EPISODE 008: FAST FOOD & FURIOUS

DRINK INFORMATION

Every episode we drink a different libation – so what are we drinking this episode?

Tom’s Drink – Speyburn Arranta

– A mild scotch from the Speyside area of Scotland

Ian’s Drink – Lagavulin 16 year

– Ian’s “flag ship” adult beverage :). 16 years old and tastes like happiness

TRANSCRIPT:

Ian Robertson
Welcome back to Drinking With Tom. Today we’re going to talk about fatty liver. Hey Tom, how are you? Fatty liver.. We’re actually gonna talk about..

Tom Kubiak
The diagnosis that every alcoholic hates.

Ian Robertson
No, no, it’s from it’s from the fast food. That’s what we’re gonna be talking about today. So there’s still a big question mark in my head. Like, oh, let’s talk about fast food. And I’m like, do we want to talk about an upset tummy? You know, like, how, how’s this gonna go?

Tom Kubiak
We definitely, fast food is part of it’s part of Americana. You have to talk about fast food.

Ian Robertson
It is part of our culture, and so is obesity.

Tom Kubiak
That’s true. Yeah, that’s true.

Ian Robertson
Yeah. Well, let’s start it off on a high note. Before we go to fast food. What do you drinking tonight, Tom?

Tom Kubiak
So tonight I’m drinking Speyburn Arranta which is a scotch from the Speyside area of Scotland. Oh, a little bit different than the highlands, but still good. And that’s a new bottle that I just opened. Yeah, that’s good.

Ian Robertson
Oh, really? Okay. Can you sniff it for the audience? Do that whole Hey, everybody. You can?

Tom Kubiak
I can. I’ll give you a full sniff, smells good.

Ian Robertson
I’m a little uncomfortable. I feel like I feel like I can hear your nose hairs.

Tom Kubiak
That’s exactly what you heard. How about you? What do are drinking tonight?

Ian Robertson
Somebody’s mustache is pointing up now. I want to hear about this first. There’s notes of caramel is a good do you like it?

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, it’s good. Yeah. This is my classic like the typical type of Scotch that I like caramel vanilla. Easy to drink. No peat. So yeah, this one’s even got a little bit. A little bit of like some some fruity aspect to it. It’s it’s not a prominent part of it. But you get like a little stone fruit or something like that. It’s good. What’s a stone fruit? Like a peach, or I mean, yeah, peach or nectarine or something like that that has a pit inside of it. Oh, you know? Well, so you get that little bit of like that overtone.

Ian Robertson
We can end the show there because I learned something new. I did not know what that variety is. I got something for you. Yeah. Did you know that bananas are actually a berry? I did not know that. Yep. And so are watermelons.

Tom Kubiak
Watermelon is a berry.

Ian Robertson
Yep. So next time somebody says, hey, you know, I’d like some, like some berries. I’m like, Hey, you want good berries, I’m gonna hand them a bunch of watermelons and bananas and be like there, science!

Tom Kubiak
Talk about messing them with their mind. Is that true? They’re really part of the of the berry family.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, I looked it up. My daughter told me she goes dad. Did you know that Bananas are a berry. I’m like, stop that. They’re not a berry. And I looked it up and I’m like they are. I’m like who’s making these rules? Tomatoes are fruits. Bananas are berries. I don’t know.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah. Your daughter is the source of all kinds of strange pieces of information.

Ian Robertson
She definitely has some interesting factoids rolling around in there. And she’s she’s very often Right. Like, she’s like, I verified this.

Tom Kubiak
It’s funny. I have to look it up. Tell me what you’re drinking.

Ian Robertson
So I’m drinking my flagship, so Lagavulin 16. So I was able to get a bottle. I think the one of the other times I was drinking Lagavulin. 11. The charred oak barrel. Offerman edition.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah. Yeah.

Ian Robertson
But this is this is my flagship. This is Lagavulin 16. You know, kind of the bottle I die with kind of stuff. But I do have to retract something I said in a previous podcast.

Tom Kubiak
What’d you say, what was wrong?

Ian Robertson
Remember that bottle of Kavalan that I had I said that it was from India?

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, the one that turns white when you put water into it?

Ian Robertson
No, that’s the Raki I actually liked that. I liked the Raki. Okay, yeah, I actually enjoyed that. I’m gonna get more of that but the Kavalan was that I said it was Indian whiskey. Okay. And it wasn’t, it was apparently from another country but I haven’t determined which country and I’m sure my editing people are going to tell me again because I couldn’t read the back of the bottle well enough. So you know, listen, it’s not on me, Kavalan, if you’re listening to this Kavalan, and if you’re one of our four listeners..

Tom Kubiak
Like Mark or something, their lawyers will be in contact with us.

Ian Robertson
Your moderately good whiskey. Oh my Lagavulin’s fantastic.

Tom Kubiak
Your Lagavulin’s such a classic scotch, like, in fact, we we were with some friends over the weekend and and one of them was asking they wanted to get a bottle of scotch for a friend of theirs and as a gift and so he’s saying what what Scotch should I get and a couple of people threw out some things and I said I thought out Lagavulin 16. I said if you want to, you know, like a Scotch that no matter who you give it to, they’re going to be impressed or happy. Lagavulin 16 is that scotch.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, but you have to like it.

Tom Kubiak
Even if you don’t like it. It’s the it’s a Scotch that you can put in your collection. Because there no matter what, sooner or later, you’re gonna have somebody at your house who likes it. It’s just liked by that many people.

Ian Robertson
That is true. But I will be honest, I only have maybe one or two friends in general. No, I’m just kidding, that actually drink Lagavulin, and you’re not one of them, because you don’t like it, it’s too peaty.

Tom Kubiak
I don’t.

Ian Robertson
But yeah, every time I try to get somebody to try it, I’m like, here, just give it a try. And they’re like, I’m like, That tastes like happiness. How are you not enjoying that?

Tom Kubiak
But there’s a lot of people who like Lagavulin like that. If you’re gonna drink peated scotch, you’re drinking Lagavulin 16.

Ian Robertson
Oh, it’s fantastic. I mean, it’s my favorite Scotch it. It’s awesome. It is hard to come by. I wish less people knew about it. Yeah.

Tom Kubiak
And that’s why because it’s it’s popular.

Ian Robertson
I do. I do wish there was less people buying it. Because, I mean, it’s not overly expensive, but it’s not overly cheap, either. You know, it’s anywhere from 90 to 150. Yeah.

Tom Kubiak
$100 A bottle, right?

Ian Robertson
Yeah, somewhere in there, depending on what you’re getting. But, you know, there was times where everyone was out. I went to multiple stores shopped online. And for months, I couldn’t find any, I’m like what in the world.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah. And it’s it hasn’t happened with Lagavulin yet. But a lot of these distilleries are going to what they call no age statement Scotch bottlings, which like the Scotch I’m drinking tonight doesn’t have an age statement on it, which means that they’re, they’re sidestepping the 16 years and allowing, it’s allowing them to be able to put a different, it won’t be Lagavulin 16. But it’ll be something you know, a specific bottling, where they don’t see the age on it. And as a result of that, they can, they can get stuff to market faster. Because you think of these distilleries, they, they, they put all the money into making a product, and then it sits in a barrel for 16 years, and they don’t get any money from it only costs them money. So in order to, you know, to get revenue coming in, they’re they’re doing bottlings, without age statements.

Ian Robertson
So there’s good and there’s bad with that, because ultimately, you want good tasting alcohol. And if it tastes good, then awesome. The problem I have with it, though, is they’re going to do unnatural things. Instead of getting raw distilled alcohol, that aged in a barrel, naturally, you’re going to get oh, for this flavor element, we’re going to add this chemical. And for that flavor element, we’re going to add this chemical and it’s just going to make it fake. And like in Star Trek when they’re drinking Synthehol, and they try the real stuff. And they’re like, what is that? That’s amazing. They’re like, that’s real.

Tom Kubiak
Synthehol , I haven’t heard that in a while. And they probably won’t, that probably won’t happen to scotch, because there’s rules that Scotland has for anything labeled scotch whisky. But, you know, anything outside of Scott, Scotland, you know, that is whiskey. Yeah, that that can be a problem. It could, it could end up resulting in, you know, changing and standards. But I think what it’s going to do is it’s just going to..and some people don’t mind it, they’re okay with it. But personally, I like the age statements. I like to be able to say, Oh, this is this was you know, casket for 10 years, 12 years, whatever it is. 16 years.

Ian Robertson
Well it’s part of the charm, you know, like, when I when I open a bottle, I kind of smell it. And I I pour a little bit, I look at the bottle, and I think where was I 16 years ago? What was I doing? Yeah, and it’s like, there’s some magic to it. You know, like, that means something.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, definitely. I have a bottle. I can’t remember if I told you the story, but I have it when, after my grandfather died, we cleaned out his house. And he had a bottle of scotch that my dad had given him the day that I was born. So and it was a blended Scotch called ambassador. I don’t even know if they make it anymore, but it was 25 years old at that point. So it’s now a little considerably more than 25 years old, but it’s never been opened and I grabbed it from my grandfather’s bar and saved it. So it’s like on display in my bar. I tell the story about it.

Ian Robertson
Will you ever drink it?

Tom Kubiak
Probably not. Now it’s more of like a collector’s item for me.

Ian Robertson
So I will say I’ve always told my daughter this expression that a lot of people use “life is short, eat dessert first”. You know, sometimes it’s like, when when the occasion comes, Would you rather it go to somebody cleaning out your house that doesn’t know the meaning behind it and drinks it like on a Thursday night?

Tom Kubiak
That’s a good point.

Ian Robertson
Or would you rather drink it like with your wife and say, You know what, this is a special moment just for you and me. Let’s open this this amazing bottle or..

Tom Kubiak
That’s a that’s a really good point.

Ian Robertson
Drink it with your dad on a very important occasion or something.

Tom Kubiak
I might do that next time my dad is at the house. I might because he noticed it when he was here one time and told me the story behind it. So I might do that next time my dad is in the house. Hey, we’re gonna try this. The sad thing is I have a litany of other scotches that are probably way better than that one, but..

Ian Robertson
And I’m not saying, you know, bust into not breaking your memory here or anything. All I’m saying is if the moment comes, take it. I mean, otherwise, who’s going to drink it? You know?

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, that’s very true. Yeah. And true, and somebody’s going to clean up my house at some point. Exactly. And they’re not even gonna recognize what it was.

Ian Robertson
Whatever has meaning to you take advantage of it now. But anyways, whoo. We got we got metaphysical there.

Tom Kubiak
Very true.

Ian Robertson
So speaking of making.

Tom Kubiak
My mustach is curling. I’m tearing up.

Ian Robertson
If we wanted to talk about making things more artificial or not tastes real. We’re going to talk about it now. We’re going to delve into the delightful world of fast food at Tom’s request.

Tom Kubiak
Fast food. Yeah, I said in our in our chat, where we’re talking about the different things we can talk about on this podcast. Fast food was one of the things that came to mind. And I don’t know if you know this about me, but my my first job was at Wendy’s. That was where I worked.

Ian Robertson
Were you the mascot?

Tom Kubiak
I was the salad bar guy for an entire year I worked the salad bar and never got to work the grill. And then finally I got moved up and got to work the grill.

Ian Robertson
Oh, fancy.

Tom Kubiak
It was fancy. But there was a different time back then. Like so this is 40, 40 years ago. And Wendy’s was still patting their own hamburgers at that point. They were breading their own chicken they you know they were cutting their own letter they’re buying heads of lettuce and cutting you know fresh lettuce and fresh vegetables for the for the salad bar. It’s a different different world.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, it really is. Now it’s everything’s prepackaged frozen. And they have these little microwave things that kind of look like oven. So they don’t know, people aren’t thinking that you’re microwaving that. They’re like, Oh, no, look, we’re charbroiling it in this little microwave, you know, but yeah, I actually didn’t get hired at McDonald’s. I applied and they didn’t want me. I didn’t meet the standard. I didn’t meet the standard to work at McDonald’s.

Tom Kubiak
That’s so sad.

Ian Robertson
I know. I was devastated because I’m like, this would be really really cool to work at McDonald’s. You know, 15 year old me and they’re like, nah we don’t want you I’m like, wahh. Yeah, devastating.

Tom Kubiak
So tell me tell me your rating. Like what? What’s your Yeah, you’re like us, we don’t eat a lot of fast food, or very rarely, maybe when traveling or something like that. Or if you’re if you’re driving, you want something quick. But if you guys if you could, what’s the different types of fast food that you like?

Ian Robertson
So I guess we have to kind of qualify it because fast food is I think about it from when I was younger McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s. Things like that. Yeah, that’s traditional, quote unquote, fast food. There’s a lot of other fast food out there that has kind of elevated it a little bit true. Like you could even say something like Smashburger is fast food. Yeah, I get..

Tom Kubiak
Or Moe’s, Moe’s and Chipotle.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, Moe’s and Chipotle. Yeah, I love those. I’ll eat at a Moe’s, Chipotle or, you know, maybe one of these other I’ll call them high end fast food places. Maybe once a month, but I can count on one hand the times that I’ve eaten that one of the original fast food places in the past year or two because McDonald’s and stuff like that doesn’t settle well with me. It just.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, me too.

Ian Robertson
It’s not a happy time.

Tom Kubiak
No it the extent of my McDonald’s, Burger King, or Wendy’s is french fries now. So a lot of times if I’m if I’m driving and I want a snack, I’ll I’ll grab some french fries. But I very, very rarely have a hamburger. Like once a year at one of those places, but same with you. I’ll do Chipotle or Moe’s once a month.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, cuz I mean, how bad can it be? The meats can be overly processed and, you know, maybe the tortillas and stuff like that. But overall, it’s like, tomatoes and lettuce and guacamole. I mean, yeah, if you’re gonna have to eat out on the road. That’s where I’d rather eat. Yeah, my wife loves Moe’s. She she likes that. Yeah, if she had to go anywhere, she’d probably go there. Me. I like a good hamburger. I probably go to you know, Smashburger is kind of built up to like this big like, Whoa, it’s a Smashburger I don’t really tell the difference, but I like the place. Like I like their burgers in general. I like to toppings I usually get this like spicy burger that they have there with jalapenos on it. I’d go there if I had to stop. Unfortunately, they they’ve closed the Smashburgers near us now. So we don’t.. Yeah. I read something about the owners.

Tom Kubiak
If you’d like a good burger, what about Five Guys?

Ian Robertson
So me and you were at the same convention? A week or so ago? And that’s where we stopped one night. My wife said let’s get a burger. And I do like their burgers. Yeah.

Tom Kubiak
But about Five Guys? Yeah.

Ian Robertson
They’re intense, though. Like, like, you can’t do that two nights in a row.

Tom Kubiak
No.

Ian Robertson
If you can, you’re in your early 20s That’s true.

Tom Kubiak
That’s true. Yeah.

Ian Robertson
We’re giving the audience now some visual gaps to kind of fill in. Fill in the blank. It’s just it It is intense, but if I go there, my one thing against five guys. They give you a beautiful hamburger, instead of giving me a reasonable number of fries in a little cardboard container. They fill up this giant bag with more fries.

Tom Kubiak
Two pounds of fries.

Ian Robertson
And it’s all like leaking out the bottom with grease and there’s fries everywhere I’m digging through it to get my hamburger and their salt all over my hands. I’m like who eats this many fries?

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, five guys from my feeling five guys is not a takeout place. Like you should eat five guys at five guys. Because by the time you get it home the fries are not, are soggy and the burger is is it’s a messy burger to eat. Yeah, you know because they put so much stuff on it but I’m the same way as you would like of all the faster food or quick quick service I think it would call them places to get a burger, five guys is my favorite, two patties you know they don’t charge for the toppings it’s you can get it any way you want. There’s there’s a list of 50 things you can put on it. And honestly when the fries are hot I love those fries.

Ian Robertson
Yeah.

Tom Kubiak
They’re so good.

Ian Robertson
You got to eat them right away though so we ate them..

Tom Kubiak
You gotta eat them right away.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, we ate them driving so and I have not had a chance to eat their fries fresh in a long time. And that’s exactly what I thought what you said I’m like Why are these so good? Yeah, and then I got halfway through that giant bag of them and I died, they resuscitated me, and I went back in for more.

Tom Kubiak
You can feel your arteries clogging as you’re eating those fries because there’s so..

Ian Robertson
Oh, yeah, your liver getting all fatty. It’s just yeah..

Tom Kubiak
I’m the same way. That’s probably my top we also have a we have up in near our house here we have this place called the Dog House Beer Garden and they primarily their focus is on hot dogs and sausages and things like that. But they have a couple of good hamburgers, really good hamburgers, and their, their mix is really good. And they use the Hawaiian buns. So they’re kind of like sweet and soft and really, really good. They do both a regular burger and also sliders like that. And that’s a good hamburger.

Ian Robertson
Are they a chain?

Tom Kubiak
I think they are a chain. Yeah, there’s only one in the area that I know about. But I think there’s other locations.

Ian Robertson
I think we went there together or we planned to maybe.

Tom Kubiak
I think we may have one time Yeah. Yeah.

Ian Robertson
We did, I remember now.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah. I like it’s a good place.

Ian Robertson
You know, we were talking before the recording hear that about..Chick-fil-A.

Tom Kubiak
Oh, Chick-fil-A., Yeah.

Ian Robertson
Listen, I have no political affiliation. I really don’t care. But I tell you what if I were so okay, I’m gonna take back everything I said before, if I’m gonna go eat fast food. They got chicken man. And it’s good.

Tom Kubiak
We haven’t. I mean, in upstate New York, we haven’t had the option of Chick-fil-A for a long time. Yeah. So you know, as you know, the only place in the cap we both live in the capital district in New York. The only place in the capital district you can get Chick-fil-A is at the airport past the security check in so you can’t even go to the airport to get it you have to have a flight. And you know, that’s been a bummer. But when we travel like we constantly you know, even early in the morning when as soon as it opens we get Chick-fil-A because we love it. And when you’re traveling..

Ian Robertson
Well those chicken and biscuits.

Tom Kubiak
Oh yeah. And they’re Yeah, they’re it’s really good. And their sandwiches are just awesome. So anytime we’re driving anywhere that has a Chick fil A, we usually stop it and get Chick fil A. But let me tell you have you had either Popeyes or Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC’s chicken sandwiches.

Ian Robertson
All right, so we’re talking chicken wars. So let’s so the chicken breasts that they use for the chicken sandwiches come from a very particular type of chicken. It’s a very small chicken with a large breast and it may just take the one side of it off and there’s one sandwich the other size. They basically bred this chicken to be two sandwiches worth of chicken. Yeah. Which I think is amazing and horrifying. Yep. But they ran out of those chickens. They had to double up them because of the chicken wars. So because of the chicken wars. My wife and daughter are like, we’re going to participate in the chicken wars and we’re going to try all chickens. So this after I said we don’t need we don’t eat fast food. But this was during the pandemic and we had literally nothing to do. So. Over the course of a few weeks. We tried KFC, Burger King sandwich, I think Arby’s had a sandwich too, McDonald’s did Wendy’s.

Tom Kubiak
Popeyes.

Ian Robertson
Popeyes. We tried Popeyes so we went through all of them. Chick fil A by far won 100%. And if you did, we did two tastings one with their signature sauce and one just plain Chick fil A won both. Okay. In our opinion, the second as a runner up was Wendy’s.

Tom Kubiak
Oh, really? Okay.

Ian Robertson
Their spicy chicken sandwich. Oh, yeah, that’s a sexy sandwich right there. That’s good stuff.

Tom Kubiak
See. So I didn’t compare it with Chick fil A, I’ve had Chick fil A, you know, lots of times when, like I said when we’re traveling, but I haven’t done a side by side or even, you know really close in time. But as far as what we’ve been able to get locally here, I did the same thing I tried. I didn’t try Burger King. I don’t think I tried McDonald’s. I did try Wendy’s. I tried Popeyes and I tried KFC. And of those. I liked Popeyes the best.

Ian Robertson
I don’t know. I just I liked the Popeye sandwich. But it’s not driven. I like I drive by a Popeyes I don’t even blink. If there was a if there was a Chick fil A I was driving by but like, whoa, hit those brakes. Yeah..

Tom Kubiak
You would stop. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that’s what’s gonna happen. And so we have, you know, actually this coming Sunday. We have two Chick Fil A’s opening or not Sunday, because they’re not open on Sunday. I think it might be Saturday. They’re doing the soft open.

Ian Robertson
Both of them?

Tom Kubiak
Both of them. Same day. Yep. No, yeah. So I know that it’s going to be impossible to get a sandwich there for the first probably week. But once they’re done, I will probably do the same thing. Like if we’re driving by I’ll, I’ll grab a sandwich because they are good. They are really good.

Ian Robertson
You know, I do think it’s funny that I can picture you buying sandwiches from every chicken place in town, and then slicing them up and then putting them on a table and then trying each of them you know, accompanying it with some pappy Van Winkle $5,000 bottle of scotch, and be like I like the McDonald’s one with this.. Let me finish it off with this $8,000 sip.

Tom Kubiak
It pairs so nicely with the 37 year old Macallan. Exactly. Sadly, that is something I would do.

Ian Robertson
I actually, after I said that out loud, I think we should totally do that.

Tom Kubiak
We should we should do like actually, some friends and I we’re going to do like a pizza taste off where we drive around to different pizza shops and buy the same pizza at every shop, the large cheese pizza and do a taste test of it. Like as soon as it gets in your hands and videotape it. So we’re gonna do that. We’ll do it with chicken sandwiches.

Ian Robertson
Yeah. Well, to put all that on the drinking with Tom social media platforms, and here’s Tom eating pizza and burning the roof of his mouth.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, no, it’s definitely so yeah. But as far as far as hamburgers go from, you know, the three classic video fast food places Burger King, McDonald’s and Wendy’s. Which, which one? Would you opt for, Burger King, Yeah.

Ian Robertson
So Burger King. So I actually had to stop and get fast food a couple of weeks ago. And I stopped and I don’t know what it’s called, I think is the Big King. I only recognize it by the picture. That is a giant sandwich. I usually get halfway through and you know, start reflecting on my life. And I’m like, Oh my gosh. But this time we hadn’t eaten like all day. And it was literally the only place around and I forget what what was happening And we’re like, let’s just do this. And I ate the whole thing. And I’m like, I’m oddly satisfied. All right.

Tom Kubiak
Did you regret it later on that night?

Ian Robertson
Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, it was totally bad. Yeah, it was. I regretted everything.

Tom Kubiak
See to me of the three I like Wendy’s the best I think it’s because I you know, I worked there and I always had an affinity to it. I was..

Ian Robertson
My loyalty..

Tom Kubiak
My 40 year old loyalty to Wendy’s.

Ian Robertson
All heil Wendy’s.

Tom Kubiak
I used to when I was working at Wendy’s you know as a as a teenager, you could you know, you can eat a lot and I used to get the Wendy’s triple and a large frosty and a large fries and eat all of it. I’m like, Man, if I tried to do that today, I think I’d I’d go I’d have. I’d be in a coma.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, my wife. She used to work at McDonald’s. Of course. My wife was good enough for McDonald’s, but not me.

Tom Kubiak
I understand that.

Ian Robertson
She used Yeah, I get it. I’m not down unemployed. Good decision McDonald’s gonna be honest. But she used to just make a regular plain burger. But then she loaded up with all the pickles She could like, twice the thickness of the patty and she. But then I told her and this is gonna gross everybody out. I had a cousin who worked at McDonald’s again, somebody else good enough for McDonald’s but not me. He used to pee in the pickle jars. Oh no, I remember. And I’m like, maybe that’s why I don’t like fast food because I told that to my wife. And she’s like, No, don’t say that. I’m like, You’re gonna pee on anything. It makes sense. Like he thought about it ahead of time. But I remember being mortified when he told me that I’m like, what? I’m like, I eat there. And he’s like, don’t worry. It’s just me that does I’m like, it still doesn’t make any sense.

Tom Kubiak
It doesn’t make it any better. What about what about Taco Bell?

Ian Robertson
It should come Taco Bell should come with like some sort of disclaimer that you may not make it home in time to get to the bathroom. Like, it should come with a warning.

Tom Kubiak
The GI doctor, you know, for colonoscopy gives you you can either take the Miralax or the mylanta preparation or challupa.

Ian Robertson
And man, our audience, our audience count has gone down from four to like two now, we’ve lost half of our audience. But it’s like, uncanny. It is. It’s like did I just drink an entire bottle of you know, cod liver oil or something? It’s I don’t I don’t know what happens but it never stays in me long enough to enjoy it. So I don’t know if I like it, I guess.

Tom Kubiak
Oh I can’t I don’t I don’t think I’ve even I haven’t eaten at Taco Bell probably in 15 years and I and even to me just right now. Just this the thought of going into a taco bell would turn my stomach.

Ian Robertson
Yeah. And again, Taco Bell. You and Kavalan can come see us personally. And I tell you what, if you as part of the court case, in the courtroom, I will make your attorneys eat a taco from your restaurant.

Tom Kubiak
That’s true. Yeah.

Ian Robertson
It’ll be the shortest court case in the world.

Tom Kubiak
Empirical evidence epic will be on our side.

Ian Robertson
Like wrenching in his chair. Is there a problem Mr. Esquire? No. This is the most juvenile podcasts we’ve done yet.

Tom Kubiak
Oh, man, I can’t think of any I can’t think of another fast food restaurant that I want to talk about, That’s about the extent of it.

Ian Robertson
I do want to talk about one that it’s a weird mysterious one. So first of all, you go back to Chick fil A. I talked to my brother in law who’s down in North Carolina and he’s like Chick fil A to them. It’s like McDonald’s. So if you’re listening and you’re down south, you’re like, yeah, they’re everywhere. They’re like, what’s the big deal about Chick fil A is good chicken. Up here. It’s special. Like it’s a treat. But something else that happens down south a lot is Sonics.

Tom Kubiak
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Ian Robertson
I went to Sonics when I was younger, and like, this is okay. But everybody talked it up. So I’m like, oh, maybe this should be awesome. And ever since then my whole life. I’m like, this should be great. And I go there and some person comes out on roller skates Who really very apparently does not want to be there on roller skates. Yeah, we live in the Northeast man. Roller Skates don’t work certain times of the year. I mean, half the time. You need ice skates up here or skis. And then they’re like, What do you want? And they’re like, spilling your drink. And they’re like bumping your car like okay, it’s all uncomfortable. Then they hand you this weird burger. That’s basically the burger equivalent of Taco Bell. Yeah. And it’s like, I want it to be good. Or the tater tots. Yeah. And I’m like, I’m like this. It’s like mashed potatoes.

Tom Kubiak
I have exactly the same experience with Sonic. I want it to be good. And I’ve tried it a few times. And I’ve been so let down every single time I go. It’s just so I don’t even know anymore. Like what I’ve gone to Sonic and I and I know they’re having problems with all fast food restaurants are having problems with getting people. So in the pandemic, when they open back up again. I literally think my order took 25 minutes in a drive with a drive thru order. And it was so long people in front of me and behind me were leaving, like, their cars were pulling out. And it’s just, and it’s never the food is not good enough to say, Oh, I’m gonna wait. I just don’t go anymore. But you know, what is one thing that I wish we had in our area is In-N-Out.

Ian Robertson
I’ve never had it.

Tom Kubiak
Neither have I. But everybody says they love it.

Ian Robertson
It’s a California thing, right? Yeah, it’s a California thing. Yeah. So everybody that I know from California, they’re like, oh, you know what I miss about California. I’m like, maybe California and the 70 degree weather since you moved to New York, and they’re like no, In-N-Out Burger. And yeah..

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, that’s the same thing. It’s like got a religious following. So I wish we had that here. But we do have not very many but once in a while you find a Shake Shack. And those are really good. But they’re just not common.

Ian Robertson
See. I don’t know the Shake Shack, but I no doubt they have Steak and Shakes.

Tom Kubiak
Steak and Shake’s another one.

Ian Robertson
I’ve never tried one of those. I’d like to try one of those. But I do want to give a shout out though. We’re talking about fast food. We talk about the umami type of fast food with the savory flavors, but you can really get the tannins but the sweet side of things, Duck Donuts.

Tom Kubiak
Oh, okay. Yep.

Ian Robertson
Do you like them or no?

Tom Kubiak
I do like them. Yeah, they were. They’re good.

Ian Robertson
So they’re, they’re really great for like when you have company, you have a special occasion. Don’t treat it like a donut like hey, let me have a donut. Treat it like this is like a circular cake with a hole in it because there’s a dessert.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, it’s a desert. Yeah.

Ian Robertson
You have one and then you’re done. Yeah, but I tell you what everyone I’ve been to. They’ve been awesome. And it comes from Duck, North Carolina. I didn’t know that, did you? Yeah.

Tom Kubiak
And we have only one in the in the area where we live, I think and after it opened up, we we went there and got a dozen donuts and we did it as like the type of thing where you bring doughnuts to breakfast. You know, go to Dunkin Donuts or and pick up a dozen donuts and bring it. Duck Donuts is a different type of donut. It’s more of a, like a mini cake. Like you’re saying like a dessert.

Ian Robertson
It’s gourmet.

Tom Kubiak
So if you’re eating for breakfast in the morning, it’s not it’s too much.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, well, I see. I don’t mind it. If it’s like when we’ve gone down to North Carolina, I get it. And then we do have it for breakfast because you know, it’s a rare occasion. But like I get it, I get what you’re saying it is a dessert but I do like them for breakfast. But you just have to be judicious about what which one you get like if you get the maple one which is amazing, by the way. Cool. But if you get the one that has like three pounds of whipped cream and cookies all over it. All right. That one’s for after dinner, maybe share it with somebody.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah, it is. They are a treat though. It’s is really good. Yeah.

Ian Robertson
But yeah, I do like them. I’m glad they’re here now and for everybody listening that doesn’t have duck donuts. You don’t have Duck Donuts.

Tom Kubiak
So that’s a good episode.

Ian Robertson
Alienating more. Yeah, alienating more of our audience. So that’s good. What did we learn today, Tom?

Tom Kubiak
And you said what are we going to talk about with fast food we’ll never be able to fill up a whole podcast with fast food but we did.

Ian Robertson
So we want to learn something and we want to feel something so what did you learn? And what did you feel?

Tom Kubiak
What did I learn? I don’t know that I learned anything. I reconfirmed my desire not to eat Taco Bell. I know that.

Ian Robertson
I’m good with that, that assumption. Yeah. Good.

Tom Kubiak
I’m good. And I and also reminded myself that I need to get a Five Guys burger at some point. So I want to go, I want to go get one.

Ian Robertson
I’ve learned that we really need to do like a chicken tasting, chicken sandwich tasting. Yeah. And I’ve also felt because we learned something, we feel something. I also felt sick thinking about some of the times that a Taco Bell, brings you right back to the 90s I don’t know why Taco Bell every time even with the new design every time I walk in. It’s like a Pizza Hut. It’s like I’m 10 again. This is weird.

Tom Kubiak
Well you think of the little the little chihuahua, “yo quiero taco bell”.

Ian Robertson
They got rid of him, didn’t they?

Tom Kubiak
I think they did. Same thing with the where’s the beef lady? They need to bring they need to bring those ads back. They were awesome.

Ian Robertson
Well you know, I think they got rid of the Taco Bell dog because it was stereotyping. Why wasn’t a stereotyping with where’s the beef lady?

Tom Kubiak
It’s Taco Bell. I mean, come on. What do you expect?

Ian Robertson
The beef lady died? So that’s sad.

Tom Kubiak
The beef lady did die.

Ian Robertson
Of eating Taco Bell.

Tom Kubiak
Yeah. A loss. A loss to humanity.

Ian Robertson
All right. Well, anyways, thank you very much for listening into Drinking With Tom.

Tom Kubiak
You’re gonna give us a bad a bad dad joke.

Ian Robertson
I think we hit our limit, man. Do you have one?

Tom Kubiak
I have one. Yeah.

Ian Robertson
Okay, let’s hear it.

Tom Kubiak
What kind of haircut did the chainsaw get?

Ian Robertson
I know the answer. I’m not gonna. I’m not gonna say it.

Tom Kubiak
You’re not going to dignify the question.

Ian Robertson
I’m not gonna I’m not gonna answer that one.

Tom Kubiak
He got a buzz cut of course.

Ian Robertson
I saw it coming, and it still hurt. You know we..

Tom Kubiak
Thanks for listening.

Ian Robertson
We’re trying to attract listeners here, Tom. Come on.

Tom Kubiak
I love it.

Ian Robertson
Thanks for listening, everybody. We’ll see you next time.

Tom Kubiak
Thanks for spending the time, Ian. Talk to you soon.