A 24/7 VIP Challenges Buck on In-N-Out Fries

BUCK: Did you know that it is National Mac and Cheese Day today? It was National French Fry Day yesterday. It is National Mac and Cheese Day today. Now, I grew up… I think the food that I was the most obsessed with as a kid… Were you a big PB&J guy?

CLAY: Oh, yeah.

BUCK: ‘Cause I was a Kraft Macaroni and Cheese connoisseur, man. I ate that stuff like it was my last day on earth every day with that Kraft mac and cheese. Obviously now I can only eat the gluten-free stuff. Amy’s makes a very good macaroni and cheese that’s frozen that I do eat. That’s gluten-free so I have to give them credit for that. I wanted to ask if you have a mac and cheese either recommendation or a favorite brand, and then we also have yesterday’s french fry controversy. We got some updates on that one.

CLAY: It’s funny you mentioned this. So I took the boys to go see Thor a couple of days ago.

BUCK: Was it good?

CLAY: It was okay. I don’t think either of them… All of the kids want to go see the Marvel movies. So the two big ones that have come out this summer are the Doctor Strange movie, which I didn’t really think was that great, and also, my kids are young. It was closer, it felt like to me, to an R rated horror movie than it was like a PG kids’ movie, just in my opinion. It was PG-13, but I was like, “This is kind of scary for my 7-year-old.” My kid, my 11-year-old ordered in the restaurant, Buck, a mac and cheese with a side of mac and cheese. So he ordered as his meal, kids’ menu — this is like a pro tip, man.

BUCK: That is serious level mac and cheese love.

CLAY: That is mac and cheese love from the boys in the Travis household. Ordered the mac and cheese meal and then as his side item he also selected mac and cheese. And I always say as a parent one of the things that happens to you — and hopefully you’ll get to experience this in the years ahead — you realize food that you stopped eating is so good, and you were like, “Why did I ever stop eating this?”

So I loved peanut butter and jelly when I was a kid and then I just kind of stopped eating it and then my kids started eating it again and they wouldn’t finish and one of your dad jobs is, like, you’re the garbage man for food. So you just grab up whatever they haven’t eaten, and I remember having a PB&J several years ago — and I was like, why did I ever stop eating this? Grilled cheese sandwiches and mac and cheese are on my all-time trio of foods that you loved as a kid that you stop eating at some point as an adult and when you have kids you come back to ’em. Really sugary cereal is another one that’s on that list, whatever it might be. Cinnamon Toast Crunch, for instance. Why did I ever stop eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

BUCK: And the french fry issue, I want to be very clear, ’cause we got some french fry blowback here, folks, and you know we gotta clear the air. We gotta clear the record. I said I like Shake Shack for burgers and fries, and we actually order Shake Shack here in New York as kind of a weekly tradition in the New York studio. In-N-Out Burgers are amazing. I said that. The burgers are phenomenal. The meat quality is super high, we liked it. I have had some not peak fry experiences, though, at In-N-Out.

We had someone write in ’cause they’re a Clay and Buck VIP subscriber — the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show, go to ClayAndBuck.com, and become a VIP subscriber, please — and he wrote in, “I’m a former crew member at In-N-Out. They haven’t changed their menu since 1947 in Baldwin Park, California. They make their fries fresh from potatoes every day. They peel, soak in water, cut them before they’re cooked and served.

“All you have to do is ask for them crispy or golden brown.” So I’m getting called out here ’cause I do love the hand-cut fries. You gotta make the hand-cut fries, okay? So that’s quality. I like that. But should you have to specify that you want your french fries crispy? Like, don’t you always want crispy french fries? Do you ever say, “I want mooshy pasta?” No.

CLAY: I wouldn’t want to be you walking into In-N-Out Burger next time. Just saying. That’s Buck Sexton, not Clay Travis, going after the In-N-Out fries. Wendy’s fries wildly underrated.

BUCK: People wrote in, “Yes, Clay’s right about his Wendy’s fries, too,” just so you know, “Ooh, everyone agrees with Clay on the french fries!”

CLAY: I don’t know that I’ve gotten ripped more for a take from some of these fry people than my Wendy’s fries.

BUCK: Oh, really? I saw positive. I saw people were saying they… I only saw the ones that came in and said you’re right about Wendy’s fries. Do we have Wendy’s fry haters in the audience?

CLAY: Oh, there were some savage comments. They can’t even trust me anymore about anything over my fry menu.

BUCK: Team McDonald’s is definitely unhappy with you right now.

CLAY: Very strong. A lot of Chick-fil-A anger. A lot of fry heated takes.