Johnnie’s Pastrami in Culver City - Southern California Food Review / Sandwich & Vienna Hot Dog
A visit to Johnnie's Pastrami in Culver City California.
Transcript
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welcome everyone Adam is whoo here today
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number 38 of this current series where I
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focus on Southern California eateries
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gonna get in the car and head up to a
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place I've been wanting to check out for
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quite some time I'm inviting you to join
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me
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shalyah just getting the accessories
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loaded up and heading out I know and I
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agree big the foot his car rides are
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nice just to get out and cruise down the
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freeway I totally remember the
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conversation about the carpool lane I
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still don't think it's justified in our
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case to merge over there you don't
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really need a traffic's flowing pretty
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good oh yeah definitely can be
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classified under classic car alerts exit
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it off the 405 freeway and have arrived
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in Culver City the thing I really like
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about this place is all the unique
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signage retro goodness from years gone
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by
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a few more antiques on the side of those
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buildings over there as well
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corner of Sepulveda Boulevard and
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Washington Place those are the cross
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streets the establishment is about that
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30 30 feet or so from this intersection
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I've always heard good things about this
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place and finally I am seeing it with my
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own eyes Johnny's French Dip pastrami
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hot dogs food to go and other famous
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foods it might be kind of tough to
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decide because I do like hot dogs but I
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also like pastrami it's gonna be guy
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flipping a coin basically to choose and
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not just any old hot dog charcoal
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charcoal broiled and I always certainly
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enjoy a go coca-cola classic piece of
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signage the building itself just screams
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nostalgia
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something from the good old days quite a
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congregation of folks here at the same
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idea that I have has been going strong
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since 1952 and they are cash only no
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credit cards right there see cash only
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okay this is good you can order a half
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of a hot pastrami get the half hand a
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hot dog okay my mind's made up good
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thing you can get a happen not a fool
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look at this this is a artwork of the
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leaning tower of pastrami on the back of
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the menu I have placed my order while I
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was waiting in line they alerted
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everyone that after you got your menu
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items and you know paid with cash total
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came to 20 dollars and 62 cents for what
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I got you'll see momentarily however
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they stated it would be a 45-minute wait
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before all that all everything was
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completely ready to take it to go you
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cannot sit inside there is a patio where
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people are waiting you cannot eat on the
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patio but there is a park about a block
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away and they did not have bottles of
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water so I got water in this cup here
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with the logo on the front
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this is the patio is referring to nice
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and shaded there are some other options
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too steak and shrimp they also have an
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ATM on site for those who forgot cash
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everyone carries cash but they have one
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if you need it I'm also just noticing
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that it is open air they do have a
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screen here in the forefront the address
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specific address is 4 0 1 7 Sepulveda
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started to get a little thirsty I have
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dangled my covering under my ear good
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h2o it's a paper straw
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it's kind of half-and-half on Southern
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California locations whether you get a
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paper or a plastic straw for a while
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everyone have paper straws but now that
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I've been doing you know these eating
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out adventures I'm noticing quite a few
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still have plastic but Johnny's little
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paper I've also learned that if you want
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to go and eat at places around here
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you have to abide by the rules this is
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pretty much the standard
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see the freeway traffic going by up
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there place certainly is a beehive of
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activity very popular there are
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occasions when a place will give you a
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little bit longer wait time just so
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you're not you know just so you're not
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like expecting it earlier than that when
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they said 45 minutes they were telling
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the truth it's taken it's it's busy but
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in all honesty I don't mind one thing
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about the current you know the current
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state of things the last few months it's
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kind of has helped me be a little bit
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more patient person that's the truth and
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for that I am grateful not that we have
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a whole lot of choice in the matter but
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I am happy that you know it's kind of
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kind of test you a little bit and makes
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you realize just don't be in a hurry
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just just wait it out in a field gonna
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be all right there's a lot of Hoops and
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obstacles that we all have to in order
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to make things happen you have to go
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through to make oh there goes a bus
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there goes a bus I have a feeling
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however that mine is up in the very near
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future no confirmation on that and I
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have no no way of proving it but it's
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just just a feeling it's been said I've
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heard that there's a saying that
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patience is a virtue and can be rewarded
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with half a pastrami sandwich and a
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hotdog I just actually that's really not
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the saying I just made that up about a
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block or two are some picnic tables in a
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park telephone park here in Culver City
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this table has my name all over it well
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not really my name is not written on
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there but it's a figure of speech and
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this is what we're dealing with I am
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going to regret not refilling this with
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water there's only the very the ice is
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melted and there's maybe only about two
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or three ounces left but I'm gonna I'm
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gonna I'm gonna make my way through
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consuming this meal even without it this
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is the array
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goodness that was presented to me and
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even though they have extended they said
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45 minutes it probably took more like
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closer to an hour maybe even a minute or
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two after an hour but sitting there
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watching the employees at work I must
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commend them on being able to juggle the
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sheer amount of people who were showing
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up keeping everything in perfect order
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they know what they're doing as far as
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getting everybody keeping everybody
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happy
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oh wow these pickles well there's some
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pickles down in here I didn't even ask
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for these this must be complimentary and
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I see a pepper kind of wedged into one
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of these our dill or sweet pickles I've
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taken the box top and flattened it out
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I'm gonna use that as a makeshift plate
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and then I've also got what is this okay
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here okay all right so these might be
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dill and those might be sweet find out
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momentarily and then this is the the
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hotdog here and the half of the pastrami
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sandwich let's open up the hotdog and
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just get a take a gander at this thing
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oh yeah look at that there is no
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condiments on it as far as I can tell no
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condiments just the cheese and let's
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unwrap this it's almost like a oh it's
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like a present of sorts have provided
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plenty of napkins which I really like it
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but my what's left of my beverage on top
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of it there so it does not blow it wears
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a lot of it's very windy out here I'm
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gonna go in I'm gonna go in for the
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pastrami first of all oh yeah good thing
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it's a half and not a whole well I mean
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I'm not really this isn't my matter Sam
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being the hot dog as well but there is
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okay there definitely even there's no
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condiments or mustard on a hot dog from
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what I can see it definitely is very
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prominent on the sandwich itself despite
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the tray over a little closer to me and
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going for it
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a nice flavor to it might be the mustard
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that's on here what's adding to the
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extra aroma the flavorful taste but
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aroma
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only mustard I'm not tasting or seeing
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anything other than you know the meat
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obviously
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hmm that's some good eating right there
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I'm gonna say this is a sweet pickle and
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not a dill mmm
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it has a little Dylan
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not as strong huh No
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definitely has a dill flavor to it a
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really good addition now after biting
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into this so basically you just
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when I was a kid he dill pickles by the
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char fool bigger the jars are better and
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then I would get I haven't done this in
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my adult life really but when I was a
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youth it would finish the jar of pickles
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and I would still be creating that a
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wonderful taste
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and I would drink every last drop of the
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pickle juice oh my the pepper juice has
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drifted into the pickle on that last
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bite I had and I'm now I'm now tasting
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it and feeling it I talked myself into
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it I have placed the pickle while one of
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the two pickles inside the bread and the
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meat in the mustard
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sidenote this will be the last bite of
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the pastrami
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don't pull me on this but I think the
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pickles are kind of their thing
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and well you know what I don't have a
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lot of I don't have a lot of water
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I'm using the dill flavoring as a little
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chaser
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only because there's only on Alcatraz
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laughing
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a little better hoop
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who that kind of and I know for those
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who are self-proclaimed aficionados of
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heating peppers these are probably
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nothing on a scale of one to extreme but
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how do we haven't eaten a lot of peppers
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until recently oh I'm getting there
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slowly but surely moving on to the
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hotdogs the sign stated Vienna style dog
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now I've had Vienna on a Chicago dog
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they did not have that option at this
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particular establishment so I just went
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with a cheese regular oh oh look at this
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dang it dang it
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I made a little bit of a mess here I'm
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gonna work through without I'm gonna put
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the two buns back together and give it a
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shirt okay you can definitely see the
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way that it is cooked
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whoa this cheese is going everywhere it
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has the grill markings on it the grill
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markings are very very noticeable there
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are there is nothing there's no mustard
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will spicy mustard on this would have
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been nice but there is nothing it's just
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sands sands any sort of toppings let's
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do it
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it's gonna be much better though if I
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would have gotten something on its a
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mustard or something without a doubt in
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my opinion this was the least favorite
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of all the items I have the pastrami
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I love the pastrami the pickles
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excellent hotdogs in this fashion now
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obviously a lot of it could have been my
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error what I ordered chili on this would
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be good I'm glad I didn't just get just
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a hot dog I feel like that would have
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been a lackluster experience the amount
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of time I waited it's good but it's not
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an hour long wait good you add that
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pastrami and you mix up there it makes
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the bag up a little bit can I wait an
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hour I did wait
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the cheese is fresh grated I can taste
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the cheese very cheddar II which I like
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so much in fact that there still a lot
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just kind of laying on top of this
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checkerboarded piece of paper good
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cheese people behind me go in he's
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actually gonna slide all that cheese in
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his mouth
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during the current timeframe well let me
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let me let me give you a little
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backstory anybody who has not familiar
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with living or traveling or commuting
16:00
through Greater Los Angeles area or
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Orange County is anywhere in Southern
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California it is other than the last few
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months it is a very congested when it
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comes to traffic you know to go 20 miles
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will take you an hour sometimes an hour
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and a half you're looking at a 35 mile
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drive you're looking an hour and a half
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sometimes an hour and 45 minutes on a
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bad day other places that I have lived
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and traveled when you look you know you
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look on here your Maps app or whatever
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you're you're using as a gauge on
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distance when you see 30 miles you think
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it's gonna be out 30 minutes the ratio
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of one mile to one minute is pretty much
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the par for the course when it comes to
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an on city Los Angeles takes it to a
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next level it's usually half of that so
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30 miles think of an hour that's a good
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rule of thumb
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during the last well during the series
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how long I've been going it has it has
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been a wonderful thing I can go almost
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you know I can go 25 miles on a
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half-hour or 25 miles in 40 minutes
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nowhere near the normal hour timeframe
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you know I can get pretty much anywhere
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around anywhere that I've been going
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through the course of this over this
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last month of doing this it has taken me
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no more than an hour to get to any of
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the spots which is unheard of now there
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is a flip side to that because
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nearly every spot you've had to wait a
17:34
lot longer because there are less staff
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on board all of the different
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regulations that are happening that they
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have to adhere to you have the good
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thing about there not being traffic
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during this even though I've noticed it
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is starting to pick up a little bit it's
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gonna be back to a semi-regular traffic
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pattern soon enough I can I can already
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see it that happening it's big kind of
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balances out I get to the places quicker
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but I have to wait a little bit longer
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either in line or for them to prepare so
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it's kind of like half and half I will
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choose waiting at an establishment much
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more than waiting in traffic even though
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the timeframe combined the two works out
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to be the same
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LA traffic is a it's a thing there's a
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real thing
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no matter where to anyone is from they
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will always state trust me I know this
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they will always take that there traffic
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is worse just how it is
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Chicago has really bad traffic oh
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goodness
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Chicago was bad driving through
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Manhattan collect in rush hour not a
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pleasant enjoyable experience I would
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put those up with that line the top
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three for me in my US travels with just
19:08
a little bit to spare I didn't really I
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didn't really drink much of my my water
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that I have left I'm not sure why I made
19:20
that statement why I'm excited about it
19:22
but I just did that's gonna do it for
19:23
tonight if you're new here please
19:25
subscribe by doing so it helps keep in
19:27
the loop enough in our future uploads
19:28
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19:30
further I'll see you in the next video
19:32
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19:43
paper straw and all I'll see in the next
19:43
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19:49
doesn't have the same effect as a
19:49
plastic the blog