I want my baby back, baby Back, baby back. Baby back. Baby back. Baby. Back, baby back. A one my baby. Back, baby. Back, baby. Back, baby. Back. Chili. Save by Gen Z. 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. Hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast. A Hotdog is a sandwich. The show we break down the world’s biggest food debates. I’m your host, Josh Scherer Today Nicole is out. She is out with load management. We’re saving her ankles for the playoffs. Yep. But we do have a very special guest joining us for the pod. You know him as the cheeky baker boy from Mythical Kitchen, the Chaos gobbling at smash, and the co-host of Yap. Time with his fiance Raven, but me. Well, I call him a close personal friend. Trevor Evarts, welcome to the show. Hi, Josh. It’s good to be here. It’s been so long. It really has. Do you remember the last thing we talked about in this podcast? Um, I feel like goldfish might have been involved. It was, it was in what way? I don’t remember because I thought it was the thing about chocolate chip cookies, but no, it wasn’t. Okay. It’s goldfish versus Cheez-Its, was that, was I on for that? Yeah, I am. Okay. ’cause I remember that was, yeah, that was, I was passionate about that, but I couldn’t remember if I was passionate as a, as a bystander or in the action. So, so you do listen to the podcast? I do that, I listen, I, I, I, well, I don’t know the last time I listened to a full episode. Yeah. That, but I also don’t know the last time I watched a full episode of anything. That’s a fair point. Mm-hmm. I’m usually like, I get like 15 minutes in and then I gotta do something and it’s usually not like, you know. I do that with, and not to be a hater, but I do that with Last Meals a lot. I watch, I’ll watch like the first like two thirds of the last meals and then something’s going on, and I’m really bad about finishing YouTube videos. So the last one, third is when we get really emotionally vulnerable though. Yeah. You know, that’s where Joe Jonas starts talking about, you know, oh, love is never lost. You know, it still, you know, stuff like that. Yeah. So I’d recommend starting with the last third, then going back to the first two thirds. Okay. Well, Raven always finishes them. Raven’s, the Raven’s, the video finisher. Usually it’s like there’s like 50 and I’m like, oh, I need to go like do the dishes or I gotta go run an errand or maybe I’m going to work or something. So sharing domestic labor, that’s what this podcast is about today. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, no. Well we talked about goldfish last time. Nostalgia is a big factor in that, and nostalgia is a big factor in the thing we’re talking about today because we wanted to have you on specifically as our Gen Z correspondent. Yes. I’m here once again. ’cause we’re talking about how Gen Z. Saved chilies. So just a little bit of background here. In the last couple years alone, red Lobster, Buca Depo, Hooters, and Fridays, all American institutions have all filed for bankruptcy. Mm-hmm. And a majority of their customer base are Gen X and boomers. Yeah. Gen Z only represents 17% of the casual dining fan base. However, there’s one chain that they have decided to patronize mm-hmm. And completely revamp sales up 50% over the last three years. And it’s freaking. Chili’s. Mm-hmm. Trevor, can you explain why? Here’s the thing about Chili’s. I think that nostalgia is, is probably a large part of it. Um, I think I have nostalgia for Hooters. My dad used to take me there and then looking back probably said some inappropriate things to the people just trying to work. Yeah. Well, you know, you should have you and, and Kevin Love who’s the NBA player that really loves Hooters? I can’t remember. There’s, there’s Kevin Love that seems out of character for him. I don’t know. There’s some NBA player that’s like. Like was obsessed with Hooters. It was like a big thing when it was like going outta business. They were like, we need to save it. Is Kevin Love? It’s Kevin Love. Kevin Love. He loves Hooters. Um, no, I, well, I think one, I think that Gen Z has, has kind of. Pulled back from, because I was thinking about this and I think that in like kind of the mid 2000 tens, you’ve got a lot of millennials. Mm-hmm. Um, and there’s kind of like this, this foodie revolution happening. Yeah. Where, you know, everybody has iPhones now. Everybody wants to be snapping pictures and you know, I mean, for me, I was a big Red Robin guy, you know, but like, you don’t wanna snap a picture of the, you know, chili Southwest egg rolls or the Red Robin five alarm burger. Like that’s not going up on your Instagram. Um. Yeah, I don’t know. And I think Gen Z has kind of like come, come around like almost full circle. Like no, like Chili’s is an awesome restaurant. It’s just fun in there. They’ve got incredible deals where like, it’s like the, like pick three stuff. It’s like three for 15 or whatever. Mm-hmm. You get to try three different dishes for a pretty reasonable price. It always comes with crazy chips and sa, I get chilies to go fairly like fairly regularly. Not like super regularly, but what do you get when you get chilies to go? Because the idea of getting chilies to go, to me, I would view that as like insane, right? Yeah. I would rather get food that is meant to be eaten in a to go setting, but I guess now. Every restaurant is kind of just another app on your phone. Mm-hmm. Right? That you can order for delivery. So they’re kind of on the same playing field. Yeah. And I think when the pandemic hit, it was like all the restaurants had to adapt. Like we gotta figure out how to Yeah. Get people food without them being inside the restaurant. ’cause we gotta get people, honey zinger, Chipotle Chicken crispers, dude, the chicken crispers man. They’re so good. No, Chili’s has I, I can’t remember exactly what the deal is, but yeah, it’s like a pick. Pick three or so. Oh, the Triple Dipper combo. The Triple Dipper combo. The Triple Dipper combo now accounts for 14% of all chili sales. Yeah. And that is the big item that was picked up by your people. Yeah, which is crazy. You get some sort of combination. You can get their, uh, their big, big bite sliders. Mm-hmm. Uh, you can get their southwestern egg rolls. Yeah. You can get various types of bone in and bone out wings. You can get the chicken crispers. Yeah, the chicken crispers. Those are no joke man. They’re no joke. Delicious. I, I went to, um, before I even knew that Chili’s was really having a resurgence. Like before I actually saw the hardcore numbers. Mm-hmm. Which are like utterly insane. Uh, just Q1, no, sorry, Q4 of last year. It’s up 31% from just the year before. Oh my gosh. Which at that scale is like tens, tens of hundreds of millions of dollars. Yeah. Um, which is ridiculous. But me and Julia for Valentine’s Day, we were like, the year before we went to Anna Jackai. Yeah. One of the best, busiest restaurants. Incredible. In LA they do really great work. Uh, we went there like with another couple friend and we had a nice time, but this Valentine’s Day we’re like, we don’t want. To like brave the crowds. You don’t wanna do anything crazy. We don’t wanna do anything fancy. We wanna do something kind of dumb. Yeah. And I think the irony is a little bit part of the Gen Z pull as well. Yeah. Because me and Julia, I got dressed up in um, like black tie up top. Yeah. But then snake skin loafers and bright pink trousers underneath. That’s awesome. And then we just went on a bar crawl. Yeah, on our neighborhood towards the direction of Chili’s. Mm-hmm. And ended up at Chili’s at 9:30 PM drinking Cadillac Margaritas, eating a Triple Dipper combo. They got something called Nashville Hot Mozzarella. Wow, that’s awesome. I haven’t tried the Nashville hot mozzarella. They deep fry the cheese Trevor, and then they submerge it in spicy grease. That sounds incredible. Especially on Valentine’s Day. On Valentine’s Day. That’s beautiful. No, I mean, I, I, I think that like Gen Z also, I mean, I was growing up in, you know, that like kind of early two thousands era back when the restaurants like Chili’s and Red Robin mm-hmm. They had just the, everything on the walls. Like that was the design style they had just like, uh, the, everything. It was, there was so much going on. Yeah. And it was such a happy place to be. And I think, yeah. Now growing up and, and we’re kind of like adults and there’s almost this like realization that I had at some point where I’m like, I’m an adult and I can really do whatever I want. Mm-hmm. Like, I don’t, I think that there is maybe a little bit of like, oh, like is it weird for me to just order chilies to go? Like, should I be ashamed of that? And I’m like, no, I don’t need to be ashamed of ordering chilies to go. ’cause it makes me happy and I like the way the food tastes. Sue me like I. Totally. Like there’s so much incredible food, like an exact high. Mm-hmm. Like they do amazing work and that is food on another level. And I appreciate that so much, but I also appreciate the Chili’s chicken crispers and I, and I think that that’s okay. I think it’s okay to appreciate food at all levels. You know what’s really funny is I do have an intense amount of shame of. Patronizing chilies. And I think for like the time difference in when you and I grew up, ’cause like you said, I grew up, like Instagram came out when I was 20, 21 years old. Mm-hmm. And like, you know, not that every meal you eat is something you think about posting to the gram, but every meal I would eat, I kind of ran it through a filter of what does this communicate about me? Yeah. And I grew up in that like very Anthony Bourdain era where it was like. I gotta go patronize the local mom and pop Fs up, or I have to like travel far away to try this dish that I’ve never had before. Mm-hmm. And so for me, Chili’s was purely like it was the restaurant chain of the generation before me. Yeah. So I rebelled against it. Mm-hmm. Right? I was like, no man, it’s owned by corporations and that’s bad. I want to patronize real culture. And then I think now Gen Z looks at like millennials who thought we can save the world by. Uh, eating at local Thai food restaurants. Yeah. And believing in the corporations that we work for that are mission oriented. And you look at our generation, you go like, well, that didn’t work yet, dummy. Yeah. Everything’s still terrible. Might as well relive the nostalgia. Yeah. At a Chili’s, there’s a marketing professor from the University of Denver named Anna Babbit Rosario, who coined this term emotional time travel. Hmm. Because these chains have, you know, stayed roughly the same for the last like 20, 25 years. And so now like. Gen Z going back to these chain, the Rainforest Cafe is a great example. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right? Where like you go back there and you are immediately transported, frankly, to a simpler time. It’s the same psychology of why you’re wearing the baggy ass jeans these days. Yeah, no, it is, and I mean, you’re right, the food tastes exactly the same. I went to a Red Robin recently for the first time in a while, and I remember eating the food and I was like, this hasn’t changed. They’re like garlic steak, bottomless garlic steak fries, just the same as when I was in high school. Go in there with my friends after, you know, a theater production. Mm-hmm. You know, we’d have our show and then we’d roll up. ’cause there’s always tables, there’s always room. You never had to wait for anything. You never had to have a reservation. You could just pull up and be like, Hey, there’s 15 of us. Can we get a table? And they’re like, come on in, have a giant milkshake with an extra entire cup of milkshake on the side. Mm-hmm. It’s just like, I don’t know. There’s something so amazing about it and I think like. Yeah, having that food now, I still love it and I also really love supporting, like in going to like local mom and pop shops and I’ve had some of the best food I’ve ever had at little holes in the wall, but I think that there’s room for everyone at the table, you know? Yeah. There’s room for chilies at my table. The thing that I worry about with your generation, Trevor. Is that you’re gonna irony our way into just a complete corporate mega opoly. Yeah. You know what I mean? You’re like, ah, chili John, you wearing a Caterpillar shirt yesterday? Ah, caterpillar. Big major brands wear the Modelo hat, go to Chili’s, ironically. Mm-hmm. And then suddenly we look 10, 15 years in the future. And like the only restaurants that are able to survive are the ones that can afford these massive, like, uh, big budget advertising deals that also, you know, uh, bring in the TikTok ass influencers. Yeah, I, I don’t know that I, I think to blame that on us is a little bit unfair. I think that, I think that, uh, I think that, um. I don’t know. It feels mean. I, I, I do think though, I mean like, like in the pandemic, like the restaurants that were able to like squeak by and survive were those mega corporation restaurants. Yeah. ’cause they had the infrastructure to be like, okay, we’re gonna figure out how to pump out chicken crispers and a dessert and an appetizer and a like bag of chips this big with two cups of salsa for Yeah. 15. I mean, and they don’t have to be profitable is the other thing. Yeah. Like they were all taking massive losses that if you were a mom and pop restaurant. You just didn’t get to eat. Yeah. If you weren’t making a profit in your restaurant, if you’re a corporation, you can eat the loss. Yeah. And then continue trucking and frankly, just outlast everybody else. It’s like having a big stack in in poker. Yeah. Right. Yeah, no, you can just outlast everybody losing money on the blinds. Yeah, yeah. You can just keep folding, keep folding, keep folding until you know you hit your pocket rockets. Um, I mean, even talking to Raven, my fiance, like she was telling me that in the pandemic she was living with her mom and the two of them, like, they would do that all the time. Like they would go pick up Chili’s ’cause it was like relatively affordable and it was like a good amount of food for what it was. And, and it was just easy with something that you could do. I don’t know. I think that like that definitely helped kind of the resurgence of Chili’s. This all explains why like these casual chain restaurants would be popular, but it doesn’t quite explain why. Chili’s over Applebee’s. Right. Chili’s and Applebee’s are, it’s gonna be offensive to some. They’re like the same restaurant. Yeah. One just like gives you salsa. Yeah. You know what I mean? So like why Chili’s specifically and like they did hire a new CEO named Kevin Hockman, who has done like an incredible job and I’ve, I’ve heard him talk about why, but like, I don’t know, is there some specific thing about Chilis? One of my theories was always that. The office is kind of the chili’s of restaurants in certain ways. Right? Yeah. You know, it’s like a big network sitcom that had another big resurgence during the pandemic. Yeah. You know what I mean? That people go to for comfort ’cause they know exactly what they’re getting and it’s a great product and I love the Office. I think it’s like one of the greatest shows ever. Yeah. I feel, I felt, God, what is that? I feel God in this Chili’s tonight. I feel God in this Chili’s tonight. Um, how much did that play into it? I think probably quite a bit. I mean, I, I think that when I think about those, you know, that genre restaurant like your Chili’s, your Applebee’s, your Red Robin, um, those kinds of places, I think that chilies maybe just like from a marketing standpoint, I don’t even know if it was intentional. It literally, I, I think that in the era of the internet, and especially with Gen Z. It could have just been like a stroke of good luck that like, people started like things about Gen Z kids going back to Chili’s. Just like those went viral. Like, yeah, I don’t know. Like it could have been Applebee’s in an alternate world. Yeah. They, for no reason other than, you know, one person decided. Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if Yeah. And then the trickle down effect? Exactly. Yeah. ’cause I mean, I know, I, I, I’ve been to Applebee’s ironically as well. Mm-hmm. Like, I have been to these places where I’m like, oh, wouldn’t it be hysterical? Like, what if we went to Applebee’s? Like, we’re looking for a restaurant? What if we went to Applebee’s, when we went to Chili’s? But yeah, I think may, maybe Chili’s just like managed to come out at the top of that and, and be the most recognizable brand, I think in my head. Applebee’s is maybe just a step below. I don’t wanna call it trashier than Chili’s. Yeah. But it is like in my head, like a step below maybe. Um, I don’t know. There’s some class to Chili’s. I feel like that wasn’t the case though, but when I went on Valentine’s Day, one hour and a half wait. Joined an online waiting list. Oh my God. Got drunk at the weird wine bar that has like the window that is just like directly on a major street. So you can just sit at a window and drink wine while cars just buzz past. You went and drank there. Ended up at the Chili’s. Um, every single employee there was like so hyped on chilies. Yeah. They were just so engaged. They were so like happy. They sat us initially at like a little booth and were like, Hey, can we go to the bar? I feel like that’s where the action is. And they’re like, yeah. Hell yeah, it is, brother. Come with us. And then the bartender was super hyped. I was trying to buy him shots and he is like, no, I can’t. I’m at work for like, I can duck under the table, you know? And then I bought Mexican candy shots, which like watermelon schnapps and like tahin. Wow. Uh, for, for the bar. And we just had a great time. All the food came out. It was like hot and fresh. Mm-hmm. And like, not just well seasoned, hyper seasoned to the point where you really needed to drink more Mexican candy shots. Yeah. And those had salt in ’em too. So then you needed to drink a Cadillac margarita. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, but Chili’s has taken so many. Painstaking efforts to like revamp this corporate culture mm-hmm. In ways that, I don’t know, maybe just takes good leadership. Yeah. You know, because like, I feel like that’s a rare thing where you walk into a chain restaurant and you get anybody that gives a shit. And this is like my old head coming out. Yeah. Where I’m like, the kids don’t wanna work these days. Why can’t I find someone in CVS to help me get deodorant? You know? But it like felt weirdly. Good. Yeah. Inside Chili’s. No, it is, it’s an awesome vibe. And, and again, it could just be, yeah, that someone up top just did a better job at, at marketing and, and getting people back in the restaurants. Um, the Vibes Inside Chi, the last time I was like inside a Chili’s, it was great. It’s great. It is. And the food, you’re right, it always comes out high. Maybe it’s like the, the, the food version of like TikTok and how like our brains are like, so wired on like, like need to be fast. Like I need to have very salty, like super hyper seasoned food and insane drinks that are coming out like for no reason. Like I’ve got my blackberry blueberry, strawberry, raspberry lemonade twist. Like nobody needs that many fruits in a lemonade. No. But it’s awesome and it’s got crazy colors in it and I love it. It’s like, uh, just complete unfettered excess as we’re like hurdling into an economic recession. Mm-hmm. And we’re just like, let’s remember these times. Yeah. You know, and, and, and it isn’t, I mean, you know, everything obviously has gotten more expensive, but again, like compared to going to other like, fancier, nicer, like restaurants, I mean, it is like, you know, on the cheaper side, not even fancier, nicer restaurants. I think actually one of the biggest reasons why Chili’s is succeeding and, and even over Applebee’s and Red Lobster, all that is because the rise in prices of fast food. Mm. And there’s actually a video of CEO Kevin Hawkman talking about this. McDonald’s has risen its prices 100% over the last 10 years. Yeah. That’s crazy. That’s insane. And so Chili’s launched a whole marketing campaign where they had people like send them rec, like their fast food receipts and tweet it and Chili’s like sent them coupons. Oh my God. And then Chili’s, I think, God, they even like took over a fast food space. They these like big viral activations. Yeah. Where they were like, Hey, you can get this small crappy burger. Mm-hmm. You know, for what’s now like $12 for like, you know, a combo. Or you can come to Chili’s and for $12 get the same thing. That’s a lot bigger. You can sit down, you’re treated like a human. Mm-hmm. And that like really worked. Yeah. Refillable Diet Coke. Bottomless Diet Coke. Oh my God, bro. That’s one thing I miss. Like Yeah. But, but just ’cause I don’t, I don’t honestly sit down and eat in a ton of restaurants, but there’s something specifically about like going to a Chili’s and that Chili’s diet Coke hits harder for some reason. It, it hits harder coming outta that like plastic, the syrup’s kind floating on the top, you know? Yeah. It’s in that like little plastic kind of car or like a glass that’s like got so much condensation that you’re like, it doesn’t seem like it’s possible for this glass to have this much condensation. There’s like a whole puddle on the table. Um, dude, that chili, that Chili’s diet coke puddle that ends up on the table, you can kinda slide the glass around like an air pocket hug. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it’s air pocket hug. Did you just say that? I heard that come outta my mouth and I was like, maybe he’ll just move on. No, I almost did. ’cause I think in my brain, my brain just switched the sounds and I was like, yeah, an air pocket hug. Oh, you ever go to rud [bleep]? Rud dude. Fud Rutgers. Oh my gosh. That’s a classic. That’s a restaurant that like, if I, surely they filed for bankruptcy. Right? There’s no way FUD Rutgers is. I think they’re gone. I think they’re gone. I think they’re gone. But if the, I was gonna say, if there’s a restaurant that I wish could come back, it would be fud, Rutgers. That was a whole different experience. There’s um, hold on. Yeah. Oh God. 2010. 10 Magic brands. Their, their parent company, uh, filed for chapter 11. Oh. But check this out. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. This is crazy. Okay, so in 2010, fud, Rutgers parent brand Magic Brands, LLC fires files for bankruptcy. Okay. Eventually they’re acquired by Luby’s, which is like another regional chain sit down restaurant. Um, FUD Rutgers was acquired by Nicholas Perkins in 2020, who now owns all 92 locations. Okay. It’s just like a guy. It’s just like one guy that owns all of the fud Ruckers apparently. That’s awesome. Is there one nearby? There’s gotta be one in California. Oh, really? Oh no. Is, no, I believe Nicholas Perkins. Is that a a, a a company or is this a Just a man? Oh, is it like a, maybe like a Nicholas Nicholas da at Dash Perkins type deal? Yeah. Yeah. One person named Nicholas, one person named Perkins. Either way, I feel like owning the world supply of Flood Ruckers, that nothing bad can happen to you. Yeah. You know what I mean? That’s like owning like all of the like. Uh, I don’t know what, what’s, what’s one of the early, not the earliest stage in Monopoly, but like, still on the first like side of it. Mar Marvin? No, not Marvin guy. Um, I think one of them is a slur now it’s like all the green ones. It’s like owning all the green ones. I don’t know. Where’s green on the board? It’s a gr Is it a red? It’s like Baltic. Yeah. Baltic is like, I thought, I think that’s like the gray. Yeah. There. There’s a light blue on the first. Yeah, there’s a light blue. Connecticut is one of ’em. One of them is a slur that we’re not allowed to say anymore. Okay. Oh, okay. So the first one’s brown and then light blue. Oh yeah. No green’s way up there. See this like owning all the fud, Russ is like owning all the light blue spaces on Monopoly, you know? Yeah. You’re gonna think that it’s not gonna win you the game, but then suddenly people keep landing on it. Yeah. That’s so funny. Oh my God. I want to go to a fight records now you wanna hear something crazy? And maybe, and, and honestly this is probably a perfect example of the Gen Z irony that gets us into these places, but the nearest Texas Roadhouse to the, the re the region in which we live, um, Temecula is where the studio is located. The nearest Texas Roadhouse is like a two hour drive. And Raven and I one day were like north in Bakersfield? No, it’s, it’s out. It’s east. Oh, east. Yeah, it’s east. Like diamond bar area or like, yeah, I think so. Just out that way. Um, like past West Covina, like way out there, like on the way to Palm Springs. Hell yeah. Um. And one time Raven and I were just like, what if we just went to Texas Roadhouse? Like those rolls are awesome. And we ended up driving there, ended up being traffic and we had a three hour drive to a Texas Roadhouse, and then there was an hour and a half wait at this Texas Roadhouse. And so we just went and, and we waited what is essentially like five hours of, of time for Texas Roadhouse. And we get in there and we’re like. This is awesome. It was like, this is great. We love it. And so I think like that level of irony of just like, yeah, let’s like let’s go to Texas Roadhouse. Let’s drive three hours to Texas Roadhouse. Yeah, why not? Like that’s the kind of attitude that gets you back in a Chili’s. It really is. And then it’s like a shared experience. It’s the story. It’s, I mean, everybody has like a reference point for Yeah. I will say though, I feel like my version of that was waiting in line. Three hours for a Corona, right? Yeah. Or for the most hype Nashville hot chicken spot in la. Some new popup you’d wait in line for. Now, I feel like if I told somebody that I waited three hours for like some new hype food, they’re making Cambodian smash burgers down in Long Beach, somebody would just be like, why didn’t you just go to Chili’s? You know? I feel like that’s the new attitude. Yeah. And I, and I honestly, I couldn’t tell you why. ’cause I, I think that, that it’s not that, there’s not like an appreciation, like all of my friends, like my age that I know like. We love good food and we love like new and experimental things like that. And, and, uh. I don’t know. We just really love chilies. Also, there’s, there’s this, um, I remember having this experience when I, I first started writing about food. I was maybe like 24, 25, and I was like, in Hawaii. Uh, I was actually there on like a press trip, but I ran to this dude who weirdly recognized me just ’cause he was such an la like foodie hype beast. Mm-hmm. And I’m like sitting there trying to like, enjoy my poke on the beach. Mm-hmm. And this dude just keeps going like. Yeah, have you been to this spot? And I’d be like, yeah, I think it’s really good. He goes, that place. Yeah, that place is super overrated. It sucks. Have you, have you been to this spot? And I’d be like, yeah, I thought it. I also, again, I had a nice time there. Yeah, no, that place is, that’s only like, if you like don’t know dumplings, like that’s where you go. But like if you do know, have you been to the, and you just kept doing this and I was like. I hate you so much, and I hate even more the fact that I’m sure people look at me in the same light, despite the fact that I would never communicate like that at all. Yeah. But I think there is this like, rejection against this like foodie chaser. Yeah. You know? No, I think so too. I think the, the Gen Z like, um, I don’t know, like cooler, like I’m cooler than you mindset is like. Obviously that’s gonna be targeted at the generation before us. Mm-hmm. And so, because the Gen Xers love the Hooters, love the chilies, love the Applebee’s, it’s like, then the millennials are like, well no, I don’t want that. Mm-hmm. Like, I want, I want the foodie revolution. I want all these beautiful like. Popups and things like, I wanna have beautiful and delicious food inside my mouth. And now Gen Z’s, like, you’re dorks for that. Like, bring me back the chilies. We, we were dorks for that. Yeah. In like certain ways, right? Mm-hmm. And especially in the very earnest way of like, we thought this was a good move. For society, right? Yeah. Like you look at something, millennials were responsible for the rise of, of stuff like Sweet Green mm-hmm. And kava these chains, which are like, you know, doing really well. Yeah. But like there’s a genuine, genuine moralism to that because it was like they’re sourcing from good local farms and, and all that. Mm-hmm. And then, yeah, nothing actually got better. Yeah. You know? No. All I think this is Chili’s is reflective of Gen Z’s nihilism and love for. Cheesy bricks. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that’s a really perfect way of putting it. I think that that’s, I think we’ve, yeah, we’ve arrived at the conclusion. I, I think that Chili’s is a beautiful place and I hope that, I hope that we can find a happy medium of being able to appreciate really artistic and delicious food that is inspired from really like. Beautiful places and from people’s souls, like people that have like food inside their heart and they’re sharing it with the world. Like I want there to be an appreciation for that and also go into Chili’s and having eight baskets of chips and then still somehow putting down an entire plate of chicken crispers and fries and getting that, that big skillet cookie afterward. Like I, I want that to be the world that I live in where I can do both and feel good about both. I think a great, happy medium would be if. These mom and pop shops. All made drinks in the same manner of things like Chili’s and the Rainforest Cafe. ’cause I went to a rainforest cafe recently and I got their, um, it’s like their triple deluxe beer Garita. Mm. Right. So I’m in Orlando. It’s a hot day. And so I’ll tell you what the beer, can I get that in my mug, Maggie? Well, no. ’cause I’ll tell you what needs to happen for a beer garita to even exist is that it’s a, yeah. Giant margarita glass. I mean, it’s the size of a, of a ramen bowl, right? Yeah. Filled with frozen slashy, margarita to the brim. But then they’ve taken a whole Corona and mm-hmm. They’ve turned it upside down to where the beer is still in the Corona. Yeah. So as you drink through the alcoholic Slurpee, the Corona sort of gets naturally filtered in, yep. Yeah. And it’s blue. Oh, it was blue. It was blue. And it does it, they have the contraption for, they have the little plastic contraption that sticks to the edge of the glass. Yes. And holds the beer bottle in there. Yes. Yeah, it’s beautiful. I love, I, I love that someone had to invent that someone had to invent to be like, God, we wanna put the beer bottles in the margarita glass. Mm-hmm. Upside down. But we need a way for ’em to stick for every problem, the solution. Um, if. If more places had drinks like that, but like in an artisanal way, like it was like a pond on flavored, slushy and a nice, you know, craft IPA. Yeah, a nice craft IPA, but I mean, honestly, I think that’s another reason at least living in Los Angeles for me, is yeah, you can go to Chili’s and you can get that drink for $8. You really can. And, and then you can go to a very nice restaurant, and if you want a delicious cocktail, it’s gonna set you back 18 bones. It is true Chili’s. The CEO, Kevin Hockman actually calls this the barbell effect, which are, um, they have all of their like $6 drinks. Um, but then for everybody that’s ordering a bunch of those, you get schmucks like me. Mm-hmm. Who. I’m a ball outta this chilies right now and I’m, I’m going top shelf on my raspberry rasm ta margarita. ’cause I did that last time. That’s awesome. Uh, Trevor, I think we got some really astute points of view here, but what I want you to do is I want you to build me your ideal. Triple Dipper combo. Okay. Right now, Trevor, as a Gen Z, what is your official Triple Dipper combo order? Okay. Selection one. I am going, God bless you. See me? And so you can just do that in the chilies and nobody will bat an eye. Nobody. Um, okay. I, I have got to do, I’m, I’m definitely gonna start with the southwestern egg rolls. I’m a big fan of the southwest egg rolls. Mm-hmm. So I’m gonna have those, I have to do the chicken crispers and I will say. Chilies. I think we need to work on the Nashville Hot Chicken Crispers. I think of the three, they’re my least favorite. The Honey Chipotle chicken though. Big fan of, yeah, so I’m dropping the Honey Chipotle chicken crispers as selection number two. Do they still use the phrase like Crispy Asian zing? No, it actually, I was talking about Asian zing recently. That was uh, that was Buffalo Wild Wings. Oh, that’s right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I would go to Buffalo Wild Wings as a kid and I’d be like, I’ll have the popcorn shrimp and the Asian zing sauce. And I was talking about how insane that is. And it’s funny ’cause I don’t think they changed it until like a couple years ago. It was, it was Asian zing for far too long. Um, and then I, I, the big mouth. Bites are the sliders, right? Yeah. Yeah. Because here’s the thing is I am, depending on the day, I am either going, uh oh, bone in sweet chili, zing wings, sweet chili zing, sweet chili zing. Um, but what continent is that Sweet chili from Trevor. It’s from, it’s from one of them. Could, could be any of them. Could be any of ’em. What continent? Uh, actually has about 80% of the world’s population in it though. Um, I, I think it’s not, I think it’s like 68%. 68? Yeah. Yeah. So like, if you were to guess, I’m gonna go with Asia. I think that’s it. I think I’m gonna go, I’m gonna take an educated guess. Uh, yeah. I’m either doing the big mouth, my big, big mouth bites or. Hmm. Or the house barbeque wings, I think. Hmm. Um, but today, right now I’m gonna go big mouth bites and then, you know, what I’m doing is I’m also getting a dessert with it and I’m, ’cause you gotta get the dessert and so, hold on, let me find it. Which where there’s, and there’s so many sections on their menu. That’s the best part. They actually did pair down their menu a fair amount. Yeah. Um, the skillet chocolate chip cookie. That’s smart. Yeah. The last thing I’ll say about chilies is they’ve made a lot of really smart. Menu subtractions. Mm-hmm. We talked about this with Shane Top, but they did change their chicken crispers recipe about five years ago. They used to have a tempura chicken crisper. Mm-hmm. And then their extra crispy, crispy chicken crispr. Mm-hmm. That was a dry dredge. Their tempura chicken crispers were accounting for less than 20% of their overall chicken crispr sales. And they were slowing down the line. So chicken crispers were coming to people’s tables less hot and less crispy. And so they completely killed the tempura chicken crisper. And I remember those. And those were good. Yeah. But I understand. I get it. Sometimes you gotta, you know, if it’s not working, it’s not working. Call the herd. Mm-hmm. If you are planning a trip this summer, imagine how much more meaningful your experience could be. If you could speak the local language, ordering a coffee, asking for directions, or just having a friendly chat. It all hits different when you can connect in someone else’s native tongue. That’s where Rosetta Stone comes in. Rosetta Stone has been the trusted leader in language learning for over 30 years. Their immersive intuitive method helps you naturally absorb and retain your new language on desktop or mobile, whenever and wherever it fits your summer schedule. What really stands out to me is how Rosetta Stone teaches without relying on English translations. You start thinking in the new language, not just translating in your own head and their true accent. Technology gives real time feedback on your pronunciation. It’s like having a personal coach right there with you. If you know me, you know I’m always on my phone, so using the interface on my personal device, like my cell phone was so simple. It made the whole process super, super seamless. Whether you’re learning for a trip or just challenging yourself this summer, it actually feels fun and effective. Don’t wait. Unlock your language learning potential. Now, a hotdog is a sandwich. Listeners can grab Rosetta Stone’s lifetime membership for 50%. Off. That’s unlimited access to 25 language courses for life. Visit rosetta stone.com/hotdog to get started and claim your 50% off today. Don’t miss out. Go to rosetta stone.com/hotdog and start learning today. All right, Trevor, we’ve heard you and I have to say. Now it’s time to find out what other wacky opinions we had to learn out there in the universe. Oh boy. It’s time for a little segment we call. Opinions are like casserole else. Um, I want my opinions like casserole. I want my opinions, like casserole opinion are just like, hi, Josh and Nicole. This is Katie from Portland, Oregon. And my opinion casserole is that I think, uh. Bacon is what people would taste like. Love the podcast by bacon is what people would taste like. So if you, I can take this one. Yeah, no, please go ahead. I have my thoughts. Well, actually, I don’t know if I have my thoughts other than I think I disagree, but Please, yeah. Yeah. So, um. Having read some reports from people who have, who have eaten people, they don’t like the C word, um, but just people who eat people. Mm-hmm. Um, they have said human flesh tastes most similar to pork. But also if you think about, you know, uh. A cow that only eats grass, tastes different than a cow that only eats grain. Mm-hmm. You know, so humans are going to roughly taste like what their diet is and we happen to eat very, very high sodium diets. Mm-hmm. So our flesh would likely, uh, take on a fair amount of that. Um, so different people would taste different, but I see why you would think bacon. I’ll say bacon is salted, cured, smoked. Mm-hmm. So if you took human belly flesh, salted, cured, smoked, it would probably taste almost exactly like bacon. Yes. Yeah. No, that makes sense to me. I was gonna say, ’cause I feel like. There is so much that goes into making bacon. Tastes like bacon. Mm-hmm. So, uh, yeah. If you did that with, with human flesh, I’m sure you could get there. Yeah. Yeah. But it’s already a pretty good starting point by nature of Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, alright. Easy first one. Yeah. Hey Josh. Hey Nicole. My, uh, my opinion is that people don’t season their pasta water enough. Yeah. I know we all do salt and maybe some butter, but like. Why aren’t more people throwing in some bullion and garlic and other flavors? Oh, oh, fascinating. Just seems nice. Anyway, that’s my opinion. Thanks. Bye. Fascinating. People only salting their pasta water as opposed to actually fully seasoning their pasta water. Yeah. I’m, I’m curious how much of, yeah, like what, what really translates into the pasta? Because I remember when I was like, oh my God, I had to have been like in seventh grade or something, and I was like, I’m gonna cook up some pasta. But all I have was like noodles, and I didn’t really have any like sauce or anything. I had like noodles and butter. So I was like, how can I elevate this? And so I went into like. Mike’s the spice cabinet. And I was like, what if I just throw like Italian seasoning and like other seasonings inside the pasta water and then cook the noodles inside that? And I mean, it tasted good, but I don’t know how much it was actually doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I the Italian seasoning like herbs and stuff, I dunno how much that would do, but I, I would think like. No. ’cause I feel like it would, I feel like it creates a kind of tea. Yeah. And gets inside of it. It’s like a soup. It’s like you’re making like a soup and then you’re cooking noodles in it. You know, kinda reduce that down to the sauce. I, um, I made a recipe for like Trinidad and Macaroni Pie. Okay. Which is just, it’s just, it’s mac and cheese, but it’s just like that kind, like thick, dense, cheesy, bricky, mac and cheese, which is fun. Yeah. And it’s meant to be like sliced and kind of eaten by hand. At least that’s the origin of it. It was like a factory worker kind of thing. Um, but part of the recipe said cut onions, bell peppers and scotch bonnet and actually put that in the water with the macaroni. And then you drain all of that and then you just dump everything that you drained into the cheese sauce and everything. Okay? And I swear to God, like all of that onion and bell pepper and scotch bonnet flavor got into the noodles and that kind of changed how I view. Cooking pasta. Like you don’t always just have to cook it separately. Really. Okay. So I’m thinking like, if I’m making Cajun chicken fettuccine Alfredo mm-hmm. Something like that. Something probably great at the chilies. Yeah. That they do. Well. Yeah. They do their, their Cajun shrimp pasta is good. I’m boiling that in Tony Ash’s water. Okay. You know, I’m gonna try it. I got, I’m gonna throw some, I’m gonna throw some spices, some more spices, some more stuff in, in the next pasta water that I boil. Yeah. A gen, genuinely inspiring opinion. Thank you. Yeah. Takes a take. Hey guys, take a lot time. Uh, I have two opinion casserole for you today. All right? One of them, uh, most people wanna send me to jail for, and the other one. Uh, most people relatively universally praise I send to jail for racketeering. I stand pretty firmly. Uh, the first one I’ll give you is that I think that there should be breakfast pasta, like with yeah, sausage crumbles and red peppers, and like a buttery sauce and then some little noodles. Um, and then the one that people want to send me to prison for. Oh, is that, I think all fruit smoothies would taste much better if they were served hot. Yeah. Hell yes. Um, I thought for a second the way he teed that up, I was thinking that the breakfast pasta was the one that people wanted to him to go to jail for. I was like, I feel like that’s a pretty reasonable thing. It was with the wrong group of friends, if that’s what they wanted to send her to jail for. Yeah. The smoothie, the hot smoothies. However, I think that that becomes a different mm-hmm. Dish at that point. Does it not? I mean, there’s some like smoothie implies cold. Sure, sure, sure. But there’s some like warm fruit soups out there that exist. Yeah. You know, and I think this might be a climate issue. Okay. Because anytime I am getting a smoothie, you grow up in Southern California, and generally between like 74 and a hundred degrees, I’m gonna want a cold fruit smoothie. If this person’s, you know, I don’t know, in uh, Bemidji, Minnesota. Mm-hmm. You know, shout out to all my Bemidji heads out there. You know, maybe he wants a hot. Fruit smoothie and I, and I think that should be his right as a beigian. Yeah, no, I think you’re right as well. I, I, what happens to a smoothie actually? ’cause I don’t know that I’ve ever like let a smoothie. I drink my smoothies when they’re cold. Yeah. And so I don’t know what a smoothie actually would look like if it was hot. Stays thick. It stays thick. Stays thick. Really? Yeah. So all that branded blended fruit pulp stays real thick. I’ve, I’ve drank, I’ve drank like a Jamba Juice that I’ve left in my car. Just came back. Wow. And went, well, I’m not letting all these fruit nutrients go to waste. Interesting. ’cause in my head I feel like it would separate. The mid is like pretty north. Oh yeah. No, I might want a hot smoothie if I was, if I was there. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, hey, maybe I’ll try it out. Maybe I’ll leave a Jamba Jamba Juice in the car sometime. I think you should. Okay. I think it’d be nice. Um, there, I feel like there’s some health food oriented, ’cause there’s two kinds of smoothies, right? Because there’s like the Jamba Juice where it’s like, I want ice cream with some fruit in it. Blend it up. Mm-hmm. And then there’s like the cold pressed juice store that sells a smoothie, but it’s kind of just like a weird. Slightly like warm palate liquid that has chunks of stuff blended in it. And I don’t like those. Yeah, no, I don’t like those either. I’m there for the ice cream. Yeah. I’ve been making some smoothies at home. Yeah. Nice. That’s nice. Is this like a frozen fruit? A little bit of oj, a little bit of almond milk, little bit of, little bit of yogurt and boom. Well, it’s just a nice five grams, creatine, 50 grams of protein. No, don’t, don’t have that in there yet. Oh. Um, mostly just the fruit. Yeah. Uh, breakfast pasta. I. I would love to make like a baked zdi, but with sausage gravy as the only sauce. You know what I mean? Wow. Top that with a poached egg. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Yeah, I think that’d be really delicious. We already put, I mean, most of you know breakfast food is just different sauces on different carbs, and so it’s like, why not? Why not? You know? Why not do it with pasta? I, oh my God, I had a thought in my head and it, and it fluttered away. Um. Is it about carbonara? ’cause that already has eggs and bacon? Well, no. What I was gonna say is, uh, when we made the Oreo Ramen, I would love like, because I love sweet breakfast foods. I love a little pancake, a little waffle with syrup. Like I would, I I would love more sweet pastas. I agree. I, I couldn’t agree more. Yeah. I would love some sweet dessert pastas. So I, you, you get to that first? Yeah. Huh? Hot smoothies. Hey, Josh, Nicole, this, Hey, I keep mis this. I’m from the Cleveland area. That’s okay. Growing up, uh, fairly poor with undiagnosed A DHD. Hey, sounds familiar. One of my best ways to self-medicate was always with m and m because it was the only regularly available sugar that I could just sneak and get away with. Because of this, I will put m and ms on things that it probably doesn’t belong on. Mm-hmm. Um, the, the light version of this is I’ll stick them in a string cheese. Um Oh, that’s fun. Rather than string. And I know that’s a problem too. Uh, probably the worst thing is that I will wrap m and ms in pepperoni because pepperoni was also my favorite, like fixation tree. Interesting. Um, this does usually horrify people. Uh, I would recommend trying it though, before you say that it’s, uh, horrifying. Mm. Um, thanks. This is a great podcast for going to work in the morning. Hey, appreciate you. Thank you. This seems like a bit of a buddy the elf situation we have here. Yeah. Um, yeah. She’s buddying. Yeah. I, I. I am sorry. I, I, look, I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum. No, but that sounds like something that I would not want to put in my mouth. No, absolutely not. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I was gonna go even a step further and say that, um, you shouldn’t do this around other people. Right, right. Yeah. So just gonna keep that like a, a private you thing maybe. Yeah, no, I agree. I think that, I think that, I think it’s reasonable for someone to scrutinize that. I think it, I think if you’re seeing something is like seeing that in public, I think it’s reasonable for someone to be like, huh, are you okay? Yeah, yeah. Are you fine? Like, what’s going on with the stress response? Yeah. Like it does sound like there is some trauma wrapped up in it and I get it. Listen, I got, I got my own, you know, weird, weird little food things. Mm-hmm. When I was a kid, I would just eat spoonfuls of sugar. Yeah, because that was the only, you know, available sugar we had. I’d just go in there and I’d just take a spoon of sugar through it. See, and if you, if you were in public and I saw you just take a spoonful of sugar, I would probably be like, Hey, are are you okay? I get it. Yeah, yeah. Are your Child protective services showing up to my house? You know, so how it lived, you’d probably say the same thing. Yeah, no, I mean, again, do do what makes you happy. But if I, I don’t want to eat pepperonis and m and MSM in the same bite. No, I, I think even. From a culinary standpoint, I don’t think it works. Mm-hmm. If it’s like white chocolate and pepperoni. I think that works. Yeah. It’s just sweet and creamy with the pepperoni that’s spicy and salty. But I think the actual chocolate with the candy coating. Yeah. It’s interesting. It’s the candy coating that gets me. ’cause yeah, there are like, you know, cheeses and chocolates type things that work well together. Mm-hmm. Like dessert type things. But it is the candy coating and that Eminem flavor. It’s such like, not a chocolate flavor, it’s a, it’s a whole different, it’s a chocolate candy flavor. Yeah. Yeah. So. I’m glad that you have something that you can enjoy by yourself. Hi, my name’s Melissa from St. Louis, Missouri, place of the world’s greatest pizza. But my, uh, hot cake is actually not about pizza. Thank God I can’t get canceled by Louis now. But husband and I have a disagreement about whether or not you should remove the stems from mushrooms before you splice them. Ah, I tend to always take off the stems when I’m washing them. And then just cut the cat. And he says I should leave them on and slice up the entire mushroom. So let me what you guys think. Thanks. Bye. Um, I don’t know. That’s interesting. I feel like that’s a pretty big personal preference thing. I think it’s, I think it’s objectively easier to slice a mushroom if it doesn’t have a stem on it. That’s the only reason I’ll ever destem a mushroom is if I’m lazy. Well, I’ve gotten pretty good at just laying it on its side and just Yeah. You know, with the stem on. Yeah. But what, what you’re doing, what you are doing if you’re removing the stem is called wasting mushrooms. Yeah. Right. No, I don’t think you should throw away the stems. Yeah. I think if you want it, whatcha are doing? You’re eating straight mushroom stems. No, I think it’s fine to like chop the stems up a little bit. I, I guess it depends on what you’re putting the mushrooms in. Yeah. Yeah. Because I think it’s fair to like, you know, chop a stem. Um, I, I will say I, one of my favorite ways to cook mushrooms is I like to steam ’em in tinfoil in the oven. So I, and what I’ll do is I actually will remove the stems and then you place them upside down little bit. Oh, steam hole. Yeah. Steam’s little olive oil, salt pepper. Throw some garlic and butter in that tin foil. And then you just wrap it up and steam it. And then the mushrooms, when they release all their, all the, all the water that’s in them, it pools up inside of the mushroom cap and that juice. Is delectable. You slurp it like an oyster. Literally I take a little mushroom cap and I slurp the juice out and then eat the mushroom. I, I’m, I’m not kidding when it is. So, it’s so good. It’s so good. Don’t, don’t. Yuck. My yum. You know, I’m, I’m not gonna yuck your yum. Um. One of, I think so. Socrates, right. Okay. Kind of. He kind of came, no, sorry, well Play-Doh, but Play-Doh, you know, was, yeah. Let’s just take it back for a minute. Back to Socrates. Back to Socrates. It talks about like the forms, you know what I mean? Like the essential forms. Yeah. To me, the essential form of a mushroom, it’s got the little, like if you were to draw a cartoon mushroom. Mm-hmm. Most mushroom looking mushroom, right. It’s got the little stem and then the cat. So when I’m slicing ’em, I want to see that essential form of the mushroom. Mm-hmm. You know? And so I keep the stems on. Yeah. Like when you go to, uh, the Phut mm-hmm. And you get a pza with mushrooms on it. Like the slices of the mushrooms. I got the little stem on it. Yeah. That’s the cartoonesque version of a mushroom. And I think it’s important now, and I want that. Yeah. I think when you’re a, I mean, I will say I think it depends on your cooking. Yeah. Like the way you’re cooking them. Because if you saute mushrooms, you can get away. Like they’re gonna get, you know, they’re gonna lose form. Yeah. Especially if you’re doing like a hard, like a, like a long saute, really getting mushy like a sauce or something. You know, I think you can get away with not having the stems on there or having just little cut up stems separate from the top. Um, but yeah, I don’t, I don’t love mushroom waste. Me neither. Yeah. I will say some people, especially more beginner cooks, they tend to have this idea of, um. Well, I don’t know if you can eat that part and I’ll tell you the only way to figure it out. Chuck it on down there. See what happens. You know, broccoli stem, you can eat so much more of it than you think, man. Oh yeah. You know, I eat so much bright. You get, you get a whole like little on that guy all the way down. I’m going down to the nub on broccoli, dude, going down to the N, going just straight stem deep on that broccoli. Mm-hmm. Well, Trevor, on that note. Thanks for being here, man. This is fun. Hey, thank you for having me. This was fun. Um, I’m sad that Nicole couldn’t be here, but. It. I hope that it was okay. I hope that I was okay. You were great. Okay. You were great. She’s not doing great. She’s, she’s, uh, I think she got food poisoning. Oh, no. Sounded really rough in the, in the, she was, yeah. Yeah. Oh God. You know what I mean? Wow. Well, I’m so sorry, Nicole. I hope that you feel better by the time this episode is out. Yeah. But everyone wish, wish Nicole well. Um, on her bathroom journeys. All right, on that note, thank you for listening to a hotdog. It’s a sandwich. We got new audio only episodes every Wednesday and a video version here on YouTube every Sunday. John, where can the people find you? John? I can be found, um, I can be found on the, on Instagram. It’s my first and last name forever, ever. It’s, and then you should go check out, uh, my, yeah, my podcast with my fiance Rad. Called Yak. It’s fun. We have fun with it, so if you wanna check it out, that’s on my And on Podcast. Podcast. I’m gonna. Listen to that on my drive phone today. Um, if you wanna be featured on the opinions are like casseroles, give us a ring. Leave a quick message at 8 3 3 doc pod one for more Mythical Kitchen. Check out our other videos where we launch new episodes every week. See time.