The Unqualified Culinary Critics

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Hello, and welcome to the Unqualified Culinary Critics. We are a Vegas-based podcast that celebrates food and culture. Join us as we talk about our food and cultural experiences, and we do hope that these stories connect in some way to each one of you as well. Have you ever been to a foodie fest at where you live? Like have you ever been to, um, like here in Vegas we have Aloha, I can't think of the name which is sad because it would pop up anywhere, almost anywhere I go. Like an Aloha Festival or a Lumpia Festival here. Like does any of you go to those kinds of food festivals here in the valley or anywhere that you live? If so, this episode will be pertaining to FoodieFest in general. So I mentioned something about foodie fest in the past because Jason was here and talked about you know some of these festivals that we've all heard about when he came in on March. So I'm kind of now just kind of following up with the foodie festivals here in the valley because we're Vegas based and I gotta say I mentioned I still hold by my remarks that some of the food festivals here in the valley are overpriced and expensive but hey if you want to have a good experience then be my guest. So do you have anything you want to add to that Victoria? Um you know not really I unfortunately still haven't had the chance to go to like a foodie festival here or anything like that but yeah they do seem interesting. I hope you know if anybody has recommend Recommendations they can recommend them in the comments and let us know which ones are good to go to

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But yeah

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But you know one thing I can say is that you don't have to go to a festival For like foodie festivals to like experience the cultures, you know I think that if you go to a restaurant that serves like Italian food for like lunch and then you go to a restaurant that serves like French food for dinner That's kind of like your own foodie fest I mean, it's depending on where you go and depending on the prices that you're paying for the foods that you're ordering. It's affordable It's accommodating and it's not really going to Mess with your wallet a lot, you know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. So on February on my birthday, we had a meeting where we just like let's do something kind of special let's do something kind of different that I never did before in my life and that's just doing a foodie festival of our own because like it's pretty simple we just met at a restaurant not a restaurant a cafe in the valley and they serve French Tahitian cuisine and my shout out personally to the Paris Brest cafe and I'm sorry that I'm butchering the pronunciations. I don't have a good, um, I'm not very good pronouncing things in general, but I do give a shout out to them. Their food is just amazing. And I had a latte there. You had like a matcha latte, an iced one. And then Sierra had, um, I don't even remember the name. I don't, I don't know, but she had something as well. So we would meet there. And then I know for a fact that because it was in the afternoon, we just, we didn't go to three places in one day because you know depending on what we ordered it can be kind of filling we don't need to we don't want to kind of like force you to go to another restaurant yeah I don't want to I was going to say over stuff but I may sound kind of vulgar so I'm not going to even though I've kind of just did but yeah overdue is the proper word right now in my opinion so yeah but I mean after we did the La Paris Breast Cafe, we headed to Malta Chaya. And the restaurants that we ate at, I've been to before. So that's why I wanted to like introduce the restaurants to you because to you, Victoria and Sierra, that this is what I eat. And this is something that you may not be entirely familiar with, which is okay, because I myself am not entirely familiar with Eater, but it's just something that, you know, just giving you an opportunity to try the cuisines and just enjoy it. And I know for a fact that when we went to Montreux to try Victoria, you're more familiar with the, with What's Dare, because I would just order the same thing.

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Yeah.

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I shouldn't do that, but I still do. But, like, with the octopus ball, I don't, what's the name?

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Takoyaki.

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Yes, yes, takoyaki. Yeah, I never, I think, like, I would see that in the menu, but I just feel like I don't order it, you know, but yeah. Yeah, you're not as adventurous as I- no, I'm kidding. I'm not really that adventurous. I literally am the same way. I just order the same thing from the same restaurants. But yeah, that's just something that I've always liked. And you know, I really appreciate that we did that because I had never gone to those places before. And you know, that was my first time at both that cafe and that ramen place. And I'm really glad that I got to experience those two places with y'all. And yeah, they were really good.

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Like, honestly, if I didn't live so far, I would be over there like at least once a week. You're good. You're good.

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I appreciate you saying that because like, I just, I live near Dare, but yet I don't go there every week. Yeah. You know, I'm kind of trying to save my money a little bit on some things as well. But yeah, I mean, I would go anywhere myself personally, but I do it with caution. But I mean, it is really important to try different cuisines once in a while because it just kind of opens your taste palette a little bit more. Like as a foodie, as an adventurous eater, that kind of thing. I'm not really much of those. I mean, I still say that I'm somewhat of a foodie. I'm not too adventurous still, but yeah, I mean, it's really important to try different cuisines because like in that area that we were at, we could have tried like Thai, Indian. I mean, we both know what Boba is, so we don't really have to go to Boba. But I remember when I messaged you, there is a Cuban place near Seafood City in the area, which is south, actually, south of where we were at I kind of wanted to take you there as well but I want to let you and Sierra pick where to go but next time we do a foodie fest of our own I think that we can try that or yeah I already tried it but you and Sierra can try like the Cuban stuff the Cuban cuisine I mean and it's just it's just so good there I want to go back I

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just haven't had the chance to yet yeah yeah and you know like I'd be totally down for that. It sounds like it's really good there. It is. Yeah but I actually really like the area that you took us into, like that plaza, because I had never been there before and like it was so cool how like everything was food basically. So it's like you just have so many options and so many cool things to pick from and everything was diverse, you know. It wasn't just like, oh here are basic fast-food chains like actual restaurants

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Yeah, yeah, I mean don't get me wrong There was BJ's but we didn't go in there We didn't have to because some of us have been to BJ's in our lives and probably didn't like it I'm not like hating on BJ's It's just we didn't have to go because you know, we don't we didn't really want to you know But like we wanted to explore a little bit beyond BJ's is how I would put it. I forgot to mention that there was a kebab place that we could have tried but sadly when I was there earlier in the week the kebab place closed up but there are like various Mediterranean, Greek, etc. cuisines out there and I plan to try more of that stuff in the future but if I had known if this came to my mind we could have tried the kebab place as well nearby. Yeah, that would have been pretty good too. Yes, and yeah.

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No, yeah, you can go.

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I was just gonna say there was also a Korean barbecue place like right next door to Paris Press, so that's like a, um... I tried that place, and that was pretty good. I don't know if you had Korean barbecue in the past.

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Yeah, yeah, Korean barbecue always hits. It's always good. Yeah. But yeah, so I mean with that foodie fest that we did, it was kind of like you know, we had, we went to a bakery and then to a ramen shop and you know it was kind of like you know that bakery is literally in the name Paris, you know more French themed and then you know ramen's Japanese. So it was like different countries, different foods and you mentioned earlier about like Mediterranean food. Would you ever do like a foodie fest where you just go and get like the same type of food like do like the Mediterranean foodie fest or like something that's just like all like Japanese food or all

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French food or something like that? Well you see the thing is sometimes when I'm at a Mediterranean restaurant or I'm at a French restaurant or a Japanese restaurant, I tend to order a lot because I have the intention of taking it home. So, I mean, I can do that if I wanted to, but I feel like it's a little more entertaining if I would just try different cuisines in one day, you know, that's just me. So you would prefer to go to different restaurants of different types of foods? Yes, I would, if I'm very hungry, you know. Yeah, yeah. So next time we'll do like the Cuban place and we can do something else like a Chinese place after that. Or like something like that. I feel like that'd be fun. Yeah, I totally see it. Personally, I also see the appeal of doing something with that's like from the same type of food. Like doing like Mediterranean or like all Chinese or all Mexican just because it's like I feel like it'd be cool because you can get like learn about the different dishes from that one culture or like the different types of foods that they have and I don't know because this is kind of reminding me I know I said I've never been to a foodie fest but I went to a Japanese Fall Festival that they used to do here I don't know if they're still doing it but they used to do it every year when I was in high school. It used to be at the Rio. I don't know if they're still doing it and if they moved it but yeah. And obviously it wasn't about the food because you know it had a- it was more about like the Japanese culture but they did have a lot of like booths with different types of Japanese food and I feel like it was really cool just going back and forth between all the booths and trying all these different types of Japanese food that I had never had before. That was the first time that I had ever had takoyaki, for example, and like, that's why I like it so much, because it reminds me of that festival as well. And like, I don't know, I think it'd be cool to just like, you know, how we had talked about our heritage and stuff. I think it'd be cool to kind of like, that'd be like

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a cool immersive way to learn about that culture.

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Yeah, that can work as well. I think we can do that as well in the future when we do like our future foodie fest of our own as well. I'm open to that.

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Yeah, I think it'd be fun. I mean, regardless of what type of food we have, whether it's all the same from the same country or different countries, it's still going to be fun because food is great. Yeah, so I was wondering have you ever like done any other types of food and stuff like that besides the one that we did for your birthday

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Well, I will admit the reason I considered what we did a foodie fest because I'm just like showing you and Sierra The stuff that I had in the past and I just wanted to introduce to you like I mean You know what ramen is more than I do. But just like showing it's just like going into various restaurants is the big deal to me and just being able to like just being able to spend time with y'all is just very um that's the thing that would stand out to me as well alongside with just trying different cuisines. But like if it's just my family and me I don't know like we can still call it a food festival but it's more like just spending time with each other and eating, you know. I will admit that. But I think I'm gonna have to change the name besides family time to family time at various restaurant or family time foodie fest or something. Yeah. I don't know. I think that would work. Be more fair and less mean, you know. Yeah. I like family time foodie fest. That sounds nice. Yeah. I agree. But yeah. Well, have you ever done anything like that on your own?

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Or would you even consider doing it on your own as like a foodie fest?

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See, it's funny. I don't like to be by myself a lot, which is interesting. I like to partake in these activities with more people, you know, which is I will say just for like security and it's just merrier, you know, and that's just how I feel even though I'm introverted, but I play my cards carefully, but I prefer to just spend my time with people that I enjoy being with, you know? Yeah. Like with you and Sierra, so that's a good example. Yeah, that's very sweet, I like that a lot. No, yeah, I definitely get that. I was just asking because I feel like the only time I've ever done my own foodie fest has been when I'm traveling,

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because obviously I have to go out and buy food.

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Yeah.

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Can't really make my own. But I don't think I've ever really done that here, like in Vegas. But like, yeah, there was this one one time that I went to the Bay Area in California. And I purposely had a day where I was just like, I was by myself, like all my friends had already gone home or whatever. And I was just like, you know what, I'm just gonna try as many food places as I can and luckily enough for me right in right in front of my Airbnb was an empanada place and like I was staying in Oakland and I feel like Oakland, Berkeley You know San Francisco like they have pretty good food places there like pretty good restaurants and stuff Like I feel like it's a good place for a foodie to go to Especially, you know, because you can just go back and forth between those cities with the bar and everything. And so, like, I was just like, okay, I'm going to go out of my way to try all these really cool food places. And let me get my phone so I can tell you my list, because I still have it saved on my phone. So I really like those places. So if I ever go back. Yeah. So unfortunately, I don't have the name of the empanada place, but it was really, really good and then like I remember being like oh like I want to try this place the soba place it's called Soba Ichi and um the thing with that though was that it's very limited and it was very like first-come first serve like they only made like a certain amount and you would have to be there at like 5 p.m. because they were only open for like three or four hours so they were only open from like 5 to 8 and it was all takeout. But yeah, I went there, it was really cool, really nice. You know, soba is delicious, so I was not surprised by that. I got the cold soba noodles, which was weird because like I usually, you know, will get them warm or hot. I also went to this like fortune cookie factory that they have and it was really cool. Yeah, it was really cool to see, going there and seeing like how everything's made and all that. And then I went to this place called Taiwan Bento as well. And that was like the, I guess four places that I went to in one day, which I was really impressed with myself because I usually don't explore that much when it comes to food. I'll just stick to like one place and that's it. Like for example, since that empanada place was right across the street from my Airbnb. I just went there like every morning that I was there. And that's my breakfast was those empanadas. But yeah, and then like the day before though, I went to the tea garden at the Golden Gate Park. And that place was so good. I had, this is why I had cold soba at Soba Ichi because the day before I had a hot soba at the tea garden. So I was just like, you know what, let me try different things for once instead of getting the same thing like always. And that was really good too. That place, that little restaurant is so good.

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That's good. I'm really happy for you. I actually applaud you for trying all those places in like one day or like the whole trip.

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Yeah, no, I did those, I did four in one day, which is a lot.

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That is applaudable right there. I-I-I-That's admirable. I'm very happy for you that you did that.

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Yeah, but honestly I think the only reason I was able to do that was cause like I was walking so much. That I was just like- Oh, okay. Every other hour I was like, I'm kinda hungry.

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Oh, okay.

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Yeah.

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Okay, that-that-that kinda makes sense cause like, you know, I'm burning calories and I- my food's digesting so I-I would get that, you know.

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Yeah, because I'm usually full after like, if I go out to eat, if I eat like more than one place, oof. Like, when we did our foodie fest, like, I was surprised that I was able to eat after, you know, the cafe. I mean, even though we didn't really eat anything at the cafe, like, just our little drinks and stuff, but then, like, you know, the ramen, I was so full after that. I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna go. Like, I'm just gonna go home and lie in bed.

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But yeah, yeah. I, you know, we gotta go back to that cafe again, cause you gotta try the crepes, you gotta try the quiche. They have like the sweet desserts too, like the apple tart and all. Well, they have more than that, you know. I haven't tried it myself, but I've tried the croissants there, like those savory pastries. I will say for sure, you have to try that next time we go. Yeah and you know I love crepes like they're one of my favorite I don't know snack food whatever they are they're one of my favorite things to consume so yeah I feel like now anytime we do our own Sweetie Fest we have to start there you know? Yeah okay I'm cool with that we can do that I am totally cool with that. Yeah and we can come back and report to you guys all the new different things we try from there and then the other places that we go to. Yeah, I think that would be pretty cool. You know, make it a tradition. Yeah, I don't know about every month, but maybe, maybe twice a year, maybe. Yeah, yeah. I'm down with that.

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Yeah.

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But yeah, I mean, it's, it's just really cool to be able to do that.

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And I mean, you're going at your own, not expense, but at your own convenience, you know, like you're not just in one area. Like I remember I actually went to a Pinoy festival, a Filipino festival, I don't even remember where which is interesting. That's like 10 years ago. See, many many moons ago for me. And I don't remember trying the food but I had a lot of fun just being in in the area learning about the culture but at the same time I was like a kid and I was just having fun riding the amusement park in there. But I mean I was at a festival too but I mean I mentioned before I was at the San Genero fest recently or not recently but I guess many many moons ago as well so I gotta say that like I said in the past it's it's expensive to get in but I mean hey if you want to know more about the culture that it provides then I mean it's not really worth complaining about even with the food so I don't remember what I ate there, but I just remember being in that area and it was nice. And you know, I actually went to a Greek festival also many, many moons ago as well. And I learned a little bit more about, well, it's not really pronounced gyro or I say it as gyro, but I forgot how Jason said it because I think he said it. I believe he is correct with what he said. But I remember just trying the Greek food, Mediterranean food, and it's good as well. I remember getting one of these. I don't even know what on earth they're called. I'm sorry if I'm getting it wrong, but it's like you have this kind of... I'm just going to describe it. It's not like a shirt or anything, but more like a blanket and then there's some sort of coins attached to it. You just put it around your waist and you're dancing around with it. I don't know if I still have that, but given that I don't like to dance, I don't know if I still have it, but it's just like a good souvenir Yeah as to Being there because like I I was introduced to that festival from a family friend of mine and they would go like when it's there So it's good to just explore these kinds of festivals out there And you know like going back to just various restaurants at your own convenience It's it's fun because I bet it's probably going to be a little cheaper than being at a festival. But on the contrary, or I would say to counter argue, probably the food is cheaper in a festival than it is at a restaurant. But when you're at a restaurant, you're not paying for admission. Yeah, you're not paying like ten dollars to get in, but you are paying like over ten dollars to eat, whether it's like food or drink or whatever, you know. But you have more free range when you're like exploring different places at your own time or with friends and family you're not just at one area or actually technically we were at one area but like we were able to we had more freedom is how I would put it you know mm-hmm yeah I don't know and I I mean that place was pretty big too so I'm like regardless we gotta go back yeah yeah I think it'd be pretty cool if we went back and like tried all the restaurants there. I won't say I tried it but actually no I tried it already but you will try it so I'm just gonna be showing you the places. True, you can tell me what you always order. If I remember what they are because I don't even I don't remember right now I don't so. Yeah, no I think that'd be pretty fun. Well, um, I have a question. So since I said, you know, that I did like that kind of mini foodie, um, fest thing when I traveled, I was wondering when

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you travel, do you do the same thing? Like, do you try and hit as many food places as possible?

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Yeah. Well, you see, I haven't really been to like an area where they have a lot of street food, because, you know, I travel with my family when I go international. So we kind of go to like tourist attractions, we would do tours. I guess because of that we don't really go to a lot of places to eat in one day. But I mean, sometimes there's going to be free samples. So that's just something that we'll take. But no, when I'm traveling, we're just like doing our own thing. We don't really... I don't know. Food is so important and yet we haven't really done it. But at the same time, we go to a restaurant, we will like make the most of our time there. We will eat the stuff that we order and then when we're full. So that also kind of adds to why we don't try a lot of places at the same time. And you know, that's just that's just one reason why. But you know, I do. I want to go to Japan badly. I want to go back to Taiwan. All these other additional countries that I mentioned, you know, I want to go to Ireland. I did not mention that in the previous episode We should go together if if that happens, you know, cuz I just want to try like all kinds of stuff But like heading to Japan That's something that I really plan to do in the future and I just want to like go to the street foods like the area where they do the street foods and I just want to like maybe try and go to as many places as possible this time because I think even my mom was totally up for that because we'd be watching stuff on YouTube and we would just see like what they'd be making and what they serve and all that like oh that looks pretty good and even Korea too you know because it's like kind of the same thing different food different cultures but you know the street food vibes you know that kind of thing yeah I feel like with street food it's just so it's so interesting yeah because it's like you find some of like the best gems out there in street food. Yes, and you know what? And the cool thing is, it's cheaper than a restaurant. They will not cheat you. Yeah, that's true. That's one thing right there. Because like I'd be watching videos and the people that, the YouTubers that would be posting this stuff, they would be like, okay, here's the price in the country that they're in, and then they will convert that into dollars. And that's cheaper. It's like, to me, that feels like an ultimate foodie fest in a sense But you can define foodie fest in your own way and you can like make the best of it You know, that's just how I see it how I perceive it and that kind of stuff But as long as you're having fun and you're trying different cuisines and one day, but please don't like overdo it Please don't have a stomachache or that kind of thing You know, it's like as long as you're having fun and you're learning it's you're really getting what you pay for as well, you know? Mm-hmm, that's true. Yeah, I don't know, I feel like now I actually really do want to go to an actual foodie fest that they have here, just to see what it's like. Nice. Yeah, yeah. You know, like, okay, I might be ranting when I say this, but I've been doing some research, and they have this, like Vegas has a foodie fest of their own in a sense where it's like okay if you want to try let's say you want to go to green valley ranch and try their restaurants i'm like okay and then the price to pay for to go to these like depending on where you're going for um the food festivals they can be pretty expensive and i personally am not too fond of the price and also i live here so i don't need to go to green valley ranch to i don't want to pay like over a hundred dollars to get the Green Valley Ranch experience I can just go to Green Valley Ranch and go to a restaurant and that would be my day you know yeah like I just won't go to like festivals that are charged so much unless I really want to do it in a sense so like yeah I'll do that like I'll probably relent like there's there's always a contradiction like what Christopher would say in the guilty pleasures episodes there's always a contradiction so there's like always a way where i may have to relent and i'll be like yeah okay i'll do it but i better be getting what i paid for because i don't want to be like i'm there i didn't have much of a good time i've been scammed you know that kind of thing yeah as long as you get your money's worth that's all that matters but yeah that's well i feel like vegas has some pretty interesting ones because i've seen some for like tacos and beer and then i saw one that was like vegan food. I want to go to that one. Like I'm not vegan but I think vegan food is pretty good. So. Same, same. Yeah I've seen like those types of foodie fest. I think it'd be interesting to try some of

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those. But I also like the fact that we can like make our own. Like how we did for your

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birthday. Yeah. Yeah. I want to do that again pretty soon even though my birthday already had passed but yeah I just to me I just feel like it's a little bit more cheaper in a sense but it also depends on what restaurant that we go to as well but like I just I would prefer going to like various restaurants especially the local ones here just you know support the local restaurants yeah I would try the food I would eat the food and I'm getting my money's worth in the end you know I just I prefer that to any like foodie festivals out there that are like you're paying so much money and you're just in one lot, that kind of thing. But don't get me wrong, I might go back there in the future. I don't know when. Hopefully when things are better and COVID is fully passed. But, you know, in the meantime, we just got to persevere and be careful out there. But I would say for sure that I'm not really not not going to food festivals in like Rio or wherever. But, you know, something comes and it looks pretty good and I really I really want to do that and it's near my house then you know I might do it so that's something that uh I kind of look forward to in the future so mm-hmm yeah you never know what's to come what foods to yeah yeah what about you I don't know I like I said I think it'd be cool to go to like an actual foodie fest but I like having like, you know, the freedom of us like creating our own. Because, you know, that way we can curate our experience to what we want and what we like. Because at a foodie fest, like, yeah, they might have like, you know, you might be going and you know, they'll have tacos. But it's like, are they actually going to be good tacos? Like, I feel like there's always a risk. but you know everybody has their own style on what to cook so we can't criticize them for it because if it's like you know is this something that I swear by I have to you gotta try my version you know we just gotta respect that yeah yeah that's true but those are my thoughts yeah I think maybe next time we can try like a combination of Cuban and then Mediterranean food in one day let's see what happens yeah I'm down for that that sounds like fun me too I I got to figure out when that's going to happen but when it does we'll be giving some shoutouts pretty soon so I will I will say that we're gonna make it happen y'all yep yep we're gonna keep you posted we'll keep you updated yes we will report all right so are we good on final thoughts yeah I think I have spoken my final thoughts Okay, I think I've Spoken mine as well. I think I've got a lot. I already had enough to say So I'll finish it with this, you know Have any of you tried any like foodie festivals? Like I just mentioned in the beginning Have you ever been to those and what do you think? Would you do that when when that happens would you go to? restaurants of different cuisines in one day like what Victoria's here and myself did or like what else. How would you be able to experience different cultures, different cuisines in one day? How would you do it? We wouldn't mind knowing and you can let us know by following us on our socials. Instagram is Unqualified Culinary Critics. Twitter is UNQCLUCRIT and yeah just hit us up and let us know. And with that, we do thank everyone for listening and we do say take care and Unqualified Culinary Critics. Twitter is UNQCLUCRIT and yeah just hit us up and let us know. And with that, we do thank everyone for listening and we do say take care and yeah, thank you for listening.

Transcribed with Cockatoo