Noodle Shop Shorts: The Guy Afraid of Nothing...Except Disappointing His Friends

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:36)
Come on out. Welcome to our restaurant, as it were.

**Dave Chang** (0:42)
Jason, this is David. What's up, Jason?

**Jason** (0:44)
Hello, David.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:44)
Welcome, Jason, nice to meet you.

**Jason** (0:46)
Nice to meet you, bud.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:46)
All right, all right, thank you. Enjoy yourself.

**Jason** (0:49)
Okay, definitely will.

**Dave Chang** (0:51)
Got your chicken ramen right here.

**Jason** (0:52)
Oh, cool, thank you.

**Dave Chang** (0:54)
You're into barbecue?

**SPEAKER_5** (0:55)
Yeah, yeah.

**Jason** (0:56)
My mom's from North Carolina, so.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:58)
Whole hog?

**Jason** (1:00)
She never did a whole hog.

**Dave Chang** (1:01)
But pork?

**Jason** (1:02)
But yeah, pork, pork mainly, yeah.

**Dave Chang** (1:04)
And that's your specialty?

**Jason** (1:06)
Yeah, I mean, I'm more comfortable with pork. It's easier than beef.

**Dave Chang** (1:09)
You have a big smoker or?

**Jason** (1:11)
I got a smoker that fits on the balcony of my apartment, so I can make a couple of racks of ribs and a chicken or two and that kind of thing. So that's kind of like, that's my hobby.

**Dave Chang** (1:23)
That's your thing.

**Jason** (1:24)
It's my hobby. Yeah, yeah.

**Dave Chang** (1:26)
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Your dilemma is you're worried about changing up your barbecue?

**Jason** (2:04)
Yeah, okay. So, okay.

**Dave Chang** (2:05)
What's going on here?

**Jason** (2:06)
I'm flipping on you, right? So you cook for your friends, I assume.

**Dave Chang** (2:09)
I do. I actually weirdly enjoy doing it.

**Jason** (2:12)
So do I, right? And I'd assume your friends, like there are certain things that if you're cooking for them, there's certain favorites that they have, like certain things that they're like, oh, I love Dave's whatever.

**Dave Chang** (2:23)
I keep tabs of if someone's coming over, I try like there would be a guest in a restaurant. I want to know their likes and dislikes.
First off is dietary restrictions or allergies. But usually like, I want to try to go for the win here.

**Jason** (2:38)
Yeah, exactly, exactly. But like, so for me, you know, especially like my older friends, like what my friend is coming through soon, like they've had my barbecue a bunch of times. And so I don't know if it's like one of those things where like they're looking forward to, because I'll ask them, like, oh, you know, what do you want? And of course, they try to be polite. Oh yeah, whatever you make, I love, you know, yada, yada, yada kind of thing. And so I don't want it to be kind of like a rut, because I only see these guys, you know, once or twice a year anyway.
But sometimes I might be like, I wonder if they, if I'm like, grilled some duck, if they would, how they would like that. Maybe this time I'll make gumbo, or maybe this time I'll make... That sounds awesome.

**Dave Chang** (3:19)
So, what's the big, what's the big...

**Jason** (3:22)
Like I said, like, I don't know if, if...

**Dave Chang** (3:24)
I don't care if I'm making something and I know it's good, then I, you know. But if I make something and I know that it's probably not good, it doesn't matter what I'm making.
It's gotta just be good. And if it's good, then I don't care.

**Jason** (3:40)
Okay, gotcha.

**Dave Chang** (3:40)
You know what I mean? Like, if you were taking time out of your day to cook with love and care and you want them to feel the joy of home cooking, amazing barbecue, North Carolina style. I mean, right? And they've been accustomed to you cooking for them, and then you decide to make them gumbo, and they're like, what the is this?