Fine Dining - Wendy's: Savage Roasts, French Fry Glow-Up, and Are the Nuggets Perfect?

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

🍟🤖🍔 Wendy's: Savage Roasts, French Fry Glow-Up, and Are the Nuggets Perfect? 🍔🤖🍟 This week, Ali Gordon joins me to put Wendy’s through the Chili’s Test. Between Frostys, spicy nuggets, and a fireplace straight out of HGTV, things get interesting. We try three Wendy's burgers for Septemburger, but will they all get a chance in the tournament or will Jack in the Box knock them out? Also, a one-time brand new segment called Rate That Roast! where Ali judges Wendy’s savage social media burns. 📣 Rate That Roast! Ali Judges Wendy’s Online Burns 🍫 Frosty Bliss & Spicy Nuggets That Actually Deliver 🥓 Burgers Galore: Dave’s Single, Baconator, Double Stack 🧑‍🎤 Ali Becomes Wendy Herself (and Swears a Lot) 🌶️ Ghost Pepper Ranch That Isn’t Ghost, Pepper, or Ranch 🍟 French Fries Glow-Up = Legit Improvement 🔥 Fancy Fireplace (Hogged by a Couple the Whole Time) 🌱 Serengeti Grass in the Banister?? 🧂 Condiments Locked Away Behind the Counter 📖 Ali’s Debut Novel We Have Reached the End of Our Show Drops Sept 30 🏨 Ali Shares the Worst Bed & Breakfast Story Ever ⚔️ Septemburger: Dave’s Single vs. Sourdough Jack We're in the final 24 hours to fill out your Septemburger bracket! You can update it to include the winners below, and continue to do so until 11:59 PM PST on September 24th! 💬 COMMENT BELOW: Do you think Wendy’s roasts are actually funny or just trying too hard? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY: 🎉 Patreon (Bonus episodes, full Yelp segments & more): patreon.com/finediningpodcast 💬 Discord (Food talk, memes, cursed Yelp): discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4 🎥 Watch full episodes: youtube.com/@finediningpodcast 🔗 All links: linktree.com/finediningpodcast 🎤 Guest: Ali Gordon | IG: @msalicenutting 📖 Pre-Order We Have Reached the End of Our Show | Skylight Books Amazon Barnes & Noble Patreon Producers: Sue Ornelas & Joyce Van 👉 NEXT WEEK: Exclusively on Patreon (but for free!), the Septemburger Semi-Finals & Finals episode drops September 30th. That same episode will be released on the main podcast feed October 8th. I'm off October 1st!

Is Wendy's the best fast food burger? The fast food joint known for square patties, unique sides like chili or a baked potato, and smack-talking as competitors, Wendy's comes to us by way of Dave Thomas, the chain's founder and loving father, who named it after his daughter, whose name was, of course, Melinda. But is it any good? We went to Wendy's today, and there were positives and negatives. They didn't force us to order at the soulless kiosk machine, but the spicy ghost pepper ranch was barely a tickle on my taste buds.

The crisp lettuce stayed cool on top of the hot burgers, but the Serengeti decor was a green I could do without. The chocolate frosty proved why it's a legend in the fast food game, but a woman was openly facetiming her child, and I heard, Where's Your Brother's Labou, one too many times? This week on the show, Septemberger's first round concludes. Wendy's will go one-on-one with Jack in the Box, But that's not all.

I'll dive deep into their history and square the beef of my expertise directly into your burgers of curiosity so that you too may know everything I've learned about Wendy's. Then we'll tell you beautiful viewers what we and the people of Yelp think about the Wendy's we went to today.

Stay tuned. This is the Fine Dining Podcast. Take burgers, entire, one burger leaves, take a look at the men ya, nothing for briefs, so fire up that grill and fry up your soul. We're looking for something that's better than mediocre. Burger September Yes, it's time for the test There can only one

Victor of the first September Yeah, we're looking for some perfection on a bun. Just be the best burger that you can be Somewhere between heaven and ecstasy I can see that hunger

It's in your life You're going for glory with the sight of fright So what was wrong with Melinda? It's actually adorable. She struggled with her L's and R's and couldn't say her own name. So they nicknamed her Wendy. Okay.

So it was named after his daughter. It was named after his daughter. It wasn't like low key he got caught naming it after his mistress and was like, no, no, it's for my daughter. Like this is sincerely for his daughter. That would be amazing. Okay. That's the first thing I thought the minute that you said it, I was like, There's something up here.

There's something wrong. Okay. Hello, and welcome to the fine dining podcast, the quest to compare all restaurants to Chili's. I'm your host, Michael Ornellis, and it's the final week of September, my annual hamburger tournament pitting eight burger chains against one another until a winner is declared at the end of the month. End of day today is the last day to fill out a bracket. Why am I waiting until the end of the month?

Because I so badly want someone to win. And this way, you can know all the first round. winners. Go to Fine Dining Podcast.com, my Discord, or the description of this episode to submit your bracket, a winning bracket will be drawn, and you could win the grand prize. In addition to bragging rights, you can choose any American chain restaurant I've yet to cover, and I'll review it in season four, and I will write, record, and produce a rap song written about you or any food or restaurant-related thing that you want. This week on the show, we will be reviewing the top dog, the number one seed in the September

Bracket and my go-to major fast food burger, Wendy's. And joining me this week to discuss this brand is an improviser, musical theater performer, and soon-to-be author as her debut novel we have reached the end of our show releases next Tuesday on the 30th. It's Allie Gordon. Hi. How's it going?

And to think my novel came out during September. I feel like you planned it that way. I really, I mean, it's every author's dream. Do you mean to have their pub day on, be on Tuesday, September 30th and it'd be the last day of the month. It's the last day of September burger. And we're going to, we're going to bring Wendy's, Wendy's to the finish line. Yes. You think so? Yeah. I do, actually. Yeah. I have like, I have, I feel good. Yeah. I liked our meal there today.

Yeah. And like I said, it is my go-to fast food burger. In and out, sometimes the line is such a hassle. I was about to say that. And then I was like, is that not cool to say? This is context. I only moved to L.A. kind of recently. I've been here for about a year and a half. So sometimes I'll say something that it feels so obvious and it'll be like really taboo. Like I didn't know if it was like, yeah, I mean, in and out, it's great, but like the lines. Like I didn't know people in California were going to be like, doesn't matter. No, it's crazy. I think the line at in and out is just like, to a degree, get over yourself, you know? Get one more guy working behind there. Like, let's just like, let's just hire one more dude. Or maybe like a few more locations. A few more locations. But the one in

Burbank is always busy. And the one of North Hollywood. And the one of North Hollywood. And the one of North Hollywood is even worse. All the ones near me are always busy. And all the ones far from me are always busy. Yeah. And I like, it's good. It won last year's September. It's really good.

You can't, you can't deny that in and out is good. Yeah. But I would also prefer like a shake shack, but they're just expensive. Yes. Also, when you say fast food, it's got to be fast. Yeah. Shake shack is not that. Shake shack is not fast.

And also in and out because of the line. Yeah. Not fast. It's fast once you get, once you get. Once you get there, once you're there, it's fast. Now, I do got to ask, your personal history with Wendy's, do you have a lot of connection to Wendy's as a chain? Yeah, I did not grow up eating fast food. My mom was a vegetarian for most of my life and also, like, just a real health nut.

Yeah. And so, like, fast food was very, very specifically a, like, out of town fun. special thing or if we were taking a really long car trip to be like, let's just treat the kids. Like, we don't have to find something healthy to eat on the road. Like, we can just stop McDonald's or Wendy's or something like that. Yeah. So growing up, we didn't have a ton of frame of reference for a lot of fast food places. But then in college, I went to U of M, University of Michigan Go Blue, lots of Wendy Zizzizzes on campus. Wendy Zizzes.

For many Wendy's Zissis. But they also had booked sort of like prime real estate in two of the main places that you sort of hang out, which was the union under. underground and league underground. And you were saying there was also a union underground. Austin, University of Texas also had a union underground with a Wendy's. That I actually think is like statistically like the highest selling or highest grossing Wendy's in the country is the one in Austin. Yeah.

I mean, this one was pretty busy. It's a college campus, you know. It was open to like one in the morning pretty easily and fast and cheap. And like I remember there were places to hang around there, but also like a little study area with like free, like not free, but printers. Yeah. And like printers. I don't know.

I don't know what kids do today, but back in the day. You would just go and print stuff. Oh, my God. It was all about when you had time to print shit. Printers were king and we were all just living our lives around when the printers were available. And so, like, you know, sometimes you'd be like, oh, shit, there's a big long line at this, like, study area. Like, I'll just go get Wendy's. And I'll wait for that printer to open.

Yeah. But also, I used to do really bad improv shows with my team Witt's End, which still exists at the University of Michigan. And apparently is better. Okay. When I was on it, it was not quite good. that's fine. We would do shows for basically no one in this league underground. And sometimes the only people watching were the people from the Wendy's that faced the stage. Because they are being paid to stand there. They were standing there already. And honestly, sometimes they'd laugh and I'd be like,

you're the nicest person in the world. Like, you really gave me a gift today by laughing from behind the register at that Wendy's. Like, you're maybe the only laugh we got tonight. I remember there was a guy name junior that worked at like there would be like a queue and then like the counter where you would go up and get your food but in the queue there was a guy with like a little machine that you would order with and he would like type in your work was busy and they were doing in and outline management kind of and he was like super charismatic like you know you know how sometimes like a specific employee kind of becomes a part of a restaurant and like there's not urban legends but you know like they carry a gravitas that like everyone knows junior works at that Wendy's totally he was yeah he was cool he was the man we had another place on campus called pizza house yeah pizza house was kind of one of those places we just know all the employees you know all the employees they know you sort of was the place of like urban legend do you know I love places like that yeah well that's your history with Wendy's my history with Wendy's is pretty much just once a place of like that I love places like that yeah um well that's your history with Wendy's is pretty much just once a

I discovered it after only knowing the dichotomy of McDonald's and Burger King, I was like, oh, this one's better. Yeah. With the yellow box. I remember Wendy's was like, I always had the yellow cardboard and I was into it. Again, coming from a thing of not being like, growing up, I didn't have like tons of reference for it. I did really think there were two fast food restaurants. Burger King and McDonald's. And McDonald's was the one that I liked and Burger King was one I didn't like.

And so then I was like, and that's it. Those are the ones. That's it. I tried a White Castle once because my uncle liked White Castle. I thought it was the worst thing I'd ever tried. Sorry, sorry. No, no need to apologize. But I was not a fan.

And I think I probably ate like at like a Bob's big boy or Roy Rogers like at like a rest stop. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. That's I meant to say. You know what I mean? Like driving someplace and being like, we have to eat something. Yeah. I don't think I had Wendy's until college. But the minute I tried it, I was like, oh, I didn't know this option was on the table.

I'm in love. I'm in love. Yeah. Why is this so much better? Why was nobody talking about this one? Yeah. Well, that's our histories. Do you want to hear the history of Wendy's? All right, we're going to jump into this week's Eat Deets. Wendy's was founded by Dave Thomas, who opened the first restaurant on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, naming it after his eight-year-old daughter, Melinda Wendy Thomas.

From day one, the brand set itself apart with its fresh square hamburger patties, peaking out of the bun's edges to look plentiful and to emphasize that Wendy's doesn't cut corners. Okay. That's true. Yeah. Okay. I just kind of assumed that they were square

because they were like, well, that's what our manufacturer makes. Well, because like there's no reason. Like, square is such a we crafted it to be this shape. Yeah. They obviously put thought into it. I guess that does feel, it does feel plentiful when it's like peeking out of the bun.

Yeah. When you open up like a McDonald's hamburger and you see that how small. all the little patty is in there. When the patty and the bun are the exact same circumference, it's kind of. Yeah, a little sickly looking. Yeah. Okay. Or even I think it looks too fake or too perfect when they're like the exact same size.

Whereas with Wendy's, you're just like, oh, okay. This must be real. This is real food. And in what way are they related to Rob Thomas? Wendy's burgers are smooth. So. Wendy's built a reputation for creative menu choices that became its signatures. In addition to the Square Burgers, they debuted the thick, creamy, frosty ice cream dessert,

a thick chocolate frozen treat, which has been a fan favorite since 1969. In 2015, Wendy's introduced a wildly popular four-for-four deal, a burger, chicken nuggets, fries, and a drink for $4, redefining fast-food value meals and instantly winning over budget-conscious consumers. That's a really good deal. It's sort of a suspiciously good deal. Yeah, but I feel like 2015 was kind of just like, we can give away food. $5 foot longs.

$5 foot longs. Does that still exist? No, they're $7. They're $6.99 because they don't want to say $7 yet. It's a $7 foot long. Okay, so we've lost. Yeah, because that's a 40% growth in price. So that would be.

And we don't have fun taglines anymore. No. So really, inflation besides being more expensive. I like Jersey Mike's. We're a sub above because sub means below. Right, but a sub above. But it has nothing to do with the cost. That's true.

Do what I mean? Yeah. And I also love Jersey mics. Jersey mics is great. Never had Jersey mics until I moved to Los Angeles also. I don't know why. They must exist in the West Coast on the East Coast. I don't know.

They're from New Jersey. Yeah. I don't know what's wrong with me. But I love them. Yeah. They're good. They're so good. That like Italian is like as good as any like Italian.

Wendy's marketing has produced some of fast food's most memorable campaigns. In 1984, the famous. the famous Where's the Beef commercials, featuring Clara Peller demanding more meat from an undersized competitor's burger, became a nationwide catchphrase, even invoked in U.S. presidential debates, and boosted Wendy's sales by 31 percent that year. Later on, founder Dave Thomas himself starred in Wendy's TV ads, his folksy, likable presence in over 800 commercials, made him one of America's most recognizable pitchmen and personified the brand's friendly image.

I've seen those. Those were like in the 80s, early 90s, I feel like. Which one? Where's the Beef or the Dave Thomas ones? I never saw the Where's the Beef ones, but I've heard that referenced so often. I was not a live for the TV broadcast, although I have seen the ads now like. Oh, I haven't even seen them in hindsight. I feel like, did you, did you ever grow up watching like I love the 80s?

I love the 90s. Like the VH1. Yeah, like the VH1. Like, you know, like comedians. I would catch them. But I never really like watched them through. I loved them. Yeah.

I think. I don't know why, but I think if you are between the ages of, let's say, 28 and 35, it was, like, always on television. And it was your first introduction to, like, a lot of, like, still very famous and relevant comedians and, like, culture. I remember them talking about it on that. That's the only way I'm saying that. Yes. That's funny. Like, on, like, I love the 80s.

Like, I remember, like, them showing the ad and then, like, you know, riffing on it. Imagine just Wendy's kind of like shit talking a competitor being one of the, like, highlights of a decade. Yes. Yeah. It's so. And I think just, I mean, it's because it was like. like they were old ladies. It was like the moment the one was the gray poupon ad. Oh yeah. I mean, past a great poupon. Yeah, but they were also like old. And they were also old people.

There's something like it's like, isn't it crazy that's like that old people eat food? Old people talk like us. And you're like, isn't it nuts and old people still like eat stuff? Yeah. I guess that was the cornerstone of a whole brand of comedy. Yeah. But they were funny, those old ladies. Okay. They're good. I do remember all the Dave Thomas ads and just feeling like he mildly had a passing resemblance to my grandfather. So I immediately took to him. I was like, I love this man. Yeah. And like, I know so little about the guy and yet I feel like a warmth about Dave Thomas. I mean, that's, it's sort of amazing when you, especially when you think about some of our, our, our biggest businessman of today. Yeah. Who are some of the greatest black holes, voids of charisma.

Yeah. Of charisma or personality or anything likable. Yeah. It's sort of like amazing that a person who is a businessman, he didn't go on TV because he was like, damn, I want to be on TV. And by the way, probably hundreds of millions of dollars to his name, most likely. Exactly. But he just, like, happened to be, like, very charismatic and sort of have, like, a Santa Claus effect. You would never look at that guy and be like, he's a billionaire or like a multi-meat. Exactly. But instead, he was like, oh, well, all shucks.

I guess I'll get in this commercial. And now everyone's like, that's my grandpa. It felt like he kept his humanity. Yeah. You know? He didn't sell his soul to get rich. I guess not. Yeah.

Except, of course, that he was fucking Melinda this entire time. It was his mistress, Melinda. Yeah, yeah. I was like his mistress. His mistress, his mistress is mistress. Not his daughter. His mistress, Melinda, who they're, who, uh, this is. Clearly this is.

Sorry, his mistress is Wendy. The whole, the whole time. The daughter is, is Melinda the whole time. His daughter is named Melinda. Sorry. This restaurant is called Wendy's because he got backed into a corner and he had to be like, well, of course that's my daughter's nickname. Yeah.

And they're like, but your daughter's name Melinda. And it's like, no, no, no. And you know, she goes by Wendy, I swear. You know about the mom on the Wendy. logo, right? No. Like the collar, like the ruffles in it look like an M and then a little button and then then more ruffles.

It looks like it says mom. Did we? Yes. So maybe Wendy is like the mom of an illegitimate child. It very well could be a mistress. Okay. We don't know. Okay.

I mean, we do know and we're just, we're just speculating the water. We're sort of creating a fiction. When we have to bring this IP in, do what I mean? When they're like, when they want to do the Wendy's movie. When we're doing the WCU, the Wendy's Cinematic Universe. And you be like, you know, you're a writer and you have to pitch on IP. Like, this is what we're bringing in, essentially. Which some might just call spreading misinformation.

Yeah. I mean, some could call it that. It's writing. Spitballing. Yeah, you know, just sort of coming up with a fictional universe that these dramas can live within. Yeah. It's boring if he's just like a good dad. Yeah.

Where's the conflict? You know, a guy that people love just because he already has like a nice foxy attitude. There's got to be something sinister under there. Gave his daughter an adorable nickname for a speech impediment. sure yeah yeah we see you Dave Dave Thomas remained the guiding presence of Wendy's and its frequent TV spokesperson until his passing in 2002 a few years later in 2008 Wendy's underwent a major corporate shakeup by merging with Arby's parent company Triarch forming the short-lived Wendy's

Arby's group creative but the partnership was undone by 2011 with Arby's sold off and the parent company renamed the Wendy's company to refocus on the Wendy's brand. Did they used to have like combo restaurants? No, I don't think they ever got to that point. This was just like, this was a business thing. It's just kind of like the common man. The grand conglomerization of everything that we see happening

to where it's like Disney owns this, this, this, this, this, this, this. Like Buffalo Wild Wings and Arby's currently have the same parent company. Everything is becoming narrower and narrower and narrower and narrow. They tried it for a second. And Wendy's was like, I don't want this. Yeah. You know, let me out of here. Yeah.

They were keeping Dave's spirit alive. Yeah. They were like, we're food for the common man. Which like Arby's is like food for dogs. Yeah. Well, actually, it's a restaurant that's employed. The employees are anthropomorphic dogs. That's why the meat looks like that because they don't have fingers.

They're just sort of like, I'm right, right. They're just like taking a big ham hawk and just sort of tearing it apart with their. mouse. That's why that sandwich looks like a big fucking mess when you get it because a dog made it. If you look in like the corner of the famous dogs playing poker painting, there is actually an Arby's bag. They are eating Arby's.

Well, they just, what you don't know is it just came from work. He had just clocked out. Yeah. Off their shift and they're like, oh, I got to let a load up. Yeah. We're going to gamble tonight. I'm night with the boys. Yeah. Cigars, roast beef and cheddar, you know. Great. Dogs love that. Yeah.

My dogs heart problems. Well, they had too much Arby's. I had too much Arbys. Wendy's has faced its share of controversies on social and labor issues. Since 2016, the company has been the target of protests and a nationwide boycott by farm worker advocacy groups due to Wendy's refusal to join the Fair Food Program, a worker protection agreement that many of its rivals participate in. Suspicious. Yeah. It kind of just feels like, man, we don't want to, we don't want to do things ethically we don't want to play ball or i mean i don't know what the fair food initiative is same but like you have to assume if everybody's like i'll sign that and one person's like i don't think so

they're probably the bad guy but but i don't know yeah i don't know enough to know i feel much more in touch with that now living in california where we moved here around the time that people were voting on a bunch of those like propositions yeah which is a very uniquely california thing to like be aware of your local props yes there's just there's just there's just so many on the bill. Like I think in New York, maybe I'd go vote in like midterms and there'd be like three. Yeah. And like the idea that there were like 60 to know about and care about and actually know that some of them could really matter to your community. I was like, oh, my God. Yeah. Suddenly I was doing like hours of research. But also it was that same thing where it'd be like

the free food act. We should give out free food. And you'd be like, dude, that sounds great. We should give out free food. And then you'd read like some articles about it. That would be like if you sign the free food act. You hate babies. Every, yes, babies will die. And you're like, wait, in what way? I don't understand how that's true. Like, so I don't know. Maybe the Fair Food Act, I don't know.

Maybe there's some sinister downside. I have no idea. And it does just sound like they avoided signing something versus like actively campaigned against it where like Panera had a big controversy where they had a whole ad campaign kind of trash talking companies that use chicken that has antibiotics in it. Yeah. As lazy. Yeah. And like so many, like, farm groups were, like, protesting Panera as a result because they were like, what do you mean it's lazy?

Like, it's medicine. Right. Like, they need it. Yeah. I guess you love having sick chickens in your food. Yeah. Sick chicken, bro. Dude, sick chicken.

Yeah. No one has ever said that about Panera. No. Yeah. They do a really good job hollowing out those bread bowls. They're very good at hollowing. Really good at. Not the flavor of the hollowed thing.

No, no. But, like, they just make it great. They make a structurally good bread bowl. Panera, they're architects. Yeah. They do great at, like, a gourd carving contest. Sure. I want to see their jackal lanterns.

I think they'd be good. They should do that. They should make, like, bread. Yes. Hello. Yeah. Yeah. From its Midwestern beginnings, Wendy's expanded rapidly across the map.

It opened its first international restaurant in Canada in 1975 and had, and had 1,000 restaurants by 1978. In the decades that followed, Wendy's pushed into Europe, Asia, and Latin America, sometimes retreating from and later re-entering markets. For example, Wendy's returned to the U.K. in 2021 after a 20-year absence. And by the mid-2020s, it announced plans to launch new restaurants in countries like Ireland and Romania as its global growth continued. It went away from the U.K. for a while. I like the idea that they were like, okay, y'all aren't ready for this.

Yeah. They're like, your taste buds aren't ready for this. You're not, yeah. I've tasted your food, London. Yeah. But then with the return of the cheeky Nandoes, they were like, maybe they're ready for us. Yeah. Have you had Nandoes?

I haven't. I noticed that there is one in Austin. It's good. Yeah. Yes. That's like a good chicken. Isn't it like South American style? Yeah, I think it's like kind of like Peruvian style chicken, but only kind of.

Yeah. But they have a lot of really good. The chicken itself is great. Lots of really good sauces. Okay. Lots of really interesting sides. Yeah. It's fun.

I do like the notion that like Nando's C's success and Wendy's is like, okay. They're ready. You can handle this. Yeah, they're ready for us now. Wendy's has often led on the operations side of fast food. In 1970, it pioneered the first modern drive-through window, dubbed the pickup window by Dave Thomas, complete with a two-way speaker so customers could order from their car, a novel idea that at the time required instructing people how to use it. In recent years, the chain has modernized its restaurant. with sleek new designs and amenities like fireplaces, cozy seating, flat screen TVs, free Wi-Fi, et cetera,

while adopting tech innovations like digital menu boards, self-ordering kiosks, and a mobile ordering app to streamline service, and keep up with customer habits. Our place had free Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs. And fireplace. And we'll get into that later. And we'll get into that. I've got thoughts on the fireplace. Yeah, for sure. The thing of saying, like, they really had to teach people how to use the drive-through. It feels so funny and like old time

and be like, oh, they had to teach them. But I feel like we're still teaching people how to use drive-thrus. I'm not entirely sure we've moved past the teaching phase. And it's funny because all you have to say is, just talk back to me. I can hear you. Like, that's all you have to say.

It's not a long tutorial. But I still feel like to this day, I will be behind somebody in a drive-thru window and be like, maybe this must be their first time. I mean, this must be their first time. Yeah. There's no excuse. There's simply no other answer for what's going on right now.

except that they are like, wow, I think I should try drive-thru today. For the first time. In the same world where you can FaceTime your child about his brother's Lubu. You can essentially use a constantly on walkie-talkie. Yeah. Imagine a walkie-talkie that's always on. 10-4. Or a speakerphone.

Yeah. And they're like, oh, it's hurting. I can't picture it. And I don't have to say it over. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Wendy's has earned a cult following for its sassy social media persona, especially on Twitter where the brand's witty roasts of rival fast food chains and playful

comebacks to customers often go viral and have redefined its image for a new generation. In one famous 2017 episode, a teenager tweeted at Wendy's asking how many retweets he'd need for a year of free nuggets. Wendy's jokingly replied 18 million. The resulting hashtag hashtag nugs for Carter blew up the internet. And although he didn't hit 18 million, His plea became the most retweeted tweet in history, over 3.6 million retweets. That's a lot. And earned him the free nuggets while giving Wendy's priceless viral buzz. Wendy's is one of the brands that's like horny online.

Yeah. Do you know what I mean like different brands have different voices, but like Wendy's will like engage with horniness? Yeah, yeah. Which is very interesting. It's what Dave would have wanted. It is what Dave would have wanted. I do think it's sort of, certainly not intentionally, but like it does sort of feel like the natural continuation of where is the bee. Yeah.

Because where's the beef was meant innocently? That's exactly the point, I think, is it's like, yeah. Also engaging in hornyness when you have Dave notorious womanizer and. Right, right. Exactly. Sorry, Dave. I kind of started this joke when I didn't really totally know you were dead. And I just almost want to say like, rip, dude.

You're so cool. Love your burgers, man. Sorry. But yeah, like, Where's the Beef was not meant to be horny at the time. Wait, is it now? Kind of. I have heard people sort of like refer to it or like kind of like use it in a cheeky way. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah. Like any other kind of thing that you could refer to as like the beef. Do what I mean? Like my dogs roast beef and cheddar. Exactly. But like not necessarily overtly like horny, but like a little sexual, a little cheeky, a little blue like whatever. And so I feel like it does make sense that like the continuation of that brand is something that's like. a little cheeky online.

Allie, are you ready to play a game? Yeah. We're going to divert from the EGs. We'll get back to it. I love games. I want to play a game specific just to this episode called Rate That Roast. Great. We're going to read some Wendy's roasts throughout the years, and you're just going to rate it on a scale of one to five nugs.

Great. Love that. All right. First up, this one goes out to McDonald's, who originally tweeted, if you were the person who ran the McDonald's account for a day, What would you tweet? Fertile ground for Wendy. An open-ended question? First of all, bad social media engagement.

An open-ended question, like, come on. People are going to be like, oh, my nuts. Yeah. Wendy says, where the things that should be fresh are frozen, and the things that should be frozen are out of order. That's a good burn. Wendy, rate that roast. Five.

Did I just call you Wendy, Allie. I mean, later I will fully engage with being Wendy. So I feel like we're just sort of like setting up the thing where like when you become the Joker, you can't stop being the Joker. Did I call you Wendy earlier too? No, this is the first time. But it's really funny. I kind of like, I kind of love it. I think I'm going to start like being like, oh, I can't break character.

I don't know who are you are. You're the Daniel Day Lewis of fast food. I like this. I'm sort of, I'm sort of into it. Like, like the roles that are the hardest to get out of character far are one Joker, two Wendy's. And three Lincoln. Exactly. Yeah, in that order.

Perfect. Yeah. That was a five for me. That was a five. Five nugs. I mean, like, spicy nugs or regular nugs? Spicy nugs. Okay. So I was going to say, it's not like the wittiest roast, but it is unequivocally true. Yeah.

I like that you've given yourself nowhere to go but down. No way to go but down unless you reinvent the scale, which you're welcome to. You're welcome to. We'll see. The next one, Duncan of Duncan Donuts fame, but just Duncan now. But just Duncan. Just Duncan. Now, honestly, they go by D.D.

Which. Yeah. They posted a picture of themselves outside of Wendy's, where someone is dressed as a donut holding a printout of a Duncan tweet. So it's kind of like so many layers already. They're try hard. Sort of inception, yeah. And it's like the size of one of those like prize money checks that you get when you win a tournament. And it says, listen to the life size donut.

You don't have to settle for spicy nuggets. hashtag Duncan Spicy Side. So that's what's in the picture. And then Duncan tweeted the picture and in their caption says, here's some advice about spice. It's always better on a donut like the spicy ghost pepper donut, fire emoji donut emoji, hashtag Duncan Spicy Side. That's the setup.

Too much setup. I agree. Fully on board with that. There are just so many layers into this thing now. It doesn't make any sense. Wendy's does not need so much. to come back at them. Of course. Of course. Word economy. Stick to pushing the food that's so, in quotes, good, you took it out of your name. My grandma has more heat in her roasts.

Okay. This one gets a three and a half. Three and a half nugs. Regular nugs or spicy nugs. Again, they're bringing the heat. They're not afraid to engage in some combative language. It just wasn't like, again, it wasn't like punny. Sure. I do love them ripping on them of like, oh, your food is so good, you took it out of your name? Yeah. Yeah. Pretty good. But again, like, I honestly think they could have ended it at that first sentence.

It didn't need the second sentence. I agree. I agree. I think I would have, I think it would have rated it higher. Less is more. Maybe even a five if it had only been one line. Next one. Mr. Peanut.

January 4th, 2019. I fucking hate Mr. Peanut. All right at Wendy's, roast this nut. Smug bastard. That's it. Monocle wearing rich bastard. They offer nothing. Yeah, he's a one percenter.

Wendy's just says, congratulations on being the worst part of trail mix. I like, that's funny. I disagree. I actually, unfortunately, love to eat a peanut. I love peanuts. I hate Mr. Peanut, but I love peanuts. Now, there is a worst part of trail mix, which is on the count of three. One, two, three raisins.

Yeah. So, unfortunately, I have to give up like a three. Three, because it made me laugh, though ultimately I disagree with them. With a sentiment. Best part of trail mix, three, two, one, M&Ms. Yeah, we know. We know the hierarchy. It goes Eminem's peanuts, any other sort of nut or like...

Chocolate chips sometimes. Chocolate chips would be great. But I find I kind of put that in the same realm as Eminem. As Eminem. A sweetness, a saltiness. I love when there's like a papita or like a sunflower seed, a sort of seed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Raisins ruin the texture.

Everything's like crunchy and snapping in your mouth. And then suddenly there's one item that... It lingers. Yes, and stuck between your teeth. It's like that party guest that like doesn't take the hint. Like, hey, guys, it's over. That's Mr. He's like, what are we doing next?

And it's like, going home. Yeah, it's your bedtime. Back to your mansion, dude. Yeah. All right. Next roast. This is from Burger King. They have a picture of a Burger King down the street from a Wendy's.

And it says on the sign beneath, you know, where you can like customize. I'm blanking on what the proper term. Sign is. Sign. That's good enough, right? Sign. It says at Wendy's prom. Okay.

All right. talking about getting a little bit horny. Wendy's response, okay, but don't get Hansy and we have to get home by 10. Yeah. Not really a roast. Not really a roast,

but funny. Engaging, playing in the space. Setting boundaries. Exactly. But just like, I also like when a, I think, again,

like the rule of comedy that they're doing right is like, as opposed to being like, prom, but you're a burger. They're just like, yeah, sure,

I'll play in the space with you. Yes. Do what I mean? I just, the word Hansy will always make me laugh. Yeah. Hansy's just a funny

description. And they don't have hands because, you know, a burger. Because they're burgers or brands. I don't know. Yeah. Rate that roast. Sorry, that one gets a two. Two notes. Not because it was bad or anything. Just like. There were others that were better. No, there were better. All right. Last one. I'm biased.

I saved what I think is the best for last. Can't wait. Random person, not a brand, reaches out to Wendy's, with a picture of a black and white McDonald's truck driving on the road. And it just says, at Wendy's, what would call this? Wendy simply responds, is it a garbage truck? That's good? I think that is so good.

Yeah, five spicy nugs. Is that a garbage truck? You nailed it. You stuck the landing. That is the ugliest truck I've ever seen. The McDonald's one. I mean, it's not cyber truck ugly. No, no, no, what nothing is. For a brand. But it looks sort of like an unmarked van where you go missing. Yes. Like that was a spooky. That is actually what the hamburger drives. Yes. That was like a Spooky van. He disappears people. That had no whimsy and no whatever the inviting thing is that's supposed to make you hungry. Yeah.

Like they, isn't the red and black, no. The red and yellow thing supposed to like be proven to make you hungry. Yeah. So like why would they be like, just kidding. It's going to be a black and white van. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like in the back is like a bunch of grimaces. Yes.

But inside the grimace costumes are like hostages. Yes. Or they're like grimaces that are real and they haven't told us yet that grimaces are real and that like they use. their flesh to make the, to make the shakes. Yeah, of course. Like, they're dying. Do you know what grimace is? Um, my boyfriend.

I don't know. What's the answer to that question? I love that you're, you're... I'm just playing in the space. Uh, he's a taste bud. He's a taste bud. Ew. Yeah.

So I said that excited, but also, ew. Yeah. He's just one taste bud. He's a, yeah. Why is he purple? Because he's, taste buds are purple. They are, they're not pink? You're like really zoom in on a time.

They're purple. They're purple. Okay. Yeah. Then why is his name grimace? Because McDonald's don't taste too good. Because like grimace is like it's not an expression that you associate with positivity. Yeah.

It's like when you, if you were to eat something really bad or to hear really bad news, you would grimace. So interesting. Yeah. Like, oh, McDonald's is coming to town. Yeah. That's a grimace. That's a grimace. What's the hamburger?

A baby. No. I don't want to talk about. about the history of the hamburger again. He was very anti-Semitic in his original design. Okay, great. So they had to rebirth him like Mr. Peanut. They had to rebirth him and they went baby.

They were like, baby's not threatening. Yeah. So. Hey, that baby just said a slur. Yeah. No, no, we rebirthed him racist. Oh, no. We did it wrong.

Yeah. You can't, you can't breed the evil out of him. You can keep reboard, like you can keep making new ones. Look at those eyes. They're always going to have hate. Yeah. All right, moving back to Eat Deeds. Earlier this year during March Madness, Wendy's released perhaps its sassiest thing yet,

a Google Chrome extension called the Wendy's Watch Fresh filter that can freeze your screen in a glitchy way during a video call. This was done to promote that you could skip out on your work responsibilities and watch basketball due to the glitch. I mean, that's crazy. I love that. I mean, like, it literally will, like, you'll be in a Zoom and you can make it freeze your Zoom. And you like, you can literally do like the extent of how frozen you want it to, like how glitchy you want it to be. And then you just go chill. You might, you meet your mic and that's because they're fresh never frozen.

I guess. Yeah. Which it is kind of counterintuitive. Yeah. It should be that it never freezes. Right. Yeah. Or they have to call it like ironically like the McDonald's Chrome extension.

Which they can't do. Which they can't do. But would be a good, you know. Would be a good burn. Sort of a better roast thing. All right. And then last one. Today, Wendy's is a fast food heavyweight with a global.

footprint. The chain operates over 7,000 restaurants worldwide, making it the third largest hamburger-focused fast food company behind only McDonald's and Burger King. As it passes its 50-fifth anniversary, Wendy's continues to grow its presence in new markets while serving up the square burgers, frosty shakes, and cheeky brand personality that have made it famous, maintaining a strong hold on its slice of the fast food landscape through 2025. That was more of a summation than a fact. It was beautiful. But that'll do it. For this week's Eat Deets. So now that we know the history of Wendy's, let's review it.

Let's start off by talking about everything we liked, everything that stood out, everything that was good. This is the good, done like it should be. Best stuff that spank a licking or stick in the land. And this is good. I knew that you could. This is the good. I think Wendy's knows how to do chicken burgers better than any other, like, big fast food chain. Yeah.

So, like, I think there are some smaller fast food chains that do it the same, if not better. Like, for example, I think of, like, Culvers as being, like, really, really top notch in terms of, like, a chicken patty burger. Chicken sandwich, yeah. Yeah, like a crispy chicken or a grilled chicken. I think they are amazing. But they're also operating on a much smaller scale. Mm-hmm. So when it comes to being a world's dominant fast food chain, I think Wendy's does it the best.

Interesting. Better than KFC, which is all about chicken. Yeah, I mean, KFC is not good grade chicken. No. No. And Popeyes is flavorful. Like, I've never had anything at Popeye's that tastes bad, if that makes sense. Right.

They're always like, wow, this is spicy or like they have like a Cajun whatever. It's like, yeah, that tastes good. But it still doesn't seem high quality. The chicken is not as good as it. is at Wendy's. The Wendy's is, the Wendy's chicken burgers are, I think, the best fast food chicken. So I didn't get to share in this with you. We got the, I think it was just called the Krispy Chicken BLT.

Yeah. And they did not advertise that it came with cheese, so I didn't ask for no cheese. And if we all know, I don't do cheese. And I do cheese. And I ate this thing and I loved it. Here's what I wrote. Krispy Chicken BLT, perfect if you like these ingredients, which you didn't because of cheese. great crispy chicken, crisp lettuce, good bun.

Tomato, I don't know. To me, a tomato is a tomato. Yeah. When it's a really bad tomato, you're like, ugh. And when it's like a really great tomato, it stands out. But there's no interesting as a really great tomato at a fast food place. Yeah. It was a ratio was right.

It had to be there by nature of being a BLT. But it wasn't the most special part of it. Yeah. But like the burger was like crispy, but still kind of like soft and juicy in the middle. But the breadings stayed crisp and the lettuce on the top stayed crisp. And the bun was just the right amount of like, you know, spongy versus like, did it have like a little crispy on it? No, it was just soft. Just soft.

But it was nice because everything else in it was kind of crispy. Yeah, yeah. Or like had like a snap. Okay. It was great. So I gave that a rating of 8.5. 8.5 out of 10. Yeah.

You did seem to really like it. It was good. And then yeah, also in the chicken category, we did get these spicy nuggets. Yes. Which I will just, spoiler alert. I also gave those in 8.5. Yeah. I think they are so good.

So I wrote down the best nuggets in fast food. I think so too. I really do think they are. I went 8 out of 10 on them. I think a chicken tender in general tends to be heftier and more of a preference to me. Same. So nuggets, I think, are capping out at around an 8 out of 10. I don't think there is such a thing as a 10 out of 10 nugget.

I think I feel the same. And I also think I would have given these a lower rating for just the nuggets. Because again, the nugget itself, good breading, good chicken. The spice has a really good kick. The spice is spicy. And we were talking about this. We both really like spicy food and are very disappointed when things are not spicy. And the spicy nuggets are spicy.

They're not like insanely spicy. You're going to be put into a bracket of like the spiciest foods in the world. But like they've got a kick. No one's doing the Wendy's spicy nugget challenge. Correct. That's exactly the right way to frame it. You're not going to like, these are not going to be like exceptionally spicy. There's no one daring you to eat these.

But if you like a spicy thing. It's scratching the itch. It's the exact right amount of spicy. Yeah. Just leaves a little bit of kick on the tongue, but doesn't. doesn't, like, ruin your day. Yeah. And I think probably my rating for just, like, a nugget is more like a sedan.

Yeah. I think the spice brings it up easily a full point. Yeah. Maybe a point and a half. Yeah. No, I'm with you on that. And then we got two sauces with it. One of them we have to talk about later because I didn't care for it.

Yeah. But honey mustard is a pretty solid sauce. I'd put it in the good. Tough to fuck up, honey mustard. Yeah. And, like, with the spicy nugget, it was just like, it was a cooling texture is the wrong word but you know it's like physically cool with with a kick of spice i actually usually really like that com really hot food like temperate hot with spice i tend to find miserable yes but like a cool

food with a kick of spice i think is wonderful i agree so uh something about that uh juxtaposition really brings it up and uh yeah the honey mustard helped it i'm going to uh take it outside of food and say, fireplace. Yeah. Just the fact that Wendy's was audacious enough to be like, we're upgrading. We're on fireplaces. We're going to make it fancy. We're adding fire.

Now, keep in mind, today, heat wave. It's easily 95 to 97 degrees right now. It is scorching. I grew up in Texas where it is just like miserably hot all the time. It's miserably hot. Today was reminiscent of a Texas heat. Absolutely. It was bad.

I walked for, I would say, a grand total of 90 seconds to two minutes. And by at the end of that two minutes, I was like, I'm, I need to be inside instantly. You were scowling. I was like, can we take a picture outside and you punched me in the head? Yeah, I mean, that had nothing to do with the heat. I was going to do that anyway. You're like, I just have to get this out. It would have been the best day of the year.

I would have absolutely done that regardless. No, but like, it was so hot. And then we walk in and like decor wise, I love the presence of a fireplace. Yeah. In a fast food restaurant. It makes no sense. It's so silly. And I love it for that.

it wasn't on. No, nor should it have been. Nor should it have been. But, yeah, the decor was perplexing, but not offensive. Yeah. I have elements of decor in each of the category is good, not good, and just there. Yes. The fireplace, good.

Wood paneling takes me back. It makes me nostalgic. And so they had like a wooden wall with like a Dave Thomas emblem on it. Yes, and his like signature. It felt like he was like lording over us in like a. like a heavenly father kind of way. Yeah, very much. Yeah. Do you put that in good or just there? That's in the good. Yeah. I agree. Anytime I see Dave Thomas, I'm just like, that's my homie. The Frosty, just the classic chocolate frosty I had in the good. They're not reinventing any. Well, they are reinventing it in a way that we got two Frosties and one of them did not make this category for me. They're trying to, they're trying to just keep things relevant and they're doing options. They had three categories. They had Frosties. Frosty swirls. And that. I didn't notice what the other one was because we didn't get one from it.

But it was like more texture. They have like one. Oh, yeah, with like crunch. There was like a caramel crunch one or something like that. Yeah, they had a caramel crunch. They had an Oreo one. And then, but like just the classic chocolate frosty. Fantastic.

No need to change it. It tastes the same everywhere. Yeah. Which sounds like it should be a given, but isn't always with fast food places. Consistency is a big part of the appeal of a frosty. They are always good. They always taste the same. Yeah.

I was saying I think what I'm realized. makes the chocolate so uniquely good as I think there is a malt element. Yeah. And the malt like just gives it an extra depth flavor profile. It's not like super malty. Like I think if somebody hates a malted milkshake, like this wouldn't be like a completely off the table. But yeah, I love malt. Like a malted milk ball is like one of my favorite like Halloween candies or whatever.

No, like I really, I gave it a nine out of ten. Yeah, nine out of ten. It's just like, for a fast food shake, this is great. Absolutely. That is excellent. Yep. I will say, like, the only point against it is, like, if you are an ice cream lover, like, if, like, I know people who are, like, ice cream purists who, like, really can tell the difference between, like, a really fresh milk ice cream versus not. This will always fall short in this regard because, like, it's a fast food shake.

Yeah, yeah. But it does not taste like ice. there is a milky presence. Like I've had fast food ice creams that taste like ice primarily. They taste more like the cold than the substance. This has a milkiness. It's just like isn't going to taste like a real cow's milk ice cream, whatever, whatever. But I also gave it a nine.

Because I think in terms of comparing it to anything else in a fast food realm, any fast food dessert even, it's going to be pretty hard to be. It's like up there with like a McDonald's apple pie, which. I love. Absolutely. So the other element of Wendy's that I'm going in the complete opposite direction. So the Frosty, nothing's changed. It's a classic. The fries, they must have redone. Yes.

I remember the fries were always like they got soggy so quick. They were the worst part of a Wendy's meal if you didn't eat them right away. I also remember them being very thick. Yeah. Once upon a time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. this batch was crispy the whole time salty salty but not too salty still soft on the inside it was kind of everything i wanted from a fry wendy says had a glow up i really agree in the fry game

i thought these were great fries i did too i think i'm like i think just like taste preference wise i really like a thin fry yeah i just have realized like i'm not like a like a what's it called a steak fry yeah yeah yeah i'm just like not that that's just like not that's just like not for me. To me, it's a ratio thing. I like the outside part of a fry more than I like the inside part of a fry. And a steak fry is way more interior than outside than outside. So, yeah, the thinner of the fry, you can get a bunch of the, like, fried part of the fry. And it's like, it's crispy, it's salty. It's like, that's what I want and a fry. And these are like right down the center. Yeah. They're like completely medium. They are not a thick cut fry. They're not too thin. They're not a thin cut fry. They're just like a fry. A fry. Yeah. So I think they're completely inoffensive to everybody. I can't imagine somebody eating that fry and going, I hate that. There might be other times you like more, but there's, I just can't imagine anybody having that fry and being like, ugh, no, grimace, I'm grimacing at that fry.

Do you what I mean? I would go seven and a half out of ten on that fry. Same. Like, it's not, it's not winning awards, but it's not making anybody, like most people are finishing that box. Absolutely. I wrote down 7.25. Yeah. That's what I wrote.

And then the service was friendly, fast. And I'm going to go so far as to say they get extra points from the fact that they have ordering kiosks, but do not require you to order there. Yes. I went up. I was like, can I order from here? And it wasn't even like I roll, I guess, like, it didn't seem like a, sometimes you can order at the front because of like accessibility reasons. Yes, totally. It just felt like anyone can order for any reason.

if you just want to. Yeah. And also we, when we went to order, someone was ordering before us and someone was ordering after us. Yeah. So it wasn't like, we were the freaks who ordered and no one else.

Yeah, exactly. But like people were ordering. Yeah. So clearly there is still a contingency of people who like don't want to fucking deal with the kiosks. But it's fine. I do want to clarify, I was very much a freak.

I got down on my knees and prayed to Dave Thomas. I was just like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We took our clothes off. It was crazy. Ran around. It was crazy.

When he was getting a little. I don't know. They're doing them the Wednesday stuff. Yeah, they were doing a tie-in with the Netflix show Wednesday. So they must be engaging in freakery in some way or another. Yeah. Do I mean? Yeah. That's their thing.

Like on the back of the bag, I said, this is not a happy meal. Yeah. Because it was like a misery meal or whatever. It's an unhappy meal. It's an unhappy meal. It's not like that. Yeah. Yeah, I think misery was the right word.

But, and then they have, which we didn't get, they have like four mystery sauces that come with it. They all looked dark in. Yeah. And I, that creep me out. I don't know if I, well, but it's trying to be spooky. It's trying to be spooky. Do you remember once upon a time they had a gatorade that was black? Oh, I thought you're going to say a gatorade at Wendy's. I was like, I hope not. No, there was a black gate. Midnight. I think it was what it was called. It was so good. Yeah. And it had to be taken off the market because it was turning people's insides black. But it was delicious. And I had a lot of it. I had a lot of it. So who knows what the color of my insides are. At this point, I have no clue. But now when I see, like, it's like, ooh, it's a spooky black sauce. You need to be, like, run out. I'm like, I don't know if I want to have the black sauce. Just because, like, I had, I had enough Gatorade in my life.

Yeah. Enough black Gatorade as, like, an 11-year-old. I'm scared. That's funny. It's coming for you. Yeah. It's not even coming from. It's with you already.

It's staying with you. Exactly. It's a resident. If I feed any more of it, the venom creature in me, like, gets to come out. You know what I mean? Like, I can't. Like your own personal noid. Yeah.

Yeah. I can't. I can't risk it. Uh, yeah, I think that's everything. Septemberger is upon us. So we got to do some burger battles, but only one at a time. Okay. We don't know.

We don't know if Wendy's is going to make it to the finals. It has to earn its way there. And first up, the number eight seed jack in the box, the sourdough jack. That is the correct face, a grimace. Yeah. We need to see if the Dave single, the number one on the menu, can surpass the sourdough jack before we know if Wendy's advances to round two of September. I don't know if I should even take this seriously. I thought I was talking to a man.

But it turns out, I'm talking to a clown. I've got your head in the box like David Fincher's seven. I'm just a little girl. What are you going to do? Hit me? I'm fresh as hell. You're like a 2010 ski lift horror movie that you can't even Google anymore

because of a Disney movie's SEO. You're frozen. Jack in the box? In fact, I was fucking your mom's f***es last night. I'm just a little girl. But my mommy lets me curse. And you're a cuck. Let's talk about it.

The Dave's single has Mayo, onion, tomato, lettuce, burger, bun. There was some pickle in there. I get no cheese. This is often a sticking point with my guests. I can eschew it by saying, this is a hamburger tournament, not a cheeseburger tournament. You have an ingredient that I like that you don't like. Which is ketchup.

Which is ketchup. And it does noticeably change the dynamic of these burgers. So I am going to say, I did not rate these burgers accounting for the lack of ketchup. I rated them as they are. Yeah. And didn't you add some ketchup for yourself? Just for fries. Just to dip fries.

I did not have any of the burgers with ketchup. Okay. I would normally get ketchup on my burgers. I love ketchup on a burger. So these are probably going to be lesser scores because of no ketchup. Yes. That said, I do still think that the burger slate here was pretty strong. I had no burgers that I would rate as bad.

So for Dave's single, my main note was that the produce stood out to me. It was kind of the. the forefront of the taste. I wasn't getting as much meat as I was on some of the other burgers, despite it having, you know, a full burger patty or whatever, but I was tasting the, the mix of produce and then the mayo and like, you know, I guess pickle counts with produce. Yeah, no, I agree. And the pickle had like a nice, like, crunchy snap and the lettuce was good and the mayo was good.

I think that it distracted from the taste a little, but not enough to say it was. it was unenjoyable. It was just, it was notably different than the flavor profile I'm used to my burgers tasting like. That doesn't make it not good. Doesn't even make it average. I actually had this still in the good. I gave it a 6.03 out of 10. I gave it a 6.55. You gave it a 6.55. Yes. So like approaching a 7, but not a 7. Do you have any like, yeah, what are your like summarized grand thoughts about this one burger? nothing is wrong with it. It, like, there's just, I couldn't tell you anything bad about it. Yeah. It just didn't blow my mind. Yeah.

Like, it's not something that I'd be like, whoa, I think I have a new favorite menu item at Wendy's. It's the number one. Like, I just, I don't see myself reordering it, like, of my own volition. Like, if I had one item, you know what I mean? And I'm sure you'd get cheese on it if you ordered again. Yeah, I probably would. But even then, I still don't think the cheese is going to be the thing that takes this to,

like, I don't think this jumps to a nine. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was just a good burger. I also don't know if any fast food burger is like in the nine territory. I rated other burgers other than Dan's hamburgers. I've never had that. They are, there's like four of them.

It's in Austin. It's a local chain. I grew up on them. They're my favorite burger. Had to do an episode on them. They barely count as a chain, but enough to where like I rave about them. I love that fast food burger. It's so good.

But yeah, it's definitely one of those things were like, I don't see myself stopping it a Wendy's. We're on a road trip. And I'm like, oh, I loved it the number one. I have to get that again. Yeah. But it would be unfair to be like, the reason I'm not ordering it is because it was bad. It was good. Yeah. It was better than average. Yeah. If five is average, it was definitely better than average. It just wasn't like. Mind blowing. Yeah. And it also wasn't even my favorite of our burgers. Sure. So. All right. Well, the sourdough jack scored a 4.53. Thank God. Fuck those guys. Wendy's, when you average my score with your score, gets a 6.29, which is enough to trounce jack in the box. Wendy's advances to round two of Septemberger. Tune in September 30th at the end of the month on my Patreon for free. You don't even have to be a Patreon subscriber. You can go and just listen to it there to find out can Wendy's go all the way? Maybe.

I hope so. Maybe. So you can hear how Wendy's does in round two and three of September in the finals episode. We are going to briefly touch on the two burgers that we got. We got the Baconator and we got the double stack. The Baconator was literally just multiple layers of bacon, mayo, and the burger, whereas the double stack was mustard, onion, pickle, and two slightly smaller patties.

I enjoyed both of these. Me too. The Baconator, a little on the drier side. Yes, although we are conceding to say, we believe it comes with ketchup. We're not positive. And it definitely also comes with cheese, which are two elements that you're removed. Which both have an element of moisture. An element of moisture.

So while we both still likes the baconator, there's a world where maybe we'd like it even more if it was like, if I had cheese, which I like and you had ketchup or you like. So maybe. But regardless, still a very good burger. Yeah. Fresh, very, very bacony, full of bacon, crispy, yummy. And their bacon was good for fast food bacon. Definitely. And appropriately crispy.

Yeah. And then the double stack, it's their value meal burger. Expectations are low, but with low expectations come the possibility of impressing in a major way. And I feel like it really did. Yeah. Simple. But every ingredient doing its job in the right way. Yeah. Like if it was supposed to be crispy, it was crispy. If it was supposed to be soft, it was soft.

And not only was everything individually pulling its own weight, but the ensemble. Mm-hmm. All of them worked well together. They had good cast chemistry. Yes. Yes. It was like, it's a simple story well told. Yes. How about that? Yeah. So tune in at the end of the month to see Ken Wendy's go all the way and take home. Not take home. I'm keeping this belt. I'm not giving this anyone. All right. But I will order a custom side plate like I did for the 2023 and 2024 winners out back and in and out. So Wendy's could get a side plate. We'll find out.

All right. That's all the good for me. That's all the good for you. We're going to now dwell in negativity and talk about everything that was not good. This is not so good. I'm not quite sure about. It could have done without it. Something brings down the man.

Okay, I don't have a lot in the not good category. Same. Very minimal. The frosty swirl, though, I kind of hated. I didn't hate it, but it was undrinkable, not because it was... That's not a thing you say about something you didn't hate. It wasn't undrinkable because of the taste. It was undrinkable because it literally didn't go up the straw.

Oh. Like the texture of the traditional frost. It's still very thick. It's thick enough. Yeah. But you can suck it up a straw. Yeah. You literally could not.

It had, it was a vanilla frosty with a caramel swirl. But the vanilla frosty is thick. Yeah. And the caramel swirl is thick. And so it was, it was impossible to drink. I will also say looking at it, it seemed very like top vanilla and then it got like darker brown as it went down. Yeah, the caramel definitely like sunk. It was not well mixed.

No. And it was too sweet. And so when you put the straw in, the straw is at the bottom. I just got like a direct shot of caramel and it was just too sweet. Yeah. And like, like it tasted sticky. Yes. You know?

You definitely couldn't finish that whole thing. Yeah. I don't know any, maybe a child, like a kid who's just like, it's just like sugar is my life. Yeah. I don't really see anybody over the age of like 14. Like being able to literally finish that. Let's never underestimate me. I could.

You think you could? I think I could. I think you'd be like, I have a headache and I'm sick. I would not be well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that wouldn't stop me. Okay. I guess I mean not could somebody, not could somebody, but like, would somebody?

Would they be comfortable doing it? I don't think you would. No, I don't think I would be physically comfortable finishing it. But just like, I felt that the caramel aspect of it, which like I like caramel. Me too. I usually like it as a drizzle on top. I think when it's mixed into something, it's a little too much. And I'll even go so far as to say like a salted caramel cookie.

I think, I think the caramel is a little too much. But it's the salt that helps me. make it the salt cuts the caramel yes but even then I would go less on the I'm also oscillating between caramel and caramel I say both I think caramel is very east coast I feel like I'm I'm sticking with caramel to me it tasted too candied yes I think that's the word that I would use I went three and a half out of 10 so it wasn't like abysmal I said 3.25 yeah yeah but it just wasn't desirable it wasn't it wasn't good or even average I would not get this a I would not get this again.

I would try the one that has like Oreo mixed into it, but also when I think Frosty, I think of the texture that comes with the classic one. I don't even really want the mix-ins. I agree. When we were trying to pick another one to try and I saw the ones that were crunchy, my immediate thought was like, that's not what I want. Yeah. Not because that's a bad thing. It's just not the expectation that's been built on the reputation of Frosty. That's not the Frosty that I want.

Yeah. I want that from like a dairy queen. Yeah. I might even want it from, if God willing, that it's available, McDonald's. Oh, the McFlurry, yeah. Yeah, like, I love when the McFlurry has those, like, hard little pieces of mini M&M. Yeah, when you, like, kind of, like, swallow it whole, you're like, oh, I'm going to talk. I'm going to die.

Yeah. Like, I like that. Like, that's part of the fun is, like, is like breaking your teeth on these tiny little. And grimacing. Yes. Yeah. But, like, that is the expectation that I want. And so, like, at the minute that I saw the crunchy ones, I was like, I don't think I want a crunchy one.

Not from Wendy's. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh, the spicy ghost pepper. ranch for me goes in here one it wasn't spicy enough no two it was too ranchy it like flavor wise it wasn't good it wasn't good i wanted peppery yes i want something spicy i something with the kick yeah and it had no kick at all i went two out of ten i said two as well

i was honestly going to give it a one and then i thought that was like so i thought that was like rude that's not rude so i gave it a two just to be like what's rude is what they did to you i agree yeah i gave it a two because it was edible yeah do what i mean like i think maybe a one is like i considered spitting it out. Yeah. I didn't consider spitting it out, but I did not go for a second dip. Yeah. I was like, I'm done with this.

Trying to think of like, so the inverse, a nine is something that like you would fight to keep in your mouth even if someone's like prying it out. Yeah, kind of. Or physiologically your body's rejecting it. You're like, no. Like, no, I want to finish this. Yes, totally. That's what a nine is.

A 10 is like, I'll die eating this. I don't care. And a zero is I'll die eating this. Yeah. I'll die eating this comma, oh no. Yeah. It's a full circle. Yeah.

Okay. So I'm going to, I have one more element in here that kind of gets reversed because I ended up talking to them and they were nice. But I put fireplace hogs. There was a couple sitting at the fireplace. And I just wanted a little video to insert into the episodes so people could understand like fireplace and a Wendy's. And I kind of, I became Simba because I was hovering over the Serengetti grass ready to power trying to take a video and I like zoomed in. So I do have that perspective. Okay. And we'll get to the Serengetty, the Serengety glass or grass, technically the same. Kind of both, yeah. Kind of both in a little bit. Like Melinda, troubles with our R's and L's, glass, grass, I don't know. Wendy's. Wendy.

I just, yeah, I just wanted to get this little video or like just sit next to the fireplace and take a selfie. And they were long done with their meal. Yeah, they were like taking phone calls. Yeah. And then I got up. We were about to leave. They commented on the Septemberger Championship belt. We had a delightful conversation.

And you forgave them. I forgave them. Weak. He forgave them instantly. They did nothing wrong. They did nothing wrong. They just were sitting where they wanted to sit there. They were doing something correct that was just in opposition to my goals.

Although I will say, while this is not like a great sin of humanity, they were sitting in a spot that could sit like six. And it was two of them. Yeah. And they were in front of the five. And they did spend a lot of time now. They spent a lot. They were there from the time we walked in to after the time that we left. And so I was just, I wasn't able to document the fireplace as well as I would have liked. It was also wasn't on. It's not immediately apparent that it's a fireplace. Also, it's as we mentioned, basically 100 degrees today. It is. Yeah. It is death valley here in Burbank, California. And yeah. So I put them in not. Not good and then kind of reversed course after talking to them. Yeah. Then you're like, they're nice. They're nice. That is it for not good. I really don't have much else. I agree. Do you have anything else in Not Good? I was the bathroom. You went to the bathroom. Oh, bathroom is fine. Clean, fine. Okay. Yeah. Always a crap shoot. I will say, okay. Here's the only other thing. That was not an intended pun. That was a good. My only other thing that is kind of my pet peeve. So I put it in Not Good. Although I'm not sure if other people really care is that I went to go get some napkins. But then I was. like, oh, I should also get like an extra thing of like silverware or whatever, straws.

All of that stuff was behind the counter. The only thing that you could get for yourself was a plastic lid to go on top of the self-serve. Yeah, yeah. On the cups. Yeah. And napkins. God, couldn't remember the word napkins. Yeah.

So it's only two things you could get. If you wanted more silverware, like plastic silverware, or if you wanted a straw, or if you wanted basically anything that wasn't a napkin. Or ketchup. Catchup, they had the pumps. True. Those are out. That is true. I am kind of on your side and kind of understand, like, so much excess waste is created by leaving them out.

Like, people taking way more. But they take three, but they didn't need three. Yeah, totally. So I do get cutting down on that. So if it's with an environmental mindset, I don't care too much, but I do fully acknowledge the hassle of it. It is. Yeah. Because, like, what ends up happening is that you have to go bother somebody who's already busy.

Right, which I had to go up and be like, oh, we didn't get the ghost pepper ranch. And I wish she had been like, you don't want this. Yeah, they'd been like, that was on purpose. Yeah. We were, we gave it to me. We were saving you. And in the entire process of retrieving the ranch and the honey mustard I got with it, I didn't get even a moment of eye contact from the employee that gave it to me because she was just too busy like packing drive-thru meals. Yeah. It's not that that's an interaction that requires politeness. In fact, I feel rude for asking, even though I did nothing wrong by asking.

Which is why I want them out. Oh, God, I'm fucking bothering you. Like, you have, you're in a zone. Yeah. And I'm like, hi. Yeah. We need one more knife because we're cutting all these burgers in half. But in a way, in a way, they're making us the asshole. Right. Exactly. So I don't like that. I just like, I don't like wasting time having to go up there and sort of wait politely to find your in. Yeah. And I also don't like feeling like I'm getting in the way of somebody doing their job. You kind of have to cut somebody who's about to order because they're like, my thing's quicker than yours. Right.

Promise I'm not ordering food right now. Just trust me. Just, my thing does come before years. Yeah. And that's annoying too. It's also annoying sense when you are the person. Yeah. Who like acknowledges that that person probably only asks me for a straw?

But you're like, you're fucking straw. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just a bad process. We just have to agree. Yeah. We might not have a correct answer. We might not have a solution, but this is not the.

answer. Bring your own. Yeah. Bring your own spicy ghost pepper ranch to Wendy's. So yeah, that's my only other thing

and like not good, I guess. Yeah. All right, well, that's everything that's not good. Let's talk about all the things in the middle,

everything that's just there. This is a weird one. I'm not quite sure what to say about it. Yeah. This is for the stuff that is just there. Just there.

Very crowded for lunch on a Friday. Yeah. Although I will say we are, we went to go eat this in a like shopping center of which there are many employees. And I did get the sense that a lot of the people who were there were on their break from Walmart, Target, home goods. Michael's T.J.

Max. I mean, like literally everything is there. I was like, it's lunchtime. Game stop, Blaze pizza, Olive Gart. There's a game stop there? I don't know there were still game stop. anywhere really wow courtyard maria i i empire center is like a home away from home for me i love the empire center i love empire center the most this is going to sound crazy but i really do mean it some of the

most beautiful sunsets yeah you're not some of the most spectacular senses i've ever witnessed are over the empire center i will say i did hit a pedestrian because of the glare of the sun in my windshield i just couldn't see i was going like half a mile and hour and like I like they didn't get hurt like yeah they just put their hand on my hood and I braked and I had a handprint on my hood because it was dusty and I was just like sorry and they were like what the hell I was like I'm driving directly into the sun yeah yeah but it was beautiful beautiful spectacular suns yeah when we first moved we did a lot of shopping at the empire center because like we said there's every single store you can imagine in a row you just

go sit on top of an REI and watch the sunset put out a blanket yeah But, like, multiple times it would be, like, you know, like, 745 would be like at finishing up a round of shopping. Yeah. And just be like, Jesus Christ, it's gorgeous at the Empire Center. So really, there's something about it. It's like, it's like kind of nestled into like some mountains because it's in Burbank, which is like near a bunch of mountains. And there's not a ton of stuff around it because it's very close to a freeway. A freeway and an airport.

Yeah. So there's no like big tall buildings. Like, like there are like, you know, vistas behind the Empire Center or sent Senna. Senna. Yeah. Anyway, it's beautiful there. Yeah. It's great.

I liked that the kiosk was optional, but that is just, like the kiosks themselves were just there. Um, yeah, where's your brother's lububu? Just a thing I noticed. I love that sentence. I just went up and there was a woman facetiming her child and just kept saying, where's your brother's laboo? Where's your brother's laboo? It's such a funny sentence. It's like a warm up.

It's like an acting class. form up. Yeah. Where is your brother's Labibu? Where's your brother's Labuobu? Yeah. So I like that. Yeah. I have two food items that are just there, but I don't mean it with hate in my heart. Look, nothing about mediocrity is hateful. And I think I think people need to come to terms with the fact that calling something mid is literally not an insult. Yeah. It is just not a compliment. Exactly. It's just just right there in the middle. It exists. Yes. We tried the chili. The chili. I have in the just there. It's just there. It's a Straight up and down five. Do you what I mean?

I actually had a high, like to me, it's like at the high end of just there. I had it at 5.7. So, yeah. You said you really like the full beans. Yeah. I liked the beans in it. We got onions on it. It was maybe a little watery, but it tasted fine.

I agree. Like, I do really love chili. And so I am trying to compare this to like what I would think would be like a great chili. Yeah. And what it is missing is it really just has like a sort of tomato water taste, a really great chili is a little more complex than that. It'll have like, I don't know, an adobe pepper or some people make it with like coffee grounds or chocolate. You know what I mean? Like to like make it not just be like tomato water underneath all the stuff. This is just

tomato water under all the stuff. But you're getting it from a place that has a drive through and that automatically is like, yeah, but I forgive it. Exactly. Like again, like there's nothing wrong with that. You would never be like, this chili sucks. Like this chili is. This chili is. This chili is. What I literally wrote was my only issues were my own hangups and trust. issues. Yeah. But again, the meat did not taste like reject meat. No. It didn't have it wasn't gristly. It wasn't crunchy. It probably was. But it didn't taste like it. And that's the whole battle. I completely agree. 5.7 for me. One last element we got a talk. We've been teasing it this whole time. The serengeti grass. Yeah. There's just like a rim around all of the banisters

in this entire, on top of every booth, I think, kind of like for privacy maybe. Maybe. But it's just like these like panes of glass that are like frosted glass so like they create some opacity that people have like maybe privacy or whatever but then there's just like little individual pieces of grass stuck in there and I felt like I was that scene in the Lion King where Simba's learning how to pounce yes and I don't know why it has nothing to do with any of the theming with the rest of the restaurant nothing else in the restaurant is green even like this is what you do in a rainforest cafe why is it in Wendy's it was it was odd it wasn't It wasn't bad. It was confounded. It was kind of like, huh, grass. Interesting. Yeah. But like, it is part of the charm. Yeah. It's like, okay, I'm not mad at it. I just don't get it. I just don't get it. Yeah. I mean, I find that a lot of fast food places, you're just like, I don't get it. Yeah. Do what I mean? Like, many, I don't know. Why did we make hamburger a baby? I don't get it. Because we needed to reboot him. We needed to rebirth him. To try and get the racist out of him. It didn't work. Didn't work. Didn't take.

and take. Yeah. But that's it. Not a lot of just there. Not even a lot of not good. Wendy's faring very well for like a juggernaut level corporate fast food chain. Completely. Completely agree.

Is that everything for you? I think so. That's all the elements. I think we know enough about Wendy's to give our final thoughts and score it. But before we do that, we need to see how others thought of the Wendy's that we went to. Okay. In this week's Yelp from Strangers. We need a little, a little, a little.

A little yelp from strangers. A one star, two star, three star, four, or bye, aye. So get a little yelp, a little yelp, a little yelp from strangers. A little yelp, a little yelp. Give us those complaints while you literally white and die. Yelp! All right, this is Yelp from Strangers, our segment, where we turn to Yelp and read out our favorite. it. One, two, three, four, and five star Yelp reviews of the restaurant that we went to.

Wow. Do you mind if I start us off at the first one? Yes, do it. Four star review. This is a four star review from Joe Z from Burbank, California, January 25th, 2020. I just had an appointment with my primary physician regarding my cholesterol levels. The good doc advised me that I needed to clean up my. diet and eat more vegetables. Taking his warning seriously, I vowed to make changes. I headed to Wendy's

on a mission. Oh my God. It's been years, so I was hoping to find healthy options. The first thing I noticed was how spotless the dining room was. Shout out to the staff for keeping a clean space. I worked my way to the register and asked the cashier what popular item comes with vegetables. She suggested the double-stack cheeseburger. She said it comes with lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickles. I'm sold. I let her, Dulce, know that I was starting my new diet, so make it a small combo with Coke, Zero, and small fries.

The meal wasn't bad at all. Thank you, Dulce, for the wonderful suggestion. I'm on my way to a healthier lifestyle. Damn. I just want to say, Josie, if you are still alive to hear this, that's not what your doctor meant by vegetables. I know. It's not what they meant.

Like, look, I fully encourage people to go out and eat the things that make them happy. Absolutely. Enjoy yourself. But also understand what comes with these things. Also, like, understand what your doctor's saying. Your doctor wasn't saying, if you're going to get a cheeseburger, get lettuce on the cheeseburger. They were saying, on the side of the cheeseburger. don't get fries, make a plate of steamed broccoli or a salad or a something.

You know, I'm going to go so far as to say your doctor was saying, don't go to Wendy's. Yeah. I mean, I was trying to even be polite in that regard of just being like, look, you can have a little Wendy's a treat. But like, look. So I think that he went directly from the doctor after the office to the Wendy's. That's the thing. Yeah. Is it felt like the first stop. It didn't feel like I've been on this diet and I've been doing well and it's time for a little

me. a treat, but I don't want to go. I don't want to backslide too much. Like, what's there that could be healthy? No, it was, hmm, Wendy's might have a healthy start to, I don't know. It's just, it's just interesting. It is just interesting. Yeah.

And we got so much of his life. Yeah. We know so much about Joe Zee? We know so much about Joe. Two star review. Okay, this is two stars from Brian O. Here's a Brian O has to say. He's got 20 burger reviews.

Oh. This is a two star review from March 15th. in the film lethal weapon two the character leo gets uses some colorful language to describe the wrong order from a drive-thru they vulgarity you at the drive-thru okay they vulgarity you at the drive-thru they know you're going to be miles away before you find out you got vulgarity they know you're not going to turn around and go back they don't care by the way this says vulgarity i didn't believe this yeah she would say it i would say it they they put in parentheses a word of vulgarity yeah continuation but i also love that like the way that he wrote it out feels

like he was cross-referencing, like, top quotes from the movie on IMDB. Yeah, he copy-paced it. He was going between tabs. Absolutely. Here, he says, this quote 100% applies to this Wendy's location. In the past 12 months where it's been drive-through only, I have yet to get one correct order. And I like Wendy's. So sometimes I just brush it off.

But this most recent time, when I was lucky, I beat the rush and was able to get back in line and get things correct, the staff couldn't have been more indifferent. I'd be up for trying some of their new items if I knew they'd be. in the bag when I drove away. I do think that's a fair take to like be upset, but like the way that he wrote it is just so wild. It is wild. Referencing lethal weapon.

Leather weapon, too. Leathel weapon, too. The sequel. The sequel. That's funny. How about those two Yelp reviews? You can get three more over at my Patreon, the extended Yelp from Strangers segment at

Patreon.com slash fine dining podcast. In addition to that, you can get a free full fine dining episode every single month. That covers a restaurant that is exclusive to Patreon. Recently, I've done Boston Market. I went to one of the 16 remaining in the country all the way

in New York City. It was not great, but I got to cover it. And for September, the Septemberger semifinals and finals episode will be my exclusive Patreon episode. However, it will be free. All you have to do is go to the Patreon to hear it.

Otherwise, you're going to have to wait an additional week to hear how the tournament ends. That's patreon.com slash fine dining podcast. Thanks so much. Hope to see you there, dinamaniacs. Okay, Allie, it's almost time to give our scores. We have one last thing to do. Okay.

I need to ask you to divert your attention to the Chotchky of mediocrity. 100 plus restaurants scored in my campaign for perfect mediocrity before finding it to be chilies. You weren't there with me on that journey, and that's totally okay. but because it's your first time on the show, I need you to define your far ends so that we can calibrate your spectrum. So I'm going to ask you to tell me

about the worst restaurant experience you've ever had, the best restaurant experience you've ever had. We're going to stop at this week's Calibration Station. Okay. Calibration Station, comparing this meal to the best or the worst. Calibration Station, chugger, chugger, chugger, choo-choo-choo. Whichever one you want to start with, you're zero or you're 10.

But I just want to know, what's the best meal you've ever had? What's the worst meal you've ever had at a restaurant? I think I'm going to start with zero, just because I feel like it's a nice ton of a nice note. Yeah. This is a little bit cheating, but it is funny. Do you know how there's like a brand of person in the world who owns like an inn, but like doesn't want to own an in? Like doesn't want to? Yes.

Like an accidental bed and breakfast owner? Like they're just so fucking furious that anyone is staying at their inn. Do I mean? Like I've only encountered. imagine it. I don't know if I've encountered it. I've only encountered this like maybe three or four times my whole life. Okay. Where like you stay at like a bed and breakfast or like a whatever. And that person is like, fine. I'll show you to where your fucking bed is. You know what I mean? Like occasionally something will go viral. We're like, I've never met this kind of person. But I can picture them. Absolutely. I would love to hear. I mean, like if you want to engage in the comments or whatever, like it's very frequently small towns. Yeah. And it's also very frequently like gorgeous. Yeah. Like like travel destinations. Do you know what I mean? Where you're like. wow, it's amazing that I'm here. You're woken up by the sunrise.

Yes, and also like, usually you're there because there isn't a Hilton Garden in. Yeah. You know what I mean? And you're like, oh, wow, I'm kind of like in the middle of nowhere. So like I'm going to stay at this place and it's kind of someone's house. But why would they possibly invite guests if they didn't want guests? And the answer is, I don't know because they don't want guests. And there was one time that I was staying at one of these places with my family.

And they had like a restaurant. And they were like kind of like full of themselves about how great this restaurant was. And it was like the most garbage food ever. It's just one guy in the back cooking. And my mom, like I said earlier, it was vegetarian. And so they served us a pasta without asking anything to us about like preferences or anything. And it had chicken. And my mom was like, hey, I'm sorry.

I'm vegetarian. I'll eat this exact dish without chicken. Yeah. But just like, I just can't eat this. And we heard the woman who ran the inn and the guy in the back fighting, like full voice screaming fighting about like whether or not they should remake the dish or just pick the chicken out. Like like they weren't like they weren't even like under the breath being like you think she'll fucking notice if we just put the chicken out of this thing.

Like like she was yelling at him and he was yelling at her and neither of them wanted to remake it. And we were just like sitting unfunfortably as the only people in this dining room. Like it wasn't even like we're in the cheesecake factory. There's lots of people. Yeah, yeah. We were like a family of four sitting in like an otherwise silent dining room. And something that I just like kind of. to love about my mom was that she was like, she was like such a no-nonsense. I will take bullshit kind of

person. So she, of course, went back to the kitchen and was like, I'm actually not going to eat anything tonight. That's actually fine. And then she was so furious and was like, we're leaving first thing tomorrow morning that we went back to the room, which we were supposed to stay for like three nights. And she wouldn't even unpack the bags. Like, she was like, we're leaving the minute the sun comes up. Like, we're not, like, we're not. That's funny. She was like, we're not even staying enough to like, let them believe. We won't even let, them see us tomorrow. We'll be out before at the crack of dawn. And I remember we were like in this room my brother and I run like like the roll in cots or whatever. And my brother was like, I need to

brush my teeth. My mom was like, skip it. And he was like, what about my pajamas? She went sleep in your shirt. Okay. So we like just kind of laid there for like six hours waiting for the sun to come up. And then and then left this like in like faster than anyone's ever left anything. That's funny. It was so funny. I mean, there were a lot of other things. weren't just this kitchen. Like, there were a lot of reasons to leave. Yeah. It was dirty.

The attitude was horrible. The rooms were not what they promised. We were supposed to sleep in two adjacent rooms. My brother was pretty young at the time. I think he's probably like four or five. Yeah. And instead they put us on two rooms on like opposite sides of the house. Which my parents were not very happy about.

Like where they were like, hey, our underage kids are like not even within earshot of us. And they were like, well, that's how the rooms go. So there were a lot of reasons to leave. But the kitchen, I think, was like the thing that made her go like, we're leaving. That's funny. It was really funny. I stayed at an Airbnb in Jacksonville, Florida once and just heard the couple arguing, not about us or anything, but just like the lady was just totally, just relentlessly going in on her husband. Like, this is why you're not a man, like that kind of vibe.

And I was just like ear to the wall. Like, I live to hear this because they don't know. there's no way they know but like yeah but like the reason she was like telling him why he's not because he didn't know where the bulls were like God I hate it when a guy doesn't know

where the bowls are all right and then you're 10 your best my 10 and I will say I've been very fortunate to eat a lot of really good restaurants but I have a very special place in my heart for a restaurant that's in Mexico city that's in the Roma North neighborhood called Maximo Bistro.

It is a Michelin-Star restaurant, but it has, like, no pretension. It is like one of the most interesting dining experiences I've ever had because besides the food being excellent, the service feels really five-star, like the kind of restaurant where when you get it from the table to go to the bathroom or whatever, they fold your napkin for you. The water's always filled, like, you know, new, fresh plates and fresh silverware at every meal and every whatever, amazing little amuse-bush between each thing. Generous, but they're refills and, you know what I mean? like just like a really luxe dining experience, but like a very cool and very like laid back unpretentious dining area. Yeah. Like nothing about it felt stuffy or like, you know, when you go to a five star place and

you're like kind of like, I think I'm doing everything wrong. Do you mean? Like the minute you walk in, you feel you've erred in every way. Yeah. You're like I'm not dressed right. I'm not sitting right. But you feel like you're being judged whether or not you are. Exactly.

Yeah. Like there are many restaurants I've been to that have been great restaurants where I've just like the entire time I haven't really relaxed because I've just been like, don't put your elbows on the table. This is a fancy place. You know what I mean? Like, this was like so relaxed. Do you remember what you ate? I ate so much. Yeah. It started with, they had like, Hamonabarico. They just like give you like big slices of like, you know, like that's like, oh my God. Like even just starting with that. And like incredible drinks. We shared probably like six or seven main courses. But the other thing about Mexico is your dollar goes really far.

Oh, okay. I think we probably spent $80 a person. Yeah. Which is still a big check. No, but here that same meal is probably $300 a person. Yeah. So it was still like, you know, I mean, like I would say like with tip and all those things, we probably ended up spending about $100 a person.

But the amount of food I ate and drink and the experience, you couldn't like buy yourself in the front door of like some places that are like Michelin starred places in America. Gotcha. If you're ever in Mexico City, you, like, must go. But you also, like, must make a reservation, like, six months in advance. Okay. Good to know. So if you're ever, like, buying a ticket to Mexico City, like, also get a reservation, like, in the same.

What is it, Maximo? Maximo Bistro. Maximo Bistro. It's so good. Well, somewhere between folding your napkin when you get up and go to the restroom and sleep in your shirt lies today's meal at Wendy's. Yeah. We need to put it to the Chili's Test. All right, All right, All right, Allie, we are here somewhere on the spectrum, the scale of all restaurants, Wendy's needs to go up and earn its place on the Chotchke of Mediocrity based on today's meal.

There was a fireplace, but we didn't get to enjoy it. There was serengetti grass, but why? And also, do you have your brother's liboooo-I don't know. I have my brother's liboo-boobu. We weren't allowed to unpack it because we're leaving tomorrow morning first thing. But the burgers, honestly, they were good. Almost all the food was good. And like Wendy's is consistent.

It's my go-to for a reason. I like it. I like it. Let's hear your summation and your score. My score ultimately comes out to 5.3. Okay. Which feels fair because I'm looking at the things that share a similar score. Yeah. And they feel appropriate.

Now, the only thing up here that really perplexes me is Chucky Cheese, which has a higher score on Wendy's somehow. Well, the E is for entertainment. I mean, we'll see. But you know what I mean? I'm looking at other things that are in a very similar realm like Waffle House or Steak and Shaker. I'm going to tell you this. Chucky Cheese did not earn that score for the first. food. Thank God. Yeah. But yeah, this feels right. It feels about the same mediocrity as a Chili's, except that it's, I think it's easier to find a Wendy's. Yeah. So I'm not going to create too much of a wrinkle. My score is very close to yours. So when you're looking in that range, that is where it's going to fall. Sometimes you have a score and my score is like two points off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, it doesn't fall in the area you think it should. But I think we're a pretty lockstep about how Wendy's fared in that.

It is enjoyable, but it also is what it is. Yeah. And so I don't think there's anything wrong with calling a spade a spade and keeping fast food in kind of that mediocre realm, that zone of mediocrity from four to six. Mm-hmm. You know, your sit-down restaurant, like there are higher-scoring fast food places, but they usually have some sort of specialty. Yeah. Or a regional flare to them. Portillos.

I love a portillo's. with all my heart. Wendy's not scoring that high. I went 5.31. Okay. We're close to you. When you put your score together with mine, Wendy's goes up on the Chonchke of Mediocrity at a 5.34. That feels really fair.

Yeah. That feels really fair. But yeah, I think Wendy's is in the right company. I'm totally fine with it being right there. And it means Wendy's, by being better than Chili's, is definitively a good restaurant. Yeah. So Wendy's is officially better than Chili's. Better than Chili's.

We did it. That is, uh... That's it. That's what an experience that Wendy's is like. Yeah. You know, you've had Wendy's before. That's fair. But have you ever talked about it for hours on end?

No, never. Well, now you have. Um, thanks so much for coming on. Yeah, thank you. Um, next week, uh, October is going to be weird for the podcast because it's usually the end of my season kind of after September. And I want to do a Halloween based episode. Ooh. But I also want to treat myself to a little bit of like an easier schedule given how much editing is involved with September.

Are you just going to go eat like a spooky food? I'm going to review a restaurant that, uh, is dead. But that won't be next month. That'll be at the end of the month. That'll be my Halloween episode. I'm going to review my zero. The worst restaurant I've ever been to that is not around anymore. But I want to put something down there.

And then before that, I'm going to review my 10, the best restaurant I've ever been to. And just kind of talk about them. And you're like, it's this little Airbnb, this little inn that has a restaurant. It's the best food I ever had. They served me a chicken spaghetti that like, it's just perfect. Even if you're vegetarian, you should definitely. try it because it's so good um no but uh and then next week i think i'm just going to put out the septemberger semifinals and finals episode uh for free even though it is my patreon episode septemberger is the best

time to hop on board because i want you all to participate in the tournament uh and don't forget by end of day to day get your brackets in uh you could win a rap song and you can pick a place that i go in season for so yeah that's everything ali thanks so much for coming on tell people not only where they can find you on social media, but tell them all about your book. Yeah. You can find me on Instagram at Miss Alice Nutting. That's M-S-A-L-I-C-E-N-U-T-I-N-G. That's how you spell that.

And also, you can find me in person in L.A. I do every first and third Wednesdays of the month at the Clubhouse, which is a performing space in L.A. with a team called Candy Apple Red, we do musical improv. Very fun. But if you are listening to this before September 30th, please come join me. me at Skylight Books on September 30th, which is publication day for my book, which again is called We Have Reached the End of Our Show. It's speculative sort of genre fiction, but honestly low-key. It's just a really sincere family drama. I just sort of hook you with the speculative

elements because think about the end of the world. But for real, it's just going to be like a character piece. But it's very short. It's 160 pages. You can read it real quick. And it's available everywhere. You can get it on Amazon, get it on bookshop.org. Or like, if you're local, you can go to Skylight Books and get it. I'm also doing book launch events in New York City and Chicago. So if you are listening to this, other places in the world, New York, I'll be there on the 6th of October. Chicago will be there on the 21st of October.

So again, this is a lot of information, but if you go to my Instagram, it'll be there. I promised you the information will be there at some point. Amazing. And you can follow the show on Instagram and TikTok at Fine Dining Podcast or on Blue Sky, fine diningpodcast.byskye. I have a Discord. If you want to come chat with me, I'm extremely accessible, and I'll argue with you about my takes with food and how this whole tournament meant nothing because I don't eat cheese. And you're wrong. It's fine. Hamburger people are valid. Hey, hey, no, you don't not side with me. But, yeah, and then if you want a full-length restaurant review that I don't put out on the free feed, my Patreon also has an exclusive episode every single month for. October next month, I will be doing Ruby Tuesday.

I found one in North Carolina, one of the places that used to be a top 10 chain restaurant. I've never ever eaten at a Ruby Tuesday. Yeah. I don't know if I had either, but now I have. And then coming up in November, I will be reviewing the Popeye's Thanksgiving meal, the turkey that they sell. That was recorded last year because I was too sick to go home for Thanksgiving. So I was like, how do I make myself feel better? Popeyes.

That's a good idea. That's a good idea. Someday in the future, we should meet again and discuss a restaurant that used to be in Manhattan called Mars 2112. Okay. It was a space-themed restaurant that you could only access via rocket ship. So you had to like go through a ride to get to the restaurant. I love that. The food was horrendous.

No, it's gone now. Oh, that's so sad. It actually is now a dinty fung. But for a long time, it was. just empty. That's just step up. Yeah. Oh, definitely. But like for a very long time, it was just like a plaza and then it was like maybe like a gym. I don't know. Mars 21 and 12 died. But if you were a kid who grew up in Manhattan or anywhere like in New York, you went to a birthday party there or something. And it was like such an experience. I love stuff like that. I once found a full

unlit cigarette in my pasta. I thought you were going to say full syringe. No, it was a cigarette. Like obviously, it was unsmoked. So it obviously was like behind like a line cook's ear. Yeah. Like to like for break and it just like fell into like the penny that I ordered at Mars 2112. Was it in the tube of the penny? No, it was just in there. And I remember as a kid being like, oh well, my mom being like, send that back. I can eat around the cigarette. I was like whatever. It's like nobody like nobody smoked the cigarette. But like that's all I know of your mom. Exactly. But that's like that again is like such a New York kid thing to do to be like, ew, there's a cigarette in my pasta. It hasn't been smoked. So I'll just pull it out. Like, it's like, whatever. That's amazing. All right. Well, thanks for coming on. It was a delight. Yeah.

It's great talking Wendy's with you. That's another one in the books. I'll see you next week. Have a fine day. Well, there's another one in the folks. We judge the service up to the cooks. And while we may have gotten a couple of dirty loves, though the journey can never stop.

Now, from the bottom down to the top, we got a new embo in every. Everything's on lock And that's because Chimley's to the letter to a tea It's the public on a stone Mediocrity, o'clock So now we got a brand new kind of test

That's the words we got to know Could we shivering out of the air? Triple Dipper got the bibs are main course Something's little in the middle It's sore now it's got to be the lock For what we use When we put things up on the charge game We are today

So there's another one in the books Yeah, there's another one in the books And we will see you next a week And next a week, baby Fine day!