Wahoo's Fish Taco with Eliza Skinner

"Wahoo's Fish Taco with Eliza Skinner" is Episode 170 of Doughboys, hosted by Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger. "Wahoo's Fish Taco with Eliza Skinner" was released on September 6, 2018.

## Synopsis

The hilarious Eliza Skinner (*Cool Playlist*, *The Late Late Show*) joins the 'boys to talk about Virginia eats, her experience as a radio DJ, and her latest visit to Wahoo's Fish Taco. Plus, an exchanging of ghost stories and a hops-focused edition of Strange Brewdogs.

## Nick's intro

Huntington Beach, California: commonly known as "Surf City." The Orange County town's official name and nickname are linked to the same source - industrialist and railroad tycoon, Henry Edwards Huntington, who, having purchased large tracts of its land area for his railway company, gave the city his name when it was incorporated.

In 1907, Huntington took a vacation to Hawaii where he was transfixed by locals partaking in a curious outdoor activity involving coasting on ocean waves atop shaped wooden boards, a longstanding Pacific Islander tradition known as 'surfing'. Sensing a business opportunity, Huntington, the man, brought the sport to Huntington, the beach, by importing George Freeth, a part-Irish, part-native Hawaiian surfing virtuoso who had studied in Oahu under legendary surfer Duke Kahanamoku.

Huntington marketed Freeth to Californians as a circus curiosity, and SoCal locals gathered to gawk at the man who "walked on water." Despite his athletic prowess, Freeth died at just the age of 35, felled by the global flu pandemic of 1919. But his early demonstrations launched surfing culture in the Golden State, as surf clubs and board shops quickly cropped up along local beaches. The Polynesian pastime spread beyond the tony, oil-rich town of Huntington Beach to SoCal's working-class communities, including the suburb that bordered Surf City to the east, Costa Mesa.

And that's where in 1988, Ed, Mingo, and Wing Lee, a trio of Chinese-Brazilian brothers, whose father had operated a restaurant in São Paulo, came together to open a Chinese-Brazilian-Mexican concept, built around their love of surf culture. Just as Huntington and Freeth had introduced the now omnipresent sport of surfing to SoCal, the Lee brothers helped hook Californians on a then lesser-known Mexican street-food dish, the fish taco.

By the mid-'90s, the chain had a half-dozen locations across The OC, and then expanded beyond the county and the state in the 2000s. Now with 65 locations in the Western US, as well as Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Texas, and even Japan, the Lees have built a business empire that would impress even Henry Edwards Huntington himself.

As the brothers said in a 2000 Merrill Lynch commercial spotlighting their small-business success, "where else in the world can a Chinese guy sell Mexican food? If this isn't the American Dream, I don't know what is."

This week on *Doughboys*, Wahoo's.

## Fork rating

* Chips & Salsa
* Cajun Fries
* Crispy Fish Taco
* Outer Reef Burrito
 Mike Mitchell
* Homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup
* Crispy Fish Taco
* Spicy Fish Taco
* Rice and Beans
 Eliza Skinner
* Carnitas 1988 Taco
* Carne Asada 1988 Taco

## Drank or Stank: Strange Brewdogs 🍻

In Drank or Stank, The Doughboys have a drink and decide if it is 'good' or bad.'

In Strange Brewdogs, The Doughboys drink a brewdog to see if it is weird.

For this episode, however, they have, not a beer, but something called H2OPS Sparkling Hops Water.

They all were sort of bothered by the drink, but also kind of fascinated by it.

Everyone agrees it is a Strange Brewdog, but on the usual Drank or Stank scale, they were baffled.

## Quotes

**Eliza:** Have you ever thought about writing coloring books?

**Eliza:** WHOA! Have you thought about writing coloring books?

**Eliza:** Any kind of trains? Or just the kinds that choo-choo? Great for coloring books.
**Nick:** It's what I'm trying to get into.

## The Feedbag

So my question: is there any food item or ingredient that you do not understand or used to not understand?

## Related Episodes

* 189. Super Duper Burgers
* 268. Blaze Pizza
* 413. Qwench Juice Bar