"P. F. Chang's with Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino" is Episode 168 of Doughboys, hosted by Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger. "P. F. Chang's with Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino" was released on August 23, 2018.
"Tomorrow..." - @doughboyspod
Synopsis[]
The talented and hilarious Jessica McKenna & Zach Reino (Off Book: The Improvised Musical) join the 'boys for a review of Pan-Asian bistro P.F. Chang's. Before diving to the review, we talk about musical jingles in fast food commercials, and Zach's previous employment at the restaurant. Plus, a musical edition of Fake Chews.
Nick's intro[]
Cecilia Chiang
In 1920, Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang was born to a wealthy, educated family in Beijing. One of twelve children raised in a 50-room mansion staffed by a platoon of servants, Chiang's pampered childhood was in stark contrast with an early adulthood spent in flight. During World War II, the Japanese occupation of China forced Chiang to flee her family home and later led to her working as a spy for the Allies. After the Armistice of 1945, the Maoist cultural revolution of 1949 made remaining in China risky for her upper-class family and she fled the country to evade the Communist regime's flattening economic policies.
Chiang and her kin then spent a decade in post-war Japan before moving to San Francisco in 1960, where she opened a restaurant in the city's thriving Chinatown neighborhood. Unsatisfied by her competitors, who she viewed as offering dumbed-down dishes to cater to American palettes, Chiang boldly built her menu around authentic Northern Chinese recipes - a decision that would turn her restaurant, The Mandarin, into a San Francisco icon.
Aside from its menu, Chiang further defied convention by decking out The Mandarin in elegant, regal decor, creating a fine-dining establishment that could stand aside the ritziest French restaurants, in time attracting a celebrity clientele and expanding locations into SF's traditionally white neighborhoods. In the midst of building a restaurant as an Asian woman business owner, in an era when both were rare, Chiang also raised two children, and her son, Philip, followed the matriarch into the family business, managing her restaurant in Beverly Hills.
While his ex-pat mother had dedicated her career to offering authenticity, Philip was eager to capitalize on accessibility and, in 1993, he collaborated with another successful restaurateur, Paul Fleming, to open an American-Chinese eatery in Scottsdale, Arizona. Paul and Philip named their business by combining their own names, simplifying the spelling and pronunciation of Philip's surname to make it more readable for its American clientele. As its menu and number of locations expanded, the concept folded in the Pan-Asian trend, combining the disparate cuisines of China, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam into a crowd-pleasing continental blur.
Today, with over 300 locations worldwide, the restaurant has had a hand in expanding mainstream acceptance of Asian flavors in the West, and in newly-opened locations in China, where curiosity for an American interpretation of Chinese food is drawing crowds.
Today, 25 years after its founding, and 60 years after The Mandarin opened in San Francisco, Paul Fleming and the son of Cecilia Chiang continue to make beautiful music together.
| “ | When your hunger strikes and you're in the mood To sit down for awhile and chomp on Chinese food |
” |
This week on Doughboys, P. F. Chang's.
Fork rating[]
| guest / host | ordered | 🥠 | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Wiger |
|
"You will surprise yourself tomorrow." | 3.5 forks |
| Mike Mitchell |
|
"You will know what to do." | 3.5 forks |
| Jessica McKenna |
|
"A happy surprise will arrive in the mail." | 3.5 forks |
| Zach Reino |
|
"An attempt at something new will be incredibly rewarding." | 2.75 forks |
| shared |
|
The Doughboys also shared their main entrees, family-style.
Fake Chews 📰[]
In Fake Chews, Nick normally presents food-related trivia and the others guess whether they are true or not.
Since this was the Off Book edition, for this episode, he gave a music-based quiz based on food jingles from the '70s. Nick offers two options and they have to guess which one is real.
| trivia | Mitch | Jess | Zach | true jingle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Hip | Hip | Hip | Hot 'n' Juicy |
|
Smile | Taste Buds | Taste Buds | Smile |
|
Tracks | Full Foot | Tracks | Tracks |
|
Taste | Taste | Taste | Taste |
|
We Do It | We Do It | Served | We Do It |
| number correct | 4 | 2 | 2 | Mitch wins! |
Roast Spoonman[]
Clint Eastwood
| “ | Squint Eastwood | ” |
–Molecular Lionel | ||
Quotes[]
| “ | I had a wild salad at a Red Robin... | ” |
–Nick Wiger, starting a riveting discussion about salads | ||
| “ | I've seen Nick with a fun tie clip. | ” |
–Jess, on Nick dressing up for a night out | ||
| “ | I only wear a diaper when Wolly and Irma are wearing one. | ” |
–Mike Mitchell's solidarity with his cats | ||
#hashtags[]
- #LotteryForTheKids
- #LiveOrDie
The Feedbag[]
| “ | What's your favorite place to eat at Walt Disney World or Disneyland and why? | ” |
–Edward from Fort Worth, TX | ||
Related Episodes[]
| P.F. Chang's episodes | Jess McKenna episodes | Zach Reino episodes |
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Photos (via @doughboyspod)[]
