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- [00:00]
Lauren Gruel
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:04]
Announcer (Liberty Mutual)
Limu Keymoo.
- [00:07]
Doug
And Doug.
- [00:07]
Narrator (Limu Emu)
Here we have the limu emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.
- [00:22]
Andrew Gruel
Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us?
- [00:25]
Narrator (Limu Emu)
Cut the camera. They see us.
- [00:26]
Doug
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty.
- [00:29]
Andrew Gruel
Liberty.
- [00:30]
Announcer (Liberty Mutual)
Liberty. Liberty.
- [00:32]
Doug
Very unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company affiliates excludes Massachusetts.
- [00:34]
Dr. Dennis Black
Greetings, naturopathy. Dr. Dennis Black here, founder of Rough Greens. And if only dogs could talk. I think a lot of them would say, hey, thanks for the love, but this food, it's not working for me. The truth is, they'd be right. Because most dog food, wet or dry, is cooked at such high temperatures that every live nutrient in it is destroyed. And what you're left with is dead food bulked up with fillers and sprayed with artificial flavors. That's not what dogs need. But when you add back in the live vitamins, omega oils, and antioxidants are in Rough greens. Your dog would say something different. Like, they'd say, wow, this is delicious. Or sluggish. Dogs might say, hey, let's go for a walk. Older dogs might say, I feel like a puppy again. It's not magic. It's biology. Don't just imagine it. See it in your dog. I'll send you a free Jumpstart trial bag for your dog. You just cover the shipping. Go to ruffgreens.com, use discount code talk. That's R U, F F Greens discount code. If your dog could only talk, they'd say, thank you.
- [01:38]
iHeartRadio Advertiser
You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing. You are listening to me, which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering. But my point Is, ads on iHeartRadio actually get heard in the car, at the gym, on the couch while people are walking their dogs.
- [01:53]
Andrew Gruel
Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy. That's right there.
- [01:57]
Dr. Dennis Black
You're a good.
- [01:58]
iHeartRadio Advertiser
So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-IHEART or go to iheartadvertising.com that's 8iheart or iheartadvertising.com.
- [02:10]
Andrew Gruel
And welcome back to another episode of American Gravy. I'm chef Andrew Gruel.
- [02:14]
Lauren Gruel
And I'm Lauren Grohl.
- [02:15]
Andrew Gruel
And we're back with the only show where we mix food, family, and freedom in the same pot. And as Lauren likes To say, somehow we don't burn it. Or sometimes we do burn it. We'll find out. You guys are about to find out as well. So we've had a great week, and we are excited to have you back. Lauren and I have been, you know, navigating through the Halloween Thanksgiving season. Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving? On no.
- [02:38]
Lauren Gruel
It comes up so quickly. I feel like the last three months of the year go by so fast.
- [02:43]
Andrew Gruel
Wouldn't it be easier as parents if we could merge Thanksgiving with Halloween? So, for example, like, on Halloween, we're just giving out turkey legs, mashed potato balls.
- [02:52]
Lauren Gruel
I feel like people are gonna do that this year.
- [02:54]
Andrew Gruel
Somebody's gonna do that. Or our kids are gonna do that.
- [02:56]
Lauren Gruel
Somebody.
- [02:56]
Andrew Gruel
Lauren's still working her Halloween costume. We're thinking maybe she's going to be a mom of four.
- [03:03]
Lauren Gruel
I think I know how to do that. Yeah, I can make that one way.
- [03:06]
Andrew Gruel
But just throw, like, a weird hat on and that's it.
- [03:08]
Lauren Gruel
No, I feel like the go to mom costume is, like, you just make yourself a cat. You, like, put some cat ears on, do, like, a little, you know, eyeliner on your nose with some whiskers, and that's.
- [03:17]
Andrew Gruel
It looks like Lauren's gonna be a cat this year.
- [03:19]
Lauren Gruel
I don't want to be a cat this year because I feel like I've been a cat.
- [03:23]
Andrew Gruel
I think I can work some jokes into that. Yeah, let's not do that. So there's been a story that we've seen over the past couple weeks, and it's culminating fast. It's election season. So I want to touch on this because I had a reporter reach out the other day, and they said with the prospect of mom Donamy, I'm rolling through his name, Zoharan, taking over potentially as the mayor of New York City, how do you think this is going to affect the restaurant industry and food service overall?
- [03:50]
Lauren Gruel
Yeah. So he is proposing to have city owned public grocery stores.
- [03:54]
Andrew Gruel
Yes, city owned public grocery stores. And the context of this question was both the grocery element and then also the restaurant piece of this. So I actually thought that was a really good question because, you know, there's always going to be headlines like, overnight, you know, the city's gonna go in the toilet. And this is, you know, an existential crisis. And don't get me wrong, there's really not much on his platform that I agree with. And I don't know how he's gonna execute a lot of these things, because being in city council, I understand when you're up against the bureaucracy. It's not as easy as saying, okay, I'm the mayor and, you know, here's my unilateral dictate. So I think there's some solace in that for the people of New York. I do firmly believe he's gonna be.
- [04:35]
Lauren Gruel
The mayor, which is scary. It's scary to me.
- [04:39]
Andrew Gruel
I think it's an outsider. I don't think that his platform is what's scary, because I know it's a lazy platform. It's a give everything away.
- [04:46]
Lauren Gruel
I don't think he knows what he's doing.
- [04:48]
Andrew Gruel
Well, he knows what he's doing. I mean, he's an agitator and a disruptor. So he certainly knows what he's doing. That's the goal. I don't necessarily know if he knows how to execute his plan and his policy. I think the scarier part is the lion's share of New York City residents who are going to vote for him. That scares me.
- [05:06]
Lauren Gruel
Well, I feel like. Well, they have. I don't know. New York's interesting. I love New York. But I feel like a lot of them, you know, they vote for the person that they're told to vote for and they don't really do their own research on, you know, candidates.
- [05:20]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah, well, that's probably. I mean, I think that that principle applies to a lot of people, a lot of drive by voters. And that's not a. That's not a fault of the voters either. In New York, it's especially. It takes hold especially because they're superficial voters. So it's like, oh, we want this. I was talking the other day about how suddenly socialism is cool and chic and communism is kind of cool and chic.
- [05:44]
Lauren Gruel
What it says from who? Who says that?
- [05:46]
Andrew Gruel
That's really been the movement within the hardcore left wing of the Democrat Party.
- [05:50]
Lauren Gruel
But have you seen the videos where people are asking the citizens of New York, like, who are you voting for? And they say, mom, Donnie. And they're like, well, why? What's one policy you agree with? And they literally can't answer. Answer that question.
- [06:03]
Andrew Gruel
Well, yeah, well, I mean that. You're right. That's kind of the case, I think, across the board. If you did find a relatively knowledgeable voter, I would suggest the things that they say. And this goes back to kind of what I was talking to this reporter about is he's gonna freeze rent, right? Like, that's been his commercials. He goes around like, we're freezing rent. We're freezing rent. And that's gonna apply commercially as well, so that's landlords who own restaurants. And then of course, the mandatory minimum wage laws. We've seen these mandatory minimum wage laws across states and cities and all over, especially like coastal elite cities. And in San Diego, they're trying to propose a $25 an hour minimum wage law, which even the California Restaurant association says is gonna absolutely decimate the industry. We've seen it with AB 1228 in California after they passed the mandatory minimum wage law, $20 an hour fast food restaurants, they lost 110 plus thousand dollar jobs within like six months. So there is clear and concise evidence showing that this always has consequence. And I say unintended because I used to think it was unintended. Now I'm thinking it's more intended. So let's say mom Dami gets in, let's say he starts proposing and pushing forward these mandatory minimum wage increases, freeze on rent, and then he rolls out like public grocery stores. Touch on those one at a time. Minimum wage increases is going to decimate restaurants throughout New York.
- [07:23]
Lauren Gruel
Do you know what those numbers are?
- [07:24]
Andrew Gruel
I would suggest it's going to be 25 plus an hour.
- [07:28]
Lauren Gruel
See, that is crazy to me because people don't just don't understand how much it costs to run a restaurant. And then when you're increasing your labor that significantly, plus these individuals are making.
- [07:38]
Andrew Gruel
So much on tips, they're gonna say, well, the thing is the cost of running aand I'm gonna play devil's advocate here. The cost of running a restaurant is so high because of the cost of rent. And guess what? Good news, we're also freezing rent.
- [07:51]
Lauren Gruel
Right? But I mean, I'm wondering if some of these restaurant owners will then stop the tipping and just pay them an hourly because they can't afford it.
- [07:59]
Andrew Gruel
It's not the. Oh, this is. I'm so glad you brought this up. Everyone will argue for that. It is not the restaurant owners that are against the hourly mandatory living wage. Right? It is the workers. The workers do not want a wage. They want the opportunity to make a ton in tips. When we opened our restaurant, we asked everybody, hey, do you want us to pay you 30, $35 an hour? But we eliminate tipping, they're like, we won't work here. We want the tips.
- [08:27]
Lauren Gruel
Cause yeah, the tips are significant.
- [08:30]
Andrew Gruel
Are significant. Now I will say this. In New York City, they do have a tipped wage, so it's like three or four dollars an hour. Whereas like in California, we have to pay the $20 an hour plus they get tips.
- [08:40]
Lauren Gruel
So then this would then mandate from three to $4 an hour, they would have to go to $25 an hour.
- [08:46]
Andrew Gruel
I would not be surprised if he tries to get rid of the tipped wage. But that's a state piece, not a city piece. Although they might be able to try and figure out a way to change it on a city level. But if that happened, you would see restaurants close everywhere through New York City. Opening a restaurant in New York City is not a move to make money. It's a move to set up a flagship and then make money in other areas. It's a billboard. Some restaurants do make money, typically in the outer boroughs or like not in downtown Manhattan. And we've seen a restaurant exodus in New York City, but it will only make it worse. So you will get. The only people that will be able to survive with that economic reality are some of the larger multi unit operations or heavily funded operations that can afford a little bit of that kind of margin push on the public grocery store.
- [09:31]
Lauren Gruel
Side, which is really crazy. So what. Who says the city is going to be able to run a grocery business efficiently, Right? Like, how do they even know what they're doing with like logistics and purchasing and competitive pricing? Like this just seems, I don't know.
- [09:49]
Andrew Gruel
Well, it's insane is what it is. Because there have been attempts at doing this across other markets. I think actually Kansas City did it. And in Kansas City they shut down after like six months.
- [10:00]
Lauren Gruel
Six months, yeah. Because they were just losing a ton of money.
- [10:03]
Andrew Gruel
Or I mean, what people don't realize is that like grocery and retail, the margins are 4 or 5%. It's a volume game, right? Like you're not making that much money because it's strictly, it's volume, volume, volume. So If I make 4% on a million dollars versus 4% on $100 million, you know, 4% on a million dollars is $40,000. 4% on $100 million is $4 million. The 4 million sounds great when you say they profited $4 million. But think about the work that you had to put the $100 million in sales in addition to the cost of a store. So you're going to have, you know what's going to happen is that you're going to see food service operations, both restaurant and retail, stop opening in the city. You're going to see many of them close and shut down. So you're going to have a lower supply. Then the city steps in and says, oh well, Trader Joe's wants to leave this area, or Aldi or Wegmans wants to leave this area. Well, guess what? We're going to run our own city run grocery store. They're gonna have absolutely no idea how to do it. Okay. And the way in which government runs is not efficient. So they're gonna put 10 store clerks where a private organization might have two. They're gonna put 10 checkers, you know, or baggers at the counters where they would normally have two that were moving back and forth. And they're gonna run these costs that are gonna be so high, it's gonna be a financial drain on the city. But it's gonna be the only option for food in certain areas because all the private vendors have left. And the city's gonna need to keep, pump have the money to do that. They're gonna have to increase taxes.
- [11:32]
Lauren Gruel
Well, he's only. From my understanding, it's only five stores, Right. That he's proposing.
- [11:39]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah, I don't know what he's proposing. I don't think he knows what he's proposing. When he asked, somebody asked him the other day about this and he had absolutely no answer. Right. It's all just working in kind of like vision and theory, but it just does not work. There's no example in history in which government taking over the means of production has worked. Yeah, like, it's just, it's never happened. So do I agree that maybe there could be ways in which you subsidize some of those private businesses? Yes, but that already exists. The reason New York has gotten so bad, people don't want to face this is because they defunded their police. Right. Based on virtue. And then they needed to continue to stop crime. So they, they had a smaller police force that they had to have work double the amount of hours.
- [12:25]
Lauren Gruel
So then they were just basically paying them overtime, like, you know, one person's salary, if you will. Should have been two.
- [12:31]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah. So they made this virtuous move to cut the police force and say, look how much we cut the police force. But then they realized they still needed the bodies. So then they had to pay everyone overtime, which ended up costing more than it would if you kept the police force on board. And then crime continued to go up and then certain areas of the city started to fall apart. And then you have these kind of mini mafias, cartels, gangs taking over. And then you import millions of people into the city and you providing them social services, which is what we know happened. This isn't political theater. This is reality. It's not subjective. And then you've gotta pay for those people. And then Your city budget runs so dry that you need to increase the taxes. And then when you increase the taxes, the people who are generating revenue in the city leave the city. So then you have less people to increase the taxes on. Then the only people that are left in the city are the lower income or middle class. And then you have to increase their taxes double the amount. And then those people end up leaving the city. And that's the downward spiral where you see cities fall apart over a 10 or 20 year period. And that's what could potentially happen here in New York City.
- [13:34]
Lauren Gruel
Well, let's hope not, because I do love New York. We used to love going there all the time.
- [13:39]
Andrew Gruel
Everyone loves New York. So we're gonna touch on that in some future episodes because I think this is a really interesting story to follow, but something more contemporary that's very important now. Very important is Halloween candy.
- [13:50]
Lauren Gruel
Yes. And you know what's kind of sad?
- [13:52]
Andrew Gruel
What?
- [13:54]
Lauren Gruel
Is that more people will start to see gummies instead of chocolate. They might see that this year.
- [14:01]
Andrew Gruel
I saw that last year it was like 52% of the Halloween candy was chocolate based. And they're projecting, as you just said, that this year it's gonna cross over. It's gonna be the opposite. It's gonna be more gummy based candy.
- [14:11]
Lauren Gruel
Why is that?
- [14:12]
Andrew Gruel
I have absolutely. Oh, I think it's just the cost of chocolate. Maybe we're just not a chocolate generation anymore.
- [14:17]
Lauren Gruel
Oh, yeah, Look. So last year, 52% of the total Halloween candy was chocolate. Oh, no. And this year it's gonna go down. And I love a good chocolate. We talked about this last time.
- [14:28]
Andrew Gruel
I love a good chocolate. Yeah, but we're not talking about real chocolate here. Like, I like a good semi sweet or like bitter dark chocolate. High quality. We're talking like Milky Way and Snickers bars.
- [14:39]
Lauren Gruel
Well, Milky Way's gross. Snickers are all right.
- [14:42]
Andrew Gruel
What's this thing that I've seen everyone doing this Trunk or treat.
- [14:46]
Lauren Gruel
So it's like trick or treating, except you, I think you set up like a table or it's like almost tailg. And you set up a little table for trick or treaters to walk around. And it's a parking lot or something. Yes, a parking lot or a neighborhood or the school.
- [15:02]
Andrew Gruel
We need to get ahead of this type of stuff. We don't have any friends.
- [15:05]
Lauren Gruel
Yes, we have some friends. Unfortunately, though, our kids. Some of. Well, okay. We have such a wide age range with our children that it's hard, like 15 to 5.
- [15:17]
Andrew Gruel
There's something about Lauren And I, I think that it's just one time we met the. We were hanging out, like at a playground, and then we met this couple and we were like, oh, that's co. Go have dinner with them. Like, meet. Have another couple friend. And then like an hour later, Lauren got a text message.
- [15:30]
Lauren Gruel
No, it was you. It was.
- [15:30]
Andrew Gruel
I got a text message. Basically, they're like, hey, it was nice talking with you, but we don't think we can be friends with you.
- [15:35]
Lauren Gruel
Literally. We had like the best time. Like, it was like the perfect.
- [15:38]
Andrew Gruel
Lauren came on very hard.
- [15:39]
Lauren Gruel
No, I didn't. We. All of our kids were getting along. You and I were getting along with the mom and dad. And then Andrew shot the data text, like later and was like, hey, that was really nice meeting you. We should, you know, get the family together.
- [15:53]
Andrew Gruel
We got broken up with and then.
- [15:55]
Lauren Gruel
The dad text him, like, literally immediately and was like, it was nice meeting you too. But we, we talked and unfortunately this isn't going to work out.
- [16:03]
Andrew Gruel
This is such a weird story.
- [16:04]
Lauren Gruel
It was so weird. But this was like before, like, Andrew got really heavily involved in politics. And like, I know a lot of people are like, oh, they probably looked you guys up and saw, you know, where you're.
- [16:14]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah, but even before that, I was weird, so that was probably it. I was a little apprehensive.
- [16:19]
Lauren Gruel
Andrew thinks it's him.
- [16:20]
Andrew Gruel
I was a little apprehensive. I thought the dad was a weenie.
- [16:23]
Lauren Gruel
Oh, dear.
- [16:24]
Andrew Gruel
Lauren was really. Lauren was really getting along with the wife. But in any case, after that, we've dec. We just were each other's friends.
- [16:31]
Lauren Gruel
You're my best friend.
- [16:32]
Andrew Gruel
That's so kind of you. I appreciate it. I hang out with a lot of the elderly.
- [16:35]
Lauren Gruel
I love that he doesn't say that I'm his best friend. I've brought this up on a different episode where I'm like, you're my best friend.
- [16:41]
Andrew Gruel
And you literally, I just gave you the heart.
- [16:44]
Lauren Gruel
Ignore me.
- [16:45]
Andrew Gruel
I gave her the heart and the best friend look. But what? Yeah, it's one of these.
- [16:50]
Lauren Gruel
Oh, he's. He's.
- [16:51]
Andrew Gruel
Can't wait till he gets making a.
- [16:52]
Lauren Gruel
Heart with his fingers. But that's not what he did last time. And he ignores. You still have yet to say I'm your best friend.
- [16:57]
Andrew Gruel
I love you.
- [16:58]
Lauren Gruel
See?
- [16:59]
Andrew Gruel
You're my best friend. Oh, boy. Do you know you're not allowed to throw tortillas anymore at the Texas Tech football games?
- [17:06]
Lauren Gruel
Wait, I didn't know throwing tortillas was a thing.
- [17:09]
Andrew Gruel
I didn't either until I Found out about this. And by the way, Texas Tech is good. Number 14, Texas Tech. They're banning tortilla throwing tradition at football games.
- [17:18]
Lauren Gruel
Oh, in Lubbock. That's right. By my sister.
- [17:20]
Andrew Gruel
Why? So I don't understand why they're telling him. Maybe it's just a mess. Maybe it's just hard to clean up. I don't think it's that bad for those.
- [17:28]
Lauren Gruel
Anyone caught throwing tortillas would have their ticket privileges revoked from the rest of the academic year.
- [17:35]
Andrew Gruel
Across all sports, $25,000 fine.
- [17:39]
Lauren Gruel
Wait, why? I need to find out why you can't throw tortillas.
- [17:43]
Andrew Gruel
I'm sure somebody cried and said it was, like, racist or something.
- [17:47]
Lauren Gruel
Probably. I feel like that's always the case. When in doubt, throw racism in there.
- [17:51]
Andrew Gruel
Although that would determine, like, if it was flour tortillas. I don't think that that's racist. If it was corn, maybe. Because you're really getting into it. Because I feel like all the. Like all the. How can I put this? The non taco eaters, people who traditionally don't eat Mexican food, they go for the flour tortillas and then like, you what, who's 50% Mexican?
- [18:15]
Lauren Gruel
Yes.
- [18:16]
Andrew Gruel
You love really getting into detail on the tortilla.
- [18:19]
Lauren Gruel
Tortillas.
- [18:20]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah. So if you had a choice. Right. What would it be? Flourish Corn hybrid. Which is flour and corn. Blue corn, yellow corn, white corn.
- [18:30]
Lauren Gruel
I like a good hybrid. We used to do that at our old restaurant. We had a hybrid tortilla, and it was phenomenal because it holds up well. Like a corn tortilla. Yes, but like, it was soft.
- [18:41]
Andrew Gruel
No, like a. Like a flour tortilla. Yeah, it holds up because of the flour and the gluten.
- [18:44]
Lauren Gruel
Because of that. Yeah, that's what I meant.
- [18:46]
Andrew Gruel
But you get the flavor of the corn.
- [18:47]
Lauren Gruel
It was delicious.
- [18:48]
Andrew Gruel
Just so everyone knows, hybrid is like half flour, half flour, half corn. And it's great because I love the flavor of the corn, but I like the strength and the structure of the flour.
- [18:56]
Lauren Gruel
Yeah. And you can. You can actually find hybrid tortillas at the grocery store.
- [18:59]
Andrew Gruel
There's nothing I. So I have. I'm so conflicted with, like, California tacos because they always do the two taco shell.
- [19:05]
Lauren Gruel
I don't like that. I rip off the second taco shell.
- [19:07]
Andrew Gruel
Oh, you are crazy, girl.
- [19:08]
Lauren Gruel
Because it's just too much tortilla.
- [19:11]
Andrew Gruel
That was an emphasis that two too much had like seven seven O's Passionate about it. Yeah, well, I agree with you. Because the problem is with the corn is you can't sauce it well enough, and if it becomes too saucy and it breaks through the corn and turns into a sog and an unsauced taco is horrible. Nobody wants an unsauced taco. That's for communists. That's for New York City. Too much.
- [19:38]
Lauren Gruel
Too much. Too much.
- [19:39]
Andrew Gruel
So, wow. We went from football, we went from Halloween to not having friends to football, to tortillas. This has been crazy.
- [19:47]
Lauren Gruel
This is an all over the place episode.
- [19:49]
Andrew Gruel
I saw a headline the other day that Schmuckers. Schmuck. You know, it should be Smuckers because it should be S H. Not Smuckers. No, Smuckers versus Schmuckers.
- [20:00]
Lauren Gruel
So Smuckers sues Trader Joe's over the peanut butter and jelly. Uncrustable.
- [20:07]
Andrew Gruel
This is the dumbest.
- [20:08]
Lauren Gruel
Why does everything have to end up in a lawsuit?
- [20:10]
Andrew Gruel
And furthermore, why are we suing over trademarks that you cannot trademark?
- [20:15]
Lauren Gruel
I can't trademark that.
- [20:16]
Andrew Gruel
Who allowed them to trademark a peanut butter the most?
- [20:19]
Lauren Gruel
It just doesn't have the anodyne. I make those every day for the kids.
- [20:23]
Andrew Gruel
Well, I'm gonna sue you.
- [20:24]
Lauren Gruel
Oh, don't do that.
- [20:25]
Andrew Gruel
I sued myself once. First of all, how can you trademark something so basic? The peanut butter and jelly with the crust cut off. And you call it an uncrustable.
- [20:34]
Lauren Gruel
Yeah, look it.
- [20:35]
Andrew Gruel
So then Trader Joe's comes out with their uncrustable, gets sued by Smuckers.
- [20:38]
Lauren Gruel
Yeah. So Smucker's calls the Trader Joe's product an obvious attempt to trade off the fame and recognition of the uncrustable design marks.
- [20:47]
Andrew Gruel
I don't want to do this because we don't have the time, but I would love to lob a massive lawsuit against somebody lobbying a massive lawsuit. So, like, I want to sue Schmuckers under the same precedent that if they are able to sue based on that, then I can sue them. Because frankly, I believe that my mother invented the uncrustable.
- [21:04]
Lauren Gruel
I bet she did. Susan's a great cook.
- [21:07]
Andrew Gruel
Is this sarcasm? Susan, I know you're listening.
- [21:09]
Lauren Gruel
I can't say Susan.
- [21:11]
Andrew Gruel
I say Susan.
- [21:11]
Lauren Gruel
We're joking. Susan.
- [21:13]
Andrew Gruel
She is actually a great. She makes like four things and they're all wonderful.
- [21:16]
Lauren Gruel
She does. She's perfected the dishes that she her.
- [21:19]
Andrew Gruel
Marinated broccoli off the wall. And I've given her a little bit of a culinary.
- [21:23]
Lauren Gruel
She's got a little pizazz.
- [21:25]
Andrew Gruel
Pizzazz. She does have pizazz. She's Italian, you know, she knows what she likes. I'll give her that much.
- [21:30]
Lauren Gruel
Yes.
- [21:30]
Andrew Gruel
And she is responsible for introducing me to a lot of really good food because she used to bring me to all of her meetings with her. And I would, like sit on her lap at these Jersey diners. And that's how I fell in love with Taylor. Ham, egg and cheese and any other. And slovaki. It's a Greek dish. The Greeks owned the diners in Jersey.
- [21:47]
Lauren Gruel
We went to a great Greek diner in Miami out of all places.
- [21:51]
Andrew Gruel
We did.
- [21:52]
Lauren Gruel
And not a diner, sorry, a restaurant.
- [21:54]
Andrew Gruel
You and I.
- [21:55]
Lauren Gruel
You don't remember going, oh, with David Webb. Yes.
- [21:58]
Andrew Gruel
Oh, that was great. That was a restaurant that was like waterfront restaurant. Restaurant.
- [22:01]
Lauren Gruel
It was beautiful and they had great food.
- [22:03]
Andrew Gruel
The Greeks have wonderful food.
- [22:04]
Lauren Gruel
Yeah.
- [22:05]
Andrew Gruel
And everybody knows the Mediterranean diet is the way to go.
- [22:08]
Lauren Gruel
That's primarily my diet. And yours too.
- [22:10]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah.
- [22:10]
Lauren Gruel
I was reading you do it unknowingly.
- [22:11]
Andrew Gruel
I was reading a story the other day about all these people who like live these long lives, you know, 100, 110 years old. And it's so funny because the cliche is true. It's the Mediterranean diet. This one lady was like, I eat a ton of butter, I drink a beer, I eat meat and bacon and eggs for breakfast. That's not Mediterranean.
- [22:28]
Lauren Gruel
Literally the opposite of nutrition.
- [22:29]
Andrew Gruel
Hold on, I'm getting there. I'm getting there. But she doesn't have seed oil. She doesn't eat any processed meat.
- [22:34]
Lauren Gruel
Mediterranean's olive oils. Lots of fish, fresh fruit, vegetables, chicken.
- [22:41]
Andrew Gruel
Which is saturated fat.
- [22:43]
Lauren Gruel
Olives.
- [22:43]
Andrew Gruel
But no processed food.
- [22:44]
Lauren Gruel
No processed food.
- [22:46]
Andrew Gruel
That's the point. There's really no seed oils.
- [22:48]
Lauren Gruel
You're like butter and bac.
- [22:50]
Andrew Gruel
Okay, I threw the bacon in there. So it was more of like a merge. It was like Mediterranean diet meets the Montana diet. Ooh, that's good. The Montana. That sounds good. Let's start that Hannah Montana. Oh, my gosh. I got a good one here, though. You got it. I have not told you about this one. This falls under the what? The fork. The wtf Crazy food story. Hot ice cream.
- [23:10]
Lauren Gruel
What is hot ice cream?
- [23:12]
Andrew Gruel
Exactly. What is hot ice cream? So Tyra Banks.
- [23:16]
Lauren Gruel
I haven't heard that name in a while.
- [23:17]
Andrew Gruel
I used to watch America's Top Mock.
- [23:19]
Lauren Gruel
I used to watch her. I went to her show.
- [23:21]
Andrew Gruel
Okay, that's weird.
- [23:22]
Lauren Gruel
She had like a talk show and I used to. I would get tickets.
- [23:24]
Andrew Gruel
I remember that. Didn't she get sick for a while or something happened to her?
- [23:27]
Lauren Gruel
I don't know. I didn't keep up.
- [23:28]
Andrew Gruel
Or maybe she. I think she had drop foot. No, nevermind. That was somebody else. That was Tyrone Banks. So the hot ice cream is exactly as it sounds. It is ice cream, but it's hot.
- [23:41]
Lauren Gruel
Like, it's hot, spicy, or like, temperature.
- [23:44]
Andrew Gruel
It's hot. Temperature, hot. Imagine eating ice cream, you grab it from the cup and you hold it up and it's got the same structure as regular ice cream. Ice cream, the scoop, you know, the fluffiness, all of that, but it's warm. It's hot.
- [23:55]
Lauren Gruel
But, like, how does it hold up if it's hot?
- [23:57]
Andrew Gruel
I was reading the article and she said she tried all of these different ways. They tried just like melting ice cream and then reconstituting it. They tried making custards. They have now proprietary way of creating ice cream that holds and scoops and eats velvety, smooth, voluptuous bite of ice cream. But it's hot. And I find that so fascinating because, number one, and from a food science perspective, I can only imagine the chemicals that are in there in order to allow that emulsion to hold.
- [24:26]
Lauren Gruel
So people have their theories about how Banks hot ice cream is made, including one who guessed it was a flavored creme anglaise.
- [24:34]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah, creme anglaise, which is.
- [24:36]
Lauren Gruel
But the America's Next Top Model says she will not reveal her secrets.
- [24:40]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah, well, of course she's not gonna reveal her secrets. That's the proprietary nature of it. How else do you think she's gonna franchise it? How else do you think she's gonna sell it? Get people in the door. Why would you reve. However, I also think that that's a very good way of blindfolding the people to the chemicals.
- [24:54]
Lauren Gruel
Well, I'll try it.
- [24:56]
Andrew Gruel
So do I.
- [24:57]
Lauren Gruel
Now I'm curious.
- [24:58]
Andrew Gruel
This is going to be huge. I think she didn't come up with this. I think there was a concept in Australia that did this, and I could be wrong and she's franchising it, or she took the licensing rights to it and she's bringing it to the us. But if she goes into so much detail about how she created this concoction, then maybe she is the one, the mastermind behind it, which I have a lot of respect for.
- [25:17]
Lauren Gruel
I do, too.
- [25:18]
Andrew Gruel
Too often, like these famous people, brands, individual brands, they're. They're cut, copying and pasting a concept that's already out there.
- [25:26]
Lauren Gruel
It's already working.
- [25:27]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah, they're putting their name on it and making it as if it's their own. They're either ripping off a young, budding brand or they're. But she's coming up with something totally new here, and I love ice Cream.
- [25:38]
Lauren Gruel
You love ice cream.
- [25:40]
Andrew Gruel
I have a problem with ice cream.
- [25:41]
Lauren Gruel
We will order instacart at like 9 o'. Clock. And so we're getting a knock at the door at like 9:45, and it's just a bag full of different flavors of ice cream. And he will sit there and eat so much ice cream. I do not understand how you're so skinny.
- [25:55]
Andrew Gruel
Because I know that I'm gonna eat that ice cream. And I save. I budget my calories. So in the morning I'll have a glass of water, I'll swallow like a June bug on the way to work, and I'll have a piece of toast for lunch. And then I'll eat just like. Like I'm almost you.
- [26:11]
Lauren Gruel
You load all your calories at the end of the day.
- [26:13]
Andrew Gruel
I do. And then I. And I know somebody's gonna write to us after this and be like, you know, it's really bad. You're not gonna sleep well and you're gonna die early. I already know that.
- [26:19]
Lauren Gruel
If he doesn't already sleep well.
- [26:21]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah, I don't. Probably cause of the ice cream. But you know what? I'm not sleeping well. But I'm happy because you're very happy.
- [26:28]
Lauren Gruel
There's nothing. You look so happy when you're sitting on the couch just eating your pint of ice cream alone for your five minute.
- [26:36]
Andrew Gruel
And I'm in a bathing suit, so I. Oh, this is a weird thing of mine. I will only eat the ice cream in a Speedo. It's just a weird thing. I used to swim, you guys. It goes back to that.
- [26:44]
Lauren Gruel
Swear he's not this weird. He doesn't do that.
- [26:47]
Andrew Gruel
I've thought about it.
- [26:48]
Lauren Gruel
Oh, so I'm gonna find him tonight on the couch with a Speedo.
- [26:51]
Andrew Gruel
Just a mere thought makes it worse. There's a few things in food that we need to get rid of. Or 86, as we like to say. 86 it. Okay, why don't you start with yours?
- [26:58]
Lauren Gruel
Okay, so mine isn't really a food trend, but like we were talking about, we've had. Had several birthday parties. I went to 86 kid birthday parties at home. We had no kid birthday parties at our house this year. And it was glorious.
- [27:14]
Andrew Gruel
Parents you got, like. It's just the motivation sometimes is, hey, we didn't plan this, therefore we're just gonna hold it at our house. And it becomes a disaster. Because as everyone knows, nobody cleans like a lady who's about to have guests come to her house. Or for that matter, actually a cleaning lady lady. Why is it. Why do women clean before the cleaning lady comes?
- [27:32]
Lauren Gruel
I don't. Well, we don't have a cleaning lady. My mom do that. Because you don't want them like touching your stuff.
- [27:38]
Andrew Gruel
And then furthermore, you clean the entire house before all the guests come. But then the house is messed up after the first guest comes.
- [27:44]
Lauren Gruel
This was life changing for me every year. I don't think we've ever had a kid party, not at our house because of that. This year we went to Chuck E. Cheese for the little guy's big five. And then we had another party at eight. A skateboarding, indoor skateboarding park. Guys, it was so good not having to clean, not having to cook, not having to, you know, kind of like tell the guest, okay, it's time to leave. Like, it was like, that's actually.
- [28:09]
Andrew Gruel
That's a good.
- [28:09]
Lauren Gruel
Right? That's two hours in and out. And that was it.
- [28:13]
Andrew Gruel
Because you always have that one guest that wants to just stay and talk for two or three hours and you're like, honestly, like, I gotta put my Speedo on and eat some ice cream.
- [28:20]
Lauren Gruel
So that is my 86.
- [28:21]
Andrew Gruel
Well, that's a really good one. And I will say we need to qualify the Chuck E. Cheese piece. In Huntington Beach, California, they just opened a brand new Chuck E. Cheese. So this wasn't like a second gen Chuck E. Cheese. This is the new model of Chuck E. Cheese.
- [28:32]
Lauren Gruel
Oh, so nice.
- [28:33]
Andrew Gruel
It's actually really clean. And they changed their pizza recipe. It's a thinner crust, garlic butter pizza that. I'm not gonna lie. Not gonna lie. Now, maybe I'd worked up a little bit of a hunger because I was over there playing the skeet ball too much. But that pizza was probably. You know, if I'm going by the Dave Portnoy, one bite. Everybody knows the rules. It was like a 7 out of 10.
- [28:53]
Lauren Gruel
It was good. And everyone had so Eel was good. I don't know why I said it like that.
- [28:58]
Andrew Gruel
She's code switching.
- [29:01]
Lauren Gruel
It was really fun. We had a great time. The parents had a great time. Everybody told me how fun the party was. And I'm like, I feel like I didn't do anything. I just like, handed out playing cards and I'm like, here, go run around.
- [29:10]
Andrew Gruel
That's not true. You walked around and you mingled and you bobbed. I was like, I was hiding over in the ball pit.
- [29:16]
Lauren Gruel
No, you were talking to some dads. I saw you.
- [29:20]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah, I was, I was. You know, we just talked about dad stuff, Home Depot, Speedos, you name it.
- [29:25]
Lauren Gruel
Okay, stop with the Speedos.
- [29:27]
Andrew Gruel
So we skipped the.
- [29:29]
Lauren Gruel
Wait, you didn't tell. You're 86 it.
- [29:31]
Andrew Gruel
I just want to get rid of the flavored Doritos. That's what I want to get rid of. I just saw an ad coming that there's gingerbread flavored Doritos are coming out. I don't know. That's a holiday thing. I'm sure that it is. It's like, look, just stick with what you know. You got the blue bag and you got the red bag. That's it. I don't need gingerbread flavored Doritos. I mean, I don't need cigarette flavored Doritos. Just give me the basic Doritos. That's it. I'm not even going to eat the Doritos. Yeah, because who's like, oh, ginger. Oh, let's have make a gingerbread house. Oh, I want Doritos.
- [29:57]
Lauren Gruel
It is weird.
- [29:57]
Andrew Gruel
It's weird. The food marketing machine needs to get turned upside down. Get rid of all these interns. They're screwing everything up.
- [30:02]
Lauren Gruel
Well, I think they do this because they know people are gonna wanna try it anyway to see what it's all about.
- [30:07]
Andrew Gruel
Try it once. Like hot ice cream.
- [30:08]
Lauren Gruel
Yeah, no, I wanna try.
- [30:10]
Andrew Gruel
That's what it is. That's my brand. Eating cold ice cream in a Speedo. That's hot ice cream.
- [30:16]
Lauren Gruel
You need to calm down.
- [30:17]
Andrew Gruel
Okay, I do. Ice cream gets me going. We skipped our sharpen your skills segment because I really wanted to move into this kid's birthday party piece. But speaking of sharpening your. So one of the tips I wanna give. I've talked about the cold sear, I've talked about the reverse sear, but people still want that hard sear on a lot of their protein or fish, especially the skin. So they're like, but how do I get that good sear even if I don't wanna do the reverse sear? Like, what's the old school technique? I call it the sear and slide, right? You get a pan blasting hot, you put your protein in the pan, and then you put the pan directly in the oven, skin side down, at 350 or 400 degrees. Then after five or six minutes, you open up the oven, you pull the pan out, you flip the protein, and just like setting it and forgetting it, searing it and sliding it in the oven is gonna let the convection cook the rest of the protein while you're getting that skin super, super, super crispy. So give that a try with like skin on chicken thighs or chicken breast or seafood. You know, skin on seafood. So sear and slide. Blastin hot pan. Get the protein in there right into its 350 degree oven. Forget about it for about five minutes. Flip it, actually, and after you flip it, add a little bit of liquid in there because you don't want that dry heat to go throughout the entire cooking process. And then you can make a really good pan sauce with what's left over. So that's gonna be it for this week on our Quick Sizzle. It's gonna be sear and slide. I wanna add up a very, very quick segment in here that we're gonna start talking about throughout the next episodes. So this is Food Facts that'll blow your business.
- [31:48]
Lauren Gruel
Oh, blow your biscuit.
- [31:49]
Andrew Gruel
Yep.
- [31:49]
Lauren Gruel
Yep.
- [31:50]
Andrew Gruel
It's a little weird. Who's blowing a biscuit?
- [31:52]
Lauren Gruel
Let's change the title of that.
- [31:54]
Andrew Gruel
I know, I like it. Food Facts. It'll blow your biscuit. Seabiscuit. Did you know that ketchup used to be medicine?
- [32:01]
Lauren Gruel
I did not.
- [32:02]
Andrew Gruel
In the 1830s, doctors prescribed it for indigestion. Imagine walking into a CVS and the pharmacist hands you, like, a bottle of Heinz ketchup.
- [32:09]
Lauren Gruel
Why is that, though? What's in the ketchup that makes you not have any digestion?
- [32:13]
Andrew Gruel
I don't know. Maybe you would think it would make it worse because it's high in acid.
- [32:17]
Lauren Gruel
We gotta look into this.
- [32:18]
Andrew Gruel
We do. Butter wasn't just for bread. Medieval nobles used it as hair gel.
- [32:22]
Lauren Gruel
Hair gel. Yeah, I could see that.
- [32:24]
Andrew Gruel
I could see that too, because sometimes when I'm cooking, I get beef tallow or butter on my hands and I run my fingers through my silky hair. And for the rest of the day, I'm walking around, people are like, is somebody eating a croissant?
- [32:35]
Lauren Gruel
It's just my hair.
- [32:36]
Andrew Gruel
It's just my locks. Although I like the idea of using tallow as a skin cream. But you name it. All right, this will be the last one. This is the Food Facts that'll blow your biscuits. Let's see what I want to talk about. I can't get behind that garlic, literally. And I'm using the term properly, garlic literally sweats out of your pores, which.
- [32:55]
Lauren Gruel
Is so true, because I cannot eat a salsa that has a. That's heavy in garlic because I will literally smell like garlic.
- [33:02]
Andrew Gruel
Literally.
- [33:03]
Lauren Gruel
Literally. And Andrew will be like, gosh, you stink.
- [33:06]
Andrew Gruel
When you eat a lot of garlic, the methyl sulfide builds up in your blood and exits through your pores, which is why heavy garlic eaters smell like an Italian kitchen. The next day. Or in your case, like a big bowl of garlic studded salsa.
- [33:20]
Lauren Gruel
And you hate it so much.
- [33:21]
Andrew Gruel
I don't hate it. I don't hate it. But we'll be laying in bed and I'll be like, oh, my God, somebody threw a garlic clove in my pillow.
- [33:27]
Lauren Gruel
It's just me.
- [33:27]
Andrew Gruel
The kids have really been anti vampire lately, so it's incredibly likely that they did that.
- [33:33]
Lauren Gruel
You're funny. We went through a lot this episode.
- [33:36]
Andrew Gruel
Yeah. So let's follow what's happening in New York City and the effect that a new mayor might have on food service, retail food operations. Obviously, we want to know about what you got going on for Halloween. All this candy talk is making me a little bit hungry. Maybe for ice cream. Hot ice cream, that is. We got that hot ice cream story in there. And I also want to know whether you guys like corn or flour tortillas, because I think we should lean into that on the next episode, maybe throw some tortilla rolls.
- [33:58]
Lauren Gruel
And I want to know if you guys like having kid parties at home or do you ditch them completely and go somewhere else like I did this year, which was amazing.
- [34:04]
Andrew Gruel
Ditch the kids for their birthday. That's a good idea.
- [34:07]
Lauren Gruel
See you later.
- [34:08]
Andrew Gruel
But you guys, you know what? For your birthday, you guys can just hang out at home alone. We've got a Ukrainian babysitter that we found online. They don't speak English. And we'll be back in two days.
- [34:17]
Lauren Gruel
Oh, dear.
- [34:18]
Andrew Gruel
Happy birthday.
- [34:19]
Lauren Gruel
Happy birthday. All right, well, this is fun.
- [34:21]
Andrew Gruel
Be sure to follow us on x. I'm gruel and I'm Aurengruel on Instagram. I'm ndreugruel.
- [34:27]
Lauren Gruel
And I'm laurengruel.
- [34:30]
Andrew Gruel
And thank you so much for following us. Give us any time topics you want us to talk about. Thanks for tuning in today and we can't wait to see you next week.
- [34:36]
Lauren Gruel
See you next week.
- [34:44]
Doug
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- [36:17]
Lauren Gruel
What kind of man would let this happen to his family?
- [36:22]
Hulu Series Narrator
Inspired by shocking actual events I'm working.
- [36:24]
Lauren Gruel
On, story about the Murdochs. Their abuses of power are playing out in real time.
- [36:29]
Hulu Series Narrator
Starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette and Jason Clark.
- [36:34]
Andrew Gruel
It's only cheating if you get caught.
- [36:37]
Hulu Series Narrator
Hulu Original Series Murdoch Death in the Family New episodes Wednesdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.
- [36:46]
Lauren Gruel
This is an I heart podcast.