"Mr. Pizza with Jesse Thorn" is Episode 102 of Doughboys, hosted by Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger. "Mr. Pizza with Jesse Thorn" was released on May 4, 2017.
Synopsis[]
Guest Jesse Thorn (NPR's Bullseye; Jordan, Jesse, Go!) joins Mitch and Wiger to dine at one of the two North American outlets of Mr. Pizza, the South Korean pizzeria with 400 restaurants in its home country. The trio judge the unique potato stuffed crust and bizarre toppings, Mitch calls out Wiger on bagels, and another edition of Drank or Stank has artisan Mountain Dew on the agenda.
Nick's intro[]
a session of the Potsdam Conference
After the Second World War, the Potsdam Conference subdivided the defeated Nazi Germany into partitions overseen by the victors: the West managed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France; and the Eastern Region handed to the Soviet Union. This birthed the neighboring nations of West and East Germany, which would see decades of conflict until, with German reunification at the beginning of the '90s, the book was shut on this particular chapter of history.
On World War II's Pacific front, the after-effects of a different partition still linger: the 1945 division of Korea into the America-administered South and the Soviet-overseen North, a particularly unfair fate for a people who'd suffered miserably under a nightmarish Japanese occupation.
Koreans would subsequently endure a brutal proxy war between the Cold War's superpowers that killed up to 20% of its population, ending with the people divided between the capitalist democracy, The People's Republic of Korea, and the decidedly-less democratic Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which has endured the totalitarian rules of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and now Kim Jong-un.
But South Korea, much like its bitter rival Japan, saw explosive economic growth as heavy Western investment helped it modernize into a thriving metropolitan paradise. To this day, Korean importation and reinterpretation of American culture is seen in its passion for PC gaming, the musical genre of K-pop, and, of course, in its cuisine.
In 1990, the same year the Berlin Wall fell, businessman Jung Woo Hyun founded a South Korean chain restaurant serving a dish that would become the adopted national food in the U.S., itself imported from another of the Axis powers, Italy. With such unconventional toppings as cooked shrimp, yams, corn, and cream cheese, this Asian pizzeria thrived and now with about 400 locations in its homeland and two dozen more worldwide, it's the largest pizza chain in South Korea.
But how does it stack up in the States?
This week on Doughboys: Mr. Pizza.
Fork ratings[]
| guest / host | ordered (see below) | rating |
|---|---|---|
| Nick Wiger* | Tropical Sangria | 3 forks |
| Mike Mitchell | Strawberry Popsicle Soju Cocktail | 2 forks |
| Jesse Thorn | - | 2.5 forks |
| shared |
|
Spoonman's Bite of the Night went to the Bulgogi Fries.
*Nick ceded his fork rating to engineer Christian Dueñas.
Drank or Stank Flavor of the Week[]
In Drank or Stank, the Doughboys have a drink and decide if it is 'good' or 'bad.'
For this episode, they have Mountain Dew Green Label, Mountain Dew Spiked, and Mountain Dew White Label.
Instead of being rated Drank or Stank, the beverages were given medals (for categorical purposes, consider this a Flavor of the Week).
| guest / host | Mountain Dew Green Label | Mountain Dew Spiked | Mountain Dew White Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Wiger | Gold | Bronze | Silver |
| Mike Mitchell | Gold | ribbon with a log of shit | Silver |
| Jesse Thorn | Silver | DQ'ed - not fit for consumption | Gold |
Roast Spoonman[]
Dipshit Grimace
| “ | Dipshit Grimace | ” |
–Matthew Scicluna | ||
Quotes[]
| “ | When you're at the beach, when you're younger with your Dad, Dads are always afraid of fish swimming up and biting their balls. | ” |
–Mike Mitchell | ||
| “ | Nick: You're saying your ocean is better than ours. Mitch: Our ocean IS better. Atlantic all the way. |
” |
–The OceanBoys | ||
| “ | Hey, how come The Doughboys don't have a show on CNN? | ” |
–Mike Mitchell | ||
| “ | No! I can easily lift a bagel. | ” |
–Nick Wiger | ||
Wiger's Official Stance On Bagels 🥯[]
| “ | This is my official position. Put this on the Doughboys Wikipedia. Nobody maintains it anymore. Here's my official stance: Bagels are good, but too heavy. |
” |
–Nick Wiger | ||
#hashtags[]
- #TeaseYourselfWiger vs. #GoInCold or #PleaseyNoTeasey
- #Doughrea
The Feedbag[]
| “ | Being born and raised in Texas, I have always wondered if this term was a local colloquialism or if it reaches further out: the "meat sweats," eating so much meat that you break out in sweat: like "I got the heavy meat sweats last time I went to Fogo de Chão." | ” |
–Todd Brisket | ||
Restaurants[]
| official visit | location | notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Pizza | Koreatown, CA | Nick, Mitch, and Jesse all went to this location together |
| restaurants referenced | location | notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aleppo's Kitchen | Anaheim, CA | Nick mentioned getting some great food here with his wife |
| Yuca's | Los Feliz, CA | |
| El Gran Taco Loco | San Francisco, CA | |
| El Farolito | San Francisco, CA |
Drops and Plugs[]
| reference | notes |
|---|---|
| - | (in Mitch's drop by Cap'n Saddlepants) |
|
Jesse's plugs |
Related Episodes[]
| Jesse Thorn episodes |
|---|
|
Photos (via @doughboyspod)[]
