Ep. 164: Where To Eat in Philly in June

Eli, Dave

Yes?

What was your pizza place growing up? Not, like, your corner local pizza place.

What was your fast food, quote-unquote, we'd call it now fast casual pizza place?

Mine was Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut?

We had Shakey's, which was...

Remember, I grew up in the boonies, so we had to drive an hour to get-

An hour for pizza?

To get, like...

Yeah, we had to drive an hour.

So-

Man

... take-out and delivery wasn't a thing.

Like, you were going and sitting there, right?

Oh, yeah.

There...

We didn't, we didn't have...

Yeah.

The, well, the restaurant I started working at at 14 was the first restaurant to serve pizza in the town.

[laughs] In your town.

And that was an hour away from your house?

No, no, no.

That was, that was the first time there was a pizza shop in the town I grew up in.

Oh.

And then, so that was close, closer than an hour?

Yeah.

Okay.

In, in Mossyrock, yeah.

All right.

I would say we did a lot of Domi- the, that, back in, like, 2003, '05, three, four, five-

Mm-hmm

... that was, like, when Domino's was doing the 5, 5, 5 deal.

Oh.

So we were doing that a lot with one topping.

But if we were going out, it was Pizza Hut.

You remember the, was it The Void? Was that, was that-

The Noid

...

The Noid.

The Noid.

Was that-

Is that Domino's? That was Domino's, right?

Domino's was The Noid.

Yeah.

Noid.

And then Little Caesars was the-

Pizza! Pizza

...

Pizza! Pizza.

Yeah.

And then there was, um, who, who had the guy that...

Was it Godfather's? Godfather's Pizza.

We didn't have a Godfather's.

Oh, really?

We had Sup- we had a Soprano's.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Godfather's, yeah.

Good name.

Uh, well, the '90s are back, and I visited it.

[laughs]

Oh.

Because in Egg Harbor Township, there is a '90s Pizza Hut.

No.

We are talking wooden booths, Tiffany glass chandeliers.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Buffet?

Buffet.

Oh.

No salad bar yet.

Okay.

But buffet.

Who's eating salad anyway?

Oh, did we, did we have a buffet? Oh, we did, I think we did have a buffet.

You know what I remember is getting the little NCAA basketballs, like, when, like, when the, be like the, the, the big dance.

So, like, the, you know, right, right before the Final Four.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like, they would give those away.

Like, that was awesome, little mini basketballs.

I remember Land Before Time puppets.

I remember them, too.

Oh, yeah.

And Book It.

Of course, Book It.

Well, and Book It is back, so.

Oh, they're bringing it back?

Anybody listening-

Ooh, Book It

... that has a kindergarten to sixth grader-

Oh

... you can register now for Book It.

Uh, Book It-

Oh

... was Pizza Hut's program where if you read 12 books over the summer-

It was 12? I thought it was, like, five

...

Oh, I don't know.

I mean, did you actually read them anyway? [laughs]

No, I lied.

You get a free personal pan pizza.

You, you got, you had a little-

I, I remember the personal pans

... you had a pin, and you would get a star for every book.

Oh.

And if you filled them all up, then-

I think I remember that

... you get a personal pan pizza.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Ooh.

I lo- I miss Pizza Hut.

I love it.

And the highlight.

Yes.

Ninja Turtles video game.

That's great.

That's great.

Free, or you gotta pay for it?

You had to pay.

Just letting you know, if you go to Monong, it's free.

It's free.

No, is, is this new? Is this a-

I-

... is this a new thing that's happening?

So it's been happening across the country.

I think that they redid a redone Pizza Hut to make it '90s.

You know there's that one, uh, like, you go down Cherry Hill, or through, through, like, Cherry Hill or Mount Laurel, one of those, and it's...

Well, you see them around.

You, like, like-

Yeah

... it'll be a Chinese restaurant, but it has-

Or Liquor Hut.

You can-

Yeah

... always tell when it's a Pizza Hut-

Yeah

...

when it used to be a Wawa.

Mm.

I don't know about that one, but...

Yeah, shout out to my friend Craig and Jayro.

Uh, back in the early 2000s, they, they would shut down the Pizza Hut in Deptford and throw parties, and we'd just show up with 30 racks.

[laughs]

And they would just-

Nice

... make pizzas all night.

I, I def-

Oh, they worked there?

Yeah, they worked.

That's managers.

Oh, nice.

Or the mom was a manager.

Epic.

Nice.

They would put 20 bucks in the jukebox and we would just go crazy.

So I was kinda watching the kitchen.

This place was slammed.

We went Memorial Day weekend.

[laughs] Don't...

I'm sure.

It was raining.

It was slammed.

Oh, wow.

And they, they only had two people working, but they-

What?

...

they were champs.

I can tell you, they were champs.

Um, like, I feel like the kitchen in Pizza Hut is not...

Everything's just being heated, right? Like-

Well, the, the, well, the pan pizzas-

Pan pizzas are, like, fried with oil

...

I love those, man.

Oh, really?

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

The, the healthy-ish-

That's why they're so unhealthy for you

... it's like the, I'm sure not even olive oil, but, you know-

Yeah

... fricking delicious, so.

Hydrogenated oil or something that's completely horrible for your body.

[laughs]

Yep.

Well, that's why it was so impressive.

And they have, like, three types of breadsticks these days: garlic, cheesy-

Cinnamon sugar

... cinnamon sugar is four, and then regular ones.

Mm.

And I did get a salad-

I love a little-

...

so I'm gonna check it out.

Yeah.

It was covered in shredded cheese and croutons.

[laughs]

Who let-

Fair enough.

[laughs]

You, parents need to supervise your kid at the buffets.

I'm tired of these kids coming up in Chinese buffets and putting their grummy hands into the food, into the fries.

They don't have any to- like, tong etiquette.

Like, y- you need to be making your kids' new plate.

There needs to be a buffet step stool to get it started.

No, I don't want the kids anywhere s- these, this close to the-

That's why I don't go to buffets.

[laughs]

Yeah.

[laughs] 13 and older for buffets.

[laughs] Yeah.

Kids.

Well, I'm excited.

The '90s are back in general.

What else did I see? I-

Nostalgia

... thought I saw something else that, that, um...

I mean, you got Polly G's, of course.

They brought, they kinda did that thing, but...

I'm getting you guys all Tamagotchis for your birthdays.

I don't know what that means, but I'll take it.

Mine, mine will die.

[laughs] You g- sorry.

That was such a girl thing, I guess.

But you had, did you have a Tamagotchi?

I had a Tamagotchi.

All right.

Or, like, my sister had one and I stole it, so.

[laughs]

Same thing.

All right.

Furbies for all.

[laughs]

Got it.

Hit it.

Snack time.

[upbeat music]