're not being too hyper local LA here because I know Poke Bar is a bunch of different places. Sweet Fin might be a little bit more Southern California centric. I think there may be some NorCal locations now, but.

But maybe that's just better for Poke. Exactly. And those locations are bustling, I feel like at lunchtime, whereas I don't feel like I get the same, the same sort of energy or behind Poke Bar. Look, I, Poke is not a thing. I know, so it's that sort of thing. Look, sorry to interrupt. If it's like you go on a subway and you're like, oh, people haven't gotten turkey in a couple of days. They're like, okay.

But if you go in and you're like, people haven't really touched the raw albacore. In a couple of days, you're like, I don't fucking want to eat it. Yeah. You know what I mean? As long as that octopus been sitting there, you know? It is like, it's a legitimate concern. Yes. It's just the idea of like an octopus. It is like, it's a legitimate concern. Yes.

It's just the idea of like an octopus. It's like this thing that probably comes from another world. Right. And then it's here, and then it's just like cut up in these little pieces in this bin in this horrible chain. You don't eat, is it a cephalopod? Cephalopods, yeah, I don't eat octopus or squid anymore.

I stopped, I stopped. Octopus, sometimes, I mean, the calamari is still tasty, but that's just because it's fried, but octopus I don't, I just feel like they're too smart. Also, I don't feel like I've ever had octopus that was like so good that I had to have it. It was just like, it's fine. I'll just, I'd rather have shrimp or some other fish or a fucking cheesy gordita crunch. Damn it.

I like Taco Bell's spicy octopus tacos. Oh no, they're gonna do it now. They're gonna do it now. Mitch, you did some of the Poke Bar song. I didn't write all the lyrics, but I had a few. I'll just do a little bit of this. Poke Bar, got a fresh-um raw. Wait, hold on.

Pokébar, oh, the podcast bad. And both of the hosts are mad. We're disgracing both our dads. Pokébar. Pokébar, got a fresh-um raw. At least my dad's not alive to see it. I really hate this shit. Gotta freshen em raw. At least my dad's not alive to see it. I really hate this shit.

Lowbot should be at a walk around character at the Disney Star Wars. That's my main takeaway from today's episode. But I also am going to say that Pokebar is, Mitch is making, he's doing finger guns at someone outside the window. It's 2.30. It's quitting time. I had a gun. They're taking their lunch pails and they're going home. Their workmen lunch pails that they got because aesthetically they're cool. Right. And they're heading home.

This is filled with Celsius, that's all. I think this is a, I've come to like poke more. I don't get it frequently. I would not go back here. I just don't have any reason to. I don't want to be the low man here. I don't want to be saying the lowest score,

but so I'll maybe go a little bit higher. I'll be in handling clubs with Mitch, but I was leaning too far because I thought that's where y'all were gonna land. And I'm kind of surprised you went a little bit higher, but I will say today's lunch was pretty good. So maybe that speaks to whatever location prepared today's version.

But then again, that sort of variation from a chain is kind of an indictment of its concept and its scale. I'll say this, the last time we did it was bowl, which was bowl, which was now what? Like a year, a year and a half, a year ago. I think it was, was it last year's tournament? Was it Munch Madness? It was last year's Munch Madness.

It was last year's Munch Madness. So it was basically a year ago. So a full year difference also is like, maybe the product isn't as good as, because I thought it wasn't- We liked it back then. We liked it, yeah, we liked it. But we like Sweet Finn more,

and that part of my opinion hasn't changed. I had gone to Poké Bar years ago and it was fine. It was, yeah, I'm with you. I don't think I'd ever go back. I don't see any reason to. I'm gonna give it two and a half, four, because I'm being handled in close with Mitch. Nice.

Hey, that was our review of Poké Bar. It's time for a segment. I got a food stuff. We're gonna decide if you should put it in your mouth. It's snack or whack. So let me go ahead and grab some of these. I went to the, I went to the Mitsuwa, a Japanese market, and I got a few different snacks

we're gonna get to in one second. All right. All right, Corey. It's gonna be cool to eat some crazy snacks after. Do you mind if I just pray quickly? Also, we were talking about including prayer on the podcast soon anyways. Yeah, there should be more, I mean, look,

this has always been a Christian podcast. But we think we're gonna make it a little bit more explicit, just say prayers. Wait, what? Wait, why do the doors just lock automatically? You got that Matt Lauer switch under the desk there? We don't even have for horny reasons just for a guest to stay. Okay, I'm giving up on this.

Where are Joe Sardines back? You're giving up on what? I'm giving up on this Band-Aid I've had on my thumb and it's just an impossible place for it to stay, like a fixed, so I just, it fell off and whatever. I'm going to have a used band-aid in my pocket. Blotting up our snacks. I'm not grabbing it with a blood hand. So, also I'm not bleeding. The blood hand. The blood hand.

Sounds like a horror film. Blood hand. Hey, you know what? You can call me Nick Weigerman today, because we're gonna do comedy bing bing. We've got some bing bing snacks. Oh my God. Bing bing. Wait, didn't I bring bing bing last, didn't I bring comedy bing bing we've got some big oh wait didn't they bring Bing Bing didn't they bring a Bing Bing you didn't bring some Bing

Bing so I thought I'd bring it back we've got a few different ones we got a wafer cone snack I don't you remember that we've got a really brought we got a strawberry flavor yeah man I retain things we've got a we've got a green tea flavor and we've also got fuck I'm gonna cut your tea flavor and we've also got... fuck! You're gonna cut your hand open! And we've also got a banana flavor. Wow. So we can sample all of these, payment all hand these to you. Oh my god. Feel free to get these open. Or actually we could probably distribute these a little bit more equitably. And time permitting, well we'll see if we get to these, but I also got some from the same brand Hoppy. I have some frosted cookie sticks, cookie crunch,

and popping candy. So these have the form factor of like a- Banana if you want a banana. Thank you so much. These have the form factor of like a mini ice cream cone, but they're a candy. Oh man, we're gonna die today. Here you go, you can give me a couple of these. Oh yeah, there you go.

What do you have? This is, wow. You know, their little logo guy kind of looks like Pit Pat from Mr. Show. Oh, he does. He's got a little Pit Pat. Yeah, he was also at January 6th. And then here's... Oh, thank you.

Easy. Can we give this to Wags? What are we missing? What am I missing? Man, that banana banana one so good. I'll go banana first, too. I do really like that a lot. OK. I forgot what this is. Somehow it was something that's room camp and then give one. They were able to replicate

like the texture and the feel of like biting into ice cream. I can really smell the banana flavor from across the room. Oh, yeah. I'm going to I banana flavor from across the room. Oh yeah. I'm gonna bite into this banana one. That banana's nice. These guys are salivating over here. There you go. Muscley minions in the back splash.

Minions that are like fucking, where's the, don't they come out of like a toilet or a sewer grate or something? They have like, they're mutants. They have like a little toxic bin. I'm gonna pick that up for us. I know. We're all in the number two. Yeah.

Emma rules. Emma's the best. I miss Emma. Oh, dear God. It's just an empty chair over there, empty spot next to where Jemmy normally sits. It's one day. I'm sad about Jemma. I'm sad the dog isn't here.

Yeah, you'd love Jemmy. She's a sweetie. You know what? You're right. The banana one is not bad. Pink is good too. What flavor is this? Strawberry?

Strawberry. Strawberry. Less like the fruit versus banana. Banana has more of a banana character. This is more just like a generally sweet pink, but I do like it. As you go down the cone though, it's, and's there's less it is kind of just a dry cone. That's the thing It turns into a dry guy I'm doing this green tea now. You know, it's fun though. We can do like this bit like yeah, I'm this guy

That's pretty good. It's a fun bit Which guy is that? No, I'm this guy. I'm this guy I'm a cigar guy. Yeah, I got a cigar, I'm this guy. Yeah. I'm a cigar guy. Yeah. All right, I'm Groucho. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Um, I wouldn't want to be on any podcast. It would have me as a guest.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Mm. Green tea must sound bad. Oh, wait, there's so many. Oh, you already, wait, you already distributed all these. Thank you so much. We gave them all.

I know, I just forgot. Brain's bad. I'll tell you, you wanna hear a brain's bad moment today? Yeah. Yeah. I was in the shower and I was like, did I shampoo my hair already? I forgot. Is that bad?

Like I was like, I don't know. Yeah, it is bad. That happens to me too. Yeah, I was, okay, good. It happens to you too. It could've just been zoned out. I mean, we zoned out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But then I was like, I washed my face and I didn't remember if I washed my, I was just not. But that happens to people, right? It happens to people all the time. Yeah, all the time. I forget that I've done shit. It sucks when you're dumb and then you're forgetting stuff because then you're like, I was not at,

wasn't like I was like, you know, at the top of the mountain ever. And now I'm starting to fucking tumble down. That's the, because this is the thing, is it's like, I'm like, I look like shit and I'm also stupid, and as I get older, both of those things are being exacerbated. Like I look worse and my brain is worse.

You don't gotta tell me twice, I agree. You guys are very smart and beautiful. I don't know what you're talking about. God bless you. Also like we- The payment's getting a little, I don't know what you're talking about. God bless you. I think Cayman's getting a little old. I think he's starting to become a fine. It's happening to you, too. Well, it's like we do these things a million times

in our lives, so it turns into muscle memory. I don't think it's that big. It happens to me, so I'm trying to feel better about it. I like the strawberry one. It's honestly kind of more subdu it. I like the strawberry one. It's, it's not as a kind of a more subdued than I thought it would be. It is. Yeah.

All right. I'm going to have the chocolate one, which is the only one I have left. I like the green tea quite a bit. I think these are all a lot of, I think these are all snacks. Let me try the chocolate. I think maybe they are all snacks.

I wanted the strawberry one to be better because I don't love green tea flavor and, uh, and it's sorry, Usong because I know Yusong loves green tea. That's right. But I, that green tea was kind of sweet and nice. The banana one's maybe my winner right now with a three and I'm about to add the chocolate one, which I feel like it's going to win for me. I think the chocolate might be my least favorite, even though I think it's a good

execution, I'm interested in what you think because you're more of the Choco guy. But I would put the banana one. I'd put banana, green tea, strawberry, and then chocolate if I had to rank them. I'm the same order for me. Wow. Yeah.

I'm going back to have more banana. The chocolate to me tastes a little artificially. I'm not sure how you feel. It is a little artificial. I do like, like, it tastes the most like, I don't know, it has like a chocolatey candy feeling to it where the other ones are very like different, which is cool, but I do like the taste of this a little bit.

I think maybe though the banana one does win. I think snacks all around, I think they're all good. Do we wanna try the cookie sticks? Yeah, why the fuck not? All right, I'm gonna're all good. Do we want to try the cookie sticks? Yeah, why the fuck not? I'm helping these up Casey do you want any of these? I'll try that banana one. Sounds good. Great Surprising the banana. Here we go Why not bad? I was kind of bad Wow, they're only I think there's I don't know if each pack has multiple ones or not

There's only three packs in here. Well, give us one each. Yeah, no, we get one a piece. There you go, Mitch. Sorry, started opening it. Fucking blood hand. So what is this frosted cookie? This is frosted cookie crunch and the other one is popping candy, frosted cookie stick.

I'm going to eat the frosted cookie stick last. All right. Is one over. Yeah and so these and for our audio listeners if I didn't clarify the previous ones were kind of like an ice cream cone a mini like a very svelte ice cream cone these are a little bit more of like a just a long stick. And so these these are Japanese candies correct? Yes yeah. And so these are are these popular in Japan I mean it's also all in English writing, so I don't know if this is... Well, yeah, because they'll be,

someone's importing them, so they'll change the label. But these are popular in Japan? Yeah, that's my understanding. Oh, okay, so funny enough, oh, it's frosted cookie stick popping candies, it's covered in chocolate as well, the popping candies. They're both chocolate. Yeah.

What are you eating? The pop, the popping one? I'm eating the regular one first. I'm doing popping. You got popping? I'll go to popping. You know what? Kind of fun.

You know what? I like this a lot. Oh, that's a lot of fun. Oh, that's great. I can hear it. Little ASMR there. What we're doing for audio listeners who are disgusted by that sound.

Let me do that. There's a lot of popping candy. Yeah, we had pop rocks in our, there's popping candy. Whatever those pop rock things were in our mouths, we were doing that right in the microphone. So you're hearing a gurgling within our mouths. Here's the thing. I swallowed it and there's still stuff popping in my mouth. Isn't that weird? This is a weird effect of it. Why are we still the animals open?

You can pull it out on YouTube. There's a lot of popping candy. You know what? The fun thing about it is it's still like a good tasting chocolate cookie stick, but then there's just the fun of the popping candy on there. I think these are both good. I think it was a kid, I just loved the popping one so much, the novelty of it. I'm an adult and I love it.

I feel like I can hear it in my, it's like inside my head. It's like you never recover from this. I'm sorry, there's always three of these, I apologize. You guys don't hear pops all the time? I didn't have them. Did you have the normal one yet? I haven't done the normal one. I have not.

I had the normal one first. Oh my God. Yeah, it's still going. No, there's quite a lingering effect. Where do you stand on candy generally? I love candy. I love- What are your favorites? If I go chocolate, I like Twix or Snickers

are kind of my favorite. Oh yeah, sure. And then I love Sour Patch Kids. Wow, okay. Yeah, big fan. Big fan of Sour Patch Kids. I got a question for you. How the fuck does popping candy work? Obviously it's this live, you know, I know this sounds like a insane clown posse type question,

but how the fuck does it work? I don't know, I can look it up. I think you should. Okay, I'll look it up. It's good. It is good. I mean, it's tasty. You know, I think the, It's good. It is good. I mean, it's tasty. I kind of like the novelty factor of these.

As someone who's not gonna eat any of these regularly, I feel like I kind of want something that's a little bit more off the beaten path versus what we're used to with American candy. So I'm like, that's why I like the banana one. And that's why I like the, the frosted, the popping sticks one. I think I'm going to finish my pop it one because I missed that feeling. I'm going to finish over. Sure. I want more pops.

Is the frosted cookie one just, is it a different flavor? Is it the kind of the same thing? I think there's same flavor just with popping candy and regular crunchies. Got it. So, okay. This is from a science dot how stuff works.com. just with popping candy instead of regular crunchies. Got it. So, okay.

This is from science.howstuffworks.com. Pop rocks, I'm reading this verbatim, pop rocks work by mixing a hot sugar mixture with carbon dioxide gas at high pressure, which forms tiny high pressure bubbles in the candy. When the candy cools and the pressure is released, it shatters into pieces still containing these high pressure bubbles.

Upon melting in the mouth, Pop Rocks release the carbon dioxide gas from these bubbles with a loud popping sound. So that's the release of carbon dioxide gas that's trapped within the bubbles. I got news for you. Is this safe for us to eat? All right.

There was a lot of them in there. I think I like the Frosted Cookie Sik better. I think it has a better flavor to it. You like the regular one? I think it tastes good. Yeah, it is good. They're both good. They're both good.

They're my winners over the other stuff too. But is everything a snack? I think this is all snack. We're doing snack or whack. We're all snack. I broke it off. I don't know how. Is that the popping one?

This is not the popping one, sorry. We're getting shot. But this is a cookie stick. You want me to throw it? Here we go. One, two popping one, sorry. But this is a cookie stick. You want me to throw it? Here we go. One, two, one, two. That was a horrible throw, Mitch. Well the funny thing is your practice one

was at a higher arch and then you just went line drive. Went directly under the table. It was so bad. I was trying to be very gentle. Oh my god, it's so fucked up. Yeah. Did you finish your thing? No, I have mine. All right, so give it to him. I'll walk it over. Hold on. Here's both of them. They have bites out of them. I will walk these over. Just snap off your bites. Thank you. I enjoyed the banana.

Banana's great. Really good. Really good. Anyway, because I was over at- How do you believe how bad that throw was? Because I was over at Mitsuwa, within the same complex as the Kinokuyi bookstore, the manga shop, and so I went and I got some manga for everybody.

Oh, what a surprise. You went and got yourself some manga on top of it all. I went to the manga shop. I'm not gonna go. Let me guess you went to the manga behind the curtain Right this way sir to the Weiger booth the this is a The bread the crust yeah is pretty bad again on this one. They're not good. Yeah, I don't need the crust.

The cookie ones, they're all snacks. The cookie ones I think are like really snacks. I think they're great. That stick is, you've just got to think of it as a handle, not as part of the snack. Mitch, as a lover of felines and of horror, I thought this was fitting for you. I got you Night of the Living Cat.

Wow! There you go. Cats will walk the Earth. This is a zombie apocalypse, except everyone turns into adorable cats. Wow. I love it, Thwags. Thank you.

Payman, as a fan of Roundball, I got you the classic manga Slam Dunk. There you go. Enjoy that. That's legitimately good. So it's a lot of fun. Yeah, the movie, they had, they did an animated film last year, the first slam dunk.

That was one of my favorite movies of the year. It's amazing. Can I just show you something that's disgusting? Look at the, look at this trash, like, like there's like a little alley of trash by my leg. Just a little dough boys leaving, trapped between your thigh and the couch. And then Casey's, alley of trash by my leg. Just a little doughboy's leaving. Trapped between your thigh and the couch.

And then Casey's. Casey says it's just as fell as today. I once again got you something for the spank bank. My dress up darling. So enjoy my man. Hell yeah. Thank you. Yeah, yeah.

That's where Casey wasn't secretly for you until you realized. Natalie saw it and you're like, it's for Casey! It's for Casey! Emma said you're out of town. I'm going to go and say I don't want you to be in the room. That one's also legit good. This is hilarious.

On the back of this, the writing, it says, basketball. The court, the ball, the hoop. The hopes, the dreams, the sweat. This is great. It's true. What is that you got there? And this was a free toss-in. I don't know if you want this, Mitch, but it's a bookmark for cat-eyed boy, another cat thing.

I'll tell you what, I like cats. I'll use it as my bookmark for this book as my first book of the year. Ha ha ha ha. Does that count for the Mitch one book challenge? I don't know if it does. It's a comic. I don't know if it does.

Well, look, if we want to make Mitch one book challenge? I don't know if it does. It's a comic. I don't know if it does. Yeah. Well, look, if we want to make the one book challenge happen, we might have to open up the parameters of what a book is. Mario Kart 64 Prima strategy guide. All right, here we are. That was Snack or Whack. Just like a restaurant via your feedback,

let's open up the feedback. And hey, today we have an email from Matt from Detroit. Matt writes, have you ever been in a drive-through pay it forward line? And if so, what did you do? I spend as much time in the drive-through as an average Doughboys fan, but I've never had it happen and I don't know if I should take that personally. Thanks. I've never experienced this firsthand.

This is where someone pays for your meal and then you pay for the person behind. It just seems like a huge pain in the ass for the workers. But I don't know. I think I told you, I don't know if I told it on the podcast, but I went to Arby's, this is, and I pulled into line. I was waiting in line.

Yeah. And then, you know how Arby's is, there's an alley and then there's, and you know the one Arby's on Sunset? Yeah, the Hollywood Arby's. Yeah, so I Arby's. Yeah, yeah, so I'm waiting in line, or is it on Hollywood Boulevard?

I'm just calling the Hollywood area Arby's. There aren't a lot of Arby's and there's one in Hollywood and there's one in Inglewood and that's basically at Freilay. So I pull into the line and there's a line there and then someone pulled them through the alleyway and I was there first and then she tried to get in before me. You have told the story of the podcast. I told it on the podcast. Yeah, but keep going.

I feel bad about it. No, no, no, keep going. But I like rolled out my window and I was like, whoa, what the fuck? I mean, like I never do this ever. And again, I say that I'm not an angry mean guy, but I was like- You were the victim here.

Yeah, she was cutting. I mean, I did get, look, I did get cut off, but I was like, I was kind of like, hey, I was here first. I was like, and I was like, why do I, after I did this, I was like, why do I care? Who cares? I think it was like close to closing, we, I was here first. I was like, and I was like, why do I, after I did this, I was like, why do I care? Who cares?

I think it was like close to closing. We needed it for the podcast. Yeah. And she was like, what do you mean? Like it's, you go one and then the other. And I was like, I was here. There was no one else here. It was like that scenario where it was like,

that doesn't make sense. Not that kind of line. It's not that kind of line. And then she was like, go ahead. It was like not good. And then I like was in line and I was ordering and I was like, I just feel bad for this poor lady who was here to get Arby's after a day of work. Uh, you know, I think she was in like a nice car, but whatever.

I was like, well, that doesn't mean anything anyways. I just felt bad and which I should have, cause who cares? And I said to the guy at the Arby's window, I was like, can you pay for the person behind me? I feel bad. I paid for it. And then she came over and she was like, thank you very much for that. And it was nice.

It was a nice, it ended in a nice way. So you're not an angry, you reacted to a thing, rightfully so, but the sweet man and you took over. Yes. And I don't, yeah, I think that's great. It's a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a little bit, but, but, uh, but I've never, I bit, but I've never, I've given tips at fast food restaurants.

I've never paid for the person behind me because I feel like I'd never have like a, like I'd never have a rapport with the person behind me or something. I don't really know what's going on back there. I'd be curious, because I think that, yeah. Makes sense, right? Like, what am I, I don't know them.

I'd be curious, because I bet that it happens at like Starbucks and stuff too, because people are like, oh, hey, I'm not, it's'd be curious, because I bet that happens at like Starbucks and stuff too, because people are like, oh, hey, I'm not, it's five bucks, whatever, I'm not paying for an entire meal. But that to me, I'm assuming someone who, like a barista who's experienced that has been like, it's been a, it's a huge pain in the ass,

because you got to change all the stuff on the POS to account for the vehicle behind the person or whatever. Oh, sure. I'm sure it's a logistical nightmare. It's gotta be. I've never, but I feel like if I paid for someone, there is, as much as it's a kind gesture, there's a part of me that would want to, like,

not pull out in the street and just kind of pull up and look for their face. Yeah, right. They're like, uh, give me something. You want a thank you wave, yeah, you want something. Yeah, you need a thank you wave. But no, I don't... You can't do something with no one noticing.

Come on. What are you doing? You don't give to charity unless you have your publicist send some cameras over. But I've never even heard of anyone really doing it. I've been in one of these lines. What happened? What?

It was at In-N-Out. Wow. And I went to pay, and they're like, the person before you paid for you. I was like, oh, wow, great. And they were like, do you want to pay for the person behind you? And I was I was like, oh wow, great. And they were like, do you wanna pay for the person behind you? And I was like, well how much is it?

Yeah. Fair question. And it ended up being like a dollar less than what I was gonna pay, so I was like, yeah I'll pay it. And then like, you know, I'm moving up to the next window, I see the guy behind me, and I like waved to the person in front of me, like as a thank you, and then I see the guy behind me do the same thing and then wave to me, and I waved back, person in front of me, like as a thank you, and then I see the guy behind me

do the same thing and then wave to me, and I would wave back, but it like. Where do you think it ended? That's a great question, I have no idea. I imagine it's, everyone's doing the same thing where they're like, well how much is the person behind me? Yeah, there's like a family of six behind you, you're like fuck this.

If there's a world, if the world is a good place, this is still happening, is what I say. Is that that line should still be, it should still be paying it back. It's a beautiful thought, Mitch. Thank you. And if so, let's go there right now. And end it.

Yeah, and end it. And end it. The dough boy's behind you, the guy that goes, what the fuck that comes in. Oh, shit. The guy just leaves his cart and walks in. If you have a question or comment about the world of chain restaurants, you can email us at feedback at birdfuck.com or leave us a voicemail at 830-GO-DOE.

That's 830-463-6844. And to get the Doughboys double our weekly bonus episode, plus our entire pre-2018 back catalog, subscribe at patreon.com slash doughboys. Our producers, Emmerer Brink, our associate producers, Emilia Marino, our engineer is Casey Donahue, and our video editor is Mike Dorfman,

our guest, Payman Benz. Thanks so much for being here, Payman. What a treat, what a joy. Is there another- The Poke specialist. The Poke, the Poke man, is there a, is there another Poke joint that we should have our eyes on? Is there another concept that's been expanding?

No, honestly, not that I know of. I feel like I just go to Sweet Fin, just because I know what I'm getting, but no, I have no idea. I gotta go back to Sweet Fin. That's what this whole experience was like. I just wanna go to Sweet Fin. We can get Sweet Fin for lunch here, it's not far.

Let's make it happen. Let's do that for ourselves. I said to ourselves, because that's what we're normally doing with these meals. But that would be a treat, that'd be fun. Payment, anything you'd like to plug? No, I have nothing to plug. I love that.

I have nothing. Not on social media anymore, nothing. I don't know what's going on in the world, that's great. Hey, we got you here on the pod. This is Hollywood. This is Hollywood. This is, by the way, I've said this to you guys. This show keeps me normal, listening to this show.

During the pandemic, this is what made me feel normal, was listening to these episodes. Two things made me feel normal during the pandemic. This and Curb. Because just to watch people really passionate when the stakes are low, it's the funniest thing in the world to me. And I like any, especially if I'm on like a stressful job

listening to doughboys on the way in and out of the office is like the best fucking thing. It's the best. That's the best. You're the best, buddy. Thanks for being here. It's been too long. Thank you guys.

The stakes couldn't be lower than here. This is why it's funny. We eat at a poke place and we're, yeah, it's just, it's, I love it. I love it. This is all great. Do this for 10 more years, please. This is going to lead to a fight after. Got to look at some actuarial tables for life expectancy for fast food podcast hosts, see if we can last another 10 years. It can't be any, yeah, it can't be any longer than DGA members. Like we have a pretty low

life expectancy. That's grim. Except for Ridley Scott, I guess. I hope he keeps going. I love him. Keep going forever. Does litany mean a lot? Yeah.

Okay. The litany of doctors. Every doctor I've spoken to when I tell them about the podcast is like, that's not good. You should not do this. You should not be doing this. I had a dietitian who told me to stop doing this. And so I did not. So we fire a rat. I did find a different dietitian. Well, because I'm also like, this is my life. We've got to work within these guidelines. I'm talking about a dietitian tomorrow, Wags. Yeah. Wow. They have to listen. If they haven't listened, then they need to go get another fucking profession. Listen to what the person's talking about.

My dietitian listened to it, and she's like, you have to stop the podcast. I was like, is it bad? The food's that bad for me? She's like, no, no, no. You can still eat the same way. Just stop the podcast. That'll do it for this episode of Doughboy. Still next time for The Spoon Man, Mike Mitchell, I'm Nick Weigert.

Happy eating. See ya. Hey, buddy. Want Doughboys merch? We're talking hats, shirts, sweatshirts, patches, glasses, all sorts of stuff, aprons. It's all available at kinshipgoods.com slash doughboys. That's kinshipgoods.com slash doughboys. That's kinshipgoods.com slash doughboys. Sources for the intro are in the episode description.