Fine Dining - Chili's: The Fajita Effect, NSYNC, and the Jingle That Changed Everything

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

🌶️ Chili’s: They Started in a Post Office?? 🌶️ Chili’s. For nearly 50 years, it’s been slinging margaritas, sizzling skillets, and vibes that are somehow both flirty and corporate. In this episode, actress and podcast 3-timers guest club VyVy Nguyen is back to explore the surprisingly spicy history of this chain restaurant icon with me — from its post office origins to its entanglement with The Office, N*SYNC, and the internet’s horniest Vine. Was Chili’s always this unhinged, just waiting for us to notice? 🌮 The “Fajita Effect”: Why One Order Sets the Whole Restaurant Off 🎶 Baby Back Ribs & the Jingle That Haunts Your Soul 📬 From Post Office to Powerhouse — How Chili’s Mailed It In and Still Won America Over 🍹 Margarita Madness: 13 Swimming Pools Worth a Year 🤖 The Vine That Chili's Declared One of its Most Important Moments Ever 📺 Jim & Pam’s First Kiss Was Where?! 😳 N*SYNC Gets Crushed by a Crate (But Harmonizes First) 🍽️ Chili’s Triple Dipper: A Flight of Fried Foods for the Indecisive Diner 🍽️ 💬 COMMENT BELOW: What’s your favorite Chili’s menu item? Or is it all about the vibe (and the molten lava cake)? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY: 🔥 Patreon (Bonus reviews & exclusive content!): https://www.patreon.com/finediningpodcast 💬 Discord (Chat chains & share horror stories!): https://discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4 🎥 Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@finediningpodcast 🔗 All links: www.linktree.com/finediningpodcast ⚡ Like, Subscribe & Share if you crave deep dives into food, freakiness & fried mediocrity! Patreon Producers: Sue Ornelas & Joyce Van 👉 NEXT WEEK: We review a Saturday night at Chili’s. Chaos at Encino's hottest table to try and find the perfect 5.00 out of 10.

Chilis For half a century now, Chilis Grill and Bar has been a greasy piece of the fabric of American society. After getting their start in a converted post office in 1975, Chilis has grown to be synonymous with the term chain restaurant. This casual dining mecca has pushed an eclectic menu throughout the years with both American food as well as Tex-Mex. They've found their success with their burgers, baby back ribs, fajitas, margaritas,

and for a time, literal chili. Beyond the food, their marketing has caught fire on multiple occasions from arguably the catchiest jingle of all time brainwashing us to keep their baby back ribs at the forefront of our minds to showing up as a setting for multiple episodes of The Office. That's right, Jim and Pam's first kiss was at a Chili's, and we all know what kissing leads to,

and Chili's likes to watch. They freaky. Don't act like we can't read between the lines of your three-for-me deal. And with a service mantra of let's play restaurant, Chili's wants customers to feel like they're at a party. They want their servers to have fun with guests and for us to loosen up. May as well put our keys in a bowl when we walk in, right Chili's? This week on the show, I'll be triple dipping your curious minds into my saucy ramekins of knowledge so that you'll be every bit the expert about Chili's as I am. Then we'll turn our attention to Yelp to see what

others think of the busiest chilies I've been to in years. Stay tuned, this is the Fine Dining Podcast. Your table is ready, take a seat The flavor of the day is mediocrity Wouldn't you like to try a pie? Guarantee it'll be the perfect pie Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast

Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Fine Dining Podcast Wouldn't you like to try a five? Guarantee it'll be the perfect five Fine dining

Better than you thought, worse than you hoped Fine dining We don't treat media per as a joke Breaking every single place we've been Looking for the perfect five out of ten That was spicy. Chiles is a freak and you know it. I mean, I really did it until you just kind of laid it out like that.

I don't know. I'm I'm reaching. I'm projecting. But in my mind, this is what Chiles is at its core. It's what you want Chiles to be, though, because our experience wasn't very spicy at all. I don't know. They were swinging. Hello, and welcome to the Fine Dining Podcast, the search for the most mediocre restaurant in America. Eagle Sound. Eagle Sound. Yeah, you know, I'm your host, Michael Ornelas. And this is the show where I dive deep into the history of our favorite chain

restaurants before reviewing them. In this week's episode of the show, we're going to baby back, baby back, baby back that ass up into the history of Chili's before reading some Yelp reviews of the specific one we experienced, then we'll review it properly next week. My guest this episode is making her return to the show, entering the Three Timers Club. She's a dear friend of mine, and I'm thrilled to have her back.

It's Vivi Nguyen. Hello, hello. How did I do on the last name? Great, great. Did I? Yes, yes, I mean, that's how I say it. Again, there's no proper westernized way to say it. I thought you were about to say there's no wrong way. I was like, there's plenty. No, no. Again, there's no proper westernized way to say it. I thought you were about to say there's no wrong way.

I was like, there's plenty. No, no, no, there's many wrong ways. Don't say it. It's not like eating a Reese's. Hmm, are there wrong? Yeah, I'm wondering. Well, that was their slogan. I know, I know, but I'm wondering

if there actually are wrong ways to eat a Reese's. Oh, there are wrong ways to eat a Reese's for sure. Yeah. But they're trying to. Don't wash your hands after you go to the bathroom and eat the Reese's. I don't know. That's, you shouldn't do that

You want me to cut that? No, it's fine I keep it you keep it in. I love that. Sorry Reese's. I do love you I love your product like don't get me wrong. Just I feel like they're oh Someone let's believe Let's start a campaign to get that Give me some free Reese's guys After you just anyways, no, I was not crapping on them. I was saying don't crap and then eat them.

This is the start of the episode. This is- That's, I'm coming in strong. This is people's first impression. No, because I've been on the show three times. That is fair. And you should know who I am. You should know better.

At this point, if you are a true fan. So, Vivi, we went to Chili's. Mm-hmm. And this week, we are going to cover the history of Chili's. But before we do that, I want to know, do you have a personal fan. So Vivi, we went to Chili's, and this week we are gonna cover the history of Chili's. But before we do that, I wanna know, do you have a personal history with Chili's? Have you been there much at all? This wasn't your first time at a Chili's.

It was not my first time. I will say it's been a while since I've been to Chili's, but in high school there was one in kind of one of those outdoor mall plaza type things that we then could go to as a safe space for high schoolers to hang out a little bit after school. And it wasn't too expensive. So that was nice.

But that's about it. I always liked Chili's in high school and college. I dated a girl in high school and into college who one of her first jobs was as a hostess at a Chili's. That was down the street. So were you there all the time? Like, did you get the discount? I honestly wasn't there. She only worked like two days a week.

Okay. And I mean, we were already together. It wasn't like I met her. Fell in love with the Chili's hostess. I didn't meet her through her being a hostess. Oh no, what a love story. That'd be a story. Chili's would love that.

They need that. They need the spice. They need that kind They need the spice. They need that kind of PR. Yeah. Heck yeah. Why not? All right.

Well, that is your history, a little bit of my history. Do you want to hear the history of Chili's? Go on if you must. Do you not care? No. Do you really not? No, I care. I care.

I care. I'm just messing with you. I'm sorry. I'm coming on so strong. This is the whole conceit of the show. I think you really set the tone with your intro and now I'm just like, let's go. You're in like an orgy energy? No, I'm not in orgy energy.

I'm turning red now, I can tell I'm turning red. That's the tone I was setting. No, no, no. All right, we're gonna jump into this week's Eat Deets. Chili's was born 50 years ago in Dallas, Texas, after founder Larry Levine attended the Tirlingua Chili Cook-Off, which was hosted by famous racer and Levine's father-in-law, Carol Shelby. Nepotism. Uh, literally.

Well, no, I mean, he just attended. Yeah, okay. Uh, he loved the event so much that he wanted to make a restaurant with chili on the menu because, and I quote, people don't talk about spaghetti and meatballs. What? I disagree.

I feel like we talk about it a lot. I love spaghetti and meatballs. What? I disagree. I feel like we talk about it a lot. I love spaghetti and meatballs. And it's in like every cartoon, like it's the basic go-to animated food to eat for a lot of things. Now I'm trying to think if I agree with that. I mean, I feel it's either spaghetti or a hamburger.

Yeah, I don't think you're wrong. Yeah. But I did wanna take a second to process if I thought you were wrong. It's're wrong. Yeah. But I did want to take a second to process if I thought you were wrong. It's out there. Yeah. There's not under-representation of... I think they're just saying like,

spaghetti and meatballs is nothing special and it's not gonna get people talking like you've not had the spaghetti and meatballs at Chili's. But I disagree. I love a place with a good spaghetti and meatballs. Yeah, yeah. So, I don't know. Comfort food.

Yeah. I don't think. Comfort food. Yeah. I don't think he's right about that. All that said, Chili's wasn't a chili restaurant per se. It was just one of the offerings. It was always supposed to be a place to expand customers options in the 70s, where casual dining was still in its infancy. There was little in the way of a middle ground between nice

steak restaurants and fast food. Chili's wanted to be a family-friendly environment with a burger menu that also offered drinks. And after converting an old post office building into the first Chili's location, that idea came to fruition. I love that. I love that it was in a post office.

That must've been a vibe. A vibe, yeah. Yeah. And they wanted it to be this trendy spot that would play like popular music. I don't think live music necessarily, but just, you know, through the speakers and stuff. And they genuinely wanted it to be like this fun.

Like fun was a big part of the environment they were trying to cultivate even early on. Yeah. Yeah. I, do you know if they did anything interesting to blend, like add the post office into their vibe? Or was it just... No, no, no, there was no post office theming to it. Okay, okay.

Would have been a very different restaurant. File some mail. I don't know if I want that. Drop off some packages. Tax returns, the restaurant, or something like that. Have someone grumpy help you out. You can buy stamps. That's useful.

Like a stamp-themed dessert where it's like lick it and stick it on something. I mean, I used to collect stamps, so there's something appealing to something stamp themed. Just a scrapbook of your dessert. Yeah, like you can take it home each time. Like I had that brownie and now I can remember that I had that brownie. The timing of Chili's lined up with the passage of liquor by the drink laws in Texas, which finally allowed for mixed alcoholic drinks to be sold in

restaurants as opposed to just in private clubs, whatever that means. Now they were allowed to sell alcohol from two ounce bottles in mixed drinks. And the team decided that frozen margaritas were the move. I mean, it's Texas. Do you drink? Not really. I have that whole... I don't, I mean, I don't. Oh, well, I'm one of the one third of Asian people who don't have the enzyme to break down alcohol properly.

So I get... You get that flush. The glow, the flush. Like earlier. Well, that was just me being embarrassed. No, this is, yeah, but that's what I turned into. I look like I have a sunburn. So yes, I don't drink.

And it's, I wish, I wish I could have the proper experience because it looks fun, you know? I feel like people are having a great time when they're drinking and I don't, I don't have that experience. I just get red. I can hear my heartbeat in my head. It's awful. Anyway, go back to alcohol, about chilies.

No, we don't need to talk about my health issues. The margaritas at Chili's are so tied to the brand's identity that the company history portion of their own website chose we were number one in margarita sales in the U.S. in 1994 as one of the 12 most noteworthy details to put forward. That's such a specific accolade. I am going to tell you, not all of the 12 things on their like timeline. Yeah. Because you know, like the founding, you know, first restaurant, whatever,

that's one of them. But like, so many of the choices in there, I think are kind of silly. They're like uber specific. They're so specific. It is worth noting, though, Chiles does sell 13 swimming pools worth of margaritas annually, which is a terrible metric. I don't want to picture like I'm just imagining swimming in sugar water. Yeah. Well, I'm picturing like other people are swimming in it. And they're like, here's a straw. You're like, I don't want to know.

Yeah, I don't like that image. That's gross. So here are some of the other highlights they included in their website timeline. They attribute the rise of they included in their website timeline. They attribute the rise of chilies to their 1983 sale to Dallas based businessman Norman Brinker of Brinker International. They went public a year later. Brinker also owns Maggiano's Little Italy.

They used to own On the Border Mexican Cantina and Corner Bakery Cafe, but they sold those properties off. Well, spaghetti connection. Oh yeah. Yeah. Mexican Cantina and Corner Bakery Cafe, but they sold those properties off. Well, spaghetti connection. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they're like, the spaghetti we don't wanna serve, Maggiana's can provide. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they fill the...

Which, I like Maggiana's. I don't know if they do it anymore, but when I last went to one, they had a deal where you buy a pasta entree and they give you a full to go serving of it for lunch the next day. Oh my God. But I think you could mix and match

to where you could get two different types of pasta. So you don't get sick of the one dish. But I don't know if they do that. It's been maybe seven or eight years. That seems like they're just giving away, yeah. It's a great deal though. It's a good deal, but I. That seems like they're just giving away, yeah. It's a great deal though. It's a good deal, but I can't imagine

that being sustainable. Yeah. So, wow. Didn't Olive Garden also do something like that? I don't know, they do endless bullshit, but like. I felt like there was a period of time where they were doing like, buy an entree and take an entree home for lunch.

And yeah, I don't know. This is, I don't know who copied what from who, but yeah. Another touted fact in their website timeline is the addition of fajitas to the menu in 1984 and a claim that they taught Americans how to pronounce the word. Oh We heard it mispronounced On purpose making a bit out of it, but the table next to us was going like vagina. Yeah Jada so funny sounds like you're saying vagina with fagida. Fagida, so funny. Sounds like you're saying vagina with a sinus infection.

Is that what it sounds like? Phoebe, Phoebe, you knew this. We had the conversation. I know we had the conversation, but we didn't have the conversation on camera. I've had it up to here. Okay, no jokes. I'm all serious from here on camera. I've had it up to here. Okay, no jokes. I'm all serious from here on out.

Chili's believes in the fajita effect, the idea that fajita sales spike, the fajita effect, the phenomenon that fajita sales spike once the first order comes out because of the sizzling spectacle made out of the delivery process. Yes, it is very distinct. Yeah.

You hear it, you see it. You hear it, you smell it. The smell is inhaled by everyone in its path, and it incepts the idea that they want vaginas too. Mm. Yeah. Which we did order, and we'll talk about that later. We did.

And it had nothing to do with anyone ordering them. This is true. We were just trying to figure out what was best for our meal. I will say, though, growing up, I would get very excited when fajitas came by. Just in general? In general, like as a kid.

OK, yeah. The spectacle of, like, all the sizzling and the steam. Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. And then when I started eating fajitas, I also am like, ooh, is that my food coming? Like you you get like that little warning bell. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which is kind of nice. It's like Pavlovian. It's exciting. It's excitement. Mm hmm. Their history timeline also celebrates the introduction of baby back ribs and the associated jingle in 1986, as well as the fact this is a full separate entry that Mike Myers's fat bastard character referenced the aforementioned jingle in Austin Powers, the spy who shagged me after desiring to eat Verne Troyer's character Mini-Me

and confusing him with a baby, hence baby back, baby back, baby back. I also want to go on record and say that's not OK. You can't eat baby. No, no, don't eat babies. Don't eat little people. Baby back ribs are okay. Generally okay, yeah. But I love that that is, that's two 12ths of the most important things in Chili's history

according to them. I mean. The mention in Austin Powers and yeah, the introduction of the ribs and the jingle was huge for them. Yes, that jingle continues to it. It's in the back of my head right now. It's just been playing.

Yeah. Ever since we've eaten. It's a catchy, catchy song. It really is. It really is. Speaking of the famous Baby Back Ribs jingle, it's apparently a pretty direct musical copy of the Tommy James song Dragon the Line. Yeah, you sent me the link and I was like, I had no idea. It's apparently a pretty direct musical copy of the Tommy James song drag in the line Yeah, you sent me the link and I was like I had no idea. I'm so uncultured But it's like a media that you hear. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean you start playing the song

Oh, yeah, that is that yes. Yes, although in the comments not a lot of people were marking on the Chili's. No, I know Yeah, it was actually people who loved music And I'm like Chili's stole this song. Music fans just like music, go figure. They're like, this is an amazing song. I was 20 when it came out and they're appreciating it. I'm like, Chilly's.

Literally one of the top comments was like, I just played this for my brother while he was on his death bed. And he was tapping his hand and recognized it and loved it. And that was the last time I saw him. And I was like, it was a beautiful story. And then I'm just thinking, Chilly stole this. Yeah. You know?

Yep, yep, yep. It's not a joke to that. It's just like, it's such a weird disconnect to read. Someone had such an emotional connection to a song and all I'm hearing is baby, boo, boo, boo, boo, boo, boo. It's so weird. Yeah. Yeah.

In 2004, the jingle was selected as the song most likely baby back, baby back, baby back. It's so weird. Yeah. Yeah. In 2004, the jingle was selected as the song most likely to get stuck in your head by advertising age, beating out the Mission Impossible theme song, Who Let the Dogs Out and We Will Rock You. Wow, those are some catchy, catchy tunes. Competitors, yeah. Yeah.

But Chili's, there's something about it too. And that commercial when it came out as well, like it was so fun. They're playing with the plates and they're all working together and they're singing. They're kind of making this like diegetic ensemble of like the things that go into. Yeah, it was very joyous.

Yeah. It was, yeah, it was great. I always, yeah, I'd get excited when that commercial came on as a kid. Yeah. There's one about Chili's that apparently would excite me as a kid. Fagidas. You're an excitable child.

I'm an excitable boy. Chili's also sponsored NSYNC's final tour and as a result got a series of ads with them doing their own rendition of The Jingle. One commercial featured them stranded on a desert island, all singing the jingle together and writing, send ribs in the sand before a rescue helicopter drops a crate onto Joey Fatone, who seems pretty dead until the final shot of the commercial shows his feet

beneath the crate, Wicked Witch of the East style. His feet are seen swaying back and forth to the rhythm of the song, though that might just be a cadaveric spasm. Oh, no. Yeah, he really got shafted in that commercial because I felt like all of the guys got their little solo moments.

But did he? He's the part we're talking about. But not in that part. And he was kind of doing like a chicken dance when the crate dropped. But also, everyone was also so serious and, you know, because it's supposed to seem like a love ballad at first. Yeah, yeah. And then he's just dancing around Chicken dance when the crate drops? But also, everyone was also so serious and you know, because it's supposed to seem

like a love ballad at first. And then he's just dancing around like a chicken and maybe that's what he wanted. Yeah. He seems like a comical. It's what he would have wanted speaking at his funeral. Rest in peace, Joey Patone. Rest in power, rest in ribs.

But yeah, I loved them. They were my first concert. Anson was mine. Oh. So them but without dancing and with two less people. And mine were related. Yeah. Yeah.

No, NSYNC was pretty cool because they also, it was, I think, one of their first major worldwide concerts and they did the one with Eric flying in the air. Yeah. It was very impressive to eight year old me, eighth grade me. Yeah, I was in fourth grade when I went to my my Hanson concert. My dad took me and I could tell he was just like, when is this over? I mean, like who chose you? Oh, OK. Oh, yeah.

Their first album, I was very into Hanson. That's sweet. Yeah, I actually I won a lottery, technically. Yeah. My best friend, funnily enough,. She had tickets and she had an extra ticket, but she wasn't gonna give me the extra one. She kind of did this thing with... She had to make you work for it. Like our circle of friends had to put our names in a hat. Oh.

And so I actually wasn't even, like it was luck I got to go. Wow. Yeah, yeah, so, but I was like, yeah, I was like, that's my best friend. And I said, that's fine, that's fine. My handsome thing was... We're not best friends anymore. My handsome thing was I just asked my parents

and they took me because I had no friends that were even a little bit interested in seeing Hansen. You were ahead of your time. No. No, okay. No. I was trying to give you the metaphysical. No, I don't deserve it.

Well, at least your dad took you, that's very sweet. Yes, it was nice. On it, like genuinely when I listened back to Hansen, I'm like, I think they have a very solid musical foundation there. They're they're very poppy in a way Should be in that list of catchy tunes. Honestly, it should be I could sing every word for that song right now I mean, what really are the words though? What is like? I'm not a dupe adopt a dog do what it has verses I know there are verses, but how do you say that part? You know what I mean?

I could do it, but I won't. OK, all right. I will turn red. Last thing about the iconic jingle, the man who created it, Guy Bomarito, has never tried the baby back ribs at Chili's. What? Yeah. What? Yeah. So he just created that brilliance.

It was a lie. Well, maybe, had he eaten them, maybe he wouldn't have created the same sauce. To be fair, he doesn't say anything about them. Yeah. Chili's baby back ribs, barbecue sauce. Like, I want them. I want my baby back. Yeah, I want them.

But wanting them is not the same as I have had them and can speak to their quality. That's true. Maybe he continues to want them. So really it was the truest thing he could have done. Yes, it was a song born from desire, unfulfilled desire. There's so many layers to this song. It speaks to us. Yeah. Chili's website also makes reference to a 2005 episode of The Office called The Dundies, during which the employees of Dunder Mifflin throw The Dundies, a little office award show at their local Chili's.

Pam Beasley wins the Dundie for whitest sneakers and in her acceptance speech, proclaims, I feel God in this Chili's tonight, which is literally what's quoted on Chili's website before kissing Jim Halpert for the first time in the show, despite being engaged to somebody else. Drama. Hivital. Yeah, it was a big deal. It was a whole like, you know, people were rooting for them, but she did.

She was in a relationship. That is genuinely one of my favorite TV couples. I thought that they were handled very enticingly. I was very interested. What an adverb. I was just, I was invested. Yeah. Yeah.

I thought they did a, I mean, it's also been a long time since I've watched. There may be like glaring red flags that are very different than how I would feel today. Yeah, now that you're like in a serious relationship, you're like, oh my God, she just cheated on her fiance. But what was this about the quote? It's on the Chili's website? Yeah, just the line, I feel God in this Chili's tonight.

But they took that from the episode. Not that they just have that on their website. No, no, no, they have this timeline of like the 12 most important events in Chili's history. And it's like in 2005, the office told people, showed audiences what it meant to feel God in this Chili's tonight, which is a little aggressive. Chili's is your church.

Yeah. And then the last thing that stuck out to me, besides their charity and fundraising efforts on their website history timeline, is a brag about the three-second high welcome to Chili's vine that went viral in 2015 despite having no involvement. The clip sees the late Adam Perkins walk into a bathroom in his underwear,

awkwardly square up to the mirror, and simply says, hi, welcome to Chili's. That's it. It's a three second video. I mean, free advertising, right? I guess. You gotta love that.

The internet lost its damn mind, and the video has amassed roughly 30 million views. But Vine's gone, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, but I mean it's... Oh, back in the... back then. Yes, and between that and reposting... Being reposted. Okay, okay, okay. I wonder though how much business they got from that,

people being reminded that Chili's exists. It is the, I think, epitome of the notion of, hey, there's no such thing as bad press. Yeah. To be fair, this is neutral press, and it works well for them. Yeah, because it's not sanctioned by them, but also it's not too negative.

It's not saying anything bad about Chili's. It's just he happens to be in his underwear. And by the way, I don't agree with the notion. There is absolutely such a thing as bad press. Oh, sure. Yeah, of course. But I think that this is one of those situations where it's like, yeah, sure, go ahead.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. In 2008, Chili's ran a marketing campaign about a satirical restaurant called PJ Bland's that served cardboard food to dunk on their competitors. Customers were talking about how their meals weren't good, but there's a lot of it, and that they were decidedly mediocre

Life's too short for bland meals was the big swing at the end of the ad and given what we experienced This does kind of feel like the pot calling the kettle black. Yeah Chili's what happened? I will say man It was much closer to cardboard than what I had remembered going to high school. And I don't know if my palate's gotten more refined, but. No, I think corners have been cut by a lot of these like big corporate restaurants.

Yeah. It's just, you know, a lot of, very few of them are owned by who started owning them, and therefore the passion and the care and the pride in the product. Just, there's several steps of detachment from it. And it showed. And it showed.

That said, I did really like the ad. Yeah, it's a cute ad. You sent it to me, it's fun, you should look it up. It's clever. And the way they crafted the cardboard food. Looked very interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

It had like those ridges that like, when you see like the inside of a moving box. Yeah, the corrugated. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It had like those ridges that like when you see like the inside of a moving box. Yeah. The corrugated. Yeah. Yeah. Corrugated boxing. Yeah. It was there was there was love and care. Yeah. Unlike what we was the best damn looking cardboard I've ever seen. Now of course any company this big has its controversies. Chili's has over 1200 locations in the US. Chili's didn't have anything I haven't seen before. But here are a few. In 2008, a class action lawsuit against Brinker International

claimed that studies done in independent labs showed even Chili's is healthier offerings had two to three times the fat content as what was advertised. Oh, dang. But I mean, what are they advertising as healthy? I know there was kind of like a lighter. Just throughout the years, there's like a lot of these places will have like a fit menu or even just like like a spinach based dish or their salads or like something served with more vegetables, but like they cook their vegetables

and so much butter because they still want them to be tasting good. Like your corn on the cob. We'll talk about that. Oh. Oh my god. I kind of wish I had, I should have taken a bite out of yours. It was very good corn on the cob.

But yeah, it doesn't sit right with me to false advertise. Yeah, that's pretty egregious. There have been a few cases of sexual harassment at some Chili's locations, which are more localized to management at those particular stores than a culture fostered by the brand. However, in 2009, a woman's employment was terminated

after coming forward with harassment allegations to Brinker International. After public outrage, she was rehired, but the company blamed her firing on a computer error. What? That seems like a pretty weak lie. A computer error?

Yeah. Oh, sorry you were fired. It was, it was a clerical error. Like, that's retaliatory. Just this one person got fired because of a computer error, who happened to report sexual harassment. And after there's outrage, that's when they fix it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dubious. Yeah. In July 2024, American rap rock group, The Beastie Boys, filed a lawsuit against Brinker International for copyright infringement, claiming that the group's 1994 song, Sabotage, has been illegally used to promote chilies in advertisements on social media starting around November 2022.

Wait, elaborate on this. Chilies put the song in. Oh, they full on put the song in advertising without asking? It sounds like it. Oh, chilies, you should know better. You really should. Well, but social media, I do think is. Oh, it's kind of should know better. You really should. Well, but social media, I do think is-

Oh, it's kind of the Wild West a little bit. It's a little bit more of a gray area than running a TV ad with it. That would be a little bit more egregious, but even still, even still, you would know. I don't like that. You're a big company. They're the Beastie Boys.

It's not like some random like garage band. Take it from Vivi, it's okay to rip off the little guy. No, no, no, it's not what I meant. I'm sorry, garage bands. You are the heart and soul of music. You've said what you said. Your stance has been taken. Oh, God.

And lastly, just to bring a bit of home into these Edits in 2024, the city of Austin, Texas, declared April 5th to be Chili's at 45th and Lamar Day, which is clever. April is four, five, 45th Street. Makes sense. But the significance of the location dates back as far as 2011 in the r slash Austin subreddit in which a running joke began

that it's the best restaurant in Austin. Out of towners who visit the subreddit looking for food recommendations would be pummeled with comments directing them to the chilies at 45th and Lamar. The tagline, every chilies is exactly the same, including the one at 45th and Lamar, but this one is ours, goes hand in hand with the discourse around this location. That's kind of funny and sweet. Yeah. You know, direct the business there. Look, I've lived in LA the entire time that this has been a thing in Austin, and yet I've still heard of it before all this.

It makes me wanna go to that Chili's. Doesn't it? Yeah, even though I've had amazing food all around Austin, I'm like, now I should make a stop at that Chili's. I remember I ate there at least once in college, maybe twice. Okay. Was it?

It's a Chili's. That's it? Yeah. It's just the hype behind it created by the subreddit. I love that idea though that the subreddit is like, look, everyone who's visiting Austin is like, where should I eat? And they're just sick of seeing the same question. And so they just-

Just go to this Chili's. They have a joke and I like it. That's sweet. I do like it. And that'll do it for this week's Eat Deets. Vivi, did you internalize all of that? I hope you were paying attention so that it can inspire you, that it can help you navigate what you need to do to create your own dining experience,

because the next few minutes are all about you and what you think needs to be seen in the world of themed chain restaurants. In the style of the baby back ribs jingle. This is the restaurant of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams. This is the restaurant of your dreams of my dreams of my dreams of my chili. But you have to like, but you have to make up the words.

Oh, what? This is the restaurant of your dreams of your dreams dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams. What if I just let you keep singing? I'm going to let you keep singing. This is the restaurant of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams. I don't have lyrics for you.

This is the restaurant of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams. I don't have lyrics for you. Okay, this is the restaurant of your dreams. That was hard to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a tongue twister. Vivi, tell me all about a restaurant concept that you've created. I've created a restaurant concept that I've created for you.

I've created a restaurant concept that I've created for you. I've created a restaurant concept that I've created for you. I've created a restaurant concept that I've created for you. I've created a restaurant concept that I've created for you. I've created a restaurant concept that I've created for you. I've created a restaurant concept that I've created for you. I've created a restaurant concept that I've created for do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a tongue twister. Vivi, tell me all about a restaurant concept that you've created that only you could make a reality. It must be practical, delicious, and memorable. Three, two, one, go.

Oh gosh, I mean, I don't know if this is practical, but I haven't talked about this to anyone, so there might be notes. You've workshopped this zero. Zero, absolutely zero. Welcome to the workshop. You sent me the question. He's so, okay, this is my third time on the podcast,

and my, how it has evolved, how things are so professional now. He sent me a full email with a layout of our itinerary and what we're gonna talk about. This is not what happened the first two times we did it. Fly by the seat of our pants, baby. First time I think it was like a text, be like, do you want to be on my podcast?

Come to Sizzler this time. And then the second time. Come alone, bring cash. The second time we definitely, then we started doing it on camera. So now I am back and the camera setup is so, just streamlined, it's amazing. Thank you.

So anyway, but yeah, you sent me this prompt and I was just like, what do I think of? Hell yeah. So, okay. And you can give me notes because I have not. We're building this together. Okay. I will say, one of my favorite- I get a 50% stake in all of these pitches.

You know what would happen? Yeah, fine. Let's do it. Yeah, yeah. If you think this is a good idea, it might be a terrible idea. We'll find out. I had, I got to fly business class internationally

for the first time like two years ago for an acting gig. Thank you, HBO. I love you. Please fly me out again. I'm just asking for free things at this point. You don't even have to cast me in something. Just send me somewhere. No, just send me somewhere.

So it was amazing. I flew on Qatar Airways, which is just, it's always, it's usually rated like one of the top airlines in the world to fly. And I was in one of those pods and you get to lay back, you can have a nice screen to watch all your movies and they give you this menu to begin with. And it's, it's this very elaborate menu of mains, sides,

appetizers, breakfast, snacks, and an alcohol menu. And you just tell them when you want them to come by, what time you want them to come by with these dishes. Amazing. It was fantastic. Such high quality food, lobster. My favorite dish when I had it was like, honestly, it was just fruit but covered in like simple

syrup. But the way that the presentation and the fact that I was now in this like reclining seat, getting to watch a movie with high quality headphones, I feel like I would want that experience for everyone. But grounded. Yeah. So I wonder if that's the issue though, because obviously I'm going to a cool destination. But maybe you could just have like a really elevated. Here's what it's like to fly first class. Yeah. You don't get to. It wasn't even first

class. It was business class. So I don't even know what like the top of the top is. But it was it was so cool. And I dream of the chance of getting to do it ever again. And I just felt like I kind of imagine it like Alamo Drafthouse, but like an elevated version of it. And you can still watch the movie in your pod, but you know, you can live. Is it on the back of someone else's screen, or is it like a big screen? I mean, I don't imagine it like a big screen,

because I feel like it would be each individual person having their own experience. I imagine it like a big screen, because I feel like it would be each individual person having their own experience. So they can watch whatever movie they want and the next person. But if you are on a date, for instance, like in business class, you could do the joint pods where they're right next to each other,

or you could do a party of four. I don't know if you got parties larger than that, if it would work still a concept, but like you could still all just kind of be in these comfy little things and they bring the food and maybe even some seats have window displays where you could like open up the window and see like the sky.

I don't know. Are you? This was the idea I had. I was just trying to think that that might be kind of different and interesting. I like the idea that you're trying to recreate something that was so memorable for you as opposed to starting from complete you're trying to recreate something that was so memorable for you, as opposed to starting from complete scratch

and trying to build something that is crazy. I do think that there might be a market for this. I do see a bunch of issues like you might have with licensing movies and stuff like that, but that's not the point of this. The point is just, would it be a cool experience? And I do think it would be a cool experience. I do wonder, and you guys can let me know in the comments

if you would feel detached from this, knowing that you're not going somewhere. But I'm wondering though, cause if it's just like, you knowing you're gonna be there for three hours or whatever amount of time, as a more of a space to just relax and just treat yourself. Sure. Yeah.

But I understand that having that experience while going somewhere is definitely part of the whole appeal of buying a business class ticket. Yeah, well, because you usually kind of dread the notion of sitting for a long time on an international flight. Yeah. And so then being able to combat that and make it a nice time, when you take that away,

now it's just the hassles of being on a plane that you're kind of experienced with. You're not on the plane, but the seats are smaller, which I know you could make it a bigger seat. Yeah, exactly. You could do a recliner. Yeah, I would even say like, it'd probably be bigger than a normal, because there's no constraints of being a plane. We can do a recliner. Yeah. I would even say like it'd probably be bigger than a normal.

Yeah. Because there's no constraints of being a plane. We're in a building. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would attend your grand opening for sure. Okay.

Okay. I'm not like avoiding this place at all. All right. Yeah. So I also think that the menu could kind of bloat the price up a bit. Yeah. I would definitely think it's a more upscale experience. Yeah.

So the price would be a little higher. Okay, well, thanks for going over all of that with me. Thank you. It's an honor to know that you've trusted me enough to share that that is what you dream about. One more time, that theme song, this is the restaurant of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, of your dreams, this is the restaurant of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams. This is the restaurant of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams of your dreams.

Nailed it. Oh God. Right again. We're out of dreamland and back to real life. Oh, we woke up. So let's see what the people of Yelp have to say about the Encino chilies in this week's Yelp from Strangers. A little Yelp, a little Yelp. Give us those complaints while you literally white and die.

Yelp! Alright, this is Yelp from Strangers, our segment where we turn to Yelp and read out our favorite. One, two, three, four, six. Oh my god. are you new? And five star Yelp reviews of the very restaurant that we went to. Vivi, do you mind if I start us off with the first one? Not at all.

Two star review. This is from Buckwheat M from Los Angeles, California. I hope that's their name. I don't know. March 18th, 2016, it is his only ever Yelp review. Oh, Buckwheat, where did you go? I don't know. Why is it so goddamn loud in Chili's these days?

What is this accent? I mean, he spelled it G-A-W-D-D-A-M. Oh, okay, okay. All right. I had to. Yeah, I liked it. Met with my team after work today, and we were greeted by a wall of noise that was only slightly quieter than wartime flight operations on an aircraft carrier. When we asked, the server informed us the volume setting was a new corporate policy.

Well, obviously nobody from corporate spends time in their restaurants or else. They would have the same sort of migraine I got after 45 minutes But is he talking about just the music or is he talking about the low the noise level of I imagine it's the music Okay, okay. I was confused. Yeah, cuz you can't ask the waiter to turn down the noise of other people And I think I blew out a vocal cord trying to make myself heard to my coworkers sitting across the table.

I shouldn't complain though, it was even louder in the bar. I don't know if that's a reason not to complain. Just because it's worse somewhere doesn't mean it's not bad where you are. Yeah, for sure. Buckwheat, is that the end? No.

Oh, there's more. Oh, there's more. Oh, okay. Yeah, there's sure. Yeah, Buckwheat. That is at the end. Oh, there's more. There's more. Oh, OK. Yeah, there's more. Wow. Buckwheat. Hey, corporate, here's a suggestion. If people want the music louder, they will ask your staff to pump up the volume. Either that or go sit in the front row at a who concert. We heard somebody say that some engineers from JPL

brought in the equipment used to measure the sound of an Apollo moonshot launching. Chiliilis broke it. I don't ask much from Chilis, just fair prices, consistent service, and food. Hit those three on the head and you will be much better off than 99% of the other guys out there. Your customers will reward you with return business, and you won't have to pay all that workman's compensation for hearing related injuries. Wow. Not to mention the post-traumatic stress

caused from hearing your music tapes played at roughly the same volume as a 747 taking off. Is it in caps? That was all caps. Okay. I mean, really. They guy in the booth next to ours fired up his brand new Harley just to show it off.

We never heard it. Besides, I've heard good sound systems. A guy in the booth next to ours fired up his brand new Harley just to show it off. We never heard it. Besides I've heard good sound systems. Yours not so much. Wow. Lot of hyperbole there. Yeah, a little bit dramatic. Lot of flavor.

I liked it though. Although the imagery. Yeah. He painted a picture. I do love. They painted a picture. Yeah. I don't know.

I can't guarantee that buckweed is male. Yeah, I don't know how to gender Buckwheat. Yeah, yeah, okay, they. But I do love, I love the imagery of, the guy in the booth next to us tried to show us his Harley and we couldn't hear it. That's funny. Yeah, yeah, that's great. I mean, Buckwheat should be a writer.

As far as like flavorful, complainy Yelp reviews go, this is one of the few that doesn't make me dislike the writer. Yeah, for sure. Like a lot of them. They're still there. Yeah, a lot of them I feel like I'm just like, come on, you're just whining for the sake of it. Yeah, you're trying to get to Yelp Elite or whatever.

There's a lot of people who have kind of like the, get this, this happened to me sort of attitude. Oh, they're trying to put in a story. And I'm never on their side. Oh, but you're on Buckwheat's side. I'm on Buckwheat's side. I'm on Buckwheat's side. Yeah, I understand. It's a little over the top, the way it's described,

but it was loud at our Chili's. I mean, it's the same Chili's. It was also very busy. Yes. So I attribute, because the music didn't seem too loud for us. No. But just the people.

People all around. But I have been to a restaurant that had a similarly overwhelmingly loud thing. It was at a Buffalo Wild Wings and it was it was like 2022, I want to say. People were excited to be back together. It was a couple of times to where it was like the music was so loud. And I'm not talking like nighttime hip, like literally 4 p.m.

Not that full of a restaurant. Yeah, I do think that there is a psychological thing where restaurants are trying to turn over customers faster and they want you out of the restaurant. So they're driving you out with sound. I think so. And in the case of one Buffalo Wild Wings, I literally walked down, got seated with my friend, realized how loud it was. And before ordering, we left.

And we went somewhere else. And I will always do that in that case, because I don't want them to win. If their idea is to get me out faster. I thought you were talking about your friend for a second. I don't want my friend to win. No, no, no, the restaurant. If their thought process is, well, let's make it unpleasant

so they don't spend that much time there, you know what? I'm not going to spend barely any time there. I'm never going to spend time here. You know what? I'm not gonna spend barely any time there. Yeah, and I'm never gonna spend time here. Yeah. Yeah. You know what? Yeah. Four-star review. Jamie Vee. Ooh, I like Vee's.

From Recita, gave it four stars in December of 2021. Reviewing Chili's. That's what it's come to. Well, this Chili's is good. Our usual location is the one in West Hills. My wife, the Queen of Recita, has declared she doesn't like going there anymore. I cannot imagine someone being the Queen of Recita

without assuming they're a porn star. Oh, no. You know what? We don't know that she's not a porn star. But if you're calling yourself the Queen of Recita, that does have some implications. Okay. Main reason, too many old jackoffs walking around with no masks on over there. The food's all right. This Encino Chili's is just nicer.

I got an old timer cheeseburger the other day that was pretty damn good. Cooked perfectly medium rare melted cheese. She's it was it was perfect. I'm sorry. I get a little excited talking about cheeseburgers. I know I eat too many. That's what my wife says at least. Good job, Encino Chilis! I love this guy. This is one of the most charming interviews I've ever found. Just my wife, the queen of Recita, she doesn't want to go back to her other chilis. Anyways, let me gush about the food. I'm sorry, I like cheeseburgers too much.

That's at least what my wife says. Good job, chilies. I think I know who wears the pants in this relationship. Well, we don't know she wears pants. Oh, Queen of Recita. Queen of Recita. Bounchika-wa-wa. Yeah, I'm happy though that he's,

he had a good time. Yeah. And he loves burgers. He loves burgers. Can't fault him for that. He's relatable. Yeah, very relatable. I love burgers.

As do I. Yeah. Did you enjoy those two Yelp reviews? You can get three more over at my Patreon. That's patreon.com slash fine dining podcast. And for just five bucks a month, you can get the extended Yelp from Strangers segment as well as an exclusive

restaurant that I cover each and every month dropping on the last day of the month. In January I covered Dan's Hamburgers which is literally my favorite burger in the world. It's this little diner in Austin, Texas and you get to hear me gush about it. February I covered Jersey Mike's, a sandwich place that I didn't have a lot of respect for going in and they have made me respect them I actually think Jersey Mike's is very good now and for March I covered blaze pizza Which if you've never had is one of those assembly line style pizza places with a wood-fired oven in back And it's actually very good so you can find all of that at my Patreon and more hope to see you there. Thank you.

All right. That's part one. Tune in next week as we review this very Chili's. We went there on a Saturday night and it was absolutely packed. We saw it all. So next week we'll go into everything that was good about it. Everything that was not good about it and all the other details that were just there. That'll be a lot of things were just there. That'll be in just one week's time. In the meantime, Vivi, where can people get more of you online? Oh gosh, I'm at C'est la Vivi on Instagram.

Like in the French way, like C'est la Vivi. Yeah. Not C'est as in like... I know, I've definitely had people go like, what is Cest, Cestlavivy? And I'm like, oh no. Oh no. I don't know how to explain this. Yeah. Yeah. So say lavivy, I'm on Instagram. Yeah. Find me there.

Yeah. And you can follow the show on Instagram, TikTok and Blue Sky at Fine Dining Podcast. Blue Sky, I don't know how to say what the username is for that because it's like at fine dining podcast dot B sky dot something. Yeah. And you have to type in all of it. You can't just search fine dining podcast.

I won't come up. I really can't. I don't get it. Oh, I don't understand. Sky come on get it together. I'm basically a boomer with my with my tech. We're old. Yeah.

And you can also join my discord server where we're having fun conversations about food. We're kind of reviving the what's going on over there segment and just telling stories, posting other Yelp reviews that we find funny, all this stuff. So go join that. The link for that is in the description of this episode or it's on the front page of my website, fine dining podcast dot com. That does it for this week. We're just going to be sitting here waiting on our table. Next week we will give our review. Thanks for joining. Have a fine day. Our step is done and we had some fun now We're waiting on our table, waiting on our

table Join us next time we're stuck in line Waiting on our table, waiting on our table We're so hungry, tummy's grumbling Waiting on our table, waiting on our table We gotta continue our search for mediocrity Yeah I search for mediocrity Yeah Waiting on our table, waiting on our table We'll be waiting and dissipating Waiting on our table, waiting on our table We're sleeping in this week, we're digging in

Cause we're waiting on our table, waiting on our table We've got an appetite, but just sit tight Cause we're waiting on our table, waiting on our table We've got an appetite for just sit tight Cause we're waiting on our table, waiting on our table Our search will continue when we see you next week He he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he Waiting on our table, waiting on our table, waiting on our table, waiting on our table. Have a fine day!