Chicken Sandwich Wars!

Happy Holidays to our Food Court fans! And what better way to celebrate Hanukkah (or Christmas or Tuesday or whatever you're doing this week) than this very special episode featuring Seth Rogen (The Fablemans) and Lauren Miller Rogen (Like Father) discussing the world of mayonnaise based salads. The salads that make a deli a deli. Seth hates them, Lauren loves them, and that's how a Food Court is made. 

In addition to salads Lauren and Seth are super passionate about their non-profit Hilarity for Charity. HFC is a national non-profit on a mission to care for families impacted by Alzheimer's disease, activate the next generation of Alzheimer's advocates, and be a leader in brain health research and education.

They talk about what makes smash burgers so darn tasty, the McDonalds double cheeseburger, jello based salads, French dressing, mayonnaise in all its glory, ranch dressing, cel-ray soda and so much more. Happy 50th episode to us! 

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Season 3 is winding down but we're going out with a bang and not a whimper. This week friends and podcast co-hosts Busy Philipps (Girls 5Eva, Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best, Cougar Town) and Caissie St. Onge (Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best, Busy Tonight, Watch What Happens) had a hard time coming up with something argue about but then came up with this: butter pecan vs. mint chocolate chip ice cream. Which one of these ice creams is the best of the worst? Full disclosure, my kid loves both and was devastated to learn these two flavors are unpopular but to be fair my kid hasn't found an ice cream flavor she doesn't like yet.  

This episode covers a lot of fun topics including manufactured olives, David Letterman pushing caviar, Martha Stewart judging the craft services table, deviled eggs and what they're all doing their best at this week. 

Richard's Instagram 

Ember & Rye a Richard Blais steakhouse

Four Flamingos a Richard Blais Florida Kitchen 

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When we first started recording in early 2020, a guest was lined up who was excited to dig into the chicken sandwich wars but then covid shutdown came and the war on chicken sandwiches ended and the episode never happened. Cut to almost three years later and the topic is back! Chef Pyet DeSpain (Next Level Chef) is here to defend the Chic-fil-A chicken sandwich while Chef Nekia Allen is arguing in favor of Popeye's. Pickle brine, 11 herbs and spices, can something be TOO crispy? A lot of things are covered and our honorable judge Richard is put the test yet again. 

*After this episode the guests were so sweet they went to Popeye's and got us all lunch. Gems! 

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Every season someone brings an "I love this" vs an "I hate this" take. Season 1 brought us loving cilantro vs. hating cilantro and then season 2 brought us the infamous loving butter vs. hating butter and now here we are in season 3 with another spicy (or not spicy depending on your taste) take. Does spicy food have a place? Chef and author Wylie Dufresne is unashamed to say that he thinks spicy food is bad and overrated no matter how many people disagree with him. His friend Chris Ying (The Dave Chang Show, Recipe Club) is here to say spicy food rules. These two came to court with buckets of evidence and it all adds up to one of the best Food Court debates of all time. 

The most iconic exchange of season 3 is in this episode and is about how difficult it is to make Pirate Booty, you don't want to miss this! 

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Wow wow wow, as we approach the holiday season Chef Carla Hall is here to throw down for savory cornbread against her friend, fellow cook and writer, Chadwick Boyd, who is totally okay with a little extra sugar in the mix. Carla does NOT add extra sugar in her recipe and she has the evidence to prove it. This is a Food Court to remember with Carla going into a trance that cannot be broken by any mere bell,  Chadwick overcoming a duck confit injury and a final winner's scream that woke my dog from a deep sleep. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! 

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Carla's book- Carla and the Christmas Cornbread

Chadwick Boyd Lifestyle

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This week in the Food Court we have two podcasters, lovers of the art of arguing and friends: Matt Frederick (Stuff They Don't Want You to Know) and Alex Williams (Ephemeral) take on the topic of dark beer vs. light beer. Which one is tastiest? Which one attracts the most snobs? Which one has notes of peanut butter? Which one did your grandpa drink? We have something called a tongue drum (seriously), learn that something called Heineken Zero exists (seriously) and that Miller Beer is comprised of soft bubbles (also true?).  

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Today in the Food Court with Richard Blais we have a case of two cereals. Comedian and writer, Ashley Ray, is truly passionate about hot cereals of all kinds while her friend and fellow comedian/writer, Babs Gray, is equally passionate about a simple bowl of cold cereal.  It's instant oats vs marshmallow stars, it's congee vs corn flakes and it's all going down TODAY in the Food Court. 

Hopefully Ashley drops some recipes because I am dying for some carrot cake oatmeal now that I know it exists. Now I'm off to eat my yearly bowl of Count Chocula - Happy Halloween y'all! 

*Rated Explicit because of mentions of weed*

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Today in the Food Court we have comedian and writer, Marcy Jarreau (Brooklyn 99), here all the way from the Bayou to defend her beloved popcorn shrimp. Her friend, Michael McMillian (True Blood / My Crazy Ex-Girlfeiend), is from the midwest and here to tell us all that popcorn chicken is actually the best popcorned food. It gets verrrry personal and Richard also takes this opportunity to talk to actors about the auditioning process and his favorite topic of all - the crafty table. For Food Court devotees you'll also finally find out Richard's feelings on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when he drops some real secrets.  

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It's a family food feud in the Food Court this week! Cousins Manolo and Sandra Vergara are in the studio (our first fully in-studio episode since March 2020!) to argue soft vs crunchy tacos. Many great side topics come up in this one including the Taco Bell menu, Julia Child, international chips, the best red carpet snacks, Oreos and even Abercrombie and Fitch of all things in the year 2022 somehow. In the end I think we can all agree that tacos are delicious and, boy, are we hungry. 

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Richard was having so much fun with Ophira and Josh that they did this fun bit of bonus content. Listen to find out snap opinions on several food topics in a quick game we are calling Snack Attack! 

Josh, I see that you've added "year round ice coffee drinker" to your twitter bio. Or has a it always been there?!

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