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The Gang Goes To Waffle House · Ridiculous History

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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
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Speaker 1: the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so
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Speaker 1: much for tuning in. Let's hear it for the Man,
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Speaker 1: the Myth, the Legend, our super producer, Max short Order.
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Speaker 2: Williams Max scattered, smothered, covered, chunks, capped all of the ways.
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Speaker 2: This might be nonsense. Talk to some of you folks
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Speaker 2: not from the South, the Southern climbs here around Atlanta, Georgia.
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Speaker 2: But we're talking about waffle house ordering code.
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Speaker 1: So you're Noel Brown, I'm Ben Bullen, And actually I
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Speaker 1: just landed in a different city this week and I
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Speaker 1: was looking for or a waffle house because I thought
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Speaker 1: it would be fun to visit before we record. There
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Speaker 1: are no waffle houses in the state of New York,
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Speaker 1: but Pennsylvania you can have a few. And that makes
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Speaker 1: sense to your point about the line of demarcation, because
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Speaker 1: Pennsylvania is somewhere between the South and somewhere between the north.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, he's sort of like partially basically Canada. I mean,
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Speaker 2: I think instead of waffle house, did don't they have
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Speaker 2: Timmy's Tim Horton's Pennsylvania. I think it's true yeah, I
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Speaker 2: loves Tim Hortons.
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Speaker 1: It's a confluence of events and so cast your memory back, folks.
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Speaker 1: We've alluded to this a while ago, but we went
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Speaker 1: through a collective waffle House phase I think, I want
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Speaker 1: to say sometime last year, and we actually went to
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Speaker 1: the waffle House Museum. Because waffle House was founded in
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Speaker 1: our fair metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia, but now it's it's
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Speaker 1: world famous, I think in large part due to the Internet.
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Speaker 2: To be honest, it's true. It is. Also we've talked
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Speaker 2: about this on our sister show, The Stuff that I
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Speaker 2: want you to know. The waffle House Index, the sort
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Speaker 2: of somewhat imaginary concept that if waffle houses closed their doors,
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Speaker 2: because they are in fact open twenty four hours a day,
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Speaker 2: then the weather really must be bad. Yeah. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Waffle House is known for its storied history for being
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Speaker 1: virtually always open, and it's a very accepting place. I
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Speaker 1: think it's fair to say. Having spent some time in
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Speaker 1: the American South, all three of us, we have spent
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Speaker 1: some very formative evenings at waffle House. This is why
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Speaker 1: we finally reached out to Big Waffle ourselves. Lo and behold,
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Speaker 1: they hit us back. They couldn't be nicer people. They
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Speaker 1: gave us an exclusive tour of the museum. We decided
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Speaker 1: we were going to finally share the story. But quick disclaimer,
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Speaker 1: this one's probably going to make you hungry. I think
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Speaker 1: this is going to be one of those where you
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Speaker 1: and I both end the show going is it time
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Speaker 1: to eat lunch?
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Speaker 2: Well, good news, Ben is there's a wa Hoo right
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Speaker 2: down the street from me, and they deliver, so I
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Speaker 2: might even pre order my I like you know what
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Speaker 2: I like, Ben, I like the Philly Cheese steak hash
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Speaker 2: Brown bowl. I'm a fan of that guy. Yeah, that's
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Speaker 2: a nice one. Man.
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Speaker 1: We know that that is a more in the grand scheme.
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Speaker 1: That's a more recent addition to the menu, because as
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Speaker 1: we saw when you, Max and I journey to the museum,
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Speaker 1: their menus still add all the same basics, but they
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Speaker 1: started adding stuff. They didn't originally have the hash brown
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Speaker 1: code until much later because they you know, waffle House
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Speaker 1: was founded in nineteen fifty five.
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Speaker 2: That's right, and we'll get to the individual meanings of
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Speaker 2: those hash brown order codes. But that's right in Avondale Estates,
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Speaker 2: which is like the next exit over. Not to dox myself,
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Speaker 2: from where I live. It is a really delightful little
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Speaker 2: community to this day, where there's a lot of fun
4:01
Speaker 2: little shops. It kind of feels like a little German
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Speaker 2: village in some ways.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, they tried to. It's it's a super weird pocket.
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Speaker 1: They used to live very close to there. And the
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Speaker 1: thing is, folks, when you drive past, there's a stretch
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Speaker 1: of several blocks in downtown Avondale that were explicitly designed
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Speaker 1: to look like Shakespeare's the route to look like Shakespearean times.
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Speaker 2: I think I might have gotten my European wires crossed.
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Speaker 2: It is a little bit more like old Stratford upon Avon.
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Speaker 2: I wonder if that's where avon Dale comes. Who knows.
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Speaker 2: And maybe it's one of the shicken or the egg
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Speaker 2: kind of things. Speaking of eggs, the co founders of
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Speaker 2: waffle House are Joe Rogers Senior and Tom Forkner and Ben.
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Speaker 2: I got to say a bit of a missed nominative
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Speaker 2: determinism opportunity for Joe's last name to have not been Spooner.
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Speaker 2: We could have had Spooner and Forkner the founders of
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Speaker 2: waffle House, but the last That's not how history shook out.
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Speaker 1: Maybe next time rights, It's still not as on the
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Speaker 1: nose as their names being like Joe Waffle and Tom
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Speaker 1: Syrup or something mm hmm.
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Speaker 2: Syrup would be an unfortunate surname. We got to look
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Speaker 2: up the history of the Syrup line of families. Surely
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Speaker 2: they exist. Tom was a Georgia boy died in the wall.
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Speaker 2: I think, as they say, through and through, as you
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Speaker 2: put it in in your wonderful research talk that you
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Speaker 2: put together for this episode, he was born in Hawkinsville, Georgia,
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Speaker 2: just about two hours outside of here in Atlanta. And
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Speaker 2: our buddy Tom, mister Forlkner himself was a lawyer and
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Speaker 2: a real estate agent and quite the golfer if he
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Speaker 2: if he said to himself, he did kind of for
5:43
Speaker 2: a time. Also, Tom was an intelligence officer for the
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Speaker 2: Manhattan Project record scratch what Okay. I didn't realize we
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Speaker 2: were going to go nuclear with this waffle house topic.
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Speaker 2: You never know what you're going to get with ridiculous history.
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Speaker 2: So let's go to our second main character today, mister
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Speaker 2: Joe Rogers, also a veteran born in not not a
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Speaker 2: george boy, but a Tennessee boy from the hollers of
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Speaker 2: Jackson Tennessee. During World War Two. He also had he
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Speaker 2: had a bit of a military background as well, not
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Speaker 2: an intelligence but in the Air Force, where he flew
6:17
Speaker 2: B twenty four's for our sorry at the Air Force,
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Speaker 2: the Air Corps of the US Army. Then in nineteen
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Speaker 2: forty seven, after spending his time doing his term his
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Speaker 2: stint in the war, he worked as a short order
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Speaker 2: cook at a place called the Tottle House. Huh okay,
6:34
Speaker 2: starting to see old influence here. That's over there in
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Speaker 2: new Haven, Connecticut. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where he was working at the Tottlehouse in
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Speaker 1: New Haven. It was also a chain restaurant like waffle
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Speaker 1: House would go on to be, and Tottlehouse was based
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Speaker 1: in Memphis. Was mainly a takeout joint. So Joe gets
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Speaker 1: promoted and promoted because he takes his job seriously. He's
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Speaker 1: quite talented, and he becomes the regional manager at Top.
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Speaker 1: And as he becomes a regional manager, he has to
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Speaker 1: relocate to Atlanta, Georgia.
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Speaker 2: That's where he meets Tom.
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Speaker 1: And the way they meet is kind of funny because
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Speaker 1: Tom doesn't come to him with a business idea. Tom
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Speaker 1: sells Joe a house in Avondale, because Tom's dad helped
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Speaker 1: create Avondale Estates and not only did he sell the house,
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Speaker 1: but they ended up being next door neighbors. I don't
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Speaker 1: know if that's something real estate people like to do.
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Speaker 1: What that?
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Speaker 2: Oh? Houses? Well?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Like if we were real estate moguls, or we
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Speaker 1: were real estate folks and we were selling houses to
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Speaker 1: other people, would we want to sell a house that's
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Speaker 1: right next to the one we live in? Like, do
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Speaker 1: you want that neighbor smoke?
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Speaker 2: Interesting? I guess it does give you a little bit
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Speaker 2: of an opportunity to pick your neighbors.
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Speaker 3: To us, I would say no, because I mean, I've
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Speaker 3: never bought a house, but I've rented plenty of houses.
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Speaker 3: And the thing about it is it doesn't take very
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Speaker 3: long to start finding small little problems. And so do
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Speaker 3: you want to walk next door to like, Hey, you
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Speaker 3: can tell me the foundation of this one part that.
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Speaker 2: Oh, that's a good point. That's a very good point,
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Speaker 2: you might Yeah, Well, you know that's we're only talking
8:13
Speaker 2: here about dishonest trailers. So presumably our buddy here was
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Speaker 2: the salt of the earth when it comes to his
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Speaker 2: business practices.
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Speaker 1: I would like to I would like to as well.
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Speaker 1: I mean they clear that.
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Speaker 2: We don't know for sure.
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Speaker 1: Well they did at some point, at least for a
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Speaker 1: time click because they would shoot the breeze with each
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Speaker 1: other because you know, they're neighbors and it's the South.
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Speaker 1: Tom comes to Tom is like our idea guy. So
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Speaker 1: he goes to Joe one day and he says, Joe,
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Speaker 1: do you want to get into business? Do you want
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Speaker 1: to like escalate our neighbor relationship? And at first Tom says,
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Speaker 1: I think we should build a Tottle House, you know,
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Speaker 1: here in Avondale, And Joe said, that's I love your enthusiasm, Tom,
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Speaker 1: but I don't think it's smart of us to build
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Speaker 1: a tottle House because that's a takeout place. My dream
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Speaker 1: is a place where people can sit down and eat, not.
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Speaker 2: Just community you want to build. Yes, Can I just
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Speaker 2: really a quick aside maybe for another episode. I was
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Speaker 2: looking up to see if the Tottle House was still around,
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Speaker 2: which it is not in terms of this original chain
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Speaker 2: that we're talking about, But there was another place called
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Speaker 2: the Tottle House, which was a very seedy and steamy
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Speaker 2: nightclub in Culver City that operated from nineteen forty six
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Speaker 2: to nineteen fifty three until it was shut down for
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Speaker 2: being a hangout for racketeers and sex workers. And it
9:37
Speaker 2: has some really kind of tawdry advertisements that would run
9:41
Speaker 2: in like the La Times, for example, And there was
9:43
Speaker 2: this really cool article that described the scene in Fortnite
9:48
Speaker 2: magazine called the Los Angeles Bump and Grind Industry. How
9:52
Speaker 2: wicked is burlesque? Is it really harming anyone not to
9:55
Speaker 2: mention an advertorial in the Vanguard describing the scene as
9:59
Speaker 2: girl Rolls Up Poppin' as a floor show with comedian
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Speaker 2: and a bevy of beauties who really keep things popping
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Speaker 2: and a variety of potent cocktails served at the mirrored
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Speaker 2: bar of the Tottle House, with lots of convenient free
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Speaker 2: parking too, by the way, So it's totally different Touttlehouse.
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Speaker 2: But I'm curious as what kind of racketeers were hanging out, Oh, definitely,
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Speaker 2: and what year? What time span was that again forty six,
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Speaker 2: two fifty three when it was closed down, And it
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Speaker 2: also apparently had two serious fires and all kinds of
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Speaker 2: shenanigans happening at the Tottlehouse over there in Culver City.
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Speaker 2: But the Tuttlehouse in question for today's episode was a
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Speaker 2: wholesome place for a family meal. But to your point, Ben,
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Speaker 2: they didn't have to sit down service.
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Speaker 1: And also I just I had to do it. Look
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Speaker 1: up the definition of tottle and it works for both places. Well,
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Speaker 1: it works more for the cdy place because the definition
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Speaker 1: of tottle is to move with short, unsteady steps while
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Speaker 1: learning to walk like a child.
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Speaker 2: Bit of a show.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so maybe if people are in their cups and
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Speaker 1: their party, maybe they end up toddling.
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Speaker 2: Out the toddlers. Yes, child who can yeah barely walk.
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Speaker 2: That's there you go. Never thought of the etymology of
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Speaker 2: that mystery solved, Ben, So what did they decide when
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Speaker 2: they realized that maybe bringing a franchise of the Tottle
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Speaker 2: House wasn't quite the move?
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they got even more ambitious. You could feel
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Speaker 1: the electric brainstorming energy because these guys yes ed each
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Speaker 1: other so hard. They said, okay, all right, forget Tottlehouse,
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Speaker 1: will open up our own place. Anybody can come, they
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Speaker 1: could sit down, they can have decent food, and you
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Speaker 1: know what, yes, and why don't we stay open all
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Speaker 1: of the time?
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Speaker 2: Okay? The game there, Yeah, quite the quite the novelty,
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Speaker 2: I suppose maybe there were in the twenty four seven
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Speaker 2: places at the time, but this certainly would set it
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Speaker 2: apart from the Tottle House, which I do I believe
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Speaker 2: operated on a twenty four to seven schedule. So Tom
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Speaker 2: recalled in an interview piece, we'recalling this whole you know,
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Speaker 2: origin story, Joe saying the ham you build the restaurant, buddy,
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Speaker 2: and I'll show you how to run it.
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Speaker 1: There we go, And that's that's a very common symbiosis
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Speaker 1: between restaurant creators. You've got sort of the money guy,
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Speaker 1: the funding, and then you've got the person who's been
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Speaker 1: in the trenches of the kitchen, the chef and so on.
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Speaker 1: And this was such a revolutionary idea. We've been spoiled,
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Speaker 1: especially before the COVID lockdown. We've been spoiled by having
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Speaker 1: so many twenty four hour places. But back at this time,
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Speaker 1: when these guys are brainstorming, the majority of restaurants or heck,
12:44
Speaker 1: businesses in general, they had strict hours. So if you're
12:47
Speaker 1: hungry on a holiday or late at night, you were
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Speaker 1: kind of sol until something opened.
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Speaker 2: So while we don't necessarily have evidence that this is
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Speaker 2: the very very very first of its kind in terms
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Speaker 2: of like a twenty four hour you know, grub joint.
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Speaker 2: It's definitely a big deal. You're absolutely right, Ben, And
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Speaker 2: the proof would in fact be in the pudding and
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Speaker 2: or the delightful the fluffy waffle batter. The very first
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Speaker 2: waffle house opened on a holiday Labor Day weekend nineteen
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Speaker 2: fifty five, when Tom and Joe welcome folks into their
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Speaker 2: original location over there in Avondale's States, which I believe
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Speaker 2: now is the site of the very museum that we
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Speaker 2: toured twenty seven nineteen East College and Ben, both you
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Speaker 2: and I for the longest time had driven by that place,
13:32
Speaker 2: and we're curious as to why, you know, you couldn't
13:36
Speaker 2: just walk in, And it does turn out that you
13:38
Speaker 2: do need to. You know, you gotta know somebody. They don't.
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Speaker 2: You can't just walk in. You got to have a
13:42
Speaker 2: guy on the inside.
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Speaker 1: Right right, You do have to be proactive. And we
13:46
Speaker 1: had driven past this for years and years, so when
13:49
Speaker 1: we're getting ready to do this episode, we finally did
13:53
Speaker 1: reach out. And it was a little bit odd for
13:56
Speaker 1: us to explain it first, to say, hey, you're not
14:00
Speaker 1: a school that wants to bring a class here. We're
14:03
Speaker 1: three guys who to a podcast live in the neighborhood.
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Speaker 1: Please hang out with.
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Speaker 2: Us, and we are just you know, fans of the place.
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Speaker 2: It is good food, you know, it's consistent is the
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Speaker 2: hash Browns are pretty fantastic frankly, and we are not
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Speaker 2: being sponsored by waffle House here. But they painted the
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Speaker 2: building a bright yellow hue to catch the eye. And
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Speaker 2: as we also know in some of our discussions here
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Speaker 2: on ridiculous history and on stuff they don't want you
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Speaker 2: to know, yellow is a color that does make people hungry.
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Speaker 2: Hence the golden arches.
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Speaker 1: Yes, that is absolutely true, Nol. And these guys are
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Speaker 1: Tom and Joe. They're a perfect marriage of collaboration because
14:44
Speaker 1: from the moment they opened, they were keeping close track
14:48
Speaker 1: of what the customers seemed to want. So they looked back.
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Speaker 1: They were always sort of recalculating stuff. So they look
14:56
Speaker 1: back at their first menu and said, all right, we
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Speaker 1: had sixteen things available, but there was one clear popular choice.
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Speaker 1: Everybody loved the waffles. So we said, we're going to
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Speaker 1: name ourselves after the most successful thing, waffle house. We'll
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Speaker 1: just call it that because that's why people are obviously coming.
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Speaker 1: And you heard that, right, folks. That means they opened
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Speaker 1: the restaurant before they named it.
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Speaker 2: How about that? How does that even work? It's just
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Speaker 2: the yellow building for a second. I'm okay with that.
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Speaker 2: You know, that's pretty genius. Actually, the restaurant with no name,
15:31
Speaker 2: it is just a color sort of like prints, you know,
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Speaker 2: being a symbol. I think that's pretty pretty incredible. No,
15:37
Speaker 2: the waffle house, you know, not to mention that it
15:38
Speaker 2: certainly bore a slight resemblance to the tottle house at least,
15:42
Speaker 2: and it's you know, double consonant kind of middle section there,
15:47
Speaker 2: and it's just fun to say waffle house, not to
15:49
Speaker 2: mention that it set it apart from all of the
15:52
Speaker 2: pancake houses that were much more features in the country.
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Speaker 1: And also a little peak behind the curtain. Tom would
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Speaker 1: later say in other interviews, right as the company continued
16:05
Speaker 1: to grow, he would provide a spin on this narrative,
16:09
Speaker 1: on this origin story, and he said, I wanted to
16:12
Speaker 1: call it waffle house because it was also the item
16:15
Speaker 1: that made the most profit for us.
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Speaker 2: Like per dish, they made a splash of batter in
16:20
Speaker 2: that waffle iron to get you a nice, crispy, delightful confection.
16:24
Speaker 2: I can imagine the margins are pretty good in terms
16:27
Speaker 2: of favoring the proprietors there.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, like a pizza place or popcorn at a theater. Right,
16:34
Speaker 1: they're very high margins on it. So this is the
16:36
Speaker 1: weird thing. It's not an immediate runway hit, despite the
16:41
Speaker 1: fact that waffle house is globally known today and much
16:45
Speaker 1: beloved in the United States. Joe was a double agent
16:49
Speaker 1: at this point because he was still working in Toddlehouse management.
16:53
Speaker 2: I thought he's going to say he was still working
16:55
Speaker 2: for the Manhattan Project. He was like a secret spy.
16:58
Speaker 2: That would be cool. That would have been cool, right,
17:00
Speaker 2: Project Operation Waffle. So, dude, I can't believe there's not
17:04
Speaker 2: like a government op called Project Waffle or Operation Waff.
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Speaker 3: There has to be, and we don't know, I mean,
17:11
Speaker 3: we don't know what all hasn't been released.
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Speaker 2: It's true, and we always joke on stuff that. I
17:15
Speaker 2: want you to know that the more innocuous the name,
17:17
Speaker 2: the more the more sinister of the project. Right, Like, so,
17:21
Speaker 2: what does Project Waffle do by day device?
17:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a bioweapon doom state device. Well, okay, because
17:29
Speaker 1: Joe was worried about conflicts of interest, he sold his
17:34
Speaker 1: share of the restaurant to his buddy Tom in nineteen
17:37
Speaker 1: fifty six, just after a year after they had opened,
17:41
Speaker 1: and Joe moved away from Atlanta for a while. A
17:44
Speaker 1: lot of people didn't know this. He asked the folks
17:47
Speaker 1: at Toddle House to make him a straight up partner,
17:50
Speaker 1: so no longer regional manager. Give me some equity in this.
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Speaker 1: They said no, and so Joe moved back to Atlanta
17:58
Speaker 1: and joined back up Toll and then Tom eventually leaves
18:03
Speaker 1: his dad's real estate business. Now they're both one hundred
18:06
Speaker 1: percent committed to waffle House, so it better work or
18:10
Speaker 1: they're in trouble.
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Speaker 2: Ben, If we may, could we take a quick pause
18:20
Speaker 2: in our overarching story of the history of the waffle
18:24
Speaker 2: house to talk a little bit about the history of
18:26
Speaker 2: the waffle because not only was it sort of a
18:29
Speaker 2: unique differentiator of a putting waffle right there in the
18:31
Speaker 2: name to kind of separate it from the crowd of
18:34
Speaker 2: pancake houses that had been, you know, hugely popular in
18:38
Speaker 2: the United States, the waffle itself has a really ancient origin,
18:43
Speaker 2: as of course the pancake does too. There's a million
18:46
Speaker 2: ways of slicing a pancake or making a thing that's
18:49
Speaker 2: called that could be compared to a pancake. But the
18:52
Speaker 2: actual waffle dates a lot farther back than I would
18:54
Speaker 2: have realized. I would have thought it was the humble
18:56
Speaker 2: Belgian waffle, but it is in fact something that goes
18:59
Speaker 2: back to ancient Grows around four thousand years ago.
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Speaker 1: Okay, Now at this point did they have the indentations.
19:09
Speaker 2: It would seem not. It was cooked on heated stones,
19:13
Speaker 2: so it was something more rigidly resembling a pancake. But
19:17
Speaker 2: then during the Iron Age we start to see iron
19:20
Speaker 2: cookware and iron plates and griddles that were used on
19:25
Speaker 2: both sides of these Sometimes these created these little indentations
19:30
Speaker 2: because of the way the metal was forged. And then
19:34
Speaker 2: you started to get into the much more modern kind
19:38
Speaker 2: of version of a waffle that we know today, when
19:41
Speaker 2: you had these irons that were forged with these literal
19:46
Speaker 2: you know, extrusions on them that would make the squares
19:49
Speaker 2: that obviously just really make that butter and syrup just
19:53
Speaker 2: just really hang on cling on to every binding, the.
19:56
Speaker 1: Surface volume, right or the surface area. Excuse me, that's awesome, Joe.
20:01
Speaker 1: I'm looking at pictures of this link you sent with
20:04
Speaker 1: these old school waffle irons. So we know, I feel
20:10
Speaker 1: like we can only really call them a waffle once
20:13
Speaker 1: we see those irons, right.
20:15
Speaker 2: I would agree, And that was that. The eye waffle
20:18
Speaker 2: iron that we know today was patented in Troy, New
20:22
Speaker 2: York by a guy named Cornelius swartwout A. What a
20:28
Speaker 2: fabulous day on August twenty fourth, eighteen sixty nine, which
20:32
Speaker 2: is actually to this day celebrated as National Waffle Day.
20:37
Speaker 2: And it wasn't until the nineteen tens that the electric
20:40
Speaker 2: waffle iron was introduced by General Electric. And then it became,
20:44
Speaker 2: you know, a staple in kitchens across the country around
20:49
Speaker 2: the nineteen thirties, and then of course we've got frozen
20:51
Speaker 2: waffles that come and you know it's game on. That's
20:54
Speaker 2: in the nineteen fifties, with of course the iconic eggo,
20:57
Speaker 2: Oh Lego, my EGGA.
20:58
Speaker 1: I've got some of the in the freezer. And also
21:01
Speaker 1: if I feel like I'm ever in hot water with
21:04
Speaker 1: a girlfriend, then I will I will make them homemade waffles.
21:09
Speaker 1: It is a hack, and it works as long as
21:11
Speaker 1: you didn't do something too too bad the day before.
21:14
Speaker 2: Well, it's such a fun thing to do one hundred
21:16
Speaker 2: percent bad I'm with you, because you can add some
21:18
Speaker 2: little twists to the batter. Put a little cinnamon in
21:20
Speaker 2: their little number, you know, add some syrup directly to
21:24
Speaker 2: the freaking batter, you know, put some fruits inside of there.
21:26
Speaker 2: Of course, all things you can do with pancakes, But
21:28
Speaker 2: there is just something about that texture of the waffle
21:32
Speaker 2: and the way it grips the butter and creates these little,
21:35
Speaker 2: you know, beautiful pockets of deliciousness. That kind of that's
21:38
Speaker 2: the waffle apart for.
21:39
Speaker 1: Me, and it's so much bang for your buck in
21:44
Speaker 1: a culinary sense, especially if you're a restaurant, right, and
21:48
Speaker 1: these guys in waffle else. Of course, I love that
21:51
Speaker 1: you're bringing the history of waffles here because it shows
21:53
Speaker 1: how much they owe to their predecessors. But they they
21:58
Speaker 1: had an issue because you could say they overcorrected with
22:02
Speaker 1: calling it waffle house. They sold other stuff, right, Remember
22:06
Speaker 1: we were there. We saw what burgers and there was
22:09
Speaker 1: a t bone steak that was I think their most
22:11
Speaker 1: expensive item.
22:13
Speaker 2: We may not have mentioned this that the way the
22:15
Speaker 2: waffle House Museum, located in that og waffle House location
22:20
Speaker 2: is set up is to resemble the original layouts and
22:24
Speaker 2: including up to and including the original menus. And it's
22:27
Speaker 2: of course one of the fun things to see in
22:29
Speaker 2: places like that is the like t bone steak that
22:31
Speaker 2: cost like no defense or something. I mean, it wasn't
22:33
Speaker 2: nine cents, but it was. I think the most expensive
22:36
Speaker 2: item was still less than a buck. I want to say,
22:39
Speaker 2: I want to say, you're right, Yeah, I think it
22:40
Speaker 2: was less than a dollar. And okay.
22:44
Speaker 1: Also in these early days, when they're saying crap, we
22:48
Speaker 1: have to somehow convey to people that they can buy
22:51
Speaker 1: things that aren't just waffles. As they're fighting through this stuff,
22:56
Speaker 1: they're also respectfully disagreeing or skeptical about some of the
23:00
Speaker 1: other guy's ideas. Joe's pitch of a restaurant that never
23:04
Speaker 1: ever closes privately seemed insane to Tom, because at this
23:09
Speaker 1: time there was maybe like one other joint in all
23:13
Speaker 1: of Atlanta that was open all night, maybe a couple right,
23:18
Speaker 1: maybe the Majestic or something, but we haven't checked that
23:20
Speaker 1: out yet.
23:21
Speaker 2: Joe justic being a cool, vintagey diner type place on
23:26
Speaker 2: Ponce delay on near the also incredibly vintage and wonderful
23:29
Speaker 2: movie theater, the Plaza. And I'm pretty sure there's there's
23:33
Speaker 2: definitely a lot of cool history behind both of those
23:35
Speaker 2: locations that maybe we could talk about on another episode
23:38
Speaker 2: one day. That'd be cool.
23:40
Speaker 1: Maybe we can, maybe we can pitch ourselves to Majestic
23:43
Speaker 1: and get like free breakfast.
23:44
Speaker 2: I really like their ero.
23:46
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you're I mean, I'm not to
23:50
Speaker 1: doc to myself too much, but you know, I live
23:52
Speaker 1: very close to that area, and so I would say
23:56
Speaker 1: the euro is just phenomenal.
23:59
Speaker 2: Solid.
23:59
Speaker 1: Only complaint is that post the lockdown, they are no
24:03
Speaker 1: longer twenty four hours.
24:05
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's a hard gig, not only for
24:08
Speaker 2: the management, but god for the employees. I mean, working
24:12
Speaker 2: those split shifts or whatever you call them, those overnight shifts.
24:14
Speaker 2: That that is quite the slog. But waffle House managed
24:18
Speaker 2: to do it despite some of the naysayers. Joe stuck
24:21
Speaker 2: to his guns and reminded Tom that the Interstates were
24:26
Speaker 2: a big part of his business plan, motorists traveling in
24:29
Speaker 2: all hours of the night, not to mention truckers.
24:32
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah, man, And he was spot on.
24:37
Speaker 1: He did manage to convince Tom that this was if
24:42
Speaker 1: it was a gamble, which it was, it was a
24:45
Speaker 1: worthwhile gamble. He said, you know, hungry folks exist all
24:49
Speaker 1: the time, and if we're the only people that can
24:51
Speaker 1: feed them, then we're the only people they'll go to.
24:55
Speaker 2: Well, as you know, Ben, you've got to eat right. Yes. Sorry,
24:58
Speaker 2: We just always harp on that it's such a lackluster
25:01
Speaker 2: tagline for the little restaurant chained Checkers, because it's just
25:04
Speaker 2: the lowest common denominator of like, you know, you know,
25:07
Speaker 2: you gotta eat something, it might as well be this trash.
25:09
Speaker 2: It never promises quality. It doesn't say it's the best
25:13
Speaker 2: burger or the best fries. That's that being said. I
25:16
Speaker 2: do like a Checker burger and rallies the same, are
25:19
Speaker 2: they want to It's sort of like Carls Junior and
25:22
Speaker 2: car Hardy. Yeah yeah, the other region.
25:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, the regional, but the money still goes to the guys.
25:28
Speaker 2: And speaking of the regional thing, there is a reason
25:31
Speaker 2: that a lot of that rebranding happens, right, like just things,
25:35
Speaker 2: people get used to certain things in certain parts of
25:38
Speaker 2: the country. And there's probably also a reason that waffle
25:40
Speaker 2: House isn't exactly on every street corner in every state
25:44
Speaker 2: in the Union, because there are equivalents that are more
25:47
Speaker 2: popular in other parts of the country, just like we
25:49
Speaker 2: don't get in and out Burger here because they want
25:52
Speaker 2: to keep all of their restaurants as close as possible
25:55
Speaker 2: to their distribution hubs so they never have to, you know,
25:57
Speaker 2: freeze the meat, which I can respect, but boil boy
25:59
Speaker 2: would I eleven in and out?
26:01
Speaker 1: Or how Chick fil A doesn't go to every place where.
26:05
Speaker 1: You know, especially when you're traveling abroad, folks, you will
26:08
Speaker 1: be surprised by the fast food stuff from the United
26:14
Speaker 1: States that we take as normal becomes phenomenally, phenomenally important.
26:19
Speaker 1: I'm trying to remember which airport it was in which country,
26:22
Speaker 1: but there was like one Popeyes and it was always
26:26
Speaker 1: crowded because people had read about it on Instagram or
26:29
Speaker 1: TikTok or something.
26:31
Speaker 2: Dude, I remember when Popey said that viral chicken sandwich.
26:33
Speaker 2: People were like yeah and each other over. Yes, it
26:36
Speaker 2: was admittedly a very good chicken sandwich. I was kind
26:38
Speaker 2: of good with the hype. Oh sure, yeah, I don't
26:42
Speaker 2: think it needed to be a culture war, but it
26:44
Speaker 2: wasn't an amazing sandwich. Few things do, man, few things do.
26:48
Speaker 1: So Okay, now it's nineteen sixty. Wafflause has survived. It's expanded.
26:52
Speaker 1: There are four different locations around the Atlanta metro area,
26:56
Speaker 1: and now they say we're gonna up the gas on
27:01
Speaker 1: our expansion. In a very real way. They choose to franchise, right,
27:07
Speaker 1: So their vision at this point is inspired by other
27:09
Speaker 1: outfits like McDonald's. By the late nineteen sixties, the same
27:14
Speaker 1: decade they've got twenty seven waffle.
27:16
Speaker 2: Houses, twenty seven waffle houses. Moving into the seventies, they
27:20
Speaker 2: up that number significantly to four hundred, and by the
27:25
Speaker 2: time Joe and Tom had passed away in twenty seventeen,
27:30
Speaker 2: you would see fifteen hundred locations as of now, wouldn't
27:35
Speaker 2: we sit here speaking to you twenty twenty six. Actually,
27:38
Speaker 2: well they may, I don't know, who knows. They may
27:40
Speaker 2: have opened a few. The status from August of twenty
27:41
Speaker 2: twenty five, you're going to see two thousand and thirty
27:43
Speaker 2: eight waffle houses across only twenty five states. That's only
27:47
Speaker 2: about half of the states, and the majority of them
27:49
Speaker 2: are still located in Georgia. So there is that kind
27:52
Speaker 2: of regional flare. And I'm sure they're doing their market
27:54
Speaker 2: research and figuring out where where to put the other
27:57
Speaker 2: ones and being smart about it. Other if a lot
27:59
Speaker 2: of Ohio, I want to say.
28:01
Speaker 1: I would have said, look, yeah, they follow the interstates.
28:03
Speaker 1: I would imagine that's a well points. So if we
28:06
Speaker 1: go to wafflehouse dot com, there is a map and there, yeah, okay,
28:12
Speaker 1: so there's fifteen in Arizona, one in all of New Mexico,
28:18
Speaker 1: ten in Colorado, four in Texas. Well, actually, no, there's
28:24
Speaker 1: Texas is like such a country unto itself. You got
28:26
Speaker 1: sixty eight and more central Texas, and then only four
28:29
Speaker 1: in northern Texas. Uh, thirty seventy in Arkansas, thirty seven
28:33
Speaker 1: in Missouri, and again one hundred and fifty two in
28:36
Speaker 1: what is that? Yeah, that's Kentucky, which makes sense. And
28:40
Speaker 1: then yeah, one thousand and ten here in Georgia and
28:44
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty seven in Florida. So still quite
28:47
Speaker 1: a few places in the country that are not going
28:49
Speaker 1: to know much about it. Woho apparently, yeah, and a
28:52
Speaker 1: get like we were saying there, there is some slow
28:55
Speaker 1: expansion into other states like Pennsylvania. Well we'll see, we'll
29:00
Speaker 1: see why as well. People want to go to a
29:03
Speaker 1: waffle house now, even if they don't particularly consider themselves
29:08
Speaker 1: waffle fans, and it's because this has evolved past the
29:12
Speaker 1: idea of comfort food to a kind of legend. It's
29:15
Speaker 1: something you read about, it's something you hear about, and
29:19
Speaker 1: you know you'll see all those breathless headlines of crazy
29:21
Speaker 1: things happening in the waffle house, and then you'll see
29:24
Speaker 1: I most recently saw a guy from New Zealand who
29:30
Speaker 1: traveled to the United States to try waffle House.
29:35
Speaker 2: It is a bit of a fascination for some folks.
29:38
Speaker 2: I totally feel you in a similar way that In
29:40
Speaker 2: and Out is for us here on the East Coast,
29:42
Speaker 2: and I will argue and die on the hill that
29:44
Speaker 2: it is a very good burger, the old in and
29:48
Speaker 2: out burger. Ben we haven't We're going to talk about
29:56
Speaker 2: a lot of this lore. I would love to just
29:58
Speaker 2: lead off with something that I think is a has
30:00
Speaker 2: been a fascination to us, is that waffle House has
30:02
Speaker 2: its own in house record label and populates, or at
30:06
Speaker 2: least it's a bummer because a lot of the jukeboxes
30:09
Speaker 2: are now touchtoons machines, the digital ones, but back in
30:12
Speaker 2: the day, it was always the old, you know, jukebox
30:15
Speaker 2: machines where you had the little little tiles or what
30:18
Speaker 2: do you call little labels with A side and a
30:20
Speaker 2: B side, and they produce their own tunes, songs like
30:24
Speaker 2: there are Raisins in My Toast by Danny Jones, grill
30:29
Speaker 2: operator and Bert referring to the titular Burt of Burt's Chili,
30:34
Speaker 2: I think the chilies, which goes on the hash Browns
30:38
Speaker 2: and so on. That's right. Yeah, And they did, unfortunately
30:41
Speaker 2: league up with touch tunes in recent years, and I
30:44
Speaker 2: don't fully support that move.
30:46
Speaker 1: Ben, Yeah, I mean maybe we're all becoming increasingly Curmudgeonally.
30:51
Speaker 1: I am not the biggest fan of touch tunes replacing
30:56
Speaker 1: old school jukeboxes, but so it goes. There's another there's
31:01
Speaker 1: another legend dairy thing here, which is the idea that
31:06
Speaker 1: waffle house doesn't have locks.
31:08
Speaker 2: On the restaurant. I remember that one. I remember believing
31:12
Speaker 2: logistically it doesn't make much sense. Now surely they even
31:15
Speaker 2: if they're open, why they're open all the time? Why
31:17
Speaker 2: do they that's some sort they gotta close down occasionally
31:21
Speaker 2: to do cleanings perhaps, or you know, or whatever it
31:25
Speaker 2: might be. Yeah, that's what we're gonna talk about. The
31:27
Speaker 2: waffle House index.
31:28
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, this one should be familiar to every
31:32
Speaker 1: fellow child of the South. It's our favorite lore. It's
31:36
Speaker 1: similar to the Pentagon Pizza Index. The Pentagon Pizza Index
31:40
Speaker 1: argues that you can predict US military action by seeing
31:44
Speaker 1: how many pizzas get ordered in parts of the DC
31:47
Speaker 1: area in Virginia. And we talked about that on stuff
31:49
Speaker 1: they don't want you to do as well, and h
31:53
Speaker 1: here's the here's the bitch, you know it, you love it.
31:55
Speaker 1: Since waffle House never closes, FEMA judges how bad a
31:59
Speaker 1: nash disaster is based on whether or not waffle houses
32:03
Speaker 1: in the area are still open.
32:05
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, first of all, as we've just laid out
32:08
Speaker 2: with our rundown of the waffle House map, there are
32:11
Speaker 2: nearly enough of them evenly distributed across the country for
32:15
Speaker 2: that to make any kind of sense. That's a great point.
32:18
Speaker 2: That's a great point.
32:19
Speaker 1: Right, So, something goes wrong in a state without a
32:22
Speaker 1: waffle house, what does FEMA do? We do kind of
32:26
Speaker 1: have the answer. There's an excellent Snopes article about this
32:30
Speaker 1: that quotes some interviews from other journalists and even the
32:35
Speaker 1: former FEMA director. They say that waffle House is a
32:41
Speaker 1: test for US. It's unofficial, but we do use it
32:44
Speaker 1: when we can because it tells us how quickly a
32:47
Speaker 1: business might rebound. So this comes from W. Craig Fugate,
32:52
Speaker 1: who is the former FEMA director, and he says the
32:55
Speaker 1: success of the private sector and preparing for weathering disasters.
32:59
Speaker 2: Teaches us us.
33:00
Speaker 1: It's a temperature check for how the rest of the
33:02
Speaker 1: community is doing. And even though it's not official, guess
33:06
Speaker 1: FEMA does check in on waft Louse whenever stuff goes wrong,
33:10
Speaker 1: but they also check in on other businesses of course,
33:14
Speaker 1: not just Waftleuse. It's also like home depot or lows
33:17
Speaker 1: or whatever.
33:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes sense. So Snopes, the conspiracy theory debunkers
33:25
Speaker 2: long standing operation there who are big fans of had
33:28
Speaker 2: this to say. These companies have taken necessary steps to prepare.
33:31
Speaker 2: These companies have good risk management plans to ensure their
33:34
Speaker 2: stores continue to operate when a disaster strikes, and also
33:37
Speaker 2: provide basic supplies to people in their community. So they
33:39
Speaker 2: are looking at es central type of operations and judging,
33:44
Speaker 2: you know, how bad things are based on the ability
33:47
Speaker 2: of these companies who have taken great lengths to be
33:50
Speaker 2: as available as possible during times of crisis. You know,
33:54
Speaker 2: it's probably a good a good bell weather.
33:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, in places like gas stations. Course now they think
34:00
Speaker 1: about it. Hospitals, those are two hugely important things. They
34:05
Speaker 1: are essential services, and there's so much more we wanted
34:09
Speaker 1: to get to folks. We're so happy we were able
34:11
Speaker 1: to touch on the music a little bit before we
34:15
Speaker 1: before we call it a day and grab a booth
34:18
Speaker 1: with you in the future. Max, you had a band
34:21
Speaker 1: you wanted to shout out.
34:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was the band that I saw open for
34:25
Speaker 3: Brian Fallon, lead singer of Gaslight Anthem, a couple of
34:28
Speaker 3: years ago. The name of the band is the Warriors,
34:30
Speaker 3: but like worry like as I'm worrying and oh not.
34:33
Speaker 2: Like Warriors come out and play yang, Oh my gosh,
34:36
Speaker 2: why haven't you called exactly they're worrying.
34:39
Speaker 3: But the lead singer, they were up on stage and
34:42
Speaker 3: right before they started the song, was like, actually, I'm wondering,
34:45
Speaker 3: Like whenever we play a song back up in Pennsylvania
34:47
Speaker 3: where they're from, people don't really know what we're talking about.
34:49
Speaker 3: But the name of this song is the saddest little
34:52
Speaker 3: waffle house in eastern Pennsylvania. And everyone started laughing and
34:55
Speaker 3: they go, yeah, that's been a report. When in the
34:59
Speaker 3: South everyone gets and up north.
35:00
Speaker 2: No one understands this They referring to a specific little
35:04
Speaker 2: straggler of a waffle house that exists there, or is
35:07
Speaker 2: it more of a.
35:08
Speaker 3: It's it's I mean, I don't even know how much
35:11
Speaker 3: the song is really about waffle house per se, but
35:13
Speaker 3: it's just like that idea of that sad waffle house,
35:16
Speaker 3: that last beach head is that one thing open in
35:19
Speaker 3: eastern Pennsylvania that's just there.
35:22
Speaker 2: Also kind of a reference to the best little whorehouse
35:24
Speaker 2: in Texas very much.
35:26
Speaker 1: Exactly, or the what's that the Mountain Goat song the
35:31
Speaker 1: best death.
35:31
Speaker 2: The best ever death metal band out of Dent. Yes,
35:34
Speaker 2: check out our sister podcast, Stuffy It Want You to
35:37
Speaker 2: Know for an exploration literally figuratively of the underground bunkers
35:41
Speaker 2: of Denton.
35:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, and a random fact for you folks. Back in
35:46
Speaker 1: two thousand and five, two percent of all eggs produced
35:49
Speaker 1: in the United States ended up at a waffle house.
35:53
Speaker 1: So it's we're not blowing rainbows.
35:55
Speaker 2: It is a big deal for sure. And can we
35:57
Speaker 2: also just shout out to short order cooks and and
36:01
Speaker 2: and it is such a tight operation that they run
36:04
Speaker 2: there at these wabble houses. They've got an open kitchen,
36:06
Speaker 2: there's no f and around. You know, you can't be
36:09
Speaker 2: just goofing off in a waffle house kitchen because the
36:12
Speaker 2: all eyes are on you and those eggs are kept
36:15
Speaker 2: in these cool like wire bins on top of the thing.
36:18
Speaker 2: They're just you know, chock full, overflowing with eggs. And
36:22
Speaker 2: I've very rarely had Yeah, certainly, I think we've all
36:26
Speaker 2: probably had some interesting experiences at waffle house. That's usually
36:29
Speaker 2: as a result of the patrons.
36:31
Speaker 1: It's I would say, pretty much always is the result
36:35
Speaker 1: of the patriots.
36:35
Speaker 2: And when I say, I'm talking about drunken nighttime shenaniganry,
36:39
Speaker 2: but or like kid Rock.
36:42
Speaker 3: Have you have you guys seen the SNL waffle House catch?
36:44
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I've.
36:46
Speaker 3: Watched it all kind of like this is, uh, this
36:48
Speaker 3: is actually kind of spot on. I mean, it's not
36:51
Speaker 3: every time you go to waffle house, but everyone's been
36:53
Speaker 3: a waffle house at that time for sure.
36:55
Speaker 2: And much like you know, you see all these Florida
36:56
Speaker 2: man stories because of the way that Florida publish it,
37:00
Speaker 2: you know, the mugshots and all that stuff. The Sunshine
37:03
Speaker 2: laws make it easier for that stuff to go out
37:05
Speaker 2: into the public record. I think when you have a
37:07
Speaker 2: twenty four hour joint like waffle House that's so accessible,
37:10
Speaker 2: you're gonna get some crazy videos that come out all spots,
37:15
Speaker 2: and I think we've all seen them. But nine times
37:17
Speaker 2: out of ten, it's the staff reacting sharply and decisively
37:22
Speaker 2: and professionally and you know, keeping people safe. So I
37:26
Speaker 2: really shout out to you know, all of the folks
37:28
Speaker 2: that work at these places.
37:29
Speaker 1: Just absolute legends when it comes to diplomacy and when
37:34
Speaker 1: it comes to empathy, and I'll say when it comes
37:36
Speaker 1: to drawing hard boundaries.
37:38
Speaker 2: We and we we did promise a little bit of
37:40
Speaker 2: a inside of the code of ordering hash Brown. I
37:44
Speaker 2: think I want to hear what each of our orders
37:47
Speaker 2: would be. But smothered is, of course cheese, No saute
37:52
Speaker 2: onions would be yeah, coverared is of course just a
37:57
Speaker 2: good old American cheese products right, melted over the top.
38:02
Speaker 1: We've got wood, which is grilled hickory smoked ham.
38:07
Speaker 2: Right. We have peppered which is jalapinos, So the heat
38:14
Speaker 2: seekers out there, that's the easiest one to guess, filpino
38:17
Speaker 2: pepper on there. What else we got We got.
38:19
Speaker 1: Diced, which would be grilled tomatoes, capped, which would be
38:22
Speaker 1: grilled mushrooms.
38:24
Speaker 2: And you know it's interesting. I don't usually like canned mushrooms,
38:27
Speaker 2: but in this particular situation they hit. I always get
38:31
Speaker 2: them capped, and they are definitely canned mushrooms. But I
38:34
Speaker 2: am a smothered, covered, peppered, capped kind of guy, and
38:40
Speaker 2: I like to get a double order. Wi. You mentioned.
38:42
Speaker 1: You can also get Topped, which uses their Bert's chili
38:45
Speaker 1: Bert's Chili. You can get Country, which is sausage gravy.
38:49
Speaker 1: That's one of the newer ones because on the menu
38:52
Speaker 1: they're named in the Order of Discovery, And this was
38:55
Speaker 1: an organic idea that came from the short order cooks
38:58
Speaker 1: themselves cool when they have friends come over or when
39:01
Speaker 1: they were making something, they would be like, oh, I
39:04
Speaker 1: know Jeremy, Jeremy loves mushrooms, so I'll just put some
39:08
Speaker 1: in his hash brown. Eventually they started codifying.
39:12
Speaker 2: Sure and we love a secret menu item too, or
39:15
Speaker 2: like a secret you know, like a again. Shout out
39:17
Speaker 2: to In and Out Burger for some of their secret ways,
39:20
Speaker 2: animal style and all of that good stuff. How do
39:21
Speaker 2: you like your hash browns? Ben?
39:23
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I'm a wild man, you know. I will
39:27
Speaker 1: usually trend for the veggie options with the cheese. What
39:32
Speaker 1: about what about umex or the chili chili and cheese.
39:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, I go with the condition option, right yep, But
39:40
Speaker 3: traditionally smalled covered and cap would be my go to.
39:43
Speaker 2: Yes, a shout out to the condition you bastard will
39:47
Speaker 2: get it one day, We'll get it in control. One
39:50
Speaker 2: day we'll get on the other side of it.
39:52
Speaker 1: We also want we should know how we didn't probably
39:55
Speaker 1: don't have time for the details on this, but there's
39:58
Speaker 1: also this system that the staff invented regarding how to
40:04
Speaker 1: indicate an order. And it's all about the placement of
40:07
Speaker 1: condiment packages on the tray er on the plate. That's
40:11
Speaker 1: how you that's part of how you tell the.
40:12
Speaker 2: Cook the thing. Pretty really stuff. Yeah, it's like a
40:15
Speaker 2: secret code. Interesting okay, And I do want to end
40:22
Speaker 2: for my part anyway, today's episode with a shout out
40:24
Speaker 2: to my kid who has figured out how to make
40:28
Speaker 2: waffle House style hash browns at home. And the key
40:32
Speaker 2: is a great a nice big old russet potato and
40:35
Speaker 2: then you need to rinse it to get some of
40:38
Speaker 2: the starchy bits off the kind of and then you
40:41
Speaker 2: rinse it till the water kind of runs clear, and
40:43
Speaker 2: then cook it in a cast iron skillet, press it
40:47
Speaker 2: in a thin like layer, and then be patient and
40:51
Speaker 2: then flip it and then you get crispy on both
40:54
Speaker 2: sides and it is just as good as at the
40:57
Speaker 2: waffle house itself. So that's fun. Well, that's awesome. Yeah,
41:02
Speaker 2: flip is the most satisfying thing oh one could ever
41:04
Speaker 2: ask for. Uh.
41:06
Speaker 1: They also just you know, folks, to the good people
41:09
Speaker 1: at waffle House serve right now something like one hundred
41:12
Speaker 1: and forty five waffles per minute, three hundred and forty
41:15
Speaker 1: one bacon strips per minute, so that, oh what, two
41:18
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty orders of hash brouts every sixty seconds.
41:22
Speaker 2: So that means.
41:23
Speaker 1: Every year waffle House serves enough bacon to fully wrap
41:26
Speaker 1: around the earth, or to wrap around it in a line,
41:29
Speaker 1: not to encase it, but to circumnavigate it.
41:31
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, bacon around the earth. That's just that. If
41:34
Speaker 2: that's not peace, I don't know what is.
41:37
Speaker 1: And therey Avid, folks, thanks is always so much for
41:40
Speaker 1: tuning in big things. To our super producer, mister Max Williams,
41:44
Speaker 1: I wonder what Jonathan Strickland, aka the quizz Or would
41:48
Speaker 1: order at waffle House.
41:50
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna argue just playing. He's just a plain
41:53
Speaker 2: hash hash He's kind of got.
41:55
Speaker 3: He's such a villain that he probably boardcosts waffle House.
41:58
Speaker 3: He's probably the one person in this world who doesn't.
42:00
Speaker 2: He also gets his t bone well done the mad
42:03
Speaker 2: man or he and he doesn't even eat it because
42:06
Speaker 2: he doesn't eat beef. That's true.
42:08
Speaker 1: If he looks, he looks down his nose and it's
42:10
Speaker 1: getting Maybe he's one of those Actually, have you guys
42:14
Speaker 1: heard of Toddlehouse people?
42:16
Speaker 2: Just insufferable?
42:19
Speaker 1: We're kidding, Jonathan, You're a three out of five guy
42:21
Speaker 1: in our book.
42:22
Speaker 2: Big thanks to who else still? Who are Chris Rasiota's
42:26
Speaker 2: news Jeff Coats here in spirit, Alex Williams, who composed
42:30
Speaker 2: this slapping track that I wish it belongs on waffle House.
42:34
Speaker 2: Chupboxes bring back the old school chetboxes.
42:37
Speaker 1: I see, Yes, we're standing on that one. We're standing
42:40
Speaker 1: on business there. Big big thanks to the rude dudes
42:42
Speaker 1: are ridiculous crime. Big thanks, as we said earlier, to
42:46
Speaker 1: all the staff at waffle House for being just genuinely awesome,
42:51
Speaker 1: And big thanks to the management of waffle House for
42:55
Speaker 1: having us over to the museum. Most importantly, Noel, thanks.
42:58
Speaker 2: To you, Man oh Man, thanks you as well, Ben
43:01
Speaker 2: for hosting the show with me and for doing the
43:04
Speaker 2: incredible research on this very near and dear to all
43:07
Speaker 2: of our Heart's episode. We'll see you next time, folks.
43:17
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
43:21
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.