MJ - 126 - Fast Food

Dave: [00:00:00] This is Dave.

Reese: This is Reese,

Dave: and this is Manic Joy, a podcast about

Reese: life,

Dave: love,

Dave & Reese: and uncertainty. Uncertainty.

Intro Music: We do it.

Dave: Oh yeah.

Reese: Oh yeah.

I dunno.

Dave: Here we are again, Reese.

Here we are again.

Reese: I need this drink right now. Cheers.

Dave: Cheers.

Reese: Biatch.

Dave: Fuck face.

Reese: Oh, cat hair, which was not on the drink, it was on me. Yeah.

Dave: That's not the name of the drink.

Reese: Oh God, that's good.

Dave: Oh, that is good. That's, it's it been a while. That's crisp. It's been a while

since we've done one of these. So friends, we went with a classic martini, classic vodka martini today. Dry it's crisp with some olives. That was the way to go. [00:01:00] Hmm.

Reese: It's so funny because

Dave: why is so funny. Tell me, tell me why

Reese: I, I feel like we can jump right into our topic and I just, it's not that we added.

It's not that we're talking about drinks, but it's in the realm of what we're going to be discussing. But I will say cap, I, yeah, I was, I was nuzzling with the kitten and it's all the kitten's all over me. That's, we don't have Kit Peppah Peppah's a kitten. Yeah, she's a baby angel kitten. I never was a fan of the martini when I was younger.

Dave: True.

Reese: Like in my twenties, whatever, thirties, I was like, me. It wasn't until the last couple of years. Mm-hmm. That martinis are fucking awesome.

Dave: I mean,

Reese: I love

them.

Dave: I really do too. I do too.

Reese: Mm.

Dave: I should say this, I'm also a big fan of day drinking.

Reese: Yes.

Dave: So that I can have. Espresso martinis.

Reese: Yes.

Yeah. Having these,

Dave: 'cause I can't, I don't, I can't do it at night. I can't do the

people. I, some people can do that and I'm like, I don't know how you do [00:02:00] that. And then they have more than one.

Reese: Oh yeah. I know. At least at at night, I, I couldn't have more than them one espresso martini's. That's too much.

Dave: That's, that's crazy.

Reese: I would be like,

Dave: so you've gotta tell me about, 'cause I'm looking at it now. You got. A forever

pencil.

Reese: I have a forever pencil.

Dave: Is that what it's called? A forever pencil

Reese: and it's a medium. All my expectations right now, I'm, I love it.

Dave: I'm fascinated. By what this is.

This is like an everlasting gob stopper.

Reese: Yes.

Dave: But in pencil form.

Reese: Yes.

You never have to sharpen it. You don't have to click anything.

Dave: What's that little nub?

Reese: I don't know. That's the only things I don't,

Dave: we gotta, we gotta do some research.

That's our next episode we're gonna do. We're gonna Dave's Deep Dive.

Reese: Oh, that's a good one.

Dave: Into. A forever pencil.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: 'cause I'm fascinated by what this is.

Reese: I'm very excited to learn from you.

Dave: This is almost as exciting as the pen that lets you write upside down for nasa.

Reese: Ooh. For nasa. That was a Seinfeld episode. Yeah, I got it as a gift from one [00:03:00] of my cast members of a show. I'm directing.

Dave: I'm, mad, I don't have one.

I need one now. I'm gonna have to get myself.

Reese: You heard that Sean, Sean might start listening to our podcast now, especially since I mentioned the

Dave: hot damn Sean

Reese: for Forever Pencil. So I am a fan of, I like a good pen or pencil that. I'm like a tactile person.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: Like if, if, if it's comfortable while I'm writing, it's my favorite thing.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: And if it glides,

Dave: oh,

Reese: it's my favorite thing. And

Dave: that's why, that's why this pen, this style of pen is my favorite.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: It's got the quiet click.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: Although this one's broken, but this has got the quiet click and it's smooth.

Reese: Yeah. I love a smooth

Dave: And it's got a nice little grippy on the end.

Reese: writing utensil. Yeah.

Dave: I love it.

Reese: This thing is, is pretty sleek. It's the first time I'm actually using it and I'm a fan. It

Dave: that, that's a, that's one. Darn good looking pencil you got there.

Reese: It is a good looking pencil. And he bought one for each of us.

Dave: Except for,

Reese: except for you.

Dave: Except for me.

Reese: Because you're not in the show, babe.

Dave: I'm just, I'm just, giving you guys a place to rehearse.

Reese: You're like a,

Dave: I'm part owner of that [00:04:00] establishment.

Reese: You're like a transient person that comes in and out. That's out during, that's right. Rehearsals

Dave: I should have gotten sorry for disrupting your home. Pencil.

Reese: Listen, I'm gonna say this.

My new friend Sean,

Dave: I'm kidding Sean, but No, but dammit, gimme a pencil.

Reese: Him and I are extremely similar and we crack up every time. He, I was like, how did you get ahead of me buying team gifts? Because that's usually my thing. Like I, I'll buy like a themed gift for the cast of the show, and he went ahead of me.

And then we have all these other little quirky things like similar. With each other. And it, it just, it cracks me up. So now, if he knows that you're upset about the pencil.

Dave: All right.

Reese: You're probably gonna get a box of pencils.

Dave: A box.

Reese: So get get ready. Okay.

Dave: How would I ever use them all?

Reese: I you're gonna have to live forever.

Forever, yeah. Just like Queen.

Dave: That would be a, we should find out more. But these, that Thailand could be a cool team gift forever. And if we could get them, what if we got like Manic Joy or Charest Family ones that could be, oh,

Reese: that is, there. It is.

Dave: Okay. [00:05:00] So listen, yes, we, so I think we've mentioned we've been doing like some fasting routines.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: And we're coming up on eight o'clock.

Reese: What time is it now?

Dave: Which is where we gotta stop. So I, we've got five minutes to, we eat my right now so, apologize listener. Yes. But enjoy this delectable sound.

Reese: And the, the other best part of a martini is you get food snack, you get a snack with it. I'm not, I'm not upset.

Wait,

Dave: I wish those were blue cheese olives right now that

Reese: you were saying that we need to eat these olives sooner than later. Does that mean they're gonna be expired? They,

Dave: no, they're a little sy. No, we are gonna expire. We can't eat past eight o'clock. Okay. With it.

Reese: That first one was a little smushy.

The second one was better.

Dave: Oh, you got a special one?

Reese: I got a special one. A special olive for a special lady.

Dave: A special lady.

Reese: Everybody's gonna love the A smr.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: Chomping. Yeah.

Dave: You're welcome. That's free. We don't charge for that. No, we don't. Most people, you gotta, you gotta do a private podcast [00:06:00] stream.

You pay five bucks for that. For that, yes. For you. You get that for free. Yeah.

That's ' cause we care.

Reese: We do.

Dave: We care.

Reese: All right.

Dave: Okay. So we,

Reese: tonight's theme or you got some other stuff?

Dave: I was gonna say this, I was gonna lead us into the theme.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: One, we're talking about fasting of course, but two, we also like to put ourselves because we're s sadists, we like to put ourselves through torture by watching the cooking shows.

Reese: I realize we have to stop watching it at a certain time. 'cause once we're in fasting mode, I, I can't watch it. Can't usually wanna watch it because you like a ball ball. 'cause I have been dying for scallops. I don't know why, and they cook scallops tonight. I'm like, oh my God. I, I want a nice,

Dave: so yeah.

Reese: Hearty scallop dish. I don't know what, but I, I need it.

Dave: So Ramsey's been the last, so we've been watching two things. We've been watching. Next level chef, which is, they're both Ramsey shows. I think we've mentioned Were Ramsey fans. Yeah, so a [00:07:00] next level chef, which is the one where they have three different levels and like the, there's the basement, the middle kitchen, and then the top floor.

Reese: Then, and then the

platform comes down, the food,

Dave: it comes down, and then it starts at the top, and the top is the best kitchen. The middle is a little bit less than that, and then the, the bottom is like horrible, and then they have challenges and all this stuff. It's fun. It's a lot of fun.

Reese: So much fun.

Dave: You have three different teams.

Reese: Not fun. I would,

Dave: it's Ramsey

Reese: wouldn't be fun if I was doing it. I would hate every second of it. I would not like

Dave: I can't imagine you this running. Plus, you'd have to run. You have to run and you'd have to jump to get things you'd never get. No, thank you. You wouldn't get any items?

Reese: No. I'd be the one, the first person that died on that show trying to

Dave: falling down.

Reese: Get something on that to

Dave: the bottom floor.

Reese: Exactly. They'd be like, wait a minute, is Reese an option for. To get from the platform, but here's the thing. Oh, okay. So there's that. Here's the thing, and then we're, we're also watching, then we're watching

Dave: Master Chef.

Reese: Master Chef,

Dave: which is the master chef GE Generations right now.

Reese: Which is super fun.

Dave: Which is fun. Yeah. So it's got Gen X, millennials, boomers, gen Z, and Gen Z.

Reese: So it's interesting to see [00:08:00] the dynamics of each generation Yeah. And their levels of cooking skills. Yeah. And 'cause boomers didn't have the internet, whereas Gen Z has the internet.

Yeah. And how they utilize those opportunities. It's just, it's, it's great. And so we're in the middle of watching both. And I get confused with the contestants would, I'm like, wait a minute, where's blah, blah, blah? And they're like, oh wait, that's a different show. But it's, it's. I enjoy watching those cooking shows.

Dave: It's been, it's been fascinating because Ramsey has been doing like cooking demonstrations on I think both of them, right? Yes. And so he gets in there and he's just bam, bam,

ba bam, ba.

Reese: It's so effortless.

Dave: And you're just like effortless. Like you see what it looks like and you're like, wow.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: And so it's really good's

Reese: It's effortless.

Dave: And then for some reason, for the life of me, I can't remember the name of the other cooking show that we used to watch all the time. All that comes to mind is Master Chef, but it's not that one. It's the one with the bald guy. Tom Colicchio. And then Padma and else Oh else.

Reese: And then there was like, we used to watch Beat Bobby Flay. That was a big one.

Dave: Well, I always watch Beat Bobby.

Reese: That was a big one.

Dave: But I ran out [00:09:00] of it. Stopped I don't know, I gotta go back to that.

Reese: I think COVID. We, we watched all of them

Dave: Beat Bobby Flay. I loved just 'cause one, I like Bobby Flay, but two, that's just like a fun, a fun, fun.

Have on in the background kinda show was fun.

Reese: See, I love, I love all the cooking shows, not because I am. Someone who enjoys. Cooking. I will cook if

Dave: I imagine someone who enjoys food.

Reese: I do. I do enjoy food. I enjoy

Dave: What is the other fucking cooking show?

Reese: It'll come to us. It'll happen.

Dave: God dammit.

Reese: It'll happen because I know exactly what you talking about, right?

Dave: I, we used to watch it all the time. I can't remember the name of it,

Reese: but the thing that.

Dave: Top Chef. Bam.

Reese: Wow. I told you. You get it. Top Chef. You feel better now.

Dave: I feel a lot better now. Goodnight. Everyone could.

Reese: Yeah. And scene. We could have Googled that, but it's fine. So the one thing that is cemented for me, I enjoy watching the cooking shows.

I actually also enjoy watching Ramsey's, Kitchen Nightmares and all of that stuff. I [00:10:00] enjoy it.

Dave: Mm.

Reese: What it cements. For me is the fact that I do not ever.

Dave: Oh,

Reese: want to work in a kitchen?

Dave: No, you would never, ever, ever, you're, you have hard enough time in our own kitchen. Yeah. It's bad when I'm in there trying to cook.

I'm, it's bad. I'm like, move it. Get another way. Reese, you're in the way.

Reese: You're, you're really mean to me in the kitchen too. We would not work well together.

I Couldn't handle that pressure. And it's too much like they're screaming out. They're like. Three steak and one duck. Yeah. I'd be like one steak and five duck.

Like I would, no, I can't. It's the same.

Dave & Reese: Who's stuck? Who stuck, right? No. Go stuck. No. Who stuck? You know that guy?

Dave: Yeah. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna, we're gonna talk a little bit about food today, and then we're, this is all gonna culminate into a ranking. Of some fast food.

Reese: Right?

Dave: Because that's all anybody really cares about this.

Reese: Well, here's the thing too, with the irony of us ending on that is the fact that you and I have been trying, we've been pretty good with eliminating the fast food element [00:11:00] of

Dave: Yeah, we have been pretty good.

Reese: Our weight loss

Dave: except for the last, last two days. Because yesterday I was like, you this, I need some pizza.

Reese: I know. And I have to tell you, you've been really good and, and as long as you're not getting it right, I, I don't need to eat it.

Dave: And I Good. I have been pretty good.

Reese: But that pizza was, it was better this morning when you, when we had it.

Dave: I don't know if it was better, but it was still,

Reese: I needed to be crispy. I don't like floppy pizza. Not fan of that.

Dave: You said floppy pizza.

Reese: But and then, and I did fall prey to the

Dave: little chick. And I love how you're like, I'm gonna get the usual, but you came home with fucking nuggets.

Reese: You, because you know what I was like, I don't want to eat a whole thing because then I know you're gonna cook dinner and I'm gonna want to eat what you're cooking, which is what happened.

Yeah. So I just got like the, I got some nugs and I got the kale salad, which I really enjoyed.

Dave: Oh, I did. Yeah. I, I like it. What was the ca Oh, the Kale Crunch. They used to have, they don't have anymore. It's a different thing.

Reese: That was the best. And they used to cut it up, like in all little pieces.

Dave: Yeah, it was good.

Reese: It was better. This is fine.

Dave: It's fine.

Reese: But I I, we've been doing [00:12:00] really good not eating fast food. Yeah. 'cause I think that was definitely part of the problem

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: Of me not being able to lose weight because you don't realize that like fast

Dave & Reese: how much shit you eat is so bad. Bad. And it's and how that's this cooked usually.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Dave: So I know you wanted to. Just let's go on a journey, a food journey, if you will.

Reese: Yeah. I'd like to, I'd like to start with a little history before we get into the main topic, history,

Dave: little history gather around children. We're gonna give you a little history here.

Reese: Yes, yes. Let's go.

Dave: Let's start with what are your first memories of food?

Reese: So I, I grew up in a household where my grandmother did all the cooking.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: She cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Dave: Yeah. What did she cook for breakfast?

Reese: Well, I was gonna say breakfast. Breakfast wasn't a big meal in the house.

Usually breakfast during the week.

Consisted of cereal. Oatmeal.

Dave: Okay. It's not like real

Reese: Mm. But on the weekend sometimes my grandmother would make what's called [00:13:00] menia. Menia, and it's basically the like very fine. Oh God. What is, what is it? Oh God.

Dave & Reese: What, what? Easy. What is these that you eat in your morning?

I dunno what I have. Mama Mia. No, definitely not. Is that what you eat? It was not a Mama Mia.

Reese: Like cream of wheat. It was like a fine cream of wheat. Yeah. And she would toast it.

Dave: Was it like a, a fine cream of wheat?

Reese: It was, it was, it was so fine.

Dave: Oh, I wanted to, I wanted to hump it real good.

Reese: She would Okay. Too far. So she would toast it. And then add the stuff and it was delicious. That was like a treat. And we would get that. And then it would u she would usually make that when we'd go take a run downtown Brooklyn and get like some of the Syrian fixins, the Middle Eastern Fixins. Sure. And my father started this trend of putting, he would put the cheese.

Dave: The string cheese.

Reese: The [00:14:00] string cheese of Armenian cheese.

Dave: We haven't had, we haven't had string cheese in a longest time.

Reese: It was so weird. Yeah.

Dave: So I'll, this talk about this food is making me say, I'm putting it out there. It might be time to do a spring fling of grape leaves. I'm saying that for the people that listen to this podcast,

Reese: they know who they are,

Dave: so they go, yes,

Reese: all the time.

Dave: I expect a text message.

Reese: They wants to do that

every week. I think. Okay with that,

Dave: every, every month, once a month,

Reese: I think of grape leaves. Oh, there's something, I'm not gonna lie. I, I could say this pretty much every day I think of grape leaves.

Dave: And you think of them.

Reese: I do because I, and I can, I taste them like my brain just, and I, I start to salivate. 'cause I taste like the. Oh, the, lemony, the, ugh. It's, I love grape. I, anyway, I, I'll come back to that because I have a, I have a question later on Okay. For you, and I'll come back to the grape leaves question, but yeah, let's get on that. But yeah, like my grandmother used to cook. Mainly at lunch.

Sometimes [00:15:00] no one was really around during the week for lunch. But on the weekends we would usually go someplace or if they would buy the ingredients to make the food, we'd have a little. Like she would make fattoush, which is mm-hmm. The salad with the toasted pita bread in it. Mm-hmm.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: But dinners, my, my grandmother cooked Italian food better than some of the Italians I knew, and she would cook the Middle Eastern food, like with her eyes closed. Oh. The meals that we would have, I grew up very lucky to have, I wish I paid more attention to my grandmother's cooking, but I was so spoiled.

Dave: And now, and now you're even more spoiled.

Reese: I, you know what?

Dave: Because you get all the cuisine made for you.

Reese: I'm not, I'm not stupid. I knew where my bread was buttered. Literally when I married you, I knew what I was doing. Yeah.

Dave: So listen, you, you were lucky 'cause you had it in your home.

Reese: Yeah,

Dave: I got it through Paul Sarkis was where I got my Lebanese food.

Mm-hmm. We would, at, [00:16:00] in high school, we would always. Go to Paul's house and we would just raid that refrigerator.

Reese: Yep. And probably had some good stuff in there. There.

Dave: His mom made all the best stuff. Mm-hmm. Oh my God. It was so good. I love that. And then we had a place called Monair's that used to be the late night place that people would go.

Mm-hmm. After you'd go out drinking and you'd always get like the steak, cheese, and salad. And the Syrian bread wrapped up. Oh, nice. Oh my God, that's so good.

Reese: That's so funny.

Dave: That was the way to go.

Reese: So in

Dave: some french fries

Reese: Yeah. In Brooklyn, the place to go would be, we'd go to Sheepshead Bay Diner.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: And the big thing to get after going out would be we would get french fries with cheese.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: So you could do it either way. You do french fries with mozzarella cheese and you get a side of. Gravy.

Dave: Oh yeah, that sounds good.

Reese: And then, or you would get, depending on what mood you were in, you were in, you, you win, you were in, you would get, oh, well actually three, you would get fuck french fries with [00:17:00] cheddar cheese, like melted on top, which was

Dave: like real, was cheddar cheese or was it like the sauce?

Reese: Who the fuck knows It was at Sheepshead Bay diner. Who knows what we were eating. And then the other one is mozzarella cheese with sauce.

Dave: Like like like tomato sauce. Yes. Okay. I go with a gravy. Gravy, yeah. Gravy is the best. I mean, Poutine. Let's talk about

Reese: well, it was like a poutine without,

Dave: how fucking good is poutine,

Reese: poutine?

Dave: Speaking of, I am going to Canada next week, so

Reese: Oh, lucky bastard's get to have something. What's

Dave: going to Calgary? I'm not looking forward to this trip though. I've got like an two all day fucking plane trips.

Reese: Ew. That's gross,

Dave: boo. Go. Let's, let's see what fun that is.

Reese: So good.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: Yeah. I grew up in a, in a house where food was always, there was always food.

Yeah. There was always something good to eat. My grandmother, and no matter who was gonna, I, at the last minute, I'd be like, so-and-so's the our friend. George's favorite story is the time my grandmother was taking a nap and she had her hair net on. She used to wear a little hair net to take a nap.

And I ran downstairs and I was like, Sitto. George George is coming [00:18:00] over for dinner and she's like, ah, shit. And rip the hair net off because like back in the day, George was a little heavy. He knows Yeah, it's not gonna be insulting. And she's oh God. 'cause she figured she has to cook

Dave: more food

Reese: even more because George is coming over and it was the best, most awkward dinner ever.

And we always make a joke about that. But everybody was always welcome. There was always extra food. And it was great. And then when she passed away. My mom's biggest meal was ordering pizza.

Dave: I was gonna say pizza from, what was the place?

Reese: There was two different places she would order from.

Dave: What was the one where we, near the end, we always got,

Reese: I know, was that, was it, it Trio.

Dave: Trio Pizza Trio. Yeah. It was Trio. Yep. Which was, meh. Wasn't great. It was okay.

Reese: Whatever, Dave,

Dave: I didn't love,

Reese: l and B'S was the best pizza.

Dave: Oh, no. Nope, nope.

Reese: Yeah. So we'll fight. Yeah. Yeah.

Dave: There's a lot of things in Brooklyn that you, people like, that

Reese: you people,

Dave: you people,

Reese: you people insulting.

You people. Okay.

Dave: [00:19:00] Yeah. We could have some fights about for sure.

Reese: Yeah. We'll fight. All right. What's the, was there another question?

Dave: So, I was gonna say that growing up. Food for me was interesting because my mother was not a very good cook at all, like at all. So usually it would be like,

Reese: did she cook

Dave: sometimes?

And it wasn't great.

Reese: You get the cooking from Stan,

Dave: more so from Stan. Yeah. Yeah. So my mother would sometimes get lucky and make something that was like, okay. Mm. And then if you said it was okay, then that would be all that she would make.

Reese: Oh, yeah.

Dave: And then unlike most people where you would get better because you're doing things over and over again, hers would just get worse and worse.

And then you'd be like, oh fuck, I gotta eat this again. Mm. So it wasn't great. Mm. Yeah. Stan was a cook by trade, but he didn't cook a lot at home. But when he did, what I loved most was when he would cook and make. The [00:20:00] Polish food, he was polish. So he would do, like the

Reese: pierogis, make a good pierogi

Dave: not pierogi, I don't really remember, but the, but the, the, the stuffed cabbage.

That stuff was, that was good.

Reese: That's also a Middle Eastern. My grandmother used to make a stuffed cabbage almost in the same air of a grape leaf.

Dave: Yeah, it was good. Yeah, that's but it just like a big grape leaf. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And a little different. It's a different meat in there too.

Reese: What was the staple food in your house though?

Like what do you remember eating the most?

Dave: What do I remember eating the most? She would make, I wanna say American chop suey.

Reese: So that's a big thing here. We didn't have that in New York.

Dave: Yeah, that, so that's just fucking macaroni with like sauce and meat.

Reese: Ground meat. Yeah. Yeah.

Dave: Ugh. It's fine. Ugh. Yeah, I don't know.

And then, like I said, it was never like consistent and that, but I do remember, and we'll, we'll get this later as we get into the fast food, but I do remember. Paydays we would, someone would come home with some type of fast food or we would go to,

Reese: and that was like a big thing.

Dave: Yeah, we'd have Burger King or we'd [00:21:00] have Pizza Hut, like we'd go to Pizza Hut where you could get like the, and they had all the salad that you could eat and they had the things.

And then, remember back in the day, Wendy's this had to have been true of New York. It'll have the salad bar.

Reese: Yep. So

Dave: that salad bar was kick ass.

Reese: Our house was not a fast food house. , Yeah, I mean, pizza was probably the only thing that we ordered. We, we never went to Pizza Hut. I don't ever remember being in McDonald's Burger King with my entire family.

I. The only time that we would be in a fast food place would be on the way to Atlantic City and we would stop at, at Wendy's?

Dave: Yeah. Okay.

Reese: My grandmother was obsessed with the chili.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: And then there was the salad bar and that was like a huge thing.

Dave: The salad bar was amazing.

Reese: They had the smoking section.

Dave: Oh yeah.

Reese: So we'd be sitting in the smoking section and I'm like, I don't know, seven or eight inhaling secondhand smoke and eating a salad to be healthy. But yeah, we didn't, we didn't. Do that a lot. If we went out, we went out to like the fan air quotes, fancy restaurant, which was some, I don't [00:22:00] know, Italian place or whatever that my father found.

And it was usually in Staten Island.

Dave: Okay.

Reese: Or like downtown Brooklyn. And that was, we didn't really eat a lot of fast food.

Dave: Yeah,

Reese: we did. However, it was always a big treat when we would go to Vito's Bakery and they would do the, they would slice the fresh semolina bread.

Which was a treat. Mm-hmm.

Because my mom, the big joke was my mom did not like things that made crumbs. She was obsessed with, she did not like bugs

Dave: and all that was was crumbs.

Reese: Crumbs. But it was, it was very few and far be between. And so we would have that. And the cold cuts we had, we did have a lot of cold cuts in the house.

Dave: Okay. Let's talk about cold cuts for a minute. Yeah. So definitely had. Lots of cold cuts in the house. Mm-hmm. That was something. Mm-hmm. So sandwiches. Mm-hmm. Okay. You ready? I remember having just straight up mustard sandwiches.

Reese: Wow. You was poor.

Dave: Yeah. [00:23:00] Mustard sandwiches and government cheese. Yeah.

Also cheese did not sandwiches.

Reese: We barely had bologna.

Dave: So baloney. I love. And I will say this.

Reese: Bologna, mustard,

Dave: bologna,

Reese: mustard, bologna, mustard, mustard, mustard, mustard mayo and potato chips.

Dave: Oh yeah. So

Reese: later on in life, there was that ate that at someone's house over the summer.

And it was the best thing I ever had.

Dave: They were hogie sandwiches we would have in grammar and high school that were bologna, salami and cheese. Hmm. And those were actually pretty good. They're good. Yeah. I enjoyed those.

Reese: School lunches were great. I remember sometimes school lunches were sometimes, so in middle school. You could,

Dave: we had a thin crust pizza that I really loved too.

Those were good.

Reese: The square, we used to have the square pizza.

Dave: Yep. And it had sausage on it or something.

Reese: Oh, I don't know about that. A

Dave: little ground sausage on ours. It was so good.

Reese: I just remember, I, I wasn't allowed, I was one of those kids that went home for lunch. You can go home for lunch.

Dave: You were one of those kids.

Reese: I was one of those kids. And

Dave: they sent you to the home for lunch?

Reese: Yeah, [00:24:00] the home. Or you could bring food in. So I would bring food and then like the kids that like bought the lunch. Kind of Looked down upon. It was weird. And then high school. Pretty much if you brought your lunch, you were weird. It was a weird dynamic.

But in high school, I remember we, pizza was the best and then they would have these cheeseburgers on cheeseburger, Friday, whatever it was. Mm-hmm. And I loved the lunch ladies. Oh sure. We loved them. I, I don't know what happened. They were like, my BFFs loved that and they were the sweetest ladies actually.

And every once in a while they would, toss me an extra, like a, a free ice cream,

Dave: throw you a bone,

Reese: cheese cheeseburger, an extra cheeseburger. And, and then I go back,

Dave: It really showed,

Reese: I look at the pictures and I'm like, yep. Why was I so overweight in high school? Yep. Maybe you go because I,

Dave: there you go.

Reese: Was gross and overate.

Dave: I've gotta say this though, and I think it's true. [00:25:00] And I don't know how, I've been seeing these images come up, right where they show you like, oh, we used to eat that when I was kid, a kid. And like, and it's like, no, you didn't. And it has the McDonald's french fries and it was like, salt potatoes cooked in beef tallow.

And then the other one is like all the fucking chemicals and all the shit that's in the thing. Now, I don't know how true that is, but I will say this. Wow, on if it's just your brain. Playing tricks on you or not, but definitely like the food feels, seems different than it was back then.

Reese: If you go and you look at pictures of people prior to the 1980s, like eighties, early eighties and below, and PE people on the beach or whatever.

Yeah. Everybody was super thin. Yeah. And PE and there was fast food and people were eating it. But then when you get into the latter eighties into the nineties. Everybody got [00:26:00] fat.

There was, everybody was overweight.

Dave: It would be interesting to see what the history of like the food science was at that time.

Reese: Right.

Dave: ''cause yes, ev all the food has now become less I food.

Reese: They figured out how to make the

Dave: more about how to manufacture food.

Reese: How to get the food out faster. Yeah. How to make it last longer.

Dave: Last longer.

Reese: And it screwed us up.

Dave & Reese: Yeah. Big time. Big time. Big time. Yeah. I agree with that.

Reese: And also. People you have then you started to get a two parent income.

So you weren't getting, like not everybody had a nuclear family where the grandparents lived in your house. Exactly. And they didn't have the grandparents home cooking. 'cause my grandmother did all the cooking. Not that my mother worked. I'm just saying. And my mother didn't cook. No. Like I don't think I ever remember my mother using.

Pots and pans.

Dave: I mean she put her jewelry in the oven. So

Reese: in the oven. Listen, that just came up recently on my Facebook memory. 'cause I have those two, I have those two messages saved in my phone and one was her telling me when you [00:27:00] go home

Dave: Yeah,

Reese: next time you home the, in the oven. I left you my jewelry and some black plastic bags.

Yeah. Like I can't, but she, I mean she did her best. Sometimes she would make tuna fish. But for the most part, she would make a phone call.

Dave: Tuna fish was definitely on the menu I liked

Reese: and pizza would show up. Yeah.

Dave: Okay. You ready? For one of the things, so this, I learned this was like in college time and a couple of things that I used to love to make and one of them, you also would agree that were delicious were those and I learned this from Stan was the kielbasa.

Sliced up kielbasa. Mm-hmm. With the, with the what did I call it?

Reese: Mustard and grape jelly. The candy mustard. The, yeah.

Dave: The candied kielbasa.

Reese: So good.

Dave: Oh my god. So good.

Reese: You didn't make that this year for. Christmas Eve.

Dave: I usually don't make it Christmas.

Reese: You've gotta bring back, I think,

Dave: yeah. I ne I actually never made it on Christmas Eve.

Reese: Who made it?

Dave: Paul, Robert used to bring a thing of it, but I think it was made differently.

Reese: Yeah. I think you should make it this,

Dave & Reese: but I should. [00:28:00] Maybe Christmas, maybe I it, my version That's a show. That stuff is good.

Reese: I never had that. So you introduced that to me and the way you described. The ingredients.

I'm like, that seems disgusting, but oh my God.

Dave: Oh my God. So good.

Reese: Trust the process.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: Delicious.

Dave: So good.

Reese: Yes.

Dave: But another thing that I used to love was, and I'm not a big fan of this now, I like, I don't even like the thought of it makes me wanna like vomit, but you know, those little little, little mini like rye bread.

Have you ever seen these, like you use them for hor d'oeuvres and stuff, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So you'd get those and then you'd do ground sausage, I believe it would be ground sausage. You cook that up and then you would mix it with Velveeta cheese. So you got like a kind of like what I did with the mushrooms today.

Mm-hmm. So

Reese: that sounds delightful.

Dave: So wait, but what, what, what you would, what you would do is. So let me just tell you what the cheese I did today. So we did, we had burgers for dinner and I hate when you have the mushrooms because they're so good. Then you put 'em on the burger and they just fall off the [00:29:00] burger.

Yeah. So what I did was I. Sauteed up the mushrooms, but then I put some American cheese and mixed olive, like

Reese: you almost made it like a glue.

Dave: So it was like a paste. Yeah. And so then all the mushrooms stick together and delicious.

Reese: I could have just eaten the mushrooms. The only reason why I ate the burger, no offense, is 'cause those mushrooms looked

Dave: Oh yeah,

Reese: so good.

Dave: Yeah, I got so good. So I did onions and mushrooms, and then I put that cheese in there and then I just put a slice of Swiss on the burger itself. But anyway, so with the Velveeta, then what you would do is, and it was like the, the, the, the coolest oh, I need to have something quick. You would take a spoonful of that stuff and you'd put it on that bread, and then you would throw that thing in the oven and then like heat it up so the bread got toasted and the thing heated up and got melty and then you'd just pick it up and you eat it.

Absolutely delicious.

Reese: Amazing.

Dave: But the best part was you could take those things, put 'em on the thing, and then put 'em in the freezer, and then when you wanted them, you just take 'em out, put 'em on the tray and put 'em right in the oven. You don't even have to defrost, you just throw it right in the oven, cook it.

That's so that was like a good. Treat like a quick treat.

Reese: Here's a question for you. I always think of like [00:30:00] American chop suey as was like a staple around here.

Dave: Yeah, yeah.

Reese: Was there ever, like when you would go to the beaches and stuff, they would sell certain foods that you remember?

Dave: All I remember at the beaches was obviously beach pizza, which is the Tripoli stuff.

Reese: Yes. You guys have the correct beach pizza. Yes.

Dave: And then so the big meals at the beach were the beach pizza. Then they would also have, I think the other big item were chicken finger subs. So subs are big out here. Yeah. So right.

Steak and cheese, Italian subs. Chicken parm and chicken f. So I remember the big thing would be to go, you'd go out to the beach, you'd get wasted and you'd go back. So you'd always go back. You'd always go to Hampton Beach to walk around. But then you'd come back to Salisbury Beach for food.

Mm. Because the food was better at Salisbury. And then you would get back. So it's interesting because back in the day, I liked Christy's more than I liked Tripoli, because I also liked anchovies a lot back in the day. [00:31:00] And, and Christy's had the anchovies and Tripoli did not, but I believe it was, I guess it wasn't trip.

I might have been, there might have been another spot. Spot.

Reese: I feel like christy's. It was sweet.

Dave: No, Tripoli's is sweet. Christy's is more like the Italian.

Reese: Oh, okay.

Dave: Sauce. Okay. But, but these days I love Tripoli more.

Reese: Mm. Tripoli's really good though.

Dave: But there was also like a sub shop there that had chicken fingers that were the best chicken fingers.

And you would always get I would get like a chicken finger sub with American cheese, mayo, ketchup, pickles.

Reese: So healthy, so good for your heart

Dave: and lettuce, right? Yeah, exactly. But I'd be wasted and I'd be like, I want a fucking Chinga sub.

Reese: That's amazing.

Dave: Yeah. Yeah. That was a good time.

Reese: I was just thinking the other day, I think it's been like 30 something years since I've had a knish.

Dave: Oh, a knish, huh?

Reese: Knishes were a big thing. Growing up,

Dave: I don't think that was like a thing that I, I've had one I believe, but I'm not like,

Reese: because we, we had like a bunch of [00:32:00] delis. Yeah. And there was like, like two big delis competing delis, like on Avenue U. But when you'd go to the beach, there'd always be a guy selling a knish,

Dave: a knish.

Reese: And so he'd cut it and in the middle, make a little. Like hole and then put like the mustard in there. It was like the best. And they wrap it in the tinfoil. It was the best.

Dave: Okay. Okay.

Reese: And that was like a big thing. Did you, and I don't think I've had those in.

Dave: What about, do you ever have the Jamaican beef patties?

Reese: So they used to sell the Jamaican beef patties in,

Dave: those were good.

Reese: And my mom would always get one and we'd split it at the pizzeria.

Dave: Yeah, those were good.

Reese: Trio used to have beef

Dave: spicy ones too.

Dave & Reese: Yes, yes.

Reese: And that was the only time that I would ever have that is. At the pizzeria, you get two slices and then you get the beef patty and you split that.

Dave & Reese: Mm. That's good stuff. That is good stuff.

Reese: I'm getting full just thinking about it.

Dave: Alright, so let's, let's get into some of this fast food stuff here, right? So we've got a couple of categories.

Reese: Wait, but I had a question for you before that.

Dave: Oh, well then why don't you ask the question?

Reese: [00:33:00] Okay. Because you, you jumped in, let me just say this really quick.

We can do this like a speed round. What was the first meal you remember cooking for yourself?

Dave: I don't,

Reese: you don't remember?

Dave: No.

Reese: Because I specifically remember 'cause it was bad. I was in college, I was with my roommate Jill, and we thought it'd be a really good idea. I'm just gonna say it. We thought it'd be a really good idea to go at 12 o'clock at night in Long Island.

We were stoned and went to one of the supermarkets were open till crazy hours and we were hungry. So we're like, let's go shopping. And she goes, you know what? Let's make chicken. Never in my life have I ever cooked chicken. Neither had she. There was no internet. I mean there was, but it wasn't like, and we tried to cook chicken it.

By the time we were done cooking the chicken, it was like four in the morning and it was still raw. So that was the first time I remember like cooking food for myself. We didn't eat it. We wound up just eating whatever chips and other [00:34:00] garbage we bought and threw the chicken out 'cause that didn't work.

Okay. What's a food that you will never eat? Never

Dave: Liver.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: I've tried.

Reese: Don't like it?

Dave: Nope. Not good. F

Reese: for me. What do you, what do you think I'm gonna say?

Dave: I don't care.

Reese: Foie gras can't say it. Can't say it. I was hoping you would say it.

Dave: I love, I love so, which is funny because that's made from like livers and stuff.

Reese: I don't like the way it's.

Dave: But liver, like liver and onions, like when you cook it.

Reese: Yeah. And and the smell,

Dave: it's just not good.

Reese: Yeah. I just don't like the way it's made. I, I think it's unethical, not a fan.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: If you were stuck, we'll play Little Desert island.

Dave: Oh, okay.

Reese: If you were stuck on the island, what's the one food you wish that would be there?

And then you would eat it every day?

Dave: Uh hmm.

Reese: Forever and ever. This is the one thing,

Dave: I guess I'm gonna go with

Reese: it's like a magical lost island and the, smoked monster delivers you.

Dave: Yeah, I guess I would want a chicken or fish.

Reese: Oh [00:35:00] really?

Dave: Yeah. Why not? Because that's like versatile,

Reese: hilarious.

Dave: You can do lots of things with it. Like

Reese: I, I went to straight to mac and cheese.

Dave: Yeah. No, no. I wouldn't want to eat. I don't, no,

Dave & Reese: I love Mac. That wouldn't be the cheese. Cheese so much.

Dave: I would have it have a nice protein, fish or chicken,

Reese: Death row, final meal.

Dave: Wow, that's rough.

Reese: And you, I've read some stuff where people, it's like a menagerie of things.

Dave: Yeah, I guess I would want final meal. Fuck. Hmm. I, Ooh, these are hard because a lot of times for me too, it's like. Boils down to

Reese: what You're in the mood for

Dave: what I'm into at that particular time.

Reese: Yeah. Yeah. I get it.

Dave: You know what I mean?

Reese: I get it.

Dave: But I feel, all so

Reese: right now, death row,

Dave: if I had to do like a, like a classic, I'd do like a filet mignon, maybe some scallops, maybe some lobster.

Mm-hmm. But here's the thing, right? Like I would wanna make, like they'd have to be cooked good 'cause

Reese: of course they're gonna cook it exactly the way you want it. It's gonna be perfection.

Dave: It's gonna be perfection. Then yeah, I would have a lobster tail. Or maybe even, no. You ready? Filet [00:36:00]mignon, scallops, mashed potatoes.

Hmm. Maybe asparagus and a lobster pie.

Reese: Ooh.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: Hilarious.

Dave: And what would you have?

Reese: Immediately I'm gonna go to

Dave: Mac and cheese again.

Reese: Mac and cheese.

Dave: All I eat is mac and cheese.

Reese: I'm a simple lady. I would say mac and cheese. And then I'd go back to, I would always go back to a grape leaf, but it'd have to be, oh, probably ed Ed would have to make the grape leaves for me.

Oh. 'cause I, I like the way he makes his grape leaves. Yeah. Like a good. Old school grape leaf, a little mac and cheese. Oh, you know what? Throw in a lobster. Mac and cheese.

Dave: Oh, there you go.

Reese: That'll work for me.

Dave: There you go.

Reese: And a grilled cheese. I think everything I'm gonna say is gonna involve cheese.

Dave: Cheese.

Reese: Probably why my cholesterol's not great. Yeah. But yeah, gimme all the Middle Eastern food. A little hummus.

Dave: Yes. Okay.

Reese: Little good. tabbouleh little baba ghanoush a nice baba ghanoush that's not like slimy because

Dave: know it would be good

Reese: a couple of places and. And we didn't even, what would be good?

Dave: The [00:37:00] Yalla! Mix on the grill?

Reese: Yes.

Dave: Mm.

Reese: Delish

Dave: with the french

fries. Oh, good.

Reese: Because I was gonna say, we

didn't even talk about dessert. 'cause throw in there the

Dave: if I had to have a classic dessert, I would do the molten chocolate cake.

Reese: Okay. I, I would go for like an ice cream. Sunday or banana split or something like that. That was little bit of everything, but I was gonna say the rice pudding with the ro with the rose water.

Dave: Oh yeah.

Reese: Oh is good. God. Heaven. Heaven.

Dave: Yeah. That is good.

Reese: Alright, let's dive into some fast food.

Dave: Oh, here we go.

Reese: 'cause I think it's time.

Dave: Alright, here's what we're gonna rank. We're gonna try to get to, we're gonna do the best burger. But we're also gonna do the best signature burger. 'cause I don't think they have to be the same.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: Like I would have a me order at McDonald's that I prefer. Over a Big Mac, let's say.

Reese: Exactly. Yep.

Dave: And then chicken. Mm-hmm. This could be sandwiches, this could be tenders, this could be nuggets. Mm-hmm. What's your favorite chicken meal? Mm-hmm. Who's got the best fries? Mm-hmm. We're gonna go for the best desserts.

Then what's the best overall like value meal? And I don't, I don't [00:38:00] wanna include in here like a combo meal. 'cause that, that's not what, I mean, what I mean is like the, like an example would be right, the Wendy's has the biggie bag, right? Something like that or

Reese: mm-hmm.

Dave: McDonald's used to have the dollar menu. Something like that. Let's start with burgers. What's your, what's your, if you had to pick the top three burgers, fast food, burgers, what would they be?

Reese: Okay.

Dave: And then you could, maybe you can say even any order and then we'll rank them.

Reese: Here's the thing. You are gonna be surprised by this. Okay? And it's not on our list.

Dave: Let's hear it.

Reese: I like your burgers when you cook

Dave: my burger.

Reese: Yeah, when you make a burger.

Dave: Yeah. But that's not,

Reese: I like when you do it.

Dave: That's not a fast food burger though.

Reese: I know. But it. Okay. Hear me out though. I know we're doing a thing with fast food, but I'm kind of like, Ugh.

But I'll play this game with you.

Dave & Reese: Okay. Okay,

Dave: thanks.

Reese: I would say the number one burger for me would be a Shake Shack.

Dave: Okay.

Reese: I like a Shake Shack burger. Like even like a, a Shake Shack or like a Five Guys. I like that. [00:39:00] Where it feels like a real burger. Not like a fake patty. That's why I'm like, I like your burgers.

And I'm not saying that's Kiss your ass. No, I'm just saying I like, like a real burger. So for me it's like a Shake Shack and a

Dave: Okay.

Reese: And a five guys

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: Is like kinda, I'm there, but I.

Dave: So this is interesting, right? So this is actually very hard because there's the memory of the burgers that you have.

Exactly. And then you have the reality of the burger.

Reese: Exactly. That's why I put, I also like a White Castle. But the old school White Castle.

Dave: So I don't think I would even back in the day. I, I dig, I agree with you on, but I don't even think I would. Order White Castle, like out, like I would never get it out at an actual restaurant, but I love the ones you get, the jalapenos, the, the jalapeno that you get in the,

Reese: I wish

Dave: in the freezer section.

Reese: I can go. I wish that there was a time machine and I can take you with me and Ruthann. Yeah. When we used to go to White Castle back in the day, it was like a trip I think, I think it was in Long Island. [00:40:00] And we would go, it was like a big deal. She. Had her car and we used to, it was normally to go to places to eat and we would get White Castle and it would be like the best burgers ever and we would eat like 10 of them.

'cause you could just, you just down it. Yep. They, they were like the best. And then my other one, only when we've had too much to drink is McDonald's. Yeah. The, the two cheeseburger meal is my go-to.

Dave: So here's what I'm gonna say. I'm gonna give you. Ones that these are in no particular order. McDonald's, I would eat Burger King.

Yes. Wendy's? Yes. Five guys. Yes. Shake Shack. Yes. White Castle. Yes. I would eat all of those.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: I think if I had to go, I. If I had to choose one and I could only pick one

Reese: mm-hmm.

Dave: I think I would have to go with McDonald's.

Reese: Really?

Dave: I think it's something

Reese: Over a shake Shack?

Dave: Yeah. So Shake Shack has [00:41:00] actually, I used

Reese: back in the day,

Dave: back in the day, it was good when it was really good, but lately if I go to it, like

Reese: that's not the same. I know.

Dave: It's just, it's, it's greasy and I don't know. Yeah. So I, I don't love it as much, but no. McDonald's, I think there's a, there's a nostalgia element to it. It's the. Fast food that I want after I'm recovering from being sick.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: Which is funny because then it just makes me sick. Yes. But there's something with, and it was funny, I mentioned this the other night.

We were out with some people from work and there's this woman, her name is Britt, and you'd love her. She's a hoot. She comes in from out of town, she lives in one of the Carolinas or whatever. And it was a colleague's like kind of going away party or whatever. And I had mentioned, oh.

McDonald's double cheeseburger with onions only. And she was like, what? She's that's my order. She's always the one that's like putting out the, okay, would you rather do this or do that? Like she's that person. She does all those and like sometimes they're ridiculous, but, and she's like very hard.

Like she [00:42:00] hates ketchup, for example, right? Ketchup is gross. Disgusting.

Reese: Whoa.

Dave: Yeah. Yeah. So

Reese: that's bold.

Dave: But the fact that we, she was like, I don't, I thought I was the only one. I'm like, no double cheeseburger with just onions on it. The best.

Reese: Yeah,

Dave: that is my go-to.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: And if I had, if I put a whole meal around that, I'm doing a double cheeseburgers.

Only onions, fries, and nuggets. And sometimes I get crazy and I'll also do a quarter pounder with that.

Reese: Yeah. You've, I've seen that and it, it boggles my mind.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: I would say the best thing coming out of McDonald's these days is the Sprite. I. I the Sprite man.

Dave: Okay, so I'm gonna go with you that

Reese: liquid with crack.

Dave: Let me tell you something else,

Reese: and I love it.

Dave: The best drink that they ever had was that Hi-C orange drink. Mm. Was my go-to. Mm-hmm. Beverage.

Reese: Yeah. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. I agree.

Dave: I don't, I can't. I remember they got rid of it these days also. Okay. Do me this. Chicken nuggets aren't the best, but again, there's something [00:43:00] nostalgic about them.

Reese: What's funny is when we get to chicken, chicken I am a fan of the McDonald's nuggets, but the best ones.

Dave: Okay, let's get there. Hold on. Okay, let's finish this.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: Or you know what? I'll save it for, I'll save it for when we get there. Okay. Because we don't need to talk about them now. But I will say this I also think so if we did the best, what's the best signature burger?

So that means like a whopper, that means like a Big Mac. That means like a a single or the baconator, I guess like something like that.

Reese: I guess like back, I guess like a

Dave: Shack Burger.

Reese: I'm gonna keep going, but I'm gonna keep saying old school.

Dave: Yeah. That fine

Reese: Shack. Burger Shack for me. Shack.

Dave: Oh, shake Shack.

Reese: Shake Shack Burger.

Dave: Yeah. Yeah. That was a good burger. Yeah. I'm gonna say I actually am a big fan of the Whopper.

Dave & Reese: Yeah, that's a strong, I don't think I've had a whopper in a

long time. That's a, so I don't know. That's a strong burger.

Reese: Mm. Okay. That's fair. I just haven't had it in [00:44:00] in a long time, so I don't know.

Dave: You ready for this one? I'm throwing one in. Oh. What is a big Nope for a burger?

Reese: Ooh,

Dave: I bet you know mine. What's mine?

Reese: A big, Nope. Is a In an out burger?

Dave: Yes. In and fucking definitely out. Yeah.

Reese: That was very, that was for the first time trying it in Vegas,

Dave: and I've tried multiple times.

Reese: It was meh. It was meh

Dave: and let's well, we'll just wait till we get to the fries.

I don't understand how people like it. It's fucking disgusting.

Reese: I don't know. Maybe it's be, I don't know. I don't know, man.

Dave: It's not good. I'm sorry.

Reese: Maybe someone who has it that that really likes it can tell

Dave: It's the fucking worst tell. I don't understand how it's a, a chain that is exists because

Reese: I would say a nope, for me would be anything from Burger King.

I'm not a Burger King girl.

Dave: Yeah, Mo. So most times the only thing that I would go with, with Burger King would be, and we'll, we'll talk about this next, but would be the, the Whopper. Mm-hmm. Although I do remember, and I'll talk about this when we get our next [00:45:00] category, so I'll save it. But then also the chicken fries are good, but the regular fries are horrible.

Reese: Yeah. No,

Dave: horrible.

Reese: Yeah. They're not great.

Dave: Horrible. They're not good. They're not great. Not good at all. Yeah. All right. Let's, let's, let's move the chicken.

Reese: Yep.

Dave: So this is interesting. So funnily, I remember growing up and I used to be a huge fan of Burger King. They had a chicken parm sandwich.

Reese: I remember that.

Dave: And I remember being delicious.

Reese: I know. We didn't know any better when we were younger.

Dave: Yeah. But, this is where I feel like, we, they were better than what they were. Now maybe now I get one and I'm like, Ew. Yeah. This is disgusting. This is was something that was good.

Reese: I don't think I've had.

Actually had Burger King since the girls were babies.

Dave: Listen, you're not missing a lot.

Reese: Yeah, I don't think I am.

Dave: Alright, so I'm looking at this list of things that we have here. Alright, I'm, let's do it like this. Let's do it like this. Best chicken sandwich. So I remember that. I also remember Wendy's used to have a really good chicken sandwich, which is not the same as what it used to [00:46:00] be.

Reese: Don't remember that. Yeah.

Dave: So I used to like Burger King. I used to like Wendy's and I actually would've said Wendy's was the best, but it's not anymore. So I think I have to go with it's, it comes down to, I. I don't, I guess the top three would be Chick-fil-A, Popeyes and KFC. In terms of sandwiches.

Reese: I don't do chicken.

Dave & Reese: McDonald's nugget chicken, chicken sandwich a lot. Horrible. I don't do a chicken sandwich a lot, so I feel like it's just a big chicken nugget. I went straight to nuggets

Reese: because I'm a nugget and a tender.

Dave: Yeah,

Reese: gal. I'm not like big into the chicken sandwich 'cause it's too, too overwhelming for me.

Dave: So anything you, not even a chicken Chick-fil-A sandwich probably would be the best one for you.

Reese: It's okay. Yeah, I guess. I guess. but um,

Dave: and you know what's a big note for me on this one? For a sandwich. Fucking Shake Shack. Yeah. Their chicken sandwich is gross.

Reese: Yeah. I don't what they did have. That was good.

Was that mushroom bomb?

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: I loved it. It,

Dave: that doesn't do it for me.

Reese: It was, oh, it was like a huge mushroom.

Dave & Reese: I, I would rather just have with the cheese, I would rather just have mushrooms on the burger. Delicious. No, that was delicious.

Reese: My every [00:47:00] year, my Facebook memories, that one time I had that mushroom bomb burger from the Shake Shack.

I, my face melted off, but. I would say I'm not a chicken sandwich person, so I can't really be too. Whatever. Mm-hmm. I guess I would say Chick-fil-A or maybe Popeye's Spicy chicken, but Mm.

Dave: Yeah. I would eat Popeye's as good. Chick-fil-A. Yeah. And like I said, KFC is not a bad sandwich either, so KFCI like the chicken littles actually,

Reese: so I don't do the KFC sandwich.

My favorite.

Dave: The bowl.

Dave & Reese: The bowl. The bowl, yeah.

Reese: Top tier. Wrote it right down. The bowl was top tier. I would get it all the time in Brooklyn. There was the K ffc and we would go four of those bitches, so good. Me, my mother and the girl. The girls would need their own bowls,

Dave & Reese: the gravy, and they were like five. And the corn I was the best. Should make one of those, like a healthy the pop popcorn, corn, chicken. Yep.

Reese: You should make in healthy version of one of those because that was actually the best. That's good. It got me excited. Even just thinking about it when I wrote it, I was like, that's nice. And I would say my favorite nugget.

Dave & Reese: Okay. Nuggets or Wendy's, let's go to [00:48:00] nuggets. Wendy. Wendy's Nuggets favorite are

Dave: really,

Reese: I know, I, I fight with people because I also, I'm not gonna skip ahead, but I also, I'm okay with their french fries too, but not the burgers.

Dave: No. Wendy's french fries are good,

Reese: but not Wendy's burgers. I'm like,

Dave: so Wendy's burgers can be good.

And they were, they used to be good,

Reese: but that's not something I go there for.

Dave: I used to love, there was like a, the Dave's big classic used to be my favorite Wendy's burger back in the day. Oh no. And then I'm a fan of the Baconator, or I should say the son of Baconator because the baconator is too much. Mm.

But, but still, ugh, these days they're, they just don't taste the same. They feel so fake.

Reese: Everything is, yeah.

Dave: They don't feel like real food anymore. Yeah, I know. It's disgusting. I know. Okay, so nuggets, I gotta go with nuggets. I gotta go with chicken nuggets. I don't, I don't mind. Wendy's nuggets.

They're weird. They're like squishy dirt.

Reese: No, I like it. No, but I'll be okay with the McDonald's nugget.

Dave: You know what though, if I, I'm gonna put the Burger King [00:49:00] chicken fries in there with nuggets.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: And I would say maybe those would be the best.

Reese: Now I'm gonna say a controversial thing to you,

Dave: please.

Reese: Rolling Roaster had,

Dave: okay,

Reese: the best

Dave: listen

Reese: chicken tenders.

Dave: Okay. I, I, that I could believe.

Reese: Delicious.

Dave: I could believe.

Reese: Listen, you went there for the roast beef, but you always got

Dave: No, you didn't

Reese: side.

Dave: No, you didn't.

Reese: I'm not, I'm not talking to you. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to like old school Brooklyn, when you go out to eat there.

Dave: But I could understand how they would have good. Chicken tenders

Reese: and then you would get the chicken tenders and you can even eat that. Obviously I would still get the side of cheese sauce because Delicious. Yeah, but you can even have it without, it was just the, everything about it was, I, I could still taste it.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: I miss it.

Dave: So for the tenders though, right? I'm gonna go with. So it, it comes down to just Raising Cane's

Reese: and Raising Cane's is okay.

Dave: Or [00:50:00] so Raising Cane's actually is pretty good and that sauce is really good.

Reese: It's alright.

Dave: And then I like Dave's hot chicken.

Reese: Yeah. Still didn't win me over, tried it a few times,

Dave: but so of, for, for tenders though.

Those are the two that I'm going with.

Reese: Okay. Alright.

Dave: Fries.

Reese: Fries. My favorite category.

Dave: This is interesting.

Reese: Fries. Make me so happy. And I can say,

Dave: fries are delicious.

Reese: I can appreciate it from any of these places that are listed, even though

Dave: okay, I'm gonna start with the absolute fucking worst.

Guess what? Guess what? The worst burger and worst fries. In and out.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: Blah.

Reese: I don't, I don't actually remember them.

Dave: Those fries are like eating fucking toothpicks.

Reese: Yeah,

Dave: they're disgusting. Disgust.

Dave & Reese: Yeah. Disgust. Don't, don't remember it. Disgusting. I remember the burger was meh.

Dave: I'm not a huge fan of five guys.

Fries. I feel like they have very little flavor, so they're, I like what they do with them because

Dave & Reese: they give you a lot, so many of them, but they're not very good.

Reese: They're okay.

Dave: McDonald's have to be the best I would say,

Reese: I would say too,

Dave: but only if they're good. 'cause you, [00:51:00] you don't always get them.

Reese: You don't want them cold.

Dave: You don't want them cold. I actually don't mind them. With crispy and some soggy parts. I actually like them a little bit soggy when?

Dave & Reese: Yes, because when there's always one that's a

little when themselves a little bit, yes. Yes. I like those.

Reese: But Wendy's for me. However, sometimes Wendy's does not put enough salt on there.

Dave: Wendy's changed their recipe.

Reese: Oh, I When

Dave: at one point, and then they were really, really good and I love them a lot. Then they changed them again and I was like, last

Reese: is recently this recently, because I haven't had them recently, so I don't know.

Dave: It was, I think the last change. They're fine, but they're not as good as they were before then.

Reese: Because I will tell you my go-to when I was PMSing back in the day when I was young and youthful and I was PMSing. Yeah. My go-to meal would be getting the Wendy's fries.

Dave: Yep.

Reese: A frosty. Sometimes, sometimes I would even get the chili. I don't even know if they make that anymore. But it was always, and then I would dip the french fry [00:52:00] in the frosty.

Dave: Oh yeah, no, that's a classic move.

Reese: Classic move.

Dave: Classic move the best.

Reese: And it was just, it was so comforting.

Dave: So I gotta say. All of these fucking fries. Like fries are just except for Burger King Chick Check. Burger King could be Okay. Yeah, all of them. Chick-fil-A, Arby's, curly fries. Yeah. Popeye's, Cajun fries.

Reese: I forgot about the curly curly's. Curly fries are pretty good. Yes.

Dave: Oh, I love curly fries.

Reese: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dave: But Burger King horrible.

Reese: Yeah, pretty bad. I agree.

Dave: But I will say I had them recently because that was all that was at an airport. Mm-hmm. I actually had some, and they were edible, but in and out, inedible.

Reese: Yeah, I agree.

Dave: But any, any other fry? How do you, it's so hard,

Reese: especially when it's fresh.

Dave: I don't understand how you

Reese: outta the, a fry.

It's so good.

Dave: I don't know how you fuck it up.

Dave & Reese: But, but then after find, have to do it. But they find them sitting there for a while. Exactly.

Reese: After you have them sitting there for a while, they're not so great when they're cold.

I don't, I've never met a friend fry that tastes really good. Yep. When it's cold. Yep. So just saying. All right.

Dave: All right.

Dave & Reese: Desserts,

Dave: [00:53:00] desserts. Desserts. Okay. McDonald's. I was never big into the McFlurry's. Yeah. And I never really cared about the apple pies either.

Reese: Yeah, same.

Dave: So I'm like, eh, Wendy's frosty.

Dave & Reese: Okay. A number one, A number. I think I'm gonna go

Reese: all the time and, and sometimes I like a chocolate, vanilla mixture. Sometimes I need the chocolate and sometimes, sometimes they have a special chocolate. It's not available. And I have to have the vanilla fine by me. Yep. Totally like it.

Dave: Uh, So Dairy Queen has the blizzard.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: I would, I would prefer just a, a dairy Queen

Reese: Oreo. Oreo cookie.

Dave: Oh, that, yeah. You would love that. Yeah.

Reese: Or a I go, I switch it up. 'cause I didn't grow up with the Dairy Queen, but they didn't have that.

Dave: Oh. I did in,

Reese: in Brooklyn.

Dave: And then they used to have food and we used to get like chili dogs at, at, at, at Dairy Queen all the time.

Reese: I don't think, I've eaten like actual food there, but the Dairy Queen, there was like one that was like near us when we moved here at to Mass and then the one in the mall. And I always, I fluctuate between the Oreo. Frost blizzard or the [00:54:00] cookie dough? I'm a cookie dough. Okay. Fiend. So a dairy queen.

And then when they put it upside down, I'm like, woo. Have a at a magic show. Stupid. I love it. Stupid.

Dave: Okay, so that's equivalent to like a concrete at a Shake Shack, right? They have those,

Reese: yes, but I don't, i. I guess I'm not a shake person, so whatever,

Dave: so I don't mind the shakes. But Dairy Queen, I, I would, over the blizzard, I would, I would take a soft serve like cherry dip any day, any day.

Chick-fil-A milkshakes are good.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: But nothing that I'm like, oh I would never get anything from Popeye's for dessert. Mm-hmm. I would never get anything from Taco Bell, from dessert.

Reese: So I used to get the cinnamon twists sometimes back in the day. And those were good, but it was, didn't do anything for me, but it was unnecessary.

Krispy Kreme. Don't get me started.

I just a donut. It makes me sad.

Dave: So good.

Reese: It makes me sad that there is not a Krispy Kreme here, but it is probably my best interest

Dave: probably

Reese: that there is not Krispy Kreme is magical and [00:55:00] also made by Satan because that is probably the only donut where I can eat two.

And contemplate eating three and probably take a half. Yeah. So good. So good. Everything else here I'm like me. I don't really do desserts at different fast food places. Alright. And also the cookie was the cookie place, the.

Dave: The Crumbl cookie or c the

Reese: Crumbl cookie is me.

Dave: Oh yeah, no, those, those, those, those start out again.

A lot of these places start out strong and then they just get worse. They, yeah. Alright, so here's our last one. Okay. The best like value meal or mo notable deals. Mm-hmm. And I'm gonna say, like I said, combo meals and all that are stupid, that that doesn't really count. But I'm gonna put in here on the list as like a, as a definitely go-to, and this is yours as well.

The two cheeseburger meal? Mm-hmm. Is definitely like every time, yes,

Reese: that is high up there, but then also the Wendy's four for four, but then they switch it to five for five or whatever.

Dave: In terms of a value. That's definitely the best in the [00:56:00] biz.

Reese: A hundred percent.

Dave: The Biggie bag or the four for four?

The five for five. Good. Where you get a a burger, you get a drink, you get fries. Yep. You get nuggets like, yep.

Reese: You can't beat that.

Dave: No doubt. That's the, I would say the girls, that's their favorite too.

Reese: That's their favorite.

Dave: 'cause when they, when you have no money, like you're getting your money worth.

Reese: And then when you buy the meal, it's by the time you're done, it's like over $20 and it's ridiculous.

Yeah. So I agree.

Dave: Alright, so friends. Yeah. Tell us what you think. What's your favorites? We'd love to know. Yep. You agree, disagree.

Reese: I think tomorrow we're gonna have to go get a frosty though.

Dave: Oh maybe you will

Reese: when it's time to break our fast.

Dave & Reese: Oh, I think I might have to have to go do it.

Reese: See what I did there?

Dave: I do see what you did there. Okay. So let us know what you think and if you're into this in and out stuff though, don't bother. Okay.

Reese: We don't wanna know.

Dave: I don't wanna fucking hear it.

Reese: We don't wanna know. That means you're stupid.

Dave: Oh, hey on. Hey friends. Life is a group project. Be kind to each other.

Outro Music.