By Donn Swaby
 

NOT THE SAME OL’ PIZZA

Mr. Pizza Factory

 

 

Are you a frustrated pizza lover who’s tired of the same old pizza with the same old unimaginative toppings?

 Then Mr. Pizza Factory, the only Korean Pizzeria of it’s kind in the entire U.S., located in the heart of L.A.’s Korea town, has the perfect cure; using only the freshest ingredients and traditional, hand-tossed, hand-cut preparation methods, this fairly new eatery offers you not one but five uniquely designed creations that are as esthetically pleasing visually as they are downright delicious.

        Founded in 1990 in Seoul, Korea (by a man who had previously worked at a Famous Ray‘s Pizza in New York City), Mr. Pizza soon dominated the market there with 320 stores, earning a number one customer satisfaction rating. After the opening of ten stores in China, Mr. Pizza Factory represents the grand U.S. debut of this universally recognized food prepared with a decidedly different business philosophy than the more well know pizza chains like Pizza Hut, Little Caesar’s, and Papa Johns.

        “In the 80’s, places like Pizza Hut went from a family style restaurant chain serving the then-new novelty of pan pizza to a business with 60% drive in and 40% delivery, “ says Mr. Pizza Factory manager Manny Park. “ To save money, cheaper ingredients were used in  addition to ready made, pre-processed crusts, which lowered the quality of the food considerably. At Mr. Pizza Factory, the crusts are proudly hand tossed and the vegetables are hand cut, which allows for more of their water to be retained. Those are some of the things that make a lot of difference in taste.”

          Mr. Park explained that the offering of a variety of pizzas, which is even more prevalent in Korea where Mr. Pizza comes up with two or three new creations a year, originates within the Korean food culture itself. “If someone where to come to your house for dinner, you most likely would not serve them just one dish, like just rice alone. You would also serve other dishes like perhaps meat, vegetables, etc. When Koreans eat here, they like to order different things and then share, keeping in line with their cultural tradition of eating a wide variety of foods in perpetually new combinations. When Americans eat here, they may at first stick to the “safer,”  more traditional pizzas we offer, exposing their stagnation of imagination when it comes to pizza. But once they try one of the specialty pizzas, they never go back. ”

        After trying both the Grand Prix, Mr. Pizza Factory’s most currently popular creation, I could see why. One side of the pizza had salsa, tomato sauce, potatoes, bacon, sour cream, and nachos while the other had shrimp, green peppers, mushrooms, sausage, and olives, all on a raisin scone crust which can be dipped into a strawberry jam on the side (which means you will never see someone throwing away the crust at Mr. Pizza Factory.) Here’s the thing; I could taste each individual topping, with all of them ultimately complimenting each other, much to the delight of my taste buds. And it still tasted like pizza!

 Other creations include Potato Gold (tomato sauce, sweet potato mousse, mushroom, ground beef, corn, onion, potato, cheddar cheese, bacon, nacho chips, sour cream) and Shrimp Nude (salsa, cream cheese mousse, mushroom, ground beef, corn, onion, bell pepper, olives, jalapeno, bacon, Cajun shrimp, and blue cheese sauce.)

Mr. Pizza Factory also serves many other traditional Italian appetizers and entrees in a capacious space, compete with Doric columns, and paintings of the Hollywood Hills and the rustic, Italian countryside on the walls. There is also an upstairs room that can be reserved for special events.



Mr. Pizza Factory
Business Hours: Monday-Sunday, from 11:30 A.M. - 10:00 P.M.
3881 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Tel.: 213-738-0077  Fax: 213-738-0066

 



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© Melt Magazine 2008