This episode is presented by Pepsi. A hot dog is a sandwich. That deserves a Pepsi. Today we debate tacos. What kind? It’s the dell versus the bell. This is a hot dog is a sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what? That makes no sense. A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the show we break down the world’s biggest food debates. I’m your host, Josh Ayer. And I’m your host, Nicole Knightyyyy! She’s the belle and I’m the down Today We’re sk sk sk skorching your world With the hottest takes from the Libertarian party Nicole hit em with it No government in my tacos pleeease Don’t dread on my qucedilla that’s right Shreddas More like Give people Autonomy Something like that. Do you remember Gary Johnson, libertarian political candidate? He, his like, whole thing, I think this was 2016, his whole thing was just like, guys, we should really make pot legal. And then, uh, somebody During like a debate or a town hall thing Was like but what about the rise in cardiac arrests or marijuana something and then he pretends to have a heart attack on stage And falls to the ground and then gets up funny, you know, I don’t I don’t generally agree with libertarian politics But I thought gary johnson’s fake heart attack was funny. What about howard dean’s? Uh, yeah If you really look at I mean you’re in an incredible grassroots game. Anyways today we are talking about taco bell Versus Del Taco now. Can we put our laptops away for a second? Put our laptops away, put our laptops away. Josh, I think we should be honest with our lovely viewers. We did shoot another podcast earlier today. Where we ate Jollibee. And now we’re gonna eat Del Taco and Taco Bell. And I’m so full. I just burped up Pancit Padabok. But because I care about this podcast and about giving the people what they want, nay, what they deserve. I’m gonna suffer and eat like a mountain of fast food. You know, a lot of people say the hardest job is being a mother. We know that’s not true. The hardest job is being a podcast host where you have to eat silly little things. So difficult. No, I feel like I am, um, uncomfortably full right now. Me too. I did just go walk for an hour. We have to do this. We’ll nibble a nosh. We’ll nibble a nosh. I’m Nibble, and we’re bringing you the best far right Jewish news from all over the world. What are they talking about on that side, huh? Somehow only, the only political commentators on AM radio are just so far to the right. I don’t listen to the radio. Me neither. The only time I do is when I’m in an Uber, and it’s like, you know, 5. 30 AM, you’re Ubering to the airport, and there’s just some upsetting things still on AM radio. I ask them to put on music or just turn it off. Um, okay, Del Taco vs Taco Bell, um, I need my laptop for this. Some people might not know what Del Taco is. Del Taco is, as far as like this era of fast food Mexican, it’s the second biggest chain in America. Behind Taco Bell? Behind Taco Bell. Taco Bell, and it’s far behind Taco Bell. But for us, it’s very special and very regional. If y’all haven’t heard of Del Taco, it is, I grew up on it. They used to have, you know, three for a dollar Taco Tuesdays, they’d have 59 cent soft chicken Taco Tuesdays. I love that. They capitalize on Taco Tuesdays. Uh, yeah, a long time ago. Didn’t Taco Bell also have like a small campaign doing competition? I’m sure they did. Listen, everyone, everyone loves an alliteration. Um, but there’s about 600 Del Taco locations. There’s like 400 Taco Johns, 300 Taco Times. Right. Um, but Taco Bell really is The king of this world, Del Taco is making a huge expansion push. The irony is, they were founded within a hundred miles of each other and within like two years of each other. Interesting. Back in the day, Taco Bell, right, was in, God, was Taco Bell in Downey? I think Taco Bell was in Downey in 1962 and then Del Taco was out in a city called like Yermo outside of Barstow. Oh, I think I see the signs for Yermo when I go to Vegas. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. So that was out in the desert, and Del Taco has been slowly expanding since. Um, they have since opened, they’re starting to get to the East Coast, they’ve opened, like, Pittsburgh. Um, they got a location in Guam now, so Del Taco could be coming to your neighborhood soon. And so you might be interested in this. Nice! Um, should I tell you what I ordered from each place? Absolutely. Okay, so we’re gonna start with the Del Taco menu. We got their new Trejo’s Tacos Roasted Pork Al Pastor Epic Burrito, because I know you’re all about trying the newfangled thing at Al Pastor Burritos. Absolutely am. And then we also got their beer battered crispy fish taco made with stone, trademark, Buena, Buena, Buena Vista salt and lime lager. Dude, that is one of my favorite beers of all time. The Buena Vista salt and lime. Yeah. Perfect. Okay, good. It’s like a gelada but in a can not like a. Meat gelada. Not a meat gelada. Oh, just a gelada. A gelada. So there’s. Meat geladas, cubanas, and geladas in different regions use them interchangeably, but I would call like a meat gelada something with either like a tomato or hot sauce or spice base, and then gelada is just salt and lime. Which I love. Which I love too. Yeah, yeah, sometimes I throw a little Maggi in there. Um, and then we got the, the del taco crunchy. We’ve got a chicken taco del carbón. We got something called a bun taco. Have you heard of the bun taco at del taco? No. Okay, literally I saw it and I’m like click, like instant click. It’s Taco meat in a it’s literally sloppy joe. It’s taco meat inside of a burger bun. Oh, well, that’s okay So talk about you said that they called it the bell beef or yes, but they have this it’s called the bun taco Interesting because del taco one of the big differentiating factors They have cheeseburgers and fries and they have pork and shellfish and fish which I think is so interesting My theory is that del taco has been trying to scrape the ends of the bell curve because like they gotta be taco bell somehow Talk about such a stranglehold marketing decades of consumer confidence. Del taco has gone You The cheapest they’ve made their their original del tacos cheaper than Taco Bell. Yeah, uh, and then they are going for the more premium items So i’ve had like a steak and shrimp burrito from del taco that probably costs like eight bucks and it was just delicious So now they’re partnering with danny trejo who godspeed. I think he filed for bankruptcy. Anyhow, Danny Trejo founded Trejo’s Tacos in Los Angeles. They’re making al pastor. Yeah, crazy stuff. We also have the crunch Tata Tostada as well as the chicken cheddar quesadilla. So this is our Del Taco menu. That’s incredible. Do you want to dig into that or do you want to know what we got from Taco Bell? Let’s, let’s dig into Taco Bell and see where we can find some differences. Okay, with the Taco Bell, so I got their crunchy taco, of course. Um, I got their nachos, cheese, Doritos Locos tacos because why not? Specialty item. I got their burrito supreme. Love it. Mexican pizza, my mouth is watering. The chicken quesadilla, cheesy gordita crunch, and because again, I know you love high ticket, cool, like, awesome items. I got you a Crunchwrap Supreme with a big Cheez It inside. Oh my god, I haven’t had that yet. Me neither! I’m so excited! But that shows like where they’re kind of going, right? Like Taco Bell. The big time cheese it big old new thing and then del taco is like hey We got like a like a like a real mexican actor that people know. I’ll say this I’ll say this taco bell leaning into the cheese quite hard. Yes. They’re all about the cheese. They’re all about the queso Cheesy street chalupa. They have the queso lupa, which is spanish for cheese chalupa There’s so much cheese in taco bell’s menu But I think del taco really focuses on proteins and like having cool different awesome proteins I’ve never actually had Del Taco before as What the fudge? I’ve had Del Taco once. I’ve had it once before. And I think I just had a Tacos Al Carbon once. Why are you looking at me like that? Cause I’m, that’s incredible. I do remember the tacos al carbón, or sorry, taco del carbón. Yeah, yeah, we have one of those. Tacos del carbón. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, era when they came out with those. Cause they were like, hey, we can make real tacos too. And I remember them being good. Where should we start? I don’t know. But also the burrito supreme has steak in it. I decided to go with steak. Yeah, we gotta, we gotta do steak. We gotta differentiate our portfolios. Um. This was okay, so the Del Scorcho. Uh huh. This is the OG like hottest restaurant sauce This is hotter than the fire sauce, but then Taco Bell came out with Diablo. Oh, well, they look the same. I never tested them together I shall be exclusively using Del Scorcho me thinks. Okay, I will too. Me thinks I’m a lady, tips the fedora I also think I got I tried to get mild and hot but they didn’t put it in my order But we do have the avocado salsa. I think the hot at Taco Bell a lot of people say it’s their favorite to me There’s a weird spicing to Um, Fire Sauce Del is my favorite. Nice and tomato y. Where, where are we starting? Let’s start with T Bell. Oh, well, okay. Crunchy Taco vs. Crunchy Taco? Mmm, let’s, okay, sure. Uh, it used to actually be called Casa Del Taco, which makes a lot more sense. And then they, they dropped that name, I think, in the early 70s. Also, there was a schism and, uh, Naugles. You’ve heard of Naugles tacos? Never in my life of being alive. They were like a small chain, I think they shut down, but they’re on their way back. But they split off of Del Taco back in the day. Do we eat the same thing together, or? No, I think we should take, I’ll take a bite of this and give it to you. Or you take a bite of that and give it to me. Okay. You can have first bite of everything because I’m grosser. That’s not true, you’re not gross. Uh, to me, in my mind, I’m I would think that Taco Bell’s crunchy taco is considerably better because I think the meat is spiced better, but I haven’t ever tasted them side by side like this. It tastes pretty good. I will say it looks like, it looks like the cheese has melted on the Del Taco one significantly more. The Del Taco taco, it’s a lot bigger. It is a lot bigger, and it’s a lot softer. Like the corn, like the corn is a softer corn. Wow, I’m so sorry. Taco Bell wins this one by a landslide. By a mile. There’s too much cumin in the Del Taco one. Del Taco meat, it’s not seasoned as well. I mean, this is bordering on a Jack in the Box taco, right? Yes. Like the meat feels like it has more filler. And I know Taco Bell has gotten in trouble. With their fillers? Only 88 percent beef, whatever. Del Taco, Del Taco’s probably running like 79 to 81 percent. Um, this is no contest. Yeah, crazy. But, but, but, I know this is where they make their money. I was arguing with somebody once, which was probably you. Um, about Surprise, surprise. I would have thought that Taco Bell’s highest selling item is like a Crunchwrap or something. What is it? Like, by far, it’s a Crunchy Taco. Uh huh. Crunchy Taco, Soft Taco, Bean Burrito are their top three sellers. Wow. And then everything else is just a marketing ploy. Nice. To get people to buy more Crunchy Tacos. People are buying sacks of 20 Crunchy Tacos for football games. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So, Taco Bell to me, that crunchy taco, it’s, it’s the standard bearer. It’s like a 9. Can I have an el, el scorcho, el scorcho? El scorcho. I am using it as a palate cleanser. Yeah, yeah. Let’s sip the del scorcho, see where it ranks compared to fire. I haven’t had this in a long time. I’m doing it by Diablo. Is that not fair? Should it not be Diablo? Should it be fire? Del scorcho is good, man. Del scorcho is so good. Del scorcho is good. Well, Diablo is a new one. OK, fine. I mean, new ish. It’s probably, what, like six, seven years old. But. Diablo has a very unique point of view. It has a nice sweetness. More acid, more spice in the Del Scorcho. Yeah, Diablo has less sugar. I love that these just all start with water and tomato paste. Um, they’re both good though. They’re both delicious. Where do we go here? Um, let’s try Burrito. You can try, so that’s the Al Pastor one that you have from Danny Trejo. Uh, this is fascinating. Right? This is, this is massive. Look at that. Do you know what the price difference was on this? You versus the guy. He tells you not, she tells you not to worry about. Oh God. This is the size of a Chipotle burrito. And honestly, when you open it, Uh huh. It looks like the quality of a legit sit down Mexican restaurant. That looks really good. You know? Uh huh. Dude. Is it really good? Dude, what? It’s excellent. Really? I can’t cross pollinate sauces. Let me uh, let me look at the price difference between the two. So it looks like the, um, Burrito Supreme is 5. 39 and then the Trails taco is 7. 99, but to be fair, it’s more than 30 percent bigger. Yeah, also, I feel like from what I can see, it’s not a lot of squirties going on. You know what I mean? Like, they’re not squirting stuff in there. They’re, they’re thwapping stuff on there. Dude, this is hefty and thick and delicious. Oh my god, look at that. That looks like a chipotle burrito. I’m telling you, like, Taco Bell is blessed and cursed in a certain way. Mm hmm. That Taco Bell can never taste like anything but Taco Bell. Yeah, at the day, Taco Bell tastes like Taco Bell no matter what. Maybe I renege that, though. Because their new cantina menu is something that’s really interesting. For the first time, they’re putting, like, purple cabbage in there. You know, like, the avocado salsa that they have. Would you, can you grab me one of those? Mm hmm. Because the new avocado salsa, like, this is really good. Shelf stable. Yeah. Salsa, aguacate, a little like, it’s kind of like salsa verde, a little bit of avocado blended in, but it’s really, really delightful. Mm hmm. They used to have a proper salsa verde and a chipotle salsa. Do you remember the chipotle salsa? No, but I remember the verde. I remember we dressed, I dressed up as a verde one day. Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. Give me this. Yeah, Taco Bell burritos are always like a soup dumpling. I don’t love Taco Bell. I don’t go to Taco Bell for the burritos. I like to get a Taco Bell burrito, and, um, Maggie, I’m so sorry, do not edit this out. Nicole, say something of value so she can’t edit it, because what you do is you push it to the top of your Dollars! Cents! Quarters! Coins! Paper money! Checks! You can’t slurp you can’t slurp a Del Taco burrito. But maybe that’s a but that’s a point to it, no? That’s a hallmark of Taco Bell. Everything stupefies itself. But I don’t like the idea of slurping slurping up my burritos. You’re gonna get stupefied! Hurrah! That was my, uh, David Draymond of disturbed impression of a song stupefied. If you have to explain it. I know. Burritos, where are you going? Just, even, even though it’s 30 percent more expensive. Okay, well also I’m biased because I don’t like rice in my burritos, but I think the protein tastes so much better in the Del Taco one. So I’m gonna go Del Taco. Even though Taco Bell, I don’t love, I don’t, I don’t know. Taco Bell’s good, but the Del Taco tastes better. It tastes like a real cantina situation. Dude, this is a real. Yeah. I have not seen food this Legit. Legit. Coming out of a fast food restaurant in a long time. I know, right? Like this feels incredible. Yeah. I wish you could see this pork. If you’re on YouTube, you can a little bit, but it doesn’t do it justice. Like this is a came from a taqueria, which is crazy, which is crazy. It’s very well seasoned. Yeah. They did a good job. You know, it’s almost like a little too heavily seasoned in a way, but I think it’s pleasant. No, it’s, it’s like pleasant. And the size that you get for 8, that’s pretty money. And if you’re trying to paint the corners, that bell curve, dude, Del Taco, you’re doing it, man. Okay. Let’s see. We got a winner. Del Taco. We got Mexican pizza versus what is this? Crunchtada? Is that what they call it? Oh no! How can Del Taco, this again proves my theory, but how can you go from this like beautiful burrito al pastor to the crunchtada tostada? I know this is their value, this is their value menu item, right? Yeah. So it’s a tough fight between that because Taco Bell, I think they got rid of their tostada. They have a cheese tostada right now. Cheese tostada, yeah. What are you gonna do? Incredible, um, but this does look a little bit sad. Uh huh. It’s you know, just beans, cheese, lettuce on a tortilla It’s not good for delivery. This is not a delivery product. No, no, no But also like the tortillas at Del Taco seem to be markedly worse, I’d say. Yeah, they do fall apart much quicker Right, they’re a lot softer. They’re not as, not as sturdy. No, they’re not, you know, slopping a bunch of liquid beans on it Mmm, it does taste really good though. It’s great. Mm hmm I wonder Bean for Bean who wins. That tastes really good. Actually, really, I prefer the freshness of this. To the insane duskiness from the red sauce from the Mexican pizza. The, the red sauce? I’ve never been the biggest Mexican pizza guy. I think people think I would’ve. You’re more of a contrapt guy. I’m more of a contrapt guy. You need the vegetables. I think so, except for there’s white watery tomatoes on there. Um, This like, bean, lettuce, cheese, this is like something that I grew up eating at my friend’s house growing up. Same, same, same, same. When we’d be playing like Dave Mira freestyle at his place when I was like 9 years old. His dad would make almost this exact same tostada for us as a snack. Like with the iceberg lettuce. This is the dude, I don’t know if you remember me telling the story where I was like, Hey, why do you use lettuce instead of cabbage? And he goes, because we’re not poor! And he kind of like exploded at me a little bit. Aww. Um, well, he served some prison time, so like, you know, I don’t think he had his, uh, emotions fully in check. Um, but also, uh, that was when I learned that, like, oh, cabbage, according to him, is for poor people, and lettuce is for rich people. Who knew? Lettuce does spoil faster makes sense. Uh, that’s very good. I haven’t had a Mexican pizza in a minute. Give this a whack. I’m gonna tell you something. It’s not very good. I’m sorry. Mexican pizza slander starting with me. Didn’t they try to remove this and people like had like an aneurysm or something? Was it like ice spice or someone? Someone brought it back. Dude, who was it? Maggie Gillip? No, Cardi, Cardi B? Ice Spice brought back the Mexican pizza. It was Doja Cat. Oh, no. Well, have people forgiven Doja Cat? Hell grow long like chia. Money go long like Nia. Big Nia Long fan. I hope you know I’m using all these salsas as a palate cleanser because I need it. As you should. Um, if we pick the crunchtada toast. Does it make me a worse person? I think it’s, it’s a bit of an injustice, but I think we have to, if I’m being honest. I significantly enjoyed that more than the Mexican pizza. Me too! Me too! Josh, we’re here to be honest. The people crave honesty now, you know? They’ve been, they’re being, they’re being manufactured false information, fake news. It’s up to us to be honest. We’re the real truth tellers here. Yeah, that’s right. CAUSE I’M THE DELS! CAUSE, CAUSE, CAUSE SCORCHING YOUR BRAINS WITH THE FAKE NEWS! Fieriest green party takes. Josh, take out the, the Jill Stein would’ve won! Take out the, the quesadilla. What’s she up to, man? What’s Jill Stein doing these days? Google it. Marianne Williamson, I’m telling you, listen, I don’t Don’t google it! Um, taco, again, in my mind, Taco Bell’s quesadillas are like the greatest thing in the world, and they made the innovation of putting mayonnaise in them. Which is incredible. Wait, look at me. I’m rich. I’d be like Nikocado Avocado. Oh God, Nikocado Avocado. duped us all into thinking he was killing himself, and then it turns out he just was and then he wasn’t. I don’t, I don’t understand, man. I don’t know what’s going on with YouTube anymore. It freaks me out. He tastes exactly the same to me. Um, Delta, uh, Taco Bell did revamp their grilled chicken a minute ago. I think, I think they’re doing better work. They used to, I used to work in a catering company that would use, it shared a commissary kitchen with Taco Bell, so they would use their, I would take home like 10 pound sacks of Taco Bell’s pre cooked grilled chicken and eat them for my own meal prep at home. Yeah, and it’s It’s got a taste to it. This is a previous formula. It had such a unique taste to it that I got so sick of it after a while. Yeah, I’m sure. Taco Bell, the mayonnaise with the hot sauce in it, that’s really all it is. Their creamy jalapeno sauce. I think it’s excellent. After a while it just melts all together and it all tastes the same. But I think it turns it into like a self saucing cheese, you know? Interesting. You know what I mean? Where’s Del Taco? Do we have any sauce in here? I don’t think so. I will say, Del Taco’s chicken has always been one of my favorites because it is a whole chicken thigh part. Mm hmm, mm hmm. It’s just marinated and enzymed to hell. You know what I mean? Like, there’s, there’s a chemical tenderizer in it. But it’s good? It’s always been great. I can’t taste the difference, Josh. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Can you taste the difference? Del Taco’s grilled chicken is miles miles better. Try the chicken out of it. Whose chicken is it? I’m sorry. I feel like I’m drunk. This one’s better? Try the Del Taco grilled chicken versus the Taco Bell. Okay, but I’m not picking out, but you know, I’m not eating it like this. I’m not picking it out like this. I know, but I think if you’re, if you’re split even on which one is better. Yeah. Shade towards the one with the best grilled chicken. Del Del Taco, their protein game is miles ahead of Well, Taco Bell clears on beef. Okay, fair. You know, and I think that’s what most people are going, but Chicken quesadilla for chicken quesadilla, this to me is a bit of an upset. I am shocked at how good the Del Taco quesadilla is. They don’t use the three cheese blend, they’re just using cheddar, which like, is probably the best of the three cheeses in there, so might as well use it all. Right. But the grilled chicken’s incredible! Is Del Taco winning, Maggie? It’s three to one, Del Taco. Holy cannoli! What do you want to eat now? I’m full. Yeah, can we go home? Bestie, I’m full. I’m back for part two. We have a cro Oh, we have to try the crow trap with the cheese inside. I don’t know what to compare it to, the, the This podcast has been brought to you by Half Flat Fresca. I’ve seen Josh’s Half Flat Fresca mug. Let me take a selfie. Ugh. Okay, which one are we eating that against? Um, this, the, the Should I cut this in half? Now we’re getting into some specialty items here. Oh, man. Yeah, it’s tough. Oh, man. Bitten and bitten. Um, okay. Oh, no. There you go. The Del Beef er over here is Oh, no, it looks like a sloppy joe from hell. Yeah, this looks like a school sloppy joe and not one of them nice charter schools either, you know, this looks like public school This one’s tough, this is tough their beef as we’ve discussed it’s already not the best That bun is sacrilegious I thought I didn’t care about buns. I do. I care about a good bun. You don’t care about a bun until you eat a really bad bun. You know what I mean? The best buns should go unnoticed. The best buns should go unnoticed almost. Yeah, you know. You’re so right. That is really bad. You notice this bun. I notice it, and it’s not in a good way. I, it’s, it’s horrible. They’ve also burnt it? Is it whole wheat? Is that a whole wheat bun? No, because look how lily white that is, but the outside is so dark brown, they’ve somehow, I can’t tell at which stage of the cook it was burnt. Oh my god, it’s really bad. But it has been burnt. I don’t know why they would be toasting it in the store. Ugh. Especially the top. Ugh. It’s acrid, it’s, it’s chewy, it’s thick. Gotta have some fire sauce as a palate cleanser. Huge bummer. Ruined my day. Maybe my eve maybe even my week. Yeah, it’s gone. Um, let’s try this cheese it. Okay, we’ve made the cardinal sin. Listen, this is a production. Letting a crunch wrap sit and now it’s just a wrap. But this is a thick piece of toasty cheese I can’t wait to have your tails of it. It’s interesting because the flavor of a cheese is really like oxidized cheese, right? Can you give me a fire sauce? Oh sure, here you can just have the one I had in my mouth all over. I like to put, no no, I need like a whole packet of fire sauce per bite. How much fire sauce do you put on your Taco Bell? I literally hold one like this and I eat and I suck and I eat and I suck. Oh, you never put it on the Taco Bell, you only suck. Can you give me the Del Taco one, even though I know I’m not supposed to, please? I haven’t even had the, which one’s this? Which one’s this? I’m having a lot of fun here! A mild? Okay, okay. This is really, this is, I’m not having fun anymore. Josh, I’m, truth, Josh, I feel like I’m You’ve made a Faustian bargain! I feel like I’m a concubine being fed. Because the person who owns the harem likes fat girls. Yeah, like them guinea pigs in Ecuador. I’m fat. They go, queet, queet, queet, queet, queet. So I like them. And you know who’s the owner of the harem? The harem? The algorithm. Oh. Oh. Yeah, the concubine harem algorithm. It really does sort of fit if you take the metaphor to its logical end. Um, I don’t like that. I’ll eat the crunchwrap with the big cheese in it. It tastes worse than a normal crunchwrap. But it tastes better than that abomination of a sloppy joe. There’s a heavily toasted oxidized big cheese flavor. I don’t like it. No, I think it steps on the nacho cheese. I don’t think it’s as good. It’s significantly better than the Del Beef. Yeah, we’re gonna give this one to Taco Bell. Gotta give it to Taco Bell. Do me a favor, let’s just eat one more thing. Let’s eat the fish taco, and then be done with it, please. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where’s fish taco? We’re making a mess. It’s one of these. What else we got? Oh, it’s that. We got a CGC. Well, fish taco’s got the driest limes you’ve ever seen. I’ve eaten plenty of fish tacos from Del Taco. They’re pretty good. They’re pretty good. Um, now we can either put this up against the cheesy gordita crunch or the Doritos Locos taco. I think it should be against the Doritos Locos taco because it’s branded. Did you hear what I said? Huh? Are you talking to me? Did you hear what I said? I’m so sorry, I thought you were talking to Maggie. I feel like I’m high. But I’m not! I’m Portia! Woo! Is this what kids used to do? They used to like, smoke a bunch of weed and then like, go to Del Taco? Yes. I’ll tell you what, what we did, is you, you would go to Del Taco with basically like as much money as you had in your pocket in high school, and you would kind of just hand it to the cashier and go like, what can I get with this? Like, that was kind of the relationship. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, then you’d like go down to San Clemente, T Street. Can that, please? You know, you’d start, you know, you’d be like, uh, skimboarding all day. Oh, he’s talking about skimboarding again. Do a little, do a little bonfire at night. Someone would start like throwing cans of spray paint in the fire. I wonder what that does, you know. That was a gusher, baby. I was like, you can, uh, a fish gusher. How is it? Good? It’s really good. It’s really good? It’s not like getting a Filet O Fish in McDonald’s. It’s really good. That’s a pretty good piece of fish. Pretty well fried. Cabbage, pico, you can taste cilantro, which is a unique thing that you don’t often taste from Taco Bell. That’s really delicious. What do you want? That’s a good fish taco. Cheesy Gordita Crunch or Del, or Doritos Locos Taco? C. G. C. Really? C. G. C. This is my favorite menu item. And I think that’s where Taco Bell really shines. In a place where Del Taco hasn’t really tried to compete. In the wacky, tabacky But look how, look how white the The lettuces. It’s quite white. I like the white parts of the iceberg. That’s like the creamiest, nuttiest part. You know what I mean? Why are you laughing at creamy and nutty? Does that win? Ah! What is the silliest part? We just speed ran the entire menu. Dude, I was supposed to like cook a nice dinner tonight. Meggy’s asking me what this was. Anything you say to her, you can say to me. I was asking what CGC stands for. Oh, it’s really obvious. Shut up. I kind of like Del Taco more. What did we learn about this? I learned that me and you can’t eat like this anymore. I’m too old for this, man. I’m gonna go home, eat a protein shake for dinner. Honestly, I will say Del Taco actually had an incredible showing, and I’m quite impressed with No, you don’t need to eat that just because it’s there. What’s the there’s like an Einstein quote that’s like, if you judge a dolphin on its ability to fly Climb a tree. Yeah, you know what I mean? But it’s like you should be judging a dolphin on its ability to sexually harass researchers in the 1960s who were doing a bunch of acid. I don’t think he said that. Because dolphins are great at that. Um, I don’t think he said that. I don’t think he said that. But no, you should, you know, judge them on their core competencies. I think Taco Bell’s beef slop is one of the best items to ever come out of any fast food. And you put that in a Crunchwrap Supreme, it’s great. You put that in a hard taco, it’s great. Cheesy gordita crunch, that’s great. I think everywhere else Taco Bell is starting to fall short. I think they’re coming up on it, on the cantina menu, and they’re finding their stride. Very strong cantina menu, which we didn’t taste today, but if you have it at your local Taco Bell, you should eat it. But, like, beef slop and liquid cheese is where Taco Bell really shines. And their inventiveness. Right. Del Taco, really good job with premium proteins. I don’t know, man. This fish taco tasted like a straight out of like a regular. It tastes like a Wahoo’s. It was really good. The corn, the the quality of the corn tortilla that they use. Also, I’m quite pleasantly surprised. I thought it was really, really delicious. I thought that their al pastor was great. I don’t know, man. I don’t know if I’m going to give it to Del Taco, but maybe I am. What are we doing? What are we doing, Josh? I want to agree with you. They’re honestly so different. Different like you said this this grilled chicken taco. It looks like it’s from an actual taqueria, right? Yeah, you know, um, I think they can live in tandem. I don’t think we need to crown a winner here. Really? I think we’re fine. What if they come out with pitchforks saying like pick a winner pick a winner Okay, one two three Taco Bell like I don’t know. They have 8, 000 locations. Del Taco has 600. They’re doing something right. You know, what are you gonna do? Okay now record an alt in case anyone wants to watch this. Del Taco, duh. Obviously. I mean, the food is so much better. Yeah, the little man won. I am craving a big slice of pizza and an ice cold. Pepsi for lunch today. Nicole. What if I told you you have the power to make that happen? I do. Yeah, and you know how I know that because you’re real, real smart. That’s one of the reasons, the other reasons that I had the same dream. That you had, except this was a couple days ago, we basically live parallel lives, but I was craving an ice cold Pepsi and a big ol slice of pizza, and I was at the airport, and I was coming back to L. A., and so I, like, really needed some food to get me through that last leg of the journey, and I was on the plane, and I opened my pizza, and the flight attendant came by, and I got the free chips, and I got an ice cold Pepsi Zero Sugar, and I will never forget this beautiful moment. borderline spiritual experience of eating that spicy from the pepperoni, salty, chewy pizza going to the crispy chips and then resetting my palate with ice cold, refreshing Pepsi zero sugar, that perfect amount of acid to just cut through all that fat in your palate and then back to the chewy pizza, crispy chip, refreshing Pepsi, chewy pizza, crispy chip, refreshing Pepsi, and it made the flight so, so much better. My lunch was absolutely saved. I love story time with you, Josh. It’s my favorite. But moral of the story is, Pepsi makes your food taste better. Everybody knows that. So grab a Pepsi Zero Sugar for your next meal, as food deserves Pepsi. Nicole, you think it’s good to have dreams, right? Oh, yeah, of course. Well, I have a dream. What is it? I dream of learning Spanish. Really? Because here’s the thing. I love Mexican food. Anytime we cook in the Mythical Kitchen, all I want to make is Mexican food. All I want to eat is Mexican food. I have spent almost my entire life in Southern California, and I’ve learned a fair bit of Spanish. You know, I can get by in restaurants. But I feel like it’s a culture that I appreciate so much. I really want to travel all throughout Mexico. And the fact that I don’t speak it, I think, is weird. And I think I could only appreciate the culture and food a lot more if I was actually fluent. And by golly, I’m gonna do it! That’s great, Josh! I really think you have the ability to do whatever you set your mind to, and if that’s learning Spanish, I think you can do it. And I failed it in college, but that’s because classrooms aren’t always the best, uh, environment to learn, which is why I’m really excited to do it through Rosetta Stone. I know! Uh, Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program, and it truly immerses you in the language you want to learn. Get a lifetime membership with access to all 25 of Rosetta Stone’s offered languages for 50 percent off. That’s a heck of a deal, Nicole. You can learn anytime and anywhere. Learn on the go with the mobile app or at your desktop on your schedule. Yeah, it didn’t exactly work in a college classroom. I’m not gonna sit and still, per se. Uh, it’s also got a speech recognition feature that gives you feedback. With Rosetta Stone, you learn your new language first with words, then move up to phrases, and then sentences in a way that’s designed for long term retention. So you’ll learn fast and remember it forever. They’ve got Farsi, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish, you name it. So don’t put off learning that language. There’s no better time than right now to get started. Hot Dog is a Sandwich listeners can get Rosetta Stone’s lifetime membership for free. Visit rosettastone. com slash hotdog. That’s 50 percent off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50 percent off at rosettastone. com slash hotdog today. Well, now that we can physically feel the inflammation rising through our entire bodies, my friend. Face is puffier than it was before we did all that. Is mine? Is mine puffier than before? Yeah, but it’s cool because we’re right next to each other, so people are just gonna think they messed up something, uh, in the lenses. Okay, good. That’s why we’re using these fisheye lenses, they look all puffy. Do in my teeth? I know, what’s the beef slop? Uh, no, do I? Ha ha! I could feel it, when I smiled I felt like Oh my god, it’s a big black dot. Just a huge, oh, it’s like, lodged What is it? In the middle? What’s on the edge right here? Yeah, what are you gonna do? It’s gonna stay there. Uh, I don’t think there were any black beans. It’s black bean skin, that’ll getcha. I think I have a flosser. Hold on, Nicole, tell me what the segment is. Robot Maggie O. And now it’s time for a new segment where Josh and I put our food trivia knowledge to the test. It’s time for our very own trivia segment called Yummy in my tummy, got some trivia for you. Robot Meggy has three questions prepared. Josh, you and I will wait until the question is completed and then we will answer. If wrong, the other person will get one chance to guess and earn the point. Let’s hear the first question, buddy. What are you looking for? Uh, floss pick. I normally have one in my wallet. Do you want to? Do you want to? Yeah. Do you mind? Oh god, okay. First question. Which spice is derived from the crocus flower and is one of the most expensive spices in the world? We both know it. One, two, three. Saffron. The correct answer is saffron. Okay, next one, Robot Maggie. Which fruit is known as the King of Fruits? I know it! I know it! 1, 2, 3, Durian! The correct answer is Durian. Meggy, you’re gonna have to give us some toughies, boo. No, but I kinda like this, you know? Robot Meg No, I wanna win! Okay, let’s see if the last one divides us. Where does German chocolate cake actually come from? Um, um, I know. United States of America? It’s American. I just, I don’t know exactly where. Yeah, where or what state or city? I have a guess. Okay, go ahead. I’ll let you take this one. I’m gonna guess Minnesota. I’m going to guess Philadelphia. The correct answer is Dallas, Texas. No way! Interesting. We both got America. I knew it was American. Philly was a great guess because like Germantown is a thing, but I thought for some reason Minnesota, big cake baking church pot. It sounds like a church pot like Bish. I knew it was from Dallas. I feel like I’ve heard that before, but also there’s like coconut in German chocolate cake. It doesn’t make sense that it would be. Did we both win or did we both lose? Do we have any other tiebreakers? All right. None? Megan, just ask us a question about food. What’s your favorite food? Oh, I got it. Cheeseburgers. I know it! Nicole wins. Okay. Well, yeah. All right, Nicole. In robot name. Ready to get out of this thing. Time to find out who the wicked is. It’s time for a section we call It’s time for a section we call It’s time for a section we call Opinions are like casseroles, everyone got one and it’s never a candle. Alright, Nicole. Let’s listen to that first opinion out there. A lot of people out there got a lot of opinions. Hi guys, you are my son’s favorite podcast and so he and I listened to your podcast when we were on road trips together. And I thought it would be so fun if he was listening to an episode and he heard me. That So this is Laura from Maryland. And my food take is that ganache is better than hot fudge. So instead of having that gross corn syrupy, too sugary hot fudge on your ice cream, you just melt some dark chocolate with. Some heavy cream and you get it into a nice chocolate sauce and you just plop it on your ice cream and it is way better. Thanks guys. Bye. Laura. What did they say? Laura from Maryland and Son. This is a very good opinion. I don’t. I didn’t understand what the other thing was other than fudge. Effectively, why use hot fudge on ice cream when ganache is kind of just like. Oh, she said ganache. Ganache. Oh, it was so much better. It’s so much better. The world’s better. Well, they’re, okay, so hot fudge, I was trying to think like what the real differences are, but it’s, yeah, it’s kind of just corn syrup. Corn syrup’s what gives hot fudge that runniness, because corn syrup as it gets colder is going to get, um, less sort of flowy and then it gets hotter, but that’s also just what the chocolate and the heavy cream do in ganache. Yeah, the heavy cream allows it to flow. And then the interesting thing with ganache is then you’re getting like real chocolate flavor. I had, what did I have recently that had such an aggressive, uh, chocolate extract flavor? So if you eat like a tootsie roll, for instance. That’s chocolate extract. That’s chocolate extract. That’s what I always associate that like, you know, kind of chemically hot fudge flavor with. I also happen to love it, dude. I probably had like an eight year gap in my life where I didn’t have hot fudge on ice cream. Uh huh. You would just melt down to zeroes? No, I just, it just never came up. I just, I eat a lot of ice cream, I just, you know, I never really got hot fudge and then I had it for the first time in a long time and I was like, oh. That’s that is a nice thing to have. Why doesn’t Tootsie Roll invent like a like a hot fudge? Why would they? Tootsie Roll’s been you know operating they I imagine make 99. 7 percent of their profits during Halloween and Nobody actually eats them, but they do get consumed and thrown in the trash. When you were a kid You had Halloween candy. Did you always like segment them? Yeah, but you’d eat all of it and then the last things remaining would be lollipops and Tootsie Rolls. You didn’t eat all of your Halloween candy? What happened to it? Almond mom! Almond mom! Almond mom! I was an almond joy dad who said give me all your almond joys and then you can just binge eat the rest of your candy. That’s nice. No, she would give me some, but mostly it would be like the nerds and like some Snickers and then like, but no Fun Dips. Fun Dips were automatically out. Yeah. Um, raisins. She would let me eat the raisins. You know, houses that would give raisins and apples? That’s another thing as you get older, you start to really see the merit in houses giving raisins. Yeah, yeah, I’m down with houses that give raisins. I know people might not agree with that. But regardless, ganache better than hot fudge, I agree. 100%. Laura, you are great. And I’m sure your son is great. You got a great mom, and if she’s making ganache, put it in your ice cream. COOL MOMS! Um, when I get older, I used to want to be the house that gave king sized candy bars. Now, check this out. I’m gonna dry my own fruits. I’m gonna package them. I’m gonna give them out. It’s gonna cause a whole hubbub in the HOA. No, no, no, don’t do that. They’re gonna get mad. They’re gonna go, this person’s creepy as hell. You need to I’m not letting my kid eat that. You need to only give Closed packaged candies to the kids. Nope. I’m gonna drive. Yes. Check this out. Yeah, check this out I’m gonna drive my own raisins on the vine. You’re not ready for parenthood. Drive my own raisins on the vine You’re not ready for parenthood. And then I’m gonna put them in cute little gift bags and then Nicole’s house everybody come to Nicole’s house. She’s gonna go. Nicole’s house had four Full size Twix, Twix Pons, why don’t, why don’t you have them, mister? And I’m going to go, so these are actually Because we’re going to live so close to each other? These are actually Catalonian sultanas that I’ve, uh, rubbed on rosemary oil. Are we going to live in the same neighborhood? Yeah. Great. Sounds like fun. The house is right next door to each other, actually. We’re gonna have a zipline in between them. That would be so fun. It’s just me and David hanging out playing COD. The kids could zipline between our houses. That would actually be so fun. Mine are probably gonna be heftier than yours though. No, mine will be. Have you seen David’s baby pictures? Have you seen my baby pictures? Yeah, you guys got some. Yeah, we all got some heft to us. Nice Samoan looking babies. You should be so lucky. Have a little football playing baby. Next opinion. Oh, gross. Oh, okay. So, I just wanted to point something out when it comes to McDonald’s, by the way. So, the McFlurry straw. Or, it should have been a straw. That spoon that they use to mix the McFlurry? It should have been a straw. Weird, weird. Why aren’t we talking about this? What do you mean why aren’t we talking about this? My dog left because he doesn’t want to talk about this anymore. Hold on. So, can we talk about this? Yes. Love the pot. Bye. Bye guys. I got it. I got it. No, no, no. What do you mean? The chunks don’t go through the frickin straw. There’s no straw. The McFlurry spoon is not a straw. That’s fine. There’s an opening that makes you look like you should wrap your mouth around it and suck. Yeah, but that’s, but you have to be smart enough to know that that’s to go into the machine. What are you talking about? Well, he is. He is. No, he recognized that. He recognized that. So what’s the problem? I’m saying, if it looked like a straw, and it’s sitting in something that kind of looked like a milkshake, I should be able to suck it. Okay, but you know that a McFlurry be able to suck it. McFlurries have those big little chunkies in there. They can’t go through a straw. Well, yeah, but no I think you would also maybe This was before Maybe he would argue that the chunkies should be smaller. This is before Boba took over a nation, you know? With the big straws and the tapioca process. This is before that. That’s the thing. I first had Boba 2004, right? About 12 years ago. I had it in Westwood. I had it in Westwood. What year? What year? I don’t know, but it was at that Boba place next to UCLA, you know, the Boba Loka? Yeah, Boba Loka’s been open that long? I think so. We had never seen straws that big. That was the main thing. The tapioca pearls and the drinks and the ceiling technology, that was all very new, but more than anything. Big ass straws. Never seen anything like that. What we had were the promise, or at least the temptation, of a McFlurry big ass straw. You know, but you’re right. What, they got a Rolo McFlurry? Like, you’re gonna suck half chunks of Rolos through that? No. No, it’s gonna get lodged in your throat. They were probably thinking about the lawsuits. They were thinking about the lawsuits. Yeah. What this man wants Is called a milkshake go get a milkshake, baby, but but but don’t call me gross. I’m not that gross I did eat like four thousand calories with a taco bell and del taco that was gross But as a whole I am not gross. I shower often. I smell I honestly smell so good right now What am I wearing? Coco mademoiselle? I’m wearing coco mademoiselle. I have fantastic deodorant on like i’m not gross I’m beautiful. I will say McDonald’s standard straw is the thickest straw, and maybe the sturdiest, so I think it is the best for milkshakes, but I’m curious, and please write us back, if they think that Boba straws, if they think that Boba straws, and I’m curious about your thoughts, should be the standard milkshake straw. Have we gotten to a point where we think straws should be so thick and round and voluptuous that that should be in every milkshake? Listen, Does McDonald’s have milkshakes? Yes. Yeah. So, and then the milk McFlurry is something else. It’s an ice cream base mixed with a candy. It’s their blizzard. Yeah, okay. So what? What’s the big deal? Well, that’s what I’m saying. I think what he wants is a milkshake. Okay, so get a milkshake. And then have some cookies on the side. I’m not sure, I don’t know. Well, I think he wants a milkshake in a thicker straw. Okay, well then he needs to get a thicker straw. I know, but I He should But You know what he should do? Should he have to provide that? He should buy his own His own straw. Should he have to provide that? Yes, he should provide his own straw. I’ll tell you what I do. So there’s a yoga themed frozen yogurt restaurant. Yoga Urt? I love Yoga Urt. Oh my god, I know Yoga Urt. Never been, but I know all about it. Driven past it for probably twelve years. On Sunset. Well, there’s one on, uh, in, on, uh, maybe Wilshire, in In like, what, Santa Monica area? I’d driven past it for probably 12 years and almost thought, Who would go to a yoga themed vegan frozen yogurt shop? And then one day, Julie and I go, You know what? We’ve lived in LA long enough and not gone into yoga earth. And we did, and it’s just like lovely, it’s quirky, it’s weird. They got like books and board games and I’m gonna throw up. I love their little, it’s just like blended cashews and dates, you know, like, yeah, whatever, this is good. And, uh, the problem is, though, they have the biodegradable wood spoons that make me feel physically sick. I love wood spoons. It makes my tongue physically recoil in my mouth of thought. I love wood spoons. I have textural sensitivity issues. So does my husband. He can’t hold, uh, certain paper bags. I have to hold them for him. Sorry, baby, I know you’re watching right now. I love you so much. I think we’re incredibly masculine. And it’s okay that you have sensitivities. I believe in compromise and love, and part of that is holding bags for you, and you do other things for me. And so what I do is I actually will, and this is something I’ve done multiple times, um, I will take a plastic spoon in there and just bring in my own plastic spoon. That’s fine, that’s fine. I can’t do the wood thing. That’s fine, that’s fine. So I’m saying, this man can bring his own straws, you know? Why are you waiting, you know, for a handout? Hey Josh and Nicole, it’s Jacob from Florida. You get it a lot, but I love the message. Thanks, buddy. The other guy thought it was gross. My hot take, which honestly seems pretty common, People give me crap for putting ketchup on eggs. You know, if I make an omelette, so maybe some ketchup. Or I’ll just fry an egg, put it on some toast, with some ketchup. Uh, um, Josh, I feel like you might agree with me, but I’ll have to wait and see. What about Nicole? Thanks, love the work. What do you think about Nicole? Nicole, seriously, what do you think about her? What do you think? No, I think you should say that, because I historically kind of take the gross side. And people will say ketchup on eggs is gross. Ketchup on eggs is delicious. No one says not putting ketchup on eggs is gross. Putting ketchup on eggs is great. I agree. What is your, what is your favorite ketchup on egg application? SCRAMBLED! Scrambled, right? Hard scramble. Hard. Hard scramble. Hard dad scramble. Hard dad scramble. Hard Denny’s ass, dad ass scramble. A little bit brown. Quite, I would even say quite brown. Bordering on like Thai omelette. You know, give me the, you know what I mean? The Thai omelettes that are like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wok, cooked in oil. Banh xeo. What? No, that’s, that’s Vietnamese, and that’s like a, uh, Aw, man, I’m so stupid. I’m so stupid. You’re not stupid. I’m a stupid girl. I mixed up Vietnamese food and Thai food. You’re very smart. You’re very smart for a girl. Stupid! Did you say I’m smart for a girl? No, I said you’re such a smart girl. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Okay, sorry. Um, let’s take that back. I like scrambled eggs and ketchup. Oh my god, it’s the best, isn’t it? Right? It’s actually like a Thai omelet. Yeah, what are they called? I don’t know, actually. Um, no, I think ketchup is less good with a fried egg. Okay. The runny yolk, I don’t like when they mix into a sauce. so good. I don’t like when they mix into a sauce. I love it, I actually really like it. Really? Also with hot sauce, so hot sauce, runny yolk, ketchup, bada bing bada boom, toast, dip dip. I’ll go 3 to 1 ketchup to sriracha. Hmm, you eat sriracha in the mornings? I really do, yeah. I hate sriracha in the mornings. Well, that’s where you and I differ. I like, you know what I like? What? I like Tabasco in the mornings. I like Cholula, I like Tapatio, I’d be willing to even do a secret aardvark. So mix that together and then sometimes when I’m really hard up for food I’ll scramble five eggs hard real hard and then I’ll let it sit in a plate. Let it cool a little bit You know go pee probably wash my hands Come back. So it’s cool enough and I just pot you don’t need to wash your hands after you pee I feel like uh, you know what I made that claim and I did I did the research you should I did the work I’m talking about men. Yeah. No, no, I did the you like really should even if you’re not touching You know, the problem is you’re sitting you’re in a bathroom touching stuff where there’s just particles everywhere Oh, and there really are so many poop particles everywhere. Okay, you should really wash your not that I did I never like was you know, I’m just not gonna wash my hands, but It really reified the need to, so the point is the eggs are cool enough to touch with the poo hands, you know, and then I just swipe those in, it’s almost like dipping, uh, unlimited chips into unlimited salsa, I just scoop the ketchup on the eggs and I slurp it off, so yeah, I fully agree, ketchup on eggs, um, people are too precious about like basic ass foods, if you want to get like real precious about like a cultural institution, cassoulet should only be made with the finest, whatever, whatever. Sure, it’s, it’s scrambled eggs, dude. Put whatever the hell you want on it. Right. Whatever’s gonna make your day a little bit better. Do you feel like you’re going into, like, acute organ failure? No, it’s obtuse. Obtuse organ failure. Acute would be like, one. You know, like, boom. Pointed. Obtuse organ failure is like, it’s all shutting down. I feel really sick. But, on that note, thank you for listening to Hot Dog is a Sandwich. We got new episodes all the time. Not gonna tell you when. You just need to find out for yourself. Yeah, Keep clicking refresh on the YouTube page until a new episode comes up. No, I’ll tell you when it’s Wednesday, the audio version of course. And then Sunday is when the video version comes out. Yeah. Nicole, what video platforms are we on? Um, YouTube only. Statistically, are they watching this on YouTube or? Oh, also like you can check us out on, we have a Tik Tok. We have a Tik Tok, yeah. Check us out on Reels. We’re on Reels. Check us, do we still have an agreement with Snapchat or is that done? We’re still publishing on Snapchat, but it’s, Yeah, not, not as, uh, high Eclipse. CPM started dropping a little bit. They shifted their focus, I think, to Spotlight and more individual creators. Are we not individual creators? No, and we’re not treated like individual creators on TikTok either. But we’re still on Snapchat. Last Meal is on Snapchat. Okay, cool. Um, if you want to leave us a message and call us gross or gorgeous, call us at 833 DOG POD 1. And for more Mythical Kitchen, check out all of our other videos. They’re all really, really good. Check us out on YouTube. I’ve really only been on Snap I sent one picture on Snapchat. I stopped using Snapchat a long time ago. And then I stopped. But then, there was like a summer What kind of picture? Yeah, of course. And then, uh, there was one I’m sorry? What kind of picture? And then, there was one summer when I would get recognized and people would be like, Hey, you’re the Snapchat chick. Oh, and you think it’s because it’s that one picture? No! Oh. No, because we were publishing a lot more on Snapchat, and the views were a lot higher. You weren’t cooking at 2013. No. No. I’ll see you next time. Bye!