Bar Pod
Bars are one of the few businesses that don’t let you lie to yourself for very long. The numbers are real. The feedback is immediate. The mistakes are expensive. Bar Pod is a podcast about what it actually takes to build and run bars—and by extension, any small, creative, high-risk business—without the hype, the shortcuts, or the guru nonsense.
Hosted by brothers Ryan and Chad, Bar Pod is a candid, conversational series about ownership, operations, and the long game of building something that lasts. Ryan handles the day-to-day reality of running multiple bar and hospitality concepts, while Chad brings the perspective of someone balancing bartending, ownership, and family life. Together, they talk through real decisions, real mistakes, and real lessons learned the hard way.
This isn’t a how-to manual and it’s not a highlight reel. It’s an honest look at what works, what doesn’t, and why most good ideas live or die on execution. Episodes explore everything from finances and branding to staffing, burnout, risk tolerance, and knowing when to push—or when to walk away.
Bars are just the lens. The lessons apply to anyone who’s started a business, thought about starting one, bought a building, managed people, taken on risk, or tried to design a life with more freedom and fewer illusions.
Bar Pod is thoughtful, practical, occasionally irreverent, and grounded in experience. If you care about building things in the real world—and doing it without pretending it’s easy—pull up a stool.
Bar Pod
A Simple Bar Build Turns Into Inspector Hell
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Somebody walked into our bar and ordered a “Dolce and Gabbana.” Not sunglasses. Not a purse. A beer. That story sets the tone for a loose, honest hang where bar ownership, customer chaos, and real-world interruptions all collide in the best way.
We talk about how pop culture and product placement shape drinking habits, from one TV show making a beer feel cool to the next show changing the order list overnight. We get into cheap beer comfort picks, early craft beer touchstones, and what we’re sipping right now, while also dealing with the stuff nobody sees: cleaning patios, hair showing up in every crack, and waterfront bug season that comes with the view.
Then the stress meter spikes. We share a raw update on a commercial buildout and the bureaucracy that can stall a simple opening: health, electric, fire, occupancy, permits, and the surprise requirements that show up after you think you’re done. We also hit everyday etiquette and systems that drive everyone nuts, from leaning over sneeze guards at Chipotle to self-checkout lanes that still need an employee to rescue you. We end with a nod to Anthony Bourdain’s love for Waffle House, some local bar love, and a Big Boy steam train sighting that brings it home.
If you like real hospitality stories, bar business talk, craft beer culture, and the kind of laughs you only get from working nights and weekends, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review. What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever heard someone try to order?
Cold Open And New Producer
SPEAKER_02You should have been rolling the last five minutes here. We would have caught some cold openings. See, that's what a good producer does. They roll when you don't know it. They sure do. Get some funny stuff. Get some funny stuff, and then you can, you know, a real you know, uh documentarian? Is that a word? I don't know. I don't think so. Documentary. Let's start uh barpod here.
unknownRyan.
SPEAKER_01Two bugs in the bug. Barpod coming at this is how it is.
SPEAKER_02Hey, it's Barpod uh episode six. I am gonna be in the Looney Bin anytime though. Yeah, uh and I'll and I'll tell you why uh in a minute, but um before we get into it, what uh we have some changes too we should talk about a couple things here, real quick. One T Dub is gonna be doing the editing, and he already brought his camera out and he's doing establishing shots and things like that. Uh he's changing the way the things are going, so we'll see how this works out. Um I mean he's definitely better at it than I am, but uh he might be taking it to a next level of production value that we are not ready for.
SPEAKER_03We're not ready for. I'm I'm just getting away. I don't want to wear cold cream. Right. Cold cream? That's what they do. They put the power on your face.
SPEAKER_04Pancake. It's called pancake.
SPEAKER_03Oh, there it is. It's called pancake pancake.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's even sillier.
SPEAKER_03That's what my kids had this morning. Yeah, take a pepina panic. I'm not, he's moving around back there, looking at the shot, moving around behind the microphone.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's all he's really he's he's closer. Yeah, but you're gonna see my face and pock marks from high school zits. We'll find out. We'll find out. There, they don't go away.
Reunion Nostalgia At The Bar
SPEAKER_02Speaking of high school zits, I have my 30th high school reunion coming up this summer. 30? 30, 30 years. And uh they're having it here at Battle Bar.
SPEAKER_03I like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's interesting. I always uh you know, I was a pretty quiet kid in high school. Yeah, you know, kind of kind of nerdy, kind of in the corner. Yeah. 30 years, and I'm finally cool enough. Do you have the thing at my bar?
SPEAKER_03Our bar. Do you remember? Do you remember the line from Gross Point Blank when uh when they're talking about his high school reunion and what uh Jane Cusack says to him? What did she say? It's as everyone had swelled.
SPEAKER_02It has everyone has swelled. Yeah, that's a that's a there's a couple good lines from that. That's a great movie. Um all right, what do you got here?
The Dolce And Gabbana Drink Order
SPEAKER_03Dolce and Gabbana? Listen, I had on Friday night towards the end of the night, you know, when people get a little goofy, um, I had this girl come in and she wasn't like out of control or anything, but she came up and we just had a fun little buzz on. She came up and goes, I'll take this, this, and my boyfriend wants a dolce and gabbana. Is that a purse? Yeah, and I know that's what I said. I said, I think it's sunglasses, yeah. It's a brand of a fashionable brand. And I said, I said, that's exactly what I said. I said, I don't have any purses to give you. And she goes, I I don't know what he wants. It turns out he wanted a dose.
SPEAKER_02Dosecis.
SPEAKER_03He wanted a dose secis. And she said, Dolce and Gabbanis.
SPEAKER_02He wanted to be the most interesting man in the world. He did. He did.
SPEAKER_03Turns out he got a Mick Ultra instead. Mick Ultra, by the way. Oh, dude. Coming in that's Landman, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Landman. You know, yeah, he drinks Mick Ultra, and so now everybody else drinks.
SPEAKER_03We talk about that all the time, and this is a little fun, little next week to talk about.
SPEAKER_02He's running around checking out levels and stuff back there. He's just all over the place. He's really making this a this is this feet. I don't have a video perfection. We don't have we don't have the budget for this.
SPEAKER_03He looks like Peyton Manning back there in the huddle, dude. Just move his speed off.
SPEAKER_02He's cruising around.
SPEAKER_03Relax. Yeah, this is gonna be there. He is all right. There he is. No, Mick Alter.
SPEAKER_02He's not gonna relax, I can tell you that. There's no point.
SPEAKER_03Back to bar stuff, although everything will probably look better now.
SPEAKER_02He's getting his other camera out now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's gonna look better. Uh you know, it is
TV Shows Driving Beer Trends
SPEAKER_03funny. We've talked about trends and beers and things. Yeah, it is funny how for a while, do you know what slowed down quite a bit? Coor's Banquet.
SPEAKER_02That's back.
SPEAKER_03No, it's it's slowed down.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's gone. Last year it was popular. Last year it was. Because that was uh not Landman, but that was uh Yellowstone. Uh Yellowstone. Yellowstone. Yeah, they were drinking Cours OG on that, and now it's moved to the it's moved to Landman and everybody's drinking McAlchute.
SPEAKER_03It's just funny because so if you if you're a a brand uh executive out there, I guess that stuff does work.
SPEAKER_02I mean, Apple's been doing it for years. I think they were probably the perfectionist of that. They there's always an Apple product.
SPEAKER_03Pretty soon we're gonna start seeing surfsides in videos and things in movies.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, surfsides and sun cruisers and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um what you had something in our notes today.
Hair Everywhere And Patio Perfection
SPEAKER_02Which one?
SPEAKER_03Um you said hair everywhere.
SPEAKER_02Bro.
SPEAKER_03What are we talking about?
SPEAKER_02We're talking about, so you know, I clean a lot, and it's just there is always hair everywhere you go. As a matter of fact, like when I'm I can hear you moving the microphone back there. We can hear that. I apologize for that. Maybe you might be a video perfectionist, but it doesn't seem like audio is in your wheelhouse.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And what I haven't kept my pencil in eons.
SPEAKER_04I guess I'll have to put a filter in there.
SPEAKER_02You're gonna have to. A couple people to Dave, uh, my buddy from uh Colorado, Halverson, texted me today. He goes, I see you gave your dad a mic. And I said, Yeah, we're gonna see how that goes. Dangerous territory. So there you go.
SPEAKER_03So hair everywhere. You're right.
SPEAKER_02So hair everywhere. So even when like I like to spray the deck off the outside patio. Yeah. And like I like to get those cracks clean because I, you know, I am a perfectionist, but not a video perfectionist, but a patio perfectionist. You've done a fine job. You gotta clean the cracks. And when you're clean, you gotta keep your holes clean. And what? Cracks, cracks, holes? Same, same thing. Keep them all clean anyway. As I'm spraying in there, just the amount of hair that comes out of there. And I'm not talking just dog hair, I'm talking human hair. Oh, I don't know what's pubes are flowing in there. I don't know what's I don't know if people just hang out there and like take their hair out. Hair is the most the thing I follow the It's all over the place.
SPEAKER_03What else would we do? It's
What We’re Drinking Today
SPEAKER_03all over the place. Oh, real quick, let's talk about what beer or drink. We always call them what beer or drink. Yeah, what do you got going on? This is uh Juniper. Yeah, great little brewery in Bowling Green, Ohio, your alma mater. That's the place. Um that's called Lowrider. This is their crushable 3% lager.
SPEAKER_02It's pretty good. It's really good. Easy drink. You could annihilate these. You could you could session these all day long, so especially a hot day like today. Juniper boys, well
Bug Season On The Waterfront
SPEAKER_02done. Um, bugs are back, but oh, dude, in a big way. Muffle heads are everywhere.
SPEAKER_03Um I can't open the door at my house without them flying.
SPEAKER_02Oh, and then you find them in your car inside the windshield for anywhere you've got a light on anywhere you've got anything going on, there's muffle heads. Um so keep your keep your lights off at night. Use red lights if you can. That's why I switched the outside lights uh uplighting to red. It seems to be helping. Yeah. Um I'm a little worried that the old, and of course the the debate is here.
SPEAKER_03Oh, Canadian soldiers.
SPEAKER_02Canadian soldiers, the Mayfly or the June bug? June bug. Okay. Dad's uh firmly on the June bug train.
SPEAKER_03June bugs.
SPEAKER_02I hear Mayflies more than the most popular one I hear is Mayflies. So that's right. But um anyway, I guess that's the uh that's the waterfront tax for living in such a beautiful location. Sure. You get to deal with these bugs.
SPEAKER_03Canadian soldiers is the least.
SPEAKER_02People freak out. I've had a few guests stay, you know, saying, Hey, can you do something about these bugs?
SPEAKER_03What yeah, absolutely. I'll just uh put up a I don't know a dome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you can move to Mount Fiji, and then we can not have these bugs. Mount Fiji.
SPEAKER_03Like it's what you want Can you do something about these bugs? No, no, we can't.
SPEAKER_02Can you do something about this sun?
SPEAKER_03I don't like this. It was like that guy in uh Colorado that one time that told me when I was on uh the peak eight, Breckenridge. Yeah, he said, Come on, hun, let's go inside and get out of this altitude.
SPEAKER_02He's uh how did he how did he get to the point where he can afford a living?
SPEAKER_03Let's go inside and get out of this altitude.
SPEAKER_02Oh, the stuff out there. I used to have people come in and complain. We came on this snow ski vacation to have sunshine and skiing, yeah, and it snowed the whole time. Man, yeah. Okay. I want to be on that
Summer Weirdos And Regular Characters
SPEAKER_02movie. Okay. Uh I have it in the notes that the weirdos are here. The characters are out, is what I think I mean by that. Around time. There's just, yeah, you just the summer brings out the beginning of summer, just brings out uh just a lot of oddballs running around. Yeah. Hermits. How do you? Yeah. They come out of there, they've been hiding all winter long and now they're walking amongst us like the walking dead, you know. I think choking down heaters.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it happens. That's anywhere where it's warm.
SPEAKER_02Anywhere where it's warm.
SPEAKER_03Anywhere where it's warm.
SPEAKER_02I would say that if I was uh uh destitute, I would probably pick a warmer location. I wouldn't want to deal with the winter times.
SPEAKER_03Oh, there's no chance. I I'd I'd make my way down to the keys and I'd be to the keys, begging for nickels.
SPEAKER_02Begging for nickels. Well, probably inflation, it's more than that now.
SPEAKER_03But um we let's also talk about um I haven't had anything, I haven't been down there yet, but the boat ramp.
Boat Ramp Spectacles And Safety Rules
SPEAKER_02Oh, if you want some entertainment, just head on down to the boat ramp and just watch that action happen.
SPEAKER_03Dude.
SPEAKER_02Remember, I saw I saw TikTok. Uh it had the remember the Budweiser commercial, Real Men of Genius? Oh, yeah, those were and they had they had boat ramp compilation behind it. Oh, people pulling their boats out of the water, falls off the trailer. You always have a you usually have a wife that tumbles over the back end into the water. That's always a popular one. Ken's and I were out last year and we saw these people trying to dock their boat, and they it was the classic, like they got the bow to the dock, and then the guy who's driving just gives up and expects whoever, and it was I think it was his kid or wife on the front, and she couldn't reach it, and then over she went. Oh, then he panics, he throws it in reverse, and then the kid on the side goes into water.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02I mean, just it's just it's comical. It's awesome.
SPEAKER_04Do not go in the water around marinas. That's bad news.
SPEAKER_03Stay away from propellers. Some serious voltage, yeah. Yeah. Uh that is something people don't know. You're not supposed to swim in marinas. No, no, no, yeah, that's dangerous. That's dangerous. Shore power. Dude, real men of genius. I used to love those. Remember, here's to you, golf. No, here's here's to you. Um, what was it? Shopping cart wrangler guy.
SPEAKER_02Shopping cart man, boat ramp guy.
SPEAKER_03Clear the parking lot of shopping carts on a daily basis and keep our.
SPEAKER_02There is. There's the first interruption. Like I said, we were gonna have some of those. I hear a guy knocking on the door, so we're gonna take a timeout. Okay. We'll take a timeout. Time out to that, get a beer delivery.
Beer Delivery And A Surprise Puppy
SPEAKER_03We're rolling again. That was a solid 20-minute.
SPEAKER_02What do we got going on? So you had a beer delivery. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_03Yep, we had a here we go.
SPEAKER_02I hear it coming. We had a beer delivery, and I gotta go across the street because he not only did and we'll get into the shit that broke this week's action.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh that two air conditioners across the street are busted, so they're being fixed now. And then as we're sitting here, we hear a dog bark.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And as you know, there's an Airbnb above paddle bar, and I have a no-dog policy there. And whoever is the guest up there right now has snuck a puppy into the um Skyloft.
SPEAKER_03Little did they know that you would not only find out, but it would uh find out during uh our recording of BarPod.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's quite frustrating when people do that sort of thing. It really pisses me off. And so I guess the question for the audience is how much should I charge them?
SPEAKER_03Oh boy.
SPEAKER_02Just give them a stern talking to a stern talking to. Yeah. Band. Don't ever stay up there again. Please remove yourself.
SPEAKER_03Please remove yourself. Bar news.
Cheap Beer Rankings And Dad Beers
SPEAKER_02Bar news. What do we got going on? 15 beers that defined American craft brewing. Uh this is saying old style. Now, this isn't right. This can't be right.
SPEAKER_03It cannot be.
SPEAKER_02No, these are these are these are these are cheap beers, not craft brewing beers. That's where this is screwed up. That's beers that define the the the the go-to cheap beers. I would say, yeah, that's Olympia. Old style. Natty, old style.
SPEAKER_03PBR.
SPEAKER_02PBR. You know, we got we've gone over the dad beers um ad nauseum, I think.
SPEAKER_03We have.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, see, because look the the next one is talking about we asked 10 bartenders for their go-to cheap beer. Pacific's on there, Miller High Life, Genesee Creamale, Narragansett.
SPEAKER_03Narragansett. You know, you know what I have in my fridge at home right now.
SPEAKER_02What do you got?
SPEAKER_03I got glass bottles of Miller High Life, dude.
SPEAKER_02I've got those too.
SPEAKER_03I love Miller High Life in a glass bottle. There's something about it. Something about it. We've talked about that too. That's all I used to drink in Colorado.
SPEAKER_02The champagne of beer. The champagne of beer. Um so if you do want to talk about craft beer, though, that like kind of started the trends of craft beer, I would go back to Ankerstein. Yes. Sierra Nevada. Yep. Gotta give Sam Adams credit. Of course.
SPEAKER_03Do you remember one of the first Jim Cook a tireless?
SPEAKER_02You just burped didn't you?
SPEAKER_03I did. You get it? Smells like. God, you eating pickles? Listen. Smells like deli meat. I always have that. Why is everybody's burp smells like deli meat? Even if you don't eat it. I haven't had any deli meat today. Just straight eggs. Just straight eggs. Hey, what's that one? Speaking of craft beer, we we this is this is a fun thing to talk about. Do you remember? And I believe I had my first IPA with you ever. My audio still sounds terrible. And uh it was called Extra S ESB.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that was um extra special bitter. It wasn't Red Hook. Yeah, but that wasn't an IPA, that was an ESP, which I think was extra special bitter, is what that's standard.
SPEAKER_03Technically that's an IPA, though, right?
SPEAKER_02I don't think so. No.
SPEAKER_03I had to do some research. Okay, we'll do some research, but whatever that beer was, I remember that one. It was it was that hit hard, and it was good though. But it was different back then because nothing like that existed yet.
SPEAKER_02Right, right. I don't think they even make red hook anymore. I don't think so either. That's too bad.
SPEAKER_03It is too bad.
SPEAKER_02You saw that uh Witchamajig's gone. We poured out some for that already. Um, 175 years.
SPEAKER_04When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer. You're out of beer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we talked about that down in Mansfield. That big uh thing let so on to um what happened with you over at Volstead.
What Breaks When It Gets Hot
SPEAKER_02Oh, well Volstead is um yeah, so air conditioning isn't working. That broke, and then the air conditioning in the there's two units, there's more than two units in there, but two of them have decided that there's uh they just don't want to work now. So, and of course it's going to be, you know, hellfire escape tomorrow of 137 degrees outside. Yeah, so perfect time for that to happen. Um, so the guys over there working on it now. Uh what else? Oh, the plumbing uh was having some issues with the dump sink and that's leaking, so I need to go over there and fix that later on today, getting some gross clothes and take apart a sink. That's always fun. I hate it. Uh so that's just there. Um anything break here this week? No. Pat wasn't doing all right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and then and I clean the basement out, which is nice. During a heavy traffic time, too, because with bike week here is bike week was very busy. We did not have anything break, which no, that's nice. Knock on it.
SPEAKER_02Now, do you uh want me to talk about um what is going to put me in a mental institution?
Teeks Paperwork And Inspector Rage
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yes, I'm all right.
SPEAKER_02Here we go. The TEAKES update. Uh-oh, uh-oh. All right. I'm gonna sit back for this one. So um as you know, when you do well, you might not know, but when you do a new commercial build, the amount of things that you have to go through, you have to go through your health department, your liquor department, your building department, your zoning department, your uh fire department, your um and then within those you have to make sure you have the plumber, the electrician, and those all have their own inspectors too. So that's just a kind of a list. Um so last week I go to get my health uh inspection done and everything looks good, and the guy says, All right, where's your um plumbing permit? Nope, here you go. Where's your electric? Oh, he didn't do that. Well, it turns out the electrician didn't fill out the proper paperwork. So now they won't give me their the zoning per. I'm sorry, not that the zoning is done, the occupancy permit until the electric guy gets the right stuff. So I'm now switching to a different electric guy because I feel like he was not sincere with me with his uh information.
SPEAKER_03And then this is shocking, it's shocking news.
SPEAKER_02It's shocking news. Um, so I then I get a call from the building department on you know on Monday morning at 7 o'clock to tell me this information. Um, and then I just get a call from the health department five minutes ago to tell me, oh, I forgot that uh you also need to get um you have like local firemen that can look at it, fire, fire chief, fire somebody to make sure that you know that's okay. Well, why didn't you fucking tell me that when you were there the first time? Ha what here's the question. What human wants to grow up and be an inspector?
SPEAKER_03What do you what do you do? Gadget? God, inspector gadget.
SPEAKER_02Why don't we we we should just have one like if you want to do something, yeah you should have one one thing. One one inspector, one license, one ticket. Make it simple for the people so we can actually accomplish stuff instead of all this fucking paperwork and bullshit that we gotta do all the time. And you know what, see you know that that's that's why the small business is so hard to do these things, because you just have people crawling up your ass. And if you ask me Yes, maybe it's basically it's basically legalized grifting, is what it is, right? So it's basically a way for you to have to pay multiple outlets monies. They do it, you know, in Russia they do it a different way. Just pay off the guy with a couple rupees, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03Rubles, rupees is Legend of Zelda.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, which by the way, you said there's a new one coming out. Oh no, is it rupees in Zelda? Is it rupees? Rupees. Yeah, it's rupees. Ruples in Russia. Yeah, rubles. Rubles. As a matter of fact, I had to, I was so stressed out last night. Yeah, like so fired up, and I'm spinning, and poor McKenzie thinks I'm gonna just jump right out the front door. Sure. I I I I just went to Hyrule for about an hour. I went to Hyrule. I had to kill some goblins. Blobgins.
SPEAKER_03Yep, yeah. Oh, we just went.
SPEAKER_02I was I went on a lionel hunt.
SPEAKER_03We just went from beer beer hour to nerd hour. I know.
SPEAKER_02Listen, I'm I am just so I'm fit to be tied. I'm getting I spent the morning after yesterday was such a shit day. Yeah. Uh we actually ended up going to Kelly's last night for dinner. Yeah, that was nice. Went to the island house. That place is fantastic.
SPEAKER_03Did you did you did you purged, man?
SPEAKER_02Had a had a had a had a martini, um, and then I actually had a really good rum drink. Um they got a guy over there that they just hired. He's a he's a mixologist sort of guy. Which bar? At the island house. Oh, I stayed there the whole time. Had one beer at the pump on my way out, and that was it. And it was really nice. It was nice to get away. Kelly's was beautiful. Monday night, nobody there. How awesome. Talking to a lot of the um a lot of the staff. Uh the the servers and bartenders were there, so bullshitting with him. It was really nice. But needless to say, I'm tracking things down today, trying to get things back back in uh back in line, but I don't know. It's it's I've I'm I'm running out of juice here with this thing.
SPEAKER_03Listen. Uh so so what you're telling me is you're you're this might be the last bar you open up ever. I I that's probably true. You're about done.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. The only thing I the only other thing I could see doing is just is just this is probably this is a dreamer thing. I probably wanna would never actually do it. Is buy a dive bar. I mean, I mean like a bar that you really don't have to make money on. Yeah. Like uh, like kind of kind of think of Captain Tony's feel or uh just I'm talking 30 seats, dark, closes at nine o'clock. It's just a bunch of drunks there during the day. Sell four dollar beers, and you know what? Someone walks in and wants a dolce and gabbana, you can be like, no, get the fuck out.
SPEAKER_03I see you. I see you just rolled right into the next one. Can you believe that that was a funny Dolce and G my. That's a funny part. My boyfriend wants a Dolce and Gabbana. You go, no, I go, I don't I don't think I have any purses or perfume, uh, but I don't know what he wants.
Tequila Regrets And Better Choices
SPEAKER_02Uh, you know, we talked about tequila. What about it? There's a gap of tequila drinking, I think.
SPEAKER_03What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02Uh, when you're young, you make the mistake of drinking too much cheap tequila. You end up on a bathroom floor somewhere.
SPEAKER_03Okay. I once passed out. I drank a bottle of Cuervo and passed out. I believe you were there. I passed out on a 55-gallon cooler on a houseboat. Oh, I do remember the fetal position. Yep. Yep. You were out, you were out for a good two days, I think. And you're right, and I left tequila alone for a long time after.
SPEAKER_02I didn't get back in tequila until my late 20s. And then I started drinking good tequila, and that changes the game.
SPEAKER_04What tequila had a little plastic sombrella?
SPEAKER_02That's El Toro. You don't want that. That's one of the worst. That'll that'll really fuck you up. Oh, yeah. That's bad stuff.
SPEAKER_03Undeley. You had the same El Toro.
SPEAKER_02El Toro. That's exactly what it was. Don't, don't, if it's, if it's got an O at the end of it, you're like El Primo. Don't do that one either.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, if you drink some of that, you're gonna numero dose Undelay. Talking about poop. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to the bathroom.
SPEAKER_02You well, you well do it.
SPEAKER_03But you know what we love. We all love. And I don't know. It's it. I feel like everybody that drinks tequila in this town loves Espelon Reposado. That's pretty much, and I will give, you gotta give a shout out to Kaz. Oh, yeah, he likes Texas.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Espo, Espo's everywhere. Yeah.
Sneeze Guards And Public Hygiene
SPEAKER_03Um, let me let me You got something about Sneezegards? Just the name alone makes me laugh. Sneezeguards? Sneezeguards. Tenor. Um I did it again yesterday. Okay. I know that we've had a lot of talk about Chipotle. Um I I can't give it up. I keep going even after having bad experiences. Uh yeah, well, once in a while they hit one out of the park. They hit one out of the park. Unless, and yesterday I went, okay. How'd it go? I had about 20 minutes. I stopped in. And they've got something. I'm ready. I'm ready for launch. I see. They've got something there that not a lot of places have, but I'm talking about sneeze guards.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And yesterday this popped in my head because the the woman in front of me.
SPEAKER_02Sneezed on it?
SPEAKER_03And it just made me think about it every time because every time I'm there, it's the same deal. Although this one hit the top because she actually got yelled at by the Chipotle worker. I'm gonna say yelled at, but just talk to.
SPEAKER_02Really?
SPEAKER_03Do you ever notice when you're at a place with sneeze guards, what are they meant to do? Okay, they're meant to just block spit. Correct. Block human uh liquid.
SPEAKER_02Excrement from your hole.
SPEAKER_03What hole? Yeah, yeah. Your mouth hole. What does everybody do? We're filled with holes, dude. They they go in here, they go, I'll take a chicken bowl, and then they do this.
SPEAKER_04We're filled with holes.
SPEAKER_03We are we are filled with holes. That's what we're doing. Yeah, we are. Jesus Grimy. So chicken bowl? So chicken bowl, what do you do? And but what's everybody do? They Make the sneeze guards don't take away from the earth.
SPEAKER_02He's losing it back to the whole one. Was a quick hitter. We're filled with holes. He's not gonna stop on that one.
SPEAKER_03We are. Keep going. I'm we are. Jesus. Take it easy, dude. Oh no, but but the sneeze guard apparatus, yeah, right?
SPEAKER_02You think it's useless.
SPEAKER_03It's what it's made of clear plexiglass, but everybody that orders Chipotle gets on their tippy toes to look over the sneeze guard. Yeah. And then they point at everything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right?
SPEAKER_02And then they got stuff because they probably had their finger in one of their holes, and then that got in a fingernail, and then it fell over, and now you got your now you got whatever substance that is with your brisket.
SPEAKER_03So if you but next time you go in Chipotle or any place guard for that matter, look, just watch everybody. They all they all point at everything, and they have to look over the top of the Sea Guard, even though the plastic is clear. Yeah, that's true. And and she, the the girl, the lady in front of me, guy she was doing it to the max. I mean, she was right over there pointing at stuff. And finally the Chipotle worker said, uh, ma'am, can you s could you scoot back, please? Good for that Chipotle worker.
SPEAKER_02Ten points for some some some sanitation.
SPEAKER_03So everyone, just a PSA, a Chipotle PSA, sneezegeard PSA. When you go to a place, one of these, just hang back. Take a step back. Take a step back. You can describe what you want without pointing at it and looking over the top of the sneeze guard. People love pointing at things. You are ruining the food in there by dropping your holes all over it. So there you go, sneeze guards. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Well, if you're you're talking about Chipotle and public checkout processes, I see.
Self Checkout Fails And Cash Life
SPEAKER_02Um self-checkout at stores.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You ever notice half the time it doesn't work and you have to talk to someone anyway?
SPEAKER_03The one at Target doesn't even take cash anymore, and I'm a cash man.
SPEAKER_02You're a cash man. Yeah, I was at Meyer the other day, and of course, it just the thing wouldn't scan. So then the lady comes over and does it like it manually enters it because I couldn't do it because there was no number on it or whatever. Or that the US the UPC code wouldn't work. And then I was like, well, there's another one. She's like, yeah, it's probably gonna ask me that again. I was like, well, and then she walks away, and I'm like, Well, then put it in the system.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02She's probably the same lady who was over the sneeze guards, I bet.
SPEAKER_03Probably. I know, I hate it. I went to Target today, got my selson blue. I'm kidding, I don't know why I said that. I don't do selson blue is like some other kind of I don't know. But anyway, I was getting shampoo.
SPEAKER_02Are you sure that's a 3% beer?
SPEAKER_03And I guess what? I had cash in my pocket, I want to pay cash, but the line for the one um manned unit was too long, so I had to go and use a credit card for five for my five and ninety-nine cent purchase. You don't like that. You're not cash. I like cash, you're a cash man. Track my action.
SPEAKER_02Uh Anthony Bourdain.
Anthony Bourdain On Waffle House
SPEAKER_03Dude, he passed away eight years ago to yesterday.
SPEAKER_02Was it yesterday? Um man. His uh yeah, he was a good dude. I wish he was still around.
SPEAKER_03For anybody that's in the bar slash restaurant business, especially.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we you know, read his obviously uh Kitchen Confidential is a great book to read.
SPEAKER_03He was just a uh he was an incredible poet. But anyway, he had one of the best. I it made me think. I saw it yesterday and I had to look it up because I don't remember it. Uh verbatim. But he had one of the his ode to Waffle House was one of the best.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You're reading it?
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah. He said, It is indeed marvelous, an irony-free zone where nothing hurts and everybody is welcome, regardless of race, creed, color, or level of inebriation. Is welcome. I love that.
SPEAKER_02That's yeah. I do like I always stop at a Waffle House when it's I had a Waffle House in Bowling Green. Um, so uh there was a lot of late 2 a.m. after the bars uh Waffle House when I lived on that side of town, and that turned turned into Taco Bell when I moved closer to campus.
SPEAKER_03Uh during during our break when we when you were across the street, T Dub and I were having the discussion. Is that the closest one to Sandusky? It's BG. Uh-huh. It is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I don't even think there is one in the Cleveland area.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Not that I know of. Um I think the next one is you're getting down maybe like Sunbury, like down that area down the on the way down to Columbus. Yeah. I think that's where the uh where the other Ohio one is that I know of. Nice. So I'd love to be. Unless there could be there could be a Waffles over east of Cleveland. I don't know. That's good, good, good to check. That's good. Uh what else we got going on? Well, like I said, I'll uh give you the updates on T. It's been a rough couple days. I am uh I'm I'm beat up on it. I'm not I'm not I'm ready to just be done and get that thing open, and I'm tired of dealing with people telling me what I have to what paperwork I have to fill out and what things they need to see just to open a fucking concession stand that serves beer. I'm jumping through a litany of hoops. A litany of hoops. Settle down. Everybody wants to prove something, it's a way to get money.
SPEAKER_03Hey, once you're open, grift. Maybe you can kick it back a little bit, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's gonna feel good. I it's you know, it's it's it's fun, it's fun to conceptualize. I like conceptualizing the bar and getting it there and like seeing it built and that. But this last little stage of just all the paperwork and the and the yeah, the inspections and uh it's just ridiculous. And they they do not make it easy for you.
SPEAKER_03No, they don't. No, they don't.
SPEAKER_02You know, and you you can't blame you really can't blame the inspectors or the folks that do it. You you can blame the system as a whole. Rise up. Back to holes again. Fight fight the man. We're back to holes again. Jesus. What else
Local Bar Trivia And Favorites
SPEAKER_02you got?
SPEAKER_04You got some trivia questions there, T. I do, guys. Um and think of this. How about some tavern trivia? Okay. And some South Bass Tavern trivia. Okay. Okay, for folks that don't know. You know, at uh at uh Frosty Bar, yeah, when you get the pizza in there, there's a mural of the the guy throwing pizzas in the air. Yeah. Wine. What's his name? Oh.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god, I've seen that thing hundreds of a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yes, you have. Uh Ricardo. Ricardo. Anthony. Chad?
SPEAKER_03Mr. Frosty. No, Mr. Frosty.
SPEAKER_04Drunken Heinz. Drunken Heinz.
SPEAKER_02Very good.
SPEAKER_04And secondly, in the same bar's. Above the main bars. Okay. You got me. What's the name of the bar? That's the family. Did you hear that? I got that before. Come on. Okay, that's tonight's trivia. That's all that one.
SPEAKER_03That's it. That's all you got? I like Putin Bay trivia. Put and Bay's always good trivia. It is. Um, I, you know, I can't, I it sucks because I wanted to bring up one last thing here before we shut her down about since we've gotten some feedback about talking about bars we've been to that we love. Yeah. But I my mind just went blank. I can't think of one at the moment. Do you have anything?
SPEAKER_02Well, it was at the island house at Kelly's. Okay. That's kind of uh, you know, it's a restaurant, but it's also got a great outside bar. Yeah. Um highly recommend that. I like West Bay over there too. I like West Bay. West Bay's got a great view. It's got a great view of Putin Bay, obviously. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, good bars. You know, I haven't been.
SPEAKER_02I can tell you what I haven't been to yet this year. I mean, that's Hidden Beach Bar is always a good time.
SPEAKER_03Oh, Hidden Beach Bar's great.
SPEAKER_02That's a little sneaker.
Cleveland Trips And Must Stop Bars
SPEAKER_03Um I I know we have talked about this at length, and we've talked about it a lot uh a couple times, probably, but Amber and I are heading to a Guardians game on Sunday. No, you were going to Johnny's, obviously. I'm gonna spend a lot of time in little Johnny's. Yeah, that's are you guys staying up there? Yeah, we're staying at the uh Fidelity. Ah, the Okay. Cool great hotel on uh across from the House of Blues.
SPEAKER_04If it's on a second floor, it's high Fidelity.
SPEAKER_03Also a great John Cusack movie.
SPEAKER_02So I knew you'd I knew you dovetail that one. I can't believe you just said dovetail. Oh, we went to a concert on went to Mount Joy at Jacobs Pavilion on Friday, and that was quite fun. And then we went um we parked in Ohio City and like walked back. Did you go to Hooples? Well, you're damn right. I walked right by Hooples, so I could not I couldn't not not stop. So we went to Hooples. That river, they're redoing the whole area there. Uh that river from without then they're gonna have a bike pass and I think it's gonna be beautiful. You ever notice we come back?
SPEAKER_03Maybe it's because wet we love to go to Cleveland, but we always end up circling back, as dad would say, to all the good Cleveland bars because there's so many. Yeah, Cleveland's Cleveland is a great city. Dude, it's the best, man. I think it's a good idea.
SPEAKER_02It's got that Midwestern grit, it's got better, you know. I sorry for the Columbus folks, but I don't know, I don't know why you would pick Columbus over Cleveland.
SPEAKER_04Oof.
Big Boy Train And Closing Thoughts
SPEAKER_04No one talked about what happened yesterday. The big news. Big boy went through.
SPEAKER_03For anybody listening or watching T Dub is what you would call a foamer. Um he loves trains. Listen, I we all everyone has a little bit of love for trains. Romantic romantic, but uh the the largest stream steam train in the world? Yes, operating steam train in the world came through yesterday. And it was big boy. Quite the social line, quite a few people lying. You guys both went, didn't you? We went. I'm sad I had to miss it because of swim lessons, but I'll tell you what, it comes back through in July, correct? Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Cool.
SPEAKER_03So anybody that missed it, uh including myself, I'm gonna check it out.
SPEAKER_02With that, um I I I think we uh is that it's on Steam. And on the big big boy. Let's end on the big boy. I'm gonna go choke, I'm gonna go cough on a sneeze guard. Listen, use it as they're intended, not over the top. All right, well, uh, you know where to find us. Check it. I I'm really hoping that next week I'm gonna be in a really good mood because Teeks is gonna be on its final approach. Yeah. Uh I I I'm feeling confident, but hey, every time I every time I get one more little, oh, I you need to do this. What the fuck? Land that plane, pal. Oh, calm down. Okay, we're out of here. We'll uh we'll see you next week. Sounds good. Bye. Bye.
SPEAKER_01Run.
SPEAKER_00This is how we need to go. Let's go.