Lou Malnati's with Jon Gabrus & Christine Nangle (LIVE)

"Lou Malnati's with Jon Gabrus & Christine Nangle (LIVE)" is Episode 199 of *Doughboys*, hosted by Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger. "Lou Malnati's with Jon Gabrus & Christine Nangle (LIVE)" was released on April 18, 2019.

## Synopsis

This week, Christine Nangle (*The President Show*, *Inside Amy Schumer*) and Jon Gabrus (*Raised by TV*, *High & Mighty*) join the 'boys to discuss a cornerstone of Chicago-style pizza: Lou Malnati's. Plus, a live edition of The Wiger Challenge.

## Nick's intro

In 1963, the Hughes family moved from Grosse Pointe, Michigan to the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Illinois. The Big West move would have a profound impact on the family's oldest boy, the then-12-year old John Hughes, who would grow up to be a wildly successful director, screenwriter, and producer - almost always setting his stories in metropolitan Chicago.

Hughes' filmography includes iconic pieces of pop culture like *Sixteen Candles*, *The Breakfast Club*, and *Ferris Bueller's Day Off*, but the most enduring of his coming-of-age comedy/drama hybrids was 1990's *Home Alone*, written and produced by Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus, in which eight year old Kevin McAllister quickly learns the challenges of living on his own. And a key plot device in the film is pizza, which both instigates the Act One fight that leads Kevin to wish his family away and acts as the centerpiece of a scene in which he employs a savvily-cued mob movie to deceive a befuddled delivery guy.

It's no coincidence that pizza factors so memorably in this Chicago suburb-set film, as it's a key part of the Second City's cultural identity; both thinner crust and the denser, thicker casserole variety commonly referred to as "Chicago Style."

One of Chicago Style's purported inventors was a man named Rudy, who managed Pizzeria Uno in the '40s and '50s, imparting his knowledge to his son and fellow employee, Lou. In 1971, Lou set out on his own and opened an eponymous pizzeria serving deep dish based off the family recipe. But a random car crash wrecked his first storefront, and disruptive neighborhood construction shuttered the second, and the third was too far from the city to be economically feasible. And in 1978, amidst this series of misfires, Lou died of cancer, never witnessing his concept attain the success of his dreams.

But there may very well be marinara in his bloodline because his sons joined his widow to carry on his legacy, relaunching his restaurant with a legendary appearance at the first ever Taste of Chicago Festival in 1980. By the time *Home Alone* hit theaters, the family had built a successful chain by streamlining their focus mostly to carry-out and delivery, while maintaining the premium quality established by their forefathers.

Now with fifty locations across greater Chicago, and a few more in Arizona, the chain's deep dish continues to offer Chicago Style comfort... just like a John Hughes' third act.

This week on *Doughboys*: Lou Malnati's.

[Nick cut this sentence from the intro, but read it later anyway:

*And while Ferris Bueller BS'ed a maître d'by claiming to be Abe Frohman, the Sausage King of Chicago, it's no BS that sausage is king in Chicago, as the city's most popular pizza topping, an outlier in a nation addicted to pepperoni.*]

## Fork rating

 Mike Mitchell
* Angry Orchard cider
 Jon Gabrus
 Christine Nangle
 shared
* Bar-B-Lou Chicken Wings
* Stuffed Spinach Bread
* Malnati Salad
* Spinach Salad
* The Malnati Chicago Classic
* The "Lou"
* Cheese Thin Crust
* Chocolate Chip Pizza

## The Wiger Challenge

   In the Wiger Challenge, Nick presents Mitch and the guest with a mystery beverage and they try to guess what it is. The closest guess is declared the winner.

Nick gives them Jeppson's Malört, a bitter, spiced wormwood liqueur made in Chicago.

Gabrus ruined the guessing game by immediately knowing what it was, so he was the winner.

Everyone was appalled by its potency, except Nick, who dug it.

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