Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein and this is the podcast Cooking with Bruce and

Martin. And I'm Mark s Scarborough. And together with Bruce, we have written 37 cookbooks, not counting Bruce's two knitting books, not counting my memoir, not counting books. We wrote for celebrities, which we can't talk about except one because they forgot a confidentiality agreement. Dr. Phil. They forgot that. Mm-hmm. I like to think that, uh, it's just one of many mistakes he's made over the course of his career.

Mm-hmm. But we emphasis on many.

Ye many, but we are not talking about any of that in this episode. This episode of our podcast about food and cooking is going to be about the top chain restaurants in the United States. And we're gonna go down the list of what are the absolute top restaurants in the United States and whether we've been to them and what do we think about them? And you might be surprised by these answers. Uh, and we have some very strong reactions to some of these. Mm-hmm. So, uh, we're gonna talk through that. And what are the top, let's say about 15 restaurants in the United States? Based on both sales and number of locations. We've got a one minute cooking tip and we'll tell you what's making us happy in food this week. So let's get started.

Our one minute cooking tip. Never overmix a batter. Whether you're making pancakes or banana bread, it doesn't matter. Leave the batter. Slightly lumpy. Most cake batters, slightly grainy. Exactly. You don't wanna activate the weak gluten and begin to stretch them out and make it tough.

In our, in our book Alamo and other books that we've written, Alamo, which is this ice cream cake pairing book where every recipe is for a cake and an ice cream to go with it. Anyway, in that book, make a big deal about you cannot. Overmix the butter and the eggs, but you can definitely overmix it once you add the flour. Mm-hmm. That you could, once that butter and eggs are starting to cream together, you, you can walk outta the kitchen and, I don't know, take the dog out to the, to, to pee in the backyard and come back in. But in terms of, uh, working with the flour, the minute it goes in the second you no longer see a piece of dry white flour have to stop. But even if it's grainy,

there's a reason Most recipes say mix them in by hand. Right? Because you don't want to overmix it or you're gonna have a tough cake.

And lemme say just so we're gonna make this longer than one minute, as we always do, but let me just say that you rarely mix it by hand.

I rarely do. I will put the, uh, flour, the dry ingredients. In my stand mixer and I put it on the lowest possible setting, and as soon as it is mixed in, it's done. And it's on slow, slow, slow. And it barely, barely mixes, right? But unless you're really comfortable, you know, watching your mixer and knowing that moment, it's done to a band,

right? Right. Your pancake batter should be slightly lumpy. Your cake batter and brownie batter, et cetera, should be slightly grainy. Okay, that's our one minute cooking tip. Let me just say that we are here every week and we'd love for you to be with us, so don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so that you don't miss an episode of cooking with Bruce and Martin. We're delighted and very grateful that you've chosen us in a giant landscape of podcasts and, um, we don't, we're so old school. We don't even have a video component to this podcast. Nope. This is just an old audio podcast, which is so pandemic. I can't explain it, but Okay. It is what it is, and thanks for being with us. Okay. Up next our list of the top 15 or so chain restaurants in the United States.

Okay. You handed me this list. I did and, and I was actually a little shocked. Um, you said, did I wanna actually see the list before we met or not? I did.

Oh, well this is behind the scenes stuff. Yeah. But yes, I did because I, I, I wondered if Bruce wanted to have an honest reaction or he wanted to see the

list. Well, it was funny 'cause when you told me we were doing the top restaurant chains, I missed the word chains. I just heard the top restaurants, United States.

Oh, you said we're gonna do like five star dining? Well,

I wasn't sure. You said the restaurants that make the most money, that have the most visitors. So you handed me this list, I'm like. Everything is so downscale, but it's not surprising. No. I mean, no, no, no. It's a country of 320 million people. Right. They gotta eat somewhere

more than that, I think. But anyway, I, what we wanna do is what we're gonna, I'm gonna tell you what they are and the, the, this is a rubric I worked out through research, and these are the. Top 15 or so restaurants in the United States. And then I'll tell you what, they are ranked in terms of revenue and number of locations. It's not the same. So like the number one restaurant is number one in revenue, but it's not number one in the number of its locations. So I'll tell you that and then we'll kind of respond to it. I wanna know like, has Bruce ever been, have I ever been in, what do we think about it? Okay, so here we go. The number one restaurant in the United States is McDonald's

Kel Sapr.

Without a, without a single doubt, it is the number one in revenue. However. It is number three in terms of the number of locations mm-hmm. Of McDonald's. So, uh, have you ever been to McDonald's?

Uh, not since I was a child. Oh, not since you were a

child? Mm-hmm. I guess that's a similar answer for me. Not since I was a child and

I'm talking like six, seven years old, and that was. That was the last time I had a McDonald's.

Well, I mean, uh, we did, we talked about this in the last episode of the podcast. We did stop and get a Diet Coke there, and I will say that this is really terrible and not a good advertisement for McDonald's. But I will say that when you're traveling around the rural United States, for example, when we're crossing through rural Nevada on our way to Utah, McDonald's is always a place for a clean restrooms, very clean bathrooms. So there you go. But

you wanna get in and out of there fast, otherwise you close, stink, like McDonald's. So there, there is, you know, it's like when you go to a mall and there's that aroma that kind of makes you wanna linger and shop. No, that,

that aroma is instant headache for me. I, I walk in the door of a mall and have a headache,

but McDonald's has the aroma. That's different.

Yeah. And

it clings.

Um, well, I suppose, um, okay. The number two restaurant chain in the United States, and it is number two in both. In terms of its revenue and in terms of its number of locations. So this one is truly, number two is Starbucks.

Okay. I go to Starbucks a lot and I like Starbucks, but here's what I think about Starbucks.

You go to Starbucks so much. Mm-hmm. That they have your money stored in their app and you give them money that they hold on, float through their app, go on

$10 is what I keep on my Starbucks. Go on.

Yeah,

sure. That way I can. Order in advance. And when I get there, it is ready. And I don't have to wait in line with those people waiting for their Starbucks. But Starbucks, it's good. It's okay, but it's consistent. So Starbucks is like having a gas fireplace.

Oh, now you're, now you're backing up. No, I like Starbucks.

Yeah, you do. I do like Starbucks, but I like it because I know what I'm gonna get and it's consistent. And again, it's like a gas fireplace and you can have it. Everywhere you go. Okay. Okay. It's okay. It's not the best. Alright,

I'm gonna cut you off and say I hate Starbucks. I know you do. So I, Bruce is much more the big snob than I am in terms of food, but I hate Starbucks. I hate the taste of the coffee. First of all, I do not understand why I need 175 liters of coffee. I, I do not understand this. The giant sizes, and I never do any of the, I don't know, lime syrup, popcorn, fluffy soda. There's no coffee in those. I don't, I never do that stuff, but when I have the coffee, I. I just think it tastes burned, and I think it tastes like the crap that my father would have in the office. My father had this idea that you made a pot of coffee in his office in the morning, and you didn't drink it till about 2:00 PM so it sat there and oxidized on the burner and got stronger and stronger and more and more bitter and. I think that's what Starbucks tastes like. Well,

that's how your father grew up. And because his father boiled his coffee like that did. So your father was used to that. But if I'm faced in a situation where there's a Starbucks downstairs in my hotel or right next door, and the only other coffee is that horrible little machine that's sitting in the. Hotel room, I'll

take the machine.

Oh, you don't know what people have done in that machine. Oh,

stop.

I'm going to Starbucks. Oh,

stop. Um, in case you don't know, there is a whole subculture of people who use the coffee maker in a motel room to wash their underwear. They put their underwear in it and run hot water through it. It's a whole thing. Mm-hmm. So, okay, number three. Number three restaurant in the United States is Chick-fil-A. And it is number three in terms of its revenue. But here's what's interesting. It's number. 18 in terms of the number of locations. So it's way down the list in terms of how many Chick-fil-A's there are, but it is number three in revenue. It tells you

they're selling a lot at each one. I've never been,

I've never been,

no. And I don't want this to become political, but they do have. They do have a whole philosophy that I do not agree with.

Yeah, and this is, what's it, I, I'm gonna just stop and talk about this for a minute. I remember very clearly the first time I got on Facebook and I, I, this is, you know, years ago when I first got on Facebook and, um, I was, you know, being myself and I post, I think this is back during George. Bush the second. Second term. Mm-hmm. And I posted something incredibly political and it didn't get posted more than an hour before. My literary agent called me personally and said, what are you doing? Do you only wanna sell books? Do people who agree with you, or do you wanna sell books And. I was so dumbfounded by this, and it was the first time it really hit me that, wait a minute, if you're running a business or you're trying to sell something, you know, maybe you should just keep your nose out of things and just be positive and et cetera. And I, this is the problem with something like Chick-fil-A, and again, I don't wanna get, uh, a political either. Why make political identities central to who you are? I don't,

it hasn't hurt them, though. They're number three in income. No,

it hasn't hurt them. In, in, it is number three in, in income and I have never been to a Chick-fil-A. Okay. Number four on the list is Taco Bell. And Taco Bell is the fourth in terms of the revenue it generates. But fifth, in terms of the number of locations across the United States, uh, we'll get to the fourth biggest in terms of location in a minute, but, okay. Taco Bell. So, uh, never been.

Don't like diarrhea,

not going. Mm-hmm. I guess that is the thing I have to say. When I was a kid growing up in Dallas, there was a Taco Bell on Forest Lane and it was near where I lived and I loved Tex-Mex food and I didn't have any money except for mowing yards. So I will say that when I had a car in high school, I would go to Taco Bell and I will honestly say. That's the last time I've ever been to Taco Bell, so I doubt I've been to a Taco Bell since I went to college.

Well, I get it. I mean, when I was that age, I loved KFC. It's not even on this list, but I loved KFC when I was a kid, so, oh, yes

it is. You just don't know where it is yet. Yes it is on this list. Look

down the whole list here. Okay,

well, yeah, taco Bell. So, I don't know, it's hard for me to even say, uh, bow Taco Bell. And, um, also, I don't know, there aren't that many taco bells around us are there, here, new England.

I don't need Bell England. Don't know that. Any around here. I mean I was growing up, we had some in Queens, but Right, there's, I don't think there's any around here. It always killed me in Dallas. 'cause Dallas was full when we used to go when you were older. There's so many fabulous Hispanic places to go and get real tacos. Yet we always tell your mom we want tacos. And she go, let's go to Taco Bell.

Yeah, I know Bries and I do go to this place that is outside of Hartford in West Hartford. And when we're over there by the Costco. And, uh, we, uh, go, it's a, it's a Mexican crude restaurant and we go and have tacos and lemme tell you, it is not fancy. Mm-hmm. It's about as fancy as Taco Bell and the tacos are not expensive. They're super cheap, but they're super delicious. Yeah. You can

get it with like grilled heart.

Grilled tongue. You can, you can get tongue tacos, which I love. Okay, so the fifth most popular restaurant, or the most successful restaurant in the United States is Wendy's, and it's never had it. It's fifth in terms of revenue, but ninth

in

terms of the number of locations. Bottom

of my list. Never been

okay. You've never been All right. I will say that I haven't been to Wendy's. Since I was in college, but it was the standard thing in college when they opened a Wendy's, I went to Baylor in Waco, and when they opened a Wendy's across the street from the main campus, we would literally go to dinner in the, in the dining room, eat, you know, on campus, on board. And then about nine o'clock we would inevitably go to Wendy's and sit there in Wendy's and have a Wendy's hamburger. This was like. Over and over again there. The freshman 15 is a real thing. 15 pounds you put on a as a freshman is a real honest to God thing. That's probably the last time I had Wendy's. My parents lived on Wendy's at the end of their lives. There was

a Wendy's in our town here in rural New England, and it closed, it couldn't, it couldn't even sustain a Wendy's. That's

how rural we are. Is that the little town near, it's not even in our town. It's in the, it's in that biggest town, which is tiny near us, and they did open a Wendy's and it closed back. Down and now there's this poor guy trying to run a Peruvian restaurant in there, which is just cracking me out. It's never in there. I mean, I feel sorry for him. Peruvian restaurant in rural, and I

thought we might go and get one of their whole grilled chickens one night, but he's like $37 for a chicken.

Okay, so. No. So anyway, okay, the sixth biggest restaurant in the United States in terms of revenue, and it's the fourth in terms of the number of locations. So it's really got more locations everywhere than, uh, others. And this is very near and dear to New England's heart is Dunking

Donuts. Uh, say it right, it's just Dunking Dunking. They've changed their name. It is dunking. It's no longer donuts. It's no longer part of the world. Is that

really right? They, they changed the name officially. It's just dunking. Okay. Well Dunking. So Dunking is it, and uh,

it's near and dear to my heart. I grew up with Dunking Donuts back when it was Dunking Donuts, and I love them. On Sunday mornings, my dad would go get a big box of donuts, and I love the cream filled ones. But they've gotten so sweet. It just tastes like sugar now. Uh, it

does. I was gonna say that, uh, my last blood draw for a physical, I went, we went, uh, you know, to have the blood draw and you can't eat beforehand and at the end I was, I, I'm needle phobic. This is more than you need to know, but I'm needle phobic. So I got through the blood draw and we, we got out of it and I was like, I'm gonna get. Dunking Donuts. Your reward has my reward for getting my blood draw. I know it's ridiculous. A blood draw. But, uh, we stopped and we bought, I think we bought little donut holes. The minis?

Yeah, the dunk, the munchkins. Is that what they call 'em? Yeah, the munchkins. I don't

even know the donut holes. I'm going to use the bad words. And, uh. We got halfway home and we didn't even eat what we bought. They were too sweet. It was, it

was so sugary. That's all it was, was sugary. It was. I didn't taste wheat. I didn't taste the cake part of it. It just tasted like sugar. Okay.

So the seventh most popular restaurant in the United States in terms of it's revenue, it's seventh in revenue, it's sixth in, the number of its location is Burger King, and I want to say right up front. I have never been

Burger King got me through high school. Alright. I went to high school in middle, middle Manhattan on 46th and Broadway, and there was a Burger King on 45th and sixth Avenue. Okay. And I would get Burger King probably three days a week for lunch in high school.

Okay. When I was a little kid, this is not on the list, but when I was a little kid, there were dairy Queens in Oklahoma where my grandparents lived. And there were also Dairy Kings and they were competing, of course, they were, uh, chains. And my grandmother would not go to Dairy King. She only went to Dairy Queen. I like to think of this as her one feminist moment. Her one glorious Steinem moment is that she would only go to Dairy Queen. Your

grandmother and Gloria Steinem the same

sentence. They are, they are, they made to be together. Okay, so. The eighth most popular restaurant in the United States is the number one restaurant in terms of its number of locations, but it's eighth in terms of revenue, and that is Subway.

The only time I have ever had a Subway is the same time you've had a Subway. It was the morning your dad died and I went out to get us all lunch.

That's right.

And I went to Subway. That's right. And I brought us all back stuff from Subway.

You went to Starbucks to make coffee, and you also then went to Subway and you brought Subway sandwiches back. Did. Bruce, literally, this is too gross to sustain a podcast, but Bruce literally walked into the hospice room 30 seconds after my dad died, and he came in with all this food. Very proud of himself. As I'm running out of the room to get the nurse, because dad has stopped breathing. And, um, it was so funny 'cause he was just so proud of himself and I, as I pass him in this hallway of this beautiful hospice facility, I literally say Dad died. Said as I'm running past him. And, uh, it's funny now, it wasn't funny at the moment. And so after the nurse came in and, you know, we ascertained that in fact he had passed away. Then we went down to one of their beautiful lobbies. This place in Dallas was crazy. We went out there. Beautiful lobbies and we sat there and ate Subway tarbucks. It was the only time tarbucks I've ever had it Tarbucks coffee, and I think that might be the only time I've had it and I can't, I cannot even remember that. That's what you brought. Mm-hmm. I know I sat in that lounge and ate something, but I don't even remember. Okay. The ninth most popular restaurant in the United States. Ninth and Hertz of revenue. 10th in terms of the number of its locations is Domino's Pizza.

I had it, uh, for a brief period when I moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and I was living in Shaker Heights,

unfortunate Cleveland Sojourn.

I was living in Shaker Heights and I had just moved in. The furniture was delivered. It was about six o'clock. I was hungry. And my neighbor in the building said Domino's delivered. So I called them and they were so nice when I told 'em I just moved in. They sent me like free sides and free extras and coupons for pizzas. So I just kept ordering from Domino's for about six months.

Okay. And I'm gonna say right up front, I have never been to Domino's. I've never had a Dominos Pizza that I know of. I mean, maybe when dad died, you got a Domino's Pizza and I didn't know it. Um, as far as I know, I've never been to Domino's, so I can't tell you. I have a reverential attitude toward pizza. Pizza to me is one of the divine food groups, and I don't know, Domino's, just, I'm too scared of it, so I've never been. I have to say that I lived in New York City, the home of a slice for 10 years with Bruce, and I actually had one slice. Once. Oh my God. So I, I will tell you that I'm so reverential about pizza. I wouldn't even go into New York slice places. Slice. Oh my God. But there no

ma, there's no bad pizza in New York. That's the thing about New York. Even

the pizza I had was not good. It was, it was gummy and gross. I didn't like it. No. Okay, we're moving on the 10th most popular restaurant in the United States. 10th in terms of also its revenue, but 16th in terms of the number of its location. And you might know why its revenue is high. When I tell you this is Chipotle, that's 'cause most people find it expensive. It is expensive. So maybe that's why it's down the list in terms of the number of locations, but up in terms of its revenue

of all the fast food that's available out there when I go to airports or anything else. I will go to a Chipotle. I've had it before. Right. It's, it's okay. Um, I don't, I'm never afraid of getting sick. I'm never remember when

we wanted to go to Chipotle with my brother and he wouldn't go. My brother is Nuia and he wouldn't, he made us go to Q Dobo instead because it was cheaper. He wouldn't go to Chipotle because that was fancy. Mm-hmm. So. We would, we missed out on the Chipotle. I have, I've had Chipotle a handful of times, and I have to say that everything I've had is okay. Yeah, I mean, that's fine. There's, there's nothing that is grand, but you're right. Going to a rest, uh, a restaurant, going through an airport or going fast through train station or something like that, it's. It's a fine thing to happen. Mm-hmm. Okay. The 11th most popular restaurant in the United States, I have a story about it. It's 12th in terms of its revenue, but eighth in terms of its location. So when you figure it out and do all the math on it, it comes out as the 11th. Most popular is Pizza Hut. Never

been. Um, even I have my limits with pizza. Oh, okay. And gee, I will not standards.

I do. Okay. My grandmother, the same one who would only go to Dairy Queen, she loved Pizza Hut. This is in the seventies, and she didn't know. What it was called. So she always called that Pizza Hut. So we were always going to Pizza Hut and, but that's back in the day when you couldn't pre-order. So it was this whole thing about, oh, it takes forever. So she would literally bring snacky food in her purse because it would take so long for the pizza to come. And so we would sit there at the table sneaking snacks out of her burgers. Did they? Salads or appetizers. We, I came from a very middle class home and we couldn't afford such things. So we had pizza at Pizza Hut and then that's all we had is the pizza at Pizza Hut. Uh, so my upbringing was not fancy to say the little, but there also

wasn't Pizza Huts in New York when I was growing up. We were growing New York. It was. Real pizza places with Italian pizza places. I mean, I'm

so old that I remember when there was a huge thing between Pizza Hut and Pizza Inn, and it was this whole rivalry thing about which you liked. And I remember in high school those whole discussions about Pizza Hut versus Pizza Inn. It's the whole thing. Okay. The 12th most popular restaurant in the United States, which is 15th in terms of its location, then 17th in terms of its revenue. But again, when you do all the math out, it comes out as the 12th most popular. Is Popeye's and I have never been.

Never been. Don't even know what they sell. I think. Fried chicken. Fried chicken. Do they have burgers too?

I am not sure. Isn't this funny? Here's two established food writers with 37 Co. Salmon. I don't

even know what they have.

I've never been. Okay. The thirteenth's most popular we're moving on is Panera Bread. It is the 11th most popular in terms of its revenue. It makes the 11th most revenue of any chain. It's the 24th in terms of its number of locations, which tells you that it. Lives up to his reputation. For some people that it's expensive. Yeah, so they're making a lot of money on what they sell.

It is expensive, it's high end, but I find Panera Bread to be bland. The bread is soft. The bread doesn't very soft taste like great soft bread. The sandwiches, the meats, all that, you know, industrial, processed meat. So I don't really think I'm getting anything extra for the extra money I'm spending there. Um, but I've had it in a pinch. I'll get their chicken salad on some bread. But

yeah, I get the Turkey sandwiches. I, I mean our dog, oh my God. Here's a story for you. So our dog, our dog likes Panera Bread. No he doesn't, but he was playing around in the backyard with Bruce and they were chasing the ball and Bruce was chasing the ball back and forth. And sometimes Bruce pretends to throw it one way and then throws it another way. Well, once he did this and our colleague. Ran the wrong way. He ran the way that Bruce was fainting and not the way he was actually throwing the ball and ran straight headfirst into a big stone wall, and he was injured. He was limping on a front leg and a back leg, and we were scared that something was really wrong. And so I had to go to the vet emergency room. Believe me, you're spending money. The dog is fine, everything is fine, but it took hours of x-rays and all this stuff. So I took myself to Panera Bread and I have to say. I had a Turkey sandwich. I had one of the half halves, like a small cup of soup and a half a Turkey sandwich. It wasn't bad. I mean, I sat there and played social media on my phone and it was okay. I mean, would I go outta my way to get a Panera Bread sandwich? No, but I know why it has. The reputation it has. Mm-hmm. It also was expensive.

Yes, it is.

It was even expensive for my half, half thing. Okay. So the 14th possible restaurant in the United States 13th in terms of its revenue, but 14th in terms of its number of locations, is Sonic. I have a story about Sonic too.

Never been there. Okay. Never see.

Bridge had never been to half these places. I've never been to some of them, but Bridge has never been to half. Uh, here's my story about Sonic. When I was a kid, my paternal grandmother lived in rural Oklahoma and she loved Sonic. And we would go get Sonics in Ardmore, Oklahoma. We would drive and get Sonic Hamburgers, and my mother would throw a. Fit in the car on our way to get them, because Sonic Hamburgers had mayonnaise and my mother had this thing about no mayonnaise on hamburgers. She hated it. She thought Mustard was the only proper T, but she's

wrong too. It's ketchup, blah.

So they're both wrong. Okay, blah, blah, blah. What killed me about this is as she got older, my mother would only eat mayonnaise on hamburgers. So even though when I was a kid, she threw fits about going to Sonic because of the mayonnaise. Later in life, that's all she ate was mayonnaise. Hamburgers. So I guess people do change. Mm-hmm. In terms of Sonic, I don't really remember much about Sonic. I have to say I still remember it in Ardmore that they came out to your car.

Oh. Is that one of those places back then with

roller skates? Well, I don't remember roller skates, but I remember they came out to your car. Would they hang a tray on your window or they just gave you the bag? Wasn't um, what was the place a and w root beer that would like hang the trail then window? No, they would just hand you the bag. Mm-hmm. That's what I remember at the Sonic in Amoy. And we're talking, this is like the early seventies. Finally, we're gonna end at the 15th most popular restaurant in the United States, 14th in terms of its revenue, 12th in terms of its number of locations, which tells you about the inexpensiveness of the food. There's more of these, but they're making less revenue, so they're really cutting their margins thin. And that's KFC.

Yeah, it used to be called Kentucky Fried Chicken, right? They wanted to get rid of the fried part, and maybe they wanted to get rid of the Kentucky part. I don't know. I So now it's just KFC. When I was a kid, I lived on it, loved it. It was great. I don don't think what they're

sad about rebranding it. I, I wonder if they're sad about, I mean, because now

sad a corporation. Sad. I know, I know. That's why I don't know what you're asking. I

know, but Kentucky Fried now, when they changed that, uh, how do I say this? When they changed that 20 years ago to KFC, you know, they were trying to make it more national. Now everybody's into kind of a local cuisine, and so I thought, oh, this is like chicken fried in Kentucky. Suddenly it seems much more romanticized or I idealized or something. It's also shorter.

KFC is. Easy. It, it's short, it's, it's dunking. I mean, you want to get really short and quick. You could do so much more with the logo with KFC. It is. It is. Yeah. But I used to love it, but

you

know.

Okay. Now I don't. This is a place I've never been. Mm. So I grew up in a family. That fried chicken, my mother made fried chicken. My grandmother's, both of them. Fried chicken. I never had KFCI, I don't know. It was, it was considered anathema in my family because, you know, somebody would bring, so, okay, here's my story. On the hottest weekend of August, my father's family would have a family reunion at Lake Murray outside of Ardmore, Oklahoma. And we would sit on a concrete slab when it was a thousand degrees outside and have this family reunion. It was horrible. And, uh, swim at. Elephant rock in Lake Murray and somebody, inevitably, some great aunt or somebody would bring a bucket of KFC and my grandmother was always appalled because she would've been up since 4:00 AM frying chicken that she brought that was her own. I mean, I would've gone for

her fried chicken, of course. Right. And she was, she my choice. Just always

appalled.

KFC is not, was never my. Favorite, I loved it, but when we were a real treat, my dad would go a chicken delight, and that was, I don't even know what that is, the best fried chicken ever.

I don't even

know what that is. It was, I think it was a local chain. If it's, if you are listening to this and you knew of a chicken delight outside of Queens in New York, let me know.

Okay, well, I don't know. Again, KFC was consider. Bad because again, some gradient, and let me tell you just to tell you where I'm from, where I come from, I'm talking about women named Thelma and Myrtle. So it's either Thelma or Wilma. Fay or Myrtle would bring KFC. This is where I'm from, people. And uh, there you go. I have Wilma Faye, I always wanted to name one of my dogs, Wilma Faye, but

name one Wilma one.

No, no, no. It's gotta be the whole thing. Wool Mae. So, uh, that's a podcast about, uh, the most popular restaurants in the United States. I know, it's crazy. We just thought we'd go down it and see what we thought about them and whether we'd been, it's amazing between the two of us, how many of them we haven't. Mm-hmm. Been to. Since these are such popular places to be, oh, I'm just a food snob. What can you say? Uh, I don't know that I'm a food snob. I just at times haven't ever been around these kind of places. Okay. About Domino's. I'm a slob. A snob? Well, I'm a slob too, but I'm also a snob, uh, about Domino's. But other ones I don't know. I've been a lot as a kid, not so much as an. So that's the rundown. Uh, let me say that, uh, we're really glad you're with us. If you could review this podcast, if you could rate it, if you could give us a rating, even like great podcast that helps us in the analytics, you know, we're not supported otherwise, so that is the way that you can support us and we really appreciate that. Sorry for this being so US-centric. I know we have a lot of Canadian and Australian listeners, um, but you know, we should put

Tim Horton's on

there. Oh, hor. And maybe coming up this list, rising up this list even as we speak in the United States, given what Tim Hortons is doing here. Uh, so anyway, uh, sorry it was a bit US centric, but, uh, so it is, uh, we'll move on to something else next week in the podcast if you subscribe to it. And thanks for doing that. So as is tradition. The last segment of this podcast, what's making us happy in food this week?

Something that is in the refrigerator that is going to be cooked tonight. Crispy skinned pork belly.

No, it's related to what I was gonna say, but not exactly. And

so we have friends coming for Chinese food tonight and I am making this Cantonese Sue. And it is. Pork belly that is roasted in the oven till the skin is bubbly and crisp and you have to start the day before and you salt it and you let it dry out all the moisture, and you let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to dry out the skin. Then you give it a little brush of vinegar and roast it for half hour, then brush it with oil and roast it another half hour, and it's. Skin gets bubbly and crispy and it's delicious and that's what's gonna make me happy tonight.

Okay, well, so what's making me happy in food this week is also a pork belly, but that is last weekend we had some friends over for just a really ca casual, I know this is how casual, but Bruce made Korean food and he made this Korean stir fry that is kimchi and pork belly. And you sliced the pork belly really, really thinly so that it's quickly stir fried, right? Mm-hmm. And then you stir fry it with kimchi and it was. It was good. So hot. It was, uh, several of us, well there were four of us, but two of us at least, were running for Kleenexes 'cause our nose were running. Um, it was so hot, but it was so delicious. And the kimchi was our own from the book called Can, and it was hot. That's part of it. It was hot.

So not only did you use the hot kimchi, that I added a ton of gochugaru flakes for the extra, the extra jeans. It was good.

Much eat white refined rice anymore, but dishes like that, call for white refined rice. Mm-hmm. Because they're the white rice is sweet and those dishes are so hot. The sweet kind of helps with how hot they're, okay. So that's the podcast for this week. Thanks again for being a part of it. It was a little indulgent, but okay. So it goes, thanks for being a part of it and we appreciate your being with us on this journey.

Every week we tell you what's making us happy in food. So please go to our Facebook group, cook me with Bruce and Mark, and tell us what's making you happy in food this week. 'cause we want to know. Wanna know what's making you happy and we'll continue to share what makes us happy with food here on cooking at Bruce and Mark.