Doughboys - Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen 3 with Phil Rosenthal

Episode Date: January 21, 2021

Phil Rosenthal (Everybody Loves Raymond, Somebody Feed Phil) joins the 'boys to talk food, travel, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Plus, Mitch and Emma compete in another edition of Family Food.Sources for this week's intro:https://culture.pl/en/article/popeye-polish-roots-fiegelhttp://popeye.com/timeline/https://popeye.fandom.com/wiki/Popeye_franchise#Thimble_Theatre_and_Popeye_comic_stripshttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/popeyes-new-fried-chicken-sandwich-has-created-a-frenzy-in-its-stores-new-data-165231715.htmlhttps://www.popeyes.com/our-storyAdvertise on Doughboys via Gumball.fmWant more Doughboys? Check out our Patreon!: https://patreon.com/doughboysSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1919, cartoonist E.C. Seeger debuted his strip Thimble Theatre in the New York Journal. Though successful, it would run for a decade before introducing what would become not just its iconic character, but one of the most iconic characters in the history of American comics and animation—a strong-jawed, pipe-chewing sailor man with anchor-sized and tattooed forearms. The nautical hero whose canned spinach consumption confers superhuman abilities would have a legacy long beyond Seeger's lifespan—tragically shortened by Leukemia at 43—as with the supporting cast, stick-thin love-interest Olive Oil, hulking bearded antagonist Brutus,

a.k.a. Bluto, and perpetually indebted hamburger dipshit J. Wellington Wimpy. And the sailor man's name would have such cachet that, in 1972, eccentric restaurateur Al Copland would choose it to rename his Louisiana Fried Chicken restaurant, formerly known as Chicken on the Run. Copland hoped, successfully, to use an applied affiliation for marketing with both the cartoon sailor man and the main character of the then-hit film The French Connection. And a few years later, the partnership became official as the chain of the cartoon character entered a contractual arrangement that would last for over three decades.

But its pilfered brand name and informal and formal endorsements alone can account for all of its success. With its aggressively seasoned chicken and seafood, and a range of New Orleans-inspired sides, it expanded nationwide, later affixing Louisiana Kitchen to its name to emphasize its Bayou roots. And in one of the biggest fast-food stories of this past decade, in 2019, it debuted its chicken sandwich, dethroning Chick-fil-A in the collective consciousness as the breaded bird's sando to beat.

Today with over 3,000 locations, this Louisiana Kitchen has become as ubiquitous and as much a part of American culture as the swollen forearmed sailor man with whom it consciously shares a name. This week on Doughboys, we return, once again, to Popeyes. Welcome to Doughboys, the podcast about chain restaurants. I'm Nick Weiger, along with my co-host, Patriot's white-ass receiver, Julian Bredelman, the Spoonman Mike Mitchell. Nick, you're the guy who says ungepochka all the time.

That's right. And you didn't think for a second that maybe this was ungepochka? It might have been a hat on a hat. It might have had too much going on there. Gilding the lily, if you will. But that one, Mitch, was from a self-identified marinara-stained dipshit named Anthony, roastly-managy-mil-com. I'm getting all the Italians upset. A lot of open wounds still in the Italian-American community from your pot shots taken at them.

That's why it's covered in marinara. Marinara's run through his veins. The sauce, the sauce. These fools. For our guests, just so you know, I'm railing against Italians lately. Right. But then I kind of switched over to Australians. Yeah, I think just kind of pick a focus.

Yeah. All right. It's Italians. It's back to Italians. Okay, great. Great. We love the Pope. Fucking idiots.

Aren't you Catholic? Yeah. You know, I like the Pope, all right. The cool Pope is a pretty good guy. Pope Francis. Pope Francis, the cool Pope. The guy outpopes everybody. He's so good at popin'.

Yeah. He's like, no sex before marriage, but I never said anything about eatin' ass and then he winks. Millennials like, yeah, that's our Pope as we love the Pope. Pope getting Pope merchandise. I got something when I went to Italy when I was a young boy. I got a rosary for my mom and dad, blessed by the Pope. Wow.

How about that? Mitch, I think you're going to get something else the next time you visit Italy. The shit beaten out of you. I deserve it. You know, watch the Sopranos lately, Wigs. I'm afraid. They give quite the beat down. I would not use the Sopranos as a way to characterize Italian Americans in general.

That's the best of them. Oh, no. That should be, that should be the, it should be the Sopranos, Colin, that's the best of them. Oh boy. All right. We've railed on Italians long enough. Howdy ho to Spoon Nation.

Nick and I have both. Don't drag me into this. I hate doing that. Howdy ho in front of a certain guest and our guest today includes that list, Nick. A look of baffle mint on his face. We can explain it, but also, yeah, maybe a new greeting for the new year. What do you think of that? Oh, I love it.

Maybe that's what we'll do. Okay. Yes. Here's a little drop. And here it comes right now. You say scone, and I say scone, you say syrup, and I say syrup, scone, scone, syrup, syrup. Let's call the whole thing the podcast about chain restaurants. That was good.

I like that one. I liked that one too. That was good. Let's call the whole thing off. Hey, Spoon Man, I'm at Corey C, C-O-R-E-Y-C on the DoseCord. Oh, it's Corey on the DoseCord. All right. Hi, Corey.

Here's a drop inspired by the Pete's Coffee episode. It's nice and short. Enjoy. Thanks, Corey. That was great. Hey, speaking of the DoseCord, our Discord server available with Platinum Plate Club members at Patreon.com slash Doughboys, the stinky in the DoseCord, who is something of a linguist, shared a map with me that notes that my pronunciation of scone is in fact

valid in Scotland. In fact, most of Scotland, if you look at it, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which is also part of the UK, maybe not for long, is scone is the proper pronunciation there. No spoilers. We don't know what 2021 is going to bring. I don't want any spoilers for 2021. Okay. We'll try to keep those to a minimum.

Okay. But hey, here's something I can't spoil. Our guest is going to come on the show right now. Wow. The creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and the star of Somebody Feed Phil, which is now streaming on Netflix. I'm thrilled to have him. Phil Rosenthal.

Hi, Phil. Whoa, what a nice introduction. You started today by saying one of my favorite words, ungepoche. Now I say ungepoche. You say ungepocheke, is ungepocheke the correct pronunciation or is ungepoche the correct? This is a, first off, I am a Gentile. So this is perhaps appropriation on my part. But our good friend, who told you about this word?

Our good friend of the show, past guest, Emmy Blotnick, introduced me to ungepocheke, and that's how she says it with a ka at the end, but I'm not sure what the proper pronunciation is. But we know what it means, right? What does it mean? We do know what it means. It's like one thing too many. It's a little, too many things.

Exactly. Too many things. There's food that can be like that, obviously. There's decoration that can be like that. There's too much stuff on it. We all know we go to the restaurant and there's too many things on the plate that's too ungepoche, we say. Wow.

Phil, this is why it's such a useful word. This is why I end up using it all the time. I think it's great. It's great. Yes. By the way, Nick, Phil just schooled you. You're using this word. You're tossing it around.

No, Emmy, Ms. Blotnick, with the name Blotnick, you might trust the way she says ungepocheke. She sounds like she comes from the land of ungepocheke, Ms. Blotnick. So maybe you go with her instead of me. Phil, thank you for making time for us. I want to start here. I love you guys. Oh, God bless you. Thank you for saying that.

I want to start here. I know you're from New York. How could you tell? Do you have any food, like an outside of the city, yes? I was born in New York. I was born in Queens, and then the Bronx for a few years, and then Rockland County, which is just a suburb north of the city about a half hour, and then Hofstra University on Long Island, and then Manhattan for 10 years, and then here I am in LA.

So you've been everywhere. Let me ask you this about New York, obviously a great food city. Do you have any favorites that make you think of the Big Apple or New York State in general? Oh, yeah. Well, New York, I would say it was Mecca, right? It still is. It's the best city in the world. But now I'm going to be honest with you, food-wise, LA wins right now because of the diversity.

We have the biggest populations of people outside their native homelands than anywhere else in the world. So we have the, you know, I happen to live right next to Koreatown, biggest collection of Korean people outside of Korea in the world, biggest Mexican population, biggest Chinese population. You go to Monterey Park and you go to the different neighborhoods in Monterey Park. You're visiting all the provinces of China. Really, it's incredible.

So that, you know, when you have so much, you're going to hit a great meal. Yeah, of course. Your odds of hitting it are very, very good. So the food scene is amazing. There used to be New York food, everything, all the trends started there came here. Now it's the exact opposite. Wow. And now, Phil, is there anything as far as, I agree with you, I think that LA food is

great. Nick, and you know I think this, but there's things on the east coast that I miss. Of course. Is there anything from the New York area that you miss? What's your number one thing? LA has wonderful pizza now, but it didn't used to be that way. When I first got here 30 years ago, it was crap. A lot of food wasn't good.

And all they had was fast food. And even that wasn't as good as New York, right? So in New York, I miss that very specific New York pizza. Yeah, yeah. I get that. I get that. And I'm a pizza freak. I love pizza.

My favorite food. My favorite food. I mean, if I had to desert island it might be pizza. And French fries and hot dogs and fried chicken. I'm perfect for your show because I love, I do not, when left on my own, I actually prefer not fancy. I prefer, somebody asked me, what would your last meal be? And I thought it would be all these things, the childhood favorites.

You know, I think you, you're just two overgrown kids who love the food of your childhood. And there's nothing wrong with that. Yes. You know, it gives us, nothing gives us comfort like that stuff. We're childlike in many ways, sadly, but as we get older, we want to find the best versions of that. Mm hmm. Right.

You know what? If I was stuck on a desert island, I would choose to live off the island. I'd bring nothing with me. Oh, so you'd make the computer out of the coconut like the Gilligan's Island. You would have to, just what's there? What's that show? Alone? What's it called?

Right? I don't know alone. I don't naked and afraid. What's alone all about? What's alone all about? That's how I go through life, but, but alone is a thing where you're left alone and you got to make your way. Yeah.

Yeah. I would, I was, I was joking because I would be dead probably within, probably within hours. Me too. Me too. No. I would need supplies, lots of supplies and a, and a Hilton hotel at least. I had a, well, speaking of hotels, because you are a man who, you know, you travel a lot with your show and, and let's say you stay in a hotel.

What's your food routine? Are you eating? Like, are you someone who like eats at the restaurant, the hotel lobby, or your room service guy? Do you go to nearby eateries? I am very much not a room service guy for two reasons. First of all, why would I eat in a hotel if I'm in a new place? I want to see what the place has.

Right? About exploring, going out, finding the stuff. Second, the hotel food is jacking up the prices because you're in the hotel. Oh yeah. And, and you know, the Rosenthal family crest is a picture of the mini bar with a line through it. Wow. We do.

I don't know. I'd say it goes back generations. You do not touch the mini bar. Yep. Why would you pay $30 for a soda? Yeah. Like it doesn't make sense to me. I would never do it.

It would have to be such a desperate situation for me to use the mini bar. It's just I'm principle. I've unlike on a night where I've maybe had too many or day where I've had too many drinks than the night before. Yeah. That's maybe the only time that I've like maybe taken like a Gatorade or something from me from them. I understand emergencies.

I understand. I'm with you though. You just want some nuts. Right. Yeah. I get it. It's not, it's not worth the mini bar specifically. It's not worth it.

Wise, you know this. I was living in the hotel for three months last year and there was a, the mini bar food was always there. They actually took it out. I told them to take it out because I couldn't be trusted. Wow. Do you miss that at all? Do you miss the hotel life at all or are you just like, thank God that stretch of my

life is over? Who me? Yeah. I don't know. Why are you living in the hotel? I was filming a movie which hopefully will come out this year. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I was excited about it. Wow. But yeah, it was, I don't know, Nick, I mean it's nice to have your bed constantly made which I guess I could just do on my own. I like hotel life. I do. Hotel life is a bad thing.

Mommy takes care of you. Mommy takes care of you. Yeah. That's it. That's what we like. Thank you mommy Hilton. It's actually one of my favorite things. I don't talk about it really on the show but it's one of my favorite things about making

the show is trying all the hotels. It's so much fun. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. Okay. So because I went all in on, you go on Mitch. Well, I was going to say, I just remembered I was flashing back to like when we did stuff

in New York and Nick you would constantly eat salads in the hotel lobby if you remember this correctly. I'm a hotel lobby salad guy. Yeah. That's a go-to meal for me. Just a boring ass chicken Caesar salad. I do love hotel breakfast. Oh yeah, me too.

I love to see that. I'll go down. I don't want the room service. I want to go down. I want to see what they're doing. I want to see what the restaurant puts out at breakfast, right? Because that's kind of a hallmark of a hotel. Like I was in Thailand and they had the most incredible fruits of Thailand laid out there

and I would get the same thing every morning. Just this giant plate of fruits I never had before and drinking the coconut water out of the fresh cut coconut. Wow. It was so good. Damn. That's rad. Do you have a, do you prefer like the continental breakfast?

Do you like that breakfast buffet? Do you like to sit down and order something off a menu? Depends. I go and I look. If the buffet is amazing, I got to do it. Sometimes the buffet is way too much. I just want my eggs. That's all I want.

I just want my eggs. My little hash browns toast. Good. Coffee. Good. I don't need the whole buffet. And by the way, if I have a lot of eating to do that day, right, I don't want to waste it on that.

But if they're doing stuff that is extraordinary and a lot of these hotels do, by the way, you never been to Israel? No, not me. I've never crossed an ocean. Yeah. Nick's never crossed an ocean before. I hope to die without ever leaving North America. Is that really true?

That's how much of a patriot he is, Phil. Nick, have you seen my show, Nick at all? Yeah, of course. It doesn't make you want to travel even a little bit. I get, I like, I failed you, Nick. No, not at all. Have I failed in my mission? I like, I want to get you to travel.

That's your reason, that's your motivation behind the show. Yes, you're one of the shows for. Wow. Yeah. I get the, vicariously, I like seeing that. I like seeing, you know, you or Bourdain or Andrew Zimmer, like, you know, there's a lot of people who travel internationally and Padma Lakshmi as a show now where she's going to a lot of places, though she's mostly staying in the U.S. I like to see people travel and

try different cuisines. Like, I'm like, oh, that looks good. Oh, that looks interesting. But I don't need to do that. Oh, God. What the hell? I like to travel, Phil. I know.

I mean, I do it, but I'm not like, I don't have any eagerness for it. You're right. What the hell is right? That's. How old are you, Nick? Forty. Nick, life's going by, Nick. Oh.

Can I ask you something? It's gone by. This is a real question. Yes. If somebody today gave you a house, like, here's a house, free house for you, it's yours. Would you stay in one room at a house? My first concern would be the tax implications. So I'd have to figure that out.

But once that was settled. Dear God. I don't know. I think I'd use most of that. It depends on the square footage. It depends on the layout. I can use most of the house. Do you see my metaphor here?

No, he doesn't. You don't have to get it. Nick, yes. It's going to be my life's work now to get you to step out of your comfort zone a tiny bit. Wow. Nick. You're going to eat something other than fast food.

You're going to try something new. You can travel in your own town. Now, I know the show's all fast food, but do you enjoy other cuisines? Do you try other things? I love everything. I accept all comers when it comes to food. Okay, so in that respect, you have an open mind, right? Yes, for sure.

If you can open a mouth, you can open a mind, right? You can try to food. You're already experiencing another culture. So aren't you a little interested in seeing another place for real, seeing what that feels like? To be honest, no. Oh, my God. I don't feel that strongly.

I don't care that much. But I do get the appeal. Intellectually, I get why people are into that. Has there ever been a place where you said, oh, that of all the places, maybe that's where I would go. If I was going to go one place, I would go there. What is that place for? Nick, you can't say hell.

Well, we know he's going there. Let me see in that. I don't know. No, I don't have a great answer there. There's not a place like I pine to travel to. There's not a place where I'm like, oh, I think that'd be cool to see Machu Picchu or whatever. How about something that's easy, like Hawaii?

That's still in the United States. I went there once when I was too young to appreciate it, once when I was a kid. So I guess if that counts as going to the midpoint, going to that hot spot in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, that's probably as far abroad as I've gone, even though that is still part of the US. Nick, you've been to Quincy, so that crosses off a big place that you would travel to on your list. That's true.

Quincy, Massachusetts, taking in the sights and sounds. I had a great time in Quincy. You saw where John Adams was born, John Quincy Adams, where they lived, the first Duncan Donuts. Now, Nick, we got to do an international tour. I mean, I've talked about this. Yeah, where would you take him? You know your friend.

Where would you take him? What do you think he would like? I want to take him to a place where he likes to do an impression of it, so I think he would be happy down there. Oh, we do have a good number of listeners in Australia and to them, I say it's a very easy, you know, you can assimilate very easily there. Everybody speaks English with the nice accent, and you're going to recognize it as comfortable for you.

I think. Yeah. Right. As far as I can tell too, Australia shares a lot of the US's reactionary politics, unfortunately. Not great. But I would be interested in. All right. I would be interested because it just seems so.

I like the beach. I'm from Long Beach. I like these beachy climbs. I want to get you to London too. You know, I want to get you over to London. I've been trying to get you to London for a while. Speaking English there too, Nick. That's true.

That would be huge. But I don't know. What if you went to the place that had the best food you've ever had in your life? That wouldn't be a motivator for you? He'd maybe stay. Yeah. Having great food, I think, is the main thing I take away from vacations. Like that's like.

And I imagine that's probably the case with you as well, and that's part of the motivation for the show. I plan the trip around the food and then everything else is what I do between meals. Right. Right. And it's still important to me, but the food is the real motivator. I'm not going to a place if I hear the food's bad. Yeah.

Yes. My plan is to go, Nick, you know this, and I want to do shows there, but I'm going to go to Japan regardless. I mean, we'll see how the most food-centric place on earth. Yeah. That's very excited about it. Yeah. It's amazing.

Wow. Why do you characterize it like that? Every other door on the street has something to do with food. It's either a restaurant or takeout or something or selling food supplies or something to do with food. They are at their pop culture is food. Like, by the way, you could do the whole fast food show there because like at Burger King, for instance, they're doing, they're having promotions where they're switching

out the sandwiches every month. So like when I was there, they had a Batman burger. It was wild. The bun was black. Wow. Yeah. And it was cool. Stuff is cool.

Yeah. I think you, that's the natural progression for this show is to go to the different places. Yeah. And if you want to focus on fast food, that's fine. But off camera, you should be trying the food in Italy. Yeah. That's not fast food. You should have a grandma make you some pasta and it will change your life.

You understand Nick? Maybe. Nick, I got to say that if we went to Japan, you could probably get a job in that, that robot restaurant where the robot serve you. All right. Oh, he would like that. Nick, come on. You promised me you're going to take a trip when all this crap is over.

I have an open mind tour towards traveling places. I just, I'm not, you know, it's not a thing that I'm excited about. I guess part of it is that I am like. Because you haven't done it. Yeah. I haven't done it. Yeah. But I mean, I've traveled throughout the contiguous US quite a bit and you know, every time I,

I'm just kind of get to some place and like, all right, you know, I'll answer for him. No. He doesn't like, he likes staying in his room and his house and his thing. We go on tour and you do not like to go on tour. Yeah. But I mean, that's also for work. I guess there's maybe something to all of the, you know, all of the travel I've done. Is it part of it because I'm there?

I mean, it doesn't help. I think a big part of it is that most of the travel I've done in my life has either been for work, like it's been like, I'm doing it for work purpose. Even the most traveling I've probably done, which is via dough boys, is like for work. We're traveling to tour, I've been to cities and we've been, but that's like, it's a job. Funny guy is like, hey, we're going to send you to Canada to shoot something like that. So there's no unions up there. Yeah.

We're shooting a non-union Gillette ad that's going to air on the internet. And then we'll turn it into a TV ad later and you get paid $150 for a week. Yeah. No, I've gotten a lot of that. And then also as a kid, it was all just like road trips. Like my parents would just any place we could drive to because my dad was super duper cheap. And so we just go to, we go to some campground in like Laughlin, Nevada, and that would be our vacation.

Yeah. He has negative associations with his childhood. Okay. No, this is, this is, this is great because this is the first time I've realized this. Yeah. So, so Nick, are you married? Yes. Okay.

Well, and your wife feels the same way about travel or she's like, why don't you get me out of here once? She loves to travel. So I that is the thing like I will like, if she wants to go someplace, we'll go there. And she, she is fantastic about, take your wife to Paris and Venice, I'll play in the whole thing. Nick. Phil, you know what?

Where's your wife? Is she in the house? Let me talk to her. She's not going to want to come on the show. It's me. Tell her it's me. I'll pass along your sentiments. I'm sure she very much wants to travel places and I'm open to that.

Do something for your wife. Come on, Nick. Can't be all about you and this guy. Come on. I think you should plan that trip. Yeah. For me and Natalie. I think the two of us will do this trip together.

I'm going to take that next, that's fair. Wait a minute. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. You didn't know this was going to turn on you. So turning into some sort of international cuckold scheme. Yes. So how I do it.

I get on a podcast. I got, I got something to say. I thought of a new word. Yes. I want to see what you guys think of this, but I think it's a good new word. Okay. You asked what, you asked what Phil's food routine was. And I think as a new word, what about foutine?

Like poutine. Hmm. Foutine. What's your foutine? What's your foutine? Foutine. It might be the D in there. Foutine.

Yeah. Your foutine. I don't think you can just do foutine. God. Yeah, that's no good. I think foutine is good. I think it's a portmanteau kind of works. Yeah.

Foutine though. It sounds like poutine. Yeah. But I don't think that alone sells it. Oh, God. Damn it. I knew you were going to have some stoop. I am with Nick on this.

I'm not with Nick on anything else about how he runs his life, but this I'm with him. Nick is always punching up and you know what, Phil, if you're punching it up too, it needs a punch up. It needs to be foutine. I think foutine. It's just for clarity sake. Yeah. I think it works because foutine is too much like futon.

Yeah. That's true. Then maybe it could be some sort of, I don't know, it could be some sort of lateral thing to a futon then, a foutine. You realize you've lost all your listeners. Yeah, everyone's confused. In these couple minutes. Now, hold on a second.

I think there's some sort of way to make foutine work. Well, we'll get back to it anyway. Okay. Now, Nick, if we went to- We'll get back to it. We're getting back to it. We're getting to the topic later. What time is it?

I have to go. He wants to get back to it. We'll get back to it at some point. Oh, my God. Nick, you could go to Super Nintendo Land in Japan too, by the way, if we went to Japan. That I'm intrigued by. I do want to see what Super Nintendo Land is all about. Okay.

So, well, we got to see Phil. All you got to do is add some sort of childish element. If you said that, if you said that in Italy, there's like a big- Take your wife. A minion part. Yeah. Take your wife to Paris and you get to go one day, you get to go to Euro Disney. Okay.

There you go. Right next door. I'm going to be talking to that. Dear God, you go see Cars Land and fucking Euro Disney. It's not as good. I'm just complaining. By the way, the food there is probably excellent. I bet it would be.

I'm actually here to hear. For sure. Right? I mean, they care about the quality of things, right, when you travel. You're surprised at the quality of things. Where life is meant to be enjoyed, it's meant to be beautiful. There's time in the day for you. Stuff shuts down in Europe.

For a couple of hours in the middle of the day, when I first saw that, I was like, what the hell? I can't buy a shirt. What? What are they crazy? We used to work, work, work, get and make the money. There, they take the time in the day to enjoy the day. There was this foreign concept to me.

Something great about it, right? Yeah. No, I love that. Yeah. We're far too work-centric here. Yeah. I'm totally on board with that. Let me ask you this, because Theme Park's got brought up.

Do you have any theme park eats you like? Or first off, are you a theme park guy? And if you do go or you go with your family, what do you like to munch on? I was a theme park guy, Nick, when I was a child. Fair. Right. You know what's better than the Epcot Paris? Paris.

You know what's better than the fountains outside the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas? Bellagio in Italy. Phil, there's a Bellagio in Italy. Yeah, I didn't know that either. There's nothing better than those fountains outside the Bellagio in Vegas. I know. People like it. I like it.

I like Las Vegas. It's a great food city. I don't gamble, though. That's how I win. I have a great meal at an outpost of a wonderful restaurant, right? Talk about buffets. You could do a whole show. You probably have on the buffets of Vegas and see a show.

See Elton John. Jerry Seinfeld. See something great. That's why you go to Vegas, but after two days, you've got to get out of there. Oh, yeah. More than 48 hours. It's excessive. I stayed in Vegas for four days once and I was just like, this is, I can't believe how

long this feels. By like day three, I felt like I was dead. It's just way too much. Phil just gave me just a dream scenario as Jerry Seinfeld with Elton John. Oh, what a show that would be. A combo with the two of them together would be great. Who opens who closes? You can actually do that.

Maybe they do it together. Actually, I don't know. I don't know now, but there was the, as of a couple of years ago, you could see Jerry at Caesars and the next night would be Elton John at Caesars. Wow. That rules. Yeah. What a double bill.

Let me ask you this because I know there are a lot of licensed slot machines in Vegas and I know you don't gamble, but do you know, is there an everybody loves Raymond slot machine? You know, they asked me about that and I actually said, I don't think so. I don't want that. Oh, wow. I don't want to be associated with because I've seen things. I've seen like grandmas in wheelchairs smoking with their credit card, literally in the machine and they're playing off their credit card.

I don't want any part of that. Yeah. It's because it is amazing the number of licensed slot machines that are there. It'll just be like an Ellen machine and it's just like Ellen. They've like filmed new footage with Ellen for this machine and just like, I can't believe how much money is behind this. I just want to quickly say to any, you know, of those, the manufacturers of these Vegas slot machines, the Dobe's aren't going to do it.

Okay. So don't come call them. We're not. A Dobe's slot machine. Don't play off your vultures. It pays off in donuts. If you hit in Gapochka three times, you get... Yes.

Well, we should get to this week's chain, Popeyes, which has no apostrophe. Popeyes founded in New Orleans in 1972 by Al Copeland, a dynamic, interesting figure. There are over 3,000 Popeyes locations worldwide, previously reviewed with Leslie Arphen and Andrew T and a member of the Platinum Plate Club and runner-up in our tournament of champions, Chicken Fight to Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich. You mentioned you were listening to your favorite foods earlier, Phil, and fried chicken was among them, foods that you would crave. What are your, like, what are your fried chicken preferences?

And also, you know, as someone who's had a lot of fried chicken, because I feel like every culture has their take on fried chicken, you would know better than I, do you have any memorable fried chicken from your travels? New Orleans, I went to several places and I found the fried chicken there to be amazing. So, my favorite fried chicken in New Orleans is actually at Dookie Chase's. Dookie Chase's, OK. Leah Chase was running that. She passed away a couple of years ago.

But that, her fried chicken and gumbo that she has for lunch there, and that's kind of a buffet situation when you go there. I thought it was the best fried chicken I ever had. And what I like is I don't like when it's so batter heavy, that it's thick and kind of greasy, almost like fish and chips batter, that kind of batter, that kind of lacky batter. But because it's too greasy for me and not enough flavor, it's like a hard shell that has nothing. It's not integrated into the chicken.

I like when the batter is almost part of the chicken, like the skin has erupted in crispiness. That's what I like. Yes. And when it's seasoned. Now, I had something, if you watch our Mississippi Delta episode, I had something that I'd never had before. I thought it was insane when I heard about it. And it came to the table and, man, you see it in the show.

This was a chicken fried lobster tail. Wow. Yes. Wow. I thought, why are we chicken frying? Do we have to chicken fry everything, people? Why are we doing this to lobster tail? I don't need that for my lobster tail, right?

Lobster is delicacy expensive. It's a thing. Why are you battering it up and covering and it comes and the shell part is actually battered. Like, why are you doing that? Not can't eat the shell. You can't eat the shell. Yeah. So what it's done is it's formed its own protective shell around the meat of the lobster within

its own shell. And it's got this amazing fried chicken seasoning within that batter. And that's permeated into the lobster meat. And the other thing that it's done is it's sealed the meat so that when it's fried, it has steamed within that. So it's the most tender, juicy lobster meat, maybe best ever. Wow. And that that was like a revelation to me that you could have something so delicious

with a with so incongruous, right? Right. And not too ungepache. Exactly right. Does that sound good? That sounds delicious. It's delightful. Yeah, it sounds amazing.

Maybe you want to go there. You want to go. I had that in Memphis at a place called Jim and Samela's if you're ever in Memphis. Wow. Wow. And Talbert is the chef there. That's awesome. Nick and I actually, we had some good meals in Louisiana together, Nick.

Oh, yeah. Well, that whole year. Yeah. Louisiana Mississippi. And Nashville as well. And Stephanie's wedding. That's right. We got a half hour on the show too, but we had some great meals down there.

It was one of those times where we were out together, Nick, and I went to a restaurant that I think Natalie maybe recommended, and we had a great time. And we also went to another place that Van recommended, our buddy, Van Robyshow, who's from New Orleans, from the Bayou down in Nalans. And he said, we went to Jacques Emo's, and that place is dynamite. That was great. As far as like dishes that sound like they're not going to work and do, they had a, there was an alligator cheesecake.

We had a Jacques Emo's that was just like, what? It was fantastic. It was savory. It was so good. With alligator meat in it. And it was, it was savory, but it was delightful. It was such a, everybody was just so, so delectable. Yeah.

We had a great time. And also, Mitch, on that trip, you told me, Natalie went to the restroom and you leaned over to me and said, you are going to push me into a grave and take her home as Mrs. Mitchell. Do you remember that? That's funny. Push you into a grave. Did I really say that?

You did say that. Yeah. Wow. And I'm going to do that if you don't take her on vacation. All right. Fine. I'm going to push you in a grave and take your wife on vacation. Has she said to you where she wants to go?

Oh, yeah. Should we, I mean, we've been to some places she does want to go. We went to Charleston, South Carolina and had a lovely time. Yeah. That was great food city. Fantastic food city. Go there for their wine and food festival. That's really fun.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Man. Yeah. If I had to guess, if I had to guess where she wanted to go, it would be opposite side of the globe from there. That's funny. Yeah.

She's like, just give me the money to go. I don't need you to go. I want my girlfriends. Take the girl to Italy. Come on. Take her to Paris. I'll take, we'll go someplace. When all this madness is done, I may be itchended to travel any place.

Of course. Everyone will. Everyone will. Let me get back to fried chicken for a second because there might, and I've been to some great places. I think Yardbird in Miami makes great fried chicken. We have a place here in LA called Howlin' Rays. Yeah.

Yes. You've had it, Nick? Yes. We've both had it. Great. Have you reviewed it on the show? Or does it count? I think it's maybe a little too, yeah, usually we review places with more locations.

Not a chain. Right. It's not a chain. But man, it could be, couldn't it? If they wanted to. Yeah. That is the best, I'm going to say this, best fried chicken sandwich ever, best fried chicken ever.

Wow. Wow. Best sandwich maybe ever. Wow. Wow. The Howlin' Rays Fried Chicken Sandwich. It's a fantastic sandwich. It's amazing.

That's high praise. And I think it's, you know, it's a fair thing to say because that is, yeah, I haven't had a better fried chicken sandwich. It's delicious. And if you pulled the fried chicken out of that sandwich, it would be the best piece of fried chicken you've ever had. It's so generous. Yes.

It is for people who haven't had this. It's a gigantic breast of chicken. I don't even know how they get it that big, but it's big. And it has the kind of batter that I was talking about that I love, that kind of crispy, beautiful thing. And there's, I think, six degrees of hotness that you could have, starting with no hotness. Right? I like a medium plus.

It's good. Yes. Right before it gets to what they call hot. I've tried hot, hot, and I've talked to him. Hot is where they change the pepper and now you're into pain and I don't like pain. I like the edge. I like the spicy where you're sweating and your nose is running and you can't, but you do because it's so delicious that you can't stop.

Right? That's what I like. And that medium plus, I think it is, hits it for me. And the bun is delicious, what he's got, the coleslaw and the sauce on it. Oh, my God, is that good? So everything other than that has to be compared, including what we're going to talk about, the famous, the one that people waited hours online and had fights in the parking lot over, Popeyes Yeah.

Right. Chicken sandwich. Which I tried for the first time. Two days ago. Wow. Wow. Yes. Oh, this is huge.

Yes. By the way, I tried the hollowing from hollowing rays and it was, Nick, it was, it was one of those, it was, it was, it was, it was a, it was a bathroom situation. It was, there was a, my stomach was, was hurting for like two days straight, two and a half days. What about your mouth? It was very spicy, but it was, it was worse afterwards, like it, like I feel like it nearly killed me.

It was a, it was just, it was, it was too spicy, but it was, it was Did you throw up? No, while eating it, I did okay while eating it actually. Cause I know someone who threw up. Oh, wow. I know two people that threw up. Wow. Like it was so, so painful and so outrageous to their system that they, they had to throw

up. Yeah. Yeah, that's the, the people I was with were surprised that I was eating it, but I, but I, that didn't, I'm pretty good with, with hot sauce and like when I'm, when I'm eating it, but then afterwards I just felt like my stomach was being torn up. They gave you the gloves, right? Yeah. Yep.

Yep. I was wearing the gloves. Yep. Cause God forbid you should touch any part of your body. Yes. That stuff. Oh yeah. And yet we open our mouths and stick it in.

Yeah. That's a crazy, isn't it? It's really crazy to do that. So I don't like pain. I don't like when it feels like there's a knife in your tongue. Which, if it's too hot, that's what it feels like. Which you're not going to run into that problem at Popeyes, right, Nick? No.

Yeah. Even the, even the- And I had the spicy. I tried both. I tried the not spicy and the spicy. I found them exact, identical except for the sauce that they rub on the, but yeah. Which is interesting because they do have a, they do have spicy chicken and original chicken, but the, the patty they use for, for the, for the chicken sandwich, I think is

just the same patty. They just change up the sauce like you observed. Yeah. I think Popeyes has always been good fried chicken. Yeah. Yes. And, and I had the Chick-fil-A sandwich and I know that was the big challenge a couple years ago, Chick-fil-A or Popeyes fried chicken, and I, I having had both now, I go with Popeyes.

Oh, easy for me. That's an easy call. Bill, I go with- And Hal and Ray's, Hal and Ray's is now, we're talking about the artisanal version. Yeah. Yes. Right. So that's another league.

I can't talk about that in this. I go, I go Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich over, over Chick-fil-A and actually I go Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich. I like it more than Popeyes and other people think that's crazy, but I just, I love the taste of it, but I haven't had that. Oh, wow. Oh, it's great. Treat yourself.

It's, it's really like, you might eat it and be like, oh, this is basic. Some people eat it and they don't get it. We get tweet, people tweeted us a lot and being like, we don't get, but I think I love that Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich. It's like my favorite, it's my favorite fast food sandwich, Nick. I've said it before. Yeah. It's, it's, it's well executed and simple.

I think it's, I think it's delightful. I will say, if the Popeyes chicken sandwich had been around when we did our chicken fight tournament a few years ago and it did not yet exist, I think it would have given Wendy's a run for its money. In fact, I think it might have won because that Popeyes chicken sandwich is excellent. And I have heard, I haven't had it since the initial rush. I got it three times when it initially came out and then it came back and when it jumped, I killed somebody because when it first came out, I was like, even I was curious.

I was like, well, look at these people. Oh yeah. They're fighting and they're waiting for hours. And then how did you get it? First of all, did you put in the time and wait? Phil, I'll say I both waited in line. Yeah. Nick got a sandwich easily, but then he also did still kill the guy later.

Just for fun. That's just Nick. That's Nick. That's why you can't travel. It'll be stopped at the airport. Actually, Nick, you should repeat your story because I was just talking about this the other day, I was telling my Quincy friends about this, about the guy in your line at Popeyes and what he ordered.

Oh man, I don't know if I remember this one. I was remembering a different incident from the Popeyes chicken sandwich debacle. What's that? Well, this was, I remember I was there, I was at the Popeyes and Burbank waiting in line and while I was waiting in line, a YouTuber came in, a teenage YouTuber to film a prank video about the Popeyes chicken sandwich. He came in dressed as a Chick-fil-A employee with a crew, a legit crew, just shooting him and then came in and was just cussing up a storm, just saying

all these cuss words that a teenager should not be saying. And Nick, you were like, you were like, hey, listen, man, I subscribe to you day one, but this is fucked up. But he was just big. He was basically saying like that chicken sandwich is bad. And, you know, I'm paraphrasing the Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich. We've got plenty of them. Come get them. I think he had some with them, with him that he was distributing to people.

You know, classic YouTuber prank, but apparently that guy is like some big YouTuber and I guess I'm in that video just like looking befuddled. And then and then if you like look up that video, it has like eight million views or something. It's just like, oh, this guy is like, yeah, this guy is like super popular. I hope they zoomed in on you and put like a question mark over your head. I'm wasting my time on Netflix. I should just dress like a chicken and go visit these places and have eight million views. What is it? But, Mitch, what was the story you were thinking of?

The guy you were waiting in line and then there was like a huge weight and then the guy got chicken strips. Oh, yeah. That was great. He didn't even get the sandwich. He didn't even get the sandwich. He got strips. They had the sandwich too. I was laughing about that the other night. Stupid.

That guy, that guy loves the strip so much. It's kind of beautiful in many ways. He'll wait in the sandwich line to get the strips. He'll wait in the sandwich. Oh my God. How long did you wait? I think the first time I waited over an hour and then subsequent times about 40 minutes. And you thought it was worth it.

Do you think the mind plays a trick on you? Of course. You waited so long that you want it to be fantastic, right? I think that's definitely the case. I think it also depends on people's psychological approach to those sorts of situations because other people are going in kind of like, all right, show me what you got. I waited an hour for this thing. This sandwich better be great.

And then if it's not like transcendent, then it sucks. But I do think that aside, it's a good sandwich. Yes. We did it for the show. I think it was a double when we first did it, right? Or did we do it for? No, we did it for a full episode. We reviewed it with energy.

But I waited about 40 minutes and I would not have gotten it if not. I don't think I would have waited that long if not for the show. But sure, when I ate it, I did enjoy it quite a bit. Phil, what was your meal of Popeyes? So you got one of each sandwich? I got the regular and I got the spicy. Then I also, they had, oh, look at the shrimp. I got to try the shrimp.

So I tried the fried shrimp. I don't think you go to Popeyes Fried Chicken for the shrimp. Let's say that. That's fair. They're kind of an afterthought. They're just a vehicle for the batter, right? They're nothing. And the fries are fine.

Oh, and I got the sides. Red beans and rice, excellent for this type of place. First of all, you don't see that side anywhere else, do you, in a fast food place? I thought they were great. I thought they were great. Green beans reminded me of school cafeteria. Yeah. And that's, I think that's it.

I didn't go with dessert. I didn't, but I knew that the chicken sandwich was the thing. So I wanted to do it. And I thought it was perfectly good. If you're stuck and there's no hal and raise or dookie chases near you to get, and you have to have a fried chicken something, that's a perfectly good thing to have. Phil, I too got the popcorn shrimp when I was there.

I agree with your assessment. It was, it's very battered. So I got some stuff and my mom tried, like I've been doing since I've been home. My mom tried a lot of it. She thought, she thought the popcorn shrimp, Phil was way too battered. She did not, she did not enjoy it. So where's the shrimp? You're like, what are these sea monkeys in here?

Remember sea monkeys, the brine shrimp? Is that what they're using? You know, I was surprised though, because there's, we got some dipping sauces. I'll say all the dipping sauce we got. We got ranch dipping sauce. We got the wild honey mustard. We got the bold barbecue. And then also for the shrimp, I said the ranch.

We got the Creole cocktail sauce. Yeah, we got that too. Yeah. And I was surprised that they even had that as an option. I kind of did enjoy that they had it, because I was dipping my shrimps in there. They just, it's just, it's just overly battered. You can't really taste the shrimp too much.

That was kind of the, maybe the, but also I didn't, it didn't bother me if, if, if you're someone who only eats seafood, maybe you'd be okay with it. But, but it was, it was not the best thing. It was maybe one of the worst things I had of the night. I like that you talk about the dipping sauces, because you brought me back now to when I was in high school. This is how old I am.

Okay. You guys are youngsters compared to me. I was alive when a couple of things happened. McDonald's introduced chicken McNuggets. Wow. It's like you're talking to, it's like you're talking to first man on the moon. Oh my God, you were there? Yes, I was.

I remember. And my favorite dipping sauce, and I don't know what that, I don't know what the dipping sauces are now, because I have to be honest with you. I haven't been or had McDonald's in about 25 to 30 years. Wow. 25 to 30 years. Seriously.

Yes. I've tried to up my game people. That's, that's. I don't get fast food unless Doe Boys calls me and says, will you try the Popeyes fried chicken sandwich? Yes. Because that's culturally interesting, right? Because of the lines and everything.

Okay. So, but my favorite, the big sauce, do they still have this, the mustard one with the McNugget? Hot mustard? Yeah. Yes, they still do. Yeah. It's good.

It's good as hell. I thought that was fantastic. It's really good. 16 years old. Yes. And the other thing that they innovated at that same time, might have been the same year, you want to do some research?

Tell me. Maybe a year apart, the Egg McMuffin. Wow. I love that thing. Yeah. I went three times a week, get Egg McMuffin. I couldn't love it more. I thought it was amazing.

It's still pretty fantastic. We were eating them recently. We did a McDonald's tournament. And so, we were eating all these things. But the Egg McMuffin and the nuggets, that I think the hot mustard sauce, people have said that they've changed it up a little bit. But I still, yes, I still really love it.

Do you think that's the best of their sauces for the McNugget? I mean, I'm still a huge sweet and sour sauce, because I think they just don't have their sweet and sour. But I love the hot mustard. I think I'd probably say sweet and sour is S tier. I think probably there, I go barbecue a lot of times, you know, more often than not. But I think their hot mustard is very good.

Their honey mustard also quite good. Their ranch is okay. You know, the spicy sauce they had with the spicy nuggets when they reintroduced those briefly and then took them off the menu, I never got to try that spicy sauce. But you like that sauce. The spicy sauce was great, yeah.

And Phil, by the way, I was going to say, this is all more impressive than the Moon landing, because Nick and I don't believe that that happened. We believe that I'm strolling to the studio. Kubrick made that movie. Yeah, Kubrick made it. It's funny, you probably have gotten into this, but in certain regions, like in Rockland County,

we didn't have in our town of New City, New York, we didn't have a Burger King or McDonald's in the early 70s. We had a knockoff called Carols. Oh, wow. It was the exact same stuff. It was just called Carols. And we didn't have Kentucky Fried Chicken. We had Kansas style fried chicken.

That's wow. That's amazing. It was like the Hydrox of Oreos, right? It's like the knockoff of the thing. But we couldn't have loved it more. We loved the whole thing. When you're a kid, and you see the packaging, that's it. Yeah.

So I never had much pup eyes. I'll give a quick rundown of what I got the rest of my meal. But I never had a pup eyes growing up. And I tried it once going up to New Hampshire, and I didn't like it. Nick, I've told you this before. But then, yes, since we've done the podcast, I've realized that it is, as far as fast food fried chicken,

it's very good. I got a three piece meal, and I got half spicy, half non-spicy, and that comes with a biscuit. I got two regular original chicken sandwiches, and one spicy chicken sandwich. Then I got chicken strips, three chicken strips. I also did those half spicy, half non-spicy. I got those with Cajun fries.

I also came with a biscuit. And then finally, I got the popcorn shrimp fill like you did. And then here are my sides. I got mashed potatoes with gravy, the coleslaw, the mac and cheese, and the red beans and rice. Those were the four sides I got. And I also got myself a large Coke. My favorite, my bite of the night was the fried chicken.

It was a thigh. It was a spicy thigh. Yes. And Nick, I took a bite of that. I went, oh, God. Were you trying to do a Popeye sound? Was that Popeye? You know why you can't do it?

Because you've eaten too much. That's, it's actually stopped your throat from making the noise that you need to make. You've had too much of that. By the way, what kind of order is that? Was that just you? It was my mom and myself, yeah. So it was a smorgasbord.

I was going to, I was just taking, I didn't eat all of it. I didn't finish the whole thing, but I definitely, this was- You put a dent in it. I put, we put a good dent in it. I'll say this, the next day, I ate half the chicken sandwich. Overnight, sometimes fried chicken works. The chicken sandwich does not work overnight in the fridge.

It did not taste great the next morning. I took a bite of it. My son, my son took it home because I say I eat half of each and he took it home and he said it was delicious cold. He said it was great, yeah? It was it, was it refrigerated or was it just, or was it just later? I think in the fridge. In the fridge.

Okay, wow. All right. I did not have the same experience, but that is good to hear. But because he didn't compare it to the hot. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. And you did. That's, and I, and I, and I love the sandwich. I was surprised that the chicken was the bite of the night

because I love the sandwich. The sandwiches were great, of course. I do a great job with the sandwich. I didn't bother with the chicken this time because I've had it and I know it's good. I know it's perfectly good fried chicken. It's great. It's great fried chicken.

My mom liked the cold slaw. I thought the cold slaw was good. It was very mayo-y. The mac and cheese of the sides was probably the loser, which is kind of like a little watery mac and cheese. The mashed potatoes and gravy were good, but the winner was the red beans and rice. Biscuit is good.

The biscuit. I forgot to mention the biscuit. It's good quality biscuit. The biscuit is great. That was like a thing that, and I was dipping it in my, my, my mashed potatoes and gravy. Nice. The mashed potatoes themselves are like,

maybe not great quality, but the gravy mixed in, it, it works. And then finally, I got myself a dessert as well. And I'm going to say it wrong. Phil, I may need your help here. The chocolate, chocolate beignets, beignets, beignets. They just started making those. I saw they asked.

Yes. Beignets, beignets. Beignets. Yeah. Chocolate beignets. How are they? They are, they're like donuts. They were really, they were really good.

They put some, they put some powdered sugar on top of them. I thought they were really fantastic. I ordered an apple pie, but it didn't come, which is, which is good because we were, we were stuffed out anyways. But the chocolate, Nick, I give them a, I give them a thumbs up. The chocolate beignets.

Oh God. But as we get older, as we get older gentlemen, as we get older, these are, these are childhood references that I want you to go and find the grown up good versions of these foods. Right? Yeah. Like the Benye, as soon as you said that,

I was like, well, you got to go to Cafe Dumand in New Orleans and have a real one. Yeah. Right? Because if you like this stuff, this is the stuff, the cheapy cheap stuff that they hook you in with the packaging and the advertising. That's for kids.

Now go get the real. It's like the difference between Vegas and Europe. Yeah. Sure. I think there is a, I mean, I think there's room in my, in my heart and my stomach for both. Because, you know, I'll, I'll love to, I'll go to a great, you know,

taqueria and have some, some just amazing lingua tacos with this house made salsa verde and these, you know, handmade corn tortillas. I'll have that. And then I'll also have the, you know, I'll also have an eight layer burrito from Del Taco. Yeah. Exactly.

Like I can, I can enjoy both. I like both. Yeah. I appreciate, they scratch different itches. Yes. Would you get the lingua taco from Del Taco? Oh boy. I don't know if I'd trust any fast food lingua.

That's a, that's, You wouldn't? That's a high degree of difficulty. Yeah. I don't know. You know, that get the lingua in those places, those are old employees that they're fired. Yeah.

Oh God. That's where they get the. That's grim. That's American capitalism. That's right. You don't want that. You, you have to, but here's my question for you, Nick. Yes.

Once you've had the delicious taco from the real place, right? Mm-hmm. With those beautiful salsas that they're making that morning, and they're doing that barbacoa that day, and they're having it, and you're having a homemade corn or flour tortilla that's, that's hand-pressed and handmade right there.

Doesn't the Del Taco taco taste like crap after that? No. I mean, it, it still tastes good. And at the same way that I feel like you, yeah, because, because I mean, you know, this is just like the high-low thing that, that some people have towards entertainment. You know, some people have, some people can,

can watch trash TV and then also watch an art film. I mean, that's, that's, it's the same sort of thing. I understand there is a quality level intellectually. And I think Mitch feels the same way. I get it. I get it. It's like, sometimes you just have to sit down and eat a bag of potato chips.

I get it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's delightful. I do. It's, yeah. I just do it maybe as I get older and worried about my health. Right.

Oh, we're, we're, we're, I mean, we're, we're definitely, Nick is, Nick is actually, well, actually Nick, you are vegetarian now. That's right. And I was going to get to that. This is a 2021 episode, although we're recording in December, but for 2021, no meat shall I eat. Well, what the fuck did you get?

Is it the end of the show? I mean, no, well, it's more, we're out of ideas. What are you, are you doing, are you doing, tender greens? Is that going to be your next chain? We can go. We're, we're, we're not changing up which one, which chains we're going to.

We're going to, you know, the, the same chains that we would otherwise go to. And I'm just trying to eat at them from a vegetarian's perspective, which is what a lot of people have to do. Like if you're, if your family's going to Popeyes and you're vegetarian and your husband and kids are eat meat, then you just got to make do. And so that's kind of the approach I'm trying to, to have here.

You're going to eat a lot of french fries, aren't you? I am going to eat a lot of french fries. And speaking of which, that is one of the things I got. So fried chicken is, was I guess in 2021 terms, one of my, my favorite food. I love fried chicken. Wow. If we're talking Popeyes versus KFC versus churches,

I think as, which are the big three chains, I would say Popeyes is my number one. I love Popeyes spicy chicken. I think Albertsons fried chicken competes with it, but Popeyes is just so, so fucking good. What do you mean Albertsons, the, the, the grocery store? The grocery store has fantastic fried chicken. Had no idea.

If you're ever in a pinch and need a quick meal, you know, people go with their rotisserie chicken, but if you go behind the deli counter and get their, their fried chicken, it is dynamite. It is great. Yeah. That's good to know. Yeah.

So, so your Vaughns, your pavilions, everything in the Albertsons family all has great fried chicken. I didn't know that was all one family. Oh yeah. Yeah. Albertsons is a, is a megalith. I am learning something today. I love this.

So I can't get, I can't get fried chicken, which is my favorite food. And I can't get my favorite side, which Phil mentioned at Popeyes, the red beans and rice is just fantastic. Oh, because there's pork in there, right? There's meat in there. There's also meat in the Cajun rice.

And there's even meat in the green beans, which is made with turkey bacon. So the sides are pretty limited, as of course the Cajun gravy that comes with the mashed potatoes is off the table. So I got mashed potatoes, no gravy. Agree with you Mitch that they are fine, but not the best quality mashed potatoes.

They're clearly rehydrated. They, I can tell this like comes from a powder. That said, they're fine and they have a good texture to them. The Cajun fries I got, which this is their copy, they may look like French fries, but our special seasoning makes them 100% Cajun. There is some debate that at some locations they are fried in lard,

but I rolled the dice and assumed these ones are fried in vegetable oil. They're good fries. I mean, they have a good battering to them. I think they have a good seasoning to them. You know, they're like an Arby's curly fries in terms of flavor. My mom and I enjoy the Cajun fries, Nick.

We were fans. They don't travel well, but fries never travel well. And then I got the mac and cheese, which for me of these sides was the standout. I thought their mac and cheese is good. I agree that it maybe could have a, it's a little thin, the cheese sauce, but I think it's quite good.

And I think the coleslaw is fine. I mean, it's just, it's just maybe a little bit sweet for my taste, but it's fine. It is sweet. They put sugar in it. Yeah, they add sugar to it. And they chop it,

they chop it very small, don't they? Yes, it is very, very fine. Yes. And the biscuits I think are great. And then I did get the cinnamon apple pie, Mitch, which is, I would have, I wish I could, my location had the beignets

because I would have rather tried that. I think the cinnamon apple pie is just, they do this apple pie at every fast food restaurant, it feels like. There's nothing that makes this one special. I guess the cinnamon on the outside is kind of churro-like, but it's, this one really didn't do much for me. So, I guess if you're cobbling together a meal

as a vegetarian here, you got to go with a large mac and cheese, and then either fries or coleslaw as a side, and then get a biscuit and, you know, a sweet tea and hope for the best. It's a little bit of a high degree of difficulty in terms of actually having a good meal for yourself, although I did like the sides overall.

Now, Nick, we're going to get to our fork scores, but is that going to change your fork score? That's a great question, Mitch. Let's find out. It's time for our final thoughts on Popeyes. So, Phil, here's how this will work. We'll each give our closing argument,

if you will, on Popeyes, and then end it by giving it a score from zero to five forks. So, you are a guest. We'll begin with you. Your thoughts on Popeyes, your fork score. When you are comparing it, we're only comparing fast food to fast food, right? We can't compare it to other artisanal choices, right?

I think you can make whatever choice you want to make. I mean, we've had people just, we've had guests do either. The way Mitch and I usually approach this is- So, to me, just the fork score is, how delicious is this in your mouth? 100%. 100%.

Feel free to do that. 100%. Yep, okay. Yeah. Well, I think you heard my take on Popeyes. So, I'll go right to the fork score. I'm going to say three and a half. Wow.

Three and a half. Wow. Good score. Three forks two times from Phil Rosenthal. Mitch, how about yourself? Your thoughts? Nick, I was, I feel like I've gone all over the place. I don't remember my former fork scores.

Have I ever pushed it up? It's gotten into the Golden Play Club, which Phil is an average of- It was in the Platinum Play Club. When we did it with Andrew T, we all went five forks. It went really, really high. Wow. For the sandwich, for that?

The sandwich, yeah. The sandwich really, I mean, I think the, the, we had just a rapturous reaction to that sandwich initially. Wow. Which Nick, guess what? It's going back in there for me. Wow. Five forks.

I mean, for what it's trying to do. Yes. I think that there's some, I think there's some, you know, like, I think there, like, there's a couple sides that could be better. There's a few things that could be better. But for what it's trying to do, this Louisiana style fried chicken,

you can get the spicy version. You can get it original. You can get it blackened. Yes. It's, it's really good. Fried chicken for fast food chicken. Yes. I say, but I say three and a half is good to very good.

It is three and a half is good. But you're saying five. So that to me is like best thing I ever ate. But keep in mind, Mitch did recently introduce a sixth fork. So I did, I did recently introduce a sixth fork. What got that? What got sixth fork? Bonchon.

You know what got a sixth fork? Bonchon, another fried chicken place. Korean fried chicken. Korean fried chicken is excellent. Bonchon. Fantastic. It's dynamite. Bonchon is, is fantastic.

It is fantastic. It's not, it's not Bonchon. It is not Bonchon levels. It is. Bonchon was out of this world good. I just think what, what it's trying to do is a fast as, as a fast food restaurant. Look, there was some, there was some brand stuff, you know,

Popeye used to be a mascot. He's not anymore. That's why everyone got my reference when I said, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. But see, you're qualifying it, Mitch. You're qualifying it. You're saying four fast food. And, and I thought we were saying just how delicious is this

if you, if compared to everything you put in your mouth. What is the score? Yeah. Well, you know, I think Nick and I always try to say for, for what the restaurant's trying to do, I guess. Yes. That's an important aspect of criticism. Yes.

For what they're trying to do, it is probably a four or five. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But for me, just a little lower because it's not the best thing I ever ate, which I would give a five to. And Phil, I think a lot of people would agree with you.

I, I, like this is, I, I'm, I'm, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a changed man on Popeyes. There's, there's one new to Quincy and open since I've been home. You're so happy. Um, I, I, I am happy about it. Cause you know what? And this, and this is, this is why it's, this is why it's a five fork restaurant to me now is like my mom and I,

you know, it's, it's a, it's going to be, you know, it's, it's January and we've been driving around or doing fucking Aaron's old day or something. And I've been helping my mom out and she's like, Hey, why don't we go and get a couple of Popeyes chicken sandwich, which Nick did happen in December. And it was great. And it was like a thing that I was excited about to go get. And they were really tasty and we had a good time with it.

So. And you're with your mom. That's nice. I'm not with my mom. Yeah. That's what it's all about. Hey, is Boston market still good? Boston market is, we, we just did it recently.

Yeah. We recently reviewed it. You did. I'll listen. It's still pretty good. Cause I loved it. I, I loved it when I had it the years ago. It was like 20, 25 years ago.

I thought it was excellent. It is, it is still quite good. It's not Popeyes. I think does a better job. And that's why for me, it's a five, four guy. I wonder what Nick, Phil, I think Nick's going to be close to you because, because this, well, we'll see. For a vegetarian perspective, Nick Weigar score.

Yes. From a veg perspective, this chain is challenging. I think it's just, it's just tough to cobble together an approximation of an actual meal here. If this is like, Hey, your whole office is going to Popeyes for lunch, you know, in, in, in previous days when people had what actually go into workplaces, although I guess if you're in retailer food service, you still are.

So God bless you for that. I think the, and you shouldn't be having to do that. Anyway, I think the, I would say it's, it's, it's challenging. But that said, in terms of what this place is trying to do, it's trying to do fried chicken and present Louisiana style sides. And I think it's fucking great as a fast food version of that. So you know what? Maybe I'm contradicting the whole premise of what I'm doing this year,

but I don't care. I love Popeyes. It's one of my favorite chains and fat and fried chicken is my favorite food. So I'm staying with five forks. This is a five fork chain. Wow. Look at you boys.

That's what we do. Wow. I like it. I like it because you know, you're coming from a very specific place. And, and for this, for you guys to give this place five, I mean that Popeyes, they should put you on the poster. Come on. It will be like, it will look like Pluto and Popeye.

Yeah. We'll look like two wimps. Phil Rosenthal, thank you so much for being here, sharing your thoughts on Popeyes and food in general. The show is Somebody Feed Fill. It is on Netflix. And I also wanted to mention, you have the, the Somebody Feed the People Initiative, which you have, you were doing during the election season,

including up and through the Georgia runoffs, which was lovely of you to do, feeding people who are waiting in these long polling lines. God bless you for doing that. Anything else you'd like to plug at this time? Still doing it. I realized when the, when I did it and it was going well, I said, well, wait a minute after the election, the name is still going to be good. And we can still feed people because people need to be fed,

especially during COVID and everything else. So we got to do it, people. So go to somebodyfeedthepeople.org and I will match your donations to World Central Kitchen if you go through there. That rules. Wow. That's awesome. Awesome.

Phil Rosenthal, thank you so much. Check out Somebody Feed Fill. Nick, take your wife to York. We'll take a break. We'll be back with more Doe Boys. Welcome back to Doe Boys. Phil Rosenthal had to take off. Mitch and Emma and I are here.

Mitch, a great guest. A great guest. Nick, I'm trying to get a PlayStation 5 right now. Yes. So look, I may be distracted for some of this, but can I also tell you... You distracted during a record? Can I also tell you a joke that I wanted to say when Phil was here, but like when, uh, like Seinfeld and Ellen John are sharing the stage together,

I thought it'd be fun if he was like, what's the deal with Daniel? That's great. He's my brother. That's really good. But he's older than me. That's why I was going to do something like that. Who are these rocket men? What's the deal with the Yellow Brick Road?

And then I didn't do... And then also when he talked about how the chicken sandwich, like it was the biggest breast he ever seen, I was going to talk about like all the guy chickens in the yard, like checking out the Popeye's sandwich chicken. That's good. Like they're very horny. Yeah, they're very horny.

Yeah. Real cockadoodle do. Am I right? Cockadoodle hard. Yeah, refresh. Oh, wait. Wags, add to cart. Ah, it's sold out immediately.

Dude, I thought you were going to like get it. Wow. So as of this record, there are new PlayStation 5s available at 340 Eastern, which is right about when we're recording. You refresh just as the second hand turned to 340 and then add to cart. Item is sold out. Fucking bots.

The bots do it. The bots. The bots fucking take everything. The bots take everything. It's fucked up, Nick. And you know what? Yeah. If I don't get a PlayStation 5 this year,

I'll go on record as saying Santa doesn't exist. Wow. Well, hopefully we'll know in 2021. Hopefully by the start of 2021, which this episode is releasing in mid-January, you will have your PlayStation 5 and Santa's existence will be confirmed. Nick, I'll go one step further.

If I don't get a PlayStation 5, Jesus doesn't exist. Wow. Let's take it easy. They claims all based on a game console. All the Italians are like, hey, he's talking about a law and savior. Hey. Of course they get mad at that shit.

We break every rule in this book, but we're going to get offended by it. You fucking. What if it's the Italians that have all the PlayStation's and they're keeping them from you? I wouldn't be surprised. Fucking. I've seen some promos.

I don't know what they do, Nick. Tony's giving it to his fucking cousins and all that bullshit. Yeah, it's true. Some fucking fat. Fell off a truck. Yeah, right. Yeah, fell off the.

Fell off the cart on the way to. Nick, it was about to be in my cart. God damn it. That it wasn't about to be in your cart. The bots are they're set up. They've got there. They figured out how to solve the the capshkas or whatever they are.

The recaptchas. The ungepachkas. The ungepachkas. Trump is leaving. We got to put an end to bots. It's 2021. Bots and get on this bot situation. That guy's probably he.

He's a fucking old ass. Yeah, no test. Biden's a bot. I think Biden's a bot. What do you think of that? I think he's got a, you know, he's got Mayor Pete in his cabinet. He's got at least got a bot on the inside.

He's got one bot on the inside. It's true. Hey, let's, Mitch, you know what? Let's shift from bots and Italian American slander. To a good friend of ours. We have the dough boys, you know, hotline where people can leave messages and periodically, yes. From bots to buds.

From bots to buds. Periodically, we get a voicemail from our good friend, John Hodgman. Let's take a listen. Wow. Hello, they will read. Hello, Mike Mitchell. This is John Hodgman driving in a car in Maine.

Uh, I was going to pause and call you because Mitch couldn't remember the name of the town New Haven where I spent several, that's the Paris of Southern Connecticut. I spent several formative years of my life there attending a four year accredited college there on the Southern coast of Maine. And the birth and some of the best pizza in the world. But then he remembered and then he and Dan went on to say

nice things about me, which is very sweet. And I felt bad about being mad. And it was a roller coaster. But then I had to call in after all because I needed to correct the record. I did not tell Dano that he would be fine before that second show at the Wilbur in Boston. Oh, I wish we were there again together.

Boy, that was great going and doing things. I said to Dano that he was going to kill it because I knew having only met him within a couple of hours is one of the funniest people that I ever met. And I knew he was going to have that audience in the column's hand. And I later learned he did it. And I don't really want that Nordic's hat back. It's my gift to him.

I'm really, really proud that he has it. And I do not say that his short hat was dirty. It's just very, very well loved. And it smells like Dano. And you know what? I'll take it. I'll take Dano's smell. In any case, I hope that we can go pizza together in the Haven

or any place else you want to go. Yorkside Pizza, by the way, I rediscovered it. It's one of the best. Frankly, I prefer it to Franks and Sally's. We'll talk more about that later. Until then, I got to turn south on Route 15 now. So I got to go bye-bye. Medallionland is out in paperback.

Everybody watch Dicktown. B-I-T dot L-Y slash Dicktown. Always be plugging Dicktown on Hulu. Dicktown, bye. Wow. Thank you, Ajman. I think he might have stumbled over the title of his own book, said Medallionland.

But the book is actually Medallion status. He has another book, Vacationland. Both excellent books now available in paperback. Check those out as well as Dicktown on Hulu. This is the sort of shit that people don't like. When you correct them about their own thing, people don't like it. I'm trying to drive sales to his books. Hey, a great Christmas is over.

A great next year Christmas present, or just a birthday gift throughout the year. Treat yourself. Give yourself a gift. What a terrible plug that is for our friend, John's book. Go get the books. The books are great. It's just a good present for anytime.

Presents don't need a reason. Just give presents. Yeah, you know what? It's a gift for your mind. Go out and get it. There you go. That's right. Now, Nick, I got to say, Ajman, I apologize.

I did for a moment forget the name of New Haven, but I only forgot that in the way that I forget Nick's name. Like Nick, you know how I work, Nick. Like when you walk into a room and you forget why you walked into that room in the first place? Yes. Nick has especially seen this with me where I'm like, what's the thing we're getting on called again?

And it's like a plane. We're getting on a plane, bitch. Right. That sort of thing happens with me a lot. It doesn't mean I'm a dumb guy. Some may argue it does. Yeah, OK. I just have a very bad memory with some stuff,

and I just forget things. I don't forget planes, obviously, but for a moment, the town of New Haven, it just slipped my mind for a moment. I knew it. I talked about it before that. I put my Doughboy's pics in the pic folder. There's also some right, our pics in there, too, just for us that we share between ourselves.

I put New Haven in there. I know it's New Haven. I just forgot for a moment, all right? Yeah. Because I see you online. I see you. You know what? Probably fucking bots, though, these people

who are making these comments about. These goddamn bots taking our playstations and trolling us on social media. Anyone who says anything bad about the show, bot. You know what I say? And I say this as someone who's been characterized as an automaton, as a robot by you. But you know I'm a man.

You know I'm flesh and blood. I don't know. You might be king of bots, but I'm not. But go on. I think bots should be shot. Wow. If you're a bot, you should be shot. Yes.

That's strong words and sounds like something the king of the bots would say. And let me be clear. I don't mean, well no, the king of the bots wouldn't want his bots. He'd want to harness his army of the bots to help him conquer the globe. I think you're trying to pull a fast.

I think the king of the bots would be trying to pull a fast one on us saying bots should be shot. Me thinks the bot does protest too much is what you're saying. Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. I think that the bots are a real problem and we need to address them.

And I mean the main issue is that just their hoarding of video game related items, be they graphics cards or consoles. Nothing else really bothers me about bots. I'm fine. No, they're fine. I tell you, I've been playing the Cyberpunk 2077. Wouldn't mind some of the love bots,

you know what I'm talking about? No, I haven't played the game yet, but also when you move the scale to the smallest penis size on that. How does it look in? I fucking destroy you. Really? It's actually been a problem. I think the small dick problems Reddit

was complaining about this. Yeah, I've read some impassioned Reddit comments about this. The smallest dick size and the character creator is still pretty substantial. I did publish a couple posts over there. You actually even bought that Reddit, right? Emma! What?

Wow. Ah, fucked up. Guys, we all know Mitch has a huge hog. Come on. It's Emma. Here's the deal to me. When you're not in the mood, hog size could be really tiny.

It doesn't matter. Sure. We've talked about this before. We've gotten to the bottom of it. Every dick has to be measured twice. It's just soft isn't necessarily a reflection. So that's my question to you. Yeah.

So in Cyberpunk 2020, are the guys rock hard when you're sliding the scale back and forth? They are if you hold some porno up to your webcam. They'll be like, whoa. So you set your dick size based off of flaccid dick size? Yeah, it's flaccid, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah.

And also, the game is in first person, so it's a complete waste of time. It's a completely unnecessary feature. Nick, didn't you say you needed a nub, a nub mod? What was it called? He's a nub mod. Nub mod. Get some nubs in there.

Represent the nub club. I agree. Guys, it's time for a segment. I've got a food-related survey, and Mitch and Emma will compete to guess the results. Let's play The Family Food. Our theme song for The Family Food, of course, the Richard Karn-era Family Feud theme.

I'm surprised you don't sing like family food, family food. You know, you don't do anything? Oh, have some lyrics over this. Fun survey, guessing two results of a fun survey. It's a family food with some little goods. Okay, so whoever gets the most correct without collecting three strikes will win, and the category, since we had our guest,

is very internationally versed, travels across the globe. The theme is most popular fruits in the world. The top seven answers are on the board. These are according to World Atlas, the world's most popular fruits by metric tonnage produced. All right. Emma, do you want to go first or second? I'll go second.

Nick, repeat it one more time. And by the way, the PS5 is out of stock, and that's not why I didn't hear what you said, but the PS5 is officially out of stock. Most popular fruits in the world. Okay. Most popular fruits in the world by metric tonnage produced. All right, Mitch, you're up first.

I'm going to go, Nick. With one of your favorites, as said by the Minions, banana. Banana. Banana, number two on the board. Wow. Wow. Hell yeah. All right.

Nice job, Mitchell. All right, Emma, you're up. All right. I feel like this might be more of an American love because of like apple pie and stuff, but I got to say apples. That's a good answer. Show me apples.

That's right, Emma. Apples, number four on the big board. Hell yeah. You each have one, no strikes. All right, Mitch, it returns to you. World's most popular fruits in terms of metric tonnage produced. And how many are there? There's seven.

Top seven are on the board. Wow, top seven. Oh wait, Mitch, the PlayStation 5 is back in stock. Oh, shit. Wigs, is that true? No, it's not true. Fuck. You got so excited.

I want the PlayStation 5. Okay. We both do. This is tough because I know that... So far, bananas and apples have been claimed. Five remain. Okay, I'm going to go... But I feel like this is more of a...

And I know that back in the day, these were considered a real treat because that's why they're at the bottom of stockings, Nick. The PS5 will not be in the bottom of my stocking. Yeah, that'll also have to be a big stocking too, right? Oh yeah, I got a big ass stocking. You got like a giant stocking. Okay, I'm going to go...

oranges, Nick. All right, survey says... Ah, a few. Nice. Yeah, oranges actually, number six on the big board. People like citrus all over the world. I know it's going to be lower, but I thought that it should be on there. And now I'm regretting saying it actually.

But it was right. You're regretting saying it? Because I think I know others that are on there, higher. But you got it right. Yeah, I know. All right, Emma, back to you. No strikes for either of you. Okay, I feel like...

Because you said it's based on metric tonnage produced... That's right. ...annually. So I feel like grapes has to be high up there because wine and stuff, right? Great, great. Emma, this was the answer I wanted to say, and I went with oranges instead.

It's a great answer. Well, orange juice, you know. It is! Nice. It is a good answer. Grapes, yes, you are absolutely right. Grapes above oranges at number five worldwide, in terms of amount produced.

All right, Mitch, this is going gangbusters. No strikes yet. You got three left. Let's see if you can get one of them. What is your guess? We're getting into seeing that. This is where Emma was a mastermind in letting me go first

because I feel like I'm about to get a strike here. Well, we'll see. Because look, there's a couple things on my mind. But I think a fruit that's all over the world, but it's a big boy. That's my other issue with it. It's my favorite fruit, Nick. It's pineapple.

Mitch's favorite fruit, pineapple. Man, am I being too... Show me pineapple. Shit. Fuck! Yeah, pineapple's not on there, Mitch. You have one strike. All right, Emma.

A good guess, though. I did, you know, assuming that perhaps something from a tropical climb could be high on the worldwide board. Emma, what do you say? Okay, I feel like this isn't going to be on there, but it's been in my brain since you said fruits, and I can't stop thinking it. So I'm going to say kiwi.

That's good. Kiwi. Show me kiwi. Kiwi not among the top seven. You each have one strike and two points. Mitch, what's your next guess? Nick, I forgot about this fruit for a minute, and I think that this is a fruit that's going to hit

the grape spot, like Emma had said. But I'm going to go strawberries. Strawberries. Strawberries. Strawberries. Strawberries. Strawberries. Survey says...

Fuck! No strawberries? No Mitch, strawberries, not within the top seven. In fact, no berries in the top seven. Oh, okay. Well, there goes my next guess. Yeah, what the hell, Weigher? I was going to say it as berries, but not now.

Why do you say no berries? Why do you say no berries? Not now. I can't give some hints. Are berries not considered a fruit by this survey? How are there no berries? Like blueberries? I think berries are very much considered a fruit.

I think a lot of the, I think there are certain parts of the world where people don't eat berries. I'm going to be pissed off. Calm down. So if we're going by like metric tons of the fruit grown, it has, I guess you have to start thinking like, what's a heavy fruit, right? So maybe grapefruit?

Good answer. Is it a good answer? We're going to find out. No, unfortunately, you have a second strike, although, and I'll give you a hint now, Mitch. Hopefully this will even things out. I already have my answer, but go ahead. Thinking in terms of heavy fruit is perhaps some useful guidance.

It doesn't matter. I was going to say melon anyways. Nick, melon is my answer. Show me melon. Nice. Was it just melon or was it specifically a melon? Not a catch all melon category, but watermelons are number three worldwide.

I was surprised, but I think part of it is because they are so heavy and they are popular in a lot of the world. All right. There are two left. Number one and number seven. First and last, Emma, can you get one of them to stay alive? How about pears? Good answer.

Show me pears. Great answer, Emma. No way. No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Three strikes in a row. A turkey in bowling, but unfortunately, that means you're just a turkey in this competition as you have been eliminated.

Mitch, you win. Fucking harsh words. Hold on. I'm sorry for calling you a turkey, Emma. No, it's okay. I'm a turkey. I get it. In fact, that was the meanest thing I've ever said to anyone on Doe Boys.

Now, Nick, watermelon was, I mean, you could have buzzed me for saying melon, honestly, but I appreciate the non-buzz. The judges would have given it to you on Family Feud. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I think that would have passed. So, was Honeydew on that list? Honeydew is, other melons are further down on that list, but the one that's in the top 10 is Watermelons.

Do you want to hear the other answers or do you want to try to guess one more, Mitch? While you have a still of a strike. Yeah, let's see. I'm going to guess. I can't believe we haven't gotten the number one yet. The number one, which makes me feel like I'm like, what the fuck are we not thinking of? And I'm going to be mad, probably. Look, they're not counting tomatoes as a fruit, are they?

I was just wondering that. Tomatoes? Oh my God, are you doing? Number one answer, tomatoes. Wow. Really, they surveyed people and a bunch of people said, well, no, this was more, I guess, based on metric tons, so it wasn't a survey, technically. Yeah, not a survey.

No, this is just actual statistics. And then, number seven, you guys want to try to wager a guess? Number seven. Is it avocados? It's not avocado. The avocado is pretty high up there. Dates or something? It's mangoes.

Mangoes. Okay. How can you forget a domingo? Wow. Well, that was a family food. Mitch, you win. Congratulations. Wow, I was going to say, I wish that the winning prize was a PlayStation 5.

Unfortunately, it's not. Your winning prize is a date with a bot. Hey, all right, maybe we got a chance. Just like a restaurant without your feedback, let's open up the feedback. Today's email is from Kim H from Chicago. Kim writes, have you ever experienced a food epiphany, a moment where you've tried, just tried a food you haven't in a while that you were sure you didn't like, and then when trying it again, either from a young kid to adult or just in recent months,

slash years, you realized it was a good and can't imagine why you've always said you disliked it. For example, I've always had an aversion to salt and vinegar chips. For example, I've always had an aversion to salt and vinegar chips, and my fiance, Kyle, loves them. I tried them again, Cape Cod, of course, on a recent road trip, and they are now one of my favorite chips, PS, Mike, Bubbles and Willie, my two black cats in the photo attached, say hi to Wally and Irma. Let me share this screen so you can get a shot of these two mischievous cats.

Look at that, they're both in boxes, they're hanging out, having the time of their lives. Two little cuties. Those are adorable cats. Yep. Yeah, two very cute black cats. How about that? That pretty much redeems the fact that you said you didn't like salt and vinegar chips. Well, Kim H came around on salt and vinegar chips. Now loves them. Now loves them. I don't know if I ever had a food epiphany that was that great. I mean, I've come around on kind of straight up blue cheese,

not that I ever disliked blue cheese, but like a hunk of blue cheese, and even some goat cheese and stuff like that. So there's definitely been something like that, but I'm trying to think of like a food epi- I've definitely had some, but now I'm just too old, Wags. I don't remember some of the food epiphanies anymore. I have one. Or sometimes the word plain. What is it, Emma? When my boyfriend, I first started dating, the first time he ever made me dinner,

he asked me if I liked mushrooms and I really didn't think I did for, I just didn't, I never did growing up. I never grew into them really, but I was too embarrassed to say I didn't like them. And I was like, yeah, I like mushrooms. And then so he made me mushrooms with dinner and I loved them. They were like the best thing ever. And now they're one of my favorite foods. I cook them all the time and I make him make them for me all the time.

But I really genuinely thought until like two and a half years ago that I hated mushrooms. That's great. That's a good one. I think mushrooms are the thing I've come back around on too, because I had a very bad food poisoning experience with some mushrooms when I was like in my 20s. And for a while I had an aversion to them, but now I like, I love mushrooms. Yeah, I'll make some mushroom pasta. Why not? Yeah, they're delicious, especially cooking them some butter and salt. You don't even have to do much to them. They're great.

Little flavor sponges. I'm still not a huge, huge mushroom guy. I eat almost everything though, and I don't care. But in a food epiphany way, I do remember like growing up like I, oh, you know what? No, it's a huge one. Salmon. What? Oh, yeah. Fish, yeah. I love salmon. Salmon specifically. I didn't like salmon.

Mitch, did you eat a lot of seafood growing up? Like were you a kid who ate a lot of seafood? Yeah, we had like, we'd have fish like I think once one night a week. So. My dad, I hated seafood growing up like pretty much anything that came from the ocean. I didn't really want to eat it unless it was like breaded and fried. I would eat that, but I wouldn't eat seafood. And then as I've grown up, I see food's delicious.

It's like, oh, I really want to eat now. Fried fish, fried fish was the way I would do it. Wags, what were you going to say about my salmon? I was going to say the exact same thing with salmon where I love salmon now. I cooked salmon last night. I pan roasted some salmon last night. And it's great. That's a very common meal for me. I love salmon sushi. You're allowed to do that because we're recording this in 2020

and you have not started your full vegetarian lifestyle yet. You're not going to be vegetarian? Thank you, Emma. Thank you for clarifying. No, I'm not going to do that. No, nothing from the ocean. Nothing from the turf. Nothing from the air. I'm avoiding all of them. I'm just going to, I'm not going to eat anything with the

fucking central nervous system. I'm just going to see what that's like to just live off plants and dairy. But let me say this, salmon as a kid, I loathed and I hated it. And it was a meal, one of my, my dad's meal to see make that I'd be like, I'd have to like slather it with ketchup. Or occasionally I'd talk him into making me a grilled cheese sandwich and said, well, just because I like the taste of ketchup and if I put enough on it, it would cover up any sort of fishy taste.

It's disgusting in hindsight. Absolutely. Salmon ketchup is fucking revolting. Someone told me once that the French call ketchup the sauce filants, like the violent sauce because it, it destroys all of their flavor except for its own. Wow. Yeah. I think that's fair. And that's probably why I gravitated towards it. But yeah, salmon, absolutely a big one. Emma, did you do, did you, like when your parents would get fish,

would you get like fried fish from the fish place? Yeah. Like I would eat a breaded, if it was fried fish, I'll eat that. I would, and I'll still eat that, but that's pretty much all I wanted as a kid. But truly, if it was like too fishy and it wasn't like mostly breading, I didn't like it. Yeah. My mom makes a baked haddock. Delicious. Which is what she does on a, on a, basically on like a, she'll do it like once a week. And it's, and it's really, it's really, really fantastic.

One of my favorite things now is my dad's stuff's haddock with crab and baked it. Wow. And it's so good. Sounds delightful. That sounds delicious. Yeah. Grown up. I mean, I, I did eat seafood when I was younger and I, I feel like I had my mom's baked haddock, but I, it, it, it took a while to like like, and then salmon, I never, like that was one I never liked.

And then, yes, Nick, you know what? The sidewalk grill, not far from where I live. Yeah. Mediterranean restaurant. Mediterranean restaurant. They got, they got salmon, uh, like salmon skewers, basically. Oh yeah. It's great. And, and they're great. And I, and I, so I've told people that they were like, what do you like with salmon?

I think it may be my mom or someone recently. And I was like, I like like hummus and rice with my salmon. She was like, weird. Yeah. But that is how I like my salmon. I like it with hummus and rice. Very fair. It's a very fair accompaniment. I, I have another one and this is a, I don't know if this quite qualifies, but

you know, I like a lot of fucking, uh, like shitheads. I had an IPA phase where I was like drinking IPAs and super hoppy beers. And I kind of had a point where I was just like, I just was like, had a Pilsner and I was like, wait, I like this better. Yeah. What am I doing trying to fucking do this dick measuring contest to have the fucking hoppiest like quadruple IPA to fucking prove some sort of point about how bitter I can drink something and how multi I can have a taste when just a Pilsner or is, is like fucking so drinkable and,

and great. And so like now I just like, I fucking, I get those IPAs out of here. I go towards a, I go towards a logger, you know, sort of a lighter beer and character. I agree. I don't even like IPAs personally. I think they're fine. Yeah. I mean, like I'd never, if there's IPAs and a bunch of different, I would rather drink a

Bud Light than like a, the fucking best people who are saying it's the best IPA. I mean, of course I would try. All right, let's not go nuts. I'd probably, I usually start with like a good, like if it's, if we're drinking beer, I'll have one IPA or like one good craft beer. And then I don't need more than just the one, then I can drink whatever. Cause let's be honest. After like one beer, you're not tasting anymore.

You're just putting it down your gullet so that he can get that buzz, you know? That's true. That's true. I, I, I like, you know, I've been drinking Seltzers, Nick. You know, I've been drinking, I've been drinking some Seltzers recently. Oh yeah. I try to find that there was like Bud Light, ugly sweater pack that was like the holiday flavors couldn't get them just impossible to find.

And I thought, I was going to try it. Why? Why is that fucking bots? Fucking bots. Yeah. God damn bots. It's a bummer, but you're going to try to have them for a holiday gathering or for just for you and your mom.

Yeah. And, and then or also just we could talk about them on dough boys. You know, I'm always, oh, that would be fun. I'm always thinking about the show, baby. Look at you. That's why I was going to get that PlayStation 5 too. Were you going to put it on the dough boys card? Put it on the card.

It's an expense. Oh, well in that case, I'm going to go get a PlayStation 5. Emma, no. Emma, this is serious, right, Nick? If you have a question or comment about the world of Shane restaurants, you can email us at doughboyspodcast.gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 830. That's 830-463-644 or like our buddy John Hodgman did. And to get the dough boys double, our weekly bonus episode joined the Golden or Platinum

Play Club at patreon.com slash dough boys. And hey, that's this week's dough boys and until next time for the Spoon Man, Mike Mitchell, I'm Nick Weigher. Happy eating. See ya, you freaks. Want more dough boys? Check out the Dough Squad, our Discord server. You get dough-scored access plus the dough boys double when you join the Platinum Play Club

at patreon.com slash dough boys. That's patreon.com slash dough boys. Sources for this week's intro are in the episode description.