Matt and Friends Drink the Universe

Drinkables - "El Cheers-o!"

• Matt and Friends Drink The Universe • Episode 44

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 Ready for a hilarious culinary escapade? Join us on "Matt and Friends: Drink the Universe" as we embark on a spirited journey through the world of budget-friendly dollar store snacks paired with margaritas. Andy, Josh, and Rob join Matt for a flavor-packed adventure filled with laughter, and candid critiques. We’re pairing 3 snacks with Teremana tequila margaritas. 

We tackle an array of Mexican-style snacks, turning an ordinary taste test into a comical critique of unexpected flavor combinations. Some good, some not good at all. We share our raw reactions.

In true "Matt and Friends" fashion, the episode takes a whimsical turn into DIY culinary creations, blending childhood nostalgia with adult innovation. Featuring Jack Link's Steak Bites, tiny chicken tacos, guacamole-flavored chips, salsa verde, Mexican style rice, and even corn nuts for a Mexican-style street corn flair. Top it off with watermelon rings for a margarita garnish, and you have the perfect recipe for discount snack greatness! 

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Cheers, and thanks for listening!

Matt:

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. We have liftoff.

Rob:

Welcome to Matt and Friends. Drink the Universe. Drink the Universe.

Matt:

Hello everyone, welcome back to Matt and Friends. Drink the Universe. The theme for today is drinkables.

Rob:

I have so many terrible flavors in my mouth right now.

Josh:

Three budget snacks, it's got like this fireness to your tongue. It's not good guys.

Matt:

That go with a centerpiece drink.

Rob:

Oh oh, don't drink it. Don't drink. What is with you guys gargling your food and beer? If you're feeling brave, don't drink it. Don't drink. What is with you guys gargling your food and beer? If you're feeling brave, you can dip it. I'm going to hard pass on that. Just stop getting meat.

Matt:

It is drinkables.

Josh:

Chris talking about gargling cracks me up every freaking time. What am I getting myself into here?

Rob:

Well, you're about to find out, oh boy.

Matt:

Yeah. So, as the instruction said, everybody has brought a three-piece snack meal-ish combo to go with margaritas. So why don't we go ahead? We'll sample the margaritas and then we're going to get into this.

Andy:

Good choice.

Matt:

Before we do that, as we pick up the margaritas, let's introduce everybody who's with me today.

Rob:

Let's go around the room, starting with Hello everybody, it's Rob, and I'm here to hopefully take back the Drinkables crown again today. Hey everybody, it's Andy. I love the pink straw.

Andy:

And this is Josh and I got my green straw for the birds.

Rob:

Go birds, go birds, cheers, cheers, cheers. Matt, I'm not going to lie, it's a decent margarita.

Josh:

Yeah, it's pretty good. Matt, tell us what's in it. What's in it.

Matt:

Alcohol, thank you. I made this margarita primarily with Terramana tequila, the Blanco Blanco. There is an ounce of agave syrup in here. So two ounces of tequila, ounce of agave syrup, two ounces of fresh-squeezed lime juice and two ounces of triple sec.

Andy:

I like that. We're drinking it with straws, but there's a salt rim.

Matt:

Yeah, I was going to point that out. You were all like give me a straw, you have to have a straw.

Josh:

with a frozen margarita, you take a little lick of the salt and then you suck the straw Lick first, then suck.

Matt:

You've got to work up to it, andy. Come on, this has been life advice from Rob.

Andy:

I've got to say the lick first lick. I gotta say the lick before suck is pretty good.

Rob:

Thank you, yeah, yeah, it's the way to go. So I think I'm going to kick things off today, if y'all don't mind.

Matt:

Do it.

Andy:

Yeah please.

Rob:

I've got some hot foods, so what I've done from the illustrious dollar store is I've bought a which one?

Matt:

Which one Very important A.

Rob:

Dollar Tree. I'm a Dollar Tree boy through and through, all right. So what I have is is a cheese and bean burrito. Love it. That is going to be paired with a black bean and corn mexican rice.

Andy:

You already put way more effort into this than I did.

Rob:

Correct and too much, some might say too much an el sabroso baja lemon, spicy chili and lime tortilla chip I've been excited for the chips. Let's uh, let's crack in.

Andy:

What are we doing first here?

Rob:

I'm, I'm going bean burrito, that's, that's the main, that's the main boy here so did these beans come out of a?

Andy:

can. Did you make this with ingredients from the dollar store?

Rob:

this came out of the dollar store freezer just like this oh just like this okay, dollar 25 for for a burrito. If that were heated more it'd be slightly less pleasant, or slightly more pleasant, I suppose it tastes exactly like beans in a burrito. This is what I would expect a bean burrito to taste like it needs hot sauce. I'm fine with it. It doesn't need hot sauce.

Josh:

I'm going to go. A bite of the burrito with the chip. Yeah, I'm going there too. We've got to try the chip by itself first.

Andy:

Oh, in there too. We've got to try the chip by itself first. Oh no, the chip's bad.

Rob:

It gets better. But the initial chip taste is kind of like wow, it's got a kick to it A little zippy. Let's try both.

Josh:

These chips are kind of like a knockoff version of Takis. I don't mind it at all especially with the burrito, adds a little zip to it yeah, okay, so let's try this rice here.

Matt:

I think it's been said before I'm not a huge spicy food fan.

Andy:

In general, oh, your butthole's gonna hurt after this, yeah that's possible.

Matt:

However, as I get older, I mind spice less and less. The last couple of years I've been able to.

Josh:

That's because your taste buds are shot.

Matt:

They're slowly dying.

Josh:

It's probably this podcast. Did you say corn and bean rice? Because I don't see corn.

Rob:

Well, get on in there, man, because you'll see it later.

Josh:

What's the? You know that Chefs Reacts guy on TikTok and YouTube yeah. Every time he sees corn in a recipe he goes the corn, the food, you rent. That guy's hilarious All right.

Andy:

So I got to say the burrito's not bad. For what? Thank you A buck and a half.

Rob:

Burrito's not bad A buck 25.

Andy:

You know what, if you're eating on a budget, you can do a lot worse than that 100%.

Matt:

Lot worse than that. A hundred percent. True, I'm not going to lie. This Marg is really doing it for me. I'm enjoying it.

Rob:

Well, let's ooh, okay, I'm going to pair this all together, okay.

Matt:

Now we're with the crisp. Well, that is what we're supposed to be doing, seeing how this all goes together with the Marg overall.

Josh:

Okay, no.

Matt:

I think, indeed, he does like things in his mouth.

Rob:

You know what I'm transported? Maybe not to Mexico, but maybe like a street where many people are speaking Spanish in earshot of me. So New Mexico Like Little Mexico no, I wouldn't go that far either.

Andy:

I'm transported back to college. Yeah, but I didn't have enough money to have the good things in life.

Josh:

Listen, you're in college. You're stoned.

Andy:

You can do worse than this. It's a Monday night, absolutely.

Josh:

You get like five of these bean burritos, sure, and don't even worry about what's in your mouth, at what time You're just putting, putting it all in. Yeah, you feel like you're eating like a king, I feel pretty good about myself.

Rob:

Yeah, it's not blowing my socks off, but nothing was gross.

Andy:

I think the big make or break here is the chip. It's like the burrito, the rice. They're fine.

Josh:

Yeah. They're bland it just don't taste like much, yeah, yeah.

Matt:

The chip is aggressive, but in the way that it needs to be, yeah, it might. For me, though, personally, it is overpowering. The burrito and the rice like I got good and then in a good way.

Rob:

I think that needed to be how it is.

Andy:

I'm totally in all this yeah, I'm in it's gone.

Matt:

Wow, we're not talking like nearly as much as normal, and that's probably. Well. That's a good sign for me. It is a good sign for you. I hate when Rob wins stuff. Well.

Josh:

I think most Mexican food is inherently cheap food, usually like simple, cheap ingredients. So this lends itself well to a dollar store challenge. Yeah, no offense. I think we're going to have to do a surf and turf for the next drinkable surf and turf dollar store. Well listen, maybe foreshadowingowing, but I can smell some sort of surf.

Rob:

Oh, in this room, can you? Hmm, shall we move on to that horrid?

Josh:

I'll say I was gonna say it's not that pleasant of a smell maybe it's just because it's.

Andy:

The rice is kind of cold at this point, but that's the letdown of what you. You put up here 100 agree, yeah, the rice is just dry, it's just there. There's not as much flavor as you usually expect out of those like cheap mexican style rice or whatever like those flavored rice is like. They just usually overpower them with salt or whatever and you know these are just kind of meh, yeah, but the chips are good. Yeah, chips are great. I'm, chips are great.

Matt:

I'm a fan, all right. So if we're going to flip it over to me because I know, I have hopefully still hot food as well.

Josh:

You just dropped rice all over the floor.

Matt:

I did. I just riced the studio.

Andy:

I would like to just say Everybody get a chip at the same time. Here we got to get a full crunch.

Rob:

All right, hold one, two. They got a great crunch that was great. I I just need to also mention this for the first time after like three chips in a row, though, those get spicy they do for the first time in drinkables history. Okay, matt and I have purchased the exact same thing, and this is the eat regal gourmet mexican style rice riz a la mexicana.

Andy:

So we're turning it over to Matt, we're going to eat it hot now because it's hot, let's get it hot. See the difference between the hot rice and the pork.

Rob:

I'm going to pass this around you just got to squeeze it out like a tube of toothpaste.

Matt:

I'm going to open up some chips here first. Very hot, andy, be careful. There's going to be some salsa verde. Salsa Verde, here in the middle of the table, canned of course. Wow, that's interesting.

Rob:

Okay, read that for us, it is better hot.

Matt:

So this is the Herdés Salsa Verde. It is a mild, authentic. It says Mexico's authentic number one salsa brand Number one. So all the way from Mexico Couldn't possibly be bad.

Rob:

No, absolutely not.

Josh:

Being warm makes a big difference Makes a big difference.

Rob:

It makes a big difference. I mean it's not great still.

Andy:

It makes a big difference.

Rob:

But it makes a huge difference.

Andy:

The flavors come out more like yeah.

Matt:

So I also have El Sabroso Snacks, delicioso Tortilla Chips.

Rob:

We're all over the El Sabroso brand today we are. Thank you, El Sabroso.

Andy:

Yes. Is that what the rice is as well?

Rob:

No, no that's what my chips were Ested 1978.

Matt:

Oh, all right, hold on here.

Rob:

You'll find that later 1978 in Los Angeles.

Andy:

Shout out to all the folks out there right now, you're going to steal his shit, then there you go A little crunch and what dollar store did you go?

Matt:

to. I also went to the Dollar Tree, so did I. Are we four for four at the Dollar Tree? We are four for four at the Dollar Tree. We are four for four for the Dollar Tree. You know, All right, Dollar Tree you're getting tagged here.

Rob:

Hold it down. El Sabroso is doing something right with their chips. Let me tell you All right, crunch is on point. Let's check this in the salsa, the salt is on point.

Josh:

Just so everyone out there knows next to the cheese dispenser at school.

Andy:

Do the crunch test here.

Rob:

I'm going to warn everybody what the salsa verde tastes like somebody just dipped their bag in it. It does not. It does not.

Matt:

This is subterfuge no, no, no, I mean.

Rob:

I'll say the chip by itself is pretty good.

Andy:

Maybe I didn't get in there.

Rob:

The chip is great, Salsa Verde. There's something a little off about it and I'm not sure what it is. No, has anybody read the expiration date on that? Can Someone?

Matt:

It's a can Good. It's like 2040.

Josh:

Are you going to give us the rest of your?

Matt:

I will, I will. I will Okay, so along with that is not a good salsa. That's what.

Andy:

I'm saying to you that is not good at all. It's not just me.

Josh:

That's not what it says on there it says it's Mexico's number one salsa brand.

Rob:

Well, it's their number one salsa brand.

Matt:

That's not their number one salsa product. So we have the rice, we have the chips and apparently questionable salsa. To top this all off, I have two different little. We'll call them taquitos, april 2026.

Andy:

We're not even close, but that's not good salsa.

Matt:

My taquitos here. I have one version that is chicken. I have one version that is tuna, because we have somebody who is poultry-averse, shout out to Andrew. I dropped a screw in the tuna.

Josh:

I don't think you can say averse. I think he has a real allergy.

Matt:

He does. Let's not downplay it here. Okay, okay, he does, and I tried to kill him on several occasions, oh boy.

Josh:

Was that chicken or tuna? Was that chicken or tuna? Apparently, it'll kill Rob too. Here we go, we'll pass those around there. Which one is this? This is chicken. That's chicken. No, I want to tell you, the house smells like he cooked cat food from a can. The cat did come running.

Andy:

That's a little salty, little salty.

Josh:

I can't tell you how much I don't want to eat this right now oh my God Josh.

Rob:

Josh, join me in my pain. Meet me in hell, please.

Andy:

You're 100% sure this is the tuna.

Josh:

I would almost rather eat the toothpick that's holding it together, not bad.

Matt:

Once you get near that initial wave of salt. Once you get away from that initial wave of salt.

Rob:

It's texturally abhorrent. Oh my God, it's bad.

Josh:

Holy mackerel, let me dip it in some of this Mexico's number one salsa. Give it a second.

Andy:

The tuna's not better. Holy mackerel no, oh, that's bad.

Josh:

Oh man, Did you add salt to this?

Matt:

No.

Josh:

This can't possibly be this salty.

Matt:

It's not that the margarita pairs well with the tuna.

Andy:

I guarantee you, but thankfully it cancels it out.

Rob:

I guarantee you that that seasoning you put on that stuff is 90% sodium.

Josh:

Did you get the seasoning from the dollar store?

Matt:

Yeah, after being disqualified from the last drink, Matt go ahead and hit that red button for yourself there. Holy cow, that's bad. I thought I had something here.

Andy:

You always do. You do have something. What you have is a good margarita. Okay, you have a solid chip, the chip is fine.

Josh:

Yeah, too bad, the margarita doesn't get you any points towards the Lunchable you prepared for us, no, but the rice is better warmer. Also, I was trying to figure out what flavor this salsa has, and I think I got it.

Matt:

It tastes like the juice out of a can of green beans. Never had that, but I'll take your word for it. I can imagine that, though. Yeah, that's what it tastes like. Well, can I at least give myself this for the margarita?

Andy:

Yes, yes, the margarita's, great.

Matt:

Stellar set.

Josh:

I gotta say, so far you're in last place and I don't see how you could possibly finish higher than that.

Matt:

I don't see how you could possibly finish higher than that. I don't mind the little chicken taquito, I don't mind, of course you don't. It's a little salty. It's bad yeah.

Josh:

Sorry. Your chips are good. Why don't you try the tuna one, matt, for the fans?

Andy:

Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely Pass that around there.

Matt:

Mango. You all should try one Feel free.

Josh:

No, thank you.

Matt:

This is communal food here.

Josh:

Come on now.

Rob:

I will take one bite of this I promise you I will not.

Josh:

You can hold it there as long as you want and I will not take a bite of it.

Rob:

Let it be known, let it be known, and it is done in protest Josh, solidarity, come on man Wait, hold on, hold on.

Josh:

I gotta get a reaction. I don't eat tuna no matter what, especially.

Andy:

We're getting the camera out for this.

Matt:

All right, ready go. It's not good.

Rob:

Tell the people what you think. Why is there so much lime in my mouth? Better or worse, better or worse Way worse.

Josh:

A lot of water. Wait, did you put lime on that? There's a lot of water, that's true.

Rob:

It's the same cilantro seasoning. Did you not drain the tuna?

Matt:

I did drain the tuna.

Josh:

I watched him pour the can of chicken into the pan.

Matt:

I can't chew it.

Josh:

With the water.

Matt:

I can't chew it. Use the margarita I'm worried to move it.

Rob:

I'm chipmunking it in the side of my teeth right now.

Andy:

Swallow it quick, but the margarita will cancel out, I promise.

Josh:

He looks like my five-year-old when I tell her to eat a bite of broccoli.

Matt:

Oh, it's so bad. I'm so sorry guys, I'm horrible, holy cow.

Rob:

I don't know what we're yelling about.

Andy:

Tuna was a bad choice.

Josh:

I'm in a glass case of emotion.

Matt:

Is it normal to sweat after eating tuna?

Rob:

How is it possible to feel like I've been touched wrongly?

Andy:

That's the chicken of the sea for you Buy a taco All right, let's move swiftly along so we can forget what Walser just did to us here.

Matt:

My eyes are wide. I owe you all an apology. I am so sorry. Did you try the tuna? I did. I did. Look. Josh Genuinely took a bite.

Josh:

I promise you we don't get paid enough for this. Genuinely took a bite, I promise you we don't get paid enough for this.

Rob:

We don't get paid at all for this. I guarantee you, josh, redeem us, but I think you need to try it. Redeem us, josh.

Josh:

No, I will not be trying that. Sorry, oh man, is it me. Next it's you. Please redeem us All right, all right, all right.

Rob:

But hold on.

Josh:

But hold on, not particularly. No, I can't think of any real superstitions I have.

Rob:

Well, that's unfortunate, because I was going to tell you no, if you took a bite of that tuna, maybe the birds would win today. Well, I think they're going to win today I will

Matt:

eat a whole other one if the birds will win today.

Josh:

If that was an established tradition I might go with it, but the only one I have is shotgunning a beer before the game starts, and it doesn't start for another couple hours, all right. So I went a little more I would say traditional with my Lunchable here, because I only ever ate Lunchables as a kid, when I was going to school and I didn't heat anything up Well that's fair.

Rob:

I mean, these are an adult version, right? I get it, that's fine.

Josh:

I just wanted something I could have on the fly, so you're going to have to use your little bit of imagination with me. You remember the Lunchables where you created your own little pizzas, right?

Andy:

He just busted out a Benito box.

Josh:

Yeah, so this is a little Benko box. I send my kids lunch to school, and so it's got a bunch of compartments in here. So one of my favorite foods at a Mexican restaurant is a fajita. All right, so this is a build-your-own-fajita set in here.

Andy:

No, heating necessary.

Josh:

Okay. So, I'll pop it open here for you.

Rob:

Yeah, We'll pass it around For the fans. I believe it's pronounced fajita. Yeah, I'm not sure about that.

Josh:

Oh my, all right so we've got a few things in here. We're getting a picture, all right. Every fajita is its own unique thing.

Matt:

Yes.

Josh:

But I like the ones that are combo platters, right, okay, so we'll start over here. We have a Jack Link's Steak Bites, so that's your beef. Okay, and we have a Tillamook brand Pork Bites. These are jalapeno cheddar, so that's your meat over here.

Andy:

That actually sounds pretty good.

Josh:

I didn't go with the uncooked flour tortillas. I went with some guacamole-flavored chips. So there's your guac and your tortilla. Okay, all right, I have the same brand of salsa as Matt, but the hot version, the red version, right here. I have some crispy jalapeno chips right here and then, right in the middle here, a little bit of Montreal steak seasoning. All bought from the dollar store. So this is my one item. So you're going to have to go around and stack up your own little fajita.

Andy:

Okay, so I'll pass it around.

Josh:

You can go through and stack it up however you want Make yourself a little fajita. As we do that. I'll get out my other two items here and I'll explain that I'm impressed and excited.

Andy:

I guess first we should probably dip the chip, right?

Josh:

Yeah, so you need a side item, something we've been talking about a little bit. I'm going to make a mess, so to go along with your fajitas, I have Mexican-style street corn flavor corn nuts by the Corn Nut brand.

Rob:

I'm so glad that you have those because they were my backup item in case somebody bought those hot chips.

Josh:

And if you want to crunch something into a microphone, these things are going to crunch.

Andy:

Thank, you, Andy. I've got all the items stacked on one here.

Josh:

Oh yeah, please let me know how it goes. The suspense is killing me. I haven't tried this. I have no idea if it's good or bad.

Matt:

He's chewing, but his body's going up and down, which makes me a little nervous.

Josh:

Okay, well, they're kind of beef jerky-ish.

Andy:

Right.

Josh:

Right, so it's going to be a little chewy.

Andy:

They're a little more chewy than I was expecting.

Rob:

Okay, I'm going for the carne asada.

Josh:

And last item here. So what Lunchable is complete without candy? Right, you have to have candy. That was like the thing I looked forward to in the Lunchable the most. So I thought to myself what candy would go well with what we're drinking. So this is going to be a garnish to go with your margarita. I have Coastal Bay Confections watermelon rings, artificially flavored but fat-free and zero grams of trans fat. So you can slide this little watermelon ring right over the straw in your margarita. Have it as a little garnish.

Rob:

Love that, I'm not going to lie to you the build-your-own fajita. It really worked for me. Thank you, it was delicious, delightful man. You struggling with them nuts there.

Andy:

Everybody wait while I get my nuts out here.

Josh:

Here a watermelon ring oh why thank you? And that one for you. I'll just plop it right in there for you. I'm just going to take some of those. Do you want to grab my nuts?

Rob:

I will. I'm going to grab a big old handful of your nuts right there, alright so it's interesting that you were digging the build your own.

Andy:

There's something about the texture of the very chewy jerky with the, you know, just standard crunch and dissolved chip. It didn't work for me all right fair enough. Okay, I'm just I think those things separately.

Rob:

I would have liked more from a flavor perspective, though, I enjoyed it all right. I'm about to try.

Josh:

It is the red salsa version of this brand better than the green 100%.

Matt:

Yeah, it is, it definitely is.

Josh:

There's no question about that. Alright, I'm into it.

Andy:

I'd like to try the red salsa with the bland fine but bland chip that Balser gave us.

Josh:

I've had it. I'll get a little of the seasoning on mine here.

Matt:

The make your own fajita I enjoyed. I thought it worked very well together.

Andy:

Very creative, thank you. Definite points for presentation as well.

Matt:

I agree with Andy, though it was chewier than I expected, but at the same time it's also Jack Link's meat.

Josh:

I considered cutting them up ahead of time, but I went with, like you don't have to do any prep for it.

Andy:

It's coming out of the box or out of the pouch.

Josh:

These came out of pouches that salsa is vastly superior.

Andy:

Yep, Hold still Isolate that salsa with just the regular chip. Oh my god everybody.

Rob:

This is very important. Eat a watermelon ring while drinking the margarita.

Andy:

Yeah alright, I'm going out of order here. Here we go.

Matt:

Watermelon margarita.

Rob:

Oh my god, yep, do you have more of them rings?

Josh:

I got a whole bag baby $1.25 at the Dollar Tree.

Rob:

Let me get some of that, Joshy.

Matt:

I'm getting this specifically for the watermelon ring, yep. So for those of you that listen, it's good to remind you every once in a while. The Stellar Sips, the for our favorite, our great drinks, but we also use that for things that are just good in general, and the Cosmic Chug. We like to use that to make our friends drink and also when something is abhorrently bad, which is why.

Rob:

I got some earlier, so here you go, stellar Sip.

Josh:

How do we feel about the corn nuts?

Rob:

I like them. I haven't sampled them yet. I'm a corn nut man.

Andy:

I do enjoy a corn nut ahead to the watermelon rings.

Josh:

Do you have strong teeth?

Matt:

because corn nuts are pretty crunchy, yeah, very crunchy so I had them right after I had to make your own fajita. It added some saltiness to it, and then I had the super sweet watermelon ring like a couple seconds after that, and it did tie everything together really well. That is my voice of disappointment slash.

Andy:

I'm really happy because I ate something that tastes good, so I know we've said it before, but like man, dollar tree really does snacks good, like they've got a good selection.

Josh:

These corn nuts are great they're respect the tree the right amount of spice to them, I felt no need to go out of the snack aisle. Yeah.

Matt:

No, I hit like two aisles. I hit the one that was the food and the one that was the snack.

Rob:

Josh, I'm for your inaugural run in a drinkable very impressed.

Josh:

Thank you, you bought the A game. I appreciate it.

Rob:

I did.

Matt:

Do you want to mention your culinary background while we're here talking, let's just highlight the difference here in professional skill level between the other three and Josh.

Josh:

So go ahead 15 plus years working in the restaurant industry, two years in culinary school and some student debt to pay off for that. And this is what the challenge he gave me. Instead of you know, cook us something nice, find stuff at the dollar store and bring us a meal. So I thought this all up this morning in the shower and I ran out and got all the stuff I needed for it wait, you did this all this morning I considered even more impressive.

Josh:

I considered buying a lighter and and bringing a pan and trying to make like a sizzling situation on it and then I thought I didn't want to burn matt's house.

Matt:

So well, I would have been impressed places you have worked of note.

Josh:

Places I've worked, of note. I worked at the Four Seasons out in Vail, colorado. I worked at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia the old one before it closed. I worked at Shula Steakhouse here in the Lehigh Valley when it was in Saucon Valley. I worked at a country club over in Hellertown and now I'm a Silver Creek. Yes, it was Silver creek back then. It's the steel club now. They changed names when they went from being member owned to private owned and um oh, I worked down at the greenbrier in west virginia, which was really awesome.

Josh:

I have no idea what that is uh, it's a huge, huge resort that is built into the side of a mountain in west virginia. They were using it as a bunker during the cold war. They had enough space, have enough space to house congress and the senate all for like a couple of months, and they built this into the side of a mountain under the guise of like redoing the resort during the cold war. It was actually active up until, I think, like the early 2000s, but it's a world-renowned golf destination, family destination. You can do horseback riding and whitewater rafting.

Matt:

Oh, very cool.

Josh:

Fly fishing all kinds of cool stuff.

Andy:

Nice.

Josh:

Yeah, so, and now I'm a liquor rep, nice.

Matt:

Yeah so. So my point in having Josh go through all that was he has some skills to literally pay the bills when it comes to culinary stuff in general.

Josh:

Yeah, we're going to do an episode sometime down the road where I'm going to smoke some I don't know meat.

Andy:

I guess Sign me up Something for us, we're here.

Josh:

I didn't want to make a meat joke, but I knew it was coming Meat pairings.

Matt:

Is that meat and whiskey? Meat and whiskey I'm in, I'm here for it.

Josh:

I am officially in my smoking meats era Nice. I haven't bought an expensive car yet. I guess that's a couple years out.

Matt:

I heard it said once that as you approach 40 as a man, you have to get into one of two things, and that's either war history or smoking meat.

Andy:

Yeah, I want the war history.

Matt:

I'm into eating smoked meats. Rob's always here to eat meat.

Josh:

Well, send me your requests.

Matt:

Thanks.

Josh:

And I'll bring it next time we record.

Rob:

I love a good burnt end.

Josh:

Oh yeah, I got you.

Rob:

I mean.

Andy:

I'm a solid brisket fan.

Josh:

That's yeah. Oh, you want me to spend like 17 hours before we come? I will.

Rob:

Yes, yes, we do.

Josh:

I will, I will, I will. I make a really good horseradish sauce to go with the brisket as well.

Rob:

I like a horsey sauce. All right, andy, all right. So let's first things first.

Andy:

Let's put the cherry on top. These were 75% off at the dollar store. I don't know how to pronounce these Pringles enchilada chips here that we're about to do.

Josh:

I will try Adobada Enchilada, adobada, adobada, adobada.

Andy:

Let's try them together. I want to see everybody's reaction at the same time.

Rob:

Hold on, here we go All right, here we go, they're good.

Josh:

I'm in.

Rob:

Yeah, I'm in. Once you pop, you truly don't stop. They're good, they're good. Chip, that's a good chip.

Josh:

Wow, that's a great chip what I think it tastes like, but I don't know that it has definitely the flavor that I was expecting it to get in the lime. Yeah, yeah, so there's. So. So for the visual learners here, there's a mocha hot day, which is like a mortar and pestle thing and then a chili and then some flames and then a pringle and then a slice of lime that's like stacked on the can they build. These are good.

Rob:

I'm trying to figure out why they were, so it's giving me like a dried chili flavor.

Matt:

They complement the margarita very nicely as well.

Andy:

They do go really nicely with the margarita.

Josh:

They're not expired, so I don't know why they were so cheap. Maybe like an ancho.

Rob:

I think you should go back and buy the rest on your way home, like a deep, smoky chili pepper flavor.

Josh:

No, these are good. I think that's the maltodextrin you're referring to.

Matt:

It might be but, I think I have like a tour of Mexico on my plate here right now. Pretty wonderful.

Rob:

I mean as bad as Matt's stuff was. I'm still very happy about where I'm at in life, because normally we end with him. We made a good choice of putting him early in the show.

Josh:

We should let him bat lead off more often, the only two natural-ish ingredients that I can see on here.

Andy:

We're asking what it is.

Josh:

Lime juice is actually on here and paprika extract color, just the paprika extract color, a nice red color.

Matt:

Followed by Red 40.

Josh:

Of course, yeah, and he just dropped rice on my feet.

Matt:

I'm going to have to vacuum in here later for sure. That's right. It's his house there is de-germinated yellow corn flour.

Rob:

De-germinated. I'm not sure what that means. Listen.

Josh:

I. They took the germ out of it.

Rob:

I don't want to step on my own toes here, but these may be the best chip of the episode.

Andy:

Indeed.

Matt:

They're really good man.

Rob:

Like. I like mine from earlier, but this I was fully expecting that to be hot garbage.

Matt:

I hesitate to call that a chips.

Josh:

What's that? I hesitate to call a Pringle, a chip. That might be a hot tip, but no, it's a potato product.

Rob:

I understand what you're saying. I'm a man of science.

Josh:

Yeah, there has to be a distinguishing factor, I think, and those would be. What do they call them? Crisps on the?

Rob:

I don't think they can legally call them chips, no because they don't make a dough out of just one item or fry just one item. They make like potato and flour together. Yeah, so like munchos.

Josh:

Are we calling those chips? No, I don't think so either. They're all like. It's like mashed potatoes, that they lay flat and then.

Rob:

Now, this is an interesting All right, here we go.

Josh:

Oh, I'm so in for this.

Rob:

This is an interesting number two. You got these at the dollar store these are from the dollar store. You cannot sleep on the dollar store. Don't sleep on the snacks at the dollar store.

Andy:

I saw these and I'm like these are either going to be awful or fantastic. These are goldfish with Frank's Red Hot.

Matt:

Alright, I have a question of both the Frank's Red Hot company and the goldfish company. How stoned were your R&D people to get together? And be like we got to put Red Hot on the best children's snack of all time.

Rob:

I would eat these every day.

Matt:

It's kind of a natural thing.

Andy:

I would eat these every day of my life, 10 out of 10. These are so good. Oh my God they are.

Matt:

Amazing.

Andy:

Chris would love these Wow.

Josh:

God, they are amazing. Chris would love these. I'm a hot sauce fan and I do like France Red Hot.

Rob:

I absolutely love these these are great these are great, because they weren't shy about keeping the cheddar flavor, yeah, and I think that that's what really makes it work. It's like a you know, there's a Tabasco Cheez-It out there, okay, that is very similar to this these are good.

Matt:

Oh man, you have a couple more. They do get a little spicier, Like it's a cumulative spice.

Josh:

You're such a bitch.

Andy:

Yes, we'll have a sip of margarita. Get the coughs out there Okay.

Rob:

Finish painting your nails.

Andy:

Oh man you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to do it. Pringles and a, but they work with a margarita I'm going to. That's the thing it's working with a margarita.

Rob:

They do everything spicy with a margarita. Okay, here we go.

Andy:

Oh man, those eyes lit up. I don't know.

Josh:

Unnecessary.

Rob:

Josh.

Andy:

All right.

Rob:

Come on. Fish isn't even on this Two fishes on the Pringle, and then the whole thing.

Andy:

Two fish and a. Pringle, here we go, is it not a?

Rob:

transformative experience. It's really good. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Josh:

Speaking of Frank's Red Hot, I have a dill pickle Frank's Red Hot at my house.

Andy:

Okay, very good I'm not a pickle fan I am.

Josh:

I like a good pickle in a bloody mary.

Rob:

It's awesome I don't like bloody marys because I don't like tomato juice how you doing over there, matt.

Andy:

I'm fine, are you?

Matt:

sweating. I'm the. The goldfish are a little spicy, I'll be honest with you.

Rob:

You didn't have to salt line these rims. For how much salt there?

Matt:

is in all these snacks.

Rob:

I'm not even bothering with the rim anymore.

Josh:

I would much prefer just the goldfish over the Pringle and goldfish.

Matt:

Interesting. Okay, I think Andy's going strong here, though I think he is, oh, we're finishing strong too.

Andy:

Oh boy, to me the other thing that goes well with the margarita is the sour.

Matt:

Oh, I love Sour Patch Kids.

Andy:

So we brought the Sour Patch Kids.

Matt:

Oh.

Andy:

If I can open them.

Rob:

Yes, please, okay, almost threw them, Patch me.

Josh:

That was a share size too. What are they selling that for? Is this?

Rob:

a buck twenty-five Were you supposed to pay attention?

Andy:

I don't know. Was that the dollar store? I don't know.

Rob:

No one knows what it's like, you know?

Josh:

So here, I think, you take some of these sour patch kids. You put them in your bottle of tequila the night before let it infuse in and give yourself a sour patch, tequila. Then make your marg from that. Maybe dial back the agave because you don't need it too sweet, right.

Matt:

I have found, though, when making margaritas, you can make them with, like, simple syrup, and stuff like that Agave syrup just makes it that much better it just literally sets off all the flavors. I could have also gone way upscale and thrown Cointreau in there instead of straight up triple sec. What?

Josh:

did you call it?

Matt:

It's Cointreau, isn't it? That is not what they call it. Oh, how do you pronounce it? Cointreau, cointreau, wow, okay.

Andy:

I'm over here. You're like what the fuck is Cointreau? I've never heard it's.

Matt:

Cointreau Quan Quan.

Josh:

Cointreau.

Matt:

Cointreau. Okay, that is not how it's spelled at all. Cointreau Okay, I heard, so I actually got my pronunciation. I heard somebody on YouTube say it that way and that's where I was just like oh that must be Sure, you did.

Rob:

I'd Wait, wait. Where's the bottle? Where's the bottle? I will read it. I would say that Cointreau, thank you.

Josh:

That's exactly how you should.

Rob:

Oh, is that Okay.

Josh:

And yes, that is just a.

Rob:

Just because I know it's a different language, that's just a higher.

Josh:

Cointreau yeah, that's just a higher end version of the cheap, shitty triple sec. Yeah, you know which?

Matt:

is what he's in here.

Josh:

This is a French company. It's actually owned by Remy Martin.

Matt:

Really yes.

Andy:

Sour Patch Kids are so fucking good.

Rob:

They're hitting, though it's going to be tough.

Matt:

It's going to be tough Before we get into it.

Rob:

I just want to say this I appreciate your Sour Patch Kid. The watermelon ring, I think, is a better pairing with the margarita today.

Andy:

You know, I almost went. They have specific watermelon Sour Patch.

Josh:

I almost got those that might have set it off Would have been a little too close. I went for the ring because I wanted to be able to put it over the straw and make it a little garnish.

Rob:

That's why you were pushing straws.

Josh:

That's why I said, we need straws in here.

Matt:

I got to say the Pringles, the Abu Dhabi Adobe, whatever the fuck they are. They taste really great, they're good.

Rob:

Abu Dhabi is more of your people's speak there, Matthew All right, since we criticized Matt's. I am going to give you my criticism of your.

Andy:

Lunchable.

Josh:

This was two snacks and candy, and I feel like if I had this as a Lunchable I don't know that I would call it a meal, Nope definitely not.

Rob:

Okay, no argument there, that is, yeah, I agree.

Josh:

Although I think he had at least two of the top three or maybe five items on the whole table for the day.

Rob:

That's also fair. But but what constitutes a win here All?

Matt:

right Before we get. I want you all to contemplate that before we get into that.

Andy:

I need to rant.

Matt:

I've been saving this one for a while now, so it in prepping for this episode and a few others that I have coming this season. I wanted to get a really good frozen drink machine. I've always wanted one. My friend, my friend John, here we go From Poppins Travel had a Jimmy Buffett margarita machine and I thought I would like one of those too. I went to his house. He made me a killer margarita. Shout out to Poppins Travel. Yes, for all your travel needs. Yes, thank you. And he made me one of the best margaritas I've ever had. Same recipe I used today actually was in that margarita and made it through the Jimmy Buffett machine. And it's got like one. You put the ice in, you flick a switch.

Matt:

Margarita comes out For Christmas this year. My wife said what would you like for Christmas? I said margarita machine. She said okay.

Matt:

So we ordered one a little before Christmas, because her and I are really bad at waiting till Christmas day for things and I tried it out a little early and I couldn't take it apart to clean it. There's a ice paddle on the top. Wouldn't come apart. I thought I had a defective model. So Amazon, shout out to their. You know, I'll take anything back. Return policy. Dropped it off, ordered a new one, got the new one Same fricking problem. Can't take it apart to clean it. Well, obviously that's an issue because you don't want mold underneath.

Matt:

I watched guys like online take it apart suggestions. I put ice in there for 30 minutes at one point. Try to shrink it down, get it apart Nope. Another guy said take a hairdryer, shove it in there, try and get everything to expand, pull it apart Nope. I tried it. Jen's uncle tried it. Jen tried it. At one point my wife was holding the button on the bottom to pop this thing out. I'm holding it at the top. I actually pulled something in my arm at one point. I had pain in my arm for three days that required bio-freeze because I couldn't get this thing apart. So I took that back and I realized there was another model. I said okay, so there's a new model.

Rob:

Josh, it's okay to laugh into the mic? Oh no, definitely laugh.

Matt:

Definitely. Please laugh at my pain. So I got the third one, Totally different model, upgraded, got it Exact same issue. Would not come apart, wouldn't work. So I returned all that and I got a Ninja Blender with the Ice Crush IQ. Wants to be Ninja 10,000 times better and guess what? I can take it apart to clean it. So, Jimmy Buffett, in the great hereafter.

Rob:

Rest in peace.

Matt:

You need to come back and haunt the folks that use your name on their facility to make subpar margarita machines. It was the most frustrating experience I've had as a consumer in many, many years. Do not buy that machine from anywhere for any reason.

Josh:

Alright here's what I'm going to say to that. You're 100% better off now that you have a blender anyway, because from the lens of somebody who worked in kitchens, having a specific thing that takes up that much space in your kitchen, that does one thing is such a waste. And now you have a blender that, by the way, this made a perfect frozen drink you have a blender that can make as good of a margarita, as that probably better and it can do a thousand other things.

Rob:

Yeah, sundae sauce, yeah. So I know that it was a frustrating experience for you and you're personally injured.

Josh:

You know you could sue.

Rob:

It was horrible, terrible Call.

Josh:

JG Wentworth Yep. It was a blessing in disguise. But I think overall it was a blessing in disguise, I think you you made out uh better for it I did.

Matt:

I just tortured everybody. We have a big group chat for the podcast. That goes off. It is the most random thing ever, fish, why you send stout at five o'clock in the morning. I'll never know, but he also works overnight people. He doesn't have a problem. I'm just gonna throw that out there. He works night shifts, so that's like his after work.

Josh:

Those things are not mutually exclusive. He can work overnight and have a problem. I'm also more concerned about the raccoon comment.

Matt:

It was unprompted and unclarified Fish.

Rob:

let us know.

Matt:

What did he say? I don't remember, it was just raccoon.

Andy:

No, let's not, dear listeners, get in the comments and comment what you think. The fish commented about the raccoon with.

Josh:

A little Brandon Lee action there. Yes, get in the comments. Yeah, somebody tag him please.

Andy:

So all that said, the official what we actually learned here is Matt needs to work out more the official yeah, you should have stretched first. Did you hurt yourself while taking apart a margarita machine?

Josh:

You may be entitled to compensation.

Andy:

You may be entitled to compensation or a couple rounds of push-ups.

Matt:

I am not in phenomenal shape. I will say that Like I could be in better shape.

Andy:

But I will tell you this so we're going to do some push-ups before the next one.

Matt:

I have been a drummer for 30 years.

Josh:

The strongest parts of my body are my freaking arms yeah, that's from being a drummer, sure those are yeah, wow, all those lonely days, yeah I, phenomenal was a word, you didn't have to go that high on yeah, thank you.

Matt:

I hate you all I hate all of you.

Josh:

No, you don't.

Matt:

You could have just said decent so, anyway, the arms should not break down. Now we have to determine a winner, and this is always a point of fun debate. We are we. We do do this as a comp. Originally, my vision for this was not competition, but I want to remind everybody that the idea behind this is what pairs best with the margarita right absolutely and mine's almost empty, which making me sad.

Rob:

I think that it's important to remember that it's as a whole. Somebody who might have had the tastiest item doesn't necessarily mean that that's the best one that we're voting for. Yes.

Josh:

But we definitely don't vote for canned tuna. No, we do not. I think we can agree.

Andy:

You're already out.

Rob:

I think in last place, without voting we can say You're already out.

Matt:

I think in last place, without voting we can say Much to his dismay.

Rob:

Last place, last place, matthew.

Matt:

Well, you know, as the Steelers like to say, the standard is the standard. So, Mike, T, you and I are keeping up the bottom standard here together.

Rob:

And hey, there's always next time there always is Okay, and then again, not to self-promote, because I would never do that. Yeah. So I would say that there was one person who would take up third place just because maybe they didn't present a full meal.

Josh:

I'm in on that.

Rob:

Yeah, yeah, okay, sorry, andy. Two snacks and a delightful dessert. Doth not a Lunchable make.

Andy:

They were all delicious.

Rob:

They were. I'm not saying they weren't bad.

Josh:

They were. I do agree that they were great.

Rob:

I ate nothing disgusting from you.

Andy:

If you showed up to elementary school with those things in your lunchbox, you are trade C's gold CPS would get called because your parents weren't sending a full meal.

Matt:

I was going to say, if you had the margarita, there would be a lot of questions, should we?

Josh:

let the two of them decide the winner then, since it's down to me and you, yeah, I think that.

Rob:

I just hold on.

Matt:

In a show of grace.

Rob:

No, in a show of grace, I will vote for yours, because I won't vote for myself.

Josh:

So fine, then I'll vote for yours and then they can decide.

Rob:

And now they can decide there we go. All right, I'm in on that.

Matt:

So the instructions for this were three snacks to go with a centerpiece drink.

Josh:

Excuse me, it did not say snacks. It said Snacks or meal or edible things or edible things.

Matt:

Correct Right. So I do not agree with you that Andy is third place. I do not agree. I would. I think Andy's buying for top contention actually I enjoyed what he brought together.

Rob:

I recant my Josh vote.

Josh:

I mean I think, Because I'm not getting fucked out of this.

Rob:

I've been fucked out of enough in my life. I'm not getting fucked out of this. I will gladly take second place.

Josh:

Well, here's the thing. There's at least two third place votes for Andy, so unless both of them, vote Andy in first place.

Matt:

Keep talking, schmuck so I thought of the things that that paired together, josh's overall was really great. So I'm actually going to go Josh first, andy second place. I thought I thought Andy's work together in concert. Like Rob, I thought yours put on a nice performance, rob. Andy's, by contrast, put on a bit more of a symphony together. The tastes were there, they went with the margarita a little better. Overall they were a bit more complimentary, and then Josh was just kind of the next step up from there.

Andy:

I got to give it to Josh for the presentation. The effort of the presentation really does it for me. Alright, well then.

Josh:

I don't have to vote for myself, I think.

Rob:

Well, welcome. Welcome to the club.

Josh:

Thank you very much. Drinkable winner. Drinkable winner.

Andy:

I will take it with grace, Josh I do just keep going back to your nuts here and putting them behind.

Matt:

Listen these are good nuts.

Andy:

Not for Josh's nuts.

Matt:

For his drinkable.

Josh:

Well, congratulations.

Rob:

For both. Well, congratulations For both. Why not?

Josh:

To your nuts and to your drink Cheers Mexican street nuts. Everyone except Matt.

Rob:

Great showing. That's about every episode.

Josh:

He had the worst main course and the worst salsa.

Andy:

That salsa was so bad. Can we just talk? Take a minute to address that salsa again.

Josh:

That's fair, it was.

Matt:

Yeah.

Josh:

It was pretty brutal.

Rob:

It tasted like they scraped it off the-. Yours was the same brand right, Same exact brand.

Josh:

Mine was just the red and it was-.

Andy:

Oh, the red for all day the hot version, I will say it wasn't that hot though.

Josh:

No, but I've had a thousand salsas that are better than mine.

Rob:

Sure, I think mine Because his was so bad it looked like it had fresh ingredients and don't like.

Josh:

we know you didn't make it you know, but I tried Boy. What a horrible choice.

Rob:

But once again, Matt wasn't sure that it was a green salsa. I'll be honest with you. He couldn't see it. I thought it was gray too. So Matt thinks the Eagles colors are gray and white.

Josh:

No way yeah.

Andy:

Wow, I'm not sure which of us is worse, but How'd the Cowboys do in the playoffs this?

Rob:

year. They didn't make them because they suck and they have for 25 years. We got two colorblind guys.

Josh:

We got a guy who hurt his elbow opening a blender.

Rob:

We got a guy who's allergic to chicken?

Josh:

Yep man, yeah, we are specimens here.

Matt:

Once again we have proved that if you are drinking on a budget, you can spend that entire budget on making a good drink and then go to the dollar store and get a pretty decent meal to go with?

Rob:

Yeah 100%, 100% and thank you all for listening.

Josh:

Huzzah Cheers.

Rob:

Hola.

Josh:

In Spanish what's cheers?

Rob:

El.

Josh:

Cheetos, el Cheers, el Cheers-o.

Rob:

This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpodcom for more information.

Matt:

This episode's boozy quote comes from comedian and musician Henry Youngman, who said when I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. On social media, please like, follow and push all the buttons for us. That's Matt and Friends DTU at Facebook, instagram Threads and TikTok For more information about the podcast, as well as links to our merch store, social media and all the places you can listen to us. Visit our website mattandfriendsdtucom. That's mattandfriendsdtucom. Thank you again for listening to Matt and Friends Drink the Universe.

People on this episode

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Matt Welser

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Andy

Guest
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Josh

Guest
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Rob

Guest

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