Baconsale

Episode 467: Order in the Food Court!

Now that Joel, Kent, and Zack have built their industry-revitalizing shopping malls earlier this season, it’s time for them to create the perfect food court. Therefore, on this episode of Baconsale, we’ve got a list of popular mall eateries including Orange Julius, Sbarro, Hot Dog on a Stick, Wetzel’s Pretzels, Panda Express & Mrs. Fields, and we’re going to take turns picking restaurants one by one. In the end, it’s up to you, the listener, to decide which of our food courts you would frequent. Listen as we debate which foods are real, critique each other’s choices and, for some reason, make references to brassiere stores. Grab a sample at one of the many pretzel vendors and press play.

Duration:: 1h 8m
Broadcast on:: 09 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

[MUSIC PLAYING] This is Kate Beckinsale. You're listening to Beckinsale. [MUSIC PLAYING] Feeling peckish? Have we got a place for you? We've got pretzels and burgers and chicken and smoothies and pretzels and ice cream and cookies and filling cheese steaks and pretzels and fries and pizza and cinnamon rolls and noodles and teriyaki chicken and pretzels and euros and hot dog on a stick. Grab a tray, take a seat, and get your mediocre grub on at the Beckinsale Food Court today. Wow. But do you have pretzels though? There's a few pretzels. I saw pretzels. Did I mention pretzels? I think you mentioned pretzels. Oh, I love a pretzel. Pretzel sounds really good right now. We've got a place for you. Wow. That was fast-talking. It was like mike and mike and chicken. Oh, we've got pretzel. Well, welcome to Beckinsale. I'm Joel. I'm Kent. And I'm Zack. And we'd like to thank you for listening to our last episode, our 1984 music episode. So fun. Thank you for the participation and thank you for all the comments specifically on Instagram. Sometimes we have those and we do today. Full heart. Full heart. Eyes open, full hearts. What did you do? Is that a very nice full heart? That's the one. Yeah, thank you for commenting on Instagram. I'm so happy. It's Kent's favorite platform. Let's just shout out. First of all, I mean, Ryan Farron said it best. This is dark horse for best episode art. Zack has only a ray of light brilliant at that. Did people notice the Zack was a twinkle? They did. OK. It was fantastic. Adrian. Remember Adrian? Yeah, America says-- We'll never forget. 100, 100 at like-- Oh, yeah. Oh, we get it. Agree about Bruce Springsteen. I feel like I would like born in the USA and others if someone else's voice was singing. Also hate his version of Santa Claus is coming to down. Hey, Adrian, you rock. You are right. Thank you. Shout out to-- that's a pretty cool account. It's Captain Yacht Rock at Smooth Wave Tunes, who said I went the entire episode thinking to the tears for fears. Songs from the Big Chair came out in 1984. Couldn't believe it. Wasn't mentioned. And then it looked it up when it was 1985. We absolutely would have mentioned it. Isn't that so weird? Yacht Rock influencer out there? Yeah, Yacht Rock influencer. Apparently, it's huge. We're so glad he's listening. Yes. Thank goodness. Smooth-- yeah. Smooth sailing and good vibes, man. Right? Yeah. That's it. OK. But that's not what we're talking about today. What are we talking about today, Zach? We're talking about the mall! Again. Again. Listen. Let's go to the mall. We need to complete our malls. We need-- Previously on Bacon Sale. Tell us just in your mind, which episode was that? I just thought that my head, I believe it's a Bacon Sale episode 449, mall mashness. I love how you memorize this. Earlier this year. So in that-- We revisited an episode in the same year. I know. We had a plan. Sometimes we do that. There was a plan. Yeah, there was once. So we constructed our malls. And if I remember my mall, if I remember, right? Give us some highlights. My mall included such stores as J.C. Penney's and Taiwan On. I said highlights. And Bath and Body Works. Ever from even Fitch. Did you ever have a had one? Radio Shack. Listen, the highlight of your mall is the candied cinnamon nuts. Because that was the only food available, I think, it could be of our malls. You also got the like the Magic Eye store, I believe. Can't wait about yours. OK. Well, listen. Do you want-- do you want me to talk about my mall? Because it's kind of great. The Container Store. That's really good. You're the only one. You're the only one. That's all I need to say. And everyone's like, I'm going, Sephora. You want to be Sephora girls? I do. Sephora's like, Cole's now, OK? Yeah. I have the Lego store. Oh, he wins. Yeah, I got a lot of people there. And an amateur masseuse. That is true. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's all you need. And lens crafters. Don't know. Oh, yeah, sorry. Yes. But do you have Banana Republic? No. Do you have-- do you have the sense coming off of both an Aeropostal and a Hollister? It's a stinky mall. You know how much-- And the all-natural deodorant crystal drop. You know how strange the fake aerosol echolone going on? I remember when I walked into a Hollister, and they were actively spraying the body spray on the shirts. I knew it. I knew it. Is that what they do? Yes, they did. They probably still do. I thought the employees were emanating the sense, but-- I'm not allowed to go anywhere near that place any, because I'm over 30, just so you guys know. I know many people don't believe me. But most importantly, in the hallmark of my store, never forget, Spirit Halloween. It is the season. Get me close to it. It is. So yeah, those were our malls. And now what we are going to do is we've constructed our malls, but one of the most important features of any mall is the food court. OK. Hold on. Still? Still. Well, I think more people go to food courts and malls and shops. I went to a food court last week, literally, with co-workers, and we're like, hey, what are you craving? And it's like, I'm kind of craving Greek. What are you craving? Mexican? I don't know, what are you craving? A burger, and it's like, let's go to the mall. It's too late. We went, and it was a liminal space. It was so dreary that we were like, let's get out of here and go to Costco instead. OK. The poor employees watched you walk in like, people, people. The Mexican place literally said Mexican food. There was a handmade banner that didn't have a sign, didn't have a logo, just said Mexican food. So you need-- That's quality. That's marketing. I mean, they're not wrong. You should have gone to Cracker Barrel. This is apparently about fine. No. You should have gone to Chukorama. That's what you should do. Oh, we've tried. That's another story for another time. Oh, we've tried. That's just the flavor of my favorite episode. OK, that's the thing, though, like you were saying. It's a very important part of the mall. It's something we all remember, granted. I don't remember growing up. Like, I always went to the mall as a teen. I don't remember eating at the mall very much, because I was a poor boy in a poor family. Well, you could say you don't buy the big meals. You buy, like, the pretzels. Yeah, it would be pretzels. Did you mention they had pretzels? It'd be pretzels, or it'd be a certain kind of orange drink, if you know what I'm saying, that you just can't pass up. Because there are certain stores that belong in a food court. Like, you picture a food court and you had these at the store as a pop-up. But also, some major restaurant chains were joined in food courts, not so much anymore. Now, it's like the generic version of a food. Yeah, making food. You guys ready for some brief mall food court facts? Ready as all it would be. So if you didn't know, a food court is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. OK. Now, you know what a food court is. The first ever food court apparently opened in the second floor mall food court at the Paramus Park shopping mall in Paramus, New Jersey, which opened in March 1974. Wow. However, recent research has shown that there was a mall that opened in Ontario, Canada, Toronto and Ontario, Canada, at Sherry Gardens, three years before that. History is being revised right before our very high. Listen, Canada, you're supposed to follow us in our trends. Yeah. And then in the '90s, food courts became kind of a shopping mall staple. They were everywhere, and they were bringing in food. And still, even in 2009, mall sales reached an approximate $49 billion, and food courts generally did better than other food services inside malls. Like, food courts were where people gathered. And this is just a random fact about a specific store I might have thought this was interesting. Business Insider named Panda Express is one of the first food court businesses achieving notorious success in the industry. Notorious success. Panda Express was one of those success stories. They made it in the mall food court industry. And now, not their kind of their own thing. What did you learn on baking sale today? Panda Express is just getting from the block. As a man, who knows what I'm going to say next? As a man, you don't know anything about fruit. Shopping is difficult for me. I get this thing called shuffle body, whereas if I've been shopping for an hour-- Shuffle body for me at Panda Express. That's shuffle somewhere. Internals. But if I've been shopping for around an hour, my body gets real lethargic. I'm like, hey, this is not very efficient. What are we doing? I can't just browse. And so at that point, I need something to occupy my mind, or at least give me a sure fix. And so a food court becomes essential at that point, like a snack to grab real quick as I'm walking into dillards or the container store, I'm a happy person. Like it kind of recharges me. And so that's what we're doing here today. We're trying to make the shoppers come into our malls. Happy with the experience. Even if our malls may not have the best stores, we still can get-- You're speaking for yourself. --all food court, even if. Especially if-- It's a hypothetical, sure. I'll tell you what I miss about food courts. The social aspect, yes. It was fun to be like, meet me at the food court and meet your friend at a table. And you sit there and be like, put our pennies together. We can buy something. Oh, yeah. But also, I miss the samples of the food court. Yeah, truly. You'd walk by and they'd have like a cup of something. Like, here, try this. Whereas now, I feel like they don't do that anymore. There's only one place that does that. We all know. One place that will still consistently give you samples. Really? It's a brand of Japanese place. Oh. Always the random, nameless, grandblest Japanese place. And they say, please, please take our food. And also, we can at least write this over the old stuff. There's a certain ice cream place that we've all been to. Just saying. Free samples. Well, that's different. Well, like a spoonful. Yeah, like a tiny spoonful. It's not like someone walking there with a tray of tiny spoons. I'll tell you what, every time, every time, still, to this day, I walk by one of the pretzel stores, one of the many pretzel stores in them all. They're tough to miss. I'm always like, do they got the little samples out there? They got the little one. What do you got? A cinnamon sugar? Oh, cool. Are you going to try the honey mustard? Wait, is that how you speak when you walk by a pretzel store? That's how I walk in the mall. I talk like this in the mall mumbles. The mall mumbles. When you go through a food court, you turn into Jeff Goldblum? Yeah. What do we have? Yeah. What is it? What is the pretzel? Is that a dip it in the butter sauce? Anyway. It's so sweet. So we have a list of 21 mall food court restaurants. Now, we're not going to be including every mall food court restaurant ever because that would be impossible. Some of these may sound like they, you know, are bigger than a mall food court. And they are now probably, but maybe they're not weren't back in the day. Yeah. Some of them might not be at your mall. Yes. We are limiting it to these 21. These are very popular ones that we found online. And so you may have not heard some of these. And if you haven't, look it up. How are we selecting these? One at a time. One at a time. Basically we're at this food convention or we're at the kickball team and we are all looking at the players and we have to pick each specific choice. Some might call it a draft. Yeah. Exactly. And then that can't be used for either of the other malls. So yeah, it's an exclusivity contract where if I get the mall store, the mall restaurant, can't does not act as not. And so we're going to try to build our dream mall food court one at a time against each other. Should we go? These mall food court is going to be the best. So I have the best mall, probably. Yeah. In the comments, you had the most support behind your mall. Yeah. And I think we're going to do this draft in what I am now calling bacon sale order, which is chaos. We always get confused every single time, but we fall in there eventually, which is essentially we go in, I'm Joel, I'm Kent, I'm Zach order. But then we rotate who starts first, Joel Kent and Zach order. Wait. So we're starting with me. You will start. Are we going you next? Because I do think you had the second best. Then it will be me. Then Joel. That's fine. Then in round two. You know what? Fine. Then in round two, it will be me first, then Joel, then you. Okay. And then in round three, Joel Kent, Zach, and we switch back. It's only do every category show whether you know it or not. Now, before we begin, let's tell the listener what food court options we have run through the 21 we have an alphabetical order pretzel place, pretzel place, pretzel place, actually opening up, we have Antianis, Baskin Robbins, Charlie's village, steaks, Chick-fil-A, Cinnabon, Goldstone, Creamery, Dairy Queen, Dip-N-Dots, a generic Greek restaurant, you know the one. Hagen-Daz, hot dog on a stick, Jamba Juice, McDonald's, Mrs. Fields original cookies, Nathan's famous, Orange Julius, Panda Express, pretzel maker, Tsar Koot, Tsar Koot, Japanese, Tsar Koot Japan, Sparo, and Wetzel's pretzels. All right. Is your mouth watering already? No. No, don't do that. And the microphone. Signs? Okay. So I get a pick first. Kent, do you have honestly? First, I hate it. I hate it. I hate having to pick first. There's too many choices. There are two actual kind of faster restaurants here. Also, you don't know what we're going to go for. My first pick is Sibaro Pizza. What are you doing? Why are you starting with Sibaro? Why are you starting there? Guys, think about it. Oh, this changes everything. You want to class up your food court at a Sibaro Pizza, right? Is there? Listen, there, the front of that store is always like shiny red tile. So you're like, oh, it's kind of Italian. It's true. You know, oh, they have Stromboli famously joked about in the office of getting an authentic New York slice. Hey, you don't know. Hey. In Brooklyn, New York in 1956. Yeah. Actually, the Sibaro family. That's a real name. They opened the first Sibaro Pizza in Brooklyn's King Plaza Shopping Center. So this was basically a food court original. There's 600 locations. They started in 1956. And you can find Sibaro's in shopping malls, airports, service areas, college campuses, the Pentagon, naval bases, and casinos. Wow. Which is a big variety, but here's the weird thing that I chose at first. Well, that's first of all, because one of my favorite comments here, comments, sections on Wikipedia, the source of a little truth that says, diners and critics have criticized the quality of food with some suggesting a link between the food quality and the company's two bankruptcies. Oh. Yeah. Thank you. What? That's kind of weird. Yeah. But listen, they have pizza, Stromboli, breadsticks, soda. It's kind of overpriced, but when does pizza not sound good? You walk into a food court and you're like, oh, smells kind of garlicky. Like I'm into that. It's kind of hungry. There aren't more pizza, milk, food court places. Yeah. Because selling pizza by the slice seems to be a no-brainer for a mall. I always think this is Sibaro monopoly here. I absolutely hate that Sibaro was basically the only place you can get pizza by the slice easily. There's like places, you know, for us, downtown Salt Lake, right? But that's it. Yeah. If you want just a slice of pizza, you either have to go to Costco, Sam's Covers, Sibaro. Or Lucky Slice. Very local. Very local. Very regional. And not near me. Yeah. Okay. You guys wide open. Wow. Zach. Oh, this is your first place. This is absolutely easy. I got Chick-fil-A here. You do. I got pretzel places here. Uh-huh. I got Philly cheesesteaks. But above all, I have number two overall pick Zach selects Orange Julius. No. Hold on. No, we're not saying DQ Orange Julius. We're saying just. Orange Julius. Yes. Yeah. It has been combined. That was my first one I was going to pick. No, for sure. It's Orange Julius. Before I was born in 1987, Orange Julius was acquired by Dairy Queen. Yes. Subsequently acquired by Warren Buffett. But come on. This, the frothy, orangey, ice creamy drink. Yes. Is it vanilla and milk? Like what's in there? I'll tell you what's in there. Please do. It is a mixture of ice, orange juice, sweetener, milk, powdered egg whites and vanilla flavoring. I'm into it. Make it a home. I don't know why the powdered egg whites are in there exactly. Does it, does it ever feel like too much? For the frothiness. Oh, yes. Does it feel like too much? It's so good. It's so good. Here's the thing. You're shopping at a mall and you don't want to commit. You can always go to the Orange Julius. Now I will admit and I will fix this in subsequent picks. Not great for food, right? We're not going to get a lot of nutrients out of this. But this is a great walk by snack while you scout out the food option. Truth be told, this is one of the stores that just feels molly to me. Molly? Yeah. Molly. It sounds weird to say. And in fact, most of the Orange Julius stores are in malls. Like, it's a mall store. Orange Julius was the official drink of the 1964 New York World's Fair. There are 962 locations. Yep. I found it still. I found it in 1926 and it started when the founders name is Julius Free. That's where Orange Julius comes from. He's a real estate broker named Bill Hamlin developed a mixture that made acidic orange juice less bothersome to his stomach because some guy saying orange juice hurts my tummy. I'm going to add some vanilla and sweetener. Hey. Hey, guys. It just hurts my tummy. Add some sweetener. How do they go? Are you okay with this? Yeah. That's why I get the strawberry Julius. Oh, yeah. Strawberry banana, Julius. Very pomegranate, mango, watermelon, chocolate. I have had for the record. If those of you know, from our Baskin Robbins episode, I will still eat the mango Julius because I'm a man of taste, not sense. I'm allergic. It's fine. Don't die. It's worth it. Okay. All right. So one Julius number two. Joel, we've gone very molly and not very mainstream. Yeah. What are you going to do with your choice? Well, with my choice, my first choice out of the gate because orange juice originally was my first because it feels very molly. Joel's first choice. The third overall pick. However, if I'm going to go for a place that serves hot eats and cool treats, I'm going for the DQ going for Dairy Queen without without the orange Julius. You can get one if you ask nicely. Is this the DQ brazier? Brozzy. You remember how they're going to the marketing or it's like DQ, brozzier. Yeah. What was that about? Because it felt fancy. Green serves a variety of hot and fried food as well as original frozen dairy products called blizzards. It was founded in 1940 in Joel, Illinois, Illinois, and I say that in Joel, Illinois, and there are 6,800 locations. Now like Kent said, this has partnered with orange Julius and they're kind of inseparable now. However, I understand this will be the separate one, but I feel like blizzards are always going to be popular. They're all good. Yeah. Oh, it's going to be popular. What? Brazier stores. Out of context, the Brazier Dairy Queens. Joel, this is a great choice because you got not only like the blizzard to take on the go, right? Yes. You've got a hamburger, you've got a chicken sandwich. That's some sweet little savory and get either one of those here. Yeah. By the way, fun fact, the state with the most Dairy Queens, you guys want to guess, which state has most Dairy Queens? Somewhere in the Midwest. Yeah. Okay. Texas. Wow. That's Texas. It's like Midwest, but it's like South. But yes, this is one of those fixtures people associate with like small Midwestern Southern towns. Like back in the days, we had the Dairy Queen. Like it was featured in like, I think outsiders even had Dairy Queen mentioned in it. So this is an nostalgic pick. And when I feel a satisfied, both the sweet tooth and the savory tooth. Respect. Wow. Can't wait pizza. We went sugar. And burgers. Sugar burger. Oh, so yours is a Brazier store? Well, it's the Dairy Queens, so it says both. Sometimes the Dairy Queens by me do not have food. What? What? They serve. They just serve ice cream. That's food. You know. Okay. So Zach with the bacon cell chaos order. Yes. Chaos order. I am next. The fourth and I am third. Fourth overall pick. Okay. This might be a reach, but I know what I need. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. The fourth overall pick. Zach selects hot dog on a stick. Oh, why though? I love it. I love it. Those little hats get me. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. It's a big thing. I love it. It's like really brightly colored blue, red, white and yellow stripes. Vertical stripes. It's like shriners, but they're teenagers. Yes. Right? That are just like clown. Does that make sense? Just saw a movie recently where there was a hot dog in a stick outfit and I went, "I know what that is." Yeah, we know it. Yeah. So this was started on Muscle Beach in the 1940s. They offered corn dogs and lemonade and then moved primarily to malls. They have only 35 locations left in the US. One, only in Utah. Only that. 35. They dropped tents. Yeah, they dropped. There is a standalone location by the day. There is a standalone location with a drive-through in Sandy, Utah. Don't ask me why I know that. Wow. Wow. They have their $1 lemonade. I like $5 lemonade. Where they dip their hot dogs in what they call party batter and cook to order. That sounds dangerous. But they also have lemonade with the kuchunk, kuchunk, kuchunk, think they kind of churn that as well, where you can get original cherry lime and sugar-free flavor. I don't like that they call it hand-stumped lemonade. It seems a bit weird. Wow. I mean, it's hand-new. Stumped. Sorter, right? But they do have funnel cake sticks, which are quite good. Mm-hmm. Oh, man. Your mall is so molly right now. I have always enjoyed going to this place. And you have now seen my bias. I am leaning towards classic mall places to me and places that you go to the mall for. Absolutely understandable. Now I have a bit of bias here. I will show my cards, hot dog on a stick at the mall that I went to growing up, employed very attractive girls. So. In the cute uniforms. Wait, hold on. Cute uniforms? Uncertainty. Wouldn't you say employees? Yes. They look good on. Hold on. When you say that kind of takes people down a notch in those uniforms, what it does? It takes a good-looking person and makes them approachable. Actually, let me ask this. Joel. Yes. You were terrible. I did. Did you flirt a lot with the food court people? Not especially the food court people, but other people at other stores. The kiosk lady. The kiosk girls. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, because it's like a whole community, right? Oh, yeah. They're going to stick people. They either like hated their uniforms or they knew they were the coolest. Well, it definitely stands for that. That uniform definitely stands out. So yeah, I'm walking into Zach's mall. I feel like I'm in a way. Okay. Okay. That's cute. And it's very molly. When's the last time you ate at a hot dog on a stick outside of $5 lemonade? It's apparently. Yeah, I was going to say. Probably. No, we all probably. We go. That's kind of ironically cool. Again, walking around, you know, a nice cherry lemonade would be great. You would be on the go. Okay. A lot of treats. Nice mall. You don't know what I eat in a day, do you? No, I was going to say you walk around with like a hot dog in a stick. That's an easily walk around a bowl food. Yeah. Like you don't have to have like a two hands to eat it or a tray or anything like that. You're right. You're right. Yeah. Okay. Joel, you're next. All right, gentlemen, I'm knocking one of the pretzel restaurants out of the cave. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. I'm choosing wet soles pretzels. With overall pick, which by the way, it's American fast food chain to restaurant, specializing in pretzels and hot dogs. So boom, already got pretzels and hot dogs involved here. And this is these are these are these stores are mostly located in shopping malls, airports, theme parks, and stadiums. It's known for that kind of thing, 370 locations that founded in 1994 in Redondo Beach, California. Hey. And it was founded by Rick Wetzel and Bill Phelps and its name comes from childhood taunts used by Wetzel's classmates. They used to call him Wetzel's pretzels. Joel, you picked the best pretzel place. I picked the best old pretzel. The best old pretzel place. This is the best one. And looking at what they had, and that's what I was going to say. The other, I love the eyelids. Are they all good? Are they the all the ball or the twist of good? Twist of, yeah. They are, right? That soft pretzel dipped in cheese is so good with the big chunks of salt on top. You have jalapeno cheese bites. Yes. I have the cinnamon sugar flavor, the pepperoni flavor. I also have bits, which are pretzel bites, which are available in original cinnabits or pizza bits with pepperoni as well. There's also a wetzel dog, which is an all beef hot dog wrapped in a pretzel or dog bites and cheesy dog bites. There's frozen lemonades as well that are. Wait, it is a meat dog. There is. Yeah. All right. And this, by the way, I have to say this, they were the first restaurant in the snack category to introduce Boba popping pearls to the menu with flavors like cherry and mango. What? That's really popular. I've got pretzels. I've got hot dogs. I've got all these different. You've got the hollaroni. The hollaroni. Yeah. Which is jalapeno pepperoni. Indeed. Yes. So yeah, what's those pretzels to be completely transparent. I've never eaten out of what's those pretzels. As far as I know, I have generally I'm all I do not have a wetzel pretzel memory. Okay, we're going, but we're going looking at the menu. Hey, you want a marginally good food? We're going to go to what's those pretzels. I definitely want to try it after looking at this menu and it's going to be in my food court. So boom, I get to eat at it now. All right. Okay, that's a great choice. I'm actually jealous. Can't with the six overall pick. What do you select? How has this not been picked? I'm about to steal a gem. And that gem is something that we've salivated over when we were talking about Carl's Jr. I'm taking Cinebon. Dang it. Cinebon. Cinebon. I hope that you guys just overlook it in favor of pretzels. The first Cinebon bakery open in a mall, the Sea Tech Mall in Seattle in 1985. That's a good pick. And the brand has grown to over 1,850 locations worldwide and they chose malls just because of the high foot traffic and at the Cinebon like guys, I know we kind of choke, right? It's like Cinebon. They're basic. You can find them at a gas station now, but when those are freshly cooked and you either get the classic roller, the caramel can bond churros, they even have the center. They pull out the center of the cinnamon roll and just in a little bowl. It's so good. Or if you like frozen drinks, those are good too. But this for the smell alone, like I've got garlic on one side and I've got cinnamon rolls on the other. It's a weird combo. Welcome everyone. Love me. I did find it interesting that they hired a woman named Jerilyn Brusso to finalize the recipe for the Cinebon when it first started because she was known for her baking in the Seattle area. They brought in this expert to kind of help them make a cinnamon roll even better. And when they first started serving cinnamon rolls, the scintouted world famous cinnamon rolls before they even started it. World famous is like prove it. And the company that owns Cinebon also owns Schlatsky's, most Southwest grill, Jamba Juice and Antianz all that owned by the same company is Cinebon. Okay. And you know, it's all good when worked there. Yeah. That's all you're doing. Right. Yeah. And it was featured in the book Animorphs. Do you guys remember Animorphs? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Cinebon, I think is a fantastic choice. Can you get someone morph into a cinnamon roll? Eat yourself almost immediately. I would. But yeah, I think Cinebon is a fantastic choice. I don't really eat it Cinebon a lot because they are rich. Yeah. And you I get like two bites in and I'm like, I'm sugar it out. Yeah, you have like a chocolate milk on hand or strawberry milk or regular balance to get less sugar. Yeah. You will know, but that goes perfect with all the sugar. Oh my gosh. It's so good. I want one right now. It's so heavy. It's so delicious. And I think that's a good choice. It was pretty high up there on mine, but you snagged it out from underneath me. All right. That goes next in the chaos order. All right. Next up with the seventh over. I'll pick Joel. And what are you going with? This is a difficult decision now because you guys are snagging ones that I've wanted. We're trying to be strategic. By the way, you have Dairy Queen and Wessels. I'm guessing. Traditional. Joel's going to go a little traditional. Well, I'm going to go a little molly. Can't see on the one that has like a real real food. I know. It depends on how closely we keep saying Dairy Queen. What food do you get at Dairy Queen burgers at a mall Dairy Queen? Yes. No way. Oh, tonight. They have a grill there. Yeah. They're a burzier store. That's what that means. They got hot eats and cool treats. Yeah. See, mine didn't. Mine was only ice cream. Okay. Just cool treats. Fine. You have burgers, which are disgusting. He never goes in for the ice. He has a Dairy Queen burger. Not good. Can't have pizza, which is disgusting. And I have sugar. Okay. Right. Oh, no, I've got hot dogs. That's kind of like food. Okay. That's the problem is I have two that I'm debating between. Sweet. Okay. I'm wondering which one's getting stolen first. Snacks. So you're going molly, you said. Yeah. I'm not playing us. I do. Based on our reactions. I do. I have to start playing you guys. And the fact that you didn't steal this one up already. I'm going to move to my another one. Oh, that might be a mistake. I'm choosing Panda Express. Oh. Yeah. It's women. That's a big food place. I don't think of it as a food court place, but you look into the history. That's where it got it. Not start start, but that's where it became the big. And then it went to grocery stores as well. And they just took off. They did. So founded in 1983 in Glendale, California. They have 2,200 locations currently. It is the largest Asian segment restaurant chain in the United States. And they, they were the ones like we mentioned before that they were traditionally located in shopping mall food courts, but as they got bigger, as they got more popular, they went, okay, we're just going to do our own standalone restaurants now. And you see that a lot more now, like that's usually where you find them a standalone restaurant. Do you find that people are going to trust the Panda Express food because it's always like predictable, right? Yes. Orange chicken always sounds good. They include dishes such as orange chicken. That's it. It's only orange chicken. It's Asian beef grilled teriyaki chicken and kung pao chicken. Oh, and the honey walnut shrimp. I love the honey walnut shrimp. Do you? So much. All I see is orange chicken, you know, dreams. And this is one of those restaurants that probably would have samples out like, Oh, can I try that? Yeah. I try a honey walnut shrimp and put up a little cup and you're going to eat it. That'd be delicious. But I feel like Chinese food in a mall is a great, it's a great time to eat Chinese food is when you're in the mall. For some reason, it just tastes better when you're in there and Panda Express because it tastes bad. Otherwise. Yeah. Also bonus, the price still isn't that bad. You get to play to food. You're spending like 12 bucks. Right. Right. And you're going to spend 12 bucks at some weird generic Mexican food place, right? Maybe. But with Panda Express, you know what you're getting. Yeah. It's consistent. It's one people trust. It is real food as opposed to whatever Zach thinks Dairy Queen serves. And I feel like. I didn't have a brassiere store. I feel like it's going to be a good mix up from, you know, the other mall foods there. This is going to be the substantial one. One of the substantial ones. I'm going to try to get in there. Yeah. Yeah. That's like a real food place. And it's snacky. You can get the small little thing of it or you can get a larger plate as well. So yeah, a little boxer to go on the way out. Like I said, it's like a real food place. Kent with the eighth overall pick. What do you select? So I with Sabaro, I've got the men with dead taste buds, right? Yep. And old pizza. Yeah. With Cinnabon, I just have great smells. The warmed over pizza. I need to make the women happy that shop at my mall. Try it carefully, Kent. Chick-fil-A. Oh! Wow. Chick-fil-A is in my mall and you're like, Chick-fil-A, they're dry throughs crazy. But guess what? The first Chick-fil-A opened at the food court at Atlanta's Greenbrier Mall on November 24, 1967. And then it wasn't until the 80s, they started doing more standalone franchises. They have over 3000 locations granted once again, not always in a mall. But I remember seeing these in malls and being like, yeah, that could be okay. But Chick-fil-A is just a phenomenon at this point. This was one that we usually would stop by in the mall because you just get a quick chicken sandwich and it was in a little bag. It's similar to Panda Express. It is so predictable. Yes. You know what you're getting every time you go there. The employees will be nice. They might even say it's their pleasure to serve you. Yeah, right. They better say that. And also they have good kids' meal options as well. And I feel like that's really important because if you go to like a food court, you're like, I don't want to spend $12 on my kid eating, you know, maybe four, well, it's probably $6 for a kids' meal, let's be honest. But you also, people won't feel sick after going to Chick-fil-A. Yeah. You're like, oh, we got to leave Mervans right now. No, in the '70s and '80s, they had all the locations in malls. In 1986, they began to focus on standalone units more than food courts, and so they become once again, a store that outgrew the mall. Which is funny because they still only have like four things on the menu. Like they still feel very food courty. It's like hot dog and a stick, but nicer? Nicer? But they still just have a pickle on a chicken sandwich? Like, what is that? In fact, in 2022, the American Customer Satisfaction Index found that Chick-fil-A remained the country's favorite fast food chain for the eighth consecutive year, and it has the highest per store sales of any fast food chain in the nation. Ooh, okay. People understand the deliciousness of that single pickle on a breaded chicken sandwich. Have you guys tried to make that at home, by the way? No. It's not easy. It's not easy. They use a whole like pressure cooker kind of thing. Okay. But I have marinated it in kind of a Chick-fil-A marinade before. And? Good. Okay. Yeah. Wow. I'm hungry. I don't mean to. Geez. Okay. Zach. I believe it's your choice. Uh, strategic. I mean, you are... I am kind of stuck with the remaining... You... I think you have to go major on this one. I'm stuck with the remaining major food place, but... Hey, pick it. I need to pick it, because I need to have it. Yeah. So we had Panda, we had Chick-fil-A. Let's round out this round with McDonald's. There we go. I'm going with the McDonald's. You're walking through... You're walking through the food court mall and you look over there and you're like, "Well, that's like a... Sugar place. That's a sugar place. That's a snack place. That's a snack place. I don't think any of these sound good. I don't want Greek. I don't want Japanese. What do I do? And you're a younger person. Mm-hmm. And then you look. And you see the golden arches. And the song starts playing in your head. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. I was going to ask you. It's like a litmus test, what you were going to say. I actually was like, "You deserve a break today." Which is like... Wow. The '80s. Yeah. Special orders don't upset us. Yeah. Not McDonald's whatsoever. That was Burger King. Hey, Zach, guess what? What a smile on. You have the longest line but the fastest service. There are more people going to your McDonald's than any of our talking options. A known entity. No entity. That is the safe one. Yeah, sure. I mean, if you want to know more about them, you can listen to Bake and Sell episode 84. We ate everything at McDonald's. Unfortunately, it was in a time when Bake and Sell didn't matter as much, whatever. No! 41 over 41,000 locations. And yes, this is one you can find anywhere, but that's what makes it so consistent. You see this in a foreign country and you're like, "Oh, I know exactly the food I'm going to get there." Yeah. And sometimes these small food courts can feel a little bit strange. Yeah. You're like, "Again, so many of these places are unbranded or maybe you've never heard of them before." Yeah. Who hasn't heard of McDonald's? It's reliable. It's consistent. It's not... Look, it's not the best food. I mean, this is such a go-to for me in airports as well because you're just like, "I don't know." And the price is generally consistent as well. Generally, as well. As of late, but I have the app. So I've just sold my data for 30 minutes and a half. You know what's gonna set me? If we were eating a food court and you chose McDonald's, you'd be done with your food on your tray before we got our food. Yeah. Before you got your... Sorry, dude. Whatever. Big Mac. I mean, maybe Panda is quick because your food's been done for a while, but I think these are all... You had to choose it. I know it's not super molly. All of our places are giant, but they did have origins in malls. Yes. I'm also true to my heart. I'm not mad at my choice at all. I would have wanted Chick-fil-A. Mm-hmm. About twice a year, I think Panda's a good idea, and then I get sick. No, is this McDonald's or McDonald's, Brazil? This is the McDonald's, Brazil, because it's ice cream and burgers. Okay. Ice cream and McDonald's. I'm sorry. They have ice cream and McDonald's. I get it. Okay. Tell me how often that's happened. I get it. It's well broken most of the time. Yeah. I get the shake. I get the strawberry shake, and then you forget it and leave it on a counter, and you come back and you're like, "What is that consistency?" Yeah. What is that? It's confusing. It's what it is. All right. Moving on to our next round. Kent, you have the first pick here. So this is the 10th overall pick. The first pick of the fourth round. Ooh. I feel like I'm going pretty heavy on the savory food. Sabarro, Cinnabon, and Chick-fil-A. Okay. You need something. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. I need some ice cream. You do. Oh, but we have good. Okay. Here's what we have for ice cream. Baskin' Robbins, Cold Stone Creamer, and Hoggendoss. You know what? My stepkids make it a smoosh of ice cream every time. I'm going to choose the one that tastes the worst of the three. I'm going to go for Baskin' Robbins. Why? We taste the worst? Yeah, think about it. This one is so terrible. You should have it. This is so terrible. We did an entire episode of that. Cold Stone Creamery is delicious. Hoggendoss is amazing, but Baskin' Robbins has the options. Wait, why are you picking the worst, then? So many guys. Because I want it to be a draw. I want the kids to walk by and say, "Mom, Dad, I need ice cream." And it's going to be Baskin' Robbins. So many options. Also, better speed of service than Cold Stone. Which you can learn more about Baskin' Robbins on baking till episode 371. We've streamed for ice cream. It's still self-serving at this point. I know it's not self-serving. They serve it to you. Okay, well-played. When you've been on for nearly a decade, you've talked about a lot of topics. Yeah. So this has more than 8,000 locations, founded in 1945. We found out there's 31 flavors, but really 50-ish. I imagine, though, at the food court, they don't have the three rows of ice cream, so they probably have more like 25 flavors. Baskin' Robbins has introduced more than 1,300 flavors since 1945. Yeah. Which is, you know-- But, like, actually, like, different flavors? Mmm. By the way, we did get a notification recently that Beach Day was back at Baskin' Robbins and a listener let us know. Oh, you can have it. They were so excited. Is it right now? I think so. Oh, my gosh. Can't-- got so excited just now. Are you serious? That's what someone told us on social media. Oh, where we met the Baskin' Robbins. I am so excited right now, but look. I'll have some triple mango so I can avoid Beach Day. I'm going to say a third of the ice cream available is not very good, but there's going to be something for the kids. There'll be something for you. Brailleens and cream. We had a near consensus, like, top three or four. We really did. I mean, there's good stuff. That's a 371. So that's my ice cream choice. Are you guys going to pick ice cream, or do you need something more savory? I'm going to already have orange julios. Yeah, that's true. All right. I have the 11th pick. Looking at it here. I have orange julios, so I don't immediately need to go to an ice cream place, but I love ice cream. You can get a soft serve at the Mickey D's. No, you can't. Yes, you can. No. It's broken. The shake machine's broken. You usually get an ice cream. No. Guys, there's actually getting spirits. Yeah, I can tell you about it later. Yeah, and they're actually kind of getting to it. Yeah. But I am going to go with something. You talk about scents. You cannot beat the scent of fresh baked cookies. No! We're going with Mrs. Beel. Ah! Dang! Okay, hold on. Have you ever had Mrs. Fields cookies? Yes, I have. Really? Yes, I have. Yes, and they are tasty. Like, before all the trend of all these new cookie places that are popping up and, like, way overcharging for cookies, Mrs. Fields was overcharging. She started it? What a pioneer. This was founded in 1977 in Palo Alto, California. They have 400 locations, and it is one of the largest retailers of freshly baked on-premises, especially cookies in brownies in the United States. Okay. And there were three fields in the late 1970s, and in 1982, they moved their headquarters to Park City, Utah. Really? So, local connection. I always kind of pictured, they had kind of the bakery look, right, where there's the cookies on the sheets and the way they're right. And they give little samples, little triangles. But at the mall, I was like, "There's no way they cook these fresh." Like, they have to just place these here. They're probably already cooked, and they bring them to the mall. Are they actually cooked on-premises? As far as I know, they make the dough there, and they cook them there. Okay. As far as I know. Okay. I've never done deep research on this. Sure. Food court research. Sure. Also, they're in partnership with TCBY, which means ice cream is a possibility. Yeah. There as well. Frozen yogurt right there. Mmm. Ice cream. You're good there. Yogurt. Frozen yogurt is... Don't pretend. It's a whole thing. We're saving for our frozen yogurt versus ice cream for someone. Oh, I have feelings. I'm a fan! Whoa! Save it for that show. Yeah. One of the other things I want to bring up about Mrs. Fields is that they were one of the first chain letters, not only the first, but like one of the big viral ones. It's like we've got the secret recipe of Mrs. Fields, like the cookies, and it was like sold to someone for $250, and it passed it around, and it was a huge success of people passing around. It's really okay. It wasn't real. It wasn't really the recipe. There's so much random recipe. Yeah, they still have that lockdown. But... Are they that good? They're very tasty. So good. I could eat one right now. I could eat six. Well, it's a cookie. And they also sell... You could eat six, but not seven. They also sell brownies. I throw up at seven. Berries and fresh fruit. So this is an option. This is a very nice sweet option, and I just wanted to get... I wanted to get... Just show it. Nice. What else do you want? I've sold in two of Joe's picks. Yes. Right before me. Right before me steals them. So now you look at my list again. You have the twelfth overall pick Joll? I do. I do. You know what? I have... You've got the queen. Wessels, pretzels, and panda. Yep, yep. So I think I'm going to go with something... I don't know. A little more... Healthy, shall we say? There's something on this list. I'm going to go for Jamba Juice. Hey! You said healthy, right? I said healthy, but I meant Jamba Juice. So Jamba Juice... I can't see ever deaths of slogan right there. I was considering Jamba Juice as well. Jamba Juice is an American quick service restaurant and juice bar that sells blended fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies and other fruit products. They're not actually called Jamba Juice anymore. They just want to be called Jamba. Yeah. They got rid of the name Juice because apparently there are negative health connotations around the word Juice. Because it's just sugar. I guess. But I still... Everyone calls it Jamba Juice. Yeah, I still call it Zuka. It's Jamba Juice. They actually bought out Zuka Juice. They acquired them. A rival juice bar, which I love the idea of rival juice bars, in March of 1999, which explains why they were all Zuka Juice's when I left my mission and Jamba Juice's when I returned. Oh, yeah. And now... Roxbury. That's one as well. Justin Timberlake shows up and he's like, "Just Jamba." Just Jamba. That's all you got to do. Simplify. So this opened in 1990. There's more than 860 locations. And they have recently begun to sell wraps and sandwiches and flatbreads too. Yeah. A lot of breakfast foods. Totally healthy. Yeah. And that's why I think I wanted it in my location because you grab a Jamba Juice to go. You're walking around and you're like, "I'm eating healthy." Woo. And then you look at the calorie count. You're like, "Oh, that's a lot of calories." Yeah. Are you mad at Zach? Because he got Orange Julius. You're like, "I want the next best thing." Hey. Orange Julius is great on that one note. But Jamba Juice, there's a variety of flavors that I enjoy. Peach Pleasure? Yes, please. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, Razmataz. Oh, Razmataz. Oh, we really-- Exactly. We couldn't do that. We couldn't do that. I don't know how but they found me. Razmataz. Good old-fashioned. Razmataz. Okay. Now we're to the next round. Kent, I have to maybe call you out a little bit. Sabarles Cinnabon Chick-fil-A Vaskin Robbins, you don't have anything to drink. Very well. Just throwing it out there. Wait a minute. We have-- Kent's small patrons are thirsty. We've got smoothie places. Well, that's true. And I don't know. Stop that. And I don't know how you're going to fix that. I don't know. Are there any more places to drink? Not really. I think you're just-- you're soft drinks. That's it. Kent has a drinking fountain. It's over by the bathrooms. How about that? Ew. Don't use that one. Oh, hey, that's actually this new option that just popped up. Bathroom drinking fountain. It's warm. It's weird. And it's a low spout, right? Yeah. So you have to drink the mold. Yeah. You put your mouth right on the top. The kid right before you had his mouth. We're hungry. We started. They're not hungry now. All right. I have the first pick of this round. I just got my cookie place. I've got orange Julius. I've got hot dog and a stick. That is something like food. That's something like food. Something like food. So I have a lot of bases covered. But also kind of basic stuff. I think you need a pretzel store. I think I need a pretzel store. And I am partial to pretzel maker. I'm going with pretzel maker. Good choice. Good choice. Fine. Fine. You got to have the pretzel place. That's where I was leaning. I am a huge fan of a giant large sized cup of original pretzel by it's giving me the Parmesan, giving me the cinnamon sugar, not together. The garlic is delicious, but just the classic salted pretzel with or without cheese sauce. They're just shockingly soft. I think we grow up and we're eating all of these, you know, these hard pretzels from a bag. No, you get this. It's so soft. So delicious. And seemingly endless. Yeah. I don't know. When you get it, it's actually like, why is it so much money? And then you just keep eating. You get the cup. And it's like a 24 ounce cup of the pretzel bites, just the salted pretzel bite. Yeah. And they last forever. And it's a ton. And you look and you're only halfway through. So it actually weirdly represents decent value. Pretzel Maker was founded in 1991 in Connecticut, 280 locations. And in 1998, Pretzel Maker was voted the fastest growing fruit franchise in the United States. Wow. And then Mrs. Fields bought them in 1999. Just pointing that out. Okay. Oh, hey, by the way, you can also get raspberry frozen lemonade, strawberry frozen lemonade, limeades, something to drink. They have 10 different flavors of pretzel. Did you rub that in? Just because I don't have anything to drink. And a variety of dipping sauces, and it is the innovator, according to, according to the Australian Belgian truth, Pretzel Maker is the innovator of the Pretzel dog and Pretzel bites. Many dog pretzel bites, baby. They are delicious. They're very good. Yep. Yep. I am stoked on this place. All overpriced. Mall food is just a price of course. But pizza sauce dipping. Where are you? Pizza? Are you not? Or cheese sauce? Pizza. There's not your cheese. And of course, honey mustard. I know what you're going for. Naturally, honey mustard. Yeah. I go with the pretzel bite. Every time of the cheese. It depends. If I want- You eat cinnamon sugar. Cheese. Because- Yeah, cinnamon sugar. No. But like if you get the garlic, then it goes, it goes well with the honey mustard. Yeah. Or just the regular. I'm just saying. Honey mustard. Quite versatile. Great choice. And may I say quite beautiful. Alright, Joel, for the 14th pick, what do you got? I'm going for novelty on this one because I am choosing dip and dots. Dip and dots. The ice cream of the future. You wanted to know why? Is this a kiosk? This is a kiosk. This is a center kiosk. This is like one of those ones in there. But choosing is because I'll tell you what, no child can resist begging their parents for dipping dots that they won't buy. When's the last time a parent has bought dip and dots for their child? In 1988 when it was founded? Every B's game I go to. Founded in Kentucky. 1998. Single time. And number of locations. I couldn't find an exact number. It's kind of a mystery. Like 1600 maybe? Oh, I saw 226. I don't know. They were kind of confusing. They're kind of drowning a little bit. Well, and they're also like- You can say business is frozen. Because yes, dip and dots, if you don't know, they take little drops of kind of an ice cream liquid into liquid nitrogen and do a little tiny circle. So you eat like pebbles of ice cream. Do you have a favorite? I like the cookies and cream one. Oh, that's a good one. That's a very tasty. Do you have a favorite one? Yeah, cookies and cream. Mint chocolate. Mint chocolate's very good. Well, and they originally- There's like a fruity one that my kids always get. Yeah, like a toody fruity I think is. But Kurt Jones, who kind of is the inventor of this, he specialized in cryogenics and was trying to make efficient fodder for farm animals when he discovered this. And they tried to patent it, the creation of dip and dots. But the court basically ruled, no, it's pretty obvious you just dip ice cream juice into liquid nitrogen in terms of this. It's not a proprietary thing. Ready for this? Rainbow ice. There's the fruit one I was talking about. So, rainbow ice. Cookies and cream. And then one that I found fairly recently, cherry and blue razz ice. Have you ever been to Maverick, you have the cherry or blue raspberry icy tastes exactly like that. Quite delicious. Just like nine times the price. That's the problem. You can't find dip and dots unless you're like Adam all food court or at an amusement park. They don't really sell it in stores. There's a knockoff when I go on time, it wasn't as good. But they can't sell it in stores because they need temperatures below negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit. And that's not one many grocery stores can- Oh, that makes sense. But you can get it at shields. Can you? Yes, you sure can. Gold. No. You know, there's a- When I'm craving ice cream. Shields. Shields. Yeah, for sure. Not a sponsor. And I could really use a treadmill, a sports brassiere, and ice cream that is not filling whatsoever. Yeah. Also, you want to ride a ferris wheel? And that's it. Do you guys realize how much ice cream you get when you get dip and dots? Like nearly none. Like I heard to any other ice cream place. A little. It's all about the novelty though. It's the aero bar of ice cream. It basically is. Yeah. Yeah. I think dip and dots is a novelty store that will bring the kids in and get a lot of revenue for a little bit of work. Okay. That's a good choice. I like it a lot. Kent. I got to go with something to just eliminate it off the list because I need a pretzel place. So I'm going anti-annies. Good job. So they have pretzels, dips, and beverages. Finally, I have my lemonade that I have needed for a while. I do. Your parched patrons are no longer- Now listen, I'll admit, would I have chosen pretzel maker or what's those pretzels before? Yes. But I still get pepperoni pretzels. I still get the sweet almond pretzels, which are actually quite amazing. This is just what I have to choose, right? I need pretzels. I need something salty. You're settling for anti-annies. I think I'm settling. But guess what? It's still delicious. Oh, yeah. It's still a soft pretzel bite. I'm not going to fight against anti-annies. Right. So there I go. I got pretzels and I got something to drink because these pretzels are making me thirsty. Ah. I see what you did there. All right. We head into our sixth round. Joel, you will start us off on this one. Yes. As a reminder, you have Dairy Queen, Wetzel's pretzels, Panda Express, Jamba Juice, and dip and dots. Are we getting kind of desperate? Desperate how? I feel like there are choices you don't really want anymore. I don't know if there are any lemons in this group, some lemonade, but no lemons. I think there are lemons. There are ones I would not pick. I'm just looking at my list now of kind of the variety I've got. So I've got ice cream. I've got pretzels. I've got real food. Quote, unquote. I've got juice. I've got ice cream. I think I need to go with something a little bit, a little bit different. Mm. What are you thinking? I'm going over Charlie's feels. Dang it. Oh. Oh. That was absolutely going to be my choice. Charlie Steakery. Yes. Come on. That's a horrible name. No, it's not. Well, it's not great. Steakery is what they call me. Yes. But in addition to traditional Philly cheese steaks, the chain has other steak based sandwiches and multiple grilled chicken sandwiches among other grilled sandwiches found in 1986 in Ohio about 600 locations. And this is there was a guy named Charlie Shin, who him and his family went to New York City. He discovered the Philly cheese steak. He convinced his mother to sell her restaurant and best her life savings in $48,000 into Charlie's and put a location just across the Ohio State campus. And from what I can tell, it went pretty well because people know the name, but I just think a Philly sub Philly cheese steak. Joe, what? What? That's very good. Says the guy who picked sbaro first. Yeah. This is the Charlie's. This is the sbaro. This is a Philly cheese steak. It will fill you up with burnt meat. Charlie Steakery is not very good. You have no room to talk. You have no room to talk. Yes, I do. Sbaro. You've enjoyed sbaro in your life, sir. I listen, I get a if you get a recently cooked sbaro. It's good. I looked at the menu for recently cooked. They have not cooked a sbaro pizza in the past 30 years. I once cut the hair of a guy who worked there and gave me a fresh piece and it was actually really good. Okay. One time myth. I looked at the menu for Charlie's Philly steaks and I'm like, wow, great pictures. Bad food. But that said, I will say that you got there. Yeah, you got the bacon fries, you got cheese and cheese fries as well. Yeah. There's some good choices there. Listen, but no one's ever going to admit going to Charlie's Philly steaks for dinner. It's like, hey, what's your for dinner? Oh, place them all. It's just place them all. Just sandwich. Some fries. Yeah, but here's the thing, Ken. Do you know what it has? Good smells. That's smell of the cooking meat. That is going to really help. Like that's that's the aromatics is what the aromatics of Charlie steaks. Philly steaks is what I'm going for here. Yeah, I'm getting we're getting into the end of my pics, but I definitely think that's one I wanted to get before you guys snuck it up. Yeah, I was going to. I really was. I don't think it's very good either. That's why we're talking so late, but I think it's a good choice, Joel Kent. Pick number 17. I'm gonna go savory around as I've chosen a few sweet ones. What are you? What are you doing? And the savory ones are not great. No, they're not. But for variety. I'm going to take this one off the table and I know it's a tier three option, but I'm going Sarku Japan. No, that's what I was going next to listen, or we say Sarku, right? That is a well known name in the food court industry, but really there's so many Japanese restaurants that are generic and kind of have the same sort of thing. This was found in 1980 has over 180 locations. The majority of these are in the malls, but in the Eastern States, they have standalone locations. Basically, what you're getting here is you see a vat full of chow main, right? You got the chunky noodles and you can get chicken, beef shrimp. They have bento boxes. They have sushi. Probably wouldn't trust it. They have really good dumplings though. Yeah. Nobody couldn't go to Kent's mall because of mall sushi. Everybody got it and they ate it and they died. You eat here. You're going to be covered in the oil. Everything tastes like oil in these. But guess what? Sometimes they hit the spot. Like, it's not quite panda, right? It's not predictable. That's what I'm saying. Like, this is the restaurant you go to when the line up panda is too long. Yeah. But you throw some sriracha on top of this and you're like, oh my gosh. This is worth three meals and I spent $7 for this foam container that is going to last a long time. It's pretty good. I feel like I almost believed that when I said it. Yeah. And this could also be representative of all the generic. And that's what I'm saying. Japanese. Yeah, exactly. Restaurants they have in food. Which is necessary. I think variety. I needed that. Yeah. But I already got my panda, so I don't need it. Zach, you still don't have ice cream, by the way. I don't. But I have orange Julius. That's pretty dang close. No, I have to be true to my. Be true to yourself. I need a food place. I need a real food place. I've only got McDonald's. I hate it. I don't want to go there. But every time I go to a mall with somebody, they're like, Greek sounds good. I always disagree. But I'm going generic Greek place. No. No. You say Greek place? It's called like Greek Palace. It's Greek. Greek garden. It's called, you know, that's just a nose. So we were trying to think of restaurants we always see in malls. Right. And we were like, yeah, the Greek restaurant and we looked it up and there was no like main competitor in mall food courts because they all seem to be run by the local people who were just like, I just want my Greek restaurant and it's like Greek garden or Greek just as Greek food. Zach, would you say this is underrated and overcooked at the same time? You know, I mean, if you if you like chicken with a lot of flavor and not a ton of moisture, this is this is where we got you. Do they take debit cards? Because I'm not sure they do. No, hand drawn time says we do not accept that. It's cash only and they don't do change either. It's just like a, you know, bowl, you just throw it in there. This is a penny. Leave a penny. This is one of those restaurants where there's no one at the counter. And so you walk up to look at the menu and there's some dudes sitting behind the counter just waiting for people to come and make eye contact. You're like, ah, dang, I got to order now. So we tease, but Joel, what do I usually get when we go to food courts together? Greek food, Greek food, the little Euro plate, putting the taziki sauce right there. Yum, yum. Little bite, yogurt based sauces. Not for me. Mmm. But this is, I feel this is a mall staple and I feel it's a great choice to have in your mall, Zach. I do think it's a good choice. I will skip it, but I have McDonald's. That's fine. I'm going to, I'm honestly, I'm just going to OD. I'm sugar anyway, so whatever, okay. And for our final round, Kent, you will start us remaining as a reminder. We have Coldstone, Creamery, Hoggendaz and Nathan's Famous. Okay. You guys hit the ice cream. I'm choosing Nathan's Famous. Wow. I don't think anyone's ever eaten at a Nathan's Famous ever. I believe Joy Chestnut has not known anymore. Oh, that's right. You got five. Yeah. Yeah. So they have 198 locations. They started as a nickel hot dog standing, Coney Island in 1916. They've been around for a while. They have burgers, chicken sandwiches, meatball subs, fried shakes, but most specifically, hot dogs. Yes. And I think this does add the variety I'm kind of looking for because I got like a fancy schmancy Chick-fil-A, right? And I say that's fancy for a mall food court. And then it's like, yeah, but I need a hot dog, right? And Nathan's Famous is a pretty good alternative there. Hey, can't. Are Nathan's Famous hot dogs kosher? I'm going to say no. You're right. Wow. They're not kosher. Because. No, that's why Hebrew natties are for. Well, because the recipe is secret, it's a secret family recipe and they don't have rabbinic supervision, they can only say their hot dogs are, quote, kosher style. So what? They're kosher style hot dogs, which means they're not made from pork or horse meat. They are beef. Wait. Did you say horse meat? Well, sometimes they're not dogs. That's why I don't like hot dogs. That's why we're not having an Ikea food court. But yeah, and also, I found this kind of funny too, when Nathan's hot dogs first started opening, when they started opening them, they would ensure that men wearing surgeon's smocks were seen eating at a stand to reassure potential customers that no, this is okay. It's healthy. It's okay. Wow. So you dress up people and surgeons outfits and have me to your restaurant, people assume it's healthy. Wow. All the doctors at the mall. No. There's definite Monday laundering behind the scenes with Nathan's famous. Oh, absolutely. I'm going to have to crack down at my mall, but there is some laundering going on and it's funny. They have burgers and stuff like that. I don't think anyone ever would get a burger at Nathan's famous. You have something for sure. Oh, yeah. Not a burger. Anyways. Okay. You guys have two ice cream choices. More of a Hebrew naddy kind of guy. Yeah. I hear that. All right. Naddy. Yeah. Naddy light. What? Hebrew natties. Not so good. The journey of Hebrew naddy again. Wow. Go for us. Have you ever thought about that? Yeah. Right. All right. I am actually dumbfounded at what our last picks are. It's kind of crazy. This is remaining. Because these are actually. By the way, delicious. It's just ice cream is hard to like crave sometimes. You're like, I need to treat and ice cream may not be it. Ice cream was one where I went. Look, I already have dairy queen with the blizzards. I already have what's those pretzels with like the sweet drinks. I get it. And in Jamba. Like I have all these and dipping. Oh. So I was pushing the ice cream ones down, but now I got to get another one. You know, it hurts the ambiance of your mall. Here in those metal things, slap against the stone. Oh, it's kind of annoying. You know, it's great. Hagan das. We're going Hagan das with the 20th overall pick and my final pick here. This is what's so nice is not only do you get nice high quality scooped ice cream. Delicious. You can get it as a Sunday. You can get sauces and toppings and then you can get it mixed up as a shake. This is rich. This is delicious. Gelato. And gelato. Not a lot. Not a gelato. Shocker. No. Wow. Yeah. You're an ice cream elitist. Well, the last gelato I had with a hablast gelato is frozen. Cuz it's frozen. Cuz it's delicious. Okay. I just had bad gelato. That's fine. Bad gelato. Fun fact. This has kind of an interesting history. Hagan das. So founded in 1960 in the Bronx, New York, 900 locations as of now, but a man named Ruben Matthias was born in Poland in 1912 to Jewish parents. His father died during World War II and his widowed mother migrated to New York City with her two children in 1921 where they joined an uncle who was in the Italian lemon ice business. Okay. So their uncle sold Italian ice. They kind of go in there. But then he decided to start a new ice cream company, but he wanted to give it a Danish sounding name. Yeah. It's not a real Danish word. Hagan das is a major word without looking at your notes, spell Hagan das right now. Ha. Okay. Is it H-A-G-E-N-D-A-Z-Z? No, it sure isn't. That's a rapper from an M-N-N-N-N-N movie called Old. Okay. It's mid-sized sedan. H-A with the Omlaut A-G-E-N-D-A-Z-S. Yes. Yeah. So he decided that he wanted to give it his new ice cream company, a Danish sounding name as a tribute to Denmark's alleged exemplary treatment of the Jews during World War II. And his daughter reported that his, her father sat at the kitchen table for hours, saying nonsensical words until he came with a combination he liked. Well, he's basically pulling Danish sounding words out of the air and going, Hagan das. I'm still laughing at the fact that Ken thinks I have notes. So what sounds, what I would order here is the Rocky Road Dazzler, which is also what I wish to be. Dazzler or Dazzler? I wish to be. Hagan dasler. Refer to it from now on as the Rocky Road Dazzler. Yeah. Rocky Road ice cream layered with hot fudge and chocolate cookie pieces topped with whipped cream and chocolate cookie crunch served with toppings. My acid reflux would make me throw this up, but I would be happy along the way. I like that we're eating everything that is in our mall. Oh, 100% of it makes sense. Well, we have to sample it, right? Absolutely. To know what it wants to be there. I am very happy with this, and Joel, you were left with our final pick. Which is fine by me because actually Coldstone was one of the ones I wanted to get. It's delicious. It's great. Okay. Oh, Joel, what's your mix? What's my mix? Oh, it's Hagan dasler. Well, let me give you some quick facts about Coldstone real quick. If I may, please. This is a premium ice cream made with approximately 12 to 14% butter fat made on location and customized for patrons at the time of order founded in 1988 in Tempe, Arizona currently 129 locations founded by Donald Sutherland. Not that one. Oh, my God. Donald Sutherland who wanted ice cream that was neither hard packed nor soft serve. Now one of the reasons I want to bring this store up is because when you're walking around the mall, you burn a lot of calories. Oh, yeah. You need energy. And that's why I have this store because they have a drink that was designated by Men's Health Magazine as the most unhealthy drink in the United States for two consecutive years. And that would be the Coldstone PB and C. Yes, there's no PB and C stands for it. Butter chocolate peanut butter and chocolate, which is a great time. It's a dream. Not a street. Dude, and not two thousand and 10 calories, 131 grams of fat with 68 grams of saturated fat and 150 grams of sugar, which I'm told is not good. Give it to me right now. You are talking my language. Wow. Coldstone's also gotten big trouble while back when they've they've had a couple different incidences where, like, for example, they're cake batter, flavoring, I've had the got people it was associated with an outbreak of salmonella according to Wikipedia. Why don't we hold them accountable, but in check of the box, there's been employees who have lost fingers at Coldstone in the machinery. There's been losses. Hold on. I'm not paying for that topping. That's a mix in. Yeah. You didn't put. I don't like it. I don't love it. I don't want to have it. No, it says right here that you wanted M&M's Reese's Pieces and Fingies. I mean, I would. No colds. Butterfingies. Butterfingies. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. What's your go-to orders at Coldstone? Yeah. Coldstone. Easy. Okay. Strawberry blonde, but you take the frozen strawberries, swap them out for fresh banana. Oh, that sounds like it. Why would you swap them out though? The frozen strawberries, as they sit there, they get a little hard to eat, right? You can say with the fresh banana, it's a better texture overall. Trust me on this. For me, it's chocolate ice cream. Obviously, waffle cone, right? Mm-hmm. That makes sense. Graham Cracker mixed in there and caramel and peanut butter. Mm-hmm. That's good. I usually go with whatever I'm feeling when I go in there, like I kind of go ahead and I'm like, "Ah, this makes him," but there's a- Cake batter with brownie and sprinkles? Oh, that's good. But I do like the cake batter, batter, batter as well. Oh, cake batter batter batter. Cake batter batter batter. Cake batter batter. It's quite good. It is. That's the one that poisoned a bunch of people. But they since worked that out. Allegedly. Yes. So there you go. There's my final pick that I was forced into, but I'm happy to have it. Listen, we each have seven options of the food court, and I think that we have two open stands because two of them got shut down, right? Yeah. Health code violations. Several. Right. One is covered with a sheet. The other is not. Yeah. So you can see into the kitchen. One says under construction, but it's never not going to be under construction. Oh, absolutely. Or it's going to be like a weird themed burger. A place that will be there for two months. Oh, yeah. So the listener, this is where you come in because we now have our mall food courts. You may have judged our malls before, but now we have our mall food courts and we want you just to close your eyes for a moment unless you're driving. Do not close your eyes if you're driving and picture these mall food courts and let us know which mall food court you would go in. Kent, why don't you explain your mall food court first? What do you got? Doesn't that smell so good? That garlic two day old pizza smell from Sabaro, right? But it looks fancy. Then you have the cinnabon. Oh, my goodness. That is an MVP pick right now, but you don't, but you have to go down the mall always to get to the cinnabon. It's not quite in the food court. What's that one? It's like off ball by itself. It's by Spencer's. Oh, no. Then I have Chick-fil-A. I mean, easy. Okay. Them, Baskin Robbins, right? Got to get the best ice cream place out of the way. Antianis, Sarku, Japan, and Nathan's famous. So it really did a nose dive at the end there, but I started on Friday. I know. I think these are all good. Well, you started strong. Yeah. That's good. All right. Zack, what do you have? I have got orange Julius. You're wonderful. Slash it. 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