Fine Dining - Hot Dog on a Stick (Part One: Eat Deets) feat. Monis Rose (Restaurant Fiction Podcast) & Alex Borstein (Family Guy, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)

Episode Date: January 10, 2024

Heinz-enberg runs these streets! Restaurant Fiction's Monis Rose joins Michael to pretend to learn the Eat Deets about Hot Dog on a Stick because he already knows everything Michael does a Keyser Söze walk to hide his limp from Monis [Audiodrama segment] Turf wars over who can sell Dodger dogs on which corners Alex Borstein berates Michael's preferences in hot dog condiment Hot Dog on a Stick is also known for its lemonade, which started as a Muscle Beach health drink with honey The history of the famous employee uniform Monis raps the whitest version of an Ice Cube song that references Hot Dog on a Stick A customer is perfectly content finding actual trash in her dessert in this week's Yelp from Strangers The full review comes next week   Music by: James McEnelly (@Ramshackle_Music) Theme Song by: Kyle Schieffer (@JazzyJellyfish) Segment Transitions Voiced by: Sandy Rose "Fine" Dining is on Patreon! Get an extra episode every month (on New Years Eve, the Kentucky Fried Chicken episode dropped faster than the ball in Times Square), extended Yelp from Strangers segments every other week, merch discounts, download access to our music including the 7 singles from our Olive Garden musical, and more! Patreon Producers: Sean Spademan, Joyce Van, & Sue Ornelas   Get the 5 Survival Tips for Casual Dining at www.finediningpodcast.com!   Send in your Hot Dog on a Stick stories at [e-mail].   Follow the show on TikTok and Instagram @finediningpodcast   Let me know where I should go next by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, PodcastAddict, Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I read every one!   Next week on "Fine" Dining: Hot Dog on a Stick (Part Two: Review)! Monis Rose returns to embrace his inner degenerate in appreciation of this anything-goes atmosphere. Plus, we order the entire menu. Ever work at Hot Dog on a Stick? Send your stories to [e-mail].

From this point forward, the word cheese will be bleeped because Michael finds it offensive. Hello and welcome to the fine dining podcast, the search for the most mediocre restaurant in America. I am your host, Michael Ornellis. Why am I doing this? At the end of the day, people say something is good, people say something is bad,

but what does that even mean without a perfect point of comparison right in the middle? You gotta know where the bar is, where does good change into bad, but what does that even mean without a perfect point of comparison right in the middle? You got to know where the bar is. Where does good change into bad? Where does bad change into good? That's what I'm trying to find with you. The perfect 5.00 out of 10 dining experience. Currently that measuring stick is Applebee's. It's a 5.02 out of 10, but I can get closer.

I can get closer to perfect center. It's close. It's very close, but it's not there yet. This week, I am joined by Monis Rose of the Restaurant Fiction Podcast. Monis, how's it going? Hey, what's going on, Michael? Thank you so much for having me and restaurant fiction. This is really exciting. Can you give a little brief history of your background, what your credentials are? I know that you're like actually trained in being like a food critic, right? Yeah. So I am a chef, then I went into

food writing or, you know, professional food writing and I was taught by Jonathan Gold, you know, the late May, Reston Peace. And yeah, and then I do digital work with the food network. And also I do a lot of screenwriting. And what I did is I combined all of those forces. And plus I'm a pop culture TV food nerd like us all. Yeah, yeah. And I just combine everything to restaurant fiction to where we review every fictional Reshambar and club in TV and film. So between you and I, we have all of it covered. I've got all the real mid-tier restaurants.

You've got all of the fictional, all tier restaurants. You're going from the lowest to the low to the highest of the high and the fine mediocre fiction or restaurants. Yes, exactly. So I actually appeared on restaurant fiction and we reviewed movies from the View Asc universe, the Kevin Smith world, I think it initially appeared in dogma, but it was the setting of clerks too. Had a lot of fun with that. You were a stellar, Michael, you brought it. You brought it like Noah's business because I completely you know miss the whole Donkey show and also the little dance sequence that movies offers

Which I don't think it's from the corporate side. No, it was definitely not from the corporate side But I will say that you know as a as a guest we feel at restaurant fiction that we are the pros But when we have a guest like yourself on we're just just wowed by like, hey, they actually know. Along for the ride. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This mediocre ride that I'll bring you on. Well, let's get on this mediocre ride. Let's go ahead, dive on in, take a seat at Hot Dog Honestick as we wait for our table to be ready. Your table is ready, follow me Have you tried our chicken breast? Serving pancakes and ribs, I recommend this spaghetti We're here to serve us fine, not to impress

Your table is ready, complimentary butter and bread These walls have growth signs Hit that cowboy hat, good luck at Autograph guitar, some crap from your city Behold the trusty of mediocrity I'm dining Yes, I'm dining I'm dining

Two letters on the sign are shining And I'm flickering irregular timing I identify the perfect vibe How the ten I'm dining I'm dining. First impressions. So when I'm walking up to Hot Dog on a Stick, we drove separately and I'm walking along

the beach front of Santa Monica Pier. We went to the original Hot Dog on a stick, the one that was basically an institution beachside shack. And it's definitely gotten a fresh coat of paint since then, but I parked a little far away and like I've recently realized that one of my shoes just gives me a blister, so I'm now doing this really long walk. So I'm like limping up but trying to pretend I don't have a limp and in the process,

I look like Kaiser Soze from the usual suspects at the very end where he transitions the limp into a walk that as soon as I saw you as like, oh, I got to do, I got to do the Kaiser Soze. Well, you did it with finesse because I didn't, I mean, obviously I would have had compassion if I saw. I'm not, I wouldn't have, like a wounded baby bird. I would have ignored compassion if I saw. I'm not. Yeah. I would have been a baby bird. I would have ignored a limp on any person, but I mean, I didn't see you were perfectly healthy. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't have a limp.

So I walk on up to hot dog on a stick. And I mean, the first thing I noticed is it really does look like this place was either renovated or read like it looks new. And for something that's been there so long, it's clear that they've done some cleaning up, so to speak. There were just three, I can't say for sure they were teenagers, they look like they were somewhere between teens and early 20s.

Just staring at bird scooters, they're like automated, I don't know if they were actually bird brand, but bird was the first one to do it. I didn't check the making model of these scooters, they like automated, I don't know if they were actually bird brand, but bird was the first one to do it. I didn't check the making model of these scooters, but they looked like they had no idea how to start them. And for a generation that grew up in tech, it really tickled me. I was like, I'm the old guy that shouldn't be able to figure that out. You were born in this. What's the issue? I don't know. And then you all came up. Do you have any first thoughts of? I apologize, I would have told you where to park. There is actually parallel to the pier with the Ferris wheel.

Then you also see little segments of muscle beach, the famous muscle beach. You also have like the volleyball courts and you have the ocean in the background. But there is like a parking lot that is... I did notice that when I walked out. I was like, man, this would have been easy. It is because I have experienced many different lengthy walks all around Santa Monica to get to either the pier or the ocean in my time here in Los Angeles. But going back to hot

target on six. So when we parked, which luckily we went on a Thursday and it wasn't on say a very hot we went on a Thursday and it wasn't on say a very hot or a day, a tourist day. And also what was great is the parking was only a buck and I'm like, whoa, in Santa Monica, I mean, for a buck for an hour. I paid six. You paid six bucks. I paid six bucks.

Oh, Michael, Michael, I'm gonna school you on good parking in Santa Monica. I'm there so seldomly. Yeah. I make that drive maybe three times a year. Gotcha. So even if you teach me, I'm gonna forget by the next time, okay.

Unless I get it like tattooed on my hand or something, which might be worth it. Finding Cheap Parking in LA is worth tattooing your body for. But I say first impression, so we get out and it is a self-standing brick and mortar restaurant and usually much bigger than a shack. Yeah, much bigger than a shack and it seems like it's on prime real estate. Like this is as prime as prime comes,

even if you might see say a person, a vagamond, if you will, a person living on the streets, to a tourist, but you're still seeing the ocean. Yeah, and you're still seeing the ocean. I mean, it is prime, prime real estate, but also first impressions is, you're in seeing the ocean. I mean it is prime prime real estate, but also first impressions is You're in this is Santa Monica. This is you're in is the perfect thing to talk about first impression This is the place where it's just like

It smelled like an amusement park pier basically also to add one to that you're gonna get a lot of sea rats. The seagulls and we're not talking about even pretty seagulls you're talking about like grayish just bad seagulls. But they're also listening to emo music. They've got that like swoop cut. Yeah, but you also have then the yells and the screams from the Ferris wheel and the coaster and then you have hustlers along the way and you have different people with the final hustlers. Oh, hustlers just selling little chotch guise. Okay.

Yeah, I'm not like not like that, but I really though got the sense that this was a character. Like if there was said to be a new show on a streaming network or even a film, you could set something in a set like this. This is like, and it would say a lot about either the character or the tone of the film immediately before you've even uttered a word. Right. Say like I was in London, right?

And it's always interesting to when you see a pub that is not connected to any other building. It's not connected to a hotel. It's just standing and there's just vacant lots around it. I got that impression for this hot dog on a stick. Yeah, yeah. I was like, man, this is a character and even around it with the people and the smells.

And it's like, there's the have nots. And then there's these tourists who can't even figure out these birdie scooters and How do you park? I mean, it's just an adventure to get here and when you're there, you're just like boom I'm in Santa Monica. I'm an LA. I am definitively in Santa Monica Yeah, I feel like to each their own to each their own whether that's cynical pessimistic optimistic to reach their own, whether that's cynical, pessimistic, optimistic, but I bet you, I bet you that there are many people of whatever their LA is or whatever their Hollywood is, at one point, they are going to the hot dog on a stick and they're saying there's no too fancy to go to a hot dog on a stick. No, it's great. It is an amazing because yeah,

you pick the place that has a vibe. You pick the place that can be a character. You pick the place where I'm sure there are characters inside or there is so much shit going on around you at all times. Your senses are on overload where from the animals to the ocean to all the different walks of life at all times.

I mean, I was in this, I could have been a dramedy, a drama, a comedy. I mean, there's so much. There's a lot of options, a lot of versatility. Any creatives, creativity, whatever your attitude is, will definitely go when you or go on. Oh yeah. 100% all right. Well speaking of going off, let's go off into the history of hot dog on a stick. Are you ready to learn all about how it came to be and how it developed over the years? I'm ready to be adjumitated. Let's do this. All right. Let's dive into this week's Eat Deats. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing Santa Monica called party puffs. You know, I found out about that actually when I was listening to a Hule Hauser episode and old 80s episode of Hule Hauser

and Hule Hauser was California's own like journalists, if you will, for the last 40 years or so. But that's where I also learned about party puffs. And did you also know that the founder, this Dave guy, he used to work at Lockheed Martin in, you know, in the Midwest. And then he was like, oh, you know, this corporate job, no, I need the beach and I need some hot dogs.

You almost verbatim read my next point. Eat, Deats. Dave was a radar tester at Lockheed, but he loved Muscle Beach and visited it all the time. A cotton candy slash ice cream stand caught his eye and a dream was born. AKA, he started badgering the owner until the guy sold it to him for $400

that he borrowed from his brother. Hahaha. Hahaha. Wow. 400 bucks. That's what he paid for that. Wow. 400 bucks. That's what he paid for that real estate, for that operation, for that everything, for that whole, well, for the stand, yeah.

For the stand. That's crazy, right? It is. So at first, he sold only ice cream cones and lemonade, but soon he perfected his mom's cornbread recipe and hot dog on a stick was born. For all the viewers out there though, Dave did not invent or create though the corn dog but he did put his own twist to it.

Am I right or did you find that he- It's like you're going in order on my page. It's, it's our, no, no, no, no, there's nothing wrong with it. I'm amazed by it. Literally my next bullet point. Nothing wrong with it. I'm amazed by it. Literally my next bullet point. Eeeh.

Barum is credited not with inventing the corn dog, but being the first to put it on a stick. Did you know that part of it? I did not know that part, but like whenever I talk about, say, beer, there's the French dip war in Los Angeles between Philippe and Coles, and then you can go off and off and off. It's like, you don't have to be,

oh, I'm the first. It's like one of you perfected it, one of you didn't. Right? But yeah, it's actually kind of crazy that he's the first to put it on a stick. If for no other reason than nowadays, it's hard to imagine a corn dog not on a stick. The stick is a synonymous part of the corn dog experience. You're right. Just to give you the audience some brevity, if you will, that not corn dogs, but hot dogs have been a thing in Los Angeles, in California, back in the 30s, and the 20s, I mean, even, you would get these self-standing hot dog places all around in the valley or in proper Los Angeles. That would take camera. Yeah, there was pinks, there was telepop. and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the

and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the

and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the

and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the and he had a lot of fun with the car basically like the hollowed out train. Exactly. So I mean, this type of like, Kitch hot dog like, it's just really cool how Dave was like, yeah, I'm going to even not just and one the corn dog. I'm gonna and one Los Angeles's hot dog game. And it's part of the identity is that hot dog on a stick stand. So exactly. He succeeded. And grabbed beach goer attention when you built a giant slide on the beach.

No way. Yeah. Wait, wait, but it was attached to a hot dog on a stick. No, I don't think so. I think it was just nearby on the beach. He used it as, I don't know if it was a marketing ploy, but he had this giant slide that caught people's attention and then the stand was closed by. Well speaking of marketing, he knew how to really, really market this. I mean, I'm sure you're going to talk about the uniforms and everything, but man, he made sure hot dog going to stick stuck out like no one's business. Yeah. So Dave took his talents to the road, hawking the hot dogs at county fairs, using his Lincoln Continental car as a generator for cooking them and all that.

That's passion right there. I know. That is passion. And it's a very similar story. So we're talking about hot dog and was sick, but I was actually just at another Los Angeles tried to do a hot dog place called Earl's in Crenshaw and the owner started also just slinging out of corner.

If he was, yeah, if he was out of corner. So for all the men women out there, if you ever want to start your corn dog, stand or business empire or even hot dog, just like Dave, just like Earl's. I mean, this is how you do it. Do you think there was, it was like gang wars like, hey man, this is my corner and they're like rolling up on each other and casing each other for shootouts and 100% 100%

Hey man, keep moving. People get hurt in this part of town. Uh, are you holding? I said keep moving. Who are you? I was told you had that shit. Bitch, I said who are you? Why are you squatting? I just want a dog, man.

Just a dog. This is your first time, huh? I mean, I tried hot dogs. You know, I had a fourth of July party. Hot dogs. I've got trot's Polish sausage, chili, ch****s, Coney Island, Chicago style, Dodger dogs. You're gonna have to be more specific.

You want wanna dog? I am that dog. Yo, hurry up, what do you want? I'll take a Dodger dog with you. I don't know who that is. Hey, you better keep moving, quit dogging me. This isn't your corner. Heinzenberg runs these streets.

Heinzenberg, the one who puts ketchup on hot dogs, right? Fuck outta here. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Get down! Yo, what the fuck? Wait, what's going on? Is he shit? Better than yours?

I shit! Where do you think the Dodgers got the $700 million to sign O'Tonney? All right, all right, all right. I came prepared. God, get out of here, asshole. So, uh... I saved your life. Yeah, I mean I could have handled it myself but uh, you know, thanks man. It's free now, right? Huh, what'd you say you won on it? Catch up.

Hey can I borrow that gun? Sure, I see no reason why not. Hey guys, it's Alex Boasting. I do want to give you a little bit of shit there, Michael, about your hot dog choice. You, like a hot dog with ketchup only. Is that what you have? What are you fucking five? Are you a fucking toddler? You want me to cut it up for you into pieces too? What you just heard was a clip from one of my favorite episodes that happens to be a Patreon exclusive episode from March of last year going to a place that I grew up going to constantly portillo's. So Chicago style hot dog and Italian beef place, it's got one of the best sandwiches

in the world. And Alex Borstein had some choice words about how I like to eat my hot dogs, despite it betraying my lineage as a Chicago win. So go check that out if you want to. I do a new full episode at the end of every month. I just put out a New Year's Eve special on KFC. I've covered McDonald's is grimace shake done burger king fudruckers Rudy's barbecue. And since I've had such a nice influx of new listeners lately, I just wanted to let y'all know that the Patreon exists, but catch up on all the old episodes. First, no rush. They're there if you need them. But if you wouldn't mind heading to Apple podcasts and leaving me a five star review, that would be super awesome. I'll even pick out one of my favorites, read it on the show, and send out a free t-shirt to whoever

left it. Okay, enough shilling. Thanks for listening. Back to Eat Deets. Eat Deets. So he tried to spread his brand by showing fair vendors his corn dog process. Ironically, this helped popularize corn dogs at fairs around the US, but mostly people just made their own version of his recipe, so we didn't end up profiting much from the trend. Honestly, when you're slinging or creating any food item, this is one- That's the rescue, right? This is one of the challenges. I mean, even at the point, you're going to now scale an item to grocery stores. Even those huge grocery stores can be like,

yeah, I'm just going to white label this or I'm just going to take this and make the generic version. Yeah. The lemonade has become as famous as the dogs. They are reportedly only foreign gradients. Lemons, sugar, water, and citric acid. He actually started it. It was going to be like a health drink. It wasn't even a lemonade. It was like this honey lemon before California was all avocado toast. He was actually on the healthier side for his lemonade. But it didn't sell well because the honey congealed. So that was kind of the big issue with that.

That's why they swapped away from the honey. That makes sense. That does make sense. Because it was meant to cater to the bodybuilders on Muscle Beach originally. Guys, guys, this is pre-earned short snager Muscle Beach too. And by the way, the website says that that fourth ingredient, the citric acid, is a secret, but the official ingredient list is public. So nice. After finding success at county fairs, Dave established some stands inside mall food courts starting in 1972. This was before the advent of food courts and mall proprietors were skeptical

of offering food because they didn't want people to make a mess inside the stores. Dave had to pester mall owners to get them to relent. So there's a few things here. Number one, you have though a CEO who's really passionate about his own brand. He cares deeply even to this mall point, even when he is scaling his business. Yeah. You still feel that. He just didn't be like, I'm one in done. I, you know, I set up shop in the 40s. Oh, and after 400 bucks and after slinging and hustling, no, he's still actually really, really cares even to this point, to where probably for the listeners out there who are listening to this episode, they're like, oh yeah, that's when Hot Dogs on a Stick

came into the mall. Because if you are not here in Santa Monica or in Los Angeles or California, where we are recording right now, I'm sure is shit. Sure that you, you experience Hot Dogs on gonna stick inside a mall. It's the one in Santa Monica and then malls. Like that's it, yeah. Eat meats. So from there, the brand continued to grow.

To spice up the Sparse Menu, the food stands do a lot of special lemonade flavors and limited time crossover promotions. One of their most successful was a hot dog on a stick topped with crushed flaming hot cheetos. If you ever want to go down a wormhole the flaming hot cheetos wormhole of how that whole story is all fake and it's just Mythos like mythological yeah the basis of the story The movie exactly is not real or even the man who says it's his own story, like even his memoir is also all fake as well. All fake.

Yes, it has been not even like bent. It's just like, well, maybe it's 50% truth. It's almost like, yeah, it's like 50 exaggerated. Yeah, but on a very big scale, unlike the important points. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

There's also the Santa Monica brew works shandy made with hot dog on a stick lemonade. Have you had that yet? No. I also don't drink. Oh, you don't drink. Well, they sell that Trader Joe's. Yeah. They good.

Oh, it is dangerously good. Absolutely. For all you gen zers and millennials drinking the cool hard celtzer, no, I'm going to do a shandy baby Hot dog and a stick style The red-white blue and yellow for lemonade striped uniforms are also iconic They were co-designed by barham after he visited Las Vegas and sought to replicate the elaborate showgirl outfits he saw Originally, they were polka dotted rather than striped.

Like I said, the branding, it is almost as if it's like beach volleyball, like a very colorful fluorescent, luminescent beach volleyball. So he's just like, yeah, the colors he matches. The color scheme, like the beach ball, not the volleyball. Sorry, the beach ball, yeah, not the volleyball, excuse me, but he's always creating that vibe. This history, his vision is like sharpshooter. It's very clear.

Very clear. He knows what he wants. Exactly. Yeah, it's cohesive all through. He's thought together all the elements and how they interlock. I feel like it might be one of the most recognizable uniforms in the world, because like even McDonald's has kind of changed

through the years, so I couldn't pinpoint unless it's like, oh, they have a visor and the M is on it, but just on color scheme alone, you'd be hard pressed not to see someone in a hot dog on a stick uniform and immediately be able to go, that's hot dog on a stick.

Eat meats. The iconic jockey slash derby hats became part of the ensemble in the 60s, back when they were actually in fashion and have stuck around ever since. The hats are never allowed to leave the store, and employees have to keep absolutely every strand of hair tucked into the cap at all times. Which seems difficult. I mean, if you have long hair, that seems difficult. It does, but it also makes this uniform, you know, kind of like the Hooters uniform, obviously,

the woman wearing it also makes the uniform, but still it is just adding, it's telling more of that story. Right. As an LA favorite, Hot Dog on a Stick has a lot of celebrity fans. The stands have been featured in Charlie's Angel, the Big Bang Theory, and Stranger Things as well as a Billy Eilish music video.

And then there's also the Ice Cube song Greed, where he says, and by the way, this is from a very white guy just saying rap lyrics from Ice Cube. I'm at the mall buying shit like hot dog on a stick. These bitches on the dick. Ice Cube ain't a lick. Boom, green. So yeah, hot dog on a stick. Getting referenced all the time and he's talking about stuff on his stick as well. In 1991, founder Dave Barham died of cancer.

He left the franchise to his employees, making it the only 100% employee-owned fast food franchise. But I believe you had to work there like a year or two years or whatever to get your employee ownership stake. Ownership stake. Like, yeah, it's not like just, well, yeah, work today and you get 5,000 shares. You run the business now. It didn't last forever though, because in 2014, the restaurant filed for bankruptcy.

According to the CEO, Hot Dog on a stick signed a bunch of expensive food court leases back in the booming mall economy of the mid 2000s as mall traffic Declined over the intervening years so to did profits man malls. I thought the pinnacle of malls was like the 80s and 90s I didn't know like it had a range 80s and 90s. I would say are definitely preeminent But I spent a lot of my teenage years at malls and I was a teenager of the 2000s. Well, I'm really happy you said what you just said is because actually the first ever hot dog on a stick that I went to, which in Phoenix, Arizona was called Metro Center Mall, is also now closed. It is now either condos or something like that. So yeah. The same year that they filed for bankruptcy,

probably not coincidentally, hot dog on a stick was purchased by Global Franchise Group, GFG, a big brand that owns great American cookies, marble slab, et cetera. They bought hot dog on a stick for $12.2 million. So obviously, somebody still had a vision or they just needed some corn dogs to be put in their portfolio.

I mean, I think all those big mall brands are, they definitely have value and name recognition and even if malls decline, I think enough people have nostalgic attachments to them that they're gonna wanna see them revived in some way, in some capacity, in a different venue. And I mean, a lot of them are still in malls. malls aren't totally dead.

They are not, they are not, absolutely. And mall mean, a lot of them are still in malls. malls aren't totally dead. They are not. They are not. Absolutely. And mall food courts are not totally dead either. Honestly, they're probably the busiest part of most malls. I actually did a Patreon episode where I reviewed the entire food court at Burbank Town Center and ate at all of the restaurants in the food court. I got one item from each.

It wasn't like I ate a full meal from six places for one episode, I would explode. But kind of went into the history of mall food courts in general on that episode, which is to me, super interesting because I'm so used to covering specific restaurants that just cover the premise of a food court and of malls in general, I thought it was pretty neat.

In 2021, GFG was acquired by Fat Brands, who also owns Fat Burger and Johnny Rockets, which was also originally started in LA. There's actually a combination location on Laurel Canyon that has hot dog on a stick, Fat Burger, and Buffalo's Express all owned by Fat under one roof. I love Fat Burger. I'm partial to fat burger, even over in and out as the LA bird. I feel like I just sell your life leave your eyes. I'm not, yeah, I'm, I'm not. I need to go back to fat burger, give it one more shot. I think the last time we experienced fat burger was when they first introduced the impossible burger and it left a very desired.

Yeah, more to be desired. Actually, I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for like a week, whatever that was. Let's just say that. I don't know what it was, but I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth. No, no, and it's not against impossible meat. We're not blasting that.

No, we're not. No, but you're blasting fast burgers. Take on it. Yeah. See, I's not against impossible meat. We're not blasting that. No, we're not. No, but we're blasting fast burgers. Take on it. Yeah. See, I'm not getting impossible meat if I'm going to a fat burger. Right. I just like the heft of it.

Like to me in In and Out Burger is just slightly too small for my taste. I still like in In and Out Burger. It's just not my. In and Out isn't king to me. And I know to Native Ed Nolinos, it is. So the original location is still open in Santa Monica. The original stand was remodeled in 2022. It still looks pretty similar, but they added more modern equipment inside.

So yeah, that remodel that we were kind of noticing must have happened is pretty recently. And it bit kudos to the the new corporation. Yeah. To really care about the OG and to keep it alive and thriving. I mean, that was very smart. I mean, the mall aspect is very important, especially to millennials and gen zers, but to keep the OG, because like, I don't think the original in and out is available anymore or the original McDonald's or the original location, the original Johnny Rockets is closed. Yeah, so I mean, that is still very special. Well, you've also got cheap beach-side real estate.

Like you're gonna have to pry that from their cold dead hands. Like, yeah, when you have that stand, like I can't see them ever giving it up. Eat, Deats. Currently, they have 70 stores in seven states. They also have international locations in Korea, Dubai, Guam, and China. They've also expanded into food truck territory. I wonder if hot-barker on a stick's quality

is even better outside of America. Ah! Ah! Ah! outside of America Then here in America because like McDonald's the quality is so much better outside of him Yeah, yeah, where corporations can't screw us with Scirting regulations and lawfully make sure that they don't apply to us. Like, eh, eh, eh. Franchising requirements are a lot less strict

than some other chains we've covered on the show. It takes around a half million dollar investment, but franchises are expected to have around a $250,000 net worth. The chain takes a 6% cut of profits, along with a franchise fee of up to $25,000. So it seems like it's a pretty affordable franchise to open. I wonder how much leeway you have in marketing that though. I mean, so okay, you wanna open,

but like how much leeway do you have on set location and then if you wanna do your own marketing, obviously you have to keep brand, brand colors and brand attitude and the mission statement. I don't think you can get too creative with how you're marketing it. I think you kind of got to, that's my speculation.

Don't you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And 2024 hot dog on a stick is set to open 10 restaurants in Iraq. Wait, so from market research,

they have taste buds for hot dogs. Yeah, corn dog, a little hot dog on a stick. I think there's nothing more stereotypically American than this idea. And as certain parts of the Middle East are kind of adopting Western restaurants, a lot of restaurants are opening over in the Middle East, like a lot of different chains specifically. It is surprising to me, but yeah, I think they're really like going in on like, all right, what is the epitome of either American or Western food? Let's bring that over.

Wow. I have a feeling it might actually do better there than here, but I don't know. I don't have the numbers. I'm not the count down. You're not the numbers guy. I'm not the numbers guy. Yeah. But that's it.

So that'll do it for this week's Eat Dates. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, restaurant. We haven't given our review yet, but before we hear our review, why don't we turn to Yelp and see what other people are saying about this hot dog on a stick location in this week's Yelp from Strangers. A one star, two star, three star, four by eye. So get a little, little, little, little, little, y'all from strangers. A little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, to Yelp and read out our favorite 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 star Yelp reviews of the very restaurant at which we dined. Bring on the one star, please. One star review. Alright, I will start us off with a one star review. This is from Anthony B. Los Angeles, California. He's written 31 Yelp reviews.

This is from August 8th, 2023. So pretty recently, if I could give one star, I would. He did. I think he meant zero. Hiresome competent workers been waiting 15 minutes and they lost my order. Nothing but idiots working at this location. Now I have to wait another 15 minutes. This is for Bose. There's so much pros and ethos. I mean this. This is a gentleman in a scholar guys.

He is like the late Craig Clayborn of the New York Times right here. I mean, boom. He is he's succinct. Yeah, he is to the point. Yeah, he is like the MFK Fisher of food writing right there. For star review. I apologize for this person. I am going to mispronounce this name, but soon H SUNG. I'm going to pronounce it soon eight from East Los Angeles. She has Angela's, she has 229 reviews. This is a four star review of Hot Dog and a Stick. June 17th, 2023, their funnel cake. Sticks are a-a-may-zing. Four, five Gs. That was our second time having it in both times.

That's all we've ordered. No way. We'll definitely try other items next time. It seemed like they were really popular. Unfortunately, today, we were second to last to order for the day, and there were literally about eight sticks in our cup. They even put a ball of paper at the bottom of the cup to make it appear like there were more. Regardless insane. That is an insane thing to do and to still give four stars. What are you talking about? They put trash in the bottom of your cup to prop up the height of these funnel cake sticks and they're so good it can overcome that and get four stars. Oh yeah, because look at this.

Her last three words are regardless, still delicious to exclamation points. Sungh. Sungh. Oh, I'll say though, this is all alleged. So allegedly, say if that was actually done, I have to go credit to the employees actually doing that. That's a pro move. That's like a food prop person on a TV set or a commercial. Like those, that's a pro move right there. I mean, like, they just have like a props department working at the hot dog on a stand. Like I'm sure they're covered in the house.

Yeah, they're, they're, their whole mental mindset was not about the quantity of the funnel cake sticks or whatever. It was actually, hey, does this look like the picture? Does this look like the commercial? Does this look like the coupon? And it's like, yes. So they got it.

We got it. So props to them. Props to them. You can go download our full Yelp from Stranger's segment at our Patreon the link for that is in the description of this episode Or you can go to patreon.com slash find out in podcast and we're now offering a one week free trial So what do you have to lose go check it out people have wild opinions and we get to read oh so many of them. Thanks get to read oh so many of them. Thanks. Okay, so it is time for our review. We are all set. Join us next week as we dive in to our experience at Hot Dog Honestic, going into the atmosphere of the service

of the food. Monest, are you ready for this? Let's do it. And in the meantime, and in the week while people are waiting, is there anything that you want to tell them to go do or plug or listen to? I'm assuming restaurant fiction. Yeah, please, please everyone. So this episode is going to air in around January, 2024. We're going to be coming out of our first ever live Comic Con panel. So that is going to be interesting. We're going to be blasting that. We have amazing guests and restaurant fiction. We have celebrity guests like Duff Goldman from the Food Network.

We have a legendary executive producer of the Titan show Richard Hadham coming on. We also have other celebrity chefs like Brian Malarkey and also Carlos Anthony as well in terms of the fictional restaurants. We're including Jackrabbit Slims from Pulp Fiction. We're talking about the beer, which obviously is the fictional restaurant from the show,

the beer. We're even going kind of out there, but we're talking about all of the food from Ubaba's bathhouse from Spirited Away. Yeah. The Mizaki, believe I'm mispronouncing that, but anyway, yeah. Yeah, but anyway, yeah, that's what we have to look forward to on restaurant fiction.

Perfect. Well, we'll see you all next week and our table will be ready. And in the meantime, have a fine day. Waiting on a table, waiting on a table It's said, it's done, and we add some fun Now we're waiting on a table, waiting on a table Join us next time, we're stuck in line Waiting on a table, waiting on a table We're so hungry, Tommy's grumbling Waiting on a table, waiting on a table We gotta continue our serves from media protein

Yeah Waiting on a table, waiting on a table We'll be waiting and disu-to-paying Waiting on a table, waiting on a table Swimping in, swigging in, swigging in Good, we're waiting on a table, on our table, gotta laugh for the time For justice, try to feel the waiting on our table Waiting on our table, so you can tell you when we see you next week

He he he, for the millennia Waiting on our table, waiting on our table Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,