Fine Dining - Who Invented Fry Sauce? feat. Santa Claus

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

Road trip to Utah! What a get! This week, I had the honor of taking Santa Claus himself to the restaurant that makes the absolute most sense to review with Kris Kringle: Arctic Circle. If you don't know it, think Dairy Queen Grill & Chill. They do the dipped cone thing but more importantly, they claim to have invented fry sauce Not only do we get the history of this chain and fry sauce itself, but there's a lot of genuinely fascinating Santa Claus lore that I didn't know! Is Santa Claus technically a cryptid? A Yelper does not appreciate the attitude of the employees after her bun falls apart "Fine" Dining is now on video! Head on over to my YouTube to watch this episode! Music by: James McEnelly (@Ramshackle_Music) Theme Song by: Gabe Alvarez (@spooky.gabe) Segment Transitions Voiced by: Sandy Rose "Fine" Dining is on Patreon! Get an extra episode every month (My November Patreon exclusive episode just dropped on Ivar's Acres of Clams in Seattle, WA and the founder was a MAV-ER-ICK. Author Temple West joins me to chat all about it and how literal bombs on the freeway derailed our plans), extended Yelp from Strangers segments every other week, merch discounts, download access to our music including the 7 singles from our Olive Garden musical, and more! Patreon Producers: Joyce Van, & Sue Ornelas   Get the 5 Survival Tips for Casual Dining at www.finediningpodcast.com!   Send in your Arctic Circle stories at [e-mail].   Follow the show on TikTok and Instagram @finediningpodcast Follow Santa by being Good this year For no particular reason, you can also follow Mark Gray on Instagram @markwgray   Let me know where I should go next by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, PodcastAddict, Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I read every one!   Next week on "Fine" Dining: Arctic Circle Review [Part Two]! Santa Claus joins me one more time to dissect what was Nice and what was Naughty about this burger chain. We even got in trouble just for spreading holiday cheer, so you don't want to miss this one! Ever work at an Arctic Circle? Send your stories to [e-mail].

Arctic Circle, if you're from the Mountain West, you know the name. A regional burger chain that's been serving up fry sauce and famous shakes since the 1950s. But here's what you need to know, this little known gem has been quietly competing with the big guys for decades. Arctic Circle isn't just another burger joint, they claim to have invented fry sauce, and that alone puts them in a league of their own. But here's the thing, for every diehard fan, there's someone else who says the food is about as exciting

as coal in your stocking. Does Arctic Circle deserve its loyal following, or is it riding on a legacy that's just frozen in time? Today we're going to dive in and explore the history of this lesser known burger chain before we review it next week. This is Fine Dining. burger chain before we review it next week. This is Fine Dining. It'll be the perfect five. Fine dining. Better than you thought, worse than you hoped. Fine dining.

We don't treat mediocre as a joke. Breaking every single place we've been. Looking for the perfect five out of ten. Hello and welcome to the Fine Dining Podcast, the search for the most mediocre restaurant in America. I'm your host Michael Ornelas, and this is the show where I'm looking for the precisely in the middle dining experience, the perfect five point double zero out of 10, because

only once you know what's directly in the center, can you tell what's good or not good by comparison. This week's episode is Arctic Circle, so I'll be diving into their history and reading some select Yelp reviews of the one I went to before my review episode comes out next week. It's the holidays, so whatever you celebrate, have a happy one at that. Me personally, I celebrate Christmas, and for me, my guest for Arctic Circle is a get. I've known this guy my whole life, but I've only gotten to meet him on special occasions.

Like when I was a kid, when my mom would go to return some pants and I'd see a line at the mall to meet him. You know him, you love him, you give him free reign to just enter your home whenever he feels like it. The busiest man in the world every winter. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Santa Claus. Oh, oh, oh, Merry Christmas, Michael. How are you? I'm good, Santa. Good to see you. Should I call you Santa, St. Nick, Chris Kringle?

I go by many names, Michael. You do. Been around for like 1,700 years. Uh-huh. I started as Nicholas, just Nicholas. Yeah, just a guy. Bishop Nicholas. I was Bishop of Turkey.

And then St. Nicholas, right? And then sort of St. Nick. And then Santa Claus. St. Nicholas, right? And then the said sort of St. Nick, San and then Santa Claus, St. Nicholas comes from that. I don't know. What? Then the Chris Kringle Santa Claus comes from St. Nicholas. Did you never put that together?

No. Yeah, buddy. Huh? That's it. Santa Claus, the Chris Kringle, a Kringle is kind of like a Scandinavian, like Danish, like a pastry. So Chris Kringle, you sort of like your past of like a Scandinavian, like Danish, like a pastry. So Chris Kringle, you certainly call it. You like your pastries?

Like the color, like, you know, hey, Johnny hot dogs, you know? Uh. No! Who's Johnny hot dogs? Like if a guy was associated with a certain food. Yeah. I think Michael Bloom and onion.

Michael Bloom and onion. Yeah, yeah. But anyway, so I call them anything you want. Santa's, Nick is fine, Santa's fine. Amazing. Well, Santa, I know you're from the North Pole, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I gotta ask, do you have any history with the Arctic Circle restaurant? Or is this your first time trying it? It's my first time trying it. When I get to Utah, you know, I don't really go to fast food restaurants.

You don't have a personal history with them? No, I'm so full of cookies, I'm not gonna stop and order fry sauce or whatever they have there. Well, do you wanna hear the history of the Arctic Circle, Francis? I'd be delighted. I know the history of the Arctic Circle? I'd be delighted.

I know the history of the real Arctic Circle. Yeah, yeah. It was just made up. Sure. It's just a circle. Yeah. It's just a latitude line. Or the North Pole where we live.

There's no land there. Yeah. It's all ice. It's ice. If you like dig a hole, dig, dig, dig, you get to ocean underneath. Yeah. It's like global warming is kind of a big deal.

Oh no, Santa's going to be homeless soon if you don't figure out. We've got kind of a big deal. Oh, no. Santa's going to be homeless soon if you don't curb your emissions. We've got kind of a Wakanda Themyscira kind of thing going on up there, which is why no one runs across it. It's also very far away and hard to get to. Toys are made with unobtainium. I can either confirm or deny the, what's that stuff, vibranium or unobtainium. Vibranium.

Yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about. Anyway, but no, but we'll be fine. We'll figure it out. But like the polar bears are getting closer all the time. All right, well, we're gonna jump into this week's Eat Deets and learn all about Arctic Circle. Eat Deets. Eatery details.

In 1924, founder Don Carlos Edwards set up a small refreshment stand at a pioneer day celebration. From those humble beginnings, he became a full-fledged business, and by 1941, the stand had grown into a successful barbecue restaurant. Where? In Utah. Utah. Yeah, yeah. In 1950, Edwards expanded by opening the first Arctic Circle restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Salt Lake City, okay. So it sounds like that was the expansion. Salt Lake is a beautiful city. Not a lot of thrills. Yeah. So if a tasty fry sauce is really going to light people up down there. Arctic Circle's first big hit was the brown topper, their term for a chocolate dipped ice cream cone.

Oh, that's not what I was picturing. With the shell? No, chocolate, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Call it just brown. The brown topper. That defokes too many bad images. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The ranch burger also had people lining up around the block according to their website. What was it? Ranch dressing? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, ranch. So the chocolate dips, they beat dairy clean to that? I didn't find record that they innovated that, just that they did it and it was a hit in

the area. But it was soon after when they claimed to have innovated pink sauce, a condiment blend that later famously became known far and wide as fry sauce that caused them to truly rise to prominence. See between brown topper and pink sauce, these sound like names for venereal diseases. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess the Mormons, they don't, that's not where their head goes when they hear those things. You would be shocked.

Okay. You would be shocked. So if you're unfamiliar with fry sauce, here's a little bit more about its history. Fry sauce is typically a mixture of one part ketchup and two parts mayonnaise. Deep innovation. We're digging deep into the trenches of our minds. Two parts ketchup, one part mayonnaise,

two parts mayonnaise, one part ketchup. Okay, so ketchup-y mayo rather than mayo-y ketchup. It's literally your colors. It's red, it's white. You should be pink. When this goes pink, I have to fire my dry cleaner. Yeah. That's bad.

Has it happened before? Well, it's definitely a problem. Yeah. If you get your suit, you gotta go to an expert. Yeah. You can't take white fur in a red suit to an amateur dry cleaner. I know that Barbie was huge last year.

So if the colors had run last year, you probably would have been maybe even more of a hit. Oh, I don't know. The whole bright red and white thing is a 1950s innovation. Yeah. We're in our 1930s, approximately. Tell me about it.

Well, you know, I've always liked red. When I was Bishop of Turkey, I wore a red robe. They didn't make it like, pa-pow, fire engine red back then. But then Thomas Nast was a cartoonist. He drew me in like 1890 or something with a red suit, but then I put one color in the newspaper, you know, which was just a little bit of red on there. And yeah, so that worked fine.

And, but then it was Coca-Cola when they started using my image without my consent for Coca-Cola, uh, a guy, uh, just the artist created the look with the bright red suit, the big fur collar, the big black belt, shiny guy, just the artist, created the look with the bright red suit, the big fur collar, the big black belt, shiny shoes, all of that stuff. That became the popular image of Santa Claus. Who am I to not go ahead and- You got to give the people what they want.

Give the people what they want. Now they've put the burden on you to be like, now I have to go out and get these clothes made so that I match what they expect of me. Well, this happens for many, many, many, many years. This evolves, but it's like fine. I like it. You know, there's a lot.

You get to change it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you get that sort of old kind of Christmas carol, ghost of Christmas past look, which is more like the green man, just like a Celtic tradition, man of the forest with like big fur hat, big fur clothes, all kind of green.

And that's a vibe sometimes, I like to wear that once in a while. It's kind of gonna get kind of druidic. Yeah. You know, that's, I enjoy that. I feel like if you made a drastic change to your look, I would reject it. Not even, not in like a negative way,

but like my brain wouldn't process it. Yeah. I wouldn't give like, oh, that's Santa. Right. Or you'd go, oh, look, it's cowboy Santa or something. Yeah, yeah. I put like oh that Santa right or you go. Oh look. It's cowboy Santa. Yeah Yeah, I put a modifier in front of it Yeah, and that's fun to be like cowboy Santa or surfing Santa or you know fishing Santa. Yeah, you know, whatever I mean, I've got fun time summer time Santa. I've got beach Santa over there. Yeah, why don't you go Santa? That's yeah, that's good time. So back to fry sauce. Sorry

No, don't be sorry It was popularized in Utah though. It's worth noting that a similar recipe appeared in a New Orleans cookbook as early as 1900 okay that predates by like 50 ish years Arctic Circle. Well, how what do they get ketchup? That's around 1870 right? I don't know the history of ketchup mayonnaise is a French invention. Of course, it's egg and oil. It's like fat It's like a emulsion of fats. Yeah, which makes food better Yeah, an aioli like it like a chipotle or a spicy aioli. It's just mayonnaise Yeah, but like the I know but it sounds a little garlic and they have garlic aioli or something garlic makes everything better Not for your breath, but... Except for vampires. I would argue it makes vampires better

because it makes vampires debtor. And I don't want to be... That's a misnomer. Garlic doesn't kill vampires, repels vampires. In the same way that bad breath repels... Humans. Humans, you know. Okay.

Vampires are not that different than you and I. Are we here to advocate on behalf of... Humans. Humans. Yeah. You know. Okay. Vampires are not that different than you and I. Are we here to advocate on behalf of? Listen, as one semi-immortal cryptid, I have to, you know, stand up for all of them. I've never considered you a cryptid. That is such a great connection. Well, you know. Listen, it's the family of man.

You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. We're all in this together. Yeah. Them vampires, they're just doing their best. You know, they didn't want to be vampires Yeah, most of them they didn't seek that out. Sure. And most of them have a bitter end eventually They don't there's not a lot of you know, I don't know. No one aspires. I guess people do aspire to it now Yeah, kind of a weird dark time when people want to be a vampire. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they're like goths I feel like if they really know what it was all about,

they'd be not into it, you know? Yeah. Like, if they actually thought through the whole, all the ramifications. And also, eternal life is not all it's cracked up to be, unless you can keep it jolly, baby. I feel like nowadays it would be so much better, but all that time waiting to get to the amount

of entertainment that, like, you can, you can have a Nintendo switch now I tell you something toys are like that too toys have gotten so much more advanced better But also people's standards for what's entertaining. That's true. Yeah, you know you ever played Candy Crush. Yeah wild Wow, if you gave a kid like a little cow carved out of a piece of wood a thousand years ago That was like a PlayStation 4 they would treasure that for the rest of their lives. It was their minds. So, fry sauces origins are somewhat contested

as it may have truly begun in 1941 at Don Carlos Barbecue in Salt Lake City or at Stan's Drive-In, a franchise of Arctic Circle in 1955. Okay. So, we don't even know if it came from the original one that there's Discord within the Arctic Circle family of which location invented it What would be better if there was sort of a more mythology about it? Like like what was the guy's name? Do you remember who created it on Carlos Edwards?

Don Carlos if he had like isn't he on your list like accidentally spilled like the ketchup into the mayonnaise was like Oh, I've got this giant thing of mayonnaise yeah with this ketchup wait a minute what if yeah you know I mean like or that's you know better or you got peanut butter in my chocolate you guys chocolate in my peanut butter everything yeah that kind of thing yeah yeah penicillin same thing and a saline was accidental yeah but I saw guy left some, he had all these cultures he was growing. Yeah. And one of them, like, he left his sandwich out, and some of the sandwich bread got moldy,

and the cultures around that all died. That's how he discovered penicillin. You heard it here first. Fry sauce, the penicillin of the condiment world. In Utah, fry sauce has become a cultural identifier, and Arctic Circle still serves it in its restaurants across the western US. In April 2018, Heinz introduced a version called Mayo Chip after a Twitter poll showed strong demand.

Some users pointed out that this combination already existed as fry sauce or fancy sauce. The product hit shelves in September 2018. Mayo chip, mayo chip, like ketchup, like ketchup and mayo. CHP. That's a terrible name. I agree. OK. Fry sauce is also similar to yum yum sauce, a condiment often found in Japanese steak houses in America. Yum yum. Yum yum. It's the same thing. It's the same thing.

Yeah. Many countries have their own version of fry sauce or similar condiments combining ketchup and mayonnaise. In Argentina and Uruguay, a popular dressing called salsa golf is used on fries, burgers, and seafood salads. It was reportedly invented in the 1920s by Nobel laureate Luis Federico Lelouis at a golf club in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Did he win a Nobel Prize for condiments? I don't believe so. That would be awesome. I didn't. He just is a Nobel Laureate. If you're a Nobel Laureate, does that mean you won a Nobel Prize? But I don't know if it was related to the invention of this. It's just one more point on the invention of this. I think the guy- Just one more point on the resume.

Yeah. Okay. Germany has Rotweiss, which just translates to red white, sold in toothpaste-like tubes that dispense ketchup and mayonnaise in stripes. A similar- Like Aqua Fresh.

Yeah. It's literally condiment Aqua Fresh. That's not a good, I kind of want that in a hot dog. That sounds pretty good Yeah, just pull out your little tube of toothpaste. Are you like the pumper thing at Costco? Yeah Ketchup mustard to your house. Just do the two together. You had one that was like in this like beautiful Rainbow spiral can't be amazing. Yeah You can't please everybody though, but it wants one or the other everything. Well, and like you don't get to control the ratio. Exactly.

Which I'm big on like I need the right ratio of my sauces. Yeah. Okay. Okay. You could have that patent. There's no Nobel. No, I think the Nobel Prize, it's not going to be one on that idea. Call the elves.

Have them, call them off the job. Buddy, they're way ahead of you. They're listening. They're already working on it. When I get back, they'll have like three versions for me. Nice. A similar condiment called Pommes Salsa or Fritton Salsa is a lightly spiced mayonnaise often used with fries. Okay. So the Germans have a few variations on this different spices, different. What do you like on fries? Giving you all your choices. Oh God. I

mean, so there's this, it's not a chain restaurant, but there's a chain of pepper stores called Pepper Palace. And they have a really good Chipotle ketchup that I really like. You know, a fry sauce is very good. Dave's Hot Chicken's Dave's Sauce, I think, is one of the better entries into the fry sauce world. I'm definitely more towards the tomato-y

than like, I don't want a ranch personally. I don't want just mayo. I need it like. That's what I like. That's my first choice. I like ketchup. Mayo's first choice? My first choice is just mayo.

But the thing is the mayo in America is different than the mayo in France. Every time I go to France, I bring home some mayonnaise, believe it or not. Really? Just, it's better. It's eggier and it's slightly more yellow. All the food in France is,

they have better controls on it than in America definitely. But purity-wise and quality-wise, a French man, something special about that French man, you can squirt that on anything. Scramble eggs, little of that on there, it's fantastic. Pro tip. It's not quite spicy, it's just a little sharp. Okay.

A little sharp. But I hate it when like you get like your whatever, you're in a restaurant, they give you like, here's your plate of fries next to your sandwich. Yeah. And there's ketchup right there, they all can have some mayo. They come bring that little cup of mayo, that's right. Usually it's rock hard for some reason, like you can't get it out. But as worst as this hand you like three packets of mayo. Yeah.

In a sit down restaurant. I don't want to like tearing that and squishing that stuff out in a restaurant. Yeah. I want a ramekin. I want a ramekin. Yeah. Yes. Santa demands ramekin.

Well, Santa's happy with whatever he gets. Is there a downside to having to be so positive all the time? You know what? It's its own reward. Do you get a special satisfaction giving people coal when they deserve it in their stocking? I don't know. Or is it like when a parent's like,

this is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you? If someone's a real, like a real shit, someone's a real snot, Then of course there's the temptation to have Sean in Friday. And so like, you know, hey, oh, you're gonna be a dick, huh? Okay, here's some coal. But coal, we don't really do coal anymore.

And back when we did coal, coal was very valuable. Poor people needed coal when they needed toys. That's for sure. Coal's like carbon footprint is worse. And coal, we gotta mine the coal, so no. We don't do that. The equivalent now is like, you know when you walk into a department store,

like a Macy's at Christmas time, and there's a little display of the worst Christmas presents? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Nutcracker, tie rack, shoe horn. That's what you get when you're bit. That's what your naughty kids get. Okay.

Or just clip on tie, stuff like that. Like something kids don't want. Socks. Socks. And not fun ones. Like you can older, socks are like, I'd love to get some nice socks for Christmas, you know? Yeah.

But, you know, but yeah, that's it. It's like your nutcrackers, things like that. That's what no one really wants. Gotcha. In the Philippines, a variant mixes mayonnaise with banana ketchup and is used with fried foods like French fries and lumpia, which is like spring rolls. Wait, banana ketchup.

Is that ketchup for bananas or ketchup that tastes like bananas? I think it's ketchup from bananas. Like banana flavored ketchup. I think it's, they're using banana to try and hit the taste of ketchup. It makes it ketchup. It's like tomato and vinegar.

And that's it. Sorry. Right. You're expecting me to know the processes of a lot of these. And I don't know. I really don't feel like you're the contra man for condiments. I'll take it. Okay.

Market research firm data central reports that Fry Sauce is found on.8% of US menus, a small percentage but one that's up 29% over the past four years. So eight tenths of 1% is their peak. That's their great new number that's up. Yeah. That's how many menus in our country have That's that's eight out of a thousand. Yeah, okay, but uh, I wonder if that's based on like unique restaurants versus like You know dave's hot chicken is about to have 900 restaurants

I see well that drastically spike up or is it just dave's counts as one as a whole and it doesn't matter how well I don't know I could see the emergence of a fry sauce. I can't do McDonald's got six dipping sauce. We're on the cusp Yeah, it's gonna be a saucy world to be a sticky world. Yeah You heard it from Santa Claus sticky world modern-day Arctic Circle has over 70 locations in eight states, a bunch in Utah and Idaho, just two in both Wyoming and Oregon, and just one in the states of Montana, Nevada, Washington, and Arizona. Okay, none in California.

And it's a pretty even split between company owned and franchised Arctic Circle locations. Their growth has been relatively steady since their current CEO Gary Roberts took over 36 years ago in 1988 and apparently his hiring bonus included a sweet pair of neon green shades. Wait, sunglasses? That's his hiring bonus. It's a pair of sunglasses. I don't know if it was the entirety of his signing bonus, but it was included in it. So here's your million dollars, your Ferrari and these sweet shades. Yeah, put that in the press release. Yeah So I mean, hey, it was noteworthy enough that they said legend has it this happened on their own website

So, okay, I imagine he over he signed off on that being there I bet there was like a cool photo op or something where you put the shades on. They did finger guns. Oh yeah, touch a car. Yeah, yeah, just guitar riff. And that'll do it for this week's Eat Deeks. Eat em. All right Santa, that is the history of Arctic Circle. Fascinating.

We have a review to give. We went there together. Fascinating. We have a review to give. We went there together. We did. But before we can hear, before the people can hear what we have to say about Arctic Circle, we need to see what other people are saying about Arctic Circle.

The voice of the people. Vox Populi. Yelp. Yelp. So we're gonna head into this week's Yelp from Strangers. Yelp from Strangers. Probably have a better song than that already. That's very close. Give us those complaints while you literally white and die.

Yelp! Alright Santa, if you look underneath the Christmas tree, there are some Yelp reviews for you to read. Okay. So, I'll start us off with the first one if you don't mind. One Star Review. So I'm going to start us off with the first one if you don't mind So I'm gonna start us off with a one-star review this is from Heidi W from San Francisco, California This comes from Cinco de Mayo 2018 when she wrote it. It's also her only Yelp review ever

Really? Okay. Yeah felt very strongly about this App and write one review. It makes so much sense that someone with one review has left either a one star review or a five star review. Yeah, you're going to kind of do a bunch to go with the freeze. No one's like signing up for Yelp to be like, nah, I felt in the middle about this.

Yeah. Sunset location needs an overhaul on staff, especially the cook. The last couple of times we have been there, the staff is not friendly. Food has been cold cold went through the drive-thru tonight 55 18 and a portion of our bun was missing a portion of the bun was missing a portion of the bun was the top The bar like half of the bottom and it sounds like like half of one

Hey, otherwise you would just say one of the buns was missing right? All right Yeah Otherwise, you would just say one of the buns was missing, right? All right. Yeah. I took it in to show them the girl that went in the back was laughing the whole time along with the cook. Obviously making fun of the situation over their headphone sets. Oh, you know what? They were probably stoned. Yeah, probably. Yeah, they're like, oh, dude, I totally blew it. The book will get to you next week.

But this place was run by kids. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll a little taste of a preview for next week. When another gal employee cracks a smile and looks at you pretty obvious while the cook is putting the sandwich in the wrapper and being a smart a dot dot about it, the bun and sandwich come apart and fall all over the counter. I let them know I was not happy and I walked out.

I won't ever go back to this location. Chaos. One star. I can see that. So they handed him a burger in the drive-through, they unwrapped it. They're in the parking lot. Part of the bun's missing.

She goes up to show them. But they unwrapped it and ate it. They didn't leave the restaurant. They didn't drive through and go home. No. Presumably. They checked it. They unwrapped the burger.

I would just count, I looked, make sure they didn't forget the straw or the napkin serve. As someone who doesn't eat cheese, I will often unwrap and check a burger. When you make a modification for something that you really don't like eating, you'll check and go in and make sure that it, you know. But she went in and they go, this doesn't have a bun.

They were, oh, dude, oh. And they went and they made it again and then they dropped it. Yeah. Because they're like all stumble bums in there. Stumble bums, yep. I think that's a bad, yeah, she was right. Yeah. One star, that's a one star.

I agree with that. Four star review. I got a four star one right here. was right. Yeah. One star, that's a one star. I agree with that. South star. Yeah. Four star review. I got a four star one right here. All right. It's for 2020 August 9th from someone named Nicole R in South Jordan, Utah. All right.

She tells a story. This has got a real narrative to it. Picture it, 1997. Wait, she's going back three years. She went back 23 years. Yeah. 1997, a simpler it's just going back 23 years. Yeah. 1997, a simpler time before smartphones, social media, or any notion of global pandemic.

It was this time that I had a love affair with this very Arctic circle. I would drive home from work at my first high school job and stop by for a treat. I can imagine that those nice shakes and everything. Yeah. I had two coins in my hand, a quarter and a penny, 26 cents. That's what it cost for me to get a twist cone and a cup of water. All I needed to satisfy my cravings on a hot day after work. I remember when you get an ice cream for 26 cents. Yeah. A thrifty second dip for a nickel. Those were the days. Fast forward a few years of this place hasn't changed much. Well, 26 cents won't catch anything but

a memory. The decor hasn't changed and the building is still as I remember it. I don't live here. So it's an infrequent opportunity to stop by for a visit. But when I am in town, I make sure to stop. The service is friendly, the food is consistent, not much to complain about. Part of me is secretly happy it hasn't changed. So much around my hometown has evolved over the years, but this staple of my earlier years

remains as I remember it, and for that, I am grateful. It's very wistful. For old times' sake, I think I'll stop by and get a twist code and a cup of water. I'll need a few more coins than I used to. I feel like this is an individual who just got a terminal illness diagnosis and they're just reminiscing on their life. Look at it. It's Nicole R. It's N-Y-C-O-L-E. It's a funny way to spell it. But her little avatar, she's like holding up something and pointing to it, being really cute and sassy. Also, look how many Yelp, she's like, she's like, like, holding up something and pointing to it being really cute and sassy.

Also, look how many Yelp reviews she's written. Oh, is that what that means? The second number to 2469 reviews. Nice. What is this? What's 6556? Photos uploaded. She's uploaded 6000 photos. Yeah. And then the other one is how many friends she has on the Yelp app

Almost a thousand friends on the Yelp app. So this is like her go-to social media out 24 says yeah Well Nicole you gotta trust her. I think she's just a like a novelist Yeah, she loves to express herself couldn't find a publisher and it's like I'm taking the Yelp You know, there's not one adjective this review. Is that true? Well, I mean, about the food. Yeah. She mentions how she used to get an ice cream cone for 26 cents. I used to come here. And it used to be cheap. And she used to love it.

And now it costs more, but she still loves it. That's it. I mean, the adjectives are like, as I remember, that's not an adjective, hasn't changed. Infrequent opportunity, that's an adjective. So technically there's a couple, but nothing about any of the things. Yeah. You know what? It's an adjective. So technically, there's a couple, but nothing about any of the things. Yeah.

You know what? It's about emotions. It's about the emotions that she gets from the Arctic Circle. And I could see that I could see it does seem like it's kind of trapped in amber like it hasn't changed. Yeah. In a long time. So good on you, Nicole are. Did you like those reviews? You can get three more over on my Patreon. That's patreon.com slash fine dining podcast for the full Yelp from Strangers segment and an exclusive fine dining episode every single month. So that's part one. Stay tuned next week as we talk about the magic of Santa Claus walking into his home turf, the Arctic circle and the true magic that happens when kids encounter

St. Nick. It truly warmed my heart. That episode will be out on Christmas Day. And you know, Santa, thanks for coming on for this week for part one. So there's more? There's more. We got to tell our story about reviewing the restaurant. I got to make a call.

Yeah, I'm grateful that you're spending the time. Listen, I have to go to like hundreds of millions of houses at a night. Yeah. I can get around. Spare time is not really an issue. Yeah. Because like time is kind of my bitch expression. Yeah.

But OK, we'll do another episode. I can stick around. Do you have any anything you want to plug for for people? Oh, anything I want to plug? Yeah. Well, Christmas. You know, look for me under the tree. Enjoy? Yeah. Well, Christmas. No. Look under the tree. Enjoy each other.

Enjoy your families. Be nice. Try to watch It's a Wonderful Life. I find that's very inspirational every year. And if you get broken candy canes, you can crush them up, a little white chocolate, and make peppermint bark out of it. Line them up with a credit card.

Give them the old one. All right, and you can follow me on social media at Fine Dining Podcast on Instagram and TikTok. You can send me an email, fine dining podcast at gmail.com. Tell me what you think of Santa Claus. Tell me what you think of Arctic Circle if you've ever been. And I have a Patreon episode coming out in 13 days time. I'm dropping an episode where I went

to Las Vegas' Dick's Last Resort. Have you ever heard of this place? This place is very saucy. Yeah, where they kind of have rude service on purpose. They have like charmingly rude service. Charmingly rude service. Where they're very attentive and nice, but they also like snare and call you names

and put a funny hat on you and it's very loud. And you know all about funny hats. Yeah, I love the funny hat. Yeah. Yeah, what's wrong with that? So go check that out. I have a seven day free trial if you want. But yeah, that'll be out on New Year's Eve.

In the meantime, we're just going to be sitting here waiting on our table for next week ahead of our review. Take care. Happy holidays. And of course, have a fine day. We're waiting on our table, waiting on our table Join us next time, we're stuck in line Waiting on our table, waiting on our table We're so hungry, tummy's grumbling

Waiting on our table, waiting on our table We gotta continue our search for mediocrity Yeah Waiting on our table, waiting on our table We'll be waiting and dissipating it Waiting on our table, waiting on our table We're sleeping in this week or digging in Cause we're waiting on our table, waiting on our table

We've got an appetite but just sit tight Cause we're waiting on our table, waiting on our table Sir, to continue when we see you next week He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he We're waiting on our neighbor Have a fine day!