Wienerschnitzel: Swearing Off Pretzel Buns for Good

Michael Ornelas (0:00)

Is Wienerschnitzel the best chain to get a hot dog from? Take away my Midwest credibility card, but the Chicago style hot dog may have been better than any I've ever had, but I could smell the bathrooms from the front door, and yikes.

David Luong (0:15)

They're one of the few fast food chains that serves alcohol, but they don't let you drink it on their cool outdoor patio?

Michael Ornelas (0:22)

They made a fresh strawberry funnel cake mere seconds before delivering it to us, but the chili dog on a pretzel bun was a dumb food. Hot dogs are a food where the closer you look into them, the less you want them, but some establishments make them so delicious, you look the other way and power through. Is Wienerschnitzel one of those places? Let's find out together. This is the Fine Dining Podcast.

Hello there, welcome to Fine Dining. I am your host, Michael Ornelas, and of course, this is the podcast that uses Chili's, the most mediocre restaurant in America, to measure how good other restaurants are. By the end of this episode, we'll answer the question everyone was wondering when John Wayne was cast as Genghis Khan, is Wienerschnitzel better or worse than Chili's?

Today, we're going to tell you everything that was good, not good, and just there about our meal at Wienerschnitzel before scoring it. And joining me today to discuss Wienerschnitzel is a friend who insisted Wienerschnitzel to be the restaurant he joined me for. He's a silly guy who does a ton of improv comedy around the Hollywood area, most notably as a part of VuleVu at Upright Citizens Brigade. And he's the human equivalent of cracking your neck so perfectly that the ache you've had for the past four days goes away. It's David Luong.

David Luong (2:14)

Hey, your head feels lighter now.

Michael Ornelas (2:18)

How are you doing?

David Luong (2:19)

Good. How are you?

Michael Ornelas (2:20)

I'm good.

David Luong (2:20)

I'm feeling pretty amped up. We had lunch like two hours ago and it's really hitting now.

Michael Ornelas (2:27)

In a good way?

David Luong (2:28)

In a good way. The calories, the energy, the carbohydrates. We had the chocolate shake, too.

Michael Ornelas (2:33)

I expected to feel more down after this. And I think I'm either used to eating this much food or I don't know. I didn't finish everything.

But all this to say, I don't feel like I over did it.

David Luong (2:44)

Yeah. And I don't want to call anybody out. But this is worth remarking. We had lunch at Wienerschnitzel, the $52.

That's a lot for fast food. That's probably the most I've ever seen anybody spending at a fast food restaurant. Yeah. But we had to sample a little bit of everything. We also get some souvenirs.

Michael Ornelas (3:02)

Yes. This does include a $10 plushie of TDO, the delicious one.

David Luong (3:06)

Yeah. And I just want to mention too, we use coupons. It was a relatively cheap meal.

Michael Ornelas (3:11)

We got $8 off.

David Luong (3:13)

The problem is there's a lot of delicious things to try.

SPEAKER_3 (3:18)

Yeah.

Michael Ornelas (3:19)

We didn't even get to the burgers.

David Luong (3:21)

We didn't touch the burgers. We didn't try their famous chili cheese fries burrito.

Michael Ornelas (3:25)

Oh, weird.

David Luong (3:26)

Yeah.

Michael Ornelas (3:27)

Yeah. It was a pretty expansive menu, which I was impressed by.

David Luong (3:32)

Yeah. And I mentioned this before, but I just got to say it again. Wienerschnitzel is normally fast food. You mentioned it's usually a driving type space. I'm so used to getting it to go and then going home and eating it. So eating it there, a whole different experience as well.

Yeah. My whole life. And it's like maybe like the second or third time I've eaten inside of the Wienerschnitzel.

Michael Ornelas (3:53)

Well, let's talk about it. Let's talk about this experience. And first, we're going to talk about everything we liked, everything that was good.

David Luong (4:16)

OK, well, if we're talking about good, we have to kick things off with their signature chili cheese. I believe it's a killer combo that they've just perfected. And to much success, they pretty much put on all of their menu items now.

Michael Ornelas (4:28)

Right. They have a burger with it. They have a dog with it. They have fries with it. I don't eat cheese. I did eat the chili stuff. But if you want to speak to the chili cheese specifically, is that the draw of the restaurant for you?

David Luong (4:40)

I think to me, when I first went, I think those people try out the hot dog, try out the corn dog, try some of those things. But eventually, your curious mind, your adventurous spirit will bring you to the chili cheese. It's hard to avoid. You're going to get a chili cheese dog, a chili cheese burger, a chili cheese fries, or in my case, all three.